Hobbies And Interests
Packaged contents
The standard Xbox 360 Arcade comes with the Xbox system, one official wireless controller, A/V cables and a power supply. Since its inception, the Arcade has come with a free game or two (which changes periodically). As of May 2010, the "Spring Bundle" includes Viva Piñata and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts &Bolts.
Hard drive (or lack thereof)
The Xbox 360 Arcade is limited to 256 MB of internal memory for save files. The system actually comes with 512 MB of memory, but half of it is reserved for system and Xbox Live updates (the initial update when first connecting to Xbox Live will use most of the reserved memory).
Memory cards and flash drives
Microsoft produces three versions of official memory cards for the Xbox 360: the 64 MB, the 256 MB and the 512 MB versions. As of April 2010, an Xbox update also enabled the use of USB flash drives to be used as storage devices on the Xbox 360. While Microsoft produces their own official flash drives, most flash drives are supported and can be used on the Xbox 360 Arcade after a short formatting process (via the Xbox 360 dashboard).
Inputs
Up to four wireless controllers can be connected to a single Xbox 360 Arcade. Two USB ports are located in the front with one additional USB port in the back. Wired controls, arcade sticks and the Zune make use of the USB ports. The Ethernet port for wired broadband connections is located in the back. One HDMI port is located in the back, opposite the Ethernet port.
Core vs. Arcade
The Xbox 360 Arcade replaced the Xbox 360 Core as the entry-level Xbox 360. Since some stores still carry the Core model, it is worth mentioning the notable differences. Unlike the Arcade, the Core model does not support HDMI. However, the Core does include a component cable (component looks better on HDTVs), while the Arcade comes with a standard AV cable (AV is intended for older TVs and does not look good on HDTVs). The Core is the only version of the Xbox 360 to come packaged with a wired controller instead of a wireless one.