Xbox 360

So what exactly is all the fuss about? We take a look at the Xbox 360 hardware...

Behold, the Wireless Controller.

Note the new shoulder buttons

Perhaps the neatest and most pleasurable aspects of the Xbox 360 is the new controller, the wireless version is particularly tasty. Until now my favourite console controller has been the Xbox Controller-S, but the two Xbox 360 controllers surpass it. Gone are the fiddly black and white buttons, they've been replaced by two shoulder buttons above each trigger.

The triggers and analog sticks work beautifully, giving you plenty of control. I'm amazed how easy it is to control first-person shooters such as Call of Duty 2 with the pad. And the analog triggers are just the thing for racing games. Both versions of the Xbox 360 controller feature a large silver button in the centre, this is use to power the console on and off and bring up the dashboard. You'll also see a green light in one quadrant showing which of the four controllers this pad is.

Charging the Wireless Controller

The new Xbox Live Communicator headset fits into the pad at the bottom, however those of you with original Xbox Live headsets (the versions with the small jack plug) can use those too. They plug in at the bottom, though you won't have a mute button.

The wireless controller is slightly heavier than the wired version thanks to the battery compartment. I actually found this to give the pad better balance. The batter compartment can also be replaced by the rechargeable battery pack if you use the play and charge kit, this allows you to connect to the console via USB to charge the controller. It's well worth investing in the recharge kit as it keeps the pad going for ages. I played most of the weekend on just one charge.

The Media Remote

Using other equipment with the 360 is pretty easy. I plugged in my Sony Digitial Camera via a USB port and the Xbox 360 recognised it and allowed me to watch a slideshow of pictures stored on it, and choose one to use as my dashboard wallpaper. The console will also stream music straight from your MP3 player or even your Sony PSP, quite a coup for Microsoft.

The real boon of the 360s media capabilities comes by connecting the console to your PC. You can either do this directly or via a home network. Those of you running Windows XP Media Centre Edition will have even more choices. For us lowly mortals there's still the opportunity to share media from our PC such as movie, pictures and music. It's great being able to stream content direct from another source while playing a game. So you can, for example, be racing in PGR3 meanwhile the music soundtrack is being provided wirelessly from your PC. Compared to the price of rival media hubs, Xbox 360 is quite inexpensive, add to it the console's real speciality as a high-powered games console and it's clear Microsoft is providing us with something of a bargain.

All that power would be of no use if there wasn't a simple way to control all these features that the Xbox 360 has to offer. But as you can see in the screen below, the menu systems are simplicity itself. The image below shows the blade that opens whenever you press the Xbox button on your pad.

At the top you have your Xbox Live gamercard where you can see and edit your Xbox Live profile. Below that are the community options where you can check and send messages and see what your friends are up to. Then there are options to set up private chats with friends and a further options menu to set such things as the graphical theme for the blades or your online status. And finally there's the music player you can use to add your own tunes, whatever game you're playing.

Personal Blade