X box 360 review - Post XBox 360 release review

The Xbox 360 is upon us and its powerful presence in the gaming console industry is as impressive as its state-of-the-art graphics.

Until Sony releases PlayStation 3 in the spring, gamers will be enveloped with the awe-inspiring features the Xbox 360 has to offer this holiday season. Bill Gates gloated about the 360 a half a year ago, and it’s now easy to see why the Microsoft founder used such hyperbole.

The computing power is much bigger than the first Xbox (released in 2001) and Sony’s PlayStation 2. The games also operate at faster speeds and the graphics are much sharper.

At the core of the system is an impressive IBM control processing unit that has three separate core processors that run at 3.2 gigahertz each. The 512 megabits of RAM is eight times the amount of the original Xbox. The custom ATI graphics chip allows the 360 to produce four times the amount of polygons and pixels as its predecessor.

Playing Project Gotham Racing 3 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour `06 on 72Op or 108Oi high-definition monitors is so impressive the gamer will gasp at the life-like graphics. One must wipe the eyes and take a closer to look to notice the display includes computer-generated graphics, not a live feed. The display is not as impressive on standard TVs, but is still significantly better than any other game console.

The Project Gotham Racing 3 game has incredible city building detail; showing even opened and closed windows in a building far off in the distance. The daytime lighting is impressive, appearing authentic off the shiny polished finish of the race cars. The detail, even to the extent of displaying every leaf on a tree, takes the breath away.

The Tiger Woods game shows realistic water surrounding the fairways and greens with impressive far-distance detail. The fluid human movement and realistic facial features that the gamer can create are unmatched.

The Xbox 360 controller is similar in design to the first Xbox controller, but it has advanced features. Pressing the guide button will bring the Xbox 360 out of sleep mode, power off or on the console, and bring up a menu for access to digital movies, music and games libraries.

The ring of light (blue, yellow, green and red) lights up the quadrant on the controller as well as the console that correlates with the quadrant of the screen where you are playing if more than one person is playing.

The black and white buttons have been redesigned as shoulder buttons, now referred to as bumper buttons, and located above the left and right triggers. The rear of the controller includes a port where the player can connect a headset. This port replaces the USB connectors on the front of the Xbox controller.

The Xbox 360 is an extension to your home PC in terms of multi-media use. Audio files and photo slide shows can be moved from a PC to the 360 through its USB ports. The 360’s DVD-ROM drive also reads DVDs, CDs, and MP3 CDs.

The Xbox 360 also includes a multi-channel surround sound system. Audio from a stereo or an iPod, for example, can be channeled into the system and be played as part of a game’s soundtrack.

News reports of widespread system crashes after the Xbox 360’s release in America on Nov. 22 are exaggerated, according to Microsoft. Problems included screens going blank or error messages appearing in the middle of a game.

Microsoft said the crashes represent only a small fraction of the units sold. Microsoft has guaranteed to fix or replace the unit if a problem is not resolved through troubleshooting.

The Xbox 360 is sold in two forms. The premium Xbox 360 is priced at $399 and it includes all the goodies such as a 20 gigabit removable hard drive, wireless controller and headset. The core system is priced $100 less and does not include a hard drive, wireless controller and headset. However, these accessories can be purchased and used with the core system at anytime.

The premium set also allows the gamer to play some of the original Xbox games, save games and content, play online or chat live with family and friends with Xbox Live.

All and all, the Xbox 360 is receiving positive reviews from gamers who were lucky enough to get their hands on a unit over the past week. We hope you found the post release Xbox 360 review to be useful when it comes to the information you are looking for, regarding the Xbox 360.

Thank you to Javier Moralas for this xbox 360 review

To discuss this x box 360 post release review, to review the console yourself, or to discuss anything related to gaming... check out our video game console forum.

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