For a while now, I've been pondering over whether or not I should purchase an XBOX 360 Arcade Console. 200$ seems like a steal, but I'm a little wary of a few things:

Firstly, I'm having a hard time finding a good comparison of the Arcade to the other 360 consoles. I know it has less memory space, but what about the peripherals it comes packed with? I assume I'll get a controller, but what other things should I be interested in buying to compliment it (other than games, of course)?

Speaking of the memory storage... will it be enough to store a decent number of games? I understand that I probably won't be able to downoload a lot of downloadable content with the alotted memory space, but will I have problems storing around 10 games? Can I buy another memory chip if I do?

Thirdly and finally, how often do the "Red Ring of Death" errors occur? Do they ever recur after sending the system in to Microsoft for repair? Will I lose any data, such as online status or Microsoft Points, if this happens?

Overall, what I want to know is if it would be better to upgrade and "Go Pro", or if the Arcade version will suffice.

I appreciate your time and look forward to advice.

Thanks in advance.

The arcade system doesnt come with much.
If you want a second controller, you're already adding $45 to the sticker price.
The hard drive is meager at best. 256 MB is not much and will fill up fast. You'll want to add on the external hard drive (the extra memory chip, 512MB is a joke) for another $125 so you can actually save your game data, downloads, music, movies, etc.
You're already looking at $350 for the console, a controller, lots of storage, and some crummy games.
The red ring issue is supposedly solved. It happened to me and XBOX took care of shipping and repairs, as well as updated my warranty. The whole process took about 3 weeks.

My recommendation: shell out the $300 for the regular core system and buy an extra controller. You'll get Lego Indiana Jones (mindless but entertaining) and Kung-Fu Panda (crap unless you're 10 years old)

Ultimately you'll be spending about the same and not need to buy extra storage. Then if you want the vision camera (which doubles as a PC camera if you don't have one) it's another $45 and you'll get a free download code for UNO, which is by far the best game included in the arcade bundle version anyway.

I've had the core system for 2 years and I've used about 60% of the storage, and I don't forsee having to buy the extra hard drive since I'm not too download crazy.

If you can afford about $350 you'll be happy with your purchase.

ok thank you



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Speaking from strictly a 360 hardware point of view I would say the 360 Arcade is your best bet, especially if your worried about the red ring of death. From what I've read from user reports the newer arcade units are being shipped with the Jasper engine, which users have said tends to not overheat and lead to the RRoD nearly as often.
I've read they are also using the Jasper engine in the "Pro" and "Elite" models, the only problem there is that plenty of stores still have "Pro" and "Elite" models stocked up before Microsoft implemented the new Jasper technology into the hardware, Its not that pre-jasper "Arcade" units aren't still in stock, it's just that the turnover rate on the "Arcade" units is so much quicker, given its price point.
So in conclusion, If your looking for the most reliable 360 on the market then you have a better chance going with an Arcade. Any way you look at it you still have yourself a crap-shoot on weather or not your 360 will RRoD or not. It's just that with the Jasper engine you have a greater chance of not ending up with that problem.
I'm a die hard Microsoft fan, but in the end I can't say I'm too happy with the quality of the hardware they produced this generation. First generation Xbox was roughly the size of my refrigerator however my original xbox never had any these crazy "nextgen" 360 hardware failures.
Sorry about my rant, I hope somewhere in that whirl of words you found some nugget of my information useful. Just trying to be helpful.

Wow, I thought there's a lot of memory for the X-Box 360 Arcade....

Because if I have an X-Box 360, I can play lots of these X-Box 360 Arcade games. Seriously.

Also the RRoD is not fixed. It is not happening in just a certain skew. I managed a UPS store in Maine and we get 6 of these going back nearly every week still. My original Core bit it twice (once after being fixed by Microsoft) and because of the warranty issue I ended up bying an arcade and just switching my Hard Drive over. Well my arcade bit it also. I have a friend whos elite has gone back twice also. So all in all I dont feel the RRoD is fixed. Maybe getting better but Im still not seeing any proof of this.

It's worth it, You can get them cheaper on Ebay now.



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