Wise Buddha

Microsoft has announced a major upgrade of sorts to the Xbox 360. Gone is the beige iPodesque exterior and in its place comes the more ’stealth’ looking black unit with all black accessories.

More importantly the unit has gained a 120g hard drive and HDMI connection for true High Def loveliness but weirdly no HD optical drive which is a $200 odd extra - we think Microsoft is treading water to see if there is a winner of the HD format wars and then will integrate one like the PS3.

I am moderately excited about the new Xbox 360, I have a 1st gen 360 hooked up via a HD projector and 95′ screen and the picture output is great, the gaming experience superb and Xbox live has potential. If they get the live component right and have stuff on there that is worth paying for I might even be persuaded to buy one. In the meantime, I find my 360 hooked up to an old XP Pro PC in my boiler room containing my music library, photos and movies works brilliantly as a media server.