Xbox

THE GOOD:
Plays hundreds of games, music CDs, and DVDs. You can make your own soundtracks using your CDs and save them. Built in hard disk. Optional connectivity with Windows 2000 or XP PCs for additional media options.

THE BAD:
Additional hardware/accessories required for DVD playback and online gaming. You have to pay to play online.

SUMMARY:
Microsoft's first foray into console gaming, the Xbox is still one of its biggest success stories, boasting not only an impressive lineup of games including such franchises as Halo, Dead Or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, and many others, but it introduced several features that helped set it apart from other systems like the GameCube & PlayStation 2.

The first and most notable difference is where PS2 & GCN require separately purchased memory units to save data, Xbox has a built-in hard disk that saves everything automatically (although you can still buy memory units for transferring some data). And the...