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Since there appear to be no mmogs worth playing, I've considered a move to the dark side.  Yes... a console.  I enjoy driving/flight sims and sports games primarily and was wondering if an XBox 360 is worth all the $$$.  The boxing title is what initially sparked my interest.

Harsh reviews welcome.

That fridaynight fights game is very fun. Played that at my friends place and its quite good. I am normally not a fight game fan but damn that thing is a hoot. Its also really hard on my poor hand for some reason. I havn't played to much on the 360 but what I have played has been good.

If you have an hdtv I would say get it now. If not eh tough call myself I am waiting for the price to drop a bit but its pretty damn amusing.

kaid

There was a deal where you could get an xbox360 from Overstock.com for like $320 for the premium package. The link was on anandtech.com hot deals forums, but I cant find it now. Ether their search sucks, or it was removed.

Thanks for the input you two.  Looks like I have some thinking to do.

I'll check out the "Big O" as well.

That chick in their commercials looks totally slutty.

I just wanted to add, that I went through this same thing about a month ago. The decision was "Not worth it yet".  But for me, I dont really like driving/flight sims and sports games.

I would suggest it. Out of the three categories you list, only flight sims are in short supply on the 360.

It's almost worth it for Fight Night Round 3 and Oblivion alone. Those two games have been played so much by myself and my friends that I have never regretted my purchase. (unlike say the Gamecube.)

I received one as a gift just over a week ago and am genuinely enjoying it.  I haven’t been much of a console guy since Quakeworld, so I was a little skeptical in regards to the multiplayer, Xbox Live, and the types of games available.  Turns out, GRAW is one of my favorite games to date.  I also picked up PGR3 and the new Table Tennis game which are both also extremely fun.  Live Arcade is a hoot and I have spent more time then I thought possible with games like Joust and Zuma.  The leaderboards really do add a whole lot of replayability to games I may never have even finished on my PC.

I haven’t played the boxing game but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.  If you haven’t already, head over to your local ebgames (or equivalent) and play one.  The kiosk things usually have a couple demos running and they give you a good idea of what to expect. 

From my experience, I’d say absolutely, pick one up.

Same here....both the receiving and enjoying part.

The only game I have currently is Oblivion.  Not only does it seem to be a really good game, but holy criminy is it purty.  If you have a big, fat HDTV, then that is about as good as it gets.   The only thing that I can imagine being better would be Oblivion...on a bleeding edge PC...on a big fat HDTV.  There have been more than a few jaw-dropping graphical moments.  I could spend all day looking around the Arboretum (sp?) in Imperial City, for example.

The live stuff is an interesting novelty, though for me I'm not sure it will ever be more than that.  Some free stuff at least, game demos and even movie trailers in HD (and when you are starved for HD content, that ain't too shabby).  One good thing about it:  some of the technical updates.  The latest update has made the DVD playback upscalable to 720p, and that is no small thing...I haven't tried it myself yet, but it has to be better than a non-upscaled DVD player.  In theory.

If you have tons of cash and an HDTV, then it is probably a no-brainer.    Anything less, than you may want to play the waiting game a bit longer.

QFT

 :evil:

Heh, about time someone commented. The Overstock commericials crack me up, because they seem so out of place in America. More like something from Europe. The way she comes off, I almost expect her to drop her top or something.

Anyways, I thought I'd google up info on her. Turns out she has a fan page (http://sabineehrenfeld.tripod.com/). Some crazy people (http://www.davidmsc.com/?p=236) commenting in this thread too.

The Internet never ceases to amaze me.

Between fridaynight fights/oblivion combined with all the xbox live arcade stuff the 360 is pretty darn fun. I am very impressed with the quality of their xbox live arcade games there are some ones that are damn fun and really cheap as well.

kaid

Those are the only two games i own and i concurr that its been worth it so far.  I rented the xbox 360 version of madden and i didnt really like it as much as previous versions for some reason.

Everything I buy from overstock.com is broken.  Sabine owes me.

Xbox Live Arcade is pretty cool. Not sure it's worth $300+ alone, since most of the stuff you can get on the Internet without a console. But that plus Oblivion, maybe, unless you hate the controllers for such systems as much as I have since forever.

Someone I know bought a used $400 system for $280 from the local Gamestop.  He sings its praises. 

Do the newly manufactured units still frequently suffer from the power brick overheating and scratched disk problems or has the quality improved?

Paranoia is cheap.

Not a single one of the people I know had a problem with their 360s. I know enough people with 360s that at least ONE of them should have been fucked up in some way. If your worry is really the minute chance that you might have a problem unit, gaming may be a little too risky a hobby.

In other words, buy one, considering they weren't problems to begin with, they shouldn't be now. Also, Chromehounds comes out on the 11th. Keke.

I have to turn my 360 on a few times before it starts up correctly.  Sometimes.  Other times, it works fine.  I'll get no picture, and the light ring around the power button flashes red, when it's not gonna start up correctly.  I've looked around, and it doesn't seem to be a common problem at all.  I'm happy with the 360 overall, (Dynasty Warriors V, Oblivion, Burnout Revenge) I just wish it would boot up first time, every time.

I've had mine since January and I've got no complaints.  The games i have are Oblivion, G.R.A.W, Fightnight and Battlefield and all look great and have positives and negatives.  As far as system problems, I haven't had any.  The system itself seems pretty solid with the extras like Live and Arcade, plus the line up of games seem solid as well.

i'm pretty happy with my 360 so far, but I'm now starting to have lock-up issues. I actually got the "extended warranty" so I'm seriously considering taking it back for a new one.

Before you return it, try booting up while holding the a button down, that clears the cache.  Only had to do it to solve long Oblivion load times, not lockups.  It is worth trying however.

Does anyone know if newly released x-box (original) games are playable on the 360?  NFL Manager just came out, but is not on the backwards compatability list.  Do I need to wait?

I got the flashing red light once after I had taken my 360 into work.  While in my car I had had to come to an abrupt stop and the 360, in its box, slammed into the back of my seat.  I was worried I had somehow damaged it.  Nope.  Turned out that, when plugging the thing back in, I simply hadn't connected the TV inputs well enough.  I reseated those and it worked fine.  So I would look at that.

As I understand it (which is not much), they have to build specific emulators for each and every original xbox game, because the hardware has nothing in common.   Popular titles have been getting the treatment, but there has been some talk that microsoft doesn't give a shit about BC anymore, so there is no telling how long they will continue to do it.   I believe xbox.com or some other sites will actually maintain lists of compatible games, so you should go look there.

Yes, shortly after the PS3 announced, "Hey, we're $500 minimum and a BARGIN at that!"  Microsoft laughed and said they were done with the current list of BC games because it was too difficult or somesuch.   The announcement is linked in one of the PS3 threads.

Edit: Found it.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=7159.msg192268#msg192268

That statement was later retracted.

I will say I've noticed a significant quality difference in the emulations. For instance, on my 360, KOTOR runs VERY choppy at points, combat slows to a crawl and most cutscenes stutter horribly. KOTOR2 on the other hand runs flawlessly (other than a very occasional slowdown.) Halo ran perfect. Halo 2 runs perfect but has weird graphics glitches that pop up sometimes. (like a mildly annoying semi-transparent effect in the corners that resembles one of the halo menus.

The giant robot game and Mass Effect would make a 360 worth buying for me if I was in the market for one.

Chromehounds perhaps?

That might be it, I'm not sure....saw a trailer for such a game some time back, but it wasn't an Armored Core game.

Capcom's Lost Planet and Bandai's Battlefield-esque Gundam game also feature big mecha for stomping around in.

If anyone cares this deal is back at ~$360 once you apply the 10% coupon.  Check the hot deals forum on anandtech.

PGR3 Premium bundle comes out in a month or so. Also, NHL07 will only be good on the 360. Damnit.

Right now Oblivion is the only must have, though Condemned is worth a rental at the least.

Chromehounds is solid, but if you can't play online and join an active team its a rental.

Dead Rising is due next month and should be the best zombie game ever made unless they seriously fuck up.

Live Arcade is good to great depending on your views on emulation, and how many retrogame collections you own.

Plus the 360 controller is fucking awesome and I use it on my iMac to replay my old Genesis games.

It has been mentioned already, but Fight Night Round 3...I have the demo (you can download lots of demos, btw) and I have to admit that it is pretty sweet.  The only thing preventing me from buying the full retail game is that the demo is a lot of damn fun all by itself.  I can sit there and play the same 4 round fight (Roy Jones vs. Bernard Hopkins) for hours on end without getting bored.  So while I don't know if the game is a "must have", the demo sure is.

So with my recent loss of anything to do in WoW (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=7596.0), I finally broke down and bought a Xbox360. I got Burnout Revenge and Rockstar Table Tennis. I have to say WOW. These games look AMZING on my 60inch HDTV. Really really good. Burnout is just a thing of beauty.

Can you guys recomend a few games for me. First off, as most of you know. I hate FPS games on a console, so most of those are out, also any game with the FPS controls I dont like. Also, I dont like realistic sports games. That doesnt leave a hugh selection, but lets see what you guys can come up with.

Even if you don't like realistic sports games, you should at least download that Fight Night demo Cyrexx mentioned. The Fight Night games, even if they are EA, have always been fun, and dare I say it --- innovative. Plus, they're still just fighting games. Not sports games per se.

I was beginning to think I bought the 360 prematurely, the games I have are ok, but nothing that different from my ps2.

and then Chromehounds came out.

You can build you own mechs, with a range of chassis, cockpits, weapons and and auxillary systems, I've spent hours  in the garage alone, it's like lego with guns, to quote someone in another forum.  There's a single player, but this is my first game that has me on Live when ever I play it.  Live has free battles, SP missions, 3 interchangable sides, a squad system, and a well fleshed out persistant online campaign (squad v squad instanced maps) with news reports, medals, ranks, awards for squads and the like, which resets upon victory for one side.

At last my purchase has been justified.

I still need a squad to join or make a squad online. :P I made Bat Country. But ehhhhhhhh. Worried about leading such a thing.

Every time a giant robot game comes out for consoles only I die a little inside that piece of my gamer soul is replaced by a dark malevolent force that longs for the day when I can play fps games versus you numbnut gamepad using fuckwits (without yall having auto-targeting help).

*cough* fuck consoles *endcough*

Seriously though, I'm going to buy a ps2 pretty damn soon at this rate, so many decent sounding rpg's I've missed out on.

I did that.. and just ordered the entire Shadow Hearts series.  Mmmm....

I think 360 is hit or miss right now, it has a lack of quality titles and the standouts (FN3, elder scrolls) IMO don't warrant buying the system. although if you plan on getting Halo3 and have faith better titles will come its probably not a bad idea considering that M$ isn't going to cut the price.

So Chromehounds is.... Mechwarrior on a console, 10(!?) years after Mechwarrior came out?  Sounds pretty much like it, but I'd be interested to hear how it's different.

Spent an hour wandering Best Buy last night internally debating the $79 pricetag on the Briscoe County DVD set.  Not a thing on the pathetic 15' of PC game shelving that interested me for the $60 pricetag.  I'm going to have to find a new hobby.

BioWare has new Mass Effect videos up I believe. If I wasn't already dead-set on getting a Wii eventually, I'd get a 360 JUST for Mass Effect.

But now, I have to hope for a PC port eventually.

The new LOTR game sounds pretty cool also. They are doing what KOTOR did. The game is set 70 years before The Hobbit. And you get to create your own character. It is a full on RPG. I am excited for this one. But then again, EA is making it.