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The Best Deal for Xbox360 By: PoisonRamune, the Apathetic Lizardman I’m a bargain hunter. For me, there’s no greater thrill than finding a great game for less than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Naturally, when I picked up the Xbox360 for the Running with Ninjas’ HQ, I did a lot of research on where to get all the products we needed for the best price. During my search I came across an accessory bundle that stands out as the best deal for the Xbox360 by far.
The Xbox LIVE Messenger Gold Pack is sort of like an online starter kit for your 360. The $69.99 asking price may seem a bit steep; but after seeing everything in this bundle, you’ll actually feel like you’re ripping Microsoft off (and that’s a good thing). Included in this bundle is: 1 year of Xbox Live Gold ($49.99 retail), 1 wired headset and mic ($19.99 retail), 1 mini-keypad ($29.99 retail) and Project Gotham Racing 4 ($49.99 retail). Essentially, you’re getting $150 worth of products for about $70. But are these products any good? And since no one in their right mind would buy $150 worth of trash, allow me to go through and do a mini-review on each product.
The Xbox Live Gold Service: This is pretty standard fare in terms of online gaming. The interface is reminiscent of AIM or any other chat program. However, aside from just being able to chat and play games with friends, Xbox Live Gold has some pretty nifty extras. For instance, you can now compare game libraries and achievements with friends (now you can see if your buddy was lying when he said he did a TMNT Arcade no death run). For $50 the service is well worth every penny, especially if you’re sick of plugging in those ridiculous friend codes for every Wii and DS game you own. My favorite aspect of Xbox Live Gold is the ability to send and receive invites to games while you’re playing (no more wasting time in lobbies and stupid waiting rooms).
Wired Headset and Microphone: There’s almost no point in reviewing this thing. It’s the same headset you got when you originally bought your Xbox360. The audio quality on it is pretty good. In fact, I couldn’t do my joke from 1998 where I say “Do you want to super size your meal?” because the mic actually made my voice sound like my voice (which is not really a good thing, but that’s my fault for having an awful sounding voice).
Mini-Keyboard/Messenger: This add-on is basically a keyboard that fits in the trapezoidal void at the bottom of the 360 controller. The keyboard itself is slightly bigger than a Blackberry’s keyboard and adds a significant amount of weight to the controller. The extra weight takes awhile to get used to; however, after about an hour of Castle Crashers it didn’t even feel like I had the keyboard there at all. The actual usefulness of the keyboard is debatable. The fact that the small size of the Messenger’s keys makes typing a bit tough and that a standard USB keyboard can be plugged into the 360 makes this more of a novelty than a necessity. Though I’m leaving my Messenger hooked up because I’m too lazy hook the Animal Crossing keyboard up to the 360 and I think the Messenger looks pretty posh (it’s very Cyber-Punk).
Project Gotham Racing 4: I’d like to start out by saying that not only do I hate driving, I hate driving games. Though, I’d also like to say I don’t hate Project Gotham Racing 4. Maybe it’s because the object of Project Gotham Racing is to complete objectives, rather than just out run your opponents. You’ll be asked to do objectives like “Do the longest drift around the final turn” or “Overtake 3 racers during the last half of the race,” so even if you suck and get second place or lower (which I do a lot) you still have a chance to move onto the next circuit. The locations in the game are very well picked and designed. I’m even led to believe that the game looks up the local weather conditions online and juxtaposes them in game (which would explain why I’ve been driving through the rain at the beginning of the week with a sudden change in Tokyo’s weather last night). The car selection is top notch, as this may be the only time my pauper ass will ever get to make a Ferrari move. The online mode is very innovative, as there are not only head to head races online, but a leaderboard for the nations’ ranking (where each country is rated against eachother based on all their racers’ performances). The nation rankings give me this weird feeling of patriotism, since I’m not only racing for myself but also for my country.
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