Now that the dust has settled, what's the 360 really like?

[Jon Brittan]

Actually, over here it's £44-49/game at most of the major street shops, but the lesser shops and almost all online stores are at £39 which is pretty much typical for Xbox 1 games.

 

[see colon]

My main issue is I just wonder if the hardware is powerful enough to be long lasting in the face of PS3. That's mainly it. If I have to buy a PS3 after sinking $600 in this thing..

the videogame market has proven it can sustain at least 2 formats, even if one is signifigantly outclassed. look at the snes/gen era. even though the snes looked swank compared to the genesis (generaly), games were still made for both. now that nintendo has stepped away from the technology war, even if PS3 is 4x what the 360 is, developers will still support it if it remains profitable. and some companies (EA, for example, who have a vested interest in keeping it at least a 2 horse race) will support it even if it's not.

 

[wco81]

Well if the Arcade games are the killer app., it doesn't reflect too well on the X360.

X360 should be way overkill for those games. Even current consoles should be able to handle them easily.

 

[seismologist]

Another problem is cost. Core (299) + PDZ (60) +Mem card (40) +VGA cable (40) + tax on all that means I have 500 dollars in it. And I still need the hardrive to finish it out! It will end up at $600 with one controller! That makes me sick.

That's the one thing I noticed. My order came to $450 after tax. $450 to get the same functionality as Xbox (with wireless controller and fewer game compatibility) it seems pretty excessive. I think the 360 premium should be $299.

 

[Alpha_Spartan]

My opnion: a FLOP.
Not worth buying, wait for true "next gen" titles before re-evalutating purchasing it.
Also try to know whether the scratching problem when putting the console vertical is solved before buying one later on.
Noise wise, it's noisy, as much as a PC (a relatively quiet PC).

Wow. Why don't you give us your PS3 impressions while you're at it. I mean, what's stopping you? Obviously you don't need to own one to give your impressions of it.

Moving on...

Hardware-wise the console is very impressive. It looks sleek, it's powerful and the UI is second to none. Best on any console to date. However, the games are more of the same, which is to be expected being the first console to launch. Most of the games are shovelware from the previous generation with a little "gloss" while others are alpha kit games running on final hardware. So far the only game that's really impressed me is Kameo. It's the only thing that screams "next gen" to me. NBA 2K6 looks impressive but some of VC's design choices are questionable. I mean, even to this day their Create A Player feature is severely lacking. Since NBA Action '98 for the Saturn, VC still won't allow you to create more than a handful of players. How difficult can it be, VC!!!?? NBA Live does it! NBA Inside Drive allowed me to create as many players as I needed. It seems as if developers are still up to their same old tricks.

The real next gen games haven't come out yet. The games are fun, but the launch doesn't seem to be a large leap graphically which is to be expected. If anyone expected Gears of War quality at launch, they weren't being realistic. This weekend I'm going to really get my hands dirty with the UI. I still haven't figured out all that I need to know. The controller is butter, believe the hype. Everything with the console is so seamless. You can tell that stuff wasn't just tacked on at the last minute. Everything blends nicely.

 

[NavNucST3]

I love the 360, my wife loves it, and my son loves it.

I don't care for the dvd game noise, but luckily I have surround sound that drowns it out.

I love downloading the 720p trailers and being able to download game demos is great as well. What I don't like is that it can't be done in the background also the placement of the files, to me trailers should be put in the trailers section on the media blade as opposed to the games section on the games blade, luckily there is the "Find your file" option.

PC ports, I could personally not give a damn if something is a PC port because it will probably be the first time I am playing it, especially since I have a G5.
Style and design, even though it is not much smaller than the xbox is sure appears that way.

BTW, I finished Kameo yesterday, and I have to say that it is a fantastic game, great for entire-family fun. Now I need to finish it in CO-OP to earn some more achievement points.

 

[silhouette]

Now I noticed mine is "stuttering" on cutscenes on PDZ and PGR3.

I'm worried, doesn't this typically mean a problem reading discs? Once the game starts it's fine.

Either that or maybe the discs are a bit scratched.

I noticed it on PGR3, but that was rented so I wasn't worried. Now I noticed it on a pre-level PDZ cinema too. My disc looked pretty clean.

I have PGR3, no stuttering at all (cutscenes and in-game).. You mentioned that you have a core system (so no hard-disk). Could it be that this is the reason? The games may cache the videos when there is HD and then you have smooth playback.. When there is no harddisk, it reads directly from the DVD and maybe sometimes DVD can not keep with the data stream.. Guden, do you know which SKU does that girl have?

Btw, I am really positive with every aspect of my Xb360. Both PGR3 and Kamoe are stunning. Dashboard is great, very intuitive interface.. Everything is self-explanatory. Have not checked live yet.. Will do that after xmas.. Also, I have no complaints about the fan noise at all (though my system is connected to an audio receiver which feeds 5.1 sound/music).

 

[FireGoblin]

Just popping in to say thanks for peoples comments!

For what its worth, like most contributors here I think this thread should remain PS3-comparison free, it might, or might not, be a better machine but my interest is to see how people are getting on with OWNING a 360!

Thanks again to those people who have put some good, in depth experiences down, so we poor people can make an informed decision whether or not to buy one!

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

hasn't anybody found the price of the 360 titles so far ridiculous? - 70CAD a pop at toys'r'us here. i could understand if one or two killer titles were 70 at launch, but each and every game from this ininspiring lineup being 70 bucks is, erm, a little overboard. should we expect a worthy 360 title to be in the 80-90CAD range?!

Mmm... I don't think it's a 360 thing. That's just a matter of the times. Really, by inflation alone, we should have been hitting this price range years ago. You're basically looking at the price of games from here on out. Catch 22 -- development costs more, and publishers demand less risk. There's probably not a single dime of that extra $10 USD going to the developers.

Eh. The real cost bite for now is the system itself and all those little toys. I've never bought a system at launch for that very reason. Every one of those toys is price-fixed so that they can try and make a few bucks back on the console.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Having sat out the last console generation (my previous console was the Dreamcast, and X32 prior to that, so, yes, the fact that I’ve bought 360 may very well be the death knell for it! ) the thing that really stands out for me with this is LIVE.

Picking up the pre-order I had an “oh, fuck-it” moment and opted for the wireless adapter – although expensive, that in itself is pretty neat, clipping on to the back of the console and setting up to a non-broadcast WPA network easily – and getting this connected to the network is most definitely a sound move. I’m very impressed with LIVE so far, from both a features, capability and usability standpoint; I’ll be subscribing to it once the one month freebie runs out.

The gamer rep is also a very simple, yet effective method of keeping you going back – its also one thing that has helped keep up the interesting for my wife, I’m fairly sure, as she just want to stay in front of me.

WRT to the controller and played on friends XBOX’s / PS2’s and never really was a fan of the tiny analogue pads – so far, though, I’m getting quite used to the analogue stick on the XBOX 360, and now actually steering a little more properly in PGR3, rather than treating it as a digital D-pad! I’m still using the triggers as a bit on/off, which doesn’t help acceleration on PGR3 yet. This is probably down to my inexperience with the console pads though.

In terms of issues: I’ve had it hang a couple of times when dropping out of a game to the dashboard, but a reset cure that. The only other issue I’ve had is the wireless pad tend to end up in a slightly odd state if its left plugged in when the console is turned off (the light appear to be only half lit for some reason).

[Edit] Another issue that I hink may crop up on any next gen title is that the developers need to make sure their titles play well on SD TV's. Some of the lettering from PGR3 is borderline unreadable on my 32", 100Hz Widescreen SDTV and the cone challenges are made more challenging by the fact that the cones are difficult to see until you are on top of them - obviously this would benefit from an HD set, but devs should pay attention to SD resolutions and usability.

 

[Qroach]

Also for anyone that has stuttering, I suggest you get you xbox checked out. There should not be "any" stutering at all. So far I haven't seen any when playing games or watching movies.

 

[scooby_dooby]

I think MS outdid themselves as far as the dashboard, xblive, media interface, and basically the entire software package goes.

The fact that5 evey game has a consistent interface for playing my own soundtracks, the fact I can set-up playlists on my PC and play from any game, with an indepent volume.play controls built into the OS, is just awesome.

I love the MCE interactive capabilities, being able to use the X360 as my extender, to record TV shows is just awesome. What's more is it frees up my PC to be worked on while the extender is going which is great.

Demos and trailers. Love this section, so far I've downloaded a 720p music video, 3 720p movie trailers, and best of all like 5 720p game trailers that I can watch in sweet ass HDD. Not to mention downloadable demo's which is a truly kick-ass feature.

Games. Well I have too many games to play right now, so obviously I'm pretty satisfied. Kameo was awesome, for the first 2 weeks I couldn't really play anything else, every day when I got home I just wanted to play Kameo. After finishing that, I've gotten in COD2 and NHL2K6 big time, love both these games. Bought PGR3, not too impressed, but I've only put in maybe an hour or two of gaming, the jaggies (more like a shimmer) in the background (fences) really bugs me, but the cockpit view is amazing. I just bought condemned yesterday on impulse, so far it looks brutal! I love the 5.1 audio they've done on this game...nothing like hearing a bottle slowly roll in the darkness behind you....

Negatives? I wish you could Q downloads, thats probably my biggest complaint. Obviously the lack of DivX support is annoying, it bugs me that you can't toggle your games to autolaunch or not(they always autolaunch), other than that I think it's an excellent system.

MS has really show where they shine here, and that is software, the dash, the features, the game achievements, the friends system, 4-way chat, it's all very impressively done.

btw - 3 weeks never a freeze, never a lockup, vertical since week 1 and no problems at all.

 

[Corwin_B]

I got my 360 back from repair yesterday (took less than one week, kudos to the tech support), and played for a few longer sessions than before I sent it in repair. It's plugged on my 22" monitor (nice to see an official VGA adapter available at launch), and the image quality is stunning on some titles.

Like pretty much everyone, I'm very impressed by the dashboard. It's sleek, it's easy to use, and Live is very well done. I like the reputation system and the objectives in every game as well.

Games picked up so far : Kameo (looks stunning, plays pretty well), PGR3 (gorgeous looking, plays much better than MSR on the Dreamcast), PD0 (I like the gameplay, graphics are a mixed bag with superb effects being wasted on low-end models). I picked up some BC-games, but ended buying a classic XBox while the 360 was on repair since I made some room in my gaming space. Titles I tried played well, with enhanced display which is nice. Live Arcade is an exciting feature, and I love playing some Geometry Wars.

I'm very impressed by the 360 so far (apart from getting a defective unit on launch, which I file under "sh*t happens" and not "damn MS/Nintendo/Sony, how could they do that to me !"). And the best is to come (in the next few months, we will get at least DoA4, Oblivion and Ghost Recon).

 

[scooby_dooby]

Ya, next 3-6months are gonna kick ass. Hell the whole next year is gonna see some really sweet titles.

 

[thatdude90210]

I like it enough to skip this latest pc upgrade cycle.

Kameo looks great and is loads of fun. The same goes for COD2, just with a different feel.
PD0 looks ok, but lacks the fun factor. I'll likely just play it co op.

I haven't played PGR3 much yet, so it's too early to tell. It looks like it should be great on Live though.

As for Live Arcade, it's the best idea for console yet. This way you always have some time-killing games on hand. I just hope they can keep coming up with new addictive little games.

 

[_phil_]

Sorry, but seriously, how does that fit into this thread whatsoever?
Do you have a 360? Did your post really provide any insight whatsoever to what the 360 is really like (as is the topic of the thread)?

We know you can provide useful insight in some threads, so this isn't any form of bashing whatsoever, but in the context of this thread specifically that post is just trolling.

sorry ,but the way i understood the title ,i felt it actually isn't OT.(And The 360 i've got isn't exacltly mine but have more ram )

 

[scooby_dooby]

sorry ,but the way i understood the title ,i felt it actually isn't OT.(And The 360 i've got isn't exacltly mine but have more ram )

The OP is asking for impressinons of the 360.

Not your personal forecast for the future of the console, and a critique on the pros/cons of launching first. What do you think of the interface? The software on the console? The features? The games?

Pretty straightforward question.

 

[MoeStooge]

Well if the Arcade games are the killer app., it doesn't reflect too well on the X360.

X360 should be way overkill for those games. Even current consoles should be able to handle them easily.

I disagree. I think it reflects quite well on the 360.

Xbox Live Arcade is really cool. It's a great way to reach casual gamers and a great way to reach out to old school gamers and those that enjoy coin-op nostalgia.


I'm really happy with my 360 so far. I've been playing Kameo mostly, with an occasional session of Geometry Wars and some Condemned when my wife lets me use the plasma.

 

[NavNucST3]

Well if the Arcade games are the killer app., it doesn't reflect too well on the X360.

X360 should be way overkill for those games. Even current consoles should be able to handle them easily.

I am going to have to disagree with you assertions. I think that if you took this same service and slapped the name Nintendo on it, people would be calling it the most innovative thing they had ever seen. Also, its the entire service that is the killer app and the fact that it gets my wife playing games bodes VERY well for the 360.
The only way for console gaming industry to reach the much scoffed at "1 billion gamers" remark is to get the casual gamers. So not only does the 360 have enough horsepower for next-gen games, but it has a delivery system in place to maximize the casual gamers market.

 

[Bill]

If it's a problem reading discs, it's very widespread. My 360 stuttered a bit in the PD0 movies, and I spoke about it to my buds at the Game store I frequent. The guy there said a girl had come in with the same complaint earlier and they had tested with several different discs on another 360 and they all stuttered. So it's probably a coding error in the game, rather than a hardware issue I think. Music CDs don't stutter, but DVDs do. That's a different issue though; audio and video becomes desynched, and then the player drops frames to match up with the audio again (which does not stutter, I might add). Hopefully this'll get patched soon via Live

The funny thing is it only seems to do it on one PDZ cutscene that I have found so far..the one before level four. Even after cleaning the disc perfectly it still does it. I almost wonder if that's the way it's programmed.

Oh and it's only as the camera pans up the mountain. The rest of the very same cutscene plays perfectly. It could be a minor scratch I guess, then again the machine would have to very sensitive as the disc is in very good condition.

Since all the other cutscenes seem to play perfectly, which wouldn't be the case with a hardware problem, I think it might be a problem with the game, or something. Regardless I'm not nearly so worried about it now.

There was some stuttering on PGR3 menu's and stuff, but I haven't fully investigated that yet.

I'm also wondering if the machine is sensitive due to the superfast 12X drive.

I also recall my brothers PS2 was always skipping on cutscenes. It's a common thing if you think about it.