Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Hot for 360
I've never bought a console system anywhere near launch. I'm usually on board about a year after launch. By then you know generally if it's going to make it and there are a good 6 solid titles out. Granted me waiting to buy a Dreamcast or NeoGeo Pocket Color gives you an idea of if I think a system is going to last or not. That's another story.
My unofficial one year rule puts me in line to start oogling over the Xbox 360 right about now. I was very interested at the launch but at the time $400 seemed super steep for a new console purchase. Then Sony announced the PS3 launch price and it instantly felt like a "deal" to buy a 360. But that's only one part of it. The 360's Xbox Live system is really what an online experience should be. The stat tracking, the achievement points and the communication built it are really well thought out.
My other checklist to buy a system is the games. For the 360 it's, Gears of War, Lost Planet, Mass Effect, BioShock, Prey, NBA 2k7 and a couple old Xbox games I missed. Those probably include the Halo games and Fable. Three of those listed there aren't actually out yet, but are coming soon. BioShock is also coming to PC, and Prey is already out on PC, but I'm willing to bet it's going to be an easier experience just putting it the console instead of finding the right balance of settings to get it run on my laptop. I'd put Oblivion in that list too, but I already have it for PC.
Then to top it off the HD-DVD, that's an addon, makes it nice. The fact that it's optional makes it nice on the wallet. But there are rumors around that there's going to be a HD-DVD built-in bundle sometime in the future. I'm still wondering if they're going to do a pricedrop on the 360 to make it that much more attractive this holiday. The problem there is they're never going to announce a pricedrop early because it would halt sales till the price drop. Ah well. So maybe sometime after this semester is over when I'd have time to play I might be able to tell you folks more about the 360. ¶ 3:29:00 PM
My unofficial one year rule puts me in line to start oogling over the Xbox 360 right about now. I was very interested at the launch but at the time $400 seemed super steep for a new console purchase. Then Sony announced the PS3 launch price and it instantly felt like a "deal" to buy a 360. But that's only one part of it. The 360's Xbox Live system is really what an online experience should be. The stat tracking, the achievement points and the communication built it are really well thought out.
My other checklist to buy a system is the games. For the 360 it's, Gears of War, Lost Planet, Mass Effect, BioShock, Prey, NBA 2k7 and a couple old Xbox games I missed. Those probably include the Halo games and Fable. Three of those listed there aren't actually out yet, but are coming soon. BioShock is also coming to PC, and Prey is already out on PC, but I'm willing to bet it's going to be an easier experience just putting it the console instead of finding the right balance of settings to get it run on my laptop. I'd put Oblivion in that list too, but I already have it for PC.
Then to top it off the HD-DVD, that's an addon, makes it nice. The fact that it's optional makes it nice on the wallet. But there are rumors around that there's going to be a HD-DVD built-in bundle sometime in the future. I'm still wondering if they're going to do a pricedrop on the 360 to make it that much more attractive this holiday. The problem there is they're never going to announce a pricedrop early because it would halt sales till the price drop. Ah well. So maybe sometime after this semester is over when I'd have time to play I might be able to tell you folks more about the 360. ¶ 3:29:00 PM
