X-Box 360 Console Review | X-Box Overview

 X-Box 360 Console Review

User Interface (latest update)
For the most part, the GUI for the 360 is easy to use. After booting the system and selecting your user profile, you'll be taken to the dashboard. From the dashboard you have 7 different sections: home, social, games, movies & tv, music, apps and settings. Under home you'll see if a game is loaded in the disc tray, pins and your recent history. Recent will show the last 12 games or apps you've used in order to get back into it quickly. Pins allow you to view whatever you've selected to pin to the front page. The pins are a nice idea but in execution they're pretty useless. It takes forever in order to add something to the pins (at least on my consoles) therefore I just don't bother with them anymore.

The social area allows you to view your friends and visit the avatar store. Under games you'll be able to view your game library and visit the store to purchase games (assuming you have an online connection). Under my games you're able to select between viewing everything, full games, demos, kinect, arcade, indie or game videos. You also have an option to sort by title or most recently used. The games library is basic but gets the job done. Under movies & tv you'll be able to view any videos you've downloaded and access the store. This is an area I hardly ever used on my console as I bought it strictly for gaming, though I imagine there are many people who get some good use out of this section.

Next is the apps tab, where you can access your apps and download new apps. Under my apps you'll be able to access the system music player which allows you play music you've ripped to your hard drive. If you choose to play music while playing a game, the system will mute the in-game music so you'll be able to hear whatever you've selected. The apps are likely the second most commonly used section after games, largely due to apps like Netflix and YouTube. Last but not least we have the settings, which allows you to adjust various console/Kinect/network settings and access your storage device. 

I've always found the storage on the 360 a bit cumbersome to use. This is where you manage all of your files and game-saves. Seeing that this is from the same company that makes Windows, you'd think they'd have an easy way to select multiple files to copy but instead you're forced to either copy all files within the folder or one at a time. This has caused just merely transferring saves to become a drawn-out chore at times. This is something that could have easily been added in any of their numerous patches they've released over the years.

Another area where the 360 struggles is with offline play and at times the profile usage. I've encountered several titles that I had purchased digitally that appear as only the trial version while playing offline. Unfortunately, in some instances the only way I was able to play the games was to connect online, sometimes even when the game has no online functionality. I've run into issues with the profiles where other users on the same system can't play digitally purchased titles, even though they're playing it on the same console I bought the game on! Overall, Microsoft's strict DRM can create some issues for the user, though I suppose it does help cut back a bit on software piracy.

Last but not least I would have appreciated the option to select the dashboard layout style. I know I'm not alone in wanting to use the old "blade" dashboard from the early days of the system but there is no such option to do so other than to mod your system. Overall the user interface on the 360 is rather basic but it is easy to use and find what you're looking for.

Console Varieties
Throughout the lifespan of the Xbox 360, Microsoft would release three different versions of the console. There were of course numerous variants of each console type for special edition bundles and such, but here we are just focused on the three different varieties of the systems.

The Original "Fat" Xbox 360

Originally launched worldwide in 2005-2006, the original Xbox 360 system was sold in several different packages. The biggest difference between the console packages is typically the hard drive space. These are risky to buy these days due to the infamous red-ring of death these commonly suffered from. If you can find one of the later models you should be okay, so make sure to do some research in order to help you identify these before purchasing. This version did not have wireless functionality built in, so if you can't hook it up via cable you'll have to purchase a wi-fi adapter separately (unless of course you intend to just play offline). These older 360's are quite loud, but if you tend to play your games loud like I do it won't be much of an issue.

My first Xbox 360 that I ever owned was the "fat" model, but I was not an early adopter and didn't purchase mine until 2010 so it was well after Microsoft had begun creating more reliable consoles. If I recall correctly it was the Elite model (120 GB hard drive) and was bundled with Resident Evil 5. I was a bit letdown there wasn't any Resident Evil artwork on the console or controller, though they were both at least colored red. This console is still running after all these years, though it has had its share of issues and seems to run a bit slower than the later models. Any video game system that uses a loading tray for the discs is something that is prone to malfunction at some point. These consoles are also prone to overheating issues, so make sure you have it set somewhere it can breathe. These systems can generate enough heat to almost double as a space heater!

Xbox 360 S

The revision of the 360 console, dubbed the "S" or slim model, was released in 2010. These consoles would feature a re-designed motherboard in addition to having wi-fi capabilities built into the system. The console is quite a bit smaller and due to the more efficient innards it operates much more quiet than the original model. There are also a few additional USB slots on the back in addition to the Kinect sensor input. Changing out your hard drive isn't quite as simple as the old systems, but using one of the USB ports you can easily hook up an external drive for extra storage space.

Xbox 360 E

In 2013 Microsoft would release the final revision of the 360 with the "E" model of the system. This is a revision of the "S" model and ditched the angular design for a more rectangular shape. There are a few differences, this model features one less USB port than the S, no YPbPr component or S-video connections and no S/PDIF audio output. The internals are similar to the S, so performance-wise it's going to be mostly the same as that model.

Final Verdict: The Xbox 360 has an incredible library of games and is definitely still worth spending some time with. If you're in the market for the console, I'd recommend the S model first, but if you're unable to find one of those the E model works great too. Buy the old fat models at your own risk, and if you have to go with one of them try to make sure the system at least turns on first!

Related Links:
List of Xbox 360 Retail Configurations - Wikipedia