[Jetmech Jr.]

What's that? I'm going to assume you meant that SC3 will look as graphically good on the XB360, as my brain just can't process the possibility that you don't recognize what the clip is of, in which case I must say: it's the content that endears me to it, more than the graphics.

[Unknown Target]

The only reason Xbox exists is for Halo. I like the PS2 more because it has a giant collection of games - you go to someone who owns an Xbox, you ask what games they own, they almost always say Halo first. I doubt Xbox360 will have anything notable besides Halo 3 (4?)

[Deepblue]

Gears of War
Mass Effect
Too Human
Forza Motorsport 2

It's definitely not just Halo. That's just a fanboyish assumption. Halo got things started, but it isn't everything.

[Night Hammer]

I think hes talking about the games that are already out


and those games look great, but noone has played em so for all you know they could ****
(hope not)

[IceFire]

Well Halo is a draw (Halo 2 in my case), but Forza Motorsport and Fable are two other great X-Box games that I enjoy quite a bit.

Anyone play any of the Rainbow Six offerings?

[Deepblue]

Rainbo

Well Halo is a draw (Halo 2 in my case), but Forza Motorsport and Fable are two other great X-Box games that I enjoy quite a bit.

Anyone play any of the Rainbow Six offerings?

Yeah.  Rainbow Six is still an incredibly fun game on Live, though Halo 2 usurped its position as number 1.

[aldo_14]

I'm shocked how poorly advertised the Xbox360 has been (in the UK).  You literally would not know it was due for release; I've not seen any TV or print adverts, no sponsorships (ad boards at football matches, or on TV shows, for example), etc.  I can only guess it's being underhyped because the rumours of big shortages are true.

I did see a single demo machine in a Virgin megastore (which looked new) showing Call of duty 2, which looked crisp but not especially better than the medium-settings PC demo I've been playing (oddly, because it bloody well should).  The guy playing it seemed to have a little trouble aiming accurately with the joypad, although that could be down to unfamiliarity (or dodgy controls) rather than any problems with the pad.  But at the moment it looks like they badly need a killer app for it, and that they maybe rushed it to market far too early.

[Fineus]

I second aldo_14 on that. Granted I'm not looking into buying any other console system any time soon but I will say that I've not seen anything either. If I didn't take the time to research it on the net - I wouldn't know it was coming out.

A very suprising move, considering the proximity of Christmas.

[Flipside]

You can play the prettiest FPS of all time, with almost true-to-life graphics and physics effects, with Metanurb water behaviour, with 20,000 poly shader-based models etc etc, and it will still be a game where you run around putting an X over your enemy and pressing fire.

[Galemp]

Which is why the FPS genre is starting to die...

[BlackDove]

In essence PS3 will have turned out to be worth the wait and moreover - a way better buisness decision if all of the premonitions such as that of aldo's are true.

By the way, does XBox 360 use Blu-Ray? If it doesn't then it's pretty clear which console will have better capacity for grandeur.

[Grey Wolf]

The Xbox 360 uses standard DVDs, not Blu-Ray, so the PS3 has the advantage of storage capacity.

Actually, the news that the picture is no better than the current generation on standard TVs is tempting me to go and get a used PS2.

[Deepblue]

PDZ got a 9.0 at Gamespot. 9.0 in every category across the board.

Either way, Gamespot is setting next-gen standards very high.

In essence PS3 will have turned out to be worth the wait and moreover - a way better buisness decision if all of the premonitions such as that of aldo's are true.

By the way, does XBox 360 use Blu-Ray? If it doesn't then it's pretty clear which console will have better capacity for grandeur.

It's not worth the wait when performance wise it is still about even. Especially since when the PS3 releases, the Xbox 360 will drop in price and have some damn awesome second-gen games which actually start to use the hardware effectively. Blu-ray is bound to fail IMHO because I don't think people are willing to pony up for such a tiny difference in quality.

Actually, the news that the picture is no better than the current generation on standard TVs is tempting me to go and get a used PS2.

This depends entirely on the game. Things like GUN and THAW will look no better because the devs invested no effort in making them look better.

I did see a single demo machine in a Virgin megastore (which looked new) showing Call of duty 2, which looked crisp but not especially better than the medium-settings PC demo I've been playing (oddly, because it bloody well should).

Demo =/= final game. The final version runs at a constant 60 fps and pushes more particles and has slightly higher res textures than the PC version at max settings. The X360 version of Quake 4, on the other hand, is an abomination. The hardware is there, but the devs did a very poor port-job leaving it with worse graphics and worse framerates.

[Deepblue]

While Greg K. thinks the plot is really tacked on and silly (a shame seeing as the first PD had a great plot), he loves the shooting action.

Taken as a whole, Perfect Dark Zero is decidedly one of the best, fully featured Xbox 360 games so far, and it's a compelling reason to spring for the system if you've been on the fence. While the game doesn't reinvent the first-person shooter, which has been a mainstay of action gaming for more than a decade, it delivers one of the most highly refined and spectacular examples of this brand of gameplay to date. From its ravishing good looks and totally first-rate audio, to the believable feel of its outstanding weapons, to its wealth of single- and multiplayer options, Perfect Dark Zero delivers just about everything you could hope for from a first-person shooter.

[aldo_14]

PGR3 review, Eurogamer (http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61842); 8/10
Kameo, Eurogamer (http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61759); 5/10
Snapshot (tongue in cheek) reviews from a freelance games journalist; http://invisionfree.com/forums/worldofstuart/index.php?s=aa2cde27c7a63d67a23199dc97fcb006&showtopic=1967

(Sorry, no flashy pics from me.)

Strangely, every preview I've read of PDZ described it as really awful.  Including a teletext one tha tdescribed it as being somewhat shambolic.

Um, on the side.  I can't help if the COD2 demo looked a wee bit underwhelming, because it did.  Maybe it'll look a bit better on release, but I've not heard too different from reviews / opinions from netural sources as of yet.  All I can say is the demo does not look very impressive (well, the TV looked nice) vis-a-vis a decent Pc, and they kind of need to sort that if they want it to be a good advert.

Blu-ray will probably succeed, because it has the support of a number of major movie companies.  The PS3s' role as a sort of Blu-ray trojan horse could be a vital angle for it; I'd imagine that's why MS have been purporting an HD-DVD 360 at some point.  Although I'd say neither will be worth a punt until 2007 (assuming all consoles are out by summer 2006), by which time prices will be more sensible and games more widely available. 

 I think it's very telling that the majority of UK retailer advertising has been for the PS2 and Xbox, rather than the 360; it doesn't have the games yet (and if you buy it at release to wait for them, then you're a total idiot, because it'll be down in price in a few months time and you'd just have pissed away a few tenners+).  It's also interesting how the 360 is being slightly hampered by cross-platform development, with games like Gun and King Kong being codeveloped for the lowly PS2.  That could hamstring the 360 for quite some time, I think; the PS2 is still the best selling console (at least in the UK; IIRC it was outselling the Xbox by 4 to 1 in the last figures), and developers will need to keep working on that for purely financial reasons.

Although, as it stands, I've not seen any interesting game for [/i]any[/i] console as of yet.  I'm truly sick of the generic FPS-Racing game duo that dominate releases nowadays.  I'm not sure I could stand to shoot another colour-coded enemy.......

[Night Hammer]

Taken as a whole, Perfect Dark Zero is decidedly one of the best, fully featured Xbox 360 games so far

congrats on getting a quote that means nothing, it may be one of the best out of what 4, 5 games out? woo****inhoo



i think the only game that id pay full price for is Condemned or wahtever its called

[Deepblue]

Taken as a whole, Perfect Dark Zero is decidedly one of the best, fully featured Xbox 360 games so far

congrats on getting a quote that means nothing, it may be one of the best out of what 4, 5 games out? woo****inhoo



i think the only game that id pay full price for is Condemned or wahtever its called

Keep in mind that PDZ was reviewed by Greg bloody Kasavin.

PGR3 review, Eurogamer (http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61842); 8/10
Kameo, Eurogamer (http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61759); 5/10
Snapshot (tongue in cheek) reviews from a freelance games journalist; http://invisionfree.com/forums/worldofstuart/index.php?s=aa2cde27c7a63d67a23199dc97fcb006&showtopic=1967

(Sorry, no flashy pics from me.)

Strangely, every preview I've read of PDZ described it as really awful. Including a teletext one tha tdescribed it as being somewhat shambolic.

Um, on the side. I can't help if the COD2 demo looked a wee bit underwhelming, because it did. Maybe it'll look a bit better on release, but I've not heard too different from reviews / opinions from netural sources as of yet. All I can say is the demo does not look very impressive (well, the TV looked nice) vis-a-vis a decent Pc, and they kind of need to sort that if they want it to be a good advert.

Blu-ray will probably succeed, because it has the support of a number of major movie companies. The PS3s' role as a sort of Blu-ray trojan horse could be a vital angle for it; I'd imagine that's why MS have been purporting an HD-DVD 360 at some point. Although I'd say neither will be worth a punt until 2007 (assuming all consoles are out by summer 2006), by which time prices will be more sensible and games more widely available.

 I think it's very telling that the majority of UK retailer advertising has been for the PS2 and Xbox, rather than the 360; it doesn't have the games yet (and if you buy it at release to wait for them, then you're a total idiot, because it'll be down in price in a few months time and you'd just have pissed away a few tenners+). It's also interesting how the 360 is being slightly hampered by cross-platform development, with games like Gun and King Kong being codeveloped for the lowly PS2. That could hamstring the 360 for quite some time, I think; the PS2 is still the best selling console (at least in the UK; IIRC it was outselling the Xbox by 4 to 1 in the last figures), and developers will need to keep working on that for purely financial reasons.

Although, as it stands, I've not seen any interesting game for [/i]any[/i] console as of yet. I'm truly sick of the generic FPS-Racing game duo that dominate releases nowadays. I'm not sure I could stand to shoot another colour-coded enemy.......

http://www.totalgames.net/pma/22283

The first thing to note is that even when the console game is running side by side with a top of the range PC version, outputting in as high-resolution as it can muster, the 360 version has the edge visually. Perhaps this will change as graphics cards evolve, but for now, the console game runs more smoothly, has far quicker load times, and looks generally better than its poor home computer cousin. This means that visually, Call of Duty 2 is absolutely jaw dropping, especially when it's played on a high definition Widescreen TV.

And the game ports come down to developers. Sure you have things like GUN and THAW, but you also have King Kong, which looks damned amazing on the 360 compared to the standard PC/xbox/ps2 versions. And I don't have flashy pictures to back it up because the Photobucket account exceeded bandwidth. But the difference was massive.

[Deepblue]

Taken as a whole, Perfect Dark Zero is decidedly one of the best, fully featured Xbox 360 games so far

congrats on getting a quote that means nothing, it may be one of the best out of what 4, 5 games out? woo****inhoo



i think the only game that id pay full price for is Condemned or wahtever its called

If you watch the video review, Greg K. calls it one of the best FPSs of the year.

[IceFire]

And the game ports come down to developers. Sure you have things like GUN and THAW, but you also have King Kong, which looks damned amazing on the 360 compared to the standard PC/xbox/ps2 versions. And I don't have flashy pictures to back it up because the Photobucket account exceeded bandwidth. But the difference was massive.

From what I understand, X-Box 360 and PS3 will have a lead time on graphics and physics for the next 6 or so months while the PC world then catches up.  By this time next year dual core will be standard and DX10, Windows Vista, and OpenGL 2.0 should be available or nearly ready.  While all of those are just far flung ideas right now...we'll see if they ultimately turn into technical boons or boondoggles.  Vista could be MS's best OS yet...or its worst.  Time will tell.

[CP5670]

Check this out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Microsoft-Xbox-360-Game-Console-xbox360-FREE-Shipping_W0QQitemZ8236087943QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Microsoft-Xbox-360-PREMIUM-PKG_W0QQitemZ8236097977QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Wow.