How playable is the Xbox 360 right now if I dont have WiFi at home?*

[gbpxl]

*and nor do I want to bring my console to someones house in order to hook it up to their WiFi

I just figure with the games being so cheap now, the idea of playing a modern console looks better and better but I just dont want to connect to the internet

[Gameguy]

It depends, do you care if your games get patched or not? Personally I own both Xbox 360 and PS3 as I found them cheap, but I never touch them.

[gbpxl]

It depends, do you care if your games get patched or not? Personally I own both Xbox 360 and PS3 as I found them cheap, but I never touch them.
I dont know if I should care if they are patched or not

[Gameguy]

I dont know if I should care if they are patched or not
The best way to know is to decide on which games you want to play for the system, and look them up online to find out about patches. Some games only had minor fixes and updates, others had severe bugs and needed the patches to play properly.

Also some games have added content or expansions that needed to be downloaded as they're not on the disc. Again it depends on if you just want the main game or all content that would be available. One of the few games I was interested in on the 360 was Alan Wake and I remember the expansions needing to be downloaded, or even requiring an online connection to play. I still haven't got around to playing Alan Wake more than 10 minutes.

Ideally if games had multiple versions or releases, get the later game-of-the-year versions as those would have all extra content and patches on the disc.

[Nz17]

The con of the (original) Xbox (1) and the Xbox 360 consoles is that they are LOUD, or at least my two original-model black and white Xbox 360's are. I believe that the console's fans are loud due to their size and all of the air that they are propelling around the console's components. But I have barely used the 360's that I own anyway as I usually just break them out for the conventions that I run, and that's usually just once per year.

The pros of the Xbox 360 are that the games are inexpensive and 360's also play most games for the original Xbox. I find that previous and current Xbox console series owners usually don't seem to value their Xbox consoles and games, and they are quick to trade them in for the shinier, newer options as they are available. Xbox owners often ditched the original Xbox when the 360 arrived, and 360 owners frequently ditched the 360 once the Xbox One arrived. Therefore games, consoles, and controllers for the Xbox and 360 tend to be cheaper and more plentiful on the secondary market than Nintendo games, consoles, and controllers of a similar vintage.

However, for the 360 to have backwards compatibility with the original Xbox 1's games, you would have to *sigh* connect the 360 to the Internet and download the software patch for the console's OS which enables this. It is a one-time thing as the Xbox compatibility update will remain on the hard disc drive as long as it isn't deleted. It was a pain for me as a new 360 owner to figure out how to connect it online, open the right ports (Eventually I just added it to the router's DMZ to allow all ports.), download, and install the Xbox compatibility component.

But if you don't care about compatibility with the first Xbox's software or if you already have an original Xbox to play those games, then that shouldn't be a problem for you.

The 360 can use a lot of different audio-video connectors from RCA A/V cables to HDMI so it should work with whatever TV you currently use. However, some games have text that is unreadable on a standard-definition (CRT) TV so keep that in mind.

[Az]

However, for the 360 to have backwards compatibility with the original Xbox 1's games, you would have to *sigh* connect the 360 to the Internet and download the software patch for the console's OS which enables this.

Actually you don't have to do this, you can download the update on your PC and burn it to a CD-R. I did this when I was on dial-up.

[Nz17]

Actually you don't have to do this, you can download the update on your PC and burn it to a CD-R. I did this when I was on dial-up.

Thanks for mentioning that. I'd forgotten that was an option. When I was upgrading my Xbox 360 to have backwards compatibility (BC), I didn't have any CD-R's at the time nor a working CD burner and it seemed like a waste of time to buy those just for that. But if you have both, then it is a good option. It is an even better option if you are upgrading a lot of 360's at a time such as if you run a game store and upgrade the 360's as a value-added service for your customers (and to save yourself headaches later if that is something they wanted).

From the sounds of it though, gbpxl doesn't have Internet access nor Wi-Fi at home and/or he wants to prevent his 360 from connecting to the Internet for some other reason (perhaps to prevent Microsoft from meddling). Perhaps a one-time trip to the library or somewhere else where the BC software can be downloaded and a BC CD-R or CD-RW can be burned is in order.

Either way, keep us informed about any adventures with a 360 you might have, gbpxl!

[Aussie2B]

As best as I can recall, the only time I got online with my 360 was to redeem some preorder bonus DLC. Through all the rest of my playing, I was offline.

[Greg2600]

I think all the matching servers are down now. Yes, it would be good for patches though most games are okay without them. I had my 360S JTAG modded, so I can patch and install DLC on my own, plus control the fan speed (noise).

[Az]

I still play my 360 quite frequently. Out of all the games I have, none have the multiplayer servers shut down, but unless you plan on playing popular games (FPS's, a few fighters, etc) most online lobbies are ghost towns.

I wouldn't worry about not being able to download patches. I'm not into RPG/RTS games so I can't speak for those, but virtually every game I play that has a patch available was usually either something to do with online multiplayer or DLC bugfixes.

[mkenyon2]

I only recently got and hooked up a 360. I've mostly used it to play DVDs. (I know, old school...) But have a couple 360 and OG games I play on it. Looking to build up the library a bit.

Mine is hooked online, but I've only used the online part a bit. I do like that it can stream Netflix and Amazon. So, I guess I'm using it more as a media player now. But I haven't found the internet intrusive or super necessary for day-to-day use. Just my 2¢.