Norse said:
if the core came out later it would require a hdd becaus all games would use the hdd...kind of defeas the pupose of the core then, right?
No, because the prices would have dropped. You shouldn't make something as integral as an HDD an option, especially when your last gen system had it built-in, something that your current competitor follows, but you don't.
The Premium should've been the real Core and the Elite is the real Premium. MS is even backtracking on the HDD stance, they're updating their labeling to say whether or not the game is "hard drive enhanced".
No matter how anyone tries to spin it, had the 360 released with an HDD in every system, it would be a better system. Splitting the userbase on something as essential as a hard drive is ludicrous. Yeah some games use the HDD already, Oblivion for example, but it can't rely on it. One example is Full Auto 2, which may not be the greatest game, but it isn't on the 360 because it uses the HDD heavily, because it can, just like Halo did, just like Ninja Gaiden did. Because MS cheaped out, gamers got ****ed and devs got ****ed even more.
I await to see how HL2: Orange Box will play without the HDD, as if HL2's loading wasn't bad enough.
arne said:
They're going to think "Hey, i can get this other Xbox 360 here that works EXACTLY THE SAME for $80 less."
They are NOT going to go... "wait, i want the $479 but i can't get it! efff that I'm going to get a wii instead now" because that $399/$299 is still there STARING AT THEM in their nice white/green boxes. and a couple months of saving will get them that 120gb hhd if they really wanted/needed it.
Except you can't save games on it, store anything on it and loading is longer. Why oh why is MS so intent on deceiving their consumers, just make one good product ffs. How many versions of Vista are there, btw? I know there's a Core one, which is gimped and just used for marketing "Vista starting at $99!" just like "Xbox 360, starting at $299!" Don't people at MS read Dilbert, stop letting marketing make braindead decisions for you!
MS can't win, because they don't aspire to be the best. It's a company with lots of money and lots and lots of smart, hardworking people, so why is MS constantly undermining itself? You should take pride in your products. Seamus Blackley and Ed Fries would've never released something like the 360 with such poor reliability, but as time went on MS did not need them anymore and went back to their usual practices. The people that birthed the Xbox are gone, as is their vision of gaming and the quality evidently went with them, but at least that wannabe pseudo-hipster J Allard was taken from the spotlight and demoted to the Zune, goddamn I hated that guy.
Though one thing I do respect MS for is people like you and Major Nelson, community people is important and I'm sure that the guys you got over at AVSForum among other places are why HDMI is coming out at all. Thanks again arne for putting up with all of our crap, I look forward to playing PD Orta and JSRF on my 360 soon, much love <3.
WickedLaharl said:
just so i'm clear on this, is the elite the only sku that will ever have an hdmi port?
IIRC, it's something that will be added to the other systems down the line, probably alongside 65nm.
Kevar said:
I have a question for you guys. Just how loud is the 360? I've listened to Youtube videos but there's not a lot of comparison in them to other stuff. I game in a very tiny, quiet room with the volume on low. The system and television are four feet away from me, and people are usually asleep in the next room over while I do so. Is the system going to significantly drown out the television and make a lot of noise, or is its noise output exaggerated? What would you compare the noise to?
I didn't think I'd have to deal with this if I waited for the Elite but apparently so.
Get one of those oscillating fans and set it on high, that's the best comparison I can think of. The 12x DVD drive is a loud beast, it's loud like the Dreamcast was. Sometimes it quiets down during some parts, but for most games it's constantly spinning loudly.
At least the d-pad will be usable with the black controller and actually be good like the controller S's d-pad was, right? People didn't like the Duke and they got the S fairly quickly (6-8 mos after it launched, right?), the 360 has an unfunctional d-pad (when I push down it should NOT go left) and if it was the original Xbox, it would've been fixed already. I refuse to have to sand down my otherwise perfect controller just to get one part to a functional state.
In the end, the Elite is not more reliable, it doesn't run cooler or quieter and it doesn't come with a towel. These are the important things moreso than anything else and they have yet to be addressed. Most consumers are NOT like FirstinHell and do care when their expensive product breaks down.
