Guys - I've got a request. I've been wanting to play some Gears of War multiplayer since I never got into it and it is probably quite good - but I don't want to play against people who have been playing for however long the game has been out. So who ever has it - want to play a few games with me?
Sorry Night, I sold my copy a few weeks ago. Once I'd beaten the single player game I never touched it again as it really didn't hold up to repeated playthroughs (I found the the control and cover mechanics to actually be quite stiff compared to other games). I also wound up selling back Rainbow Six: Vegas as the Terrorist Hunt missions were just too hard and the single player campaign didn't warrant playing thru again.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Call of Duty 4 arrived yesterday. AMAZING singleplayer game. SO intense. Playing on the Hardened difficulty is really fun -- until I got to the end of the One Shot One Kill level, which was just impossible to beat. You basically have 30 - 50 guys trying to flush you out of a small field with grenades, dogs, and guns. Not fair. I switch the difficulty to Regular to beat it.
Call of Duty 4 arrived yesterday. AMAZING singleplayer game. SO intense. Playing on the Hardened difficulty is really fun -- until I got to the end of the One Shot One Kill level, which was just impossible to beat. You basically have 30 - 50 guys trying to flush you out of a small field with grenades, dogs, and guns. Not fair. I switch the difficulty to Regular to beat it.
The game has gotten great reviews and the videos I've seen all look fantastic; but I've read that the single player campaign takes only 5-6 hours to beat on normal difficulty? If true, that's just a rip-off for people like me who don't do a lot of online gaming. A good, long single player campaign - at least 10 hours of original content (backtracking or replaying levels doesn't count) is a must for me to justify a $60 purchase.
I've also never been a big fan of these urban combat games - I still haven't finished GRAW2 - so I'll probably pass on this one or wait until it drops in price.
Make sure to keep us informed about how it plays out.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
I'm almost done with it, and it isn't that long, but Tony, the argument is this: would you rather have a game that is 15 hours long but a lot of it is wandering around or scrolling through inventory or whatever, or would you like a 7-8 hour game that is 100% intense throughout? Honestly, the game never lets up. You barely have time to breathe.
I'm almost done with it, and it isn't that long, but Tony, the argument is this: would you rather have a game that is 15 hours long but a lot of it is wandering around or scrolling through inventory or whatever, or would you like a 7-8 hour game that is 100% intense throughout? Honestly, the game never lets up. You barely have time to breathe.
Yeah, I've heard a lot of "balls to the wall" comments about the game. I'm still not sure if I want to invest right away; lately I've been into more laid back types of games. But my resolve (which is generally pretty weak to begin with) is starting to crumble; maybe they'll put a demo on Xbox Live.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
It certainly is NOT laid back, but it is awesome. Give it a try, you won't regret it.
There's a very positive review of Mass Effect over at IGN. In short, great story and graphics offset by an inconsistent frame rate and some glitches. Still sounds like a must buy for me (the perfect thing to fight off the triptophen overdoses on Thanksgiving). Here's a link to the full review:
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Started Mass Effect today, and WOW is it great. Let's start with the worst aspect: The combat is cool, if slightly annoying to get the feel for. I'm hoping with practice I'll get better.
Now for the graphics: OH MY GOODNESS this game looks great. Everything looks real, or maybe more beautiful than real.
The speech is great and really deep.
I wish I could write some more meaningful, in depth stuff, but I'm gonna go back to playing!
I found this interesting opinion piece on the 360 and thought I would share it. The guys has some good insight, especially Microsoft missing out on the social networking possibities with the 360. Overall a very positive piece.
I found this interesting opinion piece on the 360 and thought I would share it. The guys has some good insight, especially Microsoft missing out on the social networking possibities with the 360. Overall a very positive piece.
I'd read about MS doing this a few weeks ago. It's always good to have more games available but I don't think MS took it far enough. As far as I'm aware, the games will be 100% direct ports of their Xbox original version - including all glitches. Basically, all they did was take the original code and recompile it into a downloadable file. MS is planning on charging 1200 points ($15) for each game. For that price, I would have wanted some new features added in - maybe widescreen support or support for achievements. Also, the file sizes will be pretty large (probably in the 2-4 gigabyte range or larger) so you'll need the larger hard drive if you want to be able to store more than 2 or 3 at a time.
If you never had the original Xbox, then I guess it's a pretty good deal. But if you already played these games, there's no real reason to revisit them in this format. If the games are backwardly compatible with the console (and all the initial games are) it would probably be cheaper to just look for the original game on Ebay or Amazon.com
Question - Does anybody clean their disks, or run a DVD or CD player cleaner in their machine. Tonight the Call of Duty disks wouldn't play at first, message said to play disk in a 360 machine, which of course, it was. I took the disk out cleaned it a little and then put it back in. It played, but the machine sounded like it was struggling playing it.
I have also noticed that the tray door is not always opening. You hit the button you hear a noise, but the door doesn't open. Seems you have to hold the button down.
Off topic, but I saw Walmart has an upward converting DVD player for #28.00. I may pick that up and use it until the HD-DVD vs Blu Ray war is decided.
Question - Does anybody clean their disks, or run a DVD or CD player cleaner in their machine. Tonight the Call of Duty disks wouldn't play at first, message said to play disk in a 360 machine, which of course, it was. I took the disk out cleaned it a little and then put it back in. It played, but the machine sounded like it was struggling playing it.
You want to be careful about getting smudges or scratches on the discs but in my experience I've never needed to use a disc cleaner of any kind.
I have also noticed that the tray door is not always opening. You hit the button you hear a noise, but the door doesn't open. Seems you have to hold the button down.
Don't want to be the bearer of bad news but your DVD drive may be going bad. Keep an eye on it and if it worsens, give MS a call and see about having the console repaired as it should still be on warranty.
Off topic, but I saw Walmart has an upward converting DVD player for #28.00. I may pick that up and use it until the HD-DVD vs Blu Ray war is decided.
What brand was it? In my experience, Panasonic and Sony have good upconverting players. I've also tried Toshiba and Samsung models and can't say I was overly impressed with the picture quality.
Also, as an FYI, upconverting players will only upconvert over a digital connection. So make sure your TV has an HDMI port before making the purchase. Upconverting players will not upconvert over component or composite connections.
My X Box has died. Shortly after writing my email my son told me he saw red lights around the power button. I checked and three of the four lights were blinking red, the kiss of death. I called Microsoft and they will repair it. They are sending me a box, I load the 360 in the box and send it off via UPS. The fix it and send it back. They told me to remove the harddrive and faceplate. The service guy was helpful and no question were asked. Shloud be a 3 to 4 week turn around.
Tony - the DVD player I mentioned was Magnavox, my TV does have the capability you mentioned so for 28 bucks I figure I don't have a lot to lose.
My X Box has died. Shortly after writing my email my son told me he saw red lights around the power button. I checked and three of the four lights were blinking red, the kiss of death. I called Microsoft and they will repair it. They are sending me a box, I load the 360 in the box and send it off via UPS. The fix it and send it back. They told me to remove the harddrive and faceplate. The service guy was helpful and no question were asked. Shloud be a 3 to 4 week turn around.
Very sorry to hear that Barry. It's looking more and more like most of the 360's made during the first 12-18 months of the console's life have some issue. On the bright side, MS has been good about the repairs and hopefully you and the boys will be back up soon.
Tony - the DVD player I mentioned was Magnavox, my TV does have the capability you mentioned so for 28 bucks I figure I don't have a lot to lose.
Don't know too much about how their upconverters are but as you say, at that price you really can't go wrong.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Sorry to hear that you got the red lights of death, Barry. More and more I am astonished that I have never had my 360 break.
Started Mass Effect today, and WOW is it great. Let's start with the worst aspect: The combat is cool, if slightly annoying to get the feel for. I'm hoping with practice I'll get better.
Now for the graphics: OH MY GOODNESS this game looks great. Everything looks real, or maybe more beautiful than real.
The speech is great and really deep.
I wish I could write some more meaningful, in depth stuff, but I'm gonna go back to playing!
Just picked this up today and put in a couple of hours. I echo your sentiments - the game is great but I'm still trying to get a grip on effective combat, controlling my squad and biotics use. I may actually have to RTFM on this one. But this is a very minor quibble. The story is great and the quality is there. One of the few single player games out there that looks to really be worth the $60 pricetag.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
I've finally gotten into the combat, Tony, and once you level up and get comfortable with controlling your squad the combat is really amazing. Tactical and fun is what it is. I'm LOVING this game. What does your character look like, Tony? I spent half an hour making mine look like Kirk... )
On another note, I'm looking forward to getting Rock Band. I've never been into the Guitar Hero games because I don't really like that kind of music, but Rock Band looks way better, has better music, and I think it would be something my entire family could play. I'm just nervous about the faulty hardware I keep hearing about...
I've finally gotten into the combat, Tony, and once you level up and get comfortable with controlling your squad the combat is really amazing. Tactical and fun is what it is. I'm LOVING this game. What does your character look like, Tony? I spent half an hour making mine look like Kirk... )
My character looks like...Commander Shepard. ) I played around with the face-making screen for about a half hour but could not come up with anything satisfactory so I decided to go for the default look. Once I get more comfortable with the control I may start a new game and put some effort into creating an original character, even if it is for cosmetic purposes only.
What kind of character are you using? I decided to go for a Vanguard to be able to use weapons and force, er I mean biotic, abilities.
On another note, I'm looking forward to getting Rock Band. I've never been into the Guitar Hero games because I don't really like that kind of music, but Rock Band looks way better, has better music, and I think it would be something my entire family could play. I'm just nervous about the faulty hardware I keep hearing about...
Never liked any of these games because my taste in music is much too narrow. If they ever did a "Jazz Guitar Hero" I might give it a look; but given what they offer, I'm staying far away from these.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
I'm going Soldier. Kirk doesn't use the Force.
On my next playthrough, though, I'm going to play as a soldier/tech guy, or whatever that is. I want to be able to decrypt things, because right now I'm missing out on a lot of items because I use a party that doesn't have any tech. I use Liara and Wrex, though, because they are my favorite characters and having them around in battle is very useful. Maybe I should start bringing Garrus around instead of Liara, but her biotics are incredibly useful.
Yep - looks like the 360 might just be happening this Christmas, providing I save some wages
Halo 3 is a definite buy, and maybe Mass Effect or Assassin's Creed. COD4 is tempting, but if I have Halo then I'll probably want an alternative to the FPS.
Yep - looks like the 360 might just be happening this Christmas, providing I save some wages
Halo 3 is a definite buy, and maybe Mass Effect or Assassin's Creed. COD4 is tempting, but if I have Halo then I'll probably want an alternative to the FPS.
Am I going to be missing out on much of the picture quality?
Actually IEUTD, the specs on the TV you linked are hi-def. The TV has a resolution of 1366x768, is widescreen and supports both component connections and VGA input so you should be good to go. The 800:1 contrast ratio isn't the best (although I suspect the dynamic constrast ratio is higher) and there's no mention of the TV's response time (8ms or less is ideal) but I think you'll be fine and should get a nice picture from that set. Congrats and good luck.
You guys will be proud of me. I brave the post-Thanksgiving shopping crowd and purchased the Xbox 360 (it was actually a joint effort between me and my wife). Circuit City was offering a deal for a free controller with purchase so I saved about $50 bucks. It must have been meant to be since by the time I got to the register (lines were long) somebody said that mine was the last one!
(bonus: while in Circuit City, my wife found the James Bond UE box set #3 for $18.99! I was a happy man!)
You guys will be proud of me. I brave the post-Thanksgiving shopping crowd and purchased the Xbox 360 (it was actually a joint effort between me and my wife). Circuit City was offering a deal for a free controller with purchase so I saved about $50 bucks. It must have been meant to be since by the time I got to the register (lines were long) somebody said that mine was the last one!
(bonus: while in Circuit City, my wife found the James Bond UE box set #3 for $18.99! I was a happy man!)
Congrats Darenhat and welcome to the family. I think you'll get a lot of mileage out of your new 360. {[]
And getting a JBUE box set for $19 is a sweet deal; definitely the icing on the cake.
NightshooterIn bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
Congrats guys. If you're into SciFi, definitely get Mass Effect.
Also, IEU2D, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 are COMPLETELY different games. Just because they are both FPS, don't think they are at all similar. Halo 3 is set in space, is fought against aliens, has crazy weapons and grenades, has vehicles, and just has a way different overall feel than Call of Duty 4, which is more realistic.
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
edited November 2007
Played a rental of Call Of Duty 4 and loved it over the past weekend. Yeah, I'm on the late train with this probably.
I had a little trouble during the training campaign since I wasn't fast enough on the targets and the freighter sequence looked really good with the graphics as the ship is going down.
I haven't gotten far though, but I'm SAS helping some Russian troops in the first stage. Just might buy this one.
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
I have yet to try CoD4 as there are so many great games I've bought that I've barely touched. Mass Effect (a great sci-fi RPG) is taking 100% of my gaming time these days; after that I have to get back to Tomb Raider Anniversary (I was about halfway thru that when Mass Effect came along) and then Timeshift (I'd only played a few levels on that before switching to Tomb Raider). And I barely even started Ace Combat 6 (only one level completed before trying Timeshift).
So I've reluctantly decided not to even look at any other console games until I play thru the ones I already have.
Still, I hear CoD4 is a great game but the single player campaign is a bit short. Nightshooter has played thru it quite a bit so he could probably give you some insights.
Just a heads up, there's been another backward compatibility update posted to the Xbox site. Of interest to James Bond fans, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is now BC. Probably one of the weaker Bond games, but better than nothing I suppose. Here's a link to the complete list of BC games; new entries are highlighted as such.
Comments
Sorry Night, I sold my copy a few weeks ago. Once I'd beaten the single player game I never touched it again as it really didn't hold up to repeated playthroughs (I found the the control and cover mechanics to actually be quite stiff compared to other games). I also wound up selling back Rainbow Six: Vegas as the Terrorist Hunt missions were just too hard and the single player campaign didn't warrant playing thru again.
The game has gotten great reviews and the videos I've seen all look fantastic; but I've read that the single player campaign takes only 5-6 hours to beat on normal difficulty? If true, that's just a rip-off for people like me who don't do a lot of online gaming. A good, long single player campaign - at least 10 hours of original content (backtracking or replaying levels doesn't count) is a must for me to justify a $60 purchase.
I've also never been a big fan of these urban combat games - I still haven't finished GRAW2 - so I'll probably pass on this one or wait until it drops in price.
Make sure to keep us informed about how it plays out.
Yeah, I've heard a lot of "balls to the wall" comments about the game. I'm still not sure if I want to invest right away; lately I've been into more laid back types of games. But my resolve (which is generally pretty weak to begin with) is starting to crumble; maybe they'll put a demo on Xbox Live.
http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/896/896273/vids_1.html
Finally, a GOOD Batman game on the way! I own a few of the Batman Lego sets, they are pretty cool.
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/833/833640p1.html
Now for the graphics: OH MY GOODNESS this game looks great. Everything looks real, or maybe more beautiful than real.
The speech is great and really deep.
I wish I could write some more meaningful, in depth stuff, but I'm gonna go back to playing!
http://www.seekingalpha.com/article/54816-microsoft-masterstroke-putting-back-catalogue-on-xbox-live
I'd read about MS doing this a few weeks ago. It's always good to have more games available but I don't think MS took it far enough. As far as I'm aware, the games will be 100% direct ports of their Xbox original version - including all glitches. Basically, all they did was take the original code and recompile it into a downloadable file. MS is planning on charging 1200 points ($15) for each game. For that price, I would have wanted some new features added in - maybe widescreen support or support for achievements. Also, the file sizes will be pretty large (probably in the 2-4 gigabyte range or larger) so you'll need the larger hard drive if you want to be able to store more than 2 or 3 at a time.
If you never had the original Xbox, then I guess it's a pretty good deal. But if you already played these games, there's no real reason to revisit them in this format. If the games are backwardly compatible with the console (and all the initial games are) it would probably be cheaper to just look for the original game on Ebay or Amazon.com
I have also noticed that the tray door is not always opening. You hit the button you hear a noise, but the door doesn't open. Seems you have to hold the button down.
Off topic, but I saw Walmart has an upward converting DVD player for #28.00. I may pick that up and use it until the HD-DVD vs Blu Ray war is decided.
You want to be careful about getting smudges or scratches on the discs but in my experience I've never needed to use a disc cleaner of any kind.
Don't want to be the bearer of bad news but your DVD drive may be going bad. Keep an eye on it and if it worsens, give MS a call and see about having the console repaired as it should still be on warranty.
What brand was it? In my experience, Panasonic and Sony have good upconverting players. I've also tried Toshiba and Samsung models and can't say I was overly impressed with the picture quality.
Also, as an FYI, upconverting players will only upconvert over a digital connection. So make sure your TV has an HDMI port before making the purchase. Upconverting players will not upconvert over component or composite connections.
Tony - the DVD player I mentioned was Magnavox, my TV does have the capability you mentioned so for 28 bucks I figure I don't have a lot to lose.
Very sorry to hear that Barry. It's looking more and more like most of the 360's made during the first 12-18 months of the console's life have some issue. On the bright side, MS has been good about the repairs and hopefully you and the boys will be back up soon.
Don't know too much about how their upconverters are but as you say, at that price you really can't go wrong.
Just picked this up today and put in a couple of hours. I echo your sentiments - the game is great but I'm still trying to get a grip on effective combat, controlling my squad and biotics use. I may actually have to RTFM on this one. But this is a very minor quibble. The story is great and the quality is there. One of the few single player games out there that looks to really be worth the $60 pricetag.
On another note, I'm looking forward to getting Rock Band. I've never been into the Guitar Hero games because I don't really like that kind of music, but Rock Band looks way better, has better music, and I think it would be something my entire family could play. I'm just nervous about the faulty hardware I keep hearing about...
My character looks like...Commander Shepard.
What kind of character are you using? I decided to go for a Vanguard to be able to use weapons and force, er I mean biotic, abilities.
Never liked any of these games because my taste in music is much too narrow. If they ever did a "Jazz Guitar Hero" I might give it a look; but given what they offer, I'm staying far away from these.
On my next playthrough, though, I'm going to play as a soldier/tech guy, or whatever that is. I want to be able to decrypt things, because right now I'm missing out on a lot of items because I use a party that doesn't have any tech. I use Liara and Wrex, though, because they are my favorite characters and having them around in battle is very useful. Maybe I should start bringing Garrus around instead of Liara, but her biotics are incredibly useful.
Halo 3 is a definite buy, and maybe Mass Effect or Assassin's Creed. COD4 is tempting, but if I have Halo then I'll probably want an alternative to the FPS.
One thing - I don't have a HDTV. The TV I have in my room is this:
http://www.home-entertainment.toshiba.co.uk/consumer/products.nsf/pages/lcdplasma-widescreenlcd-20wl56?opendocument
Am I going to be missing out on much of the picture quality?
Actually IEUTD, the specs on the TV you linked are hi-def. The TV has a resolution of 1366x768, is widescreen and supports both component connections and VGA input so you should be good to go. The 800:1 contrast ratio isn't the best (although I suspect the dynamic constrast ratio is higher) and there's no mention of the TV's response time (8ms or less is ideal) but I think you'll be fine and should get a nice picture from that set. Congrats and good luck.
(bonus: while in Circuit City, my wife found the James Bond UE box set #3 for $18.99! I was a happy man!)
Congrats Darenhat and welcome to the family. I think you'll get a lot of mileage out of your new 360. {[]
And getting a JBUE box set for $19 is a sweet deal; definitely the icing on the cake.
Also, IEU2D, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 are COMPLETELY different games. Just because they are both FPS, don't think they are at all similar. Halo 3 is set in space, is fought against aliens, has crazy weapons and grenades, has vehicles, and just has a way different overall feel than Call of Duty 4, which is more realistic.
I had a little trouble during the training campaign since I wasn't fast enough on the targets and the freighter sequence looked really good with the graphics as the ship is going down.
I haven't gotten far though, but I'm SAS helping some Russian troops in the first stage. Just might buy this one.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
So I've reluctantly decided not to even look at any other console games until I play thru the ones I already have.
Still, I hear CoD4 is a great game but the single player campaign is a bit short. Nightshooter has played thru it quite a bit so he could probably give you some insights.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardscompatibility.htm