With the xBox 360 still holding strong against the new PS3, many new gamers are planning on purchasing one. The biggest problem though is the price. At between $299 and $399 dollars it can be tricky coming up with the purchase cost all at once. Luckily, most of the major retailers offer some type of payment plan that makes the purchase much easier. Here's a look at several popular payment plans for the xBox 360.
Walmart's "Bill Me Later" Program
If you purchase an xBox 360 from Walmart, you have the option to use their "Bill Me Later" program. This gives you up to 90 days to pay for your xBox 360 at the retail price without any extra finance charges. The payment option is actual in the form of a loan from Chase Bank, but as long as you complete your payment within the first 3 months, you won't be charged any interest. You have to make sure and specifiy you want to use the "No Payments For 90 Days" option when you choose to use the "Bill Me Later" program.
If you have any questions, make sure to ask the salesperson before you sign any agreements and make your purchase. Rembember, if you miss your payments or are late, the interest and finance charges can add up fast.
Best Buy's Credit Card
Best Buy also offers great pricing on the xBox 360. Furthermore, you can apply for a Best Buy credit card. If approved, you can also split your payments over 90 days without worrying about paying any interest. Keep in mind, this credit card is only good for in-store purchases, but if you don't make your payments on time it can still affect your real world credit rating.
As always, use store credit like this with caution. These no-interest finance options sound great - and they can be helpful if you carefully budget your money and keep track of your payments. Unfortunately, they also make it tempting to buy more than you can afford. You'll have to ask yourself, is it really a good idea to buy an xBox 360 on this type of credit if in the end you have to pay extra fees, fines and interest because you didn't budget well?
Paypal Credit With Ebay Purchases
If you want to get a low price on an xBox 360 and split the payments up, you might consider shopping for yours on eBay. Many eBay sellers who deal in gaming consoles also offer financing plans if you make your purchase through paypal. The details of these options vary and are only available to United States residents who pass the credit approval process. With some of the financing allowing for payments to be split up over many months without interest though, the combination of eBay prices and Paypal credit is worth looking into.
Keep in mind though, when shopping through eBay, be very careful who you deal with. Despite eBay's strict rules enforcement, some scam artists still manage to list and sell gaming consoles such as the xBox 360 with no intention of delivering them. Luckily, in order to offer the paypal credit option, sellers have to pass a screening process which makes them much more likely to be safe to deal with.
Many other retailers offer variations on these payment plans, so you'll probably want to do a bit more research to find out which one is rigth for you. The descriptions above should give you an idea of what to expect though and give you a solid basis for comparing any other xBox 360 payment plan options you come across.
NEW! You can get all the information and tools you need to make backup copies of virtually every video game you own with nothing more than a CD burner or DVD burner and your home computer. PLUS learn how to play all of your favorite games on your PC, no console, or mod chip needed!
Kamis, 07 Agustus 2008
All About Ebox 360 Mod Chip
What is a "mod chip?"
A mod chip is a tiny silicon accessory that can be installed into your gaming console. It "modifies" your console, hence the name. A console with a mod chip is also known as a "modded console" or a "chipped system."
What does a mod chip do?
The mod chip takes control of your system and removes limitations that were put on by the manufacturer. It can access all the functions of your xBox 360 that have been blocked or restricted. You can import, back-up, homebrew and bypass security features. 9 times out of 10, mod chips are used to play pirated games.
Gaming consoles like the XBox 360, Play Station 3, Nintendo Wii and Gamecube are designed by the company to only play their copyrighted games. These machines also have region codes, like DVD players, so that you can't play a Japanese or Australian version of a game on an American box. In the case of the XBox, you can't play anything that isn't licensed by Microsoft, including your own creations or customized games.
The main reason for these security features is to protect against pirating games. While most mod chip users use the chip to copy games or play pirated games, there is a small minority of amateur coders and serious gamers who use the mod chip to customize their games and get more out of playing them.
Are mod chips illegal?
This is where things get tricky. In the United States, at the current moment, mod chips are legal. But, using pirated software, which is what almost all mod chip users do, is illegal. If you buy a mod chip and install it in your XBox, you will be okay, but chipping your XBox will definitely void your warrantee. It will also keep you from being able to do XBox Live.
Mod chips are illegal in the UK, but legal in Australia. They are increasingly being made illegal in more and more countries. Although some mod chip dealers have been fined and even jailed, this was usually because they offered pirating software as part of the deal. Microsoft is dealing with the problem on a case-by-case basis, but in general they are not aggressively pursuing mod chip dealers. It's possible that they let it go on because of the small minority of those who actually use the mod chip for legitimate purposes, who say, "It's my machine, why can't I do what I want with it?"
Keep in mind that mod chips do permanently alter your console, so use at your own risk.
How do I get a mod chip?
There are tons of mod chip dealers online. Most are in the $55-$85 range, although you can find them as low as $30 or $20. As a general rule of thumb, a deal that cheap is probably too good to be true. There are lots of shady dealers out there who take advantage of the fact that there is such high demand and mod chips are hard to get. Be sure to check out the dealer before you buy. I would go with a dealer that allows you to track your order.
Installing your mod chip is another consideration. They're not easy to install. It requires soldering the chip to the motherboard. If you have some experience soldering, it's a pretty easy job. But, if you've never soldered before, this might not be the best time to give it a shot.
There are some mod chips advertised as "solderless," but these are probably best to avoid. You can also get installation kits, but these will cost you. If you don't want to do the installation yourself, your best bet is probably to send your console to an installation service and have them do it. In this case, make sure they are a reputable company. Don't take any chances with your XBox!
Using a mod chip is risky. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into before you get one!
NEW! You can get all the information and tools you need to make backup copies of virtually every video game you own with nothing more than a CD burner or DVD burner and your home computer. PLUS learn how to play all of your favorite games on your PC, no console, or mod chip needed!
A mod chip is a tiny silicon accessory that can be installed into your gaming console. It "modifies" your console, hence the name. A console with a mod chip is also known as a "modded console" or a "chipped system."
What does a mod chip do?
The mod chip takes control of your system and removes limitations that were put on by the manufacturer. It can access all the functions of your xBox 360 that have been blocked or restricted. You can import, back-up, homebrew and bypass security features. 9 times out of 10, mod chips are used to play pirated games.
Gaming consoles like the XBox 360, Play Station 3, Nintendo Wii and Gamecube are designed by the company to only play their copyrighted games. These machines also have region codes, like DVD players, so that you can't play a Japanese or Australian version of a game on an American box. In the case of the XBox, you can't play anything that isn't licensed by Microsoft, including your own creations or customized games.
The main reason for these security features is to protect against pirating games. While most mod chip users use the chip to copy games or play pirated games, there is a small minority of amateur coders and serious gamers who use the mod chip to customize their games and get more out of playing them.
Are mod chips illegal?
This is where things get tricky. In the United States, at the current moment, mod chips are legal. But, using pirated software, which is what almost all mod chip users do, is illegal. If you buy a mod chip and install it in your XBox, you will be okay, but chipping your XBox will definitely void your warrantee. It will also keep you from being able to do XBox Live.
Mod chips are illegal in the UK, but legal in Australia. They are increasingly being made illegal in more and more countries. Although some mod chip dealers have been fined and even jailed, this was usually because they offered pirating software as part of the deal. Microsoft is dealing with the problem on a case-by-case basis, but in general they are not aggressively pursuing mod chip dealers. It's possible that they let it go on because of the small minority of those who actually use the mod chip for legitimate purposes, who say, "It's my machine, why can't I do what I want with it?"
Keep in mind that mod chips do permanently alter your console, so use at your own risk.
How do I get a mod chip?
There are tons of mod chip dealers online. Most are in the $55-$85 range, although you can find them as low as $30 or $20. As a general rule of thumb, a deal that cheap is probably too good to be true. There are lots of shady dealers out there who take advantage of the fact that there is such high demand and mod chips are hard to get. Be sure to check out the dealer before you buy. I would go with a dealer that allows you to track your order.
Installing your mod chip is another consideration. They're not easy to install. It requires soldering the chip to the motherboard. If you have some experience soldering, it's a pretty easy job. But, if you've never soldered before, this might not be the best time to give it a shot.
There are some mod chips advertised as "solderless," but these are probably best to avoid. You can also get installation kits, but these will cost you. If you don't want to do the installation yourself, your best bet is probably to send your console to an installation service and have them do it. In this case, make sure they are a reputable company. Don't take any chances with your XBox!
Using a mod chip is risky. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into before you get one!
NEW! You can get all the information and tools you need to make backup copies of virtually every video game you own with nothing more than a CD burner or DVD burner and your home computer. PLUS learn how to play all of your favorite games on your PC, no console, or mod chip needed!
XBox 360 hard drive
One of the real limitations of the xBox 360 is its hard drive. Currently, the additional "official" 20 GB hard drive for the xBox 360 sells for around US $100.00. Most of us already know that 20GB hard drives come much cheaper than that. If only there was a way to connect other, cheaper hard drives to our xBox 360, we could save a lot of money and not be slaves to Microsoft. Luckily, there are already some hacks that will allow you to do just this. Here's an introduction to a couple of the favorites.
xBox 360 Hard Drive Hack #1 - The USB Adapter Hack
If you don't want to mess around with the inside of your xBox, you can take advantage of the 360's USB port to add extra memory to your system cheaply and easily. What you need to do is find any USB storage device, or a hard drive that supports a USB 2.0 adapter. In this case, you'll also need to get the adapter too.
Now you have to put your drive together with the USB adapter and plug it into your PC. With Windows XP, installation should be automatic, but older versions of Windows may require you to install a driver for your particular adpater first.
If your hard drive is less than 32GB, you can just go to the "Administrative Tools" section of your Control Panel and use the "Computer Management" function to create FAT32 partition on your drive. When that's finished, follow through with formatting. Keep in mind that larger drives will require a 3rd party partition software, since Windows does not support these options on anything larger than 32GB.
Finally, load whatever media you want to access with your xBox onto your newly formatted hard drive. Unplug it from your PC and connect it to your 360. From your xBox menu, go to Media, then to "portable device". You should see all the content available.
xBox 360 Hard Drive Hack #2 - The Western Digital SATA BEVS HDD Hack
Some hackers are reporting that you can format and install a much cheaper Western Digital SATA BEVS hard drive into your xBox 360 instead of the pricey Microsoft version. This requires downloading a software tool that will help copy important "signature" information from the xBox onto your Western Digital hard drive, so when you install it in your xBox 360, it won't be rejected by the machine. Besides being a cheaper option, the fact that you can install this internally is a nice touch. On the other hand, you have to be a bit of a tech-geek to do the formatting and installation. Also, you are still limited to just an additional 20GB of memory.
If this interests you though, and you're not worried about opening your xBox 360 and voiding the warranty, just do a search for the tool called "HDDHacker" by TheSpecialist.
Unfortunately, Microsoft makes it very difficult to use cheaper alternatives to increase the memory on your xBox 360. Lucky for us though, this just makes the hackers more inventive and they will likely continue to find quicker, easier and less expensive ways to mod the xBox 360. In the future, maybe Microsoft will wise up to what its customers really want and make it easier to add a hard drive of your choice to your machine. Until then, keep checking the xBox 360 homebrew websites to keep up on the latest hacks.
NEW! You can get all the information and tools you need to make backup copies of virtually every video game you own with nothing more than a CD burner or DVD burner and your home computer. PLUS learn how to play all of your favorite games on your PC, no console, or mod chip needed!
xBox 360 Hard Drive Hack #1 - The USB Adapter Hack
If you don't want to mess around with the inside of your xBox, you can take advantage of the 360's USB port to add extra memory to your system cheaply and easily. What you need to do is find any USB storage device, or a hard drive that supports a USB 2.0 adapter. In this case, you'll also need to get the adapter too.
Now you have to put your drive together with the USB adapter and plug it into your PC. With Windows XP, installation should be automatic, but older versions of Windows may require you to install a driver for your particular adpater first.
If your hard drive is less than 32GB, you can just go to the "Administrative Tools" section of your Control Panel and use the "Computer Management" function to create FAT32 partition on your drive. When that's finished, follow through with formatting. Keep in mind that larger drives will require a 3rd party partition software, since Windows does not support these options on anything larger than 32GB.
Finally, load whatever media you want to access with your xBox onto your newly formatted hard drive. Unplug it from your PC and connect it to your 360. From your xBox menu, go to Media, then to "portable device". You should see all the content available.
xBox 360 Hard Drive Hack #2 - The Western Digital SATA BEVS HDD Hack
Some hackers are reporting that you can format and install a much cheaper Western Digital SATA BEVS hard drive into your xBox 360 instead of the pricey Microsoft version. This requires downloading a software tool that will help copy important "signature" information from the xBox onto your Western Digital hard drive, so when you install it in your xBox 360, it won't be rejected by the machine. Besides being a cheaper option, the fact that you can install this internally is a nice touch. On the other hand, you have to be a bit of a tech-geek to do the formatting and installation. Also, you are still limited to just an additional 20GB of memory.
If this interests you though, and you're not worried about opening your xBox 360 and voiding the warranty, just do a search for the tool called "HDDHacker" by TheSpecialist.
Unfortunately, Microsoft makes it very difficult to use cheaper alternatives to increase the memory on your xBox 360. Lucky for us though, this just makes the hackers more inventive and they will likely continue to find quicker, easier and less expensive ways to mod the xBox 360. In the future, maybe Microsoft will wise up to what its customers really want and make it easier to add a hard drive of your choice to your machine. Until then, keep checking the xBox 360 homebrew websites to keep up on the latest hacks.
NEW! You can get all the information and tools you need to make backup copies of virtually every video game you own with nothing more than a CD burner or DVD burner and your home computer. PLUS learn how to play all of your favorite games on your PC, no console, or mod chip needed!
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