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Xbox Console | 
 enlarge | From: Microsoft
Category: Video Games
List Price: £99.99
Buy Used: £19.99
You Save: £80.00 (80%)
Used (27) from £19.99
Rating:  187 reviews
Sales Rank: 963
Platform: Xbox
Media: Video Game
Number Of Items: 1
Age: 3 - 18 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 8.8
Dimensions (in): 15 x 14.8 x 5.7
MPN: F23-00067
UPC: 805529096769
EAN: 0659556602369
ASIN: B00005RHQT
Release Date: August 27, 2004
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: FAULTY * * * FAULTY * * * FAULTY. Console only.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
With the Xbox Microsoft got it right first go. It has stunning graphics, immense power under the bonnet and little quirks to give it the edge. You can tell that every component of the Xbox has been scrutinised and all the elements play-tested so that this really is a machine created by gamers for gamers. The main processor is powered by Intel while the graphics are dealt with by NVIDIA and both have been specifically designed for the system. What this gives you is a machine with PC power and equivalent graphics that plays on your television screen. Imagine a P4 2 GHz machine with buckets of memory and a GeForce 3 card with all the extra options--such as tri-linear, bump mapping and shadows--turned on and you might start to get close on the graphics. The set video pieces are like something out of the Final Fantasy movie and are far above anything previously seen on a console. The eye candy doesn't stop with the cinematic sequences. Once you start playing the games themselves they ooze creativity and atmosphere. Titles such as Halo and Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey show a graphical style that make them simply the best-looking console games you will see on your TV. It is not only graphics that Microsoft has gone to great pains to get right. Sound plays a huge part in the immersive atmosphere that the console is aiming for. To this end the Xbox boasts 256 audio channels as well as supporting Dolby Digital and Dolby Surround which all combine to give you an unrivalled audio experience. You will almost feel the bullets whizzing over your head from all directions in Halo. The system also supports DVD playback which is accessed by a remote control sold separately. This is a good thing because you don't have to faff around pausing movies with the right trigger or left d-pad. In Xbox you get the gaming capabilities of a top of the range PC with all the extras. You can't do your monthly accounts on it or edit your home movies but this machine is for playing with and that's what it excels at. --Jason Denwood
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| Customer Reviews: Read 182 more reviews...
 This isn't just a console. It can be so much more. August 24, 2008
Gary Diamond (Hampshire, England)
Why is the now-aging XBOX such a great piece of hardware? Read on.
FRESH OUT OF THE BOX:
I'm a very casual gamer these days so I tend to be nearly one generation behind. I simply don't see the point in paying 50 for a brand new title that'll be worth 10 in only a year so I let most of the console generations pass me by thse days, then I pick 'em up when the newest shiniest one comes out and the old ones are dropped like broken toys.
It was by chance my flatmate decided to give me his old XBOX. He threw in some good games; THUG2, Deus Ex Invisible War, Project Gotham Racing 2, Thief Deadly Shadows and some others. That was fine, but I soon got bored with playing games and was tempted to start letting it gather dust, sitting there under my TV set which at the time I didn't use much anyway, not being a big fan of most of the shows currently airing then.
THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX:
I remembered an article I'd seen in a home cinema magazine that stated the XBOX was capable of being used as a budget media centre with very little expenditure and effort. After a little research on teh internetz I discovered that no hardware modification was necessary as it could all be done via software. Scripted software no less, simplifying the entire process. Needless to say, I got ahold of the free utilities - which incidentally are incredibly well made and worthy of donations to the authors - and sat down over the course of a few evenings, figuring out what I was going to reconfigure the XBOX, which is basically a scaled down PC in a small black box, to do.
After modification with use of XBOXHDM and Ndure 3 coupled with applications like UnleashX and the mighty XBMC, the XBOX becomes a powerful tool. You can swap out the tiny internal harddrive for the biggest currently available with a simple ROM patch and the EEPROM code to lock the drive to the XBOX; a simple process with XBOXHDM. (I currently have a 160GB unit in there and have found the console so useful I'm considering moving up to 1TB.) That's where the fun starts.
ADVANTAGES:
Software modified and sporting a bigger harddrive, the XBOX comes alive. You can:
(*) Play all region DVDs without buying the extra kit - although it's worth considering as XBMC allows you to reprogram the remote if you have it.
(*) FTP your music/film/TV show collection to the box and use XBMC to play them all, complete with decent quality visualisations for the music. Or have your PC in another room and stream from that, negating the need to copy anything.
(*) Rip CDs/DVDs to harddrive. Yep, on the XBOX itself.
(*) Copy all your XBOX games to the harddrive to speed up load times and manage them all from the new dashboards. This allows you to store your originals somewhere they won't be scratched or damaged in some other way.
(*) Install emulators: PSX, SNES, Genesis, Nintendo 64, Amiga, Dreamcast and several others. Most of which run at full speed and in some cases actually improve the visuals over the original system! Makes 'Virtual Console' services look like the ripoff they really are.
(*) Run one of several adapted Linux builds and use the console to browse the net; choosing a build like XDSL allows you to do such things as watching YouTube videos through Firefox, too!
(*) Add a keyboard and mouse can be added with an inexpensive adapter that connects to the controller ports. Ever wanted to play Halo with mouse aiming without shelling out for the software again? Done.
(*) Still run Live when using an original game from power on (read up before doing this so you don't get banned).
(*) Boot back to MS Dash, should you want to.
(*) Run stripped down versions of Windows 98, 2000 and XP!
(*) Soft reset any time - LTRIG, RTRIG, BACK and BLACK buttons.
Impressed? You should be. There are many other great things you can do but it won't all fit in this review!
CONCLUSION:
To me, the XBOX symbolises the start of the integration age, where one inexpensive unit can provide all your home entertainment needs, with just a minimal amount of technical knowledge required to maximise the unit's potential. The console is a basic PC, games unit and media player capable of running in HD and/or with Dolby Surround 5.1. Of course not everything can be output at maximum quality, but given only 64mb of RAM and a 733mhz processor it does a lot. All it has cost me is 3 for some TORX screwdrivers and time setting it up. If you have an old XBOX and some time, I recommend it. You can never have enough media players these days, it seems.
LINKS:
xbox-linux.org/wiki/17_Mistakes_Microsoft_Made_in_the_Xbox_Security_System
forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=496263
xbmc.org
I like it! January 21, 2008
strany (uk)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
i have owned and xbox for 4 years now and it has finally given up the ghost but it has been v. reliable and i have had no problems. only problem is that htere r no good platform games but drving, shooting and evrything else r great . got xbox 360 now
its not that much bigger than a ps2 and its ghot the same amount of buttons!
Excellent multi media centre (but not in the way Micro$oft intended it) November 14, 2007
Masood Syed (UK)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought my main xbox over a year and a half ago and now own two of them! - And I still use both of them quite extensively! Why would you want to buy an xbox these days when there are so many alternatives like the psx 2, or xbox 360? - well I bought mine with the intention of using it as a multi-media centre (no, not the default rubbish that micro$oft gives you!) - I had a lot of divx & dvd backup movies of dvd's that I owned on the pc and mac that I wanted to watch in the living room.
Back a year ago the only options was to add a `mod chip' to the system that would allow you to run other software (other than micro$oft approved), nowadays you can `soft mod' the xbox which means you don't even have to buy a mod chip or open up the xbox!
I chipped mines with the X3 mod chip, nowadays you can buy a solderless version which means you just push the legs into the right places and away you go! I use XBMC (xbox media centre) homebrew software, which is a totally FREE media playing software that runs on xbox and you can use it to view pictures, play music (wma, mp3, mp4 etc) and play many video formats as well such as divx, xvid, vobs, bins, dvd etc.
Since the xbox is plugged into the tv & hi fi, now all our photo albums , music and films are viewable on our living room tv and through the hi fi! It was so easy to set up, that some months later I bought another second hand xbox and a solderless x3 chip for our bedroom.
The other big plus, is you can fit a bigger normal pc hard drive - I put a 320gb drive in one of the xboxes, and backed up all my games that I own on it - no more scratched disks - I play them straight off the hard drive! Also you are now, not limited to just European games, you can play US games on it too (there are a lot of titles that were just not released in Europe).
On a side note, for those geeks out there, I also installed Gentoo Linux and DSL Linux, both run quite happily on the chipped xbox - both offer virtual keyboards, but browsing the web is a bit clunky due to the resolution (on a normal tv connection you can only get a really low res like 600x800 or so - I think you get better res on hdtv connections (780/1080i), but movies play just perfectly (through XBMC).
So if you have a lot of content on your mac, linux or windows pc that you would like to listen/view on your hi fi/tv in another room then an xbox would be an ideal candidate!
NB. Some of the older xboxes can have a noisy fan that is audible when your film/music is on low volume, if you are buying a second hand xbox try and get xbox model v1.3 or above. (Also any form of modding or chipping will obviously invalidate any warranties you may have)
 a great console but only 4 stars May 17, 2007
J. R. Skinner (medway in englend)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
it rely is a great game console but there is one problem the xbox it over heats and wen it does it stops playin games well mine does an there is a massive variety of games on the xbox startin from rely crap ones to awesome games like halo, hitman, call of duty, project gotham racing, etc etc it goes on and on and to be fair not all ppl like action games so u might want games that i call crap but if u love em then gd for u but if u want a wide variety of games and dont mind that your xbox overheatin then get one but jus make sure u get a new one or one that has been refurbished by a compant that specialises in it and jus dont buy a second hand one for very little money cos you will be disappointed
Great but not the best March 3, 2007
Mike Newton (Cheshire, UK)
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
I have all three "sixth generation" consoles - Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube so I review the Xbox on how I compare it to the other two consoles.
I bought my Xbox just before Christmas 2002 and had to buy a replacement in 2005 as my first Xbox broke down - the first console to ever break down on me.
Despite the breakdown, though, I still find the Xbox a great console that's potential was sadly very short lived.
But the main weakness, in my opinion, when comparing it with the PS2 and GameCube are the games. While I have some great games for the Xbox, I have always found, in my opinion, there have always been more "must have" exclusives on both the PS2 and GameCube.
There same thing also seems be be happening with the Xbox 360 and Wii, when I look at the Wii release lists over the coming months, I see lots of great sounding games, but the Xbox 360 only has a few.
Overall though, with the games I have got on my Xbox and for the experience I have had with it (despite the breakdown) I find the Xbox a great console.
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