Now well established as a mainstream system, Microsoft's Xbox 360 just keeps getting better with an ever growing library of top-shelf games complimenting hardware that comes in 3 flavors. The best bang for your buck is found in the "fully loaded" Elite. There also the "nicely equipped" Pro, and the underachieving "entry level" Arcade system. Oh, and don't forget the HD DVD movie player (and a free copy of King Kong).





BEST BET:

Xbox 360 Elite Holiday Bundle
From: Microsoft
Price: US$449.99 | C$499.99 (pfft… what’s the exchange rate again?)

Wherefore: The Xbox 360 Elite is the "fully loaded" iteration of the 360 line. Though priced highest, the Elite boast the greatest pound-for-pound value with the inclusion of extras that would cost much more if you bought them separately (which you can do, in most cases). For example, the Elite comes with a whoppingly-huge 120GB hard drive, the largest of any console, for the storing (and easily accessing) of all sorts of digital content, including downloadable standard- and high-def TV and movie programming and other high-def video, photos, music and, of course, game content, pulled off your store-bought games or acquired online through Microsoft's excellently-executed, marvelously-multifarious, uniquely-unified Xbox Live services.

The Elite also sports HDMI output and the HDMI cable to use it (for maximum high-def resolution), a none-more-back chassis, and includes one wireless controller and a headset, both none-more-black also.

Moreover, just for the holidays, the Xbox 360 Elite comes bundled with a couple of games, the superlative racing game Forza Motorsport 2 and last year's modestly engaging superhero blow-out, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, two games that, new, would otherwise cost more than $100 combined.

Most importantly, there's an uncanny number of critically acclaimed games available for Xbox 360 (all models). Quite a few duds, too, sure, but as far as the new generation consoles go, Xbox 360 currently boasts more hits, more deep, rich, complex, long playing, enthralling and/or exciting games than both its competitors combined. In fact, though the Elite is, indeed, a pricey gift, the freakish number of "must have" games coming out just now is unprecedented; the Elite is truly the gift that will keep on giving... giving a place to play great new games at $60 a pop, that is.

Who for: If you're flush with cash, buy this for the serious gamer in the house, or for the gamer who aspires to be taken seriously. Oh, and one who has an HDTV to plug it into. Yeah, you know lots of people like that. Know, too, that Xbox 360 does a whole lot more than play games, that it acts as a multipurpose, multimedia machine online and off, syncopates itself most adroitly with Windows PC's Media Extender, and that there's a goodly selection of less serious, more "casual," more "social" games available for it, often on the cheap, so the thing will get used, often, by just about everyone in the house. Of course, if you're not flush, then Uber game systems shouldn't even be on your shopping list. There's other fun stuff out there at a much more reasonable price, after all.

Also Consider… Similarly, the Xbox 360 Pro system, the "nicely equipped" model, if you will, is essentially the same as a "fully loaded" Elite except lacks an HDMI cable (though it'll accommodate one if purchased separately) and has only a small, 20 GB hard drive instead of a big fat 120 GB jobbie. Also with the two free games are bundled in, at US$349.99 | C$399.99 (again with the "pfft…"), it's a great deal, but only if the user doesn't plan on loading it up with all that multimedia magnificence so readily available, because 20GB can get full up pretty quickly.


And... though it sounds like a bargain at just US$279.99 | C$299.99 (pfft already!), the Xbox 360 Arcade is just the entry-level Xbox 360 "Core" system re-branded and now bundled a game disc featuring 5, smallish, Xbox Live Arcade titles (also available separately on Xbox Live). These are fanciful games pretending at "family fun" or "social gaming," Pac-Man and the like.

Basically, Arcade is trying to attract the same consumers currently eyeballing the Nintendo Wii. "Mee too," fair enough, but the Arcade system is not high-definition capable out of the box, just standard-def (high-def component or HDMI cables are sold separately for another $40 or $50 respectively), and lacks the hard drive so obligingly integrated with the other Xbox 360 models (instead, a skimpy, 256MB memory card is included). Too, the included Arcade games represent only a tentative step toward what the Wii does for a living, in spades for less money and with a much more casually intuitive controller to boot.

Stripped of the Uber storage device, the Xbox 360 Arcade is wimp, a devout underachiever, a wannabe. And, if one enjoys the fanciful fluff games enough, then a hard drive on which to store more will be needed sooner or later, and that's an upgrade that will cost upward of $180, roughly totaling the price of a "fully equipped" Elite in the first place, minus two free, non-fluffy, serious games (as opposed to the scant fluff offering). Sort of a "save now, pay too much later" type proposition, sucker.

Supplemental Stuff: If someone on your gift list already has an Xbox 360 and an HDTV along with it -- or if you're going for broke on the Xboxian gift ideas --, the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player is an add-on/plug-in device that, like it sounds, lets you watch high definition movies in the HD DVD format via Xbox 360. Costing US$179.99 | C$199.99 and bundled with an Xbox-centric Universal remote control (not to be confused with a game controller) and a free copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong, that makes for a pretty cheap HD movie player, even if the format ends up losing the current format war waged against Blu-ray (a war which isn't going to end for a couple/few years yet anyway). Too, there's a big HD DVD promo going on now through Feb 08 that will net you 5 free HD DVD movies with proof of purchase of an Xbox 360 HD DVD player (or a Toshiba HD DVD player, for that matter). Though that deal basically represents a rebate on the purchase of the hardware, bear in mind that you select your five freebies from a scant list of only 15 HD DVD titles of varying genres, so it's unlikely you'll find 5 favorites. Plus, you have to mail in your selection and wait 8 to 10 weeks for delivery, which is lame.