360 Degrees of Trouble
So, yeah I broke down and got an Xbox 360 at the very first opportunity I had. I hadn't gotten one earlier because of the simple fact that they were in such short supply. I deluded myself into thinking that part of the reason was proper fiscal responsibility on my part. I mean, I refrained from preordering or spending hours a day hitting "refresh" on Amazon.com or costco.com. I could wait longer.
But the other day I decided to swing through a GameStop store. I'd just finished the Xbox game "Black" and thought I'd pick up a military tactical squad game that is the sequel to one of my favorite games of all time.
I've visisted a lot of game stores since the launch of the Xbox 360, and made it a habit to make a casual inquiries to see if they have any consoles in stock. Sort of my own one-man channel check. In the five months since the 360 has been on sale, I had yet to see an actual unit for sale in any store.
"You, uh, got any 360s in stock?" I asked.
"Why, yes we do," answered the clerk, a young guy who looked like he was an accomplished Dungeon Master when not at work.
"Really? Do you have the premium systems?" (I'd actually seen the so-called "Core" systems for sale on Amazon, but passed those up because you have to shell out extra for the hard-drive, wireless controller and stuff)
"Yeah, we have those," the DM replied.
"Well, I guess I'll have to take one!"
So yeah, it's pretty damn sweet, I have to say. I got four games initially: PGR3, DOA4, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, and Perfect Dark, which is probably the weakest of the titles. The graphics are pretty stunning, probably about equal or better to what my new $1,700 PC can do. And that's on my 8-year-old old 27" Zenith television.
The sad thing is that the 360 will end up costing me far more than the price of the machine and the games. That's because I've realized I need an HDTV. Seriously, imagine having to watch DVDs on a TV that downgraded them to VHS quality. The 360 on a regular TV is probably even more dramatic a difference than that.
But the other day I decided to swing through a GameStop store. I'd just finished the Xbox game "Black" and thought I'd pick up a military tactical squad game that is the sequel to one of my favorite games of all time.
I've visisted a lot of game stores since the launch of the Xbox 360, and made it a habit to make a casual inquiries to see if they have any consoles in stock. Sort of my own one-man channel check. In the five months since the 360 has been on sale, I had yet to see an actual unit for sale in any store.
"You, uh, got any 360s in stock?" I asked.
"Why, yes we do," answered the clerk, a young guy who looked like he was an accomplished Dungeon Master when not at work.
"Really? Do you have the premium systems?" (I'd actually seen the so-called "Core" systems for sale on Amazon, but passed those up because you have to shell out extra for the hard-drive, wireless controller and stuff)
"Yeah, we have those," the DM replied.
"Well, I guess I'll have to take one!"
So yeah, it's pretty damn sweet, I have to say. I got four games initially: PGR3, DOA4, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, and Perfect Dark, which is probably the weakest of the titles. The graphics are pretty stunning, probably about equal or better to what my new $1,700 PC can do. And that's on my 8-year-old old 27" Zenith television.
The sad thing is that the 360 will end up costing me far more than the price of the machine and the games. That's because I've realized I need an HDTV. Seriously, imagine having to watch DVDs on a TV that downgraded them to VHS quality. The 360 on a regular TV is probably even more dramatic a difference than that.
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