Xbox 360...*sigh*

T

Thank The Cheese

Registered
My brother-in-law purchased an Xbox 360 the other day and last night I got to take it for a spin (no pun intended).

Honestly, I have never been more underwhelmed by a game console in my life.

I feel I should say this is not some kind of half-baked passive-agressive way of saying "microsoft sux, Apple pwns". I went in there ready to love it, with no bias. The fact that MS is the one responsible for the 360 is of no consiquence, and I am the first to say the original Xbox was the best of th previous consoles.

anyhoo,

The graphics are cool, though to be honest not at that "next gen" level IMO. Some of the last generation of Xbox games have pushed its graphics to amazing levels, making the graphics gap between Xbox and Xbox360 pretty narrow. Games like FarCry on the Xbox are amazing.

I should point out, the only game I played was the new Need For Speed, and it was on a standard definition TV. I have SEEN other titles played, and none of them were much better, if at all.I have never seen it played on a HD screen though.

Now, the dashboard. I have heard nothing but rave reviews of the menu system; how amazing and intuitive it is. *sigh* I mean, it's better than the Xbox's dashboard, no doubt, but it's hardly a technical masterpiece. Doesn't really bring anything new to the table.

Perhaps the biggest gripe is the media centre. The way he convinced his partner (my sister) to allow him to spend the money was by telling her that it is a media centre too, so she could convert all DVDs to XVID and use the Xbox as a media hub.

And Xbox sure does that...so long as you use a Windows Media Centre PC!!! Imagine our disappointment when we inserted a DVD chock full of Xvids into the 360 and it couldn't read it! No no, only windows media please, and even then it's a pretty second-rate media player.

So in order to use the 360 as the kind of media hub they wanted, they would have to load all their movies on their PC, spend a few $$ on wireless equipment, then use flaky windows video streaming to the xbox. Too bad if one person wants to play a game on the PC while the other wants to watch a video. And besides, who wants to have to turn on a PC in order to watch a movie on a TV in another room? And what if you don't have/want a PC wireless setup?!

it's a solid gaming system, but it's just not next gen. If you don't have a console, then it's worth the money for sure. But if you have an Xbox already, I see no compelling reason to upgrade to the 360.

crap. utter crap. I have higher hopes for the Revolution.
 
I'm a little unsure why this was posted on a Mac forum other than a bit of MS bashing, but hey its your opinion and you are entitled to it.

This said, I owned an Xbox for 3 years and bought a 360 on launch day. The graphics in some games are drab, King Kong is virually unplayable however games like Project Gotham and Dead or Alive 4 are well above what tyhe last Xbox versions were. Put them on a decent HD TV and they are amazing.

As for the media centre aspects, I can see why movies would be a pain, but why convert DVD to Xvid when the 360 will play the DVD anyway.. It works with a media centre PC in that it can play files recorded throuh the on board TV card and output them to a decent screen.

Streaming music is OK if you have a large collection of downloaded music on your computer, but if not how much effort does it take to put in a CD. Media hubs just ain't what they are cracked up to be, full stop.
 
I wouldn't buy an XBox myself. I'm hanging out for the Nintendo Revolution, since that really is innovative and inspiring. The controllers and console should make for a more social, casual games machine with compact, simple to use, motion activated controllers that will look quite at home on the coffee table, as opposed to the 360 and PS3's enormously oversized and complicated controls that take practice to learn and are even bigger than the last generation's.

Whew, thats a mouthful.


Personally I believe the Nintendo DS is the best all-round game system on the market today. Why?


- For the price of a Nintendo DS with 6 games, you can buy a PSP with nothing else, or one half of an XBox 360. Games are around half the price of those for any other platform on the market. Online play is FREE, while other systems are charging a monthly fee.

- The games are actually *fun*. Mariokart, Metroid, Warioware, Nintendogs, Electroplankton, Animal Crossing, Bomberman ... there is a huge and growing library of really enjoyable and unique games.

- On many titles, you can play wireless multiplayer with up to 8 people, even if only one of them owns the game cartridge. Some titles offer demo versions of the game on the cartridge, so you can send a demo copy of a game you own to a friend's DS.

- It lends itself really well to casual play in all situations. Pop it out, press "on", play a game. If the phone rings or you need to take a break, just close it to put it to sleep instantly.

- Built tough with no moving parts, long battery life, and no exposed, scratchable LCD screen.
 
Tommo said:
I'm a little unsure why this was posted on a Mac forum other than a bit of MS bashing, but hey its your opinion and you are entitled to it.
Click to expand...

From the MacOSX.com description for this Cafe forum:
Pull up a seat, discuss whatever else is on your mind. Wireless internet available. Now serving off-topic and other unusual discussions.

precicely why I didnt post it in Mac System and Software.

Tommo said:
As for the media centre aspects, I can see why movies would be a pain, but why convert DVD to Xvid when the 360 will play the DVD anyway..
Click to expand...

unfortunately my sister suffers from the same disease I do: Amazon.com-itis. Australian DVD range is pretty crap, and slow, so we buy most of our DVDs (especially TV shows) through Amazon.com. This, of coruse, means the Xbox won't play it because of friggin region encoding.

EDIT: I should add, too, that many Australian DVD outlets have started selling Region-2 coded DVDs, so a lot of the time we aren't even buying from the USA but locally.

You're quite right though, when set up properly it would be a good thing, I just wish it were a plug and play sort of thing like the Xbox Media Centre. I don't like being forced to buy extra software and hardware to do something as simple as play a video file. I have the same gripe with iPod's H.264 issue, but at least the iPod isn't claiming to be a digital media hub, whereas the Xbox 360 is.


@ symphonix, yes I agree. Pricepoint is going to be a big issue too, come the release of the Revolution. I've heard estimates as low as $150. lol about the controllers -- they keep adding new buttons with every next gen console! May as well just bundle a keyboard with consoles; at least we're familiar with those!

I've never used the DS, but it does look very innovative. Hasn't really taken off here in Oz, though I'm not really exposed to the age group it's targeted at, so I could be wrong.
 
i see your point on the 360. but i can't even afford a xbox, let alone a 360. i would but it to play games, and forget about the media center thing. my mac and xp box are good enough for that. i not sure if i'd go as far to say that the xbox was the best of the three. they all were for different markets, but if i could only pick one, it would of been the xbox. why, because it had the games i'd be playing, ie gotham and doa. now you want to talk about a great console, think dreamcast. its the best one i've ever gotten. i've had it for almost 3 years, and i've always felt that it was miles ahead of the ps and n64, and at times, at least equal to the ps2 and xbox. to bad it didn't fly here in the us. it could surf the web, could be updated for newer technology, and was win ce compatible. lets say that it has gotten the most play time of my 3 (dc, ps, n64), and i've had it the least time.
 
wow I didnt know the DC go online! That's pretty darn cool. I always thought the Xbox was the first to introduce any kind of Internet conncetivity. I've never played it (took off even less in Aust than it did in USA).

I loved my N64, one of my favourite consoles, 2nd only to the SNES. Great memories with Goldeneye multiplayer as a kid (not quite as good as the memories of the original Mario Kart multiplayer tho!)
 
Thank The Cheese said:
Hasn't really taken off here in Oz, though I'm not really exposed to the age group it's targeted at, so I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

I'm in Australia, too. And I'm 26. At least two of my workmates own DS's, which makes for some fun multi-player Mariokart action on the night shift. :)
 
ya, every dc came with a modem. then there is the ever coveted enet adaptor for the dc, that goes for several $100 on ebay, if you can find it ( i just wish someone would make aftermarket adaptors for it, but then sega may not be letting people. if i could just find some instructions to make mine own, i would). the last online dc game server finally shut down just over a year ago i think (or has it been 2?). but anyway, you could surf, do email and other cool things. but it was before its time, and like all things before their times, died. :( and i still think the dc is better than the xbox, it supports mice and keyboards.
 
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