Its tough to know just
what you need when you purchase a new console gaming system. So we thought wed give
you a little heads-up on the Xbox. Pre-orders for the Xbox usually required that you
choose a couple of games to get with it. Hopefully one of the titles you picked was HALO,
and were betting if youre checking this out, then youve already gotten
the skinny on the other launch titles. The big names are all still the same: HALO, Munchs Oddysee, Mad Dash, Dead or Alive 3, and
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2X are all looking like must-play titles. Other notable
mentions include NFL Fever 2002, Project Gotham Racing, 4x4
Evo 2, Fuzion Frenzy, and Dark Summit also look very
interesting. You can click here to get the full story on all of the Xbox launch titles.
Your Xbox will come packaged in a tidy little box with one controller, a power cable
and the A/V cables. These are all set to plug into standard RCA jacks and should work with
most televisions and VCRs. If your pre-order package didnt come with an extra
controller, youll probably want to pick one of those up, which will set you back
about $40. On the cost-saving end of things, you need no memory card. That Xbox has a 10GB
hard drive in there and that will suffice to save game data for a long time. Xbox memory
cards will really only be useful if you want to transport game data from your house to a
friends. If youre psyched to play HALO with the multi-system link function
(LAN bash style), youll also want to pick up a link cable. If you want to play DVDs
on your Xbox, be sure to pick up the DVD Playback Kit, which enables the movie-playing
functions of your Xbox and includes a remote control.
Really, there are not a lot of extra doohickys to make sure you own when you take that
Xbox home for the first time. In fact, if you could get an Xbox without purchasing the
package deal, it would actually be about $40 cheaper to get playing than a PS2, all
because you dont need that memory card. So for those of you reading this little
tidbit well after November 15, 2001, rest-assured that youre getting a heck of a lot
of bang for your buck.