The arcade version has dropped to $200 cdn. This is quite surprising. A system that cost over $400 just three years ago is cheap enough that even if it red rings, I could easily get a new one. So I got a few questions: 1) How does an arcade version of the Xbox2 handle save files? Do you have to buy removable media for it? Can I attach an external drive via USB port? 2) Do I have to pay for Xbox Live, and if I don't, am I missing a whole lot? If I want to buy download games from the service, do I have to pay the monthly fee? Can I play my already bought games from the service without a subscription to Xbox Live? 3) Are there any games that MUST have hard drive space, and are unplayable if I don't? Apparently, the package I can get at Best Buy includes Star Wars Lego. For $200, I am seriously considering getting Microsoft's inferior machine.
AFAIK, yes you have to buy a memory card for it. Never tried using a usb hard drive, so I wouldn't know about that. No, you don't have to pay the monthly fee to download anything, but if you want to play games online you do have to pay the fee. No game that I know of absolutely requires you to have an XBL gold membership, though there are many games whose single player campaign dries up rather quickly making it absurd to pay 60 dollars for a game and not take it online. Currently, no game requires you to DL sections of it to a hard drive in order to play it, so I think it'd be safe to say that no game requires you to have a hard drive.
Darkening brings up a good point- if you want to have the latest updates for the game software you are going to need some form of storage device.
The size of the basic hard drive on the X360 was fucking retarded as well. 20Gb?!!! It's a modded laptop drive! Price cut doesn't apply in Europe, either, fucking assholes.
And remember the hard drives are ridiculously overpriced because you can only use the lovely ones that Microsoft sells. As for 20Gb... because of system files and reserved space, you only end up getting to use about 13Gb of that. Microsoft has stated that they will not allow games that require a HD to play them, on the 360, because the base SKU doesn't include one. As a money saving tip, and this goes for everyone, if you're looking for an Xbox Live Gold subscription, remember that the old Xbox console's Live subscriptions work on this generation of console, so if you're smart, you can grab an old Xbox Live Starter Kit on ebay on the cheap, and redeem it on your system for full functionality. Just don't go telling 'everyone' otherwise there'll be none left for us
The Arcade SKU comes with a 256MB memory unit. However, I wouldn't waste my money on a modern game system with no HDD.
Dammit! I guess I'll hafta wait for the regular 360 to drop to $200. Currently, there aren't any games on it I NEED to play anyways.
