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12-04-2001, 02:18 PM

I picked up the Xbox for a number of reasons. You might want to check out this /. post of mine

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=24432&cid=2649922

I'll go ahead and explain it a little better here.

First of all, it looks absolutely incredible. These are just the first-generation games, and they look absolutely fantastic. It will only get better as more and more game companies tweak their code to exploit the hardware in the Xbox. If you haven't played Dead or Alive 3 or Halo, you can't truly appreciate the power of the Xbox. Soul Calibur looked incredible on the Dreamcast, but I can't help but be amazed at how much better Dead or Alive 3 looks. The fights are absolutely amazing. In a word, the graphics are incredible. Same with Amped, which I recently picked up. I also got Project Gotham Racing, which has arguably the worst graphics of all 4 games I now own. But it still looks great. The cars look incredible. The environment looks good. They're all exceptional in the graphics department.

Secondly, the online play was a pretty big seller for me. I got the Xbox hooked up and that night I was playing deathmatch in Halo against a friend - but he was at his house an hour away and I was in mine. We both have pretty speedy DSL, but still, we experienced no lag. More and more games will support this feature, and when they do, they'll be that much further in front of everything else. Online gaming will definitely have a big part in the future of consoles, and I want to be playing it too. It's convenient, it's fast, it's easy. Gotta dig it.

Third, I didn't find the opening lineup lacking. The 3 games I wanted most I now have, and I'm enjoying them quite a bit. I find Amped in particular to be awfully hard to stop playing. They're all very enjoyable, and I don't have 8 hours to be playing games all day, so they're quite sufficient.

The controller is also a selling point. It's important to me. The Playstation Dual Shock controller was my previous favorite - but now it's tied with Xbox. I just find the controller very comfortable to hold - unlike the GameCube's controller, for example. The Dreamcast controller kinda grew on me, but I hated it at first. Once one is used to it, it's not so bad. But it's still not great. The Xbox, on the other hand, has a great controller. A lot of thought went into it, and it works.

Now, I'll probably also buy a PS2. I would buy one just for Metal Gear Solid 2 (Metal Gear Solid is my favorite game of all time - it's the reason I got a Playstation). GT3 , GTA3 , Silent Hill 2 and the like just serve as a reminder that I need to pick one up eventually. I still find it kind of expensive though - for some reason, the $300 price tag on the Xbox makes more sense to me than the $300 price tag on the PS2. Also, I don't believe that the PS2 has really been exploited yet. To me, it doesn't look that much better than the Dreamcast, and it surely gets knocked out of the water by the Xbox. Its extensive library of games is definitely a bonus, and the controllers are good as well. It's expensive to own, though - have to buy extra memory cards, etc. I only own like 4 games for my Playstation, and I've got 2 full memory cards. I don't even use them for anything except Metal Gear Solid and Syphon Filter. Any more and I have to buy another one. It's not that it's a lot of money, but it's a pain in the ass. The same problem exists with the Dreamcast (though I haven't filled one of those up yet) and the PS2. It just seems to me that it's a more expensive console when all things are taken into consideration. I'll probably buy one when the price reaches $250 or so.

Anyway. I find the Xbox to be an exceptionally good console. On par with the Dreamcast as far as "most ass-kickingest console at time of launch". Maybe you have to own one to really appreciate it. But to me, it looks like this is something that Microsoft got right.

12-04-2001, 02:18 PM	#25
dave Guest Posts: n/a	I picked up the Xbox for a number of reasons. You might want to check out this /. post of mine http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=24432&cid=2649922 I'll go ahead and explain it a little better here. First of all, it looks absolutely incredible. These are just the first-generation games, and they look absolutely fantastic. It will only get better as more and more game companies tweak their code to exploit the hardware in the Xbox. If you haven't played Dead or Alive 3 or Halo, you can't truly appreciate the power of the Xbox. Soul Calibur looked incredible on the Dreamcast, but I can't help but be amazed at how much better Dead or Alive 3 looks. The fights are absolutely amazing. In a word, the graphics are incredible. Same with Amped, which I recently picked up. I also got Project Gotham Racing, which has arguably the worst graphics of all 4 games I now own. But it still looks great. The cars look incredible. The environment looks good. They're all exceptional in the graphics department. Secondly, the online play was a pretty big seller for me. I got the Xbox hooked up and that night I was playing deathmatch in Halo against a friend - but he was at his house an hour away and I was in mine. We both have pretty speedy DSL, but still, we experienced no lag. More and more games will support this feature, and when they do, they'll be that much further in front of everything else. Online gaming will definitely have a big part in the future of consoles, and I want to be playing it too. It's convenient, it's fast, it's easy. Gotta dig it. Third, I didn't find the opening lineup lacking. The 3 games I wanted most I now have, and I'm enjoying them quite a bit. I find Amped in particular to be awfully hard to stop playing. They're all very enjoyable, and I don't have 8 hours to be playing games all day, so they're quite sufficient. The controller is also a selling point. It's important to me. The Playstation Dual Shock controller was my previous favorite - but now it's tied with Xbox. I just find the controller very comfortable to hold - unlike the GameCube's controller, for example. The Dreamcast controller kinda grew on me, but I hated it at first. Once one is used to it, it's not so bad. But it's still not great. The Xbox, on the other hand, has a great controller. A lot of thought went into it, and it works. Now, I'll probably also buy a PS2. I would buy one just for Metal Gear Solid 2 (Metal Gear Solid is my favorite game of all time - it's the reason I got a Playstation). GT3 , GTA3 , Silent Hill 2 and the like just serve as a reminder that I need to pick one up eventually. I still find it kind of expensive though - for some reason, the $300 price tag on the Xbox makes more sense to me than the $300 price tag on the PS2. Also, I don't believe that the PS2 has really been exploited yet. To me, it doesn't look that much better than the Dreamcast, and it surely gets knocked out of the water by the Xbox. Its extensive library of games is definitely a bonus, and the controllers are good as well. It's expensive to own, though - have to buy extra memory cards, etc. I only own like 4 games for my Playstation, and I've got 2 full memory cards. I don't even use them for anything except Metal Gear Solid and Syphon Filter. Any more and I have to buy another one. It's not that it's a lot of money, but it's a pain in the ass. The same problem exists with the Dreamcast (though I haven't filled one of those up yet) and the PS2. It just seems to me that it's a more expensive console when all things are taken into consideration. I'll probably buy one when the price reaches $250 or so. Anyway. I find the Xbox to be an exceptionally good console. On par with the Dreamcast as far as "most ass-kickingest console at time of launch". Maybe you have to own one to really appreciate it. But to me, it looks like this is something that Microsoft got right.