What To Do With a Free Xbox 360 Pro?

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?"

Comments

Why bother?

[M0b1u5]

Why let yourself in for a world of hurt for a device which will likely never operate in the way you require.

Best to give it as a gift, or sell it on eBay and pocket the cash, and invest that in your stand alone box.

Frankly, I can't believe you are even contemplating it.

Re:Why bother?

[AnotherUsername]

All three major consoles charge to develop.

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?

[Anonymous Coward]

All three major consoles charge to develop.

The Nintendo Wii development kit is $1,700.

The Sony PS3 development kit is $2,000 (non-Linux)

The XBox 360 development kit....$100

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.

You're flatly wrong.

The Xbox 360 development kit is absolutely not $100. You can get a one-year membership to the XNA Creators Club, which allows you to submit games to the Xbox Indie Games service, for $99 USD. The actual development kit associated with this service is free, but you need to pay a $99 fee to actually use the publication channels for a year.

This is NOT a commercial development kit.

Moreover, as it relates to "commercial potential", Xbox Indie Games have been repeatedly grumbled about by prominent authors. The absolute upper cap for the single highest profile Indie Game is 10,000 unit sales. Developers in the price categories that even have a shot at that order of magnitude of sales are taking anywhere from 70 cents to 2.10 for their games. For commercial game production, Xbox Indie Games will NOT be profitable.

Actual commercial Xbox 360 development kits, used to develop Xbox Live Arcade games and Xbox 360 games, cost substantially more.

All of this information is available in a ten second Google tour of the subject. Why was parent modded +5?

Sell it

[MichaelSmith]

Its worth less to you than somebody who would use it for gaming.

eBay it (or otherwise)

[Macthorpe]

Sell it as new and put the money towards something that's built for the purpose you want it for. Bit easier than spending hours messing about with it.

Re:eBay it (or otherwise)

[Macthorpe]

You're not really fixing anything, are you? What you wrote is at best orthoganal to the real point and adds nothing more than a bad attempt at trolling to the discussion.

Grade: D-
Notes: See me after class

(The sooner this fucking stupid 'LOL FIXED THAT FOR YOU' meme ends the better, sorry)

Re:eBay it (or otherwise)

[Ihmhi]

Mommy, why are those old guys fighting on the lawn in their underwear?

Favorite nephew

[onyxruby]

Offer it as a bribe, perhaps if he does well in school or the like. It sounds like you already have made up your mind about the product not meeting your needs. Certainly things like the linux project would be at best pure hack value, and not much for practical use. If you want to do that, find the right ps3 and relish in a vendor that doesn't actively fight alternate os's and lets you install Linux without all the hassle.

Re:Favorite nephew

[EdIII]

really no good reason

It is not a good reason. It is not ethical, moral, legal, etc. Sony does not rent me a PSP or PS3, they sell me one. I have had these arguments before, and quite simply, it is corruption in our legal system that allows them to continue.

The DMCA is absolute fucking bullshit. I have the absolute unequivocal right to completely own my hardware. To use a car analogy on Slashdot, there have been cases similar to this with auto manufacturers. All of the cases had been decided in the favor of the consumer. So why is electronics any different? They brought copyright infringement into it.

Without the DMCA it would be absolutely legal for you to put whatever you wanted onto a PSP or PS3 and Sony would have absolutely no recourse at all. However, since they used those cock-sucking whores in Congress to create a law that states my perfectly moral and ethical enjoyment of my own property circumvents Sony's bullshit, that I am somehow a criminal.

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.

This fallacious logic that is being used to deprive citizens of their rights and properties has to be fought at all costs. It has to stop.

Let me put in another way. I brutally raped some young girl because I was horny. "It's not like I did not do it for really no good reason"

Penny Arcade Charity

[Anonymous Coward]

Penny-arcade.com has a charity called "Child's Play" which provides hospitalized children with toys and electronic entertainment. If I were at a loss for what to do with a new video game console, that would be the way to go for me.

Congratulations on your good fortune.

Re:Penny Arcade Charity

[rm999]

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:Penny Arcade Charity

[Mad Merlin]

...the IRS can't tax karma

Yet. No doubt they're working on it.

Jeez, you don't have to brag about it.

[tommut]

In similar news I just won a million dollars, however I am not much of a consumer. Anyone know of any good ways to spend this cash?

Re:Jeez, you don't have to brag about it.

[thrillseeker]

Anyone know of any good ways to spend this cash?

My thoughts intrigue you, and you wish to subscribe to my newsletter ...

Re:Jeez, you don't have to brag about it.

[pig_man1899]

Cocaine and Hookers my good man; cocaine and hookers

Use it for casual gaming gift it, or sell it

[syousef]

Seriously, you're trying to use a proverbial hammer to saw a tree. An XBox 360 is the wrong tool for anything but gaming, which is what it was built for. Therefore trying to run Linux on it or do other cool stuff is a waste of the machine UNLESS you're into that cool stuff to start with and THAT is the game. Given that you're still wondering how to use it, the answer is simple. Use it for gaming. Or sell it and let someone use it for gaming. Or give it away and let someone use it for gaming. As a media center, there are better options - if you sell it put the money towards buying one. As a linux PC, an XBox isn't the best solution. Sell it and buy a nice Intel or AMD based machine.

The world's full of interesting geeky stuff to do. One of the least interesting things you can do is to waste time forcing a machine to do something it's not designed for. Especially since you'll be using it not writing the software to do it in the first place. Life's too short.

Hospital

[Anonymous Coward]

Give it to a local children's hospital. Cheer up some kids that could use it.

Lets see...

[Darkness404]

You can either A) Use it to play games and some media B) Sell it C) Donate it/give it away. I have no doubt that a local children's hospital would be eternally greatful for the gift. You could always donate it to some guy like Ben Heck (http://benheck.com/) to use in a mod to help a gamer with disabilities (or just to look pretty cool as a mod), or if worse comes to worse, keep it in its box and save it for a few years and sell it then in mint condition.

Re:XBMC = Xbox Media Center

[snuf23]

XBMC was originally made for hacked classic Xboxes. It doesn't run on the Xbox 360. While it was great at the time, the old Xbox didn't support HD output which limits it's use these days.
XBMC has however been ported to run on Windows, Linux and Macintosh operating systems and does support HD output on these systems. This makes for a pretty good home theater PC setup and is more flexible than the built in stuff on Xbox 360.

Two chicks at one time man.

[Anonymous Coward]

Two chicks at one time...

No IRS exceptions for prizes.

[kklein]

Nope, any prize must be claimed. See Publication 525, page 34. The example given is a $50 prize.

Report on form 1040, line 21.

Donate It

[foo fighter]

Give it to your local childrens' hospital. Be a gent and throw in extra controllers and an E for everyone game like Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Star Wars, or Viva Pinata.