The Xbox 360 Game console was released in 2005 with two completely separate price points and two completely different packages, a move that more or less confused Microsoft’s customers as to which product to get. While the Core package was cheaper, the Platinum package was obviously better, but how much better?

As it turns out, it was a lot better. The Platinum package came with a wireless controller, a 20 GB hard drive and HDMI cables to support high definition gaming. These are essential items for next generation gaming, the hard drive actually necessary for saving an Xbox 360 game and for playing any Xbox game.

So, the Platinum package was clearly better, but how good is the Platinum package? As a console, the Xbox 360 is a solid piece of machinery. It performs at blistering speeds, well beyond what the last generation could even dream of doing, and offers a slew of features. Among those is the much vaunted High Definition gaming option for full 1080i support.

Another feature of the Platinum package is backwards compatibility, the ability to play your Xbox library on your new console. Unfortunately, for a feature that Sony mastered 5 years earlier, it was a bit glitch off the bat. Backwards compatibility is a given these days and though they’ve more or less gotten it down now, there are still some issues with games and their use of Live services.

This brings us to Live. Live was the greatest introduction to the Xbox’s arsenal a few years back, a full featured online gaming service. Now, it’s back and it’s free to a point. You can get online, add friends, download XBLA games, and set up a profile. To actually use the full services, it will still cost you a small yearly fee, but the lobby system Microsoft managed to set up and the Online Achievements addition make it better than ever, a feature that neither of the competition was able to pick up on.

The console’s main weakness right now, as is usually the case with any new console is its price and inversely the lack of games available. While a couple of extraordinary games have been released like Gears of War and more still are on the way this summer, the 360 is still waiting for more killer apps to make that $399 purchase seem like a no brainer.

But, for those that do have one and love every game they have, the machine is doing fairly well for itself. Each new entry shows off a little bit more what kind of power the 360 has under its hood and the almost always built in features of Xbox Live make it a perfect console for any multiplayer fanatic. Graphically, the Xbox 360 maintains the gold standard at the moment, and with all the features you could want in a next generation console for $200 less than its high octane competition, the Platinum Console Package is a good purchase for any dedicated gamer.