A little more advance news about what might be the upcoming ‘Arcade’ version of the new 360.
Details are still slim, but the minimal info sounds promising.
That article sounds wrong.
The 512 MB of RAM on the xbox 360 (shared amongst the CPU and GPU) is not NVRAM.
The 4 GB is clearly some sort of storage space, a seperate set of flash memory modules most likely.
So, the evening after I posted the OP, my kids decided they wanted a video game party. I made sure that they understood that if they had the party, they wouldn’t get an Xbox or PS3. That’s alright, they said. They will just use the Wii and PS2. Then I sat there in bemused disbelief as my wife, the tightwad of our family, described that the party would only be one night, while a video game console would last for years and talked the boys into getting a console.
So now they seem to want an Xbox (but with these kids, that could change in an hour) because their friend has “tons of games.” I told them about LittleBigPlanet on the PS3, but my oldest said he played it at his friend’s house and he didn’t like it. My youngest loves the Battlefront games on the PS2 mainly for the 2 player collaborative aspect of the game. He always wants everyone to be on the same team. I guess it is called a 3rd person shooter since you can see your guy in front of you as you move around. Is the Halo series like this?
I’m liking the new Xbox 360 Slim. It seems to have a lot of the hardware issues worked out. It comes with a 250GB HD and a Wi-Fi connection, similar to the PS3.
I’ve been thinking that while I won’t let the boys play online now, if this console lasts as long as our PS2, they could be using this in college. By that time, they will want to play online and will be old enough to do it.
I’ve just been looking at amazon because work blocks most any video game website, but I gather that the Xbox comes with a single wireless controller, correct? What about the PS3?
Again, I want to thank you all for your help. I grew up with gaming systems (I bought the PS2 for myself before the kids were born). I just don’t have time to do much gaming anymore so I am out of touch with all the latest systems.
The PS3 also comes with a wireless controller.
They were talking about the 512MB of storage that come with the Xbox 360 Arcade unit, not the RAM in the box itself.
Yes. Just like the 512MB it was being compared to.
To answer Shadowfyre’s questions:
All versions of the 360 that I am aware of come with 1 wireless controller. It runs on 2 AA batteries. You can also buy a rechargable “Battery pack” and charge for the controller, but it seems sortof silly when you can buy a package of rechargeable AAs and a charger for like $19 and those work quite admirably. (This is how I power all my 360 controllers.) As far as I know, all PS3 bundles also come with a single wireless controller, which I expect (though can’t say for sure since I don’t have one) also runs on two AA batteries, so all the same suggestions for powering it applies.
Either way, you’re probably going to want another controller right out of the gate. For some reason, the PS3 controller is like $10 more than the 360 one on Amazon.
Halo is what you would call a First person shooter (like Call of Duty series, Battlefield Bad Company series, etc). Basically you see only your gun and not your guy during normal combat.
The reason I say halo is the best FPS for that age group is the Co-op features- everything on Halo is Co-op on a single Xbox - you can Co-op the campaign 2 players, and Co-op multiplayer in private games or online with 4 players on the same Xbox. In Halo ODST they have 4 player Co-op for their version of “Horde” or “Zombies” or whatever which is basically another way to play against the computer that gives it more replay value.
So it’s more like the Wolfenstein 3D or Doom that I used to play on my PC in college. I’ll have to ask if he likes that.
Another question that I forgot to add to my last post (like I said in my last post, work blocks all the video game websites so I can’t do any research here, and I don’t want to look at another computer when I get home). I know the new PS3s are not backward compatible. Not a big issue for me since we have the PS2. Is the Xbox 360 Slim backward compatible? I remember a demolition derby game my neighbor had for his Xbox that we used to play all the time. I could probably get it cheap now.
The PS3 controller doesn’t run on removeable batteries. It’s not been an issue for me at any point. My original controller is probably 3 years old, and is on far more often than my 360 controller ever was (since I use the PS3 much more due to the bluray).
Yes, but you have to check which games it’s compatible for. (It’s a software compatibility, rather than hardware.) Here’s a list:
Oh, that changed then, I remember it being 256 MB.
I actually just bought a ps3. Although it did only come with one controller, I got an extra one for cheap. One of the things about devices with a manufacturer fixed pricing. Stores that want to deal will give nice bundles to get around it to give a better deal. I got a console,extra controller and a couple games of choice on a very good deal.
Make sure to check out bundles when you shop.
So, dumb question, but how do you recharge it? Do you have to plug it in? (That would annoy me.)
Yeah, USB. I have a charger that plugs into the wall and charges up two of them at a time. Best part is that it shuts off the charging once its full, so that you don’t fatigue the battery. It holds a charge much longer than my 360 battery pack did, or rechargeable AA/AAAs, so you rarely notice. (It also helps that I have two controllers, and just switch back and forth.)
Bleh. Not a fan of proprietary batteries, overall. =/ Oh well. I’ll be stuck with it someday when the PS3 finally gets to a critical mass of games I actually care about. (Which, let me tell you, is going to take a while if they shift their focus to Move. x.x )
Should mention that you can still use the controller while it’s charging, so it’s not like you’re hosed.
You can buy third party PS3 controllers that use 3 AAA batteries (I have one that I bought because the default Vista drivers allowed for it to work on a PC).
In my own opinion, however, the PS2/PS3 controllers suck as they have 4 shoulder buttons rather than 2 trigger buttons and 2 shoulder buttons (or “bumpers” as MS likes to call theirs). Plus I think the XBox has a better placed LAS.
Regarding the games themselves, I was surprised to find out the PS3 wasn’t backwards compatible with the PS1/2. At least my XBox 360 can play a good chunk of my old XBox games.
I like the 360 controller better as well, but you can buy triggers for the PS3 controller for about $4.
Seriously? First off, the PS3 is backwards compatible with all PS1 games. Secondly, PS2 not being BC any more is not news. The uproar over this finished 3 years ago.
I never paid any attention at the time, as I don’t buy the latest new toy as soon as it comes out. And, if what you say above is true, it seems even more surprising that the PS3 can play PS1 games but not PS2.
I missed this on my previous post…
A) this makes it sound like you either need two controllers, or you have to somehow tape the triggers to an existing controller.
B) Assuming the ludicrous situation above isn’t true, some games probably won’t let you remap the buttons to the triggers.
PS1 BC is software based, PS2 BC is hardware based. It costs an extra $100 for Sony to put the PS2 hardware in the unit. It also costs $100 to just buy a PS2. Sony tried it with the hardware in the PS3, and consumer demand was too low.
Neither of the above: PS3 Triggers: You just snap them on. They’re quite sturdy.