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Nov 24
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Well, I’m jumping the gun a little bit but I think it’s near enough and I need a decent topic to post about because it’s been bloody ages since my last post! About a year ago I was waiting in line at my local Gamestation having been one of the lucky few to get a preorder, that said I got my preorder in August by asking in store every few days for ages so it’s a mix of luck and persistence. Now I think it’s time to take a good look at how thing have turned out.
The Console (8/10)
When I got the thing back I was pleased to find the console to be a bit smaller than the old Xbox but horrified to see the bus-sized power brick that comes in the box, I setup the unit quickly and easily then migrated my Live account and off I was – nice and simple. I’ve heard plenty of people bitching and moaning about their boxes overheating and the console freezing, I have never had this and would be 95% sure that most of these cases are down to bad placement, poor ventilation, general stupidity, etc.
The Accessories (8/10)
I love the wireless pad, it’s the first time I’ve seen a decent responsive wireless controller and I just love the feel and everything about it and the absence of wires is great. I have used a wired pad and would generally recommend against using it, not because of the cable (I’ve been used to that for years), but because the battery in the wireless version gives it an extra bit of weight which makes it feel just right.
As I bought a premium unit on launch day I received a free IR remote control (not as big as the one available in retail), I use this thing all the time – not only does it save batteries, it’s just much more pleasurable to use if you’re hopping around the dashboard. Other accessories I have bought include a play & charge kit (useful but not essential) and the camera (useless but entertaining).
The Operating System (9/10)
To me, this is probably the single best feature of the Xbox 360 – Microsoft’s decision to bring music, chat, messaging, gamercards, settings, etc. into the OS rather than have it handled by games developers was truly inspired. I know this will make me sound like a fanboy but I believe that MS truly led the way with this and I am regularly amazed at the consequences (cross game invites, cross-game chat, achievements, games invoking the guide for gamercards, etc).
The dashboard though is a bit clunky and sometimes a pig to navigate but the ability to stream music and video and pictures from a PC (or CD/USB), iPod support, etc. make up for it’s mildy frustrating interface.
The Software (4/10)
Well, what can I say? Most of the games released to date have been disappointing re-hashed crap with shiny textures added in to make them look ‘next gen’. I’m quite bitter about this as I’ve spend a lot of my hard-earned cash to find games are to short or too samey or just plain rubbish (PDZ). The best games I’ve played are GRAW (truly brilliant), Oblivion (very pretty and a fantastic game but short-lived by Morrowind standards) and PGR3 (though it’s about a third the size of PGR2 and rubbish online). I am wholeheartedly (but cynically) looking forward to Gears of War (have done ACT1 but can’t comment properly yet), Rainbow Six Vegas and Grand Theft Auto 4 (due next October) but everything else I’m pretty nonplussed about.
I am totally fed up of game developers/publishers churning out the same old rubbish over and over again and people keep buying it, I think that in this uber-corporate modern age games are tailored too much for the mass-market whilst niche games or innovative games fall by the wayside and never get anywhere. Perhaps it’s slightly unfair to bring this rant up on the birthday of the Xbox 360 as this problem affects the whole industry – the only company I see trying to do anything about it is Nintendo. The DS succeeded in putting fun back into the handheld gaming market and has crushed the PSP by doing so, the Wii furthers that model and I truly hope it succeeds because if it doesn’t – it’ll be bad for all of us.
XBox Live (7/10)
Marketplace is brilliant, the Red vs Blue guys made fun out of it but sometimes I do just pop on to the box, browse some Marketplace content (demos, trailers) then maybe do some chatting without playing a game. I would say that even after the recent reorganisation it’s still hard to find what you want sometimes, it could definitely be done better. My other major concern is that we’re being slowly bled dry by marketing execs selling small amounts of content for medium amounts of money.
As for actually playing games over Live, I rarely play with anyone other than my existing friends – I’m not quite sure why or whether it’s the fault of the 360 but I just don’t like playing against strangers now. I could probably trace this malaise back to Halo 2 being full of trash-talking tossers, but remember PGR2 had a good community of clean racers and friendly people – the 360 brought us PGR3 which was full of dickheads trying to run you off the road. Something’s not right, but I don’t know what it is.
I also haven’t seen much innovation in terms of how games are played online, the same old game modes are churned out by developers with no real ‘next gen’ thinking (I sound like a journo now, what a twat).
Xbox Live Arcade (9/10)
Absolutely totally brilliant, with disappointing games costing £50 it’s refreshing to be able to buy some great games (Marble Blast, Wik, Cloning Clyde, Doom) for a few quid and get a real sense of pleasure out of them. Sure, there have been some turkeys (SF2 being the worst) and I don’t know why retro titles are laggy over Live when something like GRAW isn’t but all in all I love Live Arcade. You also have the chance to play trials of every title and on the few occasions I have been burned it have been because I didn’t play the trial version first (aka my own stupid fault). I would say that there ought to be more original content on there rather than so much retro stuff but that takes time so maybe the next year will bring some great titles.
The Community (8/10)
A few years ago who would have thought that one of the world’s biggest corporations with monopolies in several major markets would actually listen to it’s customers? I certainly wouldn’t but I have been proved wrong and I am glad to have been so. Microsoft have been great at communicating with Xbox customers using a whole range of multimedia outlets, from the forums on Xbox.com, the blog and podcast from Major Nelson to the little things like holding community days for both major and independent websites. On top of that with E3 and X06 they put hours of content up on Xbox Live market place so that we could share the previews and demos that normally only journalists get to see.
Conclusion & The Future
In all I think it’s a great system but I feel let down by the lack of decent games being released, this at least is something that can be fixed and launch games are rarely the best so I feel able excuse that in my mind. I am still glad that I bought the system and will cynically look forward the coming year!
This next year will be critical for the 360, for the first time there is competition in the market and PS3 will sell regardless of Sony’s inept PR and arrogant ways – the Sony fanboy may well still be king. What I really hope is that the upcoming/recent games (Gears of War, Rainbow Six Vegas, Medal of Honour Airbourne, Call of Duty 3, Grand Theft Auto 4, Halo 3, etc.) will truly make this console worth owning. If this happens then MS have a good chance to hit Sony where it hurts, if Sony tie or even lose this round then some of the arrogance will fade and we’ll have a truly competitive market – which is always good for the consumer.
One upcoming development is the imminent release of the XNA Games Studio, for those of you who are unaware this will enable anyone to write their own games on the PC then play them on the 360 as well as distributing them to others via the Internet. I believe that this has the potential to revolutionise gaming though it will depend very much how content is distributed and how much control Microsoft retain over content and censorship. Too much control and the service will be full of rubbish games that aren’t worth playing, but too little control will result in kids getting hold of adult games and spawn a thousand lawsuits.
Other developments to watch are: MS selling high-definition movies & tv shows over Xbox Live market place, the HD-DVD drive addon (a bargain for the very latest technology), Live Anywhere (messaging, invites and even gaming between Xbox 360 and PCs, Mobile Phones).
THE END