Convince me to buy an XBox 360

The Game Room
1

Whelp, I’ve been divorced from console gaming for about five years now.

The main reason? My TV has been (up until today) a piece of jankety-ass garbage. I never wanted to buy a console because I felt my TV couldn’t do it justice. Now I think my new TV could.

My parents surprised me today with a gift: A Samsung 37" LCD TV

I wouldn’t mind getting back into the console gaming scene. I’ve been playing PC games almost exclusively for a long time.

PC games I play the hell out of:

WoW (not much these days. I used to be in a hardcore raiding guild, then BC came, then WotLK. The game is pretty much dead to me these days.)
Sins of a Solar Empire (I play this one for hours at a time. Such a good game)
Plants Vs. Zombies (Best tower defense game I’ve ever played)
Batman: Arkham Asylum. I play this one on the PC with a wireless X360 controller. Fantastic game.
TF2. Best FPS ever, IMO.
Geometry Wars

So what games can convince me to get an XBox 360?

I don’t want an MMORPG, FPS or RTS. I think these work better with a mouse and keyboard. Strongly think. Hell, I think any FPS on a console is shit.

That said - here’s some previous console type games I’ve loved -

Prince of Persia - XBox. Beautiful.
SSX, SSX: Tricky, SSX 3.
Burnout: Takedown
Ninja Gaiden (the Xbox one)
Every Gran Turismo
JSR - both the original, and JSRF. This was always more about art direction than gameplay, so for me that’s a bit rare.

I guess for console gaming I really like the arcady games. Fast paced, best on a controller.

Pacman:CE would probably be my first purchase. I’ve been wanting this one for years now. Now I have a TV to play it on.

Suggestions?

2

I am not much of a video game person, I like them but I am no good. My bf has an xBox 360 though, and he has Netflix. The streaming Netflix on the xBox is totally cool. It’s included in your monthly package and there are a lot of TV seasons and movies and stuff you can watch instantly. And the quality was always pretty damn great on his LCD.

Burnout is fun. I like Skate 2 as well. Otherwise I know nothing about games for the 360.

3

The Xbox Live Arcade has a ton of arcade-style games of the sort you say you’d like, and they’re very cheap - around $10, usually. You could play on the Xbox forever without once buying a shrink-wrapped game. I think that would be a pretty good reason right there.

In fact, you can get quite a bit of play value just downloading that various playable demos and playing them.
Lots of information about it here: Xbox Live Arcade

4

A new Prince of Persia came out last Christmas that’s pretty sweet.

5

Yeah, I really liked it, even if it’s quite different from the one the OP played.

6

If you have Netflix you can watch movies from them on demand through the XBox. It is the same catalog as what you can watch online, but this way you can do it from the comfort of your couch on your cool tv.

7

One thing that people don’t mention is the XBox 360’s library is pretty shallow. You’ve eliminated about two-thirds of it in what you don’t want. Unlike the PS2 where developers seemed to throw anything against the wall to see what stuck the XBox 360 is an FPS, online gaming machine. You’ve already noted the problem with that experience when you’re used to PC games. Picking through the rest of the generic releases for the occasional gem is tough. Personally I’d say if you’ve stuck it out this long give it another year or two. The games will still be there when you get around to it.

Oh, and FWIW, don’t buy Pacman CE through the Arcade. You can get a disk with it and four other games on it for about five dollars; cheaper than the Arcade download, you get other games, and you can never have your copy taken away from you.

8

This may or may not help. Here’s a list of all XBox 360 games, ranked by review score, on Metacritic.

There are some real gems on XBLA, e.g. “I Made a Game with Zombies In It” (but with l33t spelling) is a wonderful old-school Robotron-type shooter, with incredible music. Some of the simple-yet-addictive Popcap games are on there too – e.g. Feeding Frenzy 1 & 2, Bejeweled, and the dangerously addictive Peggle. You can get these on the PC, but slouching on the sofa with a controller is a lot more comfortable, IMO.

One annoying thing is the DRM. If your console breaks (less likely nowadays, but still far from unheard-of) you will find you can’t play your online-purchased games on your new console. If you repair it via Microsoft rather than (e.g.) Costco return, they transfer the licenses automatically so it’s okay. Otherwise, you have to go through the “license transfer procedure” which is pretty straightforward, but can only be done once a year.

9

FYI - you can also do this on a PS3, and without the monthly online fee.

10

I’d tell you to hang up your preconceived notions and try RTS FPS, and any other games that you’ve written off. There are good ones of those genres out there.

11

And, if the controls are what bothers you: you can get a mouse and keyboard adapter for the Xbox 360, and still have fun playing them on your new, bigger screen.

12

For $100.

13

I have an XBox 360. If you think that you might, at some time in the future, ever want phone tech support, I advise against buying this console. I tried phone tech support on three occasions for one game. I also tried online tech support for the same game. It’s clear that the tech support is outsourced to people who do not speak English as their first language, and haven’t got a good grasp of American English, and are going only on their scripts, picking out key words. They don’t have a clue about the product they’re supposed to be supporting.

I DID manage to get the answer to my problems on the SDMB, so all was not lost. But I really cannot recommend a 360.

14

Does this work?

15

Lately I’ve been having a lot of fun with Splosion Man, from the people who made The Maw. Platformey fun in humorous settings.

If you’re like me, and I know I am, you’ll like the Banjo-Kazooie games. Nuts & Bolts is full-on 360, and the original game and Banjo-Tooie are available on the Arcade.

16

My 360 games I keep playing: Rock Band 2. (Cheap, now), along with RB: The Beatles. Burnout Paradise. Ghostbusters (Sort of a FPS, but fun) Forza 2. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Crimson Skies (X-Box, not 360, but I keep playing it.) Virtua Fighter 5.

And, of course, Brutal Legend hits tomorrow, which is the direct descendant of the Monkey Island games via Psychonauts.

Any of those to your pleasure?

17

I’m right with you. FPS/RTS games can go rot. I have no interest in them, and if I did, I’d be playing them on a PC.

Titles on the 360 that are bloody worth looking at:

Castle Crashers - Hell yeah! The beatemup genre has languished too long! Behold your new champion!
Geometry Wars 2 - This game has no business being as much fun as it is.
Prince of Persia (It’s just called “Prince of Persia”. It’s the only one on the 360.). Gorgeous and fun. Not hard but fun.
Shadow Complex - Another entry into a long neglected genre. This time the so called “Metroidvania” non-linear platformer. Serious quality stuff.
Tales of Vesperia - Well, I liked it. :stuck_out_tongue:

You’ll notice that most of that is XBLA stuff. Because, frankly, that’s where the creativity is these days. It costs too much money for most big studios to do clever, interesting ideas. At least, until people finally give them the finger and stop buying the Grey/Brown/Black FPS games.

Don’t feed the industry’s habit.

18

The industry’s habit is my habit. Yum.

19

Wait, you can? Netflix right on the PS3? No software on a pc streaming to the ps3? I haven’t heard about this and my googling is turning up nothing.

20

Oh - you need to stream from a PC. But you aren’t saddled with a monthly fee if you want to do it.