Ask Owen

My mum keeps complaining that my XBox is too loud, but if I put the volume down, it really doesn’t feel as atmospheric. What do you suggest?

I got this question from a 12 year old cousin of mine, and like a lot of questions I get asked by twelve-year olds, the answer was pretty basic. Turning down the volume wasn’t an option, but I did suggest closing the door. This wouldn’t have worked for him, as his Xbox was in the living room, where every one spent the evening. So, I pulled our the backup plan: headphones.

Actually, I took it one step further than that. If you’re going to go down the headphone route, might as well go for a headset that has a microphone you could use in your games too. So I suggested something like the Plantronics GameCon X20, a headset designed specifically for gaming on the XBox. In fact, there’s not much to say about it except that it’s on sale from Buy.com for $10, which is pretty reasonable when you think about it.

A headset is great actually when playing a collaborative game, as it means you can communicate with other people on XBox Live without having to let go of your controller. Those few seconds can make all the difference between being at the top of the pile or right at the bottom.

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