My XBOX 360 Review
November 1, 2007 – 1:10 pmI recently purchased an XBOX 360. Microsoft really has done a 360 with its new console. I’ve listed some of my favorite new features here.
1. Probably the most notable feature is the XBOX Marketplace. When you turn on the console it boots into the dashboard. From the Marketplace you can download game demos and play them before you go out and buy. You can also download videos and trailers.
2. I like how I can now stream music from a windows based PC connected to my LAN. Also, whenever I’m playing music through the XBOX, it knows to shut off the music for the game and only play sound effects. I can adjust the volume, create a playlist, or change songs via the dashboard without even leaving the game. There are also a couple of USB ports in the front for plugging other devices like an iPod or Zune to play MP3. One thing worth mentioning though is that songs that were purchased via iTunes won’t play on your XBOX because Apple won’t sell the encryption technology for song decoding to Microsoft unless they pay some outrageous amount of money for it. Apple sucks.
3. The wireless controllers are standard now, which is great because I hate wires. I’ve noticed that the controllers will shut themselves down after 15 minutes of inactivity (I think it’s 15 minutes not exactly sure) so you don’t have to worry about running down your batteries when you aren’t playing. That said I highly suggest you buy a battery charger and some rechargable batteries.
4. You can set up the console to power down after 6 hours of inactivity. If you happen to be downloading a ton of demos or videos from the Marketplace, it will continue to download them in the background. Nice!
5. Since surround sound is pretty important to me, I really like the digital audio jack in the back of the console which makes it really easy to hook your system up to a receiver.
Overall this is a slick system. I was able to place the console sideways into the built-in shelving in my living room and it looks nice.