The Xbox 360 is the must have games console right now. Unless your offspring have specifically asked for a PS3, or unless you are secretly looking forward to getting your hands on one, then the Xbox 360 is the way to go. How much is an Xbox 360? Well a basic guide price would be… basic package – $299 intermediate package – $399 ultimate package – $499.
Xbox or PS3?
Tommy has a confession to make…he’s a Sony PS3 man, always has been, always will be! So why am I encouraging you to look at the Xbox360 console for your family? The answer is simple, online game play. The Xbox 360 with Kinect sits proudly in Tommy’s Top 10 Toys for Boys and while there are now plenty of games for all the family it’s the boys (old and young alike) who are going to get the most use out of any gaming console. And while playing alone or with your friends, actually there in the room with you, was the norm ten years back today it’s all about remote online gaming.
No Compatibility Between the Xbox and the PS3
The majority of newly released games are now released for PC play, Xbox play and PS3 play, but you cannot mix and match. Each way of playing has its own community and never the twain shall meet. Even at my age I like to play the odd game online, although with a young baby my free time is more or less at zero, and I’m content to just play the game within the PS3 online community. However if I was younger, and had more time, I would definitely be looking to play online with my close friends and the only way you can do that is if you all have the same gaming platform.
I could spend all day comparing the differences between the Xbox, PS3 and Nintendo Wii and I would probably end up promoting the PS3 because it’s the console I started with; and I believe Sony has done its best to grow with its loyal and older clientele. However if I didn’t have a console at all I would certainly now buy the Xbox simply because there are many more players online within the Xbox community. In simple terms this means that most of your son’s friends, unless he tells you different, are now using an Xbox and if your boy wants to join them online he’ll need one too.
So if you’re trying to choose the right console for your son forget all the arguments about graphics, price, extras etc and just make sure you get him the console that all his friends have…almost certainly the Xbox 360.
XBox 360 – What Do you Get for Your Money?
As mentioned at the beginning of this review there are essentially three price bands for these hot toys, and of course the more you spend the more you get.
The basic Xbox 360 package – For $199 you get the Xbox 360 4GB console – this is the standard gaming console with controller, no games, no kinect and the least hard drive memory. I would personally be happy with 4GB of memory but if you intend to download and keep lots of games then you’ll need a console with more memory than that. In many ways, price wise, buying this console and a game separately is probably the most sensible way to go to begin with.
The Medium Xbox 360 package – For $299 you can get either the Xbox 360 (4GB) with Kinect or an Xbox 360 (250GB) bundle. Kinect is the motion sensor add on which allows players to play games without a controller. These games are increasing in popularity and are often better for family and grown up games. For the same money you can also get the Xbox bundle console with the bigger hard drive (250 GB) and two games. This always seems like a great deal but only works if both games are top of your child’s most wanted list.
The Full Xbox 360 Package – For $399 you get everything with bells and whistles! The Xbox (250GB) Console with Kinect and two games. It’s hard to argue with this ultimate package when it comes to value for money but once again you should look closely at the two games included and feel confident that they are games you and your family are going to get plenty of use out of. Otherwise you might be better looking at a different option.
