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View Full Version : XBOX Show London : Advice Required



thestorm
12-16-2001, 10:13 AM
Hi all

This is my 1st post regarding the XBOX.
I'm quite interested in this console, so yesterday I went along to the XBOX show in London, UK.
I was impressed with the games "DOA3" & "Halo" and I also unexpectedly enjoyed "Amped" with the Freestyler Board.
At this stage I'm considering the various options open to me, the alterntive "safe" choice being that I could easily purchase a Playstation 2 for less than £180 and enjoy a whole host of "gameplay-rich" games and multi regional dvds.
Or hang tight and enjoy PC(upgradable machine) games such as the one I'm enjoying at the moment "Return to Castle Wolfenstein".

Whilst at the show and when I had only spent 15mins there. I noticed that different XBOX's started to freeze, thrice in total and needed "rebooting". In addition there were gameplay interuptions whilst playing games which involved complex graphics on the screen all at once.
The freezing and "jerky" gfx occured in games DOA3 and Halo. I'm not sure wether this is due to the fact that the machines are on for most of the day or all night(even though i was there first thing in the morning!)...
..or bad game programming! But this is worrying me a great deal. I really don't want to spend all that money on a "console pc" and compromise gameplay.
I'd like no nonsense gameplay such as the times I enjoyed when I used to play on my SNES and Play Station 1.

I would so much like to purchase a current upto date machine without having to carry the burden of :

-system freezing
-jerky graphics

I used to get enough of that with Win98. Xp Pro seems to have fixed almost all of those problems.

At this stage I would like XBOX owners to give me their opinion on their machine and games used and if they experience these problems.

My game wish list is :

DOA3
Gun Metal
Gun Valkyrie
House Of the Dead 2 (i want the light gun tooo!)

The Xbox Show "bouncer" will need a few lessons in charisma before the next show goes out! I don't think that's the way to attract potential customers.

All in all the show was VERY good. The Xbox host's were enthusiatic and friendly. It was a good experience. I wish it lasted for longer than an hour!
And DOA3 is fantastic! :) I strongly recommed potential buyers of the Xbox to check it out. I felt that only few of the games presented to us here in UK are excellent same applies to the games presented on the video with the Official Xbox Magazine. I initially thought the game controller maybe too big or clumsy compared to the Playstation controller (which i love) but it's fine considering all the controls that are on it. It's managable.

I look forward to your response.

Kindest Regards,

Shaz

leecow
12-16-2001, 10:56 AM
I have also heard of kiosk and demo systems freezing but have not had the least trouble with my own console and haven't experienced any framerate drops of note.

Halo, PGR, NASCAR Heat, Azurik, NFL Fever Fuzion Frenzy

ChessPieceFace
12-16-2001, 02:13 PM
i have seen them lock up at stores in the kiosks but that is becuase the had a pos2 xbox and a lameboob all in the same thing. real smart ! if they are locked up like that with no air they will freeze

silverx10
12-16-2001, 04:56 PM
Well, from what I heard from you over AIM, the problems with the XBOX would most likely be because of ventilation issues. The XBOX is a large machine, and requires a lot of ventilation in order to keep things running smoothly.

Another problem that happens with the XBOX is with demo discs. I've found that demo discs have extremely slow load times as well as VERY jerky gameplay. That would explain why HALO or Dead or Alive III were jerky, had they been demo discs. But since they were indeed the full games, it was because, again, of poor ventilation. When will people learn...