The Xbox 360 Slim is an All-New Console With The Latest Update
The Xbox 360 has changed since its launch in 2005.
That much is transparently clear from the updated version that debuted in 2010.
The
Xbox 360 S is smaller, sleeker and quieter than the previous model and
designed to banish the infamous 'Red Ring of Death' hardware failure
that forced Microsoft to extend its warranty on the system.
Likewise
the arrival of Kinect, which has gone on to sell over 10 million units,
has transformed the machine from solely the preserve of hardcore gamers
to a casual gamer friendly environment.
While some of
the novelty of Kinect may have worn off, if anything the games are
improving – finding new ways to take advantage of what is still
fascinating technology.
But Microsoft is and always has
been a software company first and foremost and, fittingly, that's where
the Xbox 360 has changed the most. The NXE update of 2008 binned the old
'blades' system for an interface that was more welcoming to multimedia
content and 2011 has seen another major update to the console's
operating system. One so substantial, we've felt it necessary to update
this review to reflect what a different machine it is.
Whether
it's the old model or the new one, the Xbox 360 has now comprehensively
changed from a machine primarily about playing games, with a modest
selection of online content attached, to a fully featured entertainment
and media hub.
The
majority of forms of digital entertainment are catered for, there are
extensive social networking features available and a new TV tab aims to
replace traditional digital boxes with IPTV and catch up services.
The
new dashboard, based around the Metro design language that also
features in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7, is a far busier interface,
but it's reflective of the huge amounts of content now available within
the walled garden of Xbox Live.
Getting to it all has
always been the challenge and Microsoft has made admirable steps towards
making that a straightforward process.
You'd think that the most significant change for the new
widely touted 'Xbox 360 Slim' would be its size, but surprisingly, it's
not.
At 270mm in height, it's sufficiently shorter than
the 310mm tall old 360. But it's only a measly half-a-centimeter slimmer
(and fatter than the PS3 Slim) and, would you believe, it's actually
slightly deeper than the old 360, too.
The new 360 vs. the previous 360
A bit smaller than 2010’s Xbox 360 S (I'm talking millimeters here), there's really only a few aesthetic changes to the design of the 360 E. For starters, it's designed to fall in line with stylings of the Xbox 360's incoming successor, Xbox One. The 360 E shares a similar glossy and matte mashup with angled grilles on top and on either side for venting.
A bit smaller than 2010’s Xbox 360 S (I'm talking millimeters here), there's really only a few aesthetic changes to the design of the 360 E. For starters, it's designed to fall in line with stylings of the Xbox 360's incoming successor, Xbox One. The 360 E shares a similar glossy and matte mashup with angled grilles on top and on either side for venting.
On
the back panel, the all-important HDMI connection is still there, but
there's no longer a multi-AV out port. Instead, what's left is a jack
for a 1/8-inch breakout AV cable. A cable for a composite connection
(yellow video plus red/white stereo audio) comes in the box, but you'll
need to find a component one for HD. The good news is that the cables
are no longer proprietary. The bad news? Still, to this day, you cannot
play Xbox 360 in HD right out of the box without supplying your own
cables.
Microsoft has eliminated some of the versatile connection
interfaces that were present on the 360 S -- which is actually kind of a
bummer. Gone is the dedicated optical audio-out found on earlier 360
models. That means the only way to get surround sound is through the
HDMI connection. If you're like me and have a slightly older AV receiver
that can't accept audio over HDMI, you might be in trouble.
If
this wasn't enough, the Xbox 360 E actually removes a USB port as well.
You're probably not going to feel the impact of only having a total of
four ports (two in the front, two in the back) as opposed to five, but
when you're paying the same price as a 360 S, one would assume that all
the parts would be kept intact.
Another slight difference: the touch power and eject controls from
the 360 S have been replaced with more-traditional physical buttons.
There are, however, a few things that survived the trip from S to
E. The 360 E maintains the elusive infrared port (so, unlike the
IR-less PS3, you can still use standard remote controls) and a
replaceable hard drive (you'll still need to use the proprietary
Microsoft model, not just a standard laptop HDD).
What
else is different? Not a whole lot. The 360 E can stand horizontally or
vertically. The power slot is differently shaped, but the inline power
brick from the S is still present. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are still onboard
for online connectivity, and the dedicated Kinect port remains.
Microsoft debuted the E console saying it would run quieter and
cooler. During my few weeks with it I did notice those two things to be
true, but nowhere near the dramatic improvement going from a "classic"
white 360 (the 2005 version) to the 360 S (2010 version). If temperature
and noise are your two biggest reasons for seeking an upgrade, allow me
to talk you out of it.
The Xbox 360 is the top-selling game console of this generation with
good reason. The game library is top-notch, with all of the top
third-party games you'll also find on PS3 (Madden, Call of Duty, Grand
Theft Auto, Assassin's Creed, BioShock, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and so
forth), plus a handful of key Xbox exclusives, such as the Halo, Gears
of War, and the Forza series, as well as the upcoming Titanfall. There’s
also a great selection of smaller downloadable indie titles on Xbox
Live Arcade.
The Xbox 360 can still only play DVDs and CDs -- Blu-ray movies won't work, as they will on a PS3, and the upcoming PS4 and Xbox One.
Both the PS3 and Xbox offer online multiplayer games, but Xbox Live
is arguably a larger, more engaged community. The catch is that in order
to play online, you need to upgrade to the Xbox Live Gold plan, which
costs $60 per year (though you can often find deals for closer to $40).
Annoyingly, the Gold plan is also required to access any of the Xbox
entertainment apps. That’s unfortunate, because Xbox arguably offers
some of the best selection of nongaming apps out there, including
Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, ESPN, Fox Now, Crackle, YouTube, and
Vudu. (Full disclosure: there are also apps for CNET and many of its
sister CBS Interactive properties, including GameSpot and Last.fm). In
other words, you need to pay the annual "Xbox Live tax" to access any of
those services through the 360, including otherwise free ones like
Crackle and YouTube. Keep in mind that you can get many of those
services at no extra charge on a
PS3
, Apple TV, Roku, or Chromecast. Indeed, a
Chromecast
($35) or
Roku LT
($50) can be yours for less than the annual Xbox Live Gold subscription fee.
The Xbox One, so far as we know, will also require Xbox Live Gold for
online gaming and entertainment apps as well. The Sony PS4 will require
a similar PlayStation Plus subscription for multiplayer online gaming,
but PS Plus will not be required to access entertainment apps like Netflix. (Currently, the PS3 requires no extra fees for online gaming.)
Bottom line: if you want to do anything fun on the 360 beyond playing
single-player games, you'll want to budget the annual Xbox Live Gold
subscription into your plans -- or plan on getting one of those
alternatives instead.
Features
Console: Height/Width/Depth/weight
- Xbox 360 250GB: 270mm x 75mm x 264mm, 2.9kg
- Xbox 360 Elite: 310mm x 80mm x 260mm, 3.5kg
- PS3 Slim: 290mm × 65mm ×290mm, 3.5kg
As
you can see, its profile is not much 'slim' but more 'light'. It's the
lightest of the current-gen consoles by a fair amount, although it's
worth noting right now that the PS3 Slim's extra heft also counts for
the system's internal power supply, which disappointingly remains
external (albeit smaller than the previous power brick) in the new Xbox.
Instead,
the more significant changes are in the console's aesthetics and
hardware configuration. First of all, that matte plastic has been
swapped for a super sexy gloss black.
Where
the old console's bubble-like roundness wouldn't look too out of place
on the Tomy Toys page of your Argos catalogue, the new console dons
sharp edges and harsh lines that almost resemble a stealth fighter
(fittingly so given its new quieter operating volume, but more on that
later).
And
then there's that grill on the side – a surprisingly large and
aggressive opening that's more like something you'd expect from a
third-party case mod than the usually reserved standard skin. Consoles
usually hide away their tightly-packed insides but the new Xbox flaunts
it, giving you a good look at the system's case fan.
Touch-buttons
The
power and disc eject buttons are no longer the clunky things they were
before. In fact you don't press them at all – they're capacitive touch
buttons that respond to no more than a gentle prod.
The
console makes a funky beep sound to acknowledge your touch, but it's
thankfully a more calming chime and not that horrible microwave-style
bleep of the PS3.
The console's cleaner appearance is
also partly thanks to the omission of the proprietary memory stick ports
– MS updated the 360 recently to accept any USB stick as usable memory;
a move which pretty much rendered the notoriously more expensive native
memory cards redundant anyway.
The two front-loading
USB ports remain, tucked neatly way behind a little flap which sits in
line with the new bigger and more responsive controller sync button.
The
console actually now has five USB ports total instead of the previous
three, but those additional ones have been tucked away on the back of
the console.
The new disc drive is considerably smoother
and quieter than before. Now, we know some of you will, right off the
bat, question MS' decision to stick with a disc tray rather than the
admittedly sleeker slot-loading drive like on PS3 and Wii. Honestly
speaking we would have preferred a slot loader too.
Anyhow,
the new drive has none of that Aiwa tape deck-like clunkyness to it. We
always wondered what part of the old Xbox could possibly make such a
loud 'ker-chunk' sound as the drive closed – that teeth-gritting sound
is no longer present here.
We tried moving the console
while a disc was spinning inside – something that resulted in a severely
scratched disc in the old console. The result? We're certain the result
was even worse!
Clearly Microsoft has been unable to
find a solution the intense centrifugal forces that bend the disc and
make it touch harmful nearby surfaces in the drive. The console does in
fact have a sticker on the front which warns against moving it while a
disc is spinning. Does this make up for the flaw in our eyes? Not a
chance.
On the backside
Flip
the console round and you're greeted by a few new ports, too. As we
said before, there are three USB ports back here instead of one. You'll
now be able to plug a digital optical audio lead directly into the
console for your 5.1 surround kits, instead of having to go through
external ports on the AV lead.
Most
interesting though is the 'Aux' port, which is basically where Kinect,
Microsoft's new motion-sensing gadget releasing in November, will be
plugged in. This port will both operate and power the device. Users of
the old console will plug Kinect in via a USB adapter and draw power
from a wall socket.
Video is delivered to your TV either
via standard HDMI or the proprietary Xbox AV port, which is the same
size as before so all your old AV cables will work, which is handy for
anyone upgrading from the old console because, ridiculously, the new
Xbox comes with no HD video leads whatsoever.
All you get
in the box is the standard composite lead, which only does SD – and
poorly at that. Everyone else will otherwise have to add the cost of an
HDMI lead to their bill before they can see the crisp HD resolutions
this machine is capable of.
There's an Ethernet network
port back here too, although we'd like to think anyone grabbing the new
console will make use of the now built-in Wi-Fi capability.
Finally,
Microsoft is no longer bending you over a table with its £70
proprietary Wi-Fi adapter necessary before. Just turn it on and you're
wireless right out of the box.
White noise
Perhaps the
biggest improvement over the older console is actually an intangible one
– the system's operating sound. The quieter disc drive is coupled with a
single larger internal cooling fan instead of three smaller ones as
before, resulting in a stealthier console.
This is made
possible by using a slimmer, more power efficient 45nm CPU with
integrated GPU. With less power being generated by the processing chip,
the console is able to run cooler, with a quieter fan. The difference is
night and day.
When
there's no disc in the tray the console is totally inaudible. Fire up a
game and the drive's rapid read speed still inevitably makes sound, but
it's more of a gliding 'whoosh' than the whirring sound of the motor.
Take
a look at the video clip above to get some idea of how the noise of the
new Xbox 360 compares against the original model and also the PS3 Slim.
Storage
Instead
of the fat top-loading hard drive of the old console, Microsoft has now
hidden a more compact hard drive case in a slot accessed on the
underside of the console (underside when stood vertically, that is).
To
extract it you must remove the hatch covering and pull on a flimsy tag
on the top of the drive, which does not seem like a good idea to us at
all. If there's one thing on this new Xbox we can see breaking, it's
this tag.
New controller
As
with the other Xbox 360 consoles, the new 250GB model comes with one
wireless controller. Aesthetically, it's slightly different to the one
that shipped with the 360 Elite.
The
grey trim is replaced with glossy black, while the round silver Xbox
button is now glossy silver rather than matte and the thumbsticks are
black instead of grey.
Interface
Connect your Xbox 360 to Xbox Live (and with wireless now
fitted as standard, you've no excuse not to) and you'll be prompted to
download an update to your console, which contains 2011's sweeping
dashboard refresh.
While the Metro-based design is too
busy to be considered truly handsome, it's borne of necessity. There is
an enormous amount of content available to connected Xbox 360 users and
the new dashboard does a great job of presenting it all in a logical
fashion.
We had gripes with the NXE system that debuted
in 2008, because of the jargon-heavy nomenclature of the various menu
options. But now you're presented with nine tabs across the top which
are visible at all times and have logical titles.
The
only potential confusion could come from the division between 'video'
and 'tv', the lines of which are being blurred with every passing day.
But while the 'tv' tab is the least populated at launch, as on-demand
services such as iPlayer, 4oD and Five On Demand arrive on the service,
that division will seem much more logical as another way to sort and
subdivide the astonishing amount of media available to you.
The 'video' tab is the preserve of movies and the forthcoming YouTube application.
Similarly
at launch the apps tab provides a number of redundant links to features
that can be accessed elsewhere, such as the Zune Video and Zune Music
marketplaces, both of which are also in their relevant tabs, and Sky Go
which sits in the 'tv' tab.
While
there's unlikely to ever be as wide a range as Apple's app store, if
Microsoft is canny it'll have apps that are cross platform compatible
with Windows Phone 7 equivalents. At the moment though, this is arguably
the biggest unknown on the Xbox 360 – less a case of anticipation as
just waiting.
Games
have actually been made more awkward to get to. While the disc in the
tray (still the priority for most users) can be accessed from the first
panel on the home screen, if you have an extensive selection of titles
downloaded from Xbox Live Arcade, you have to navigate four tabs over to
view them all.
Microsoft clearly feels that gamers will
be more prepared to explore the interface than casual users, but the
problem could easily be solved by a customisable home tab, something
that feels more and more like a glaring omission the longer you spend
with the dashboard.
Of course, the Guide button menu,
activated by pressing the silver Xbox motif on any controller, remains
largely the same as it always was and the savvier gamers may find that
this is the most efficient way to get at what the console was originally
designed for.
For
everyone else, it would be easy for the amount of available content to
become overwhelming and for that, Microsoft has included Bing-branded
search functions. As an attempt to promote its ailing search brand,
which currently claims less than four per cent of UK searches, it's
likely to be a busted flush, but as a means to sift through the movies,
games and music on Xbox Live it's a godsend.
If you're a huge Batman fan, simply searching for Batman will bring up all Batman related content available on Xbox Live.
That
means games, movies and even original soundtracks from the Zune Music
marketplace. If that scattergun approach is too much, searching
specifically for 'Batman games' will prioritise downloadable content
relating to those and even full games on demand. It's impressive stuff
and a brisk education in just how much there is for sale through your
Xbox.
If
you're not keen on navigating using the Xbox pad that, while brilliant
for twin-stick shooters or precise racing games, still suffers from a
doughy directional pad, you can use Kinect for either gesture or voice
control.
It's pleasing that it's no longer ghettoised in a
separate menu, but in practice, Kinect control largely feels like a
novelty. Sweeping between the different tabs and using a hand cursor to
select the various panels is absolutely as efficient and precise as
Kinect has ever been.
There has clearly been plenty of
time spent tuning it. But unless you don't have a controller to hand or
simply aren't as accustomed to their use, it's still a less efficient
way to navigate the dash.
It's
a similar story with voice. While you can bark the name of any of the
tabs and be whisked there, you can only 'say what you see'. Memorising
longer phrases in an attempt to dig into secondary and tertiary layers
of the interface bears no fruit, meaning you'll have to insert pauses
into your speech patterns.
Also, given that many Xbox
360s have a microphone in the shape of an Xbox Live headset, the fact
that voice control is limited to Kinect owners feels like a cynical,
artificial restriction.
Voice control's only real triumph
is when it comes to Bing searches. From anywhere on the dashboard,
saying 'Xbox, Bing' and then a search term will perform a near
instantaneous search. It recognises a remarkable number of phrases too,
meaning you can say actor names, obscure game titles and even the odd
profanity and it will do an impressive job of obliging.
What
the dashboard does offer you though is freedom of choice. Whether
you're most comfortable with controller, gesture, voice or some
combination of the three, the entire interface supports it and that's to
be applauded.
Engadget Microsoft XBOX 360 Reviews (Critic's Reviews 8.8/10, Average User Rating 8.8/10)
CNET Microsoft XBOX 360 Reviews (CNET Editor's Rating 3.5/5, Average User Rating 5/5)
The Good The Xbox 360 E delivers a fantastic library of media and games, along with slightly quieter operation than the previous 360 model.
The Bad The 360
E loses the optical audio output found on previous Xbox models; lacks a
Blu-ray drive; requires annual Xbox Live Gold subscription for nearly
all online gaming and entertainment apps; older 360 hardware/software
bundles remain a better value. The newer Xbox One is just around the
corner.
The Bottom Line The
Xbox 360 remains a great video and gaming console, but fans will be
better served by older 360 bundles -- or waiting for the Xbox One.
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