Thinking of Picking Up a Used XBox

[racketboy]

So I was walking by a Gamestop store (I try to avoid them) and noticed that they had a display in the window for used consoles from the previous generation. They had Gamecubes for $30 (very nice, but I already have one) and XBoxes for $50. I've been putting off getting an XBox for the longest time as JSRF, Panzer Dragoon Orta, and Outrun 2 have been calling for me to play them again.

I don't plan on getting a 360 anytime soon due to the price, reliability, and noise, so the original Box is looking quite appealing.

What are your thoughts on this situation?
Are there any particular things I need to keep an eye out for when picking out a certain XBox out of a bunch?

[Bootaaay]

Some of the earlier xbox's were plagued by dirty-disk errors as the disk drive began to wear out, but I doubt theres many of them still about.

Personally I couldn't reccomend an Xbox enough, as well as the awesome games you mentioned theres a ton of great under-appreciated games available for the system (Buffy, Chronicles of Riddick, Enclave, Farenheit/Indigo Prophecy, Otogi 1 & 2, Phantom Crash, Quantum Redshift, Rallisport Challenge 1 & 2 etc) and most of them can be had fairly cheap nowadays. Also, with a mod-chip it's an amazing machine for homebrew games and emulators - i've been using mine to play CAVE shmups in mame, LucasArt's point & clicks in Scumm and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with mods from the PC version :p

[black flag nc]

I recently got an Xbox and I love it. All the 4 star titles are dirt cheap so it's a great value to the cheap-ass gamer.

Some of my favs so far:

Doom 3
Wings of War
Crimson Skies
Panzer Dragoon Orta
NBA2k6

All of them were under $10. Awesome!

My only complaint: NO SHMUPS!!! Damn it!

[nickfil]

Some of the earlier xbox's were plagued by dirty-disk errors as the disk drive began to wear out, but I doubt theres many of them still about.
Also, with a mod-chip it's an amazing machine for homebrew games and emulators - i've been using mine to play CAVE shmups in mame, LucasArt's point & clicks in Scumm and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with mods from the PC version :p

yeah- the disc errors are something to watch out for. My first used xbox i got from gamestop a while ago wouldn't actually open the disc tray at all. So if you do pick one up, try to do it when the store isn't so busy and have them fire it up and put a game in to make sure it works. It'll save you a trip.

Gamestop also sold me a wireless controller with a wrong ir receiver for it in that same shopping trip. UGH!

also- i can't echo the above sentiment enough. Mod that sucker. It has a 4 or 5 GB harddrive in it already which is perfect for retro stuff. If you get a bigger HDD in there it'll run a ton of mame stuff, and some of the bigger games that are now being thought of as retro. It'll run sega cd and ps1 no problem. And you can run them off the harddrive or the disc drive. Pretty sweet. Personally- i don't care about beating the shit out of my xbox, but i'd like to keep my sega cd in the condition it is in already. So thats a win win.

I assume that you have homebrewed your wii- so you are already running scummVM, as well as nes/snes stuff on there. Which, in my opinion, i'd like nintendo stuff on nintendo hardware. And the wii was made for scumm.


I have two of these bad boys for sega emulation on the xbox. I actually haven't tried them out yet, but i assume they would work no problem with a little button remapping. They are 15th anniversary street fighter controllers, and create that nice 6 button sega feel. I know you can run sega stuff on the WII, but these controllers might sway you to run them off the xbox.

When/if you mod- you don't even need to chip it, you can soft mod. It makes putting a new HDD in it alittle tougher if you don't have the right tools handy, but at least you don't have to solder anything. Soft modding is pretty easy to do even if you arn't super tech savey.

[IcKy99]

I'm in the same boat as Racket, i also saw a x-box at gamestop last night for $50. seems like a good deal to me, i had an xbox for a while but sold it quickly. i never got hooked on it, but now since the games are as cheap as dirt i wouldnt mind picking one up to play most games i missed out on.

[countcowden]

bought one of ebay boxed with shipping and five games for sixty dollars, six weeks ago.

I would agree to try and test if possible, I have had one dirty disc error message so far in about six hours of play - disc looked clean and it sounds like it has a helicopter in it when I run the games so I suspect (willing to be corrected here) my disc drive is gonnae kaput sometime in the near future.

Does anyone know if you can replace the drive?

First time I have had a microsoft console as PS's were always my thing, but it so far appears to be worth it to play Halo and JSRF which I found with Sega GT for $3 the other week. Thanks for the tip. I'll be looking for more hidden gems as long as the price is right.

[Hatta]

I've modded mine, and installed a 200gb drive. Essentially, I never use the disk drive anymore. I could really care less if it works, you don't need it.

To those running ScummVM on the Xbox, what version are you running? Last I checked the best build of ScummVM for Xbox still didn't zoom correctly, so the inch or so around the edge of the screen wasn't visible.

[MrPopo]

Does anyone know if you can replace the drive?

Yes, you can replace the drive. It's pretty simple to do, just pick up a hex key tool such as this one.

You do need a special Xbox DVD drive, since the connections on the back are non-standard.

[fastbilly1]

Gauntlet Dark Legacy and Hunter the Reckoning were two of my main reasons for picking one back up. I love hack and slashes.

[bonefish]

The xbox had the best versions of the Splinter Cell series. I picked up all four titles for $20 dollars and $10 of it was for Double Agent! Jade Empire is every bit as fantastic as you hear. Fable is great if you can get past the hype. Star Wars KOTOR is another one (I've yet to play it, it sits waiting). Half-Life 2 is a good port, although it has some mega slowdown at times. The xbox had stellar multi-platform ports...