This is topic My research has finished. I'm getting the XBOX 360 in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Presences (Member # 8492) on :
 
I'm not one you'd call a "gamer", however I really enjoy gaming. The last system I owned was the GameCube. I’ve played many of PS2 and 360s at friends, but only the PS3 at stores.

I’ve done a lot of research, and today I ran across this website, which pretty much sealed the deal between the 360 vs. PS3 tug of war I was having with myself. I find the articles are very informative.

http://www.eurogamer.net/archive.php?author=175
(read the Face-Off articles)

Some say the PS3 is best for “gamers”, but if you are interested, you will find this website gives most of the games “gamers” play to the Xbox 360 for graphics and frames-per-second.

I'm not interested in the Wii, so let’s not have that as part of the discussion; that is if anyone even finds this topic worth replying to.
 

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Posted by LargeTuna (Member # 10512) on :
 
I has a 360 and a gamecube (nothing will ever beat the gamecube)
 

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Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
 
No console is definitely "better" then the others as Yahtsee put it "speaking as someone who is white enough to afford all the consoles I have to say that is is probably the most balanced generation of all time coming down to what you personally want in a console; the Wii is excitable yippy bastard good with children but a little exhausting; the PS3 is the dependable black monster, slow but lovingly bringing you your slippers every morning and the Xbox 360 is a good ol' well rounder that only occasionally pisses itself and dies."

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/37-Mailbag-Showdown
 

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Posted by Presences (Member # 8492) on :
 
I'd add that the 360 is now dependable. The older ones had problems, the new ones don't.

I'd also add from my research that currently, the 360 is a better machine, providing a better frames-per-second on almost all games then the PS3, and that is a big deal!

The PS3 to me is an expensive "hardware dependable" monster that is very unstable with the games. I guess what I’m saying is I'd rather have the beast that eats the monster for breakfast.
 

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Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
 
plus, there is always xbox live...which is tons of fun.

I haven't had the time to play in a while...but I really had a great time playing halo 3, and other games on live.
 

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Posted by EmpSquared (Member # 10890) on :
 
Blayne-

The first part of that quote is unnecessary to paste, dude.
 

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Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
 
The 360's only thing I found "fun" was Halo 3 co-op as to me ANY game that offers a co-op single player campaign has gained definate points.

HOWEVER to say that the PS3 gets LESS fps I think is seriously mistaken or at least not taken fairly.

It should not be forgotten that the games that run best for the 360 were probably meant albeit originally for the 360. The games that run best on the PS3 are generally PS3 exclusives.

Next what is this "unstable" myth the PS3's I have played have all played well for me and looked noticeably better then the 360.

Next what must be considered and hence the reason why Blu Ray won the format war is that on the larger HD tv's/screens Blu ray and hence the PS3 looks noticeably better as well.

However even with my poor eye sight playing on those tiny HD screens in stores the PS3's graphics and frame rate were better then the 360's with the games I cared about.

And thats the next thing I want a PS3 for the RPG's and future Final Fantasy JRPG titles, FPS and RTS games are for the most part suck majorly on consoles and thus PC > Console.
 

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Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :
 
Genesis, ftw
 

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Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
 
What games are you planning on getting?

Be sure to post your gamertag once you get it, so that you can play with the rest of us.
 

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Posted by Presences (Member # 8492) on :
 
Blayne, I cannot draw any conclusions from your experience as you have not listed any specific games where the PS3 out performed the 360. Thus, your comments are annulled as a subjective reference. My conclusions about the 360 have come from various well established and well respected gaming sites and objective tests. Once one reads such comparison tests on titles specifically of interest, one will find the 360 will almost always be given a better rating. Reference the beginning post for one such site.

I will concur that exclusive PS3 titles are... well exclusive to the PS3, therefore cannot be compared on the 360.
 

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Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
 
Actually, Blayne, GTA IV -- heir to a franchise with a successful exclusive and timed exclusive history on Sony consoles -- runs at 640p with no antialiasing on the PS3, while the 360 version runs at 720p with antialiasing. Of course, both the 360 and PS3 have games that look great despite not actually rendering at HD resolutions: Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Devil May Cry 4, Ninja Gaiden 2, etc. I'm not suggesting that HD is the end-all-be-all, but that kind of puts lie to Sony's prerelease claims that their console would be the "true HD" console. Turns out that neither console is HD across all titles.

Anyway, I'm a 360 owner who will be buying a PS3 soonish to complement my 360, because I love rocket cars. If a console has games I want, I'm not that concerned about whether or not its graphics are better than the competition.
 

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Posted by 0Megabyte (Member # 8624) on :
 
"If a console has games I want, I'm not that concerned about whether or not its graphics are better than the competition."

Hear, hear! And isn't that, in the end, all that really matters?

For example. I want MGS4. So, I guess I'm gonna get a PS3 for those.

And since most of the good games on the 360 are coming out or have come out on the PS3, I don't see the need to buy a 360, since its exclusives aren't stuff I'm terribly interested in.
 

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Posted by Presences (Member # 8492) on :
 
twinky-

Cool. Rocket Cars, they remind me of the old N64 star wars Episode 1 Racers.

I will admit, if the PS3 had the games I wanted that the 360 did not have, I’d get the PS3. So for those of you where that is the case, great, the PS3 is for you. However, if you find that most of the games you like are on both systems, do some research before buying the console, you will probably find the 360 is just better…at least for now that is. I have NO doubt that game makers will eventually unleash the power of that monster, but right now, they are having problems.
 

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Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Blayne Bradley:
No console is definitely "better" then the others as Yahtsee put it "speaking as someone who is white enough to afford all the consoles

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quote:

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Originally posted by Nick:

quote:

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Originally posted by Blayne Bradley:
No console is definitely "better" then the others as Yahtsee put it "speaking as someone who is white enough to afford all the consoles

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Um, I thought currency bought things, not ethnicity. Why would you quote something so blatantly stupid?

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Have you watched Zero Punctuation? Ever? Its a part of his style of humor and social satire.
 

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Posted by EmpSquared (Member # 10890) on :
 
Blayne, even if by some wild stretch of the imagination Yahtsee is making an intelligent comment through satire, taken out of context that statement is blatantly stupid.
 

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Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
 
I just recently purchased an Xbox 360. Took a week off before my wedding, and World of Warcraft wasn't entertaining enough for me to pass the time.

The only game I have right now for Xbox 360 is GTA4. That's going to last me a while, but what are the other "must have" games for the console at the moment?

Here is my current list:

1. GTA4
2. Mass Effect
3. Bioshock

After that, there are a number of very well reviewed games out there, mostly shooters (Halo 3, Gears of War, COD4, Rainbow 6, Ghost Recon, etc).

I haven't really gone crazy for a shooter since Goldeneye and Perfect Dark on N64. The 360 seems to be shooter's paradise, and I should at least try out one of the above games I suppose. Perhaps Halo 3, so that I can see what all the fuss is about. Bioshock is a shooter as well, but it sounds like something completely different from anything I've played before.

I've played Oblivion for the PC and wasn't impressed (I couldn't get into Morrowind either). I'll probably get NHL 08 or Madden 08 at some point, to satisfy my sports cravings.

Any advice on what 360 games live up to their hype, and which ones don't?
 

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Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
 
X, the games you're looking at (BioShock, Mass Effect) are some of my favourites on the platform. Here's what I think:

BioShock is the best game I played in 2007 on any platform. Period. It's an absolutely outstanding game. It's a shooter, but with much more flexibility in how you approach situations than any other shooter I've played.

Mass Effect is my favourite game of 2007. Kind of shootery (it has a cover system, combat is real-time, etc), but it blends dozens of classic sci-fi themes together into a single delicious treat. That's a tall order, and they pulled it off in absolutely epic style.

After those two, The Orange Box: Half-Life 2, Episode One, Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and, most importantly, Portal. Even if you only play Portal, The Orange Box is worth it. Portal is a 3D first-person puzzle game and is an absolute work of genius.

Rock Band is great if you like music games and have people (including your wife) to play it with. It does an excellent job of simulating the experience of playing music for people who are not musicians, but if music games don't interest you or if you don't have anyone to play it with, skip it.

Gears of War is outstanding if and only if you can play it co-op either locally or over Xbox Live. Multiplayer is also quite good, but only if you play with people you already know ( ). If you're playing it solo, don't bother. Same goes for Halo 3, IMO.

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter was a solid Clancy tactical shooter and had good co-op, but I didn't think much of the multiplayer. I didn't get the sequel, but from what I've read it was more of the same. GRAW 2 does have a demo on Live. CoD4 and R6V I haven't tried.

Check out Overlord if you have any interest in RTS. The setting is kind of a satirical spoof of LotR where you're Sauron and control minions that wreak havoc on the countryside. It's pretty funny, and is an interesting puzzle/RTS hybrid. I believe there's a demo on Live.

GTA fans said a lot of good things about Crackdown. It's like GTA, only with super powers. There's a demo.

I thought Assassin's Creed was fantastic. I've heard varying opinions from others, but one thing that's for certain is that if you have any interest in climbing around enormous Middle Eastern cities in era of the Crusades, it's absolutely worth checking out. Climbing a minaret in Jerusalem and being able to see the Dome of the Rock shining in the sun clear across the city, and knowing that I can get there by running across rooftops with no intervening loading screens... yeah. Sweet. Stalking and killing my targets was just gravy.

On the Live Arcade, Penny Arcade Adventures, Episode One: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is hilarious and fun if you read and like Penny Arcade. Skip otherwise.

Some of my other Live Arcade favourites: Rez, Lumines, Catan, Carcassonne, N+. All Live Arcade titles have demos.

Also, if you're on Live at all (even Live Silver), send a friend request to Hatrack Gamers (IIRC). It's a dummy Live Silver account we set up.
 

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Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
 
You can buy Portal separately from the orange box for less.
 

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Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
 
Assassins creed is awesome. Endless replay, like actually stealth killing targets! (25g Knife in the crowd)
 

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Posted by EmpSquared (Member # 10890) on :
 
I second just about everything Twinky said, particularly Mass Effect and Gears of War, except Overlord was a big disappointment. Crackdown also gets old really quick unless you enjoy searching for a ridiculous number of green orbs in a huge sandbox. I sold it when I beat it so I could get God of War II, a Playstation 2 game.
 

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Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
 
My research has finished. I'm getting the XBOX 360

Me too. Except I need to figure out if I have the money for it. (I don't. But I want to figure out if I can actually, you know, eat if I buy it... )
 

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Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
 
twinky, how would you rate the difficulty of Bioshock? I've been holding off on buying it because based on the demo, it seems like it's going to be a really hard game. I don't like games where I get stuck and frustrated because the levels are designed to be a challenge some 14 year old gaming prodigy. (One of the reasons i LOVED Portal is that even though I had to think, and sometimes try a few different things on a given level, I NEVER got stuck or frustrated for a long period of time.)

For comparison...how hard is the game compared to Half Life 2?
 

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Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
 
I think the difficulty of Bioshock is on par with HL2. One diference is that Bioshock has a couple semi-difficult moments early on when you haven't got a lot of weapons or plasmids, like killing your first Big Daddy, but I wouldn't say it's overall any more difficult than the Half Life games.
 

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Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
 
That's it, I'm buying it.
 

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Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
 
On the "I Love Portal" theme, one of the coolest moments in that game is in one of the later testing chambers, where you have to climb a couple hundred feet just by shooting successive portals in higher and higher platforms, and you're in a continuous free fall as you climb. I think I did it on my second try, and in later run-throughs, I did it on my first attempt (of the run-through). It's the sort of thing where it looks difficult, but due to masterful design*, it's pretty easy to do, and when I finished getting to the top of the chamber, I wanted to yell "Did you SEE what I just did???". Brilliant design. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

*(and for all I know, a little temporary tweaking of the physics engine...it was suspiciously easy)
 

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Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
 
I too was intensely delighted by Portal.
 

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Posted by LargeTuna (Member # 10512) on :
 
Everybody who plays live, even thogh im not on that often anyway, ill be away and busy and stuff for lots of the summer, but ill be back! (also i probly wont be here for a month sometime in the summer) So nobody worry and think im not ever gonna be back. I know how sad that would make everyone LOL -ronaldinho10ajc
 

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Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 
I think I am getting a PS3 for Christmas.

I may decide to either replace my desktop computer or buy a laptop, though. I can't afford to do all three.
 

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Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
 
FYI: You can get a PS3 for $100 off (well with a $100 gift card) in the next few days at WalMart.
 

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Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
 
I second the recommendations made here, especially Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed.

I bought Bioshock, played it for about 6 hours, and returned it 2 days later. I just couldn't get into it. I kept telling myself, "It will get better, everybody says this game is awesome!" I gave up. Game bored me to tears.

Same situation with Oblivion, heard it was good, found out it wasn't.

I really hope they make Mass Effect sequels, though I want it to be Bioware, since KOTOR 2 turned out so bad.

So the top two to get, IMO, is Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed.

Blayne, I have never heard of Zero Punctuation, I don't really keep track of obscure satirists.
 

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Posted by ? (Member # 2319) on :
 
Hey brother,

So I was wondering what games made you finally make a decision? It took you long enough to decide, so what games am I going to be playing with you on xbox live?

I just fixed my own xbox about two weeks ago.

?
 

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Posted by EmpSquared (Member # 10890) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Nick:
I second the recommendations made here, especially Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed.

I bought Bioshock, played it for about 6 hours, and returned it 2 days later. I just couldn't get into it. I kept telling myself, "It will get better, everybody says this game is awesome!" I gave up. Game bored me to tears.

Same situation with Oblivion, heard it was good, found out it wasn't.

I really hope they make Mass Effect sequels, though I want it to be Bioware, since KOTOR 2 turned out so bad.

So the top two to get, IMO, is Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed.

Blayne, I have never heard of Zero Punctuation, I don't really keep track of obscure satirists.

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quote:

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Originally posted by EmpSquared:
KOTOR 2 bad? Bioshock bored you to tears?


....


Are you even human?

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No.

I think the reason why I didn't like KOTOR 2 is that they killed the story. It just wasn't on par with the greatness of the first at all.
 

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Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Presences:
Blayne, I cannot draw any conclusions from your experience as you have not listed any specific games where the PS3 out performed the 360. Thus, your comments are annulled as a subjective reference. My conclusions about the 360 have come from various well established and well respected gaming sites and objective tests. Once one reads such comparison tests on titles specifically of interest, one will find the 360 will almost always be given a better rating. Reference the beginning post for one such site.

I will concur that exclusive PS3 titles are... well exclusive to the PS3, therefore cannot be compared on the 360.

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quote:

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You know, I still think Super Marion Bros. is a fun game. Can better graphics really make the game play that much better after a certain point?

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They can only do so much, but ever-improving graphics can contribute to ever more immersive and rich gaming experiences. The illusion of interacting with real people and objects can only come about through very impressive graphics. We're a long way from a convincing illusion, but I'm all for pushing the envelope.

But, to your point, without corresponding advances in game design and game controls, better graphics can't make games much more fun. A very pretty game with frustrating controls and other flaws is pretty pointless.

Super Mario brothers could be improved to a point with better graphics, but only to a point.
 

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Posted by ? (Member # 2319) on :
 
Well Brother,
I own six of those on your list. When you get an xbox I'll bring some down that you can borrow. At least the ones I'm not going to be playing for awhile.

?
 

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Posted by b4Presence (Member # 11657) on :
 
Thanks for everyone’s input!
 

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Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by scifibum:
twinky, how would you rate the difficulty of Bioshock? I've been holding off on buying it because based on the demo, it seems like it's going to be a really hard game. I don't like games where I get stuck and frustrated because the levels are designed to be a challenge some 14 year old gaming prodigy. (One of the reasons i LOVED Portal is that even though I had to think, and sometimes try a few different things on a given level, I NEVER got stuck or frustrated for a long period of time.)

For comparison...how hard is the game compared to Half Life 2?

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