My Wee XBox 360 Queries

[Pete Wells]

Hmm, that doesn't work as well as Trout's Wii thread title but here we go. I'm finally having to accept that PC gaming is on the way out -  it's nearly May and the only games I've bought are Turning Point (rubbish) and Assassin's Creed (beautiful), so I'm finally going to get myself an XBox. Plus, I really want GTA4 and it'll probably be months before it hits the PC, if ever. My stoopid questions are:

- What's the difference between the different types of console (Elite, Arcade etc.)

- Why do some have a hard drive?

- Very imporant this, I've got a wonderfully huge flatscreen monitor for my PC, can I hook it up to that?

- Can I browse the interweb on it?

- What are the bestest games for it?

Cheers folks,

Pete.

[Tweak72]

the 360 can have a 20Gb hard drive (which I recommend you do DO NOT GO CORE GO PRO OR ELITE) so you can download stuff like demos, games & swap saved game info on Xbox live (like better cars you can â??lend' to your friends in driving games for them to have a spin in for example) if you only have the core system it turns in to a big pile of poo.

An Elite has a BIGGER hard drive (120Gb) and more importantly has a more sexy mat black finish :)

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360" target="_blank">Wiki

[Tweak72]

Or look at it like this: Do you want to be one of the cool kids or a loser?http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comics/20050914.jpg">

[Darren Stephens]

It is possible to hook that monitor up to it. You may need a different cable than the one bunged in the box. The only problem with that is that pc monitors dont generally have speakers, so you have to think about that. I had mine hooked up to a little 2.1 system. You cant currently browse the web on it. Games? What are you into? At the moment im playing Burnout, COD4 and of course Halo 3, all excellent games IMO.

[philt]

I don't want this to diverge off to an X-box vs PS3 discussion but are you really sure you want to buy one of these?

The PS3 is a much more powerful, much more versatile machine. Even if you ignore the fact that the PS3 comes with a blu ray player, can upscale your DVD's, has HD built in, can be expanded with bog standard external hard drives, can be used (with an adapter) as a PVR, can run Linux, can be used as a media server, supports bluetooth devices and the rest (playing Divx discs as well for pete sake) plus the fact that it has eroded any lead the X-box 360 had in games I just can see any reason for buying a 360 other than on pric. I can see why people would by a Wii not the X-box.  I know this isn't based on anything other than my gut feel and I hope no-one takes offence.

[Keef Monkey]

I concur, the hard drive option is the only way to go. At first you might not think you'd need the space but it fills up faster than you'd think.

You can't browse the net as such, but there's the live marketplace which is where you can get demos, videos, rent movies etc. It's business class and really easy to use (I can do it)!

Never connected to a PC monitor myself but have a friend who does itso he can play games while his wife watches telly, so I know it can be done. Plus, as far as I can gather that's HD right?

As for games, it depends what you're into. My favourites are the "Condemned" games, if you like horror these are the most genuinely terrifying games out there, and the first one is well cheap. For online gaming the busiest games are Halo 3 and Gears Of War, I hate Halo personally but Gears is great fun if you play it through with a mate online. Oh, and BIOSHOCK BIOSHOCK BIOSHOCK BUY-OSHOCK. It's not quite as amazing as people will lead you to believe but it's damn close which is good enough.

What sort of games you into anyway?

[WoD]

The 360 upscales DVDs IIRC.  LIVE is good.  The 360 has more in the way of additional downloads for games (at the minute at least) and at the minute several multi-format games work better on the 360, but I expect that will change shortly.  The only downside for the 360 for me is the noise of the bloody thing, and apparently the PS3 is more hushed.

Both machines have their own exclusives, but again these seem to be less these days than before.

[Satanist]

Dead Rising is an oldie but a goody. You should be able to get it second hand for a tenner. Its like playing Dawn of the Dead.

Gears of War is great - I just finished this last week.

Cannae wait for GTA IV.

[Roger Godpleton]

COD 4 online is essential, I prefer it to Halo 3, but both are excellent.

Virtua Tennis 3 is cheap now and it will provide many hours of entertainment.

Burnout Paradise.

[Tweak72]

Two words
Xbox Live

[Something Fishy]

The pro is the best bet unless your going to download loads and go for loads of media.

BTW: look at Eurogamers 360 V PS3 comparison for an objective view of PS3's perceived power.  It is not more powerful than 360 and has yet to outperform it (own both myself).  There's really nothing the spec that suggests it will (I'm been comparing and discussing this for a long time being a techie).  

Don't think Kojima would be blaming the archtitecture of the PS3 for MGS4 not looking so great if it was so powerful (read C&VG for that one).

It hasn't eroded 360's lead in games either.  the latter is still well ahead.

For the price v performance 360 is still best.

For a good media device that can also run linux and a Blu Ray player,w ith a growing library but at a pice.  PS3 - bear in mind it is not b/c though, hence it's price cut.

[Something Fishy]

forgot to say, the 360's online servce kills the PSN.  The latter beign a joke if you just want to hop on, see what friends are doing and hop into a game with them.

It is free though, you get what you pay for.

Oh and the likes of Mass Effect, Bioshock, Halo 3, Crackdown, Viva Pinata and the wealth fo good Live Arcade stuff (i could go on) etc suggest anyone saying they can see no reason are either biased or haven't ever played one.

[philt]

Played both. Own a PS3. I never claimed lack of bias. Blu-ray, upscaling DVD, media streaming and a killer games console plus a PVR just around the corner.

What sums up the X-box 360 for me are two things. How unreliable they are and the fact that Microsoft backed HD DVD - which was the obvious looser from the outset.

The X-box 360 is a PC in a fancy box, with some internet connectivity and bugger all else.  The PS3 was designed specifically from the ground up as a games console. But there's no arguing with fanboys. Enjoy your 360 - well for as long as it works anyway.

[Something Fishy]

that's a fanboy calling a fanboy a fanboy.

lol

you mentioned the failure of a media format that was only an add-on.. and thus has no impact the console and it's customers (apart from the three who bought one).

Unreliable, until the falcon that's true but it's a heck fo a lot better and , for me, to dismiss a great games library out of hand is very fanboyish in itself.

The 360 is not a PC in a box.  When it was released, how many PC's came with a bespoke GPU (superior to the RSX) and a triple core Power PC CPU?  that'll be none.

It's no more standard than the PS3.  Thef act is no they got the architecture better suited to games and got a fantastic set of dev tools in place (have you used XNA?) that greatly eased development.

It's easier to argue that the PS3 is just  Blu Ray player masquerading as a console, as that appeared to be their main focus, hence the dire performance of so many games.

Cross platform development is easy for it as it was designed specially as a games console that is easy to develop for and port to.

You are right there is no arguing with you.

I'm sorry but your response isn't a reasonaed comparison , it's just an attempt to mask opinion as fact with little/no substance to back it up.

Personally, I shall enjoy all three of my consoles and their games as I am open minded enough to do so.

[Tex Hex]

Beware the red ring of death!

This problem seems much more widespread than MS will have you believe; two of my friends have experienced it (myself being the exception - mine's only a month old!). They all had launch systems though and since then the components have been made smaller and less power consuming,  resulting in less heat.

My advice: make sure you are getting a recent model, the most recent being the "falcon" board.

As for the games: CoD4 is awesome, online and off, The orange box is amazing too (though some of it will be old news to a lot of you). I'm enjoying Halo 3 but not nearly as much as I hoped. If you haven't played Oblivion and like RPGs then I would consider it essential.

Plus, you can now download Ikaruga, the greatest 2d shooter evah!

-hex