When Microsoft introduced the Xbox in late 2001, it was largely met with derision and suspicion. Sony and Nintendo, two long-time powerhouses in the home gaming console arena had just (or were about to) release their own next-generation machines. What was Microsoft doing entering the fray? Now, however, several years later, the Xbox is widely hailed as perhaps the best of the three machines. Fast load times, stellar, highly realistic graphics, and a growing stable of games have made Xbox a contender and cheap Xbox games a hot commodity.

The Xbox contains an internal hard drive that significantly speeds up load times. The hard drive also allows the games--and the graphics--to run faster. With the hard drive--a whopping eight GB--a person can save music on the drive and create custom soundtracks for the games. Couple this with a built-in Ethernet port for online gaming (Xbox Live currently has three million subscribers and is still growing), and you've got a powerful gaming machine. The biggest knock on the Xbox is the size. The console is so big that it makes it less portable than either the PS2 or the GameCube.

When the Xbox first hit the market, another legitimate complaint was the lack of games, let alone cheap Xbox games. This is no longer the case. With over 450 games--a number that is ever-increasing--you can buy Xbox games in all genres from RPG to action. A person can buy versions of games released cross-platform, like Ultimate Spider-Man or the Madden Football series. The games exclusively for the Xbox include the award-winning Halo series, Doom 3, and more.

Price is certainly a consideration when you buy Xbox games. At $50 a pop, buying infinite games, for most, isn't practical. Usually, when a game is no longer new, the price drops. Anyone who's patient enough to wait for the next release in a series can also take advantage of cheap Xbox games--but most gamers don't have this saintly level of patience.