If you are lucky enough to be looking at a new gaming system as a gift for the upcoming holidays or for yourself as a special treat I think you’ll be very happy with the graphics quality of the Microsoft Xbox 360. There are a good range of titles for games, from top-quality racing games to role-playing games such as Oblivion. If you are considering purchasing an Xbox 360 for the upcoming holidays, be aware that there are three different versions.
The Arcade version priced at $200 is the most basic version, which used to be known as the Core. The next step up is the Premium or Pro which, priced at around $300, includes a detachable 20 GB hard disk drive. The middle version Xbox is a good value because it shares a great deal of the component pieces of the next step up console, the Elite. The main thing that you need to know to avoid any problems with your Xbox can be found on the outside on the packaging. You are looking for power supply running at 175w. Most of the Xboxes in the store now are the Falcon 65nm chipset. The Elite is priced at $400 and it is the model that I possess and have been using for the past two years without complaint. It’s provided me with many hours of fun and it will for you, too.
$400 is quite a moderate price given the clout that Xbox 360 has on its fans that keeps increasing with each passing day and there is nothing like a nice game of Pokemon to start it out that just requires a Pokemon go account.
A big issue with the Xbox 360 line has been what is now known as the red ring of death. This is the result of a component overheating causing the entire unit to fail. This usually happens because of an overheating problem with the wattage being too much for the chipset. The Xbox 360 Elite is made up of higher quality parts than the other models and so is far less likely to short out. It wasn’t a tremendous risk in the first place, but did effect enough people to cause more than the usual blip on the gaming radar. One would think that at this price point you could be guaranteed quality but often times it is difficult to know how things will hold up until they are out in the field. Given the current state of the economy I would be very surprised if Microsoft did not come up with some kind of a price cut for the upcoming holiday season. Often you can find good deals on slightly used systems on places such as eBay and these often come bundled with many games. Just be aware that if you did not purchase your system from a retailer that you are taking a risk which may or may not be worth the savings given that this game system has had some technical problems in the past, and much like a used car you may be inheriting someone else’s difficulties.