I'm in a hurry so I'll give you a quick answer first: YES to all of the above. I'll go more in-depth later if you want (when I have more time). But for the meantime check out Xbox-Scene, it has everything you want to know. Just make sure you READ THE FAQS! They're real touchy about people asking questions before they've read the faqs (all 156 of them ). One mega feature that it does have now is the ability to stream movies and music from over a network, so you can pretty much turn it into a media station. On the mod-chip question, simple, X-ecuter 2 lite/pro (I have the pro, but if you're new to this get the lite, same functionality) Hope that helps.
usually to get the best from a console i belive you... turn it on thats the *quote* FUN */quote* of them
ive heard that any mod to the XBOX invalidates it for use on the xbox live network. is that true? and i would shoot myself if i bought an xbox and couldnt play ghost recon or mech assault online.
i was thinking of getting the X-ecuter 2 lite, theres a shop near me thaltl install it for 75 quid. the only thing i worry about is coming in pissed and forgoting to press the offswitch for xbox live. there is prob like a 70 % chance me or my flatmates would do this in the first twp weeks. .../ oh well.