E3 2010: Microsoft

[Brandon Strader]

Well, the memory units and hard drives won't work anymore, but the data still will. All you need is a USB drive (1-16gb) to transfer your data from your old box to your new one. If you have a large hard drive, it could take quite a few transfers, but it's doable.

I've got a 750gb external drive, so it won't be any problem at all.

[Arcana]

The new XBox 360 looks pretty cool, it made me think "man I want one I want to buy it" but then I realise that I can't justify the cost yet.

I mean, I don't even have an HDTV... so that probably should come as a priority.

I rather like the XBox 360, I don't use it much but when I do I always have fun. I don't think I'll get into the Kinect thing but I rather like new interfaces, and it can be pretty fun to see what they'll do with it. I'd be most interested in seeing it integrated with games that might require a normal controller, so maybe an FPS that tracks body movements.

[prophetik music]

the nice thing is that the old units are discounted by 50$. buy an arcade unit for 150$ plus two games, and pick up a used hard drive for 30$. problem solved.

Somewhere around here it says that old hard drives won't work on new console. Nor will the save carts. Ergo, my Tales of Vesperia data doesn't work on new 360. I have to start over. I don't want to start over. I suppose I should have specified that that point is a major stick in my side. And yeah - backwards compatibility is a must. The PS3 not taking PS2 is retarded.

the 360 can back up saves onto hard drives - even big-ass external hard drives - easily. that's how you transfer stuff between them. you can't save onto an external, or install a game to an external, but you can use them for file transport.

like i said about the hard drives - they're not backwards-compatible because they're using a faster drive. this is a GOOD thing, people - not bad. there's no reason to buy another hard drive when the slim already comes with a 250gb one.

whatever 360 you heard that was loud was at least 1.5-1.75 years old, since jaspers were released in q3 2008. nuff said.

[Brandon Strader]

Yeah, I got my Jasper Elite in September 2008 And it's not loud at all.

[DarkeSword]

I think it's more of a "people will now be waving their arms and legs within reach of the 360" sort of thing. Think about it. People can read all those "keep away from the machine when it's running" screens every day they use it, but some of them are going to hit, slap, kick, or fall onto it at some point.

They could have figured out a better way for it to work. that's the issue.

It's not an issue! Put the disc in your console and stay the hell away from it!

[Brandon Strader]

It's not an issue! Put the disc in your console and stay the hell away from it!

Yes that is true... If I fell on my xbox, that would mean I fell through both the HDTV and the large glass TV stand, resulting in a horrific DEATH.

[prophetik music]

I think it's more of a "people will now be waving their arms and legs within reach of the 360" sort of thing. Think about it. People can read all those "keep away from the machine when it's running" screens every day they use it, but some of them are going to hit, slap, kick, or fall onto it at some point.

They could have figured out a better way for it to work. that's the issue.

that's a pretty shitty argument. how hard is it to not kick your 300$ entertainment computer? generally people don't kick their (expensive) TVs. can't you extend that to the console, too?

not to mention kinect is wired on a 6-foot cable, so you can put the console off to the side.

[Brandon Strader]

that's a pretty shitty argument. how hard is it to not kick your 300$ entertainment computer? generally people don't kick their (expensive) TVs. can't you extend that to the console, too?

not to mention kinect is wired on a 6-foot cable, so you can put the console off to the side.

You're not supposed to kick Kinect either. From what I've seen of demonstrations, you stand like.. 5+ feet away from it, not on top of it. Milo is an exception but it doesn't involve kicking (sadly).

[CC Ricers]

The design could've been improved by using a slot loader instead.

[Brandon Strader]

The design could've been improved by using a slot loader instead.

A lot of things could be improved by using a slot loader instead, for example, a toaster. I had a slot-loading toaster that broke and had to be replaced.

[prophetik music]

The design could've been improved by using a slot loader instead.

i agree. although, what's the #1 thing to fail on Wiis and PS3s? the slot loader itself. plus, when your media is so scratchable, it's easy to get some grit in there and fry disc after disc.

[Sir_Snooze]

Well, the memory units and hard drives won't work anymore, but the data still will. All you need is a USB drive (1-16gb) to transfer your data from your old box to your new one. If you have a large hard drive, it could take quite a few transfers, but it's doable.

Okay - problem solved.

I was under the impression everyone's old games were getting a gigantic 'fuck-you-you-must-redo-everything', courtesy of Microsoft.

Thanks for the clarification.

[The Damned]

that's a pretty shitty argument. how hard is it to not kick your 300$ entertainment computer? generally people don't kick their (expensive) TVs. can't you extend that to the console, too?

not to mention kinect is wired on a 6-foot cable, so you can put the console off to the side.

People are stupid, and don't do the smart thing. How many times have we heard of someone destroying something they bought simply because they were idiots?

I'm not arguing with you, I'm just saying that there are people ou there that do somehow manage to wreck things.

[Ferret]

Screw slot loaders and CD trays I want a flip-top console.

[The Coop]

That would be nice. I know the tray going in and out looks fancier, but a pop top doesn't trap your disc in the system when it dies (my old Sega CD tried to keep my copy of Stellar Fire that way ).

[Brandon Strader]

I'm probably the only person who just watched the Cirque du Solei performance on Nickelodeon, right? I was completely blown away by this! I tried to record it from the beginning but I guess Media Center only records live TV for a few minutes? The performance was breath-taking, and if Kinect really works the way that they've shown here, it will be a must buy for pretty much anyone. The family with their avatars on screen together was just priceless. I'd say Microsoft is the obvious winner of this E3, not that it's necessarily a contest. But with everything they did and prepared, they blew the socks off of all the other presentations.

[Sir_Snooze]

I'm probably the only person who just watched the Cirque du Solei performance on Nickelodeon, right? I was completely blown away by this! I tried to record it from the beginning but I guess Media Center only records live TV for a few minutes? The performance was breath-taking, and if Kinect really works the way that they've shown here, it will be a must buy for pretty much anyone. The family with their avatars on screen together was just priceless. I'd say Microsoft is the obvious winner of this E3, not that it's necessarily a contest. But with everything they did and prepared, they blew the socks off of all the other presentations.

[sarcasm]I dunno, man...the Move has buttons. Can't top that, now, can you? [/sarcasm]

[The Damned]

This is the year we get spoiled. We get new hardware, assloads of games from everybody for all the systems, and stuff we've been waiting for since last year is coming out. This next year is just packed with something for everyone, regardless of your preference in console.

[Brandon Strader]

[sarcasm]I dunno, man...the Move has buttons. Can't top that, now, can you? [/sarcasm]

I'm kinda glad I don't have to wear glasses, too. I doubt they have them in my prescription. And I can't see without my glasses, so 3D would be a bit pointless. That big blob moved near the other blob! IN 3D!! Yeah.

[eternal Zero]

While I think Microsoft had a good conference I still think that they wasted a lot of time with Kinect and without a price point yet I can't get excited about it. Hell the most excited I got about it was when I saw Child of Eden at the Ubisoft conference. I think that they'll really have to set that price point properly or Kinect isn't going to see much penetration because the only reason I see myself buying it is because I'm a huge nerd for Child of Eden. I doubt there are enough people like me that will buy it for a single game. They'll really need to produce solid software or make it very reasonable. And I'm talking $50 reasonable.

[Brandon Strader]

While I think Microsoft had a good conference I still think that they wasted a lot of time with Kinect and without a price point yet I can't get excited about it. Hell the most excited I got about it was when I saw Child of Eden at the Ubisoft conference. I think that they'll really have to set that price point properly or Kinect isn't going to see much penetration because the only reason I see myself buying it is because I'm a huge nerd for Child of Eden. I doubt there are enough people like me that will buy it for a single game. They'll really need to produce solid software or make it very reasonable. And I'm talking $50 reasonable.

I agree that I would like to see it for $50, and each Kinect game $20 at the MAX, preferably $10. The rumor so far is $150 though. Although the Elite Bundle with Kinect is $399 and the new Elite is $299, so it could possibly be $100 -- a competitive price against Move bundle which is also $100.

[eternal Zero]

I can see the games going for 20 if they are all XBLA and the like which makes sense considering the larger internal HDD given with the new 360s.

[The Coop]

Having watched it all, I wasn't wowed or disappointed really...

+ Halo Reach (I like the Halo games, but I still haven't gotten to play part 3 yet)

?? Gears of War 3 (They look like fun, but I've got no 360 yet, so I'll reserve judgment there)

- Kinect (Not a fan of this whole motion controller, Wii-mote thing)

?? Fable 3 (I still haven't played the series, but I've been curious about it all for a while)

?? XBox 360 Slim (I'm happy in one sense, but until I see reliability reports, I'll hold off on an opinion)

+ Metal Gear Solid Rising (don't know if it's exclusive or not, but it looked fun)

So, some ups and downs. Nothing that made me piss myself in overjoyed incontinence. But I will add this about Kinectimals... as much as I wanted to say, "JUST GIVE THE POOR KID A REAL PET!", I was impressed with the interactive behavior of the young tiger. It was cute, well animated and such, which made me wonder... how's the AI and such? How often do the same animations get repeated? Just how "deep" do the behavior algorithms go? Virtual pets have been pretty limited for the most part, so I'm curious to know how far they took Kinectimals.

[prophetik music]

Having watched it all, I wasn't wowed or disappointed really...

+ Halo Reach (I like the Halo games, but I still haven't gotten to play part 3 yet)

?? Gears of War 3 (They look like fun, but I've got no 360 yet, so I'll reserve judgment there)

- Kinect (Not a fan of this whole motion controller, Wii-mote thing)

?? Fable 3 (I still haven't played the series, but I've been curious about it all for a while)

?? XBox 360 Slim (I'm happy in one sense, but until I see reliability reports, I'll hold off on an opinion)

+ Metal Gear Solid Rising (don't know if it's exclusive or not, but it looked fun)

halo 3 is quite cheap in a used game store. or rent it, it's not that long (and the multiplayer gameplay without the ODST multi disc is going to be poor).

gears 2 has been one of my favorite shooters, thanks to the addition of horde mode. i'm sure gears 3 will continue that trend.

fable 2 is excellent fun. it's long enough to merit a purchase, and costs about 20$ in most game stores.

now that the arcade unit's 150$, used sale prices will drop precipitously. i already could get an arcade for 130$ before this that still had a manufacturer's seal, so i'm assuming that'll drop to around 110$ or so. 20-30$ for a used 20g hard drive (unless you aren't going to be getting downloadable games, most of which are only ok but there are some real jewels) and you're set.

at this point, i'd be incredibly surprised if the new slims had any hardware issues at all, really. the biggest bane of these systems is heat, and it's completely gone. beyond that, you've got simple stuff like true hardware failure (which is very unlikely nowadays, 3-5% for modern consoles over 3 years), disc drive failure (around the same, probably 2-3% over 3 years), and stuff like that. i'm not foreseeing a lot of issues.

[Sir_Snooze]

I'm kinda glad I don't have to wear glasses, too. I doubt they have them in my prescription. And I can't see without my glasses, so 3D would be a bit pointless. That big blob moved near the other blob! IN 3D!! Yeah.

Honestly, that and cost kill 3DTV for me. I abjectly refuse to buy really expensive glasses (that need to fit over my current glasses, because I can't see without them - I'm in the '3D blob moved over there! department' right with you, Brandon) and lots of them to use with a super-expensive television to see stuff in 3D. I mean...my understanding is that the glasses are ~$200/each. For four people to come over and play 3D with me, I need to spend ~$800!

But, Brandon, I think this is the clincher - it has...that blue ball thing on top. Does Natal have that? Can you justify a purchase without the blue balls that the PS3 apparently developed? And those buttons...WOW. And only $100 - it's the best thing ever! On top of my ~$200 glasses! All right! And the ungodly-expensive television! YEAH! You may have a novel product with interesting potential, but Sony has blue balls and doesn't care about your wallet. I think the winner is plain to see.

Returning to serious-land, I need to see Natal in reality-based reality - I'll admit to being moderately intrigued, which is more than I can say about Sony's entire conference; at the same time, cost, games, and functionality will be issues I need to see Joe Public complain about/laud over. Then again, for someone who decided to skip this generation, I must say I'm quite tempted by two of the consoles available to me.