Thinking of getting an Xbox 360

[Ducky]

Okay.. Lets start.

Will it live untill next year or 2 years ahead? (Should I buy it if im planning in 2 years? or probably a new thing will come out?)

Multiplayer on games , is free?

Whats that Xbox Live Membership card?

How do I use the avalible space on the XBOX?

I know it has alot of recommended games , but if I have it hacked/chipped/whatever EVERYTHING works fine? (Multiplayer, no glitches and stuff) ?

My own reasons to get it , tell me if im correct - Good games (alot of PS3 level games, Graphics and stuff) , Good multiplayer , Support for online on Rock band =) .

Last but not least - How much it costs (0~1000$ : example) ?



Thanks!

 

[Prime]

1) I believe it is random, Some 360's last for ages, Some last for 4 months. My friend has had two 360's one of them lasted 1 year and the new one which was in fact a brand new one lasted 3 months. Microsoft keeps trying to solve the issue. There is a few motherboards which came out, each one trying to improve the RROD issue.

2) If you mean online Multiplayer then no it's not free but it is worth the money.

3) it is a card which you buy and enter the code which gives you access to xbox live. How long depends on the card. you can get 1 month, 3 months or 12 months.

4) err...how you'd like. you can download videos, demos, install games, gamerpics, dlc themes.

5) well you could have a bad burn or a bad iso but that rarely happens. oh and sometimes the developers of the game don't put the servers online untill the retail release so a leaked game could not work online but that rarely happens

6) yeah you are correct

7) I don't know your currency so you'll need to look about online or in stores.

 

[FAST6191]

1) See Prime's reply if you mean hardware wise.
If you mean will microsoft bring out the next console by then, that is a guessing game. Nothing has been said but it depends. The 360 is doing fairly well by all accounts (the 360 versions tend to be better which is a good sign).
Failing that does it really matter, I am still playing through the original xbox series. I will say though that in two years it may not be as easy to mod.

2) Split screen is free, network play (system link) is free, xbox live is not (Prime took this one as well). Note xlink kai (where you use system link games but tunnel it over the internet or similar) does not really exist for the 360 and probably will not (it drops the connection if the ping is too high, local networks have ping often an order of magnitude less though so it is easy enough to detect and block for MS).

3) see Prime's reply.

4) The hard drive is used by some games for the game itself (I do not suggest getting a console without one), the current dashboard allows running from the drive and you can also download demos/xbox live marketplace stuff and films in some regions. Mod it and demos mean nothing, you can stream video from your PC and games while worthwhile are not usually that big.

5) See Prime's reply.

6) Whoever it was that called the Wii60 idea (people have a wii and a 360 was right on the money).

7) Israel huh, most people I know currently in that part of the world do not tend to go game buying so no info from people on the ground.
Modding equipment tends to come from quite far away (while I do not know people in that world I occasionally speak to them on IRC and the like, I know of no middle east suppliers but Greece has some stuff and so do a few places in eastern Europe). A lot of places will use secondary shipping/remailing services if you are not so close to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem too.
Luckily 360's use fairly common hardware to hack them (VIA or NVIDIA cards depending on the drive).
Stuff like this will naturally be more expensive owing to it being imported but you are probably used to it. I doubt you will get the most recent versions either (which is a good thing).
If you buy online then you will be looking at close to $350USD if you do it right. Probably closer to $450 by the time all is said and done.
You go to Europe and shipping will be lower but prices are higher in general, probably around €400 or 2000 nis/ils at current exchange rates. US prices are just under that (for $450).

 

[nin10do]

my chipped one gets here in exactly one week. not sure about the multiplayer thing.

there were two production lines for the 360. when the first batch was made. it's faliure rate was 50%. yeah i couldn't believe it either.
of the ones that went for repairs only 75% could actually be fixed.

in the second batch made more recently the faliure rate is now 20%. still s little high but hey at least it improves your chances.

aprently 360's have a finicky power unit. you should ALWAYS connect a UPS and power regulator to it.

there are 2 chiped versions. one runs a third of the games and the other runs 90% of them.

 

[Ducky]

Is there any item I can get to use my PS2 guitar hero game on the 360?
or something to use my controllers on it?

 

[FAST6191]

XCM XFPS 360 is able to use PS2 pads (amongst other things)
http://www.xcm.cc/xcm_xfps_360.htm
It is not that cheap though and not that widely available.

PS2 emulator, true homebrew on the 360 is not that advanced and a PS2 emulator is right out.

 

[Snooby]

I got an elite xbox last year, and it RRODed just a few days ago :\ I thought they fixed it with the elites meh. At least theres a 3 year warranty or something like that. So far, they've been really nice about fixing it. They sent me a box and free shipping to send it to them to repair. I even heard some people got new xboxs back because they couldn't fix the old ones!