The Accessories

The Xbox will be an accessorizable console for one very simple reason: USB compatibility. Even if the connectors are proprietary, porting PC peripherals over to the Xbox is simple. Clearly, if the peripherals manufacturers can master PC technology, they can easily create Xbox accessories. We are going to introduce you to some of the indispensable accessories. For cables and memory cards, here's just a rough idea of the various possibilities. It's up to you to choose the manufacturer.

Because of the unique output jack, the optional cables are very important.

Normally, you hook an RCA cinch cable to a video jack and two audio jacks. To take advantage of the 5.1's sound through a home theater system, you'll, therefore, need an adapter.

The Advanced audio-video Adapter from Microsoft ($20) offers you an S-video output jack, which improves the image quality and offers an optical jack for 5.1 AC3 sound. Other manufacturers provide similar cables.

If you have HD TV or a video-projector equipped with a YUV input jack, you'll need the High Definition audio-video adapter ($20). This also includes an optical output jack, but the video comes out on YUV. It's the best quality available.

In Europe, there are SCART adapters with or without 5.1 optical jacks, but we don't have confirmation on this matter from Microsoft. In return, the accessory manufacturers offer RGB scart cables, the best quality available for European televisions. Saïtek already has them in its catalog!

Thrustmaster offers the High definition S-video Cable with RCA video output jacks and sound, and even an S-video connector.