You're right. I had no idea it was going to be that bad. This is my first issue. I wonder what they say about an Xbox exclusive that looks bad -- somehow it must be the fault of the PS2, right?

Here's some examples:
Spy Hunter 2 : "Graphics looked a little too PS2-skewed"

THUG : Lack of online play and reliance on dated PS2 graphics aren't a winning combination for an Xbox game"

Alter Echo : "Unfortunately, the game stumbles with PS2-style graphics"

Roadkill " The lowest common denominator, known as the PS2, is keeping us real games down"

Tiger Woods 2004 "Graphics : Still a bit PS2-ish, but definitely good"

NASCAR Thunder 2004 "...while the graphics betray their PS2 roots, they still look excellent"

you get the idea.

The magazine is pretty disappointing in that regard. I would have liked to try the demo disc for the PoP demo, though.

Whoa.. for a second there I thought you had quoted one of my posts.

I thought I recognized the writing style of those articles.

lol, I found it finally, but I found the October issue. I assume that November won't be out for a week or so? I figured people with subscriptions would get theirs early

I got my first issue from my free subscription yesterday. No demo disc though. Without the disc, free is too expensive for OXM.

It seems like the writing sucks, so the demo disc must be the only thing that carries this mag

Once again the monthly OXM thread turns into a bash of the magazine.

In regards to the demo disc:

Prince Of Persia - very cool. Graphics are top notch but the camera does need a little work (though it is not half as bad as Dino Crisis).
Conflict: Desert Storm II - another squad based game. Since I don't care for the genre, it really did nothing for me.
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure - interesting but I don't play skating games so another game not for me. It is pretty cool skating around the Toy Story bedroom & bathroom. Cool idea.
Freedom Fighters - seemed to be an easier squad based game. Nothing special.
Magic the Gathering - Do kids still play this? And is this considered fun? I thought it was poo.
NCAA Football - I am not a fan of sports games either but I really had a lot of fun with this one. A must for the college football fan.
NFL Fever - Nah. Nothing special.
Tiger Woods - interesting but it just seemed like your normal golf game. They implemented the swing of Outlaw Golf (I am unsure who started this way of swinging but I don't seem to remember it on the last demo of Tiger Woods).

As far as previews go, I have already spoken of my dislike of squad based games but the narrated non-playable demo of Full Spectrum Warrior looked awesome. It seemed unbelievably real.

Dangit, just when I get a disc with games I'd like to try it gets screwy.

Anyone remember -- how long do you boil a disc to get it working? Was it 3 minutes or 5 or what? Mine's just freezing constantly on Freedom Fighters and won't even load MTG or Tiger Woods.

Prince of Persia does look and play pretty neat. Hope they fix the camera.

Yep, FSW looks incredible. Talk about realism.

Where did u pick up the Rainbow Six 3 Demo disc, I haven't seen it anywhere?

It's a freebee when you preorder the game. You can get it and the game for $39.99 shipped from Ubi Soft. There's a thread about that here. I got my copy of the demo yesterday but haven't played yet

They had the exact same swing in Tiger Woods 2003.