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Xbox Revealed! |
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 The Xbox is the one of the best, if not the best
video game console available on the market. Revealed at the CES convention in early 2001
by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, the Xbox is also the most powerful
gaming console available on the market.
Packed with a custom built GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) from
NVIDIA, the Xbox promises to deliver the most realistic gaming
experience to gamers. But graphics aren't all, the Xbox is the first
console to have one of it's launch titles get the official Game of
The Year award (Halo).
As soon as you take it out of the box, you'll notice the large X
shape on top. This is style, baby! On the front, you'll notice two
buttons. The top button is for ejecting the disc tray, and the
button beneath it is for turning the power on and off. You'll also
see Xbox written on the top left. That is the disc tray that comes
out when you press the eject button.
On the back of the Xbox, you'll notice of course the video outputs
and power supply. But that's not all, you will also see what looks
like the jack for a rather large phone cord. Welcome to the 21st
century folks, Xbox has full support for online gaming via
Broadband. Yes, that's a Ethernet port for finally hooking up your
Cable Modem or DSL for lag free online racing or deathmatch or
whatever depending on the specific game. Also, did I mention the
video output not only supports your old TV, but the next generation
of High-Definition Television sets for the ultimate gaming
experience.
Now lets talk about the controller. The first thing you'll notice is
the X and Xbox written underneath it in the middle of the
controller. You will probably think that the green X is glow in the
dark or lights up when you have your Xbox powered on with the
controller hooked up. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. It's just
there and doesn't do anything. Now you'll also notice the two analog
thumbsticks. The thumbsticks are probably the greatest thing since
deep-dish pizza, IMHO. They come in really handy when playing first
person shooters like Unreal Championship, and Halo. Thanks to their
placements, most people agree that Xbox has the best controller for
FPS games. Anyways, there are two buttons on the bottom part of the
middle. One is of course the start button, and the other one is the
"back" button which does what it says, and take you back to the
previous menu/screen. Now there are four main gameplay buttons, plus
to extra buttons (black & white) that serve purpose depending on the
game your playing. Take WWF Raw for example. You can configure the
the black button to do your wrestler's finisher. There are also two
triggers on the front of the controller. Again, their function
depends on the specific game your playing. In Halo, the right
trigger button is for shooting with your gun.
Now going back to the Xbox console itself, did I mention the hard
drive? Yes, the Xbox features a built-in hard drive for saving game
data and downloading goodies off of Xbox Live (I'll get to that a
little later). So now you don't need those stinkin' memory cards.
The hard drive has 8 gigabytes, yes, you heard it right, it's a 8GB
hard drive. If you want, you can still buy memory cards since it's
impossible to take your saves over to a friends without one.
Ok, I talked about Xbox LIVE up above which is Microsoft's service
for online gaming. For $50, you will get a one year subscription to
Xbox LIVE, a online gaming community. The Xbox LIVE starter kit
includes game demos, the voice communication headset (which works in
ALL games), and the setup disc. Once setup, you can change Xbox LIVE
settings from the Xbox menu, aka The Dashboard.
The Dashboard is the menu of the Xbox. Powered by Windows 2000, The
Dashboard lets you adjust your Xbox's settings like the time/date,
picture format (e.g. widescreen), sound settings, and more. You can
also manage you game saves. Now the coolest feature is the ability
to copy music to the hard drive. Now before you decide to take out
your collection you burned off of Napster, there's something you
should know. Only original, genuine music discs will be recognized
by Xbox. CD-R's won't work.
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