Xbox 360 UK launch review

About the tiny review on NFS:MW: There is no HDR. It's a mistake seen around the web, it's just overbright. And that ain't no HDR

 

Man I want one of those. Did I imagine it or does the 360 come with a connector so I can hook it up to my monitor? If so that would be awesome! I'm in uni halls atm so I don't want to waste any extra room on a tv, my monitor is only 17" but I'm in halls, I only have about 17" of space

Oh and how does the rechargable pack work? Do you connect it to the USB?
Ah yea does it play ATRAC3/ATRAC3plus? No biggie if it don't.

I want to get this but....
1. It's not available for Xmas
2. No money to buy it after (might spend my student loan tho )
3. Saving for a bitching rig
4. I tend to find consoles die after a year or 2 (especially the early ones), my PS2 did, my Xbox almost has died...lots of problems with Halo 2
5. Launch titles, quite fankly, don't interest me in the slightest. PGR3 sparked some interest, but not worth buying the console at this point for just 1 or 2 games. I'm sure many many great games will come out that I'll love but I just don't have much interest in the launch ones
6. I don't think I can connect to live in halls due to almost every port being blocked

This articles remined me of some fond memories of my terminally ill xbox. Was only this time last year I was tearing up the tarmac on live with PGR2. When the first decent FPS comes out this console will rule online. When oblivion comes out it will rule offline too

I think I'll get one of these sometime next year, or if I find my PC can't play oblivion (then I have to decide between a new rig and a 360 for my b'day in may or a 360 and no rig ). I read somewhere 45nm cores wil be used in the future of the 360 and will greatly reduce the cost. Is this true? If so when will this happen?

Great article . I have been completely ignoring the gaming scene for a while (well all the hype/previews/etc. mainly due to WoW ) but I think for the first time I'm really excited about the 360 and almost tempted to get one asap. Hell I want to build a HTPC too, just to get the MCE functionality out of it I've only just discovered Bit-tech but damn you do some good articles

Man I would kill for a game of online Ghost Recon right now, that game has forever remained one of my top all time favourites thanks to xbox live.

 

Strange that they've chosen off-white for the case colour, similar to that of an old 1980's IBM PC I've got kicking around. Is beige the new black?

 

Basically yes.

The standard live subscription is free with the 360, so you can play online

You can buy VGA cables yes. The controllers/console come with charging cables that use the controller ports as far as I know. If thats whats on ipods, then yes.

Hence the fascias.

 

Are you guys gonna do the same thing when PS3 comes out? I never really see any PS based news aricles on here.

I would like to go out on a limb here and say "HD is not essential". *gets shot*

Really though...yes, the image quality is definitely gonna be better on an HD over standard. However, its not gonna change the actual graphics of the game, the levels, models, and special effects are all still gonna be the same.

I think saying "You need an HDTV or don't bother getting an 360 or PS3" is a little extreme.

Sure, the picture will be a ton better but that's not gonna really matter when there are 5,000 (supposedly) aircraft flying around on screen in WarHawk, or when that giant monster bursts through the wall to stomp on you in Gears of War.

 

Question on the video aspect, i have a 20inch LCD, it has a max res of 800x600 and has VGA and component inputs, i also have a 17inch LCD with a max res of 1280x1024 that just has a VGA input. Which would be the better option to use?

 

Playstation 4 life... The playstation 1&2 were the best consoles since the SNES. I want those homeys at Sony to crush this Microsoft abomination.

 

Depends how far you sit from the screen. For close up I'd use the 17", for far away, the 20".

 

no review about plugging in a mouse/keyboard?

 

Does anyone know if DVI will be available?
And if it becomes available, would I then be able to connect it to my TFT's DVI input?

 

xenophobiak - one clarification: yes the standard live subscription is free, however you cannot play online games with it. well, except on certain weekends when live allows it. you really need the gold subscription to play online. the free silver subscription is there so you can access marketplace, updates, etc.

lepre - mouse and keyboard do not work on the xbox360. MS made sure that they were locked out from working (atleast thats what i've heard). I tried my saitek gamer keyboard on the xbox360 and it didn't do anything. it lit up and whatnot, but nothing on the keyboard did anything on the xbox360. same goes for mice, i tried my logitech mx510 and nothing happened.




BTW, I'm surprised you guys didn't like kameo that much. I found it to be one of the best launch titles (if not the best). The graphics are awesome, gameplay is sweet, and the battles and challenges are always fun. The cut-scenes do eventually have you thinking "ok, who cares, skip please", but thats mostly because you want to play more kameo. PDZ = FPS = sucks on console, so I skipped it. And the fact you can't jump makes it even worse. PGR3 looks like PGR2 with high resolution and slightly better graphics (or atleast the scenery got an upgrade...wish the cars did too). And worse off, PGR3 doesn't work properly on 4:3 ratio displays. It ends up stretching the vertical res to fit the entire screen (found this out using the VGA cable on my 17" samsung LCD monitor). From what I've heard, COD2 is a fun title, although I'd rather have that on my PC. Same goes for NFS:MW. The sports titles like Madden got a nice upgrade in graphics though, and quite a few people grabbed those at launch (especially Madden).

 

I agree entirely...

I was lucky enough to pick up the premium 360 on the day of release and the graphics are OUTSTANDING on my 32" widescreen (Non-HD) TV.

Sure, if you can afford a HD TV go get one - but don't talk yourself out of getting an xbox 360 on that issue alone.

I'm used to playing PC games and console games. Sure the PC will overtake MS's new baby soon enough but you'll probably be paying as much for that graphics card as you would for the 360 alone!

Once the developers get to grips with the technology, we'll be seeing some truly amazing things from this console.

Right now (if you can get hold of one) you can experience the state-of-the-art in your living room, couching out with a wireless controller.

It feels pretty damn good and can only get better.

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2005/05/12/sony_psp_review/1.html

 

Stick with my PC me thinks !

 

Nothing quite like a 'soft' launch is there.

One thing I always expected was a very limited amount of consoles before crimbo but what I didn't expect is the severely limited stocks of all of the accessories. I had to go to five, yes five ****ing shops just to find a wired control pad (for my PC ) then I got there last one, truly pathertic on Microsoft's part.

To sum up.... worst stock availability ever!


Edit: Oh and don't ever expect just pop into your local Game and buy a VGA HD cable as Microsoft must have only shipped five to the entire country.

 

My local (very big) Tesco had plenty of accessories left today, though this is probably because they only had about 10 xbox360 buyers to sell them to...

 

But Microsoft have scored a media sucess, all the news channels were saying XBOX 360 sells out on opening day.

The fact that there was only 2 on sale it wasn't hard.

 

My Local very big Tesco didn’t get any consoles or accessories and only a 'few' games.

 

A great read I preordered mine a while ago and then cancelled it because I realised I was only really interested in PGR3 *drools at first person mode* I think I'll wait until FFXI comes out and see if it's enough to tempt me back (used to play it on the PC). That and, I need to get myself an HDTV

 

our local game had one, we have it now!