Help with buying Xbox/kinect (complete newbie)

VodkaSorbet

OH has mentioned wanting an Xbox with Kinect for his birthday, which is early January.

I am trying to start looking for a good deal, but I really know nothing at all about consoles what so ever (neither of us has ever had one before or really used one apart from a friend's Wii twice and kinect once).

I have searched on MSE but found so much information it was a bit overwhelming.

I'm sure this has been asked loads, so I'm not asking for people to help me on this thread, more to point me at a nice concise guide/explanation of what the options are and what I need to consider, if possible.

Was wondering if it was worth going into John Lewis and seeing if they can help a complete newby (as I think they are probably a trustworthy shop which won't sell me lots of guff!) - would this be a good idea.

These are the sort of questions I've thought of so far:

- is it worth waiting til after Chirstmas to see if there are any price reductions?
- how do you know much storage you might need?
- what bits do you actually need to get the kinect running?
- should you buy a bundle of games etc, or each bit separately?
- if we get a new TV in the near future (which is quite likely), how do I make sure it's going to be compatible?

Thanks in advance!

Miss_Mario

I'm going to assume you'll be buying new, so I'll give info for that.

1) It's probably worth waiting until after Christmas (if you don't mind buying nearer OH's birthday) as there may be better bundle deals in the sales.

2) The amount of memory depends on what he intends to do with the Xbox, if there's going to be any downloading of demos, games, music, movies etc, then the higher option of 250GB is more suitable. 4GB will hold about 4 demos, this is only really suitable for young children or people who just won't download anything.

3) If you buy the Kinect it will just plug into the Xbox and run, no extra equipment needed.

4) It can work out cheaper to buy a bundle, if you can find a bundle with games OH wants.

5) As long as the new TV has a HD or Scart port it will be compataible. For example if you now have an old TV and you upgrade to a full HD TV you will need to change the setting on the Xbox itself to improve the picture. Connecting with a HD lead will also improve the picture.

I've found a bundle as a rough guide, Amazon are doing a 250GB console with Forza 4 and a download of Skyrim for £169.99 and then buying the Kinect (which comes with a game) seperately for £85.
For £254.99 you have a console, Kinect and 3 games.
For an extra £20 you can add a 12 month Xbox Live membership which will give you access to catch up TV, Lovefilm, Netflix, multiplayer online play and much more.

Hope that helps

VodkaSorbet

Thanks - very useful.