Justifications for the Xbox 360
SA 360 Discussion
Live is what really sold me on the 360 after I got it. I thought it was just some goofy match making service and it's so much more. You have a ton of content available from music videos, movie trailers, game demos, game trailers, arcade games, friends list, voice chat with friends, mail system, soon video chat with friends. Also an entire ranking system where each user has their games played and how far they've gotten in them, how many achievement points they've gotten, and you can compare yourself to anyone and see their games, and they can see yours. You can also invite people into your games that support it by simply pushing a button from inside any game, and chat with them while playing the games, etc. It really is entirely kickass.
Like I said, this is the biggest thing Wii and PS3 will not have, yes they will seemingly have "their version" but this latest version of LIVE is so far ahead of where the PS3/Wii will start IMO. This is MS's 4th version of LIVE if I'm not mistaken, however this version is the serious shiznit for all these reasons. Take it from a long time gamer, when I heard of LIVE after playing for many many months multiplayer for free on the PC, I scoffed at the idea of paying $50 per year for LIVE. I was seriously mistaken. Grab your headset, forget the keyboard, push 2-3 buttons and bam you're in a goon game with 6-12 other people in whatever game in no time, private chat, allows you to talk to a friend while you roam around the house with your wireless controller.
Here are the other selling points:
- Solid games in HD. Some people don't like the lineup, I think if most gamers give it a chance, they'll have a lot of fun there. Oblivion in HD > PC in my case as my PC couldn't hold a candle to Oblivion in HD on my home theatre.
- GRAW is a great game, decent online with goons, could be a terrible experience with pubbies though, but I loved it. Chromehounds has just kicked me in the nuts with how awesome the title is for multiplayer. It's not for everyone as it can get a bit complicated with the parts and customizations etc.. if you're in a good active goon clan.. you just can't tear yourself away from this game. Burnout Revenge is freaking addicting on the 360, Kameo is kind of short, but very pretty game. COD2 is another solid title, runs silky silky smooth on the 360. Fight Night 3 is just jaw dropping in HD and also highly addicting, the other console versions don't even come close. I love DOA4, lots of detail good surround sound, good online play.
- XBOX Live arcade: Cloning Clyde, Geometry Wars, Gauntlet, gUno, Zuma, Galaga, and tons more games coming 1 every Wednesday. These $5-10-15 dollar titles offer a lot of fun for the price, break off from your triple A title for a quick change of pace in either old school arcade titles or newer original arcade titles. I didn't think much of this feature last november when the Xbox was coming out. Me and my family absolutely love XBLA.
- Achievements: another thing I thought was going to be stupid, but actually is pretty awesome in its implementation. Goals for every game to complete, some dev companies didn't really utilize this right and simply gave you all the achievement just for beating a game. Others put achievements in "hard to reach places", that make you work for it, but when you get it its pretty cool, then you gauge yourself against other gamers to see how you did, or can easily tell if someone is a DOA4 "pro" just by a quick check of their achievements. Games like Chromehounds, it has become essential to check the opponents achievements in order to formulate a strategy, at this point, a heavy gunner who is worth his salt has the "Quad based Achievement" for example, if you checked his profile before the match you'd know what's up before getting into the match.
- Upcoming titles: First wave 360 games were decent, we're in what? The second wave... so all these games should be better than the last, while other consoles are starting off with their first wave (and seemingly do not have the library to launch WITH that MS already has, and larger). Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Splinter Cell, Rainbow 6 Las Vegas, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Fable 2, Brothers in Arms 3, CoD3, Viva Pinata, Alan Wake, Just Cause, Halo 3, Dark Sector... for XBLA: Roboblitz, Hoopworld, Mad Trax, and Small Arms and a host of classic titles.. all expected to arrive possibly before Summer 2007 (Halo 3 is questionable). Alot of previously thought PS3 or PC only titles like Unreal 3 and Assassin's Creed are now expected to hit the 360 as well.
My personal opinion.... I thought I was going to like the 360, I enjoyed the Xbox 1 quite a bit, LIVE became a great tool for finding games, and some of the Xbox titles were highly memorable and just played smoother than on the PS2. Since the arrival of the 360 I've played like two games on my PC.. Civ4, and BFME2. Usually consoles go through this lull after a few months where the console isn't as exciting anymore until the next big Killer App shows up. Even during the game drought we had from March - June 06, I still found myself playing the 360 quite a bit. I also use my 360 as a media center extender for playing vids I have saved on my PC on my television downstairs. The functionality of this box, and what I've seen from the other 2 upcoming consoles, not to sound like a fanboy... but it almost seems to me ... the 360 is worth $600 and the PS3 $400 not the other way around. At $400 the 360 is just the best value, and with 2 games (Oblivion and Chromehounds) and 2 arcade titles (Geometry Wars and Outpost Kaloki X for example, you also get Hexic free) you have about... oh... 350 hours of gaming if you get into those titles. Oblivion is easily 100 hours +, Chromehounds is easily 100-150 hours if you have a good clan, I've spent 20-30 hours alone busting out hound designs for different situations. And if you get tired of those two the arcade titles will help you out. And that's just to start you off.
EDIT: Gears of War - It's clear that MS sees GoW as being their Killer App console seller, which I suspect it will be... instead of releasing Halo 3 when the PS3 launches (nice try).. they are timing GoW for hitting RIGHT before PS3, I would expect a nice TV ad campaign with actual footage being shown and in bright white letters flashing across the bottom it reads "ACTUAL GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE ZOMG!".. nice. If MS is wants to deal another blow, Halo 3 is released when the PS3 hits its first big game drought around May.
That said, I'm still probably going to get a Wii when it launches (hopefully right before my birthday on Oct 2?). There's supposedly a 360 package deal starting this month where for the same price ($399) you get everything that you used to get, plus Project Gotham Racing 3, 1250 LIVE points, and 4 months LIVE Gold free. When Gears of War and Bioshock come out, though, I might have to just get the 360. For the price of a high end video card, I can get a console system and hook it up to my HDTV. Hard to top that and makes it less likely that I'll be keeping my computer at the top of the line anymore.
Live is what really sold me on the 360 after I got it. I thought it was just some goofy match making service and it's so much more. You have a ton of content available from music videos, movie trailers, game demos, game trailers, arcade games, friends list, voice chat with friends, mail system, soon video chat with friends. Also an entire ranking system where each user has their games played and how far they've gotten in them, how many achievement points they've gotten, and you can compare yourself to anyone and see their games, and they can see yours. You can also invite people into your games that support it by simply pushing a button from inside any game, and chat with them while playing the games, etc. It really is entirely kickass.
Like I said, this is the biggest thing Wii and PS3 will not have, yes they will seemingly have "their version" but this latest version of LIVE is so far ahead of where the PS3/Wii will start IMO. This is MS's 4th version of LIVE if I'm not mistaken, however this version is the serious shiznit for all these reasons. Take it from a long time gamer, when I heard of LIVE after playing for many many months multiplayer for free on the PC, I scoffed at the idea of paying $50 per year for LIVE. I was seriously mistaken. Grab your headset, forget the keyboard, push 2-3 buttons and bam you're in a goon game with 6-12 other people in whatever game in no time, private chat, allows you to talk to a friend while you roam around the house with your wireless controller.
Here are the other selling points:
- Solid games in HD. Some people don't like the lineup, I think if most gamers give it a chance, they'll have a lot of fun there. Oblivion in HD > PC in my case as my PC couldn't hold a candle to Oblivion in HD on my home theatre.
- GRAW is a great game, decent online with goons, could be a terrible experience with pubbies though, but I loved it. Chromehounds has just kicked me in the nuts with how awesome the title is for multiplayer. It's not for everyone as it can get a bit complicated with the parts and customizations etc.. if you're in a good active goon clan.. you just can't tear yourself away from this game. Burnout Revenge is freaking addicting on the 360, Kameo is kind of short, but very pretty game. COD2 is another solid title, runs silky silky smooth on the 360. Fight Night 3 is just jaw dropping in HD and also highly addicting, the other console versions don't even come close. I love DOA4, lots of detail good surround sound, good online play.
- XBOX Live arcade: Cloning Clyde, Geometry Wars, Gauntlet, gUno, Zuma, Galaga, and tons more games coming 1 every Wednesday. These $5-10-15 dollar titles offer a lot of fun for the price, break off from your triple A title for a quick change of pace in either old school arcade titles or newer original arcade titles. I didn't think much of this feature last november when the Xbox was coming out. Me and my family absolutely love XBLA.
- Achievements: another thing I thought was going to be stupid, but actually is pretty awesome in its implementation. Goals for every game to complete, some dev companies didn't really utilize this right and simply gave you all the achievement just for beating a game. Others put achievements in "hard to reach places", that make you work for it, but when you get it its pretty cool, then you gauge yourself against other gamers to see how you did, or can easily tell if someone is a DOA4 "pro" just by a quick check of their achievements. Games like Chromehounds, it has become essential to check the opponents achievements in order to formulate a strategy, at this point, a heavy gunner who is worth his salt has the "Quad based Achievement" for example, if you checked his profile before the match you'd know what's up before getting into the match.
- Upcoming titles: First wave 360 games were decent, we're in what? The second wave... so all these games should be better than the last, while other consoles are starting off with their first wave (and seemingly do not have the library to launch WITH that MS already has, and larger). Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Splinter Cell, Rainbow 6 Las Vegas, Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Fable 2, Brothers in Arms 3, CoD3, Viva Pinata, Alan Wake, Just Cause, Halo 3, Dark Sector... for XBLA: Roboblitz, Hoopworld, Mad Trax, and Small Arms and a host of classic titles.. all expected to arrive possibly before Summer 2007 (Halo 3 is questionable). Alot of previously thought PS3 or PC only titles like Unreal 3 and Assassin's Creed are now expected to hit the 360 as well.
My personal opinion.... I thought I was going to like the 360, I enjoyed the Xbox 1 quite a bit, LIVE became a great tool for finding games, and some of the Xbox titles were highly memorable and just played smoother than on the PS2. Since the arrival of the 360 I've played like two games on my PC.. Civ4, and BFME2. Usually consoles go through this lull after a few months where the console isn't as exciting anymore until the next big Killer App shows up. Even during the game drought we had from March - June 06, I still found myself playing the 360 quite a bit. I also use my 360 as a media center extender for playing vids I have saved on my PC on my television downstairs. The functionality of this box, and what I've seen from the other 2 upcoming consoles, not to sound like a fanboy... but it almost seems to me ... the 360 is worth $600 and the PS3 $400 not the other way around. At $400 the 360 is just the best value, and with 2 games (Oblivion and Chromehounds) and 2 arcade titles (Geometry Wars and Outpost Kaloki X for example, you also get Hexic free) you have about... oh... 350 hours of gaming if you get into those titles. Oblivion is easily 100 hours +, Chromehounds is easily 100-150 hours if you have a good clan, I've spent 20-30 hours alone busting out hound designs for different situations. And if you get tired of those two the arcade titles will help you out. And that's just to start you off.
EDIT: Gears of War - It's clear that MS sees GoW as being their Killer App console seller, which I suspect it will be... instead of releasing Halo 3 when the PS3 launches (nice try).. they are timing GoW for hitting RIGHT before PS3, I would expect a nice TV ad campaign with actual footage being shown and in bright white letters flashing across the bottom it reads "ACTUAL GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE ZOMG!".. nice. If MS is wants to deal another blow, Halo 3 is released when the PS3 hits its first big game drought around May.
That said, I'm still probably going to get a Wii when it launches (hopefully right before my birthday on Oct 2?). There's supposedly a 360 package deal starting this month where for the same price ($399) you get everything that you used to get, plus Project Gotham Racing 3, 1250 LIVE points, and 4 months LIVE Gold free. When Gears of War and Bioshock come out, though, I might have to just get the 360. For the price of a high end video card, I can get a console system and hook it up to my HDTV. Hard to top that and makes it less likely that I'll be keeping my computer at the top of the line anymore.