sniper308

360

ViewAskewbian

Looks like the 360 is the system of choice. A few more questions about it:

1) How much memory do I need, really, to save games? I am looking at the Elite vs the Arcade and the only thing that makes a dif to me seems to be the larger memory. Can you ad memory to it meaning that if I purchased the Arcade as it is cheaper now can I ad more memory?
2) What is Netflix? Is it just a US thing or is it available in Canada?
3) I've read some online complaints regarding "idiots" ruining the online community. Is it really all that bad?

Dan

If you can afford the Elite now, you might as well get it. It's prettier, too. Oh, and I think the Arcade controller is wired. Elite has wireless.
Not in Canada. It's an online streaming video rental service. Apparently, it's pretty awesome. But yeah... we don't get it here.
Depends on the games you're playing, but I personally find the PS3 online "idiots" to be worse.

starman9000

I'm a fairly new 360 owner and here is my take:

1) I got the Arcade and then got a 20gb HD, I'm wishing I'd have gone for at least 60gb, as the installing feature is nice due to the quieter game experience.

2) Netflix is great with the 360, I've heard you have to actually put a disc in in for the same service on the PS3, but that wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. You get a certain amount of DVDs delivered to your house based on the subscription and then can stream unlimited movies and TV on you 360 as well. The selection isn't the greatest for streaming, but is still pretty good. Zune is a stupid service.

3)If you have friends online, it is no problem, I imagine it's still bad if you leave your channels open, but they make it easy to ignore idiots.

Deftones

don't bother buying an arcade. if you get into serious gaming the 64MB card won't allow you to do anything, including download content from online. with a HD, you can download extra levels, movies, etc. plus, if you decide you need a hard drive later, you'll pay up the nose for it. they are not cheap.

netflix is way to stream movies/tv shows to xbox. you have to have an account with netflix (cheapest to stream is $8.99/month) + xbox live gold account. AFAIK, it's available in Canada.

online gaming can be great and it can be bad. most of the popular games will have the kids who sound like they haven't hit puberty yet talking mad shit. good thing is, you have the ability to mute them or file complaint.

Dan

Nope. There were loopholes that allowed Canadians to subscribe, but that's over.

Deftones

ok, maybe that's what i was remembering.

ViewAskewbian

I don't have a super quick internet connection. Do I need one? I think my connection is 5mbps

starman9000

My connection is slower than that and it is fine. Occasionally I've found hiccups if I'm the person hosting, but that's it.

ViewAskewbian

Oh yeah, been reading about chip and motherboards etc.

I am reading that the new Elite bundle has a Jasper chip or something. What is that all about?

maxfisher

Unless you feel like wasting money, get an arcade. They come with wireless controllers now and just don't come with a hard drive. You can get one with a $25 gift card at Amazon right now for $200 or buy one from Dell for $159.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...9&sku=A2860223

You'll likely want a hard drive, but you can get one off ebay for a fraction of the ridiculous Microsoft prices. A 20GB should set you back about $25 and a 60GB will be around $40.

The online community varies depending on what you want. For certain games, the people playing are a bunch of teenagers who are immature, annoying asses. For others, the groups of people playing are great. You can always mute people and just not communicate with strangers, assuming you're playing something that doesn't require a lot of teamwork. If you play with friends, the online experience is great.

maxfisher

I can only get 1.5 mbps dsl at my house and it's perfectly fine for every game I've played on Live. It's not too great for netflix.

I believe it's just a newer chip that's supposedly more reliable. I think it's in pretty much all of the new Elites and Arcades now.

Deftones

problem is, i've read horror stories about those being modded hard drives (not factory originals) and people have had issues with them.

ViewAskewbian

So you think Elite over Arcade?

I guess the space, for me, would be needed to save hockey updates, NHL game data and stuff people create online for the wrestling games. Oh yeah, and role playing game data.

maxfisher

I don't think it's different than buying anything else on ebay. You just have to pay attention to the seller and their reputation. If it's a big concern, email and ask before bidding. Someone with several years of history and 100% feedback isn't going to risk ruining their rep by lying. I suppose it comes down to personal preference. For me, I wouldn't go with a used hard drive if I could get a new one for $10 more, but when you're looking at a $100 difference total, I'd happily go the cheaper route.

xmiyux

Definitely get at least a 60 gig HDD. Demos anymore are clocking in at over a gig. An installed game takes about 4 gigs. DLC like map packs and such are getting larger. If you get into Rock Band... Simply put, a 20gig HDD is pretty constraining at this point.

As for online:

miyu's guide to a decent XBL experience.

1. Build a good friends list: This is key. I have about 90 folks on my list at the moment and at any point there are at least 3 people online gaming. I have winnowed the list down to people who are serious enough to actually play the game but also mellow enough to have fun and not stress too much if we lose. This is pretty much the perfect combo for me.

2. Friend of a friend: Get on a couple of those silver tags. Basically it is a workaround for the 100 friend limit MSoft imposes. You can look at this one tag on your friends list and choose to view all of its friends. This basically gives you another 100 friends. DVDTalk maintains one of these tags. The Good Game Network maintains one (they are a group of affiliated clans who all abide by a positive code of conduct) and my video game clan 8-Bit Brigade maintains one as well.

3. Feedback: Leave it. When you mark a player as avoid it greatly decreases the chance you will run into them again. Maybe they are still out there griefing and it sucks.... but at least you don't have to deal with them. Basically, like anything on the internet there will be trolls and griefers - don't let them get to you. Feedback, move on, and your game experience will slowly improve as the dross is separated out.

4. Mute: Many games anymore have sped up the whole muting process. This has become your best tool to make everything more fun. Best thing.... if you mute them in one game they will be muted in every single game. Since Live is a big unified service this works out well and is lovely.

5. Communicate: You can meet some cool folks in game if you are chatting some as well. Often folks will be playing without mics but if they see people talking they will pop in the mic and converse. The whole flies, honey, and vinegar thing comes into play here. I have found that if i am communicating and being polite often others will join in. Those who want to be disruptive just get muted by all the polite players and then we have loads of fun. Most team based games are also infinitely more fun if everyone is doing things like calling out enemies, strategizing about flanking a position, etc. Nerdy? Yes. Immensely fun? Also yes.

6. Good game: At the end of a multiplayer game - go ahead and toss out a "Good game." Maybe i am being hokey and pay it forward here but a GG no matter a win or loss goes a long way imo to cutting down on the trash talking. I see it as the equivalent of a handshake after a hard fought game of chess.

7. Mute your own mic: Seriously, if the phone rings, your wife is talking to you, you are chewing ice, you are pissing while wearing your headset.... mute your mic. Easy to forget. Easy to infuriate everyone in your party. Also, with summer on its way, remember that if you have a fan bowing directly on you it may create a constant noise on the mic for everyone in the group.

Michael Corvin

One of the greatest things about the 360 is the various ways to deal with morons. I set my Global Mute the day it was introduced and haven't looked back. Once you build a good friends list you can set the system to mute everyone except friends. This way you don't have to mess with muting people in every game. The drawback is that if you are playing team games with random people you can't coordinate.

Also the party system has greatly alleviated douchebags as well. Even if you are already playing a team game with friends, you can party up and it mutes everyone in game except for people in your party.

I bought one off ebay. Obviously stay away from anything from Hong Kong or China. Stay away from any that are too cheap, that's another red flag. Like max said, pay attention to feedback. I'd stick to buying from 'personal' seller. i.e. someone that just sells shit they own and aren't trying to make a business out of ebay by selling 10k items a month.

xmiyux

I originally was setup to mute everyone but those on my friends list and i eventually went back and changed it. I was missing out on some good conversation and i missed meeting some new folks who might be cool to game with regularly.

It is nice though that the option is there for the times i am feeling particularly irritated already and one more idiot might put me over the top.

foxdvd

the talking part is so important...as is building a friends list...good points

ViewAskewbian

A question about online:

If I were to purchase, say, NHL 2010 and start do I really have to keep buying each new version of the game to keep up with the online stuff. How much will I lose? Are there incentives at the outset? Should I just wait for 2011 or is it all pretty much the same?

chess

Small point that I haven't seen mentioned: The 360 doesn't have built-in Wi-Fi, so if you want to go wireless, you're looking at another $80-100.

The 360 crowd on this forum seems sufficient to convince you to get a 360, but I'd look on IGN or Gamespot for some reviews of exclusives before pulling the trigger. Based on your affinity for Nintendo games, you may find the PS3 library more compelling. My favorite games are Mario, Metroid and Zelda games, and I find the variety of exclusives like Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Demons' Souls, God of War and LittleBigPlanet much more interesting than the generally shooter exclusives on 360 (Halo/Gears/L4D etc.) To be fair, 360 also has Valve in their corner, which is huge, and they have two great RPG franchises in Mass Effect and Fable.

NHL is on both, obviously, and both have terrific downloadable games.

Generally, the two are more alike than different, and if you're going to own one or the other, it should come down to the games.

mr.snowmizer

Most people can't wait to buy each year's version, so to keep up with the majority of the community, you would also have to buy the latest and (hopefully) greatest.

With regards to the NHL series, specifically, the developers seem very passionate about the sport and are quite engaged with their customers. Every year reveals an obvious effort at improvement, so there's no reason to think the next version will be "the same".

We're exactly halfway to NHL 11, though, so it's a personal choice on whether to wait it out... it's up to your patience and what kind of price you could find NHL 10 for.

ViewAskewbian

I guess my question has been answered when it comes to this game however do people just abandon the previous version and, thus, no players to play it. I notice that previous versions are low on the used game price with 09 actually going as low as 10 bucks at some stores. NHL 10, though, is about 60 bucks used here in Canada.

xmiyux

Typically people do move on to the next iteration (unless it is a letdown, broken, or otherwise inferior to the previous year) for their online play.

If you are wanting to play some on your own though and don't need the newest then you can save a ton of money and buy the previous year used for typically dirt cheap.

ViewAskewbian

I suppose not that I have resigned myself to Xbox the question figuring out what way to go on the system. From what I gather from you folks the Arcade won`t give me enough space. That leaves:

Elite (with Halo ODST and Forza) or the Final Fantasy Bundle for $100 more. I thought I didn`t care about the two games with the Elite but the more I read about Halo ODST the more I am interested in it for the online stuff. Forza, still, I could care less. Final Fantasy, though, was a game I used to play back on the old SNES and such and even purchased one of the PC versions back in the day. Reviews seem to suggest the game is different, though, so the idea might be to hold off, get the cheaper Elite and wait for FF13 to go down in price. However, that bundle DOES come with a larger hard drive and an extra control (which is something I would have purchased anyway to play with a friend). Oh choices...choices....