skiblet

I need to rant about the upcoming xbox.

If your a video gamer, then you are no doubt aware of the impending debut of Microsofts 'next-gen' console, the XBox 360. The TV advertising campaign hasnt started rolling yet, but the news and previews are all over the internet.

I have habitually and ritualisticly devoured any tidbit, story, screenshot, or video about the xbox360 and its games. I dont know why i do this, i cant help it. I need to stop doing it and just not look at ANYTHING else until nov 22. Even with that stupid origen site which was such an overwhelming dissapointment that i wanted to commit suicide when i found out how stupid it was. But the excitement and mystery was the fun part i guess.

But anyways, what im scared about is :


What if it just isnt that great?


This ALWAYS happens to me. I follow something like a maniac for months on end, like half life2 or doom3, or AOEIII, and then i finally get the game and, it just. . . . ok. Thats how i felt with doom 3, after the wow effect of the graphics wore off on me i remember thinking, "i cant believe ive been hanging on pins and needles for the last 5 months for this piece of shit, i want all that time back that i wasted on the internet"

The sad thing is ... (oh my god this is pathetic and lame, and sad) . . .

I actually spent more time on the internet looking at pics, forums, and previews ,than actually playing the goddamn game!



Ahh, but now we have a whole new world of internet goodness to track, the XBox360 and its many beautiful games. This . . . is a new can of worms here.
(god help my soul when the PS3 goodness starts, dear lord)

I get scared when my expectations are put sky high. Right now, they are SKY F-ING HIGH. Some of the screenshots for PGR3, NBA2k6, GOW, Too Human, Cameo, Oblivion - they just simply blow me away. They make me want to fall out of my chair and bow down towards the general northwest direction of the microsoft headquarters. They make my jaw hang open and I say swear words that would make a veteran sailor cringe. And we havent even seen the Halo 3 pics yet!!!! sheesh. On alot of the pics, i can hear my inner voice saying, if the game actually looks THAT good than my social life, personal hygiene, general health and well being, bank account, and future income are in serious trouble.

But im scared that my expectations are being built up to dizzying heights, and its just going to somehow look - OK. Anyone else feel like this? Or worse yet, what if it just blows, or if theres something else wrong with it, or it looks great, but the animations suck.

What do you guys think? Love it or Hate you know its got your attention, that or the PS3, I love the sensation that a tidalwave of next-gen badass entertainment is about to be unleashed upon us.


bring it on baby . . . .

Josh H

I have low expectations for it. The screens and videos haven't blown me away, and thus far the game library looks to end up near identical to the X-box's this gen which was underwhelming for me as it was lacking in the genre's I like much.

I doubt many who loved the X-box and it's games will be dissapointed though....as long as they're not expecting anything other than more of the same games with better graphics.

Spiderbite

Gotta go with Josh on this one for once.

I have been an Xbox fan since day one and everything I have seen looks good so far on the 360...but so does Burnout: Revenge on the old hardware. I hope I am proven wrong when the system comes out but I am waiting on this one. I held off on a PS2 and waited to see what the "new gaming machine" from Microsoft was going to look like. I was glad I waited.

This time it is the opposite way around and I am waiting to see what the PS3 will look like. If it matches the 360's power, library, reviews, etc. (which we all now is likely), supports 1080p, and has Blue-Ray, I will have to side with the PS3 in this venture.

I really only have the time for one game system so I don't want to make a $500+ mistake and then regret it less than a year down the road. Thru Gamefly I have enough old Xbox games to keep me busy until decision time anyway.

Noonan

I'm very excited for it, but I'm biased. I've been waiting for Oblivion since the first day I played Morrowind. I'd be excited for whatever system it came out on. Plus, I always revert back to my teenage years when it's time for a new system to come out. I think MS should have planned better and made it so Gears of Wars was a launch title. That game will be a huge system seller. I'd guessing it will be close to what Halo was for XBOX.

skiblet

I dont want to make a 500 - 700 dollar mistake either, thats why im going to TRY so very hard to not buy one impulsively on day one. maybe wait a bit and see what the reviews are, etc... but i know full well ill probably be there in line on opening day.

Josh Hinkle, if the screens and videos dont blow you away, why ? I think they look awesome. Please note exhibits a - d. If that doesnt look awesome, then what does? Personally i think they are jaw dropping, and when i look at them i can feel that scary and hopeless feeling of knowing full well im about to drop hundreds of dollars. LOL

My only concern is that there really arent going to be enough games for the launch. I think they could have done better with the launch lineup, but id rather them take their times on the big games and make them right. like GOW and HALO3, etc.











Anyone else feel sorta whelmed, or even underwhelmed ?

Barney1234

But those are just FMV clips...

flashburn

Wrong, those are all in game. Except for maybe the 3rd one, because I don't even know what game that is. There are plenty of videos for Oblivion, NBA 2k6, and PGR3 that show that the graphics really do look that good.

skiblet

I dont know about you guys, but i get excited when i look at the pics. i think they look insane - i think it blows the old stuff out of the water.

i just wonder if its REALLY gonna look that good though. I guess ill believe it when i see it on my tv.

Flay

Skib, The Xbox 360 could spit out twenty dollar bills all day long and Josh would be disappointed they weren't hundreds.


As for the topic, People with HD displays will be overwhelmed on launch day. The quality of the HD video's I've seen vastly exceeds the quality of any recent Xbox game. Everyone else, not so much. Anyone with a older display may be wondering what all the hype is about.

As for expectations, I expect I'll be having fun with my 360 6 weeks from now while the people waiting for a PS3 are twiddling their thumbs for another 6 months.

skiblet

i completely agree there, i think the overall experience will be absolutely contingent upon having a good HDTV.

i wonder how some of that stuff is gonna look on peoples projectors, omg -

PixyJunket

The screens don't impress because I'm just not interested in games poorly trying to emulate reality. The closer they get trying to recreate real people in video games, the creepier and more artificial it looks. I'm much more interested in graphics that understand the limitations of trying to recreate reality and instead make believable fantasy worlds.

For example, this is why Kingdom Hearts works for me and Final Fantasy X does not. Sora looks like a cartoon character and Donald Duck does not exist in our world; because there is not a frame of reference for these characters any limitations in their look and animation in the game are less noticeable and thusly, FEEL more realistic and believable in the world they are in. Windex, or whatever the main character in FFX's name is, is trying to look like a real person (with bad fashion sense). Because you know what real people look like and how their hair and faces should look and move, Windex becomes very cold, artificial and stands out as being fake. Because Windex is trying to look like a real person you can tell his hair is made of polygons, you can tell his necklace is simply a painted-on texture on his model, you can tell his facial animation is horrible. Windex and his world FEEL fake because, while not real, are trying to LOOK it.

Flay

Computer monitors will work as well. I wouldn't be suprised to see a shortage of the VGA pack before Christmas. I'll be cranking up the resolution on my Dell LCD until I snag a deal on a new HDTV.

TheMadMonk

I haven't ruled out owning any or all of the next gen consoles, but I want to see what the games are really like before I buy. I'm not gonna buy a console because of a promise that the games are going to be great, or that processor A beats processor B in terms of some meaningless statistical number. Also, while graphics are nice, they don't make a mediocre game a good game.

skiblet

well i respect your opinion and all, but if thats the case, i dont see how you can really enjoy ANY movie or game that makes an attempt at suspension of disbelief, or recreating reality of some sort. For me im the opposite, the closer it gets to looking like the real thing, the more immersive and compelling the experience is.

But your point is still valid. The closer it gets to photographic quality, the more any flaws become glaring distractions to our infinitely perceptive human eyes. Case in point - the Final Fantasy movie. Photographic realism, million polygon models, but . . . it just didnt quite look right. It looked plastic.

It didnt have a soul, it was synthetic, and fake.


. . .

but oh so close

SmackDaddy

Although screenshots look nice, it's very rare that the games really match the quality of the screencaps that make people all ga ga. BTW, anything can be made to look great from a carefuly picked out screenshot with just the right angles and such.

I, along with most of my Xbox owning friends, will be waiting to see how things pan out after the PS3 launch. If the graphical prowess of these systems is close, the backwards compatability, HD-DVD capability will make the PS3 an easier choice as far as value for the $$.

It's too bad that Microsoft is splintering their userbase from the get go by offering the core package. That's another reason for me to wait. Too see if developers will just use the HDD as a glorified memory card, or if it will be utilized on more creative ways.

joeblow69

A great example of this is one of the newer Oblivian screenshots. Check this out. The city looks great, the sky looks great, the shield, the armor, it all looks great, but my god, that face! It looks horribly out of place.

skiblet

Agreed. that shot is not one of the better ones. alot of people are shitting their collective pants over this game though, its one of the top 3 most anticipated id say-

MasterofDVD

As I stated in the the main XBOX 360 thread there was a long time where I was excited about the system but not really any of the games. Sure the games looked great but the wireless controller, new and improved interface and the pumped up Live features really had me. We had impressive games come out lately for both the PS2 and XBOX. Developers had been making great games and found ways to make the most of the hardware. Gears of War is running on one core? Not sure I really believe that but I think we will see game makers really push the 360. Most of the launch games look good but this should be the worst looking batch of games we see for the 360 if things go right.

jeffdsmith

I just wan the new live to deliver what it was supposed to deliver on xbox. If the 360 can do that, then MS will have made things "better".

DVD Polizei

As with every plastic box released since I purchased my first Atari and ColecoVision way back, waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy back when, it will depend on the software designers who actually make quality games. Some will just make a shitty game so they can stamp XBOX360 on it. I suspect probably 40-50% will be in this category. But there will be a few who will make quality games. These days when you can't return a game I would read reviews and try to play the games at the local EB store or something.

slop101

Pixy speaks The Truth.

My main stumbling block w/ the 360 (besides no good games at launch and a relatively small step forward) is that it's HD wont be standard, therefore no game will require it, so therefore, it is actually a step-backward from the first X-box.

Also, seeing the new MGS footage for the PS3 makes the 360 look like old news...

sniper308

This will be the first console I have ever picked up at launch, before a price break, etc, not because I have to have it but rather mainly because I have a bunch of GameRush credit, so I pre-ordered one.

I currently have an Xbox and a GC, but never jumped into the PS2 realm.

I don't "consume" a large quantity of games in general and don't have a ton of gaming time. I have been able to try quite a few newer games due GameRush great trade in deals.

In general I've stayed behind on picking up consoles at launch due to high price and low quality launch games, etc and opted to pick them up later when good games are cheap and the price has dropped.

In any case, I'm interested to see what the 360 has up its sleev, but not expecting the launch to be the pinnacle of my gaming experience or anything like that.

skiblet

im not one to piss and squabble, both systems should be awesome. but DAMN the MGS and KILLZONE2 footage is just :

SICKENING!!!!!


=) ( i remember after watching that killzone2 tape saying, - sorry but there is NO way thats gameplay footage)

skiblet

now that i think about it, i wonder why playstation doesnt release more teaser media before the xbox launch, in an attempt to put a dent in their sales by getting the swingvotes. im a definite textbook swingvote, i could get either one, or both even. more fun for me.

Coral

I agree with you in that I dont want a game to look just like reality, that wouldn't make it any fun in my opinion. However the X360 games look amazing and yet it's still nowhere near emulating reality - which makes it much more immersive.

Ya it looked great... too bad it's not gameplay footage. Sony stated that it's not actual gameplay but it is using the gameplay engine to produce that and that the game will look similar to it. I'll believe it when I see it. I still remember when the PS2 was touted as a "supercomputer" that will produce "Toy Story like graphics". All hype, no substance. But then again, that's a Sony trait - isn't it?