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

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:20 pm

OH MY GOD!!! I am stunned. I have seen lots of screenshots as well as tons of movies, but what I saw today far exceeded what I expected from the system.

I got to play it in my Wal Mart and surprisingly, there weren't many people around so I got a chance to play Call of Duty for awhile. Let me say that this game wasn't even on my radar because I just don't like shooters on a console, but after what I saw, I immediately pre-ordered the game. This is the first time I can honestly say that a console game looked better than anything I have seen on a pc to date.

I'm sure they had it running on some super duper plasma tv, but I can honestly say that it took my breath away. Even my wife couldn't believe what she was seeing and she normally isn't impressed with anything I show her related to video games.

The gameplay felt pretty much like any Call of Duty game, but it looked so damn good, that it just made you want to play it more. The controller felt pretty good and best that I can tell, it felt a tad smaller than the regular Xbox S controller. I couldn't touch the system because it was behind glass, but it looked bigger than what I though it was going to be. It appears to be as wide as the original Xbox, maybe slightly wider and almost as tall as well. Of course, you do get the option to stand it on it's side should you choose to.

Call of Duty appears to be the only demo that's playable, but they had movies of quite a few others. I watched the demo of NBA 2K6 and it showed a ton of gameplay footage and it was every bit as impressive as Call of Duty, just not playable. Shaq looked exactly like Shaq and the crowd looks just unbelievable. This is another game that I will now preorder.

So guys, color me very impressed and very happy that I have one of these babies already paid for...I literally can't wait for the next month to go by. I am going back over to Wal MArt to play it again this evening so can show my son how it looks. You guys should check your Wal Marts as I am sure most of them should have the demo kiosk if the one in my sleepy little town did.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:32 pm

I am starting to understand DB... Really I am.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:34 pm

Cool, Call of Duty is one of the games I preordered for the 360. All reviews so far have been great.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:37 pm

Badgun,

Thanks for making the next 30 some odd days unbearable!

I thought there were at least 3 playable demos.

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:40 pm

I went to WalMart today, but no luck here in Wellington, FL.

I was really hoping to get my first glimpse of the system, but I suppose that will come soon enough. Thanks for the impressions Badgun, keep them coming if you get more time in tonight...

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:43 pm

sportdan30 wrote:Badgun,

Thanks for making the next 30 some odd days unbearable!

I thought there were at least 3 playable demos.

May have been, there is a long list of games in the menu and once you click on the name of the game, it shows it as playable or a video. I checked NBA 2K6, Project Gotham 3, and a few others and out of the ones I checked, Call of Duty was the only one playable.

As far as making the next 30 days unbearable, man you just can't imagine. To me, the next 30 days is like waiting for Christmas when you were a kid when you knew you were getting something that you really wanted.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:45 pm

sportdan30 wrote:Badgun,

Thanks for making the next 30 some odd days unbearable!

I thought there were at least 3 playable demos.

There are 3

Kameo movie + a demo to play
Call of Duty 2 movie + a demo to play
King Kong movie + a demo to play
Project Gotham Racing movie
Need for Speed Most Wanted movie
NBA2k6 movie
NHL2k6 movie
Ghost Recon movie
Test Drive movie
Full Auto movie
Top Spin 2 movie
Amped 3 movie

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:45 pm

bdoughty wrote:I am starting to understand DB... Really I am.

What'd I do wrong?

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:47 pm

bdoughty wrote:
sportdan30 wrote:Badgun,

Thanks for making the next 30 some odd days unbearable!

I thought there were at least 3 playable demos.
There are 3

Kameo movie + a demo to play
Call of Duty 2 movie + a demo to play
King Kong movie + a demo to play
Project Gotham Racing movie
Need for Speed Most Wanted movie
NBA2k6 movie
NHL2k6 movie
Ghost Recon movie
Test Drive movie
Full Auto movie
Top Spin 2 movie
Amped 3 movie

You know I saw King Kong and Kameo in the list and didn't click on either one of them. I know I'm going back over there now.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:48 pm

Badgun wrote:
What'd I do wrong?

Just playing DB for today. Already a "Will you buy an Xbox 360" and "Walmart Kiosk sighting" threads on the first page. Once you get 3 topics of the same thing on page one DB's blood pressure rises to unsafe levels. Think of your good pal DB and his health...

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:52 pm

From what I've read from those who have played all three, King Kong blows COD away. So, if you were impressed with COD, I can't wait to hear what your reaction is to King Kong.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:59 pm

I had a chance to hold the x360 controller today. This isn't meant as a joke to the original post but I just wanted to say I really like the new controller. It's felt smaller than the Scontroller but a little bigger than the ps2 controller. The buttons also seemed a little softer than the standard scontroller buttons. So far impressed.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:17 pm

bdoughty wrote:
Badgun wrote:
What'd I do wrong?
Just playing DB for today. Already a "Will you buy an Xbox 360" and "Walmart Kiosk sighting" threads on the first page. Once you get 3 topics of the same thing on page one DB's blood pressure rises to unsafe levels. Think of your good pal DB and his health...

Well I thought about that, but I thought actually playing the 360 deserved it's own thread.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:18 pm

sportdan30 wrote:From what I've read from those who have played all three, King Kong blows COD away. So, if you were impressed with COD, I can't wait to hear what your reaction is to King Kong.

LOL, we're going out to eat and then I am heading back to Wal Mart.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:18 pm

And it does. It most certainly does.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 6:31 pm

I'm already almost dead....oh well.

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 7:39 pm

Reports from second trip Badgun...PLEASE.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 7:49 pm

Sport73 wrote:Reports from second trip Badgun...PLEASE.

They are forthcoming in a new thread. Keep an eye out for it.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 8:10 pm

That original kiosk thread was blown to hell and you guys know it. I can understand a lot of the other instances of thread abuse but this just isn't one of them. Thanks for the impressions Badgun. I've heard the reports of some Wal-Marts and Targets having the kiosks so I checked the Target and Wal-Mart on my way home. Needless to say neither of them had it. I can't wait to check this bad boy out for myself. The kiddies on the IGN board are saying that the tv they're displaying it on sucks ass. Glad to hear you were blown away by it.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 8:25 pm

Dont do this to Me Bad...I dont want to get it til next year...

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 8:26 pm

Some people on the DSP board BOUGHT the TV that it's displayed on.

What games are going to be available on release day? I don't see any reason to get an X360 until Madden at the very least. Heck I'm more excited about FIFA on the Xbox. WE 360 isn't going to be out until next fall.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:30 pm

Went back with my son and he was probably more blown away than I was. He was able to get pretty far into the Call of Duty demo as he accomplished several of the goals and called in an airstrike. It was a sight to behold, I'll tell you. Bullets whiz by, and sometimes if you get a near miss, wood will chip away from around a door. As I watched him play, I got to see a lot more of the AI and they definitely behave as close to human as anything I've seen. They will run for cover if you throw a grenade and they will also retreat if they are outnumbered. Again, for a game that wasn't even on my radar, it has become a must buy.

After he played Call of Duty for about 15 minutes, I switched over to Kameo. This is a game that I've followed the development of and is definitely a launch day purchase for me. Kameo, while darker than Call of Duty, still was awesome to look at. This is a platform game developed by Rare so it has a little of that cartoon look, which is perfect for this game. I didn't play it long, but long enough to see that it was yet another really cool game. You use the face buttons to transform into different characters as certain ones are better for certain enemies. There is a plant form kinda like Petey Pirhana and there is also a big rolling ball with spikes. This demo seems to be more of a tutorial than anything else, so I exited and went to King Kong.

King Kong looks fantastic, but again it's pretty dark as you are in a jungle environment and it's raining like crazy. I wandered around until I saw some guys up on a bridge and they were screaming about something being after them. A few seconds later, I saw this huge dinosaur coming towards me. They told me to distract it so I poked it with a stick only to have it kill me and end the demo. I went ahead and quit since we had been playing for quite awhile and there were others waiting. First impressions of King Kong...it looks fantastic and feels like you're playing a movie...my interest in this one has definitely been raised.

I spent a few minutes flipping through the system menus, but a lot of it was not active for the demo version. All I can say is this is the slickest system interface ever. You can hit the little Xbox logo in the middle of the controller and immediately you are transferred to the menus. From here, you can do anything you want to such as voice chat, receive or send game invites, and even play media such as photos and mp3s without ever losing progress in the game you are playing. With a press of a button, you are back in the game.

I took a closer look at the system itself and was amazed that there were no controller ports on the front. There were two memory unit ports, but nothing for controllers. I wonder where the wired controllers will plug in.

After my second visit with the system, my excitement has increased even more, if that's possible. My son also was simply in awe of what he saw and played. It's all he has talked about since we got home. One thing for sure, all three of the games on the demo absolutely rock and they are diverse enough to really let someone see what the system will do. The whole time we were playing, we could hear people behind us talking about how good it looked and how cool it was. This system is going to make a lot of people forget the name Sony, at least for a while.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:31 pm

JRod wrote:Some people on the DSP board BOUGHT the TV that it's displayed on.

What games are going to be available on release day? I don't see any reason to get an X360 until Madden at the very least. Heck I'm more excited about FIFA on the Xbox. WE 360 isn't going to be out until next fall.

How much does that tv cost?

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:02 pm

$899 for a 23 inch Samsung at CC.

eman · Post by **eman** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 10:47 pm

Badgun, thanks for posting. I appreciate your opinions and enjoyed this thread.

30 minutes ago I was certain I'd wait a year before buying this console. After reading your impressions I'll probably buy one the day its released.