Just a heads up for Xbox 360 owners, a new dashboard update will be available starting October 31 that includes lots of updates and goodies including the ability to stream videos from your PC without Windows Media Center, support for playing games in 1080p (coincidentally, I've been looking at a 1080p 46" LCD TV) and much, much more. Have a look...
I'm still confused as to how to play games in 1080p without an HDMI cable, perhaps you could explain it to me, Tony?
Component cables are perfectly capable of displaying a 1080p signal. As long as your TV natively supports 1080p over component cables (most newer TV's do), all you have to do is set your 360 to display at 1080p (thru the dashboard) and you should be all set. When you do that, the 360 will upconvert the signal to 1080p. HDMI only comes into play for upconverting and hi-def DVD playback because copy protection standards imposed by the movie studios require playback over an all digital source.
Most people who've tried this however, say there is very little visual improvement going from 1080i to 1080p with current games since they were optimised for 720p and 1080i. The dashboard looks a little smoother but that's about the only differnce visible so far.
Maybe future games will be coded to take advantage of native 1080p support (like Sony claims the PS3 will do). In fact, I don't have it in front of me but I think Splinter Cell: Double Agent is one of the first to natively support 1080p. I'll check into that.
EDIT: Night, after typing a longwinded reply, I realized you were only concerned about games and not DVD playback, so I've trimmed this post down.
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
I've fallen in love with the commercial for GEARS OF WAR for the 360. Short and awesome. It looks like a title that I'll enjoy- am I wrong, guys?
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
I've fallen in love with the commercial for GEARS OF WAR for the 360. Short and awesome. It looks like a title that I'll enjoy- am I wrong, guys?
Hopefully I'll be able to tell you next week.
By the way, there's a new game out called F.E.A.R. that looks good too. Looks like a cross between a first person shooter and a horror/supernatural game.
FEAR is an ex-PC port. Great Game, great company. The felt so bad that they didnt release a Multiplayer version of the game originally, that they released one for FREE...I downloaded it, its great. And its a great game.
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
I've fallen in love with the commercial for GEARS OF WAR for the 360. Short and awesome. It looks like a title that I'll enjoy- am I wrong, guys?
Hopefully I'll be able to tell you next week.
By the way, there's a new game out called F.E.A.R. that looks good too. Looks like a cross between a first person shooter and a horror/supernatural game.
Horror is up my alley. I still have to buy CONDEMNED to experience that.
Keep me updated on GOW.
I can't wait...coming soon. Thank God I've developed patience otherwise I'd burst. ;%
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
I have Condemned and I beat it about 10 days ago. It's scary and intense. It's not quite as scary as the Resident Evil remake, but it does have its share of frights.
xman25
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
I have Condemned and I beat it about 10 days ago. It's scary and intense. It's not quite as scary as the Resident Evil remake, but it does have its share of frights.
xman25
Have you taken on any of the games in the SILENT HILL series? Much more frightening than the RE installments; with the exception of 4 I've heard.
I really hope that this game is worth what - 50 bucks? It's simply beautiful from what I see here.
$50... I payed $35 for my copy. I haven't played any of the Silent Hill games. I thought about it a couple times but never got around to picking up a game.
xman25
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
I haven't played any of the Silent Hill games. I thought about it a couple times but never got around to picking up a game.
xman25
Please...get around to them; I promise you won't be disappointed. Especially SH 2: Restless Dreams
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Let me just say that the demo for Rainbow Six Vegas is incredible. I hated the previous entries, but Vegas's demo was great!
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
I love all of the R6 games. Does this new installment just focus on Vegas?
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
I think it starts off in Mexico and moves to Vegas.
I've always liked the idea of R6, but never got into the games. The aiming was always atrociously erratic, and it was just burst into one room and then burst into another. Not my idea of fun. But R6 Vegas has a cover mechanic which makes it all worth it, and the aiming is fixed.
The demo to the latest Rainbow Six game is also available on the latest Official Xbox Magazine DVD.
I absolutely stink at these squad based tactical shooters. Like Night, I've always had trouble with the aiming and I can never get a handle on properly using my squadmates in a single player game.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Exactly, but try this demo, it is a HUGE improvement.
After being the guy that started this thread some 50 pages ago, I finally purchased a 360 today. Target had a deal where if you bought the 360 you got a $50.00 gift card. The gift card was promptly used for the extra wireless controller. Now I just have to wait for xmas, so my sons can unwrap the gift and then dad can play too. I now believe Rogue is the lone hold out.
My plan is to provide only one game at xmas and then purchase other games after xmas when the game prices fall.
After being the guy that started this thread some 50 pages ago, I finally purchased a 360 today. Target had a deal where if you bought the 360 you got a $50.00 gift card. The gift card was promptly used for the extra wireless controller. Now I just have to wait for xmas, so my sons can unwrap the gift and then dad can play too. I now believe Rogue is the lone hold out.
My plan is to provide only one game at xmas and then purchase other games after xmas when the game prices fall.
Congrats Barry; I'm sure and and the boys will enjoy your new toy immensely. {[]
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
I second that. At $50 a year its a great value even if you only occasionally go online.
Also, is anyone else excited for Xbox Live Video?
I'm curious about it. As a big Star Trek fan, I'm particularly interested in the remastered original series episodes that will be available. If they're HD and 16x9 I'll definitely be checking out a few.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Same here. Plus I still haven't seen Superman Returns, so it'll be a good way to see it in HD.
Xbox live will probably happen once I get it all set up. Anyone play Gears of War, I hear that is a pretty good game.
Also my daughter's boyfriend who works at a leading electronic retailer dropped off a game at the house called Kameo Elements of Power. Any opinions on that.
I do know my older son loves the Halo series, so Halo 3 will be a must have.
Xbox live will probably happen once I get it all set up. Anyone play Gears of War, I hear that is a pretty good game.
Also my daughter's boyfriend who works at a leading electronic retailer dropped off a game at the house called Kameo Elements of Power. Any opinions on that.
I do know my older son loves the Halo series, so Halo 3 will be a must have.
Thanks
I bought Gears of War last week and have played it briefly; its a sci-fi action game with a heavy emphasis on finding cover to avoid getting killed. Absolutely phenomenal graphics and very intelligent AI squadmates; it looks to be the premier Xbox 360 game for the holiday season.
Kameo is a fantasy style action adventure game with a heavy emphasis on exploration; very reminiscent of some of Nintendo's cute character driven games. The titular heroine can morph into different creatures with different abilities and the trick is to use the right creature in the right situation. I played it a year ago and it was very well done for its genre.
Since you enjoy racing games, I'd also recommend Project Gotham Racing 3, which can be had for $20-$30 these days; you can drive thru cities including New York, London and Tokyo and there are around 80 cars in the game that are all fantastically modelled both on the inside and the outside. The game has a nice mix of real world physics with an arcadey, forgiving driving model so it's very easy to pick up.
If your sons like Halo, both Halo 1 and Halo 2 are backwardly compatible with the console and can be had for around $20 each.
Lastly, once you get online with Xbox Live (you can start out with a free Silver account) you'll be able to download demos for most games so you can try before you buy.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Can I say that I was disappointed in the graphics in PGR3? I love the game, but the graphics aren't as good as the stills, as, at least on my screen, jaggies are a problem, even in HD, 720p or 1080i. It looks fantastic, but not as good as I had hoped. Also, the lack of rain was a HUGE disappointment. PGR1 is still the best.
Can I say that I was disappointed in the graphics in PGR3? I love the game, but the graphics aren't as good as the stills, as, at least on my screen, jaggies are a problem, even in HD, 720p or 1080i. It looks fantastic, but not as good as I had hoped. Also, the lack of rain was a HUGE disappointment. PGR1 is still the best.
Interesting, I play at 1080i on a 42" screen and didn't notice any jaggies; I'll have to look more closely. How large a screen are you using?
Given that it was a launch title and they probably didn't have as much development time as they wanted, the rain was probably sacrificed to keep up the frame rate. I wouldn't be surprised if PGR4 has it.
For me, PGR3 was the most fun because I found the AI of the other drivers to be more forgiving; I had to practically kill myself to win a race in PGR1 and almost didn't want PGR3; but to my surprise I was able to win and advance pretty consistently, even at the gold level.
After being the guy that started this thread some 50 pages ago, I finally purchased a 360 today. Target had a deal where if you bought the 360 you got a $50.00 gift card. The gift card was promptly used for the extra wireless controller. Now I just have to wait for xmas, so my sons can unwrap the gift and then dad can play too. I now believe Rogue is the lone hold out.
My plan is to provide only one game at xmas and then purchase other games after xmas when the game prices fall.
Heh, one more Barry. I hope to be unwrapping a 360 as well around the 25th...
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Can I say that I was disappointed in the graphics in PGR3? I love the game, but the graphics aren't as good as the stills, as, at least on my screen, jaggies are a problem, even in HD, 720p or 1080i. It looks fantastic, but not as good as I had hoped. Also, the lack of rain was a HUGE disappointment. PGR1 is still the best.
Interesting, I play at 1080i on a 42" screen and didn't notice any jaggies; I'll have to look more closely. How large a screen are you using?
Given that it was a launch title and they probably didn't have as much development time as they wanted, the rain was probably sacrificed to keep up the frame rate. I wouldn't be surprised if PGR4 has it.
For me, PGR3 was the most fun because I found the AI of the other drivers to be more forgiving; I had to practically kill myself to win a race in PGR1 and almost didn't want PGR3; but to my surprise I was able to win and advance pretty consistently, even at the gold level.
I'm playing with a 100inch diagonal projection, so it is expected, but usually the jaggies aren't distracting, and I was expecting better. And there weren't many jagies, just at the curve at the roof of the car, which is unfortunately where my eyes are the whole time.
I'm playing with a 100inch diagonal projection, so it is expected, but usually the jaggies aren't distracting, and I was expecting better. And there weren't many jagies, just at the curve at the roof of the car, which is unfortunately where my eyes are the whole time.
For some reason I have a hard time controlling most driving games if I see the car on screen. I always play either from the in-cockpit view or with no car on the screen at all; that would explain why I don't see the jaggies on the roof.
I remember reading that since PGR3 was one of the first games developed, its native resolution is actually something like 1024x768 and not the fully 1280x720 (which is true 720p); I'll bet that slight disparity is the culprit, especially if you don't notice jaggies in the same spot in other driving games.
Comments
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/personality/elle/20061030-update.htm
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/10/30/538491.aspx
Component cables are perfectly capable of displaying a 1080p signal. As long as your TV natively supports 1080p over component cables (most newer TV's do), all you have to do is set your 360 to display at 1080p (thru the dashboard) and you should be all set. When you do that, the 360 will upconvert the signal to 1080p. HDMI only comes into play for upconverting and hi-def DVD playback because copy protection standards imposed by the movie studios require playback over an all digital source.
Most people who've tried this however, say there is very little visual improvement going from 1080i to 1080p with current games since they were optimised for 720p and 1080i. The dashboard looks a little smoother but that's about the only differnce visible so far.
Maybe future games will be coded to take advantage of native 1080p support (like Sony claims the PS3 will do). In fact, I don't have it in front of me but I think Splinter Cell: Double Agent is one of the first to natively support 1080p. I'll check into that.
EDIT: Night, after typing a longwinded reply, I realized you were only concerned about games and not DVD playback, so I've trimmed this post down.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Hopefully I'll be able to tell you next week.
By the way, there's a new game out called F.E.A.R. that looks good too. Looks like a cross between a first person shooter and a horror/supernatural game.
Horror is up my alley. I still have to buy CONDEMNED to experience that.
Keep me updated on GOW.
I can't wait...coming soon. Thank God I've developed patience otherwise I'd burst. ;%
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
xman25
Have you taken on any of the games in the SILENT HILL series? Much more frightening than the RE installments; with the exception of 4 I've heard.
I really hope that this game is worth what - 50 bucks? It's simply beautiful from what I see here.
http://1000flowersbloom.typepad.com/1000_flowers_bloom/2006/11/microsoft_gears.html
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
xman25
Please...get around to them; I promise you won't be disappointed. Especially SH 2: Restless Dreams
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
I've always liked the idea of R6, but never got into the games. The aiming was always atrociously erratic, and it was just burst into one room and then burst into another. Not my idea of fun. But R6 Vegas has a cover mechanic which makes it all worth it, and the aiming is fixed.
I absolutely stink at these squad based tactical shooters. Like Night, I've always had trouble with the aiming and I can never get a handle on properly using my squadmates in a single player game.
My plan is to provide only one game at xmas and then purchase other games after xmas when the game prices fall.
Congrats Barry; I'm sure and and the boys will enjoy your new toy immensely. {[]
Also, is anyone else excited for Xbox Live Video?
I second that. At $50 a year its a great value even if you only occasionally go online.
I'm curious about it. As a big Star Trek fan, I'm particularly interested in the remastered original series episodes that will be available. If they're HD and 16x9 I'll definitely be checking out a few.
Also my daughter's boyfriend who works at a leading electronic retailer dropped off a game at the house called Kameo Elements of Power. Any opinions on that.
I do know my older son loves the Halo series, so Halo 3 will be a must have.
Thanks
I bought Gears of War last week and have played it briefly; its a sci-fi action game with a heavy emphasis on finding cover to avoid getting killed. Absolutely phenomenal graphics and very intelligent AI squadmates; it looks to be the premier Xbox 360 game for the holiday season.
Kameo is a fantasy style action adventure game with a heavy emphasis on exploration; very reminiscent of some of Nintendo's cute character driven games. The titular heroine can morph into different creatures with different abilities and the trick is to use the right creature in the right situation. I played it a year ago and it was very well done for its genre.
Since you enjoy racing games, I'd also recommend Project Gotham Racing 3, which can be had for $20-$30 these days; you can drive thru cities including New York, London and Tokyo and there are around 80 cars in the game that are all fantastically modelled both on the inside and the outside. The game has a nice mix of real world physics with an arcadey, forgiving driving model so it's very easy to pick up.
If your sons like Halo, both Halo 1 and Halo 2 are backwardly compatible with the console and can be had for around $20 each.
Lastly, once you get online with Xbox Live (you can start out with a free Silver account) you'll be able to download demos for most games so you can try before you buy.
Interesting, I play at 1080i on a 42" screen and didn't notice any jaggies; I'll have to look more closely. How large a screen are you using?
Given that it was a launch title and they probably didn't have as much development time as they wanted, the rain was probably sacrificed to keep up the frame rate. I wouldn't be surprised if PGR4 has it.
For me, PGR3 was the most fun because I found the AI of the other drivers to be more forgiving; I had to practically kill myself to win a race in PGR1 and almost didn't want PGR3; but to my surprise I was able to win and advance pretty consistently, even at the gold level.
Heh, one more Barry. I hope to be unwrapping a 360 as well around the 25th...
I'm playing with a 100inch diagonal projection, so it is expected, but usually the jaggies aren't distracting, and I was expecting better. And there weren't many jagies, just at the curve at the roof of the car, which is unfortunately where my eyes are the whole time.
He has seen the light!!!
For some reason I have a hard time controlling most driving games if I see the car on screen. I always play either from the in-cockpit view or with no car on the screen at all; that would explain why I don't see the jaggies on the roof.
I remember reading that since PGR3 was one of the first games developed, its native resolution is actually something like 1024x768 and not the fully 1280x720 (which is true 720p); I'll bet that slight disparity is the culprit, especially if you don't notice jaggies in the same spot in other driving games.