Microsoft's flagship gaming device, the Xbox 360, has certainly been tweaked more than once since its debut in November of 2005, with larger-capacity hard disk drives inside, alternate colors and designs, different software bundles and--most importantly--the addition of HDMI output for the burgeoning high-def crowd. But as the first-to-market of the three major players in the industry, it was the most overdue for a serious overhaul. Hence the 2010 model Xbox 360 250GB Console ($299.99).
Because so much has happened in the game hardware universe in the ensuing years, I noticed a certain superficial "homage" to the Wii (the slight backward tilt when stood vertically), and the original PlayStation 3 (a glossy black finish: keep a gentle polishing cloth handy!) The console's form factor is a bit thinner overall, shorter, but with a touch more junk in the trunk. But whatever diet it's been on has trimmed off some weight as well. The accompanying power brick--the dirty secret of the Xbox 360's sleek lines--is still enormous, but slightly less so. It does however represent the lowest power consumption ever for an Xbox 360, less than half that of the original 2005-2007 codename "Xenon" model, both at idle and in gameplay. It's currently available in a single package option, with a 250-gigabyte-capacity hard disk drive.
The Power and Eject buttons are now touch-sensitive and no longer move at all when pushed, with funky little tones that emanate from the console itself. Boot-up is a few seconds quicker than on my previous unit, the first generation of "Elite" (HDMI), and yet I needed to double-check that it was indeed working only because it is no so darned quiet. Much of the heat is managed by a great big vent where there wasn't one before, hence the reduction in fan noise. Individual disc load times tend to vary from title to title, I can't say that it is faster across the board.
A total of five USB 2.0 ports (up from three) are now provided, a pair in front for charging controllers or popping in a flash drive, three in the rear. The 360 very proactively recognized my data transfer cable as soon as I plugged it in, and asked only for my say-so before it began the relocation from my current deck, no software installation required. About 50 gigabytes of content took about an hour to move, including my recent purchase of Star Trek in 1080p HD from the Zune Marketplace.
DRM-protected games and videos stored on the HDD require the transition of the accompanying licenses, a relatively painless two-part procedure that requires a visit to the Xbox website. A pop-up even asked me what to do when duplicate content was discovered on both drives. The new 250GB hard drive is extremely small, featherweight, and removable if you know where to find it, under one of the side panels. It was on the HDD (and nowhere else) that I saw the console referred to as "Xbox 360 S," but I'm not sure what the S stands for.
I was also asked if I wanted to set up the wireless network, although it told me that I had a "network adapter," suggesting that this feature was an add-on and not an integral part of the 360. Either way, it was up and wirelessly connected to my home Wi-Fi network in seconds. Wire-wise, a dedicated digital optical audio port is now supplied as well, no longer requiring a special dongle. My legacy Microsoft HD DVD drive was plug-and-play via one of the rear USB ports. The new Xbox 360 is also ready to accept the controller-free Kinect Hub when it launches this fall, ostensibly at the curious little "AUX" port.
I thought it only right to try out a current Xbox 360 game to see what's new on this platform, and I chose the Toy Story 3 tie-in title from Disney Interactive Studios. It seemed appropriate, as Pixar is known for their sumptuous digital animation, and the Xbox 360 is called upon to render these characters and worlds in real-time. The results; delivered at 1080p with live, in-game Dolby Digital audio; ably capture the look and feel of the movie, the carefully designed and focused backgrounds in particular. This is actually a really fun game that allows us to either follow the plot of the movie or have more freewheeling-type adventures in "Toy Box" mode.
This latest Xbox 360 contains a DVD drive, not Blu-ray as some had been hoping for, but it does upconvert the video signal. It output to my TV at 1080p via the HDMI port (cable not included), and honestly, the performance was superior to the SD upscaling of some Blu-ray players I've tried. Not on a par with genuine Blu-ray, but what is?
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