Some Gaming Goodness
Yesterday was a mixed bag. On one hand it was the first of many chore-a-thons that will be done in the next few weeks, on the other hand my friend brought over his Xbox 360. Actually it was more like Aaron came over to help out with home repairs and Tyrone took the day off from his Sears Automotive job, so he was free for the day. So while Aaron was doing handiwork and I was doing chores he stopped by with his 360. We pushed my GameCube and PS2 out of the way to set it up in the basement and first watched downloaded episodes of Drawn Together before playing games. I mostly watched because of those said chores, though I did try out a few games (Lumines and Bejeweled) before the night was over.
Since Aaron traded in his Playstation 3 for a 360, he decided to join Ty in playing Final Fantasy XI online. When I first met Aaron in 2003, he was an avid player of FFXI on his PS2, so I wasn't surprised that he decided to pick up the game again since a friend was joining. I'm still toying with the idea of the PC version of the game, but I'd have to pull in a bit more income or slash some monthly expenses before I could even consider playing anything online. So we headed to the local GameStop and they ended up buying several games, including the original Digital Devil Saga. Since I had gone to MovieStop earlier and brought two DVDs (volume 2 of Full Metal Panic! and volume 4 of Cowboy Bebop) I didn't have any extra money. I briefly consider purchasing a few games with my credit card but Ty talked me out of it and figured I'll wait a bit longer.
We returned home with food, ate and as I finished up the last of my chores (cleaning behind the bar), I finally sat down to play a few games. I then showed Aaron and Ty a few of the projects that I had been working in Flash for school. Then they headed out around 11:30 and I sat down to finish a few more chores before watching some of Adult Swim (Inuyasha, BLEACH and Code Geass)and then headed off to bed.
From the experience I gathered that for my next generation console I definitely want an Xbox 360 in addition to a planned Wii. Only because there doesn't seem to be much going on with the Playstation 3 right now. Many of the games that interest me RPG-wise are on the 360 or any other games that catch my interest are on both systems, with the 360 having the edge in terms of downloadable content and online play. In a strange twist it reminds me of the handheld market, when the DS and the PSP originally came out, the PSP had more features, better graphics and better online capabilities. However the DS still won the day because in the end the DS had many more games available, and the PSP didn't have much in the way of interesting titles for a long time. I see the situation with the PS3 and 360 a bit differently, both machines are roughly the same in abilities, but Sony may have the edge in terms of the PS3 requiring less out of the box and no red rings of death or extra hardware purchases. At the same time, many game releases are not exclusive to one system like they were a generation ago, that and the 360 seems to offer more with Xbox LIVE.
Take for example the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV. The game is available on both systems but the 360 version has online play in a variety of modes and promises downloadable content in the future. So far the PS3 version has co-opt play which doesn't quite match the fun and excitement of a full online experience. There's also the online networks, Xbox LIVE Marketplace seems so much more developed than the Playstation Network. While the Playstation Network offers downloadable content such as games (including old PS1 games), movie trailers and game ad-ons, Xbox LIVEoffers games, TV shows, independent videos and of course trailiers. Clearly Microsoft has the stronger offerings, which makes the Xbox 360 the more appealing console to me anyway, at least until Sony gets its act together. If I need PS1 games for my PSP I'll either download them through my PC or wait until they're available to download through the PSP itself.
Finally my 360 of choice would be the The Elite, one because it's sleek black color and two, because I wouldn't need to buy too many extra accessories for it. Of course this would be well down the line after I've secured a well-paying job (or decently-playing second job) after college, when I'd have the funds to afford something like this. As soon as I'm done with school and working extra hours at UPS (while job searching) the Wii would definitely be in my price range. I didn't include any real mention of it in this ramble since it's not really in direct competition with the 360 or PS3.
Since Aaron traded in his Playstation 3 for a 360, he decided to join Ty in playing Final Fantasy XI online. When I first met Aaron in 2003, he was an avid player of FFXI on his PS2, so I wasn't surprised that he decided to pick up the game again since a friend was joining. I'm still toying with the idea of the PC version of the game, but I'd have to pull in a bit more income or slash some monthly expenses before I could even consider playing anything online. So we headed to the local GameStop and they ended up buying several games, including the original Digital Devil Saga. Since I had gone to MovieStop earlier and brought two DVDs (volume 2 of Full Metal Panic! and volume 4 of Cowboy Bebop) I didn't have any extra money. I briefly consider purchasing a few games with my credit card but Ty talked me out of it and figured I'll wait a bit longer.
We returned home with food, ate and as I finished up the last of my chores (cleaning behind the bar), I finally sat down to play a few games. I then showed Aaron and Ty a few of the projects that I had been working in Flash for school. Then they headed out around 11:30 and I sat down to finish a few more chores before watching some of Adult Swim (Inuyasha, BLEACH and Code Geass)and then headed off to bed.
From the experience I gathered that for my next generation console I definitely want an Xbox 360 in addition to a planned Wii. Only because there doesn't seem to be much going on with the Playstation 3 right now. Many of the games that interest me RPG-wise are on the 360 or any other games that catch my interest are on both systems, with the 360 having the edge in terms of downloadable content and online play. In a strange twist it reminds me of the handheld market, when the DS and the PSP originally came out, the PSP had more features, better graphics and better online capabilities. However the DS still won the day because in the end the DS had many more games available, and the PSP didn't have much in the way of interesting titles for a long time. I see the situation with the PS3 and 360 a bit differently, both machines are roughly the same in abilities, but Sony may have the edge in terms of the PS3 requiring less out of the box and no red rings of death or extra hardware purchases. At the same time, many game releases are not exclusive to one system like they were a generation ago, that and the 360 seems to offer more with Xbox LIVE.
Take for example the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV. The game is available on both systems but the 360 version has online play in a variety of modes and promises downloadable content in the future. So far the PS3 version has co-opt play which doesn't quite match the fun and excitement of a full online experience. There's also the online networks, Xbox LIVE Marketplace seems so much more developed than the Playstation Network. While the Playstation Network offers downloadable content such as games (including old PS1 games), movie trailers and game ad-ons, Xbox LIVEoffers games, TV shows, independent videos and of course trailiers. Clearly Microsoft has the stronger offerings, which makes the Xbox 360 the more appealing console to me anyway, at least until Sony gets its act together. If I need PS1 games for my PSP I'll either download them through my PC or wait until they're available to download through the PSP itself.
Finally my 360 of choice would be the The Elite, one because it's sleek black color and two, because I wouldn't need to buy too many extra accessories for it. Of course this would be well down the line after I've secured a well-paying job (or decently-playing second job) after college, when I'd have the funds to afford something like this. As soon as I'm done with school and working extra hours at UPS (while job searching) the Wii would definitely be in my price range. I didn't include any real mention of it in this ramble since it's not really in direct competition with the 360 or PS3.