360 questions

[Neost]

Got a deal. Lady that works with my daughter bought a Wii and decided she couldn't afford games for 2 systems. She had a 360 she bought in January. For 250 bucks i got:

360 Premium (20gb HD, blah blah)
2 Wireless Controllers
Headset
TW Golf
Madden
Arcade
Rainbow Six Vegas
couple of burger king games

I've been playing those games a bit, and now have Gears of War and Dead:Rising. I'm not a big fan of shooters, but they are ok to play.
My question is are there any killer games you guys think are worth spending another 60-70 bucks on?

Oh yeah. and the 360 was never registered, so I now have it registered under my name so I've got warranty on it. It seems to be fine, I'm guess based on the profiles they had on there that the system hasn't seen more than 30 hours of play time since they got it (that's a guess of course). It didn't appear that any profile was very far into any of the games.

Also, is Xbox Live worth a subscription? I'm not too interested in playing online against other folks.

[Funkmasterr]

There are a good handful of games I would say are definitely worth shelling out for, but to be honest there are quite a few more coming out over the next 3 or 4 months that will be even better.

Some that I might recommend:

Guitar Hero 2 - Kind of cut and dry as to whether you like the game or not.

Forza 2 if you like racing games

Oblivion for a good solid rpg that you can go through quick or spend as much time as you want playing.

Tenchu Z - If you are a fan of tenchu games, I liked this quite a bit. I am very close to getting my 1000 achievement points for it with about 45 hours of play time into it, so it's nice that you can spend some time playing it.

If you don't like shooters I won't make too many more recommendations, but there are plenty of very good ones out.

To come this year (games I am looking forward to):

Two worlds (RPG - can quest with up to 7 friends online I believe)

Mass Effect - (RPGish game)

TimeShift - shooter

Lost Odyssey

Bioshock - shooter hybrid

Halo 3

Assassin's creed - pure awesomeness

Halo Wars - Halo RTS

GTA4

That is all I can think of, but I know there are more.

As far as xbox live, I would highly recommend it. For 50 dollars a year, it's worth it just to download all the new game demos and get a feel for them without spending money, plus the ability to download expansions for the games that you have.


I am sure Winnow will have his full 10 page report written up for you sometime today.

[Winnow]

Also, is Xbox Live worth a subscription? I'm not too interested in playing online against other folks.

If you don't want to play online against other people, stick with the free Xbox Live service. You still have access to all the demos, etc.

Value of games is purely up to you depending on what you like to play. It's been pointed out that I'm a bad source of opinion on this topic because I have every 360 game but didn't pay for most of them so when I say a game is fun, it may not necessarily mean it = 60.00 fun.

To complicate things further, the games I'd consider buying would be to play online which it doesn't seem you like to do.

You've already got the best game on the platform with Gears of War. Are you running the 360 in HD I hope!?

Have you considered gamefly?

http://www.gamefly.com/

8.95.month seems reasonable (as a trial)

For $22.95/month you can check out two games at a time. You'd be spending the cost of one Xbox 360 game ~every three months and probably end up playing 10 or more during that time. Maybe someone here has tried out the service and can comment on it.

[Neost]

I'm not running in HD at this time. I broke the color wheel on my projector when I was cleaning it and I've held off getting anything until I decide if I want to go with a projector again or a couple of LCD's. My dish recvr is a dual tuner DVR so I'm considering getting like a 32" for the 360/wii, a 32" for one DVR tuner and a 27" LCD on the wall by my desk for the other DVR tuner. Only problem with the 27" is I have 22" and 20" WS monitors for my tower and a docking station for my laptop on my desk and I haven't decided if there is going to be a way to get an unobstructed view. I am limited to the height I can hang the LCD because of my overhead shelves.

As for gamefly, I thought about trying them out but since I'm not too interested in playing online I may mod my 360. I wasn't actually planning on getting a 360 until they came out with the 65nm chips but this deal was too good to pass up. I haven't kept too up-to-date on the 360 modding options.

[Boogahz]

GameFly might not be a bad idea for you. I have the 2 at a time plan right now, but I might take it down to 1 soon. I don't find myself actually playing the rentals enough to justify having two at once. "Killer" games will really be based on your own opinions on them. Some games that I have really enjoyed are FIFA 2006 World Cup, Madden 2007, Burnout: Revenge, Dirt, and Crackdown. Online play enhances many of them since you aren't required to spend any amount of time playing with others (except in sports games, DON'T leave early!!!!! )

Check out demos on the free version of Live and see what catches your eye. I recommend that over listening to any of us I, for one, would not recommend buying a 360 just for Gears of War. I played through it once and spent some time playing it online, and I have not taken it out of the cabinet my games are stored in since then.

**Edit** you mentioned not getting GameFly because of no interest in online play, but the two have nothing to do with each other.

[Funkmasterr]

Winnow is your man on the mod.

From the couple of people I have talked to that use gamefly they aren't too satisfied with the service.

I just had a conversation with one of them actually, he has about 12 games in his queue, and they just sent him number 8 on his list. He has been waiting for them to send him shadowrun since it came out. If you ask me, the big draw to the net based services is that shit is usually always in stock and you can get it quick, if you eliminate that element I don't really see it to be a worthwhile investment.

Edit: Gears is mos def the best game out for the 360 imo. I would highly suggest not leaving early in shooters, either. Generally when i'm playing with the people I normally play with, if someone leaves the match early we all submit a negative player review immediately, then we file a complaint and say they were hacking/modding or whatever excuse I feel like using at the time.

[Boogahz]

Gamefly is slower than Netflix and Blockbuster Online. I wouldn't get too pumped up about getting a new release from them, but you should be able to get some of the "older" titles to determine what you like. That's basically all I have used it for. I did get a couple games right when they came out, but that was right after I joined. I would imagine that they throttle accounts just like the online movie services.

My general turn-around time for Netflix: movie mailed on Monday, received on Tuesday, returned on Wednesday, Netflix receives on Thursday and mails new movie on same day.

Gamefly is something like: Movie mailed on Monday, received on Thursday, mailed back on Friday, received by Gamefly on Tuesday and replacement mailed 2-3 days later. They do use the new scanning system that is available from the USPS where they are notified when a parcel is being sent to them from you. This does sometimes speed up preparation for the next title to be sent to you, but that is not overly reliable. 1-2 games should be okay to keep you from wasting money on titles you want nothing to do with (like Star Trek: Legacy).

[Winnow]

I haven't kept too up-to-date on the 360 modding options.

I still think I'm the only one on VV with a mod'd 360, unlike with the original Xbox and PS2 where there were quite a few peeps that had bought mod chips, did the software hacks or bought swap disks and flips tops for their PS2s.


You can scan through my "Hacked My Xbox 360" thread:

http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view ... 14&t=18428

I know you're entirely capable of handling the mod but it is risky and it's more difficult working on the 360 than PCs. I haven't kept up on the mods and what works with the new DVD drives etc. I made the DVD firmware mod once and haven't had to do anything since. The dashboard updates that come on new games don't seem to affect the mod (if you don't play online which will brick your system)

Do extensive research before trying it and be prepared to lose the system if you mess up!

[Kilmoll the Sexy]

Rainbow 6 Vegas is the only game anyone ever needs! I feel confident in saying that at some point I will probably be picking up Call of Duty 4 and Assassins Creed....and even though I was kinda disappointed in Fable, I am sure I will get suckered into Fable 2. If they do it right it could be immense. Also just saw that Fallout 3 is coming on the 360....

[Animalor]

Ya know, when I got my 360 I wasn't really interested in playing online however once I started doing it and when you have the right community, it's a great fun time.

I'm playing online mostly with 2old2play.com folks right now(25+ requirement) and there are a lot of people playing most every online game on the 360 right now.

Take a look at live Arcade for games we well. They don't all need to be 70$ games. Castlevania SOTN, Cloning Clyde and Bomberman Live are all fun games that are quickly playable.

I've also been hearing great things about Project Sylpheed as a far as space shooters go. I'm gonna pick that one up in the coming weeks probably.

[Winnow]

I've also been hearing great things about Project Sylpheed as a far as space shooters go. I'm gonna pick that one up in the coming weeks probably.

I'm not so sure on this one. It seemed thrown together. The storyline and graphics are subpar for an Square-Enix game. Might be worth renting or playing demo first if there is one.

Blue Dragon is two days away!

[*~*stragi*~*]

blue dragon has really great gameplay if you can get past the kiddy graphics. i was really impressed with the demo