just got an XBOX

[asphalt-proof]

I'm not a big fan of MS at all but I really wanted to play Halo and Halo2. Besides these games, does anybody else have any game recommendtions? I'm 35 years old and this is my very first game console. I call it "The Grand Experiment" My wife calls it "The Biggest Waste of Time and Money Ever Spent by my Hisband."
We shall see...

[musicpyrite]

My personal favorites are:
- Halo
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
- Need for Speed Underground

And I'm waiting for Halo 2 (with xBox live. yay finally!) and Need for Speed Underground 2.

[rccola70]

I've had an Xbox for a year or so now and here's what I would recommend.


Mech Assault
Ghost Recon (and Island Thunder)
Rainbow Six 3 (and its expansion maybe)
Max Payne
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Fable
Ninja Gaiden
Chronicles of Riddick

and If you like tennis :
Top Spin.

I would wait for Men of Valor and Call of Duty Finest hour.
Mech Assault 2 is also coming out soon, and it is rumored that Half-Life 2 might come out for Xbox..

[Flying Llama]

I've had my XBox for a while and I recommend Midtown Madness 3, Halo, Halo 2 (when it comes out! :D ) , and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (guess i'm not the only one!), also, SWKOTOR 2 will come out on my B-Day December 8th! (i'm turning 13! [yes i know...])

[zelmo]

Good for you! I technically don't have an Xbox yet. I talked my wife into picking me up one for Christmas, 'cos TRU had a bundle I couldn't resist - Xbox, Top Spin Tennis, NCAA Football '05, NFS Hot Pursuit 2, Gotham Racing 2, an Intec racing wheel (PS2/GC/Xbox), and 2 month Xbox Live trial, all for a mere $179.

From what I've read up on and from talking to folks, I'm planning on getting Fable, Halo 2, Prince of Persia 2, and The Bard's Tale (love that Cary Elwes guy).

I love the Wipeout franchise and Burnout 3 on my PS2. Are there any killer arcade-style racers for Xbox?

[HiRez]

If you're a James Bond fan (who isn't?), Everything Or Nothing is supposed to be fantastic. Many call it the best Bond game ever, even over the original Goldeneye 64.

EDIT: If you've never played a console, be prepared to put in a lot of time getting used to the controller. It can be quite a shock coming from using a mouse and keyboard. Aiming in FPS games, specifically, will be painful for some time. But you will get used to it. IMHO it's still not as good as a mouse for aiming but the overall controller experience is great, huge number of buttons and they're more ergonomic than a mouse too (mice have given me RSI problems over the years, game console controllers have not).

[fistful]

I'm actually planning to buy one shortly to play more than anything else Half life 2. from what I know it will be released along side the pc version on the 16th. It doesn't hurt that halo 2, prince of persia: the warrior within and nfsu 2 are just over the horizon. like others all of these games I would recommend.

[savar]

I'm not a big fan of MS at all but I really wanted to play Halo and Halo2. Besides these games, does anybody else have any game recommendtions? I'm 35 years old and this is my very first game console. I call it "The Grand Experiment" My wife calls it "The Biggest Waste of Time and Money Ever Spent by my Hisband."
We shall see...

Wow, I love Halo. After you play through single player, go to www.postpose.com and download Aquaduct so you can play online.

The GTA series is awesome too, you can get GTA3 and Vice City together for about $40...two Halo's and two GTAs will keep you busy for a looooong time.

If you really want to lose your job and family, try out the Hitman series. They're gruesome and intended for older players, but ridiculously addicting if you like strategy.

Target has a bunch of games that come in silver boxes which are the "all-time favorites" (if that term makes sense for a 2-year-old machine) and are all under $30. Can't go wrong with those either.

[iLikeMyiMac]

Well besides Halo the games that I enjoy the most are Splinter Cell:Pandora Tomorrow and RalliSport2.

[GorillaPaws]

Congrats on the x-box. I must say that as much as I hate M$, they certainly have put out the best console system to date IMHO. It's difficult to recomend games not knowing what your preferences are (obvioulsy you like the 1st person shooter genre e.g. Halo2). If you like thinking and plotting out your kills, instead of just running and gunning, The Splnter Cell series is top notch, not just with the gorgeous use of light and shadow, but with the whole stealth style of combat (i.e. you sneak around and take people out by grabbing them, sniping them, setting boobie traps etc.). If you're into the whole roleplaying bit, then Fable's a blast and also look into Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the upcoming sequel. Tiger Woods Golf is a great franchise if you like sports (I myself didn't really care for golf at all until I started playing this game, but be forewarned that it's not a sim), and on the plus side, you may be able to get your wife into it too (my GF doesn't really like many xbox games, but she likes to play TW golf w/ me). The title that I am most eagerly anticipating right now though is Forza Motorsport; it's due out in Feburary, and may well be the best racing simulation ever made. It's MS's answer to the Gran Turismo series that not only features pristine graphics and utra-realistic vehicle physics, but it will have an insane degree of vehicle customization (including paint schemes, body kits, ignition timing, gear ratios, and even engine swaps). But honestly, I think your best bet is to get a game pass from blockbuster, where you can rent as many games as you want for a certain time period (but you can only have one game checked out at a time). Anyways, welcome to the xbox community, best of luck.

[tinydancer]

Can you change resolutions to fill the screen on a 16:9 TV. I have a HD sony 16:9 and would like to fill the screen up with content, rather than just centering a 4:3 view. Anybody know the deal?

[couch potato]

u could try Max Payne 2, although it might be tough to find, as it didnt sell too well. yeah pandora tomorrow is good. its most fun if u have xbox live and can play multiplayer, which is a blast :)

and no Bond game has yet to beat Goldeneye. :p

[Capt Underpants]

If you're used to keyboard and mouse gaming on a computer, get the SmartJoy Frag. (http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=82&products_id=5438) It lets you use a keyboard and mouse with your xbox.

As far as games go, I assume you are a FPS fan. Counter-Strike is $20, and well worth it. I second the Call of Duty: Finest hour recommendation. I don't play anything but FPS's, though, so I can't recommend anything outside of that genre.

[Capt Underpants]

Can you change resolutions to fill the screen on a 16:9 TV. I have a HD sony 16:9 and would like to fill the screen up with content, rather than just centering a 4:3 view. Anybody know the deal?

Yes, you can. The xbox also supports 480p HDTV.

[rccola70]

It also supports 720p and 1080i. You'll need a HDTV adapters though.

[slooksterPSV]

Take this into consideration, play what you think would be fun. I'm 16 and I love playing this game called Ty: The Tasmanian Tiger. I'd like to get Ty 2, but haven't been able to yet. Don't bound yourself to age restrictions on games. Heck on demos I used to play sesame street games, just to try out. Didn't enjoy them because the level of difficulty was too easy.
I'd get Ty and try it out if I were you. Have fun!

[MACDragan]

Star Wars Battlefront

[RubberChicken]

Older...

Halo
Splintercell
Max Payne
Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Metal Gear Solid 2: SUBSTANCE
Turok Evolution


Recent...

Deus Ex: Invisible War
Chronicles of Riddick.
Halo 2

[Xtremehkr]

Driver3 - not a good game to start out with though as the driving is pretty difficult.

Halo - of course, there aren't many people who don't like this game.

Max Payne - another favorite.

Crimson Skies - I liked it.

Various Star Wars games, I haven't bought anything lately though.

[Foxer]

Star Wars: KOTR and Battlefront. I'm a junkie for Star Wars games, but these are both real good. KOTR 2 will be out next month.

[MacRy]

Pretty much everything that everyone else has mentioned so far and if you like football then Pro Evolution 4 is a cracking game.....although if you are one of our American cousins then you probably think that it's called soccer.....in which case you'll have no concept of what it is and won't be interested anyway ;)

[kiwi_the_iwik]

I'd been toying with the idea of getting a PS2 or an XBox - in the end, I recently went for the PS2, as EA Sports made a BRILLIANT Cricket game (Cricket 2004).

There were no plans to port it over to the XBox, so I had no choice...

Since then, along with Cricket 2004, I've bought:

Battlestar Galactica
Star Wars: Battlefront
Driv3r
Rugby 2004
Athens 2004
Shark Tale (for my little 4 year old - honest!)
Toca Race Driver 2

I'm going to stop now...

;)

[benpatient]

I'm actually planning to buy one shortly to play more than anything else Half life 2. from what I know it will be released along side the pc version on the 16th.

I am going to have to burst your bubble, dude.

No HL2 for the x-box for a WHILE, seriously.

and it won't exactly be the same experience.

unless you play HL2 on a P3 633mhz with a Geforce 3 MX and 128 MB of RAM at 640x480 or so, and you're farsighted (so the monitor is as blurry as an x-box on a TV). In that case, you'd probably have the same experience on the XBox as on the PC...except of course that you'd be stuck trying to aim with a controller instead of a mouse, like it should be.

well, good luck with that one. I'll be playing HL2 in just over a week...woooooohooooo.

[madmaxmedia]

I love the Wipeout franchise and Burnout 3 on my PS2. Are there any killer arcade-style racers for Xbox?

There's a pretty good hovercraft style racer called Quantum Redshift, it has pretty awesome graphics and can be found for probably $10 or so. Sega just came out with OutRun2 for Xbox, the original Outrun was a fun arcade racer (that was actually an arcade game.) Rallisport Challenge (1 or 2) is a fun rally racing game, that is sort of between arcade and sim (not hard to pick up and play and not too bogged down in details.)

Overall there are a lot of great deals to be had for a new XBox owner.

[asphalt-proof]

I rented Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and am impressed. The controller does take getting used to but as mentioned before, very ergonomic. Plus with so many buttons it really expands the gaming experience. by the way, thanks for the heads up on the mouse/keyboard adaptors. That can really make a FPS rock!
I have never been sold on a game console system. But ahving played on all weekend I can see me giving up my PC and going with a Mac comp and a console for games. In some ways this really extends the usable life of my Mac. Plus they are so cheap compared to a computer. If you can't tell I'm really excited. I feel like I just discovered orgasms. (Can I write this in the forums?)

[slooksterPSV]

Glad we could help. Give up your PC and go with a Mac. It'll be the best decision of your life since you are getting a console (or have one).

[slooksterPSV]

There's a pretty good hovercraft style racer called Quantum Redshift, it has pretty awesome graphics and can be found for probably $10 or so. Sega just came out with OutRun2 for Xbox, the original Outrun was a fun arcade racer (that was actually an arcade game.) Rallisport Challenge (1 or 2) is a fun rally racing game, that is sort of between arcade and sim (not hard to pick up and play and not too bogged down in details.)

Overall there are a lot of great deals to be had for a new XBox owner.
I have this one racing game and its awesome. Its like Rally Sport Challenge. I love it, its so reallistic looking.

[Village]

Don't forget to check Half.com first for older titles. Between my Gamecube and PS2 I have 10 or so games, and all but Mario Kart DD were purchased for less than $15 on Half. The consoles are cheap but the top shelf titles will get ya!

[howard]

if you are interested in trying out an RPG and don't want to walk out of your house for the next few weeks try Fable.

[fistful]

I am going to have to burst your bubble, dude.

No HL2 for the x-box for a WHILE, seriously.

and it won't exactly be the same experience.

unless you play HL2 on a P3 633mhz with a Geforce 3 MX and 128 MB of RAM at 640x480 or so, and you're farsighted (so the monitor is as blurry as an x-box on a TV). In that case, you'd probably have the same experience on the XBox as on the PC...except of course that you'd be stuck trying to aim with a controller instead of a mouse, like it should be.

well, good luck with that one. I'll be playing HL2 in just over a week...woooooohooooo.

well that's what I thought but this (http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10041758&logon=&langid=EN&dept=15&WLBS=fsweb23) tells me otherwise. I guess I'll just have to wait on it to find out if it does in fact come out on the 16th or if this store just jumped the gun.

Sure I would rather play it on a pc but it could take me at least two years before I buy another pc, if ever. So unless I want to wait a few years to play it, playing the xbox version is my only option.

[kparvez]

I'm not a big fan of MS at all but I really wanted to play Halo and Halo2. Besides these games, does anybody else have any game recommendtions? I'm 35 years old and this is my very first game console. I call it "The Grand Experiment" My wife calls it "The Biggest Waste of Time and Money Ever Spent by my Hisband."
We shall see...

It depends on what genres you prefer. I have about 13 Xbox games, and before I bought any of those games (save Halo) i rented them first. I suggest you rent a game before buy. My favorite games: Halo 2, Halo, dead or alive 3 (you can get DOA ultimate, which uses xbox live), James Bond:Nightfire.

[benpatient]

FistfulofAngst, that site is totally guessing, and they happen to be wrong. Sadly, I've spent upwards of 1-2 hours a a day for the last year and a half keeping myself fully aware of all things HL2.

and the x-box version's development won't reallystart until the PC version is done. Since the PC version went gold about 3-4 weeks ago, I'd say you've got at least 6 months before HL2 makes it to x-box...and I think I'm being optimistic, there.

there were several hundred online retailers saying that they would get copies of HL2 in stock "within 2 weeks" in the middle of september, 2003...they were very insistent...you could even call EB games and they would tell you that the game was on schedule for delivery...and then 2 days later it was delayed indefinitely.

HL2 will come to xbox...but not in 2004.

sorry. find a buddy with a computer less than 2 years old and enjoy the ride.

[savar]

But honestly, I think your best bet is to get a game pass from blockbuster, where you can rent as many games as you want for a certain time period (but you can only have one game checked out at a time).

I don't think anybody mentioned it yet, but XBox is awesome for renting video games because all of your saved games go to your hard drive...not like the old game rentals where stuff was stored on the game's RAM chip. I rented Splinter Cell for a few days, played half of it, then got it two weeks later and picked up right where I left off. Totally awesome. XBox is incredible, and I really hate MS, so that's saying something.