[StoOgE]

I remember when I got my Saturn for my first time ever. It was the first console I can remember that did *something* when you turned it on without a game inside (well, the master system had that shitty built in game). You could set the clock, and the language of the menus.. and if you put a CD in it had this cool spaceship thing that flew around... AND you could manage your game saves all from the system itself. Back then I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.. and other than deleting save games everytime I filled up the on board memory I never touched the GUI again. Every system since has been more or less the same story. Until now.

The Xbox 360 is the first console where the system itself has made playing games more enjoyable. The GUI for this system is absolutely fucking insane. The Xbox had the Xbox Live default page, but that was more or less completely useless. There are obvious things that make the Xbox GUI great, Live Arcade, Friends Lists, etc. but its the small things that really set it apart.

Today I created a gamer profile called "guest" got rid of my auto-login and password protected my account. This way my roomates can play my Xbox 360 all they want when Im not around, but they cant get on Xbox Live without me or play any of my game saves. Also, no risk of an idiot roomate saving his Madden season over yours. Plus, you could store your log in info on a friends system, password protect it so you can play online on his system whenever you go over. Nice.

The best experience Ive had today was with one of my friends from High School who I havent seen since graduation. He lives in Florida now and has a 360. I was playing PGR3 and got a chat invite. I accepted it and went to the chat and was talking to him for about 5 minutes when I told him "Hey, Im going to get back to PGR3".. he then informed me that I can PLAY PGR3 while Im chatting with him.. while he was playing PD:0. Its not a big deal, but its little shit like that that makes this system so slick. Plus, when he invited me to play PD:0 with him, I was able to open the disc drive, change games and join in with him and never had to stop the chat convo I had going with him. Even cooler is you can do this with more than two people.. in theory you could have 4 people all playing different games (or watching TV even with a media center PC) chatting with each other the whole time.

Turning on the console with the controller? Turning it off with the controller? As stupid as that sounds, my lazy American ass appreciates it. Although, I cant figure out why you need a disc drive open on the DVD remote. You still have to get up to put a movie in.

Custom Soundtracks were really nice on the old system as well, but moving your music to it was a pain in the ass.. so at the end of the day I wound up with about 10 albums on there, all of them from late 2001. This time around I download one program to my PC and I can stream any music on my hard-drive to the 360? Thats just fucking cool... now I can jam to whatever I want without being bothered to move it over. The MP3 integration is cool too, but I think everyone with an MP3 player has the music sitting on their computer HD anyway, so this seems easier than screwing around with USB cables. I guess if a friend came over it would be handy to listen to his music.

And that is just a fraction of the cool shit the thing does (set your control preferences for a FPS once, and you dont get bugged again in any game? Have every racing game know you like in-car views?).... Personalize your GUI with your favorite game?

The system is really powerfull like you would expect from a next gen console.. but Microsoft really knocked it out of the park with the 360's GUI... I never had a real problem paying for Xbox Live before, but now the 50 bucks a year seems like a bargain.

Dont get me wrong, Im not happy about the Backwards Compatibility or the fact that the Xbox Live marketplace doesnt use real currency (what, do you think spending 10 dollars on Diamond Mine will make me feel better if you call it 800 points instead?)..

but overall, Microsoft has designed the best SYSTEM ever.. and for the first time I can remember that means alot more than just how powerfull the hardware is and how cool (or ugly) it looks next to your AV equipment. I really hope the PS3 and Revolution follow suit in this direction. I dont see how you could do it any better than this or make it any more seamless, but I would love to see that happen too.

Oh, and Smash TV over Xbox Live > any launch game.

[Speevy]

Amen. Xbox 360 FTW. QFT.

[Gahiggidy]

Summary please.

[StoOgE]

Amen. Xbox 360 FTW. QFT.

dont be bitter because you dont have broadband. :)

Random Question: did they give you the tard pack or the premium?

[Speevy]

Premium.

I did get the BC install. Easy to do with a burned CD. Hopefully they'll offer some other stuff this way. Otherwise I can simply take the 360 up to my school and hook it up for some DL content.

[Mejilan]

DERAIL!

What's the diff between the sold separately remote and the LE premium pack remote?

Edit - Also, why can't you just DOWNLOAD the BC patch? Why this whole CDR route?

[Speevy]

Summary please.

He said the Revolution will have 26 games, all of them Nintendo-published, and the console's life will be 2 years.

[qirex]

Funny thing, they contracted the GUI out to a design agency.

[border]

It was the first console I can remember that did *something* when you turned it on without a game inside (well, the master system had that shitty built in game).

I'm pretty sure that the SegaCD did something if you turned it on without a game. Though it's an interesting trivia question -- which console had the first "system menu"?

[StoOgE]

DERAIL! What's the diff between the sold separately remote and the LE premium pack remote? Edit - Also, why can't you just DOWNLOAD the BC patch? Why this whole CDR route?

the sold seperate remote has numbers on it, and lets you do a whole lot of shit with a Media Center PC (which I dont have :().. plus its backlit.

Oh, and Speevy doesnt have broadband. So, no Xbox Live, no ton of cool features.

[Diffense]

Oh, so it looks like a Dell PC and pretty much has the same functionality.

Dell FTW!

;)

[Speevy]

I just listened to John Lennon's "Imagine" while beating a man to death with a lead pipe in Condemned.

[StoOgE]

I just listened to John Lennon's "Imagine" while beating a man to death with a lead pipe in Condemned.

its only cool if you did it while talking to your sister in idaho.

[Triumph]

I just listened to John Lennon's "Imagine" while beating a man to death with a lead pipe in Condemned.

Now THAT'S next gen!

Why the fuck couldn't I have scored a tree sitty? Soon, my children, soon.

[Agent Icebeezy]

Here is what I think is my 'The Xbox 360 has arrived' moment.

I started playing Kameo at about 3 in the morning. I fell asleep shortly after starting it up. I wake up, my system is off, as it turns off after 6 hours of inactivity. I wake up, hit the guide button, turn on the console and go back to playing the game. Without ever leaving my couch. That might be insignificant to you, but just that fact that I could do that was honestly a mind-blowing experience.

[DCharlie]

"Summary please."

you wont be asking for this thread to be stickied.

[Mejilan]

the sold seperate remote has numbers on it, and lets you do a whole lot of shit with a Media Center PC (which I dont have :().. plus its backlit. Oh, and Speevy doesnt have broadband. So, no Xbox Live, no ton of cool features.

Ahh, I see. So, if you don't have a Media Center PC, then you don't really need the expanded remote?

Speevy. Get broadband. Seriously.

[hgplayer1]

DERAIL! Edit - Also, why can't you just DOWNLOAD the BC patch? Why this whole CDR route?

not sure exactly what youre asking because if you have Live then you do simply download the patch. the CDR route is an alternative for those that maybe dont have their 360 online or only have dial up. whatever the case, the option is there and it seems easy to do.

[JoDark]

The points is so obvious, I don't see the issue. Live is Worldwide... what does $5 mean in France?? Different number every week.

So, why not have a common WW currency! That's what MS points are, universal cash for Live. Pretty cool idea imo.

Anyway, GREAT points here. I am with you, there is a ton of cool stuff here. A lot of Demos and more coming, video's of games, movie trailers in HD!!! Red vs. Blue!!!!!!! There is a lot of stuff to do in the dash. This thing clearly took a LOT of people a lot of years to get this to this level. There is NO WAY that Sony or Nintendo could do this next year.

This stuff came out of the bule for me. Blown away as well.

And it's Geometry Wars baby, though Smash TV, which looks KILLER in HD online is pretty sweet. I want Gauntlet!

Elf needs food BADLY!!!

[DopeyFish]

also by setting points and having "packs" it makes everything easier for both you and microsoft.

personally i wouldn't want small 150 point shit clogging my VISA bills.

[bjork]

Oh, and Smash TV over Xbox Live > any launch game.

That's a plus?

[StoOgE]

Yeah, the points make sense I guess.. but couldnt they just list different prices for different regions? They allready manage to do that when you go to buy the points.

Oh, and Smash TV over Live > anything Ive played in like 2 years.. there is no accounting for taste you know.

[element]

Funny thing, they contracted the GUI out to a design agency.

Well that isn't 100% true. Collaborated would be more appropriate.

[AndoCalrissian]

Downloading demos and stuff is great, which all of the next generation consoles will allow IIRC, but not being able to download and play a game at the same time is ridiculous.

Arcade is good.

Connecting to a PC is nice.

[Cloudy]

OMG, I can't wait to get my hands on one :(

[Rhindle]

Nice post Stooge.

I would add that once you get Windows Media Center (or Windows Vista), the functionality of the 360 expands by an order of magnitude. I basically now do 90% of my media consumption through the 360 (games, music, TV). If they improve the video codec support, it will come pretty close to the ideal of the "home media server."

Can Sony match what Microsoft has done with the GUI and console functionality? I hope so. Can they match the complete package with Live and Media Center integration? Very doubtful.

[MightyHedgehog]

That seamless chat shit sounds ace! Great post. Damn it, where's my system, EB?!

[StoOgE]

So Rhindle, in theory could I watch cable TV while still "plugged into" the Xbox Live GUI (i.e. chat with people, get game invites, etc?). I have time warner cable right now with a DVR built in. If I can wire all of that through the media center PC (and Xbox 360) Im going out and buying the shit tommorow.

[LakeEarth]

I actually agree. In the past, I've always been "its about the games, its about the games!" I'd be like "plays CDs, cool, plays DVDs, great! But all I care about is the games!" Well my mind is totally different on the 360. All the various ways to put in music for your 360 and being able to stream them anytiem you want, showing videos and photos if you want, being able to download cheap but still fun arcade games over online, being able to download fricken demos and movie trailers and DVD segments, the gamer score aspect, etc etc. I just love the damn thing!

[Wario64]

Is Smash TV the only game with XBL multiplayer right now?


and yeah, X360 really raised the bar...the menus are slick and awesome

[Striek]

Thats one of the major pluses of the X360 IMO, media integration. They haven't quite pulled it off perfectly. but damn if all the stuff isn't cool anyway.

Sony said at E3 that their focus with PS3 would be on multimedia capabilities (or something to that effect, blah blah babble babble shutup Chatani - reminded me of what the X360 is delivering) FWIW, I fully expect an operating system akin to X360s. Although not as refined probably. I want to see what Nintendo delivers with the Revolution most of all. They've gone to the DVD format, maybe they have placed a greater importance on this stuff.

[Speevy]

They should allow you to use your own JPG pictures as patterns on shirts or even faces in the customization modes of games.

[StoOgE]

Downloading demos and stuff is great, which all of the next generation consoles will allow IIRC, but not being able to download and play a game at the same time is ridiculous..

this I agree with. I started a download and then 'B'ed' my way out of it like everything else, assuming that it was still ongoing, only to find out that the 360 thought it finished downloading the demo, but it wasnt showing up with my other demos.. so I selected 'redownload' and it picked up where it was when I closed the DL screen the first time.

Its the only thing so far that has really bugged me in a "that should have been done better" sort of way. Hopefully they can fix this with an update.

[Blackcherry]

Although all the posts on the gaming forum taned my opinion about the X360, I pretty like the menus I saw from some pictures(the pause menu). Any websites with pics of the no-cd booting design?

[GhaleonEB]

Is Smash TV the only game with XBL multiplayer right now? and yeah, X360 really raised the bar...the menus are slick and awesome

Four player arcade perfect version of Gauntlet, complete with online play and voice chat. :)

[StoOgE]

They should allow you to use your own JPG pictures as patterns on shirts or even faces in the customization modes of games.

That would be cool shit, and let you do that for your gamerprofile picture. But 99% of them would be boobs or marijuana leaves. Horny potheads ruin it for the rest of us :(

[GhaleonEB]

That would be cool shit, and let you do that for your gamerprofile picture. But 99% of them would be boobs or marijuana leaves. Horny potheads ruin it for the rest of us :(

Same thing happened when Bungie was setting up the clan emblem system in Halo 2. They let you design you own, and as Frankie put it, "People started drawing penises." And that was Bungie staff...

[master_shake_05]

Blah blah blah 360 has amazing features.

QFT. The 360's GUI is simply amazing.

[Rhindle]

So Rhindle, in theory could I watch cable TV while still "plugged into" the Xbox Live GUI (i.e. chat with people, get game invites, etc?). I have time warner cable right now with a DVR built in. If I can wire all of that through the media center PC (and Xbox 360) Im going out and buying the shit tommorow.

Unfortunately the MediaCenter functions run in a separate window and are not integrated into the Xbox Blade GUI. I hope they integrate them into the GUI in a future release.

[TheDuce22]

What exactly do i need other than windows xp to stream music and video?

[rastex]

Unfortunately the MediaCenter functions run in a separate window and are not integrated into the Xbox Blade GUI. I hope they integrate them into the GUI in a future release.

Hey Rhindle how tough was it to setup your Media integration? That's what I want to do and connect the HTPC to the cable box so that I can control all the channels and everything through the 360. Is it a pain in the ass, or does MCE make things straightforward?

[StoOgE]

Unfortunately the MediaCenter functions run in a separate window and are not integrated into the Xbox Blade GUI. I hope they integrate them into the GUI in a future release.

As do I. Its still cool that you can do that kind of stuff *at all* from a 360.. but if they can get it to the point that I can flip between watching cable TV or something on my Tivo and do all of it from the blade GUI, that will be simply insane. I had actually hoped it would work like a set top box with a passthrough for cablebox input... oh well, theres allways a possibility of a set top box version of the PS3.

[Slurpy]

There is NO WAY that Sony or Nintendo could do this next year. Elf needs food BADLY!!!

Yes.. because obviously Sony or Nintendo haven't even begun to think of it yet. Sony isn't stupid.. this time, they have a headsup on what Xbox is doing and have the ability to counter. I would be surprised if they don't match, if not exceed the GUI functions.

[StoOgE]

What exactly do i need other than windows xp to stream music and video?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/pcsetup

assuming your Xbox 360 is on the same network as your PC.. download that and your ready to rock.

[MightyHedgehog]

That would be cool shit, and let you do that for your gamerprofile picture. But 99% of them would be boobs or marijuana leaves. Horny potheads ruin it for the rest of us :(

:(

[Rhindle]

Hey Rhindle how tough was it to setup your Media integration? That's what I want to do and connect the HTPC to the cable box so that I can control all the channels and everything through the 360. Is it a pain in the ass, or does MCE make things straightforward?

Very easy. You go through a few menus on the 360, then move to the PC and download a client and run it and it handles the integration with the 360. The whole thing took me about 5 minutes. It's actually a good deal easier to install than Windows Media Connect, and it consumes far less resources on your PC than Windows Media Connect when you're running it.

As do I. Its still cool that you can do that kind of stuff *at all* from a 360.. but if they can get it to the point that I can flip between watching cable TV or something on my Tivo and do all of it from the blade GUI, that will be simply insane. I had actually hoped it would work like a set top box with a passthrough for cablebox input... oh well, theres allways a possibility of a set top box version of the PS3.

WMC will act as a cable box very soon. MS is adding cablecard support to WMC soon, so you will be able to plug your cable line directly into your PC and do away with the settop box.

[3rdman]

Yes.. because obviously Sony or Nintendo haven't even begun to think of it yet. Sony isn't stupid.. this time, they have a headsup on what Xbox is doing and have the ability to counter. I would be surprised if they don't match, if not exceed the GUI functions.

I'd seriously doubt that. What you see in the 360 is the culmination of everything they've learned since launching Live and an almost equal number of years planning and prepping the 360's interface in conjunction with the hardware.

I don't see any Guide button on the boomerang, for example. The GUI and the functions of the 360 were obviously planned in conjuction with the hardware and it seems to have been given equal importance during development. Perhaps Sony has done the same, but I haven't seen anything that proves it.

[TheDuce22]

assuming your Xbox 360 is on the same network as your PC.. download that and your ready to rock.

Sweet, thanks. Just need the damn console now.

[StoOgE]

WMC will act as a cable box very soon. MS is adding cablecard support to WMC soon, so you will be able to plug your cable line directly into your PC and do away with the settop box.

thats nice (Im going to assume you can use the HD as a DVR as well?)..

one question though, Im guessing stuff like Time warners VOD or PPV's wont work at all? I know with Timewarner I got a cablecard from them when I first got my HDTV, but I couldnt use any of that stuff so I switched to their cable box. Its not a huge deal, and I'd probably be willing to trade HBO on demand for the integration with the 360.

[Timedog]

This thread makes me wish I didn't sell my 360 :(

I was too broke to buy any games with it anyway, right now. Jan-Feb full stock at stores can't come soon enough.