ShiShi wrote:Kameo looks stunning
the only game so far that makes me willing to get xbox 360.
but i heard that it is a pretty short game, is that true?
what else actually makes the xbxo 360 worth to buy?
i mean tittles that can't be played on pc or other platform.
Funnily enough I was never ever an XBox fan, or really much of a console fan at all although the Wii caught my eye. I was at an MS Game Development conference earlier in the year and Rare was there (the guys behind Donkey Kong, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark and also Kameo etc.), when I arrived they had a few displays of Kameo screenshots and posters around and I thought "Hey that looks pretty cool", later in the day the development team for Kameo gave us a chat about it's development and as they talked about the different parts of the design process my interest in the game increased, certainly seeing the development team talk about it opened my eyes to bits of the game that are cool which I probably wouldn't have really noticed if I'd played it blind so I do have a fair bit of bias towards it in that respect, I've not played it all yet so I'm not sure how long it is tbh but the bits I've played I've really enjoyed.
The conference was around March and since then I've kinda wanted an XBox because I loved the Kameo presentation but I couldn't help but feel that £280 for the console, £40 for the game just to play one game was a bit steep. Boredom got the better of me around 4 weeks back, the lack of PC games worth playing caught up with me and I thought fuck it, I'll get a 360. Getting it wasn't easy, Amazon and HMV had sold out so I used *gasp* old style retail - I got it in PC World, as 360s are pretty much the same in price everywhere PC World's usual price hike didn't effect the 360 so it wasn't really a problem. I got it home, unpacked it, install it, and being in a spending spree mood signed up to XBox Live Gold membership, and tried a few demos (you can download a demo of 95% of 360 games onto the console with XBox live which is sweet) and also some Live arcade games. I got completely addicted to Marble Blast Ultra, Geometry Wars and Feeding Frenzy on live arcade, as well as Cloning Clyde and the classic Gauntlet and Streetfighter 2.
Prior to buying my 360 I'd researched a cheaper way to get games, some people recommend renting however I don't really like renting, an idea popped into my head - Amazon marketplace. I went to Amazon.co.uk and looked for a few games I wanted, the used and new section (i.e. the marketplace) had some pretty good deals and the games were listed as like new, I thought what the hell I'll try it and ordered a few games, when they arrived (6 of them, spending spree mode still active
) within 2 days they were all in new or like new condition as advertised, but instead of £40 I'd paid £10 - £25 for them. In fact:
Kameo - £12, mint condition
Tomb Raider Legends - £15, brand new, still wrapped
Perfect Dark Zero Collectors Edition - £17, brand new, still wrapped
Over-G Fighters - £20, mint Condition
Project Gotham Racing 3 - £20, the only letdown really, not mint condition but still very good condition (and I'm picky!), only other downside to this specific seller is that he took a week to deliver instead of 1 - 2 days
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - £23, brand new
Oblivion - £25, brand new
To cut a long story short, I felt prices were extremely reasonable for games on Amazon marketplace although it's questionable the source of the games (although Tomb Raider was brand new for £15 it said "Not for sale in the UK") they all worked perfectly and without a problem so I really have no complaints there. GRAW was worth it even if you've played the PC ver, they're two entirely different games really bar the storyline, plus the 360 version has a lot of extra content for download. Oblivion ran shit on my PC so just got it for my 360 because I'd really wanted to play through it plus it had the extra 360 dungeons for download. Project Gotham Racing 3, wow... I NEVER play racing games, never have and thought I never would, I hate them but I'm just so addicted to PGR3, it's such a fun racer and I've played through it on novice and easy so far, I'm not good enough for medium, hard or hardcore or online racing yet but I'm getting there!
Just a quick note about Amazon marketplace also, it's guaranteed by Amazon that the quality stated is the quality the seller must sell at and they will refund you in the case of the seller trying to screw you so it's totally guaranteed also.
Most promising demo I've played is Just Cause although Viva Pinata looks pretty fun as a mess around game, Ninety-Nine Nights is impressive also, I managed to get it for £18, due to arrive tommorrow so I'll see if it plays as good as it looks and as good as the demo was. A lot of people say Gears of War, Call of Duty 3 and Halo 3 are going to be xmas time killer titles although FPS on the 360 aren't my thing, still neither were racing games and I did enjoy GRAW so we'll see.
To sum up, I've become a 360 convert, the more I get into it the more it impresses me and frankly I have absolutely no regret buying it, most fun I've had from computer games (bar Prey and GRAW on the PC) in a long time. From not wanting a 360, to seeing Kameo to getting one and finding a whole bunch of games I love from the small cheap arcade ones to the full featured ones and with XNA GSE in beta I think we'll see a whole lot more excellent arcade titles soon too.
One quote from the guys at Rare that really holds true with me was "We're in a fortunate position having been aquired by Microsoft - we don't make games now to sell the games alone, we make them to sell the actual consoles", how right they are
I'll still be getting a Wii of course, with the PS3 being delayed in Europe, having numerous problems and so on I don't see any point in it, 360 + Wii will still leave you with a lower price tag than the PS3 alone and a far more innovative and fun selection of games to boot.
Last thing worth a mention is how the 360 is fully online enabled, high score tables for example can be switched between an old style local highscore table or global mode to see how you compare worldwide. Acheivements give you something to always strive for too if that's your thing. Rare stated that Microsoft has a set of rules for games produced for the 360, the two most prominent being that they are online (XBox live) enabled and that they all support normal TVs and monitors as well as all are HD ready. All in all it's a quality system, lots to do ongoing additional content being released for existing games, games not too expensive from Amazon and cheap yet extremely fun games available on the arcade!
