[Xbox 360] Sell or unsell me on getting one!

[Aus_Snow]

What's good about it? I was thinking of Premium, by the way, because I can get one cheap.

What's bad or meh about it?

Another thing: No HDTV = big problem, small problem, or no problem?

If the PS3 really is significantly better, sell me on that instead. Or, if you believe that sticking with PC, and upgrading it now and then, is quite sufficient, tell me so. And why, I suppose.

I've been getting by OK with the PC for a while, but upgrades are expensive. Also, the monitor is a lot smaller than the TV.

 

[Thanee]

For me this is not even a question, PC wins this competition hands down, it is just so much more capable.

But it really depends a lot on what you do with it...

Do you need a PC with somewhat current technology for anything else but gaming? (If you need to upgrade it anyways, making it gaming-capable isn't much of an additional step then.)
What kind of games do you like? (While there is some overlap, consoles, even the different console types, cater to a different audience than the PC.)
Do you prefer to buy games when they are new, but expensive, or rather wait for budget versions? (PCs seem to get a lot more of the latter.)
Would you prefer to be able to play in the living room? Alone or with others? (Consoles are clearly more living-room friendly.)

Bye
Thanee

 

[Goobermunch]

What's good about it? I was thinking of Premium, by the way, because I can get one cheap.

What's bad or meh about it?

Another thing: No HDTV = big problem, small problem, or no problem?

If the PS3 really is significantly better, sell me on that instead. Or, if you believe that sticking with PC, and upgrading it now and then, is quite sufficient, tell me so. And why, I suppose.

I've been getting by OK with the PC for a while, but upgrades are expensive. Also, the monitor is a lot smaller than the TV.

I love my Xbox 360. Of the consoles currently out, it has the most robust game selection, though it is skewed more toward a grownup audience (I only play the 360 after my 2 year old is asleep). Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed were both awesome, and while you can get Creed for the PS3, Mass Effect is an Xbox only title. I've also heard that the PS3 has "issues" running the Orange Box (Portal alone is worth the price of admission). CoD4 is easily one of the best games of the year. There is a moment in the single player campaign that actually made me weep, and there were a number of moments where my heart skipped a beat. Also, Oblivion is, by all accounts, amazing. BioShock is teh sex. Also, for goofy first person shooter-y goodness, try Earth Defense Force 2017. Best when played splitscreen with a friend. It's totally tongue-in-cheek fun.

That said, one of my co-workers got an early Xbox 360, and has had nothing but bad luck. Seven months in, he got the infamous red rings of death. He sent it in for repairs, and a month later he got a new Xbox. Sadly, the DVD drive on that one was crap, and it ate his copy of Assassin's Creed (though that may have had more to do with his decision to switch the console from a vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation while the drive was running). He then returned it again because of the DVD drive problems. When they sent it back, they hadn't fixed the drive, but they sent him a busted power cord. He swapped his with Walmart shortly thereafter. Regardless, he still thinks buying his Xbox 360 was a better decision that buying a PS3 (and he's been a loyal PS supporter since the original PS came out).

I have owned my Xbox 360 with an SDTV and an HDTV. Not having an HDTV doesn't really cause any problems (except, I hear, with Dead Rising--the text is too small to read except up close). However, moving up to an HDTV is pretty awesome. "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

Up until early last year, I was a die hard PC gamer. I felt that console gaming was the preserve of teenaged leet kiddies. Then, I decided I wanted to upgrade so I could play BioShock on the PC. My computer was no slouch. 3.0 Ghz Processor; 1.5 GB of Ram; a Radeon 9800XT video card. But because the video card didn't support pixel shader 3.0, I couldn't run BioShock. Upgrading the video card would have involved a motherboard upgrade, which would have involved new RAM and a new processor. I was not prepared to pay $800 to play a $50 game. A local computer shop started selling refurbished Xbox 360s for $250. It was the best decision I've made in a while. While I often make use of the Xbox 360's mute player feature, I really think I've made a good decision. I do most of my gaming in the living room now, and my wife will often join me (though she prefers to play the Wii).

I can't speak to the PS3. I've yet to have a chance to play with one, and I am sure I'll regret (somewhat) my choice to go Xbox when God of War 3 inevitably comes out. That said, I have friends who do professional game testing, and I'm reasonably sure they'll be getting a PS3 one of these days. Really though, it's my perception that the PS3 stands in the shoes of the original Xbox while the 360 has filled the PS2's shoes, at least with regard to current generation console gaming. Don't get me started on the Wii though. That thing doesn't fit nicely into the analogy. It's awesome and fun.

And, as the Penny Arcade guys pointed out (before the price drops), you can practically get a Wii and a 360 for the price of a PS3.

--G

 

[trancejeremy]

If you can get one for cheap, then get it. But honestly, after getting one in Dec (mostly for Mass Effect), I'm kinda disappointed and have buyer's remorse.

Mass Effect wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped (and was short - 25 hours for me). It also had some pretty serious technical issues - constant texture pop-in, slow frame rate (particularly in boss battles and with biotics)

Forza 2 had less than half the tracks of Forza. I haven't found any other decent racing games - the best is probably Test Drive Unlimited, but that suffers from some problems.

I don't really like FPSes, though, so that's probably a big factor. (And I played Oblivion on my PC)

The PS3 lineup is probably worse, so IMHO, you'd better off saving for a new PC. Unless it's from MS, a lot of 360 games end up on the PC anyway, minus the technical issues (bad frame rate, the texture loading issues from having to be streamed from the disc instead of hard drive)

 

[Orius]

Not really an expert on the current generation of consoles, but I'll give it a shot.

The biggest single problem with the 360 is the infamous Red Ring of Death (RRoD). A lot of them, especially the early model fail a lot. Never models might work better, MS is certainly aware of the problem, and I'd bet they're doing what they can to remedy it. But it would be something I'd take into account first. Not being able to play Blu-Ray could be a disadvantage, particularly since the PS3 is generally considered on of the best Blu-Ray players out there, but that's not a major selling point on a console to me. Also, I'm pretty sure you have to pay to get any real milage out of Xbox Live service.

Upside is that console gaming is quite a bit more reliable cheaper, and easier to use than PC gaming. PC gaming has a a lot of compatibility issues, becuase there's simply so many system configurations out there. Consoles are more uniform, so you can usually just put a game in and play and not worry about the video card, the sound card, how much RAM you have, how other software apps might interfere with hthe game, etc. PC gaming isn't bad, but honestly, there's just so many problems with it, and gaming system are so expensive that I'd rather stick with consoles, especially since they're catching up with PCs in performance.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Thanks for the replies so far. Some good advice here.

Do you need a PC with somewhat current technology for anything else but gaming? (If you need to upgrade it anyways, making it gaming-capable isn't much of an additional step then.)

Not really, no. I thought about upgrading recently, but found it hard to justify, as it happens. I'm open to the idea, but if the console could take over on that front, that's fine too - and no doubt cheaper in the end.

What kind of games do you like? (While there is some overlap, consoles, even the different console types, cater to a different audience than the PC.)

Fantasy and sci-fi, mostly. I enjoy things like Oblivion (though arguably, there isn't much else that's like Oblivion, yet) for example. However, sometimes I'll play a fighting game or whatever, for the extremely silly fun of it. Maybe because I used to as a kid, I guess. Generally though, I don't like kiddy-oriented games at all (plus, don't have kids in the house, most of the time) - or overly anime-style games. So, no FF or the like. Can't stand them. FPSs are an old fave too, from the Doom and Quake days on. I like strategy games, but I suspect the PC's the go there.

Do you prefer to buy games when they are new, but expensive, or rather wait for budget versions? (PCs seem to get a lot more of the latter.)

For the PC, I've done a lot of the latter, not caring one bit what's the latest and greatest. The only exception has been when one or two friends would be raving about some game or other, and I'd be sorely tempted to go buy it.

It probably helps that I don't buy many games. Too particular, or don't play enough. Something like that.

Would you prefer to be able to play in the living room? Alone or with others? (Consoles are clearly more living-room friendly.)

This is one of the main reasons I'm contemplating the 360. Socially, and even when it's just me (or me and my GF), it's an appealing option. Not to overuse it, sure, but to have it there (where the basically unused previous-gen console now sits) might be kinda cool.

 

[John Crichton]

If you really like FPS, the 360 is certainly for you. The system is dominated by that genre. The fact that you don't have a HDTV hurts me suggesting a PS3. It is a superior piece of hardware.

 

[Cergorach]

The Xbox360 is a good console, as is the PS3, but it really depends on which games you want to play and what you want to use it for. I have access to both via my 'little' brother. While the PS3 is a little bit more expensive then the Xbox360, it has a Blueray player onboard (the defacto standard), if you plan to use that in the short term it is a big plus.

There are a few games I am really interested in, some are on the PS3 and some are on the Xbox 360. But because my 'TV' is a 30" 2560*1600 monitor with no scaler onboard I can't directly connect any console to my primary monitor (secondary is 20" and a tad bit small compared to the 30"). So getting a console is very expensive for me (needs a special card for my PC and my PC needs to be on when playing on a console). Many years ago I bought a Xbox (connected it to the 20" because I didn't have a 30" at the time), my collection of Xbox games is 7, and two of those are now available on the PC (Halo and Jade Empire). My interest in games for the Xbox360 and the PS3 really isn't much larger.

To be honest I'm a PC player, over the years I've collected over a 100 PC titles (legally bought), a lot of them for very cheap. I still have a large amount of games I haven't played (there are many very good older games for the PC) so I'm not 'out of games to play'. A few exclusive Xbox360 games are coming to the PC in the near future, Assassins Creed (April 8) and Mass Effect (may 2008), for me two less reasons to be interested in an xbox360 ;-)

In my own situation, I'll stick with PC gaming for now, and if I have a need for Xbox360/PS3 gaming I'll borrow my 'little' brothers rigs. he has some of the games I'm interested in and I can always pick up the games I'm interested in at sales or second hand, is a good gift for being allowed to use the console ;-)

 

[Xath]

What's good about it? I was thinking of Premium, by the way, because I can get one cheap.

Lots of things! I just got a 360 a few weeks ago and I love it. I'm not really one for console games, but Rock Band has me totally ensconsed (and the 360 platform for RockBand is the best one as far as updates are concerned). We also got Assassin's Creed (great!), Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4, and a couple of others I can't remember. Even if you don't want to spend alot of money on games, the Xbox360 marketplace makes it super easy to do all sorts of things through your tv. I've linked my 360 to my PC through my wireless router so now I can access my music and videos and play them on my TV. This means that I can watch alot of things that I burned in college that my DVD player wouldn't support.

What's bad or meh about it?

Well, you've probably heard the red ring of death stories, but if you're getting a new 360, you're not going to have that problem. If you're getting an older model, just make sure to keep it in a relatively cool open place, and don't play it for 30 hours straight.

Another thing: No HDTV = big problem, small problem, or no problem?

I don't have an HDTV. I have a 27" brick of a TV. I have no complaints about the experience. (In fact, my friend's 60" HDTV makes me car sick while playing CoD4).

If the PS3 really is significantly better, sell me on that instead. Or, if you believe that sticking with PC, and upgrading it now and then, is quite sufficient, tell me so. And why, I suppose.

If you don't have an HDTV, stay away from the PS3. It's major selling point is the high quality graphics, which you won't experience on a regular box. It functions as a BluRay player which is also fairly moot if you don't have an HDTV.

As for your PC, what do you do with it? If you are a heavy PC platform gamer, I guess upgrading consistantly is a good idea, but my laptop is 3 years old and I have yet to run across a game that I can't successfully clock out on my system. (...My PC is admittedly super-awesome, so I don't expect to need to upgrade it for several years yet).

I've been getting by OK with the PC for a while, but upgrades are expensive. Also, the monitor is a lot smaller than the TV.

One thing that you could look into (and what we're looking into in a bit) is getting a really nice, large computer monitor. They generally have the same res or better as an HDTV, but they're less expensive because they don't have all of the other hook-ups. My PC has a cable-in port (because it also functions as a DVR and Blu Ray), so I don't really need a TV to watch high quality TV. Since my PC has all of the TV hook ups I could need, I can also plug my 360 straight into the PC.

 

[Talislan]

One quick thing to consider is when you are looking to get this. I love my 360 but it is over 2 yrs old and has slowed down somewhat with recent games. (Oblivion game of the year addition gives me ridiculously long loading times where the standard oblivion game was fine). Consequently I am looking to get a new one which will have a better drive and improved internal components. However, I have been advised to wait until at least June here in the UK for all the old stocks to be moved on and to be sure I get one of the latest models.

This is not necessarily the most important factor in your decision making process (the console you buy is going to run the games either way), but I would heartily recommend finding out the build date of any machine you buy as components are upgraded all the time.

That said, with Fallout 3 on the horizon and more rts, strategy, fantasy/scifi winging its way over there is no way I am giving up the 360 bug just yet. PC-wise I will only go with laptops due to personal preference on space and mobility around the house. Their only major let down, if you can justify forking out the dough for one, is lack of offline multiplayer. As it sounds like you want to have social use of whatever you get then I have to say that it is a console choice only that you need to make and the pc is no longer a worry.

T.

all in my most humble of opinions.