There, I said it. I’m envious of those lucky enough to already be playing on the Xbox 360. I stated earlier that I wasn’t interested in getting an Xbox 360 at launch. I had convinced myself the launch lineup was weak, I didn’t want to wait out in the cold, I didn’t want to be nickel-and-dimed to death with the Live Marketplace, I didn’t feel like paying for old arcade games and I most certainly didn’t want to drop sixty bones a pop for games. I thought my arguments were pretty convincing. Why do I feel an empty space in my gaming soul, then? Why do I want one when there are cases of crashes, power bricks overheating, unscrupulous bundling, disc scratching, shiny graphics with shallow game play improvements?
I didn’t get a console on launch day for a number of reasons. The main one being I didn’t preorder and I didn’t want to hassle with limited supplies. I won’t go into the perceived supply shortages. Intentional or not, it looks like MS had the foresight to hold on to some extra units for replacements. And according to the mucky-mucks, there will be more arriving weekly (there’s hope for us afterall!). Nevertheless, some people had interesting experiences getting one and unfortunately others had their pre-orders cancelled. Bummer. Will has his. Lucky! Gaming Steve has some nice Best Buy launch pictures. So no launch console for me, but as I said, there’s hope! JCPenny offers this sweet deal (ht: Team Xbox). If paying four hundred dollars for a couple extra pieces of plastic and silicon doesn’t appeal to you, there is this interesting way of getting one. One could always get a Core System. Noob! This guy (ht: Pixel Dujour) speaks for a lot of gamers – I’ve got the cash but a lot of good that does me. So there’s that. A lot of people want them and not everyone is getting them.
A stroll around the gamingsphere has a lot of people gushing about the 360. Nick at G-Pinions might as well be a salesman for Microsoft. The guy’s pitch would have sold me one. Bill at Dubious Quality live-blogged his hour long sessions with most of the release titles, finishing up with his rankings. Just go to his site, scroll to the bottom and start scrolling up. Color me jealous. Apex had a lot to say (again, just start scrolling), including some things for the naysayers. There are more out there (I’ll try to add them as I find them) but it just makes me sad to read about people’s early Christmas. Let me know if you how your first week has been (so I can hate you without ever meeting you)
All the hype and excitement abound but I still haven’t completely put my finger on the true source of my yearning. I could say it’s jealousy but that’s not exactly it. I think it’s Xbox Live. Everything I’ve read about it sounds fantastic (re-read Nick’s piece). Live leader boards, game demos, classic arcade games. (I do find it ironic that the game most people gush about is not Pefect Dark Zero or King Kong, it’s Geometry Wars.) Gamer cards look awesome. Heck, I even set one up for myself even though I don’t have anything to show off. (But beware of the FBI! Right.) Anyway, I look forward to all the fragging and bragging that will go on with the new pissing contest cards. The new Xbox Live really seems to be a giant step in the right direction (even if everyone isn’t down with it). So maybe it’s more than just Live. More than just the allure of a new shiny gadget.
I want to be part of the hive. I want high scores and co-op Smash TV. I want to play on a new TV with high-definition resolution and I want to have wireless controllers and I want wireless headsets. I want I want I want. That’s just it. It’s part of my core as a gamer. I don’t want to miss out.
I want one, plain and simple.
It’s the “Day One” phenomenom that some gamers are afflicted with, the urge to own something on the first day. With Halo 2, I knew I had to be at work on Tuesday. I knew that if I was up too late the night before, I would not function well the next day. But, I *had* to be on that line at midnight to pick up my copy.
Same deal with the DS. In fact, I wasn’t really interested in it until a week before its launch. All of a sudden, that urge in me came out of nowhere and told me “you must have one!” Preorders had been filled by then, so my only choice was to stalk the local Walmarts and Targets. No midnight openings, but I was at Target as soon as they opened to get a hold of it that Sunday morning.
Again, same deal with the GB micro. I had to have it on Day One.
The frustration with getting the DS (that’s a whole other story) taught me to preorder well in advance, and that served me well with the 360. Considering all that bitching I did about it in the post you linked to, I’ve calmed down considerably and learned to appreciate that I really did luck out.
It’s the HDTV question which weighs most heavily for me. I’m not about to make that jump yet, and it sounds like you really lose a lot of the benefits for the graphics without one. I had originally chalked that up to possibly early adopter mumbles, but slowly evidence seems to support the theory.
I’m willing to wait it out, get an HDTV first, and then see what the “playing” field looks like so to speak. This might not happen next year, but I’ll have plenty of distractions between now and then.
By the time I get there, the 360 will have lowered in price, there will be a much better library and there will probably already be a budget market for the launch titles. Plus, the PS3 may have launched here so I can compare the two properly.
Will – I wish I had the gumption (and foresight) to be ready with preorders, but it just didn’t happen this time. I will be the first one with a preorder for the Revolution, you can bank on that!
Josh – I’ve got my eye on a couple HDTVs, but I want Hi-Def more for watching TV (sports) than for gaming. Sure, the 360 looks fantastic but prices are still coming down, so I’m with you, I’m willing to wait.
So can you tell us a little more about the multi media functions new to the 360? I know it can hold different media types, but what are the network capabilities to push the media to other output devices? Does it have TIVO like functionality? What hardware is required to push media to another television or stereo?
Bryan – I don’t know a lot about the MM capabilities. I think you need a Windows Media PC on the network to fully realize all the multimedia functions. With the Media PC you can stream stuff over the network and the like. You can also hook up your iPod as well. There’s all sort of stuff that can be done. I’m sure I’m just scratching the surface.