Ranty 360 Rant
So, the XBOX 360 has been released. Why should you care? I know I certainly don't. Here is a rant about that. Just for you!
As some of you know, I am what some people would call a "Nintendo Fanboy". At least, to an extent I am a fanboy, I do appreciate Nintendo for the games that they have created in the past and the games they continue to create, though I do not blindly fall for any game they release. I am not anti-Xbox, just generally the types of games that are on the system do not appeal to me, and never really have. That being said, there are other reasons that I am completely not excited about the 360 release.
I was totally for the Xbox 360 after seeing it at E3 this year. I thought the idea of every system shipping with a hard drive, wireless controllers and backwards compatability, while having media center features, all sounded very cool. I was excited about being able to play a couple of the Xbox games that I missed (Conker, Halo, Fable). My Xbox dweams were shattered when they announced the two different systems. The "Core" system and what I am calling the "Xbox 360". Because seriously, if you got the "core" system, you really didn't get the actual Xbox 360. You miss out on the hard drive, the wireless controllers, and other features that make the system actually worthwhile. If you bought the core system, I am sorry. If you spent that little on the Xbox 360, chances are you only bought one game, you don't have an HD-capable TV at home, and you aren't going to expand on that any time in the near future. You missed out, apparently.
I am all for games looking good. I think that good graphics are neat, but they are not the be-all-end-all to gaming. A game has to actually be playable in order for it to be good, and from what I have seen, only one Xbox 360 game so far seems to fit the bill, Project Gotham Racing. I am not really into racing games that don't involve turtle shells, so my opinion on that matter is basically moot. The HD capabilities of the 360 are great to have, but the market saturation for HD is so low right now, it doesn't make sense for you to make that a purchase point unless you already own one.
If you didn't preorder an Xbox 360, good luck getting one. Microsoft has been rumored to be deliberately creating a shortage of systems to build Tickle-Me-Elmo like frenzy for their new machine. More power to them, I know that they enjoy money, and they will most likely be getting lots of it in their stockings. Personally, I am the kind of person who doesn't like to be played. I see that Microsoft started their whole publicity campaign for the 360 on a very shaky ground. They paid celebrities and bands to promote the product shamelessly, and even had a shoddy MTV special "revealing" the system before E3 this year. It was all a cheap dog and pony show, and it seems a lot of people fell for it. Good for you.
I think it is good to broaden your horizons when it comes to gaming. No one should stick to one console and call themselves a gamer, you need to be open that other games exist on other systems that just may appeal to you. My main reasons for not getting an Xbox 360 are these:
1. Cost. I am not about to plop down $400 just for a system, then pay $60 for a game, $30 for an extra controller and then on top of that pay $15 a month to use their online service. This is just insanity. For a next-gen console at launch you are probably going to play one game for a couple of months until something else that is good comes out. So you just paid over $500 to play one video game for three months. You are a wise spender.
2. Marketing. I don't like how x-treem and in my face Microsoft is all the time about the Xbox. They are catering to the people who used to tease me about playing video games when I was younger. So now these jerks can control the market for the hobby I choose to spend the most time on? Like I am going to support that in any way.
3. Game selection. For the past couple generations, we can see it generally takes about a year for a system to truly get a great lineup. Most recently we see this with the Nintendo DS. Currently the Xbox 360 has a couple of games and a couple more in the works, but are they worth the purchase of the system RIGHT NOW? Not for me. Give me something more unique than "a pretty platformer" and "a pretty first person shooter" and "a pretty racing game". Come up with something new.
4. Bill Gates probably smells like cheese.
Okay the fourth one isn't really that big of a deal. Even if it were true (I bet it is true). The point of this rant? I think you should save your money. Don't get swept up in this big dumb Xbox 360 hype bandwagon. Play the games you have now, spend your money on DS games for the holidays, and wait until they release their "killer app" for the 360. Tis what I am going to do.
---Frodo (chrisfurniss@gmail.com)
What say you?!