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Xbox 360 Premium Console Review - My First Week
>> Well.. like many of you, I braved the elements for a full hour and 15 minutes on launch day and scored a 360.
(don't hate me.. I was lucky and I admit that) I of course.. didn't smash it like that other guy who was in the same line as me.
I wanted to take some time here and review the console. At least as I see it in it's first week in my possession. I won't bother taking the usual group of pictures or even video for this roundup of the console. You've already been inundated with countless better sources for pictures, both inside and outside the console.
The Shipping/display packaging of the premium console is nice. It'll protect the unit well enough from most standard shipping mishaps.. I can vouch for this as my unit has a box that look like it went 5 rounds with Mohammed Ali.
Of course, you get the following: 360 Console, Power plug and brick adapter, Ethernet cable, limited edition dvd remote, 20 gb hard disk, headset with mic, silver Live membership, HD video cables and wireless controller and energizer batteries for both the controller and the dvd remote. (cdn Premium Bundle)
The Hard disk is preloaded with a sampling of audio clips/mp3, and video files/presentations. Some of which you might have seen leading up to the launch already. The included Silver membership is nice.. but it's basically a teaser, and a well thought out one. MS has basically figured.. "if we can get them in the door.. they'll see it and pay for it gladly." And for the most part they are right. Live had an explosion of new accounts this week.
I won't bore you with the run down of hardware specs you've been reading for months already. I'd like to just discuss/detail the aspects of this console that are either new, or have been tweaked to improve our experience.
Experience is a good word for what MS is delivering with this new console. This isn't a gaming console anymore. The first Xbox was. The 360 is something more than a gaming console. The Guide button and side sliding dashboard is quick to figure out and very intuitive. It's also customizable to an extent.
With some free themes, or the color customize option, you can adjust pallets used to suit your mood. More so, you can buy content cheaply such as Quake 4 Themes and add some "bam" to the dashboard. (Emeril rocks) Once you get past the free and pay themes you can acquire.. there is more to explore.
Photos and music. You got them. How and where you got them Microsoft doesn't really seem to care much about at the moment. Plug in your favorite USB devices like PSP, camera's, portable hard drives, etc and you'll have instant access to you pictures and music. View albums of photos, and listen to you favorite music tracks at the same time. (people with modded Xbox units with XBMC have been doing slideshow and music features for a long time now.. so they won't be impressed.. however, the ability to seemly plug in anything and get it working.. will)
Keep your music handy, either keep them available on a usb device, or rip from a cd and you'll enjoy those tracks while you play native 360 Games. Hate the background music track of a new game, fine, listen to your own. This might add a lot more playability to some games where the soundtrack alone used to drive you bonkers.
The Guide button can bring up a side panel that will keep you connected with friends online. The connected feeling is incredible in this dashboard. As soon as I turn on the 360 I'm connected to Live, and getting notifications about who is online and what they are doing. Chatting in games we've been doing for awhile now on Live. It works well enough. 360 takes Chat to new places. Playing our own music in new games was great. Now with 360 and Live you can now play different games, and stay connected and chat. That's right, Someone in Quake4, someone else in PGR3 and you'll maintain a trouble free chat session. Not good enough for you? One of you can chuck the game.. fire up a DVD movie in the Progressive scan dvd player of this unit.. and you'll still maintain that chat session.
360, and Live.. while seemingly designed from the ground up for Gamers, seems to now also cater very well to the casual gamer who might spend more time socializing than playing a game. Some of us on the original console have turned game lobbies into 8 and 16 person chat rooms. MS realized this. Not everyone wants to play on Live. Some of us want to talk.
The Marketplace I have mixed feeling about. It's a corner of Live that 360 users will get used to. You'll acquire all manner of content eventually via the marketplace. It works well enough. Buy the Point currency with your Credit Card.. and then when you want to buy anything from the market place, use the Points currency. MS has some big plans for the marketplace. The Marketplace is also the key repository for a lot of free content so don't shy away from it without giving it a once over.
The console's overall look and feel is pleasing enough. Wireless controller and dvd remote feel sturdy enough. Good balance and weight to both. I'm not thrilled with the included headset. It works, and it works better than HipGear's wireless crap for the first console I've been using on Live for the last year, but it doesn't come close to the quality of Logitech wireless headset hardware for the original console. I can't wait to see Logitech's entry into the 360 market.
Where are the gaming aspects in this review? Well.. what can I say about the games you haven't already read on IGN and other gaming sites? The games look awesome. Audio is great. I got Quake4 and PGR3 at launch in the morning.. then went out that night and grabbed Call of Duty 2 and Perfect dark Zero. I later rounded out my collection with Need For Speed and for something different, Kameo. As a group, these are sweet looking games. Graphics even on regular tv's using the standard video game cables look good. Plug in the HD cables that come with this bundle and the graphics just look so sharp. BTW.. Halo 2 fans, will enjoy the new look of Halo under 360. :) (let's not forget that the HD cables got a nice little port for your optical out folks. Those of you with better audio setups than mine are gonna rock when you hear the 360 on optical. :)
I won't cover the Window Media Center Extender Aspects of the console, as I've honestly not tried them yet. I've been watching my core group of online player friend spend hours though in the dashboard with "playing Windows Media Extender" listed beside their name. Clearly.. they are loving the connect ability and stream features of the 360. I have however used the Media Connect that you can freely download from Xbox.com. It works well enough, and is simple to setup. Only problem is, streaming is limited to mp3 and photos from the pc. If you want to stream Video, you'll need Window Media Center XP setup somewhere.
Now... the dirty part of the review. For a week now you've seen reports on the news page, and a handful of irate owners in the forums discussing the various issues they've faced since opening their little bundle of joy. Alas, I was no different than the few vocal ones out there. I too had issues. When I first got the console home, I fired up Quake4 (actually.. it's bonus disk first.. I wanted to play the included Quake2). Then I played Quake4. Enjoyed both. Fired up the PGR3 and 360 presented me with a white screen saying something to the effect "put this in a 360" (boy.. was I pissed..).
After a few attempts to insert and eject the game, it booted. I've had occasional intermittent issues booting it since, but nothing fatal. I am currently enjoying that game.
I've had a few boot issues since. Less as I use the unit more. I don't necessarily think the issue is with the games, I'm leaning toward blaming the reader. I don't have tangible evidence one way or the other however. It could just as easily be a bad press on the game disk.
Another issue that occurred, was that my Xbox360 had turned itself on a few times.. unattended. With some trial and error, and some leaps of logic it would appear that the reason was I had connected a USB mini keyboard to the 360 to the rear port. With the Xbox left off.. and unattended.. and that keyboard in place it would spontaneously power on from it's off (standby mode). If I removed the keyboard, and powered the console off, it stays off. Possible WOL function? USB glitch? Flaky USB keyboard? All of the above? Your guess.. is as good, likely better than mine.
Overall, I got to say that I am impressed with the unit, the games, and the peripherals at launch. I wish we had more games to choose from. I also wish that the consoles, and some of it's add-ons were easier to get. Short of that, I think most xbox fans are going to like this new box. Marketing aside. Fanboyism aside, It's a great unit. Non Xbox fans, well.. if the first console didn't grab you.. this one just might. It's only been out for a week officially.. give it some time. :)
Some other photography including some closeup of the contents of the premium unit and some additions can be found here.. HSD's 360
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