Which xbox 360 is for me?

[Murphy]

Hi,
my old xbox broke down a good while ago. It doesn't read double-layer DVDs anymore and my two favorite games (Ninja Gaiden Black and Unreal Championship 2) happen to be such double-layer DVDs. Games that still run run slower than they used to and Fable and GTA have noticable popping now where you can wander for a a while in super-low-detail environments before it updates it and makes it all pretty again.
Well, I almost would have bought a new old xbox, but I saved up a bit to get a 360.

Turns out it's not as easy as just grabbing one as they have a few different versions all differing in prize and features...

What's important to me:
I need it to play my old games as good as possible. I buy it mainly as a replacement for my old xbox and being able to play 360 games on it is more or less a bonus (I assume all 360 versions play 360 games fine?).
I want it to be as cheap as possible, but not cheaper.
If possible I would like one with as small a chance to die on me as possible.

What's not important to me:
xbox live and anything that comes with it. I'm not interested in their trailers and I'm not interested in what they call their marketplace. I might download some free patches for my old games if that's free and maybe some gems from xbox live arcade if I don't need to pay for xbox live in the process. I don't plan to buy xbox live and do anything with it.
Fancy cables for fancy monitors. I have an old but nice and big, bulky TV that I used for my old xbox and I plan to use it for the new one as well. I know I'm wasting the HD potential, but I don't really care. I might get a new monitor one day, but I can buy the cable then, when I actually need it.
I won't watch movies on it or use it as a music player or anything like that. It's going to be a gaming console. Period.

So, to those have one and faced similar decisions:
Which one is the one I need?

 

[D3terioNation]

Get a PS3?

 

[ERK]

Sounds like the arcade version will be fine for you. You won't need a gold membership for patches, the free silver membership will get you patched up and able to purchase titles off live if you wanted.
[URL]http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360arcadesystem/

However, you are now able to install game onto your HD. This will reduce heat and save your disk drive from spinning while playing games (all major reasons the 360 fails). So, for an extra $100 you can get the PRO system with a HD.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360prosystem/[/URL]

There are some original xbox games that don't work on the 360. Here's a list of the working titles:
[URL]http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm[/URL]

 

[Mahnsikir]

Id go for the Pro (normal white unit with hard drive), not worth splashing out on the elite and some old xbox games require the hard drive for backwards compatibility so that rules out the basic package, also some game saves are huge and really eat into the Arcade flash memory.

Just make sure its the newest model( Jasper?), they run cooler, use less power, have an HDMI port, so your not stuck with using Mircosoft only leads, I know you're not going to use HD but all the new models have the HDMI port now and who knows what will happen and if you get the Pro bundle itll come with a 60gb HD rather than 20gb.

BTW if you can get a hard drive for cheap by itself or off a mate you may as well just get the arcade and save some money (and get PacMan for free! )

EDIT: And if you get 2nd controller, dont get the wired one, theyre break alot for some reason.

 

[DietOrange]

Get a PS3?

That would be the smart choice. They are quite reliable as well.

 

[Murphy]

The Pro it is then. Backwardscompatibility is very important for me so I guess the Arcade can be ruled out.

Are they still working on backwardscompatibility, btw.? It says "last updated Nov. 2007" on their site but there are still loads of games that aren't supported at all and of those that are supported some seem to have pretty severe "known issues".

 

[Mahnsikir]

I dunno if they are still working on it but here a list of games that work (or dont work) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games_compatible_with_Xbox_360

 

[Byte Me]

They stopped adding games to the backwards compatibility list a while ago. For the few games that are BC all you have to do is DL a small patch. However you can buy some older games on the Arcade if you feel like being ripped off . Also, you can't play online MP with Xbox1 games on a 360 (doesn't sound like you will but just in case), not sure if that applies to the Arcade version as well.

 

[Dcode]

If backwards compatibility is of the utmost importance it sounds like you would be better off buying a second hand Xbox 1 off Ebay.

 

[Dillinger]

Put your old Xbox to use, just since it doesn't play games doesn't mean it's dead. Download and flash the Xbox Media Center software and have a *****in' Home Theater PC ready to roll!

 

[Rak]

From Wikipedia compatibility article:

"The Xbox 360 hard disk is required to play the games on this list."

Looks like you're going to go for a Pro or a replacement Xbox.