Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite (120 GB) Black Console

Please note this review is written from a UK residents perspective so the price range may seem alien to US or other country's asking price for the console.

Yet another house move meant that I needed some careful rewarding, the choice of my reward was a toss up between the PS3 or the Xbox 360 Elite. After a bit of careful deliberation and a look at the range of games available the Xbox 360 won the day. I ordered mine from Littlewoods at the rather high price of #299 (Roughly $590), but at the time of purchase this was the only place that had them in stock, and delivery was the very next day.
Now I have no real knowledge of the original Xbox 360 so I guess to a certain degree some of the issues I'll bring up are basically hearsay, but not hearsay I have heard from random website this comes from friends.

The Xbox 360 Elite comes in a clean black finish, it seems black is the new silver when it comes to electrical. No sooner have we all converted our TV's, etc to the silver finish and its time to turn back again. Luckily the other series of reward toys I gave myself also came in black (but that's another story). Initially upon unpacking the set up may appear more difficult than the reality so don't do a "me" and try to assemble it together yourself, have a glace at the instructions. When I say assembly, don't worry this is not a kit, it's a simple connection of wires and a clipping of the massive 120GB hard drive to the unit.
Having assembled switching on is a bit odd, I'm not used to remote control controllers, and you can push the centre X button to power up the console, so those energy freaks its worth bearing in mind that your Xbox is always on standby (even though no power light except on the power cable indicates as much). Having powered up your console by pushing the controllers X button it all comes to life, the stunning Xbox logo lights up your screen.

A quick glance through your menu's that appear no sooner have you powered up reveals that not only is this a games player but a multi-media player handling more than just DVD's and CD's. It can cope with all the video formats AVI, MPEG, DIVX etc as well as play music in a variety of formats also including MP3's; the nice touch here is that with 120 GB you could easily store a few thousand tracks without it even bothering your new toy.
The console comes with no games as such, but does feature a few demos, one which is a racing game you need to connect to the internet to play. Another is more like a trailer, and that's for the incredibly popular Viva Pinata game. The third is a little more impressive, Cars racing game based on the movie of the same name not only allows you one level (like most demo's) but several, plus a choice of vehicle.

Playing anything on the Xbox whether it be a game, or a movie, or even the menu's looks amazing on an HD (Hi Definition) television (which the Xbox connects to via an HDMI cable) your talking colours, shades and images so real you feel like you could reach out and touch them. And this is the first big noticeable difference between the standard old Xbox and the new 360 model.
A friend bought the original Xbox 360 when it was release about a year ago, and he was most annoyed to discover that in order to play his old Xbox games he either needed to download a patch or face the risk that they don't work at all. Here there is no patch loads, each of my old Xbox games works well, and because of the enhanced picture quality looks and feels like your playing the game for the first time.

The controller is fairly easy to get to grips with, once you have got used to the fact that its a remote controller, I kept holding it in funny positions because I thought it needed to get round obstacles (like the dogs) but I guess it works in a kind of Bluetooth fashion and works even when putting the controller in the opposite direction. The controller is battery operated and powered by ordinary AA batteries, you get a good quality life from the batteries far more than I expected, so much so that a month on and I'm still using the two AA batteries that came with the console. Also as an addition there is a headset that plugs into the controller, this allows you to hear and speak to other players when using your broadband connection for online gaming. If your afraid of technology and remote things with radio waves, you can purchase a wired controller, but the Elite comes with one remote controller only.
A little thing to put to rest here is that the console does not have a built in Hi Def DVD player, so don't go running out to purchase those purple cased discs yet. However for an additional #120 ($240 USD)you can purchase an external Hi Def player that connects to your Xbox, I know it seems steep but have a look at the cost of the players as standard units.

The games are far advanced from the original Xbox, the gameplay often a lot longer and a lot more involved. Obviously they also look a lot more realistic. One of my favourite games called Farcry Predator Instincts although graphically is nothing to special, has the most amazing looking water the tide flow is just like real sea or rivers. Other games are graphically more advanced still; Farcry was one of the first games released and a bit experimental with the technology in a limited sense.
A nice bonus is the online gameplay option known as Xbox live, this is nothing new to Xbox users, but it is new to me. Xbox Live comes with a month's free trial, I have not gone beyond the month's free subscription if you want to continue using Live after the free month you can either use the limited silver membership (which allows some basic functions online) or you can pay #39.99($79 USD) a year (or smaller instalments for lesser time). What you can do is download games, movie trailers, patches for your games, cheats etc, as well as play against people across the world on your favourite multiplayer games. I found the online experience a really enjoyable one, people you meet and talk to are generally quite friendly, but there is a reporting system in place to report any issues online you might have. So if you were being bullied or abused online you can get some back up if you know where, personally I have never seen or been a victim of any abuse, but we all know these things happen. Online gameplay as I have found can be terribly addictive one day spending nearly 10 hours playing war with some Americans (just like a child). With games like Farcry you really come into understanding the use of your built in Hard drive, because you can download additional small and large levels for playing against your new friends. As an additional little bonus the Xbox 360 is compatible with MSN messenger, so you can use that as an online contact between friends. I won't bore you with the wonders of online play too much, but just be told IT'S AMAZING and for me adds a whole new dimension to playing. You need to know though that you do need a Broadband connection to play, and the connection is via the Ethernet cable and not USB, so you need to ensure your Modem has a Ethernet socket or you'll need to either by a new modem or a router. A word of warning for gameplay, there are lots of people out there than are better than you, which at times can be a bit sad.

Through Ethernet connectivity you can connect your Xbox to the internet directly or through your PC allowing you to use the Xbox or your PC as a sort of media centre ( a bit of networking if you will). I have not connected via my PC, but the menu's on the Xbox's "Dashboard" talk you through the process easily.
The Xbox Elite is quite noisy, in respect of the cooling fan that keeps everything at the recommended temperature. Its protected from the so called "Ring Of Death" phenomenon that original Xbox 360's experienced, basically where they overheated on some models and literally burned out.

I am very much enjoying my new toy, its easy to use and a lot of fun. While I'm sure budget games for the PS3 are only round the corner, for me the winning formula is that you can easily pick up games 6 months old or less for about #12.99-#20 ($24-$40 UK Prices) online from new suppliers like play.com. And this smacks of great value when compared with the PS3's almost #50 ($100 UK Prices) price tag for some games. I'd happily recommend the 360 Elite to anyone and it has easily become my favourite games console, even more so than my prized PSP which practically lives with me.