Returning Soon

UPDATE: OK, I have now changed my mind about the 360... I very much dislike it. I have now gone through two 360 units, both which freeze and lock-up randomly during different games. I can barely play PGR3 and Madden is hit and miss. This is just plain bad manufacturing on Microsoft's end and there is just no excuse for it. I have never had a console that has had this many problems in such a short amount of time. I suggest that everyone wait until next year, when we'll hopefully get a higher-quality product.

Sorry for the long delay in new entries, but things have been a bit hectic with the new baby and work. I've now had a chance to play around 5-6 Xbox 360 games and still stand by my claim that this was a pretty average launch, especially when you consider the vast shortages of system (I honestly think that Sony had more PS2s available) and the sheer variety of problems that people have been having with their systems. Sure, every launch has its problems, but we are talking crashes and overheating issues here, people... these are very major issues.

Of the games I have played, PGR3 impresses me the most and I am enjoying some of the cool moments that Kameo has provided. Oh, King Kong, despite being an up-port is pretty fun, as well.

I do greatly applaud MS for the console, itself, as the UI and the Live integration is top-notch (aside from some little issues) and there's no doubt this is a stellar second effort for the company. The end-user experience is just simply seamless in all regards. I just wished there was at least one must-have title that I could really get excited about, though. That's the funny thing about the 360 - I'm more excited about the console than the actual games.

Still, Sony is going to have its hands full going up against the 360 system and menu design, but I do think the XMB interface that you see in the PSP would work great on the PS3 (albeit with some refinements and additions) and that the elegant look of the PS3 is going to grab a lot of attention.

Do I think that the headstart that MS has on Sony will amount to much in the end? I don't think it will. I just don't see a significant number of people jumping ship to the 360 that weren't on-board before. With the coolness of the PS3 and the innovation of the Revolution, I just don't see the 360 making much more headroom than the original Xbox did. I'm trying to figure out what it will provide, experience-wise, that the others won't. Sure, Live is what most people will mention, but for the majority of gamers, that simply doesn't matter. And there's no way it can compete against the sheer amount of gaming variety or quality that the other two consoles are going to provide. But, maybe that is a discussion for another time since I think I'm sort of going off on too many tangents.

Definitely expect a more complete post from me soon about a couple of different things. See you then.