Xbox Articles The Xbox 360 - a Gamer's Dream Machine Xbox Tip! Make no mistake: For now, and for the foreseeable future, the Xbox 360 is going to cost Microsoft money. The consoles are sold at a loss, and the costs of launching the new system will continue to grow. The Xbox360 is a video game console that is visionary. It competes with the Sony Play Station 3 and Nintendo Revolution. A gamers' dream machine, the Xbox 360 is sold in two versions a premium edition that has a hard drive, a wireless controller, headset, Ethernet cable, a HD AV cable, and an Xbox live silver subscription and a core system. Powerful and futuristic the Xbox360 includes HD gaming, perfect sound, and sensational graphics. The system offers high-end gaming with several exciting possibilities. It revolutionizes video game consoles and is, in actuality, a computer dedicated to gaming. It is not just a gaming machine it is a media center that allows you to play games, network with other gamers around 360 of them, rip, stream, and download high definition movies, music, digital pictures, games, music, and play DVDs and CDs. It is what makes dreams into realities. The Xbox360 has around 18 titles in the US including games like Call of Duty 2, Dead or Alive 4, Every Party, FIFA 06, NBA live, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, and Project Gotham Racing 3. Technically, it has advanced graphics and a 115 GFLOPS theoretical peak performance. All games support a six channel Dolby Digital Sound with no voice echo. Apart from video and DVD playing the X box 360 live market place allows the user to connect to Xbox live even if offline. Users can view messages and game invites sent by other Xbox live members. The live market place allows download of avatars, trailers, as well as game demos. With the Xbox360 a person can view a complete record of games played, play games downloaded from marketplace, play game demos, watch movie as well as game trailers, listen to music customized for the user, view pictures as well as videos stored on a camera or any other portable device, and activate the media center extender. The Xbox 360 has backward compatibility and so, users can play games originally developed for the earlier versions of the box. Wireless connectivity and wireless controllers offer great freedom and connectivity at large distances. And, you can download and play arcade style games using the Xbox Live Arcade. Game demos and trailers are offered free but full versions of games have to be purchased using Xbox Live Marketplace using Microsoft points which can be bought through Live or via game cards sold retail. Xbox Tip! Secondly, the Chinese market can not cope with the high prices that the Xbox 360 demands. The PS3 is set to be released with higher prices than those of the XBox 360 so perhaps the Nintendo Revolution will be left to sweep up the market in China. Technically a few small glitches have been reported. There is what is known as the Xbox360 screen or death which is an error screen. This stops the console and the user is requested to contact technical support. Another problem is that of the Xbox 360 freezing due to overheating. To solve this, users are requested to ensure proper airflow and a cooler environment. If the Xbox is moved from its vertical to its horizontal position while reading a disc, the movement causes the pickup assembly to brush against the disc resulting in radial scratches. Often the Xbox displays red lights instead of a green ring of light to indicate errors. The X box360 transforms gaming experience into something futuristic and exciting. Xbox Tip! Jay Turner is certifiable nut case who is obsessed with computer games and console systems. He runs a blog dedicated to the as-of-yet unreleased Xbox 360 at http://www. Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com , the premier website to play thousands of free online games including arcade games, action games, card games, flash games, strategy games, puzzle games and more. He also freelances for http://www.1888SoftwareDownloads.com.