Getting My XBox Tomorrow. What Do I Need?

[Tempest]

Since the price cuts kick in tomorrow rather than Sunday, I'm getting all geared up to pick up my shiny new 360. I picked up two games today (Blue Dragon for $19.99 and Lost Odyssey for $39.99) since they were cheaper at the EB Games I was near than they are at the Best Buy I'll be getting the console at tomorrow. I figure Best Buy has more stock and it moves quicker so I'll have a better chance of getting a Jasper chip, if they're even out at all that is.

 

I plan on getting the Arcade pack since I already have a 120GB hard drive. From what I understand, the Arcade pack doesn't include the headset or the HDMI cable that the others do. I already picked up a cheap HDMI cable from Monoprice, but what kind of headset should I get? Is the wired one alright, or is wireless the only way to go? I assume I'll also have to pick up the Microsoft brand Wifi adapter if I want to use this wirelessly?

 

I plan on picking up two more games as well tomorrow, Infinite Undiscovery (yes I know of the average reviews) and Tales of Vesperia. I figure these four RPGs should keep me busy until the end of the year or until my fiancee kills me, which ever comes first. Is there anything else I need? One controller should be fine for now, so I probably don't need another one of those.

 

So it's the System, Games, Wifi Adapter, and Wireless Headset I guess.

 

Tempest

[Lord Helmet]

I wouldn't worry about going wireless with the headset. The wire just runs from your headset to your controller, so its really not that big of a deal IMHO.

 

Oh, and grab some rechargeable AA batteries and a charger if you don't have them already.

[Tempest]

Isn't there some charge and play kit?

 

Tempest

[Lord Helmet]

Yeah, but IIRC its overpriced, and most wireless controllers use AA's (Wii and 360 anyway). I suppose if you want a proprietary charge n play setup for each system, thats up to you

[moycon]

I would get a play and charge kit for sure.

I've used mine more times than I can count and if you use Amazon a lot (like me) and dont care about the color mis match, the black ones are $13.99 on Amazon.

[Tempest]

What are achievements good for? Do you get anything for getting them, or are they just for bragging rights?

 

Tempest

[+remowilliams]

I got the play and charge with my original 360. I picked up the quick charge kit a while back, it's quite handy.

[Artlover]

What are achievements good for?

Nothing.

 

Do you get anything for getting them

No.

 

or are they just for bragging rights?

Yes.

[Tempest]

I got the play and charge with my original 360. I picked up the quick charge kit a while back, it's quite handy.

Hmm... The Quick Charge kit seems like it would be more useful to me. I can charge one battery while I play with the other one. How long is the cord with the Play and Charge kit?

 

Tempest

[moycon]

It's like 9 foot. Its plenty long.

It'll charge up the battery with the unit off as well. So you can plug up your controller after a long game session and next time you play (provived it's awhile later) the batteries will be charged fully.

 

Saying that you never get anything for achievments isn't exactly true. I got a free retail game, a free arcade game, a t-shirt, 200 MS points and a gamer pic for getting 2000 gamerpoints for a promotion they ran a while back. Unfortunately that was the only one time they had that promotion. Im guessing maybe it didnt go over too well. For the most part now the achievement are simply goals to be met with the achievements posted for all to see that you've met that particular goal. Some games have kick ass achievements that really test your skill, others have lame one that seem tacked on. In the end they are free, and to me they add to the replay value of your games, if only because you pick it back up and try to snag the achievements.

 

I would also pick up at least a 1600 MS points card Tempest.

It'll give you the opportunity to check out the Marketplace.

[Tempest]

Speaking of Live, do I need to pick up any sort of kit to use it? I know the system comes with a 1 month Gold membership, but to extend that do I need to buy something in a retail store or can I just sign up online?

 

Can't you buy points online like with the Wii and PS3? Is there any reason to buy a card in the store?

 

Tempest

[+remowilliams]

Yes, they can be purchased online bu you can often save money by picking up points cards at retail.

 

As for the quick charge - it's ideal for me because I use 360 controllers on both my PC and my 360, and I hate being tethered for any length of time.

[moycon]

Me personally, I get the Live kits off Ebay or Amazon.

You can get a 3 or 12 month kit, that comes with Live Gold membership, a wired headset, MS points, and an Arcade game. They used to come with a $10 off a retail game coupon, but I think they haven't offered that in awhile.

 

The 12 month kits I'd try to get for about $40-$60, probably snagged about 3 or 4 of them, my girlfreind has an account also, so I found it cheaper to just buy those kits off eBay. $50 is not a bad deal when you consider the head sets are like $20 and Live access for a year is like $49.99, So basically your paying for the access and everything else is just gravy.

 

I haven't bought one in awhile so I'm not sure what the kits offer these days.

The last one I got came with Live access for a year, the Vision camera, a headset, 400 MS points, and a few Arcade games, I think I got it for around $60 . In any case, I'd try ebay or Amazon, you can usually find them considerably cheaper than retail.

Edited September 4, 2008 by moycon

[NE146]

Do you get anything for getting them

No.

 

Not entirely true. SOMETIMES you do. They had that promotion not that long ago where if you accumulate enough points in a certain timeframe, you get some prize or something. For example I got Contra free for scoring 1500 xbox live points (all I had to do was play King Kong all the way through )

 

or are they just for bragging rights?

Yes.

 

Depends on the achievement. You can brag all you want about getting 200 max achievement points in Galaga or Pacman CE but what's your score in it is the big question. Note: pretty much everyone with Galaga or Pacman CE has 200 achievement points for each

[Video]

I'd personally just pick up rechargeable batteries instead of the PlaynCharge thing. I can get a pack of batteries (one for the controller, one for the charger, or other controller) and the charger for less than the PnC anyways. I use Rayovac, 2100 and they last a little longer than standard AA Alkalines, about 50 hours or so witht he rumble on.

[+Cobra Kai]

Speaking of Live, do I need to pick up any sort of kit to use it? I know the system comes with a 1 month Gold membership, but to extend that do I need to buy something in a retail store or can I just sign up online?

 

Can't you buy points online like with the Wii and PS3? Is there any reason to buy a card in the store?

 

Tempest

 

I've read countless horror stories of people who put their CC on their console. It's much safer to buy the cards in the store, or from Amazon.(no tax)

 

If MS charges your card for points or Live service without your permission, they'll simply say 'no refunds'. I recommend you buy the cards.

[+Cobra Kai]

Acheivement points are a double edged sword. I found that they increased the replayability of the games immensely. However, once you obtain 1000/1000 on a single game (all achievements), you feel like repeated plays are meaningless after that since you can't get any more points.

[Video]

I don't know about that, Halo sat in my X-0box for over 5 years, and they didhn't have achievements back then Tha tjust depends on how good the games is.

[+Cobra Kai]

I don't know about that, Halo sat in my X-0box for over 5 years, and they didhn't have achievements back then Tha tjust depends on how good the games is.

Yeah that's my point. Before achievements, I didn't think about getting rewarded from playing, but now that I do get rewarded, I feel an emptiness from the game when all the rewards are used up. Like drugs.

[Lord Helmet]

What are achievements good for?

Nothing.

 

Do you get anything for getting them

No.

 

or are they just for bragging rights?

Yes.

 

 

Exactly. Its kind like the rebirth of the high score list on your favorite arcade game back in the day

[+Cobra Kai]

What are achievements good for?

Nothing.

 

Do you get anything for getting them

No.

 

or are they just for bragging rights?

Yes.

 

 

Exactly. Its kind like the rebirth of the high score list on your favorite arcade game back in the day

That's what Leaderboards are.

[Tempest]

I went to Evil Buy today to see if they had dropped the price on the console yet. After waiting 10 minutes for someone to help me (the one person in the area was too busy showing some guy buying a Wii EVERY game on the shelf and waiting for him to say Yes or No to it), I finally got someone to open the case where they keep the consoles. I was about to pick one up to look at the manufacturing date when the associate stopped me and said that if I touched it the security people would think I was stealing it (exactly how does one steal a giant neon green box?), so she had to handle it for me. I asked what the manufacturing date was and she looked at the COPYRIGHT date on the bottom of the box and said it was 2007. After another 10 minutes of trying to explain to her what I meant she finally let me show her where to look. Sadly they were all from May.

 

I then asked if they had dropped the price yet and she told me that she hadn't heard anything about that. I told her that it had actually been confirmed by Microsoft and could she check the computer. She seemed a little annoyed by this (she had one of those "I know everything, why are you questioning me?" attitudes but she obviously knew nothing about modern games), but she stalked off to check. After another 10 minutes she said there was nothing in the computer about it. Really? Then what do you call this?

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1186006196578

 

Sigh. Is everyone at Best Buy a moron? Wait, don't answer that...

 

Has anyone found a recentally manufactured Xbox Arcade? I wonder where the best place to look for one is? Walmart maybe?

 

Tempest

[yuppicide]

One thing I like for my controllers is AA batteries as opposed to their charging kit. I have AA rechargables that are around 2500MaH and charge in 15 minutes flat! Screw waiting hours or even 1 hour.

[moycon]

Has anyone found a recentally manufactured Xbox Arcade? I wonder where the best place to look for one is? Walmart maybe?

 

Tempest

 

I hate to say it but I would wait a few weeks.

I'm thinking once the Jasper units hit the stores , and a fan gets one, they will do a big write-up on it and how to spot one.

Same thing happened when the Falcons came out.

[Tempest]

Has anyone found a recentally manufactured Xbox Arcade? I wonder where the best place to look for one is? Walmart maybe?

 

Tempest

 

I hate to say it but I would wait a few weeks.

I'm thinking once the Jasper units hit the stores , and a fan gets one, they will do a big write-up on it and how to spot one.

Same thing happened when the Falcons came out.

I doesn't have to be a Jasper, but I'd like one of those newer boards that have the memory on only one side. That apperently helps the heat issue quite a bit.

 

Tempest