[Shifty Geezer]

US website Joystiq has posted a list of more than 60 Wal-Mart stores where Xbox 360 pods are either already installed or will be arriving in the next few days. Notably the stores are located all across the country, suggesting that the demo pod promotion is not limited to particular states or regions

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12409http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000753064065/

I won't post the list here as that's Joystiq's fair traffic.

I want hands-on reviews, written reports on my desk tomorrow morning!

[rusty]

so when do us uk'ers get some to play with eh?

[Guden Oden]

¨By pure coincidence, i asked that question today at my fav Game game store, the staff didn't really have a firm answer, but it seems not too long now. After all, launch is only about 1 1/3 month away now.

[Dural]

Stopped by Walmart on the way home from work and they had the 360 to play. I believe the 360 was setup to display at the wrong resolution as there were some pretty bad artifacts and the picture looked really soft. Of Course Walmart also had it setup where you have to look look up at the screen so it wasn't exactly pleasant to play for an extended period. With that said Kameo, COD2, and King Kong were playable. I tried all three and Kameo is of course easily the best looking and surprisingly King Kong looked pretty good too, though the framerate was quite bad. I've played the COD2 PC demo quite a bit and the 360 version looks pretty much identical, though the textures didn't seem as good which was probably an artifact of the 360 being setup wrong. I took some pictures with my phone but they didn't come out too well.

[NavNucST3]

As much as I want to get my hands on a 360, I have talked myself into the fact that I can wait one more month, so as not to agonize by getting a little taste; I will also not set foot inside a Wal-Mart, so that makes it a pretty easy decision for me.

[MoeStooge]

Kiosks always look like ass. It's really good to show off your machine by hooking it up over composite or S-video to a crummy TV and hiding it behind a huge piece of plexiglass that has handprints from every 10 year old in the world. Then you get a chance to play games with a greasy controller and swap germs with the legions of video game geeks that don't bother washing their hands when they visit the peepee station. Step right up and spend 15 minutes trying to figure out the controls to a lame game (*Luigi's Mansion*) that you wouldn't buy until one of those 10 year olds comes up, grabs the other controller, and starts screwing things up for you. That's usually when I ask them if their mother is around and when they reply 'No.' I proceed to tell them the story about how I keep people down in a well inside my home and yell things at them like "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again" or "Put the lotion in the basket!". After they get scared and leave I usually create a new game profile on the machine and use a name like "Dirty Sanchez" and then leave it and walk away. I'm a bad man....a very bad man.

[Tap In]

Originally Posted by MoeStooge

Kiosks always look like ass. It's really good to show off your machine by hooking it up over composite or S-video to a crummy TV and hiding it behind a huge piece of plexiglass that has handprints from every 10 year old in the world. Then you get a chance to play games with a greasy controller and swap germs with the legions of video game geeks that don't bother washing their hands when they visit the peepee station. Step right up and spend 15 minutes trying to figure out the controls to a lame game (*Luigi's Mansion*) that you wouldn't buy until one of those 10 year olds comes up, grabs the other controller, and starts screwing things up for you. That's usually when I ask them if their mother is around and when they reply 'No.' I proceed to tell them the story about how I keep people down in a well inside my home and yell things at them like "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again" or "Put the lotion in the basket!". After they get scared and leave I usually create a new game profile on the machine and use a name like "Dirty Sanchez" and then leave it and walk away. I'm a bad man....a very bad man.

[seismologist]

I can't believe it, my area is usually last to get everything but I walked into Walmart and there it was....the Xbox 360.

As far as I could tell, they had it properly hooked up to the LCD and running in 720p.

My very first impression was that the console itself looks small! Not quite as small as the PS2 but small for what I'm used to seeing for an Xbox. In a way it was sort of whimpy looking. But that's no big deal.
I was a little disappointed with the controller after all of the hype it's been getting. It's nice, but my logictech wireless PS2 pad feels more solid and "meatier".

Anyway on to the games....Unfortunately I didn't get much playtime in. Watched someone play King Kong which I've already played the PC demo of so it wasn't too exciting.
First game I played was Kameo since it's said to be the best launch title. I came away pretty impressed. Graphically it's not mindblowing. I'm running a 6600 gt on my PC so I've seen graphics like this for a while now.
The framerate was nice and smooth though. I think someone pointed out that there's aliasing which didn't bother me since I almost never use AA when I play PC games.
The gameplay was where it seemed to shine. There was alot of action on the screen at all times. Pretty nice overall but not the kind of game I'd normally play.

So finally I played COD2 since I haven't played the PC version yet. Again, I came away disappointed with the graphics. People around me watching didn't seem all that impressed either, I've definitely seen graphics of this quality or better on the PC. But everyone watching was getting into it since COD is such a sweet game irrespective of the graphics.

So overall I guess my Xbox 360 experience was sort of ho-hum. I hadn't been too interested based on what I've seen on the net but I expected my anticipation to go up after seeing it in person but so far that hasn't happened
Maybe PGR3 will save the day.

[PC-Engine]

Originally Posted by NucNavST3

As much as I want to get my hands on a 360, I have talked myself into the fact that I can wait one more month, so as not to agonize by getting a little taste; I will also not set foot inside a Wal-Mart, so that makes it a pretty easy decision for me.

That's too bad because Walmart have really good prices for games and HDTVs.

[Bobbler]

I was at a walmart tonight and they had it set up correctly and everything looked snazzy. Oddly the least impressive game, in my opinion, was Kameo -- King kong was the most impressive they had going, it was also the most entertaining. CoD2 was pretty much what you'd expect, about the same as the PC version, depending on your graphics card and such.

I did like the "blade" things they had -- the only flaw I could find with the OS (blade) part of it was when you brought the menu up while playing, it was a bit choppy (like choosing an option took longer than normal). That was my only complaint, which means its really well done -- the lag when selecting an option while a game is running is most likely something they just couldn't avoid (being as it is an overlay and the game still runs in the background). I'm happy with it, but the selection of games they had playing didn't really make me want to buy one.

Oh, the controller is pretty nice as well -- the little shoulder buttons kind of suck though, the triggers are nice and so is the rest of the controller.

[randycat99]

My first X360 experience was cut short when it seemingly crashed while loading the Kameo demo. (Serious, honest to God, I'm not making this up just to be an a-hole...it was stuck in an eternal hang at a black screen) All that was left working was the dashboard, so I gave up and left. Before this, I played the Kameo trailer. It looked pretty rough, imo. I didn't bother to watch it all the way through.

I am still looking forward to take another look at it next week when I pass through WM.

[Hardknock]

Originally Posted by randycat99

Before this, I played the Kameo trailer. It looked pretty rough, imo. I didn't bother to watch it all the way through.

You thought this trailer looked rough?

http://media.putfile.com/LiveGamerKameoFootage

I captured it myself, it's only 30 seconds or so...

[Jabjabs]

Your impression on COD2 is the same as mine for the PC demo, its good but not great. I live in australia so I can't compare with the 360 version, but I'm just saying that the original version isn't the greatest thing around.

[randycat99]

Hey, it was an opinion. The poly count seemed a bit lacking at times (the n-gon look) and the textures seemed tacked on at times. It just didn't "WOW" me. I'm willing to chalk it up to "artwork" issues. The thing is, for a demo, I just wasn't drawn into the experience as a casual observer. A demo needs to be able to do that. If you are already a fan of the game, then it's hard to judge this, since you will already be motivated to study it closely.

[Mefisutoferesu]

Anyone know if there's a way to check if there's a Kiosk near you? I don't have a car and it's really cold out... I'm not taking the bus to Walmart only to find nothing.

[robofunk]

Originally Posted by Mefisutoferesu

Anyone know if there's a way to check if there's a Kiosk near you? I don't have a car and it's really cold out... I'm not taking the bus to Walmart only to find nothing.

http://www.frappr.com/xbox360kiosks

[Mefisutoferesu]

Thank you, robo. Nothing even in a 100 mies, though.

[seismologist]

mine isn't listed on that map either. Maybe you should call Walmart.

[czekon]

intresting what people says about CoD2 while at eurogamer, teamxbox and gamespot says that CoD2 is looking better then Pc version strange

[drpepper]

Hmmm, I guess Canada doesn't get these nifty kiosks?

[Zassk]

drpepper, the Frappr link shows some Canadian Walmarts as having kiosks, although admittedly not very many so far.

[seismologist]

Originally Posted by czekon

intresting what people says about CoD2 while at eurogamer, teamxbox and gamespot says that CoD2 is looking better then Pc version strange

It might, I haven't seen the PC version of COD2. But there are other PC games that look better than COD2 on 360. So it wasn't looking that impressive.

Didn't someone mention that the effects were turned off in this demo? That could be why. The character models seemed blocky and didn't appear to be using any pixel shading.

[drpepper]

Originally Posted by Zassk

drpepper, the Frappr link shows some Canadian Walmarts as having kiosks, although admittedly not very many so far.

Yah, how the hell did Perry Sound get hooked up?

The map is buggy though. It showed Halifax as having it. I scrolled the map out of range of Halifax then back again and the tab isn't shown again...

Anyways... I guess the Canadian rollout is going a lot more slower... You know... cause of the snow...

[Junkstyle]

i was VERY underwhelmed with the 3 games they had on display: Kameo, CoD2, King Kong. They looked like PC Games with ugly settings turned on. I am extremely disappointed that none of them had FSAA nor did they have Anisotropic filtering on. I guess console players dont care much about IQ? Whoever made the decision to turn off FSAA and anisotropic filtering just lost a sale from me. There is no way i'm going to pay $59.99 to play a game with jaggies and blurry textures.

[Tap In]

Originally Posted by Junkstyle

i was VERY underwhelmed with the 3 games they had on display: Kameo, CoD2, King Kong. They looked like PC Games with ugly settings turned on. I am extremely disappointed that none of them had FSAA nor did they have Anisotropic filtering on. I guess console players dont care much about IQ? Whoever made the decision to turn off FSAA and anisotropic filtering just lost a sale from me. There is no way i'm going to pay $59.99 to play a game with jaggies and blurry textures.

any chance the kiosk was set at 480i?