The xbox 360 kinect with 4 gb. Is what the original aracde version should have been, and
is definitely worth its $300 price tag. 10 new features of this model are: 1. New valhalla
chip hopefully improved design to prevent rrod issue, but tech. Reviews noted that the
jasper chip in the older elite model runs cooler 2. Wifi n this is the newest wifi
standard that is 12x faster (up to 600 mbits/ sec) than wifi g; you'll need a wifi n
router to get the max. Speed 3. Digital optical audio port (if your sound system is
separate from your tv, then you'll need this to get full 5.1 surround sound) 4. 4 gb of
flash memory (although 1.1 gb is used by the game system, but 0.3 gb can be reclaimed by
deleting 4 game demos) 5. 5 usb ports (2 in front & 3 in back) 6. Slimmer design with side
vents (to prevent overheating) 7. Dedicated port for kinect with demo game (also $50
cheaper than buying kinect separately from xbox) 8. Only 1 year of warranty (the only
negative; older elite models had 3 yrs. ) 9. Usb flash drive support (this was a xbox
software update released in april 2010) 10. Espn video streaming (will be included if you
are a gold member, $50/ yr. ; should be available about nov. 2010) slim 4 gb vs. 250 gb
hard drive: i bought the 4 gb system over the model with 250 gb hard drive because the
xbox now supports game saves/ installs/ downloads and pic/ audio/ video downloads to usb
flash drives. It supports 1-2 usb flash drives with 1-16 gb memory (using a 16 gb drive,
1.6 gb is used for formatting). Saving games and media to the usb drives is recommended
since loading games and media will be much faster (reading memory is faster than reading
hard drive) and more reliable (flash memory rarely fails, unlike hard drives); even the
xbox live director recommended using usb drives for storage. If you have such a huge
appetite for videos downloads and game demos that 32 gb can not accomodate, then you can
always upgrade later with the 250 gb hard drive that will be sold in november; note that
the older xbox hard drives are not compatible with the slim models. Installing xbox 360
games and game demos on the flash drives is no problem; xbox will ask you which drive to
install the game. However, i can not verify if you can install older xbox games like halo
on the flash drive. The only xbox game i have is halo 2, which does not install on flash.
This problem may be specific to halo 2 because even xbox live does not have halo 2 for
sale, which means halo 2 is not supported without a xbox hard drive. I'm suspecting that
any older games listed on xbox live is enabled for flash installation, but if they're not
listed then you'll need a xbox hard drive. This is annoying but not a big issue since
there are only a few older xbox games that you may want to play. While the concept of
natural body movements translating into character's actions sounds intuitive, the
implementation of this idea in games has eluded many game developers. Too much motion will
tire out the gamer, repetitive motion will bore the gamer, and complicated motions can not
be successfully detected by the controllers. I'll compare motion controllers for all 3
systems below. Usage comparison: the wii was wildly popular when it was released due to
its novelty, however 4 years later, few wii game innovations have appeared causing
nintendo to lose market share in the past year. The ps3 move is more accurate than the wii
since the move tracks motion in 3-d space while the wii tracks motion in 2-d space (2
dimensional, like paper) and analyzes that data to interpret 3-d movements. The light
globe on the ps3 move looks cool initially, but the bright light becomes glaringly
annoying soon, especially in a dark room. Both the wii and ps3 motion controllers are less
integrated to the console's navigations and functions than the xbox kinect. The kinect
allows users to say commands and motion gestures to navigate menus, browse online,
interact with avatars, and play media content. Winner: xbox kinect. Price comparison: the
wii system ($200) includes the 3 controllers (wiimote, nunchuk, & motionplus) needed for 1
player, but costs another $40-80 per player, depending on the accessories that you buy.
The ps3 move retails for $100 for 1 player and the xbox kinect retails for $150 for 2
players, but both are accessories so they require the original game system. Also, the ps3
move requires $50-100 more per player, depending on the accessories that you buy, while
the xbox initially supports 2 players but is capable of tracking 6 players for future
games. All 3 motion systems include a game to showcase the controller's features. For 2
players, the wii is the cheapest system and the ps3 is the most expensive; but when the
xbox supports 4 players (probably via a software update in 1 year), it will be cheaper
than getting a wii. Winner: xbox
