nathanb

iTrader: (1)

I'm looking at getting a 360 this week but am still pretty clueless on Xbox live arcade and just live in general really. Can anyone give me a breif summary of what of this is all about or point me in the direction of a good website that can.

I kinda feel i shouldnt be buying a 360 before I know more about them and everything they can do!

Many thanks

NWMark

Xbox live comes in 2 parts.

Silver and Gold

Silver
- Free
- Allows download of content from marketplace, including arcade games, demos and updates.
- DOES NOT allow any online game play, either arcade games or shop bought games.
- allows chat and messaging between friends

Gold
- Can pay monthly at £5 a month or purchase a pre-pay card RRP £40 for a full years subscription.
- Download content, demos, arcade game, updates from marketplace
- Full online play capability, arcade and shop bought.
- allows chat and messaging between friends

bob269

Pretty much as above, however the arcade games are chargeable (only a few quid tho, well worth it for some of them), these have to be purchased with ms points, which you can buy the cards from play, game etc.

www.xbox.com is probably the best to tell you whats going on.

All live arcade games have a free downloadable demo also so you can try before you buy.

nathanb

iTrader: (1)

Cheers lads. Once you buy the arcade games do they get saved forever on the hard drive or something?

bob269

Yup

nathanb

iTrader: (1)

Nice one!! Cannot wait now to get one on Friday!!

messiah

Anything you download to the 360 is recorded by MS - so if/when* (delete as applicable) your 360 goes t!its up you can download it again for free once they've sent you a new HDD

As for games - Hexic (which comes for nowt) is included on the disc is seriously addictive - and a few others are very good too - Uno for example.

As has already been said - you can download them all (19 up to press) and play them as many times as you want, but if you want the full versions you need to pay for them, and the full versions let you play online and get the acheivement points.

You probably dont know about acheivement points yet - just wait until you get your machine though - oh boy...

Apart from games, one thing I'd strongly suggest you get is a play & charge kit (assuming you're getting the wireless controller)

nathanb

iTrader: (1)

Yeah def getting the charge kit! Getting the premium box cos you may as well in the long run!! Thanks for all the advice everyone. Finally as i'm only getting one game with it to start what would everyone reccomend for both single player and online play? PGR or GRAW?

messiah

Both PGR & GRAW have decent offline & online games - but both attract their fair share of idiots. Very popular so you should have no problem getting a game.

PGR is excellent online but I'd play the solo career first to get used to the tracks (and to have some cars!) etc before going online - the first section is the breakneck racing league - which is full of @rseholes which wont think twice about slamming you into a wall on the last corner (or any corner for that matter). Go for Nurburgring for a better class of driver. I'd probably say go for this one first as it'll keep you occupied for a while especially when you see your world ranking going up...

There's games going on ebay for £20ish at the moment, and I saw GAME selling King Kong for £22 preowned at the weekend, but its not a great game.

It's worth keeping an eye out incase there's some cheap versions of Burnout Revenge or Call Of Duty 2 knocking around.

Oblivion is supposed to be excellent but no online play - Tomb Raider is another that isn't "live".

bob269

I've got a spare copy of PGR3 if you're interested in buying it cheap. PM me if you're interested.

bob269

Clear your inbox Nathanb.

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

Played PGR3 at the weekend after not playing it for a month or so, my online ranking had reset! I was/am a newbie again!!.
Won a race on the Ring though

If you get PGR, don't worry about not having decent cars to start off with, after only a few races you can afford the uber cars.
For me though, the best races are with the slower cars (TVR, 355 etc).

messiah

PGR3 is getting a batch of new acheivements for the new game types - Cat & Mouse and Cone Battle.

- Mouse Master : Win a Cat & Mouse event as the player in an E class Car
- Cat Champion : Win a Cat & Mouse event as the player in a non E class Car
- Cone Capture Champion : Win a Cone Capture event
- Team Cone Capture Champion : Be on the winning team of a Team Cone Capture event.

SCOsazOBY

xbox live is fantastic, you will never eat or sleep again but you will get to see the sun set and sun rise if you glance out of your window

if you get GRAW, you can add me as a buddy (Moonshine Star) and ill help you through it online

nathanb

iTrader: (1)

Looking forward to playing GRAW and PGR online when I go LIVE that is!!

bob269

Aren't they going against microsofts 1000 points per game scoring system

messiah

no - when pgr3 first appeared you could only get 900 - then they added 50 if you qualify for a tournament and now there's another 50 to make it up to 1000.

bob269

Nopes, cuz the online achievement was fixed with the update.

Oh aye, you are correct