Should You Buy An Xbox 360 Premium Arcade Or Elite Package
Prospective Xbox 360 owners are confronted with a relatively big dilemma before purchase: what Xbox 360 package should they choose?
There are 3 main bundles waiting for their decisions. The first is the basic bundle, called the Xbox 360 Arcade. The second is the bundle that most people have, the Xbox 360 Premium. And the third is the bundle that people who have some spare cash and are devout Microsoft crack heads choose, the Xbox 360 Elite.
Why not just choose the first one that comes to mind, whether it be an Xbox 360 Arcade, an Xbox 360 Premium, or an Xbox 360 Elite?
Well, considering that these bundles are each separated by $100 in their respective price tags, the matter becomes a decision that should merit serious consideration.
So, which should you buy? An Xbox 360 Premium, Elite or Arcade?
When it comes to price, there is no doubt that the Arcade bundle has the advantage. At $199, the Arcade bundle is even more affordable than the Nintendo DSi and the upcoming Sony PSP Go! It is also around $50 cheaper than the Nintendo Wii, a console that has but a quarter of the processing power of the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 Premium comes at $299, while the Elite bundle is the most expensive at $399.
When it comes to the completeness of the gaming experience, then the Xbox 360 Elite is the king. With 120GB hard drive and HDMI 1.2 cables packaged with the bundle, this selection is loaded. But it doesn’t stop there. The Elite bundle also offers something that can never be bought anywhere else: a black console with a black controller. To top it off, the Game of Year edition of the Xbox 360 Elite bundle comes with 2 big games, both of which are exclusives: Halo 3 and Fable 2. The Arcade bundle comes with one game and 2 Xbox Live arcade games, but it doesn’t provide a hard drive. A hard drive is essential in this day and age, especially since the New Xbox Live Experience has allowed gamers to install games from DVDs to their hard drives.
The Xbox 360 Premium package, also known as Xbox 360 Pro and Xbox 360 Go Pro in other parts of the world, is the perfect balance for the Elite and the Arcade. Microsoft planned the Xbox 360 Premium to be the default package that gamers will buy. The Xbox 360 Premium bundle contains everything that the Arcade package has, but it also comes with a fully detachable 60GB hard drive, which is good enough to store 5 to 6 full games.
So, what to buy?
If you’re on a tight budget, go for the Arcade bundle. If you have money to spare, go for the Elite package. But if you’re like the rest of us who just wants to play the games and enjoy the experience that the console can provide, go for the Xbox 360 Premium.
