Should be Included

The Xbox360 wireless controllers are great but since they are wireless you will need a good supply of batteries to keep those marathon gaming sessions going. Enter the play and charge kit, consisting of a rechargeable battery and a charging cable (length?).

The battery pack fits perfectly into the back of the controller and takes up the same room as two AA batteries. After the battery is inserted the battery is charged by plugging in the included cable into your Xbox360 or any USB port.

Battery Life:

I am not really a hardcore gamer I play maybe a few hours a week and so far I have had no complaints about the battery life. On average I get 1 to 3 weeks out of a single charge which is great. Microsoft.com gives an average battery life of 25 hours per charge. The great feature of this kit is that if your battery happens to die while you are playing you can simply plug the included charge cable into your console and keep on playing.

Bottom Line:

Unless you have a cheap source of batteries then the play and charge kit make a great addition to any Xbox360 setup and if you make sure your battery is charging when you're not playing you won’t have to be limited by the short charge cord. I really hope Microsoft will start bundling this kit with the Xbox360.