I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask one of you to do something for me. You might not like it, but it has to be done. Sure it will be painful, but with time the pain will lessen and you’ll get used to your new condition. I’m going to need one of you to buy a Xbox 360. I know, I know, I’m asking a lot. But remember, you’d not doing this for yourselves, but for the good of us all.
Ahem.
Seriously though, I’m getting rather lonely out here in gaming land. Am I the only one that still plays games? My team has all but gone into hiding until “the next big thing” comes out. Only 3 of them have 360’s and their all Madden freaks anyway. My college and highschool friends used to game but most everyone is busy lately. Doesn’t anyone want to play some Rainbow 6, Halo or Ghost Recon? If I don’t get a “team game” fix soon, I’m going to go ape shit.
It’s not as though it’s a bad time to own a 360. The release schedule for the fall/winter season is ridiculously jam packed with AAA titles. There’s a little of everything in there. Everything from Assassins Creed, Frontlines, Mass Effect and Call of Duty strait on up to the grand-daddy Halo 3 is coming out sometime between now and X-mas. And those are just the ones I thought of off the top of my head. The list I have running on what I’m going to be buying this season is already 30+ titles deep.
With all of the great news from E3, all of the new trailers and all the confirmed release dates, this winter is going to validate my ownership of that system.
So… I’m going to go fire up the 360 for a little Xbox Live ass kicking… anyone want to join me?
Disclaimer: I wasn’t actually serious in my demand for someone to purchase a 360 solely to game with me… but it would be kinda nice. 😛
I haven’t really been paying much attention to the console world as of late, or gaming much at all since my wrist started acting up and I ditched WoW. That whole 1 in 3 failure rate on the 360 makes me kindof wary of it. But I’m not exactly rushing out for a PS3 or Wii either. Live Arcade does look pretty neat though.
1 in 3 makes it sound kinda bad. Trying not to sound like a fanboy (because I’m not), I’d like to think that it’s the vocal minority on the internet making that sound like it’s the end of the world. Plus, MS acknowledges the problem and has upped the warranty to a full 3 years from date of purchase. That means my console is covered until at least X-mas 09! I’ve yet to see any problems above the occasional “dirty disk” error (which is usually my fingerprints) with my system in particular. Knock on wood. Live Arcade is a huge bonus for the console, no doubt. The games are fun, relatively cheap, easy to download and there’s a HUGE library of them. Just the other day I was playing Golden Axe and Bomberman. I also play Settlers of Cataan and Geometry Wars all the time. It’s great for a quick 5-10 minute diversion. The whole Live service in general is top knotch. After playing games on it and using it, I’d never want to play a console without it. It’s one of the few things MS has really done right.
I’d say I’m in the market for a 360. The Wii is great, but I’m a sports guy and Madden on the Wii is weak. (And Sony is a bunch of morons…)
One thing I don’t like about the 360 though (correct me if I’m wrong…), is that it seems like a lot of nickeling-and-diming is built in. Xbox Live Gold is $50/yr…a little steep considering the competition allows online action for free. (I know about the Silver and its magical free pricepoint…but I’d want the Gold.)
Also, there is no WiFi built-in so that’s another $100 for the wireless network adapter…when considering my DS was $129 and it has friggin’ WiFi and no annual fee charging that much for the access 360 seems ridiculous.
So, if I wanted to get the best system available and access everything online for the next five years…it’d come out to $830. That’s without the HD-DVD…which would push it up over a grand.
And that’s before a single game, movie or extra controller has been downloaded or purchased. I suppose the argument would be that all that extra stuff isn’t needed…and it is nice to have options…but when comparing it to the PS3 which, right out of the box, has wireless, blu-ray, and no annual online fee…the 360 is still more expensive in the long run.
But as I said, Sony’s a bunch of morons…so if I were to get one of the current-gen systems other than the Wii, it’d be the 360. But only after the undoubted Christmas season price fall…and after I get an HDTV. So it may be a while…but I’ll let you know if/when I do. 🙂