To buy or not to buy?

A pointless question really, as they’re pretty much impossible to get hold of.

However, I’ve kept quiet on the 360 until now, so I think it’s time to share the opinions I built up on it. It also means I can keep up tradition of huge gaps, then a flurry of posts before once again becoming silent.

So, to make the rest of this post pointless, I’ll state my conclusion then waffle on for a bit justifying it. Is it worth buying a 360? Not yet it isn’t.

I know that seems like a cop out, but it’s not. The 360 is an exceedingly powerful console with a stable, robust multiplayer service, and bags of potential. There’s just no compelling reason to buy one at the moment (even if you could).

I feel that Microsoft have rushed to be the first to market (something that did the Dreamcast no favours at all), and it shows. There are no killer launch titles, and bunch of lacklustre ports. All the reviews I’ve seen rave about the graphics and sound, yet to get best results requires a HD TV and surround sound setup – a far bigger investment than simply buying a new console. Without these, there’s not a lot in it between Xbox and Xbox 360. I know this is just one game, and port at that, but the majority of games for the foreseeable will be multi-platform, and will most likely suffer from the same problems.

Scott Hanselman has written one of the best reviews I’ve seen, yet the only thing he says that makes me want one is its media capabilites, and I’ve already got a very good solution for that, and I didn’t have to buy a copy of Media Center.

When I first heard about the 360, I really wasn’t that bothered. As the launch date grew nearer and the shortages became obvious, I really started to want one. Then I got to play Call of Duty 2 on one, and I was left unimpressed. Nice (but not perfect) graphics, but nothing new in terms of gameplay. Because I couldn’t get one I wanted one, but deep down I knew I didn’t really want (or need, but what has that got to do with anything?) one and everything I’ve read or seen since has yet to convince me otherwise. When they’re available off the shelf (which is looking around February/March time in the UK) I’ll possibly get one – provided there’s a game I really want to play – but there’s still the extra expense of decent audio/visual setup to get the best out of it, and that’s something I really can’t justify.

So at this moment in time, I thinks there’s lots of live left in the current Xbox, and the Revolution is the one to keep an eye on.

Update

Gamestay has a nice piece on some current deficencies in the ‘360 experience’.

Halo 2 on Xbox Live

Although I found Xbox Live very polished on my first encounter with it, for various reasons I’ve not been near it since.

That all changed today when my recently purchased copy of Halo 2 arrived. Now I’ve played Halo 2 (although not completed it), and I’ve played it over system link, but this was my first experience of it ‘Live’. Once again I impressed by the quality of the service, and I was also pleased that I didn’t get completely humiliated on the couple of quickmatches I played.

I know that the Live experience is very dependent on the title in question (EA games – especially the racing games – are notoriously bad), but this was painless and enjoyable.

They’ve also extended Live to include the new Gamer Card (mine’s below) which, unfortunately, you need an Xbox 360 to get the full benefit from, and I don’t need to comment about how likely you are to have one of those!

[ http://gamercard.xbox.com/schwuk.card ]

What he said

kNo’ sums it up beautifully

Substitute “girlfriendless” with “wifeless and childless” and I’m there. I’d love to blog more, but I just don’t have the time (or much inclination at the moment).