Xbox 360 Review

So Far-So Good. I usually wait some time to discuss electronics reviews because it usually takes some time practicing with a unit to understand what it’s all about. Unlike most Microsoft bashers out there; I decided to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and see for myself whether the product was all hype or actually delivered where it said it would. Let’s get down to the basics.Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is Microsoft’s ps3 and PC killer. It came out with a humongous advertising campaign and came out probably a bit early to try and beat Sony to the market first. This rush caused a handful of hardware glitches for consumers which sadly was to be expected when trying to rush a product to the market as quickly as possible.Here’s the highs and lows:

Highs:

Stylish Design
Great interface
Powerful Hardware Slick Controller
Nice variety of games
Strong Online Play

Lows:
Too much hype for its own good
Price
Upgradeable electronics needed
Useless Extras
No next-gen media format included
No killer App. yet.

Let’s get right to it. The system is bashed by some but others like me have grown to enjoy it. It’s white and shiny and trying to copy Apple’s Ipod look. The other neat part is that you can customize it with face plates. While someone like myself might not enjoy that type of thing; I applaud Microsoft for at least trying to make the system customizable and for attempting to get girls into the system who might enjoy changing the design of the system around. The system’s interface reminds me less of Microsoft and more of Tivo with its easy to use guides and colorful display settings. The weight of the system (which was a problem with the original xbox) hasn’t seemed to change as it’s still quite heavy to lift up.

The performance of the system is basically the power of a state of the art gaming computer. Aside from the rumblings of computer geeks everywhere, the system has a high-tech ati graphics card and a powerful processor. This advance in graphical technology has helped some games and hindered others. Some games like Project Gotham Racing 3 and Call of Duty 2 look simply amazing while others seem to have their textures exposed very badly due to the developer’s shortcomings with the system. I expect this problem to change slowly as games evolve but right now certain games either look really good or really bad. The controller looks very slick with a nice feature called ‘home’ in the front to allow you to bring up the xbox interface at any time during a game to instant message friends or invite friends to an online game. It also lights up to distinguish itself from any wired controllers also being used during gameplay.

The xbox live gameplay is still very well done and will allow for more than 32 players to play in a game at one time. Unfortunately, the fact that you have to pay to play online hurts the xbox 360 and will hurt it even more when Sony and Nintendo offer free online gameplay to its users. The xbox marketplace which allows gamers to buy extra things for games such as clothes, codes,demos, etc. is a nice-touch but was overexposed by Microsoft in its ad campaigns. It’s a nice feature to have but some people simply don’t wish to have to pay for extra things that should be included inside the game anyways.

The xbox 360 comes in 2 prices: a core price just for the system or an extra bundled price for the system and a hard drive. The problem with the pricing is that the hard drive is a needed function and gamers who might buy the core system at a cheaper price will be pissed to learn that they need the hard drive for certain games. The prices themselves are too expensive and range over 500$ for any bundle pack and games. The other main problem is that the Xbox 360 is designed with HDTV in mind. HDTV compatibility should be applauded except most people still don’t own an HDTV and they’re still too expensive for average consumers to go out and buy one. If you calculate HDTV + Xbox 360, you’re looking at over 1500$ to spend to be able to play video games,and that’s not counting the games themselves yet.

The price being what it is, it would have been nice to see an added entertainment value such as a dvd player inside the unit. Xbox opted not to include its new HD-DVD format inside the system instead relying on rushing the product out to the market first. This may hurt Microsoft in the long run as Sony took its time to have its Blu-Ray technology come out later in 2007. All this talk about the system wouldn’t be complete without talking about the games themselves. After all, what good is discussing the system without mentioning whether the games are any good?

Based on the games that have come out so far, I would say that Microsoft has some very good games that have launched with the system. The system has a nice variety of titles ranging from action adventure to sports titles. One of its most hyped games, Perfect Dark Zero, was a strong title but disappointed some because it didn’t show too much what the xbox 360 was capable of. Other titles like Elder Scrolls 4 and Project Gotham Racing 3 have gotten very strong reviews from Game Critics but the system is still waiting for its killer app. to come out and help sell more units like Halo did for the original Xbox.

I also think that Microsoft’s gigantic ad campaign may have hurt them as the system proved to be too much hype for Microsoft to handle. If Microsoft had made fewer promises, I think the system would have been a little better received. Still, I have to applaud Microsoft for at least attempting to make an impact within the gaming community and not sitting still while competitors like Sony try and shut them out of the market. They’ve managed to carve a unique piece of the gaming pie and it’s up to competitors like Sony and Nintendo to try and respond by knocking Microsoft out of the way when their system launch later on in the year. Further reviews for Nintendo’s Revolution and Sony’s Playstation 3 will come at a later date after those systems have launched.

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