Secincerly
Derek K. Davis

I’d just like to point out a few things. (I don’t know how relevant this is seeing as you’ve purchased another 360.)
You’re perfectly welcome in your opinion that the 360 isn’t worth it, and I’ve been burned by Microsoft a few times myself, but I do think you have a few misconceptions about the console.
First off, prices. The 360 costs $400 in the U.S. for the premium model. Anything less than that is a sale (which I’m sure the U.K. has) and really shouldn’t be considered in your argument. Yes, it does cost more over there. Why, I don’t know. I’ve heard this is pretty standard for electronics over there, and the PS3 I imagine will be doing the same.
Your Amazon price points for accessories also seem off. Amazon basically runs sales prices all the time, which means THEIR prices could be biased in differences between the UK and US. If you walk into a typical store (I checked the Best Buy website, a place I imagine many Americans buy consoles, games, and accessories) you’ll see the Play and Charge is $20 (as you said), the Media Remote is $30, and the Wireless Networking Adapter is a whopping $100.
Now, I’m not saying any of those things aren’t OVERPRICED, but it does reduce the price DIFFERENCE considerably.
I don’t understand your confusion over the HDTV matters, especially since you said you plan on buying one yourself, I’d imagine you’d have researched it. 480p is progressive can, progressive scan is 480p. It’s like talking about a dollar and 100 pennies, same thing. Now, I’m not sure what you’re EXPECTING of Microsoft, but for them to explain what’s better (especially the debate between 720p and 1080i) in their console is a bit much. It really CAN be subjective, and if you get and HDTV, try both and find out what you like better.
I don’t know what to tell you about original Xbox games. I was pretty sure region lockouts were standard on most systems (I know the DS DOESN’T do it, but that’s all I know about). The backwards compatibility FAQ is deceiving, but when asked directly Microsoft hasn’t shied away about not all games working.
And your last issue, the hard drive. I believe the article you linked to about how bad it is was really talking about future uses for it. Downloadable games, download movies, etc. It is, admittedly, a small hard drive for these uses. Download games I don’t think are in the plan, but the movies are already out there. It is annoying to have to constantly delete and re-download stuff, but that’s ALL that article is saying.
As to why there’s only 13 GB. Yes, some of that is pre-loaded stuff. But why you would complain about free stuff is beyond me. Delete it if you don’t want it. After deleting everything, the rest of the space being used is reserved for console stuff, I believe. You know how EVERY Xbox had a hard drive? Well that’s why it’s required for backwards compatibility. Space is reserved for that use, JUST like it was on the original Xbox.
Anyways… that’s all I can think of. Hope you’re enjoying whatever games you’re playing nowadays!

Oh you live in the UK, well that’s hella different. My bad. I know they have limited games there and that does make since for your kids and stuff. Sorry about the flame..

It doesn’t matter if you don’t think half my games are worth playing. It matters if I care. If I want to play them, or if my kids want to play them, then they are important to us. And if the Xbox 360 won’t play them, then we aren’t likely to buy it. And if we don’t, that’s a lost Microsoft sale.
In terms of research on backwards compatibility, I’ve done that — in the post above. Perhaps you missed that in your rush to post a flame. There was no need to research this beforehand given Microsoft really hadn’t made any suggestions that backwards compatibility would be so limited. That’s the point. If you call something backwards compatible, reasonable people don’t expect that to mean only a small number of titles will actually work on it.
In terms of being in the stone age on TVs, did you miss the part where I said I was purchasing an HD TV in about two months? To further enlighten you, there was no HD transmission in the UK until recently. There was no compelling reason to have an HD TV unless you were into gaming. I do have one now — purchased exactly as I said I was going to do.
As for having a higher resolution damage your TV, sorry if that fear seemed so illogical to you. Considering how the wrong resolution or scanning rate can damage an LCD monitor, it wasn’t so illogical to question it to me.
FYI, in the end, I did purchase an XBox 360 again. Nintendo Wii To Be Region Free covers this more, and I’m planning a separate follow-up post. Now having an HD TV — plus more games — it was more compelling to have it in addition to the old Xbox.

Chill out. You’re a real pathetic loser to tell you the truth. Only half of your Xbox games are even worth playing and your bitching about not being able to play them. PGR2 is the only game that I’m really disapointed about not being able to play. You should’ve really done some research about backward compatibility, but oh, you’re too stupid to find anything, well try googling it! You can find tons of crap as long as you’re smart enough to know what keywords to put in. The PS3 will be an even bigger waste of money and the games and quality of sony systems completely sucks. You really need to get out of the stoneage with TVs. By turning your switch to a certain resolution isn’t going to damage your TV…geez…just be logical about that one…Congradulations on acting like a little whining brat.

Great post (seriously). It’s a lot easier to take comments/suggestions/feedback from those who take the time to write up their experiences so clearly.
I’m forwarding along to our UI (user interface) and UE (user education) folks, who should appreciate hearing your experience…
jp