Shut up, Gil. Close the deal … close the deal!
OK, I’m leaning towards an XBox. What do I need? 2 controllers? Only one comes with it, right? Do I need fancy controllers?
And what’s XBox Live, and do I need it? I doubt we’ll ever want to play on-line with other people, if that’s what it does. I have a PC for that.
Xbox Live lets you play any game you have online. (As opposed to paying for each game’s online service separately.) There is a fee up front, but after that it’s $6 a month, from what I’ve been told.
It also lets you download expansion content for any games that offer such. For example, the first-persion shooter Halo 2 offers additional maps for download. Madden lets you download updated rosters that reflect recent trades. (Not that these are the games you’ll necessarily want; just examples of the concept.)
Oh yeah, and no, you don’t need fancy controllers, but yes you will need to buy a second one, as it does only come with one. You don’t need a memory card, as the Xbox has a hard drive.
I’d recommend getting the same type of controller it comes with as your second, so that everyone has the same.
If a third or fourth should want to join, the Xbox has four controller ports built in. (No need to buy an adapter.) So all you need for up to four people to play is enough controllers.
This is a good season for picking up an Xbox, since the Xbox 360 is coming out in about two months. I imagine there will be a price drop on the original.
I don’t have anything especially interesting to add except that everyone I know who doesn’t like playing games absolutely loves going at it with someone on Super Puyo Puyo 2.
They also generally like Mario Kart, which is a lot easier to find than the former.
Blockbuster in Australia does, though YMMV.
For a casual gamer, Xbox live probaby isn’t worth it. Especially if you’ve got your online games on the PC, and if your partner isn’t really going to be playing much unless you’re involved. It’s like any online games portal - most of the people on there have spent hours/days/months playing these games, and will kick ass all over the screen if you’re playing anything remotely competitive. And the ‘extra content’ for most games that I’ve seen isn’t really worth the time, effort and money in setting up the connection.
Another good thing about the Xbox is that you can rip your CDs to the hard drive, and some games will let you have a custom soundtrack which means your saved music plays instead of the default game music. If you are sold on the Xbox, then definitely I’d look at D&D, Hunter: The Reckoning and X-Men: Legends. They seem to match what you’ve said you’d like, and can usually be picked up pretty cheap for 2nd hand.
Agreed and agreed. Consider Live only if you have already found a game that you would like to play online or download content for. Don’t get it “just in case”. (I see no need for it, personally, and I’ve had an Xbox for almost four years now.)
Those three games are all good suggestions. Ranked in order of micromanagement required (buying and equipping items):
Hunter: The Reckoning (there is no inventory)
X-Men: Legends (Each person can carry three items, and there’s skills/spells)
D&D: Heroes (Full blown inventory system…gloves, hats, etc…)
All three are straightforward hack 'n slash coop games for between one and four players.