Holiday You-Wish List

Custom, symmetrical, three-core CPU, each running at 3.2 gigahertz. Five hundred-megahertz ATI graphics processor. Yes, the holidays have definitely arrived. You can demote that iPod to the seventh day of Chanukah, because Xbox 360 is here. Oh, sorry, you don't have one yet?

That's OK ... me neither. Despite my now (seemingly lackluster) video game contacts, I could not finagle an Xbox. Thankfully, some misguided soul saw it fit to bestow upon me his Xbox for a long weekend. And since buying an Xbox before the holiday deadlines borders on impossibility, the following will only pertain to those of you with a 360 already in hand. The Ghost of Christmas Past, if you will. Whether it makes you feel better or worse about your purchase is entirely up to you.

So, did you get the Xbox premium ($399.99) or the Xbox Core System ($299.99)? The premium system's most distinguishing inclusion is the 20-gigabyte hard drive ($99.99 if bought separately) – necessary if you want to play any of the original Xbox games – and the headset for trash talking during online gaming. Without any sort of memory storage, the Core System is almost useless, so be ready to drop $40 for a 64-megabyte memory card. Core or premium, you'll need another controller ($39.99, $49.99 wireless), unless you're planning to use your Xbox to avoid all human contact, which is certainly a viable option.

Aside from the expected leaps in graphics, speed, and format compatibility (just plug your iPod into one of the USB ports), the real design advancements come with the Xbox's controller. Two of the buttons on top of the controller that usually act as the trigger button now actually pull smoothly like a trigger (in case the violence wasn't real enough for you). This gradated pull also adds smoothness to acceleration and breaking in racing games. The headset ($19.99, free with premium system) plugs directly into the controller, allowing wireless owners to conceivably take a bathroom nonbreak (not recommended). The new Guide button allows you to interrupt game-play and tweak your profile and also conveniently turn the system on and off. Now that's design my laziness appreciates.

Of course, the elephant under the tree this year is PlayStation 3 – the Ghost of Christmas Future, if you will. That seed of doubt, slated to bloom in spring 2006, could be a parent's nightmare as their spawn demands a second state-of-the-art gaming system and their Xbox fever breaks. Only the very serious gamer (read one floating-point operation per second short of a teraflop) needs both systems. Rule of thumb: Happy with your PS2? Stick with it, and wait for the third installment. Enjoyed your original Xbox? Keep those games and splurge for the hard drive and the nostalgia gaming that comes with it. Always been a little torn? Perhaps a little quality time alone to work out these issues is in order.

Whether you're ready to commit, the Xbox is universally touted as the hot item for the holidays. For that reason, I pity the parent who gives their temporarily and unusually nice child, in lieu of this chrome-plated dream machine, a photo of an Xbox 360 from a catalog and a promise – a Ghost of a Christmas Present, if you will.