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Way back in May during E3 I was making predictions about the console wars that have now all come true. After the foofarah in the media about being “next gen” I thought that one of the next generation requirements would be that a new console would make a jump to a new type of media, such as the Blu - Ray disks. However as predicted Microsoft caved and didn’t make the new innovation happen. Because, as I have heard the excellent Mr. McKenna say they were trying to make an all important marketing window rather than trying to make a perfect product. Typical Microsoft, the work ethic is as it has always been with Windows, quick, and cheap.
Then there is the Hi definition factor. The console will play a hi def. movie. Though the game-play on the console won’t be actual hi def. From what I understand it is done with software and it isn’t real. I didn’t notice much improvement in the graphics that I saw in <i>Kameo</i> over previous Xbox titles. It was good but not spectacular.
What I could not have anticipated was the crime and greed that would become associated with this launch. Not only did the first Xbox have problems due to using badly made power supplies but the new 360 has those problems too and worse. The new machine uses twice as much electricity as the first Xbox and more than three times as much as a PS2. Some new research has shown that the 360 has several cooling issues. It’s another example of rushing the machines to the sales floors for this holiday season. A little more time and ingenuity would have been put to wise use on these problems that they knew about and repeated. I didn’t take “next gen” to mean that the “sins of the father’s” console would be “visited on the son’s” console.
There is even a lawsuit against Microsoft from a guy who is complaining along with the long arm of the law about that power supply and CPU of the console. He says it overheats and causes the machine to freeze up. There seem to be several reports of this type of problem but it is difficult to assess just how many of them are going to toast up in the future. Many of those consoles aren’t going to surface in use until December 25th here in the USA. Let’s hope none of those new 360’s turn someone’s Christmas Tree into a Yule Log.
Many auction “entrepreneurs” have bought up the 360’s and are selling them for astronomical prices on eBay. The Xbox 360 being in short supply meant that you could pay up to $2,000 for a bundle as of this writing. The first instance of crime related to the Xbox 360 was being reported by the Associated Press right after midnight on launch day. Two thieves robbed a 17 year old boy in North Dakota outside of a store and took his brand new console. In Virginia, an EB store was held up at gunpoint and the gunmen got 2 Xbox 360 systems. To date at least 8 people have been killed in fights over Xboxes.
It seems like the Xbox 360 is some sort of status symbol. It is like the bling that you can’t wear. It is new, and according to Microsoft at least, it is the accessory that you have to have to be cool. It is a shoddy and potentially dangerous little beastie, but it is being packaged and marketed to youth who are suffering from the pressure to have the thing. It is supposed to be a game, and instead violence has inadvertently spilled over into the real world. The thieves and price gougers need to think again about just who it is that they are hurting. Kids.
I was hoping that the 360 would live up to the hype. But it is not to be. Not yet anyway. It may yet prove to be a solid console down the road. For now I can’t recommend it. I think it might be prudent for consumers to wait and see on this one until after the holidays. I would take time to make a choice about either new console.
There are a dearth of PS2 games on the market right now at very inexpensive prices preowned or in classic game collections. That seems to be the way to go this year. Why not have tons of games, and even hard to find ones that are sometimes being brought into stores to trade in? It is a chilling tale indeed when Aaron and I agree about something, but hopefully others will benefit from our pains by having a little more cash in their pockets this month.
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