Bought a 360

[Verto]

Me roommate and I went to EBGames, traded in my XBox and GameCube, along with a bunch of games, for about 180 dollars in store credit. We then promptly applied it towards a new Xbox 360, along with Ghost Recon and Oblivion. Getting everything installed and updated now. Will post later.

[snoopy369]

Console gaming

Encouraging console makers to keep making them and driving down the PC gaming market

[Verto]

Nothing special or holy about PC gaming.

[Kloreep]

Eh, I've come to appreciate that, just like the FPS genre I degraded before it, consoles aren't as stupid as I think. For one thing, I have only played one game on my Gamecube where I ran into any noticable glitches. And this is unpatched; the Gamecube doesn't really have capacity for patching, to my knowledge. I cannot make a claim anywhere close for my PC collection, certainly not pre-patch. Standardized equipment.

And the controllers do work nicer than a keyboard and mouse for some things. I wouldn't want to play Zelda, Prince of Persia, or pretty much any third-person game without an analog stick. (And I wouldn't want to play Civ with anything less than a full keyboard & mouse. There will always be a place for PC gaming. )

[snoopy369]

PCs (or macs) *could* be the superior gaming platform. The only thing preventing that is that consoles are the 'historical' gaming platform, so a lot of people prefer them, and they're a bit easier to install games on (mostly due to a lack of desire for the PC game developers to simplify this, because they already have consoles...)

There's absolutely no reason I should have to buy a $400+ device to play games when I already have a $700 device that's just as capable of playing said game ... especially when the X-Box360 is a bleeding computer anyway ...

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Kloreep
Eh, I've come to appreciate that, just like the FPS genre I degraded before it, consoles aren't as stupid as I think. For one thing, I have only played one game on my Gamecube where I ran into any noticable glitches. And this is unpatched; the Gamecube doesn't really have capacity for patching, to my knowledge. I cannot make a claim anywhere close for my PC collection, certainly not pre-patch. Standardized equipment.

And the controllers do work nicer than a keyboard and mouse for some things. I wouldn't want to play Zelda, Prince of Persia, or pretty much any third-person game without an analog stick. (And I wouldn't want to play Civ with anything less than a full keyboard & mouse. There will always be a place for PC gaming. )

You can attack that same controller (well, not the GC, but close enough) to the PC ...

PC system-related issues should not exist, plain and simple. They do because there's not enough reason to work on preventing them. DirectX is supposed to be that software, but it pushes the limits of hardware too much.

[Asher]

PCs (or macs) *could* be the superior gaming platform. The only thing preventing that is that consoles are the 'historical' gaming platform

You've obviously never developed a game.

Consoles are way cheaper to make games for -- far less testing needed, virtually nonexistent tech support requirements, single hardware to write for, etc.

[Asher]

Verto: you got an HDTV?

[Verto]

Originally posted by Asher
Verto: you got an HDTV?

No, just a flat screen Philips with component input. So, better than an S-Video, but not HDTV. The 200$ it cost me for this (after the trade-in store credit, and splitting the remainder 2 ways) was bad enough; HDTV will be a step taken a bit further down the road.

The graphics are, of course, quite nice, not overwhelmingly so. (And I have seen them on an HDTV, no HUGE improvement.) I am waiting/hoping for Ninja Gaiden to come out, and for the graphics to blow everything else out of the water, as they did with the original Xbox.

Ghost Recon is fun, but no real advances from the previous versions. Oblivion looks superb, but like GR I haven't played it for more than an hour or so. I expect it will be the game I spend the most time on. All in all, I'm still waiting for the Wii..the 360 is more my roomie's toy, than mine, IOW.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Asher

You've obviously never developed a game.

Consoles are way cheaper to make games for -- far less testing needed, virtually nonexistent tech support requirements, single hardware to write for, etc.

My point, if you read my posts, was that the PC *could* be the same - if the developers had a fiduciary interest in making the PC gaming platform standardizable (ie, uber-directX). The fact that different PCs perform at different levels does not mean that a standardized software platform could not be made; simply that it's somewhat more expensive.

The existence of consoles means that PC gaming will never become what it ought to be, and that users will just have to keep shelling out big bucks for their various consoles. Especially with specialized consoles such that you need several of them to play the available gamut of games...

[Asher]

My point, if you read my posts, was that the PC *could* be the same - if the developers had a fiduciary interest in making the PC gaming platform standardizable (ie, uber-directX)

It COULD be the same in the same sense that world peace COULD be achieved.

[Verto]

I just stepped out into the world of Oblivion, and well, I am now accepting donations for the Verto Electronic Media Fund. I need a 40'' HDTV!

[Asher]

Buy a VGA adapter for your monitor...

Oh wait a second, your bought an iMac.

In a couple weeks I'll take some pictures of Oblivion running on my 42" 1080p HDTV for you.

[Verto]

**** you!!!!!

[Kloreep]

Originally posted by snoopy369
There's absolutely no reason I should have to buy a $400+ device to play games when I already have a $700 device that's just as capable of playing said game ... especially when the X-Box360 is a bleeding computer anyway ...

I agree, which is why I generally don't go for consoles. I didn't really consider getting a Gamecube till I knew it couldl upgrade to the Wii; though at the time I didn't expect to get one for as cheap as $50. (Used, but still working completely as far as I've used it.)

I'm willing to pay a little bit for the extra things a console can offer, but I do share your resentment. Which is why I'd never shell out for a Playstation 3 even if I was prepared to spend that kind of money.

Originally posted by snoopy369
You can attack that same controller (well, not the GC, but close enough) to the PC ...

The 360 can interface with Windows, right? So to some extent that's true.

But then, if something (e.g. the Wii controller) is simply not offered for PC, it's either the console or the highway. Same issues exist with computers to some extent (e.g. some games not available for Mac, and to some extent the other way around).

Originally posted by snoopy369
PC system-related issues should not exist, plain and simple. They do because there's not enough reason to work on preventing them. DirectX is supposed to be that software, but it pushes the limits of hardware too much.

They certainly could be better, but at the cost of a whole lot more testing. The end user's console is a known quantity; their computer is not.