How is this modded informative? The parent posts no links or arguments to backup his assertion. There must be a lot of M$ employees loitering around here.
Its modded informative because its true. My assertion that.NET has excellent support for developing web services corrects the parent post, and therefore is informative.
You can develop the skeleton of a web service using a dozen lines of code in.NET using both C# and VB.NET (although I still don't understand why MS decided to keep that antiquated language around). Creating and consuming data from web services is a snap, and is actually one of the major considerations when Microsoft developed the.NET platform. If you can get past all the marketing mumbo jumbo, check it out.
http://www.microsoft.com/net/default.mspx
I'm laughing my @#$ off over here. This makes it sound like Microsoft is spying on you. This is a feature! I listen to Major Nelson Radio (a podcast created by the director of Xbox Live devleopment) and he talked about this feature for months. Its put there to allow you to see what your friends are up to. Major Nelson actually had a show where he addressed the privacy issues. Even if you don't choose to block this feature (which you can) it never gives anything more than general information. It says "Watching a movie", not exactly what movie you're watching.
I think its cool. When my friends are playing Hexic HD, for instance, I can actually see what mode they're playing, and what their score is.
Looking around at a few forums with polls up, it seems that the defect rate is around the 15% mark.
Please, stop quoting the 15% number. I'm sick of seeing this. Slashdot is not the majority of console users. Hell, Slashdot isn't even the majority of the "geek" community. We're a small subsection. My 360 is working great, so are two of my friend's.
I bought mine at launch, and it works great. The power supply is cool, and the air out the back of the console is warm at most. The fans will sometimes sound like the thing is going to start flying, but what do you expect?
I have two friends who bought them, and they're working great as well.
I've been reading a lot at the Xbox.com Forums, and people are doing some pretty stupid things. They're placing the console on the carpet, with the power brick right behind it. They're enclosing it in a tiny hutch, again with the power brick. One person had stacked it on top of their reciever, which we all know gets pretty warm.
One guy even complained that their DVD door was broken - and later realized they hadn't removed the plastic sticker that protects the shiny door.
Honestly people, what's the big damned deal? Slashdot did the same thing with the stupid edge button problem the PSP had. Stories galore.
And people wonder why they crash. Anyone who has one want to comment on how hot they get?
I got mine yesterday morning. Hooked it up in 5 minutes, and played for approximately 5 hours. The games included some launch titles (especially Kameo), Xbox Live Arcade titles, High Definition movies from the hard drive, and a normal DVD.
When you're in the dashboard listening to music or playing an Arcade title, the machine becomes very quiet. The exhaust fans spin down to a relatively low RPM, and the machine starts blowing moderately warm air.
When you're watching a DVD or playing an HD movie, the fans still don't spin up much. Its nice, because you can still hear the movie clearly in quiet scenes. The box doesn't produce too much noise, and the air becomes slightly warmer. Its definitely no worse than the air blowing out the back of my laptop.
When you're playing a full title such as Kameo, the fans will sometimes spin up like the machine is going to launch into orbit. This happens mostly during the intense scenes where the graphics are going crazy. The box is loud, but the game is louder. I checked the power supply, and its warm. Its about as warm as my laptop supply will get. The air coming out of the box is very warm, but I wouldn't call it hot.
Basically, the point of my long story is that even at its worst, the box doesn't produce that much heat. The variable speed fans are great, and when the fans are loud, chances are that your game is louder. The parent had it right - considering this thing is a full-fledged PC inside, they've done a decent job managing the heat dissipation.
I had my reservations due to the Microsoft hype-machine, but I am far more impressed with this machine than I thought I would be. All these reports of the horrible power brick, fan noise, and overheating had me worried. This is far out-weighed by the intense graphics, access to your media (using as an MCE), and the Live integration.
Gee, they made the same decision that Apple, IBM, Sony, Nintendo, Dell, and OCP would have made. How uniquely evil of Microsoft.
Thank you.
Defending anything that Microsoft does is like banging your head against a brick wall. Personally, I'm very excited about the Xbox 360. I'm disappointed in a couple details - lack of required hard drive, higher than average premium package price, etc. Seriously though, get over it.
The biggest thing that Microsoft did wrong was to make a hard drive standard with the original Xbox. If they hadn't done that, the optional hard drive for the Xbox 360 would look like a blessing.
Corporate IT/software development needs to clean up its act
I agree, to an extent. I'd say that's half the problem. The other half is that people need to find a better job. I realize that is easier said than done - but it can be done.
I'm a slightly higher-than-average salary, combined with excellent overtime pay that kicks in beyond the 40 hours/week. Combine that with stock matching and yearly bonuses, and I have nothing to complain about. I'm not bragging - I'm just saying that its worth looking around. It helps to work for a company that cares about its corporate image (which is why my company treats us the way it does).
The only game I'm really waiting for is Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. If it is nearly as good as Morrowind was, then it should last me until the rest of the launch titles are the Xbox 360 equivalent of a Platinum Hit.
If Morrowind had been the only game that I purchased for the original Xbox, I still would have considered it worth the money. I can't even guess at how many hours I've put into that game.
Re:I was a fanboy...
on
State of the 360
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I own an Xbox, a PS2, and a Gamecube. I enjoyed quite a few of the PS2 games I played. I also enjoyed quite a few Xbox games (KOTOR, Ninja Gaiden, just to name a few). However, I couldn't agree more with your assesment of the generic games that come out.
The Gamecube, on the other hand, is a whole other story. If you're not planning on purchasing an Xbox 360 or a PS3, I highly recommend you purchase a Gamecube to keep you busy until the Revolution comes out. I easily purchased twice as many games for the Gamecube as I did for the Xbox and PS2 combined. There are some stinkers for the Gamecube (mostly the ones that come out for all three consoles), but I found the experience to be better on average. Throw the Wavebird controller into the mix, and you can't beat it.
I'm not a Nintendo fanboy - I just appreciate good games. There are some unbelievable games for that little console. I have passed more time playing games like Windwaker, Eternal Darkness, Metroid, and Pikmin than I have with the games for the other two consoles. That's saying a lot considering how much time I've put into Morrowind on the Xbox.:)
Furthermore, based on your statements, such as that Nintendo invented something they didn't...
Please refer to my original post - they're the first company to really make it work. I never claimed that they invented it. In fact, the statement in my original post was to prevent people such as you from arguing that point.
They are known as the company that revistalized a dying industry in the 80's - and their console, controller, and games were all part of that.
That's just not true. The Colecovision and Intellivision both made that design work 10 years before Nintendo hit the market at all.
Just because you don't remember how popular those consoles were doesn't mean they weren't popular.
You underestimate my age.:)
I absolutely remember how popular they were, specifically the Intellivision. However, the 1980's wasn't full of Intellivision related magazines, TV shows, movies (although they were God-awful movies), toys, etc. There were, on the other hand, all these things related to Nintendo.
Nintendo really was the first to make it work, and they did help revitalize the gaming industry. The others did ok, but not to the same degree. In fact, Nintendo made it an industry. Colecovision and Intellivision weren't even close in terms of popularity, sales numbers, and sheer strength of brand recognition.
I wonder if people have forgotten that what's now considered the "traditional controller type" was itself basically invented by Nintendo, as a radical departure from the then-traditional joystick.
You have just summed up this entire article perfectly.
No doubt there will be those who say they weren't actually the first. To those people - remember that Nintendo was the first company to make it work.
They key here is to remember that Nintendo knows what they're doing, they're not morons. People are making statments such as "my arm will get tired!" and "its going to limit our game control in terms of buttons!". C'mon. Seriously. You really think Nintendo hasn't thought of your thin, pasty arms getting tired?
Just look at the Gamecube controller. People complained about its goofy look, and it wasn't even a far departure from the other consoles! I ended up finding the Gamecube controller to be perhaps the most comfortable and flexible controller ever.
Was this a hardware review, or was this an instruction manual?
I gotta say, I was looking for benchmarks, usability scores, maybe some test scenarios. Even better, compare this to other products available out there.
It looked promising at the start, but when you get to the last page it leaves you wondering if they forgot the hyperlinks for the rest of the article!!
Article is yet another dupe....original article can be found here.
Normally, I can't stand when people bitch and moan about duped stories. Sometimes they're duped from months ago, and even I forgot they were ever posted.
Normally, I would moderate such bitchings as "Offtopic" or "Redundent".
This time, I'm very disappointed. This was:
a) Very, very, very recently posted already
b) Was a very distinct headline to begin with, about a major corporate SNAFU and not relating to Google, Xbox 360 vs. PS3, Microsoft is teh evil!, etc.
c) Generated a lot of healthy discussion - this wasn't a topic that got ignored the first time.
Oh well, I guess its technically not hurting anyone. Its just annoying as hell.
Ok, I'm done ranting. Go ahead and moderate me Offtopic or Redundent.
On the other hand, X-boxes' original DVD player (toshiba?) started dieing a year or two after release for many people.
It was actually Thompson who made those DVD drives, and yes - they were horrible. A lot of people first started finding out how bad they were when Halo 2 launched - for some reason, the multiplayer maps were prone to problems because of this drive.
The only reason I'm correcting you is because I absolutely love Toshiba. Mad props to their awesome TVs.:D
I really don't think that many of us care whether the PS3 graphics chip will be a generation behind, and the Xbox 360 will be the cutting edge for the next 12 months.
How many times do we need to say it - its not the hardware that makes great games - its the gameplay! The graphics chips will help make a more immersive environment - but other than that, who cares?
The only thing these statistics help is the pissing contest between Sony and Microsoft.
I'm buying an Xbox 360. Its not because of the fact that its graphics chip is "bigger" than the PS3's.
BTW, don't even bother reading the Team Xbox article. It extremely biased, and sounds like it was written by the PR department.
Excellent response! However, while you spent time researching, purchasing, waiting for delivery, assembling the components, and then finally installing the games - I have already been playing.
I used to be a big PC gamer. I'd build my customer high-end machine, and get all the newest and greatest games. But now I find that I don't have time for that crap. You can say that your package is as good as the $1,200 Xbox 360 one - but I just saved a buttload of time.
I should make one disclaimer here: I'm not defending the stupid, moronic, flamebait package that Gamespot released. I'm just saying that the Xbox 360 isn't that expensive - bundling every game under the sun is.
show me an xbox that can browse the web, download games/movies, do my homework, play games, use a KEYBOARD AND MOUSE for FPS games, check my email, etc.
Absolutely! How about a modded Xbox. It has the power to do all those things. I've seen it, I've done it, and its a beautiful thing to be able to do these things for the $250 I paid for one. Naturally, you're talking about doing this out of the box.
In that case, I don't care about doing those things. I own a $1,500 notebook that does all those things. I don't, however, like playing games on it as much anymore.
Here is where the Xbox 360 comes into play. To pay $400 for a console that is more powerful than most PCs out there today, is an awesome thing. I want to play games, and maybe watch movies and listen to music. I don't give a rat's a$$ about all those other things.
yes but how many of those 11 titles do you actually want?
Me? Two. But that's not the point. The point is that you're claiming its $1,200 for an Xbox 360, which is the same price as a full PC. The price includes every possible launch title.
To counter your argument about consoles no longer being cheaper than PCs - I'll buy the $400 Xbox 360 package, along with one launch title. Lets say that's $60. That means, my Xbox 360 (with wireless controller, hard drive, headset, etc) with one launch title will be $460. That is MUCH cheaper than a high-end gaming PC.
First off, I completely agree with you. It should come with a memory card, no questions asked. In the case of the package that includes the hard drive, we obviously don't need a memory card. To not include a way to save your games out of the box is annoying as hell.
In their defense, however, I purchased my PS2, XBox, Gamecube, and N64 without memory cards. Console manufacturers never put them in their default packages. Sometimes retailers will add them in for a bit of extra money, but what Microsoft is doing isn't any different than Sony or Nintendo.
Well, the 360 is both more expensive *and* isn't as upgradable.
You didn't look at the package for $1,200, did you? It includes the Xbox 360, a wireless controller, headset, hard drive, and remote control, along with 11 titles. Show me a high-end gaming PC with 11 titles for $1,200. Geez. You pay that for an average PC without any good software.
Seriously, before making a ludicrous statement like that, please read what you're commenting on.
...a 360 Bundle that clocks in at a whopping $1,199.83
This is just moronic. Are we trying to make things sound worse, by citing some ridiculous package put together by some retailer? Please.
The $399.99 bundle that Microsoft announced is expensive. We freakin' get it, already. Considering what you get, many of us feel that its not that bad. Mentioning that $1,200 package is just flamebait.
That bundle includes every possible launch title for the Xbox 360, including those that haven't even been confirmed! Bethedsa has never confirmed that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will launch. The closest we get is "Holidays, 2005".
You know what's even worse? When Sony comes out with the pricing for the PS3, this is going to start all over again. Ken Kutagari has already warned us that its going to be ridiculously expensive. *sigh*
My cell phone company [t-mobile.com] charges me $.05 for incoming too
I stand corrected! I had no idea. I live in Ontario, where our major companies are Bell and Rogers. Neither of them charge for incoming messages, so that concept was foreign to me.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Its modded informative because its true. My assertion that .NET has excellent support for developing web services corrects the parent post, and therefore is informative.
You want a link? http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/
You can develop the skeleton of a web service using a dozen lines of code in .NET using both C# and VB .NET (although I still don't understand why MS decided to keep that antiquated language around). Creating and consuming data from web services is a snap, and is actually one of the major considerations when Microsoft developed the .NET platform. If you can get past all the marketing mumbo jumbo, check it out.
http://www.microsoft.com/net/default.mspx
The exact opposite, actually. .NET has an excellent framework for web services.
I think its cool. When my friends are playing Hexic HD, for instance, I can actually see what mode they're playing, and what their score is.
Geez, lose the tinfoil hat, buddy.
Please, stop quoting the 15% number. I'm sick of seeing this. Slashdot is not the majority of console users. Hell, Slashdot isn't even the majority of the "geek" community. We're a small subsection. My 360 is working great, so are two of my friend's.
I bought mine at launch, and it works great. The power supply is cool, and the air out the back of the console is warm at most. The fans will sometimes sound like the thing is going to start flying, but what do you expect?
I have two friends who bought them, and they're working great as well.
I've been reading a lot at the Xbox.com Forums, and people are doing some pretty stupid things. They're placing the console on the carpet, with the power brick right behind it. They're enclosing it in a tiny hutch, again with the power brick. One person had stacked it on top of their reciever, which we all know gets pretty warm.
One guy even complained that their DVD door was broken - and later realized they hadn't removed the plastic sticker that protects the shiny door.
Honestly people, what's the big damned deal? Slashdot did the same thing with the stupid edge button problem the PSP had. Stories galore.
I got mine yesterday morning. Hooked it up in 5 minutes, and played for approximately 5 hours. The games included some launch titles (especially Kameo), Xbox Live Arcade titles, High Definition movies from the hard drive, and a normal DVD.
When you're in the dashboard listening to music or playing an Arcade title, the machine becomes very quiet. The exhaust fans spin down to a relatively low RPM, and the machine starts blowing moderately warm air.
When you're watching a DVD or playing an HD movie, the fans still don't spin up much. Its nice, because you can still hear the movie clearly in quiet scenes. The box doesn't produce too much noise, and the air becomes slightly warmer. Its definitely no worse than the air blowing out the back of my laptop.
When you're playing a full title such as Kameo, the fans will sometimes spin up like the machine is going to launch into orbit. This happens mostly during the intense scenes where the graphics are going crazy. The box is loud, but the game is louder. I checked the power supply, and its warm. Its about as warm as my laptop supply will get. The air coming out of the box is very warm, but I wouldn't call it hot.
Basically, the point of my long story is that even at its worst, the box doesn't produce that much heat. The variable speed fans are great, and when the fans are loud, chances are that your game is louder. The parent had it right - considering this thing is a full-fledged PC inside, they've done a decent job managing the heat dissipation.
I had my reservations due to the Microsoft hype-machine, but I am far more impressed with this machine than I thought I would be. All these reports of the horrible power brick, fan noise, and overheating had me worried. This is far out-weighed by the intense graphics, access to your media (using as an MCE), and the Live integration.
I love Google, I'm just sayin'...
Thank you.
Defending anything that Microsoft does is like banging your head against a brick wall. Personally, I'm very excited about the Xbox 360. I'm disappointed in a couple details - lack of required hard drive, higher than average premium package price, etc. Seriously though, get over it.
The biggest thing that Microsoft did wrong was to make a hard drive standard with the original Xbox. If they hadn't done that, the optional hard drive for the Xbox 360 would look like a blessing.
I agree, to an extent. I'd say that's half the problem. The other half is that people need to find a better job. I realize that is easier said than done - but it can be done.
I'm a slightly higher-than-average salary, combined with excellent overtime pay that kicks in beyond the 40 hours/week. Combine that with stock matching and yearly bonuses, and I have nothing to complain about. I'm not bragging - I'm just saying that its worth looking around. It helps to work for a company that cares about its corporate image (which is why my company treats us the way it does).
If Morrowind had been the only game that I purchased for the original Xbox, I still would have considered it worth the money. I can't even guess at how many hours I've put into that game.
The Gamecube, on the other hand, is a whole other story. If you're not planning on purchasing an Xbox 360 or a PS3, I highly recommend you purchase a Gamecube to keep you busy until the Revolution comes out. I easily purchased twice as many games for the Gamecube as I did for the Xbox and PS2 combined. There are some stinkers for the Gamecube (mostly the ones that come out for all three consoles), but I found the experience to be better on average. Throw the Wavebird controller into the mix, and you can't beat it.
I'm not a Nintendo fanboy - I just appreciate good games. There are some unbelievable games for that little console. I have passed more time playing games like Windwaker, Eternal Darkness, Metroid, and Pikmin than I have with the games for the other two consoles. That's saying a lot considering how much time I've put into Morrowind on the Xbox. :)
Please refer to my original post - they're the first company to really make it work. I never claimed that they invented it. In fact, the statement in my original post was to prevent people such as you from arguing that point.
They are known as the company that revistalized a dying industry in the 80's - and their console, controller, and games were all part of that.
You underestimate my age. :)
I absolutely remember how popular they were, specifically the Intellivision. However, the 1980's wasn't full of Intellivision related magazines, TV shows, movies (although they were God-awful movies), toys, etc. There were, on the other hand, all these things related to Nintendo.
Nintendo really was the first to make it work, and they did help revitalize the gaming industry. The others did ok, but not to the same degree. In fact, Nintendo made it an industry. Colecovision and Intellivision weren't even close in terms of popularity, sales numbers, and sheer strength of brand recognition.
You have just summed up this entire article perfectly.
No doubt there will be those who say they weren't actually the first. To those people - remember that Nintendo was the first company to make it work.
They key here is to remember that Nintendo knows what they're doing, they're not morons. People are making statments such as "my arm will get tired!" and "its going to limit our game control in terms of buttons!". C'mon. Seriously. You really think Nintendo hasn't thought of your thin, pasty arms getting tired?
Just look at the Gamecube controller. People complained about its goofy look, and it wasn't even a far departure from the other consoles! I ended up finding the Gamecube controller to be perhaps the most comfortable and flexible controller ever.
I gotta say, I was looking for benchmarks, usability scores, maybe some test scenarios. Even better, compare this to other products available out there.
It looked promising at the start, but when you get to the last page it leaves you wondering if they forgot the hyperlinks for the rest of the article!!
Normally, I can't stand when people bitch and moan about duped stories. Sometimes they're duped from months ago, and even I forgot they were ever posted.
Normally, I would moderate such bitchings as "Offtopic" or "Redundent".
This time, I'm very disappointed. This was:
a) Very, very, very recently posted already
b) Was a very distinct headline to begin with, about a major corporate SNAFU and not relating to Google, Xbox 360 vs. PS3, Microsoft is teh evil!, etc.
c) Generated a lot of healthy discussion - this wasn't a topic that got ignored the first time.
Oh well, I guess its technically not hurting anyone. Its just annoying as hell.
Ok, I'm done ranting. Go ahead and moderate me Offtopic or Redundent.
It was actually Thompson who made those DVD drives, and yes - they were horrible. A lot of people first started finding out how bad they were when Halo 2 launched - for some reason, the multiplayer maps were prone to problems because of this drive.
The only reason I'm correcting you is because I absolutely love Toshiba. Mad props to their awesome TVs. :D
How many times do we need to say it - its not the hardware that makes great games - its the gameplay! The graphics chips will help make a more immersive environment - but other than that, who cares?
The only thing these statistics help is the pissing contest between Sony and Microsoft.
I'm buying an Xbox 360. Its not because of the fact that its graphics chip is "bigger" than the PS3's.
BTW, don't even bother reading the Team Xbox article. It extremely biased, and sounds like it was written by the PR department.
I used to be a big PC gamer. I'd build my customer high-end machine, and get all the newest and greatest games. But now I find that I don't have time for that crap. You can say that your package is as good as the $1,200 Xbox 360 one - but I just saved a buttload of time.
I should make one disclaimer here: I'm not defending the stupid, moronic, flamebait package that Gamespot released. I'm just saying that the Xbox 360 isn't that expensive - bundling every game under the sun is.
Absolutely! How about a modded Xbox. It has the power to do all those things. I've seen it, I've done it, and its a beautiful thing to be able to do these things for the $250 I paid for one. Naturally, you're talking about doing this out of the box.
In that case, I don't care about doing those things. I own a $1,500 notebook that does all those things. I don't, however, like playing games on it as much anymore.
Here is where the Xbox 360 comes into play. To pay $400 for a console that is more powerful than most PCs out there today, is an awesome thing. I want to play games, and maybe watch movies and listen to music. I don't give a rat's a$$ about all those other things.
Me? Two. But that's not the point. The point is that you're claiming its $1,200 for an Xbox 360, which is the same price as a full PC. The price includes every possible launch title.
To counter your argument about consoles no longer being cheaper than PCs - I'll buy the $400 Xbox 360 package, along with one launch title. Lets say that's $60. That means, my Xbox 360 (with wireless controller, hard drive, headset, etc) with one launch title will be $460. That is MUCH cheaper than a high-end gaming PC.
In their defense, however, I purchased my PS2, XBox, Gamecube, and N64 without memory cards. Console manufacturers never put them in their default packages. Sometimes retailers will add them in for a bit of extra money, but what Microsoft is doing isn't any different than Sony or Nintendo.
You didn't look at the package for $1,200, did you? It includes the Xbox 360, a wireless controller, headset, hard drive, and remote control, along with 11 titles. Show me a high-end gaming PC with 11 titles for $1,200. Geez. You pay that for an average PC without any good software.
Seriously, before making a ludicrous statement like that, please read what you're commenting on.
This is just moronic. Are we trying to make things sound worse, by citing some ridiculous package put together by some retailer? Please.
The $399.99 bundle that Microsoft announced is expensive. We freakin' get it, already. Considering what you get, many of us feel that its not that bad. Mentioning that $1,200 package is just flamebait.
That bundle includes every possible launch title for the Xbox 360, including those that haven't even been confirmed! Bethedsa has never confirmed that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will launch. The closest we get is "Holidays, 2005".
You know what's even worse? When Sony comes out with the pricing for the PS3, this is going to start all over again. Ken Kutagari has already warned us that its going to be ridiculously expensive. *sigh*
I stand corrected! I had no idea. I live in Ontario, where our major companies are Bell and Rogers. Neither of them charge for incoming messages, so that concept was foreign to me. :)