Old-Fashioned Family Fun: The Xbox 360 Arcade System
For a lot of families, $350 for a video game system is a little steep, particularly if the children in the family are too young to play a big percentage of the games. Following in the footsteps of Nintendo with its Wii, Microsoft brought out the Xbox 360 Arcade system in the desires of allowing families with a basic console to inclose the members to the world of video games.
A lot of gamers, even those not needfully bran-new to the scene, may not require all of the gadgets and updates included in the Xbox 360 Pro or Elite systems. They may simply need the basic instruments to play games. The Xbox 360 Arcade system gives families and players similar the ability to play, and play hard, without paying for extraneous add-ons.
Compare and Contrast
The Xbox 360 Arcade system out-of-the-box is ready to play any Xbox 360 game. It comes with one wireless controller, a 256MB memory card, five Xbox LIVE Arcade games and an HDMI output port. Basically, it comes with the basic essentials to plug in, boot up and play. The price tag of $280 is the right way cheaper than the next step up, and many families will be attracted to this cost decrease, specially around Christmas time.
Microsoft made the decision to replace the Xbox 360 Core system, the originally offering from the line, with the Xbox 360 Arcade system in the hopes of attracting these families to the product. So far, many families and amateur gamers have chose to buy the console to save a little money, but experienced gamers looking to upgrade or collect systems are not interested in this stripped-down Xbox 360 for a couple of reasons.
With cut price comes sacrifice, and the Xbox 360 Arcade system is missing a lot of accessories that hardcore gamers find necessary to the gaming experience. Although the average parent might not figure the need in a 20GB hard drive, older players do: the built-in 256MB memory card is enough to play the games, but not sufficient to save the games. For users hoping to play large-scale role playing games or to download updates and additional levels through the Xbox LIVE part, the Xbox 360 Arcade system default hard drive will not offer enough space. A lot of the other Xbox 360 bundles also include a 2nd controller along with HDTV cables, admitting the console to project widescreen-ready graphics and surround sound audio tracks.
A 20GB hard drive will cost an extra $100, and wireless controllers can easy raise to $50. If a family or user means to eventually upgrade, it might be more cost-efficient to buy the Xbox 360 Pro or Elite upfront. However, if an individual cannot afford $350, but wants to at least get started on his or her video game journey, or does not think to ever purchase accessories, maybe the Xbox 360 Arcade system will be a perfect fit. Then, when the time comes, and the money is available, he or she can advance his or her system, without first digging a financial hole.
