Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Day Before Launch 360 Impressions

Posted by Zonk on from the last-minute-thoughts dept.

There'll be a blizzard of launch day articles tomorrow, but in the calm before the storm we have some last minute thoughts. Gamecloud has impressions from the developers, and a pre-launch review of the system. Gamers with Jobs has impressions of the console and the launch title selection. From the Gamers with Jobs article: "The actual console is a far cry from the large, black and American design of the original Xbox. It's slim and white, it's also pretty quiet but I can only imagine that has something to do with the console's lack of a manly internal power supply. Instead, the black monster resides outside, like the ghost of what was mocking the feminine new system's lack of balls. It's ok Xbox 360, I think you're ADORABLE! Hee!"

28 comments

  1. hu? by riffzifnab · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think I speak for all of us when I say WTF?!

  2. Enough already! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    We all know that the 360 is launching tomorrow.

    How about some other news, like how Texas is suing Sony for up to $100,000 per computer infected?

    Anything but another 360 article.

  3. Oh God. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Instead, the black monster resides outside, like the ghost of what was mocking the feminine new system's lack of balls. It's ok Xbox 360, I think you're ADORABLE! Hee!

    Please shoot me now.

  4. Speaking of the power supply... by bersl2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://ghostbusters360.ytmnd.com/

    1. Re:Speaking of the power supply... by screwballicus · · Score: 1

      And look forward to playing exciting new titles, Only For Xbox(tm)

  5. Huh by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 3, Funny
    Y'know, I have some thoughts on the XBox 360 launch, but they don't really fit the themes of the "Day Before Launch 360 Impressions", "Hardcore Offer Mixed Verdict At Xbox 360 Zero Hour", or "Prepping For The 360" posts on the Games page.

    Any chance we could get another XBox 360 launch thread to go over some of the finer points? Specifically, something pertaining to the possible effects of getting various soft cheeses jammed in the controller ports?

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

    1. Re:Huh by RoadDoggFL · · Score: 1

      But that's already been covered for PC's. And since the controllers only plug in through the USB 2.0 ports, such an article would be uncharacteristically redundant for such a fine, fine establishment as slashdot.

      --
      "This is considered plagiarism."
    2. Re:Huh by KrisW · · Score: 1

      Don't worry, you've still got "Day Of Launch 360 Impressions", "Day After Launch 360 Impressions", and "Day After The Day After Launch 360 Impressions" coming up. Maybe they'll cover what you're interested in.

      --


      "Think you can take me? Go ahead on. It's your move." --Joe Don Baker in Final Justice
  6. Impressions from DEVELOPERS??? by MBCook · · Score: 2, Interesting
    "Game developers speak out"? No.

    That article is pointless. While it has some info, the people in it are not developers, they are (in order): a president, a marketing guy, another marketing guy, another president, a designer, and a product manager.

    Why the designer is almost there, the rest aren't even CLOSE to developers. I want DEVELOPER information. I've heard little bits (easier SDK than last time, hard to get full potential out of, etc.) but I would love some more in-depth info (that didn't get filtered through marketing to remove anything negative).

    There is a bit in the article (many of them mentioned how they think they "Core System" is a terrible mistake, I agree), but there isn't that much. I think the last question of the three they ask is the worst. They ask "which games would you buy on launch day". OK. Whatever. How about "Would you buy one on launch day, and if so what would you buy with it?" That would show much more about how they feel about the system.

    Are there any developers out there who would like to give us some better info on what it is like to develop for the 360 (or any next-gen console)? Good/bad/whatever? How are the tools? Run into any weird gotchas (I once heard that with the PS1 if you wanted to make a large flat surface (like a wall) you had to split it into many smaller polygons instead of 1 or 2 because the texture would look so terrible if you didn't)).

    There is enough pointless hype around this launch anyway (it deserves hype, but there is still too much) without a bunch of guys from marketing pretending to be developers.

    Why didn't they ask the janitor at a game company? Surely he has an opinion.

    They don't even mention if the companies these people are from are working with the 360 or not. For all we know, none of these companies have anything to do with console games based on the information give (name only, so if you don't recognize it, you know nothing about them).

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. Re:Impressions from DEVELOPERS??? by stpitner · · Score: 1

      lol, that is pretty silly to not have an actual developer answer the questions in an article with impressions from developers. Product manager is somewhat close (at least in my world), same with designer, but yeah, no actual developers.

      Being in QA, I like to see what testers think of it. We can be one of the first to tell you what keeps on breaking time and time again and what actually works well. If QA feels good about what's going out the door, then you know it's going to be something worthwhile. If there's any apprehension (eg. core system) it would give you a little bit more of a warning. That's the QA's worst nightmare: seeing all of your submitted bugs being deferred so that the product can be shipped out the door on time. *cringe*

      The one thing I find kind of rediculous is why include marketing? You know that marketing would only say good things about it whether they are the full-truth or only partially true. Of course a developer would want to say a good thing or two as well, but at least they would be honest.

      Awesome post... hey, maybe we can ask the janitor if they garbage picked any printouts of emails being shot around from the developers to get some answers. That would make for a better article than this one :)

    2. Re:Impressions from DEVELOPERS??? by MBCook · · Score: 1
      I get the feeling they did it like a "man on the street" type thing, only the people they asked were in the industry. The marketing people tended to slip into marketing mode, but for the most part that was what it was.

      All and all I think it is pretty sad. I haven't minded all the 360 coverage, but for something like this to get through seems like they aren't even checking any more. Either that or we've got a zealot on our hands (because no one objective would allow that "developer" story to get posted without at least noting it had nothing to do with developers), or they've given up on all the 360 stories and are just green-lighting many of them so people don't keep submitting them.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
  7. mod parent up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    mod parent up

    In other news:
    Tomorrow: New Paper Tissue revealed

  8. Reading between the lines... by LoverOfJoy · · Score: 4, Funny
    It's slim and white, it's also pretty quiet but I can only imagine that has something to do with the console's lack of a manly internal power supply.

    So what you're saying is...white consoles can't jump?

  9. Lack of Ball? How about lack of writing skills by devilsadvoc8 · · Score: 1

    Instead, the black monster resides outside, like the ghost of what was mocking the feminine new system's lack of balls---------What does this mean? I suppose I could just be too stupid to get the point of the author but I actually think that this sentence is the result of the author trying too hard to be witty. Seriously, how does an external power supply conjure up images of male or female or of even a ghost.

    Anyway, article is not worth reading anyway.

    --
    B O R I N G
  10. Walmart/BestBuy Lines? by TibbonZero · · Score: 2

    I'm curious as to how bad the lines will be tonight and tomorrow morning.
    I figure the only way they could have made them worse would have been to release it on this Friday at 12:01am.
    I think i'm still gonna try it.

    --
    Tibbon
    tibbon.com
    1. Re:Walmart/BestBuy Lines? by C0rinthian · · Score: 1

      My roommate works down the street from our local Best Buy. People were already lining up at about 4pm today.

      I was thinking of trying to pick one of these up, but that is just rediculous. I'll wait.

    2. Re:Walmart/BestBuy Lines? by sammaffei · · Score: 1

      It's going to rain all night / morning here in Philadelphia. I'm not going to Wal-mart at 12:01AM (are they nuts?). It's not worth getting sick over or shot trying to get it home. I'm hoping the rain paired with relative cheapness of people in this area will work for me tomorrow. Target is my destination.

      --

      Political correctness is the newest form of slavery.

    3. Re:Walmart/BestBuy Lines? by Osty · · Score: 1

      My roommate works down the street from our local Best Buy. People were already lining up at about 4pm today.

      Only 4pm? The Best Buy where Bill Gates will be selling the first box (Bellevue, WA) had people lining up as of 5:00pm Friday. Yes, a full weekend and more before the actual launch of 360. IMHO, that's just crazy. Worse, the guy who started the line didn't even know BillG was going to be there, so it wasn't psuedo-celebrity draw either.

    4. Re:Walmart/BestBuy Lines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just passed by the local Fry's around 11pm here on the West Coast.

      Only about ten losers sitting around outside the building.

      I doubt Microsoft will even manage to sell out their ridiculously low initial ship numbers.

  11. Underwhelmed by triptogn · · Score: 2
    I'm of the opinion that this system launch will be underwhelming. I've worked in the game industry for just over 12 years now, and have seen quite a few new systems enter the pipeline, but none so much as the Xbox 360 have had me feel so apathetic about making a purchase.

    $600.00 bundles just aren't in the normal realm of Joe Schmo purchasability. I was pretty shocked when the PSP had some ridiculous must buy bundles in order to even get the hardware, but the new Xbox has really gone over the edge with it's multi package price points. The retailer bundles including games are even further over the edge into the realm of being plain stupid.

    The lack of any real killer app games is another reason I can't really get behind the system. Sure, some of the games look lovely, but the same old football game we've looked at the past few years, and a port of a PC game are hardly what I would call revolutionary.

    1. Re:Underwhelmed by kannibal_klown · · Score: 1

      It wasn't that long after release that brick-and-mortar stores had the PSP available by itself. Sure, online you were stuck but your local EBGames probably had it within the first week or 2. I didn't check the day of, so maybe they did or maybe they didnt That's how I got mine anyway, just 1-2 weeks after launch. But yeh, $600USD for a small bundle is extreme.

  12. What MS got with all the marketing money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All the money or free shit or whatever they used to get all these stories posted seems to have done nothing other than to:

    1) Give the vast majority of gamers out there who don't give a shit about another xbox the chance to post that they still don't give a shit about the new xbox anymore than in the last story about the xbox a few hours ago

    2) Give the tiny number of people who have actually seen the new xbox in real life a chance to report just how bad the system's graphics look and how many times the games crashed

    3) Something for the masses of PR drones up in Redmond to do every few hours as each new story shows up on Slashdot

  13. 360 not really smaller. by Asicath · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The actual console is a far cry from the large, black and American design of the original Xbox

    What? This is simply untrue, the person who posted this obviously hasn't seen the new xbox side by side with the old one.

    Check these out if you dont believe me:
    Gizmodo Comparison Pictures

  14. Yes but... by maunleon · · Score: 1

    Does anyone know when the XBox 360 launches???

    1. Re:Yes but... by kyousum · · Score: 1
      Does anyone know when the XBox 360 launches???

      No, I don't.

      --
      but why not?
    2. Re:Yes but... by Blurredplacebo · · Score: 1

      dont laugh i cant find the australian release date anywhere

  15. xbox360 launch at J&R NYC by nickyj · · Score: 1

    The guys at the front of the line were there since 1:30am this morning.

    Guys in front:
    http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b29/insanitykeep /xbox%20launch/c11a9879.jpg

    The line:
    http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b29/insanitykeep /xbox%20launch/46512977.jpg
    http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b29/insanitykeep /xbox%20launch/f15048db.jpg
    http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b29/insanitykeep /xbox%20launch/93f88452.jpg

    The purchase:
    http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b29/insanitykeep /xbox%20launch/4a4e28a1.jpg

    --
    Causing Chaos Everywhere,
    Nik J.
    The strange world of a loner, in a populous city, drowning in society