UnforgivingEdges

That point is rather irrelevant. How advanced it was for it's time has nothing to do with how mechanically complex it was and is compared to the Xbox 360. The 360 has a an HD-DVD drive complete with a motor and moving laser diode to read a spinning piece of media. The NES read data through brass connectors off of a stationary disc. That's just one example. You know, you do a fair amount of bitching and moaning about the 360. If you don't like the price and other factors, why did you even buy one?

This week on the XBLA (content goes up in 3 hours): Carcassonne -Features 5 player online play, 4 player offline play -Includes River II expansion -XBL Vision support New Lumines Live! skins/songs -2 new packs: 4 new songs (inlcuding a Heavenly Star remix), 20 new skins

BJs? I am fucking there. BJs rules.

All three are coming to 360 (except I'm not sure about Tekken, but knowing Namco's love of the Microsoft box, I wouldn't doubt it). The other two have been confirmed already.

Kameo says hi. Overlord says hi. Phantasy Star Universe says hi. Rayman Raving Rabbids, Viva Pinata, and Tenchu Z all say hi. Project Sylpheed is a space-flight game a la Wing Commander, don't know if you consider that a shooter or not. Same for Ace Combat 6. Then don't forget Rock Band, Guitar Hero 2 and 3, Assassin's Creed, Banjo Three(ie), Virtua Fighter 5, and Too Human all coming out in the near future. I understand that a lot of games on the 360 are shooters. but a lot aren't. Plus there's the Xbox Live Arcade, which has NO shooters, and lots of original games (Eets: Chowdown, Cloning Clyde, Outpost Kaloki X, Prince of Persia Classic, Catan, Carcassonne, Lumines Live, Worms, Talisman, Puzzle Fighter 2 HD, Street Fighter 2 HD, Boom Boom Rocket, and much more). Actually, if you're an RPG fan, the 360 is THE console to own this year. Blue Dragon comes out in August, Eternal Sonata (Trusty Bell in Japan) in September, and Lost Odyssey in December. Those are the three biggest epic RPGs of 2007, and they're all on the Xbox 360. Then you have Oblivion, Two Worlds, Enchanted Arms, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance already out. To say you have no interest in any of the games I've named in this post means the Xbox 360 just isn't for you. But I can't see how anyone wouldn't be excited for at least ONE of those titles.

So basically all you want is a more powerful Wii? Honestly, I don't think you'll say what you said above if you get a chance to play a 360 game in HD. Remember when the shift from 2D gamign to 3D gaming first happened, and everyone's jaw hit the floor because of the graphical upgrade? That's what I felt when I plugged my Xbox into my new LCD HD set the other day. Aside from that, I think one of the best examples of what you're looking for might be found in EDF 2017. There are hundreds (literally hundreds) of enemies on screen at almost all time. The framerate chugs, but that's not the system's fault, it's the way the game was optimized (or not optimized as it turns out). Still, the game is probably the most fun game on the 360 so far.

Plenty. While Gears may be the most cinematic 3rd person shooter on the system, it's not the best IMO. Earth Defense Force 2017 is one of the most fun games on the 360 (if not THE most fun). It takes its cues from B-rate sci-fi movies, so it's cheesy, but it's also awesome. Hundreds of enemies (literally!) swarm you in almost every level. You fight hives of ants, jumping spiders, huge robots, flying saucers, and more. Everything in the game is destructible, and while the graphics aren't very impressive, it's an extremely fun game, especially on co-op mode. Click for screeens Condemned: Criminal Origins Okay, so it's a launch title, but it's the scariest game I've ever played. It's so freakin' awesome. The game supports up to 7.1 surround, which is great because the audio is easily the best part of the game and it's scary as shit. The game is primarily a first-person melee combat game, but there are guns, too. You can get it for really cheap now, too. Like $20 at some places. A great buy. There are other games, too, depending on which genres you like. If you're a racing fan, definitely check out DiRT, which comes out this Wednesday. if you like RPGs, you've got Oblivion already while Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey (Sakaguchi's RPGs) come out later this year. tri-Ace is also putting out Eternal Sonata, which looks fan-freakin-tabulous. If you like sports games, every sports game comes to the 360. If you like strategy games, Culdcept Saga comes out later this year, and so does Overlord (June 26). Overlord is a European game that plays almost exactly like Pikmin, but it's really funny. Think Dungeon Keeper mixed with Fable. I'd also recommend looks at Rainbow Six Vegas, Shadowrun, and Lost Planet. The beauty is that you can try out almost any game before you buy it because XBL allows for free demos. Try what sounds interesting and go from there. Then of course there's the Xbox Live Arcade, which is the best thing about the 360. I could recommend at least 7 or 8 games you should buy (Catan, Worms, Prince of Persia Classic etc.) Unfortunately, the biggest problem with the 360 is the reliability. The system is just not built very well and is prone to failure from various factors. As I understand it, much of the failure comes from the motherboard warping due to heat, which in turn dislodges the GPU from the board. There are numerous do-it-yourself fix-it methods that will cost you about $7 is screws and washers. Fixing it yourself, however, is touch and go depending on what exactly failed on your system, and it also voids your warranty. If your system is less than a year old since you bought it, it will be replaced for free from Microsoft. I would recommmend that you play with your system in a well ventilated area, meaning DO NOT ENCLOSE IT in an entertainment center as the fan on the system won't be able to disperse the heat properly. I have mine on top of my TV stand, with nothing around it except open air. No problems so far, and I've had it for 6 months.

Your gamertag, yes. They charge you if you want to change it because it links all your downloaded content to itself, meaning it's a huge pain in the ass for Microsoft to change your gamertag because they need to reallocate all your licenses.

Points are the currency the Xbox Live Marketplace uses. It's essentially just a different way to count your money. You can obtain points one of two ways: -Buying a pre-paid points card at a store for a certain value -Buy points through your Xbox 360 via a credit card I use a credit card myself because it's just easier to purchase points at any time when I feel the need rather than waiting until a store is open or whatever (case in point: new XBLA releases are always put up for download at 1 or 2 a.m. my time, so I can just buy the points and buy the game immediately). You use them to buy games, downloadable content for games you already own, or other things (like dashboard themes, which are wallpaper for your 360 OS, picture packs for your gamercard, etc.) Mostly I just buy games on the Xbox Live Arcade.

You can buy points in 500 point denominations. 500 points = $6.25 Most XBLA games are 400 ($5) points. Some are 800 ($10). A rare few are 1200. Most themes and picture packs are worthless. But usually in the 80-200 point range depending. Don't buy them. It encourages microrape. Downloadable content varies from game to game. Guitar Hero 2 features downloadable song packs of 3 songs for 500 points. Other games like Lost Planet Map Pack #3 will cost 400 points and include 3 new maps. Oblivion: Shivering Isles costs 2400 points, but it's a full fledged expansion. My recommendations for XBLA games: -Worms -Catan -Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD (it will be out in July) While I'm posting in the topic, everyone must do the following: -Download the Shadowrun demo -Download the Project Sylpheed demo (it's like a Japanese Wing Commander inspired by anime; it's also the 2nd game Square Enix is publishing for the 360. Comes out July 10 for the budget price of $39.99) -Download the Overlord demo I'll update this thread more regularly since it seems the 360 isn't getting much love. For further hyped coverage by yours truly, I suggest reading this.

Etrian Odyssey

Technically they're not paying me anymore. But it's hard to deny that they've been releasing some seriously kick ass games in the past year or so.

Neither do I. Dhsu is lame; it's one of the absolutes in the world. See, I can do it too.

You can do either. Once you start playing it, though, you won't want to put it down.

NOT true. The DS uses a Lithium Ion battery, and as such, should be charged whenever possible to ensure maximum battery life (which decreases exponentially, not linearly, if you use your "charge when it's close to being dead" method). So to answer your question Oddlama, charge it at night after any day in which you played your DS.

Listen to this man. The game is old school to the max, but it looks great, plays great, instills the ever-addictive "I'll just do one more thing before I quit/oh shit it's three hours later" syndrome, has a great sense of adventure and exploration, is very challenging and super fun. This is the ONLY RPG you'll need for your DS.

Same here. The intro sequence and endgame were my favorite parts of the plot because of the heavy focus on Basch's backstory.

In Matsuno's original script treatment, Basch was the main character. Had he stayed on for the entire development process, FFXII would have been a much different game.

Bump

I don't post here anymore, but I wanted to pop in and say thanks for plugging this for me my friend. Also, if you're intrigued about the game but the fantasy setting turns you off, pretty soon Infinite Interactive is releasing a new sci-fi take on the puzzle/RPG genre (for the PSP, DS, XBLA, and PC).

Hotel Dusk is going to be the shit. I've been talking about it in this thread since E3 last year. It looks like Trace Memory minus the 12 year old super kawaii theme. Hot stuff. Day one purchase.

I picked it up again when I got my 360 for Xmas. I'm on Alexander, level 11 MNK (had to start over because Square couldn't recover my character from two years ago). I even made a thread about starting an OCR linkshell in Unmod, but nobody wanted to play. But to answer your question, yes, I still play.

Nope. It's extremely old school.