First Day Verdict

[NeilMcRae]

Just booted them up to test, both work, happy days! The PSU though is a bit of a joke.

Neil.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Good - Pad, dashboard, GPU/CPU, Xbox Live, market place, guide button, hard disk, hi-def

Bad - Heat problems, power brick, fan noise, flimsy disc tray, console size, no HD-DVD (yet)


Overall - A very well thought out machine with great potential and a solid launch line up. It could use a killer app though.

And as for whether the games feel 'next-gen'. Well, I'd say not. They look better than Xbox 1, but the difference is pretty small. The real next-gen stuff is a good way off yet.

[Shozuki]

Like the others I absolutely love it!!! I've been using mine for a good 5 hours and have encountered no problems.

I couldn't believe my eyes when it booted in 720p. PGR3, PDZ are awesome!! enjoying them so much I havent even been on live yet - mainly cos I had to go to work and I think i'd be sacked if I started a live session

My only gripe has been with the Condemned game... not really enjoying it all... but im gonna trade it in might try something like Amped 3... or just take the cash cos RR6 is on its way from VG+

but anyways its brill!!

[jim g]

So far so good, only downer is I am using Composite leads until Monday when ny VGA cable arrived from Scan Computers, Can't wait to the real graphic difference.

PGR is superb and the solidity of the graphics is great.

The machine is bloody noisy

Havenlt check live yet, my PC wont connect to 360 (my lack of skill not 360!)

[sj33]

Just booted them up to test, both work, happy days! The PSU though is a bit of a joke.

Neil.

I think when PSU's start to become half as big as the machine they are powering, it starts to get silly.

[Bleeders]

I get a slight shimmering effect when I use 720p on my one, although stick it in 1080i and it's fine!

[Jebus]

This might be a really silly question but can I ask why anyone is bothered about the power brick? I couldn't care less how big or small it is, the console itself looks wonderful, plays great, the dash is perfect...I really don't get why people are talking about the power block when there is so much else to talk about!

[fallenangle]

The reason they're talking about the PSU is because beyond a certain size point having a separate PSU starts to get ridiculous. How many other electrical appliances in your home come with a detached PSU?

It's a crude solution chosen to allow the console to be the shape, size and weight it is. It's essentially a design cheat with the only user benefit being if the unit is unreliable and needs replacing. This is a trend (PSOne, PS2wo) which which needs to be condemned by anyone who cares about good design.

When the XB360 starts getting awards I hope somebody plonks the separate PSU down beside it and they judge the whole package not just the window display.

[sj33]

This might be a really silly question but can I ask why anyone is bothered about the power brick? I couldn't care less how big or small it is, the console itself looks wonderful, plays great, the dash is perfect...I really don't get why people are talking about the power block when there is so much else to talk about!

Hey I totally agree that it's not a big deal.
I merely mentioned the size to show comparison to the size of the console.

All those rumours about how the PSU's used to get hot has made me put the thing on the desk by my machine, as opposed to on the floor, or down the back of the unit.
Paranoia of course, my new machine is my pride and joy right now... not had one problem mind.

[Synthesthesia]

The reason they're talking about the PSU is because beyond a certain size point having a separate PSU starts to get ridiculous. How many other electrical appliances in your home come with a detached PSU?

It's a crude solution chosen to allow the console to be the shape, size and weight it is. It's essentially a design cheat with the only user benefit being if the unit is unreliable and needs replacing. This is a trend (PSOne, PS2wo) which which needs to be condemned by anyone who cares about good design.

When the XB360 starts getting awards I hope somebody plonks the separate PSU down beside it and they judge the whole package not just the window display.

I don't think it's a crude solution in the slightest. It stops the PSU heating up the inside of the console(which some people are already saying theirs are too hot) and like you said it's easier to replace, no sending your whole console back to microsoft or who-ever.

[SubparMario]

-

Jesus. If it's such an issue then sellotape the thing on to the side of the console. Job done.

[MartyG]

It's a crude solution chosen to allow the console to be the shape, size and weight it is.

Just like the Gamecube. and the SNES then ...

Really, it is a none issue.

[nonny]

Havent got one myself but from the sounds of it the actual new dashboard and integration of Xbox LIVE is the real Killer App at launch...

Cool.

[IanE]

And as for whether the games feel 'next-gen'. Well, I'd say not. They look better than Xbox 1, but the difference is pretty small. The real next-gen stuff is a good way off yet.

Sorry, but whaaa? Your eyes are so sooo wrong. It's awesome.

The Live aspect, the features, Geometry Wars II compared to the original shows how much goes into it all - visualisations (Yak yak!) wouldn't be possibly on the original, not by a long shot, same with all the effects we've seen, the walls in PD0 are amazing put simply. Absolutely lifelike.

[Rebelli0n]

I like the hardware itself, feels very solid and well made, love the controller, wireless is lovely.

However, For me the 360 launch has had to be about the games and nothing but the games. Sadly i'm not able to use any of the swish LIVE functionality. I live in university accomodation. Although we get free 10mbit broadband, it's firewalled, meaning no gaming, and the computer services dept just laugh at any requests to open ports.

So i'm stuck offline, and that's dampened the impact a bit, as from what everyones saying, the live integration really is the big deal. Being able to get demos and little games whilst chatting to friends sound great, i'm envious off you all

secondly, i'm very underwhelmed by the media capabilities. I know it's probably expecting a bit much to want XBMC levels of functionality, but none the less, thats what it's going up against for me.

It just seems so limited and 'walled garden', with barriers to ease of use at every corner. Obviously microsoft want to push their vision of the home media network, but in practical terms, it's second best. No ability to just stream files over a normal windows network and no support for common codecs, unless you get XP media center editon (which has the codecs on the pc end, and then basically streams frames to the 360, probably uses a lot more bandwidth too).

So all the trimmings for me at least, don't offer anything,

the games all seem very good looking, The PGR series has long been my fave racer, and so PGR3 was the main reason i got a system at launch, even if i'm stuck playing on my own. It's great, it looks and feels fantastic. I've yet to really play it properly, as every time i start a race, it degenerates into me spinning the camera around the car and messing about with the cool in car view.

The rest of the games i'm ambivilent towards to be honest, PDZ seems a very average, kameo also failed to suck me in to start, but it's picked up and now i'm starting to look at it as a nice showcase for the systems potential.

I'm more impressed with the overall visual fidelity of the games than i thought i'd be thought, it does feel like a definate step forward.