Gaming Steve: My Day With The Xbox 360

October 10, 2005

My Day With The Xbox 360

So here I was, just playing some new games when I was unexpectingly invited to a private Xbox 360 preview event right here in New York City. So I hopped on the subway, showed up to Xbox-themed loft, and played lots of Xbox 360 games for several hours (yeah, I know, I suck).

Before I get "into it" I have to say that I've been to a fair number of these things over the years but this one was by far one of the best. The space was small, quiet, comfortable, and I got tons of quality time playing Xbox 360 games.

The event started out with an hour demo of Kameo: Elements of Power (looked fantastic), Project Gotham Racing 3 (pretty good), and the Xbox Live Dashboard (beyond words cool) and then we were able to play games for a couple of hours. I have to say, I was a bit concerned about the Xbox 360 launch lineup, but after today I am starting to think that the PS3 might be in some serious trouble. I was extremely impressed with what I saw and a couple of the launch titles look downright legendary.

I will do a detailed podcast about my experiences at the event later in the week but here is a quick rundown of my thoughts:

"The Hardware": The Xbox 360 controller is "like butter" and handles better than the PS2 controller (yes, even I was surprised by that one). The system design itself is "iPod Nano slick", compact, and the little "trap doors" which protect the various plug-in elements (like the memory unit and controller slots) are a nice touch.

Xbox Live Dashboard: I have to admit I was quite skeptical about how well the Xbox Live features would integrate into the overall gameplaying experience. But after playing with the Dashboard firsthand I have to say that it is seamlessly integrated with the overall experience and Xbox Live will definitely enhance the overall gaming experience, even with games which have no multiplayer options (more on this in the podcast). Really impressive stuff.

Kameo: Elements of Power: Considering that this game was supposed to be a launch title for the GameCube, and then was supposed to come out for the Xbox, and then was "retooled" as a launch title for the Xbox 360, I had a lot concerns about this game. But after playing it I have to say that the graphics are most definitely "next gen", the gameplay was lots of fun, and the music fantastic. I think Kameo will herald in the triumphant return of great Rare games.

Perfect Dark Zero: I played two levels of this game and while it was definitely fun I am going to hold judgment. There were a lot of cool innovations in the game (the safecracking "locktopus" being the coolest), and the weapon variety quite nice, but the gameplay seemed pretty standard.

Call of Duty 2: Played a lot like the first Call of Duty but with refined controls and updated gameplay. If you liked the first one I'm sure you'll like this one.

Condemned: Criminal Origins: Of all the games I played today this one surprised me the most and I felt the "winner" of the show. Created by Monolith, the game is a bit hard to explain as it does of lot of things I have never seen before. It plays like Resident Evil crossed with an FPS crossed with an psychological thriller. The game looks amazing (when I was watching someone play the game I thought I was watching a movie) and pulls you into the story within the first five seconds. Expect this to be a huge surprise hit.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: For those of you who can't wait to get this game (you know who you are) make sure to pre-order your Xbox 360 now. Look forward to another 250+ hours of "Elder Scrolls gameplay" but with next gen graphics.

For pictures of the event make sure to check out Xbox Live's Major Nelson blog and photo album. On a side note I have to say meeting Major Nelson for the first time was great. Not only is he "the nicest guy ever" but he and I got a chance to talk "podcast shop". Very cool.

Posted by Gaming Steve at 8:00 PM | Comments (23) | Posted to Xbox |

Comments

I will be honest, I only read most of it just so I could get to the Elder Scrolls part.

Yes, I know who I am.

Anyway, sounds like you had a nice day! I will admit, the 360 looks cool, but I am already sold on Nintendo.

I just love them so much!

Very cool though!

Posted by PatMan33 at October 10, 2005 8:44 PM

Yeah, when the 360 was first announced on MTV, I was thinking "Theres no way Microsoft is going to survive Sony and Nintendo, its just an Xbox with slightly prettier graphics". But now, with its impressive launch, and pretty good games coming later for it (Including Spore!) Im thinking the Xbox 360 will do very well, perhaps even better than Sony.

But Im going to wait for all 3 systems to come out before I decide which console to buy. Im still waiting for Nintendo to show off its games for th Revolution.

Posted by Pilot4Life at October 10, 2005 10:11 PM

Steve, you lucky dog. Also, I'm with ya, Patman. I read that just for the Oblivion part. This will be my personal reason for buying a 360.

Posted by Tal at October 10, 2005 10:25 PM

I read it for the Kameo part actually... I have been looking forward to it since I bought my Gamecube at launch O_O ... Im interested in this Criminal Origins game though...

Posted by Areku at October 10, 2005 10:49 PM

very lucky, i must make my own gaming news site so i get invited as press.

Posted by The Godfather at October 11, 2005 3:22 AM

(peeks around the corner)

Did someone mention Elder Scrolls ?

I am a diehard PS guy who likes an ocassional PC games. With the exception of Elder Scrolls and Civ 4 nothing on the PC market horizon interests me because of the increasing processor and graphics card requirements. With consoles, you never have to worry if your rig can handle the game... It might be cheaper for me to get an Xbox 360 than to upgrade my PC for the next round of PC gaming.

Posted by shikaeshi at October 11, 2005 6:55 AM

I've this doubt about how good Perfect Dark 0 would be since they announced it. Now, unfortunately it has been confirmed. Perfect Dark reduced to standard. :'(

Posted by SC at October 11, 2005 11:15 AM

well i can only afford to buy one of the new systems so, i am still going with PS3... i am sure the xBox is find and dandy but, since i can only afford one, i'll go with what i know is a good system... and not to mention, almost my entire collection(not counting nintendo) consists of PS1 and PS2 games so, getting a 360 would be pointless to me...

P.S. i hate microsnot :D...

Posted by Captain Bones at October 11, 2005 12:18 PM

I'm surprised that some people had already written off the 360 without even playing any of the games. Its all about the games, folks. For Steve to be impressed...you should all be rethinking your biases. I plan to eventually get all three of the "next-gen" consoles. And its nice to get more confirmation that my 360 pre-order looks to be justified. Will there be innovation at launch? Probably not as publishers will want to play it safe and stick with tried and true genres and play mechanics. But the360 launch looks to be one of the strongest ever.

I'm looking forward to the podcast.

Posted by SurfMurph at October 11, 2005 12:47 PM

"For Steve to be impressed...you should all be rethinking your biases."

Wha? I don't care what Steve thinks about my opinions.

I think that was what you were implying.

I think...

<_<

Posted by PatMan33 at October 11, 2005 2:48 PM

VERY cool! I knew Major Nelson was in town for this event, I didn't realize you'd be there too. Good for you!

Posted by Grumpy Robot at October 11, 2005 3:06 PM

U luckly person

Posted by Brian rettie at October 11, 2005 3:19 PM

If you really want Oblivion, get it for the PC. There is no comparing Morrowind for the XBox and MW for PC, and I suspect it will be the same way for Oblivion. Not only do you get better graphics, patches (this might possibly be fixed for 360, however), earlier expansions, you also get the godly powerful Elder Scrolls Construction set, and all the mods the community will make. The MW modding community is one of the best out there, and they will all be moving to Oblivion, making the same great content.

Posted by Jeremy at October 11, 2005 6:21 PM

I think Xbox 360, and any game console for that matter, is a bad value proposition. With the price of the Box and few games (10 is around 600 euros and the box is 400+ euros) without even mentioning Live, you can get a laptop not only plays cheaper games, even online such as Guild Wars or Diablo, and do *a whole lot more*.

And even though I have laptop I'm not getting Xbox 360. So who is going to buy it? It's not even a Revolution in *anything*.

What I am excited about then? WPF, WCF and other Vista timeframe technologies.

What I am not excited about? The idea of playing Xbox games with Xbox controller on PC. If future trend of PC games is going to be that they require Xbox 360 controller (assuming this means the pad always) to function, that would seriously suck.

Posted by ac at October 11, 2005 8:11 PM

Actually, Oblivion (and most 360 games) will severely blow away what can be done on the current generation of gaming PCs in terms of graphics. Developers are saying that PCs will not catch up with the 360 for quite a while. They're saying the 360 is anywhere from 18 months to two full years ahead of the PC gaming technology.

And of course, playing games on the PC requires patches, making sure yoru drivers are all OK, and dealing with Windows or Linux. Why bother with all that when you can play the same games with better graphics on a system that costs less than the top-of-the-line video card?

Posted by XenoCorpse at October 14, 2005 11:45 PM

Yeah truthfully.... im still thinking what ive always thought of consols... they are ( and will always be ) WAY overpowered by Pc's ... its just a fact to face...computers can support resolutions greater than any "TV" screen (Excluding projectors) and have way more capabilities over a consol.. Also FPS lovers.... analog joysticks isn't the way.. and i always ask why.."Microsoft refuses to ship with a keyboard and/or mouse..." on the other hand...PS3 is said to ship with keyboard and mouse. so i'll give all my serious thoughts to Sony....

Posted by Jake from Arizona at October 15, 2005 4:37 AM

XenoCorpse, if you look at Oblivion screenshots for the 360 and PC you will quite clearly see that it looks far better on the PC.

The textures are of a lower quality judging by screenshots as well as the anti aliasing settings so everything doesnt look as smooth on 360.

Sure, it looks great on the 360 I'm impressed but it IS still better on the PC.

Posted by KevinUK at October 15, 2005 11:46 AM

Worthless comments steve. Where is the critical appraisal? This just smacks of coporate shill.

Everying thing is, oh..i thought this would be bad but blah blah best game ever blah blah, ps3 seriously in trouble, blah blah best contoller ever etc etc etc

Not one critisism?

Posted by THe Dean at October 15, 2005 1:20 PM

Oh sure, I have criticisms, but those will be covered in extensive detail by the podcast which will appear on the site in a few days. Look for the podcast very early next week and I think you'll be surprised just how critical we're going to be.

Posted by Gaming Steve at October 15, 2005 1:59 PM

Cool. I look forward to it.

Thanks for your reply.

Posted by THe Dean at October 15, 2005 9:22 PM

Nice to hear you got to have a go on the 360.. don't trust the magazines no more..
any word on connectivity between Apple's G5 and 360 ? Since they used em initially as devkits ? Just bought a mac and am outta cash for a while you see..

Posted by yanN at October 20, 2005 9:25 AM

Its a little hard to believe the Xbox 360 is coming out in 2 weeks. To me the launch lineup is still very weak. Lots of remakes and sequels and there really isn't one game so far that makes me want to go out and buy the 360.

Yestersday I was at Best Buy and Gamestop where they had Xbox 360 machines up and running with playable demos. I was not impressed.

At Best Buy they had Call of Duty 2. The game looks nice but the graphics don't all that much better than what the Xbox currently offers. On top of that, the gameplay seems pretty standard. Run around and shoot bad guys. The enemy AI didn't seem all that geat. I was able to just run up to a bunch of German soldiers hiding behind some crates and they really didn't seem to react to my presence. I just stood there and gun them down.

At Gamespot, they had a King Kong demo. I only played this for a minute or two and I can tell you for a fact that it looks like a PS1 game. I saw nothing remarkable about the graphics or the gameplay.

I will probably get a 360 but sometime next year when there are more games to choose from.

Posted by Rusty at November 6, 2005 10:41 PM

Awsome! I've preordered mine long ago, with one game in mind, Halo 3! The last two Halos alone prove that Bungie knows how to make one hell of an FPS, and Xbox 360 is the only console that will handle it.

Posted by Shane at November 8, 2005 6:52 PM