The day I picked up my Xbox 360, I spent a fair bit of time checking out all the accessories and deciding which ones to get. I was bummed to discover the only headset available was the standard Microsoft one that’s big, ugly and cheap looking. I never had the original Xbox Live headset as I got my Xbox just before Halo 2 was released and some friends of mine at an Xbox PR company hooked me up with the limited edition Halo 2 headset. That little thing was great! It was small, sleek and comfortable. Lucky for us, the company behind the Halo 2 headset has done it again – this time for the Xbox 360.
Just a couple days ago (March 28), the GameCom X30 from Plantronics was released. They got in touch with me and asked if I’d like to try it out – to which I replied with a hearty “hell yeah!” It arrived a few days later and I was pleased to find it lived up to the standard set by it’s predecessor – at least, at fin appearance. I couldn’t wait to try it out and and what a perfect week with the Battlefield 2 Modern Combat demo just having been released (which is radass, I might add).
The X30 is a little different in shape than the Halo 2 Edition GameCom in that it wraps around the bottom of your ear as apposed to sitting on top. I will admit, it took me a couple minutes standing in front of a mirror to figure out how to properly wear it. And even now, having used it quite a few times, it’s still feeling a bit awkward at first. But once it’s on, it’s extremely comfortable and light weight. You forgot you’re even wearing it after only a few minutes and you don’t look nearly as geeky as you do wearing the big, nasty white one.
Since the X30 is also compatible with the original Xbox, they had to move the mute switch from the base of the plug to an inline control that also has a volume adjuster. I found this to be a bit awkward when you need to quickly mute the mic. It’s much easier to switch it over with the Microsoft headset since it’s so close to your hands already. You can quickly flick the switch with your thumb where as with the X30 you have to remove one hand from the controller, find the inline unit, then find the switch which could be facing any direction. It’s a little unfortunate and I’m sure Plantronics explored many options in this department and felt it was worth it to have the headset backwards compatible.
The GameCom X30 isn’t cheap. At $40 US, it’s twice the retail price of the standard Microsoft headset. But considering you’ve most likely already spent close to $1000 on the console, accessories and services – what’s another 40-50 bucks? I would definitely recommend shelling out the extra loot for the X30 if you’re not satisfied with the Microsoft headset or are yet to pick one up.
