Xbox 360 questions

Hi there,

Well as nobody added me on skype/msn or nobody was online yesterday I will type some of my questions so you can please answer me. Ty

Okay, I am planning to buy a xbox 360 in some days but I have never had one and I would like to know some things before I do a silly move.

What is the difference between xbox 36 4gb and the one 250gb? Which one is the best one? Is 4gb enough? How do you know if the xbox you are buying is 4gb or 250gb?

I thought you buy CDs from a marketplace such best buy or so but I have seen forums in which people talk about downloading the games. Is that game the same like the one that comes from the CD? Are downloadable games cheaper than the CD ones?

What are xbox points and gamertag? What are they for?

can you play all games online?

Is Kinect really worth it?

I really want to see your opinions and avices. Thanks for reading & answering, sorry for the silly questions :embar:

 

Well, the 'gb' (which stands for Gigabytes) is just the amount of space the hard drive has. The bigger the better in my opinion (if you can afford it). 4GB will not be enough, especially if you're planning on downloading games to the Xbox. Most games are 4GB plus so just installing one game will wipe out your hard drive space. 250GB is obviously more expensive but I recommend it as you won't need to go out and buy a bigger hard drive in the future. On the box it will have either "4gb" or "250gb" in big writing, that's how you know what Xbox you're buying. Also it will be in the description of the Xbox, so read carefully what you're purchasing. As I said before, the bigger the hard drive the more money you will have to pay; but it's totally worth it! You need hard drive space to save your games progress, download films, games, music and exclusive in-game add on's/content.

You can buy "CD's" from a shop and use them just like you use a PC game CD. Almost all games you need to buy the disk for from a shop such as Game or Walmart (ASDA). However, certain games are available for download from the Xbox 360 marketplace. This is because they're either older games which Xbox have decided you can download them or some newer games which don't exist on a CD. They're not really cheaper as Xbox sells them for the value which they would be in the shop. It really depends on the game to be honest.

When you say Xbox points I think you mean "Gamerscore"? This is just like achievements you build up when you play games. If you unlock an achievement by performing a certain action in a game you will receive Gamerscore which adds to your profile. It doesn't really mean anything and can't be used for anything, it simply shows your progression on that game. DON'T confuse this with Microsoft points. Microsoft points are purchased with IRL money and are used to buy downloads, games, music and other in-game addon's and features.

A Gamertag is essentially you online username. Just like your Sythe username, it serves the same purpose; it allows others to see who you are online and your friends can identify you by your Gamertag. Gamertags are unique and there will never be more than 1 of the same Gamertag on Xbox LIVE; So chose carefully! If you want to change your Gamertag it costs 800MSP (Microsoft points) which costs around £5 or $8.

MOST, yes. You can tell whether a game has online features because it will have a grey banner at the top of the game case which says "Xbox live". This means it has online features. Also if you read the back of the case you will be able to see whether or not it has online features. If you need to know whether a game is playable online and can't find out yourself just PM me. I'll be able to tell you

From personal experience, no. I got mine for christmas a year ago and sold it shortly after as I didn't enjoy it and there wasn't enough games out for it. It all depends on personal preference as many people enjoy using the Kinect. There are many more games available now than when I had mine so it may be awesome. You'd have to try it or see some videos of the Kinect in action and decide whether you like the look of it or not Many new games such as "FIFA 13" now have Kinect capibilities so that may be interesting. My best advice would be to take a look at the games which are currently out for the Kinect and games which have the Kinect capability. If you like the look of the games then you're most likely going to enjoy using the Kinect

I hope those are the answers you were looking for and if not just send me a PM! I will always reply back and will help you to the best of my ability.
Xbox's are great and are totally worth the money. They're really enjoyable and I love mine; It's great to interact with friends and there's some really good games out.


EDIT, A COUPLE OF POINTERS/TIPS;
- You need to purchase "Xbox live" to be able to play games online. It's around £35 for a 12 month subscription which is around $50 maybe? You can get shorter subscription times but they end up costing more per month.
- Shop around! You can get MANY different bundles with different features. So shop around, seriously. eBay offer great deals with many trusted sellers. eBay can be up to 20% cheaper than most retailers in some cases.
- You can install the game CD to your hard drive; however you still need to insert the disk even though the game is installed on the hard drive. You install a game onto your hard drive because it generally runs the game smoother and your Xbox doesn't need as much processing power which means it doesn't get as hot and sounds quieter. Another benefit of having a bigger hard drive space.

 

Hey man! Sorry I haven't been able to get around to helping you, I haven't been checking when you're online or not :/

Basically, the 4GB or 250GB is the internal storage, a little bit like the HDD on your PC. If you get a 4GB Xbox, you'll still be able to play games the same, however you won't have as much room for save files and you won't have enough room to download any movies or classic xbox games from the Xbox marketplace.

As I mentioned above you can buy some games online and download them. Pricewise I reckon you'll be better off purchasing them from a store. The game is basically the same yes, but having a hard copy is much better.

Xbox points are known as Microsoft points. You can purchase these points online or as a physical gift card. Basically, these points can be used to buy new games or in-game content, or anything on the Xbox marketplace.

Your gamertag is the nickname that your set for your profile. It's what any other player from around the world sees. (I.E. If you play a FIFA game, and your gamertag is Nickelodeon, all they'll see about you is Nickelodeon.)

Yes, well, most. you can purchase Xbox Live for around $50 for 12 months, even cheaper if you find someone selling it on Sythe. You must have Xbox Live to play online.

It depends. If you've ever played on a Nintendo Wii and enjoyed it, it may be worth it. There's a star wars game where you get to be the controller and swing your arms as if you're really holding a lightsabre. If you don't enjoy moving around a lot and prefer a control in the hands, I wouldn't bother. Remember, you can always buy a Kinect later on.

There's no such thing as silly questions man Everyone has to learn this for the first time haha Hope I helped!

EDIT: Pipped by Ashaxx

 

Since the guys above answered your questions, I guess that I will just add that yiu wint regret buying an xbox if you're a gamer. Sure there might be some things that you don't really like about it, for example having to pay to play online but in the long term, you'll be glad that you had/have one.

I used to have a first generation 360, which I sold because I needed the money.

Nope, haven't regretted having owned an xbox yet

 

The above posters did a really good job at answering your queries, I'll copy and paste some advice I gave sypherz to get a great console for the minimal cost.

When purchasing an xbox 360, you should only purchase a slim console, all the other ones are prone to red rings of death. The slim consoles come with a 4gb built in hdd chip, this is not the same as a hard drive. Official xbox hard drives are required if you plan on downloading content/installing games (4gb will fill up after 1 install) or if you plan on playing original xbox games. The official xbox hard drives have a backwards compatibility partition on them that allows them to play original xbox games. The built in hdd chip doesn't come with this on it, as it wouldn't fit. It already has about 0.9 gb of it taken up with configurations and settings. Instead of purchasing a giant modern slim hard drive (I think you can only purchase 320 gb ones that are official xbox) you should pick up an old one. You can purchase a 20 gb old xbox 360 hard drive for around $20. It comes in a case that, with the old chunky xbox's you could clip onto the xbox and it would register. Not many people know it, but if you take the casing off the old hard drives, it will reveal a small slim hard drive that you can use in your xbox 360 slim console. I recommend you get a 20 gb old hard drive and do this, 20 gb is plenty. If you plan on doing lots of downloading you should just do what I do. Instead of spending an arm and a leg purchasing a giant xbox hard drive you could just use an external one, you could pick up probably a 2 Tb external for the same price as a 320 gb xbox 360 harddrive. I use my external for music and movies as well as having a bit of it allotted for downloaded content. It works well for me. Just be careful though, back up your existing files from the external hdd first because the xbox 360 must format it at the start, to alter it slightly to FAT32 format. Don't worry though, it still works with the PC and other devices fine.