Digi says Xbox 360s are €609

“I know there are people out there who pay $400 just for their video cards, but unless you’re one of them games are gonna be better on a console for the most part.”

Ah, the console vs PC. Isn’t it great how when a new console comes out, the graphics hardware is ahead of PCs, so all the shills are like “Look at those graphics!”

Then, when 6 months later, PC gfx cards have inevitably overtaken the console and move ever forward while the console hardware remains constant for 4-5 years, it turns into “We’re all about building great gameplay and rewarding player scenarios” etc.

Funny, that

Chris - do you know how many people are having hardware problems with their 360s? Oh that’s right, you don’t.

We’re not talking about a design flaw or poor QA. We’re talking about a few isolated shipping damages and maybe 1 or 2 defective units that somehow slipped through the rigorous testing process. Of the dozens of people I know with X360s, none have had any problems at all.

1UP ran a story suggesting that there’s evidence Sony has been paying workers at one of its subsidiaries to post false impressions of the 360. Could be BS (can’t tell if the story was pulled or what happened exactly), but this is the company that installed a rootkit on your computer just last week…

I gotta side with Battlefield 2 on the PC. Call to Duty 2 looked great on the 360 at Walmart, but playing it with a joypad is like eating a fine steak through a blender and straw. Give me a mouse/keyboard any day.

Brandon,

Do YOU have the numbers to back up your “1 or 2 defective units”?

I’ve seen at least 3 different videos posted that show PGR crashing on a 360.

“Yeah but my PC won’t crash every 30 minutes”

Jesse? Are you an Apple owner?
(disclaimer, the last time I had to reboot my XP box was 4 days ago and that was because the update to DivX creator told me to. Otherwise it’s run fine for a while)

I still think PC graphics are great. My PC is not 2000 dollars and it plays all the latest games fine, on high graphics.

299 and 399 Euros in Spain, checked today with a major retailer…

Here in Europe there’s HDTV screens all over the place. In Newport both the Panasonic and Sony stores were full of them. They were quite a bit more expensive than in the states, though.

Brandon, stop it with the Sony-is-all-behind-it conspriacy theories, this is very real.

We’re not talking about a design flaw or poor QA.

Yes you are. You might want to retract that statement in a few days. I know stuff.

Consoles are still the cheapest way to get fun. I read some people saying how much an ATI card costs, I think they forgot that you can’t play games on that card only, you still need a…um, computer with it. So now we go into the thousand+ barrier.

Just to give a example of the definition of console gaming, take one OLD playstation 2 console today (it came out 6 years ago if I remember well in the states), and play God of War. Try doing that with a 6 year old PC…can it run Doom 3 and still look amazing? didn’t think so…

You’d be amazed what a PC can do when you limit yourself to 640×480.

Personally, I could care less what a PC “can” do. I care what a machine DOES do, or put better, what developers create for a machine. The developers I care about, Konami, Capcom, Nintendo, Microsoft Game Studios, Ubisoft, and developers I care less about like Activision, EA, etc. are all putting their best stuff on consoles. When these developers put something on PC, it’s usually a port of a console title. As I said before, PC mainly has a stronghold only on MMORPGs, some FPSs, and a boatload of games people couldn’t care less about. And even MMORPGs are making their way to consoles. FFXI and Everquest already did. They say WoW is next.

A lot of tech geeks don’t want to admit it, but gaming isn’t just about building a better mousetrap. It’s also about who has the best cheese.

Darren - the X360 can be conneted to a computer monitor and will give you countless resolution settings between 640×480 and 1280×1024.

If you have an HDTV it will render all games at 1280×720 and some at 1920×1080 (interlaced).

“Personally, I could care less what a PC “can” do. I care what a machine DOES do, or put better, what developers create for a machine.”
Fine, you’d be amazed what a PC DOES do when limited to 640×480.

“Darren - the X360 can be conneted to a computer monitor and will give you countless resolution settings between 640×480 and 1280×1024.”
Learn to read things in context and then come back. Bonus hint: I’m not talking about the 360.

Darren: did you not read what you just posted? “what developers create for a machine” PC loses by incredible amounts when you compare its game library to consoles and handhelds. I’m sorry, but there is no contest there.

I love consoles, because I never pop a disc in and find out I need a new graphics card. For a while, I was thrilled because I wouldn’t encounter glitches on the console that crashed the system - but with PC ports like Call of Duty, that’s no longer the case.

As for the X360 problems, I seem to recall the PS2 had more than it’s share of initial problems in Japan, and after it was released in the states, the reviewers had specific skus to avoid.

I think what no one has taken advantage of is this wirelessness. The X360 requires a separate adapter for wifi - terrible. And without wires, it should become more normal to have weird accessories. You don’t need to fiddle with wires, dig stuff out, now you can just pull your wireless bluetooth joystick out for flying games, etc. Or mouse and keyboard, why not? I think the Revolution will end up a dud, because Sony and MS can always just release a revolution-style peripheral. Once you have wireless connections, why not?

“PC loses by incredible amounts when you compare its game library to consoles and handhelds.”
In your not so humble opinion. First of all, claiming that EA is sending their best stuff to consoles is like claiming McDonalds send their best burgers to Texas. Best or not, they’re still crap. Second, EA themselves have a policy of platform neutrality and release a lot of stuff on the PC. Third, show me something like Battlefield2 on any console. Show me an RTS as good as Dawn of War on a console. Show me a 4X game as good as Civ4 on a console. Then there’s the mod scene, where stuff like Rag Doll Kung-Fu comes from. Most of the developers I care about still produce games for the PC. And because I’m the centre of the universe, my view is more important than yours

Sure, consoles get more games. Most of those games are complete shite, however, leaving us back where we started.

In any case, you’re taking my original comment out of context. Can a PC that was available around the time of the PS2′s launch play a game like God of War? Well, I reckon it wouldn’t be far off, seeing as God of War’s graphics really aren’t all that hot. What people don’t realise is that the PS2′s graphics really aren’t that hot, not even graphical “wonders” like God of War. Drop the resolution of a PC game down to 640×480 (that nobody even bothers to benchmark at any more) and the FPS count shoots through the roof because it’s a painfully low resolution.

Yes in my not so humble opinion. Covering video games is my job. If you don’t like my not so humble opinion, I can point you to tons of others who would say the same thing.

You want to look at specific games? Alright, compared to PC’s 5-6 good games this year, consoles have got Resident Evil 4, God of War, Lumines, Meteos, Nintendogs, Advance Wars DS, Gunstar Super Heroes, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, We Love Katamari, Shadow of the Colossus, Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Psychonauts, Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, Jade Empire, Perfect Dark Zero, PGR3, Fire Emblem, X-Men Legends 2, Devil May Cry 3, and probably more I’m not thinking of.

Go ahead, try to make a list like that of games for PC that came out this year. You’d be hard-pressed to come close to that even when including PC games that are ports from consoles like GTA and Splinter Cell.

Appx 400 Euro in Sweden.

And of course there are HDTV sets available in Europe, LCD, plasma and projectors. I’ve been running my old Xbox in HDTV mode for almost two years, connected to a projector.

Did I ever claim consoles didn’t have more games than the PC? Did I ever claim consoles didn’t have good games? No, I didn’t. Firstly, I disputed that XBox 360 games are better than PC games and then you seemed to take issue with my claim that old PCs do quite well when reduced to running at the same resolution as the PS2. Then you decided to make it about game lists rather than capabilities.

you: “Sure, consoles get more games. Most of those games are complete shite, however, leaving us back where we started.”

The only reason you would make that argument is if you are trying to say that PC has better games. And YOU said “show me a game” so of course I’m going to show you games. I’m sorry for doing exactly what you said to do.

We’re talking games here, a very subjective term. For example, Nintendogs is not my cup of tea, whereas Dawn of War is. Claiming that consoles have better games than PCs is complete and utter rubbish where you can’t show me a console-only FPS that’s better than what’s available on the PC, nor can you do the same for 4X and RTS games, especially when you take the joypad vs. WASD issue into consideration.

One of my favourite games recently has been Tumblebugs… http://www.wildfire.com.au/content/standard.asp?name=Tumblebugs - Previously it was Doom3! Those two games are as far apart as one can imagine. Really there isn’t an argument for which machine is better or which game is better.

As a games developer I have to be thankful of that… however consoles are making it harder for small developers and new visionaries to break through.

Games is not a subjective term. Here: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=game

What is subjective is if a game is good or not. And believe it or not, Nintendogs not being your “cup of tea” doesn’t lower its quality. Dawn of War is not my cup of tea. Where does your argument go now?

Plus, I happen to able to play games with a keyboard and mouse on both my Xbox and PS2. It costs a mere $20 for each system to do so, so even if you prefer those controls you can use them on consoles.

Quake 4 on the PC: Very very good.
Quake 4 on the Xbox360: Shit on a plastic disc.

Civ 4 on the PC: Very very good.
Civ 4 on the Xbox360: Doesn’t exist, never will.

Microsoft’s Age of Empires 3 on the PC: Very very good.
Microsoft’s Age of Empires 3 on Microsoft’s Xbox360: Doesn’t exist, never will.

World of Warcraft on the PC: Very very good.
World of Warcraft on the Xbox360: Doesn’t exist.

Half-Life 2 on the PC: Very very good.
Half-Life 2 on the Xbox360: Doesn’t exist (yet), will likely suck.

Call of Duty 2 on the PC: Good, not great.
Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox360: Very very bad.

Who ever said dreamcast and snes are the best consoles ever is clearly and IDIOT. Without a doubt the playstation 1 and arguable 2 were great consoles and my personal favorite the sega gensis. Anyone out here ever have the sega channle! no that was ahead of its time!