the-inbetween.com

I (controller) My 360

At least, that's how the billboards say it. Simple fact is, I like this console. I like the controller. I like the hardware. And even though it's not perfect, I like the system interface. I have to admit that the system is pretty good.

Ever since I bought the 360, about two months ago, it has been the exclusive¹ game system in my household. I've been playing a number of games, trying out demos, purchasing Arcade titles, climbing up my friends' list leader boards (I will be number one in Geometry Wars² one day!) and amassing achievement points³. The last one has proved to be a particularly genius move by Microsoft. I find that the achievement points fuel my competitive spirit and indirectly get me to play games a little bit more (and maybe even differently) than I normally would. It also gets me playing some of the more mediocre games that I'd normally overlook otherwise (as much as I do like hockey, I hate sports games -- but the achievement points in NHL 2K6 were exceedingly easy to get!⁴).

Maybe that is one of the reasons why, despite liking the system, I'm rather underwhelmed by the software so far. There are a few good games, but the 360 library is still missing the really great⁵ titles that it sorely needs in anticipation of the upcoming Playstation 3 and Wii. Things will likely change once we get past the dry season (summer), but by then the 360 will finally have competition. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out⁶.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Though, really, this can also be attributed to the fact that this is the aforementioned dry season and none of the other consoles have anything coming out at the moment. The novelty of the 360 trumps the other ho-hum releases.
2. Just had my best game yet, gaining two new achievements (first time in a long time) and breaking the 700k point mark. I will get 1 million.
3. It's interesting to note that my achievement points seem to surge almost exclusively on Fridays and Saturdays.

4. This is the biggest problem with the achievement points -- consistency. Some games they're rediculously easy, others have it impossibly hard.
5. No, Oblivion does not do it for me.
6. if I can, I'm getting a Wii. I have no interest in getting a Playstation 3 at or even near launch.

XBox user ads

What happens when you ask your users (especially game players) for their advertisement ideas? One horrible idea after another. My favourite:

The commercial would start in a bedroom showing a wife, or possibly a girlfriend in restless sleep, when all of a sudden you could hear some random shouting of excitement. The woman would wake up, and look at the empty spot in the bed right next to her, and you can see frustration on her face. She gets up, and proceeds to walk to the living room in her dark house. You can hear the TV volume increasing as she gets closer. When she makes it there, she sees her husband/boyfriendsitting on the couch having a blast while playing his Xbox 360. She turns the console off in frustrationthat he has stayed up for most of the night playing his Xbox 360, and left her to sleep all by herself. The husband/boyfriend's face looks sad as he is being dragged off the couch, and back to the bedroom, when he has a brilliant idea. They walk back into the living room where he picks up another controller and hands it to her with confidence. The commercial ends showing the two of them playing their Xbox 360 together. This commercial could be aimed at females, to show them that video games and the Xbox 360 are not just for guys.

TOTALLY.

Speaking of which, I noticed this on the XBox site:

FPO = For Placement Only

Ooops! You web team's QA is showing.

Sony DSCN1

Those that follow my flickr stream might have noticed my new acquisition:

To be honest, I was very hesitant about getting a Sony. Their brand identity with personal electronics is to me like Firestone is to tires. In other words, when I get a Sony I half expect it to turn into a crashing wreck.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons why I opted for the Sony was because I fell into that Sony Proprietary Trap of Doom™. I already bought a 2GB Memory Stick Duo Pro Super Duper for the PSP and I didn't want to buy another memory format or risk being stuck with someone else's proprietary trash. I already have a camera that uses Smartmedia, which is useless to me as it's a dead format. In fact, I don't think it ever went beyond the 128MB range. At least with the Memory Stick, if my camera becomes obsolete, I can continue to use it with my PSP.

The other obvious reason was that the Cybershot had fairly positive reviews. I was cautious about the touch-screen interface, some like it and some hate it, but playing around with it in the store eased my worries. I still prefer the UI on my old Fuji Finepix, but the Cybershot is intuitive enough (though I haven't played around with the manual settings enough yet.) The photos are fine too, I guess.

What I really want to bitch about (always need to be negative) is the battery. This is my biggest problem with the Cybershot: to charge the battery, you have to take it out of the camera, put it in a charger and plug it in. On its own this isn't so bad, but the problem arises from the fact that when you plug the camera to your computer via USB, it doesn't draw power from it. Thus, if you are charging your battery, you can not connect the camera to the PC. Similarly, if the battery is in the camera, leaving it plugged in drains it. I've already had the battery die on me in the middle of a file transfer.

This is a basic feature that I expect from a camera, especially at this price. Not to my surprise, I did discover that there is a dock for the camera, but it's a $100 more!

That right there is the Sony that I have grown to despise.