[OFFICIAL] Xbox Live Latest Demos


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Just played the demo and it doesn't have a 15 minute time limit from what i can see. I was playing for about 20-25 minutes and nothing timed out.

One warning though... don't leave the main mall area you start in because the demo will end then but luckly it doesn't go back to the Xbox 360 OS it just goes back to the games main menu.

Seems like the Demo is timed to me....At least if you don't go and try to do any missions.

From what I see- Go outside = end of demo, Go to the movie cinema = end of demo. **** around for 15 mins = end of demo.

I really like this game, but after playing the demo, this is going to be a rental first, and a purchase later.

Too bad GoW won't have a pre-release demo :/

Sweet! I might have to kick the kids off my 360.

Lol, aren't you the best dad. :p

Back on topic: SHWEET! I honestly was under the impression that a Dead Rising demo was not going to be released prior to the game's release. This is great news. :)

Nice. Downloading Dead Rising now.

If my current speeds are any indication of how long it is going to take, I should be able to check it out tomorrow at some point. :laugh:

EDIT - Actually now it seems to be going okay, already at 6%, and it is over a 1GB, so that is not all that bad considering I literally started DL'ing it while hitting reply.

Off to play some BFME 2 in the meantime, just got it from GameFly.

Okay, fully keeping in mind I am a nitpicking ******, I gotta say I am NOT IMPRESSED AT ALL with Dead Rising. (N)

Some things that absolutely needs to get fixed with Dead Rising in the retail version

  • The slight pause when you swing some weapons. I mean seriously, is this a joke?
    I cannot believe that a so called "Next Gen" game would even have this issue. Not only that, but it happens with the very first weapon you are given, the big ass construction hammer. So it is impossible to miss. It does not happen with everyone weapon, but the fact it happens with even just a few, absolutely blows me away. I cannot see how this alone passed Quality Control, I consider it such a big issue.
  • The draw distance is truly laughable.
    First off, it is indoors. I should not even be talking about a Draw Distance. Lo and behold, Standing what would maybe be 20-25 feet in real life away from a store front, and all of a sudden what is on the inside of the store just magically pops into view? I saw this happen at least 7 times. This has to be another joke right? Again, I am just blown away.
  • Finally, how can so many games still have pre rendered cut scenes were the lip synching is so terribly off?

Honestly, that is all I can see that really sticks out, but man, do these two isses REALLY stick out. I seriously cannot belive it.

Now before people jump down my throat, I am fully aware that the game clearly states in the beginning that this is a work in progress and does not represent the end product. But honestly, considering the game is 4 days away from it's release, I am very, very skeptical that these same issues will not be in the retail game itself.

I know I complain and nitpick alot, but honestly, the fact games now cost $60 a pop, that the console itself was $400, and I feel there has not been any game worth buying in the last two months, really is starting to make me feel just ever so slightly let down on the 360 itself. So as a result, I feel I have every right to point out the negatives in games. Believe me, I wish I did not have to, and games had no issues at all, but this is not the case.

Luckily, I really like Saints Row from the demo and I will be buying that, or I would be extremely disappointed right now, and not just ever so slightly. I also know we will be seeing the second generation of games in a few months, so I am still keeping the faith.

Hopefully, all of these issues are just because of the demo.

Okay, fully keeping in mind I am a nitpicking ******, I gotta say I am NOT IMPRESSED AT ALL with Dead Rising. (N)

Some things that absolutely needs to get fixed with Dead Rising in the retail version

  • The slight pause when you swing some weapons. I mean seriously, is this a joke?
    I cannot believe that a so called "Next Gen" game would even have this issue. Not only that, but it happens with the very first weapon you are given, the big ass construction hammer. So it is impossible to miss. It does not happen with everyone weapon, but the fact it happens with even just a few, absolutely blows me away. I cannot see how this alone passed Quality Control, I consider it such a big issue.
  • The draw distance is truly laughable.
    First off, it is indoors. I should not even be talking about a Draw Distance. Lo and behold, Standing what would maybe be 20-25 feet in real life away from a store front, and all of a sudden what is on the inside of the store just magically pops into view? I saw this happen at least 7 times. This has to be another joke right? Again, I am just blown away.
  • Finally, how can so many games still have pre rendered cut scenes were the lip synching is so terribly off?

Honestly, that is all I can see that really sticks out, but man, do these two isses REALLY stick out. I seriously cannot belive it.

Now before people jump down my throat, I am fully aware that the game clearly states in the beginning that this is a work in progress and does not represent the end product. But honestly, considering the game is 4 days away from it's release, I am very, very skeptical that these same issues will not be in the retail game itself.

I know I complain and nitpick alot, but honestly, the fact games now cost $60 a pop, that the console itself was $400, and I feel there has not been any game worth buying in the last two months, really is starting to make me feel just ever so slightly let down on the 360 itself. So as a result, I feel I have every right to point out the negatives in games. Believe me, I wish I did not have to, and games had no issues at all, but this is not the case.

Luckily, I really like Saints Row from the demo and I will be buying that, or I would be extremely disappointed right now, and not just ever so slightly. I also know we will be seeing the second generation of games in a few months, so I am still keeping the faith.

Hopefully, all of these issues are just because of the demo.

awww man, i was really looking forward to this game... **downloading the demo as i write

Hopefully those things you point out wont spoil the fun.... :( , i just like you havent had fun in my 360 for a while now, i even stopped paying Live cuz i see no reason to having it....

Okay, fully keeping in mind I am a nitpicking ******, I gotta say I am NOT IMPRESSED AT ALL with Dead Rising. (N)

Some things that absolutely needs to get fixed with Dead Rising in the retail version

  • The slight pause when you swing some weapons. I mean seriously, is this a joke?
    I cannot believe that a so called "Next Gen" game would even have this issue. Not only that, but it happens with the very first weapon you are given, the big ass construction hammer. So it is impossible to miss. It does not happen with everyone weapon, but the fact it happens with even just a few, absolutely blows me away. I cannot see how this alone passed Quality Control, I consider it such a big issue.
  • The draw distance is truly laughable.
    First off, it is indoors. I should not even be talking about a Draw Distance. Lo and behold, Standing what would maybe be 20-25 feet in real life away from a store front, and all of a sudden what is on the inside of the store just magically pops into view? I saw this happen at least 7 times. This has to be another joke right? Again, I am just blown away.
  • Finally, how can so many games still have pre rendered cut scenes were the lip synching is so terribly off?

Honestly, that is all I can see that really sticks out, but man, do these two isses REALLY stick out. I seriously cannot belive it.

Now before people jump down my throat, I am fully aware that the game clearly states in the beginning that this is a work in progress and does not represent the end product. But honestly, considering the game is 4 days away from it's release, I am very, very skeptical that these same issues will not be in the retail game itself.

I know I complain and nitpick alot, but honestly, the fact games now cost $60 a pop, that the console itself was $400, and I feel there has not been any game worth buying in the last two months, really is starting to make me just slightly let down on the 360 itself.So as a result I feel I have every right to point out the negatives in games. Believe me, I wish I did not have to, and games had no issues at all, but this is not the case.

Luckily, I really like Saints Row from the demo and I will be buying that, or I would be extremely disappointed right now, and not just slightly.

I agree with you on most points and the draw distance isn't the best. I think that most of the power has gone into the foreground though, considering how many zombies there are and the level of detail is very nice.

However this game never really warmed to me and the demo proved it even more to me. The novelty of killing zombies in such ways never did seem all that fun to me and I couldn't see why people were so keen to play this game. It's amusing for the first half hour or so but I don't think even missions would keep me playing this game.

Summer is always slow for games as everyone knows, so I wouldn't lose faith in the 360 yet DL :p This winter holiday is going to be spectacular with titles like Gears of War and Rainbow Six coming out, not to mention all the other great titles (splinter cell, call of duty 3 etc). Summer I feel is always a time to play handheld games more or catch up on some older games you never had the chance to play. I've bought quite a few Xbox titles in preowned bins the past few weeks and had a blast :)

The past week or so has shown that the pace is beginning to pick up with Arcade titles and the new demos, of course Gears of War demo won't be released before the game comes out (as someone above mentioned), it takes away the "punch" and impact it would have on the PS3 release. But it will be an awesome game no doubt :) .

awww man, i was really looking forward to this game... **downloading the demo as i write

Hopefully those things you point out wont spoil the fun.... :( , i just like you havent had fun in my 360 for a while now, i even stopped paying Live cuz i see no reason to having it....

Honestly, in all fairness, I should have pointed out that even with those issues, it does not take away from the fun overall. It is however just disappointing to even see what I saw. I pretty much expect flawlessness by now, so perhaps I am expecting to much.

But since I wrote what I wrote, I have been smashing away on Zombies the entire time, and the technical issues aside, it is without a doubt fun for what it is. So do not get discouraged at all. If you were looking forward to this game, what I pointed out does not ruin it whatsoever, it just makes it feel like someone overlooked some things from a technical aspect. As Drunkn points out below, it very well may they overlooked what I mentioned in order to achieve the level of detail they do in in other aspects.

I agree with you on most points and the draw distance isn't the best. I think that most of the power has gone into the foreground though, considering how many zombies there are and the level of detail is very nice.

However this game never really warmed to me and the demo proved it even more to me. The novelty of killing zombies in such ways never did seem all that fun to me and I couldn't see why people were so keen to play this game. It's amusing for the first half hour or so but I don't think even missions would keep me playing this game.

Summer is always slow for games as everyone knows, so I wouldn't lose faith in the 360 yet DL :p This winter holiday is going to be spectacular with titles like Gears of War and Rainbow Six coming out, not to mention all the other great titles (splinter cell, call of duty 3 etc). Summer I feel is always a time to play handheld games more or catch up on some older games you never had the chance to play. I've bought quite a few Xbox titles in preowned bins the past few weeks and had a blast :)

The past week or so has shown that the pace is beginning to pick up with Arcade titles and the new demos, of course Gears of War demo won't be released before the game comes out (as someone above mentioned), it takes away the "punch" and impact it would have on the PS3 release. But it will be an awesome game no doubt :) .

I have to say I agree 110%. I was also not sold on the overall concept myself, but I figured I would keep an open mind on it all. It is definitely as I pointed out, fun for what it is, but also not really my cup of tea. It is amusing in small doses, but not as a game to sit down and really get into for hours.

And thanks for the pep talk, as I needed it. :yes:

Believe me, I am so looking forward to the games being released in the fall, pretty much my whole decision to even get a 360 had so much to do with Gears Of War alone, never mind some of the other titles you mentioned as well.

Although summer is slow, I have just been extremely under-whelmed with what has come out lately, thats all. I am pretty confident just as you said the 360 will hold it's own, no doubt about it.

I am just blown away by what I feel is one of the "bigger" titles to come out in the summer, has what is to me amateurish technical issues. That's all. :rofl:

Honestly, in all fairness, I should have pointed out that even with those issues, it does not take away from the fun overall. It is however just disappointing to even see what I saw. I pretty much expect flawlessness by now, so perhaps I am expecting to much.

But since I wrote what I wrote, I have been smashing away on Zombies the entire time, and the technical issues aside, it is without a doubt fun for what it is. So do not get discouraged at all. If you were looking forward to this game, what I pointed out does not ruin it whatsoever, it just makes it feel like someone overlooked some things from a technical aspect. As Drunkn points out below, it very well may they overlooked what I mentioned in order to achieve the level of detail they do in in other aspects.

I have to say I agree 110%. I was also not sold on the overall concept myself, but I figured I would keep an open mind on it all. It is definitely as I pointed out, fun for what it is, but also not really my cup of tea. It is amusing in small doses, but not as a game to sit down and really get into for hours.

And thanks for the pep talk, as I needed it. :yes:

Believe me, I am so looking forward to the games being released in the fall, pretty much my whole decision to even get a 360 had so much to do with Gears Of War alone, never mind some of the other titles you mentioned as well.

Although summer is slow, I have just been extremely under-whelmed with what has come out lately, thats all. I am pretty confident just as you said the 360 will hold it's own, no doubt about it.

I am just blown away by what I feel is one of the "bigger" titles to come out in the summer, has what is to me amateurish technical issues. That's all. :rofl:

Cool, ill try it when it finishes.... **its taking forever.... :sleep:

I have to say I agree 110%. I was also not sold on the overall concept myself, but I figured I would keep an open mind on it all. It is definitely as I pointed out, fun for what it is, but also not really my cup of tea. It is amusing in small doses, but not as a game to sit down and really get into for hours.

And thanks for the pep talk, as I needed it. :yes:

Believe me, I am so looking forward to the games being released in the fall, pretty much my whole decision to even get a 360 had so much to do with Gears Of War alone, never mind some of the other titles you mentioned as well.

Although summer is slow, I have just been extremely under-whelmed with what has come out lately, thats all. I am pretty confident just as you said the 360 will hold it's own, no doubt about it.

I am just blown away by what I feel is one of the "bigger" titles to come out in the summer, has what is to me amateurish technical issues. That's all. :rofl:

I agree with you that the 360 releases have been very dry over the summer, and I've felt it bad, as others will I expect.

I think however that BFME2 was a significant release for the 360 as it shows other developers they are no longer tied to developing RTS games for the PC and they can accomplish great games on consoles too. The only off putting aspect of the release was the game was available already for the PC many months beforehand.

Before summer I checked out the release dates for most up coming games and in the end I decided to look elsewhere and bought myself a DS Lite and it's been fantastic. With the nice weather it's great to game outside, and makes travelling to my gf's house for example, much more fun.

Dead Rising has a great potential to be a great game and I'm sure it will live up to a lot of people's expectations. But for myself it's not a "must have" title. And you can't expect every game in the 360 library to appeal to everyone, so I don't see the problem really if it does flop.

I am looking forward to other Capcom games though, especially Lost Planet and of course Resident Evil 5 (which I am a great fan of the series). Capcom I think are trying out new ideas and testing the water to see what gamers like (especially with Lost Planet I feel as it breaks away from their comfortable zombie theme). Maybe I'm wrong :/

The Arcade games every wednesday was a great idea from Microsoft also I feel. Even although the titles aren't everyone's cup of tea, you can't grudge them for trying and giving gamers what they promised. They have done a great job thus far and I expect they will do in future also (with the likes of Texas hold'em poker and Sonic the Hedgehog on the way). The games are great for breaking up the pace also and good time fillers for when you don't want to spend lots of time indoors during summery days :yes: .

Also, glad to see you haven't lost the "faith" yet DL

ps. sorry for rambling :p

I loved it. I ran around and did all kinds of crap. Changed clothes and what not. I did notice the little pause but I have faith that it will not happen when the game is released on Tuesday. But overall I am very happy with the demo.

Dead rising is fun to play with, but i would never purchase that game :no: How can you go around doing the same stuff the entire game?

Hint: go upstairs and get the shopping cart, most fun i've had in a video game in a LONG time

I agree with you that the 360 releases have been very dry over the summer, and I've felt it bad, as others will I expect.

I think however that BFME2 was a significant release for the 360 as it shows other developers they are no longer tied to developing RTS games for the PC and they can accomplish great games on consoles too. The only off putting aspect of the release was the game was available already for the PC many months beforehand.

Before summer I checked out the release dates for most up coming games and in the end I decided to look elsewhere and bought myself a DS Lite and it's been fantastic. With the nice weather it's great to game outside, and makes travelling to my gf's house for example, much more fun.

Dead Rising has a great potential to be a great game and I'm sure it will live up to a lot of people's expectations. But for myself it's not a "must have" title. And you can't expect every game in the 360 library to appeal to everyone, so I don't see the problem really if it does flop.

I am looking forward to other Capcom games though, especially Lost Planet and of course Resident Evil 5 (which I am a great fan of the series). Capcom I think are trying out new ideas and testing the water to see what gamers like (especially with Lost Planet I feel as it breaks away from their comfortable zombie theme). Maybe I'm wrong :/

The Arcade games every wednesday was a great idea from Microsoft also I feel. Even although the titles aren't everyone's cup of tea, you can't grudge them for trying and giving gamers what they promised. They have done a great job thus far and I expect they will do in future also (with the likes of Texas hold'em poker and Sonic the Hedgehog on the way). The games are great for breaking up the pace also and good time fillers for when you don't want to spend lots of time indoors during summery days :yes: .

Also, glad to see you haven't lost the "faith" yet DL

ps. sorry for rambling :p

Looks like we agree on a decent amount of things...

  • I also bought a DS Lite about 2 months ago...
  • I also absolutely love Resident Evil, especially 4. I will keep my gamecube forever just to fire that game up again in the future, not even kidding...
  • I also think the Arcade is a great, great aspect of the 360... the game I have actually played most on my 360 this past month or so is actually Cloning Clyde...
  • In regards to BFME 2, I will tell you what I think of that in a few days, as it just arrived today in the mail as a Rental. I did check out the PC version months back though, and I played through the demo on the 360, and my initial reaction to that is they did a great job pulling off the controls of an RTS on a console. So actually I also agree with you in regards to that was a Big Release simply from the standpoint of what it means for more RTS's being made in the future for consoles...

So I admit with my original post pointing out all of the negatives with Dead Rising, I should have also included what are some of the positives within that post, and not do so a couple of posts after.

The last thing I wanted to do was cast a shadow of doubt for anyone who might be looking forward the game.

It is imperative to keep in mind I tend to really pay a lot of attention to how games run, as I am a firm believer that console games should run flawless, or at least next to flawless due to the controlled (meaning for one piece of specific hardware) development process. If I want to worry about if a game is running well or as good as it can be, well that is what my PC is for you know? :rofl: Which for the record, I love gaming on my PC, that was just a joke.

As lylesback said, and I also suggest it too, go get the shopping cart on the second floor. It is a super amount of deviant fun. :laugh:

Has anyone found the katana in the demo and there are two shopping carts one on the second floor and only towards the movie theatre in the back of the first floor.

Okay here are some of the secret weapons. Still looking for the Uzi.

KATANA> Go upstairs to the restaurant with the blender and stove. Head over to the railing and look down, you'll see a red awning. There's the Katana, enjoy! (if there are zombies below, jump down! I've landed on one and killed it, and hit one with the hammer on the way down somehow)

BROOM & BUCKET> Downstairs, you have to find the bathrooms, it's in one of the two right by the door. They're by one of the staircases and down a little hallway. The broom, after you hit a few zombies with it, the head breaks off making a spear which you can throw and IMPALE a zombie! I need to do this and get a picture lol

SPITFIRE> It's a drink made from the blender. If I recall correctly it was OJ and a PIE, and it spits out a red drink. Drink up!

Now unarm yourself (drop every item you have), push RT and then X, you spit! Except your spit kills zombies in 1 or 2 hits. When it runs out you can still spit and it's useless but funny.

Water gun>In the toy store on the first floor.

Edited by Vexed

I can't seem to get Dead Rising demo to work, it keeps popping up a message saying clean the disc! and i've downloaded it twice. Anyone else had this problem or got a solution?

It all loads correctly but the problem appears after i press Start.

Edited by SnoopZ

I can't seem to get Dead Rising demo to work, it keeps popping up a message saying clean the disc! and i've downloaded it twice. Anyone else had this problem or got a solution?

It all loads correctly but the problem appears after i press Start.

:| :wacko: That is definitely a first to me, super weird and obviously something is crazy and out of whach...

Since you are getting a disk error message, what about trying it without a disk in your drive if you have not already done so. It should not make a bit of difference, but since you are getting the disk error maybe somehow it will..

Then I would say delete the download and try downloading it again...

That is all I can think of since I never heard of this issue with a demo running off of the hard drive. Really weird. Maybe even worth a call to MS Support if you cannot get it working.

Good Luck. (Y)

I can't seem to get Dead Rising demo to work, it keeps popping up a message saying clean the disc! and i've downloaded it twice. Anyone else had this problem or got a solution?

It all loads correctly but the problem appears after i press Start.

This can occur if you have missed/skipped any live updates, have you missed any at all? This is a known occurence when using an older firmware version.

Check yourr, by going to system/Console Settings/System Info/ in the dashboard. It should read D:2.0.2858.0 - K:2.0.2858.0 (BK:2.0.1888.0)

The bolded are the current versions of the XDK.

I can't really see how you miss them though as it will ask each time you load start the 360 if you want to update.

Other than that I would suggest contacting microsoft regarding it.

HTH

[edit]

Just one last thought, do you have two accounts for different territories, for example an EU and a US account? If so then try switching to the account that is relevant to your territory, that can sometimes be an issue.

[/edit]

:| :wacko: That is definitely a first to me, super weird and obviously something is crazy and out of whach...

Since you are getting a disk error message, what about trying it without a disk in your drive if you have not already done so. It should not make a bit of difference, but since you are getting the disk error maybe somehow it will..

Then I would say delete the download and try downloading it again...

That is all I can think of since I never heard of this issue with a demo running off of the hard drive. Really weird. Maybe even worth a call to MS Support if you cannot get it working.

Good Luck. (Y)

Done all that. Maybe ill try downloading again today, it did come down really fast for me yesterday.

This can occur if you have missed/skipped any live updates, have you missed any at all? This is a known occurence when using an older firmware version.

Check yourr, by going to system/Console Settings/System Info/ in the dashboard. It should read D:2.0.2858.0 - K:2.0.2858.0 (BK:2.0.1888.0)

The bolded are the current versions of the XDK.

I can't really see how you miss them though as it will ask each time you load start the 360 if you want to update.

Other than that I would suggest contacting microsoft regarding it.

HTH

[edit]

Just one last thought, do you have two accounts for different territories, for example an EU and a US account? If so then try switching to the account that is relevant to your territory, that can sometimes be an issue.

[/edit]

I have that version of dashboard and only my EU account. All other demos and games work fine though.I'll try downloading again sometime. :)

I can't seem to get Dead Rising demo to work, it keeps popping up a message saying clean the disc! and i've downloaded it twice. Anyone else had this problem or got a solution?

It all loads correctly but the problem appears after i press Start.

You're not alone (unless you made that comment too).

Very weird problem!

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I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
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