Is my 360 going to waste?
- Joined: Dec 28th, 2008
- Posts: 4,373
I'm what you might call an enthusiastic-but-not-serious gamer. I love video games, but don't really get hardcore about it. I play in 45-minute intervals.
I got a 360 after a lot of research, figuring that I mostly play single-player and the xbox seems to have a much better lineup (PS3 has never interested me at all).
But after a few months of playing it, I've come to realize something.... I'm just not that into FPS's. Except for counter-strike, no FPS has ever been able to hold my attention - halo, CoD, GoW.... after a few hours I put them all away. And it seems that's what the 360 does best.
So far my favorite xbox games have been Fable 2, Tiger Woods, Naruto (yea I know... but I couldn't put it down) and GTA.
But what about when I have friends over? They don't want to take the time to learn a sports game, coop FPS's are too frustrating.... so we always just end up playing Street Fighter. Unless I cough up some serious $$ for Rock Band, I don't know what easy-to-pick-up multiplayer games exist.
What's worse... I have a regular crappy Chinese TV so I don't get to experience the HD graphics, and I don't use Xbox Live.
It makes me wonder if maybe my 360 is going to waste in my apartment, and if I shouldn't trade it in for a Wii. I know games like SMG and Zelda will hold my interest (because ocarina of time and mario 64 remain some of my favorite games of all time), and for party games it can't be beat. But....
Am I missing something?
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
SMG and Zelda are great but will be over soon enough.
Then you're sh*t out of luck when it comes to finding great games for the Wii, there are about 10-15 of them.
Let me think...
1.Zelda (which is actually a gamecube game btw)
2.SMG
3.SSBB (ONLY good with friends, single player just doesn't cut it.)
4.Wario Ware: Twisted
5.WarioWare: Shake it.
6.Tenchu (frustrating controls, but I like it)(
7.Metroid Prime 3
8.Mario Kart
9.Excitebots
8.Bombertman Blast (same as every other Bomberman game but still fun)
9.No More Heros
10..?
There are several titles that are the "definitive" version on the Wii (RE4, Okami) but that doesn't change the fact that most of them were on the ps2 years earlier.
There are also countless titles that are watered down versions of their ps3/xbox360 counterparts.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
I initially regretted getting my Wii.
But now I'm glad I have it, as the lady isn't too keen on shooters and the likes of games you find on the xbox.
So if we run out of movies it's either the Wii or shitty chinese tv.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
also no HDMI, wtf is with that?
I know you don't have a hd tv but it should be standard for sh*t like this.
They are releasing a HD-Wii in 2011, no joke.
Nintendo are the ultimate kings of milking the fuck out of their products.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Also, the Wii is supposed to be multi-player focused.
But so many of the best multi-player games require a significant amount of single player play to unlock multi-player content.
For instance:
Want to play Mario Kart on the couch with a mate?
You'll need to slog through the Grand-prix by yourself to unlock all the tracks, against cheat-tastic AI opponents.
Want to play as Solid Snake or Sonic the Hedgehog in SuperSmashBrosBrawl?
Prepare to slog through a relentless war of attrition in the "Subspace Emissary" campaign.
This could take you about 20 hours and is a boring as hell platformer.
There are other methods to unlock all the characters but this is actuall the most straight forward way yo get them all.
How about playing all the cool, funny little mini games in Wario-ware twisted?
Tough shit.
You'll pretty much have to beat the whole fucking game first.
Defeats the purpose of such a pick up and play with friends type of game.
ultrageez
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
I might have a few comments that could help.
Agree with Aier about the lady & the wii. It's a useful time killer. In fact I took to watching tv series via the internet function of the wii on Youku.com.
Very cool. (though better browse for what u want on a PC and send a link to your webmail, which you can then click with the wiimote, otherwise browsing with the wii is a pain). That way you get foreign tv shows on your crappy Chinese tv without having to deal with those sh*t satellite providers that work only half the time....
Game-wise, sorry, the wii is just too poor. Maybe wii-sports. Or the new wii-sports. I should buy that one. Those, with wii-games, were the best.
For real gaming, go back to your Xbox. I suggest Fallout 3. Since you like role playing (fable), and you can deal with the FPS format, you should find this game compelling. I do short 1-2 hrs sessions every other time, and just pretty much do whatever strikes my fancy since the gameplay is so open/flexible and the gameworld huge. That's a proper RPG.
If you prefer fantasy, go for Oblivion.
If you prefer action FPS, go for the Orange Box. Half Life 2 IS THE GOTY for the last number of year. Screw Halo, this game is so sh*t it makes me wanna puke when I see all this cocksucking praise about it.
sh*t, I even dedicate a whole thread about how the halo franchise sucks (honestly it's all been done before, nothing fresh, what's interesting about Brutes and Grunts? what's scary? what's new? same f-ing boring monster design by 25yo nerds for 13 yo younger nerds. Losers)
So yeah, HALF LIFE 2. AWESOME GAME. and the orange box includes the continutation of that game.
I recently played through the PORTAL minigame included in the box. VERY FUN!! A whole new angle at how FPS can play creatively? You wouldn't think of so many of the things they make you do in this game. Very creative. Quite challenging.
Then if you're into Jap RPG the Xbox will disappoint you. A lot of us looked already into this. Hmmm what else? Racing? Football? Surely you could find something.. I lost interest in those a long time ago.
Nah, Fallout is the bomb. Oblivion is if you prefer to stick to Fantasy. Me, the idea of a post nuclear waste USA, with all the cliches of the anti-chinese propaganda of 2077 a-la 50's.. aha classic! Welcome to the world of sick cannibal raiders, f***ed up supermutants and all over crazies, mutants and wastelanders all over! Enjoy!
Of and I shouldn't forget the Horror genre:
DEAD SPACE. (have fun a 4am...)
RESIDENT EVIL
Having said that, you won't be able to play DEADSPACE well without an HD screen as the resolution suck on the standard displays.
Otherwise all of the above are OK on a standard TV as I was playing them before upgrading to HD.
Hope that helps!
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Yeah don't even bother with DeadSpace till you have an HDTV.
It really deserves to be played on one, no other game looks like it.
I second the motion of playing Fallout3.
Easily one of my top 10 games of all time.
wefrucar
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Alright, you guys convinced me to give my xbox another chance.
..... whereas in CS I'm unstoppable.
I've had fallout for months but never got around to trying it out (problem with owning too many games) - there's just something about FPS's on consoles that I simply can't get into... maybe I'm just too used to using a mouse that I'm no good with a controller. Like, seriously, I get my ass handed to me by absolutely everyone in halo (girls included) - I'm that guy that everyone makes fun of because he's running the wrong way and can't remember which button shoots
Oblivion just might be up my alley, though. Too bad there aren't any FF-type games.
I decided to bite the bullet and bought one of those shitty fake rock band guitars. If I can get it to friggin work (turns out you need a wired xbox controller, argh), maybe I'll get a second one so female guests have something they can enjoy playing, hehe.
Man, I can't tell you how much I wish I had an HDTV. I just can't justify spending so much to buy my own, and it's not like chinese landlords care about getting nice tvs.
PS: Any idea when Batman will be available in beijing?
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
ultrageez
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
av bought batman already. I think it will be crappy, but you know how it works.. buy everything, try later.
I don't understand how you can like halo.. but that's you.
Did you at least try Half Life 2???
And fallout is a FPS in name only. It's an RPG at heart. You can view your character from the outside if you want, but it's not as immersing as from inside. Same as Oblivion.
ultrageez
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
well, I need to amend that comment. Fallout can be played like a FPS if you want. Very funny AIs and weaponry to play around with.
THe RPG side is that you can use a kinda software assistance to aim your shots for you, based on skill level, action points etc.... you know the basic RPG package. That freezes the action and determines your accuracy based on luck, your skill level with the weapon, distance, etc etc.
That all happens slow motion.
It's so sweet when you're battling with grenades and see your handiwork, little bits of your enemies, flying through the air. It's like a pantomine gone wild. Never ceases to amuse me.
wefrucar
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Oh, sweet. None of the shops I went to yesterday had batman. It's gotten some very good reviews, and I generally like adventure games. Plus.... it's batman.
I hate halo, actually. Probably because I'm so bad at it.
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Are you referring to Batman:Arkham Asylum?
It has been available for weeks, and it easily the best game to feature Batman. That's not saying much but it is also a great game in it's own right.
Fallout3 is a first person role playing game, not a first person shooter.
I know of several people who got their landlord to get HDTV's with little effort.
You can pick up a cheap 40 inch from 5000 and up.
Realistically expect to pay between 7000-10000
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Halo is way overrated but by no means a bad game.
There is no comparison to Half-Life2 of course. The Orange Box is an amazing package.
ultrageez
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
I bought mine for 5500. Very good Skyworth 37 inches, 720p, hard screen 60hz frame rate + ability to read MKV and RMVB HD video files from the usb plug in the tv... Latest generation.
Was gonna add the same as Aier. It's a RPG at heart. But you can switch to FPS style, that's up to you. When you done withthe slow motion, feel free to strafe, rush or knife your enemies... (I'll agree nothing will ever beat knifing a sniper in the back at CS - I know where you come from - try half life 2!!)
I'm more of a camper myself and try to lure them to my homemade mines
ultrageez
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
the thing is every time I try to start a Halo game my buzz gets killed by the low punch of the machine gun you start with and the design of those enemies.... aya, it's so poor. I just don't get into it. Little triangular bugs?
Ahhh..
I'll give it another shot sometime.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Yeah, "The Flood"
Agreed.
Dull, boring enemies.
Give me "The Combine" anyday.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
ultrageez
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
f*** YEAH!!
ugh.. particularly when you find out where these guys come from later on.
I can't wait to kick some combine ass in the next chapter. Evil f***heads.
Zed
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Sorry to pick this post up again so late, just wanted to leave one comment about HDTV.
If you dont want to buy an expensive HDTV I would suggest you to look out for a HD Computer screen.
I bought my 22" Haier screen for 2800 rmb about a year ago.. Its besically the same gaming experience (viewed from 1 meter away) as my 50" (viewed from 3 meters away)
To be honest, I actually prefer gaming on the Screen. Its just that I have my little gaming corner here which is kinda comfortable
Additionally you can hook up your computer to it as well, so you can switch around between Xbox and PC.
Oh for games: Be on the lookout for Assassins Creed 2, it will be _the game of the year 2009_ without any doubt. I keep my fingers crossed that I can pick it up later
When I was young I used to pray for a bike. Then I realized that God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and prayed for forgiveness.
For every day in heaven, you get one in hell.
wefrucar
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
I ended up convincing my landlord to go halfsies on a 40-inch HDTV.
Pretty good deal, something like 4500 after a promotional offer and china's 400-kuai old tv trade-in rebate.
I was torn between Sony and TCL, which is a chinese brand and therefore I was highly suspicious, but the quality looked really top notch, the price was 600 kuai lower, and it came with a built-in software to download hundreds of movies/tv shows from the internet for free, which is pretty sweet (though admittedly annoying to use). So I'm now using a chinese HDTV... which is better than I expected, though I'm still waiting for it to fall apart in 3 months
When I brought it home I realized it didn't accept my xbox's HD output
So now I need to go buy an HDMI cable.... any idea how much they run?
I read something that worried me, about problems with an HDMI cable and audio.... do you need a separate cable for audio output, or is that only if you want to plug it into external speakers?
Anyway.... the xbox looks so much more beautiful on a big screen, and I cannot wait to see it in HD
Now I just need to go buy a hard drive and replace the laserhead because it can't read 3/4 of my games anymore...
Why is my xbox so cursed?
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
Niu Bi
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Have you considered a PS3? Things look great (especially in HD) and they just work. There's no mussing around with flashing this or updating this...just put them game in and it works.
They're a bit pricey, although they've come down in price, and the games are about 350 kuai per...but you're a laowai so that's chump change right?
Plus you get a blue ray player out of the deal.
wefrucar
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
I've pretty much never considered a PS in my life.
I'm not a hardcore enough gamer that I'd be willing to sink 350 kuai per game when I can buy xbox games for 5 kuai each... even if they are better. And I don't buy DVDs that are high enough quality to make use of the bluray
If I'm going to put any more serious money into video games, it'll probably be to get a wii.
Though my friend has a ps3 and he's brought it over to hook it up to my TV and play littlebigplanet high.... which was admittedly quite awesome.
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
herojuana
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Wii is not serious money, and the games are just as cheap as xbox.
I don't play my wii much though, the games are too simplistic.
Honesty
Empathy
Respect
Open-mindedness
wefrucar
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
ok by "serious money" I mean anything around 1,000 kuai and up.
for now, if I'm going to start playing my 360 more seriously, it's become clear that I am gonna need to drop something like 6-700 kuai already to replace the laser and buy a hard drive.
So I don't see a wii in my near future.... (though maybe the Wii HD whenever that comes out..... )
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
Niu Bi
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Wiis...If you're a serious gamer I think they completely lack. I was never able to make the switch to their controller.
But if it's for a party or group of people they're great. Throw in some Wii Sports and bowl a few games or box...it's awesome (especially when mixed with booze).
I'm not a hardcore gamer either but I did start out playing the original Playstation when it was released way back when I was in high school so maybe that's why I've stuck with it. Plus I do play Call Of Duty online...
wefrucar
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
yea, see, I grew up on Genesis and - eternal love of my life - N64.
anyway.... HDMI cables. Where do I pick these up? I assume any place that sells video games or even just electronics.... but anything I should know about them?
(Ie, are there different qualities of HDMI cables? how much should it cost? is there something I need to make sure it'll work with my 360? etc.) I'm kinda clueless about this part.
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
You would be crazy to get a PS3 in Beijing unless you are seriously into gaming and/or are considering a HD media solution.
It's 5 kuai for copied xbox games here, that's just insanely great value no matter what way you look at it.
I have a PS3, but then I also have two Xbox 360's, a Wii, two PS2's, two DS's a PSP and a handful of older stuff lying around.
I suppose I'm a "hardcore" gamer whatever that is... but the impression that either the PS3 or Xbox360 is more "hardcore" than the other is purely a biased one.
They are both awesome consoles in their own right.
I use my PS3 for streaming media and watching HD content pretty much every day, but the main reason I bought it was for the exclusives such as God of War 3 (which I am currently playing, and yes it's awesome)
wefrucar: I know it's late, but yes there is a difference in quality of HDMI cables, but my experience in Beijing so far has been that you would need to be unlucky to buy one that effects your gaming experience badly.
They go from around 20-50 RMB to several hundred.
The ones I'm using cost me around 40 at the old xinbalu and nurenjie.
Monkey King
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Wefrucar's plans for the weekend
Happy New Year 2Bi! I hereby grant you early release for a month of good behavior.
Don't violate your parole though, naughty naughty!
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Haha oh god I can totally relate to the guy in that article.
...the weekend planning thing...not the 6 months of no xbox thing.
wefrucar
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
MK: My romantic weekend failed
... I've been having an affair with my neighbor's PS3 
aier: Well now I feel foolish. I bought my HDMI cable from a guy I trusted at Landao for 150RMB, supposedly the official one from Microsoft, because he told me that the cheaper ones sometimes short-circuit and can ruin your xbox. (To be fair, he was using a PS3 official HDMI cable on his own display xbox, which was the most expensive cable he sold at 170 rmb post-bargaining.)
But it's been working great so I can't complain.
On another note.... can you still get games at 5 kuai?? Everywhere I've been recently stopped going lower than 6 kuai, and in some places, just getting them to agree on 7 kuai is a pain in the ass. Not that it's a big deal, mostly just principle.
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
Aier2
Re: Is my 360 going to waste?
Still 5 kuai for me at nurenjie.
It could just be that I've spent so much money there but I doubt it.
150kuai sounds like what you might expect to pay for a decent brand name HDMI cable so don't feel too foolish.
My 40kuai ones are cheapo.
No problems yet but the possibility is much more likely