Xbox 360 Console

(Buy this console and get a selected game for £20--Check out our bundle to find out more)

I must first say that I am NOT a gamer and until recently had no interest in playing games through my TV. Have always stuck to chess on my PC. Having watched my son play a few games on his bedroom "machine" (not sure what he has got!) I decided to take the plunge. At 50 I wish I had taken the plunge sooner!! The graphics on the games are simply amazing and it would appear that this is exactly what my HD TV was built for!
It was easy to set up and I did not need instructions. Great start. Batteries into the wireless controller and everything starts happening for you with easy to follow on-screen assistance. Fantastic.
Inserted the first game (Need for Speed: The Run) and that was it! I was off. I have to admit that I am not very good at it yet, but hey who cares?!! It was great fun and I have thoroughly enjoyed my Xbox experience so far. Just waiting for Skyrim to arrive so I can get slaughtered by dragons.
My wife hasn't seen it under the telly yet, as I get up early to play!!

I only recently got myself an Xbox 360 and as this newer matte black edition was cheaper than the older shiny version (which quickly get smudged with finger prints) I decided to go for it, since it also had the 250 gig hard drive, which considering a lot of games ask you to install updates and such (Battlefield 3 has a HD texture pack that takes up nearly 1.5 gig on its own) is worth having. From using a Nintendo Wii for the last couple of years, starting this up was a revelation. Its a high-def experience from start to finish. The Xbox live experience is going to take some getting used to - it features places to download movies and all sorts. One downside is that to play games online you will need to get a gold subscription for about £40 and this is important - you CANNOT get the most out of this product without buying an HDMI cable - IT DOES NOT COME WITH ONE. Of course, you can get them on amazon for less than £2.00 and they work great.Wired--up v1.3A HDMI to HDMI Gold Plated Connectors 1.8m Cable for HD TV's/ Xbox 360/ PS3 I bought another one for my new blu-ray player.

I've been kind of limited to offline play with my new (new to me) games but experiencing the high def graphics has been quite an experience. The digital dolby sound on a lot of the games has to be heard to be believed. If you have an HD television you need a game system like this to get the most out of it, as long as you have even a passing interest in playing video games. £170 (bit less than I paid, actually) is quite a lot for a videogame console and you'd hope it would be a little cheaper as its coming to the end of its useful life span and is likely to be superceded with an updated xbox some time next year or in 2013, still for the visual experience and the low prices of some of the older games, its still well worth getting in to the xbox 360 while you still can.

Having sold my Xbox sometime ago, I was happy when it came to purchasing a new console that both the 4GB and 250GB now have a matt finish. Don't get me wrong, it's great having the glossy finish but it's a fingerprint and dust magnet!

In regards to the console itself, the new slim (S) 360 runs much, much, quieter than the original consoles back in 2005. Not only are they now quieter but they also use a lot less electricity, which is always a plus!

The console itself is very easy to setup and feels very robust. Included are:- A wireless controller plus (disposable) batteries, console, SD AV cable, headset, power brick and power cord. If you wish to get the HD experience, a HDMI cable will cost you extra but thankfully they no longer cost the earth. The touch sensitive buttons are great and add to the whole experience but the main attraction is upon starting up the console for the first time. First of all your greeted with a short but in-depth initial setup. This setup allows you to easily setup your console for use and introduces you to some of the great features that come with your Xbox 360. Upon compleation, you are greeted with the dashboard. My console came with the old dashboard with sideways cascading squares. This dashboard isn't the most user friendly but thankfully, Microsoft have released a new metro-inspired dashboard that not only is much easier and faster to use, it looks brilliant.

I would like to recommend every owner update to the new metro-inspired dashboard. You may do this via connecting to Xbox Live on your console or following the instructions found at [...]. The new dashboard is much quicker to use, includes many new and welcomed features and categorizes facebook, Sky, LOVEFiLM etc into a new App tab - awesome!

Of course, every potential purchaser should be aware in order to play games online and use some of the features, you must subscribe to Xbox Live Gold. The great thing is, if you setup a Gamertag (Xbox Live account) for the first time on your new console, you will get a month for free. There is always offers on Gold as well. At present there is an offer, offering 3-months of gold for just £6 (a 60% saving).

The graphics on games are mind blowing and the shear amount of content is immense! Most, if not all games have 5.1 surround sound too. There really is something for everyone on the 360. Other consoles such as the PS3 and Wii do have their strong points too but the 360 is a great all rounder and if you have children, Kinect is something you may also wish to invest in (but that's another review entirely!)

If your still unsure, I would suggest taking a look at some of the 1000s of games available and reading their reviews to help you make up your mind. If you do decide to purchase, I would like to take the opportunity to welcome you to the world of gaming and hope to see you on Xbox Live!