The XBox 360 is going to be one of the most sought after gifts

of this upcoming holiday season. However many people want to

know is it worth upgrading now, or should you wait, here are

some factors you may want to consider.

The base price for and XBox 360 is $300, the most common

accessories are the 20GB hard drive ($100), wireless

controllers ($50) and headsets ($20). Many vendors are offering

packages with a variety of options with prices of $500 or more.

While some of these options depend on your gaming style and

preferences the hard drive is the one option we recommend you

get right away. The hard drive allows you to save games to play

back later and install updates that make many older games

compatible on the new platform.

One of the advantages the XBox 360 will have over other game

systems is graphics. The graphics of other gaming systems are

top notch but on newer games like Project Gotham Racing 3, NFL

06 and Call of Duty 2 which were written for this platform,

there simply is no comparison. When you compare the

specifications the XBox 360 to any of its competitors, it’s

anywhere from 2 to 10 times more powerful. If you are lucky

enough to own and HDTV you will really notice the difference,

although it will work on standard TV’s as well.

With this console Microsoft is also making a concerted effort

to make the Xbox part of your media center. It can connect to

any other windows networked computer in your house. It can be

used to play movies, slideshows of pictures, and MP3 files. If

you own and IPod or digital camera you can also connect them

directly to the USB port located on the front game console.

Lastly you’ll want to think about Xbox Live. This is a paid

online membership that allows you to get free trials of new

games and play in head to head action against other players

over your high speed internet connection. You also have access

to updates and patches as they become available.

For hard core gamers there is no choice, they will do

practically anything to get their hands on the newest and

latest systems available. For others it may be worth waiting

until 2006 when Playstation 3 is released to see how platforms

compare.