I’d really planned to sit out the whole 7th generation rush for at least a year. The PS3 doesn’t offer anything that I need, and the Wii…well, let’s see how developers adapt to the new hardware scheme. I wasn’t ruling out either, but I wasn’t in a rush to blow a few hundred bucks anytime soon.
Then fate intervened, and I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas. This was a huge surprise, as these things aren’t cheap, and it certainly wasn’t something I had planned on buying. Still, there are a number of games (Dead Rising, Gears of War, Halo) that are only available for the unit, so I was pretty enthusiastic about it.
I’ve ripped Microsoft products plenty, and as far as their operating systems and business models, I still don’t like them one bit. But the 360…well, I have to say, my heart’s warmed towards the suits in Redmond just a bit.
That’s right, Microsoft has made a good product, and I’m man enough to admit it.
Setup is easy, and under the hood, the operating system is very nicely done. Online setup was automatic and painless, and I was up and running Splinter Cell in a couple of minutes. I’ve seen the PS2 version of this game, but I can tell you, it looks far better on the Xbox. There’s none of the “jagginess” on the character models that I’ve come to expect on the PS2, the framerate is nice and smooth, and the whole thing looks sharper somehow.
The controller is similar to Sony’s, but is a bit beefier, and the left analog stick has been moved further up. The asymmetrical arrangement took a bit of getting used to, but after a few minutes, I realized that it’s far more ergonomic and easier on the wrists after a few hours of use.
The Xbox Live service is simply brilliant. It serves as a central hub for online gaming, as well as a distribution center for demos, updates and Xbox Live Arcade. Downloading demos is nice, and this feature alone saved me the $60 I might have wasted on Lost Planet.
Live Arcade is another neat touch. Microsoft has invited developers to write more modest games, several of which are quite novel, and they’re distributed for low-cost downloads (in fact, Microsoft appears to have made life very easy for developers in general). There’s also a stable of older arcade titles available for download, including the original Doom, which is a blast to play on the couch.
Since the unit has a hard-drive, games can be patched for bugs, and several have available updates, including new maps and various enhancements. This is a really nice touch, and something that makes the unit feel more like a PC.
Interestingly enough, several Xbox titles are in fact PC ports. The nature of the development kit makes this an easy thing, and games like the Elder Scrolls and Knights of the Old Republic look great on the big screen. Although the Xbox 360 isn’t precisely backward-compatible with the old Xbox, most games can be run through emulation after the system downloads a small update.
I traded in my PS2 copy of Battlefront II for an Xbox version, and there’s a huge difference. Where the game had framerate problems during busy onscreen activity (and the online options were anemic at best) on the PS2, everything on the Xbox is smooth and well-defined. Playing the game online through XBL gives many more options (including all the maps from the first Battlefront). Finding friends, joining co-op matches and even hosting games is a breeze, and network lag is almost non-existent.
So far, I’ve experienced no glitches or hangups whatsoever in the software. A nice touch is the ability to hook up an external mp3 player to stream custom music through the system. The system is built with an emphasis on wireless connections, and the controller syncs effortlessly, as do the wireless network adapter and headset. I use MAC address filtering and WEP on the home network, and the system picked up and adapted painlessly.
As good as Splinter Cell looks and plays, I was curious to try out something “next-gen” on the system. It’s a 360, so what else was I going to try? I got a copy of Gears of War, and folks, believe the hype.
The game looks and sounds incredible, even on my standard, non-HDTV. In fact, the graphics may be the most lifelike and vivid (or lurid, depending on your tastes) that I’ve ever seen, even on a PC. The Xbox renders all this at a steady 60fps, and the overall presentation is simply overwhelming. Watching an alien’s blood spatter the screen in a Sam Raimi-ish spray as you chainsaw it in half…it just makes me warm and fuzzy all over.
Gears of War may also boast the most seamless online features I’ve ever seen in a game. There’s alot here that other developers could learn from.
Even though it’s newer, the PS3 doesn’t appear to offer anything in terms of graphics I haven’t seen on the 360. I wonder if we’ve really hit a plateau of sorts in this area, as I can only see further improvements down the road being incremental at best. The PS3, having more horses under the hood, should outshine the 360 to some extent, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Notice how the PS3 graphics actually look darker, the pavement looks splotchier, and there are noticable jags around the edges of the car in the first shot.
Microsoft is clearly picky when choosing developers, as there are fewer games for the unit than the PS2, but the difference is that there’s very little filler in the 360 library. Aside from Gears of War, they’ve got superior versions of several cross-platform titles, as well as an odd cult hit in Viva Pinata. Later this year, we’ll see Halo 3 (which means I’ll have to take some time off work…), as well as Sakaguchi’s Blue Dragon and Mass Effect. The other consoles are offering ports of older titles, and of course, Madden.
So, in closing, I see no immediate benefit to the $600 PS3. The 360 shows off everything that’s conceivably possible, and it does so in style. Nintendo has obviously chosen a fifth-column approach, which I hope serves them well, but for now, the 360 is the only one of the three that appears to be “ready.”
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to curb-stomp some Locusts.