Xbox 360

The Xbox 360, the successor of the original Xbox game system, is the latest game system from Microsoft. The Xbox 360 boasts that it plays the most powerful games on the planet, but it also has several features that extend beyond gaming. It gives you the ability to watch movies, listen to music CDs, play videos, view pictures from your digital camera, and it can even interact with your iPod and other portable music players.

The Power of the Xbox 360
The new Xbox 360 is one beefy system. It contains a custom-designed central processing unit that contains three different core processors that are each clocked at 3.2 GHz. To display the amazingly high-resolution graphics, the Xbox 360 comes with a 500 MHz ATI graphics processor. As for memory, the console is packed with 512 MB RAM (eight times more than the original Xbox) and includes a 20 GB hard drive.

All the Xbox 360 games are optimized for High Definition TV (HDTV) at the 16:9 widescreen-viewing ratio, which is 720p and 1080i. You don't have to have such a hi-tech TV to play your Xbox, but if you want to get the most of your games, it is definitely recommended.

The Xbox goes wireless with the 360, providing a wireless controller out of the box unless you buy the Core system, which provides a standard wired controller.

The system also has three USB ports to allow connections of other devices such as digital cameras, portable music players and computers.

Retail Packaging
You'll find the Xbox 360 packaged two different ways on your local retail shelf. There's the "Xbox 360" package and the "Xbox 360 Core System" package. The core system is just that; it provides a very basic setup. It comes with the console, a wired controller and a cable to hook up the console to your TV. The "Xbox 360" package, on the other hand, comes with a chrome-finished console as well as a few extras listed in the chart below.

Xbox 360	Xbox 360 Core System
Console with Premium Chrome Finish	Console
Hard Drive	Wired Controller
Wireless Controller	Composite AV Cable
Xbox Live Headset
Component HD AV Cable
Ethernet Cable

Connecting Your Xbox to the Internet
Microsoft offers a service called Xbox Live to connect your gaming console to the Internet. You will want to use this service to its full capacity, as it provides more than just the ability to browse websites. Xbox Live is a full gaming service that allows you to challenge your friends and other gamers online. It also offers online messaging, downloads, shopping and more, however access to some of these features requires payment of a subscription fee.

Playing Xbox Games on the Xbox 360
So, you want to play your original Xbox games on the new Xbox 360, or maybe you want to go back and pick up some of your favorite titles from the original console you never got a chance to play? Well, there's a good chance you will be able to play the original games on the new Xbox 360. Technically, the older games aren't compatible, so you can't just plug them in and play. However, Microsoft is offering free emulator software that you can use to play the old games. They claim that over 200 of the original titles will work with the software, and they are adding more and more games over time. This is a pretty sweet feature so your old favorites don't sit there and collect dust!