My Xbox 360 review (Ask the guy who got an Xbox 360) PGR3 and Condemned reviews too.

Cafe Society
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Well, I’ve had this thing for a few days now and I noticed no one has actually posted any real impressions of it so far so I will say a few things about it and you can ask questions if you like.

I got the Core System, a wireless controller, HD Cables, PGR3, and Condemed.

I couldn’t find a Premium System on launch day so I just picked up a Core with a memory card. I can play all the games no problem and I’ll just pick up a HDD when I find one.

The thing was super easy to hook up. The instruction manual is totally useless though. I mean, there is only like 5 pages in english. Which is suprising because the new dashboard is pretty complicated.

I booted up and transferred my Xbox Live account onto my 360 with no problems.

The new Dashboard is really slick and I have a feeling we are going to see alot of digital merchandise for sale in the near future on this thing. It’s a really nice little hub of info and options.

I have it running on my 46" DLP in 1080i right now and all I can say is that it looks phenomenal. I’ll get to graphics in a minute.

I am VERY pleasantly suprised with the PC media integration. It only took me a minute to do but I can now stream all of my music through my home stereo straight from my PC with a very user friendly interface. It can even play playlists that you have made in WMP. It’s really quite cool. I can listen to music from the PC while I am playing PGR3 which is awesome because I hate the shitty eurotrash electronirockrapdance garbage that comes with the game.

You can talk to your friends who are playing other games at any time. The dahsboard is like an overlay that you can pull up at any time over any game so you can find your pals to chat with or send messages or whatever.

Negatives of the hardware:

The power brick is fucking HUGE. I mean HHUUGGEE. I’ve never seen a power brick as big as this on any other piece of electronic equipment I’ve owned. I’m guessing that it has a pretty large filter in there to keep spikes down. This gear is probably really sensitive ro power fluctuations.

From another thread:
One thing that is annoying about this thing is that if you put a CD in or stream music from your PC you won’t get ANYTHING from your sub. It took me a awhile to figure this out last night. I thought my machine was broken or something. If you put a regular stereo CD/MP3 in there you will only get sound out of the 2 main front speakers, because the 360 isn’t downshifting into stereo mode automatically when it only gets 2 tracks hence no “.1” from your “5.1 surround sytesm”.

My sub is active with any DD 5.1 source (game or movie) and the sub comes through loud and clear when you set your main audio output on the 360 to “Dolby Stereo”. Just no when you play a CD with it set to 5.1.

Friggin retarded. I was so stoked when I could play my music from my PC on the TV (which works fantastically BTW) but then was disappointed that I would not be able to get any real low-end.

I put a retraction in the other thread on this note but it turns out that I’m still having this problem so it must be the design of the 360.
PGR3 is really fun. It’s pretty hard. I do suck at driving games though. The graphics are sick. Very realistic looking. Especially when you use the cockpit view. I hate the music that comes with the game though. The online play is amazing. People don’t play fair, but it’s still fun. I have no problem getting into a game and there is no lag while I’m driving. Lots of fun.

Condemed:Criminal Origins is scary as hell. This is probably one of the scariest games I’ve played. The graphics are awesome of course, but the sound is what makes it scary. It gets kind of repetitive after a while but still a fun launch game.

I’m anxiously waiting Ghost Recon 3. That game looks like it’s gonna blow me away.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!

(I didn’t pre-order BTW. I just walked into a store and bought one. Guess I lucked out)

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Hope this doesn’t qualify as a zombie thread.

As anyone who’s been reading my recent, rather OCD threads will realize, I have been desperately trying to get a 360.

I finally ordered one from E*Bay - $500 for the premium system, plus one extra wireless controler and two games: Fifa 2006 and Perfect Dark Zero. I’m anxiously awaiting its arrival, which should be sometime this week, USPS willing.

Thanks for your review, Stinkpalm. Now you’ve had it a while, have your impressions changed at all? I deliberately sought out a “2nd gen” - where supposedly they’ve fixed the teething troubles (overheating, scratching DVDs). Have you experienced any problems like that?

Are all the games HD, or is there some ‘mapping of pixels’ going on to simulate HD for lower res games? What I’m trying to say is, can you really tell the difference between HD games and regular ones, in the same way HD TV looks so much better than SD?

What’s the surround sound like?

Supposedly MSFT came up with some “patented” method to reduce lag on the wireless controlers. Have you found them responsive and reliable?

Overall, are you glad you got a 360 instead of, say, a decent gaming PC?

Have you played online much? Is it full of “gansta” “script kiddies”, “yo momma” and “bizotch” type stuff, or can you find a mature, fun game easily?

Does it function well as a regular DVD player? All the features you’d expect? Can you browse around DVD ROM type stuff that movie DVDs happen to have?

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I can’t answer all of your questions, but I can address some…

I deliberately sought out a “2nd gen” - where supposedly they’ve fixed the teething troubles (overheating, scratching DVDs). Have you experienced any problems like that?
None here. I have a first-gen (first shipment to the US, bought it on launch day) so if there were teething problems, I should have them.

Supposedly MSFT came up with some “patented” method to reduce lag on the wireless controlers. Have you found them responsive and reliable?
They are lag-free as far as I can tell. Nicely responsive, and a great form factor – much better than the PS2 controllers, even the wireless Nyko Airflo ones I usually use.

Overall, are you glad you got a 360 instead of, say, a decent gaming PC?
I have a decent gaming PC, and I’m happy I have the 360 as well. It’s a different experience – if I want to play City of Heroes or Morrowind, I’m at the PC. If I want to play Jade Empire or PGR3 lying on the couch, I’m on the 360.

Does it function well as a regular DVD player? All the features you’d expect? Can you browse around DVD ROM type stuff that movie DVDs happen to have?
Definitely. With the included remote (I got the premium system), it’s just like a standard DVD player. Very handy, considering my DVD player was being balky and stopped reading DVDs when the 360 came into the house.