Smyths 360 special offer

shawpower

I heard an ad on the radio on my way to work for Smyths and it really caught my attention. Basically they are offering the following:

X-Box 360 Premium Console 20gig
Halo 3
Forza 2
Project Gotham Racing 4
2 wireless controllers
The total price for this is €399


I've a few questions on this though.

1. Is the 20Gig Hdd sufficient? It seems small by PC standards but I've no reference point for the Xbox as I've never owned one. I gather the demos come in at about 1gig each, but surely you don't keep them for long? 2. The guy in the shop said that the 120 gig hdd was €175 on its own and that it is the only compatible upgrade. Is this true? 3. The elite has the 120gig hdd, but the offer they have on that is €490 with one controller, Halo3 and one from three games (Crackdown, Gears of War & Blue Dragon). How do the deals compare? 4. How do the games on each offer compare? I've heard lots of advertising for Halo3 but little in the way of reviews as I'm mostly a PC gamer, with a little bit of wii thrown in. I've also heard that Gears or War is meant to be good. 5. Lastly, the price seems pretty good compared to elsewhere with GAME coming in at €360 for just the premium and Halo3, but possibly the most controversial question is whether it's worth getting an Xbox 360 at all, now that the price of the PS3 has come down? I am (greedily/guiltily) thinking that I could get the 360 now, and the PS3 next year if it drops in price again? But are most games getting released on both platforms, and if so is it better to just get a PS3 instead? (Also means that I've got a Blu-Ray player.

Any other thoughts or points that I've forgotten to raise?

(If anyone else is interested in this offer, it is only valid until Sunday 21st October)

Cheers,
Rob.

event

personnally, i think the smyths deal is class, i saw it there at lunch, heres the link

http://www.toys.ie/Games_Extra.aspx

syboit

Heard this aswell this morning, very good deal allright.

1. I think 20gb is loads, I download a lot of the demos (delete them later when I need the space). Unless your going to start downloading tv/movies from marketplace (when it comes here) I cant see 20gb running out that quickly.

2. dont quite under stand this question, the elite model comes with a 120gb HD.

3. elite, has bigger controller, also hdmi port. Plus some of the newer ones have the falcon board (more heatsyncs etc etc) and the benq drive, should be lots of threads around here on it.

4. Halo3 very good, but if you've played 1&2 deffo a feeling of done it allready, think the hype was more than the game. GOW is excellent.

5. Dont think ps3 price will drop again, unless the 360 gets slashed. Most things aside, one of the main issues for the ps3 at the moment, is the amount of games (and also quality games). Though the likes of Killzone2 next year & MGS should even things out. Also if you want movies the ps3 has a dacent BD player in it.

Have a read around the xbox360 section on avforums, lots of more detailed threads there for almost any 360 topic. http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=206

mickoneill30

That's a pretty good deal I think. As for your questions.

1: 20Gb is plenty if you're playing games only. I've had mine a year. I've downloaded piles of demos and videos from Xbox Live and I've a few saved games on the box. With no cleaning up at all I've got 9.1Gb free. If they ever start renting out movies over the internet for the Xbox you'll probably need a fair bit of space. No idea when that's going to happen though and if you don't have a big broadband connection you won't be using it anway.

2: You can use only offical MS HDDs in the Xbox360. So that means either the 20Gb or the 120Gb ones. And they're pricey. Too pricey.

3: The elite has the bigger HDD and a HDMI port so you can plug into your HDMI port on your TV rather than component (no difference to you or me, it is to the fanboys though). Those two don't add up to enough advantage for me to want an elite.

4: If you like car racing this is a good pack. PGR4 is brand new and lots of people love Forza 2. Halo 3 is great online and good in the campaign mode but prepare to be confused trying to control your guy after being used to the mouse on the PC. It's a good selection of games. I'd say you could get €30 for any of them on eBay at least if you didn't like them.

5: Not touching that with a barge pole. I'll leave it to the fanboys. The PS3 probably won't drop much soonish anyway as it's just had a drop. If you want a HD player and the movies you want are only on Blu-Ray then you know which one to get. If you want it for games mainly then look at what games are available on each console and decide for yourself.

BFassassin

I wonder would they accept a trade in for my old 360. Does anyone know if they are the new ones with the hdmi slot?

helios

BFassassin wrote: »

I wonder would they accept a trade in for my old 360. Does anyone know if they are the new ones with the hdmi slot?

Yes... I have one.

BFassassin

Cool. I was planning on upgrading to an elite tomorrow but i might just get a new premium instead

311

Any difference in noise levels ,between elite and premium ?

syboit

the benq drives are supposed to be quieter, but I've heard reports where some-people think not.

311

Bad move to expect to watch movies with a HD DVD drive ?

Would it be noisey playing movies or is the cooling, software controlled ?

syboit

_Brian_ wrote: »

Bad move to expect to watch movies with a HD DVD drive ?

Would it be noisey playing movies or is the cooling, software controlled ?

dont get ya, hd-dvd drive is a seperate drive. hd-dvd drive playing movies is a lot queiter compared to 360 with a game disc spinning. (even the
360 playing a dvd is queiter than a game disc spinning)

Pure Cork

I'll be getting this today if they have the newer consoles. Great value, even compared to the Wii and PS3.

311

The PS3 has dropped in price ,this is probably why the 360 is cheaper.

You get three top games with the ps3 60GB for €519.
With the blu-ray and wifi aswell ,that makes the ps3 good value now.:)

311

syboit wrote: »

dont get ya, hd-dvd drive is a seperate drive. hd-dvd drive playing movies is a lot queiter compared to 360 with a game disc spinning. (even the
360 playing a dvd is queiter than a game disc spinning)

I didn't realize that ,I thought the HD drive slotted into the xbox ,like a swappable laptop drive.:(

BFassassin

Smyth's didn't accept my 360 saying that they dont do trade in's today. I thought they did.

Clover

BFassassin wrote: »

Smyth's didn't accept my 360 saying that they dont do trade in's today. I thought they did.

yeh man thats the answer i got from them when i asked about trading in a 360 but you can always try game , thats what i will be doing when i get my 360 back from germany.

TheDonMan

If you are buying a Xbox 360 Premium make sure that you get one that is HDMI ready because they are the newer Premiums and contain the new BenQ drive and a new heatsink.

I would recommend Game Stop they have a 1 week only deal on at the moment which is Xbox 360 Premium + Halo 3 + PGR4 and if you buy and extra controller you get Forza 2 free.

For a extra 100 euro i don't think the elite is worth it seeing as the premium and elite are the exact same on the inside (if you get a premium which is HDMI), you only need a elite if you plan on downloading loads of stuff from Xbox live and don't plan on deleting it after you use it.

moneyman

TheDonMan wrote: »

If you are buying a Xbox 360 Premium make sure that you get one that is HDMI ready because they are the newer Premiums and contain the new BenQ drive and a new heatsink.

I got this today and it has the HDMI at the back (can anyone clearly explain what this is?). Does a heatsink mean it shouldn't heat up? Mine got fairly hot today although I don;t know what it was like in comparison to the older Premiums.

Also, what's BenQ?

BFassassin

BenQ is the make of dvd drive. Its the newest type and its supposed to be quieter but im not sure myself.

Clover wrote:

yeh man thats the answer i got from them when i asked about trading in a 360 but you can always try game , thats what i will be doing when i get my 360 back from germany.

Im gonna trade it into gametop but i need to get a memory card for all my game saves etc before I can do that.

MiloFoxburr

BFassassin wrote: »

BenQ is the make of dvd drive. Its the newest type and its supposed to be quieter but im not sure myself.

It is, my friend picked one of them yesterday thanks to the smyths offer it is alot quieter than my 360 I noticed it immediately. It also seems to load stuff smoother i.e. Crackdown menu background stutters for me but is smooth for her

shawpower

TheDonMan wrote: »

I would recommend Game Stop they have a 1 week only deal on at the moment which is Xbox 360 Premium + Halo 3 + PGR4 and if you buy and extra controller you get Forza 2 free.

Why would you recommend this when in Smyths you get the extra controller & Forza 2 included in the overall price rather than having to buy them separately? Unless the Gamestop price is less than €400?

bibibobo

i got one of the smyths deals premium 360 model for 399. bit annoyed as none of the games worked as they all are requesting / forcing me to download an update to allow these games play. the problem is my broadband is non-existant in my new house!!

mcgovern

bibibobo wrote: »

i got one of the smyths deals premium 360 model for 399. bit annoyed as none of the games worked as they all are requesting / forcing me to download an update to allow these games play. the problem is my broadband is non-existant in my new house!!

If you don't plug it into the broadband, it shouldn't ask you to update.

Clover

mcgovern wrote: »

If you don't plug it into the broadband, it shouldn't ask you to update.

it still does , just do the update and it will run even though you have no net connection .

i got my 360 back from ms yesterday and hooked it back up to my pc monitor so my son could play saints row and it asked me to do the update and would not let me play a game until i did it.

even though there was no net connection it ran the update , so it must be on the hard drive already

moonboy

picked up a smyths one today. its defo quieter.

bibibobo

moonboy wrote: »

picked up a smyths one today. its defo quieter.

plus it has a hdmi connection.
i wonder is it the upgraded version which has better heatsink and other hardware issues sorted out?

banchang

Smyths 399 offer

2 driving games + Halo

- will they allow a swap of one of the driving games for something else ?

agentgreen

banchang wrote: »

Smyths 399 offer

2 driving games + Halo

- will they allow a swap of one of the driving games for something else ?

Wondering that myself... Prob will go in later.

Jip

Clover wrote: »

even though there was no net connection it ran the update , so it must be on the hard drive already

Most likely it's on the CD itself, for example Halo 3 instals an update from the disc before you play it.

agentgreen

Call in today the girl was pretty adement you can't.

I asked the girl in store what Premiums they had, she didn't know. Does anyone know which one's they are selling??? I looked for the 734 code but couldn't find it. I'm sending my uncle in tomorrow to get one. Is there a chance they will give him the old premium?????

Thanks

agentgreen

agentgreen wrote: »

Call in today the girl was pretty adement you can't.

I asked the girl in store what Premiums they had, she didn't know. Does anyone know which one's they are selling??? I looked for the 734 code but couldn't find it. I'm sending my uncle in tomorrow to get one. Is there a chance they will give him the old premium?????

Thanks

anyone know???