The XBOX 360 revelation thingy

[Kolzig]

Alec Matias: "Overly-excited Xbox 360 engineers discussing the hardware. Trust me, this six minute clip is twenty times more informative than the MTV show."

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=6948

Hey, it's everybody's favourite guy Mr. Allard speaking in that video.

[Moosferatu]

uh... I haven't bothered to read read anything about it for a while, so I'm curious about the controllers. If they're all wireless won't they eat batteries like crazy? If so, I wish they'd at least leave normal controllers an option. I don't want to have to buy a ton of batteries. Also, will they rumble? I know at least the wireless GameCube controllers that I've used haven't. It would really suck if they didn't.

[loonyboi]

uh... I haven't bothered to read read anything about it for a while, so I'm curious about the controllers. If they're all wireless won't they eat batteries like crazy? If so, I wish they'd at least leave normal controllers an option. I don't want to have to buy a ton of batteries. Also, will they rumble? I know at least the wireless GameCube controllers that I've used haven't. It would really suck if they didn't.

I had those same questions when MS was here a few weeks ago. Microsoft will sell a rechargeable battery pack, and the nice thing is that when it runs out, you just connect the controler to the console with a USB cable and it recharges while you keep playing. Very slick.

And yes, they have force feedback.

[Chris]

Dude, they don't have "force feedback". They rumble.

[SoccerDude28]

Why exactly would that be such a dealbreaker? I mean it would definitely be convenient, but how man games are you going to be so desperate to play all the time that you can't use your old Xbox?

Instead of needing one room to store your XBOXes now you need 2. You can save one room of storage you know.

[Chris]

Ha ha! As if an Xbox could fit into a house!

[loonyboi]

Dude, they don't have "force feedback". They rumble.

Only Nintendo uses that asinine and childish term. I always hated that. "Rumble" implies a gimmick and simplicity. Nintendo gamepads "rumble" everything else uses true, multi-level force-feedback.

[Jake]

They have multi-level vibrating. The sticks and buttons haven't got any feedback at all like a true force feedbak joystick or wheel. ... Unless they do?

[Spaff]

the term is 'vibration'

rumble and force feedback would both cause a game to fail submission

and on the ngage its 'vibra'

rumble is looking pretty good now huh?

[loonyboi]

the term is 'vibration'

rumble and force feedback would both cause a game to fail submission

and on the ngage its 'vibra'

rumble is looking pretty good now huh?

I'm talking in general terms, not marketing.

But yeah, "vibra" is pretty hideous. And let's not forget the bizarre name Sega gave the FF add-on for the dreamcast controller...the "jump pack". I guess the idea is that it would make you jump from its unexpected vibrating action.

[b0b]

Goddamn it that was horrible.

I want that half hour of my life back.

The worst bit was the munting blonde "pro gamer" chick from that PMS clan who kept calling people bitch.

The second worst bit was Elijah bloody Wood.

The best bit was the Pimp My Ride guys blingifying an old school Xbox; by airbrushing a heavy-metal skull on to it, and giving it green led eyes

I think there was some game footage in there, but it was mostly obscured by people jumping up and down yelling BOOYAH!! at each other. None of it looked terribly promising.

Nil point Meecrosoft...

[Tanukitsune]

I haven't seen it and frankly I don't care, I only bought Xbox for Psychonauts, and since I bought the PC version, it wasn't such a great deal. Unless the Xbox 360 gets a killer app, I'm gonna completely ignore it...

[General Fuzzy McBitty]

The term Rumble might be somewhat childish, but I find it a hell of a lot more accurate with what the controller actually does than "force feed back." If I use the force on it, it will give me more feed back than a Jimi Hendrix concert.

[JoeX111]

The best bit was the Pimp My Ride guys blingifying an old school Xbox; by airbrushing a heavy-metal skull on to it, and giving it green led eyes

That is so freakin' sad.

I'm glad I got my X-Box for free. Screw Microshaft.

[SoccerDude28]

I'm glad I got my X-Box for free. Screw Microshaft.

How'd you do that?

[loonyboi]

That is so freakin' sad.

I'm glad I got my X-Box for free. Screw Microshaft.

I'm guessing you're a Mac or Linux user then? Without MS Office or Internet Explorer installed?

Chances are at some point in your day, you're going to encounter some necessary Microsoft technology. I'm a Mac user at home, but even there I need to use MS Office. Accept it, Microsoft has wormed its way into your life and there's nothing you can do about it.

Welcome to the machine.

[jokemaster]

Force feedaback sounds like angry letters to the editor...../.

[JoeX111]

I'm guessing you're a Mac or Linux user then? Without MS Office or Internet Explorer installed?

Chances are at some point in your day, you're going to encounter some necessary Microsoft technology. I'm a Mac user at home, but even there I need to use MS Office. Accept it, Microsoft has wormed its way into your life and there's nothing you can do about it.

Welcome to the machine.

Oh, I'm sorry. When I said "Screw Microshaft", you must have read that as "SCRU TEH FLURCKIN B11111TCHEEZ @ MICR0NAUTZ!!! 1 IZ FUK'?N KIll U R U UZIN B1LL G@T3Z SHIZNUT!!!!" I use XP and Microsoft Office and could care less if it was made by Bill Gates, John Romero, or Tony the Tiger. I just think the "ULTRA HIP, GROOVY ASS MOFO'S IN DA FUCKIN HOOD" ad campaign is annoying. Chances are, not everyone who says something ill of Microsoft is a Linux swearing, anti-corporation junkie. Accept it. There's nothing you can do about it, oh presumptuous one.

As for how I got my X-Box for free, my younger brother gave me his when he got a new one, because the older one was having CD reader problems. It still plays older games fine, which is all I want it for. Yay for Crimson Skies and Oddworld.

[Dingo Chavez]

I didn't see the actual thirty minute commercial, but I did see a one minute talk about how "cool" and "hip" it is. I may not be a big shot reporter with a degree from Yale who puts on too much hair jell and thinks that the majority of rock/pop/rap/etc. groups from the '80s were talented musicians and that Wall Street was a good movie! But I am an opinionated teen-ager who listens to The Beatles, Velvet Underground, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, James Yorkston, The Doors, who thinks that Rushmore and The Royal Tennenbaums are some of the best movies ever made and if this is what to be expected from video games in the next generation it may as well be a toilet because it's going to be one (if it isn't already). But I digress, anyway, these are my thoughts about 360 (which is exactly what Microsoft did, a 360):

Appearance: An over zealous toaster with the possiblity of being a high tech machine that'll collect dust and get that Xbox one look.

Controller: I'm a little skeptical about the idea that it's only gonna be wireless. I own a Wavebird and I think that it's great playing without the cord, but it needing batteries every houndred hours or so is an expensive nuisance. I know that Nintendo and Sony are gonna do the same thing, but if the controller needs batteries to function I disapprove (not that my opinon matters), we need options with such a thing. Design: Didn't play with it, so I can't say.

Games (and graphics):

Kameo: First it was on GameCube, then Xbox, and now Xbox 360. Are they even developing it or are they just teasing people by saying "It's gonna be done soon, so buy the console"? It looks good, I always thought it looked good, but for an experienced and rich company like Rare developing a game for five or six years and still hadn't finished, that's not quality control that's just sad.

Graphics: http://www.jeux-france.com/news10042_-maj-kameo-le-magnifique.html This is next generation? The last picture is the only impressive one.

Perfect Dark: I disliked the first, so I won't bother with the second.

Graphics: http://www.jeux-france.com/news10036_perfect-dark-zero-se-devoile.html The hairs on her head aren't even individually made, being published by a company who pretty much said; "graphics are everything" with a system that's supposedly a thousand+ times stronger than its predecessor, it's sad that they even didn't bother with such an anticipated detail in the graphics (not to mention the meticulous and brutal job that's needed for such an anticipated detail).

Blue Dragon: I can't say anything about the actual game or graphics yet, but I imagine that it's gonna be quite good, and I can rant about the character design : http://www.jeux-france.com/news10053.html I never liked Akira Toriyama's style, every character looks the same (especially if you compare them to his previous designs), I understand that he's a respected and imaginative man, but him being the character designer is really not something that appeals to me.

Condemned: This is next generation? Graphics: http://www.jeux-france.com/news10046_condemned-se-devoile-en-images.html This is next generation?

I really don't care much about shiny next generation graphics, those who do are just fooling themselves with the notion that it'll really improve their gaming experiece (not to mention that it's the idiot's way of thinking). This console seems to only slightly improve the graphics of games and Microsoft seems to want that to be their message for the next generation (they already did that with the current/previous one, that's why it's a 360). That's why I emphasized the graphics.

Shame on them! Shame!

:mrt:

[jokemaster]

Like I've said, the only big jump in graphics that affect gameplay was from 2D to 3D.

And out of those, the only one which really intrigues me is Condemmed.

[Bc9b]

Accept it, Microsoft has wormed its way into your life and there's nothing you can do about it.

[cough][cough][sniffle]

(It can do .doc)

[Tanukitsune]

The more I know about the new Xbox 360, the less I like it...

I'm thinking it's going to be harder and harder to tell the difference between the new generation consoles. Specially graphically, those pics Dingo showed us look like normal Xbox games, and frankly I doubt the graphics would impress me anyway (becuase the graphic gap is so small)...

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Those pics look like current Xbox screenshots precisely because they're early builds, and because the developers don't yet have full access to ALL the development amenities MS promised them.

But if you need a better reminder, look at some screens from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion:

[Trithemius]

My favourite is the internal "cathedral" shot I think. Purty.

[Fum]

You know Trep has the hyperlink for those screens saved in a text file on his desktop so he can link to them every chance he gets.

Not that I mind or anything....