The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Meant to post this yesterday but was too busy, and yes, my enthusiasm on the news story was genuine...
It's not often I get to do anything at SR that even involves leaving the office, but I managed to worm my way onto the trip on Tuesday to go and play the Xbox 360.
It is awesome.
We had a presentation in which they mostly just showed trailers - big deal, who can't make a nice-looking trailer? - but we had a couple of hours in which we were able to play most of the launch titles. This just wasn't long enough, so I only got to play a handful of games before it was all over.
I've always been a sports game fan, so had a go on FIFA 06: RttWC and Tiger Woods 06, but the overall impression of these was that they looked ansolutely amazing but brought nothing new, gameplay-wise. Tiger Woods has hardly changed from the first time I played it on Xbox, which was TW04, and the FIFA wasn't even as good as the Xbox FIFA 06. Both of them did look gorgeous though.
DoA 4 is amazing. Seeing everything moving showed the power of the machine compared to the current Xbox: the hair; the clothes - flowing kimonos, etc.; the jubblies (of course). It's all so smooth and purdy. Gameplay, again, similar to before, but additions like seeing your opponent sliding down stairs were pretty cool.
But Perfect Dark Zero - holy sheesh. This was so, so good. In my opinion it betters anything looks-wise there is out there - I'm talking PC games here too - it just seems to look realer somehow. It was because of PDZ really that I didn't get to play too many other games, I had to keep on playing this. The guy actually did a short demo playing this to show it off and we were stunned. The details are incredible, from the graining on the planks of wood to the scarring on individual bricks to the pebbles on the ground and the rainbow sheen on oil-splattered tarmac. It just looks fantastic. It was also great when, during the demo, the guy paused the game and linked wirelessly to his iPod to change the music in the game. PDZ has a totally different feel when you have (Louis Armstrong's) What A Wonderful World going in the background!
I loved the N64 Perfect Dark, though was disappointed it didn't come close to being as good as GoldenEye, but this is just so far advanced. The guns are great, the bad guys are smart and the action seamless. The bad guys wear body armour, so if you don't get a head shot you hit the armour first and it shatters and flies off, then you can take the guy out. All the bodies you leave behind stay there, as do any stray bullet holes. How this does compare to PC games, I'm not entirely sure, as I don't do a great deal of PC gaming, but it all blew me away.
I flubbing loved the 360. Unfortunately I don't have a spare £300-odd quid lying around, a situation not likely to improve before xmas so don't know when I'll get one, but get one I will. Yes, I'm repeating myself if you read the news piece, but I don't care, it's my forum ;).
And I'm not doing this to try and sell anything - that's why I'm posting this here. I will be parting with my own cold, hard-earned cash for one and if you've not already pre-ordered it from anywhere you won't get one for launch anyway.
It's not often I get to do anything at SR that even involves leaving the office, but I managed to worm my way onto the trip on Tuesday to go and play the Xbox 360.
It is awesome.
We had a presentation in which they mostly just showed trailers - big deal, who can't make a nice-looking trailer? - but we had a couple of hours in which we were able to play most of the launch titles. This just wasn't long enough, so I only got to play a handful of games before it was all over.
I've always been a sports game fan, so had a go on FIFA 06: RttWC and Tiger Woods 06, but the overall impression of these was that they looked ansolutely amazing but brought nothing new, gameplay-wise. Tiger Woods has hardly changed from the first time I played it on Xbox, which was TW04, and the FIFA wasn't even as good as the Xbox FIFA 06. Both of them did look gorgeous though.
DoA 4 is amazing. Seeing everything moving showed the power of the machine compared to the current Xbox: the hair; the clothes - flowing kimonos, etc.; the jubblies (of course). It's all so smooth and purdy. Gameplay, again, similar to before, but additions like seeing your opponent sliding down stairs were pretty cool.
But Perfect Dark Zero - holy sheesh. This was so, so good. In my opinion it betters anything looks-wise there is out there - I'm talking PC games here too - it just seems to look realer somehow. It was because of PDZ really that I didn't get to play too many other games, I had to keep on playing this. The guy actually did a short demo playing this to show it off and we were stunned. The details are incredible, from the graining on the planks of wood to the scarring on individual bricks to the pebbles on the ground and the rainbow sheen on oil-splattered tarmac. It just looks fantastic. It was also great when, during the demo, the guy paused the game and linked wirelessly to his iPod to change the music in the game. PDZ has a totally different feel when you have (Louis Armstrong's) What A Wonderful World going in the background!
I loved the N64 Perfect Dark, though was disappointed it didn't come close to being as good as GoldenEye, but this is just so far advanced. The guns are great, the bad guys are smart and the action seamless. The bad guys wear body armour, so if you don't get a head shot you hit the armour first and it shatters and flies off, then you can take the guy out. All the bodies you leave behind stay there, as do any stray bullet holes. How this does compare to PC games, I'm not entirely sure, as I don't do a great deal of PC gaming, but it all blew me away.
I flubbing loved the 360. Unfortunately I don't have a spare £300-odd quid lying around, a situation not likely to improve before xmas so don't know when I'll get one, but get one I will. Yes, I'm repeating myself if you read the news piece, but I don't care, it's my forum ;).
And I'm not doing this to try and sell anything - that's why I'm posting this here. I will be parting with my own cold, hard-earned cash for one and if you've not already pre-ordered it from anywhere you won't get one for launch anyway.
Page:
Oriental Rib wrote:
> Look Spikecast if you are't willing to give me your Tv back off and
> let me live in denial.
>
> EDIT : So would it be possible to play my 360 through my PC moniter
> instead?
LOL...My TV is actually going back due to the fact it has a lovely red dead pixel in the middle of the screen. Yup you can play it through the PC in HD mode as far as I'm aware. MS are releasing a DVI/VGA input socket from day one. I think Game have it listed on their site.
> Look Spikecast if you are't willing to give me your Tv back off and
> let me live in denial.
>
> EDIT : So would it be possible to play my 360 through my PC moniter
> instead?
LOL...My TV is actually going back due to the fact it has a lovely red dead pixel in the middle of the screen. Yup you can play it through the PC in HD mode as far as I'm aware. MS are releasing a DVI/VGA input socket from day one. I think Game have it listed on their site.
Look Spikecast if you are't willing to give me your Tv back off and let me live in denial.
EDIT : So would it be possible to play my 360 through my PC moniter instead?
EDIT : So would it be possible to play my 360 through my PC moniter instead?
Oriental Rib wrote:
> Your Honour wrote:
> As for how good PDZ looked, I take it that it was running on a HD
> telly? I wonder how much detail will be lost on a normal telly?
>
> You wouldn't be able to tell in a screenshot.
>
> I'm guessing it'll have a bit more of a gap from 50 to 60hz the whole
> "It'll look AMAZING" thing is just blown out of propertion
> in my opinion.
I think you are slightly confused about the screenshot thing. If you sat a HD TV by a run of the mill RGB TV you would notice a massive difference, the RGB set would appear "blurry" because the resolution of a standard TV is 640 x 480 I believe. Where as a HDTV is usually 1280 x 720 (720p)which would make it look crisp and a lot better, it's just like playing a PC game in a lower res and comparing it to a higher res when there is a massive difference. Try playing a PC game in 640 x 480 and then 1280 x 720 and you'll notice a huge difference. If you look at the screenshots on the net they won't look any different because it's a screenshot not actually in motion. The whole point of HD is to play Xbox 360 games in PC style resolutions so the developers can make it look good in game and on your TV. HD TV's are expensive but I rekon you'll see a big drop soon what with the 360 focusing on HD technology.
I would agree with you in that normal scart and TV program's look better on normal TV's in my view, mainly because of how they are broadcast and the quality of cables are crap compared to HDMI and component. But within the next few years images will all be as good as the PC anyway, wherever you go now most shops are promoting HD TV and phasing out the standard screens.
> Your Honour wrote:
> As for how good PDZ looked, I take it that it was running on a HD
> telly? I wonder how much detail will be lost on a normal telly?
>
> You wouldn't be able to tell in a screenshot.
>
> I'm guessing it'll have a bit more of a gap from 50 to 60hz the whole
> "It'll look AMAZING" thing is just blown out of propertion
> in my opinion.
I think you are slightly confused about the screenshot thing. If you sat a HD TV by a run of the mill RGB TV you would notice a massive difference, the RGB set would appear "blurry" because the resolution of a standard TV is 640 x 480 I believe. Where as a HDTV is usually 1280 x 720 (720p)which would make it look crisp and a lot better, it's just like playing a PC game in a lower res and comparing it to a higher res when there is a massive difference. Try playing a PC game in 640 x 480 and then 1280 x 720 and you'll notice a huge difference. If you look at the screenshots on the net they won't look any different because it's a screenshot not actually in motion. The whole point of HD is to play Xbox 360 games in PC style resolutions so the developers can make it look good in game and on your TV. HD TV's are expensive but I rekon you'll see a big drop soon what with the 360 focusing on HD technology.
I would agree with you in that normal scart and TV program's look better on normal TV's in my view, mainly because of how they are broadcast and the quality of cables are crap compared to HDMI and component. But within the next few years images will all be as good as the PC anyway, wherever you go now most shops are promoting HD TV and phasing out the standard screens.
Your Honour wrote:
> As for how good PDZ looked, I take it that it was running on a HD
> telly? I wonder how much detail will be lost on a normal telly?
You wouldn't be able to tell in a screenshot.
I'm guessing it'll have a bit more of a gap from 50 to 60hz the whole "It'll look AMAZING" thing is just blown out of propertion in my opinion.
> As for how good PDZ looked, I take it that it was running on a HD
> telly? I wonder how much detail will be lost on a normal telly?
You wouldn't be able to tell in a screenshot.
I'm guessing it'll have a bit more of a gap from 50 to 60hz the whole "It'll look AMAZING" thing is just blown out of propertion in my opinion.
Interesting that you really enjoyed PD..and I'm glad someone is saying something decent about it, I'm still not sure about the whole shooting the body armour thing but if it's as good as you say I will grab it on launch day if it's out. PGR3 is my most wanted game still though.
Couldn't be bothered to read the whole thing, but it sounds good. I take it they didn't show Oblivion?
Custom soundtracks on PD0? I'm glad I doscovered Orbital.
Apologies for my view in the other thread, but as a site selling it, I did wonder if your excitement was a little OTT :-)
As for how good PDZ looked, I take it that it was running on a HD telly? I wonder how much detail will be lost on a normal telly?
As for how good PDZ looked, I take it that it was running on a HD telly? I wonder how much detail will be lost on a normal telly?
Meant to post this yesterday but was too busy, and yes, my enthusiasm on the news story was genuine...
It's not often I get to do anything at SR that even involves leaving the office, but I managed to worm my way onto the trip on Tuesday to go and play the Xbox 360.
It is awesome.
We had a presentation in which they mostly just showed trailers - big deal, who can't make a nice-looking trailer? - but we had a couple of hours in which we were able to play most of the launch titles. This just wasn't long enough, so I only got to play a handful of games before it was all over.
I've always been a sports game fan, so had a go on FIFA 06: RttWC and Tiger Woods 06, but the overall impression of these was that they looked ansolutely amazing but brought nothing new, gameplay-wise. Tiger Woods has hardly changed from the first time I played it on Xbox, which was TW04, and the FIFA wasn't even as good as the Xbox FIFA 06. Both of them did look gorgeous though.
DoA 4 is amazing. Seeing everything moving showed the power of the machine compared to the current Xbox: the hair; the clothes - flowing kimonos, etc.; the jubblies (of course). It's all so smooth and purdy. Gameplay, again, similar to before, but additions like seeing your opponent sliding down stairs were pretty cool.
But Perfect Dark Zero - holy sheesh. This was so, so good. In my opinion it betters anything looks-wise there is out there - I'm talking PC games here too - it just seems to look realer somehow. It was because of PDZ really that I didn't get to play too many other games, I had to keep on playing this. The guy actually did a short demo playing this to show it off and we were stunned. The details are incredible, from the graining on the planks of wood to the scarring on individual bricks to the pebbles on the ground and the rainbow sheen on oil-splattered tarmac. It just looks fantastic. It was also great when, during the demo, the guy paused the game and linked wirelessly to his iPod to change the music in the game. PDZ has a totally different feel when you have (Louis Armstrong's) What A Wonderful World going in the background!
I loved the N64 Perfect Dark, though was disappointed it didn't come close to being as good as GoldenEye, but this is just so far advanced. The guns are great, the bad guys are smart and the action seamless. The bad guys wear body armour, so if you don't get a head shot you hit the armour first and it shatters and flies off, then you can take the guy out. All the bodies you leave behind stay there, as do any stray bullet holes. How this does compare to PC games, I'm not entirely sure, as I don't do a great deal of PC gaming, but it all blew me away.
I flubbing loved the 360. Unfortunately I don't have a spare £300-odd quid lying around, a situation not likely to improve before xmas so don't know when I'll get one, but get one I will. Yes, I'm repeating myself if you read the news piece, but I don't care, it's my forum ;).
And I'm not doing this to try and sell anything - that's why I'm posting this here. I will be parting with my own cold, hard-earned cash for one and if you've not already pre-ordered it from anywhere you won't get one for launch anyway.
It's not often I get to do anything at SR that even involves leaving the office, but I managed to worm my way onto the trip on Tuesday to go and play the Xbox 360.
It is awesome.
We had a presentation in which they mostly just showed trailers - big deal, who can't make a nice-looking trailer? - but we had a couple of hours in which we were able to play most of the launch titles. This just wasn't long enough, so I only got to play a handful of games before it was all over.
I've always been a sports game fan, so had a go on FIFA 06: RttWC and Tiger Woods 06, but the overall impression of these was that they looked ansolutely amazing but brought nothing new, gameplay-wise. Tiger Woods has hardly changed from the first time I played it on Xbox, which was TW04, and the FIFA wasn't even as good as the Xbox FIFA 06. Both of them did look gorgeous though.
DoA 4 is amazing. Seeing everything moving showed the power of the machine compared to the current Xbox: the hair; the clothes - flowing kimonos, etc.; the jubblies (of course). It's all so smooth and purdy. Gameplay, again, similar to before, but additions like seeing your opponent sliding down stairs were pretty cool.
But Perfect Dark Zero - holy sheesh. This was so, so good. In my opinion it betters anything looks-wise there is out there - I'm talking PC games here too - it just seems to look realer somehow. It was because of PDZ really that I didn't get to play too many other games, I had to keep on playing this. The guy actually did a short demo playing this to show it off and we were stunned. The details are incredible, from the graining on the planks of wood to the scarring on individual bricks to the pebbles on the ground and the rainbow sheen on oil-splattered tarmac. It just looks fantastic. It was also great when, during the demo, the guy paused the game and linked wirelessly to his iPod to change the music in the game. PDZ has a totally different feel when you have (Louis Armstrong's) What A Wonderful World going in the background!
I loved the N64 Perfect Dark, though was disappointed it didn't come close to being as good as GoldenEye, but this is just so far advanced. The guns are great, the bad guys are smart and the action seamless. The bad guys wear body armour, so if you don't get a head shot you hit the armour first and it shatters and flies off, then you can take the guy out. All the bodies you leave behind stay there, as do any stray bullet holes. How this does compare to PC games, I'm not entirely sure, as I don't do a great deal of PC gaming, but it all blew me away.
I flubbing loved the 360. Unfortunately I don't have a spare £300-odd quid lying around, a situation not likely to improve before xmas so don't know when I'll get one, but get one I will. Yes, I'm repeating myself if you read the news piece, but I don't care, it's my forum ;).
And I'm not doing this to try and sell anything - that's why I'm posting this here. I will be parting with my own cold, hard-earned cash for one and if you've not already pre-ordered it from anywhere you won't get one for launch anyway.
Page: