Page 3: The Things That Kinda SUCK!
As you can tell, I’m REALLY digging my Xbox 360. It’s got great online features, the best controller ever designed, an extremely well thought-out dashboard, and (most importantly) some terrific, not-to-miss games. So, what DON’T I like about the new system? Well, there ARE a few things that irk me, to say the least…
<b>1. THE NOISE:</b> I understand the need for some sort of cooling system in the current and next-gen video game systems, but COME ON! This thing’s liquid cooling system can sometimes sound like a harrier jet during takeoff! To add to the racket, the high-speed DVD drive whips up quite a bit of background noise as well.
On the plus side, it does throttle down the fans when not in use (like modern PCs), but if you don’t have your 360 in a closed entertainment system (make sure it’s ventilated though – those fans are in there for a reason) or are playing with the game’s audio way down, it’s definitely noticable, and quite irritating.
<b>2. PAYING FOR “FLUFF”:</b>As you may know, Xbox Live now has an online marketplace that lets you purchase full versions of Live Arcade games, add-on packs, as well as dashboard themes and gamer pictures…wait, PURCHASE dashboard themes and gamer pictures?! Yeah, right... Considering there are many themes and Gamertag pictures available for FREE downloads, it’s a stupid idea. My assumption
is that they put this crap up for sale so you have something more to buy when you don’t have quite enough to buy any actual GAMES...regardless, it feels a bit stingy for the gaming companies to do so. Tsk tsk...for shame.
<b>3. FACEPLATE CHANGING:</b> While it looked like a cool idea to many at first, I think it’s absolutely retarded. Sure, you can change the front of your console’s face with a simple click, but what about the rest of the unit? It’s still white, and it just looks dopey and incomplete. Plus, they’re charging 20 bucks for the damn things. No thanks, I won’t be “pimping my Xbox 360” any time soon.
<b>4. AVAILABILITY:</b> It’s simply embarrasing that the 360 finally had some system-selling titles in March, and you couldn’t buy the friggin' thing ANYWHERE! Recently, it’s been much easier to score one, but how does the big "M" expect to compete with the PS3 if they can’t take advantage of their head start? It took me a week to find one, and I work in the industry, for crying out loud!
<b>5. LAUNCH DATE RUSH JOBS:</b> Simply put, stay away from most of the crap they dumped on us at launch. Titles like Gun, Ridge Racer 6, Tony Hawk...they simply don’t do the system justice. Heck, even the much-touted titles Perfect Dark Zero and Quake 4 look and run like CRAP compared to the newer stuff. March is really the month the 360 came to fruition....
<b>6. FREEZES/GLITCHES:</b> I’ve had Fight Night Round 3 freeze up a couple of times between loading, and I’ve seen Call Of Duty 2 crash on three occasions (in the same spot, no less). Other than that, the system’s been perfect (about 40 hours into Oblivion and it has yet to crash), but this is STILL disconcerting. As far as I know, I have a 3rd generation Xbox 360, and the well-documented overheating/crashing issues were supposedly addressed at this point. Let’s hope these are software issues, and that it isn’t going to be an ongoing problem with the hardware.
Then again, I’ve been through three PS1s, two PS2s, and three Xbox consoles…I suppose that’s what happens when you design a system to be powerful AND try to keep the price down. I’ll be happier the day they make a “hardcore” version of a console an option, with things like bigger hard disks, superior cooling, and higher quality DVD drives. I’d rather pay the extra cash up front for reliability, than buy the same damn system three times over.
<b>7. TOO MANY MULTI-DIRECTIONAL SHOOTERS ON LIVE ARCADE:</b> OK, let’s see here: we’ve got Robotron, Geometry Wars, Mutant Storm, Smash TV, AND Crystal Quest. One question: WHY? What about 360 updated versions of Missle Command, Galaga, or Pac-Man, even? Enough with all the Robotron clones, please; a little more variety in the titles will be appreciated. At least Geometry Wars and Mutant Storm are really good.
<b>1. THE NOISE:</b> I understand the need for some sort of cooling system in the current and next-gen video game systems, but COME ON! This thing’s liquid cooling system can sometimes sound like a harrier jet during takeoff! To add to the racket, the high-speed DVD drive whips up quite a bit of background noise as well.
On the plus side, it does throttle down the fans when not in use (like modern PCs), but if you don’t have your 360 in a closed entertainment system (make sure it’s ventilated though – those fans are in there for a reason) or are playing with the game’s audio way down, it’s definitely noticable, and quite irritating.
<b>2. PAYING FOR “FLUFF”:</b>As you may know, Xbox Live now has an online marketplace that lets you purchase full versions of Live Arcade games, add-on packs, as well as dashboard themes and gamer pictures…wait, PURCHASE dashboard themes and gamer pictures?! Yeah, right... Considering there are many themes and Gamertag pictures available for FREE downloads, it’s a stupid idea. My assumption
is that they put this crap up for sale so you have something more to buy when you don’t have quite enough to buy any actual GAMES...regardless, it feels a bit stingy for the gaming companies to do so. Tsk tsk...for shame.
<b>3. FACEPLATE CHANGING:</b> While it looked like a cool idea to many at first, I think it’s absolutely retarded. Sure, you can change the front of your console’s face with a simple click, but what about the rest of the unit? It’s still white, and it just looks dopey and incomplete. Plus, they’re charging 20 bucks for the damn things. No thanks, I won’t be “pimping my Xbox 360” any time soon.
<b>4. AVAILABILITY:</b> It’s simply embarrasing that the 360 finally had some system-selling titles in March, and you couldn’t buy the friggin' thing ANYWHERE! Recently, it’s been much easier to score one, but how does the big "M" expect to compete with the PS3 if they can’t take advantage of their head start? It took me a week to find one, and I work in the industry, for crying out loud!
<b>5. LAUNCH DATE RUSH JOBS:</b> Simply put, stay away from most of the crap they dumped on us at launch. Titles like Gun, Ridge Racer 6, Tony Hawk...they simply don’t do the system justice. Heck, even the much-touted titles Perfect Dark Zero and Quake 4 look and run like CRAP compared to the newer stuff. March is really the month the 360 came to fruition....
<b>6. FREEZES/GLITCHES:</b> I’ve had Fight Night Round 3 freeze up a couple of times between loading, and I’ve seen Call Of Duty 2 crash on three occasions (in the same spot, no less). Other than that, the system’s been perfect (about 40 hours into Oblivion and it has yet to crash), but this is STILL disconcerting. As far as I know, I have a 3rd generation Xbox 360, and the well-documented overheating/crashing issues were supposedly addressed at this point. Let’s hope these are software issues, and that it isn’t going to be an ongoing problem with the hardware.
Then again, I’ve been through three PS1s, two PS2s, and three Xbox consoles…I suppose that’s what happens when you design a system to be powerful AND try to keep the price down. I’ll be happier the day they make a “hardcore” version of a console an option, with things like bigger hard disks, superior cooling, and higher quality DVD drives. I’d rather pay the extra cash up front for reliability, than buy the same damn system three times over.
<b>7. TOO MANY MULTI-DIRECTIONAL SHOOTERS ON LIVE ARCADE:</b> OK, let’s see here: we’ve got Robotron, Geometry Wars, Mutant Storm, Smash TV, AND Crystal Quest. One question: WHY? What about 360 updated versions of Missle Command, Galaga, or Pac-Man, even? Enough with all the Robotron clones, please; a little more variety in the titles will be appreciated. At least Geometry Wars and Mutant Storm are really good.