So what do I need to get up and running?? I think I need the wireless box for the X-Box and an account right?

 

You need a high speed internet connection.
The 360 is not wireless, you need a wireless adapter if you want to use wireless, other wise a normal net cable will work.

Then you can sign up for it, its much cheaper to pay for a entire year then month by month.
The more time you buy, the lower the cost.
A years worth used to be $60 or something close to that.
That's about $5 per month.

You need a hotmail account too.

The wireless adapter was $99.99 last time I remember it at walmart.


The service is well worth it, much better then my time spent with PSN.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/joinlive

 

If you watch for deals you can get a full year pretty cheap. Last year I got a full year for $40 bucks. The wireless adapters I think are like 60 bucks now but I just ran the cable because I didn't want to pay for that much.

 

What Titan said. If you have wifi, then you can get the adapter and it is about $100 if you get it from walmart, but you can order them from amazon for about $50. You can also do just a normal internet cable and plug it in to the xbox. If you don't have a great wifi connection, then the internet cable will work better. I don't have great wifi so my xbox is slow sometimes with the wireless. And its much cheaper to get a year at a time. You pay $60 for 13 months or I think its about $9 if you buy 1 month cards.

 

Yeah I forgot about that, I have seen some 60 month cards come with a extra free month, so that's less than $5 a month for the smoothest online game play aside from a PC.

 

Our Xbox 360 we got last Christmas came with built in wireless. No adapter was required. You might want to double check before buying an adapter. If its a new Xbox then you don't need the adapter.

 

The new slimline Xboxs are wireless. The old white ones are not.

There are about 10,000,000 websites on how to get Xbox Live working, including Xbox Live's own personal website

 

I forgot about that. If you have one of the new elites they have the built in wireless and intercooler.

 

I'm pretty sure it's the slims that have built in wireless. The only difference between the elite and the old style was it was black and had a bigger hard drive.

 

Trade it in for a PS3, Playstation network is free and they come with built in wireless ..

I do have a xbox though and bought it for one game only Forza 3, but that got boring after a month so its just sitting waiting for Forza 4 to come out.

 

Haha but playstation network goes down all the time because of "security reasons".

 

Everyone is different, but I HATED my ps3 and the PSN when I got it.
Just a lot of things I didn;t like about it.

Seemed to take forever to update the console, and about as long to install and update games. My 360 never had that problem.

I disliked the controller as well, I still think the original xbox controller was great.

But, some people might love the PS3, because everyone is different.

Just like I prefer a full size metal frame pistol for the feel over a compact plastic one.

 

Thats funny cause i HATE and cannot get use to the xbox controller . It seems like the graphics are better on the ps3. I do agree that it takes a long time to update and install games on the ps3.

I did start out on the ps one then got the two and now the three so that may be why im partial to the ps3, im use to the controller etc

 

Graphics are a LITTLE bit better on PS3 IMO but not that much better. Gameplay is much better on xbox I hated the lagginess of the PS3 especially on black ops.

 

Free online for PS3 versus $60/yr online for xbox. Which do you think will have more quality/options?

You get what you pay for. I've been on Xbox Live since its inception. I've tried the "online" of PS3. You're just online. Doesnt have anywhere near the options/extras Xbox Live has.

Although the PS3 has better graphics, my 360 is plenty enough for me. See Forza 4 yet? Gameplay graphics made my friends think it was a movie