Say what? Yes, I’m not jesting; I went out, bought an Xbox 360 and have been losing track of the hours I’ve spent on it. Here’s a take on the Xbox 360 from a confessed Nintendo fanboy. (If you’re too disgusted to read on, I was impressed.)
It’s sleek design is marred only by a few slight flaws. Take for instance the great look of the console and controller, and match it up with the hideous logo. That green X looks out of place no matter where it is. The game box design leaves a lot to be desired as well. Who do neon green boxes appeal to again? I’m almost embarrassed to display them on my media shelf. The controller is almost perfect, but I do have complaints. Besides the giant X logo button, the digital pad sucks. It’s a good thing you rarely use it, but as long as the digital pad has been around, how could Microsoft screw that up? Don’t get me wrong though, overall I think the console and controller are a nice package.
Of course, we all know that the real worth of a system is how much fun it provides. I’ve had a lot of fun with the Xbox 360. I can’t stop playing it. From downloading demos to playing Dead Rising, I’ve had a great time with my affair. Unfortunately, I had to temporarily move my router into my living room; I can’t afford the $99 wireless adapter yet. And as much fun as Dead Rising is, I wish I could afford one or two more games. $60 a game really takes a bite out of your gaming budget.
The Xbox 360 has some spectacular shining moments, but like the jerk of an older brother, it always manages to mar their memory with outright obnoxiousness. Take Dead Rising as an example. Its crazy zombie fun gets jarred by eye-strainingly tiny story text. How did this get past QA? Worse still, Capcom is refusing to patch the game. Apparently, they claim the bug only affects those who actually want to read in-game story text. The game also comes with an insane difficulty and vicious save cycle. Luckily, killing zombies in a mall is that fun.
Sifting through downloadable demos also gave me a look into the variable quality plaguing the system. Some demos like Ghost Recon, Dead or Alive 4, and Call of Duty 2 showed off the cream of the crop with excellent polish. Special mention needs to be made for Fight Night; it looks and feels like a live match on HBO. Yet other demos like Blazing Angels makes you wonder if it’s not a cruel joke. Then, there was Far Cry Instincts Predator‘s online demo. It looked like Picasso’s rendition of an FPS and felt like the stop motion animation I made when I was 12.
My final conclusion? The system really is great. Too bad, Uncle MS lets its rich child show its ugly side. If you love playing video games and have a big budget for your hobby, get the Xbox 360… Otherwise, did I mention that the Wii has Wi-Fi built in?
"did I mention that the Wii has Wi-Fi built in?"But does it support WPA encryption? If not then that Wi-Fi is useless…
I would say that after the Wii, the 360 is the next most-likely system I would buy… …but I'd really like to pick up an HDTV first, especially if the small text problem is going to become the norm.
"But does it support WPA encryption? If not then that Wi-Fi is useless…"Why exactly is that? The business I work at runs a wireless network that uses WEP and has for years.The odds of a hacker sitting in his car outside your house hacking your WEP protected wi-fi network are slightly better than you getting struck by lightning while getting laid on a 747 at 20,000 feet. 50 percent of all wi-fi networks don't even use WEP let alone WPA. When my access point failed, I didnt even realize it because my laptop just hopped on my neighbors open wi-fi network. My connection was a bit slow so after investigation, I realized my router had failed.If you have a WEP connected network, you will be fine. Any hacker is going to attack one of the multitude of open networks before bothering to break into a WEP protected one. The vast majority of businesses still rely on WEB encryption on a daily basis.In all honesty, unless you are a spy for the CIA, you needn't worry about the security of WEP. Its perfectly fine for home use.
I'm loving my 360 too. However, don't worry about your $60 games. In the UK we're looking at £50 retail which comes to a lovely $90-something. 🙁
I can tell you after having actually been involved with game development for the 360, it's not 100 percent what MS wishes it was and unfortunately the system is becoming the poster boy for everything that's wrong with "next gen" games at the moment. The system still doesn't have a "flagship" title, unless you count Halo 2….oh wait….that's a regular (GOOD) Xbox title…nor does it have any mass-market appeal games whatsoever. And when you look at the figures, Geometry Wars 2 via XBLA is the best game on the system, both in design and consumer appeal. Sad, I think. The machine has plenty of power, but with the next-gen N-Vidia cards with Shader 3.0 compatibility right around the corner, the 360 has little if any technological edge which means the games have to be innovative (which they're not) and have absolutely flawless design execution and production value (so far only 2 or 3 titles even come close, notably the Fight Night 3 mentioned before). Fortunately, the Playstation 3 is likely to be a commercial disaster (great technology though, but too damned expensive for the consumers and the developers in the long run) and Wii is not in it for the technology envelope (which means better games instead of glorified tech demos), so the 360 will be able to maintain a fair market share and keep things as divers as possible. That's the beauty of this new generation of consoles. They're all so different from one another the overall variety and originality of games should increase dramatically. Unfortunately Sony and Microsoft just seem to be hell-bent on rehashes and half-assed sequels. At least Sony has Metal Gear to look forward to. I don't think Halo 3 will be nearly as successful as Halo 2 simply because Microsoft eliminated so much of the game's potential market base by making the sequel for the more limited market share of the 360. Sony was smart enough to keep God of War II on the PS2. In the end though, Nintendo is the one making most of the smart decisions at the moment (flawless and full backwards compatibility with Gamecube and the virtual console….who the hell needs XBLA???) and the DS has simply upheaved the entire industry. Nintendo wrote the rule book for the last 20 years of console gaming and they pretty much invented portable gaming (but the Game & Watch was a bit of a rough start) and now they're rewriting the rules as they see fit, and apparently it's working. God I want the Wii….
It's only a half lie! I can tell you're half telling the truth!Anyway, to the comment a little further above: Geometry Wars and how it's sad that this might be one of the best games for the 360. While I don't think that this is *entirely* accurate, I do think it's disingenuous to say that because a game like Geometry Wars is one of the best, then it's a bad thing. On the contrary, this game is simple, cheap and fun, and I wish more developers thought that way when designing GAMES (and yes, they can still have great graappphhiicss with this mindset too!). When games like this become popular, it pushes the conversation back into the control of the gamer, where it belongs. Oh, and a little innovation doesn't hurt either.-j
Yeah I agree that WEP doesn't make Nintendo's Wi-Fi useless. If you think WEP isn't good enough to protect your HOME wireless network I'd say you're probably a bit paranoid.
"Seriously, to what sort of TV did you connect this abomination?" Standard Definition Sony WEGA 27 inch. Several years old."If you don't have an HDTV, does it still look 'current gen'?" Nope, it looks badass on my standard ol' TV. Really, I can't imagine it looking better (but I'm sure it would)."And one last query: why exactly did you buy this when Wii comes out on Sunday?" Haha, I've been asking myself that over and over again. I don't know it was an impulse buy. When I saw Fight Night's instore demo, I actually thought it was video or at least CGI. After being fooled, I had to get it.I guess I was saying to myself this generation I want to start off with two systems. I'm glad I did it though, my DVD player (while working fine) was so old that it was too fat to fit in my entertainment center (no really). And the 360 fits perfectly standing up right.Now, I'm seriously considering getting an HDTV.And I don't think it's fair to say that the 360 doesn't have a "killer" title. In my opinion, that's Dead Rising. I know of a LOT of peeps who've been talking about it, myyself included.
I have to agree with Nicholas: although my plan is to get the Wii and then the Xbox 360, Dead Rising has been tipping the balance of the decision towards getting the 360 first! But I'm still holding back, since the only game I've been playing in my Xbox in the last few months has been Halo 2!As for needing an HDTV, here's a little bit of an eye-opener: even the best (graphic-wise) current-gen games don't go over 1080i in resolution, and most only go as far as 720p, which, if you got a regular TV equipped with Enhanced mode, you already are seeing the best game graphics are going to get on these consoles! I own an HDTV, and the only advantage I get with it is the full-screen widescreen picture… until I buy an HD DVD player, which won't happen any time soon!
Infendo – Nintendo Blogging: Xbox 360 Impressionshmm.. somethings not right
It's a sign of the End of the World, Anon, I'm tellin' ya!!
Wi-Fi is nice and stuff……but in my living room it's only a few meter to the router by good olde CAT/5 cable.
Just about everything Kale said was accurate. Kudos.And as for my impressions of the Xbox 360…it is a better-looking version of the same stuff that Microsoft released last generation with the original Xbox. They are competing in an industry in which, at least to me, has no need/place for them.Sorry, Microsoft folks. Don't mean to rain on your parade. Just my views.Buy a Wii. 😉
Well, having actually been invovled in game playing on the 360, I can tell you that it is amazing. Better then current gen on standard TV, MUCH better on an HDTV. (Either way, you win.)It's not all about the graphics though, this beast (and presumably the other two entries) is capable of an incredible amount of on screen action, without studder. Dead Rising and Oblivion have totally captured me. Now if you don't care for those games, it doesn't matter what system they come out on. The 360/Wii/PS3 is just the hardware. You need to make your choice based on the exclusives you want to play. I had a PS2, and other than a few gems (in most cases their xBox counterparts were better… grrr), the system was a disappointment. Recently we grabbed a discount copy of Eyetoy Games 2 for the kids and it has revived itself for a while. The Wii will most likely kill that though.Back on topic, I never had an xBox, so maybe the 360 isn't revolutionary to others, but I certainly feel like left out of the last gen by not getting it instead.(Oh and DS LITE ROCKS!)
Just listening to latest radio cast… can we please stop shrinking MS (and presumably Sony) to, "Just the graphics, just pushing the graphics"?For example Dead Rising's graphics are nice, great in high def, but the shear volume of zombies that are rendered and interactive is mind-boggling. That's what the next-gen systems are providing. More processing power. Certain genres may not take advantage of it, but it's there and it isn't the console's fault how it is used. The developers have to find interesting ways to use it. Same deal with the Wii-mote.And on that topic, Nintedo has created two primary objects: a console and a peripheral. If you think MS (I don't say Sony, cause they've already taken a botched stab at it) can't create a similar peripheral, you're fooling yourself. When they do, there will already be a whole list of thrid party titles to port over, and in Hi Def. ;)It's Nintendo's back catelogue and price that will set it apart here. Mark my words, if the Wii-mote succeeds, then the X-sceptor won't be far behind.