I got a 360... yippee!!

[jp]

For Christmas my Mom gave me a card saying she'd get me a 360 whenever they were available, and this past Tuesday I was in Best Buy and the person in front of me was buying a premium package 360. So I asked if they had 360s, turns out they did, so I got one. Hurray!


So far the only games I've got are Dead or Alive 4 and Quake 4. I hate 3D fighting games (except Fighters Megamix), so I'm still wondering why I bought Dead or Alive 4. I'm sure 3D figthing game fans would love it... but I hate it.

Quake 4... is fun, but damn, the 360 is supposed to be super powerful. Whats up with the jacked up frame rate? I want 60fps, and this one definitely dips well below 30fps at times! Still a fun and pretty game though.

The only other games I want right now are Perfect Dark Zero, Condemned, Call of Duty 2, and Kameo. Funds are kinda tight right now, but I'll probably wind up snagging PDZ later this week. Also, I'm definitely looking forward to Alan Wake on the 31st... hopefully it doesn't get pushed back. Demonik... could be good... graphics look "meh"... but Monolith are good at what they do, so we shall see.


Other than that though.... damn. Not much really going on for the 360. I thought there was supposed to be a super huge second launch or something? But just Alan Wake and Demonik at the end of Jan. and Blazing Angels and Oblivion in March? Eh... better than the first 6 months of the DS, but still.

But yes, Senkou no Ronde will be mine. Just hope G.Rev makes it region free. Or if they don't, it should get a release in the US by Microsoft.

Oh, and Chromehounds and Lost Planet looks pretty damn cool. Definitely looking forward to those. And Blue Dragon.

[Diabollokus]

so er would you recommend one, or should I wait for PS3, more importantly how does it compare to the saturn!

[BulletMagnet]

Methinks asking jp "how console xyz compares to the Saturn" is like asking someone's lungs "how does gas xyz compare to oxygen."

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Teh 360 is like oh my god beaten the shizzz out of the Saturn. It can pump out more poligons per square centimeter than the Satrun, PZX, and that 64 console together.

[Neo Rasa]

Keep in mind that if you have a broadband connection you can access XBox Live Arcade. You can play Geometry Wars and Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Gauntlet, and a bunch of other games online with people.

Quake IV's problem is that it was ported from the PC. The upcoming February and March games should be where it's at (Morrowind, etc.).



Also if you go online, download the Fight Night Round 3 demo. HOLY SHIT.



I wouldn't wait for the PS3 myself. All it brings to the table is better graphics. No hard drive, nothing new with the controller, no integrated online gaming service, etc. Plus it's supposedly going to be wallet-bustingly expensive. I'll probably buy all the Atlus and SNK games for it the day they come out, and not get an actual system until 2008 or so.

There's also Mist Walker's support for the system. Blue Dragon/etc. all look very interesting and I'm sure they won't have trouble finding US publishers. I'm sure SNK will develop or at least port games to the 360. It will probably end up like the first XBox where after a slow start there'll be a very solid lineup of games, almost no console styles RPGs or shmups though. No big loss as there are plenty of other systems and PCBs to get.

The multiplayer for Perfect Dark Zero is unbelievable. It's one of the few FPS where I actually want to play multiplayer with it instead of the single player game. Condemned is creepy as hell, especially if you have the sound setup for it.

Namco's putting one out in March called Frame City Killer. Seems like a Hitman game only in the future with more advanced weapons and gadgetry. Looks interesting, literally like a mix of Hitman and Shadowrun.

[Vexorg]

Absolutely don't miss Geometry Wars. You can't go wrong for $5, and there's some pretty intense score competiion going on. And post your gamertag too (I need to add some people from here still...)

[Ganelon]

Keep in mind that if you have a broadband connection you can access XBox Live Arcade. You can play Geometry Wars and Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Gauntlet, and a bunch of other games online with people.

SFII Turbo is on Live Arcade? Well, I'm very interested now. Do you know anything about the number of people playing and how laggy it is (better than SFAC I hope)?

[Neo Rasa]

I haven't played it myself yet because it won't be available until March. Supposedly it's going to be entirely lag free though! Quoth Peter Moore at CES.

Someone should start a Live thread where people can just post up their gamertags. Arranging times for you all to play against each other could be done in it as well. Granted probably not too many people here have a 360 yet but there's still a pretty steady cult following for greatness like Phantom Dust and others on the original XBox.

Anyways Mist Walker's stuff looks cool and there are a few other interesting games in the works. Reminds me of the DS launch where it was dry because the system was rushed for the end of November date. Now this coming spring and summer all the big guns will be released.

http://www.xboxyde.com/news_2411_en.html

http://www.xboxyde.com/news_2410_en.html



This one should be rad. Basically it's supposed to be Dynasty Warriors only every individual soldier is an independant character instead of the way there are "schools" of enemies in Koei's series. This being locked at 60FPS in high definition should be great, as the main thing I hate about most 3D beat'em ups is how slow they feel.

[jp]

I would recommend the 360, yes. Right now its kinda slow with PC ports and a couple of exclusive gems being the main draw (Quake 4, Call of Duty 2, Perfect Dark Zero, Condemned, Kameo, and PGR3), but the 360 is going to be quite awesome by the end of 06. I mean seriously:

In the US for 06:
Alan Wake (won tons of awards at E3)
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Gears of War
Mass Effect (New original IP from Bioware)
Prey
Halo 3 (rumored to come out this summer)
Too Human
Chromehounds (which looks awesome. Its from From Software)
Dead Rising
Demonik (graphics are iffy... but Monolith really kicks ass as a developer)
Ninety-Nine Nights (from that guy who did Meteos, Space Channel 5, Rez, etc.)
Superman Returns

And in Japan... there's... well... Senko no Ronde in 06. But dammit, thats a big one for me.

As for stuff coming out later you got:
Lost Planet, The 3rd in the Radiant Silvergun trilogy, Ninja Gaiden 2, Resident Evil 5, new Wolfenstein, After Burner 360, probably House of the Dead 4, possibly Virtua Fighter 5, Blue Dragon, Fable 2, Jade Empire 2, and... more stuff I probably don't know about.


Mind you, I really am not all that excited about everything I listed... but hey, other people probably are. Personally, I'm hyped about Chromehounds, Senko no Ronde, Lost Planet, new Treasure shmup, Ninja Gaiden 2, After Burner 360, Gears of Ware, Oblivion, Blue Dragon, Fable 2, Jade Empire 2, and Alan Wake. Everything else... eh... looks cool, may check it out.

And with XBox Live Arcade now bringing back score boards and 2D gaming, MS just did a huge f'ing service to those of us on this site.


As for waiting for the PS3... no. Granted, its me, and I got to destroy a Playstation as a Christmas present... so... yeah. Though its my understanding that nvidia even came out and said that the 360 has more potential than the PS3 graphically. Also, most comparisons seem to indicate the two will be really close, so it doesn't really matter which one you get if you're a graphics whore.


Um... as for Xbox360 vs. Saturn... Saturn wins.... Saturn has all of my favorite games ever made (Radiant Silvergun, Taromaru, Souky, Game Tengoku, Hyper Duel, Blast Wind, Guardian Heroes, Panzer Dragoon Trilogy, NiGHTS, etc.), so the Saturn will probably always win.

Now, if G.Rev and Treasure continue to support the 360, I won't say it will never surpass the Dreamcast in my eyes...

[Fighter17]

Mind you, I really am not all that excited about everything I listed... but hey, other people probably are. Personally, I'm hyped about Chromehounds, Senko no Ronde, Lost Planet, new Treasure shmup, Ninja Gaiden 2, After Burner 360, Gears of Ware, Oblivion, Blue Dragon, Fable 2, Jade Empire 2, and Alan Wake. Everything else... eh... looks cool, may check it out.

About those Sega games, I don't know if the 360 can handle it. Those Sega games run on the new Lindbergh arcade board, and the hardware is similar to the PS3 (Nvidia video cards on both machines, etc.). But, we'll see in the future.

[system11]

Really the only game showing what the 360 can do graphically is CoD2, although PGR3 looks pretty. The devs said they could have had that one running at 60fps given time.

I'm very happy with my 360, even NFS:MW which has pretty shitty tearing and frame issues - actually turned out to be amazing for gameplay.

[tiktak]

...

MS bought you;p Personally I will never buy non jp console;p

[subcons]

360 will get interesting in '06. Right now, I really can't justify a reason for dropping the money on one at the moment. The only games that interest me are Call of Duty and PGR, and I can just get my fill of those at a friend's house.

Congrats on getting one though. Geometry Wars 2 is definitely the best few bucks you can spend.

[Valgar]

The 3rd in the Radiant Silvergun trilogy

At the moment there is no evidence for this.

In fact, my favorite bit..

IGN: It's been announced that you're making Xbox 360 games, and we've heard some buzz that your first game for the platform will be 2D. Can you tell us what you can do with 2D games on a powerful system like Xbox 360?

Maegawa: Your information is incorrect.

Also I hope they actually put in online mode for Senko. Because 1P will be stupid.

[Vexorg]

I have to agree that the 360 is starting off slow (I only own the 3 MS-published titles right now, plus several Arcade titles) but there's several I'm interested in coming soon (Full Auto, N3, ad Lost Planet are the ones that look most interesting) and I think it'll pick up steam. To be honest, my 360 isn't getting much use right now (in fact, lately I haven't really been playing games much at all.)

[dave4shmups]

The 3rd in the Radiant Silvergun trilogy

At the moment there is no evidence for this.

In fact, my favorite bit..

IGN: It's been announced that you're making Xbox 360 games, and we've heard some buzz that your first game for the platform will be 2D. Can you tell us what you can do with 2D games on a powerful system like Xbox 360?

Maegawa: Your information is incorrect.

Also I hope they actually put in online mode for Senko. Because 1P will be stupid.

Yeah, I haven't heard of an official name for the Treasure 360 game, either.

But After Burner 360 does look pretty sweet! I thought Geometry Wars came with Project Gotham Racing?

JP, definately try out Kameo at a game store, it's super fun, IMO! Like Peter Moore, I really don't understand why it get's such low and average ratings; it's pure Rare bliss, IMO. And I could play Hexic HD, which comes with the system, for hours!

In any case, I'm glad you're enjoying your 360, JP! Do you have an HDTV, or monitor, to play it on?

[landshark]

I watched my friend play Need For Speed on the 360 for a while. I actually enjoyed WATCHING him play it.

I gave Call of Duty 2 a try as well. I'll *never* **EVER** get used to FPS games without a keyboard and mouse. FPS with control pads is a complete waste of time for me.

[jp]

The 3rd in the Radiant Silvergun trilogy

At the moment there is no evidence for this.

In fact, my favorite bit..

IGN: It's been announced that you're making Xbox 360 games, and we've heard some buzz that your first game for the platform will be 2D. Can you tell us what you can do with 2D games on a powerful system like Xbox 360?

Maegawa: Your information is incorrect.

Also I hope they actually put in online mode for Senko. Because 1P will be stupid.

Hmmm... I never really looked into that. I just took it for face value from what you guys said.


As for the 360 not being able to handle the Sega games.... um... like I said earlier, there really isn't going to be that much of a gap between the PS3 and the 360, if any, and if the PS3 is even as powerful/more powerful. The 360 could probably handle those games fine.

In fact (and I'll provide a link later), Nvidia, who worked on the PS3, even said the 360 had more graphical potential.

[system11]

I watched my friend play Need For Speed on the 360 for a while. I actually enjoyed WATCHING him play it.

I gave Call of Duty 2 a try as well. I'll *never* **EVER** get used to FPS games without a keyboard and mouse. FPS with control pads is a complete waste of time for me.

It's a better system, but it's a huge adjustment. You do lose some aiming accuracy - but you gain much better movement, and dont need to lift+move the mouse because you looked left too many times

Slowly but surely, the reason to use a PC for gaming slips away, much to some fans annoyance. Well, aside from the whole ease of piracy thing.

[Vexorg]

I also saw an interview recently where Hideo Kojima said that the MGS4 demos that have been shown so far would be able to run on the 360 hardware, which leads me to believe that there's going to be little difference in capability between the PS3 and 360...

[landshark]

Slowly but surely, the reason to use a PC for gaming slips away, much to some fans annoyance. Well, aside from the whole ease of piracy thing.

I know - and I hate it. I love PC FPS/RPG gaming over console, especially online.

It's a better system, but it's a huge adjustment. You do lose some aiming accuracy - but you gain much better movement, and dont need to lift+move the mouse because you looked left too many times

I really don't run into that issue. The accuracy is just too much of a benefit for me to toss aside. I've tried many times to get used to the controller, I just can't.

If consoles start regularly supporting a mouse/keyboard combo - I'll be a happy ship jumper.

[nZero]

You do lose some aiming accuracy - but you gain much better movement, and dont need to lift+move the mouse because you looked left too many times

I :: my trackball

[dave4shmups]

I also saw an interview recently where Hideo Kojima said that the MGS4 demos that have been shown so far would be able to run on the 360 hardware, which leads me to believe that there's going to be little difference in capability between the PS3 and 360...

That doesn't surprise me considering that there are plenty of games that are coming out for both platforms: Sonic 15th Anniversary, Killing Day, and the next Armored Core, to name a few.

There is supposed to be a graphically re-done version of Quake II included in 360 Quake IV-has anyone seen or played this yet? Sounds interesting.

[jp]

I also saw an interview recently where Hideo Kojima said that the MGS4 demos that have been shown so far would be able to run on the 360 hardware, which leads me to believe that there's going to be little difference in capability between the PS3 and 360...

That doesn't surprise me considering that there are plenty of games that are coming out for both platforms: Sonic 15th Anniversary, Killing Day, and the next Armored Core, to name a few.

There is supposed to be a graphically re-done version of Quake II included in 360 Quake IV-has anyone seen or played this yet? Sounds interesting.

Quake 2 is included indeed. But I have not played it yet. Still working on Quake 4.


Also, I sold Dead or Alive 4 today and bought Kameo. I think I made the right decision.

[FatCobra]

I'm broke as hell and going back to college.....I don't need some $400 console right now.

[Neo Rasa]

You don't really lose accuracy at all on console-centric FPS because they give the enemy models much looser hit detection or give your weapons better auto-aim to compensate for using an analog stick.

jp unless you're a big fighting fan you definitely made the right decision. I have to echo the comments others have made here about Kameo, I don't understand why it got such a lukewarm reception. Coop is a lot of fun too.

[dave4shmups]

I'm broke as hell and going back to college.....I don't need some $400 console right now.

I may get the Revolution this year, but as far as the 360 and the PS3 go, if I ever get either, it's definately gonna be a while!

[gameoverDude]

About those Sega games, I don't know if the 360 can handle it. Those Sega games run on the new Lindbergh arcade board, and the hardware is similar to the PS3 (Nvidia video cards on both machines, etc.). But, we'll see in the future.

I think the 360 should be able to do very good if not perfect ports from Lindbergh. I've played HotD4, and it doesn't look to be above the 360's capabilities.

The only possible issue could be RAM (Lindbergh = 1 GB, Xbox 360 = 512 MB). Lindbergh is PC hardware like Type-X and Konami's Longhorn (the board in Lethal Enforcers 3/Seigi no Hero).

[system11]

You don't really lose accuracy at all on console-centric FPS because they give the enemy models much looser hit detection or give your weapons better auto-aim to compensate for using an analog stick.

jp unless you're a big fighting fan you definitely made the right decision. I have to echo the comments others have made here about Kameo, I don't understand why it got such a lukewarm reception. Coop is a lot of fun too.

I usually turn autoaim off In PDZ it annoys the hell out of me, it tends to drag your crosshair to the easiest part of a person to hit, body area. This can be annoying if you're looking for the headshot kills, which is all I ever do. When I'm not lurking in the tight areas with a sword anyway - this kills people -fast-.

[Vexorg]

Doesn't Naomi have more RAM than the Dreamcast? They should be able to find ways to work around it.