XBox 360: Who's getting one? - Page 3

for teh amount of boxes they sold yesterday obviously there are going to be recalls.

these suckers run kinda loud, hell even kinda hot sorta like the powermacs.


anyways, they were going on ebay yesterday morning from 700-2000 dollars.




i've played Condemned and that is by far a killer launch title.

PDZ kinda sucked, madden looks amazing, and fifa is wonderful online.

however its condemned man, condemened is insane.

Okay.

Am I the only one on AI who got one?

I'm sick of getting my ass handed to me in PGR3 by what I assume are 13 year-old driving whiz-kids.

If you have a 360 and PGR3, PM me with your Gamertag info and I'll add you to my friends list.

I've had ZERO problems/issues/concerns.

i've heard of a few problems but they are very minimal.

this isn't a ps2 situation

I saw a video of a guy playing some car game when it crashed. It was on ArsTechnica. Somehow I have a feeling they rushed this thing out..

Isolated incident overblown by rabid bloggers.

exactly.

It isn't isolated as Microsoft has already acknowledged problems.

They have issues. Most products that are rushed out tend to.

(deleted my mean comments)

i thought there'd be enough xbox/m$/ibm bashing going on, i don't need to aggravate people by adding to such activities

Isolated issues.


It's like you lot want MS to fail at this.

The fact they made a comment on the matter should tell you something. They're hardly ever going to say, a whopping great fraction of our consoles are stuffed you may want to wait to buy one.

Interestingly enough it sounds like the problem is faulty power supplies, again, in which case regardless of if it is only a small fraction they'll be required to recall all of the power supplies of the entire current batch for replacement.

I don't care if they succeed or fail but I have no doubt they have issues on their manufacturing that they've just accepted in order to get these out in the timeline they did...now if only they actually had a killer game to go with it.

telomar give me a break.

the problem is minimal at this point. i've had a system here with my brother running it all day everyday since laucnh WITH ZERO PROBLEMS.

every other person that has one that i know of is having no problems.

i'm sure they are out there but its nothin on a massive scale.





also, killer app? are people ever satisfied these days?

this has been by far the most balanced launch ever.

having a game like Halo (xbox) or Ridge Racer ( Ps1) come out on launch doesn't happen often.

I managed to order one from sears.com on Thanksgiving, and it shipped today (or yesterday technically). Can't wait to see how it syncs with my iPods.

Ignoring the fact I find it unlikely you've run it 24/7 since launch, a sample size of half a dozen in a large populace is almost statistically irrelevant meaning you and your friends could just as easily be anomalies as not. There are plenty of people around here that didn't have capacitor issues with their iMacs or battery issues or logic board issues in iBooks but none of that makes the problem minimal.

I don't think you get it though. There is no question Microsoft has pushed hard to launch by Christmas, nobody with good sense would doubt that. Anybody with experience in designing manufacturing processes can give you an idea on what the testing procedures for QA are like, they take time to do right, lots of time.

It doesn't matter if the percentages are small if the fault is severe if it is 0.001% and you sell a million you're looking at 10 incidences of serious failure. There are some areas where tolerances are zero failures. Power supply issues and overheating issues are a big problem from a manufacturing standpoint as they have the potential to put life and property at risk. When you are talking about a fire in somebody's house, if you fail to issue a recall on that product you are likely to be crucified in courts for negligence.

Both Sony and Microsoft had to issue recalls for power adaptors on the PS2 and Xbox respectively and I have zero doubt Microsoft will follow suit yet again. Right now Microsoft is just releasing the typical press releases to try and placate anybody actually listening in the public. That's normal but doesn't mean the problem isn't serious or substantial.


At the end of the day it is killer apps that drive console sales, this is one of the reasons Microsoft never really competed with Sony last generation, they were simply too narrow in what they offered. Things like Singstar and the eyetoy have been huge winners for Sony and they have some other one that is set to do well for them. They then had exclusive 3rd party titles like Final Fantasy, etc.

Halo did well for Xbox but Microsoft's problem was always that they lacked the exclusive titles that will make you pick one console first, which matters a lot where parents are purchasing.

Right now Microsoft is really trading off fanatics and people who will quite likely buy at least 2 of the 3 consoles early in their life. They're a minority of the market and people are already trying to pick winners. Each console will have its strengths, and weaknesses and in 2+ years it'll become more clear who made the right moves and who made the wrong ones. I'm certain Microsoft will do better this time and Sony will fall back a bit but time will tell.

i understand games are what drive console sales but microsoft (besides first party games) has nothing to do with the matter. they created a great console and now its up to the game developers to use it.

this time around microsoft went out and nabbed some pretty impressive developers.




we'll see.




Oh and who ordered a console on thanksgiving? did you recieve it yet?

My brother just picked one up. Not so impressive really. I'm not floored by either Kong or Quake -- but with rare exception, the FPS is by far the most stagnant area of game design. Most are very boring, I don't how people can stand to play them, let alone buy computers and consoles for that express purpose. I guess I'm not what you would call a gamer.

I'm willing to be impressed by another Halo or a realistic FPS War simulation though...

My favorites include the 2D platformers of my childhood (Mario, Sonic, NiGHTS, Donkey Kong Country), puzzlers (Tetris, various bubble bobble iterations), some 3D platformers with good control, and party games (smash brothers type games, The original NHL'95) any form of racing sim (which all the new consoles should be good at)... and so many titles that I've forgotten the names of. But I think you get the picture... It seems that the FUN has largely gone out of games. Maybe I'm just old, I even liked RPG's, but back when we were playing with NES/Sega this was the height of immersion -- you had to follow the story and imagine a bit, the computer couldn't do it. These would probably bore me now, I'm sure. The other sadly lacking genre is the lack of realistic gun-play games, sixshooter, and hunting type games with a nicely weighted force feedback gun accessory. There haven't ever been any real good ones, but this might have more to do with our litigious (and paranoid and maladjusted) society...

Seems to me that neither Xbox or PS2 offered much to distinguish themselves, and really weren't that far apart. One had a better back catalogue, one had better online. Better graphics here, better franchise there, but truly small stuff. Not owning either, but having played both. I don't expect PS3 or Xbox 360 to be much different in this new generation either. Pretty sure that buyers of either will be content.

I only hold out hope for Nintendo, which has a back catalogue packed with far more fun than either M$ or Sony and is promising to make it available on the Revolution -- and they can also be counted on to produce at least a dozen quality/unique games -- most consoles don't really have more than that actually. Rumor suggests a $149 entry price. Could be interesting...

You see this is the problem - this doesn't seem like your regular 1st run production problems - it seems a lot like they tried to shit this puppy out and do a world wide launch before christmas. You've got problems with power supplies, heating issues, controllers not hooking up, Xbox live crashing - games crashing. True, it's too early to tell the full impact, but it's a bit of a mess if you ask me. If it's such an isolated incident, then why don't they release numbers to prove it?


Again - you've got a console which is really just a 1.5 upgrade, it certainly doesn't help releasing games which are 1.5 upgrades as well. They are selling a 360, but people are getting a 180.


Microsoft's biggest problem is that their image stinks - escpecially among their target audience. The last Xbox was a turd, and just a regular P.C. They have followed up with an equally hideous design - which looks more like a tampon than a gaming console. But their biggest weakness, is that they are a software company, not a hardware company - and the excessively buggy launch proves it. Selling a new console isn't that tough when there have been no updates for 4 or 5 years. And remember, the PS2 is almost 2 years older than the original Xbox. Lastly - Microsoft has to make money - they can't fuck the dog any longer. Otherwise, this may be the last Xbox. Should be pretty fun to watch - will the Xbox get "dreamcasted"? - time will tell, time will tell.

well great opinions you got there.

i think the new xbox looks nice, hell of a lot better than that new ps3 or even revolution.


how is this console just a 1.5? i dont see that at all.

will the new ps3 be just 2.5? i dont understand it?

if anything the new xbox is a bigger leap than what the ps3 is offering.
the 360 is trying to create an entire community where the revolution is being radical and ps3 is basically pointing to their processing numbers.


i agree that microsofts image is bad. i think thats the main reason you get these dumb flames that could be applied to every other console on the market.

The argument that this is a 1.5 system doesnt hold weight. This system can play the best and most taxing PC games, Call of Duty 2 to start, Half Life 2 to come, etc... The tech of this system (except for the lack of an hd drive) will not be the problem, if there even is one. It will be the games. M$ has done their part with the hardware choices, Xbox Live and XNA development. The developers are now responsible for making this a successful system. Games, games, games.

Let me get this straight - the original Xbox was more powerful than the PS2, and now the PS3 is going to be twice as powerful as the 360 - and you think the 360 was a bigger leap? Stay off the crack.

Awwww. You're just bitter that you couldn't get a 360 this week.

Keep it civil, or stop.

They could all very well be .5 updates in a sense...

At some point graphical prowess will not substantially change the way we interact with game environs. They prettier the better, sure, but it doesn't look like any of the systems will suffer for either resolution, polys, or textures -- so perhaps that is not what can distinguish them. And while most games will look better, they may not really play any better.

Things like online play, media center functionality, web browsing, next gen optical support, backwards compatibility etc etc... may end being more important than outright graphical goodness. Basically there's a lot more that can go into a successful console these days, and yeah, it does come back tot he games. If the software teams work out innovative game models that may mean more to the gaming experience than a few extra fps or polys.

If the Sony does indeed support dual screen 1080P, that would be neat, but almost no one will be in a position to use that feature. The 720P/1080i of Xbox is more than fine.

System specs also look roughly equal with the exception of next gen media on the PS3. It's obvious that Sony is pushing to make BR Disc the HDTV media of choice. If they succeed, it may in fact enjoy a very long run (similar to CD's) as the physical media for consumers -- for the simple fact that it can show the maximum resolution of HD and fit feature length and double length films with bonuses and special features all on one disc!

However, if one side in this stupid standards battle doesn't emerge quickly and cleanly by next christmas, consumers may just not give a damn, and blue-ray or HD-DVD may not mean a thing to anyone.

Xbox 360 has 3 cores, and the PS3 has 8 (7 special purpose, 1 general purpose) - I don't think that the table you linked to conveys that very well.

It could easily be twice as powerful, and the larger format disk is a huge advantage.

The difference between the digital video out of the PS3 and the analog video out of the 360 will also be huge - just look at the quality differences when we all moved from analog VGA to digital DVI on our computers, it will be the same improvement for game consoles.

the core debate has been going on outside this forum for a while now and basically i haven't scene one single professional mention the ps3 as that much mroe powerful .

game developers are finding it hard to produce games using all 3 cores so imagine what it would be like for the cell.

also, the development costs for the ps3 is said to be ridiculous.

the disk format is not a huge advantage. 3 maybe 4 publishers max would take advantage of that disk format.

Naaaa, I think the bitter ones are the people who stood in the freezing cold for 12 hours and didn't get one because most stores where only allotted 3 dozen units -as well, all the people who got one, and then the thing overheated after 15 minutes. Way to fuck up the release M$!

What can you expect, after Microsoft hires a fucking *idiot to design the box - the same guy who designs their mouses and keyboards, this is rich:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...s/13249864.htm


And to top it off? They hire the same Marketing "Genius" who guided the Dreamcast to failure. We have all the ingredients for a perfect storm here.

Same arguements went around last time "The Xbox is going to be so easy to develope for" Well, the problem is development time and costs are only really a problem when you have no market share, like the Xbox does. Further more, you develope a game for PS3 it is guarranteed to work on the PS4, 5, 6 etc. Sony has treated developers well in this regard. A hit game on the Playstation has the potential to bring in 4 times the amount of a successful Xbox game -

it is unfair of you to measure the risk without measuring the reward.


I disagree. These consoles are going to have to last 5 years - what happens when games get to 30 gigs? Ooooh, but that's right, we are talking about Bill Gates here: Mr. 640K ought to be enough for anybody."

the market share could be significantly reduced for the ps3.

people put too much weight on past performance and in the technology field its been proven the past wont always predict the future.


people keep forgetting the xbox broke into the market. it was microsofts first stab at developing gaming hardware.

by no means was the xbox a failure as a gaming unit.

that marketing "genius" did wonders for the dreamcast. it wasn't his fault the dreamcast failed.

come on now if i could market a piece of dog poop to you

if you buy it is it my fault it tastes like crap?

i did my job.

This isn't just about performance - this is about having one of the stongest brands on the planet. An area MS is failing miserably at. Even if the PS3 market share where cut in half, you are looking at 50 million users. That's Xbox 1 and Nintendo Cube combined.



It was a failure in almost every sense of the word. If any other company lost 4 - 5 billion, the product would have been pulled. Apple had to pull the fucking Cube after only 1 quarter. This is the problem with companies who have to much money - same thing happend to Disney - you stop thinking.


He took the job, he shouldn't have taken it if he couldn't sell it. I don't know if the Dreamcast was a peice of crap or not - from what I hear, it wasn't - it had a great launch. It was the buzz around the PS2 that killed it - that's right - better marketing. Regardless, if the Dreamcast was a piece of shit, then Moore shouldn't have taken the job. You can't sell something you don't believe in, that's marketing 101.

cool gut i'm going to try and not sound mean but you're an idiot.

marketing 101? lmao, you think he didn't believe in his product? you're talking straight out of your ass man. you know nothing of marketing.

do you even know anything about gaming? the gaming industry?

the dreamcast was a great system and did a lot of things right. for the first year of its life the dreamcast had much better games than the ps2 did.

sony pulled in gamers by hyping their machine (something they do very well). how'd they do that? by promoting this emotion engine that never achieved what they said it would.

there are other factors in selling a product. the marketer brings you in, after that its up to the product to do the rest.

at launch the dreamcast was sold out everywhere.

the flaws were not of the marketing department.

Your the one who referred to the Dreamcast as a peice of shit -


Well???

The reason it failed, is because Sony out hyped Sega. Moore couldn't keep the momentum going, got crushed under the pressure, I guess you can say. He had to fire the entire team he brought over from Reebok. Nice.



Thanks for proving my point. It's about marketing, not technology. Oh - you mean they OVERHYPED it? Good god, those BASTARDS!! THEY CAN'T LIE - THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!!!


Great job at contradicting yourself there. It was a great machine, but it flopped anyway - not because of Marketing - nooo - some other "Mysterious" reason I guess - even by your own admission that Sony out hyped them. Why don't you take some time to put a proper argument together - you are becoming a laughing stock.

There are non so blind than those who fail to open their eyes:

http://archive.salon.com/tech/featur...ast/print.html

""We screwed up," Moore told retailers in back in April. "Everything that went wrong with Saturn, we've learned from: insufficient distribution; poorly thought out marketing campaign; hardly any software at launch -- all of those things have been resolved and are well in our past."


"But right now, the next-generation systems from Sony and Nintendo are basically still on paper, and Sega is looking to get hold of gamers early and hook them, long before next year's releases of other systems. "I'd rather be where I am right now," says Moore, "than having the promise of where Sony might be a year from now. The ball's in our court; if we screw it up, drop it, fumble it, it's our own fault."

The guy is fucked up:

""I like to say I get to boys in their bedrooms," Moore jokes, "but my PR department says that's not the right thing to say."

Is that supposed to be fucking funny? What a fuckup. Good luck to Microsoft, that's all I can say - 'cause they are gonna need it.

you're a shmuck.


maybe you have a personal vendetta against moore? were you on that dreamcast team? did he fire you? awww.


sony always does promise stuff later down the line. so far its worked but eventually ( i hope) after they fail to hold true this time around people will get sick of it and not fall into the same routine.


again it wasn't the marketing departments fault. sega had a lot to bounce back from but in the end it didn't have a dvd drive nor the support from EA.

Sega couldn't hold on under the pressure. Who knows if sega had the financial backing microsoft does to hold on just a bit longer people wouldve realized dreamcast had the better games for a good while.

i'm not a gamer if that is what you are trying to get at.

though they are devoted.

Umm, I'm a professional, and I've said it before: if the Cell lives up to half of what we've seen it do in IBM tests and benchmarks, the PS3 will handily outpace the 360. What some people don't seem to realize is that the 360's processor elements are more similar to those in the Cell than those in the PPC970. They are not deep OOE designs, and they require a lot from the programmer and/or compiler to optimize. The Cell has one extra level of hierarchy than the 360's chip, but they are more similar than they are different, and the fact that Cell has a few extra elements is certainly going to help give it an edge.

There is some possibility that the 360's chip may perform better than the Cell in areas of sequential conditional branching and very frequent thread switching, since there's less intra-chip communication required and less data to flush. But in this case both chips will perform poorly in comparison to their optimal instruction mixes, and these programming methods are discouraged for both architectures.

I want one too, on ebay I could get one for 1,000 with a extra wireless controller and a game of my choice, so im debating cause 1,000 is alot...and also im thinking cause its the 399.99 bundle pack, with already the harddrive and the wireless controller? Can you guys give me any feedback on that offer?