OPINION: XBOX 360

Straight to the point:

I have a PC already and I hate other people. I am really getting sick of the feature creep as well since this is supposed to be a game console, not a Media Center "Lite" and sure as hell not a desktop replacement. Why does MS and Sony (and probably Nintendo once they figure out they can have a new ad/revenue stream) think that people want this crap? Ok fine, throw in the themes and picture changes for those people who must customize everything they own. Oh wait, they want to introduce you to the micropayment system. I fully expect Vista to incorporate some form of micropayment system by default if the Live Marketplace continues as it is now.

I cannot say much about the verbal assaults online, but I can definitely believe how bad it has gotten. I am just getting sick and tired of EVERYTHING having to be online. What the hell ever happened to the single player game? Oh wait, the single player games don't require the Gold membership to play and everyone has to play against some snivelling little prick that will act like god if he gets in a lucky shot or finds/uses a cheat.

And why the hell is the case white instead of black?

 

Great article!!! I tried the Xbox 360 back in December, I was frustrated too, it's too much of everything and PGR3 good game but the menu are too heavy. :banghead:

I agree with you, I hate spending hours on a freaking dashboard, all the previous generation console had simple bios menu, though I never played on the original Xbox. But come on we just wanna play!!!

So anyway you gave me more arguments for not buying one :icon_bigg

Sabre

 

I don't have a 360 but if it's as bad as the first post makes out then I can do without it. nothing pisses me off more than being fead crap that I don't want. Switch on the console, pop inthe disc and hit start ! That's all I need and want.

Yakumo

 

I will print this out and have a good read shortly

I will be borrowing a freinds next week while he is away so will be good to compare what you have written and what I get

May put me off shelling out BIG £ for one!!!

 

Bravo! Just... Bravo. Great description. This is a piece of hardware I'd never be getting, even if I ever had the cash.
Most of the points you make, the first ones specially, are serious red flags for hardwares of the future. If this trends would continue, videogame hardware and its usage could deviate from the "plug and play" standard we're pretty much used to, and that could be a seriously bad thing.

 

Please look at this pie chart, during 33.9 hours of game play on live.



As far 360 goes, im trying to unload mine like a bad date. I gave it a chance, but I dont need a system where soon I might be able to do my banking on. I dont give a rats ass about wallpapers or themes for the unit.

Don't even get me started on Bullshit live, one of the reasons that bothers me the most, I just dished out 50-60 dollars for a new game, and in some cases I now have to buy an update for it?! Why don't I just sign my check over to Live.

I have no "next-gen" feel with 360, and I could careless about the broken fighting system called DOA4, or PGR, and don't get me started on PDZ, they should have made a warning for that game, If you take the short bus this is for you.

Everything on that system was rushed and it clearly shows.

 

Yeah, Microsoft really made some mistakes this time around, but overall I'm fairly pleased with it. My biggest pet peeve though (besides having to constantly log in/out) is the fact that you can't turn off Autoplay when you insert a game. I spend most of my time playing Xbox Live Arcade games (Geometry Wars and Marble Blast Ultra, yay!) and actually would prefer the system to boot up to the dashboard only every time, without taking out whatever game is in the tray.

EDIT: And god how I hate voice chat in random games. 90% of the players haven't even hit puberty yet. Private chats for the win. I just wish you could have a private chat with more than one person. Grrrr.

 

The backwards compatibility is a joke on the Xbox 360.

Xbox Live is great, but if it takes 20 minutes to be able to play something, that's bad.

Anyway, till now only Call of Duty 2 and PGR3 got me interested on the 360. The same thing happened to me about the original Xbox. Only 10 games or so interested me. Won't buy a expensive console (down here) for 10 games. The 360 is being sold here for 2000 Reais ( 910 dollars ).

Won't buy it anytime soon. Honestly, i don't know if i'll even buy it.

Yep, Dead or Alive ended up being the most overhyped fighting game ever. Dead or Alive and Dead or Alive 2 were good (great?) games.. But the others are just an excuse for graphic geeks and big boobs.

Honestly, if someone thinks that Dead or Alive 4 is the best 3d fighting game, is because this person never played Tekken 5, Soul Calibur III and Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. I still think Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution is the best 3d fighting game to date, with Tekken 5 and Soul Calibur III in a tied close 2nd place.

 

I am in agreement with so many things here, I just hadn't really thought them through till I saw them here. There have just been various annoying things behind my 360 experience thus far, indulge me if you will.

Primarily I don't think I have as much right to complain as American/European buyers as I got my Japanese set-up far easier, quicker and cheaper than the rest of the world has had to deal with.

I also don't think I can judge the whole 360 experience as I have not gone online with mine yet. I don't play online, that simple. (I only have a half megabite connection anyway) So I probably only get half of the functions the 360 can offer. I much prefer playing with people I know anyway or at least in an arcade face to face. That way no 12 year old is going to call me a fag unless he is yelling it over his shoulder as he runs away. I don't relish online gaming, I like structure, goals and simplicity. I kick up my ps2 to knock out a couple of rounds of gulity gear all the time, would I if I had to log in, find a match, then have a laggy fight against someone who would probably abuse every glitch in the book. The thought not the reality - is what repels me here. Keep gaming simple.

I also do not like the idea of the marketplace, too much like the way mobile phones are sold in Japan and the Uk at the moment. It is nice to hear that some of them are well worth the price of admission. But why not whack them on a disc and sell them as budget titles. That is what consoles have been doing for ages, the marketplace games are nothing new, they are just the budget titles minus discs. So why do people keep calling the marketplace "the killer app"? At least when your hard drive blows, you could have all your back ups on discs.

I quick clause before my negativity kicks in - I like the 360, it is not awful in any way. It looks like there will be a good 3 RPG from Mistwalker to enjoy in the future. And frankly if the PS2 had only had (for example) Star Ocean 3, that alone would justify admission. It is going through a tough stage in japan, but I think we can count on a years worth of 1 game a month buying.

I also think that it looks and sounds great. I don't own a decent PC, so these are certainly the best looking games that have entered my house, yet. DOA4 is very playable and entertaining, I might even play it to improve my skills for at least a year. RR6 will last till I get everything unlocked. Everyparty will come out every now and then and I really want to put some time into EM.

The controller is very nice and I do appreciate the wireless function. However I have lost count of how many times I have hit that "massive green x thing", which can only annoy as it stutters on mid game. Also with my DOA4 stick, I leave that plugged in the back usb port. This means everytime I turn it one, my actual controller is given 2P, so I actually have to start my 360 without the arcade stick plugged in if I want to play any xbox games.

Needless to say the backwards compatability is a joke. I was excited to play Ninja Gaiden at last, but the fact remains that it is not even running properly as it stutters all over the damn place! Also the few xbox games I want to play again are not supported (and may never be). This is certainly not backwards compatability.

Setting the 360 up is again a chore, partly because all the wires are "iron rod" stiff. Plus you have to position your power supply in a suitable place. For those with small and tidy gaming areas, this is not an easy task. I have found a way to do it, but it was a hassle and when I was putting the cables in the back of the 360 it felt like something was going to break. Also my power lead almost refuses to come out the back of mine at all. (same with the cables, with further confusion added, switches on them!)

This leads me to overall build. The door on the usb cover seems very weak indeed. The eject button is a little loose and "fisher price" plastic cheap. Same for the whole of the disc drive actually. Feels flimsy and cheap. Not to mention the whole thing seems to creak if you squeeze the front to get the faceplate off. Overall colour of the machine is ok, but I have mine in a spot of shadow at the moment. It looks very grey indeed, but maybe that is because it is next to the Q! Needless to say, the noise the thing makes, makes it sound very cheap indeed.

Next what is going on with the plastic covers on the HDD and drive out of the box. Instead of coming off neatly, they must be cracked off with a chisel. A minor gripe I know - but this is about opinion. It just does not speak of quality.

Also just quickly, the prices of the extras. "taking the piss" comes to mind. 3rd party HD cables set you back a fiver at worst, I don't think I need to go on.

Total agreement with the saving issues that ASSEMbler mentioned. I just would add that the way the profile window flies on at the start of the game looks rather stupid most of the time. You know, RR6 sets up a graphical theme and then the xbox profile window flies on to the screen and spoils the sense of design unity the game has created. I would prefer the saving feature fitted in with the graphical style of each game.

Anyway, I can't help but have these negative thoughts at the back of my mind (they usually dissapear as I play) but I think if I had gone through the hassle and price tag the rest of the world has had to go through for this piece of hardware, I would be a little annoyed.

Maybe I'm not the right person to fully appreciate the 360. I love some amazing graphics as much as the next guy. I get shivers of excitement when I see some parts of genji in action! I think that you have to an online or PC orientated player to get the most from the 360. The reason I don't have a gaming level PC is that primarily I don't like most PC games. but also because I want plug and play gaming. No hassle, no installs, patches or dodgy running. I just want to put something into a machine and for me to be playing something within a minute.

Maybe I just cannot seperate my perception of MS and the XBox as gaming PCs. Maybe it is just prejudice. Maybe I just don't like the route that MS has taken gaming thusfar. Or just maybe Microsoft has released a fairly crude piece of hardware and we are not blinded by the graphics to ignore the flaws.

 

Sorry assembler but most of your rant came off like a child bitching that his gamecube cant run a ps2 disc since it's too big. Online people lame? Welcome to the internet!!

The market place is great for 3 main reasons.
1) Live arcade (cheap and fun little games)
2) Downloadable demo (no need to freaking buy oxm for $12 just for the damn disc).
3) Upgrades to Games.

Also your complaint over xbox backwards compatibility is odd. You dont need to burn a freaking disc to upgrade. You can upgrade on the system it self and suprising enough, games that do run look freaking great in 720p. I much prefer running halo 2 on the 360 over the xbox. I would love halo 1 even more if not for the disc being region locked & my sys being jpn.

I have no issues using the 360, I have no struggles booting up and playing a game. **** just throw in the damn disc and wala the game boots for me & I am playing.

My only problem with the 360 so far is I want more interesting games & more stuff in the live arcade section (what is there is a great start but pretty much 3-4 of the games all play alike) but this complaint will just get better with time because all systems will suffer.

 

Saddly, a lot of the things you're complaining about are decisions that came from microsoft, not the game developers. The controller management, profile management, "console button", etc are all things mandated by microsoft's certification process. And yes, it is fun to screw with your friends while they're playing DOA 4 by hitting the xbox button in the middle of the match.

 

its simple, Xbox360 sux

 

Subbie I think Assemblers point is that these things should not be forced. 'welcome to the internet' yeah thanks, but I don't want to use the fucking internet when I'm trying to relax and spend some time alone with a good game.

And that's great that backwards compatability is an easy download, but that also assumes that you will hook your system up to the internet, which is not always the case.

My bottom line is that if they say it is capable of a feature out of the box then it better damn well be capable of it.

 

Dear subbie , ASSEMbler himself is just telling you the norm of most people, they aren´t looking for an "allinonewondermachine" that, shits eats , and makes coffe in the morning, just by telling it to.

He is just like many other console lovers (like me and a world of other people ), that he really just want to open a nobrainer, and put the game in, and woopty you are in buisness, well the duke of geekness, came up with this machine in a mental nightmare long ago where he thought "wow such a machine I want !", and he told the world about the first steps long ago, with his view of a machine you could use in front of the telly where you could do all those things, and well XBOX360, is in a kind of way the blurry vision of his dream.

and by the way dear subbie, your nickname gives me associations to the word submissive. It just crossed my mind at this moment, but don´t worry, it isn´t an offence, just a mental image in my maybe strange vision of some words.

 

Actually, I think that this is the absolute worst feature of the marketplace. Why? Because the upgrades, for the most part, are not free. Yes, I think that developers should make money on their work. However, I do not believe that they should shortchange the main game in order to sell extra levels, characters or items. Once they see how "easy" it is to force players to spend upwards of $70 total on a single game, they will start doing this more.

 

Surely the logic of this topic is flawed?

I'd have thought that 99.9999% of the peeps HERE either should have known, or would of known the FULL workings of the 360, before it was even released?

...Surely anyone who bought it, tried it before buying, or understood how it worked in the first place?

I have little sympathy for anybody that BOUGHT it, and NOW doesn't like it.

...I mean lets face it you wouldn't buy a car unless you test drove it, and understood it!

...There are no 'force' issues with the 360, merely options, the word 'option' merely means 'choice', surely everyones allowed to choose?

To be honest I think the 360 is a real 'no-brainer' to use and works like a charm, guess I must be in the minority! ;-)

 

Give them time to get rid of the ability of choosing. Have you read the Live agreement... :lol:

And yes, I bitch and moan about the 360. I could come up with a dozen things that should have been done differently, but I would still buy it at launch again. I will buy every system at launch because that is the way I am. I like new systems and I like to be able to play any game available, but I can still see the flaws.

[editted: somehow this got posted before OE's post]

 

The 360 does not force stuff. If you want to not play online, Wow you can. Nobody forces you to play online at all. Hell I actualy still dont play on live because I dont care for the people on it. I only play online when I can play against close friends. No reason to bitch just because gamers are given a choice. Also the idea "welcome to the internet" is because everywhere online (regardless what you do) is filled with ignorant, cruel or rasist people. Its the internet. If you actualy researched into it, microsoft has been trying to fix this with the 360 live system by setting up classes so you're more grouped with gamers of your type (ahem so you can avoid the rasis pricks).

:banghead: Its now ms fault for BC updates because someone does not hook their system up to the internet. Then why freaking buy the system at all when that is one of it's huge advantages / angles. I am sorry but complaining about that is rather lame.

I still have to disagree. I could care less if my machine is an all in wonder or not. Yet alot of his complaints are rather bad. Consumers love simple devices but also love to get more for thier money. If it was the same price but was as straight forward as a nes more consumers would complain over the lack of features.

The xbox 360 is not hard to use and require serious mental though. Any gamer should have no problem with that. I don't go off and do crazy thememing or crap on my machine. I simply just use it to play my 360 games, the demos on the market place & the live arcade games.

One of my most played games on the gamecube is sonic mega collection because I could just boot it up and play some straight forward sonic 1,2 or 3.

PS, Subbie is derived from Subice which is based on Subzero of mortal kombat (i liked the nick subice more then subzero, I then switched to subbie since everybody in gbadev kept calling me subby when i loged in). My more active handle (use else where) is just PSmonkey for Playsation Monkey. Just FYI.

I must also be apart of that minority.

 

I loathe the 360, but I attribute it to the fact that it has no games that interest me at all.

I prefer fun games, ones without a hint of seriousness, you know...the whole blue sky in games idea. I don't want to play games that depress me or where I quest to become the ultimate street thug.

The loudness, Xbox Live, Advertisements, and all that other garbage are just bonus reasons for me to not buy it. I got tricked into buying the first Xbox with Halo and an awesome version of Tony Hawk 2. None of that this time around. I saw em coming.