I know a little about 360, and I'm still debating on rather if I should open it. I want to know what are some good things and bad things about the system. I hope I don't need to remind you, that "Xbox sucks" and "Everythings good" isn't helpful.

Some Good Things:
720p...Does it play in 1080p?
Xbox Live (Some downloadable free demos)
Hard Drive
The Media Center (Can someone tell me more about this and how it connects to your computer?)

Some Bad Things:
HD player is seperate and costs $200.
Not in 7.1 Dolby Digital
In order to use 5.1 DD do you need to buy a small 'special xbox platinum covered gold wire' connector? Thats lame if I already have a digital optical cable, and Microsoft makes me buy some stuipd piece in order for it to work.

I'm trying to focus mostly on the bad things about the system, so help me out.

two bad things:
The console is as noisy as an 70s east german car!
You really have to crank up the volume in order to drown out the noise of the fan.

Also, certain newly released demos are only available to x-box live GOLD subscribers the first week or so. Considering the free online capabilities of the PS3 (I hope they haven't changed that, or is there a catch?) the 360 will have to struggle hard in order to gain respect among casual gamers.

Katie Holmes, my 360 is capable of up to 1080p... and what do you mean by a separately sold HD player?

I also don't believe that the console is that bad with the fan noise level, but I'm not sure if that's because I have good speakers attached.

Oh, the HD player is sold seperatly I think. Im pretty sure the Premium edition doesn't come with the player itself. Sure it plays regular DVD's but you have to buy the $200 player to watch HD DVDS. Which also brings up the question: Which media will suceed HIGH-DEFINITION dvds or the BLUE-RAY? Or maybe they'll both suceed? I don't know.

Also I had a chance to play around with the 360, and I found out that you don't need a "Microsoft made DIgital Optical Cable" for 5.1.

I'm not sure, but my buddy didn't format his 20g hard drive, and when I started downloading demos, the drive filled up pretty fast. I had about 8/9 game demos and a few game trailers and then all of a sudden it was like, "Device Full." I checked his memory and his drive only had about 13g; don't you hate that? When it says 20g, I want 20g, not 13g and not 17gs.

But on a good note, I heard you can rip music from an actual CD just like the orginal Xbox.
I also found out that PS3 is not in 7.1.


P.S.-Merry Christmas guys and gals. Take a break from gaming and hang out with some friends and family ya?

Well from what I've been hearing, HD to Blu-Ray is like VHS is to Betamax. In other words, the prognosis is that Blu-Ray will flop and Sony will go bankrupt (in spite of all this, I am nevertheless getting my PS3).

Merry Christmas Guys (And Girls)! Just came back from a big family dinner from the boonies of Northern Ontario.

Well I've had a chance to check my new 360 out and I have to say, if you dont have Xbox Live and a hard drive, your missing out on the true capabilites of this system. First off I bought Call of Duty 2 used for $20 bucks, which is amazing, but I have also been playing all the demos of Dead Rising, Saints Row, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Burnout Revenge, and other arcade games like pacman as well. I think it is amazing that I dont need to pay for these demos and they download in between 5-30 minutes. I am really impressed with my 360 so far and the only thing is it gets hot after playing it for maybe over 6 hours straight, but that was only on Christmas cause my cousins were playing it. Anywase I'm absolutly lovin it right now, and I think I'm gunna pick up Gears of War tonight.

quote:

Originally posted by I <3 Katie Holmes[M.Mori]:
Oh, the HD player is sold seperatly I think. Im pretty sure the Premium edition doesn't come with the player itself. Sure it plays regular DVD's but you have to buy the $200 player to watch HD DVDS. Which also brings up the question: Which media will suceed HIGH-DEFINITION dvds or the BLUE-RAY? Or maybe they'll both suceed? I don't know.

Yeah, the HD player is sold separately...it's an add-on that even the premium package does not include (additional cost of $200)....I think this is a disadvantage in comparison to the PS3 console which has the included blu-ray disc player.

If you add the price of the add-on HD DVD player for the XBOX 360 to the price of the console itself, it will exactly match the price of the PS3 console. So, there you are folks, the price of the PS3 may actually be justified.

Toshiba sells HD DVD players for at least $500.

So, who will win the format wars? HD DVD or Blu-Ray....?

quote:

Originally posted by Carlito's Way:
Yeah, the HD player is sold separately...it's an add-on that even the premium package does not include (additional cost of $200)....I think this is a disadvantage in comparison to the PS3 console which has the included blu-ray disc player.

The difference being that the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 is just for movies and has nothing to do with the gaming experience, thus it’s truly optional. The PS3’s games are Blu-ray format, thus the Blu-ray drive is not an option. If HD-DVD wins the format war, then you’ll have an expensive Betamax gaming machine with the PS3. If Blu-ray wins the war, then you can buy the Blu-ray add-on drive for the 360 when it comes out. ;-)

Word.

I guess I just don't want Sony to go bankrupt...

Microsoft simply won't be beat though, eh? They championed HD DVD, but then they made their console to be "independent" in a way that they can get out of a snare in case HD DVD loses the format wars. Smart asses.

quote:

Originally posted by Carlito's Way:
Microsoft simply won't be beat though, eh?

I don’t really care who wins the “war”. I’m just waiting patiently until one of the systems has more than a few titles that interest me. For me, neither of them is worth buying yet. However, Mass Effect is looking pretty sweet. ;-)

I’m actually more excited about Nintendo’s Wii, but again… I’m waiting until they have some quality titles that I want to play. One game isn’t enough and I honestly tire of Mario. I wish they’d cater to the adult gaming market more. I could imagine some pretty sweet first-person adventure games with that remote… like Myst, but more engaging. We’ll see what the third-party developers have in store for us, but I’m not holding my breath.

quote:

Originally posted by Echolocating:
I’m actually more excited about Nintendo’s Wii,

Well your preference for Nintendo totally explains why you don't care which format wins.

Likewise, I am a little biased towards Sony because they have had the best library of games out there in the past in my opinion and I'm certain they have a lot more good games coming out for their new console. It's not the format per se I am concerned about. If Sony's games had been of HD DVD format instead, then I would have wanted HD DVD to win the war. Realistically, if Blu-Ray loses, then Sony will unfortunately be out of business and I'll just settle for the 360.

What I was saying about Microsoft was that they had a better strategy in developing their hardware. Whatever the outcome of the war is, they are not affected.

Also Katie Holmes wanted to know how the Xbox 360's Media Center works, and out of curiosity, I did it last night, and it is fairly easy.

All you have to do is plug the ethernet cable (which you recieve in the pro edition of the 360's) into your 360 and into the back of your computer. Then you go to the microsoft media center site and download the Zune's software. After that, restart your computer, turn your 360 on, and you can watch videos on your computer, view all your pictures, and listen to all your music that is already on your computer. Pretty sweet, pretty easy!

quote:

Originally posted by Carlito's Way:
Well your preference for Nintendo totally explains why you don't care which format wins.

I suppose. Nintendo is definitely conquering the rest of the market while Sony and Microsoft duke it out. I’m more a fan of the Wii though… and much less towards Nintendo. Seriously, every time I see Mario’s face on a game… I want to puke. If the remote and nun-chuck was a PS3 thing, I’d be praising Sony right now for their innovative control concept.

quote:

Originally posted by Carlito's Way:
Likewise, I am a little biased towards Sony because they have had the best library of games out there in the past in my opinion and I'm certain they have a lot more good games coming out for their new console. It's not the format per se I am concerned about. If Sony's games had been of HD DVD format instead, then I would have wanted HD DVD to win the war. Realistically, if Blu-Ray loses, then Sony will unfortunately be out of business and I'll just settle for the 360.

Those developers just choose to make games for the PlayStation… it’s not like if Sony dissolves, you won’t see any good games any more. Developers will simply release their titles for the next available and capable system that has a large install-base.

quote:

Originally posted by Carlito's Way:
What I was saying about Microsoft was that they had a better strategy in developing their hardware. Whatever the outcome of the war is, they are not affected.

Very true… because they didn’t develop any hardware. What I mean is that Microsoft is a software company and their hardware is all developed by third-parties. Whereas, Sony has proprietary hardware and chip designs. Microsoft doesn’t want to make proprietary hardware because they know they wouldn’t succeed with that strategy. Their dominance, thus far, has been a result of software supremacy, not hardware.

Also, as much as I respect Sony for attracting very competent game developers… their arrogance and greed in trying to establish a proprietary movie disc format will undoubtedly be their undoing. The Blu-ray technology took far longer to develop and perfect than Sony had anticipated. Also, they had trouble securing manufacturing plants to assemble the Blu-ray drives, thus they were over half a-year late with their launch date and millions of units less than they needed to be when they actually began distribution. The price point is also higher because of the cost in developing and manufacturing Blu-ray technology. The PS3 is not about gaming… it’s about Blu-ray. Sony will loose more developers to systems with larger install-bases because they wanted to make money off Blu-ray movie sale royalties. I respect what Sony gave gamers, but in a way… they’ve abandoned gamers in favor of Blu-ray.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Echolocating,

quote:

Originally posted by Echolocating:
Those developers just choose to make games for the PlayStation… it’s not like if Sony dissolves, you won’t see any good games any more. Developers will simply release their titles for the next available and capable system that has a large install-base.

That's true...that's why I mentioned if in the event that happens, I have my 360 that I'll have to settle for. I'm also aware that a lot of games that were exclusive for the PlayStation are not exclusive anymore. My personal attachment to Sony just stems from the length of time I've been a consumer of Sony's video gaming products...I bought my PlayStation 1 in 1997 and I've been playing Sony ever since. Little things like how the DualShock controller feels and how my hands are invariably used to it...it's all an issue of familiarity and comfort for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Echolocating:
The PS3 is not about gaming… it’s about Blu-ray. Sony will loose more developers to systems with larger install-bases because they wanted to make money off Blu-ray movie sale royalties. I respect what Sony gave gamers, but in a way… they’ve abandoned gamers in favor of Blu-ray.

That's actually a quite interesting point you made that I never really paid attention to. I did notice however that the first batch of units shipped in North America included a blu-ray movie of I'm not sure which (Talladega Nights or Click, I dunno). I guess that was their means of promoting to consumers that their console is not really a gaming machine, but a movie player. Well then, that's sad news. I wonder, they could've packaged a bundle that included Resistance or Madden NFL 07.

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EDIT: I meant to say Sony was promoting the console as a Blu-Ray movie player (by including a blu-ray movie in their packaged units), in addition to being a video game machine.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Carlito's Way,