Official Xbox 360 vs. The World

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Please use this thread to discuss why you think the Xbox 360 is better than the rest. Also, read this announcement before posting.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Most active console community, cheapest HD hardware, best family friendly setup.

[Crisp]

Party Chat.

[Hedon]

Better games, better features, better community connectivity and better hardware.

[addc182]

xbox live.

[thenaes]

Xbox Live and their huge install base.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

One of the best things I like about the Xbox 360 is Xbox Live. Over the years, Microsoft has refined it to make it awesome. I love how I can go online, get into my favourite game, and begin inviting my friends right away. That unified social gaming experience can't be found on the PC. As for the PS3, its online features are great but not as good as the Xbox 360 (for obvious reasons). One is a paid service while the other is free.

[Guest]

Xbox Live and the pad. Just an overall better gaming experience.

[neoadorable]

funny thread. as for the 360, most integrated and wholesome gaming platform i've ever had. despite all the problems, i can safely say it just works. and it's also the closest in terms of technical quality to PC gaming we've ever gotten with a console, and i think PC's are still the yardstick by which technology is measured.

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

Kinect, Party Chat, XBL, and Gears of War. :)

[neoadorable]

underoath lives!!!

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

• The exclusive games on the 360 appeal to me... such as Gears, Halo, Heavy Weapon, Crackdown, all the Japanese shoot em up ports, Geometry Wars 2 and some of the one hit wonders such as Kameo.
  
• Xbox Live is by far the best multiplayer gaming service on the internet.
  
• The majority of people I know prefer to play on the 360 rather than another console or the PC.
  
• Achievements make me do / explore areas of a game i might not bother with.
  
• Community integration, such as the gamercard in my sig for example, comparing achievements, gamerscore and so on.
  
• Kinect is getting people who would not be interested in the 360 playing, its also an innovation in its own right.
  
• Cheap extender for Windows Media Center
  

When I originally purchased a 360 on the UK launch day the main reason was to hack it for homebrew, when such a hack become available. I had no real intention to use it as anything more as a media center extender until it was hacked.

I never expected the 360 to convert me from a die hard PC gamer who thought Xbox Live was a waste of money, to someone who now only games on the 360 and thinks Xbox Live is worth every penny.

[neoadorable]

well said. now where's the gamerscore to go with all that enthusiasm :laugh: ?

[Neo003]

One score and eighteen years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new console, conceived in nerdiness and Cheetos that all consoles are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great fanboyism, testing weather that game or any game so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great COD online section of that war. We have come to dedicate a DLC map as a final resting place for those who gave their COD points that

I'm still working on it. :p :laugh:

[treemonster]

. That unified social gaming experience can't be found on the PC.

actually it's called steam, and it's easier there. a large fraction of games on teh pc are available on steam. the biggest splinter for pc gaming social networking is blizz vs steam, and you can still tell your steam friends you're playing a blizz game automatically everytime you launch them by adding them to steam and launching from there(i honestly wish they'd take this one step furtherand detect the .exe launch automatically from teh desktop short cut for example). and with steam i can create my own community page, add members and post, set up events, monitor members game time usage and other stats, link pics and videos, text chat, start voice chat with online members, post links to my voice chat server of choice(mumble vent ts3) all without ever launching the game first, and switchign between games i don't even have to get out of my seat, or stop voice chatting with my friends.

sorry to rain on your parade.

when i get my xbox s i am going to be refreshing myself on xbl and see if it's any easier to set up streaming from a pc running windows(7) than it was 3 years ago, when it was huge pita and siuffered from poor bit rate, large network traffic, and huge use of the the pc's reosurces to encode the stream from one format to another in real time, not to mention being dificult to set up and not exactly straight forward even with ms's own guide. i'm optimisitic given how fast and easy it was to set up streaming to my netbook, also running win7, and hearing about greater multi media integration with xbl and dashboard updates and such.

i'm also thinking of getting netflix for both my pc and my xbox. it would be nice to be able to choose wether to watch streaming media on my chair in 1080p or laying on my couch in 720p.

overall i'm pretty psyched to get the xbox, alot more so than the ps3. there's actually more than one game on xbox i'm interested in, and tbh had i known that game i bought he ps3 for was on xbox i would've got that instead.

overall for the xbox set up i spent about umm $7-800 up front not including the couch i already have. that's a 32" 720p tv, an xbox 250gb slim bundled with an extra controller, a stand for the tv and xbox, a game, ms points card, and xbl gold sub card. still cheaper than my (lower) high end pc and furniture though, admittedly.

[neoadorable]

heh heh funny quote neo, that actually made laugh out loud. i think you should make it your goal, that before this decade is out, to reach a gamerscore of 100K and return from it safely, ich bin ein Xboxer! yeah i don't mean to make fun of JF, but in light of the total disrespect shown him by Black Ops i figure i can get away with it :rolleyes:

and i mostly agree with treemonster, Steam is almost as complete as Xbox Live - almost, but not just there yet. don't forget a good noticable percentage of games still refuse to work for various PC reasons (as i was recently reminded with KOTOR), despite all of Gabe's efforts to make it a seamless storefront. this happens on PC about a million or two times for every instance of it on the 360 or PS3. console games just work. also, Steam is still infinitely more convoluted than XBL. even finding your Steam ID is a pain in the butt, when it should be the simplest thing in the world. so the PC isn't there yet, but i love it. there's no touching PC gaming for brute performance and that very unique feel. however, the 360 remains my primary entertainment platform.

also treemonster, it sounds like you got a whole setup planned and it's exciting that you're psyched about getting a 360. what took you so long? you have a lot of catching up to do. and BTW i do respect you and enjoy reading your posts, but it's THE, THE, not TEH! :laugh:

[treemonster]

also treemonster, it sounds like you got a whole setup planned and it's exciting that you're psyched about getting a 360. what took you so long? you have a lot of catching up to do. and BTW i do respect you and enjoy reading your posts, but it's THE, THE, not TEH! :laugh:

thanks for the props. and yeah my typing sucks. :p welcome to the internet? :laugh:

anyways, one thing i discovered about steam looking at my groups, is group chat for when you just don't feel like talking in voice chat. i have a few friends that chat during the day on a forum then get into voice chat at night. part of it is work, part of it is just not feeling voice chatty but feeling type chatty during certain hours. one thing that the pc has over xbox though, unless i'm mistaken, is cross game voice chat. i don't need to be playing the same game or server as my friends to chat.

what took me so long? idk, my bro and i shared an xbox for a couple years a few years ago. we had gta4, gundam dynsaty warriors 2, rockband, halo 3 and so on. i was the first to try setting it up as a media player streaming from my pc and it was such a PITA. got it working the second attempt and the quality was just awful. i'm hoping this has changed since then. halo3 was about on par with crysis for keeping me playing, which means i didn't get too far in the sp campaign, and fps on consoles i'd rather do splitscreen local only while drinking with friends, so i can own them without a bunch of kids killing me. gta4 mp was fun in small doses, i mean playing a game of manhunt in freeroam with a load out of guns and rpging a car load of other players was pretty cool, but after the first week most people just did deathmatch at the airport, and i got bored of pure dm in fps games in hl1 in 1998. oh and most of the people talking in voice sounded like 8 year old girls.

otherwise there just hasn't been a lot of games on the platform that appealed to me. now there's at least 2, rdr and fable3. i'd rather play them on pc, but i'm not holding my breath. i'm reading xbox official magazine for some other purchase ideas but so far... it reads like too much of an ad and is otherwise weird(kinda typical for game mags) only half way through though. biggest thing that stands out about it is how many references they make to pc only games. i guess my first clue was reading the note from the editor and she said "playing kinect makes you look cool" no, no it doesn't.

i'm really backlogged on games as it is right now though. i'm like 1/3 of the way through me2 at most, then i started playing wow again, now i have borderlands goty, and kotor added to steam, and rdr queued up for when i get my xbox. i haven't even had time to set up the media stand for the tv/xbox.

back to steam vs xbl, i'll probably have more comments when i get my xbox and fire it up for myself. it's been years since i last used it and it was far away from what steam was back then. but being able to type chat/information/links and quickly join different games my friends are playing and planning community group events is a big advantage for steam imho. the devs inability to patch their games to work with modern hardware despite offering them on steam(i'm looking at you KOTOR) is definitely a drawback. there are older games that don't need much work to get running on a pc 12 years newer than the game(though multiplayer for these games can be another story). but on the offside, xbox wouldn't even have these games, unless original xbox games are available for sale and download from xbl now.

[neoadorable]

the 360 is primarily a games machine, and a great one at that. focusing too much on its media center capabilities will invariably cause disappointment. a modern PC is much better for that. typing is one thing indeed PC has over the 360, for sure, even with the "keyboard" attachment it's still not that great on the console. but i find the controller much better than keyboard and mouse, i'm replaying RE5 on the PC and at times it's downright unplayable with a keyboard and mouse, whereas on the 360 it was such a joy. anyway, i also think your rather stereotypical portrayal of XBL is a little off...it's not only screeching kids, and it's not like with the PC you only get college age and above. plus the 360 is more of a controlled environment so there's less cheating overall.

some of the older Xbox games are on Games on Demand, but not a whole lot of them, of course you're right, the PC catalog is more impressive than all the current gen consoles combines in terms of number of games, innovation, variety what have you. but with the consoles you're buying into the stability and the focused experience, plus the smoother integration, that's what they're good for. with the PC, well keep in mind the average person in the world doesn't want to worry about 12V rails, driver sweeper and case airflow. that's why the current consoles are so successful, they're in the same ballpark as the PC in terms of broad performance so the games look OK if not good, but they're simple to operate and work with.

[treemonster]

as far as which controller is best, it all depends on the game really. even though a game like gta 4 has shooting, i'd rather play it on xbox for driving, i'm not into buying expensive driving only controllers so the console controller is best for me for racing games, even if the pc has better racing sims. where as pure fps games i can't stand playing with a controller, it just doesn't feel right. rpg's are hit or miss, some are better with a controller, others with a kb/mouse, some are fairly equal.

as for hte kids on xbl mp, i didn't play much but that's how it was when i did play online. there was always some 8 year old spamming voice chat asking to party with someone or w/e. it wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be. they weren't raging or anything. and it's not like back in my cs days there wasn't the occasional 8 year old sounding kid in voice chat either. keep in mind i play wow so i can put up with a lot when it comes to so called immaturity, then again, my brand of so called immaturity is really for adults only.

otherwwise in games that were more traditionally in the realm of the pc platform just a few years ago, i tend to feel more constrained and boxed in playing them. if it's not end user mods lacking, it's server side and server admin mods that are lacking. that being said pc games have this less and less as devs lean more towards unified releases across platforms. still even with closed games, it has never stopped the mod community from modding those games if they really want to on pc.

i think the technical know how needed for pc gaming is often overstated, and what's involved with consoles often understated. i've known people that can't properly hook up elements of their home theatre system that can use a windows pc reasonably well for internet and facebook and it's games. and totally tech retarded people seem to love smartphones, where as i personally can't figure them out(not that i've spent much time with them). it's quite possible to game reasonably well on higher IQ settings and resolutions on a budget prebuilt pc that will cost less than buying any 2 out of 3 consoles with about as much tech literacy needed with current OSes and systems like steam.

but for many, nothing is really easier than just popping in a disc to play a game, even if in technical terms installing it once to your hdd and starting it up without ever leaving your chair is far faster and more convenient. and tbh i'm a bit biased here, because quite frankly i hate changing discs on my pc too, so looking at the console hdd sizes i am annoyed that i payed for a$100 premium for 250gb hdd instead of 4gb when i can buy a 1-2tb hdd that's likely faster than what the xbox has for less than $100 including shipping and taxes.

if the media capabilities of the xbox haven't been improved i will be annoyed considering how these features are so prominently advertised these days as plus points of xblg and the console itself. they talk more about netflix, but i don't think i should be wrong in extending my hope that streaming from my desktop pc will be improved as well, vs my previous experience(which was more of a hey the xbox is supposed to do this and my friend has it set up this way, let's try it out!)

[neoadorable]

hear what you're saying, there's been a lot of convergence in the last five years, PCs are more like consoles and consoles are more like PCs. but i don't agree that a pre-built PC is as simple to work as a 360...no way man. just look at neowin, even here you get people who can't run GTAIV on their PC, and that's a really recent game. that just doesn't happen on the 360. it's more than just popping in the disc, it's the whole experience. of course you're right that stuff on the consoles is overpriced - yeah 250GB ain't much for what you're paying, for sure. but you're paying for ease of use and guaranteed compatibility, both are never a given with the PC. even with the best assembled pre-built PC users get problems the next time a driver comes out, or MS decides to patch the OS massively, or whatever. doesn't happen on consoles. the 360, in our case.

anyway, this isn't really about PC vs 360, you're making the right move by getting the console, i already asked you what took you so long. i think you should also get used to playing FPS's with the controller...i like it a lot more than keyboard and mouse now. and i reiterate, the 360 is a great games machine but not a great media center, leave that to your PC. even something simple like playing VCD's (i know, i know, what can i say, i'm a collector) is impossible on the 360 despite what MS initially said. that's just an example. PC's way better for media.

[DigitalE]

• Best controller
  
• Best selection of games (retail and XBLA)
  
• Most multi-platform games seem to perform better on the 360
  
• Xbox Live
  
• Windows Media Center
  

[treemonster]

hear what you're saying, there's been a lot of convergence in the last five years, PCs are more like consoles and consoles are more like PCs. but i don't agree that a pre-built PC is as simple to work as a 360...no way man. just look at neowin, even here you get people who can't run GTAIV on their PC, and that's a really recent game. that just doesn't happen on the 360. it's more than just popping in the disc, it's the whole experience. of course you're right that stuff on the consoles is overpriced - yeah 250GB ain't much for what you're paying, for sure. but you're paying for ease of use and guaranteed compatibility, both are never a given with the PC. even with the best assembled pre-built PC users get problems the next time a driver comes out, or MS decides to patch the OS massively, or whatever. doesn't happen on consoles. the 360, in our case.

anyway, this isn't really about PC vs 360, you're making the right move by getting the console, i already asked you what took you so long. i think you should also get used to playing FPS's with the controller...i like it a lot more than keyboard and mouse now. and i reiterate, the 360 is a great games machine but not a great media center, leave that to your PC. even something simple like playing VCD's (i know, i know, what can i say, i'm a collector) is impossible on the 360 despite what MS initially said. that's just an example. PC's way better for media.

meh games like gta4, kotor, etc are the exception for pc. in gta4's case it's MS pushing GFWL without supporting or QAing it properly when they should know better. they do have the experience and track record in pc games afterall. most pc games take very little effort to get working

i've heard of plenty of minor issues similar in scope to a new driver release being buggy or w/e on consoles during this generation. nevermind the rrod thing or non rrod xbox failures. never had a problem with windows patches causes problems in games or other apps.

and no i don't mean to turn it in to pc vs xbox. i just happen compare them both when talking about them as i have the most experience with pc than i do with any single console. i've had pc's for games and other stuff since i was 12, my first nes when i was 6. overall i've had just as many issues with console games in that time as pc games. for example blowing on the nes cartridge to get it to work, or needing to have your game genie plugged in with all games to get them to work.

i simply don't like fps on controllers. i've played plenty since 1997 or so, maybe earlier. my favourite is still perfect dark 64 due to the local multiplayer and it's various options including awesome bots and weapon spawn selection, and at the time i had just started using my mouse in fps games, so teh n64's jstick wasn't a big deal, even though the levels were very vertical in some cases.

i don't want to play dvd's or vcd's on the xbox, just stream video and watch youtube on the xbox. it would be alot easier than buying a minihdmi to hdmi cord that's long enough to run the long way around my wall so i don't risk tripping it over it.\

anywyas xbox arrived today, tv did not. :( now i need to get going on setting up the stand. :D

[neoadorable]

for what you need the 360 will be more than fine, albeit not as nice as an HTPC...might as well build one of those if you got some spare part/cash. i know what you're saying about legacy consoles, there were more problems with those. but you can't seriously compare the complexity of a PC with that of a console - any console. i think this generation makes people more nervous, especially PC gaming traditionalist, because it's come the closest to closing the tech gap with the PC. of couse close but no cigar, but still, within the same ballpark as i said before. anyway, the main thing is enjoy your brand new 360 slim!

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

actually it's called steam, and it's easier there. a large fraction of games on teh pc are available on steam. the biggest splinter for pc gaming social networking is blizz vs steam, and you can still tell your steam friends you're playing a blizz game automatically everytime you launch them by adding them to steam and launching from there(i honestly wish they'd take this one step furtherand detect the .exe launch automatically from teh desktop short cut for example). and with steam i can create my own community page, add members and post, set up events, monitor members game time usage and other stats, link pics and videos, text chat, start voice chat with online members, post links to my voice chat server of choice(mumble vent ts3) all without ever launching the game first, and switchign between games i don't even have to get out of my seat, or stop voice chatting with my friends.

sorry to rain on your parade.

[...]

What parade? :p

On a more serious note, it will never be as unified as Xbox Live. Steam may be popular but it doesn't encompass everything in the world of PC gaming. You have other services like Direct2Drive and Impulse that are separate from Steam (and one another). Also, not all games support Steam's features. I'm talking about features like inviting someone to a game or creating a party. It's great that some features are there like instant messaging and voice chat but the bottom line is, so many PC games have their own features. And with Steam stacked on top, it sometimes results in a conflicting gaming experience. A good example is any game that uses the Games for Windows LIVE service. I can have friends messaging me through LIVE and friends messaging me through Steam. With Xbox Live, everything is handled by the service.

[neoadorable]

and Steam explicitly DOESN'T guarantee the games will even work, whereas Live and PSN do. of course there are exceptions, but on the consoles those are really rare. the PC is a free-floating market, so Steam can release Manhunt finally, which neodorable gladly forks over ten bucks for without question, and the game doesn't work, it crashes after like ten minutes of play. now neodorable needs to email Steam, and they'll be like, oh so sorry, go look on the forums/talk to Rockstar. doesn't happen on the 360 dude. i'm definitely in love with PC gaming again, but in terms of sheer comfort it's not even a patch on console gaming.