Tamero IT Consulting & Services

Microsoft's Xbox 360 Features and Specifications

Friday, May 19, 2006 - posted by Tom Mohamed

The Xbox 360 is one of the most eagerly-awaited consumer electronics debuts of 2005.

Gamers have been salivating about getting their hands on the first next generation console, with its promise of processing prowess and startling graphics.

The Xbox 360 marks Microsoft's bid to become the world's leader in console gaming. The original Xbox is just four years old and still the most powerful console of the current generation, with some great games. With the 360, Microsoft has turned its back on the big, black box which bombed in Japan.

Instead, the console is all about a sleek, candy-white design which has echoes of Apple's iconic iPod.

Inside is enough power to rival most consumer high-end PCs,

There can be no doubt that with three IBM PowerPC-based 3.2 GHz cores, One teraflop overall system floating-point performance, ATI graphics chip with 10MB of embedded DRAM, 512MB of 700MHz GDDR3 RAM memory, detachable 20GB hard drive, built-in

Ethernet port, Games supported at 16:9, 720p and 1080i, anti-aliasing, Streams media from portable music devices, digital cameras and Windows XP PCs and supports up to four wireless controllers, the Xbox 360 represents a significant leap forward from the original Xbox.

The price of such power is a very noisy console, with fans whirring manically to keep the temperature down. The noise is barely noticeable when playing a game with the volume set to loud, but stands out at other times.

Microsoft is pitching the 360 as more than just a games console. It can also serve as a digital media hub. The machine will recognise devices such as iPods and Sony's PlayStation Portable, and play back MP3 music files. But it does not recognise songs bought from Apple's iTunes online store due to a dispute between the two sides over formats.

Instead the console is designed to encourage gamers to stay within the Microsoft universe. The box can be used to stream music or photos from a Windows PC over a home network, but not from a Mac . And Microsoft has crippled the video playback functions of the 360, so it will only run video coming from a Windows Media Center PC. While the 360 makes for a halfway decent media hub, it is not the machine that fulfils all of the needs of the digital junkie.

As part of its drive to bring gamers into the world of Microsoft, the software giant is opening up its online gaming service to everyone.

Xbox Live is a core part of the 360 offering.

The console can automatically detect internet settings, removing much of the pain of hooking up the machine to the net. Microsoft is aiming to tempt everyone with broadband to Xbox Live by connecting them for free with a Silver account. This allows access to its online store, called Marketplace, where gamers can buy arcade games or download preview videos. Gamers wishing to play against each other over the internet must fork out for a Gold account. Transferring an existing Xbox Live account is clear-cut and should only take minutes.

At the end of the day, a console lives and dies by the games available for it. There is much which will appeal to the dedicated gamer in Microsoft's launch line-up, with a good selection of shooting, racing and sports titles.

Some of these like Project Gotham Racing 3 and Perfect Dark Zero stand out as top-notch games. Graphically, they look gorgeous, especially in high-definition, and the sound is first-class.

Perfect Dark Zero is one of the stand-out games for the console.

With the release of the Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Revolution next year,Microsoft will be hoping for the must-have game that will set the Xbox 360 apart.

<< Home