Xbox 360 - First Two Weeks

Date: December 8, 2005 - Author: Rob Williams - Editor: Pete Johnson & Whitney Riley

It's been a little over two weeks since I've gotten my Xbox 360, and I'm here to give my experiences with the system so far. This console certainly has it's issues, but do the pros make up for the cons?

Introduction

It's been just over two weeks since the Xbox 360 has been released, and what a two weeks it's been! I was lucky enough to be one of the first pre-orders in my City, so I had no issues getting ahold of my system, thankfully. Over the course of the past two weeks, I have definitely had my share of game time and experiences, so this article will be focusing on the good and bad. There are a few reasons that I did not push out an article directly after the launch, and that is because most issues that you can experience with the system will not be that evident right away.

My friend Pete and I went to pick up the system at 8:00am at our local Electronics Boutique. The store reps there were preparing for quite a day, and likely a lot of bitching due to the supposed shortage. Microsoft was supposed to originally send 2 Million consoles throughout North America, but the reps at EB stated that they only released 1.4 Million. Whether these numbers are true or not, I am unsure, but even 2 Million seems a little low. There is no doubt that if you own a 360, you are one of the lucky ones, and the envy of many people in your neighborhood.

This seems out of place for such an article, but I'd like to give my condolences to the families who have experienced a death due to the release of this console. There are many psychos out there who are twisted enough to think that a $400 toy is worth more than human life. There have been numerous stories of such incidents, and don't think your local area was excluded. I live in Atlantic Canada which is known for being one of the friendliest places in Canada. Even here, there were reported stories of muggings and thefts for the consoles. It boggles my mind...

Being the tech-head that I am, I was excited just to toy with the power of this system, because without a doubt, it's a beast. Xbox developers state that the system is currently faster than any current Desktop computer, which is true due to it's 3 Core PowerPC processor. The graphics are another story though, so I wasn't expecting Anti-Aliasing to a great degree... it's rare to see that on a console.

I picked up the Premium package, and I have to admit that it is more than worth the price. For $100 more than the Core kit, you receive the 20GB HDD, Xbox Live Headset, Wireless controller in place of the wired and HD compatible cables. My console came with a basic remote control as well, but it is not standard with the console, so the next shipment of the system may not include it; It would be great if it did though as it's a pretty nice addition.

Upon first lifting up the system, I realized quickly that this thing is heavy! It is certainly packed though, so I will forgive it for being overweight. The system can be placed standing up, or lying down just like the first generation PlayStation 2's could be. According to reports though, if you have room to stand it up, then don't even consider lying it down because the ventilation and airflow is much better standing up. I will get into some heat issues shortly, because I definitely experienced some. Needless to say, my room is hardly large so I am forced to lie it down on top of my digital terminal cable box, which in itself get's hot.

I never dealt with Xbox Live with my original Xbox, but I had full intentions of signing up with this new console. The Premium package includes a month free of Gold, so I immediately signed up for that. Hooking up the console to the internet was far easier than I could have imagined. The system also included a networking cable, so I simply plugged it into the back of my computer and the Xbox.

To finish setting up the system, I plugged in the AC adapter to the wall and then into the system. Holy cow, what a mammoth PSU! Just check out the pictures to see what I mean, because I couldn't put into words how ridiculously large this thing is. Lastly, I hooked up the HD cables to my television, which supports 720p. The cable has a switch that you must push to the HD label, or else you will receive regular 480p resolution. Of course, if you don't have an HDTV, then you will want to leave it where it's at.

My First Thoughts

Time to power the system on! The system booted fine, and I just had to fill out some basic forms and set the date and time. I was immediately presented with the option to update the system by connecting to the internet which surprised me, but I gave it a go. I was amazed, because it downloaded the patch and installed it within seconds. This was the first time I knew that the console was actually online, but I was primarily amazed that I did not even have to do anything on the desktop in order to get it online.

I was impressed by the GUI that the console has, and wished Windows looked only half as cool. The main UI is split into 4 'blades', each one delivering different options. The first blade is for Xbox Live, and allows you to connect, check your friends list and also log onto the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Live Marketplace is a new service that allows content downloads, such as trailers and even demos. After this two week period, the demos selection is slim with only 3 or 4 to choose from. I'm hoping as months pass though, that this service will be updated often because downloading new demos to try before you buy... is the easiest way to do things.

The second blade is for your game selection. You can check out your achievements, view demos or trailers and play games that you downloaded through the Live Arcade. Media is what the third blade takes care of, included viewing pictures, video and playing music. If you install some software on your Windows PC, you can use the Media Connect feature, which will allow you to stream such files onto the Xbox. The least interesting blade is the fourth one which takes care of all things settings. You can set up your console, place parental protection, set up your tv resolution and more.

Overall, this is definitely the finest looking UI we have seen in place on a console and makes all others look extremely boring. As soon as you turn the system on, it will connect you to your Xbox Live account. Because of this, you have many options available to you as soon as you turn on the console without a game, plus it will allow you to play online quickly since it will log you on before your game even loads.

I am personally impressed by the connectivity of the console. One of the coolest methods in my opinion is that you can plug in USB storage and access files on it. If you have a digital camera, you can plug it in, and set up a slideshow. With a USB thumb drive, you can store some music or pictures and plug it into the system as well. This is useful if you are going to a friends house but want to take your music with you to play during gameplay. When playing any game, you can mute the ingame music then play your own. It's a feature that I'm quite happy with. I did not test an external hard drive in an enclosure, but I would imagine it would work just fine.

One thing I was hoping to do was be able to back up saved games to the thumb drive, or copy music from the drive to the system. I could not see any way to do this, although it doesn't surprise me. If people could copy their saved games to it as a backup tool, then they wouldn't sell many memory cards, which as always are ridiculously overpriced. Music is a weird one though, as I would think you'd be able to copy music TO your Xbox at least. Not everyone wants their console hooked up to the computer and stream it all the time. If anyone knows a way to do any of these tasks, let me know!

Things that stand out

When I picked up the system, I didn't do a ton of reading before hand as per the specifics because I wanted to have the system surprise me, instead of knowing what to expect. There are a few things that stand out to me as being awesome additions that I will mention here. As time goes on, I'm sure there will be more things I will find out about as well.

Something I always first look at is the ability of the music player that the system includes. By far, the coolest music player on a console I have ever seen has been the Sega Dreamcast, where it shows the CD-Rom spinning as it's playing. Ok I'm joking and I'm not. Yes that was the best, but still incredibly boring. The 360 music player sorts all your music in the original folder format that they are in, so browsing them is incredibly easy. If you rip music to the player, it will grab the disc info from a database (I am not sure which one) and automatically input the names for you. This is a huge step since the original Xbox. The last thing that really stood out were the visualizations... there are at least 50 different variations of them, and when viewed full screen could really add a punch to your next house party. I am proud to say that Microsoft didn't half-ass this feature, and I am impressed.

Since I am a noob to Xbox Live, I found some of the features to be very cool. Regardless of what game I'm playing, online or offline, if a friend goes online, it will so say on the screen. Your friends have the ability to invite you to a game, which I knew about but didn't seem that interesting or amazing. What did impress me though, is that your friends can send you text and voice messages, which is far more personal than a standard "Friend has invited you to play Game." If your friend sends you a message, you don't even have to leave your game to check it... you just push the Xbox Live button on the controller and grab it there. Once you are done listening or reading, you go right back to your game.

Customization is another feature that should be mentioned also. If you are not happy with the base GUI that the system includes, you can select from a decent selection of ones pre-loaded on the console. I immediately changed mine to the PGR3 version, which is somewhat of a darker skin, but looks sweet. If you want more than what's provided there, you can download new ones from the Live Marketplace for around $1 a piece. This is cool, but what's not cool is that you can't even preview them first. You are mainly left blinded.. and may end up purchasing a theme that looks dumb. On the other hand though, you can customize your own theme by using your photographs as the background. This adds a ton of personality to your console.

No matter where you read, people are saying that you must have an HDTV in order to enjoy this system. One site is quoted as saying, "If you own a 360 but do not own an HDTV... sell the 360 and buy an HDTV, then save up for a new 360". To me, this is taking it to extremes, because I have played the system for equal amounts of time on a 480i TV as well as an HDTV at 720p and 1080i. I can honestly say that the system still looks amazing on a non-HDTV set and it should not take away from any of the fun. HDTV certainly is more so impressive though, because the image is brighter and clearer. For those who don't own an HDTV but play consoles and computer games, it's like playing the same game on the computer or your TV... it usually looks better on the PC because of the crisp picture. So, it does look better on an HDTV, but you will hardly be disappointed on a regular tube TV.

Something that upset me is the connectivity to a Windows x64 PC. When you try to connect to a PC, the system urges you to go download a PC Setup program from here. The thing is, it's for Windows XP SP2 only. Trying to install in an x64 install is a no go. I am awaiting a reply from Microsoft on this issue, and will update the article here when I hear an answer to this problem.

The system is impressive overall, but these are a few things that really stood out in my mind and made me say "Whoa." The 360 is designed to be upgraded in the future, so if Sony comes out with features that the 360 should have, then Microsoft could easily release a downloadable patch to update the OS. I'd personally like to see better video support, because I couldn't seem to get any of my .WMV's, .AVI's or .MP4's to work on the system.

Kameo, NFS & Ridge Racer

The launch line-up was promised to be one of the most amazing of any console launch ever. On launch day, you could select from 18 games. Of that 18, five are also available for the PC, including Quake IV, Call of Duty 2, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, King Kong and GUN. I tried to refrain from buying any games that were also available for PC, because I bought this system to play exclusive games. Besides racing, 8 of the launch titles were sports games including EA's lineup and Amped 3. I'm not much of a console sports fan, so I also skipped over those.

The games I picked up were Kameo: Elements of Power, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Ridge Racer 6, Tony Hawks: American Wasteland, Perfect Dark: Zero and Project Gotham Racing 3. I was really, really hoping that Dead or Alive 4 would make the launch, but it's due out in the next few weeks, so that's not so bad. I will give a quick rundown of my thoughts of the games I bought, because I put a fair amount of time into each of them.

Kameo: Elements of Power:

Supports 1 Player or 2 Player Co-Op, as well as Live Leaderboards - HDTV 720p

I am a huge Rare fan and have loved most of their games. My first major encounter with them was on the Super Nintendo with Donkey Kong Country, which I got immensely addicted to. The last platformer I played by them was Donkey Kong 64 for the N64, which was amazing as well. They definitely stuck to their roots in Kameo, and developed a very colorful and fun world. The lead character in the game is a cute fairy called Kameo, of course. She has the ability to morph into many different creatures in order to take bad guys out and progress through the game.

I have yet to play this game as much as I'd like, but what I have played so far I have enjoyed. The world is just amazing, full of color and interesting objects; It really throws you into an incredible fantasy world. One thing I found difficult was getting used to the control scheme. I couldn't seem to control Kameo as fluidly as I had hoped. I am sure with a few more hours of gameplay, it will remedy that issue. Being the only platformer at launch, your choices are limited if that's the type of gameplay you want to experience. Either way, you will not be disappointed with this game, and it's appropriate for all family members. I really want to see many more games like this on the system in the future.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Supports 1 or 2 Players and Online Multiplayer of up to 4 People and includes Live Leaderboards - HDTV 480p/720p/1080i

Even though this game was available on other consoles, Need for Speed is one of my favorite series so I wanted to play it on the newest tech. If you have played the previous games such as Hot Pursuit or Porsche Unleashed, then you already know what to expect. They have taken the open area method of getting around from Underground 1 and 2, so you get around to races and shops by driving to them. The basic premise of the game is that you lost a car race to Razer, because of engine failure. He takes your car, and you have to own everyone in the Blacklist in order to regain the top spot.

Sadly, EA has brought back the 'rubberband AI' that was seen in Underground 1. This means, that no matter how well you race, the competition will always be very near to you. Also, if they are far ahead of you, you have a great chance of catching up because their car slows down to allow you to do so. They fixed most of the rubberband effect in Underground 2, so I am upset to see it return in this installment.

This installment is one of the most difficult in the series, and I do not say that lightly. The sad thing is.. the races are easy... it's the police that are difficult. When you get into cop chases, it's quite difficult to get rid of them. It's not much of an issue earlier in the game, but as you progress it will get much harder. It sounds funny to say this, but the game is unfair in many ways. I have been on 15 minute cop chases, only to be busted only because I was going slow. I don't see how it's possible for an officer to bust me as I'm going 50MPH, but the game must be right! Without a doubt, some of these chases really stressed me out, so you need lots of patience.

The game features an online multiplayer as well, which works quite well. The only beef I have here are the online rankings. If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can progress up the ranking ladder quite easily, because you gain points as you win races. If someone you race is on the Blacklist and you beat them, you get a nice bonus chunk of points. The problem I find is, that it's primarily based on number of races played and not the percentage of races won. I was personally #1 for about 4 or 5 days, until someone stormed right past me and took my spot. The quickest way for me to get back there was to race him, but he refused because he knew I would win. It's clear that the ranking system should have been better thought out, at least in my opinion. Overall though, if you enjoy NFS, then you will like this one. Just jump into with with patience, and you will be fine.

Ridge Racer 6

Supports 1 or 2 Players and Online Multiplayer of up to 14 People and includes Live Leaderboards - HDTV 480p/720p/1080i

I was a huge fan of the Ridge Racer series for the Playstation 1, although I didn't play any for the PS2. RR is not meant for hardcore racing enthusiast, but rather someone who wants laid back racing that's not difficult to control. Ridge Racer 6 does this well, and I have found myself to enjoy this installment as much as the older versions.

You start out with a huge ladder of races, 111 to be exact. There are three end points, which all should be completed. As you beat each point, you unlock more difficult races, which will help keep you glued to your seat. This game is certainly not for everyone though, as it has an odd control scheme. Drifting is making a huge appearance in this game, and that's what you must do to turn most corners. If you play wisely, you may never hit a wall during a race, regardless of how fast you are going. As you approach a corner, if you apply your break to drift, you will smoothly turn and will easily straighten back out. This makes the game feel easy, but once you unlock the first huge handful of extra races, the competition get's much tougher.

The game does not use licensed cars, but Namcos creations. Most of them have similar names to each other, and don't really look like any actual car on the market; Namco strives to be unique. Regardless, the cars all look very sweet and there should be one that screams at you. Most control differently, so picking the right one can be difficult at first. Once you nail down the control scheme and get used to the tracks, you will be very happy with this game.

THAW, Perfect Dark & PGR3

Tony Hawks American Wasteland

Supports 1 Player or 2 Player Co-Op, and online up to 8 Players. HDTV 480p/720p/1080i

Neversoft is back again with the seventh installment of this extreme skateboarding series. I am a massive fan of the series and have beaten all the games numerous times, so I could not wait to see how this game looked on the new console. I also own the game for the original Xbox, so I had an easy way to see differences between both versions. I can honestly say right off the bat, that this game has the worst graphics of _any_ launch title, and Neversoft should be ashamed to even release it for a next gen console. The game looks great on the original Xbox, because you don't expect anything outrageous in the graphics dept. on a 5 year old console. Very little upgrading has been done though, so this is basically an anti-aliased, sharper version of the PS2 version.

Graphics aside though, this is a pretty quality game if you are a fan of the series at all. The story mode is pretty corny as usual. You are a not-so-average skating Joe that moves to LA in order to try to make it in the skateboarding world. You meet up with a punker girl that helps you progress through the game, and get's you in good with the local skaters. The story unfolds as you explore all the available areas in the game, and there is a few. You start out in LA and end up traveling through Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and even an Oil Rig. All the levels are very fun to skate in, although they would have been cooler if the graphics were up to par with this console!

When this game was originally announced, we were promised an awesome skating experience that would bring us right back to the 80's. If anyone out there can remotely tell me how this game has anything to do with the eighties, please let me know. I was jumping in expecting great punk music from the eighties, but nope. Don't get me wrong though, if you are a fan of punk music as I am, then you will love the selection. There is Taking Back Sunday, Rise Against, Frank Black, Bad Religion, SNFU, Saves the Day and many more.

One thing that truly burns me about this game is the difficulty level. If you are at all good at previous Tony Hawk games, you will breeze through this installment without a problem. The most difficult goals are ones were it depends more on luck and not skill. If you have some skill, you could jump into the highest difficulty settings and clean off the entire career mode in 4 - 5 hours, which is all it took me. It seems that Neversoft were catering more to THPS newbies, rather than help the game be fun for veterans. I am really disappointed with Neversoft and this installment, and hope they rectify the issues with this game with the next installment. Overall, if you enjoy THPS games, rent this one. Only buy it if you are a hardcore THPS fan.

Perfect Dark: Zero

Supports 1 - 4 Players and Online Multiplayer up to 32 Players. HDTV 720p

Joanna's finally back in a hugely anticipated game. I have been looking forward to this game ever since it was announced to come out on the Nintendo Gamecube. I was then excited again when it was supposed to come out on the Xbox. Now, finally it comes out on the Xbox 360 as a launch title. I was a huge fan of the first Perfect Dark, and devoted enough time to it to beat it on the hardest difficulty. I must have seriously lost my touch with this one though, because I find the normal difficulty setting to be difficult.

The most difficult part of this game is getting used to the control scheme. If you are a huge Halo fan, then you may have no issues. After going for a long time without playing a console FPS, I found myself very frustrated with trying to aim. All those of Counter-Strike hours certainly haven't paid off much, I guess. Besides the control scheme, this is a very beautiful game in terms of graphics. The environments are great and the character models are amazing. Something I immediately noticed is how Rare got overly happy with making everything shine.. literally. It seems most surfaces in this game are shiny, or glossy.. like they are wet. They even pulled off making a desert land look wet.. amazing!

In terms of storyline, it's the same ole thing. You are the heroine, here to save the day. The enemy AI was cheap in my opinion, it's obviously dumbed down for the console market. They are dumbed down, because if you are like me, it will take you 10 seconds to aim at the guy. Maybe a few more hours will help get me better at aiming, so I can't bash the game just because I am a console FPS noob.

Many people are stating that the game really shines online, but since I suck at controlling the game, it certainly doesn't shine for me. I find it more unrealistic to say that least, that I shoot someone in the face 10 times with a pistol and they still stand. This game may be so much better with a Keyboard/Mouse combo, but that will never happen. If you want a quality single player FPS experience on this console, you should pick up Call of Duty 2 if WWII themes pique your interest. Quake IV is also available, which may be a good choice since it comes with the full version of Quake II as well.

Project Gotham Racing 3

Supports 1 - 2 Players or Systemlink for 2 - 8. Online Multiplayer for 2 - 8. - HDTV 720p

This game is one of the 'killer apps' to have, and is a necessity for any racing fan. If you have played PGR2 or even Gran Turismo 4, then you will be used to the extreme realism. The game takes place in five different locales including, Tokyo, London, New York, Las Vegas and Nürburgring. Bizarre Creations boasts that this is one of the best racing experiences you will ever see, because it's so realistic. This is helped by the awesome graphics and extreme control. You cannot jump into this game expecting a Need for Speed experience, because that won't happen. There is a lot of strategy and precise controlling that you must nail down in order to succeed at the game.

This version of the game is very, very similar to PGR2. Sadly, there hasn't been any real notable additions, but the game is still very solid. The graphics most notably, are incredible. Racing through the cityscape will make you crash once or twice, guaranteed. There have been a few times when I was in awe of the building designs and crashed straight into a wall. This brought me to another thing that impressed me. As I crashed into a wall, the people behind it backed off and raised their arms in fear. This was a very cool feature that seems small, but adds a lot to the realism. The crowd is not some posterboard either, each person is made up of a wealth of polygons and are unique in their actions.

The levels are very well designed and a blast to race in. You will be visiting many of the races over and over, so you will learn quick how to handle each and every corner you encounter. The AI is very smart in this game, but not overly smart. Even the easiest difficulty in the game can offer you a challenge, so it's not a walk in the park. If you beat this game on normal or above, you can feel good about it, because it's a challenging game.

New though is the online TV and leaderboards. You can actually log on and few some of the top players in the world as they race live, with no lag! Also, as you view the leaderboards in each game mode and track, you can view replays of the race where the record was set. This is a great way to see how the top players earn so many Kudos and take turns so well. It's like a free racing lesson, and is one of the coolest features I have seen in any launch game.

If you are a racing fan, don't hesitate to pick this one up. Out of the three racing launch titles, this is the one that must be in your collection.

Final Thoughts

That is certainly true, especially since many people who are lucky enough to own a 360 are experiencing many problems. As soon as the system was launched, there have been countless reports of people having small and large issues with the console. The first reported problem I seen was system crashing, because I experienced this myself. It first happened to me in Need For Speed while browsing online races. It happened a few times on launch day in both NFS and PGR3, but the problem was fixed when I made sure the PSU was better ventilated.

Another bizarre problem I heard of was that the system was actually burning discs. Again, this is a problem I experienced to a small degree. After a 4 hour session of Tony Hawk, I took the game out to put it back in the game case. I was surprised to see the back of the disc was subtly blotchy. I did not look at the back of the game before I first placed it in the system, so it's unknown if the system did this for certain. I am willing to bet though, that there is a good chance the system actually did get so hot that it was burning the disc, because I did not ever see a disc like this before. I tried to capture the image with my camera, but it's not visible in a photo. It's very subtle as I mentioned, but should be brought up.

A large group of people are also complaining about scratched discs when turning the system from a vertical to horizontal position while the system is on. I mean no offense to anyone, but if you are foolish enough to rotate the console while it was on and expect the disc to come out fine and dandy, then you are a very gullible person. It seems like common sense to me to turn the system off before you rotate it. Maybe I'm just that smart.. who knows :P

Overheating is a large issue as well, so you will want to make sure that your system has plenty of breathing room. If it does, then the system will get quite hot but shouldn't crash on you. One of my online friends stated that his console overheated and crashed on him a few times. Customer service told him it was because he played for 14 hours straight. Yes, this is laughable, because you should be taking a break after a few hours as 14 hours may be overkill. However, if you have a household where people take turns, then it's easy to rack up a 14 hour streak. If you do suffer from overheating despite being in a well ventilated area, then you may want to point a house fan at the console. This is a ridiculous measure to have to take, but if you have a hot ambient temp, it may be your only option at this point in time.

Many people are blaming Microsoft for these issues, but I don't. As with all new releases, there are ALWAYS problems. It's difficult for a company to prepare for a 1.4 - 2.0 Million unit release and avoid issues. Since consoles are becoming more and more like actual desktop computers, then it's no surprise that there are so many issues. Hopefully these issues will lessen as new units are released from the factory though.

I certainly have a conclusion to this article up my sleeve, but not a conclusion on the system. Since it is so early in the life of the Xbox 360, it's really difficult to see how big of a part it will make in the gaming market. Microsoft certainly has some major issues to take care of if it wants to dominate this portion of the market, and they certainly want that... bad.

We have already concluded the first week of December, and nobody seems to know when the next shipment of consoles will be released. One thing is for sure, if they do not release a sufficient amount of consoles in time for Christmas, they can practically kiss their potential domination goodbye. They wanted to beat Sony and Nintendo to the punch at the next gen, but that could have been a mistake. Sure enough, they were out first, but what about all those people who can't purchase one? If they do not release a few million units within the next few weeks, then Sony will be one of the happiest companies on the planet.

The Nintendo Revolution is hardly a threat at this point in time, but Sony is. Sony is taking notes from Microsofts mistakes right now, and are doing what they can to avoid the same mistakes. If MS misses the holiday season, and leaves it until January, they will be certainly missing out on sales. This is the time they have to make their move, because it will obviously be Sony who will dominate next years Christmas season, or else Microsoft will have to do something miraculous. Personally, I hope that they do release many more units quickly, because I do not want this console to go the way of the Dreamcast. Microsoft does have the smarts though, and certainly the money to back up their console, so I hope to only see great things come from them in the coming months.

It's hard to recommend a purchase, because even if you want to buy one, you'd have to rely on paying way too much on eBay. If you are purchasing this system for yourself, then I would certainly recommend being patient and purchasing one when you are able to get one, but do not get desperate and hit up eBay and overpay.