I've just played the Bioshock demo on my ageing PC, and now the ugly question rears its head...should I buy an Xbox 360?
When I bought this PC, the plan was to continuously upgrade it. It has had a new GPU, and more RAM, as well as a shiny LED fan that I got for a quid off eBay. Its current spec of an AMD XP 3000+, 6600GT and 1GB RAM just doesn't cut the mustard anymore.
To be honest, I can't even believe I'm even considering this. I've been a die-hard PC gamer since god knows when, but then I started playing a friend's Gamecube. Shortly after, Nintendo came out with the Wii, and I just had to have one.
Now, I'm looking at my ageing PC and wondering if it is even possible to upgrade any more. The motherboard takes AGP rather than PCI-E, so I'm limited in what GPUs I can get, and I probably can't get a processor for it either. So, we're looking at a whole new PC - probably £700 minimum.
But hang on. I can get an Xbox 360 for £230. Here in lies the problem. So, I looked at the pros and cons:
Pros
1. It's cheaper. Even with more expensive games, its still cheaper.
2. All Xbox 360 games will run on it. If I get a new PC, it will still need upgrading.
3. Whilst you don't have mouse and keyboard precision, I admit gaming on the sofa is a lot more comfortable.
4. What seems to be an awesome online system in Xbox Live.
Cons
1. £60 for wireless, and then another £40/year for a decent online service? That's pricey. Is there anyway to do wireless cheaper?
2. I fucking hate Halo, and its control scheme. The only FPS I can play on console are Goldeneye 64 and Metroid Prime. Does Bioshock and the like use the same control scheme as Halo? Does it become easier, once you are used to it?
3. Do I really need two consoles? I have a DS as well...but who am I kidding. I'm a gamer, of course I do.
4. I don't have an HDTV, and won't any time soon. Does this matter?
So, at the moment I'm looking at getting a Premium with Gears of War, Crackdown and Forza 2 for £280 (. Sell Forza 2 for ~£25 because I hate racing games, and buy Bioshock for £40 for a grand total of £295. I might hold off on getting Live for a bit - can you do that? Does it save all your Achievements and what-have-you's until you connect? I'd hope so.
However, my mind is still not made up, so I ask you, Dtoiders, to convince me or otherwise that I need a 360. Welcome to the darkside.
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Alot of my mates have 360s so I'm really interested in getting one now. Especially with the £30 pound price drop.
but to answer you cons...
1. i run a cat5 cable, but i'm pretty sure you can use non-microsoft wireless adapters.
2. it uses the same dual analog controls, but if you used them for any amount of time they become second nature.
3.i also have a DS.
4.been using standard def myself and the games still look amazing.
You're correct in your pros, except that PC games will always look just a bit better. And as the 360 ages, so will the difference increase. But the gameplay stays the same, so it's really a matter of weighing the huge cost of new hardware vs. a console.
About your cons:
1. XBL is pricey. If you can, let an american friend buy you a subscription and paypal him in dollars, that way it cost me about 35 euro. But then I had an american account, so you may have to look into that. The subscription is just a code you enter in your console, so I doubt they are really region-specific, but I'm not entirely sure either.
2. Yeah like triforcers says: all FPS games use teh haloz controls. But after playing an hour or 3, you'll get used to them. And I've played pretty much every PC fps until I tried Halo on the xbox1 :)
The left analog stick is like WASD, and the right one is like your mouse. After a while it becomes second nature. And you won't even unlearn your mouse/keyboard skills!
3. Yeah, I have a Wii+360 and they are very different. Wii is for your gamer-feel of being able to play innovative and new things. The 360 is more like a fancier way to play old-style games (FPS/3rd Person) and some newer ones (BioShock). Also, you will have games for your 360!
4. I don't have a HDTV either, and the BioShock demo looks sweet on my 28" SDTV. Games like Dead Rising are unplayable on SD (unreadable text), but they are very rare. Rainbow Six does look a lot sharper on HD, but it's playable. And Gears still looks awesome in SD. Just play some HD trailers on your tv-out, and see how goodlooking you think they are. If you think: "hey, I want to play BioShock like this!", then you know enough already :)
You can always buy a VGA cable and plug your 360 into your PC monitor for 720p btw. If you have a widescreen TFT, that helps.
Not sure about bridging your 360 with wireless, but it sounds possible. But then you'd need to hook up the 360 to the PC with a crosslink cable anyway, so then it's not really wireless anymore is it?
Hope that helps :)
Get a really fucking long cord. :]
A PS3 will though.