It seems that these generations of consoles (like the previous generation) take their appearance seriously after a few years of rigorous operation — at least their manufacturers seem to. With the Playstation 3 going ‘slim' (relatively speaking, of course) last year, it was only a matter of time before Microsoft's white (and sometimes black) box did as well, and it looks like we've got the best version of the console in the form of a new SKU — the 250GB Xbox 360. Having more in common with the rarer ‘Elite' console, the all-black X360 is smaller, stealthier, glossier and packs in a lot more hardware than previous avatars. The most noticeable improvement (apart from its appearance, of course) is the virtual noiseless nature of its operation, the only thing you'll hear being the low hum of its fan in the dead silence of your room. And while that may not dramatically improve your gaming experience directly, it's good to see Microsoft acknowledging the less-than-perfect hardware quality of the older 360s. The new machine also supposedly generates less heat and as a result, is less prone to the hardware failures that plagued the first-gen X360, including the world-famous RROD or ‘red ring of death'.
In terms of storage, the new slim console is on a par with its fierce rival from Sony, sporting a 250-gigabyte hard drive which will provide more than adequate space to store movies, pictures, music, downloadable titles or even entire games (a lot of which can be installed in their entirety from discs). Other bells and whistles include on-board Wi-Fi which helps eliminate LAN cable clutter in your room, five USB ports and a nice wireless black controller. Microsoft has also labelled the console ‘Kinect Ready' which essentially means that it has got a port into which the Kinect system can be plugged in when it is launched. Okay, so the feature-set is fairly enticing, but does it dramatically enhance your gaming experience? Well, if you don't own a console, it really boils down to a matter of preference, but one thing's for sure: the new Xbox 360 is the best version of the console yet.
The biggest positives for the new console are the form factor and the presence of on-board Wi-Fi, making it the ideal console for LAN parties at a friend's place. There are tonnes of Xbox 360 games that support ‘system link' multiplayer (Halo Reach, Gears of War 2, Modern Warfare 2 to name a few) and while Xbox Live is a great service, BYOC (bring your own console) parties are sure to undergo a revival — provided you've got some extra LCD displays and a Wi-Fi router around the house. The large hard disk space also means you can cut down loading times significantly — who wants to wait an entire minute for a game to load these days? There's really no reason to not pick up the new box if you don't own a gaming console — there's tonnes of great exclusives, it's Kinect-ready and it sports some nifty new tech that makes your Xbox experience far less cumbersome.
(Courtesy: Blur)
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