must. have. bioshock.

PAX settled it for me: I must have Bioshock, Gears of War, and an Xbox 360 to play them on.

Also, Rock Band.

So this is my lazyweb of the year: What's the best way to build a 360 system? Is there even a way to build it? I'm thinking about picking up the Elite wherever I can find it cheapest, and I just don't want to make some stupid noob move when I do it. Are there peripherals I absolutely need or don't need?

I am now watching whatever gamer cred I earned at PAX evaporate.

Comments

[Samuel McConnell]

There is but one advantage to the Elite now that the Premium/Pro is shipping with HDMI, and it is the 120GB hard drive. I've found that the large hard drive is largely unneccesary....20 seems to be just fine. I've got a dozen XBLA games and 4 or 5 demos, and still have room for a few TV shows and an HD movie. You can redownload anything you delete to free up room, and nothing you can download is bigger than 20GB, so I don't really see why 120GB is worth the extra money.

[Chris Kessel]

Unless you're a hard core downloader of demos and addons, the original 20GB drive should be enough. And if it isn't, you can probably get an extra external one later.

[Lancer]

Ware the Red Ring of Death

[Giladani]

Yeh, the plain jane XBox360 is perfectly fine as long as it's the model with HDMI. I suppose if you feel storage inadequacy issues or if you really have a fixation on black consoles, you could go Elite. Like the others here, I haven't had an issue with my 20 Gig 360.

The 360 renders games at 720p and then up or down converts to your screen, so that's something to also be cognizent of depending on what kind of screen you're going to hook it up to.

Also, shoot me your gamertag when you get it :).

[Giladani]

@lancer: MS says they've fixed the RROD (heatsink and airflow issues, evidently) and that fix is in all the models that are currently in the pipeline. My launch 360 got RRODed after about a year and a half and MS sent me a new one free of charge. No issues with that one...yet.

[ttrentham]

Did you enter the Engadget contest to win BioShock and an XBox 360 with the other 18,000 geeks, including myself?

[Tony]

I would disagree about the going with the smaller hard drive. One of the reasons the 360 rocks is the Xbox Live Arcade. Every game released for the XBLA has a playable demo, and you can set up your 360 to download them automatically. I believe there are now 75+ arcade games, weighing in around 50 megs a piece. While they say it's a 20 GB harddrive, you can only use around 14 GB or so. So all the arcade demos are already a quarter of the hard drive. Add in all the other downloadable content you'll want (tons of new songs for Rock Band) and any other media, the larger hard drive will future proof your system.

That was a long winded way of saying go with the Elite. :)

Don't pass on Crackdown and Dead Rising, either.

[Aaron Dunlap]

This would be my department.

I wouldn't get the Elite unless you:

1) MUST have HDMI. The difference between HDMI and Component is negligible, and HDMI connectors are rare and few on any TV made before, say, 10 minutes ago.

2) Will be downloading a LOT of stuff. The non-elite Xbox 360 (premium) has a drive perfectly big enough for about a billion saves, a few dozen downloaded games, a couple of demos, and 2 or 3 downloaded movies. The Elite's 120GB drive is aimed at people who want to download every demo and purchase every movie.

3) Must have a black system.

4) Think the Elite is a cool name.1337, w00t!

If none of those fit your bill, I'd go for the Premium. If you have a Costco membership, get it there. It'll come with a game (they usually have a bundle that comes with a bunch of Arcade games). The bundle will also include an extra controller (wireless) and a charge cable.

Other than that, it's pretty simple. Don't buy any 3rd party accessories, don't buy an extended warranty plan if a store offers it.

You have my email if you have any more questions. Seems like I've walked 3 or 4 people through 360 purchases now.

[aliented]

Don´t know if you´ve seen them yet...

http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/multimedia/2007/08/gallery_pax?slide=5&slideView=10

and

http://flickr.com/photos/puja/1260405514/

[Hans Moleman]

Agreed, no need for the Elite unless you need a lot of HD space. You want the HDMI for the best connection if you're going to hook it up to an HDTV. Component ain't too bad, though. Peripherals, a second controller if'n ya want to play with others in the same room, a headset if'n ya want to play (er, talk) with others online. Oh, and if you're going to do it right, make sure you hook up the audio to you home theatre/surround sound correctly. That's half the immersion of the games you're describing. Hope I didn't assume anything.
Oh, and don't worry about the whole noob thing, only dicks hate noobs. And Wil Wheaton says "Don't be a dick!"

[Trevor]

I definitely love the wireless controllers. I can turn on and off the system from my couch. I just throw the controller in with the rest of my remotes.

[longklaw]

I'm getting an Xbox 360 soon. I plan on getting both Bioschock and Gears eventually, but I'm starting off with Eternal Sonata and Halo 3. I hope you have fun.

[arspoetica028]

A friend of mine just tried BioShock. To me it looks like a confusing game, but he loves it. It does look cool, though.

[Doc Ezra]

Given your confessed love for Guitar Hero and anticipation for Rock Band, I'm gonna go against the "no need for a big HDD" camp. GH2 download packs clock in at about 10 MB/song. Harmonix is talking about dropping a downloadable album *per week*...even if they optimize, you're probably talking 100 MB per album.

On a weekly pace, if you intend to seriously get your rock on, those downloads alone will eat space fast. Add in over a GB for Gears maps (to date), a GB for any other shooter that's got support (Prey, FEAR, Rainbow Six Vegas), and the 14GB of actual usable space in the 20GB drive starts to look pretty thin.

[Giladani]

I think Bioshock is amazing but then I love FPSes *and* art deco *and* critiques of objectivism *and* System Shock so I was kind of sold on it from the get go.

[Aaron Dunlap]

I didn't know GH downloads were that big. That changes things a bit.

Still, you can buy the 120GB hard drive separately without needing to spring for the Elite. I don't think Costco has Elite bundles yet.

[Sean]

I think the comment about Rock Band and Guitar Hero downloadable content is a good point. You may as well get the Elite for the big hard drive.

As far as the rest of the set up, you'll have to figure out how to get it connected to the intertubes. If you can run network cable to your Xbox then you're golden. If you want to go wireless you have a couple options. You can buy the wireless adapter from MS for $100 at retail, or considerably less on Ebay. It's pricey either way, but the big pro in its favor is that it JUST WORKS. Easy as pie. The other option is that you can buy a Linksys wireless ethernet bridge and use that. I've heard (thought i don't know for sure) that this can interfere with download and upload speeds. I'm no network guru so i don't know. Personally i recommend the MS adaptor.

Finally, if you want to do any multiplayer gaming you'll need to sign up for Xbox Live Gold membership. This costs $50 a year retail but you can find cards on Ebay for cheaper. If you don't have any interest in that, you can just sign up for a Silver account and be able to download everything that's available on the Marketplace, including movies, tv shows, and downloadable content for games.

If you end up getting one, send me a friend request. My gamertag is beanman101283

[dyreschlock]

My advice would be forget about the elite. The new Premium models have the 65nm chipset inside of them which increase performance, decrease how loud the machine is, and should not be as susceptible to the Red Ring of Death.

These new 360s, code-named Falcon, should be in stores right now, though they are difficult to spot.

Apparently, they have the HDMI slot, so that should make it pretty easy to track down.

Just find a Premium 360 with an HDMI slot.

And unless you plan on downloading a ton of HD movies, I'd say a 60 gig harddrive should do you just fine.

[Jonathan Popp]

I'd definitely go with the elite. The benefit of not having to frequently worry about cleaning up old saves, movies, etc. is worth the extra cost.

[ghostbear1]

the elite is nice, if you plan on downloading every Xbox Live title and all the rock band songs then that would be very helpful, plus having the HDMI port is nice. On the flip side i dont feel like i am missing out with my non-elite 360. by the way Wil feel free to add me to your friends list when you get your xbox, its Ghostbear Khan , by the way it was nice seeing you at pax, saw you playing mario kart during the concert and decided to leave you to your game, though i did chuckle a bit when you screamed out for them to play Contra.

[Mike Maloney]

Okay, I'm not going to discuss the merits between an Elite or a 20GB 360; whatever works best for you, really.

However, as far as accessories go, there are a couple must haves.

First is the rechargeable battery pack: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-Rechargeable-Controller-Battery-Pack/dp/B000B6MLSC/ref=sr_1_3/104-3262367-1377506?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1188336546&sr=1-3

Second is the Play & Charge Kit: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Play-Charge-Kit/dp/B000B6MLS2/ref=sr_1_1/104-3262367-1377506?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1188336546&sr=1-1

When your battery starts to get low, just plug it into the Kit (Which is a USB Connection so you can charge it on your PC if you want, doesn't matter), wait for the red light to go green, and boom, your battery's recharged. And if your battery gets low while you're playing, no problem, charge while you play, hence the witty product name.

So yeah, whatever model you get, you MUST also pick up both of those items for any controllers you own as well.

[salian]

One thing to be aware of, in case you do not own an HD TV to plug the 360 into: some games (not sure which ones, I've only ever played my 360 on my LCD TV in 720p) display reeeeaaally tiny text on standard definition TVs, as they don't format it for anything other than HDs.

In terms of accessories, I would recommend either the plug-n-play kit, or the battery charger. Either one should keep your wireless controller in good stead, without having to rely on batteries all the time. The plug-n-play kit is the only 360 I have ever purchased for it, and I bought my system and the kit on launch day in November '05.

[Mike Maloney]

Sorry, those links are a little long, let me TinyURL them:

Battery: http://tinyurl.com/2ac4hy

Play & Charge: http://tinyurl.com/2x6jd6

[timewalker2099]

I get all of my gaming news from www.kotaku.com
They announced 360 bundles coming for the holiday season, packaged with Forza 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, so you may want to wait for those if you like free games.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/gizmodo/new-360-double-game-bundles-discovered-288570.php
Also, as noted above, look on the box for the Falcon chipset - those are smaller and run cooler.
This link shows where to look. You want Falcon, not Zephyr.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/microsoft/newer-xboxes-are-clearly-labeled-not-to-suck-288229.php

Don't buy a Premium and then get the add-on extra hard drive, it costs more than the Elite. Just buy the Elite and rock out with your cock out!

And here's a link to 13 months of Xbox Live for $43 instead of $50+
http://www.buy.com/prod/xbox-360-live-12-month-gold-subscription-card-featuring-halo-3-graphic/q/loc/108/204305508.html

Good luck! I hope to be joining you this Winter.

[Fish]

I'd also go for a couple (or more) wireless controllers, and a charger that hooks to the Xbox (not the quick charger, but the one that allows you to keep playing while charging).

Also, I highly recommend Burnout: Revenge. It's a good release after a nasty commute (of course, living in LA, when do you ever have a bad commute?).

Let me know when/if you get on Live. My Live name is Mighty Fish.