Is the Xbox 360 Arcade a good investment for me?

Depends.

Do you like Microsoft’s or Sony’s lineup of exclusive titles better?

Sony just (as in, like an hour ago at Germany’s Gamescom) annoucned the Playstation 3 Slim, and the cost of all units will be reduced to 299 dollars. That should factor into your equation.

As for your other questions, yes. Currently, all Xbox 360 titles have the ability to stream Netflix video. The differences between the Arcade and Elite? Besides the Elite being a super sexy black color, it comes with an internal 160 GB hard drive for downloadable games, movies, music and the like.

Also, be aware that Microsoft is starting to phase out the Arcade model.

I didn’t think that I would use mine very much, but I fire the sucker up every day. I use it to play DVDs, and I use a program called tversity to stream any videos or music I have on my computer to pump it through my surround sound speakers.

Oh, and I believe the arcade does let you stream netflix.

You may be interested in knowing the Xbox 360 has a 54.2% failure rate. And the writers of this article think that it’s probably much higher than that.

I like my PS3 and with a dropped price not a bad deal. I use PlayOn from Mediamall to stream Netflix,hulu etc…

If you don’t like the PS3 that’s cool. I opted out of the red reing of death because I thought it would be a pain in the neck. That being said most people I know that have a 360 have 2 so they can play one while the other one is out for 2–3 weeks to get fixed.

I luv to being able to get NetFlix from my x-box.
I use that more then my games.

Also have had mine for almost 2 years without any problems.

@limeaide Does PlayOn cost money?

@erichw1504 Yes, a one time $40 fee for a lifetime license. To view netflix on xbox360 don’t you have to have a Xbox live gold subscription for so much every year.

Additional info, it works fine on the ps3 but I don’t think HD streaming is available currently. I actually use my Roku box for netflix streaming, it works better has a great interface, I like it best of all. Roku is $99.

An investment builds value, so that it can be sold or traded for more value than that for which it was acquired. Your Xbox will depreciate in value as soon as you purchase it, and will continue to depreciate during its useful life.

Just as a thought, Since your considering an Arcade, you might want to remember it doesn’t have much or any Memory to record you short but meaningful hours/minutes/seconds of gaming. So you’d have to get a memory card just in case you want to play any online games because if I’m correct you’ll need one to save your Xbox Live account.

To answer your question: No, even if you like microsoft.. unless you want to play games that don’t require saving (which really aren’t that many to begin with.) I suggest getting the next 360 up, at least Memory wise. besides that. Everything is pretty much the same.

Even with the whole “red ring of doom” as I read earlier before, It’s not that big of a deal mainly because if you do have said problem you’d just send yours to Microsoft and while they fix yours, they send you one to replace it.

(Note* you stay with the one the replacement, and they give that one to someone else…
Keep your memory… the part that can be separated from the Xbox itself)

Maybe it’s not a strong financial investment, but it’s a very strong “fun” investment.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic words could have not been placed in better hands.

I got the Elite I think it was a lot more then I really needed if I would do it over again I would go with the arcade