What To Do With a Free Xbox 360 Pro? 416
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the donate-it-to-me dept.
from the donate-it-to-me dept.
OzPeter writes "Last week I won an Xbox 360 Pro. However, I am not a gamer, and after looking at the current MS offerings, I am not tempted to become one. But I am in the market for a Media Center PC that I can use for streaming TV shows off the 'net as well as general web browsing and displaying video through the HDMI port. With that in mind, I again looked at MS and saw they seemed to have positioned the Xbox as an adjunct to a separate Windows Media Center PC and not as a stand alone unit (which is not what I want). So, once again, I did some more research into the Xbox homebrew scene and discovered things like Xbox Linux. But after reading that site, it is apparent that MS is trying to beat down the homebrewers, and I am left wondering how much hassle it would be to go down that path. So my question is: how should I re-purpose my Xbox? Is it worthwhile doing the Homebrew/Linux option (and can anyone share any experiences)? Are there other ways of re-purposing the device that I haven't considered? Or should I just keep it boxed up as a Christmas present for a favorite nephew?"
I say... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Use it for casual gaming gift it, or sell it (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess by that logic McGuyver was one of most boring shows on the fucking planet, and Mr. T from A-Team was the lest interesting man on television. I pity the foo.
Knowing things about common household chemicals was very interesting, but when MacGyver started saving whales and diffusing nuclear weapons with duct tape I must admit I stopped watching. (Years later my wife and I, who both watched the show as kids, bought the episodes on DVD. For her its' more about remembering time spent watching with her grandmother though).
As for the A-Team it was interesting, but lets face it, the show was more about the wronged underdog rising up and beating the stuffing out of his oppressors. As such it was more about action than tinkering. The tinkering montage was just a theatrical device.
Popcorn Hour (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Penny Arcade Charity (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, don't forget that the XBox is considered income and will be taxed as such. It could cost you up to 100 dollars to keep it or sell it (assuming you do your taxes honestly - I believe here in the US the IRS has been known to go after people who don't declare their prizes). So, if you sell it you only get 100-150 dollars - not too much.
If you give it to charity it is no longer income, and won't be taxed. I think this is the best way to go - the IRS can't tax karma ;)
re: Media Center (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a friend who modded an Xbox to make it a media center and it is awesome. I went the PC route and made a central PC server and stream to my TVs with a d-link set top box.
Here is my experience. I used to get movies and watch movies. Boy, were those the days. Now I get movies, rip movies, convert movies to avi or mp4, and move huge files around (very slowly). The last drive I bought was a 1.5 terabyte, and I'm thinking about getting another one...because what else do you freaking back up a 1.5 terabyte drive to but another drive? And my UPnP server was on Linux, but the box was dual boot, so if someone was in windows, we couldn't watch streaming video...so I just built a new server to fix that issue.
When I finally get to sit down and actually watch a movie, it isn't uncommon for me to get up in the middle of it and kick off another DVD folder to be converted.
If I went over to my friend's house to actually play a game on his Xbox media center, we would probably have to wait an hour and a half to play something, because he would probably be FTPing a big movie to it at the time!
And hey, I just ordered a mod chip and picked up an Xbox so he could build me one. Why? I don't know. It's just cool.
Version (Score:3, Interesting)
You need to know the version you get before seeing if it is hackable, chances are a new xbox will have a kernel > 4548. However if by some miracle you hack it, your best bet is to then install a minimal ubuntu/debian install with mythTV or something related as your GUI.
Re:Favorite nephew (Score:3, Interesting)
It's worth noting that the PS3 Slim doesn't support Linux either. So if you want your relish you'd have to buy the older model.
Re:Favorite nephew (Score:3, Interesting)
Last time I checked we can still own guns in this country. Well, by Sony's logic, they can take away my guns since it could possibly be used for something bad. That logic does not work, and thankfully, has not worked yet to deprive me of my right to bear arms.
I live in Australia. In the 90's some loon named Martin Bryant went ballistic with a few guns and shot up a bunch of people in Port Arthur Tasmania. Our illustrious Gruppenfuerer John Howard took it upon himself to ban "semi-automatic" rifles. Unfortuantely for us, he slipped a mickey and made it very very difficult to even own a .22 bolt action.
Sadly, over here that thought already holds true...
Re:Why bother? (Score:4, Interesting)
Frankly, I can't believe you are even contemplating it.
The original Xbox remains, once modded, one of the best HTPCs you can get. You guys in the USA even get HD output! Unfortunately that feature was disabled in the European Xbox, but I doubt an Xbox could deal with full 1080p AVC-1 anyway. Still, if you want an SDTV media centre just use an old Xbox, there's nothing better.
I bought an original Xbox many moons ago after going round to a friends house and seeing him running Xbox Media Centre (XBMC), actually playing games on it was a secondary concern. Having said that, being able to install games on the HD was a very nice feature to have back then and I'm glad MS has replicated it with the 360. If they carry on at this rate then they'll catch up with the homebrew version of their last console by the next-next gen ;)
Re:XBMC = Xbox Media Center (Score:2, Interesting)
I am a big fan of XMBC and while it's not a perfect replacement just yet, MPlayer CE [wiibrew.org] on a soft modded Wii is showing some real promise. The Wii has the advantage of already being under your TV in your living room, unlike a PC.
Re:Why bother? (Score:5, Interesting)
The Nintendo Wii development kit is $1,700.
The Sony PS3 development kit is $2,000 (non-Linux)
The XBox 360 development kit....$100
Compared to the others, the XBox 360 development kit is a steal. As for not offering anything in return, consider:
1.) Small indie teams can work on a major console without breaking the budget.
2.) The games created by the small indie teams can be hosted on a major console's server, allowing instant access to millions of possible customers.
3.) Small indie teams don't have to be major developers in order to use it (unlike Nintendo).
Depending on the price that the game ends up costing ($5, $3, or $1), given the millions of gamers who are on the marketplace, an indie game studio could somewhat easily recoup that year's losses($100) from having Microsoft host their game by selling anywhere between 20 and 100 copies of their game. If the game is good, they should have little problem. If it stinks, they may have more problems. If no one is buying the game, they will eventually take it off, freeing up the marketplace for others to try selling their games, which may or may not be good.
Also, if you think that the above prices are extreme, consider that licensing the Unreal Engine 3 costs $350,000. And that doesn't come with hosting. Plus, paying 3% royalties on all sales of games made with the engine.
People need to figure out that not everything Microsoft does is horribly horribly evil. They are a company. They do things to make money. They are more evil than some companies, less evil than others. Yes, they have done some pretty shitty things in the past. That doesn't mean that everything they do in the future is done in the name of Satan.
Oh, and before anyone accuses me, no, I don't work for Microsoft. I am just open-minded enough to realize that they are a company, not a church. Business is brutal. Some people can't handle this, and prefer to remain in an idealistic fantasy world. I used to be in that world. I hated everything Microsoft. But then I grew up, and I dealt with reality. And I've been much happier and less stressed than I ever could have been had I remained a die-hard anti-Microsoft zealot.
Re:Why bother? (Score:2, Interesting)
First of all, the "Xbox 360 Development Kit" you speak of that costs $99, that's just the XNA Community Games dev kit - it's not what the industry uses. The actual dev kit required to make games for the 360 (not XBL Indie Games) runs about the same as the others, somewhere between $1500 and $2000.
Second, you mention the Unreal 3 Engine costing $350k to license and then royalties on top of that - Valve offers the Source engine pretty much for free, and, while somewhat dated at this point, can compete pretty damn well. Not to mention that whenever Episode 3 drops, it'll get another significant update. All this for buying a game at $50 retail.