Product Reviews

If you thought that modern PCs packed a serious gaming punch, then you ain't seen nothing yet. The Xbox 360 is built on a processor with three separate cores, all running at 3.2GHz. The most desktop processors can manage is a measly two cores. It also has 700MHz of memory with a bandwidth of 22.4GB/s. The fastest widely available PC memory runs at 667MHz, but only offers bandwidth of 10.6GB/s. The Xbox 360 Premium also comes with a 20GB hard drive, a DVD drive, a remote control and component video-out connection for superlative picture quality.

You can get a 'core' version of the Xbox 360 for £210, which comes without the hard disk, remote control or wireless gamepad. Our advice is to save your pennies and buy the Premium model.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

We used Project Gotham Racing and Perfect Dark Zero, a first-person shooter, to test the 360.

Project Gotham Racing looks unbelievably good. London, Tokyo, New York and a host of other cities are recreated in amazing detail. Even when you're zooming around them at high speed, you can't help but admire just how beautifully rendered these locations are. While driving at 200mph, you can spin your 'camera' and take a look around at the crisp and superbly detailed graphics. This is, without a doubt, the best-looking game we've ever seen - even PC titles can't compete.

The Manga-style graphics of Perfect Dark Zero are equally impressive. Textures look great and the level of detail is fantastic. Most first-person shooters keep

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the demands on hardware down by having all the action take place in tight, enclosed spaces. This game takes full advantage of the Xbox's processing power to provide much bigger locations. Our only misgiving was that the game became a bit jerky when it cut from one scene to another. Otherwise gameplay was flawlessly smooth.

All Xbox 360 games are designed to work with the Xbox Live online gaming system. With an Xbox Live account you can play online against others, upload and compare statistics, or even download other people's best performances to help you improve your own. Exactly what you can do varies from game to game.

For our tests we had the Xbox 360 plugged into a high definition (HD) LCD TV. HD TVs offer up to five times the detail of current sets. The Xbox doesn't output video at the very highest HDTV resolution of 1080p, but its top resolution of 1080i isn't far off. On a normal TV, you're not going to get anywhere near the same image quality. The console also comes with a combined component video and surround sound audio cable that will cost you £20 to replace if you lose it.

The wireless gamepad worked just as it should. We flicked its on-switch and started playing. It's comfortable to use and has dual analogue sticks and a range of other buttons. You can connect up to four gamepads at once, too - perfect for gaming parties.

WHAT'S ON THE BOX?

As well as being a superb gaming console, the Xbox 360 is also a Media Center extender. If you already own a Media Center PC, you simply download and install a free software update from Microsoft and network the PC and Xbox. You will then be able to play all the Media Center's videos, photos and music files on the TV into which the Xbox is plugged. If you don't have a Media Center PC, you can still use the Xbox to watch DVDs, including high-quality progressive scan DVDs, and listen to your CDs.

BUYING DECISIONS

The Xbox 360 is pricey, but it's an amazing games console. Throw in the Media Center extender and home cinema functions, and it's a top piece of kit that's an incredible buy.