New XBox 360 screens?

[Izuno]

HOLY SHIT the Xbox360 is going to kill. The entire experience of console gaming is going to be a lot different come November.

Are you being sarcastic or serious?

serious.

[KungFuSquirrel]

your're right...i couldnt care less

anyway...who cares what it looks like?

the asthetics dont make or break the graphics or capabilities do they?

No, but if it's already a good system, a snazzy outer coating just makes it even cooler.

I think it looks great. The renders and the early shots of the controllers look terrible with that white color, but the silvered photo variety looks like pure sex (especially with the final font ). If the controllers take on that sort of finish as well, I'll be a very happy man. Definitely looking forward to it.

[Lee3dee]

HOLY SHIT the Xbox360 is going to kill. The entire experience of console gaming is going to be a lot different come November.

Are you being sarcastic or serious?

serious.

need more info! without breaking the NDA images viewed with eyes, descriptions, etc

[Izuno]

ok first of all we didn't see a live unit, only blown up high res pictures. it is an improvement over the xbox for sure. the thing about it is that microsoft is taking it way more seriously than the xbox launch in 2001 and we were blown away by just how much time they have put into their online strategy and xbox live network for the 360. from a business point of view, it should be much more appealing to the mass market, plus there are many features that core gamers will appreciate. we're under nda not to discuss, but doesn't matter because come E3 all will be made public.

as for physical descriptions, i can't really say anything about that except i was not blown away or anything, but it does look nicer than the bulky xbox and it looks closer to something Apple might have designed than Microsoft. we did get to see and touch an actual controller, and that was pretty cool. i really like the S-controller, and the 360 felt about as good in my hands so it's not much of a stretch from what we're used to with xbox. one thing is for sure, don't worry about having it tucked away in your media cabinet beneath your tv with it's glass doors shut...you'll still be able to play....

oh did i mention the standard HD support? i think that's public info already. all 360 games must at least support 720 p, 16x9 and 5.1 surround. not sure how much higher into HD some games will go.

they did not confirm or deny backwards compatibility yet. i have to believe they are working on that and will include it. we'll see.

they will continue to support the Xbox even after the 360 launches, for whatever that's worth. so if you give your old xbox to a younger sibling there should still be at least some new content for a few years to come.

right now the specs on the 360 are higher than the typical high end PC, so games currently in development for the PC should port fairly easily to 360. Porting native 360 code to PCs will be more difficult. They did not discuss the PlayStation 3 at all or how Sony's strategy is impacting theirs.

the big deal on the live support will be the "microtransactions"...basically if you have broadband youc an be on a free version of xbox live all the time if you want, an online portal you connect to through the console that allows you to download and play demos for free, see game trailers, check out what's available for download for all 360, not just what's in the disc tray at the moment. you will also be able to buy addon content in the forms of maps, levels, vehicles, weapons or other small bits of content. prices will typcially be very very small like 10 cents for a custom decal if you really want it or maybe a buck for a new multiplayer map, 5 bucks for a new single player episode. pricing on mini content is not final, and it's designed to be cheap enough so you don't have to get screwed on value. plus you don't need a credit card to buy stuff. you can buy prepaid cards at a retailer like bestbuy and input the code and store up points in your account....then you spend points accordingly. if you are a developer/publisher, Microsoft will take care of billing and send you the profits after they take their cut. they seemed to realize their cut won't be that big which is good because it will encourage developers to keep making additional content for popular games. that way consumers can pick and choose what additional content they are willing to pay for or not.

oh...it should be able to detect your windows PC if you want it to...and thereby it will be able to play MP3s from your computer in custom playlists in any 360 game. i think they said you can pause in the middle of any game and alter your playlist.

online multlplayer is only available with full paid subscriptions to the live system, however they predict many games will have "free weekends" to let people try multiplayer for specific games to see if they like before buying a subscription. also, i think they may end up selling weekend passes for small fees. the possibilities for that are pretty big.

they did not tell us what other 3rd party publishers were developing for the 360 launch, and that's really the missing link here. no matter how cool the 360 is, no matter how powerful it is, no matter how good the online and live support is, if the system does not have good games at launch it won't be as good as a product overall. that said, it does seem like Microsoft is spending a lot more time and money in supporting 3rd party publishers to make better games for this launch relative to the xbox launch. and that's really what it comes down to. if there are great games and great capabilities, than it will be a great product. so far I believe the capabilities will be there...now it's up to Microsoft and 3rd party pubs/studios to deliver great content.

bottom line: everything is ready to go to make the 360 the best console to date, all we need now are kick ass games.

[Lee3dee]

Thanks for the info, i'll be glued to E3 news soon. As far as good games on xbox 360, well I think Bungie owes everyone including me, Halo 2 - Part 2 as a launch title

[Izuno]

I think Bungie owes everyone including me, Halo 2 - Part 2 as a launch title

uh....

[Kedhrin]

Why must i be poor and not be able to afford e3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ctswin]

I think Bungie owes everyone including me, Halo 2 - Part 2 as a launch title

uh....

it was so bad, they have to do it again?

[ReNo]

I really enjoyed it personally. I don't get why people make it out to be "so bad" when even if it wasn't to your taste, claiming it sucks is just bullshit.

Thanks for all the info Izuno, some of it was already known but its nice to have more confirmation. Any more info on the HardDrive? There was talk about there being multiple versions of the hardware, some of which come with HDD's while others do not.

[InsaneSingingBlender]

playstation 4evr

[FrieChamp]

Yes Microsoft is on top of my list with the X-Box 2, but who knows what Sony and Nintendo got cooking...

[Lee3dee]

I really enjoyed it personally. I don't get why people make it out to be "so bad" when even if it wasn't to your taste, claiming it sucks is just bullshit.

I never said halo2 was "so bad" . Halo 2 had me addicted for 2 weeks straight, everything about the game was extremely engaging, then it ended abruptly, where as other games, you finish them and you know there's a sequel coming, bungine opted for getting you prepared for battle and the "to be continued" mad me sad, sniff sniff

[Tequila]

Seriously, just give me Project Gotham 3 and Live at launch and I'll be the happiest man alive.

Race on!

[ReNo]

I was referring to ctswin's post actually Lee, I do agree the ending was abrupt Not that the game was too short or anything, just didnt seem like an end point.

Tequila, you're a man after my own heart I haven't played PGR2 online in quite a while, but its the best thing about Live.

[Izuno]

Seriously, just give me Project Gotham 3 and Live at launch and I'll be the happiest man alive.

Race on!

Since MS will officially announce the 1st party launch lineup at E3 you won't have to wait much longer to find out.

That said, every major console launch in recent history has had a big time racing game. For the Xbox it was the original PGR. I would bet that MS will have a kick ass racing game for the 360 launch, the question is, will it be PGR3 or a new franchise? Given PGR is to MS Xbox as GT is to PS1/2, my money is on PGR3, but than again most industry wags, pundits and analysts would predict that as well.

So the real question is, will you buy an HD TV if you don't already have one?