Today’s launch day for X-Box 360, and the best advice I’ve read so far is to avoid the plain vanilla version ("core"). As Scott Colbourne of the Globe and Mail noted, you save $100 (Canadian), but you end up with a version of the console that has no hard drive and is a pale shadow of the beast. Save up for the "premium" version. You’ll end up spending the extra $100 in accessories eventually, anyway.
Colbourne notes that the "core" version is really just a marketing trick to make it look like there’s a cheaper way to own what is essentially a fast multimedia PC that supports high-definition TV. Would you buy a PC without a hard drive?
See Red Herring for a look at Microsoft’s $4 billion investment in the original X-Box, and how it plans to wrench a significant portion of the game console market from Sony and the struggling Nintendo.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Kimiko the Furball // Nov 22, 2005 at 9:10 am
Is Nintendo struggeling? Nintendo isn’t taking part in the console war between Sony and Microsoft, and with Nintendo’s success with the Nintendo DS and GameBoy I fail to see how they could possibly be failing.
I’m more excited about Nintendo’s new console, codenamed Revolution, than the PS3 and Xbox 360. Nintendo is focusing on enjoyable gameplay and is now all about making their console more attractive to non-gamers. Also, letting people download “vintage” games is a huge plus and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on the game.
I will get a PS3 only if Square Enix decides to make an updated FF VII.. the PS3 and Xbox 360 aren’t interesting other than that.
(oh, and I own a PS2 and had a Xbox)
Now, if I could just get enough money to get myself a Nintendo DS.
2 Judy Gombita // Nov 22, 2005 at 1:12 pm
For a change of pace, check out the Atari Flashback series:
http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_flashback/7800
(Just like the Cubes®, I heard about this at a conference session on “Cool Technology Stuff.” There was a lot of interest from the baby boomers in the room….)