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GamerTag
The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Monday, July 16, 2007
Yet another new addition
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 16/07/2007 04:41:00Updated by Joel Dixon at 23/05/2008 23:26:15
While it may not be as important as other recent additions to our family, I am now the proud owner of an XBox 360.
Growing up I was a Sega fanboy, owning a Master System 2 and then a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in North America). The Mega Drive is the system that helped introduce me to the sport of ice hockey.
In my early high school years the Sega Saturn didn't look that great and a lot of gaming interest was in the Sony PlayStation, which I subsequently bought. The games were great and it wasn't a hard decision to get a PlayStation 2 when it came out.
The PlayStations have served me well, with such great game series as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Metal Gear Solid and EA Sport's NHL series.
When the "next gen" series of video game consoles were announced, I kept a keen eye on the PlayStation 3. After it's $1,000+ priced release a few months ago I figured I'd wait a year before buying it at a reduced price.
Since then, I made plans to work in Canada and realised that I would probably have a lot of spare time on my hands after work and on weekends (and no car). At around the same time, a co-worker was selling his Premium Xbox 360 with 4 games for $350 (bargin).
I took the Xbox home and give it a quick trial - and I love it. In today's gaming climate where most of the games are ported to all available gaming platforms, the idea of a "system exclusive" game is not as important. The 360 has a large number of games available and the controller / system design seem fine. The real place where the 360 has impressed me is Xbox LIVE and the Xbox Dashboard (the console's GUI to control gaming, media, marketplace (purchasing online) and Xbox LIVE).
Firstly, I hate online gaming. Basically, the Internet is full of knob jockeys. I've tried online gaming with NHL games a few years ago, and the results were distinctly un-fun. This Penny Arcade comic explains my point perfectly (profanity warning). The reason I love Xbox LIVE (Microsoft's online gaming and content delivery service) is Gamer Scores and Xbox LIVE Arcade.
The icon that comes on-screen when an achievement is unlocked.
I loved the feeling of accomplishment after playing a game until 100% completion - but once I stopped playing the game, the achievement was pretty much forgotton. Xbox LIVE introduces "Achievements" which are unlocked by performing certain actions in every Xbox game, and contribute a numerical score known as your Gamer Score. Some of the achievements are straight forward (finish the main story line, win x games online), while some are decidedly more difficult (receive one of each hand type in Texas Hold'em - which counts a Royal Flush as a seperate hand to a straight flush). Now when you complete a game, your gamer score is updated (viewable by every other Xbox gamer - and also online). I'm sure there's some kind endorphin released when that wondrous "Achievement Unlocked" icon is shown on my screen! The other great thing about Xbox LIVE is the Xbox LIVE Arcade, providing smaller, downloadable games such as Doom, Prince of Persia and Uno recreated for Xbox hardware, for a relatively cheap price.
I think I might still buy a PlayStation 3 one day (at least a year from now), but in the mean time I am very impressed with my Xbox 360.
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Xbox 360
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