Mini Review - Xbox 360

[FarFarAway]

Hi all

Well I went and get me a 360 and I'm pretty damn happy with it

Its a very nice bit of kit in all honestly

I hooked it up to my Dell 2405FPW for 720p goodness

Sorry for the dodge phine pics

Console

The console itself is a very well put together unit and the big chunky power supply seems quality. Mine started up fine and I was on my way

Console pics:

And this is a cool little picture of the controller and the two games I got with the 360

Dashboard

The console has a great "dashboard" that I'm sure you've heard all about already so I'll be brief.

One press of the middle "green button" gets you into all the Xbox features.. I plugged in the network cable from my router (as you can see in the picture - my router relegated to the floor now ) and as soon as I plugged it in I was ready to get my profile and I bought myself a £40 XBox live gold year pass. I think thats a good spend for a years console gaming

The dashboard is very untuitive (how very un-Microsoft-like) and easy to use. I admit I miss a keyboard and entering text is a tad hard with the controller but uyou get used to it.

I resized my screen to 720p (previous user must have had a standard TV) and its does look very nice.

The games look very nice it has to be said

First I found it a bit hard to get used to the display as its a bit aliased up close

Then I actually thought about it and rolled my chair back a bit. It looks awesome from 2yards away and I was having a ball gaming on it.

The games

I got Fifa and PGR with the XBox I got. The chap I bought it off got those two so thats fine

Fifa isn't my first choice I'll admit but having played it it really shows what a Football game can look like - very very nice

We all know about Fifa but some of the HD touches really are special. I've never played a Football game that looked this nice - it really is a whole 'nother level from what has been.

Project Gotham Racing

This also looks awesome BUT it is a bit more aliased than fifa looks.

Again I took a bit of a step backwards and this looks nice. The game itself is excellent and although I haven't really got into the online play mode yet...I know I will once I'm not a total disgrace

Pic of game (more to come):

Overall

I love the XBox 360 after an initial couple of hours with it.

Its an awesome machine and rivals my gaming PC for sure.

It is worth mentioning that 720p is upscaling to the higher res my monitor displays and 1080i doesn't make much difference. It does look very very awesome still tho so don't let that out you off

All in all a great investment imho and I am really loving getting back into console gaming.

If you want a console and can't wait for the PS3's September release then this is deffo for you

Bit of PiP'age as well - gotta love PC + Xbox 360 on the same screen

 

[FragTek]

Sweet kemp! Thanks for posting up pix and a review... Looks like a killer piece of hardware for sure, definately wouldn't mind having one of those baddies hooked up in my room!

*searches ebay*

 

[FarFarAway]

No probs mate - some more pics for ya to look at

Soz for the cr@ppy camera pics

 

[VaNdAm]

i have a 360, and i agree with kemp all the way, teh controllers are pretty m,uch teh same feel as teh xbox1 controllers just not as chunky, the only downfull ive found is the chunky psu for it, and teh annoying X button that brings up media player panel, xbox live message center, i should be amaller, because everyone thinks its pause it isnt, im trying to get used to it, but 2 weeks later im still pressing it

 

[FragTek]

Damn those gfx look amazing!

 

[WC Annihilus]

Shoulda waited for a W/Ced XBox360 :rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla:rollingla

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=63879

http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4227

http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/view_release.php?id=13373

 

[Eguy]

Its nice and all, but I put all my money on the PS3

I do agree with the graphics are fucking insane! but imagine the RSX

 

[FarFarAway]

On paper the XBox GPU looks to be better than the playstation GPU, but we shall see

If its good I'll buy both

 

[kawasakiguy37]

Id buy for the racing games and such - All the FPS's seem to be on PC as well :-/

Sounds good though, my friend has one and the graphics are quite nice

 

[VaNdAm]

ON NFS:ME THE GFX OCASIONALLY LAGG, AS IN CONSOLE FPS DROP......LOW, I AINT JSUT SAYING THIS I HAVE A 360 THE GFX LOOK AMAZING BUT, THINK ABOUT IT, LOOK AT THE PS2 WHEN THEY FIRST COME OUT GAMES WERE GOOD, BUT GOT EVEN BETTER OVER THE SPACE OF A YEAR, THE 360 WILL ALST ABOUT A YEAR THEN THEY WILL NEED TO REALEASE nother system thats better, either that or they get better games programmers to take care of teh multi threading part

 

[FarFarAway]

Nah both consoles will have better and better written games for them

Look at Halo 2 - the GFX are awesome and just show what a good developer can do with awesome software

 

[ionicle]

well unfortunately i have the problem getting my 360 explained in this article.....damn you amazon, you ruined my christmas. and no a £10 gift voucher for a shop i will never visit again is not a good thing!!!