The Xbox-360 was released in Europe in December 2005 a year ahead of the rest of the next-generation gaming consoles. The current models in production are the Arcade, the Premium and the Elite.

The Arcade is the most basic of the models, with a wireless controller, a 256mb memory unit and a composite cable. The next model up from the Arcade is the Premium which features a wireless controller, a 20GB hard drive, a component HD cable and a wireless headset. Both the Arcade and the Premium console and accessories are in white.

The Elite XBOX360 has black faceplates on the console, a black wireless controller, HD component cable, a HDMI cable, black LIVE headset and 120gb hard drive, all in black.

There are still some of the now discontinued Core models also available, which you may be able to pick up for a discounted price.

Xbox 360 Console Prices Xbox 360 Console (Includes: 20GB hard drive, controller) £229.99 In Stock Price Checked 29/02/2008 Xbox 360 Elite with FREE Devil May Cry 4 £299.99 In Stock Price Checked 29/02/2008 Xbox 360 Arcade Console £189.99 In Stock Price Checked 29/02/2008 MICROSOFT Xbox 360 Elite £299.99 In Stock Price Checked 29/02/2008 Microsoft Xbox 360 - Pro Console £249.99 In Stock Price Checked 29/02/2008

The base console has a 3.2ghz tri-core xenon processor. It has 3 USB 2.0 ports, the DVD drive plays progressive scan DVD’s and supports a wide variety of DVD formats including HD-DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD +R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3 CD, JPEG photo CD, DVD-ROM, DVD-Video. It is Wi-Fi ready with integrated 802.11A, B and G. Although HD-DVD movies are no longer being produced a large back catalogue still exists.

The Xbox LIVE marketplace is an online resource for Xbox and Xbox360 users. The marketplace is accessible once you have set up your Xbox LIVE Silver account, which is free. In the marketplace you can download extra content for your Xbox 360 such as new themes, games, music and movie trailers. Some of the content is only available to Gold Account holders. You also get a month’s free trial of an Xbox LIVE Gold account which allows you to download more of the things on the LIVE marketplace and also play games with other players online. The price of an Xbox360 Live GOLD account is currently £39.99 per year.

If you own an Xbox-360 memory unit another way to access extras for your console is to take your memory unit to a local retailer which has an Xbox-360 kiosk. You can then plug in your memory unit to the console and load extras onto it from the kiosk unit.

In many ways your Xbox-360 is like a PC in that you can connect most digital cameras to it and view your pictures. You can also connect your MP3 player to your console and play your tunes through it.

Having been out the longest this console has hundreds of games available with a wide variety of game genres, so makes for an excellent gaming machine.