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[Doc]

I have been considering picking up an Xbox 360 lately and was wondering whether anyone had one and what their thoughts were? I wasn't even considering this until about a week ago when I realised upgrading my computer to a level worthy of playing Oblivion would cost me vastly more.
I haven't regularly played a video game console since the nintendo 64, I play soul calibur on the gamecube a little but it's not my cube and its not regular and I had no intention of getting a 360 until recently so I was just wondering about other people's experiences, particularly of the game oblivion since if thats no good on 360 I'm not interested.

[jough]

Xbox 360 looks pretty decent - but it's really no better than a good PC. 

The Playstation 3 demos I've seen are mind-boggling.  I haven't owned a game machine since the NES back around 1990, but dang, I may pick up a PS3 when they come out eventually.

How much would it take to upgrade your PC?  Sometimes a decent graphics card is all you really need.  What's your specs?

[Ben-San]

What games do you actually want on the 360? If it's just the PC ports (as I understand Oblivion to be), you will presumably get much more use out of a good PC. In particular, I recall one of the great complaints about Morrowind on the X-Box being that the game was much more playable/fun with the ability to patch it to alter some of the more awkward gameplay elements. Also, last I heard the 360 looked kind of cruddy on non-HDTVs, so if your TV is non-HD be warned.

[Drygioni]

I would recommend either waiting for a Playstation 3, or upgrading your PC. There is nothing better than owning a really top notch PC, but as for games it's all depending on what kind of games you like. If you're an infrequent gamer as you say, you'll probably get more value out of a console, but PC's can play the Total War series. That alone justifies spending a bit of dosh on an upgraded graphics card and the like.

In short:
Xbox 360 (though I like the look of the Playstation3 better) if you like action games (Soul Calibur) or play infrequently

PC if you like first person shooters (Half Life 2 is worth the price of a PC), strategy games, etc. or intend to online game.

But wait, what about the Nintendo Revolution? No denying that it rocks.

[Ben-San]

But wait, what about the Nintendo Revolution? No denying that it rocks.

As of yet, all I know of for PS3 and Revolution are promises and bullshots. That and a quarter will get you a round of Dig Dug. One can try to extrapolate from previous systems and Nintendo's habits, but I would rather avoid making judgements until there's more to go on.

[misterqueue]

I've heard bad things about Oblivion.  I would mostly just recommend playing "Morrowind" on your computer as you won't have to fight over it with Frat Dudes who are totally trying to play Halo and John Fuck Madden: Football or whatever the hell it is. 

Damn Xbox... damn you.

(Or do not listen to me as I am destined to pre-judge in this case.)


nice use of "Bullshot" there Ben.  Don't think I didn't admire that sir, don't think I did not.

[CortJstr]

After Morrowind I've given up on Oblivion. The combat system was so awkward that I had no choice but to use the editor to give myself a Sword of Godly Might just to have half a chance. And at that point why bother leveling up or looking for items or any of the other RPG-y stuff?

[Doc]

Mmm, these are all things I've been thinking. The main thing it comes down to for me is that a 360 will set me back around 700 australian once all the peripherals are sorted. A new PC that can play Oblivion at the same level I am led to believe a 360 is capable of will require somewhere in the region of 2 large. Part of that is me being a greedy technophile but really to make it upgradable in the future I'd need to swap out my AGP mb for a PCIe model which in turn means a new chipset and by then I may as well replace my ram as well (my current sticks having slightly... erratic tendancies).
There are other games I would like on the 360 that aren't PC ports such as a couple of fighting games and burnout revenge, so I don't think it will really be wasted, I just wanted to know if anyone knew of any joy-killing problems with oblivion on the 360 since that is my primary motivator.
In addition to this I do, in fact, have a HDTV in my house, so that works.
I will sorely miss the ability to mod though, or at least apply the mods of other, more talented, individuals.

And Cort I have to totally disagree, I mean the combat system wasn't perfect by any means (I'd be amazed if anyone got through the game just being a mage) but you can cook yourself up some nice weapons using the enchantment system that are cool but not game-breaking, there's more than a few good ones just lying around too.

Oh and I'm getting a Rev either way, always have intended too, even with all the games I play I've never actually been actively excited over a console the way I am with the revolution. Yeah this is probably just a combination of hype and nostalgia and they'll probably screw it up, but I can dream damnit.

[CortJstr]

And Cort I have to totally disagree, I mean the combat system wasn't perfect by any means (I'd be amazed if anyone got through the game just being a mage) but you can cook yourself up some nice weapons using the enchantment system that are cool but not game-breaking, there's more than a few good ones just lying around too.

It's just that when I buy an RPG I don't need to be worrying about swishing the penis around and dodging and what not. I just want to click Fight or Item or Magic Missle. The movement aspects of Wizardry 8 were about as far as I'm willing to go.

[Lister]

The Playstation 3 demos I've seen are mind-boggling. 

DO NOT BELIEVE HIS LIES

Seriously.  Until you see it running game code on the actual hardware (which NOBODY has), do not believe anything.  At GDC last week, Sony didn't have hardware running -- all they had were four dev kits running demos.  That Killzone 2 demo that blew you away?  Not game footage, not even pretending to be game footage.  Game models do not have animated eyes, they don't tap each other on the shoulder and point, and they aren't smart enough to use recently-blasted holes as cover.  What you saw was a completely scripted prerendered animation that was restricted to the texture memory of the PS3 and not using more cycles than the Cell chip is supposedly capable of.

They weren't running AI, pathfinding, pathplanning, collision detection, physics, or particles on that "chip."

I'm still interested in getting the PS3 after the first price drop, 'cause it'll be blu-ray and region free.  But the demos you've seen are not going to be realized in games for it.

Okay, as far as the 360 goes... it's intriguing, but so far I haven't heard of any gaming experiences it can produce that can't be found elsewhere.  Since Oblivion in particular was mostly developed without a hardware devkit, I would expect that it runs fairly poorly, and thus would be comparable to an Xbox-equivalent upgrade to your PC.  If you're not a console gamer, I would definitely put the cash into PC hardware.

While you may not be able to get all the flash and glitz on a PC (no antialiasing, etc), you'll still be able to play it, and you'll be able to use the mods, cheats, and hacks that make TES games worth loading up a year or two after release.  On a 360 it would be dead.

[pmcd9]

prerendered

I read that as 'pretendered.'  I think that could be a cool new word. 

~Paul

[jough]

Seriously.  Until you see it running game code on the actual hardware (which NOBODY has), do not believe anything.

Yeah, I know, but dang, between those demo videos and those thousands of ducks, I imagine that the PS3 will likely be a MONSTER gaming system.

The Xbox 360 is, as I've said, about comparable to a high-end PC right now, and not quite as good as a REALLY high end PC with dual SLI-nVidia cards, etc.

In a year or so, the PC will far surpass the 360.  It's hardly worth buying one, when you consider that with a decent PC you can do so much more than play games.

I'm not really much of a gamer (I keep saying, while I keep trying new and more varied games) but with this new video card (a mid-level ATi x800 XL from PowerColor) I get amazing performance.  I'm re-playing Half-Life 2 with all of the settings cranked up - 6xAA, 16x Antroscopic filtering, Reflect All, HDR, etc. It's gorgeous.

F.E.A.R. doesn't love this particular card, but I still get over 50 FPS with soft shadows turned off and some of the lighting turned down (quality-wise) a little, and I only paid about $150 for the video card.  Pop in two nVidia cards and I'm sure I could make any game today cry.

That Killzone 2 demo that blew you away?  Not game footage, not even pretending to be game footage.

It was still fuck*ng amazing, though. 

Game models do not have animated eyes, they don't tap each other on the shoulder and point, and they aren't smart enough to use recently-blasted holes as cover.

Well, not YET they're not.  But just give it a little time.

While you may not be able to get all the flash and glitz on a PC (no antialiasing, etc)

I get all sorts of flash and glitz on my new PC, and this video card is almost a year old and wasn't top of the line when it came out (it's a really good bang-for-your-buck card, though, and it plays most of the games I want to play very very well).

HDR and full-screen anti-aliasing seem to work really well with this card.  Get a higher-end card and you can do even better with a PC.

you'll still be able to play it, and you'll be able to use the mods, cheats, and hacks that make TES games worth loading up a year or two after release.  On a 360 it would be dead.

Mods and hacks are what keep me playing stuff on a PC rather than buying a standalone console.  And with these new physics cards that will be coming out soon, eventually you'll be able to upgrade your PC by installing a console card into it.  Get console performance on your PC with just the addition of a new video card (which will handle more than video, of course).  They'll probably call them "gaming cards" or else come up with some pretentious name for them.

Right now I'm hell of looking forward to the new Half-Life 2 expansion pack.  I've been playing some user-created mods, but new content right from the source (pun intended) is rocking my cock.

[Doc]

It's just that when I buy an RPG I don't need to be worrying about swishing the penis around and dodging and what not. I just want to click Fight or Item or Magic Missle. The movement aspects of Wizardry 8 were about as far as I'm willing to go.

That's fair enough, and I can respect that but I'm just all about the customisation, I love being able to affect a gameworld and see how it pans out and know I can do it differently next time. This is why I still play deus ex and similar.


Jough: Let me add a big F*CK YEAH to the HL expansion (whatever they are calling it now), I am indeed looking forward do that, and can't see myself switching from pcs for fps games any time soon. That said I think I will go the 360, mainly for party games, becuase it's fun to sit around the couch with your buds and play. And by the time I save up so I can upgrade like I really want to (and I don't see any point in settling for less since it means i'll have to upgrade sooner in the long run) another year or so will have gone by anyway so I think this works for the interim.

[Crun]

I just (as in, this week) picked up a 360.  To me, it comes down to a decision:  are you a console gamer or a PC gamer?  I enjoy my games on a big ol' tv, playing hockey with a few friends over some beers.  PC games are good, but the ones I love and are exclusive to PC (RTS's) don't require much of a beefy machine.  Also, I really enjoy what xbox does with Live.  Burnout is great fun.  Also of note, I like that I can pull mp3's off my computer instead of loading cd's and taking up time recording them to the xbox hard drive.

But basically, i'm a console guy.  I sold my xbox and all my games in december, and started to jones for my nhl2004... so I picked up a copy for the pc, and bought an xbox->usb adaptor, because I hate pc controllers.  It satisfied me just fine. 

[Doc]

I'm not a sports gamer at all and that's what consoles seem to excel in, but that said I picked up a 360 with burnout, oblivion and kameo yesterday. I've only had a short chance to play with it (assignment kicking my arse) but I got to muck around in burnout a bit and like what I see.
As it happened my gf wanted one too so she kicked in some dough for an extra controller and two of the games which lightened the load a bit.
I shall continue field activities and report back.