Bought an XBOX 360 (questions / tips!)

Basq

Bought an XBOX 360 yesterday.. got Gears Of War, Dead Rising and Crackdown. Any more recommendations?

A few questions:

Is is worth paying extra to get the extended warranty? I've heard horror stories about the 'Red Ring of Doom' (or whatever it's called)

What's the best way to stream media from a Mac? Probably TV-ersity or Connect360 but i'd like to hear people's individual setup's.

What's the cheapest way to get Xbox Live membership? There's fairly well reputed sellers on EBay selling subscriptions for about 50 euro. Are these OK? I didn't i'd go on XBox Live as i don't play online that much but with access to demos and stuff like that, i'd be mad not to!

Any recommended accessories i should get? I just got the Premium model. Have my surround sound setup so that's grand. I'd like the wireless adapter but they seem quite pricey.

Any preference on horizontal or vertical standing? I'd assume both would be fine for the system.

AdrianII

Games - PES 6 or wait til PES 2008, Halo 3, MOH Airbourne looks good

You get a three year warrenty when you buy it no need to extend it

Mac - ??

Live is great for demos, if you like GOW, get online its class
55euro of ms or 40 euro off ebay, and the ebay ones do work

I also have the wireless adapter (70 quid) well worth it, doesnt drop or loss conection either

I have it standing up as there is air holes on both white sides of it

Jack Sheehan

Bioshock. That is all.

I use mine vertical, have no idea why, just make sure its not on a soft surface (carpet)

AdrianII

whats bioshock like

Basq

AdrianII wrote:

Games - PES 6 or wait til PES 2008, Halo 3, MOH Airbourne looks good

Not a huge footie game fan... but i remember playing one of the first incarnations of PES in the arcade i think and loving it so might check it out.

AdrianII wrote:

You get a three year warrenty when you buy it no need to extend it

Oh right... i thought that alright but there was a Service Contract Invoice supplement for an extra £55 of something like that. Cheers for setting me straight!

AdrianII wrote:

Mac - ??

Apple Macintosh running Tiger OS 10.4.9!

AdrianII wrote:

Live is great for demos, if you like GOW, get online its class
55euro of ms or 40 euro off ebay, and the ebay ones do work

Sound... will be buying that next so!

AdrianII wrote:

I also have the wireless adapter (70 quid) well worth it, doesnt drop or loss conection either

Yeah, i've got an Ethernet cable running behind my DVD racks to my router.

Tis messy!

AdrianII wrote:

I have it standing up as there is air holes on both white sides of it

I've it lying down... is this OK? Don't think i have room to stand it up anywhere! :eek:

Jack Sheehan wrote:

Bioshock. That is all.

I use mine vertical, have no idea why, just make sure its not on a soft surface (carpet)

Was tempted to buy it but have heard mixed things about it.

I've mine lying down horizontal in a cabinet.. it looks OK but most pictures i've seen has the XBOX standing up vertically.

AdrianII

basquille wrote:

Apple Macintosh running Tiger OS 10.4.9!

sorry, i meant i dont have a notion about macs

lyin should be ok id say

i was in the same position with the network cable ( 20 metre cable - messy)

you can pick up pes6 for 25 quid

also PGR3 if you like racing - best bet is to actually download the demo first, if you like it buy it.

send us your tag if you get on live

MiloFoxburr

It's fine lying down just keep it in a cool area.

Petes are selling 12 month Xbox Live Cards for €41

The 3 year warranty is only for the Red Ring of Death but it's easy to force a RROD if you encounter any other issues on your system.

Oh and get Bioshock and Bomberman Live if you're a bomberman fan

Dman001

What I did for the Xbox Subscription is buy an orignal xbox live subscription from ebay in America and the person e-mailed me the code. I think it cost me 26 euro.

tman

Afaik the "12 + 1" xbox live subscriptions you see on ebay won't work, but the normal 12 month ones will (I could be wrong here though, they may work for first time subscribers...)
You might as well just sign up for the free 1 month trial and see if you think a gold live membership is worth it, you can still download demos and DLC with a free silver account.

Congrats on the purchase anyway, make sure you get Crackdown ASAP!

indough

Crackdown is a great game alright

Dman001

yeah I bought the normal 12 month sub.

Basq

AdrianII wrote:

also PGR3 if you like racing - best bet is to actually download the demo first, if you like it buy it.

Yeah, think the demo came pre-installed on the system i got. It's the only demo on it.. was quite enjoyable though alright.

MiloFoxburr wrote:

It's fine lying down just keep it in a cool area.

Cheers for that Milo. It's in a cool area alright. Am trying to ensure it's gets a fair bit of air around it too.

MiloFoxburr wrote:

The 3 year warranty is only for the Red Ring of Death but it's easy to force a RROD if you encounter any other issues on your system.

That's quite..... unsettling - that you can actually force it!

MiloFoxburr wrote:

Oh and get Bioshock and Bomberman Live if you're a bomberman fan

PS - love Bomberman... next on my purchase list!

DMan wrote:

What I did for the Xbox Subscription is buy an orignal xbox live subscription from ebay in America and the person e-mailed me the code. I think it cost me 26 euro.

Yeah, i've seen a few people saying the original XBox and XBox 360 Live Membership are cross-compatible. But are the XBox 360 ones not more expensive. Will buying a regular XBOX Live subscription definitely work?

tman wrote:

Afaik the "12 + 1" xbox live subscriptions you see on ebay won't work, but the normal 12 month ones will (I could be wrong here though, they may work for first time subscribers...)
You might as well just sign up for the free 1 month trial and see if you think a gold live membership is worth it, you can still download demos and DLC with a free silver account.

How would i go about subscribing for the free 1 month trial?

I see on the official XBOX site it has details for a 48 hour membership and a 2 month membership which both needs code. Don't have any of those codes. Anyone have a 2 month one spare?

tman wrote:

Congrats on the purchase anyway, make sure you get Crackdown ASAP!

Yeah, after hearing so much about it, it was first on my 'to purchase' list. Got both it and Dead Rising pre-owned in Xtra-Vision for €25 each. Discs are pristine too!

tman

basquille wrote:

How would i go about subscribing for the free 1 month trial?

You should only have to connect to xbox live to avail of it, I can't remember the exact procedure but you get prompted to start the free trial somewhere along the line when you're first connecting...

Basq

Ah.. cheers tman!

Will give it a shot so.

PS - think the free month trial ended over a year ago anyways!

ciano1

i think you just sign up for a silver membership and it automatically turns to gold foe the first month

MiloFoxburr

basquille wrote:

Ah.. cheers tman!

Will give it a shot so.

PS - think the free month trial ended over a year ago anyways!

The first 3 accounts made on an Xbox 360 get a free one month trial for Xbox Live, it's at the very end of the xbox live silver sign up.

basquille wrote:

That's quite..... unsettling - that you can actually force it!

Lots of people have forced RROD when they've gotten the tell tale signs you just gotta wrap it in a towel and leave it on lol.

basquille wrote:

PS - love Bomberman... next on my purchase list!

8 Player Online zombie match is just so much fun + it's only around a tenner

Mr E

+1 for Bioshock.... fantastic game.

If you are a 2D platform game fan, then grab Castlevania Symphony of the Night from the Marketplace. Superb game and it will last you ages.

You don't need to pay for XBL to get the demos and buy games online. Only if you want to play against other people.

Basq

MiloFoxburr wrote:

The first 3 accounts made on an Xbox 360 get a free one month trial for Xbox Live, it's at the very end of the xbox live silver sign up.

I tried signing up for XBOX Live by registering on the XBOX site and after inputting a GamerTag, and signing into my Hotmail... it doesn't let me go any further without either paying for a XBOX Live Sub or entering a code.

Pain in the arse... anyone know what i'm doing wrong?

EDIT: Never mind.. just realised i should sign up on the XBOX as opposed to the website but their message in the XBOX Live catalog threw me off:

Make sure to set up your Gamer Profile and get your gamer card on xbox.com BEFORE you hook up Xbox 360.

MiloFoxburr wrote:

Lots of people have forced RROD when they've gotten the tell tale signs you just gotta wrap it in a towel and leave it on lol.

That's mad....!! :eek:

TmB wrote:

+1 for Bioshock.... fantastic game.

If you are a 2D platform game fan, then grab Castlevania Symphony of the Night from the Marketplace. Superb game and it will last you ages.

You don't need to pay for XBL to get the demos and buy games online. Only if you want to play against other people.

Will check out those recommendations.. i probably will get Bioshock now after all the great reviews here.

Yeah, i see now that a silver membership will get your demos and stuff. Only problem is signing up!

MiloFoxburr

basquille wrote:

I tried signing up for XBOX Live by registering on the XBOX site and after inputting a GamerTag, and signing into my Hotmail... it doesn't let me go any further without either paying for a XBOX Live Sub or entering a code.

Pain in the arse... anyone know what i'm doing wrong?

Don't sign up on the website you won't get the free month. On the actual 360 sign up for Xbox Live Silver when you get to the end it will ask if you want to be upgraded to Gold for a month agree and there ya go

-edit- Ah you noticed lol My post was too late

Basq

Arse, i signed up on the website before i did the XBOX 360 sign-up and got no notification!

Balls.. anything i can do. Delete my gamertag / set up a new one etc.

MiloFoxburr

basquille wrote:

Arse, i signed up on the website before i did the XBOX 360 sign-up and got no notification!

Balls.. anything i can do. Delete my gamertag / set up a new one etc.

Yeah you'll have to set up a new gamertag on the 360 >.< You can rename gamertags but I don't think it's free.

If you don't want to do that just buy a 3 month card in Petes for €13

sweetie

Dman001 wrote:

What I did for the Xbox Subscription is buy an orignal xbox live subscription from ebay in America and the person e-mailed me the code. I think it cost me 26 euro.

would you have a link to a seller please?

Basq

So i finally setup a temporary account for the trial...

.. yeah, i'll lose my achievements etc but would just like to give it a go before i try really.

I'm using the GamerTag squillerb right now, but i'm going back to basquille once my month is up!

PS - i'm now extremely miffed that i just found out you can't store MP3's / Videos on the HDD! That combined with my numerous Region 1 / Region 3 DVD's with nowehere to play them now!

Basq

So i finally setup a temporary account for the trial...

.. yeah, i'll lose my achievements etc but would just like to give it a go before i try really.

I'm using the GamerTag squillerb right now, but i'm going back to basquille once my month is up!

PS - i'm now extremely miffed that i just found out you can't store MP3's / Videos on the HDD! That combined with my numerous Region 1 / Region 3 DVD's with nowehere to play them now!

Wisesmurf

im nearly sure you can store mp3's to your HDD on the 360. I certainly have some on mine. My lil bro is a tech whiz and did it, i'll post tomorrow how if no one else does before hand.

Sad Professor

Afaik the only way to get mp3s on to the 360's hdd is to rip them. I just use Connect360 to stream them instead.

moggins

region 1 and 3 dvd's work perfect on my 360... well my sis brought back a **** load from thailand and they all work!

Basq

moggins wrote:

region 1 and 3 dvd's work perfect on my 360... well my sis brought back a **** load from thailand and they all work!

They wouldn't perchance be simply Region 2 coded fakes.. would they? I mean it is Thailand!

moggins

lol thats prob it so. don i feel like a spaz..

Basq

moggins wrote:

lol thats prob it so. don i feel like a spaz..

Heh.. no worries!

From the top of my head.. the following DVD's of mine are now obselete:

Blade Runner: Director's Cut,
Slither,
Freaks And Geeks: Complete Series,
Undeclared: Complete Series,
Scrubs: Season 1,
Scrubs: Season 2,
The Simpsons (Seasons 1 - 5),
Batman Begins,
Beautiful Girls.

There's plenty more too! Will have to buy a cheap and cheerful multi-region DVD player. Unless i put my modded original XBOX in the other room - there's a plan!

faceman

basquille wrote:

Is is worth paying extra to get the extended warranty? I've heard horror stories about the 'Red Ring of Doom' (or whatever it's called)

i cant remember what the standard warranty is but they're legally obliged to cover you for the first 2 years anyway.

wrote:

What's the best way to stream media from a Mac? Probably TV-ersity or Connect360 but i'd like to hear people's individual setup's.

Connect360 but i think its US$20.

wrote:

Any recommended accessories i should get? I just got the Premium model. Have my surround sound setup so that's grand. I'd like the wireless adapter but they seem quite pricey.

wireless thingie is great, but only of course if you have a need for it.

wrote:

Any preference on horizontal or vertical standing? I'd assume both would be fine for the system.

vertical FTW!