Oh No...I got my first Nvidia product...

[GT98]

Well I got my Xbox last night..though it took a little getting. I picked up one of my buddies whos looking to get a large screen TV for his new place, so we hit the usual suspects around town..The Wiz and Ciruct City..I asked around to see if they have any Xboxes in stock...No go at both places.

Next door to The Wiz is a Gamestop store...I go in there and asked if they had any Xboxes in stock and they said they had one...then go on to try and sell me a PS2...which I have no intentions on getting...they siad they had 3 people return them already and 2 of them were manfuncting units. Then they say that oh you have to spend an extra $40 bucks to get DVD capitilty (which is wrong since the DVD modual is only $30 bucks) and yadda yadda...So I'm kinda having second thoughts about the whole deal. My friend and I goto the Wiz and they have a Xbox Kiosk setup with NFL Fever 2002 on it...we start playing it and after one game I'm totally sold on it. I go back over and pick at the store next door and I get a used copy of HALO (already! ) with it with the advanced AV pack so I can use my Svideo on my 27in Sony TV.

I set it up and start playing HALO...well first Impressions are pretty good...though I dont care for the controller at the monment..theres 2 sticks in addtion to a game pad and it makes a it a pain in the ass to play because the left pad/stick is to move and the right stick is to look...at this point in time I'm missing my good old mouse with mouse look . The graphics are outstanding so far and FPS arent bad at all...only hit some bad slow downs with lot of action going on. So far I'm pretty impressed by the Xbox with just one game. This is my first console game system since the Atari 5200 game system in the early 80's. Went to computer gaming since the days of the good old Commadore 64/128 (my first two games on there where Microproses F-15 Strike Eagle and Silent Service...boy I miss them at times ) and then graduated to PC gaming in 1990/91 with a 486.

How does it compair to a PC...well after a short experance and repacking it up for X-mas...this is a short list on my thoughts:

PC Strengths:
Better @ FPS (controlling wise)
Internet Gaming and in General
More in depth type games (easier to sit at a computer for hours at end and play CIV 3 then do it in front of a TV)
Better at Sims (same reason as FPS games...keyboard and/ or mouse/joystick hard to beat)

Xbox Strengths:
Head to head gaming (ie Football and sports related games)
Easier to get into..game wise...games arent as deep
Game Rentals!
Fixed hardware (a strenght and weakness on how you take it)


I'm even complating cancelling my Radeon 8500 order I got since this can hold me over pretty good gaming wise till the next Matrox Card is out!

Oh as Footnote...I did some looking on the Sony PS2 site...you need to spend $20 for the DVD remote plus have an 8MB memory card for it also....jeeze what a**holes at the store...

Scott

[Kosh Naranek]

Sounds Cool .... !

If you get ANY sparetime would you plz consider porting HALO to the PC plz plz plz

[GT98]

Well From what I understand HALO will come out on the PC next year...

Scott

[orangejulius]

I'm even complating cancelling my Radeon 8500 order I got since [the XBOX] can hold me over pretty [well] gaming wise till the next Matrox Card is out!

Not sure it is possible to <em>complate</em> anything.
Perhaps you meant <em>contemplate</em>?

Etymology: Latin <em>contemplatus</em>, past participle of <em>contemplari</em>, from <em>com-</em> + <em>templum</em> space marked out for observation of auguries

Sincerely,
Etymology Man

[omegaRED]

Hey julius, back off ... we all know what he meant, and if you wanted to correct him, you could've done it without the "higher than thou" attitude ...

[orangejulius]

You're right, OmegaRED, I should of been more polite.
Please accept my apology.

[isochar]

I've had my Xbox since they were released. HALO rocks! (Game of the Year, IMHO) Not only that, you can play ONLINE NOW! http://www.xboxgw.com

As for the controller, it "grows" on you. By the time you've put 20+ hours on it, it'll feel like second nature. Even the two sticks will be easy to use in Halo...

If you have some extra time on your hands, play Dead Or Alive 3 and Project Gotham Racing. Both of which absolutely rock.

[Kosh Naranek]

How is it GFX wise compared to the PS2 and the GameCube ?

Audio should really rock on the X-Box ... true ?

[isochar]

Let me state that this is *subjective*!

The Xbox is noticeably better than a PS2 when using the Advanced HD pack. (Composite/SVideo connectors) Video looks cleaner and the true 5.1 is nice. (PS2 only does DD in cut scenes) If you have a receiver that supports 5.1 and/or TV that has Svideo in, you *must* get the HD pack! ($20)

As for the game graphics, DOA3 is a step above anything I've seen on PS2.

[Helevitia]

PS2 - low textures, shitty controller(imo), some killer games, newer game graphics on par with new xbox and gamecube games but will fall behind in 6 months, 480i, no component or support for 480p. No DD5.1 in games. Geared towards 13-17 crowd

Gamecube - Controller feels to small(I am only 5' 9"), supports 480p through component connections, supports 16x9 (widescreen) on some games, no DD5.1 but Dolby Prologic II. Geared towards kids but some games for teens and adults

Xbox - Controller feels perfect(best out of three), DD 5.1 support, 480p and 1080i support(no games out yet use 1080i though). Geared towards 17 & up crowd.

Other things worth mentioning:

I felt underwhelmed playing all of them on crappy TV's with RCA connections. PC's have spoiled me and I expect nothing but the best graphics. I have yet to see them in 480p vs 480i or S-video/RCA but I hear it is night and day difference. Although 480p will be nice it will still be blurry cmpared to PC. Only 1080i games will be worthy graphically compared to PC.

HALO is a graphical dissapointment. I hear the game is awesome but the grpahics are subpar compared to what the Xbox can do. No AA and no pixel shaders. What a shame.

The Xbox scares me with 2 fans and a Hardrive that can all fail. Not only that but the load times for games are horrible on Xbox. Gamecube is very snappy.

Who needs a DVD player? Everyone has one already who might buy one of these consoles and the DVD player is crappy at best on both Xbox and PS2. Not only that but you gotta pay extra money to get the DVD to work, that blows chunks. These consoles are great at games but suck for DVD. PLease do youself a favor and dont buy it for the DVD player.

Not all games support 480p

Don't sweat over it too much, I'm sure each one will be just as fun as the next

Dave

[GT98]

orangejulius:

No offence taken to your comments. I asked Ant to see if he could get a spellchecker set up for the DG...like other boards have.

As for the DVD Player. I already have a DVD Player, but I plan on giving that to my Girlfriend so we can use it up at her place. I really dont watch movies all that much in my room and I'll get better use out of it at her place and I'll use the Xbox when ever I feel like watching a moive at home.

As for the load times on the Xbox...it really didnt bother me at all..its not much slower or faster then a PC (which I'm using as a baseline)

Overall the Graphics are pretty nice IMHO in Halo. Unstandably it might not use the full potental of the Nvidia chip, but using an PC as a base line again, I'm not 100% sure what we can expect out of a 733mhz CPU with a modified GF3 GPU.

I didnt hook up my optical cable to my reciever from the Xbox since I didn't want to go mucking around and disconnecting it from my DVD player, because I was checking the system out to see if it would work, before turning it over to get wrapped for Christmas!

Overall I'm left with a good impression of what the Xbox can do...even though the morons at the place I bought did all they could for me not to buy it!

Scott

[isochar]

Helevetia:

Halo is by no means a graphical disappointment! It may not be as nice and polished as DOA3, but it's graphics are on par with the best that PS2 has to offer. The gameplay on it is simply amazing.

The initial load times on the Xbox are about as slow as a PS2. However, once the game has started it's MUCH faster at loading information. (Since it caches information to the hard drive)

As for components failing, the box is adequately cooled, the P3 definately isn't putting out much heat. Fans rarely fail, in my experience. And the Seagate hard drive will last at least 3 years for most people. (Exceptions made for the idiots that jolt the machine)

GT98:

The DVD Player is a nice feature for those who don't have one already.

The graphics card is one generation above the current GF3 Ti500. However, it'll be missing a few features of the GF4 that will be released early next year.


IMHO, the Xbox has matched the hype and more, assuming future games are as good as the ones that were released.