Got my XBox 360...

[garrettwc]

I have to be real careful what I say in this thread.

That's why I like XBox. You don't have everyone and their uncle out there in a byte race seeing who can control the market for the next 6 weeks with the hottest video card.

That same fever is infecting the console side of the industry as well. All the development on the 360 and PS3 are examples of that. The gaming industry as a whole is being pushed to serve that 10-25% niche that have to have the latest greatest "eye candy" in their games. If doesn't matter to them if the game is fun to play as long as it looks cool.

Do you know what the largest selling game (in number of units) historically has been? I'll give you a hint, it's a little italian guy in red overalls. Those games have never had the latest bleeding edge graphics but they are just darn fun to play.

I was intrigued by the Nintendo until they named it.

I agree that the name leaves a lot to be desired in the marketing department. Don't let the name fool you though.

Pay close attention to what happens next week at E3. Nintendo may just steal the show.

[mtnbkr]

I'll give you a hint, it's a little italian guy in red overalls. Those games have never had the latest bleeding edge graphics but they are just darn fun to play

Yup and I also prefer older versions of quake to the new ones (at least for human against human play).  The new eye candy doesn't make the game better, it just takes more horsepower to run.

Chris

[jefnvk]

That same fever is infecting the console side of the industry as well. All the development on the 360 and PS3 are examples of that. The gaming industry as a whole is being pushed to serve that 10-25% niche that have to have the latest greatest "eye candy" in their games. If doesn't matter to them if the game is fun to play as long as it looks cool.

And is part of the reason that the PS3 is taking so long.  And will probably end up costing so much.

[elkhunter]

personally I liked gun quite a bit.  Didn't take all that long to beat but it was kinda cool.  Wish it had more stuff to do after you finished. Two player would have been cool, like Red Dead Revolver.

Think I'm gonna wait for Halo 3 to come out before I get the 360.  Besides I have a lot of stuff to do right now instead of geeting sucked in by a video game. As much fun as that is.

[Sindawe]

... doesn't matter to them if the game is fun to play as long as it looks cool.

Sad thing for the gaming industry to be feeding that mind set.  I enjoyed a lot of the atmosphere of CODII and it was quite pretty visually even on my run of the mill gaming PC.  But it was still lots of "run-n-gun" and other 'guys' on the squad were disposable cannon fodder.  Their dying ment nothing.

Compare that to Brothers In Arms.  Its not as pretty in some aspects, but in others it beats CODII hands down, specially with its treatment of rain on the metal helmet.  And when my squad mates bought the farm, it really sucked.  'Specially the scripted death of one who is the spitting image in appearence and mannerisms of a friend who died 20 years ago.

Eye candy is nice, but it does not make up for piss poor game play.

[K Frame]

"That same fever is infecting the console side of the industry as well."

But not nearly at the same rate.

How many makers of high-end video cards are there, all competing for the ubiquitious PC market, which itself has dozens, if not hundreds, of players all supplying parts, games, add-ons, etc.

That's not happening in the console market nearly to the same degree. You can't add a newer, higher powered video card to the XBox every three to six months, with everyone building new games to those specifications, or above.

The consoles are proprietary - it prevents a lot of the arms race from ever happening in the first place.

Yes, you get new consoles, but they're spaced out over years, not months, and the console market has two major players, not dozens.

Many of the console game developers have also managed to keep high standards for game play as the console capabilities have increased, as well.

Ghost Recon is a perfect example of that. I played it in-depth for the first time this evening. Yes, there are some quirks to it, but it's more realistic, than Summit Strike but at the same time it keeps the intensity of the earlier versions.

[Morgan]

Something must be wrong with me.  I tried Oblivion (for the PC) for several hours, and I've found it cumbersome and boring - and I like games, including D&D type games (Neverwinter Nights, anyone?).

Anyone wants Oblivion (PC version), you can have mine for $20, shipped.

Mike, enjoy your new toy.

[jefnvk]

Try it on XBox sometime.  I have played both versions, and while pretty much identical, I like the XBox version much more.  It seems that the game was designed more for the XBox controls, and then simply ported over to the PC and not really redesigned at all.  

Also, IMHO, the storyline is dry and boring.  All the gates are easy to close, they all consist of simply running through the tower and stealing the stone.  Sure, some towers are a bit different than the others, but it doesn't really make it any more exciting.  Running around doing random things, orilling people, or being a vampyre, are a much more fun than the storyline.

[Gewehr98]

This is the game box you sold that 10mm EAA Witness pistol for?  I guess I just don't get it, I would've thought the 10mm would hold its value long after the X-Box 360 was relegated to Commodore 64 status. Oh, well, back to playing Brothers in Arms on my PC...

[Hawk]

Michelle told me you've been lusting after a working 8088 computer for your "Museum of the Pocket Protector Crowd.
I've got an Eagle II '78 - there's a certain charm to those old CPM things.

I feel the "Oblivion obsoleted my 'puter" pain. In fact, it resulted in the computer build from hell - never again. I'm swearing off. The end of the long and dusty trail is in view now, but I still had to necromancy the thread as my 'puter has been in parts for so long, and I feel the urge to rant:

It started simply enough - new mobo would show up sporting pci-e providing an excuse to trade out the agp video card for something more up-to-date and give me the option of using 2 cards. ATI was scoring better on Oblivion but I had a liking for BFG/Nvidia - what's a couple of frames?

Decided I needed 2 cards so got an SLI certified power supply and the 2nd card. I would not have done this had I researched better and seen the 7900GTX was so new - I hate bleeding edge.

Turns out the SLI certification only applied to everything other than my card. Now I've got a 600W marginal psu and can't find the 700 I think I need so, in a fit of bourbon induced reasoning, order a 1KW, figuring that would be "safe".

Power supply shows up and doesn't fit in my case. ATX form factors leave the length, ahh, "fluid".

Order a nice Lian Li case that I'm told will accept the psu. It does. Adaptor pair craps out every 5 minutes or so. I learn putting heat pipe chipset mobos upside down in the Lian Li fashion doesn't help - stuff is overheating. And the gurus suggest a new case rather than a bunch 'o fans.

The power supply and case already put me over budget so I cuss and order up another case. The budget's toast so might as well get new ram and processor. I congratulate myself in staying well under the FX60 cost.

Move everything around and lo! the adaptor pair is crapping out every TEN minutes. Only then do I learn that the mavens at an overclockers forum have noticed that the factory overclocked 7900GTXs were self immolating at a disconcerting rate. Both of mine work OK until they're paired then it hits the fan - not surprising given that one card is inhaling cooling directly from the intestinal discarge of its next-slot neighbor.

BFG offers to RMA and replace cards until the pair runs right. I start feeling my age and just "under clock" them to Nvidia's specs and everything settles down. Stable as a rock and hardly hit the 3dMark06 numbers at all - went from just over 8600 to just under 8600* - not enough to justify postage and about all one would expect from an X2-4800. I guess I can forget any overclocking if underclocking is needed for stability.

But the one and only part salvaged from last year was the Raptor boot drive which somehow messed its file system - I can load FEAR in 15 seconds from the data drive but it takes 3 minutes to load "Spider Solitaire" from the boot drive. Boot times are unaffected which is a mystery I'm just not ready to address.

My wife doesn't care what else happens so long as Spider Solitaire works right.

Another drive and probably another OEM XP just because calling Microsoft to reactivate after I reactivated just 10 days ago isn't on my list of fun stuff to do. Probably doesn't bode well for the Office re-act either. Oh well, the kid that I gave the old video card to will likely appreciate the Raptor - it just needs a reformat I'm (almost) sure. Spousal unit has, however, banned further experimentation.

Using Anandtech's Oblivion "high end" settings, I have to admit it sure looks nice. There's a certain satisfaction in FEAR running at Doom3 frame rates with the candy enabled, but not near enough.

Congratulations on the 360.

You have my undisguised envy.

Sorry about the rant but I feel much better now.

*understanding 3dMark06 numbers indicate geekiness in roughly the same fashion as understanding S&W frame designations, although I'm a little hazy on the latter.