I got the Box

C

CHURCHILL

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Allright Guy's,

I went and bit the bullet and got myself an Xbox 60Gb this weekend with gears of war.

Now before you guy's jump up and down and start claiming that you have managed to convert a PS3 fan to the green side, I still prefer the PS3 as my favourite and i'm glad i got the Xbox 360
because its proved everything that i thought/read up on.

Now that i own both consoles i can now judge with experience and do my own comparisons,
but thats for another day, before i pass judgement on the consoles i need some help first.

So please dont treat this thread as flamebait, these are honest questions and i would like honest answers.

1. The console came with the Component/RGB cables, does the HDMI cable make a difference,should i get one.

2. If i do use an HDMI cable, where can i plug the optical cable for sound,
i had to plug the optical cable into the component cable's connector.

3. There are some demo old school games on the console (Dig dug,Pac-Man),how do i delete them, or do i have to format the HDD.

4. I tried connecting my ipod, but when i go to media-music and select a different source,
it cant find the Ipod.If i put movies and music on a usb stick will that work.

5. When i tried to sign up for live, South Africa is not there as a locale, what other
country should i select.ie: if i select America, will i always connect to american servers.

6. When i set the console up for the net, it found a new update, which i downloaded, anyone know what the change was.
 
1. The diffs between component and HDMI is minimal, and my naked eye can't really tell the difference, although you can only watch upscaled DVD's through HDMI and not component.
2. I *think* you can still keep optical connected, and use HDMI for picture and optical for sound through your AV system.
3. Not sure
4. USB will work.
5. Best bet is UK as a region, i think that's what most locals are connected to, but it doesnt limit you to just EU servers AFAIK.
6. Haven't connected to the net in a while, so not sure what the latest update is.
 
First off, well done for making the right choice ;)

Kerrrang is on the right track with his answers. But to expand:

3. To delete unwanted content, follow the guide at the bottom of this page: http://www.xbox.com/en-us/support/systemsetup/xbox360/accessories/harddrive.htm

5. Because South Africa isn't yet supported by Xbox Live, you must selected a region like UK or US. Your xbox locale can still be South Africa though. You can use any address found in the UK / US to signup. I recommend the UK as we follow Europe for most things. (game release dates, accessories etc.). This is only for billing purposes, but doesn't (normally) impact the ability to use a South African CC. The Xbox Live locale doesn't restrict your opponents to the same region.

6. The latest update was a minor one which was a stepping stone to allow for the next major fall update (new xbox experience). There was no noticable changes.
 
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To delete demos etc. 2 ways.

1. where you play the demo with the game library there should be an option to delete.
2. on the last blade , there is an option for memory, select games, game name and a delete option should be available
 
If you are going to buy content , get a us account as the points is a lot cheaper
than uk, does not matter for gameplay as most games are p2p, only some games like army of 2 can only conenct to people on the same server, all other games look for the best connetion to the next player, and as you will be playing mostly with south africans it does not matter as we normaly create private games, or if you search if a game is available in south africa they normaly come up first.
 
I dont suppose these gamer card things are available here in SA, so is credit card the only option.

What is the prefered position of the Xbox, vertical or horizontal.
I noticed if i stand it vertical it blocks some air vents, but if i place it horizontal the drive seems louder.
 
Congrats Church, nice going.

Component vs HDMI is IMO indistinguishable to the naked eye, and to use optical out and HDMI is non-trivial without the official breakout box.

The 360 ships with iPod drivers, however it can't read drm'ed AAC. MP3 etc should be fine. I've never done it myself, but I believe it's as simple as plugging it in, going to the media blade and selecting source. That's the way it works viewing pictures on my canon digital camera, it even picks it up by name.

As for locales - most guys chose the UK for "cultural" reasons (I believe it does affect match making, but not a lot) but the US gets stuff a bit cheaper.

You can't put Credit Card details into your live account any more because of address validation, but you're better off without it anyway. Create a Silver account and you'll get a month free to start, from there Live subs are region free, points are not. Best places to buy either are

http://www.microsoftpointsxbox.com/
http://www.definiteplay.co.uk/
http://www.gamepointsnow.com/

I've used all of the above, and they're all great, and are significantly cheaper than buying via Microsoft, or cards. You do get some good card deals on ebay sometimes, but the online sites are just so much easier. with a 13 month sub on mspx you're looking at R27 a month. Buying UK points you're typically looking at R100 for your typical 800point XBLA game. (But Castle Crashers is absolutely worth $15 ;) )

See you online, send me an FR, my tags as you see it here.
 
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Um, xbox multiplayer doesn't use servers. It uses p2p. So if you play with local people the local xbox360 becomes the host or "server".
 
@Church: Excellent, I look forward to it :)

Qwikslver said:
Um, xbox multiplayer doesn't use servers. It uses p2p. So if you play with local people the local xbox360 becomes the host or "server".
Click to expand...

That's not explicitly true. MOST games run peer to peer, Halo, Gears, CoD4 etc etc, but the 360 does support server based games if the developer decides they want to go that way - Frontlines and Battlefield are the two that come to mind, I believe UT3 has servers as well.
 
doobiwan said:
Congrats Church, nice going.

Component vs HDMI is IMO indistinguishable to the naked eye, and to use optical out and HDMI is non-trivial without the official breakout box.

The 360 ships with iPod drivers, however it can't read drm'ed AAC. MP3 etc should be fine. I've never done it myself, but I believe it's as simple as plugging it in, going to the media blade and selecting source. That's the way it works viewing pictures on my canon digital camera, it even picks it up by name.

As for locales - most guys chose the UK for "cultural" reasons (I believe it does affect match making, but not a lot) but the US gets stuff a bit cheaper.

You can't put Credit Card details into your live account any more because of address validation, but you're better off without it anyway. Create a Silver account and you'll get a month free to start, from there Live subs are region free, points are not. Best places to buy either are

http://www.microsoftpointsxbox.com/
http://www.definiteplay.co.uk/
http://www.gamepointsnow.com/

I've used all of the above, and they're all great, and are significantly cheaper than buying via Microsoft, or cards. You do get some good card deals on ebay sometimes, but the online sites are just so much easier. with a 13 month sub on mspx you're looking at R27 a month. Buying UK points you're typically looking at R100 for your typical 800point XBLA game. (But Castle Crashers is absolutely worth $15 ;) )

See you online, send me an FR, my tags as you see it here.
Click to expand...


@ Church
I can vouch for the 1st one - they are awesome and uses Google Checkout, no Paypal! :D And a lot cheaper - R183 vs R246 on take2.
The first transaction will be verified by google and if all is well, the other transactions will be instantaneous with the points codes.

Send me a FR, JackN01R is the tag, at the moment I'm not playing online but I am sorting that out before Fable2. :D
 
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doobiwan said:
@Church: Excellent, I look forward to it :)



That's not explicitly true. MOST games run peer to peer, Halo, Gears, CoD4 etc etc, but the 360 does support server based games if the developer decides they want to go that way - Frontlines and Battlefield are the two that come to mind, I believe UT3 has servers as well.
Click to expand...

doobiwan is correct. EA are the only developers that I know of that force players to use their own servers on Xbox Live. The reason being was that EA didn't want to develop any Live Enabled games for the Xbox if Microsoft didn't let them use their own servers. Microsoft finally gave in and I believe since Burnout 3 they have developed all games to use their own servers. Not that great for us local players, but many don't seem to mind to much, as seen with the many players on Battlefield: Bad Company.

UT3 isn't one of those games luckily :)
 
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