A plasma, about 2 years old.
Advice for new XB360 owner
- Thread starter Shifty Geezer
- Start date
And here I thought Shifty has made the jump to next-gen! In anycase, tell your friend to:
- take game out when powering system off
- power system off in dashboard and not while game is running
- if he/she is playing on a plasma, make sure not to play a certain game for more than a few hours at a time to reduce burn-in, retention issues
- get LIVE!
- get GEARS! get R6! get VP! get some XBLA games!
- and lastly, to enjoy the heck out of the system.
- take game out when powering system off
- power system off in dashboard and not while game is running
- if he/she is playing on a plasma, make sure not to play a certain game for more than a few hours at a time to reduce burn-in, retention issues
- get LIVE!
- get GEARS! get R6! get VP! get some XBLA games!
- and lastly, to enjoy the heck out of the system.
To his eternal embrassment, he didn't push the cable in properly. I would ock him eternally over this, but as I thought I once had a busted GPU because I hadn't pushed that into the AGP slot all the way...
In widescreen (480p and 1080i, TV in 'full' picture mode), the top and bottom overreach the borders of the TV. Sounds like what you'd get from a 16:10 output onto a 16:9 TV. Any way to scale the output?
Well there is no 16:10 output on the 360 AFAIK. Sounds more like a stretch mode on the display. Try having him set it to "FULL" or some other 1:1 pixel mode and set the 360 to his native res.
So when I press Y and return to the dashboard, I will quit the game completely or is it some kind of multitasking?
With funky VGA resolutions they letterbox it =(
you can do some multitaksing from the guide button (change music for custom soundtracks, invite, view friends and their profiles, chat, message etc.) without leaving the game. When you press Y, from the guide screen, it warns you that you are leaving the game session (asks Y/N) and you go back to the dashboard.
BTW, I always turn my machine off with a disk in from the game (nearly a year and a half now) and NEVER had a problem (horizontal). That nonsense resulted from (IMO) people bumping the machine while it was spinning while vertical.
FWIW, I have an HD DVD add on that sits vertically and have also never had that issue.
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as to the OP for Shifty.
1) I agree, have your friend install WMP11 (no other software needed) to stream content (photos, videos etc) from the PC including custom soundtracks. All of the in game sound effects remain and only the game's music track is replaced while playing. (you can also adjust the music volume separately or change tracks/source in the music player section of the guide overlay during the game) The music continues to play even when switching games or going back to the dashboard or changing games etc, uninterrupted. Music can also come from iPod or other USB music device or from the Console itself if the tracks are on the HDD.
BTW, WMP11 does not have to be running for streaming to work, only installed on the connected PCs (you can have multiple connections)
2) I have a wireless connection (g) to the 360 (previously wired) using the official wireless a/b/g adapter ($99 US) but there are other gaming network adapters that are about $30 - $50US cheaper used (Amazon UK does not seem to have stock?). I have had a very good result with wireless gaming ...online gaming, downloading etc... all seem to be as solid and fast and uninterrupted as my previous wired connection. (set up with open NAT on router)
3) Xbox Live arcade games also all have demos. they are a lot of fun and worth trying out for free (as well, of course, as the other 60 or so full game demos) All available with FREE Silver membership.
4) I personally love online gaming so a gold membership would be my choice but that is game dependent. some games are excellent single player experiences (Sports or other deep action or puzzle games) where offline is still fun.
5) hook up digital audio 5.1 (I assume he has) a big part of the experience
6) Set Xbox scaler to output to TVs native res if possible
7) set auto-off (6hr) and screen saver (10min) to ON in settings menu
8) set start up option to dashboard or disc depending on his preference (I usually start in dashboard to check the marketplace or play arcade game or whatnot) and then you just hit the Play game (or DVD) button from dashboard when ready to start a game in the tray. (or it auto starts disc if you load tray)
9) go to memory settings and delete free media that is pre-loaded onto HDD to free up some HDD space (after trying it -Kameo new demo and some other demos/videos may be pre-loaded)
10) go to Profile settings and adjust the defaults that all games will use for things like difficulty, X/Y axis on controller, auto-aim, driving buttons etc. Also adjusts auto-log on to Live, gamer pic, tag line, dashboard look and you can adjust how your friends see you in their list Online, Offline (even when you are actually on) busy, away, etc. Universally enable/disable controller vibration. Adjust how you receive notifications of invites/messages or friends coming online (audio/visual/both or none). I also have notifications set for movie playback to OFF so I'm not interrupted while watching a movie..
11) Crackdown
edit: added some details and a link
1) I agree, have your friend install WMP11 (no other software needed) to stream content (photos, videos etc) from the PC including custom soundtracks. All of the in game sound effects remain and only the game's music track is replaced while playing. (you can also adjust the music volume separately or change tracks/source in the music player section of the guide overlay during the game) The music continues to play even when switching games or going back to the dashboard or changing games etc, uninterrupted. Music can also come from iPod or other USB music device or from the Console itself if the tracks are on the HDD.
BTW, WMP11 does not have to be running for streaming to work, only installed on the connected PCs (you can have multiple connections)
2) I have a wireless connection (g) to the 360 (previously wired) using the official wireless a/b/g adapter ($99 US) but there are other gaming network adapters that are about $30 - $50US cheaper used (Amazon UK does not seem to have stock?). I have had a very good result with wireless gaming ...online gaming, downloading etc... all seem to be as solid and fast and uninterrupted as my previous wired connection. (set up with open NAT on router)
3) Xbox Live arcade games also all have demos. they are a lot of fun and worth trying out for free (as well, of course, as the other 60 or so full game demos) All available with FREE Silver membership.
4) I personally love online gaming so a gold membership would be my choice but that is game dependent. some games are excellent single player experiences (Sports or other deep action or puzzle games) where offline is still fun.
5) hook up digital audio 5.1 (I assume he has) a big part of the experience
6) Set Xbox scaler to output to TVs native res if possible
7) set auto-off (6hr) and screen saver (10min) to ON in settings menu
8) set start up option to dashboard or disc depending on his preference (I usually start in dashboard to check the marketplace or play arcade game or whatnot) and then you just hit the Play game (or DVD) button from dashboard when ready to start a game in the tray. (or it auto starts disc if you load tray)
9) go to memory settings and delete free media that is pre-loaded onto HDD to free up some HDD space (after trying it -Kameo new demo and some other demos/videos may be pre-loaded)
10) go to Profile settings and adjust the defaults that all games will use for things like difficulty, X/Y axis on controller, auto-aim, driving buttons etc. Also adjusts auto-log on to Live, gamer pic, tag line, dashboard look and you can adjust how your friends see you in their list Online, Offline (even when you are actually on) busy, away, etc. Universally enable/disable controller vibration. Adjust how you receive notifications of invites/messages or friends coming online (audio/visual/both or none). I also have notifications set for movie playback to OFF so I'm not interrupted while watching a movie..
11) Crackdown
edit: added some details and a link
Last edited by a moderator:
My biggest one is: make sure it's hooked up to a a 5.1 surround system (using the digital out connector on the video cable box). Pick up COD2 at some point, hopefully discounted, since this was one game where the audio created an incredibly immersive game (you could almost feel the bullets whiz by you).
Oh, another one: learn to love achievements. Make sure you have some real-life friends on your friends list so you can easily compare your gamerscore and talk trash.
That's actually an interesting issue that's been raised, and something where multi consoles just plain smells. If I want to play online against this guy, I won't be able to do that with a Wii or PS3, and vice versa. 3rd party games need to enable cross-platform competition, if so if has PES on XB360, and I have it on PS3 (in 5 years time like all good laggards
), we can still play together.Last gen, we all had PS2s. We could share controllers and games and memory cards. If your friends don't have the same console as you, especially moving into online gaming, it drives a bit of a wedge between what you can share. Kinda smelly.
thatdude90210
Regular
Here's a fairly cheap (about $40) way to get wireless for the 360. The Buffalo WHR-G54S router... yes router. Search for and install Tomato firmware, it's pretty easy to install, but you may lose your warranty. Run it as a "wireless ethernet bridge". I don't know if the stock firmware does this, I didn't spend enough time with that.
I got it for another computer in the house, but I just tried it on my 360 and tested the network settings and everything is ok. The 360 naturally sees it as wired. I'm downloading a demo with it right now.
I got it for another computer in the house, but I just tried it on my 360 and tested the network settings and everything is ok. The 360 naturally sees it as wired. I'm downloading a demo with it right now.
If I want to play online against this guy, I won't be able to do that with a Wii or PS3, and vice versa. 3rd party games need to enable cross-platform competition, if so if has PES on XB360, and I have it on PS3 (in 5 years time like all good laggards
This is a major reason online networks/support are important for marketshare. I am a social gamer and the concept of, "My friend has A so I need to buy A" is powerful. My best friend lives in Seattle and last gen we didn't get to play at all because I had a GCN and he had an Xbox. I would have loved to play online with him last gen and is the most likely influencer of what console I pick up.
Very true. And between wanting to play with friends, and the exclusives on particular consoles, it's either expensive or unfriendly. Still, a few years in these things aren't too expensive. I wouldn't want to have to pay for Live! to play online though if it's a fairly uncommon thing for me. And not being able to messenger across platforms is bad too. It's a case of dividing gamers into two separate universes. It's no wonder fanboyism grows rampant. You do face something of a choice as to which platform will be your key one, and perhaps, subconciously if not conciously, you're trying to encourage your friends to buy into your preferred platform. 'Don't buy PS3 as then we won't be able to play and chat over Live!' and vice versa.
Thankfully Nintendo in their infinite wisdom have got round this dilemma in their own sophisticated way
Thankfully Nintendo in their infinite wisdom have got round this dilemma in their own sophisticated way
Seconded.
TurnDragoZeroV2G
Regular
I do all of it, and I do it vertical, baby!
I should note that the first replacement I had wouldn't stop the disc before ejecting the tray from in-game, IIRC. If that was the case, I almost certainly made a post on it, but.... heh.
I should note that the first replacement I had wouldn't stop the disc before ejecting the tray from in-game, IIRC. If that was the case, I almost certainly made a post on it, but.... heh.
scooby_dooby
Legend
Thirded.
Keep the console horizontal, and forget all that nonsense about scratching discs.
this scratching issue i believe is dependent on your console's conditions. for me i had Gears disc scratched three times when i had disc inside the console, whilst for other people it seems they have a perfect console.
so nobody here can tell me that it is a nonsense. Nor that i cannot say that it is not a nonsense.
so nobody here can tell me that it is a nonsense. Nor that i cannot say that it is not a nonsense.
scooby_dooby
Legend
True, all I can say is I've had 3 different 360's, and know a few people who also have them, and not one has ever scratched a disc while in the horizontal position.
Not saying it doesn't happen, but I think statements like "NEVER turn off your console with a game inside" are a little ridiculous.
Also, the thing about not removing discs while ingame menu's? Where do you get that from?? I do it all the time.