Gaming Critical Hit: Is the Xbox 360 Dead in the Water?

That is the fault of Infinity Ward for glitched lobbies, and both are a common occurence on 360 and PS3. PSN as a matchmaking service has no bearing on the game being glitched by the users. Infinity Ward has already stated that they can't fix it and tried passing the buck onto the PSN, while the same problem has yet to be patched on Xbox Live as well.

And having owned MW2 on 360 and PS3, the differences in multiplayer begins and ends at the console's home screen. After that, you wouldn't know you were on Xbox Live or Playstation Network if the MW2 multiplayer screen didn't tell you.

 

I understand your point, but the 2004-5 era console HW is really outdated. Just changing the gpu parts inside their consoles for modern price equivalent DX11 ones would represent a massive boost to these consoles, that's without a total redesign shift. Surely console owners could cope with; Mk 1. Mk2 , Mk3 versions of X360 , PS3 etc. It could be done every 3 years or something, so users know they'll get at least 3 years of complete game catalogue compatibility, then after that Studios would have, at least the option to support progress, with the newer Mk versions.

The problem is, 2015 is being talked about now as the likely refresh date, and that's simply too long... it retards game progress too much. Keeping the same HW for 10 years plus is a joke tbh, and the whole kinect thing, seems like snake oil to buy the X360 time imho.

 

You'll run into them on the 360 but not nearly as much as on the PS3. I own MW2 for both consoles and gave up on the PS3 after the first three months because of the sheer amount of glitched lobbies. Microsoft does try and keep things down to a minimum on the 360 though with consoles bans. That doesn't appear to be happening on the PS3.

 

This article is bang on, from a hardcore games perspective, the 360 is dead in the water, and PS3 has a far better release schedule this year. Things have definitely gone quiet.

However, something tells me that M$ will be announcing a new console next year, and I'd bet at least some of their premier games studios are already working on titles for this.

 

I'd like nothing more than better graphics on my consoles, but why would any console manufacturer spend even more money on R&D, factories and make more expensive, something which is currently cheap for them to produce? The benefits wouldn't even come close to the costs. Outdated is just relative, and relative to consoles it's not outdated at all, it's never been more popular.

Plus some of the stuff looks outstanding still. NBA2K11 is my current poison of choice and it's gobsmacking (as long as you don't look at the coaches )

 

Not to mention the fact that a hardware change would increase development costs for games as well. That would lead to more rehashes because of companies not wanting to spend the extra money on something that may potentially fail. In the economy of today, I don't really believe any of them want a big shakeup within the next couple of years.

Heck, look at the Kinect. There really aren't any "must have" games out for it. Since it has sold pretty well though, it has been picking up better development support and it probably won't be too far out that a "must have" game will come out for it.

 

"Calling the 360 "dead in the water" seems a little brash."

And why is this? No different than websites and 360 fans saying PC gaming is dead for the past 5 years. When PC gamers new it was just haters.

I have a 360 and found playing games on it extremely lacking in funfactor compared to playing on my PC. That's why I no longer use it. Big screen and couch doesn't do it for me. Nice 120hz 24", keyboard/mouse, comfy office chair, 5.1 surround sound speakers/headphones with dedicated sound card. Man cave where your not bothered. Now thats a winner.

 

Good article, sums up my thoughts completely. I have my 360 for the odd console-only multiplatform title, Halo and Gears of War. And right now, it looks like Gears of War is the only game I'm actually looking forward to. And even then, I'll only be playing it on the 360 because I have to be. Games are so much better on the PC.

 

I don't know if I would call the 360 dead in the water, but the lacking exclusive releases from in-house development is a little worrying. I never thought about it until reading the article (and having not owned a 360 in the past 6 months) but new IPs from Microsoft have dropped off considerably. While they still do get the odd 3rd party exclusive here and there, it usually ends up as exclusive DLC to a multiplatform game. Sony on the other hand has continued to release both old IPs and since the PS3's release introduced far more newer exclusive IPs than Microsoft. Of course those don't come close to sales of Halo or Gears of War, but eventually those games do grow tiring and the quality gap in multiplatform games has closed considerably between the two consoles. I still see Xbox 360 doing quite well, but I won't be suprised in a shift in the market if they only rely on Halo, Forza, Gears of War, and Fable to differentiate the stable of exclusives to the PS3.

 

I've never liked the idea of performing in front of a TV, like some modern day court jester, seeking the approval of some video game.


For those that want to look like a fool, many still don't think there'll be a hit game for kinect, at least not one that that actually requires skill . Because A, it lags B, It's not sophisticated or sensitive enough to discern minor finger movement and even if it could, errors around misinterpretation would make playing jolly frustrating for anything requiring skill . No, in all likelihood Kinect will be limited to shooter on rails type games or RPGs. Kinectimals may well be its high point.

 

Actually the lag isn't as bad as a lot of people think, I've certainly never found it to be a problem anyway. I read something recently that said they can get kinect's resolution up to double what it is now, more than enough to read hand and finger movement, they just need to improve the frame rate before updating the firmware. I hope they do, I'd love to see what it's really capable of

 

buying an xbox for halo!! halo is ****. there are so many more better first shooters for the xbox itself

 

this is one of the few guys i agree with
but i'm a pure pc gamer but there have been times where i wanted to change because of gaming online with friends

 

Before I say anything I am a PS3 gamer, but I should add not a "fanboy."

I think a load of this stuff that has been said here is a load of rubbish: first of all, the only practical difference between the PS3 and and Xbox is that you have to pay for a (slightly better - but not that much better) online service on the xbox, and you get a BR (and I like HD films although that wouldn't be a problem if HD-dvd had won) and its more expensive. And noone cares that much about exclusives 'cos you end up playing COD anyway.
Also, the reason lot of my freinds and I bought consoles is because they are cheap and you know games will work well on them ( I have cod 4 on my PC and have to turn down graphics as far as they go ). Also, everyone here seams to be talking about the pc's superior graphics, but it all honesty I don't care that much for them - game play is far more important to the extent I still play Gran Turismo 4 and Star Wars Battlefront II from time to time.

Anyhow, that's that. Time to steel myself for the abuse that will be hurled at me in disagreement forthwith.

 

People, this is just an regretable trend in modern journalism - Sensationalism.

Sensationalism grabs your attention, and it's prone to inflation - Some guy writes a sensational article, so then yours has to be more sensational, then next guy has to top that, and so on and so on...

For example if most of the summer blockbusters are sequels the headline is not "Sequels dominate this years blockbuster season". Instead it becomes "Has the movie industry finally run out of ideas?!?!?"

Or if console sales rise it's not "Rise in console game sales takes market share away from PC gaming, although the overall market has expanded". That becomes "PC gaming is dead!!!!!" You know, like it has been for the past ten years

All that's happening here is that the 360 is having a slow year for exclusive releases (which does happen as modern games take years to develop). That is all.

 

Can't they just ditch the PS3 and 360 consoles and start developing the next gen already? Both are 5+ years old if i recall.. and for computer tech, that's verging on dinosaur.. It's these console that hold back Game Devs, and the PC scene is suffering because of it..

Make a console with a SB/Bdozer like CPU and RHD6990/GTX590 GPU and be done with it.. Crysis 2 could have been so much more if they forgot about the consoles and focused more on the PC.. I mean "Press Start to Begin" on a PC Demo? Don't even pretend its not a direct port..

 

My xbox E74'd today - ordered the X-CLAMP fix from ebay.
Did the towel fix and it works perfectly. Im going to X-CLAMP it for a more permenent soluton.
I would buy a PS3, but all my friends have xbox, so ill stick with that.

 

Main reasons I don't a own a 360:

PC gamer at heart (mouse & keyboard Cheesecake)
RROD put me off in early stages (when most likely to purchase)
Not a huge fan of non-PC 360 exclusives (i.e. Gears or Halo)
Can play all 360 non-exclusives on the PC using a 360 controller (I could but never will)
Free XBL service doesn't provide multiplayer gaming
Graphics are better on PC
All friends (and family members) are on Steam
I enjoy PS3 exclusives more for some reason (single player experiences mostly)
PS3 provides BR player

 

Console gaming has a negative impact on PC gaming and the Eggs Box £3.60 represents a conflict of interest for Microsoft. MS want people to play games on their console and use a PC for non-gaming activities. I always thought the eggs box was pretty crap graphically. If I was tempted by a console it would be the PS3 but I am put off by Sony's ever more demented attempts to lock down their hardware and prevent it being used for anything but games and multimedia. The promise of the PS3 becoming a general purpose super-computer was a lie.

I detest console games with their dumbed-down control system. How many times have we seen a console game ported to PC suffering from the same inept control system?

It would be great if eggs box died.

 

I really enjoy my 360. Plenty of great games without having to worry about driver issues and incompatible versions.

And it's great just having a mate around to play some football on the couch or questing with your gf.

Obviously when it comes to strategy games and a few others, I will be off on the PC conquering various parts of the world.

And I really don't think the 360 is dead in the water.