Picking Your Brain: Considering the XBox 360

[jcfiala]

So it's come to my attention that you can actually play boardgames online with an XBOX 360 - Settlers of Catan, Carcassone, and Ticket to Ride (among, possibly, others). This is pretty tempting to me - I think it'd be fun to be able to boot up and play a game from time to time.

But I've not really been paying attention to the latest generation of consoles, and I'm pretty sure there's a couple different versions of the XBOX 360 that I could buy. Anyone able to answer:

1) Which components do I need to have in my 360 so I can buy games online and download them to play? I understand that the boardgames aren't on disc, you buy them online.

2) Will I need to buy a membership in the XBOX 360 online thing? Or will the default connectivity be fine?

3) Does the xbox talk with wireless, or will I need to snake a wire to it to connect to the internets?

4) What don't I know to ask about?

Thanks a lot.

Comments

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Having taken a peek at wikipedia, apparently the holiday edition of XBox 360 Premium comes with Lego Indiana Jones, which I'm not opposed to.

so i asked the greatest 360 user i know

[(Anonymous)]

I asked my coworker here, who is an avid 360 user - who described the games you listed as "Dope ass" (a good thing - BTW) and this is what he said:
1) You will want to get one with a hard drive. DO NOT buy the Arcade Version. It only comes with a 256 MB memory card. Some Xbox Live game downloads are bigger than that. Also, to buy a hard drive later is disproportionately priced by Micro$oft. (60 Gb is $100 I believe). I recommend buying the $299 unit, with 60 GB hard drive. However, if you are planning on running HD via HDMI, you are better off in some ways by buying the $399 elite, as it comes with the $50 proprietary HDMI cable you will have to buy with the $299 version, PLUS it comes with a 120 GB hard drive. And it's Black, which is soooo l33t. Or something.
2) You don't NEED a gold xbox live membership, but it kinda sucks to NOT have one, as it allows you to play online with your friends all over the world. It's $50/year, but its worth every penny. Anyone with an Xbox can have a free silver membership that allows them to download the Xbox Live Arcade games (XBLA) such as the board games he is interested in, however to play Ticket to Ride with/against your friend across town, you will need the $50 annual membership.
3) unfortunately Micro$oft wants you to buy their wireless connector, for the low low price of $99 or something absurd. It does have a hard line ethernet connection on the back if you want to just run a line, however I found another solution. I bought a Buffalo Technologies wireless bridge, that basically takes the wireless signal from my router and translates it into a hardline connection anywhere. So i set it up by my xbox and ran a 3 foot cable out the back into my xbox. I think it ran me around $50, and it still has 3 other ports for DVRs, or anything else requiring network connectivity. Micro$ofts wireless adapter is useless for anything but an xbox and runs twice as much. (Here's the link to the bridge i got, looks like they may not make it anymore...? http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-Technology-AirStation-Converter-WLI-TX4-G54HP/dp/B000BNDEZY) It took a bit of tinkering, but i'm no IT employee and I got it working.
4) I would highly recommend Bioshock, Portal (avail on XBLA independent of the Orange Box version), and of course, Fallout 3.

Well thats a lot a stuff. Hope it helps. if you want to email this weath of knowledge let me know and i will get you his email.

your brother - Bill