Retarded Xbox 360 Question: Pro vs Elite

[UnSub]

Although the Elite was released in Australia a while ago, it isn't that widely available and is about an extra $250 dollars for the basic pack.

Is there any major reasons I should go the whole hog and get an Xbox 360 Elite over a Pro?

[Velorath]

Although the Elite was released in Australia a while ago, it isn't that widely available and is about an extra $250 dollars for the basic pack.

Is there any major reasons I should go the whole hog and get an Xbox 360 Elite over a Pro?

Nope.

[Murgos]

Personally, I'm confused as to why anyone wouldn't just buy an 'Arcade' for $199 and the 120 gig HDD and a $5 HDMI cable and save 60-80 bucks or so over an 'Elite'.  Unless you really had to have a black case and components.

[Azazel]

Do what Murgos said. The 20gb HDD isn't rreally big enough for anything long term, and due to MS's fucked up DRM system, you're fucked when it comes to upgrading 20>120gb (or I'd have done it ages ago).
Get the cheap HDD-less 360 and the seperate addon HDD.


Make sure it's got the HDMI as well. They all should by now, though.

[Murgos]

Yeah, the Arcade models have HDMI.  I'm not sure if they have the 65nm process chips or the older, 90 nm process chips on their motherboard but it shouldn't be an issue unless you are really worried about power draw and heat.

I had a three year old, first release 360 that was starting to crap out on me (never red-ringed so I never exchanged it) during play sessions by randomly rebooting or refusing to read the disc after an hour so I bought an Arcade and swapped the HDD over.

HDMI makes a really big difference over the composite cables btw.  It was worth the $200 bucks just for that.

[Yegolev]

The best tip I can give for checking if you have the 65nm chip (Falcon) is to see what the power rating is.  You're looking for 175W.

As for upgrading the disk, I transferred my shit from a 20(?) to a 120 with no trouble.

[Azazel]

When you do that, you need to stay connected to XBL for your paid DLC content to be available as it will no longer be available offline. FOREVAR!

Ahem. Fuck that noise.

[Yegolev]

I never noticed that since I'm usually connected.  I can give it a test, though, since I downloaded the Mass Effect Bringing down the Sky(?) pack on the old disk and transferred it to the new one.

[IainC]

When you do that, you need to stay connected to XBL for your paid DLC content to be available as it will no longer be available offline. FOREVAR!

Ahem. Fuck that noise.

This is true. My friend (sans internet for the moment) brought his Xbox hard drive over to mine to get some DLC. It worked fine on my machine which is connected to a network but when he got it home it stopped working. Subsequently he got connected and it started working again. There is some kind of online DRM check when you start the game as far as I can tell.

[Valmorian]

This is true. My friend (sans internet for the moment) brought his Xbox hard drive over to mine to get some DLC. It worked fine on my machine which is connected to a network but when he got it home it stopped working. Subsequently he got connected and it started working again. There is some kind of online DRM check when you start the game as far as I can tell.

Isn't this fixed now? http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080627-more-than-a-year-too-late-microsoft-fixes-360-drm-with-license-tool.html

[IainC]

It may well do but it still requires you to connect your Xbox to the internet. My friend's problem wasn't that he couldn't play the DLC on a different console, he couldn't play it on anything unless his console was connected to the internet.

[Valmorian]

It may well do but it still requires you to connect your Xbox to the internet. My friend's problem wasn't that he couldn't play the DLC on a different console, he couldn't play it on anything unless his console was connected to the internet.

My buddy, one cube over, has upgraded and done this transfer and has no problems using the DLC on his new one.  You do need to connect to do the initial transfer, I understand?  But after that, you can use it offline.

[IainC]

It may well do but it still requires you to connect your Xbox to the internet. My friend's problem wasn't that he couldn't play the DLC on a different console, he couldn't play it on anything unless his console was connected to the internet.

My buddy, one cube over, has upgraded and done this transfer and has no problems using the DLC on his new one.  You do need to connect to do the initial transfer, I understand?  But after that, you can use it offline.

I think we're talking at cross purposes here. My friend has an Xbox, which isn't connected to the internet. I have one that is. He downloaded some stuff using my connection and was subsequently unable to play it unless he was somehow able to connect his machine to the internet every time he wanted to play that content. He could bring either his HD or his entire Xbox over to mine and play with no problems - either on my machine or his - but he couldn't use the content at home where he had no connection. This was within the last few weeks.

Connected = awesome fun happy time.

Not connected = not awesome fun happy time.

[Valmorian]

I think we're talking at cross purposes here. My friend has an Xbox, which isn't connected to the internet. I have one that is. He downloaded some stuff using my connection and was subsequently unable to play it unless he was somehow able to connect his machine to the internet every time he wanted to play that content. He could bring either his HD or his entire Xbox over to mine and play with no problems - either on my machine or his - but he couldn't use the content at home where he had no connection. This was within the last few weeks.

Connected = awesome fun happy time.

Not connected = not awesome fun happy time.

Did you read my link?  It's talking about that exact problem.  Offline play of DLC without having to connect to the internet through transferring of licenses to another XBox360.  DLC has license information tied to a console's HDD, but that is bypassed when you are online and it can check it that way. 

To be explicit from the Article:
"Gamers who received new systems were in for an unpleasant surprise when they redownloaded their Arcade games or hooked up their old hard drive: the games they paid for would only work when connected to the Internet. No network connection, and they all reverted to demo versions. Microsoft has just released a tool that allows you to move those licenses over to a new console, but the question remains: what took so long? "

This is effectively what is happening here, is it not?

[schild]

There is an alternative to this - I no longer have - nor will any of my future Xboxes have - any connection to the net whatsoever. It's simply not worth the cost, bandwidth, nor the multiplayer. I'm sticking to multiplayer on the PC and for the odd PS3 game (Little Big Planet, really, and that's about it). I feel absolutely no loss towards the 20 or so XBLA games I can never play again.

[Azazel]

It may well do but it still requires you to connect your Xbox to the internet. My friend's problem wasn't that he couldn't play the DLC on a different console, he couldn't play it on anything unless his console was connected to the internet.

My buddy, one cube over, has upgraded and done this transfer and has no problems using the DLC on his new one.  You do need to connect to do the initial transfer, I understand?  But after that, you can use it offline.

I think you're discussing changing the licence from XBox A to XBox B while maintaining HDD A.

I'm talking about keeping XBox A, but changing from HDD A to HDD B.

You're swapping your apples. I'm swapping my oranges.

[Azazel]

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/support/xbox360/console/datamigration.htm

Please keep in mind that licenses for downloaded content like Xbox LIVE Arcade games and TV shows from Video Marketplace are tied to your console not your hard drive. The hard drive transfer kit will move all data from your 20GB hard drive to your Xbox 360 Elite System's 120 GB hard drive, but due to data security provisions it cannot move the licenses associated with some content. This means that while all of your Xbox LIVE Arcade games and Xbox LIVE Marketplace TV shows will transfer, you will have to be connected to Xbox LIVE (to verify your identity) in order to access that content. This process is permanent—do not transfer your data if you wish to access it while offline.

(their bold, by the way).

[Valmorian]

I think you're discussing changing the licence from XBox A to XBox B while maintaining HDD A.

I'm talking about keeping XBox A, but changing from HDD A to HDD B.

You're swapping your apples. I'm swapping my oranges.

The method is the same.  This isn't old (the ability to do this is only from a few months ago apparently), and yes, Microsoft's OWN SITE isn't showing this as being fixed.  I'm not surprised.

To be clear: My friend has a new Xbox 360 and a new hard drive (he went from a 20gb to the new Elite) so both have changed, and he's used the transfer kit as well.

Did you try the instructions on the page I supplied?

[Azazel]

No, I haven't tried it, because I haven't bought a 120gb HDD. Because I'd never heard opf a way to transfer the licences until your post, and this includes when I was on the phone to some dumbfuck in India the other day about something else and asked if they'd finally done anything about transfer of licences.

[Azazel]

The method is the same.  This isn't old (the ability to do this is only from a few months ago apparently), and yes, Microsoft's OWN SITE isn't showing this as being fixed.  I'm not surprised.

To be clear: My friend has a new Xbox 360 and a new hard drive (he went from a 20gb to the new Elite) so both have changed, and he's used the transfer kit as well.

Did you try the instructions on the page I supplied?

I'm emailing that pack of fuckwits now. Both their hardware people and their XBL people, and asking the drones who recieve the email to ask their fucking team leaders so the answers are absolutely certain.

There is an alternative to this - I no longer have - nor will any of my future Xboxes have - any connection to the net whatsoever. It's simply not worth the cost, bandwidth, nor the multiplayer. I'm sticking to multiplayer on the PC and for the odd PS3 game (Little Big Planet, really, and that's about it). I feel absolutely no loss towards the 20 or so XBLA games I can never play again.

What were you up to online a couple of days ago? 



edit - Val - looks like you're incorrect. From the Hardware Migration FAQ:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/faq.htm

I've just upgraded to a larger hard drive and am re-downloading all of my content. Do I need to transfer the content licenses?
No. The content licenses are associated with the console, not the hard drive.

Regardless, I've emailed them at two different addresses. We'll see what they reply with.

[Special J]

http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/

http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/faq.htm

According to this you can transfer all your licenses once a year using their tool.

[Valmorian]

edit - Val - looks like you're incorrect. From the Hardware Migration FAQ:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/faq.htm

As I mentioned above, their own site doesn't acknowledge that this works.  My friend, however, is happily using his DLC offline with a new 360 Elite and New hard drive.  I'm not sure how else I can put this, but it does appear to work.

[Azazel]

Got my first reply. Unsurprisingly, the guy (who appears to be an Indian front-line CS staffer) got my question wrong and helpfully told me I will indeed be
able to use my save files if I transfer my data across.

 

Reiterated my question and told him to try again.

[Hawkbit]

How functional is the Xbox 360 without Live and/or being networked? 

I'm trying to squeak together the money for a new console and I'm thinking of the Arcade or Pro version.  I need to keep it on the cheap so I won't be getting a wireless adapter for it.  I don't need a movie service or demos.  All I really want is to buy new single player games to play on it, maybe some 2 players to play with my daughter.  I can hook it up for updates, but I don't need Live... I think.  I do all my social/network gaming on my PC.

So is it worthless to get an Xbox360 without using it networked?  And for that matter, is a hard drive even needed for that purpose?

[Hindenburg]

It's quite a good console, even if used offline constantly. God knows my 13 months of live went pretty much unused.
A hard drive is recommended for a bit faster loading times with the new dashboard.

[SnakeCharmer]

I haven't had mine hooked up online in 6 months or so, and haven't missed it.  Never downloaded any demos and any rarely did any online gaming because steam or whatever is so much better at.  Tard to normal person ratio is about the same when dealing with online personas.  You won't miss it, especially being entrenched via the PC unless your buddies convert over to the 360 which is probably unlikely.

Can't see the need for the HD, either, especially in view that you won't be downloading any demos or movies and such.  But if you do, you can pick up an external on the cheap down the road if need be.

[Yegolev]

The only things I would really, truly miss if I lost Live would be demos and inscrutable messages from NiX.  Well, and the ability to grief people with photos.

[Rasix]

The only things I would really, truly miss if I lost Live would be demos and inscrutable messages from NiX.  Well, and the ability to grief people with photos.

I know some games have updates that I have no idea what they do.  Would you lose these if you didn't have Live? Or would they be available anyways through Live!Silver or whatever the free version is. 

I don't use Live much and honestly wouldn't care if it were gone. Would I still have my achievements?  They provide a small, small amount of enjoyment.

[Rendakor]

I'd recommend at least hooking it up to live once to download the new dashboard update so you can install your games. If you're going to do that then yes, you'll need the HD.

[Hindenburg]

I know some games have updates that I have no idea what they do.  Would you lose these if you didn't have Live? Or would they be available anyways through Live!Silver or whatever the free version is. 

I don't use Live much and honestly wouldn't care if it were gone. Would I still have my achievements?  They provide a small, small amount of enjoyment.

You can still get the patches with the free service, and yes, you also get the achievements.