Arstechnica XB360 Review

D

Deepak

B3D Yoddha
Veteran
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/xbox360.ars

The Good:

  • High resolution graphics with rock solid frame rates and full surround sound
  • Classic games on demand
  • Perfect online integration with every title
  • Xbox Live just keeps getting better and better
  • Wireless controllers as a standard
The Bad:

  • The heat!
  • Strong but unspectacular launch library
  • Try buying one; watch the clerk laugh at you
  • Confusion over the two versions of the system
  • Without an Internet connection and hard drive you won't get all the features
  • A lot noisier than we're used to with consoles
The Ugly:

  • Being able to use the power brick as a heater for your house. The thing barely fits under my bed, and it keeps me warm all night
****

Any other 360 review from any other tech site? I think I saw something on cnet!?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sounds like they líked the xbox360 more because of ít's non-gamíng functíons, and that there's quíte a lot to tínker wíth, wíth the "Premíum" system, before you even put a game dísc ín.
Makes one wonder how long lastíng the "IX" score ís. What about when the novelty of payíng $2.50 for a chrístmas costume for a game character, or $5 for a símple arcade game that you can play for free on PC wears off, wíll the score sínk towards the "VI" or wíll the 6 ríse to 9 after Halo 3.
 
Well thes new consoles need to offer more than just game playing. I really like all the features too, although the media connect features don't work with windows 64 bit :(
 
I think Hard OCP's writeup is the best I've read and I agree with it on the hardware. There is nothing wrong with the Core if you just want to game. I don't view people who own it as inferior to me or anything ahah. I wouldn't buy it, but it's the only way Microsoft can get there console to profitability and still have that flashy price tag for the casuals. I understand it, and I seriously doubt the PS3 or Revolution will come with a HDD built in as a standard due to pricing.
 
Alstrong said:
Why is this here? It varies per game per developer.
Click to expand...

That goes for the "Perfect online integration with every title" as well since I have heard a truckloads of complaints about weak Live support in CoD2. Seems to me that Ars didn't acutally spend much time playing games on the console.
 
rabidrabbit said:
or $5 for a símple arcade game that you can play for free on PC wears off, wíll the score sínk towards the "VI" or wíll the 6 ríse to 9 after Halo 3.
Click to expand...

not me, I live in "Demo's and Trailers" it has seletced HD music video's, game demo's and HD trailers for upcoming movies and games. Pretty sweet.

Basically it's just a sweet ass console, MS has really shown their strength which is the software, it's a killer little package.
 
Their list of bad points are pretty weak. It looks like they were just trying to find something wrong just to balance the review out.

The Bad:

* The heat!
* Strong but unspectacular launch library
* Try buying one; watch the clerk laugh at you
* Confusion over the two versions of the system
* Without an Internet connection and hard drive you won't get all the features
* A lot noisier than we're used to with consoles
Click to expand...

Really, if the console doesn't crash or behave unpredictably, then why is the heat so bad? Is it peeling the paint off the walls or something?

A launch library isn't the fault of the system.

Point 3 will be relieved once manufacturing catches up, again, not an inherent weakness of the system.

2 SKUs? Well, that was a marketing decision more than anything.

Point 5 I'll give. BC was achieved on the PS2 without the need of a hard drive and I suspect the same thing with the PS3, so a need of a hard drive for BC is an issue of the system.

Noise is a valid point too, but will be alleviated in the future.

They mentioned odd behaviour with respect to wireless devices in their house and being kicked out of a game when connected to Live. Why didn't they list that as "bad."

This review seems geared towards the "Launch" of the 360 not the system itself.
 
Man, all these people complaining about the power bricks getting hot must be getting bunk versions of it or something. Mine only gets mildly warm at best (and when the fan is on in it the air coming out is far from hot). The console itself is what's pumping out the heat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top