11 Design Mistakes of the Xbox 360

An anonymous reader writes "FiringSquad.com has posted an article discussing 11 design flaws of the Xbox 360, ranging from gaming to Xbox Live Marketplace issues." From the article: "Mistake #2: No MSN Music - I'm as much of a fan of DRM as everyone else (which is to say I don't like it), but with Microsoft already charging gamers for Xbox Live Gold support, it would have been possible for Microsoft to offer discount service "bundles" allowing you to buy unlimited subscriptions to the MSN Music library at rates less than you would have to pay for Napster or Rhapsody. Gamers would have had an opportunity to get music cheaper and add one extra weapon in the console battle against Sony." I'm not so sure some of these are that big a deal. I'm more than a little glad the 360 has no web browser.

Comments

might i be the first to say...

[mattmacf]

Gee, only 11?

Re:There are at least 11

[rAiNsT0rm]

I was absolutely not flamebaiting, and you are completely wrong with your facts.

PGR3 does NOT use all three cores, some launch titles are using 2 cores but only in limited capacity such as a second thread for AI. I'd love for you to show a link proving your outrageous claim.

If you honestly think the Marketplace pricing structure is good then you are a fool. There are no price breaks for buying more points and the cost in points on certain downloads is just insane. There should be tiered price-breaks in buying points to give some reward to those who buy more.

The launch titles were pretty weak overall, again, I'm not debating this... it is very apparent.

So basically out of all of the ACCURATE pros/cons I listed you tried to pick apart only three of them and of those you were wrong on all accounts. Now, who's holding that flamethrower?

Re:There are at least 11

[rAiNsT0rm]

Why does this have to be such an angry discussion? I'm no fanboy. I actually was PART of the hardware testing of the *MICROSOFT* Xbox 360. I'm no fanboy, calling people "fanboy's" is just an easy way to end a discussion.

My points are valid. My points are also points that were raised a number of times during the hardware testing phase, so I'm not alone nor are these just bullshit points I pulled out of my ass to look smart on /.

I didn't compare to the PS2/GC launches because they don't compare. The PS2 and the GC launches were more successful. Sorry for the length but here are the launches you are trying to compae to:

PS2:
Armored Core 2
Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore
Dynasty Warriors 2
ESPN International Track & Field
ESPN X Games Snowboarding
Eternal Ring
Evergrace
FantaVision
Gun Griffon Blaze
Kessen
Madden NFL 2001
Midnight Club: Street Racing
Moto GP
NHL 2001
Orphen
Q-Ball Billiards Master
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2
Real Pool
Ridge Racer V
SSX
Silent Scope
Silpheed: The Lost Planet
Smuggler's Run
Street Fighter EX3
Surfing H30
Summoner
Swing Away Golf
Tekken Tag Tournament
TimeSplitters
Top Gear Daredevil
Unreal Tournament
Wild Wild Racing
X-Squad

GC:
Luigi's Mansion
Wave Race: Blue Storm
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
Super Monkey Ball
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
Batman: Vengeance
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Bloody Roar: Primal Fury
Burnout
Extreme G3
Crazy Taxi
2002 FIFA World Cup
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
Cel Damage
NHL Hitz 2002
Driven
Disney's Tarzan Freeride
Donald Duck Quack Attack
ESPN International Winter Sports
Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure
Pikmin
Super Mario Sunshine
Star Fox Adventures
Super Smash Bros. Melee (arguably)

Re:There are at least 11

[rAiNsT0rm]

So you are excited to buy this "most successful" console ever to play a 20 year old NES title and a free mini-game from a generation back? That is exactly my point. Geometry wars is fun, SmashTV is OK, PGR3 is decent... but as a whole it is very minimal and certainly not anything to yell from the mountaintops about.

To each their own, but it seems like you may have bought into a bit too much of the hype and are not seeing things as objectively as you could. It's cool though, if the 360 rubs you right then enjoy it... I won't try to change your mind, just point out the facts.

Re:There are at least 11

[rAiNsT0rm]

While I semi-agree with you (hey that's a change we normally face off in every thread, must be the Christmas vibe :) ) The statement about the cores/threading I made was NOT based on the internet rumors.

The fact is that no 360 game is running more than three threads, most are single threaded, and a few are dual-threaded. What most people forget is that EACH of the Xbox 360 cores can run *2* threads. So all of the single and dual-threaded games are using ONE core. The ones claiming to use three threads are still only really using the MAIN CORE and threading off AI to a second core... that's it.

Again, my knock against the pricing structure was against the *MARKETPLACE* feature of Live! It just makes no logical sense, whether I buy 100 points or 1,000,000 points I pay the EXACT same price... what incentive does that give anyone to buy in quantity? None. That is a bad pricing structure. I'd love to hear how it isn't.

And just an aside, as far as being sold out, they no longer are. Most malls have numerous stores all with 360's in stock and on shelves. At an EB the other day they had 4 in stock and the kid working said they are only averaging 1-2 a day sold... hardly massive demand given that Christmas is 2 days away.

Cornface, only the first paragraph was aimed at you in any way and it was just a clarification... there may be hope yet to reconcile our diferences.