Digital Spy writes, "With Christmas edging closer, those of you considering a next-generation games console may well need some help before you make that illustrious decision. And that's where DS comes in, with a fully featured guide to the three main consoles on the market."
"Over the next three days, we are going to take a look at each individual system, examining their good and bad points, what gamers can expect from the machine, the best Christmas games for the system and to round things off, we also mention some of the deals currently on offer by the major high street stores."
Good Points
The Xbox 360 is the most well established of all the next-generation consoles and, therefore, it has the largest range of games on offer. Its wireless controller works well and its online service is unrivalled. There's also the optional HD-DVD drive allowing movie fans to watch films in HD quality, while the range of consoles on offer means there's one to suit all pockets and tastes.
Bad Points
The Xbox 360 has suffered from technical problems, gaining a reputation for poor reliability and high failure rates, forcing Microsoft to extend its warranty to three years to cover consumer woes.
Since September, however, the firm has equipped all new consoles with the Falcon motherboard, featuring a revised design that contains the new 65nm central processor and cooling system. Microsoft claims this update will ensure hardware failures are a thing of the past.
Online
For those with a broadband connection, Xbox Live is free for silver members, but costs £39.99 a year to subscribe to the gold service, giving users full access to online play and downloadable new content such as trailers, demos of forthcoming games etc.
Sales
Up to Spring 2007, worldwide sales stood at 13.4 million units. Following the release of Halo 3 in North America, sales of the console really took, selling 528,000 units in September compared to 501,000 Nintendo Wii's during the same period.
Top Christmas Games
BioShock, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Assassin's Creed, Need for Speed: Prostreet, FIFA 08, Mass Effect and Half-Life 2: The Orange Box.
A brutal reset, a smarter story, and a return to what made it great—Mortal Kombat (2011) revived the series.
Underrated comment. I used to hate that game so much that any time my siblings asked me to play it, I just picked Hom and shut myself down mid-match.
15 years went by so fast. I remember playing through the story mode at launch.
The name "Hewson" carries a special weight for anyone who grew up during the golden age of British computing. As the son of Andrew Hewson—the man behind legendary publisher Hewson Consultants—Rob Hewson didn't just grow up playing video games; he learned to spell his name from their title screens. However, Rob didn't just rest on his family's 8-bit laurels. From leading major LEGO franchises at TT Games to tackling the high-stakes world of technical porting at Huey Games, Rob has carved out a unique path in an ever-evolving industry. In this candid interview Rob to discussed the burden and beauty of a family legacy, the technical "scar tissue" left by the ambitious Hydrophobia, and why porting a masterpiece like Inscryption to consoles is far more than a simple copy-paste job.
To celebrate Tomb Raider: Legend's 20th anniversary, the official channels have shared an early in-development gameplay demo.
This is a well written and thoughtful look at the 360 console for this holiday season. Articles like this one are what keep me coming back to this site. Even the horrible fanboy flames can't keep me away. Now they just have to write one for the PS3 and the Wii and my holiday season will be complete.
HALO 3
CALL OF DUTY 4
FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 3
ARMY OF TWO
SOUL CALIBER 4
GTA 4
GEARS OF WAR 2
VIRTUA FIGHTER 5
DEVIL MAY CRY 4...ENOUGH SAID
silver accounts also gets demos/trailers same as gold.
its just gold accounts can play online with others :/
saved $522. Is there any way to buy a 12 month xbl gold subscription for less than $50?
Microsoft claims this update will ensure hardware failures are a thing of the past.