X Box Advice needed

[RFOneWatt]

Very true. That's a great argument for the XBOX.

But then again, how long was the 360 out before the PS3?  The XBOX has a huge advantage in that dept.

That explains the #'s.  Nobody really had Blu-Ray discs, nor HDTV's when the XBOX came out.

PURELY from a gaming standpoint, I think the 360 is the best bang for the buck.

BUT If you want a system that is going to last quite a few more years, or you use a lot of multi-media features (and need a Blu-Ray player) --- GET THE PS3.

Also, the PS3 is updated MUCH more frequently than the 360.  And I'll say this again -- The amount of free stuff Sony gives you can't be beat.

There is always a new demo/video to download when the kids get bored.. (more like 100's)

All for free.



Also, if you have EITHER a 360 or a PS3 & a broadband connection BE SURE to check out:

http://www.playon.tv/  -- NOW!

You'll be watching tons of free content immediately. 

If you want to pay a few bucks, you get all this (and a whole lot more!):

http://www.hulu.com/

Don't worry - even if you don't want to pay there is a TON that is completely free.  If you're really cheap you can get their set top box for 79.00.... but hey, for a few bucks more you can get a 360 or PS3.

Does anybody know if the new 360's have a GIGABIT Ethernet port yet?

[ryan1835]

im thinking of getting an xbox later, only thing im worried about is it being outdated in a short amount of time

[2xTap]

im thinking of getting an xbox later, only thing im worried about is it being outdated in a short amount of time

I wouldn't worry about it in the least. We still have at least a few more years before the next-gen systems begin to be talked about. And depending on how you play and what types of games you do play......there is enough software (games) out on the X360 and still coming you could easily spend a few years just catching up. Pick up expansive content-rich games like The Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout: 3, and Fallout: New Vegas along with all their DLC's and right there is a good year or more of gameplay. Throw in Two Worlds, Mass Effect 1 & 2, the whole HALO series, Grand Theft Auto: IV, all the available Call of Duty's, and Red Dead Redemption.......and unless you spend 14 hours a day every other day of the week on your XBOX you have a good long run of gameplay right there. And this is just the tip of the iceberg!

2xTap

[Pacu]

My xbox is my multi media hub. I run my pc and use the xbox as an extender in windows media center for all my movies,music , plus the xbox has netflix streaming. Oh and last.fm too.

something good is always on the telly.

[ryan1835]

im thinking of getting an xbox later, only thing im worried about is it being outdated in a short amount of time

I wouldn't worry about it in the least. We still have at least a few more years before the next-gen systems begin to be talked about. And depending on how you play and what types of games you do play......there is enough software (games) out on the X360 and still coming you could easily spend a few years just catching up. Pick up expansive content-rich games like The Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout: 3, and Fallout: New Vegas along with all their DLC's and right there is a good year or more of gameplay. Throw in Two Worlds, Mass Effect 1 & 2, the whole HALO series, Grand Theft Auto: IV, all the available Call of Duty's, and Red Dead Redemption.......and unless you spend 14 hours a day every other day of the week on your XBOX you have a good long run of gameplay right there. And this is just the tip of the iceberg!

2xTap

i ended up buyying the 250gb one

cant get enough of fable 3!

[Whoey]

as much as I am anti Microsloth... seems like the Xbox answer to the Wiimote is better than the PS3 one. However, I can see how the PS3 one may have better functionality with multiple users.

[Top-Gear-24]

...

One drastic disadvantage of the Playstation 3 is the fact that you cannot send messages to your friend from within a game; in order to reach the XMB or ‘main menu’ of the PS3, you need to quit out of the game you are playing, and go to your friends list that way. There is nothing in the way of voice chat (with the exception of Warhawk), and no cross-game invite system. With XBOX Live, hit one button and you can reach your friends right away. Send them a voice message, or text message, or invite them to the server you’re playing on. You can even add your MSN/Live Messenger list to the 360, and talk to your non-gaming friends any time you want.

Profiles are also more robust on XBOX Live – each gamer has their own tag, their own custom avatar, a list of games they recently played, some achievements they have accomplished, and an overall score to give an idea of how experienced you are. All of this can be viewed in-game. Also, XBOX Live extends to XBOX.com, where you can view and edit profiles from your PC if you prefer.

On PSN, you get an icon, and a small about-me section. None of this can be viewed in-game, and there is no way to tell anything else about the gamer. PSN does not extend to an online version that can be viewed from the PC, either.

You can send text-messages in the middle of a game by pressing the PS button in the center of the controler, no need to quit the game, and you can also view someone's profile and see what games they've been playing, and you can see the progress for every single game they've played.  Okay, on x-box there are more possibilities, but I think that's only normal, because you have to pay to get online on PS3 it's all for free.

At work, I've got 6 people who play games, one has a Wii, one has a PS3, an X-box, an X-Box360 and a Wii, and all the others have PS3 consoles, (I also have a Wii, but that one is for the kids, although my 6 year old son likes the racing games on the PS3 a lot more than those on the Wii).

By the way, the new Gran-Turismo 5 is  .

[ryan1835]

why wont my xbox recognize my hard drive or ipod 

[2xTap]

ryan,

Can't say I know about the iPod as I don't even own one, let alone tried to do anything with one and my Xbox.

As to the hard drive thing, are you refering to the hard drive that came with your Xbox?

2xTap

[ryan1835]

From what i understood you can connect an external hard drive to play music from? That's what I was trying to do

[2xTap]

From what i understood you can connect an external hard drive to play music from? That's what I was trying to do

That I don't know, never tried it. I just use mine for playing games.

2xTap

[Pacu]

From what i understood you can connect an external hard drive to play music from? That's what I was trying to do

if you have Microsoft Media Center just add your hard drive as an extender.

go to tasks , then go to add extender.

[RFOneWatt]

why wont my xbox recognize my hard drive or ipod 

In order for the 360 to recognize any external storage device (USB Key, Hard Drive, etc.) it has to be formatted in what's called FAT32. 

Google "Format external hard drive FAT32" and you'll be good to go.

Another option is to stream them directly to your 360 from your PC using something like TVersity. (This also works for video files, youtube, pictures, etc.) and it's a free program.  It will also stream to your Android, IPHONE, Zune, and many more.

You can download TVersity here: http://cdn.download.tversity.com/TVersitySetup_1_9_3.exe

Here are some screenshots and videos: http://tversity.com/screenshots/  (Watch the first video, it explains everything really, really well!)

The beautiful thing about TVersity is that it will convert (transcode) any file format on the fly to a format that will work on your 360. (avi, mpg, jpg, mp4, etc.)

Have fun!

[cerbera147]

I plug my USB drive in and it recognises that as a Portable Device 

Works for playing music, pictures and video files  Your machine may require some updates though, mine did. Easy done if you're connected to the 'net

[ryan1835]

i should have guessed it wouldn't have worked im on a mac

oh well thanks for the help

[RFOneWatt]

Most devices come from the factory formatted FAT32 but some come formatted NTFS. In the case of hard drives they are usually not formatted at all.

NTFS gives you more drive space, long file names, the ability to have files larger than 4 GIG, etc. 

You can format your drive FAT32 w/ a MAC.  Here is a link:

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=72996

There are also several DLNA media servers for MAC. (Like TVersity)  Google "mac DLNA servers" and try a few out until you find something that you like.

There are ways to make TVersity and other Windows programs work under MAC but it starts to get a little complicated.  If you want to play around Google "virtual machines macintosh"

I wish I could help you more but I have no experience with MAC.

Good Luck!