Xbox 360 - A Guide To Buyers

Xbox 360 game console has become popular in the gaming world and has emerged as a fine game console. It has a dashboard with five different menus or `blades` as they are called. These are the Xbox Live, Games, Media, settings and Marketplace.

The Xbox Live is an internet service accessible to Xbox 360 players and it has two types of subscriptions; silver and gold. The silver subscription is free and users can create a user profile, access Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace for chatting and join message boards but it does not allow multiplayer gaming. The gold subscription, on the other hand, offers all the facilities of the silver one with the addition of multiplayer gaming, voice/video/text communication and friend lists. Some Microsoft points have to be bought from any store to get the subscription and then you can access the content on Xbox Live.

One can buy a movie or old Arcade games or add-ons to your favorite games. The Xbox Live is very easy to use and both expert gamers as well as novices can grasp the functions right away. Xbox Live allows players to interact with other players across the world or just across the neighborhood. It is a handy console for meeting people who enjoy the same type of games as you do. Posting messages on the message board, keeping friends updated about gaming scores is all possible with an Xbox 360 game console.

Offering the best variety of games, the Xbox 360 game console has the Halo 3, Grand Auto Theft, Assassin`s Creed, Gears of War and Mass Effect among others in its kitty. Besides being tremendous fun, they are all highly innovative games. For instance, the Halo3 is made by many game publishers for each system but the Xbox version is the best when compared to others like Nintendo`s Wii or Playstation 3. Nintendo`s novelty of providing controls soon wears off after playing a few games and the layout of the buttons does not feel too comfortable if you play for long.

The Playstation 3 has the same graphics as the Xbox 360 since game publishers do not want to spend extra just for Playstation. Games on this console range from the ones suitable for children to family games to games for hardcore professional gamers. Every type of preference is taken into account and this gaming console boasts of one of the largest selections of games in any new-generation game console.

The `gamertag` is the online identity of the player which can be used to keep track of his achievements and points for the games and to connect with friends. A self-picture also can be uploaded either as a cartoon or an avatar. With its impressive interface, the Xbox allows for viewing avatars from friends on the list. The Media tab keeps track of your music and videos and the settings tab is for managing the Xbox 360 game console network and console settings. It is easy to navigate and get around.

This gaming console has the advantage of backward compatibility which means being enabled to use software to play Xbox originals. So, old favorites need not be forgotten.

The price range of the Xbox 360 game console is very wide. Unlike a Playstation 3 where customers have to shell out the dough even for stuff which they don`t want, the Xbox allows greater freedom of choice and this reflects in its pricing.