I Bought an Xbox 360, but not for Video Games From "Getting in Gear: TechLore

I Bought an Xbox 360, but not for Video Games

Using a Gaming Console for High Definition DVD Capabilities

I'm not a gamer, but I recently purchased Microsoft's new Xbox 360 gaming console. Why? Because I decided it was time to see for myself what High Definition DVDs were all about. It's been over a year since I first wrote about the first HD-DVD player being available. I had advised at the time that it just didn't make sense to purchase one yet. Single purpose players were available for the competing HD-DVD and BluRay, but you had to pick a format and hope it won in the end.

Since then, not a whole lot as changed. The format war continues with no clear winner. There have been some announcements that have made High Definition DVDs more of an option lately. Microsoft with the Xbox 360 and Sony with the Playstation 3 have come out with gaming consoles that have HD-DVD and BluRay drives, respectively. The price is very comparable to a new standalone High Definition player, but you get the added gaming capabilities.

Although I'm not that big of a gamer, I thought if it was time to buy one, why not have the added functionality basically for free? I was kind of curious anyway when it came to what the new video game craze was all about since the last game I think I played was Donkey Kong. So, I set off to the store to buy one of the consoles.

Why Xbox 360 and not Playstation 3?

I think it's still up in the air which format will ultimately win, so I thought I would look at the games to help me decide. After browsing for about 15 minutes, I realized that I had no idea what any of the games were even about. Since I wasn't going to play many video games anyway, I ruled that out as part of my selection process.

The prices were pretty comparable on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, so that didn't come into play either. (Although recently both companies have talked about price cuts for both products and peripherals.)

Ultimately, I decided on the Xbox 360 because it had an external HD-DVD drive instead of one built into the game console itself as is the case with the BluRay drive in the Playstation 3. My thinking being that if by chance BluRay does win (or even if it doesn't?), Microsoft will come out with an external BluRay DVD drive that I can purchase for under $200 vs. having to buy a whole new player. Probably not the best reason, but at least now I can watch High Definition DVDs and find out what all of the hype is about.

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My blog will take a practical approach to helping you with some day-to-day ideas on how to get more out of your consumer electronic devices. As I encounter questions and comments from people I meet and help, I will document them here and hopefully they will be of help to other people with similar issues. Enjoy and if you have something that you'd like me to write about, please send me a private message.