Xbox 360 Review

[Bubbasteve]

I just wanted to know from the owners of an Xbox 360 what your take on it is so far. Is it worth the money? Is it as noisy as people are claiming? Is it as noisy as the Dreamcast? How many times has it crashed on you?

[GFLPraxis]

Not a 360 owner, but I wanted to make a point about the crashing thing. AS I UNDERSTAND IT (and I may be wrong), the crashing is in defective overheating units. Either your system will crash all the time (unless you take extra steps to keep it cool, like suspending the power supply in the air), or it won't crash at all (or hardly).

[eva01]

My dreamcast isn't that noisy :eek:

[getbigg21]

i have had my xbox 360 since launch day and i love it. i have been playing it over and over. i haven't had any problems with it. it is definately worth the money.

[buryyourbrideau]

Totally worth the money if you have an HDTV set.

still pretty cool even if you dont but the graphics wont look nearly as good and might even disappoint.

it is kinda noisy and does get pretty warm in the back.

but i have played it for about 6 hours straight once and it hasn't crashed some im sure its ok.

[evoluzione]

friend of mine just got one, and i am quite amazed actually. i never bothered buying a ps2 as i had a dreamcast, that was as good as, if not better than the ps2 in my opinion, until fairly recently that is.

having seen the xbox 360, i have to admit, i would love to own one, and i don't play consoles often, like, a couple times a year maybe.

it's actually very slick, the user interface etc, m$ gamers developers section is obviously not too tied to the main company. if longhorn was as smooth, easy to use, and graphically pleasing as the xbox, os x would be under some competition...

[kwajo.com]

did I just hear a Dreamcast diss? you leave my baby alone ya hear! ;)


seriously though, my Dreamcast was less noisy than my xbox

[TheGimp]

totally worth the money. this coming from a cynic who cancelled his preorder months before after seeing several trailers and gameplay footage videos.

don't deprive yourself of fun if you're the type to get excited over fun games with lots more detail and even more features and control buttons.

games owned:
PGR3
PDZ
kameo demo

owned but unopened:
condemned

plan to buy:
call of duty 2
Need for Speed or Ridge Racer

[mkrishnan]

did I just hear a Dreamcast diss? you leave my baby alone ya hear! ;)


seriously though, my Dreamcast was less noisy than my xbox

Hey, I <3<3<3 my Dreamcast. Panzer Dragoon Saga was teh r0XX3rz and NiGHTS k1ck3d. :)

[Orlando Furioso]

The console is quite noisy. I visited a friend a couple nights ago who was playing Perfect Dark. It was not until he powered down the XBox that I noticed all the noise in the room was from it alone. I was completely shocked since it's regular sound levels were higher than my G5 PM (which, sits near my desk at ear level).

Comments about having an HD television are dead on. The graphics are disappointing on a regular SD set. Things look stretched, text looks awful, border/edges are cropped out. Just, bleh.

Although the added resolution of the HD screen helped to improve image quality, it was still lackluster overall. Further, at 720p there was noticeable staggering during game-play and streaks appeared during any horizontal movements (looking back and forth readily shows this). 1080i eliminated the streaking for the most part, but had the added problem of cropping out part of the viewing area (where the character vitals and ammo count was displayed). Definitely, not good.

Load times were annoying.... but they were nothing compared to the Save times. Unacceptable. Unfortunately the only game I was able to play was Perfect dark and it may not reflect average gameplay on the 360.

Most of the things I did enjoy in the game were the nice touches like soft shadows, subtle lighting, particles and "dust" like things which I suppose add to the environment's ambience. I'm sure this is where the extra processing power is going. There is a nice blur effect when looking around with your character. I found it to be neat.

As much time as I'm sure they spent on these nice touches, I wish the game developer would have been a bit more careful over other aspects of the game. For example, there are times when the character will pass through solid objects when taking cover. It was distracting and looked bad. Since "taking cover" is a distinct (and presumably important) part of the game, which are all individually animated and coded for, there is no excuse for sloppy work during these moments. Especially since moving into and out of cover is out of the players control. Since the movement is out of my control, I am forced to instead watch and wait until I regain control. I'm totally focused on the visuals now (awaiting my cue to continue), and any visual anomaly (like a character's back or head clipping-through a wall/crate) will stick out like Osama in the middle of a children's' play.

Anywho, Im interested in seeing what other experiences are before deciding which console to purchase. I for one will most likely wait until they all come out before choosing. The Xbox360 is sorely disappointing and "next-gen" it definitely is NOT.

[Josh396]

EDIT: Double post. My bad.

[Josh396]

I don't own one but I've played one at my friends. After playing some mad CoD I have to say I'm impressed. I thought the graphics were great and I didn't really notice any noise from the 360. However that could have been because I had the surround sound on full blast and was fully immersed in the game.

[Josh396]

How do the games look without a HDTV? I have a HDTV at home but at college I have a normal television.

[0s and 1s]

I love my 360. I haven't had any issues with the system and it looks great on my HDTV. Of course, it IS loud as hell, but the surround sound does a great job of overpowering the noise.

[MacNoobie]

My dreamcast isn't that noisy :eek:

Do you live in a sound proof room?

I've got it on top of my high def tv and I cant hear the fans on the 360. Maybe it doesnt help having my mac on, the rackmounts behind me on while I listen for the fans on the 360.

[buryyourbrideau]

The console is quite noisy. I visited a friend a couple nights ago who was playing Perfect Dark. It was not until he powered down the XBox that I noticed all the noise in the room was from it alone. I was completely shocked since it's regular sound levels were higher than my G5 PM (which, sits near my desk at ear level).

Comments about having an HD television are dead on. The graphics are disappointing on a regular SD set. Things look stretched, text looks awful, border/edges are cropped out. Just, bleh.

Although the added resolution of the HD screen helped to improve image quality, it was still lackluster overall. Further, at 720p there was noticeable staggering during game-play and streaks appeared during any horizontal movements (looking back and forth readily shows this). 1080i eliminated the streaking for the most part, but had the added problem of cropping out part of the viewing area (where the character vitals and ammo count was displayed). Definitely, not good.

Load times were annoying.... but they were nothing compared to the Save times. Unacceptable. Unfortunately the only game I was able to play was Perfect dark and it may not reflect average gameplay on the 360.

Most of the things I did enjoy in the game were the nice touches like soft shadows, subtle lighting, particles and "dust" like things which I suppose add to the environment's ambience. I'm sure this is where the extra processing power is going. There is a nice blur effect when looking around with your character. I found it to be neat.

As much time as I'm sure they spent on these nice touches, I wish the game developer would have been a bit more careful over other aspects of the game. For example, there are times when the character will pass through solid objects when taking cover. It was distracting and looked bad. Since "taking cover" is a distinct (and presumably important) part of the game, which are all individually animated and coded for, there is no excuse for sloppy work during these moments. Especially since moving into and out of cover is out of the players control. Since the movement is out of my control, I am forced to instead watch and wait until I regain control. I'm totally focused on the visuals now (awaiting my cue to continue), and any visual anomaly (like a character's back or head clipping-through a wall/crate) will stick out like Osama in the middle of a children's' play.

Anywho, Im interested in seeing what other experiences are before deciding which console to purchase. I for one will most likely wait until they all come out before choosing. The Xbox360 is sorely disappointing and "next-gen" it definitely is NOT.

wow. you definitely dont know what you are talking about. you played ONE game and you dont even own the console. other developers make DIFFERENT games, which are better than PDZ. give it a chance before you hate. :mad:

[Rivix]

I'll be waiting for the Revolution, then will choose between Ps3 and 360.

[Orlando Furioso]

wow. you definitely dont know what you are talking about. you played ONE game and you dont even own the console. other developers make DIFFERENT games, which are better than PDZ. give it a chance before you hate. :mad:

haha. and the zealot 360 fan comes out of the woodwork. I can assure you that I DO know what I was talking about because it comes directly from my experience. I also admitted it was based off of my limited time with ONE game, and further stated that it [probably] does NOT reflect average gameplay. My friend did demo other games, but I was not impressed with those either. I chose not to mention them in my post since I did not physically play them myself. Aside that, I was just reporting what I observed.

I was planning on purchasing a console of my own, but am now wary about making a haste decision based off of this experience. Any negative tone is most likely due to my disappointment with the console so far. The current offerings lack polish and were probably rushed to make a Holiday appearance.

[Winstonp]

i think its way overated, and I find the controller to be complicated and limiting.

Most of the launch titles are bad...with a few exceptions.

Fortunatly, I intend on selling it 2 weeks before xmas on ebay.

I'd wait...just wait until all three consoles to be released and pick the best.

[Lacero]

HardOCP has a fairly extensive review. No mention of crashes or overheating.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=ODk3


Here's to the Crazy Ones http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35452 (http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/movies/think-different.mov)

[Mechcozmo]

I'm a bit worried myself about the "No HD-DVD drive" thing... sounds like Microsoft will screw over a bunch of people when the "HD-DVD equipped" ones emerge.

[p0intblank]

I'm a bit worried myself about the "No HD-DVD drive" thing... sounds like Microsoft will screw over a bunch of people when the "HD-DVD equipped" ones emerge.

That's the thing, though. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are still a ways off from becoming the standard like DVD finally is. We don't even know which one WILL be the standard, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. I think using DVDs right now is just fine; no big deal.

As for the 360, yes I think it is worth the money. I don't own one myself, but a friend brough over his Thanksgiving night. We played Quake 4, NfS: Most Wanted and Call of Duty 2. Q4 and NfS didn't really impress me all that much, but CoD2 did. It wasn't amaing, but it's nice to finally have PC graphics on a console, AA and all. And plus I own a 30" HDTV, so it looked wonderful. I am getting a 360 soon, I just don't know when. When I do get one, I'll definitely be getting PGR3. Now THAT should impress me. :D

[bigdz68]

Hi,

Currently I have played about halfway thru Call of Duty 2 on a 36" Sony Digital (not HD) and find the system to be awesome. The fans are kind of loud...actually the loudest thing in the room, but when you have it hooked up to surround sound system, you really dont hear it at all.

No crashes (yet...fingers crossed) and I really actually like the controls and the added extra buttons above the triggers. Although I do tend to fat finger them every so often and toss a grenade at the wrong time.

I got mine on pre-order that Best Buy happened to run with a package. I had to buy a bunch of extra stuff (most of which I returned) but I didnt have to wait in line like many did. Just went right on Tuesday afternoon and it was waiting behind the counter.

I also bought Quake 4 but have not played it yet. I am extremely happy with this system but Im sure I will be even happier when I do get it hooked up to a High Definition system. I like the user interface and the menus the system has set up. Very easy to work with. I have not jumped on XBOX Live yet, but plan to do so in the future.

I will also probably pick up the PS3 down the road to play with that also as Im a big console fan, but this fills the void when Im not playing World of Warcraft on my G5!

I was kind of upset about the backwards compatibility issues though. The release night I finally had time to play Battlefront II with a friend and we played it on my Halo edition XBOX since it would not run on the 360. The screen said the game couldn't run at this time but updates may be available in the future. Who knows if that is true, but that was kind of a dissapointment. Oh and by the way, Battlefront II is damn fun! We spent the whole night going thru that game and had some good times!

OK end of my review...sorry for the diarrhea of the keyboard! :D
Peace
Dave

[MacRumorUser]

From looking at the surpising amount of posters reacting negativly to owner and potential owner of the 360 since the topics started on the forums :-

What I really don't understand is this brand loyalty to Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo. All the systems currently available have some excellent games and by adopting this pointless 'fan boy' attitude and dissing anybody with other hardware is entirely banal and fruitless.

I have been playing video games since the Atari 2600 and have had pretty much every format going since, currently i own a panasonic Q (fancy GC), PS2 (both fat and slim), Xbox, PSP, DS, GBA, and hopefully soon a 360.

Alongside my Powermac, Powerbook and Dell PC.

I don't subscribe to brand loyalty as Sony or Apple are not suddenly going to turn up on my door and award me a 42" Plasma or a quad powermac simply because I refuse to buy anyone elses products and devout my life to ripping the ***** out of anyone who does so. Seriously what does any company give you to make you do that?

I realise a lot of people can only afford one system, but you don't need to legitimise and reassure yourself that you purchased the right one by posting crap after crap about the competition.

Best games I have in my collection include Zelda WindWaker & Minish Cup, Ico, Rez, Halo 2, Beyond Good N Evil, Mario Kart DS, Shadow of the Collosus, Lumines & Mercury.. along side many more and the point being they are on different formats and by restricting yourself to brand loyalty you miss out on those fantastic games.

I will be getting a 360, PS3 & Revolution.

[Vster]

I love my 360! I love that it finally utilizes the capabilities of my HDTV. Unfortunately I only have 1 game right now (Ridge Racer) due to my wife's "kung fu grip" on the credit card, but I'm still having fun.

Luckily mine hasn't crashed at all and doesn't seem to get to hot. And when a game disc spins up it get a little loud, but no where near as loud as when my precious dreamcast does.

All in all I think its a great system and I can't wait to get back to playing it!:D

[kuyu]

I love mine. It's a great system all around, and beats the pants off of the old xbox and ps2. The menus are slick and the extra features really make it a complete entertainment device. Live Arcade is the coolest feature I never knew I needed. Watching game trailers, movie trailers, downloading arcade games and free game demos is such an awesome addition.

The graphics and sound are way better than current consoles. But I have an HDTV, so I don't know what it looks like on standard def. The sound quality is ten-fold better than the xbox. Screenshots and movies cannot capture the beauty of motion blur and depth of field. Things in the distance move as they should in real life. This is huge and makes it look so much more realistic.

Streaming music from my computer upstairs during any game is very cool too. But the "killer app" everyone's looking for is xbox Live. I had live for a while with the old xbox, and it kind of sucked. Live 360 is very different, and hands down the best part of the system. The fact that it's centralized makes it easy to see what your friends are doing no matter what game they're playing.

The system is noisy while playing games, but you can't hear it while any music is on. During menu/arcade/movies it's practically silent. And turning the console on/off with the controller from accross the room is the best idea ever.

So it's not perfect. If you don't have HDTV or surround sound, buy those first. Also, the console is kind of boring without live so make sure you've got broadband too. If you already have this stuff go buy one ASAP. Oh yeah, PGR3 is the best game I've played yet. It's better than GT4 and the graphics are absolutely sick. Better than Half Life 2, by a longshot.

[Sutekidane]

did I just hear a Dreamcast diss? you leave my baby alone ya hear! ;)


seriously though, my Dreamcast was less noisy than my xbox

Many dreamcast system have noisy lasers, not fans though. I have 3 dreamcast systems, are they all are very very noisy when reading disc. Best console ever though. ^_^

[Sutekidane]

Hey, I <3<3<3 my Dreamcast. Panzer Dragoon Saga was teh r0XX3rz and NiGHTS k1ck3d. :)

lol... those are both sega saturn games....

[MacRumorUser]

lol... those are both sega saturn games....

Lol.. Mmm I wonder why both the saturn and dreamcast failed. Ws it because people didn't know what system they even had :D

On a serious note, the dreamcast was a great machine and ahead of its time. 60hz option on nearly all pal games (most ps2 games still don't offer this). Even graphically it wasn't that much different to ps2. Just Sony are so much better at hype than Sega and it's exactly the same game sony are playing against the 360. Showing off fancy tech demos and video footage and keeping actual gameplay footage secret and still convincing people that it will be twice as powerful as the xbox 360... Only fools believe... I'm sure it will have some great games but thats it.

[Bubbasteve]

I mean there is no doubt I will be buying it but I just want to make sure I'm not buying into a piece of crap.... like Josh396 asked, how are the graphics without an HDTV?

[mkrishnan]

lol... those are both sega saturn games....

Ooops, what the @#$# did I buy my Dreamcast for, then? :D Hmmm... Sonic Adventure? Oh, and House of the Dead II.

[saunders45]

Further, at 720p there was noticeable staggering during game-play and streaks appeared during any horizontal movements (looking back and forth readily shows this). 1080i eliminated the streaking for the most part, but had the added problem of cropping out part of the viewing area (where the character vitals and ammo count was displayed).

Dude, it's a motion blur effect. It is supposed to do that, duh.

Load times were annoying.... but they were nothing compared to the Save times. Unacceptable. Unfortunately the only game I was able to play was Perfect dark and it may not reflect average gameplay on the 360.


Load times compared to what? COD2 loads faster than it does on a PC. Most load times are <10 seconds.

[AP_piano295]

I love my 360! I love that it finally utilizes the capabilities of my HDTV. Unfortunately I only have 1 game right now (Ridge Racer) due to my wife's "kung fu grip" on the credit card, but I'm still having fun.

Luckily mine hasn't crashed at all and doesn't seem to get to hot. And when a game disc spins up it get a little loud, but no where near as loud as when my precious dreamcast does.

All in all I think its a great system and I can't wait to get back to playing it!:D

LMAO

[AP_piano295]

I mean there is no doubt I will be buying it but I just want to make sure I'm not buying into a piece of crap.... like Josh396 asked, how are the graphics without an HDTV?

I have actually played or even seen one of these yet but I think the answer is not as good as your expecting. Graphics can only get so good with the terrible resolution of a tv screen. I personally whould never get one without an HDTV but thats up to you.

[risc]

Just Sony are so much better at hype than Sega and it's exactly the same game sony are playing against the 360. Showing off fancy tech demos and video footage and keeping actual gameplay footage secret and still convincing people that it will be twice as powerful as the xbox 360... Only fools believe... I'm sure it will have some great games but thats it.

If Sony are better at Sega at hype where does that put Nintendo? Nothing at all has been shown of the Revolution other than the controller, and people still think it will be the best thing ever. Shiet with all of the people here talking about how good HD is on the 360 (and how pointless it is to buy if you don't have HDtV) I'm amazed people still think it doesn't matter for the Revolution, just another case of Nintendo being the best game marketing company ever.

I'm not sure about any of the nextgen consoles myself yet, I'm kind of caught up in the idea of preordering a Xbox 360 (they come out in 3 months here) mainly for Xbox live arcade that looks sweet as!

[buryyourbrideau]

I have actually played or even seen one of these yet but I think the answer is not as good as your expecting. Graphics can only get so good with the terrible resolution of a tv screen. I personally whould never get one without an HDTV but thats up to you.

i have a non HDTV, i have a 27 inch symphonic flat screen with component cable hookups and the graphics are still pretty decent. component is the key since it splits the video into 3 instead of one, so it tops s - video. if you have component cables then you should be all good. just not the best.

[Mechcozmo]

I'm leaving this for posterity... Why?
1. Warning to not post at 0031 when you were up until 400 the night... er... day before
2. I sometimes botch things up too. You all can't be mostly-perfect like me, ya hear? ;)


i have a non HDTV, i have a 27 inch symphonic flat screen with component cable hookups and the graphics are still pretty decent. component is the key since it splits the video into 3 instead of one, so it tops s - video. if you have component cables then you should be all good. just not the best.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Component has three cables. One video, two for audio (stereo sound). A S-Video cable has something like 9 cables inside it for carrying video ALONE! It doesn't carry audio. Thus, you need S-video + component audio for a good picture. There are ways to do better however and I'm not going to bother going into them since I forgot some of the jargon. But S-Video IS better than component because component doesn't all carry video. (1 video, 2 audio vs. ~9 video)

[buryyourbrideau]

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Component has three cables. One video, two for audio (stereo sound). A S-Video cable has something like 9 cables inside it for carrying video ALONE! It doesn't carry audio. Thus, you need S-video + component audio for a good picture. There are ways to do better however and I'm not going to bother going into them since I forgot some of the jargon. But S-Video IS better than component because component doesn't all carry video. (1 video, 2 audio vs. ~9 video)

component has 5 cables, composite has 3

composite has red yellow and white. red and white audio and yellow video.

component has red white- audio and red blue green for video.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6139690/index.html

[clayj]

Mechcozmo's explanation was one of the most misleading I've ever seen...

Component video = 3 video cables (red, green, blue)
is better than
S-video = 1 cable with a several conductors, but the colors are NOT split out
is better than
Composite video = 1 video cable (yellow plug)

and

Optical audio = 1 Toslink optical connector
is better than
RCA audio = 2 connectors (red, white)

The best overall result is with the HD AV kit using the component video connectors (red, green, blue) AND purchasing a Toslink cable to run your audio optically... this will allow full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (using RCA audio only allows stereo sound, not surround).

[mkrishnan]

Mechcozmo is good people, but true that. There's lots of confusion between component and composite video. As Mr. Clay said, component video is the best option short of a VGA (probably) or DVI (definitely) cable.

[0s and 1s]

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Component has three cables. One video, two for audio (stereo sound). A S-Video cable has something like 9 cables inside it for carrying video ALONE! It doesn't carry audio. Thus, you need S-video + component audio for a good picture. There are ways to do better however and I'm not going to bother going into them since I forgot some of the jargon. But S-Video IS better than component because component doesn't all carry video. (1 video, 2 audio vs. ~9 video)

http://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/data2/images/BUS/100/801/0764518011.jpg

You....you had me at component....

[Piarco]

http://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/data2/images/BUS/100/801/0764518011.jpg

You....you had me at component....

LOL....awesome!:D

We're beginning to here things over here in Blighty that the second wave of 360's to hit distribution will be in 7 to 14 days of the initial release - allegedly this is down to MS's strategy so that there is a consistant supply rather than an initial hit then nothing. Of course it doesn't say how may 360's will be in each wave......
It got my hopes up for a little whilst though!

[Mechcozmo]

Mechcozmo's explanation was one of the most misleading I've ever seen...

Component video = 3 video cables (red, green, blue)
is better than
S-video = 1 cable with a several conductors, but the colors are NOT split out
is better than
Composite video = 1 video cable (yellow plug)

and

Optical audio = 1 Toslink optical connector
is better than
RCA audio = 2 connectors (red, white)

The best overall result is with the HD AV kit using the component video connectors (red, green, blue) AND purchasing a Toslink cable to run your audio optically... this will allow full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (using RCA audio only allows stereo sound, not surround).

Thanks for correcting me, I'm sorry. I was confused between component and composite. :(
At least I was right about S-video not carrying audio and I learned something new about component and composite.

Mechcozmo is good people, but true that. There's lots of confusion between component and composite video. As Mr. Clay said, component video is the best option short of a VGA (probably) or DVI (definitely) cable.

Thanks for the understanding of my screwup. I think I'm understanding correctly, at least.

[Mechcozmo]

http://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/data2/images/BUS/100/801/0764518011.jpg

You....you had me at component....

More like...

[ReanimationLP]

Lol.. Mmm I wonder why both the saturn and dreamcast failed. Ws it because people didn't know what system they even had :D

On a serious note, the dreamcast was a great machine and ahead of its time. 60hz option on nearly all pal games (most ps2 games still don't offer this). Even graphically it wasn't that much different to ps2. Just Sony are so much better at hype than Sega and it's exactly the same game sony are playing against the 360. Showing off fancy tech demos and video footage and keeping actual gameplay footage secret and still convincing people that it will be twice as powerful as the xbox 360... Only fools believe... I'm sure it will have some great games but thats it.

Funny thing about that. The Dreamcast had a 2x the VRAM then the PS2. This p***ed a lot of developers off when they went to port their games from the nice 8MB dedicated VRAM, 2 MB of sound RAM, and 16 MB of main RAM to 4 MB of VRAM and 32 MB of shared RAM.