General
Travel
Hockey
Technical
Gaming
Catalogue
Movies
TV Shows
Music
Video Games
Stats
Pages
Travel Plans
Live Music
Phone History
Things to Do
Europe Trip - 2012
Links
About
Blog Archive
Current Blogs
June 2011 (1)
January 2011 (1)
2010 (18)
2009 (28)
2008 (25)
2007 (67)
2006 (23)
2005 (32)
2004 (10)
Blog Tags
General
10 in '10 (4)
Books (1)
DVDs (3)
Funny (13)
Gadgets (5)
Hawt (1)
Movies (14)
Music (7)
Pets (4)
Recipe (16)
Running (3)
TV Shows (2)
Web (29)
Travel
Calgary (2)
Edmonton (12)
Kuala Lumpur (1)
New York (7)
Niagara Falls (2)
Phuket (2)
Pittsburgh (5)
Washington (4)
Hockey
Pittsburgh Penguins (25)
Technical
.NET (3)
Java (4)
Software (3)
Work (2)
Gaming
Commodore 64 (2)
Master System (1)
Mega Drive (1)
Rock Band (1)
Xbox 360 (16)
XNA (1)
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
Back to Top
Comments
No comments have been made.Recent Blogs
Log o' cats I'm number 1! Resolute Phuket, Thailand - 2010 Mr. Potato Head Mashups Random Travel #2 - Thailand You have been the ones, you have been the ones for me. Balls Caramelised Pumpkin Risotto Malaysian Vegetable CurryFeed
Blog Entries
Recent Comments
Log o' cats
posted 10 months ago by joeldixon
ha ha - I didn't mention that I bought two copies of Lock, Stock after the creation of this catalogue ... link
Log o' cats
posted 10 months ago by Brad
I made a DVD list for the same reason and just last week bought The Green Mile on Blu-ray before ... link
Balls
posted 2 years ago by joeldixon
Exactly. What's wrong with the kids today when they can't spell genitals? And you and I have been using ... link
Balls
posted 2 years ago by abrereton
I'm just glad that they spelt it correctly in the end. link
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 2010
posted 2 years ago by joeldixon
Definitely, you have to let us know when you're free for UBs! link
Comment Standings
1. the man with no name (45)
2. Hoff (39)
3. Gav (27)
4. Hitman (26)
5. Brad (23)
6. Eryc-Ads (13)
7. Deep Lurker (6)
8. thefury (5)
9. Dieter (4)
10. Zelks (4)