So I bought a 360

Post by **FatherJack** » June 7th, 2007, 13:54

eion wrote:If you get the Elite, you can presumably plug it into a monitor over DVI using an HDMI-to-DVI converter (but don't quote me on that - or do, see if I care). Otherwise, there's a VGA/d-sub cable you can get for it that'll do the job in an analogue way.

We don't have the Elite here, yet.

Late summer, estimates say, making it singularly the worst time to buy a non-elite one, as the price will plummet in a month or two. But I want to play Forza. Now.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » June 7th, 2007, 14:02

I got a VGA cable for use with my LCD TV and it looks great. It didn't look too bad with the supplied cable on my CRT either, passable.

I don't really understand the analogue/digital VGA thing.

eion · Post by **eion** » June 7th, 2007, 14:02

FatherJack wrote: We don't have the Elite here, yet.
Late summer, estimates say, making it singularly the worst time to buy a non-elite one, as the price will plummet in a month or two. But I want to play Forza. Now.

Do Costco in the UK sell 360s? I seem to recall their warranty is very, shall we say... consumer-friendly.

eion · Post by **eion** » June 7th, 2007, 14:05

spoodie wrote:I got a VGA cable for use with my LCD TV and it looks great. It didn't look too bad with the supplied cable on my CRT either, passable.

I don't really understand the analogue/digital VGA thing.

The difference really comes with longer cable runs, for example if you're using a projector and the rest of your equipment isn't ceiling mounted. Using STP to make VGA cables is a reasonable solution to the sparkling/shimmering/etc. up to a point, but it's a pretty major PITA to make the cables (especially if proprietary connectors are involved).

Post by **FatherJack** » June 9th, 2007, 2:10

Xbox 360 am go!

Got it from Tesco in the end, as I forgot I'd promised my Dad to help fix someone's computer, and it was half nine before I got there.

Thought, meh - it'll be 300 notes, but at least they replace stuff no questions asked if there's a problem, and I'm there every other day.

Plopped the empty case in the trolley with Forza 2, a second controller and a rechargable battery unit and went to the electronics desk.
Girl at counter: A premium unit, okay. [goes out back, comes back] Erm we don't seem to have any, only Core units...
FJ: Excuse me, did you just call me a noob?
Girl: They come with a game... [points]
(It's Fusion Frenzy 2)
FJ: I don't need to come here to be insulted, I have a whole website full of people ready to that!#&@$
Girl: Oh, we've got a premium one with a game...
FJ: What game? Any game, or a crap one?
Girl: [reads off a cardboard box] Umm, "Four-Sir Motursport"
FJ: \^v^/
Girl: we have a deal on...let me check the price..er, that's £279.99
(exactly the same as the price listed on the shelves I was expecting to pay for console alone)
FJ: I have just come. Sorry about the display cabinet. The card should still scan, just shake off the excess.

Anyway, got it home, it works. Went into WMP11 on the XP box and said "Share Media". There the 360 is, bold as brass - the cheeky scamp. Can play all my music on it (all of which is torrented or ripped myself), view all my pics and play a lot of vids. Seems to prefer WMVs (surprise), but managed a few MPGs too. Couldn't see MPEGs (?) or AVIs. Found an AAC/MPEG4 decode thing buried amongst the games in the online shop thing, but haven't tried it since.

Forza is win, though. Vibration in the controllers is a little weak, but it's mostly the game I remember and love, but moar shiney - quite ridiculously in the replays: it's like the cars are made of mirrors you could use in a solar thermal parabolic dish.

The only view you get a rear-view mirror for is the bumper view, though - and it's a little difficult to judge the car's width. It's like they've compensated for you sitting on the other side, but on both sides, if you see what I mean.
I do prefer playing from a first-person view in driving games these days - or "super scary view" as we first dubbed it when switching from third-person arcade racers, so I'll persevere with it.

Edit: trying out a few XBox titles to see how they run. NFSU2 is jerky as fuck, but Forza 1 smooth as babies bums. Interestingly it reminded me how good the original was - Forza 2, while shiny lacks a little the instant playability of it's predecessor - at least to someone so used to it. Can't quite put my finger on it - as the first Forza took me a while to get into, but it's not quite the must-have buy I first thought it would be.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » June 9th, 2007, 10:32

FatherJack wrote:story

You should get Gears of War as well or rent it at least. It's a very special game, especially playing coop.

And a tactical shooter like GRAW1/2 or Rainbow Six Vegas is worth a look.

Post by **TezzRexx** » June 9th, 2007, 15:33

spoodie wrote:

You should get Gears of War as well or rent it at least. It's a very special game, especially playing coop.

This

Nice story too btw

Post by **FatherJack** » June 9th, 2007, 21:16

spoodie wrote:You should get Gears of War as well or rent it at least. It's a very special game, especially playing coop.

And a tactical shooter like GRAW1/2 or Rainbow Six Vegas is worth a look.

I think there's a Gears demo to download, so I'll grab that, I already have GRAW and Vegas on PC. Black was the last XBox FPS I played and it put me off a bit, as before that Halo 2 was a bit disappointing.

They are very much a hit-and-miss affair, while all the Timesplitters games are great fun, Far Cry on the Wii was a bit annoying.

I keep my games in "last-played" order, somewhat obsessively, so going from my back-catalogue, I'll be initially looking for: Driving games (the PGR3 demo that came on the hard disk was okay, plus probably a silly Vauxhall Nova one like NFS/Juiced/Burnout), Walking about in third person games (that'll be GTA IV, then), Sports games (the next LMA and FIFA probably) and RPGs (don't know what's coming, something like Jade Empire/KotOR would be nice)

Demo's I'll be trying include 99 Nights, Shadowrun and Crackdown.

Games I won't be getting as I've already played them to death at friends (and can borrow them if I do miss them) include Kameo, Oblivion, Saint's Row, Enchanted Arms and Dead Rising. They have Pinata, too but they might still play that a lot. I definately won't be getting Guitar Hero, either - that controller looks like it would make you worse at playing a real guitar. Also I'll be avoiding anything that's out on PC or based on a film.

Duke of Ted · Post by **Duke of Ted** » June 10th, 2007, 0:02

FatherJack wrote: and RPGs (don't know what's coming, something like Jade Empire/KotOR would be nice)

Mass Effect is looking good

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » June 10th, 2007, 10:58

Duke of Ted wrote:Mass Effect is looking good

I'm enjoying Crackdown a lot recently. Impossible leaps from roof to roof ftw.

Post by **FatherJack** » June 11th, 2007, 9:57

From the demos so far:

Overlord: Looks rather good fun. Like Fable but with minions. Coming out on PC too - but will work better with a joypad.
Crackdown: Perplexing at first, due to the city's vertical nature, and the map's inability to show this. Quite hard, but well done. Future-based GTA-type stuff.
Ninety-Nine Nights: Button-mashing rubbish.
Shadowrun: Overcomplicated FPS. Teleporting and gliding abilites make deathmatch a confusing nightmare.

Couldn't find one for Gears and couldn't get the video to launch from the web page, don't know what they're afraid of - everyone seems to say it's good (real people, that is, not media people who suck up to the designer) so why not show it off?

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » June 11th, 2007, 10:33

I thought Overlord was more like Pikmin than anything else.

I was keen on Shadowrun myself but I suspect if you've got a PC and a range of decent online FPSs to play then this is not worth it.

As for GoW, here's some vids: http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=1650
I suppose the best thing about is it's a good showcase for the power of the 360 and a good mindless shooter on top of that. Especially playing with a friend.

Post by **FatherJack** » November 2nd, 2010, 17:58

Seems like my 360 is about to die. It's not red-ringing yet, but the graphics are all messed up, like it's in low-bit colour or something, which people tell me is a sure sign it's about to expire.

I'm guessing at 3 years old, they won't do anything about fixing it. It's also in a custom case, so if I did have to send it off, I'd have to find and refit the original case and they'd know I'd opened it.

Anyone else sent one back after that long, or failing that know where I can get a base model very cheap? I have all the controllers, wires and disk I need.

Post by **TezzRexx** » November 2nd, 2010, 22:20

Depending on how cheap you're talking, it might be worth checking a local CEX as they sometimes sell 360's with only the base unit.

A shop not too far from me sometimes sell them like this as well, if I get a chance, I'll pop in and see how much they're selling for.

Do you need one with HDMI?

Post by **FatherJack** » November 2nd, 2010, 22:30

TezzRexx wrote:Do you need one with HDMI?

It's not required, but any one without it would be as old as mine so I really wouldn't want to pay much for it.

Even the Arcade (which replaced the Core) has HDMI. I do need the IR receiver for the remote and be able to attach or transfer my hard disk.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » November 7th, 2010, 17:38

i'd say wait for the red ring and ring ms. they extended the warranty period for red ring issues, and they act pretty good about it imho

Post by **FatherJack** » November 7th, 2010, 22:36

cheeseandham wrote:i'd say wait for the red ring and ring ms. they extended the warranty period for red ring issues, and they act pretty good about it imho

They extended it to three years, mine's just older than that, plus I can't find the original case for it.

Post by **fabyak** » November 8th, 2010, 9:43

I've just started playing through crackdown again, it's most enjoyable

Crackdown 2 just seems like an expansion pack for the first one so I don't think it's really worth full price