The Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite --- Extreme Gaming Capabilities for the Video Game Addict

When I decided to purchase my first Xbox 360, I decided to go all out, and knowing that I would probably end up wanting to have all the capabilities of playing the games live with other opponents, I went for the Xbox 360 Elite.  In most stores, they are selling three versions of the Xbox with the levels being the Xbox 360 Arcade which comes with 256MB of storage capacity, what is known now as the regular Xbox 360 which has 60 GB of storage capacity, and the Xbox 360 Elite, which has 120 GB of storage.  There are also limited items that come with the two former versions of the Xbox 360, and bumping up to the Xbox 360 Elite got me a few extra toys to go along with that immense amount of storage space where I can save my game play.  If you are looking for the cream of the crop when purchasing an Xbox 360 this is the way to go in my opinion.

The Xbox 360 Elite includes:

*XBOX 360 console (black)
*Wireless controller (black)
*120 GB storage capabilities
*Headset
*Network cable
*Standard/HD AV cable
*HDMI digital AV cable
*XBOX Live silver membership.

The Components

At the time of my purchase, the 120 GB hard drive was the largest in terms of space that was available for any gaming console.  I believe that fact is still the same, and it insures that you can save basically any of your game history, without ever having to clear space.  The space doesn't have to just be used for games though, as it lets you also store movies, music, television shows and music content from the Xbox Live environment.  It is a huge amount of space and if you really want to take advantage of it, it has multiple uses that make it worth even more.  It is of note, that all of the components with this version of the Xbox 360 is black, and added element to separate it from the other two versions of the Xbox 360 I believe.

The console itself is relatively small in size, and is built with three core processors, emits full surround sound, and works as soon as you plug it in.  The wireless controller that comes with the Xbox 360 Elite is a nice looking black one that has a range of up to 30 feet and works either on double A batteries or on one of their rechargeable battery packs that you can buy separately.  With non-stop play, it is advertised that the two batteries will last for 30 hours of use and if you are playing the game for long periods of time, or plan to get quite a long use out of it, you will probably want to get the battery packs in order to save yourself some money in the long-term.

With the headset that is included you will be able to hook up with other people that also have Live memberships and either talk strategy about the game play or talk some trash if you are playing in a sports league.  The Elite Xbox 360 comes with an Xbox Live membership, so you will be able to log on right away, and jump into the action with either your friends that have their own X-box 360's, or with complete strangers that are also just looking to get in the game.  It can get quite addicting if you are into team play or just love playing sports, as with the Live capabilities you can form leagues with sporting games such as NCAA 2009, NFL Madden, or even NBA Live as you take on one of many teams that are all competing as though you were really running real teams.

The Game Play

Immediately after starting to play with my Xbox 360, I was very impressed with the game play.  The picture was great, the load time for games was extremely quick, and the sound quality was as good as you could hope for and more.  Hooking it up was also a snap, as you just plug the pieces into each other (and the wall socket) and everything is up and running for you.  One thing that I did have a little trouble with (admittedly embarrassing) was getting the controller to recognize the console.  In order to do that, you hold down the center button on the controller, which seeks out the console and registers it as an active controller.  This has to be done for each controller that you get for the system, and once you know how to do it, the process just becomes easier with experience.  Once the controller is good-to-go, it also becomes a sort-of remote control for everything, and you can shut down the entire Xbox 360 with a couple of button pushes on the controller (such an awesome feature).

Prior to purchasing my X-box 360, I have owned the first edition Xbox, a Nintendo GameCube, and several other systems.  While I will be the first to admit that I am neither a gaming addict or an expert with all the gaming consoles on the market, I have had my fair share of experiences with gaming systems, and this one has been the most extensive when it comes to game-play.  The graphics on games like NCAA football, Indiana Jones, and NBA Live just to name a few are extremely great, and not only it is extremely well presented to the eye, but it looks like a ton of research went into constructing the games  well.  Other games such as Call of Duty 3 look almost real, and as you are sucked into the playing of games like this, it almost becomes real to the players.

One thing that will make owners of the original Xbox quite happy, is that the Xbox 360 Elite has a large backward compatibility so that you can play old Xbox games on the system.  Not every game works, but quite a few of their library does work, including all of the ones that I had purchased for my own original Xbox.  For the real tech-savvy, when using the Xbox 360 Elite, it is using an IBM PowerPC CPU that has three processing cores running at 3.2GHz each.  The ATI graphics processor is advertised at being able to emit 500 million triangles per second, the console has half a GB of memory that's shared between the system and video card, and finally there is an extra 10MB of dedicated video RAM.  It's pretty impressive no matter which way you cut it, and stellar in just about everything that it does.  A slight down-grade could be that the game/DVD reader is a little noisy, as is the fan in the console, so that it can be heard if you are sitting right next to it, but not so loud that it drowns out the sounds of the games.

Overall Thoughts on the Xbox 360 Elite Console

I have really become a large fan of the Xbox 360 Elite, and have not regretted my purchase since I made it.  I bought the console for $399.99 at Best Buy, along with a second controller and rechargeable kit in order to really get a lot of use out of the gaming system.  I have purchased numerous games since that original purchase as well, and still find time to enjoy using the system and play the games either by myself, with a friend, or in the Live mode that Xbox has become famous for providing.  With all of the titles available to people, ranging from role playing games to sports games to games based on films like Harry Potter, the range of available fun stretches quite far.  I think that I like having this system and all of the added storage space rather than one of the cheaper versions, because I am probably never going to have to worry about deleting sports seasons that I am participating in, or games that I have saved to come back to at a later date.  The high quality of the Xbox 360 Elite console and components, the impressive graphics and gaming possibilities, the user dashboard that is available when toggling between user profiles and games, and the feel of the wireless controllers have all been great amenities that have made the Xbox 360 Elite so enjoyable for me.  When it comes to playing video games either on your own, or in the Live environment, the Xbox 360 Elite gets my complete recommendation.


Cost: $399.99 at Best Buy