I just played the Xbox 360 and all I can say is...

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:39 pm

Inuyasha wrote:Even the Dreamcast didnt have a problem with jaggies but Sony still may 3 generations past the DC?

The hell it didn't. Shenmue had jaggies all over the place.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:41 pm

Madden PS2 looks okay on my HDTV. Guess it's a subjective thing.

But I know it could look a lot better.

At least I'm getting the benefit of the 16:9 mode.

As for PS3 and jaggies, we won't know until the games are out. It's up to the developers what they try to address. They could use AA but then they wouldn't be able to use as many other effects.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:49 pm

wco81 wrote:Madden PS2 looks okay on my HDTV. Guess it's a subjective thing.

But I know it could look a lot better.

At least I'm getting the benefit of the 16:9 mode.

As for PS3 and jaggies, we won't know until the games are out. It's up to the developers what they try to address. They could use AA but then they wouldn't be able to use as many other effects.

Can they put the AA into the system instead of relying on the developers to do it? Or is that not possible?

b_assassin · Post by **b_assassin** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 8:09 pm

Not sure if this is germane to the discussion, but there is a report that all initial Xbox360 games are single-threaded.

http://theinquirer.net/?article=27249

Of course, if the games still look good and are fun, then BFD. But perhaps complaints about the in-order, multicore CPUs of the next-gen isn't just sour grapes from the PC game developers. Then again, it could be a bunch of BS.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:02 pm

MS said the minimum requirement for all Xbox 360 games were 720p and 2X AA. 4X and higher AA are available but it's up to the developers to use or not.

Sony has no requirements on graphics at all.

However, despite the 2X AA requirement, there are reports that some early demos don't have AA. Some speculation that it's due to late development kits or that some developers are choosing to use other effects or trying to keep fram rate high.

But we won't know until the games actually ship.

Airdog · Post by **Airdog** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 12:53 am

Those new pictures of NHl2K6 on 360 are enough to put me over the edge, and they're not even all that exciting.

I'm such a hockey gaming whore. It was NHL 2K3 and it's online gaming that made me buy XBox + XBL, and now it's NHL 2K6 that's the final push for me to get the 360.

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:33 am

My wife and mother-in-law told me that they want to do something extra special for my birthday this year. My birthday is in late November. That makes my 360 decision pretty easy.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:13 pm

Got to play the 360 today. It was cool, COD2 looked real nice, King Kong looked otherworldly, and I left saying...'yeah, that's nice.' I'm just not into it, I guess. They look great, but I've seen COD before, nothing mind blowing about it, and as good as King Kong looks, it's not typically the type of game I'm willing to fork over 50 or 60 bones for. Kameo? Forget it. I really don't dig that type of game.

I'm waiting til at least 2nd generation before I fool with it. The price'll have to come down, too, as I don't fork over 299.00 for systems to begin with, so another 100 bucks isn't happening.

I'm still loving my Xbox, still got great games on the horizon, and a TON of on-the-shelfers that I haven't even seen yet.

It IS nice, just not making me say 'Oh, I gotta have one!' I'll stick with ol' #1 for now...

blueduke · Post by **blueduke** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:23 pm

tealboy03 wrote:Got to play the 360 today. It was cool, COD2 looked real nice, King Kong looked otherworldly, and I left saying...'yeah, that's nice.' I'm just not into it, I guess. They look great, but I've seen COD before, nothing mind blowing about it, and as good as King Kong looks, it's not typically the type of game I'm willing to fork over 50 or 60 bones for. Kameo? Forget it. I really don't dig that type of game.

I'm waiting til at least 2nd generation before I fool with it. The price'll have to come down, too, as I don't fork over 299.00 for systems to begin with, so another 100 bucks isn't happening.

I'm still loving my Xbox, still got great games on the horizon, and a TON of on-the-shelfers that I haven't even seen yet.

It IS nice, just not making me say 'Oh, I gotta have one!' I'll stick with ol' #1 for now...

I'm with you this one. At first I was getting sucked in by the hype but the mere thought of shelling out so much cash for a new system and then games to go with it has cooled my enthusiasim. The Xbox is just fine for at least another year and by then the price cut will probably get me into the next gen

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:01 pm

kevinpars wrote:My wife and mother-in-law told me that they want to do something extra special for my birthday this year. My birthday is in late November. That makes my 360 decision pretty easy.

Ooooohhhhh....I thought they were offering, welll...you know. The mother daughter thing is hot.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 4:21 pm

Well, I just played the PS2 demo for King Kong and I'd have to say that the leap from PS2 to the 360 is on par with the leap from PS1 to PS2.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:50 pm

Well, I sold the PS2 and all my games and accessories and I now have the remainder of my 360 balance paid off and Madden completely paid off. I can't wait for the 22nd.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 11:02 pm

I sold off my Xbox and have gotten rid of most of the games, and my 360 is fully paid for. Now I'm looking around desperately for things to put up on ebay so I can actually get a few games to go with the thing.

Right now I'm definitely going to pick up Madden and COD2. Ideally I would pick up one of the NBA games as well, but they both look so impressive that I'm not sure which one to go with. I much preferred 2K6 on the Xbox, but supposedly the Live engine has been completely redesigned, so I'm trying to keep an open mind and wait for feedback on the two titles.

b_assassin · Post by **b_assassin** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:26 am

Was able to spend a few minutes with the 360 kiosk at Best Buy tonight, and the graphics look pretty (Kameo looked surprisingly good). CoD looks like it would if it were running on a higher-end PC, but in nice widescreen mode. The HD Monitor they use at the kiosks looked familiar, I have the same exact one on my desk

. At least I know the games will look good for me when I finally pick one up.

I haven't pre-ordered, so I'm expecting it may be several weeks or a few months before I'm able to get one. The launch games look pretty, but I'm not really dying to play any of them, so I'll probably be ready for mine when the next big wave of shipments hit. In the meantime, I'll try to get through my backlog of games for this generation.

laurenskye · Post by **laurenskye** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 8:35 am

I can't understand why there is no DVI/HDMI output. This kinda puts the whole next gen thing in the not really next gen bin. I'm not even sure they could do it with a cable because DVI/HDMI is the onlt true all digital path. The 360 only puts out analog and would need another conversion to digital.
I know not many homes have TV's with this but to make it not even an option is plain dumb.
The PS3 comes standard with 2.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:31 am

laurenskye wrote:I can't understand why there is no DVI/HDMI output. This kinda puts the whole next gen thing in the not really next gen bin. I'm not even sure they could do it with a cable because DVI/HDMI is the onlt true all digital path. The 360 only puts out analog and would need another conversion to digital.
I know not many homes have TV's with this but to make it not even an option is plain dumb.
The PS3 comes standard with 2.

I understand your disappointment as I would love to have an HDMI output, but let's be realistic about comparing it to what the PS3 is going to have and not have. We're probably a good year, maybe more from seeing the PS3 so what it's going to have and not have is really irrevelant. I think we know two things it WON'T have...a hard drive and decent online multiplayer.

I think the option of a DVI/HDMI output would have been nice, but my tv only has one HDMI input anyway and it's being used by my HiDef cable DVR.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:46 am

HDMI will come into play for HD movie playback.

Although the X360 doesn't have either an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive, MS will emphasize the fact that from a Media Center Edition PC, you can stream movies to the X360, which has an MCE Extender built in.

So conceivably, you can get an MCE PC in the future which has an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive in it. You can stream HDTV movies from that MCE PC to the X360.

However, because it lacks an HDMI output, that movie may be output from the X360 in some resolution lower than HDTV. It will be up to the studios whether they allow full HDTV resolution over analog component outputs.

The thinking is that some studios will allow HDTV output over analog for a few years, as HDTV displays continue transistion to full digital outputs. But even if some studios cut resolution over analog, it's thought that the resolution could be higher than 480p but still under 720p.

Finally, the advantage of a full digital signal pathway like HDMI could in theory yield better pictures than analog, if you have a digital display like LCD or DLP.

laurenskye · Post by **laurenskye** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:46 am

It just seems that the PS3 is looking to the future (I.E. next gen). If the 360 does come out later with the ability to play HD-DVD they would also have to redesign it with a DVI/HDMI output. Just seems kinda dumb on MS part to design it without the ability to do digital.

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 3:51 pm

All I want to know is.... will the X360 suck on my 20" Panasonic Flat Tv wich only has s-video input?

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 3:55 pm

jLp vAkEr0 wrote:All I want to know is.... will the X360 suck on my 20" Panasonic Flat Tv wich only has s-video input?

Hehhh hehhhh... He said input. I prefer my consumer electronics not being able to perform fellatio. But to each his own.

Of course it will good on your TV. This has to be the greates misconception of the Xbox 360. HD helps but is not the only factor into how the graphics will perform. Of course if you want cheap HD get the VGA adapter.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 3:58 pm

jLp vAkEr0 wrote:All I want to know is.... will the X360 suck on my 20" Panasonic Flat Tv wich only has s-video input?

Optimally, a TV which does progressive scan at a minimum would be good.

When higher resolution graphics are scaled down to lower resolutions, you get "free" AA.

Generally, you'll get more lighting effects and more geometry (more polys for models).

So you should still be able to notice better graphics. But you'll get the most out of it with an HDTV, graphics-wise.

Don't forget the wireless controllers or the better interface (the Live UI). Will the first launch games be worth getting now? We'll see.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:30 pm

I finally got a few minutes with Call of Duty at the local WalMart kiosk. Very impressive. I'm anxious to get it home and hooked up to the big TV

On a related note, I might've enjoyed it more if I didn't have to look up at a 60-degree angle to play...

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:34 pm

RobVarak wrote:I finally got a few minutes with Call of Duty at the local WalMart kiosk. Very impressive. I'm anxious to get it home and hooked up to the big TV

On a related note, I might've enjoyed it more if I didn't have to look up at a 60-degree angle to play...

There are worse ways of finding out what blowjob neck feels like.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:49 pm

Here's a comparison pic of the Xbox and Xbox 360 versions of King Kong.

http://server5.theimagehosting.com/imag ... box360.jpg

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 5:12 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:
RobVarak wrote:I finally got a few minutes with Call of Duty at the local WalMart kiosk. Very impressive. I'm anxious to get it home and hooked up to the big TV

On a related note, I might've enjoyed it more if I didn't have to look up at a 60-degree angle to play...
There are worse ways of finding out what blowjob neck feels like.

That's awesome. Experience with others?