OK, so the Xbox 360 is now in stores. Has anyone bought one or at least played the thing? How much is it? How much are the games? How are the games? Does the controller suck? One of the reasons I've liked the PS is that the controller fits my hand and makes more sense to me that the other systems.
I have never been a big Microsoft guy, in fact I have always gone with Sony so far in the video game wars. (Well, I do own a Dreamcast and a Gamecube but those have been secondary buys.) So it is really going to take come convincing to get me to switch. But to be honest I am not that excited by the PS3 (or the Xbox either) I'm getting up there in years (almost 40 now) and maybe I've just finally outgrown video games. That is a rather sad thought but perhaps it's true. I think one of the reasons I don't play games as much is lack of time, or rather other priorities taking that time away from me. And I have to compete with the kids for TV time! 
Between my sister and I we stayed on line at our local Circuit City for 11+ hours, but we finally got one for my nephew. Haven't played it yet because its a Christmas present.
The two available configurations are the $299 "Core" system and the $399 "Premium" system. With the Core system you get the XBox, a wired controller, and a composite video cable. The Premium systems gives you the XBox, a wireless controller, a universal remote, a headset for playing XBox Live games, HDTV component video cable, and most importantly a 20GB harddrive.
The harddrive is absolutely needed for backwards compatibility for about 200 titles for the original XBox. The reason for this is that the original XBox used a NVidia GPU while the XBox 360 uses ATI. The harddrive contains the emulation software. Because of this, Microsoft has to pay a royalty to NVidia for every XBox 360 sold.
As for current prices--eBay is ranging from $1000 to $5000
. The harddrives are going for $300+.
The controllers appear to be very similar in size and shape to the original XBox. As for the games, one of the major complaints is that the XBox 360 doesn't yet offer a game of the caliber of Halo yet. Most stores I've been in have been showing off the XBox 360 on a Samsung LCD TV. Most impressive. If you have an HDTV or a VGA monitor (a special cable is available to play the XBox 360 in high definition on a VGA Monitor) the visuals are incredible. I would imagine they wouldn't look that great on a conventional TV, though. One specs for XBox 360 games is that all games must offer 720-line Progressive (720P) playback.
The major thing that annoys me (and many others I imagine), is the Core/Premium divide. In order to bring the Core configuration up to the Premium configuration, you have to spend an additional $200! Microsoft said the Core/Premium division was made to give consumers a "choice." However I believe that it was done to get quick bucks off the accessories. I wouldn't surprise me at all if Microsoft announced within the next six months or so that sales of the Core system have been "disappointing" and begin only offering the Premium system. After the holiday season, of course.
Topic: Xbox 360 (Read 2322 times)