Xbox 360 Xbox360, my impressions so far

I recently decided to take the plunge and purchase a Xbox 360. Combination of reasons for this.. Girlfriend moaning i was out to much, wanting to treat myself as i work hard all week and most importantly. A huge tax rebate.

I'm an avid gamer, been playing since the golden era of HLDM, TFC etc.. Always bought consoles near release date but this time around wanted to wait. After being heavily disappointed with Dreamcasts game support, Xbox size and control pad and PS2s lack of 4 control ports.

So... The Xbox 360....

It's a snazzy bit of kit. Microsoft have finally done the right thing and looked at consumer trends within the electronic industry to determine there "look".

The home entertainment system is smoother these days. Ipods, nintendos DS and other devices with cream colors and whites are what people are buying. No longer do technologically advanced pieces of equipment have to mimic that by being edgey or experimental in there look. We all want simple, smart and elegant additions to our homes.

The controller is finally what i wanted. The xbox's original controller was bulky, felt like it dwarfed your hands giving the impression it controlled you instead of you controlling it. The new generation is a far more pleasant thing to control. Feels well built Robust and stable. Like you've got something powerful within your grips.. The buttons are light to push but desire some pressure to use, which gives it a less clunky feel but keeps it tactile enough to button bash.

Of course the new edition to this weapon is the dashboard button. By pressing this you can activate the dashboard or hold it to bring up options to shut down the console / controller. What pleased me most about this feature wasn't the ability to access these neat new functions, it was that when you press it. Boom. Up come your options. I half expected, and would be more than willing to accept a 3-4 second wait for this.

The console itself, as I said earlier, is more suited to the way consumer electronics look and feel today. It’s still quite a large system but nothing compared to the original Xbox. I would have loved something lighter, but I guess packing what you do into this system you have to allow for some weight. The major down side for me is the power unit. It’s huge. I think this is a monumental let down for a system, that on first impression gives all the right signals but lets itself down by being attached to a power unit the size of the Atlantic. The details no matter how unimportant are what matters today. No longer can companies be complacent with technology, consumers are becoming more sophisticated and concerned about how home entertainment technology not only performs, but also the aesthetics of any device..

When booting up the console you’re greeted with the somber sound and introduction logo you find in most equipment of this type, nothing inspiration. The dashboard however is another story, it actually feels more like something solid than a simple piece of software. When you whack the right or left trigger button you’re actually sliding huge pains of glass from side to side, not navigating a menu. The “wooosh” sounds give it more depth and overall it’s a fantastic addition. Giving you the impression you have made two purchases, a games console and a entertainment centre. Which admittedly I was concerned about before purchase, since most marketing departments will push this down your neck even if the reality is far from what they say. The 360 is truly what it says it is, nothing more or less.

This is unfortunately all I am willing to say at this point. As far as performance and games im still experimenting myself. Call of duty 2, Ghost Recon and Saints Row are all very enjoyable and impressive additions so far although I really don’t think the true potential of the xbox 360 can be evaluated until titles such as Gears of War are given a play test. Microsoft have chosen it seems to release all A list titles around the time Sony release the Playstation 3, whether this will overshadow Sonys claims about being more powerful remains to be seen but it could go a long way to quash any huge comparisons made between the two systems technology in relation to performance.

Once gears of war is released i'll give a more detailed opinion.

It’s going to be an exciting 6 months.

Despite not going out as much in trade for quiet nights in with my 360, girlfriend still looks unimpressed. Oh well.. Whatcha gonna do?

 

Is that one of those hybrid HDTV crt screens? If not, get a hdtv screen and it'll make a world of difference to your x360 gaming.

The latest update for the Dashboard has made it noticeably quicker, I've found. You can also now stream wmv's from your WindowsXP SP2 PC.

 

i'd recommend hooking it up to a media centre pc now ive seen what it can do. im running vista rc2 with media centre and you can do everything from the pc on the xbox, it basically just takes the picture off the pc and all the work is done on the computer still. but it mens you can listen to your music, listen to the radio, watch tv, watch videos and view your pictures all through the xbox.

ps, im also awaiting GOW, not long now..

 

Don't forget to have a look at the arcade too, there are some fantastic old school games (and most have had a graphical overhaul as well) and all have free demo versions available. Contra (aka probotector in the UK) is due on XBL Arcade tomorrow.

Also, don't forget to add your gamertag to the Bit-Tech Gamertag List

 

HDTV is a requirement imo. I play through my TFT and it's a tonne better than trying to focus through an SD CRT, despite the fact it's loads smaller.

 

Deffo another one saying HD is the way to go with a 360. I played PES on a mates CRT and it looked awful. I nearly cried

Then I got it home and it's pretty awesome

 

Call of Duty 3 on Friday... Gears of War next Friday.

A good time to buy a 360.

 

call fo duty 3 has been a bit of a quiet one, theres been loads about gears of war and rainbox six..

just as long treyarch dont put any skateboarding in COD it should hopefully be good

 

The new multiplayer stuff looks promising. The last CoD on the 360 was one of my favourite games of last year.

 

Nice pic Andy! But I see you have your 360 standing upright, please please please turn it so its flat!! When its upright any slight, teeny tiny vibration screws with the lens alighnment and leaves a circular calling card on your discs (it scratches it, it scratches it bad killing it in most cases) Keep it flat and keep it cool, then hopefully everything will be A-OK!! see you online kicking yanks butts on Gears!

 

I recently did this to my PGR3 disk of which now has a 3/4 halo on the outer rim.

suffice to say im no longer using original disks, they are backups.

 

Which way, Bindi? Did you turn it flat and get the halo or when you had it stood upright? I ask as I have mine stood upright and haven't had a problem (yet).

 

Stood it upright then put my foot on it and moved it about 3 degrees off axis and heard a huge GGNNNNNNNNNNNNNRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

 

Aah. Oops. I find that just having a disc in the drive and browsing the dashboard, it creates a hell of a vibration, more or less a low hum, through my fairly solid desk. I thought it was the sub under the desk at first!

 

The newer consoles have had this problem addressed. SOmething like the batch in May or so started having protection.

 

THATS A GIRL?!