Xbox 360 Elite (120GB) - CNET » Handy Gadgets: Information, news and highlights of handy gadgets for you, the home or travel.

CNET have published a review of the next generation Xbox 360 Elite (120GB) game console. ‘Every Xbox 360 model has a base-level membership called Xbox Live Silver. That offers the ability to create a list of friends, view their gamer cards, and communicate with them outside of a game via voice chat and voice messaging using the headset, or even video chat with the Vision Camera. In order to play multiplayer games, however, you'll need to upgrade to Xbox Live Gold, which costs $50 a year. While Sony offers similar online multiplayer chat and head-to-head gameplay for free on the PS3, it remains a less polished experience than Xbox Live, which has had several more years to perfect its online capabilities to its current best-in-class state.

Xbox Live is much more integrated throughout the 360 than it was in the old Xbox. At any time, you can punch the Home button on your controller to bring up the Live message center. In theory, you can be playing an offline, single-player game of, say, Enchanted Arms, get an invite from a friend (think instant messaging), then pop out to the Dashboard while you swap discs and dive into F.E.A.R.'

Read: Xbox 360 Elite (120GB) - CNET