first impressions

[ShadedNine]

Well, went to Future Shop and sat outside for a while. It seems they decided to do away with VIP treatment for preorders, or even decent treatment for pre-orders. They separated the lineups to buy the thing, and gave fewer tills to cashing out preorders, even though there was roughly an equal number.

Ah well, got it home by 1am with PDZ and PGR3.

Really only 2 complaints so far: the first I came across was how unimaginably cheap the heatset feels. I'll have to replace that junk as soon as I find something suitable. Even worse, it's proprietary, so we have to wait for official 3rd party stuff. I might toy with cutting up an hold heaset and soldering it on, and seeing if can get it to work that way.

Second one is the ROM drive. Very noisy. Completely drowns out my PC,though I may have gotten a dud...the sound isn't smooth and consistent. I'll deal with that once I know I'll be able to get a replacement via exchange.

Oh, and a third one: the component video cables are unimaginably cheap. But I need longer ones anyway, so I'll be splicing and replacing it with a Belden cable. The store didn't have the VGA adapter in, so I couldn't look at or try that out yet.

As for the games...played a little of PGR3. Sweet game, I'm gonna love it. Only setback is they didn't push the bar on the difficulty. I'm going to play it through in hard first so I can get through quickly, but I'll switch to hardcore right after, with a little practice, I can already do most races in hardcore :(. Doesn't much matter though, I bought the game for the online aspect.

PDZ...only did the tutorial level. I'm not huge on the controls, I find it more difficult to aim than in halo, even with sensitivity set higher, but maybe it'll grow on me, or maybe it's just been too long since I played halo /shrug.

[swivel]

Now that it is out, do we still call everything 'Next-Gen', or is it now the current generation?

[Ninjermy]

You can call it either swivel.
Thanks for the impressions shade. Yea I read that 360 was supposed to be really loud... louder then any other system before...

[eskara]

I see that I was misled. I read somewhere the system was watercooled (i.e.doesnt make sound!)!!!

[GTA3 Dude]

What is the difficulty of PGR3 compared to PGR2?

[Whisper]

it is very hard.. corners are tight!

first impression:

graphics are amazing
shamefully there are glitches in the media guide, including 3 freezeups when accessing it from PGR 3

[pjh13]

i noticed it was kinda loud also but it didnt really bother me to much. you couldnt really hear it over the sound of the game. I love it so far the controller is great and fits my hand better then any other controller ever. my only complaint so far is how bad i am at PD0

[ShadedNine]

I see that I was misled. I read somewhere the system was watercooled (i.e.doesnt make sound!)!!!

For one, it's a very common misconception that water cooled systems are silent. Generally, a computer water cooling system runs liquid through pipes past the die of the CPU, which runs to a reservoir tower either internal or external. However, in order to keep the liquid cooled, they implement fans and heatsinks on the water resevoir. As a result, most water cooling systems aren't really quieter, but simply more effective at cooling (allowing you to overclock your system more).

I too have read that there would be a liquid cooling system within the 360, but regardless of what they used, something has to bring that heat from the inside of the case to the outside, especially since it's plastic.

Anyway, it's not the cooling system on the 360 that bothers me. I honestly can't even hear it when the disc is spinning, since that sound drowns it out. Maybe it's just my drive...we'll see.


edit: I put a thin piece of black foam under the 360, and that seemed to take care of the harshest of the sounds. Also, standing the thing vertically results in about double the noise from the dvd drive for me, so I'll definitely be keeping it horizontally (I had set it up vertically temporarily since it can't go in my entertainment stand until I lengthen the component cable).

[eskara]

For one, it's a very common misconception that water cooled systems are silent. Generally, a computer water cooling system runs liquid through pipes past the die of the CPU, which runs to a reservoir tower either internal or external. However, in order to keep the liquid cooled, they implement fans and heatsinks on the water resevoir. As a result, most water cooling systems aren't really quieter, but simply more effective at cooling (allowing you to overclock your system more).

I too have read that there would be a liquid cooling system within the 360, but regardless of what they used, something has to bring that heat from the inside of the case to the outside, especially since it's plastic.

Anyway, it's not the cooling system on the 360 that bothers me. I honestly can't even hear it when the disc is spinning, since that sound drowns it out. Maybe it's just my drive...we'll see.

I can't say the sound will bother me either way, my PC sounds like a plane taking off so anything else would be quieter anyway. There have been reports floating around the Official Xbox forums of freezing machines and them being way to hot. Maybe the system should have been watercooled as well seeing as it would have saved many people a load of hassle. I really hope that the 2nd December launch goes smoothly.

[Salmonaitor]

Well, I set my Xbox 360 up last night. I used an aftermarket wireless bridge and saved myself $55 and it works like a dream. I hadn't played my original X in a while and this was mainly because I found it too inconvenient. I never had a good place to sit becauase I didn't have cable extenders and every room in my house that has a tv is too big to drag the box out and sit on a couch with the controller. Well, no more excuses there, the wireless controller is God's gift to gaming. The freedom to walk around with it, to go grab a beer is so liberating. I'm in gaming heaven.
I had never spent the money on component cables for my original X either, and never got surround sound out of it. I was amazed last night as I moved my character around in Call of Duty 2 to hear the voices change speakers. My wife was laughing at me because I was totally freaking out about the sound and graphics. I'm about 3 hours of play time into my 360, and I'm already in love with it.
I found it pretty easy to set-up, especially the xbox live. If you've linked your .net passport to your gamertag, you already know this, but for those of you who haven't, do it before you get your console. All I had to do was type in my e-mail address and password to my .net account that is linked to my gamertag, and VOILA, everything was there. This is an amazing piece of technology. I know many of you who didn't get one are super disappointed, and I don't blame you, but believe me, it is worth the wait. This is without a doubt the coolest gaming experience on earth.
This isn't a review really, I just wanted to share with you guys my first impression, and as you can tell, I'm thoroughly impressed.

[George89]

for PDZ's controllers, a lot of people said it controls like the Timesplitter games

[studepaber]

Picked up mine yesterday morning at EB and here are my impressions (also note that I play the 360 strictly offline as I quit online gaming (PC and console) a year or so ago):

***Impressions based on playing on standard TV - need to upgrade to HD!! :( ***

System: Simple setup, had to figure out the best area to keep system and power brick well-ventilated as both seem to warm up quite a bit. Stood the console up vertically and have had no game freezes, although twice (out of 6 hours of playing) the ROM drive was making some funny noises so I saved, turned everything off then back on. Like someone said in an earlier post the ROM drive is noisy, but if you have the volume up on your TV/stereo you can't really hear it.

Wireless controllers: Instructions were a little misleading on how to set up, you need to hit button on console, hit the big X circle on the controller then hit the small button on the top of the controller. They left out the second step. Controller feels great, I can't think of anything I'd change on it.

Call of Duty 2: Favorite game so far, beautiful graphics, intense battles that really get your adrenalene going. Game runs very smooth both single and multiplayer. Tried out splitscreen with friends and we had a blast. Several maps to choose from.

Kameo: Second favorite, best graphics to showcase the 360 IMO, recommend for those who are into adventure/puzzle games. Haven't tried co-op yet..

PGR3: Haven't played much of this, looks great, replays on Gotham TV are fun to watch.

Madden 2006: Same Madden minus a couple game modes (owner + minicamp), but add awesome graphics (the helmets are :yikes: ) and alot more animations and the game is a great time!

PDZ: Least favorite, I think my expectations were too high on this game, graphically it's very impressive, music is great, voice acting sucks, cutscenes are weak. Played a few levels of single player and it just plays a little too slow for me (slower than Halo IMO). I'm a fan of FPS's like UT and Quake though so obviously I have some bias towards faster shooters. Tried multiplayer offline with some friends and bots and it was just 'okay' for us, again the game (animations- especially seeing others running) felt too slow for us, although we did enjoy the weaponry and jetpacks (not too keen on the hovercraft though). Hopefully this game will grow a little on me, keep in mind these impressions are only from playing this game maybe 2 hours tops.

I'll probably look at renting Condemned and Quake 4 in the next week or so, and hopefully Dead or Alive 4 will be out soon as well!

Overall I love the system and games and can't wait to show it off during the holidays.

[Kyle Static]

Well after 24hours without rest I wasn't exactly prepared to whip out the 360....but I did. Thanks for the heads up on linking the.net account to the gamertag salmy.........I kept getting a generic warning number everytime I tried. I have yet to actually play any 360 games....I picked up the last copy of Quake 4 yesterday, but wasn't able to get home until about 8, and at that point I decided to play quake 2 on the 360 instead. Reviews don't look to promising, but I'd been hoarding my savings for too long....and needed a 360 game! I like the fact that there is already music on the HD, but I haven't had much of a chance to preview all of it. I played a bit of halo 2 on legendary...until I realized how bad my skills had become and stopped in place of Quake 2 (which is surprisingly fun to play on a 360). So I guess I don't have much to report, but more when I play quake 4 I guess.