Xbox 360 Elite question/s

[Prrkitty]

Paul and I are gonna get a xbox 360 elite bundle in the next few days. It's gonna go with our new big screen tv that we just bought. ;)

Now I know ahead of time that there are a lot of opinions about games... likes... dislikes... etc. But what would be a good first game to start with? I don't want anything too difficult.

Any pointers on what accessories to get/not get/etc?

Thanks ahead of time y'all...

[biggiy05]

Try the demos on xbox live when you get everything hooked up and figured out.

What type of games do you like to play? Action, shooters, rpg, hello kitty island adventure?

[Brasel]

Before you get one, please reconsider. I don't have the whole shibang on why the elite package isn't so elite right here, but let me find one. I've heard nothing good about the elite package so far. I'll get some info for you.

*edit* After reading some more reviews on the elite package vs. the premium, the one I had originally seen that gave it a bad review seemed to be a bit biased. I guess it really all depends on what your using the XBox for and what kind of TV you have. Sorry Prr, I was just quick to jump the gun to make sure you got the most bang for your buck. Have too look out for my girl. As for a new game, I would want to get Armored Core 4 if I got to get an XBox 360, but since my wife won't let me yet, I'll just have to wait. I don't actually know because I haven't played it yet, but I hear Gears of War is pretty fucking awesome, and not too hard either.

*edit again* By the way, I'm jealous. I want a big screen and an XBox.

[Warlock]

What I currently have:

Crackdown
Guitar Hero II
Oblivion

All great games, though two of them can be gotten on other systems so maybe you've played them. I heard Dead Rising is also good.

Anyways, like biggiy05 said, try out the demos to see what you like. That's the best solution. For awhile I didn't have any games, and I was still enjoying it just for the demos and live arcade games.

[MottZilla]

Definitely use the free Xbox Live silver membership to download game demos. It's so nice to be able to try out games for free. Now you don't even have to rent games to try them out.

You'll have tell us what kind of games you like. The Xbox Live Arcade has alot of games that are attractive to everyone. You could get 3D Mini Golf. You could even play it online with several AGN members who've got that too.

For accessories you may want a second controller, as well as the "Play and Charge" kits which have a rechargable battery pack and a cable to recharge it. This is much better than using disposable AA batteries. Other than that I think the Elite should have everything you need.

[Prrkitty]

Ok... here goes. The games we chose so Paul and I could play co-op together. The Tetris is specifically for me.

1) Xbox elite w/ HD DVD player (the main reason Paul wanted this was for, 1) the HD-DVD player for the new TV and 2) it being a media extender device
2) a 2nd wireless game controller with the "play & charge" kit

Games:
1) Halo Combat Evolved ($10)
2) Halo 2 ($20)
3) Gears of War (~$30 (off the top of my head I forgot how much))
4) Tetris Evolution (~$30 (same as above))


HD DVD Movies:
1) 300 (came free with the Xbox)
2) King Kong (came free with the Xbox)
3) Ultimate Matrix Collection (anniversary gift for Paul) <- I made HUGE kudos with Paul about this <EG>

I like to play many types of games but definately RPG, Simulations and Action (which pretty much covers 'em all).

Question - is there a Zelda for the Xbox? I've never played Zelda and AGN IS home to the Zelda Classic :)

At the moment we have the controller that uses AA batteries (that comes with the console) and the extra controller that we bought. Eventually we'll buy another "play and charge). At Best Buy that was $70 (if I remember right). By the time we walked out we'd spent close to $1k... so the 2nd "play 'n charge" controller will be down the road.

Paul and I have now moved into the new century... we own a game console. :)

EDIT: Warlock... "... live arcade games"? <- Whatcha mean hon? (pardon my ignorance). Oh and can someone tell me a bit more about this Xbox live silver membership thingy? Please and thank you...

[Beldaran]

There's no Zelda for Xbox... but if you like RPG's, you will love Oblivion.


my wife won't let me

Your wife gets to decide what you can and can't do? My fiancee can't say shit to me about what I do. If I wanted to go to a brothel, fuck two girls at once, videotape it, show her the videotape, then spend my life savings on nintendo games, she wouldn't stop me. She might be royally pissed, but she can't stop me. I don't let people make decisions for me. You should just go buy the game you want. :)

[biggiy05]

Can I come stay with you for a few weeks Prr? I'll bring my own controller.:D

I really wanna get a 360 but it's gonna have to wait because I've got other things that need paid first and I desperately need new tires for my car.

Zelda is on Nintendo with the newest release being on the Wii wee. As for gears of war. It's supposed to a really awesome game. I would recommend trying Rainbow Six: Vegas if you like GOW.

[AlexMax]

Make sure and get the Elite version and not another one at the last minute. The older models are especially prone to the dreaded Red Ring of Death due to a flaw in the design of the machine.

As for games to suggest, I would take a serious look at the Xbox Live Arcade for some cheap entertainment. Worms, Doom, Bomberman, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Castlevania SOTN, Geometry Wars, Lumines Live!, Pac Man Championship, the list goes on and on...

And DO NOT GET OBLIVION. Seriously, the game is broken from a funimental gameplay standpoint with an ass-backwards leveling system and enemies and loot that scales according to your level. Once I figured this out, it pretty much sapped my will to play the game at all, but thankfully the PC version has mods to fix this.

[MottZilla]

When you turn on the Xbox 360 you'll come to the "DashBoard". It is a menu with various pages and you change pages by pressed Left or Right. One page is the Xbox Live one. Here you can create an Xbox Live GameTag/Account. Just remember to change your name/gamertag they charge you money, so try to pick a GamerTag you can live with. Anyway with your new Xbox you get 1 free month of Xbox Live Gold membership, after that you either pay a subscription fee or it goes down to Silver.

The Silver and Gold difference is primarily one thing, multiplayer gaming. You can't play games with other people over Xbox Live unless you have Gold.

Anyway when you sign into Xbox Live one of the pages is the "Marketplace". This page will let you download stuff. Some stuff is free, other stuff you buy. You can download lots of free game demos, game trailers, etc. You can also download stuff you pay for, like Xbox Live arcade games. These include 3D Mini Golf, Double Dragon, Street Fighter 2 Hyperfighting, Doom, and many more.

You can also pay to "rent" High Definition movies. The movies are 720p and I'm not entirely sure how it works other than Movies after you download them, you watch them and after the first watching or something you have a limited amount of time where you can watch it again.

You can also download TV shows too. TV shows are ussually if not always keepers. You download say an episode of South Park, and can keep it and watch it whenever you want forever.

Definitely make a Xbox Live account to browse the marketplace and download game demos.


---------

AlexMax, the Elite version has been proven not to be immune to the Red Lights of Death fault. Some Elite's appear to have improved cooling now, however so do some premiums. The one thing you should try to do is keep the Xbox 360 cool. If possible don't play it in a room that's rather hot, make sure it blows the hot air away from the unit and isn't stuffed in a entertainment cabinet's shelf with no way to get rid of the hot air.

Even if you aren't that careful or you are and it breaks down, as long as it lasts long enough for the 65nm chips to be on the shelves so you can replace it with that, you should be ok. I'm on my 2nd console and hoping it lasts long enough so the 3rd will have 65nm chips. Honestly I just expect this console to die. It already has begun to freeze randomly on Rainbow Six Vegas.

[Warlock]

And DO NOT GET OBLIVION. Seriously, the game is broken from a funimental gameplay standpoint with an ass-backwards leveling system and enemies and loot that scales according to your level. Once I figured this out, it pretty much sapped my will to play the game at all, but thankfully the PC version has mods to fix this.

You're crazy, Oblivion is great :P Just don't go leveling crazy, or it gets hard. But really, my guy is like lvl 25 or something and with some cleaver exploiting of the Chameleon spell the game is pretty easy :P (granted that is an exploit :P Nothing can see you so you can kill anything without consequence). But the game itself is a lot of fun, tons of stuff to do, tuns of different paths to take, etc. You can have fun just messing around with all the misc. stuff in the world without even doing the main quest.

Anyways, yeah, Xbox Live Arcade is basically a bunch of classic arcade (and otherwise) games, as well as some original games like Aero Wing (which was free, is it still free? I haven't looked). You can get demos for all of the arcade games too, so you can tell which ones you'd like to buy. In particular, I'd definately recommend Settlers of Catan, TMNT, Bomberman Live, Castlevania, and Prince of Persia (which is a completely remastered version of the original but in full 3d.. it looks amazingly good, though the controls can still be clunky at times). Those are some of my favorites. I've also heard really good things about the Pacman Championship Edition (one of these days I'll actually try that out :P)

[Brasel]

There's no Zelda for Xbox... but if you like RPG's, you will love Oblivion.



Your wife gets to decide what you can and can't do? My fiancee can't say shit to me about what I do. If I wanted to go to a brothel, fuck two girls at once, videotape it, show her the videotape, then spend my life savings on nintendo games, she wouldn't stop me. She might be royally pissed, but she can't stop me. I don't let people make decisions for me. You should just go buy the game you want. :)

Ah, and now I have to go defend my manhood.

Of course I could go and buy an XBox without the wife's permission. I did that with a computer a couple months back and I ended up persuading her that I needed it. Which I kind of did, but thats not the point. She's the one who handles most of our finances, we both bring in money, and its her turn for a big money item.

Plus, we don't have the money right now.

[DarkDragoonX]

You're crazy, Oblivion is great :P Just don't go leveling crazy, or it gets hard. But really, my guy is like lvl 25 or something and with some cleaver exploiting of the Chameleon spell the game is pretty easy :P (granted that is an exploit :P Nothing can see you so you can kill anything without consequence). But the game itself is a lot of fun, tons of stuff to do, tuns of different paths to take, etc. You can have fun just messing around with all the misc. stuff in the world without even doing the main quest.

Actually, unmodded Oblivion is rubbish. Without a mod to remove the asinine enemy scaling (such as Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul), the game is utter garbage. When you can be the savior of the world and an arena champion at fucking level seven, something is fucked up.

The Xbox 360 version isn't worth the effort presicely because of this. You can just throw on a quick mod to get rid of the retarded scaling system on the PC version, but on the 360, you're stuck with the vanilla game, which, one again, is crap.

Microsoft really should set up some kind of system to allow games on their platform to be modded, because it seriously hurts the quality of some of their titles.

[Beldaran]

Ah, and now I have to go defend my manhood.

Of course I could go and buy an XBox without the wife's permission. I did that with a computer a couple months back and I ended up persuading her that I needed it. Which I kind of did, but thats not the point. She's the one who handles most of our finances, we both bring in money, and its her turn for a big money item.

Plus, we don't have the money right now.

I was just teasing you anyway. I don't question your manhood, especially since you are employed in the defense force of the nation in which I live and benefit from.:cool:

[Brasel]

Oh I'm aware you were just fucking with me. I just always feel I have to explain myself when someone does so. I do it at work all the time, then they tease me for taking everything too seriously when I'm really not taking it that seriously.

[Grasshopper]

For accessories you may want a second controller, as well as the "Play and Charge" kits which have a rechargable battery pack and a cable to recharge it. This is much better than using disposable AA batteries.

I think the Play and Charge kit is a waste of money. You pay $50 for a Wireless Controller, and $20 for a Play and Charge Kit. To me, its like I just spent $70 on a wired controller. It defeats to purpose of a wireless controller if it has to be plugged up constantly.

[Cloral]

The arcade is a great place to pick up some games since many will run in the range of $5 to $10. I can personally recommend Bomberman Live.

And I don't know if it is the sort of game you'll want, but Bioshock is looking to be a really excellent title. You should at least check out the demo. Blue Dragon might be up your alley if you're looking for a more casual title, but the reviews I've read say that the game can be rather dull for about the first 15 hours.

[Prrkitty]

biggiy... sure hon come on over :) You can help me learn how to use the controller (since I've only played PC games up to this point and have only used a mouse and keyboard). I'm honestly looking forward to expanding my gaming horizons, experience, knowledge, etc.

Blue Dragon was one of the ones that caught my eyes when I was browsing xbox.com. Plus the guy at Best Buy highly recommended it as well.

Thanks for all your thoughts and opinions y'all. It has really helped.

[Cloral]

Well if you get Blue Dragon you'll have to let me know what you think of it. I was originally planning to get it, but what I've read about it recently has made me hesitant to pick it up.

[Prrkitty]

Cloral what did you read that is now changing your mind? Can you link me to the article... please and thank you? :)

And of course I'll let y'all know what I think when I play the games we have. I know ahead of time that I will have a bit of a difficulty getting used to the controller ... but I know that practice makes perfect. So guess we'll see how it goes...

[MottZilla]

I think the Play and Charge kit is a waste of money. You pay $50 for a Wireless Controller, and $20 for a Play and Charge Kit. To me, its like I just spent $70 on a wired controller. It defeats to purpose of a wireless controller if it has to be plugged up constantly.

You only need to connect it to charge the battery. Thus if you plug it in after a gaming session to recharge, as long as you don't play for like 16 hours straight or something, you'll never have to play with it plugged in. Or you could get that recharge station thing and another battery. Either way you'll spend more money if you use AA disposable batteries.

[Warlock]

Right, Play and Charge kit is awesome. Better than buying a bazillion AAs.

[Brasel]

Good thing I work for the army. I have a box of about 200 AAs because we ordered too many. Bad thing is they'll go bad before I have the chance to use them. Good thing is, I'll be able to get more.

[biggiy05]

Good thing I work for the army. I have a box of about 200 AAs because we ordered too many. Bad thing is they'll go bad before I have the chance to use them. Good thing is, I'll be able to get more.

You wanna "accidentally" ship a case over to my place?

While we are on the subject of 360's and I don't see the need to make a new thread just to ask this. Is it possible to hook up two lcd monitors to one xbox? i ask because if my friend and I are playing a game it would be so much easier to have two screens instead of trying to use the same 19" wide screen.

[Grasshopper]

I never suggested buying loads of AA batteries. Microsoft sells a Quick Charge Kit too, not just a Play and Charge kit. It can charge two rechargable battery packs at the same time, and only costs $30.

[MottZilla]

You wanna "accidentally" ship a case over to my place?

While we are on the subject of 360's and I don't see the need to make a new thread just to ask this. Is it possible to hook up two lcd monitors to one xbox? i ask because if my friend and I are playing a game it would be so much easier to have two screens instead of trying to use the same 19" wide screen.

If you use the VGA cable, you need to get a VGA amplifier of some kind and you could easily output the same video signal to both monitors. If you use another type of connection, again you just need a video amplifier. You can't simply connect it to both, doing so would cause the signal to degrade and perhaps not work on either monitor, hence the amp.

[biggiy05]

I don't know how long ago this happened but the price of the 360 has gone down. A premium system is $350 and a core system is $279.

Buy.com has the premium with or without an hdmi cable for $350.

[MottZilla]

Yes this was a fairly recent price cut. The first as well. The Elite I think went down to 450$ from 470$. The Premium went down to 350$ from 400$. The Core went down to 280$ from 300$. The Premium still is probably the best SKU to get unless you want the HardDisk space in the Elite.

[Prrkitty]

Paul and I bought the Elite. I think we paid around $450 for it.