I did it... picked up a 360.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

bought a used 360 with HDD (not sure what size), wired controller, wireless controller, 3 games, and a guitar controller (but not a guitar game!?).
$200.00 from a co-worker who needed some cashola.

I will straight-up kill the dude if I get a red ring when I fire it up!!

came with Halo 3, some wrestling game (trading that puppy in, along with the guitar), and an XBOX Live arcade disc (not sure what that's about).

got the component video cable too.
will the Monster brand component cable from my original XBOX work with the 360? I really don't want to deal with rerouting cables if I don't have to.

what am I missing? what are the absolute "MUST HAVE" games for the 360?
I hate sports games BTW. I dig action & adventure. I love driving fast and blowing shit up -- games that can combine these tow things are lovely! puzzle games rock too and give me something to play with the ol' lady, same for fighting games.
oh yeah, and I have PS3 & Wii, so I'm really only looking for 360 exclusives

TIA!

[rallynavvie]

GTA4

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

Gears of War.

Congrats on the sweet deal!.

[Supreme2k]

Make sure to chip it for homebrew accessibility.

[yoda313]

Yes get Gears of War for a shooter. Very good though I've only played it a handful of times (I do own it thought).

YOU MUST BUY NINJA GAIDEN 2! Do not pass go, do not collect 200.00. The game rocks! You slice arms and heads off with just about every swing of the sword.

Also Xbox Live is the service you have to use to play games like Halo 3 on the LIVE account. You can still do multiplayer at home on the same console or link up with a system link via lan. But to play online you need Xbox Live.

Downside is Xbox Live is 50.00 a year. BUT it is absolutely necessary to get the full benefit of the console. If you don't want to use a credit card online you can buy xbox points at your local big retailer like Target or Best Buy.

If you have a Media Center pc the xbox 360 is an extender out of the box. If you don't have media center you can still stream files off if you enable media sharing in windows media player.

I don't think your original xbox cables are compatible. Though it's been so long since I've had my original xbox I don't remember what kind of adapter it was.

Though component will be your minimum requirement. I assume you will be using an hdtv right? If so and you have an open VGA port I highly recommend getting the VGA HD cable. Assuming also that your native resolution is 1366x768 then the VGA cable is the only way to get that close to your res. The xbox 360 only does 1360x768 not 1366 but just use the fill or stretch mode on your tv to get the little bit extra. Trust me it will look better than 1080i over component.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

...If you don't have media center you can still stream files off if you enable media sharing in windows media player. ...

$@#@&*@$^ @*$&#@ *&$#*!!!!!
Shit doesn't work!
went to xbox.com/pcsetup, chose MediaPlayer11, followed the directions EXPLICITLY, nothing....
My PC doesn't see the XBOX, the XBOX says their are no PCs -- there are 5 PCs on the network!!
Do you have to connect the XBOX directly to your PC? If so, **** that shit....
Been ******* around with this for almost 2 goddam hours and nothing!
Their site is crap too, no help at all. Typical Micro$oft though, help = no help...

[yoda313]

Ok calm down xylob. Screaming doesn't help trust me.

First off - is your network a PRIVATE network? Media Sharing won't work if you have it set to public.

Second - if you have Zune software installed and set to sharing disable that and leave only the wmp sharing enabled. Or vice versa it can only connect to one or the other.

Third - Is this network linked to the internet with full outside access? If so than setup should be a breeze with the router. Not sure what you might have going on.

Fourth - It took me MONTHS to get mine finally hooked up. Here's how - I actually am using a Dlink ethernet switch. There is no internet signal to the pc just the wifi adapter on the xbox 360 which doesn't go to the pc in any way. I have disabled the windows firewall completely since I am landlocked on the vista pc at the moment, no outbound net.

My final step on getting it working was to actually DISABLE sharing on both wmp and zune. THEN IT FOUND IT! I couldn't believe it. And it works all the time now even after shutting down box the xbox and pc.

You might also want to go into the xbox menu and go to computers and remove the windows media center connection and go back to the video blade and start a new connection to your network. You will be given a new 8 digit key to put in your pc.

Fifth - BE PATIENT! Believe me this drove me crazy for months and finally got it working.

Sixt - as a last ditch effort TVERSITY does work on the 360. Though you may need to have the network enabled with an internet signal for it work properly, the ip address is assigned easier that way. However I currently am using it without an actual internet signal so it can work without it.

Seventh - THere are about six or more ports that need to be added to your exception list on your firewall. They are on the xbox.com website. PLus you need to make sure your media sharing is allowed on your firewall as well.

Eight - Modify any antivirus firewall protection as well to allow port communication. This may be the final nail in the coffin if you have followed my other pointers.

Ninth - GOOD LUCK AND GO KICK SOME BUTT!! I HATE NETWORKING!!!

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I hate networking too.
What pisses me off so much is the MicroSoft site makes it seem so easy -- 'just click here, here, & here -- you're ready to go!'.
My ass...

Thanks for the tips. #5's gonna be the hardest. I have NO patience...

I'm not even gonna **** with it anymore tonite. I'll go see a movie tomorrow, piddle around and do some yard work & honey-do's.
Maybe I'll play with it some more Sunday.

Thanks again.

[yoda313]

Sure thing, believe I know how crazy it can be.

Are you using XP or Vista? If Vista is it premium with Media Center?

As far as multiple computers on the network I can't answer that as I only have one pc on the network chain I'm using. There must be web references for multiple computers and game console networking, I just haven't looked myself since that isn't my situation.

Another tip:

Try enable folder sharing on your source pc. Let's say it's pc #2 and that has all your media files you want to share on the xbox. Go into the pc #2 and enable file sharing and select the media folders you want to share. This MIGHT be the extra step you need in your situation.

Also please note I have not been sharing with WMP but Media Center so I'm not entirely sure of what the differences are. Media Center is totally integrated. Now with Tversity you go through the video blade on the xbox and choose the folders you want and then select the files to play. I am not sure what you need to do to for wmp. You may have to setup playlists in wmp for it to be seen on the xbox. I honestly don't know.

As far as tversity you have to load the folders you want into the program for it to start sharing. I think you'll have to experiment a little more with wmp.

Good luck.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

XP SP2, it's the HTPC in my profile.
All the music files are actually on another PC running Win2K, but that shouldn't matter because on the HTPC the folder on the Win2K machine with all the music is shared to the network and the HTPC has that folder mapped as a network drive.
Same set up on all PCs in the house.
Except the HTPC is the only one with WMP11 which is what's required for the XBOX media connection.
It shouldn't matter what drive the music files are on though -- media player doesn't know that the files are on another computer, it just knows that they're on the M: drive instead of in My Docs/My Music.

[yoda313]

Try making a new playlist on the wmp called xbox 360. Load some files into it and see what happens.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

hehe, had to do that for the XBOX Music Maker to stream music onto it.
having that list didn't seem to help.
renaming it didn't do anything either...

[yoda313]

Well you might want to check out www.xbox-scene.com for more info. They have dedicated 360 forums now.

I wish I could help you more but like I said I am only using one pc with my xbox 360 so I wouldn't know for sure how to help.

Of course another option would be to get a media server harddrive. I think I saw something called buffalo media server that might work. Drag and drop the files there and then plug into the xbox 360. Though of course I don't have any specs or real world experience on that for you.

Good luck.

P.S. Don't forget to try all my other tips I previously posted. There may have been something you overlooked. Believe me I sure did.