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So you've heard of it, you've seen it, you've witnessed countless MTV endorsements, but have you played it?

So I wanted to know what ya'lls overall impression of the XBox 360 before its release was, and how the demos looked an played. If you haven't had the chance to demo one, you can find them at just about any place that sells video games. In my area, they're at both Wal-Mart and EB games, both running on HDTV. You could easily find one if you looked.

The only games to demo there were Call of Duty 2, Kameo: Elements of power, and King Kong. I played Call of Duty 2 once, Kameo once, and King Kong twice. The best was by far King Kong, especially graphically. More on that later.

So far, sadly enough, I am thoroughly unimpressed with the hardware. It was running on HDTV for god sake, and it still looked virtually the same as current Xbox games, even the same quality as some GC and PS2 games. But as we all know, Microsoft doesn't think that good hardware is the key to this battle, Xbox live is. And none of the games were running on that of course.

Call of duty 2 was by far the most dissapointing. The textures were so bland, the lighting "bloom effect" was WAY overdone, and the AI on the soldiers was literally some of the worst ever. Kameo controls seemed a little awkward, but still fun and bright. King Kong really did immerse me with the lack of any on screen display, and I found it awesome to whoop raptor ass as Kong. The character animations were fluid, and the FPS elements felt new.

So overall while a bit let down, some games are looking promising, and maybe Xbox live will add a lot more.

Comments please.

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"We're not tools of the government or anyone else. Fighting... fighting was the only thing I was ever good at, but at least I always fought for what I believed in." - Frank Yeager (a.k.a. Grey Fox)

Well, as far as I know, I haven't much say in it. To hear that COD2: Big Red One is a dissapointment (on the consoles, again... *sigh*) is a bit of a drag. Why did they have to cop out on the series again?! (course, I havent played it myself for xbox, but their previous console one did suck)

I heard that they released 2 versions of the X-box 360, one thats basically naked for a little less than 200 dollars, and one with the hard drive and X-Box live for twice the price. Is this true or is there a standard 300 dollar one?

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Neneko is Neneko because Neneko couldn't be Neneko if Neneko wasn't Neneko!
--as quoted from Neneko, Mahoraba {Heartful Days}

I can stab a man with a thick paperback book thru the ribcage.

I haven't gotten my hands on the 360, and honestly deep inside I don't want to, but I've heard some mixed things about it. I've gotten praises of its technological prowess, complains about its unimpressive lineup, and multiple comparisons to the Dreamcast. I'll probably wait a while to pass any real sort of judgement on the XBox 360, seeing as it will probably take me a while to actually find a place to play it.

And yes, my shameless fanboyism forbids me from buying it.

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I heard that they released 2 versions of the X-box 360, one thats basically naked for a little less than 200 dollars, and one with the hard drive and X-Box live for twice the price. Is this true or is there a standard 300 dollar one?

Yes, you're right. Microsoft will be simultaneously releasing it's "Core System," which is a bare-bones version with absolutely no goodies or benefits, and it's "Full System" which will be incredibly loaded, including a wireless controller, a headset, Ethernet cable, HD component and composite AV cables, and a 20GB hard disk drive. The Core System sports a price tag over $100 less than that of the Full System, but after you realize that the Core System is ridiculously stupid, especially since you still need to buy various extras like a memory card just to save, the Full System is really more of a deal. I'm sure a couple parents trying to get their kids to shut up this Christmas will buy the Core System, but "true gamers" like us need not meddle with such insulting hardware.

To answer your question, the "standard one" is the Full System, and the naked one is the "Core System." It may seem like Microsoft pulled out two extremes here, but I suppose that they wanted to appeal to both the casual and the hardcore gamer. Or just rich and poor people.

This post has been edited by Kappa the Imp on 14th November 2005 22:32

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I find your lack of faith disturbing...

I've heard some mixed feelings for the launch titles, but the only game that has been announced thus far for the 360 that I want to play is Dead or Alive 4. It brings back nearly every single character, has some bodacious-looking stages and characters, and adds a new chapter to the somewhat decent-for-a-fighting-game DoA storyline.

From what I understand, the only playable characters from DoA 3 not included in 4 are Leon and Ein. Gen Fu is not one of the main characters as he was for the previous three games, but he has a teenaged apprentice in the tournament and has been confirmed as an unlockable character. There are four unlockable characters, two of which have been announced: Gen Fu and Spartan 458 (a female red-armored Spartan from Halo). The final boss of the game is Project Alpha, which is almost certainly a Kasumi super-clone (similar to how Genra was cloned in Project Omega and Hayate/Ein was cloned in Project Epsilon). The game has a pretty nifty launch website here, but I got most of my information from reading news articles.

So yeah, DoA is one of my favorite fighting game series (my second favorite 3D series, right behind SC), and once my friend Steve gets his copy with his preordered 360 I will be playing a lot of it. As for which nextgen system I get first, it mostly depends on which one has the most games I want to play for it around the time of 2 years after launch.

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