Shitbox...

[Riccee]

this is kind of a follow up post to my post about "oenaj being reborn in the form of a console video game", has nothing to do with EQ , so solly!!~~~~~

anyway....

did anyone actually buy the xbox? =\

ive heard rumors from all over the US that the internal HD crashes like crazy with these new systems, any truth to that? right now im thinking dreamcast 2.0 when i look at it, and its as big as a f'n VCR ;p. I know that microsoft isnt really gonna be hurt of this system fails, but still, i think its gonna bomb!

Also

Metal Gear Solid 2 was cool, and i hate to say this, but its a renter =\, not worth buying it, ive been playing the metal gear games since i was lil'biddy, but i felt rushed in this game and they had to change some key points in it because of the sept, 11th attacks , you would think since they spent 76mil on this game they could of just done some edit work on some of these problems rather than just completely taking them out of the game, which ended up ruining key points in the storyline.

and umm, hi, rhedd, are you still a dorf-ho? or have you moved up in the world =)? and does the fat sk still have an eating problem? sirensa , do you still lub? ^^

~The Rice Man
*retired but not dead*

[Dharrk]

why so make fun of weight~

[Tilea]

Yes, Rhedd is still a proud dorf ho.

[Riccee]

HEHE

[Rhedd]

<===Proud Dwarven Ho at work

[Elidroth]

GTA3 owns all. Fucking game is addictive beyond belief..

[Ciner]

My mask...

[Eomer]

I bought an Xbox a few days ago, since lately I have been needing something that I can play for 15 min and derive some fun out of it, as I don't often have 4 hours in a row to invest in a game. I only have Halo and DOA 3 atm (most stores here in Edmonton only have package deals, where you buy the system and get two games, two games and an accessory etc etc) and all I can say i sthat I am very very impressed with the system itself.

It's bigger than I thought it would be, and very heavy as well. If anything though, I like the fact it's heavy, as that should make it harder to pull off shelves/tables etc with the controller. Also, the controller cord itself has a union in it about 6 inches down the cord from the end you plug into the system, and the breakpoint of that is a lot lower than the plug that goes into the system, so that will break before it pulls the machine off a shelf or whatever.

The UI when you don't have a game DVD in the drive is also very cool and well done. You can go in and see what is stored on your harddrive (although it is nothing like a directory structure, it's more like an advanced version of what the PS had for memory cards), how many "units" you have left on it (I have no idea how big a unit is, all I know is that it says I have 50k+ of them, and I think a Halo saved game was taking up around 6 or so). There is also of course the CD player, which also has the very cool ability of being able to rip songs off the CD and store them in "soundtracks" on the hard drive. I don't know what format they are stored in, but I would assume it's MP3. The ripping itself is actually very slow, probably takes about 10 minutes to rip a full CD, I only tested it with two songs and that was around 1-2minutes.

The controller looks freaking huge when you first pull it out, but after I put it in my hands for a few minutes and used it, I love it. It isn't overly heavy at all, just largish, and that's because of the large amount of buttons on it. There are two analog joysticks on it, one 8 way pad (a la original nintendo), 6 buttons (x, y, a, b, white, black), start, select, and on the underside where your hand's index fingers are, there are two analog triggers. As long as the designers take the time to properly set up default controls, the controls are very good. Halo took me about 2 minutes to go from barely being able to move, to being able to circle strafe to my heart's content. Very well done in that respect.

The graphics are totally breathtaking in Halo, surfaces that should reflect light do; when you have your flashlight turned on and shine it on a metal bulkhead, you will get glare. Light bends and refracts around trees when the sun is behind it (that is probably the most amazing effect I have seen so far). Textures continue to get very detailed no matter how close you move in to them. You can walk right into a wall and you won't really see any pixels blurred out. For the most part the framerates are quite high, sometimes there is slight slow downs when there is a lot of smoke/fog. It's also very cool to see how many bullet holes the game can keep track of. I was writing FU on a cliff with the machine gun on the back of the warthog (unlimited ammo, yeehaw) and I number of bullet holes you can make before the first ones start disapearing is probably over a thousand. If you make all the bullet holes right in the same spot, and then get close, you will get a massive slow down, even more so if you turn on your flashlight when up close.

Sound also seems pretty good. I can't comment on how Dolby surround works on it yet, the store I bought mine at was out of the advanced hook up thingies, all I have is regular video and stereo sound atm. I am looking forward to trying out the S-video and dolby sound, as I have a 54" HDTV with a Dolby 5.1 system with well over 500 watts total power, so's I think it should be pretty damn cool once I get that puppy working right :p .

Overall I think that if they manage to get enough high quality developers to make games for the Xbox, it's going to be a pretty big success. I don't think that it will but Sony or Nintendo out of business, there is enough pie for them all to have a share (except Nintendo maybe, I think in the 18+ market they are basically fucked, but I think that was a marketting decision on their part really), but there is definitely going to be some competition for Sony now. I think Microsoft is smart enough that they will avoid the "it's just a console you play PC games on" situation, now it's just a matter of attracting well known developers and franchises into the fold. I personally would shit my pants if FF X were to come out on Xbox, the things Square could do with that hardware would be mind blowing. Then again, I seriously doubt that will happen, because I am sure Sony has an exclusive contract with them, and would probably disown them if they were to produce a Xbox port of it.

My only issue with the Xbox is that NHL 2002 isn't out yet. I mean jebus, how can they market a console in Canada without a decent hockey game on it?!?!?! No, NHL Hits or whatever that piece of shit 3 man NBA Jamish hockey game is does not count.

**edit**

I forgot to mention one thing: the fan. It has a fan in it to cool the system off (does the PS2? never really used one much) which is understandable, with the HD and geforce and all that. BUT, maybe I am biased, but I do NOT trust fans at all, as far as them lasting for more than two weeks. I have replaced so many CPU fans and powersupply fans over the years that I really don't have much confidence in them at all. Maybe it's my paranoia, but to me my Xbox fan already seems like its bearings are going. I bet if any one thing fails on your Xbox, it will be the fan. I have no worries of the HD failing, in my years of using computers, I have only had one HD eat itself, and dozens of others have worked fine for years. But I don't think I have met a fan yet that has lasted more than 18 months. (I have high hopes for my new CPU Orb fans though)

[Buazag Bonesteel]

I was writing FU on a cliff

Hahaha...I did that too.

The only issues I had with the system was the button placement. I didnt care for the diamond design. In a game where the black/white buttons are used a lot they seem unintuitive. The material is a bit funky too. Kind of hard plastic that makes your hands start to sweat in about 10 minutes:P

[Eomer]

Yea, the black and white buttons are a bit of a far reach for me at times. But also, I have very small hands compared to the average male, so I think for most people it won't be too much of an issue (I have size 8.5 feet, someone shrunk my hands and feeet :().

I do agree that your hands do get pretty sweaty when using the controller for long periods of time, but I don't think it's all that much worse than it was for any other system (the last system I played a lot was SNES). It may be a little worse than normal simply because your hands are wrapped around the control more so than with other designs.

And halfway through the U on FU, I hit the limit of the number of bullet holes (I was making them letters boldface :)), and my F started to disapear :(.

[Dharrk]

lots of words suck take too long to read stop eomer or i will be forced to talk in sentences with punctuation plz post shorter for people who have headaches