My team very kindly bought my a 250Gb xbox 360 as a leaving present, what's the state of play with all the downloads I see everywhere? And has anyone got XBMC running on it yet?

Xbox Live is a priority and not something I want to lose.

I've not used XBMC and i currently own a 4GB as i couldn't see the benefit of going for a 250GB as i barely ever load games to the drive, and XBL games take up a small amount of space.

There could be other benefits, someone else might confirm.

Some games really benefit from being installed, like L.A Noire's load times and far less crashes. Also saves you from drive noise/wear etc.

Games On Demand means you can buy and download ISO's of full games. But I guess you're interested in .

If xbl is a must, don't hack it.

  yarg!

I find it almost irresistible to tinker with consoles, I dont seem to be able to find any up-to date guides on what is and isnt possible with the 360.

Im amazed its not a more open system after so much time has passed.

It was more open:

http://www.free60.org/Main_Page

If you have one of the newest slim models you're better off not modding it, IMO. Too much of a hassle.

A new exploit has been found, slims are now hackable: http://free60.org/Reset_Glitch_Hack

Interesting times ahead for the 360, now both consoles are heavily compromised the pair of them might get their fingers out and design new ones quicker