....or at least I'm sure some of the stout X-box defenders on the forum think so.

I couldn't resist the tempation of Knights of the Old Republic any longer.

Suddenly it's snowing in Arizona, huh Trigger?

mwhahahahaha!!! KoTOR will give you a force choke like no other star wars game!

How does it feel to waste a wad of cash on one-maybe three games? If thats what the dark side offers, then I'll stay a jediwicz. May the force be with your soul.

I do feel bad about spending the money, as Halo and PDO are the only other exclusives I want.

But I do play a good bit of sports games, and the X-box will be where I play them from now on because of the HD as sports games are memory hogs.

Welcome aboard Josh

You'd think someone named jediwicz would own one of the best Star Wars games made.

Next thing you know dogs will be sleeping with cats, and I'll be buying a PS2... well maybe things aren't that crazy yet.

Glad you could join us...

I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on the game.

*claps*

Funny, I was just about to start a thread titled "The Unbeleivable Official Josh Hinkle has bought an Xbox Thread."

Now...after we get you on LIVE, our mission will be over and we can return to our home planet.

Really though Josh, I have no doubt that you won't regret it. KOTOR is great but there really are some other very good games on the Xbox.

Go ahead and admit it...you really are a closet graphics whore!

Now all we need is for Trigger to get an Indigo GameCube

I too considered buying a used xbox for this game.

Havn't yet. We'll see. I'm torn between this and getting a PS2 for GT4. I have to get one or the other, my friends are getting sick of me.

Perhaps Fzero can arrive soon and save my soul...

I put a couple hours into the game tonight, so far it's great. Not much action yet, and a lot of talking, but I like that in RPGs.

I do have a couple gripes about the X-box.

The first is size, which I new would suck beforehand. I don't see why they made the damn thing so big, it's a real pain in the ass to cram in an already crowded entertainment center. I'm moving in a couple weeks, I'll play around with shuffling stuff around then. I have behind the glass doors now, which would be fine except I have to unplug the controller after I'm done for the door to shut.

The other is with the Advanced AV pack. First the composite video didn't work. I plugged an extra Video cable I had into the pack and then into my receiver, but no dice. I wanted to use it temporarily until I get a S-video cable for my receiver. But for now I just unhooked my Gamecube from the TV s-video plug as I'm not really playing anything on the GC at the moment.

The second thing is I was expecting the AV Pack to have all I needed to do dolby digital. It would have been nice of them to label the packaging to indicate that you need a friggin optical cable. As is, 19.99 is awfully high for a damn S-video cable.

Otherwise, I'm pleased with my purchase.

So I guess you are eating ramen noodles until Aug. 15

See, Josh, that was done on purpose so that you would have to unplug the GC. Gates' domination has started. MUAHAHAHAHAHA.

and Budget Gourmet TV Dinners.

Actually, I put this on my credit card, so it won't affect my short term budget.

Nah, that'll never happen. Online gaming just isn't my bag, mainly because I don't play much multiplayer games in general. Plus Live isn't an option because I don't have or want broadband. Hell, in a week or so I won't even have dial up at home as I'm cutting off my phone and just going to use my new cell phone (got a cheaper deal with free long distance than what I was paying for just local regular phone).

I never said I didn't like good graphics, just that they don't make or break a game for me.

A graphics whore isn't someone that likes good graphics, it's someone that cares more about graphics than gameplay.

For instance, a gamer can play an old game (or hell even a new one) with crappy graphics, but great gameplay and have a blast. A graphics whore wouldn't give the game a chance because the graphics sucked.

That said, if there's one thing I'm underwhelmed by in KOTR so far it's the graphics. They are very good, but nothing mind blowing yet.

Because the concept of broadband is so unappealing...?! I dunno, I guess I'm of the mindset that it's not possible to be too rich or have too fast a connection to the Internet.

So I guess picking up an XBox is your DVD Talk swan song, then?

One possibility...

The problem might not be with your AV pack, but with your receiver. Most receivers require all video sources to be the same (composite or s-video, but not boith). So if you're using s-video for everything else, you'd need to use s-video for this also. If your receiver hooks to your TV with an s-video cable only, composite is not going to work at all.

Welcome to the dark side, Josh. I too play all my sports games on the Xbox due to the hard drive. It's a lot better than having to buy extra memory cards just to save my dynasties and franchises.

I'm also sure you'll find some other games on the Xbox that you like besides the 3 you mentioned. It was the same for me when I bought my Gamecube. There were only a couple games I cared about, but I have about 10-12 titles for it now.

I see the graphics in KOTOR get bashed quite a bit, but I think a lot of it is unfounded. First, the environments are pretty big, so you don't spend a lot of time on loading screens everytime you step through a door. There are lots of bump mapping, lighting, and other cool environment effects. Am I the only one that thinks the effect of the sun's light gleening off of blades and armor is sweet? What about the way the screen becomes saturated when the suns on Tatooine are overhead in the desert? Water, alien skins (see the Selkath), etc. are all very well done.

Sure, the framerate is a bit sluggish, but I think they did as good as they could for their first console effort. I'm sure they could have used some more time to optimize, but they were probably under pressure to get the game out after the delays.

The PC version will most likely look much better due to better framerates and higher resolutions, but I'm perfectly happy playing the game on a big screen TV with awesome 5.1 sound.

I guess the most telling fact about this game is that the gameplay, story, sound, etc. are so well done, that it's easy to overlook some graphical rough edges. Maybe KOTOR3 on Xbox2 will be able to have large, highly populated environments with DOA3-like character models.

You shouldn't be paying $19 for a s-video cable. And optical cables go for $5. Don't pay more than that. Even if you buy at best buy, or other b&m stores, don't pay $19 for s-video and more than $19 for optical cables. you can do even better online:

S-video cable for $2.40:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd..._ID=4320&DID=7

Premium high quality s-video cable for $12.70:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...D=117475&DID=7

optical cable for $3.25:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...ID=16144&DID=7

premium high quality optical cable for $9.50:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...ID=16147&DID=7

edit: actually, unless you have a high end system, I recommend buying cables at wal-mart. I bought a s-video cable at wal-mart a few weeks ago (didn't want to wait for shipping from an on-line retailer), and it only cost around $7.

You have to buy the damn X-box Advanced AV pack to get surround sound and it's 19.99 most places. But it doesn't come with the optical cable you need for surround sound, so all it does by itself is offer an S-video connection-hence it's a 19.99 S-video cable, plus the prices you listed for an optical cable to get surround sound.

I imagine there are 3rd party AV packs but I didnt' see any at Best Buy and I try to stay away from cheap cables.

Actually my receiver is hooked to the TV via composite, and I currently have my PS2 and SNES running through that. My DVD is pluged directly into the component jacks on the TV and my Gamecube was going right into the TV's S-video, which is how the X-box is hooked up now.

I'm not sure what the problem was, but it's no big deal as it's just a minor inconvenience. I'll stop somewhere tonight and pick up an S-video cable to run from the receiver to the TV, and an optical cable, then I'll hook the GC and X-box through the receiver (assuming I have enough S-video ports available) and run the PS2 and SNES to the TV composite jack through my game system selecter until I get an S-video switcher to run them all through the receiver as I don't have enough plugs for them all.

I don't download much of anything, so I don't need the speed. Especially for $40 a month.

Nope. I'll post from work, like I am now. I have my laptop set up on the network here and have a very laid back job as a Graduate Research assitant, so I can just come in here and use the Net any time I need to.