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Sell me and school me on the 360
DeathPrawn
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This generation, all I have is a Wii (plus DS and a bunch of older systems). I've been content with just having a Wii thus far, but thanks to Amazon's runner-up deal (an Arcade 360 for $220 straight up), I'm strongly considering picking up a 360. A large reason would be to have something to play Rock Band on (I don't want to get the gimped PS2 version), but I want there to be enough other games that interest me.
I know about most of the current major releases, and a lot of them interest me somewhat (I have a friend who's willing to trade me his Assassin's Creed), but have close to no knowledge of the system's back catalogue.I looked through some of the big review sites, but was unable to just find a huge list of all 360 games sorted by score, and a forum search turned up no results. What are your guys' favorite games for the system? I'm game for pretty much everything, but I'm not too huge on sports games or RTS. What I don't want are particularly generic gaming experiences - I want something that isn't "just another gray FPS" or "just another generic platformer". The concept of XBLA intrigues me, but I don't really know what it has to offer.
Also, since I'd be buying what I assume is a gimped model, what accessories and such are essential for getting the full experience? I don't have an HDTV, and don't care about any sort of high-def DVD viewing.
tl;dr: sell me a 360. what good games are there for it? what do I need to buy?
I know about most of the current major releases, and a lot of them interest me somewhat (I have a friend who's willing to trade me his Assassin's Creed), but have close to no knowledge of the system's back catalogue.I looked through some of the big review sites, but was unable to just find a huge list of all 360 games sorted by score, and a forum search turned up no results. What are your guys' favorite games for the system? I'm game for pretty much everything, but I'm not too huge on sports games or RTS. What I don't want are particularly generic gaming experiences - I want something that isn't "just another gray FPS" or "just another generic platformer". The concept of XBLA intrigues me, but I don't really know what it has to offer.
Also, since I'd be buying what I assume is a gimped model, what accessories and such are essential for getting the full experience? I don't have an HDTV, and don't care about any sort of high-def DVD viewing.
tl;dr: sell me a 360. what good games are there for it? what do I need to buy?
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You should look up Bomberman, Puzzle Quest, Lumines (pretty expensive to get everything though), Catan, Carcassone, Tetris Splash, Pac-Man CE and Uno. I've got about 20 XBLA games, but these are the ones I think I can suggest to anybody.
So, unless you are an action game nut, I suggest you either pay for the full experience or spend your money on some of the recent Wii releases. My favorite games (Gears of War, Geometry Wars, Super Puzzle Fighter HD, Bomberman Live, Lumines, Call of Duty 4, Burnout Revenge, Carcassonne, etc.) would lose a lot of their appeal without things like digital sound, high definition video, and XBox Live.
It looks like a 20gb hard drive will run me $90 msrp; is there any cheaper way to get a hd? Other than that, it seems that the only difference on spending $310 for an arcade + 20gb hd versus $350 for the better model is the Live headset - does this make a difference?
Completely and utterly untrue.
I have a 27 inch EDTV that I bought for like $450 several years ago. It has component and progressive scan, and I can say without a doubt that 360 games look extremely good. They certainly look better than any game I've seen on the Wii thus far.
You really need to just get a 360 and start playing the top tier titles and soon you'll have a wishlist of titles that you won't possibly be able to keep up with. We're talking high quality games that are some of the best I've seen since the SNES days.
EDIT: I also own a Wii and probably wouldn't have touched it since August if I hadn't dabbled in the Virtual Arcade over the past couple of months, but I've got Galaxy, RE:UC and Fire Emblem RD on the way, so hopefully that will be changing soon.
My TV is 27", non-HD. Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, and Assassin's Creed look absolutely breathtaking on it. Especially CoD4.
I'd go for a premium model, the arcade is good if you don't plan to do too much online gaming and don't want any xbla titles.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
The arcade version also doesn't come with an HD cable. If you want to play any xbox1 games you'll need the HD. You could probably buy a used hd from ebay.
Definitely -- I got my used 20GB for $60 shipped, and this was back in May or June. I'm sure with a glut of people upgrading to 120GB models that you can find it for at least that, if not cheaper.
I went a similar route: Bought the Core model (due to a clearance sale that saved me $100), then bought a hard drive and A/V cables separate (found an S-Video cable, the best my TV can do, for a whopping $3). The only main difference aside from those two components were the wireless controller, which the Arcade pack now has, plus the Arcade pack also gets a handful of cool XBLA games on a disc. Oh, and you don't get the chrome trim.
On the flip side, nowadays most boxes of the 360 Pro come with Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance: If you want either/both of those games, it's likely a better deal to spring for the Pro. But if you can pick up the hard drive and component/S-video cables on the cheap (and you'll want to, the composite cables really do hold the system back even on SD sets, plus text will be extra-fuzzy), I say spring on the Arcade pack.
So that's something I guess
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
I know I'm not really helping here... I've got rather eccentric tastes that are tough to explain. If you just tell me most of what you like, I should be able to figure out if I'll like them or not. I've just had trouble finding a good resource for discovering older (i.e. not current) games.
If you like both puzzle games and RPGs, then Puzzle Quest (XBLA) is a must. A must, I say! Buy it now and thank me later, or tear me a new one after you lost your job, house, wife and kids because you were too busy playing it.
If you like Action/Adventure, try to find Dead Rising. I'm sure you can find it budget priced now. It's a fun game and everyone loves to mow down armies of zombies by themselves. While we're on the subject of one-man-armies, I like Ninety Nine Nights. I got it for like 19.99$. It's budget priced now, and is a very good game at that price. Basically, you're a guy (or girl, depending the scenarion) and you button mash your way thru hundreds of enemies at once. Entertaining.
Carcassone and Catan are two board games, turned into XBLA titles. I love 'em.
As you see, I'm really more into the XBLA titles than the real games. The good part is that you can download a demo of any of those before buying it, so the 360 isn't wasted money, for anyone.
An interesting thing to consider is that many XBLA titles are games that you can play over and over (like Tetris, or Uno) because they don't have a proper end, and they all cost between 5 and 15 bucks. Much less expensive than "normal" videogames.
Crackdown. Platforming, explosion goodness. The campaign mode of the game is okay. Hardly compelling. It's jumping around and findin orbs and getting achievements that make the game fun. I perfect example of a sandbox game that you can get lost in for hours.
When my friend bought his 360 for Halo 3, I let him borrow Crackdown. He said that would have been worth the price of admission alone. We like games that you can get sidetracked on and completely forget what your supposed to be doing. GTA is another example, but Crackdown does it in aces.
Even my wife orb hunts.
Wii: 1056 1549 1957 0345
Part Time Gamer.com | My Game Collection | Flickr: Video Game Photo Mode | Flickr: Game Rooms
:winky:
A couple of my friends own a 360 and we brought one over to my house one night to screw around on. We spent most of the night fooling around on Halo 3 (Which looked undeniably awesome) but Crackdown came the closest to selling me on the 360. Just running around the city, climbing building and finding orbs was so engrossing and fun.
Sometimes I Stream Games: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/italax-plays-video-games
I went into the stores this morning with a head full of all that "how to get a Falcon" crap too, and let me tell you something: when it's Black Friday, all that shit goes right out the goddamn window and you're lucky to just get out of the store with a 360 and all your limbs.
I ended up with lot 736, team C-something-or-other, mfg. 8/29/03, and am pretty sure I got a Zephyr, but man whatever, it's got a three-year warranty on RRODs.
Mass Effect
Gears of War
Halo 3
Crackdown
Condemned
Saint's Row
Rainbow 6 Vegas
GRAW 1 and 2
The Darkness
Call of Juarez
Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo (I have an enduring soft spot for Rare, what can I say)
Note that I'm primarily a PC gamer, so some stuff like the Orange Box and Bioshock I'm not listing because I already have them for PC.
Plus, Live can't be beat, the hardware is now fixed and/or under a long warranty, the wireless controller is great (and still has rumble, hehe), and the installed base is huge so the good games will keep coming at a fast clip. There's also a nice (and relatively inexpensive) HD-DVD player add-on that currently comes with 6 free movies.
I held out for a loooong time because of the hardware issues, and now that those are taken care of, the library has built up very nicely -- and can be found cheaply used, too.
Edit: Casual buyers who are content with the MS 3-year warranty need not read the next paragraph!
Re: Getting a Falcon. Just get the latest lot number/manufacture date you can. Shoot for at least lot 735+, and made October or later this year. Those are easy to check in-store (though not in a Black Friday crowd), and that will ensure you get an HDMI model that is at least a Zephyr. To greatly increase your "chances" at a Falcon, look on the outside label for team "FDOU", the latest possible lot number (in the 740s), and, if at all possible, a power supply notation on the label that reads "175W" instead of "203W". I understand from other forums that the 175W power supply is the single best indicator of a Falcon. But even without that, the team FDOU and late lot mean you're probably getting one anyway. (And really, you don't NEED to get a Falcon by any means. You're covered for 3 years!)
> turn on light
Good start to the day. Pity it's going to be the worst one of your life. The light is now on.
There have been more of those special types of games that you remember imagining as a child, but never dared to actually hope for this generation than any other, and Mass Effect is one of them.
How do you have it hooked up to the moniter? The only way to get 1080p out of the 360 is the VGA cable or HDMI/HDMI to DVI cables. Component is good, but it's still analog. It was fine for me because my HDTV only does 720p & 1080i. So we need a bit more info on what you're doing.
With that said, here are some of my favorite titles that I'd recommend:
Eternal Sonata
Mass Effect
Call of Duty 4
Halo 3
Mass Effect
Gears of War
Bioshock
Assassin's Creed (try and find a used copy though)
Lost Planet
Mass Effect
Rainbow Six Vegas
GRAW 1/2
Also, I hear Mass Effect is pretty good
Titles that are worthwhile for under 15 bucks:
Tomb Raider Legend
Kameo
PGR3
But regardless, a few questions. Do we have a big list of peoples names to add people and what not? How does it work? I'm only used to friends codes?
Also, I've a 27 to 30" SDTV with RGB Scart, and a 14" LCD monitor that can pump out a massive 1024*768 at 50Hz. Is it worth picking up a vga cable for that? I'm tempted - if only for when the tv is in use.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
I mean, for twelve bucks and change w/ free shipping, it's a no-brainer.
I'm not sure if there is an "XBL Penny-Arcade list of gamers", there might be, but at any rate, any PAers who are interested can add me (if they aren't of the trash talking variety).
GT: liquidlogan360
I have, and occassionally play, Halo 3, Gears of War, NHL 08, Rainbow Six Vegas and, not for long if I trade it in, Call of Duty 3.
What game are you talking about?
lol I suppose that would help.
Oblivion
$40 is retardedly expensive for a cable. Get any old third-party $12 X360-VGA cable, or get a standard HDMI-DVI cable from Monoprice for even cheaper.
I'm using the component out on the 360 to my 24" Benq FP241WZ, which has S-video, composite, DVI, VGA, Component and HDMI inputs. Then in the display settings for the console on the dashboard I pick "1080p" for the output. Games don't look as sharp as the graphics do from my PC, so I'm not sure if it's actually running in 1080p mode.
Put simply, the 360 is where it's at for me. I'm a hardcore, old-school gamer and while there's plenty of love for my personal favorite genre (fighting games, and who could be displeased with a console with Fatal Fury Special and Super Street Fighter II HD Remix?), the free demos have also gotten me to consider games I would normally not have thought about purchasing, like Conan. The 360 is, simply, everything I want a game system to be with all the games that I really enjoy. Now, if only they'd work on that damn backwards compatibility...
I didn't realize there were cheaper alternatives, my bad.
Also how does the OP feel about fighters? I hear Virtua Fighter online is the hot shit.
Now before the Microsoft Defense Force swoops in, the guy is considering buying a 360 and asked for info on it.
He deserves to know if he doesn't already.
Edit .. looks like someone did mention it, if prefaced by a "please don't actually read this" header:
Yeah, for 3 years! After which, well.. you're actually prettty screwed. But three whole years!