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I have 360.
First impressions - it's all about the dashboard. More than Live, more than HDTV (bearing in mind that I'm currently only able to use it on a standard def screen anyway) that's the thing that's going to give the console its personality. I'm quite impressed with it, although you can see right away why there have been so many reports of crashes and bugs in games - the implications of allowing the user to jump straight to the dash from any game simply by pressing a button on the controller must be a fucking nightmare for developers to deal with.
It's a really well-designed interface from a user's point of view (although I've not yet found out where in it I'm supposed to go in order to download the patches for the backwards-compatibility). Simple to navigate, attractive, functional. Ties into your Live profile seamlessly.
Easy to lose time just playing around in there, to be honest. I'll admit to being more than a little excited by the prospect of having the latest version of Jeff Minter's Virtual Light Machine in there (for those not in the know, think the visualisations in Windows Media Player, only gorgeous, interactive and designed by a Welsh, farmyard animal-obsessed acid casualty). Makes me wonder if his abandoned Gamecube project could have worked after all and hope that it appears in some shape or form as a Live Arcade download on this console - there are still hints of it in the tunnels that appear in some of the patterns here.
Live Arcade - fantastic. Seems that the hard drive (if you've got the Premium pack) comes pre-loaded with one of the puzzle games - HexicHD, or something. Addictive, interesting little game it is, too. Great to be able to download free trial versions of the Live Arcade titles instead of having to make a blind purchase - I was thinking about paying for Mutant Storm Reloaded, but having played the trial version realise that I may as well stick with Robotron 2084 and Smash TV.
Changes to your Live profile. Wider range of avatars than available on Xbox.com = good. Still far from extensive. Racking up achievements in games is good fun, but the whole Gamerpoints thing seems like a waste of time. Maybe if companies start releasing games that give you free unlocks depending on how many you've collected...
Control pad = superb in almost every way. The only minor complaint I have is the placement of the Start and Back buttons - I prefer the Xbox S-pad for that - but it might just be a matter of getting used to them.
Had a fright just after I'd first plugged the console in. Was linking my old Live profile to it. Had to download an update. Progress bar's about 75% of the way along and the machine seemed to die - just turned off without any warning, without me pressing anything I shouldn't have. turned itself back on and appears to have put all the settings back to their defaults - I got taken straight to the "choose your langauge" screen again. Bit of panic set in. Did that, was greeted by a new screen that I hadn't seen before. Seems that the reset was part of the process of updating. Stupid that nobody thought to have it inform the user that it'd have to reset for the changes to take effect, rather than just doing it without mentioning it.
Like I say, don't know what the emulation stuff is like yet. I *do* know about the rumours that Microsoft is already starting to try and back out of their previous promise that they'd eventually have every Xbox game working on the new console, and looking at how they started I'd have to say that I think there could well be a lot of truth to them. we'll see - it's not like I was going to get rid of the old Xbox anyway.
Games-wise, I bought Ridge Racer 6. The increase in definition is clear even on my standard def telly - everything looks super-crisp. Detail is right up, draw distance stretches to the horizon (there's some pop-out on scenery in the rear-view mirror, but nothing like that in the main viewpoint), frame rate is rock solid and never drops at all.
Funny thing is, while it's undoubtedly one of the best-looking games ever made (to date), you don't tend to notice it while playing. Maybe it's a sign that I'm getting old, maybe it's because you can't afford to take in much of the detail when you're playing a racing game, maybe it's because the original Xbox clearly still had some utapped oomph, but this feels like a logical next step in visuals, rather than any great leap. Evolution, not revolution. It's all about minute detail and snazzy, spoddy effects (soft shadowing and that sort of thing).
Game's dead good fun, but too slow to begin with. I know from past experience that Ridge only really comes alive once you move up to the faster car classes, but that knowledge doesn't take the slightly dull edge off the initial stages.
So. Right now, it's a cautious thumbs up.I'm not blown away by the new tech, but I *do* feel that I've bought into something that can legitimately be called next-gen. And I honestly do think that the dashboard shows a possible future for videogame hardware that I've not come across before. |
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