xbox 360 arcade edition questions

[pavelbure]

a friend of mine wants to buy a 360 arcade edition to try and save some cash.

1. is this machine backwards compatible with xbox games ?
2. can it play halo 3 ?
3. is the hard drive really a necessity for a casual gamer ?

[Skynet]

1 and 3 could be in the same answer really. AFAIK you need the hard drive for backwards compatibility. If the arcade one has no problem supporting the hard drive (which I assume it doesn't come with?) there's no reason why it can't play XBox games you'd think.

Also, there's no real reason why it wouldn't be able to play Halo 3. I don't have a 360 Arcade nor have I seen them, but it seems like common sense really.

[Nico0020]

1. No you cant do BC unless your buy a Hard Drive. But if you pick one up later on you can play BC games.
2. Yes you can play Halo 3, play it online, and do everything the game supports out of the box. Though when Download Content comes around you will need a Harddrive to store them.
3.Really to get the full value of the console I suggest going with the premium. You have so many more features with a Hard Drive over a memory card, even some games use the hard drive to speed up loading times.

I think the arcade version is a great machine, my friend has one but bought the 120 GB HDD not too long after. Especially since it comes with a decent sized memory card and wireless controller. But most likely you will want to upgrade to a Hard Drive later on. Also the Arcade version doesn't come with High Def cables, if you have a high def television.

[melancholy]

Another bonus of a hard drive is game demos. I don't play Live or even download much from the Marketplace, but the ability to download game demos is a great plus.