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The Depth of the 360
Kotaku has a long day's worth of hands-on information about the Xbox 360. Information covers packaging, hookup, the Interoperability, Multimedia, and Live interfaces. They also have hands-on impressions of some of the launch titles, including Kameo, PGR3, Amped, and NBA 2K6. From the hookup article: "I was surprised at how much I like the new controller. The design feels lighter that current gen stuff and the minor tweaks to the shape really help make holding it a pleasure. The button layout is mostly the same as with the xbox controllers with one major exception. The black and white buttons, always a pain in the ass to find in the middle of intense Xbox games, have been converted into two small rectangles located over the triggers, making them much more intuitive to use."
They're compatible with PC games, too.
Not to suggest you give up the mouse and keyboard... but it's an idea if anybody still plays platformers or sports games on the PC anymore.
"This is considered plagiarism."
Honestly, how much is Microsoft paying for all this advertising on /.? 14 articles in 7 days now. Until now I couldn't have told you 14 different points of interest in the 360.
The sides and bottom are less ergonomic than controllers that have bona fide elongated grips. I don't have huge hands, so I can only imagine how uncomfortable that must feel for those that do.
They also fell for the trap that Nintendo didn't: putting buttons in the L1 & R1 position and triggers in the L2 and R2 position. Where do the index fingers go by default? Do the middle fingers rest on the triggers? I still prefer the GameCube's triggers much, much more. Same with the feel of the left analog stick.
The d-pad is an improvement over the Xbox 1.0 d-pad, but I still don't like its position and feel compared to that of the Saturn controller (best circular d-pad around). It feels cheap and clicky, and a little too floaty for a general purpose pad, even worse than the d-pads on Logitech's recent PS2-alike controllers. I expect these to be troublesome parts in the future for heavy users.
Oh, and the component cables look and feel so cheap (like what you'd expect $1.99 Chinese-designed low-gauge RCA cable and plugs to look like). The DVD remote looks and feels cheap too, especially with the tacky Windows logo on cardboard under the clear plastic button, and of course the ubiquitous funny-looking "jewel."
I don't think any of this would affect someone's decision to buy a 360 if they've already decided that they want one, nor do I think they should. But as someone who has decided not to buy one for various reasons, I don't really feel any regrets now that I've had the opportunity to play around with one.
The one I saw at Target today was really pretty.
Very pretty, that is, until it crashed. Then it took a few minutes for it to restart and for the kid playing it to get back to the game (a Call of Duty game, I think), and then it was pretty again... until it crashed again.
I think I'll wait a while before even thinking of buying one.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny