XBOX 360

It's a game console, no it's a PC. Maybe a little both, but definitely made user friendly enough to fit in the game console market. I only wish PCs were this easy to set up and use.

It comes with a wireless controller. That's neat but with a load of batteries, it's kinda heavy. The XBox itself is also heavy, and the power supply is huge. When on, you can hear the fan running. It's a PC in game console disguise.

The controller has feedback, which is a nice added feature. It rumbles when you drive off the road or get shot in games.

The output works with a custom cable that lets you choose either composite or component video. The component can be either 720p or 1080i. Both look really nice. Since all XBoxes are the same, game designers can all work on a narrowed down spec and focus on quality instead of compatibility. The result is truly astonishing image quality and smoothness.

Mine came with Need for Speed. It's pretty cool. I've tried the demo for Ridge Racer 6 and I think I like that better.

I also have Gears of War, which is a must-have for the XBox 360. It's hard to control but I'm getting it. It must be good, after all there are over 2 million sold.

There's this thing called "XBox Live" which is supposed to be an online community. It's mostly a place where you can get demos, videos and other downloads. It has potential but needs more selections. There are both free and paid membership available. You can also get classic arcade games like Frogger, Pacman and Defender, which are fun and nostalgic to play.

I've tried out demos of current/upcoming games. The process of downloading and playing them is so much more convenient that a PC. There's no installation, downloads queue in the background and you get a little pop-up letting you know when they're ready to play.

But where's the community? There's no chat, bbs or similar thing. The closest is blowing up strangers in Battlefield: Modern Combat. How about a Sims or Second Life kind of place?

There are also some nice media features. It can play music, video or show pics from your PC, using extra software on your PC. You can use Windows Media Center Edition, Windows Media Player 11 (with Vista) or install the Zune software which is an iTunes ripoff.

It's pretty picky about file formats. Not all the WMVs I tried worked, like ones generated by Beyond TV's ShowSqueeze feature. And it doesn't work with video shared from another PC- the files show up but won't play. That was using a UNC path- I haven't tried mapping a drive yet.

I hear the XBox 360 is doing well against PS3 and Wii. I can see why. It's a good solid game system. The games aren't as innovative as Nintendo's, but they suite my tastes. I hope they can do more with the "community" thing.