A major component of this rumor is that Microsoft will include an HDMI port on the system, so owners of newer HDTVs can get the best picture. Well, this is semi-big news, but what does that mean to you? Probably nothing. The fact is, a good percentage of Xbox 360 owners don’t even have an HDTV, and even among HDTV owners not everyone has one that uses HDMI (I don’t). Just because “Generic Internet Nerd #232490” thinks it is a big deal, doesn’t mean that it really applies to you.
Some Things Do Come True: One rumor that has proven true is in regard to a quieter DVD drive being used in the system. Systems manufactured after November 2006 should have this new quieter drive. What does this mean? Again, not much. The Xbox 360 is, admittedly, rather loud when it is playing a game, but you get used to it so it isn’t really an issue. You notice it for the first minute or so when you fire the system up, but then you actually start playing the game and you don’t notice any noise at all. At least we don’t. If you get a system with a quieter drive in it, congratulations. If you end up with an older one, don’t worry too much. You have a great gaming system that you will enjoy for years to come.
And Some Things Won’t Come True: I have also seen rumors that Microsoft will switch to an internal HD-DVD drive and ditch the DVD drives entirely. I would have to say that this will never come true for a number of reasons. First, this would completely alienate early adopters and Microsoft would end up with a lot of very unhappy customers. Secondly, Microsoft has stated time and time again that it doesn’t want to commit to either of the next-gen DVD formats 100% quite yet. Yes, they have released an HD-DVD add-on, but if Blu-Ray turns out to be the victor in the format war, Microsoft can and will (and have stated they would) release a similar add-on for Blu-Ray.
Conclusion: The rumors regarding the Xbox 360 hardware are just that: Rumors. With more than 10 million+ systems sold, Microsoft is not so foolish and arrogant as to think that they could significantly change the hardware and not have a ton of very angry people out there. Some things can and will change, but they will not do something that will make the game playing experience drastically different for someone with a 2005 system compared to someone with a 2008 system. It won’t happen.
Bottom Line:
The bottom line in all of this is that it is perfectly safe to buy a Microsoft Xbox 360 system right now. Despite what “Generic Internet Nerd #232490” or “Sony Fanboy #9403948” keeps spewing on your favorite message board, there is nothing to worry about in terms of hardware reliability or potential upgrades. You can buy the Xbox 360 with confidence, and I am sure you will be very happy with it.
I just want to reiterate what I said at the top of this piece. This article isn't so much for the hardcore crowd, because you already know what you know and you don't care who knows it. It is more for the casual gamer and the average consumer that you (the hardcore gamer) are probably just confusing and scaring away from a purchase when they likely will be perfectly happy.
I Speak From Experience
I have a couple of personal stories to associate with all of this. I got my original Xbox in October of 2003. By December of 2004 (just over a year later) it would only play about half of the games I tried on it and gave me dirty disc errors all the time. I got another system because I needed something to be able to do reviews with, but kept the old one around. And then something funny happened, for whatever reason, the old cruddy system started working perfectly again. I haven’t had any problems with it whatsoever in the two years since I thought it was dead and buried. Why did it happen? Who knows.
And now on to the Xbox 360 generation. My launch system died in three weeks. The replacement that I was sent in December 2005 has been kicking along mostly fine ever since. I have had some problems with it, though. I have seen red light errors caused by the Intercooler (Notice a running theme in this piece? Don’t buy the Intercooler.), I have had artifacts on the screen (little blue dots), but I found out it was caused by a two-fold problem. I had a DVD case on top of the system which reflected heat back in, and I also had a loose a/v cable. When I corrected those two things, it worked perfectly. I have had artifacts once or twice since then, and it has always been because of a loose a/v cable. More recently, the system has been freezing after about an hour of play. It didn’t do it on every game, and even in games where it had frozen before, it didn’t do it every time. I got fed up, and eventually bought a new Core system to use as my main unit on an HDTV and the old one moved upstairs to my office to be used for screenshots and video stuff. Well, in the month since then, the old system I thought was on its last legs hasn’t frozen once even though it gets used nearly every day.
The point I’m trying to make is just what I said earlier in this article. Just because your system might be giving you some little problems now and again doesn’t mean it is dead.
