Microsoft Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition: The lean mean green machine

I have been an avid computer gamer for many years and always thought I didn’t need or want a console for gaming. About three months ago my friend bought an Xbox and invited me over to play some games. I was reintroduced to head-to-head gaming with “Mortal Kombat: Armageddon” and afterwards I got into “Splinter Cell” and a few other games that he had.

Last month I took a trip to GameStop and found some used Xbox 360’s selling for $279 so I bought one. Little did I know that the used ones do not come with a hard drive, which cost an extra $60, so I wound up spending over $400 with tax on a used system. Then there was the constant battery replacement in the controller which almost nickel and dimed me to death. The last straw came when I ordered an Xbox HDMI cable from GameStop online only to realize after it came that there is no HDMI port on the standard Xbox 360!

After a couple weeks of careful consideration I returned the used unit and bought the Halo 3 Special Edition for $400 which came with a 20GB hard drive and a rechargeable battery pack for the controller. I spent another $60 for the charger, an extra battery pack and a second wireless controller (they get you coming and going, don’t they?) and headed home with a brand new Xbox. What I did not know at the time is that also in the box was a USB wireless headset that plugs into the wireless controller.


Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition

I got the system home and plugged it into my 47” 1080p HDTV with the HDMI cable and was instantly amazed at the image quality. The original Xbox 360 was capable of displaying 1080i with component video cables but the difference between the component 1080i and the HDMI 1080p is much more noticeable than I though it would be. My games were incredibly sharper and fine text is much easier to read at a distance.

The console is olive drab green with a gold optical drive door and a red button that connects the wireless controllers. It stands upright and is only about three inches wide when standing. On the rear of the console is the HDMI port, the Xbox A/V port, one USB 2.0 port, one Ethernet port (RJ45), optical audio out and the AC power supply plug. On the front there are two ports for memory units and a small door at the bottom of the console that has two USB 2.0 ports inside.

Connecting the wireless controllers was easy. I just turned on the controller, pushed the red button on the front of the console and held the power button on the controller until it matched the flashing lights on the console. I plugged the USB transmitter for the headset into the rear USB port, plugged the headset into the first controller and it worked without any hassle.


Xbox Live

I had already set up an Xbox live account with the previous Xbox and I was wondering if I had lost the achievements I had earned while using the used Xbox system. Once I entered my Xbox live information all of my achievements were back under my account. Sweet! Unfortunately they do not save your saved game information so I had to start my games all over from the beginning which wasn’t a real big deal because I hadn’t played very many yet anyway.

In case you are not familiar with achievements, the Xbox 360stores each users information like a computer and when you play games you get achievement points under your account (so people online know how much free time you have and just how much is wasted playing games LOL). You can earn achievements on any Xbox 360 game that awards them. Some can only be earned while playing online while others can be earned offline.

You can also send email with the Xbox on Xbox live. You can meet with online friends and play games or just chat. I haven’t tried to hook up my keyboard and mouse yet but I was told by the guy at GameStop that I can just plug a USB mouse and Keyboard into the console and they will automatically work.

There is another section where you can play arcade games on the Xbox. These are games that you can download and play right from the Xbox without a disc. So far I have only played the free trial versions of these games but the ones I played were Pac-Man and Zuma. My wife was thrilled to see Zuma in the list; she plays it on the computer for hours at a time. You can unlock the games by purchasing them right from the Xbox. There is also the Xbox Marketplace, which is another section on the Xbox where you can buy premium games and other merchandise.


Games, games, and more games

When I bought the original Xbox 360 I bought two games. I bought “Mortal Kombat Armageddon” for the Xbox and “Eragon” for the Xbox 360. When you place an Xbox game in the Xbox 360 it states that a download is required in order to play the game. The download took about 20 seconds and now I can play almost any Xbox game on the Xbox 360. I say almost because there are some Xbox games that still can not be played on the Xbox 360 but not very many.

Since then my wife and I went on a gaming spree and bought many more. Here is what we have so far.

* Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Xbox)
* Eragon
* Full Auto
* Burnout 3
* Burnout Revenge (awesome game if you’re into racing games!)
* Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II
* Two Worlds (very much like Morrowind)
* Kameo
* Splinter Cell: Double Agent
* Marvell Ultimate Alliance (Spiderman and Wolverine together again… er, I mean together at last!)
* Burger King Rocket Racer (Xbox; my son wanted it – it sucks, don’t buy it)

The games are all fun to play but some are much more fun than others of course. The graphics capabilities of the Xbox 360 with HDMI are amazing. Games like Splinter Cell are nerve wracking when you’re trying to sneak around a warehouse full of guys with automatic rifles. Burnout Revenge is absolutely incredible as far as graphics go. Using the optical output to my surround receiver for audio gives us 5.1 surround for games that support it and it is impressive.


Conclusion

Don’t buy a used Xbox 360. The price is not low enough and you will have to spend more money to make it work like a new one. Unless you need 120GB of hard drive on your Xbox, the Halo 3 Special Edition is a good choice if you are thinking of buying an Xbox 360. If you want the larger hard drive you will need to get the Elite edition which is quite a bit more money but it comes in a sleek black console that looks really cool.

I was surprised but the Halo 3 Special Edition does not come with Halo 3. I guess that would be asking too much of Microsoft, after all they have to make their money somehow. Anyway, the Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360 is a full package at a decent price compared to other options. Just don’t forget to by the battery charger.


Thanks for reading,
Gr8ful ;-)