***Official X-Box 360 Impressions - Week 2***

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:14 am

ScoopBrady wrote:Here's a list of games that should be available by the end of the month.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/livearcadexbox360/default.htm

Thanks Scoop. I had heard that Double Dragon was going to be available soon. Perhaps that was just a rumor.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:02 am

Played a few online games of NHL2K6 tonight and this game just flat out kicks ass. On sim settings its plays one hell of a game of hockey. Some very nice stats too. Smooth as butter and super fun for true hockey fans. Well worth the $$$.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:11 am

Diablo25 wrote:Played a few online games of NHL2K6 tonight and this game just flat out kicks ass. On sim settings its plays one hell of a game of hockey. Some very nice stats too. Smooth as butter and super fun for true hockey fans. Well worth the $$$.

Man, don't do this to me. Where's my 360? What setting do you use? I just can't wait....

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:14 am

10spro wrote:
Diablo25 wrote:Played a few online games of NHL2K6 tonight and this game just flat out kicks ass. On sim settings its plays one hell of a game of hockey. Some very nice stats too. Smooth as butter and super fun for true hockey fans. Well worth the $$$.

Man, don't do this to me. Where's my 360? What setting do you use? I just can't wait....

We played on default sim sliders but added Flyermania's penalty sliders and we had 2 wars. 5-4 and 4-3 in OT. Both games had great shot totals. Game two was classic...4-3 in OT. He had 37 shots and I had 32. Going into the 3rd period I only had 18 shots. We love playing realistic hockey so needless to say we were stoked after both games.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:32 pm

Didn't feel the need to create a new thread regarding this question.

Is anyone aware whether or not you can plug in headphones in to the back of the 360? Reason I'm asking is because where I game is very close to the kids bedrooms and I'd like to feel the immersiveness of such games as NBA 2K6 and COD2.

Thanks.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 6:51 pm

sportdan30 wrote:Didn't feel the need to create a new thread regarding this question.

Is anyone aware whether or not you can plug in headphones in to the back of the 360? Reason I'm asking is because where I game is very close to the kids bedrooms and I'd like to feel the immersiveness of such games as NBA 2K6 and COD2.

Thanks.

I'm guessing if you have a set that is USB compatible they may work. I have a pair, I'll try here in a minute and get back to the thread.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 6:51 pm

Nevermind, mine aren't USB

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:27 pm

I have always used headphones with consoles and at this point have a variety of adapters. For the Xbox 360, all you need is an adapter to convert the RCA red and white cables to a single female stereo end so that the stereo cable on your headphones plugs into it. Pretty cheap at Radio Shack.

My 360 setup includes the VGA cables and a 19 inch CRT monitor and headphones. I have a set of headphones that are supposed to 'simulate' 5.1 sound, but I don't really think that they work. I have been searching for the best headphones for gaming (budget minded) and am open to suggestions. I have noise reduction Sony (cans) I got from Radio Shack for about $35 that work pretty well.

I have been pleased with the MS VGA adapter and a CRT (4:3) monitor. I was using 1280/1024 resolution and Madden looked great. But NBA 2K6 does not scale right at that resolution, so I tried both the 1360/768 and 1280/768 and they scale fine for both games. In Madden, the EA circle is more of an oval shape when a game boots up, but the game scales fine with no noticeable distortion. I am seeing scaling for all resolutions- even when i pick widescreen. That is fine, except when I put in a DVD. I would rather a movie use black bars than scale to use the whole screen. 4:3 video looks incredible - for example, I have a few Superbowl DVDs and they look great.

I also like the ability to connect to my PC hard drive to access music, but I don't like the way the songs are displayed in the 360. I wish that it had the capability to display using the same folder structure I have in Windows.

I have been enjoying the games I have for the 360, but am still in slider hell at the moment. Anything below All Madden seems to be too easy at this point. I have to go to all madden to get the AI offense to be tougher, but it makes it hard to run the offense. Anyone have suggestions? NBA 2K6 is like advertised - a wonderful and immersive game. I have also enjoyed playing all of the demos and the demos of the arcade games.

I guess I would say that while I am not blown away by the current crop of games, I am blown away by the potential. I am still waiting to get Tiger Woods (EBAY purchase) and want to try some of the non sports games, but so far so good.