Saturday November 26th
Guess what I've been doing recently ?
The 360 is getting a workout, mostly with Kameo with my daughter taking turns when the action is less intense.
The wireless controller is especially nice for starting and shutting down the system easily and after only about an hour of life on the first charge, the rechargeable controller battery is
still going strong after at least 20+ hours of gameplay.
The other games I have are of expected quality, with CoD2 being the most challenging (on Veteran difficulty). PGR3 and PDZ have only had a couple of hours gameplay, but are next on my to-do list.
Internet reports of the 360 crashing and overheating for a few consumers haven't applied to me. The system has behaved fine for me. The quality of my headset microphone is ok, but just ok - my xbox 1 plantronics headset was better. That's about the only negative thing I can say about it.
The games look and play great, the 360's dashboard is close to perfection, as is the new controller. Roll on Elder Scrolls 4 and Gears of War.
Friday November 18th
Podtacular Episodes 26, 27 & 28 now in audio section.
Added some new video reviews to the 360 page.
Added a new 'review grid' to the 360 page, showing review scores of the launch games from multiple sites, inc. averages.
Thursday November 17th
XBOX 360 video cable comparison inc. screenshots of the differences. Click
here
Added a few more video reviews to the 360 page.
Wednesday November 16th
Xbox Live Marketplace launch content (and prices) revealed. Click
here
Several xb360 games that have shipped in the last few days:
Kameo, Condemned, Tiger, FIFA, Madden, NBA LIVE, Tony Hawk, Amped 3, NFS-MW and Gun.
Here are some of the latest xb360 reviews:
NFS MW
CoD2
NBA 2K6 - Gamepsot
NBA 2K6 - IGN
Kameo
NHL 2K6
Tony Hawk
Gun
Madden
PGR 3
Also, 9 XB360 video reviews are on my 360 page - linked next to the games in the launch list.
Taking apart the XBOX 360. Click
here for step-by-step instructions and lots of photos.
'USA Today' article on the xbox 360. Click
here
Tuesday November 15th
Some cool xb360 screenshots:
PDZ
Crackdown
Timeshift
Contest winners begin receiving their 360s. Click
here
One winner tried out Halo 2, nicely upscaled as Bungie promised last week. He confirmed Bungie’s claims of the improved visuals.
When asked if it looked better than on Xbox he said, “I didn’t think it looked much better until I went back to 480i… wow what a difference!”
Control your electronic entertainment empire AND your newly aquired Xbox 360 with the “Logitech Harmony 360 Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360.”
Click here
IGN reviews Madden for the 360.
Click here
Monday November 14th
XBOX 360 manual - not sure if this document is real, so decide for yourself. Click
here to view it.
Original Xbox Games Playable on Xbox 360
here
Q & A for the backward compatibility list. Click
here
J Allard's gamertag (showing his XBOX 360 achievements etc. Click
here
Also, Ben Kilgore's (#1 guy re. XBOX Live Product Managament) gamertag is
here
Friday November 11th
A 'dual screen' game on Sanctuary with Noles & dot.
Short clip of Gordie, the SMG God, on Beaver Creek.
Noles kickin some a on Relic in a 4v4 slayer game.
Marble Blast, 360 style. For new screenshots for this Live Arcade title click
Click here
Popular Science Names Xbox 360 Top Tech Home Entertainment Innovation of 2005. Click
here
Podtacular Episode 25 now in audio section.
The rude & crude Dropshock Radio Episode 4 (Halo 2 Podcast) now in audio section.
Major Nelson's latest podcast is also linked in the audio section (Show #150).
Thursday November 10th
Halo and Halo 2 get a face lift for the 360 - The hardware in the 360 can do a lot of nifty stuff,
and specifically in the cases of Halo and Halo 2, it can display the graphics in wide screen,
at 720p, with full scene anti-aliasing.
And it doesn’t look kludgy, artifacty or smeary like an upscanning DVD player.
The best way to describe it is that both games look like they’re running on a PC at those resolutions.
Click here
for the bungie news item inc. some sample screenshots showing the difference.
The first of the launch titles - Kameo, hits shelves.
Click here
for a pic of the disc & case.
Wednesday November 9th
A complete list of day-one games, accessories,
and Xbox Live retail offerings available on November 22
will be announced next week.
Microsoft to sell 3 million 360s in 3 months?
Click here
Tuesday November 8th
Podtacular Episode 24 now in audio section.
Xbox 360: Zero Hour Launch Event. Click
here
Popular Science Names Xbox 360 Top Tech Home Entertainment Innovation of 2005. Click
here
So far, I've had about 2 hours of hands-on gameplay on the 360, playing CoD2, Kameo and King Kong:
CoD2 rocks, with smooth frame rate, great smoke and particle effects, great controls and smart AI (for a change). The audio hightens the intense gameplay and the high-def graphics are clearly next-gen, surpassing the most capable PC gaming rigs costing 10 times the 360's price. (score: 9 out of 10)
Kameo is a good game but not good enough for it to stay on my pre-order list - gameplay was too simplistic and although the graphics were detailed with lots of color & particle effects, it just didn't do it for me. (score: 8 out of 10)
King Kong was interesting but played sluggishly, the graphics were moody and atmospheric, but had alot of 'jaggies' and didn't impress me enough for me to open my wallet - this one in my opinion was the least 'next-gen' of the 3 demos that I played. (score: 7 out of 10).
These are pre-release demo versions of the game, but I'm guessing that they represent the final versions fairly closely.
Monday November 7th
Podtacular Episode 23 - Customs and call-ins now in audio section
XBOX 360 game achievement details. Click
here
Webmasters and causal fans alike can now create a sleek and sexy "Perfect Dark Zero" site that
is worthy of the game's famed heroine, Joanna Dark. Click
here to download the raw materials
including hi-res character renders, concept art, logos, backgrounds, weapon icons and other web-ready artwork.
1UP has posted an interesting story comparing Xbox 360 to the ill-faded Sega Dreamcast.
The similarities are startling--but they also give reasons why it won't fail. Click
here
for the 2-page article.
Merrill Lynch Analyst: Users Will Choose Xbox 360 Over PS3.
Click
here
Why isn't Elder Scrolls 4 ready yet? - coz it's not done, silly. Click
here
Friday November 4th
PS3 won't compete with XBOX Live after all. Click
here
Instead of a central service, the online experience will be left completely up to the developer. This will require you to register (& no doubt pay) for each game you play, and you will have no common identity from game to game. The quality of service could also suffer.
Podtacular Episode 22 - 'Battle Creek & Tips' posted in the Audio section.
Thursday November 3rd
These videos are not from recent games but are somewhat new to the site. The first is a dual screen video from the
perceptive of Noles and dot while playing multi-team slayer on turf (replaced previous link). The second video is
a split screen view of Gordie and Noles playing double team CTF on Warlock. And I am happy to say that I made
my first attempt at adding commentary to a video - so enjoy!
IGN's countdown continues with reason #21: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Click
here
Gamespot.com has a write up about the possible 360 shortage.
Click
here to check it out.
Video Game Movies: What’s it Gonna Take? With past video game movies that have flopped - the announcement of the Halo movie had several
people wondering if Bungie and Microsoft were going to drop the ball or make Halo the greatest movie of all times...MLGpro.com has an
article that discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly that has been video game movies.
Click
here to read the full article.
Started compiling a few more tips - the latest additions are for the Sniper & Battle Rifle down at the end of the Tips section. (use the guestbook, or email to submit your tips or comments).
Check out a cool new player animation vid for Madden 06 (360). Right-click, save as
here (also linked on the 360 page)
Wednesday November 2nd
New short Vid - 'Sniping Debate'
You'll find it in the Lockout section.
Joytech announced it's fighting ready for the launch of Xbox 360 with
a wide range of competitively priced hardware peripherals,
all officially licensed by Microsoft.
Joytech plans to ship a controller, steering wheel,
an audio-visual control center, and faceplates this year.
Click
here for the IGN news.
Every day this month, IGN is counting down the 360's release with a reason you should get one. Today's is Reason #22: The controller kicks ass.
Click
here
Also added Podtacular Episode 21 to the audio section.
Tuesday November 1st
New Gameplay Vid - Team Slayer on Zanzibar
This was a rematch against a team we had just lost to on Warlock...Check it out - you'll find it in the
Zanzibar section.
Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivian slips until 2006 due to QA and extra dev time needed - Feb at earliest. Click
here
News Archive: