Review: Xbox 360 Elite

Ok, I really held out as long as I could. I've wanted an Xbox 360 pretty much since they came out. At the time, I just couldn't justify the purchase financially. Then last Christmas, we got a Nintendo Wii (which is excellent for families or parties).

Well, this year I'm doing better off financially and I couldn't wait any longer. So, about a week ago I got myself a shiny new Xbox 360 Elite.

I'm kind of glad that I waited till the Elite came out. The Xbox 360 Elite has HDMI out, which I'm sure I'll want in the future. And it comes with the 120 GB hard drive as opposed to the 20 GB with the regular Xbox 360.

I'll get one gripe out of the way right here. It doesn't come with wifi out of the box and the official wifi adapter costs $99. So, I bought a 50 foot network cable and ran it through my attic from my office to my living room.

MS (surprisingly) has really done some good work with their Xbox consoles. Their network implementation is the best out there. The GUI/OS is easy to use and navigate. It's super easy to go get game demos and watch trailers for movies that you can rent. The trailers look sharp and clean on my 36 inch Trinitron streaming over a decent 1,200 K DSL connection. I've already downloaded at least a dozen 1GB demos and some game-play footage on top of that. See how handy that 120 GB drive is now?

I think the graphics are fantastic. There are moments when I'm actually in awe of them. Like rounding a corner in Forza 2 (came w/ console) heading into the evening sun and the pavement is just glistening. Or in Bioshock, where the water in puddles on the ground looks so real.

Also, if you have a 360, you really need to go check out the Burnout Paradise demo. The cars and the environment look great. But, it's the crashes that impress the most. The cars dynamically crumple and deform very realistically.

My wife and I already finished the Halo 3 Campaign on Normal. It was fun defending the Earth from aliens with her. But, the game looks even better when you play it single player!

I think you've all had an earful for now. So, parting words; If you're in the market for a console with good graphics and network play with a solid library of titles, the 360 Elite is a great purchase.

Merry Christmas and Early Happy New Year!