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Anyone else get one?? This thing rules! My Dad (who's 62) got one too. He's been playing Call of Duty 2 nonstop for the past 4 days!

I do love games, but this thing is revolutionary...

ATTACK!!!!!!!

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>He's been playing Call of Duty 2 nonstop for the past 4 days! <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Which is exactly why I turn my head whenever I walk by the display.

OC

I'll either wait till they come down in price, the PS3 comes out, or someone gives one to me. I did see the display at Toys R Us the other day. I was told it looks the best on an HDTV. Gotta get one of those too!

You might be a "Bulldog" if: You bend over and grab your ankles when you hear: "EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE!"

_________________
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Put on your tinfoil hats, the black choppers are coming, and I'm calling them in.
Former DCC OA-10A T/N 80-278

Whilst the 360 is neat, I'm holding out for a PS3.

What Weasel said is right, you need a HDTV to get anything from the Next-Gen technology. I spent a few hours in my local Audio Visual store playing with a 360 and we ran it with both regular and HD displays. The difference is HUGE.

Also be a bit careful regards the games available...

CoD2 is certainly one of the flagship titles which makes the 360 shine. But lots of other release titles for example Project Gotham Racer, do not look or play that well.

IMHO Microsoft wanted to capture the early ground to try to dent Sonys dominance so badly they rushed out the technology before having the titles to support it.

I have no doubt the hardware techology is Generation 3, but lots of the titles only exploit about 2.5 of it.

If you are a total tech-head geek, the paper specifications of the PS3 do exceed those for the 360, but not by double as some of the more hystericaly partisan Sony mags would have you believe.

Also PS3 gets Blue Ray disk techology which has 25gb storage, I think the 360 runs with HD-DVD with 'only' 15gb capacity.

But Sonys mutliplayer environment is no where near as good as the old XBox and the 360 (but they've promised to fix this for the PS3). So if multiplayer is your thing, that's probably enough to swing it.

But I am a big Sony fan, so all the above is extremely biased <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>...

You're born, you keep your head down and you die. If you're lucky...

Edited by - 44hollowpoint on Dec 30 2005 02:31 AM

While the 360 is very impressive, I've got too much invested im my regular X-Box to replace it. I bought mine like 2 weeks before they lowered its price from $300, and I've modded mine. I've upgraded my HDD 3 times, now it's got a 400GB in it. I have over 80 games, all the NES, SNES and N64 emulators (way over 1,000 games total) and so many videos from my computor on it, like every episode of Futurama and Family Guy, SNL skits, funny video clips and I STILL have over 100GB free on it. I think one of the biggest reasosn I won't get a 360 until it is easily moddable is the price of games. I can rent a game for mine now for $4, tops (free if I borrow it from a friend). I put it in the drive, bing bang boom, 10 minutes later it's mine forever. Does anybody else here have a modded X-Box?

They say that the only two things certain in life are death and taxes. I prefer them in that order.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> Does anybody else here have a modded X-Box<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

I'd be intrested to see who has. MS made big things about their anti-mod internals and firmware on the 360.

It'll be intresting to see how long it is before it's comprehensively cracked.

I'm in favour of moding systems, but I never do it in the warranty period LOL <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>...

Jack B,

That's quite some serious internal storage you've got there <img src=icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle>. What video compression do you use?

You're born, you keep your head down and you die. If you're lucky...

There are already hacks out there for an XBox 360 mod. Personally, I'm against it...it's copyright infringement, but that's for a different post.

A few things worth mentioning (and I have always been a Playstation/PS2 guy til now):

1. Depending on how you look at it and who you talk to, either the PS3 or the 360 can look techinically better.
2. You have to look at it as a computer. $400 for a very high-end gaming PC? That's quite a deal if you ask me. You'd spend 3 grand to get a desktop that makes games look this good.
3. CoD2, Perfect Dark Zero, PGR3 all look unbelieveable. I played PDZ for a couple hours. Think Half Life 2, except PDZ looks better.
4. XBox Live is far, far ahead of the PS online experience. I have both. MS is counting on this to keep XBox'ers loyal, since someone who has tons of online "cred" won't want to give it up to switch to another platform.
5. Most (eventually all) original XBox games are playable on the 360, so if, like me, you didn't already own an original XBox, it's like getting hundreds of games. Halo 2 is playable right out of the box.
6. I don't think MS rushed the XBox...I agree that some of the games aren't next-gen-ish, but that's the game developer's problem not MS's.
7. You don't need an HDTV. MS makes a VGA connector so I am running it through my Dell 2001FP LCD monitor at HDTV resolutions. It's convenient, I am running my PC and XBox 360 through the same monitor. $40 for the cord and your HDTV problem is fixed.

The 360 did not do well in Japan, which is very heavily Sony biased.
The PS3 may very well prove to be more successful, but that'll just mean that I need to buy one of those too. For now, I'll say that the 360 is by far the best overall gaming expereience I've ever had, and I started my gaming saga with an Atari 2600 and moved on to an 8-bit Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstation, Dreamcast, PS2, now this. I don't regret for a minute spending the $$ on the 360.

ATTACK!!!!!!!

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>3. CoD2, Perfect Dark Zero, PGR3 all look unbelieveable <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

That's wierd, I didn't rate PGR3 that highly. The only thing I can think of is that we were playing split screen 2 player and that might have reduced the WOW factor.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>4. XBox Live is far, far ahead of the PS online experience. I have both. MS is counting on this to keep XBox'ers loyal, since someone who has tons of online "cred" won't want to give it up to switch to another platform <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Agreed, this is MS's strongest hand.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> 6. I don't think MS rushed the XBox...I agree that some of the games aren't next-gen-ish, but that's the game developer's problem not MS's.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

My language in the post was crap. I agree with you, I was trying to say that the technology was ready, but rushed out before there were enough quality games to support it. But this is not a minor faux pas by MS as reputations are made or destroyed by titles. That's why PS2 still has an edge over the XBox.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>7. You don't need an HDTV. MS makes a VGA connector so I am running it through my Dell 2001FP LCD monitor at HDTV resolutions. <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

You're right, but I was assuming most folk will stick it in the living rooms and then plug it into the TV. If they do that, they will be diassapointed.

BTW, do you run your XBox through a suround sound system? That's how I've got my PS2 hooked up and it rocks the world - especially with a 500w sub-woofer <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>...

Is it worth kicking of a thread to see if any folk play on-line and if so with what systems and what titles.

It would be neat to have a WT team kicking ass on Counter Strike or SOCOM...

You're born, you keep your head down and you die. If you're lucky...

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Jack B,

That's quite some serious internal storage you've got there . What video compression do you use?

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>
I take the movies I have on DVD and use 2 programs. I use DVD Decryter (http://www.dvddecrypter.com) to take all the .bin and .iso files off of the DVD and onto my PC's HDD. This takes up alot of space since the whole DVD is being directly copied to my PC, but it's only temporary of course. Then I use AutoGK (http://www.autogk.me.uk) to turn the DVD files into a .mpg. Both programs are very easy to use, and work like a champ. DVD Decrypter takes only a few minutes per disc, but AutoGK can take a few hours per movie. I normally copy a few movies to my PC at a time, then queue several at a time in AutoGK to convert overnight while I'm at work. AutoGK has several options regsarding compression size as well. You can set it so it makes each one the same size regardless of length, or at a certain % of original quality and a few other things. I just make it so each movie is 700MB. That seems to be the best size to keep it small and they look crystal clear.

Then I use FlashFXP to FTP everything to my XBox. Any FTP program will work, but that's were personal preference comes in.

I also use UXArchitect to create my own custom skins for the dashboard. I am using the UnleachX dashboard on my system.

Me and my brother both modded our X-Boxes, and since then I've modded about half of the people in the flights also. In fact, I'll be doing another one next week. I don't do this for free of course, I do charge a bottle of Jager for my time. <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

They say that the only two things certain in life are death and taxes. I prefer them in that order.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>It would be neat to have a WT team kicking ass on Counter Strike or SOCOM <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Care to join me on Counter Strike Source? I've been on a team for a year now and have a blast with it! It is one of the games that i quickly got addicted too (well besides the need for speed series <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>)

"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten!"

_________________
\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

RG,

It would be a pleasure to frag a few on line folks with you.

There's only one problem, I can't find my Half Life / Counter Strike install CD's. The last time I saw them was 3 years and two houses ago. We can safely say they are MIA.

I'll pick up a copy from a local Game store (it'll only be a few pounds by now)

Give me a few weeks to sharpen up and I'll drop you an email so we can arrange an on-line blastfest.

You're born, you keep your head down and you die. If you're lucky...

Jackb,

I rip DVD's to watch on my PSP using DVDDecrypter also. Very, very fast, but I find the same as you. The encoding to mpeg4 (the only thing PSP will play) takes hours on my crappy PIII box. Because I only have 1gb memory sticks, I compress a 2 hr movie down to 400mb. Quality does suffer, but it's still good enough to watch.

To encode for the PSP I use PSP Video 9 which seems to have the same functionality as AutoGK regards options for compression. It doesn't have the batch processing, but that's not a problem for me as a movie takes all night so I just kick one off each evening.


Warthog30,

My PS2 and DVD is hacked and my PSP will be soon but not for piracy reasons, just to get round the region codings. I get about a bit and collect games and DVD's from all over. I don't have any pirated stuff.

I also take a view to pay fair money for a fair product. But I draw the line at having three of every hardware platform <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>...

You're born, you keep your head down and you die. If you're lucky...

Sounds good to me .44, just remebmer its Counter Strike Source (the one with half life 2) not just regular CS!

"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten!"

_________________
\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

Ah Bugger...

In that case I'm going to struggle.

I've only got a crappy PIII with a 64mb video card (yes rather embarrasing for an IT guy) and that won't run the Half Life 2 generation of software.

What do you run with?

I'll see what I cam do to raise the spec but I can't stretch to a new unit right now.

You're born, you keep your head down and you die. If you're lucky...

I'm not a computer person, i'm a motor head remember.... <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> but this is what my computer has and it runs the half life 2 game well!


Pentium 4 3.0 GH
ATI Radeon 9200
512 mb d-channel ddr
800 fsb 1mb cache
80 gb ide 7200 hdd



"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten!"

_________________
\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

I have a PS2 and a PC. I'll wait for the PS3 before i buy anything new. Gates aint gettin' anymore of my money if i can help it. He has enough...

<b>There are two kinds of soldiers.
Snipers...and targets.</b>
<img src="http://www.creedmoorsports.com/images/SA9121-M21.JPG" border=0>

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
I have a PS2 and a PC. I'll wait for the PS3 before i buy anything new. Gates aint gettin' anymore of my money if i can help it. He has enough...<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Snipe, you're missing out on a very good gaming experience due to your hatred...
<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

But the PS3 will be pretty sweet too...I am skeptical of its online capes however, seeing as that's where gaming is going these days.

ATTACK!!!!!!!

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>due to your hatred... <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Warthog, leave Snipe hating Bill Gates, it keeps him of my back <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

You're born, you keep your head down and you die. If you're lucky...