CALEB'S ADVENTURES

I have been wanting a Xbox for a few months and I have started researching game  boxes. Now I have to write a report/argumentative essay. The Xbox is not that exciting but the games are and the Xbox is one of the best ways to play my favorite games. I will be talking about the uses of game boxes like the Xbox 360 and the benefits of having one. I think the Harapnuik household needs a Xbox because the games I would play on it offers great entertainment value, it can help  in social settings and it can help us learn.

Entertainment is a big part of life and sometimes we get to stressed out and need some fun and games. Stress is what you feel when you have to handle more than you are used to and a good way to get rid of stress is to play games (unless the games get you more stressed out). Video games get you focused on something and you forget every thing else that is happening around you.

I like playing video games because they are like real life situations and you can control the environment and the way you play the game. There are lots of games for the Xbox and the ones that I find are the most fun are, Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Need For Speed and Call Of Duty Black Ops. It is also fun to have something to do when friends come over, that we are all interested in and that we can do for any amount of time. Depending on who the friend is, you can play the games that they like or are interested in.

A other big thing about having a Xbox is the social aspect of playing games. In games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 you can play online against other people anywhere in the world. You can also play with up to 4 people at the same time on the same screen. The number of people you have playing depends on how many controllers you have and the number of people who want to play.

There are a bunch of benefits of having a Xbox but most of them are just from the games. Since you need a Xbox to play the games I will talk about them. All games offer good eye hand coordination because you can’t be looking at the screen and the controller at the same time without messing up somehow. Some surgeons use video games to help train and to warm up their reactions.¹ Pilots use flight simulators to train for flying.² Some games offer great problem solving skills because you can try again if you fail and the games are so life-like that it feels like you are in the game. Since the Xbox has multilayer that you can collaborate with other people and create strategies and plays.

Xboxs, games and accessories cost quite a bit of money but everything together costs the same as a good gaming computer. There are 2 different kinds of Xboxs. The 4gb one, which is the lowest and cheapest one, costs $200 new and doesn’t have that much space to store games and save things. The second one is the 250gb one which is $300 and has all the room you need to store and save stuff. They have something called Kinect which is a motion tracker for games and you don’t need a controller. It costs about $150 and it can only be used on the new Xboxs. You can get a 85gb hard drive for the 4gb one but it costs around $90 so the 250gb one is a much better deal. The Xbox comes with one controller and extra ones are $40. Depending on the game and when it was released they can cost between $10 and $60 and old ones can be super cheap. To be able to play online you have to have a Xbox live acount which is $50 a year.³

Playing games on the Xbox is more reliable than playing the same games on a computer. The Xbox is meant for just playing games and things to do with them so there will be less Internet problems and crashes. The Xbox is made by Microsoft so anything can happen, but most things you can fix or get fixed. Xboxes last at least 4 or 5 years. Microsoft has made 3 or 4 different Xboxs. they made the first Xbox,

They made the Xbox 360,

and then they made the newest Xbox 360

and they just came out with the new Xbox 360 one before Christmas so there will not be a new one for at least 1 to 2 years.⁴

Now that I know the cost, I still think the Harapnuik household needs a Xbox because the the games I enjoy are better on the Xbox, it helps in social settings, it can help us learn and it is REALLY FUN!. I have been wanting a Xbox for a few months and this research paper should be good enough to show that I know what I’m talking about (most of the time).

1 Doll, Aaron. (2009, febuary 20). Do videogames improve hand-eye coordination more than sports?. Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1445882/do_videogames_improve_handeye_coordination.html?cat=25

Dobnik, Verena. (2004, April 7). Surgeons may err less by playing video games. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4685909/ns/technology_and_science-games/

2 iBN Features Articles, Initials. (n.d.). From console to cockpit: are today’s video gamers tomorrow’s combat pilots?. Retrieved from http://www.ibnfeatures.com/Articles/iBNFeaturesArticles/tabid/63/ID/117/From-Console-to-Cockpit-Are-Todays-Video-Gamers-Tomorrows-Combat-Pilots.aspx

3 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Xbox-360-Live-12-Month-Gold-Card-Xbox-360/15600317

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360