Xbox 360. Whats Going On In America?

[the1]

There are reports all over the internet that the American Launch has been full of hardware defects and stortages.

Are the you guys/gals who have pre-ordered the Xbox 360 (in the UK) worried about this?.

I read about one guy who unpacked his Xbox 360 pluged it in and instead of the 4 green rings lighting up, they were all red and wouldn't switch on. He phoned MS Tech helpline and they told him to send the unit back to Microsoft at his cost WTF.. They said it would take 4 weeks to get a replacement so he told them to feck off and was taking it back to the shop for a full refund.

If Microsoft thinks they can treat "gamers" this way, then they going to have problems.

I am so glad I never pre-ordered.

I think I will wait until after Christmas.

 

[benji&eka]

xbox pah!

 

[ukaskew]

They are clearly pushing it out waaaay ahead of when its realistic to release it, just to get Christmas sales/hype and a good buffer over the Revolution and PS3. So to be honest I would expect defects with the way they are churning them out.

Can't really see what all the fuss is about to be perfectly honest, exactly the same as current gen with slightly fancier graphics, its even the same bloody games! Nothing at all remotely ground breaking in terms of AI, control methods or game concepts, I would still class the 360 in the same basic stage of console evolution as the Dreamcast as its done nothing significant to push things further.

 

[Dan##]

have you seen one? in the flesh? you will change your mind then!

 

[mcoppen]

What do you expect. Everyone knows the PS3 is going to kick the sh*t out of it like it has done the xbox. Why buy second best.

 

[Dink]

What do you expect. Everyone knows the PS3 is going to kick the sh*t out of it like it has done the xbox. Why buy second best.

the only thing the ps2 had over the xbox was the number of games

 

[Dan##]

yup, and people bought it because of the name!

XBOX is/was far superior imo!

 

[ukaskew]

have you seen one? in the flesh? you will change your mind then!

Just because of the graphics? If so then no thanks. I own PES 5 on the PS2 and Sensi Soccer on my Mega Drive, Sensi still gets more play by some distance. Cosmetics don't interest me in the slightest.

I have high hopes for the Revolution (people have written Nintendo off but remember they shifted nearly as many Gamecubes globally as Microsoft managed to shift XBoxs), the concept in itself is fantastic enough for developers to have to get of their lazy cash-grabbing asses and actually make something different, without relying on silly frame-rates and real-time shadows etc to mask the same game that came out 10 years earlier.

 

[M1TCH]

I cringe at ps2 graphics can't beat an xbox atm for graphics. apart from pc obviously. But I'm not even considering a 360 till the chips are developed, whats the point!
£40 a game?? want me to lick your bum with too Gates!

 

[mcoppen]

Lol. I think not. Do agree with the games comment though. But then thats microsofts fault for not sorting the games out, and is why the sony consoles have beaten every other console out there. You would think with microsofts financial power they would be able to turn out some amazing games. I was a N64 man myself, and a die hard nintendo man, but seeing all the good games coming out on the PS in comparision to those on the game cube i convert, and im glad i did.

The xbox graphics are not that far from PS2 graphics at all. Not only that but you can tell that microsoft knew their games were going to let them down so tried to make it more attractive with slightly better graphics. Who cares if it looks slightly better, if you only have half a dozen good games to play on it. lol. The sales figures speak for themselves, is not just because of sonys "name" microsoft is massive even in comparision to sony.

 

[Lagerlout]

Apart from Gran Turismo what does the ps2 have that the xbox doesn't?

Reason I ask is that most games nowadays seem to come out on all formats - there seem to be very few exclusive games...

and... *cough* HALO *cough*

 

[mcoppen]

Halo is a very good game. I do agree that in the last 6 months or so they have removed the exclusivity factor a bit, like allowing GTA onto the xbox. But the PS2 does have a lot more games for it in general.

 

[dk]

xbox is a wanna be, PS is the real thing!

saying that i will own both new consoles but i bet ps3 will be better and have better games plus it will bluray, a massive new disc to fill whereas xbox 360 is still stuck with a standard dvd, they could barely fit GTA SA on a single dvd on ps2 so to move things forward bluray games would be massive and have the capacity required from day one.

 

[mcoppen]

At last a PS man to back me up. Yep they did struggle, the new xbox doesnt seem to have really moved things on, as said above, just same thing with better graphics. Sony leading the way as ever with their machines.

 

[Gav76]

At last a PS man to back me up. Yep they did struggle, the new xbox doesnt seem to have really moved things on, as said above, just same thing with better graphics. Sony leading the way as ever with their machines.

And whats the PS3 going to do different? The only new option coming soon is the controller on the Nintendo revolution.

 

[Chris n nic]

The thing is there are only so many genre that you can use....at the end of the day they are going to produce games that are guaranteed to sell ie driving/shooting/fighting games. Every format is the same even the pc. HL2 was just another fps with excellent graphics and physics etc...was it popular..you bet you ass it was. I think it`s going to be a while b4 we have holograpic/full VR games so for now we`ll be happy with more realistic graphics I reckon!

Chris

 

[White16valver]

xbox is a wanna be, PS is the real thing!

saying that i will own both new consoles but i bet ps3 will be better and have better games plus it will bluray, a massive new disc to fill whereas xbox 360 is still stuck with a standard dvd, they could barely fit GTA SA on a single dvd on ps2 so to move things forward bluray games would be massive and have the capacity required from day one.

bluray? Is that the blue laser thingy that can encode more due to smaller wavelengths? (Or am I completely barking up the wrong tree? LoL)

 

[FlamingMonkey]

Don't believe the hype, you only hear about the faulty ones, what about the million or so more others in the US that are happy, if this is a massive hardware defect as the doom sayers are banging on about, why haven't all the magazine testers, store pods, review machines etc, not had this problem?

It's a minority in my opinion, im not worried about it, the box has 12 months warranty, if it donn;t wor take it back, so what if there's a shortage, I'll get it back sson enough, and I'm sure I can cope without an Xbox for 2 weeks, think you need to put this all into perspective.

EVERY console on launch has had minor software/hardware glitches, its part of life.

Who remebers the problems with both playstation 1/2 lasers...lol Sony are far from perfect, just like Microsoft, PSP dead pixels anyone

I think all this panic over an overheated Xbox is just silly, if there was no Xbox the new PS3 would be s**t, competition is healthy.

 

[Clart]

TBH, I can't really get excited over the 360 at the moment, the graphics i've seen don't look that good at all, certainly nothing a decent PC couldn't do.

I always get bored of consoles, unless the game is something pretty special, and it doesn't seem like theres any special games for the 360 at launch so i won't be wasting my money on one. At the moment....

 

[spirez]

Call me mad but i'm more bothered about getting a PSP!

Just don't know whether to get Jap or UK

 

[McBunny]

oh and there is a huge risk of sony going under if the ps3 doesnt do well

 

[spirez]

How could Sony go under?!

 

[McBunny]

they arnt doing very well financially at all and basically they are counting on the ps3 to get them going again

 

[spirez]

Ouch, didn't think it possible for a company like that.

Saying that though, the Sony Centre has gone bust, don't know how much this has to do with the company though.

 

[McBunny]

not alot they are franchises

but obviously the entire of sony wont go as its not all one company

sony music
sony film
etc etc

 

[Lee]

oh and there is a huge risk of sony going under if the ps3 doesnt do well

No there isn't, Sony Computer Entertainment could get themselves in hot water, but they run seperately from the rest of Sony.

Believe me though, they do have problems, but that's not money related.

 

[spirez]

Lee. beans need spilling!

 

[Lee]

Lee. beans need spilling!

Not in a million years, it's more than my life and job is worth.

 

[McBunny]

No there isn't, Sony Computer Entertainment could get themselves in hot water, but they run seperately from the rest of Sony.

Believe me though, they do have problems, but that's not money related.

as i said they all run seperately

 

[Rasclart]

Referring to the space issue due to the immense hardware of the 360 they can compress the files to a huge extent and uncompress on the fly without stressing the hardware

It has been stated in numerous places that space wont be an issue for a very long time if at all.

Clart have you actually seen a 360 running on a Hidef tv it looks amazing!

 

[ukaskew]

oh and there is a huge risk of sony going under if the ps3 doesnt do well

^^ Not strictly true, they lose money on hardware but more than make up for it with software. I find it ironic that the one company comfortably making money out of the console market is Nintendo! They turn a healthy profit on the consoles, even without winning the market by advertising their way to the top (i.e. Sony) they still "finished" this generation almost level pegging with the XBox in terms of hardware units shifted.

Then the DS is just a license to print money (outselling the PSP by a huuuuge number week-on-week in Japan at one stage, not sure if this is still the case), Nintendo are written off or not even mentioned half the time but they continue to be a major player in the market. The Revolution will suprise a lot of people I think, the hardcore gamer market is limited (huge, but still limited), if they can tap into the wider market with their new unique design they have the capability, experience and talent to really do something special.

Remember, with the advances in graphics technology games just get more and more expensive to make, so publishers play it safe and essentially release the same game every year (EA have made billions doing this), but look deeper and things aren't really getting any better, just more expensive (the AI in GT4 is my favourite example, game looks gorgeous but the skill level of the opposition is still firmly in early 90s territory, if not worse). There will come a point (that we are already approaching fast) when the tide turns and simple concepts pulled off well that don't rely on fancy graphics will become mainstream, it simply has to happen.

 

[Saner]

PS2 had the most games
Xbox had the best graphics
GC was the best console

All I know about this time round is that the Xbox 360 has the worse graphics.

 

[Dan##]

I fail to see how you can tell that already. Your comparing it to computer generated images that could end up looking nothing like that game!

Im getting a 360, might get a PS3!

 

[hydeyho]

afaik there have been no images, videos, etc released for the PS3 games that have actually been running on the PS3 hardware, just top spec PC's so you can't comment on the graphics.

I played on the X360 a couple of days ago and the picture was so sharp, and looked cool being properly rendered in widescreen. I played on Kameo and King Kong. King Kong had an awful control method (same as Halo but poorly done) but Kameo blew me away. It's the 1 launch title that I will definately be getting, the game ran smooth, didn't suffer from flat polygons, and was easy to pick up and play.

PS3 hasn't announced a single game that will only be released on that platform, obviously GT5 will be released at some point, but they are losing the individuality Sony once had. PGR3, Kameo, and PDZ are all X360 exclusives and thats just the launch titles.

I'm getting an X360, and don't expect to be buying a PS3, but may look at getting a Revolution as I've always enjoyed playing Nintendos and they have a lot of exclusive games.

Once Microsoft cracks Asia we can basically kiss goodbye to any games console not created by Microsoft!!!

 

[TizerB16v]

It's going to be a major miracle for them to crack the Asian market going by the amount the old Xbox sold. I'm sure at one point the PS1 was outselling it.

Me i'll be getting both, although I'm in no hurry to get a 360 at the moment.....

 

[wozzaa]

funny then your talking about software seen the developer lineup for the xbox?

The one that includes squaresoft so the new final fantasy games will likely be going to the 360, capcom konami etc resident evil 5 will be on the 360.

And having a more powerful cpu means nothing the xbox 360 is technically graphically better it might not have the raw muscle the ps3 has but it has a more efficient ATI card which is easily capable of out performing thenvidia offering in the 360. ATI designed the graphics system in the 360 brilliantly shame theres nothing like it on the PC yet though. the x1800xt isnt quite the same.

And blu ray will feature on the xbox in the future. And the person who said they had trouble fitting GTA:SA on a dvd dunno how it was less than 4gb in total size once it was on a dvd. Thats leaving another 700mb of space on a single layer disk dual layer were talking a fair few more gigs.

And with the amount of japanese developers signed up especially square capcom and konomi i think they have a pretty good chance of cracking the asian market this time.

Its not alwyas about what system is more powerful in all fairness the last gen system with the best games on it was infact the dreamcast how many of its games were ported to other consoles and people bought those games in masses.

 

[KDF]

Erm GTA san adreas was about 1Gig IIRC on the xbox.. space at this time isnt an issue..

 

[FlamingMonkey]

Interesting point of view in this article

Nintendo's Role in Sony's Fall
http://nintendo.about.com/library/sonysfall/blSony1.htm

 

[rmccardal]

My hdtv is ready ... the games will arrive on launch day, the component cable will arive, the play and charge cable will arrive

But as game.net have decided to ram all the online pre-orders up their arse I dont think I'll see a console.

Bum.

 

[tomdbomb61_djtj]

why pay £50 for the same game that costs £25- £30 on the original xbox ? am i missing something?