I put my original Xbox in my bedroom with the 53" HDTV, and the 360 in my game room with the 60" LCD, so I'm loving everything about the 360. I haven't poped in an original Xbox game to see how it performs with the 360 because I'm still using the Xbox, so backwards compatability doesn't matter for me.
Mediocre Launch? Seems to be a pretty mediocre launch to me. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything I am interested in the 360 which I will not be able to get for my PC :typin:... I was certainly surprised at school that there were none of the typical fanboys running around bragging about their new "treasure" though.
That was my fear at this school. I guess none of them had the cash or didn't preorder or something. :lol:
We europeans must wait till 2nd December. And pay more than americans, because our retail price is 399 Euro. I'll get my unit in Germany. I have contact with 360 debug unit and it's so great, that I must have it under my TV! Is here somebody from Germany, who can tell me if there are any chances to get Premium Pack on launch day?
I don't have a USB Keyboard, so I can't answer that part, although I tried the mouse and it didn't work (Obviously). In terms of the older games, it shows a different splash screen for the older xbox games (Basically a white screen with the 360 logo on it). Halo 2 seems to work out of the box, but other supported games require you to download it off Xbox Live (Such as KOTOR I and II). Unsuported games give you a message telling you to seach xbox.com for updates on drivers and such. I did manage to get a second 360 game: Project Gotham Racing 3. Really shows off the 360's power, and great to boot. Car models could be a bit better, but awsome otherwise.
@Polak: You'll have problems to get a Xbox 360 on launch here in germany! Only chance is to be among the first in line when shops open. Go to one of the major electronic dealers like Saturn or Media Markt. They get 90% of the available units and even this is less than 20.000 for the hole country! I'm glad that i preoredered my premium pack.
In the UK there are a fair few shops which are getting 0 premium packs. WHSmith is one, and we're having to call a lot of customers to tell them they can either get their deposit refunded or get one in january. We're also only getting enough core units to cover core preorders before about october (remembering that preorders only started at WHS in sept) and a V small percentage of premiums...
Are the game cases the same looking as the Xbox ones, same color of green and inside and such? I couldn't get a good look when I ventured to the nearest Circuit City.
X360 Situation in Guadalajara, Mexico I went to the black market this thursday. They have one Xbox360 selling for 11,000 pesos. Yes, that reads eleven thousand pesos: One Thousand Dollars. The black market people have truly become morons. The guy at the other stand, though, said that the 360 will cost around four to five thousand pesos when it does officially come (couple of weeks maybe?) - which is still brutally expensive. GamePlanet (the "official" store per sé) has a pre-order set up now. The 360 official retail price will be 4,999 pesos. We can expect the black market price to start up around that, and fluctuate +/- 750 pesos depending on the customer and vendor. No word about 360 on Walmart or other retail venues. No idea about the situation in Mexico City or Monterrey - the two other important cities in the country.
@Ground Zero Are you sure? 2 days ago I have gone to Media Markt near boarder line with Poland, where I usually buy systems on launch day (GBA, Gamecube, PS2 and many others). I've been there to preorder my Xbox 360, but shop assistant told me they don't take any preorders, because they will have a lot of 360 systems on launch day and I can even come in the evening to buy my new next-gen system with games.
Kind of reminds me of the power supply for my Amiga 500. Huge ass brick with a really funky power connector like that. Never had it catch fire though, and that thing has been plugged in constantly since like 1987 or so. We'll just have to wait and see with the Xbox 360 though, I've heard that a lot of the crashes have been stemming from the power supplies heating up. Raising them up seems to eliminate the crashing, although anyone that sets their console on carpet is just asking for trouble in my opinion. Word is still out on any bursting into flames though...
As far as I can remember i've played every console i've ever owned on carpet. I don't think i've ever had a console overheat on me, let alon burst into flames. As long as the room their in is decently ventalated and cool I don't think their should be any problems.
Try putting a high end PC in a small PC case and cover up the vents, then tell me how long it lasts lol. Thats basically what were looking at here, a crazy high end PC that needs air
Actually the 360 has a pretty sophisticated cooling system utilizing heatpipes (see http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/system/microsoft/xbox360/heatpipeHS.jpg) and cooling ducts which allows it to keep cool in such a cramped space. The problem with heat for the 360 lies in the power brick itself. When set on the floor (especially carpet which insulates it too) it pretty much eliminates 1/4 of the possible cooling it can recieve. By raising the power brick off of the floor, most users have found that their problems with it freezing up pretty much disappear.
I've never personally had this happen, but my friend Dan woke up in the middle of the night to the carpet in his room in flames from his (original) Xbox's power supply apparently catching on fire. He said it had been making crackly sounds earlier that day which should've been a good indicator to unplug it. Now he has a 2'x2' section of charred carpet in the corner of his room. I don't think setting a console on carpet generally will cause problems, but I've noticed that my Dreamcast does get noticiably warmer if its sitting on my floor vs. being on my shelf. There are cooling vents on the bottom which probably don't get the airflow they need when sitting on my plushy carpet. Probably won't cause any immediate problems, but the extra heat may shorten the console's lifespan.
I can just about guarantee the PS3 will suck juice like no tomorrow. And I *highly* question the E3 Display model they showed for the console that had, erm, no ventialtion holes at all?
I personally have mine on a wired stand (as with all my other consoles) and I have not had a problem so far. By logic, putting it on a carpet is not a smart move due to the material in the carpet heating up very quickly and taking far longer to cool off. If you leave it in the same place for a long time (with the power on), the heat will just rise and rise until it causes it to catch on fire. Lesson learned: put things on a surface that doesn't catch on fire easily (Such as a wired stand).
