I got one (sold my MW2 Elite to my roommate for $200)... and I love it. It's so quiet. I had gotten used to the noise from my old one, and I would install games to the drive to help a little - but just the cooling fans were absurdly loud.
The new box? I hear nothing, even with the DVD drive spinning. If only the 360 could play Bluray, my PS3 would barely be turned on (although, I just upgraded it to a 640gb drive, lol).
So, two thumbs up for the new Xbox 360. If you have an older Xbox, and are concerned with red rings - this one is SUPPOSEDLY unable to be red ringed due to it's construction and new cooling...
Bonus, btw, is the Wireless N. I have a jack by mine, but if you don't - it's a huge benefit. The quietness, the 250gb drive (which I already had, since I had the MW2 edition), the Wireless, the smaller size... it's hard to pass this one up, especially if you can "Recycle" your old one. I paid $100 for the new one, since I got $200 out of my roommate for my old one - I'm sure you rogues are smart enough to do that too.
Well, technically it can't RROD because it doesn't have the red lights to display the RROD - the green lights now flash if there's a problem. Valhalla is the new code name for it, and while I've always said the RROD hasn't really been an issue since Falcon (the Xenon and Zephyr were the big RROD culprits due to their 90nm architecture and insufficient cooling), it is an improvement over both Falcon and Jasper. AnadTech took one apart, as well as benched it against the older models.
Across the board the wattage numbers are down, and Valhalla actually uses less than half the power of a launch day Xbox 360 (83 to 88w versus 168 to 178w in the games they benched). Note that the Xbox360's penchant for eating disks if you move the unit while the disk is spinning still applies, so don't bother testing that out (though I've never considered it a big deal).
I took advantage of the price cuts the new model spurred and wound up getting a new arcade spring bundle with a 50 dollar walmart gift card for 150 bucks. Toss 60 at it for a preowned 60GB hard drive at gamestop and I am set once my games are delivered.
The power consumption differences are huge, too. I mean, seriously, a used arcade with a Xenon chip using twice the power consumption of the new one (and the new one has a better chip, better cooling, wireless, bigger drive, etc)... it's silly to spend $150 on an old one. Just wait a few months and get the new Arcade model when it's released, as MS has said "once the old ones are gone, there will be a new model for the lower end too."
I got the new big one, though it probably would've been smarter to wait until November and get a Kinect bundle, heh. But yeah, there will be a "family friendly" model I'm sure, with Kinect, around $200 - they want to get to that Wii market.
The power consumption differences are huge, too. I mean, seriously, a used arcade with a Xenon chip using twice the power consumption of the new one (and the new one has a better chip, better cooling, wireless, bigger drive, etc)... it's silly to spend $150 on an old one. Just wait a few months and get the new Arcade model when it's released, as MS has said "once the old ones are gone, there will be a new model for the lower end too."
I got the new big one, though it probably would've been smarter to wait until November and get a Kinect bundle, heh. But yeah, there will be a "family friendly" model I'm sure, with Kinect, around $200 - they want to get to that Wii market.
To be fair, the current 'old' $150 Arcade is a Jasper unit with only around a 20w power consumption differential versus the new model. It's a very good deal and only consumes just over 100w while playing games.
The Kinect is expected to be a $100 premium when bundled in, so even when it's released you'll have a $199 new design Xbox 360 Arcade without Kinect, $299 new Xbox 360 Arcade with Kinect, and $399 new Xbox360 with Kinect. Kinect alone has been listed at $149.
To be fair, the current 'old' $150 Arcade is a Jasper unit with only around a 20w power consumption differential versus the new model. It's a very good deal and only consumes just over 100w while playing games.
The Kinect is expected to be a $100 premium when bundled in, so even when it's released you'll have a $199 new design Xbox 360 Arcade without Kinect, $299 new Xbox 360 Arcade with Kinect, and $399 new Xbox360 with Kinect. Kinect alone has been listed at $149.
Yeah, but I think they'll have an Arcade around $250 or less. Kinect is trying to eat into the Wii market, so they will want to be as close to that as possible. Charging $300 when the Wii is down to $200 already (and by christmas I wouldn't doubt if it drops to $150 or they throw in even MORE games - it's already at 2 games with like 10-15 minis each) seems a little silly. The Kinect at $150 is for folks like me who already have an Xbox and want to add a Wii - I'll buy Kinect before I buy a Wii (except for the whole Nintendo exclusive stuff, I'll prolly end up with both, to be honest).
Or Motion gaming is just a gimmick and I'll ignore it. Not sure yet.
If they add kinect support to the mc extender i will be in loves. I like the kinect just as a remote control, I hope they continue working to evolve that aspect of it.
No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater... than central air. -Dogma
So ebgames is offering a trade in program now. Existing xboxs are 100 (including one controller) and my HD is worth 30 meaning the new xbox to me would only cost 169... really thinking about it.
Or Motion gaming is just a gimmick and I'll ignore it. Not sure yet.
You have the correct train of thought here, this applies to both Move and Connect. Sony and MS are late to a party that is nothing more then a bunch of passed out people and a mess that needs to be cleaned up now.
Zeno said:
2 Major concerns with Kinect:
1) I have to stand up all the time? They haven't demoed any games playable while sitting down.
2) I have a coffee table in front of the couch, and I don't want to move it.
06-22-10 01:10 AM
1) This is correct and something MS tried to Gloss over at E3. This alone pretty much dooms Kinect to failure. It has some limited appeal in the exercise at home market, but honestly for the money you are better off investing in a Wii fit so you can at least track your balance and weight. While neither replace a proper gym, one is clearly superior to the other in this aspect.
2) This is a pretty reasonable assumption given number 1. If it can't track you sitting, then objects in the way are certainly going to give it more problems.
The limitations really heavily limit Kinect, while the cost is just the final nail. So much for MS's statement a year back of it being basically free for every existing 360 owner.
Back OT
It is about damn time MS redesigned the 360. It is a world less ugly now, and borders on being a reasonably decent looking system. I still think they could of improved it quite a bit more then what they did, but something is better then nothing. Perhaps now I will RMA my dead one and see if I can get them to send me the decent version for a little extra cash.
"Forums: You have to form your opinions immediately based on jack s*it then fight them to the death! It's like Highlander, but instead of swords we use ignorance."
Release generation system (still functional, unpossible!) with original hard drive. Check.
Wireless add-on. Check.
Original media remote (still unused). Check.
Hell, I even found the original receipts (Dec 23, 2005, don't ask).
$172 trade in towards new system.
Not bad for something that was a RRoD away from a a paperweight.
Glossed over by stating to every journalist that asked that the code was not complete yet, but would be in for retail.
You are right, shame on me for translating marketing bs into laymans terms. Given the period of time they have been working on it, you should recognize an excuse when it is given. The code has long been complete, this is a bug/flaw with it that they can't figure out and they were trying not to look bad given the hype they put out.
Considering the fact that Forza is coming out for Kinect, I REALLY don't think they will be having it ONLY work when standing.
However, let's say you're watching a movie, and you shift in your seat, suddenly the movie jumps 10 minutes ahead... since Kinect is also controlling movies and such.
There's a line that is going to have to be drawn somewhere. My personal choice is that there's a like "Xbox Activate Kinect" command or something so you can go "Play, Pause, Stop" and wave your hand to move around. Then a voice command to turn it off.
I dunno, I'm sure I'll get a Wii soon, and then Kinect and Move too, cuz I'm a whore.
Considering the fact that Forza is coming out for Kinect, I REALLY don't think they will be having it ONLY work when standing.
However, let's say you're watching a movie, and you shift in your seat, suddenly the movie jumps 10 minutes ahead... since Kinect is also controlling movies and such.
There's a line that is going to have to be drawn somewhere. My personal choice is that there's a like "Xbox Activate Kinect" command or something so you can go "Play, Pause, Stop" and wave your hand to move around. Then a voice command to turn it off.
I dunno, I'm sure I'll get a Wii soon, and then Kinect and Move too, cuz I'm a whore.
Honestly, though, Forza supports wheels/pedals. That would be way more enjoyable than the slight inaccuracies introduced by pretending you're holding a wheel... plus you get that tactile feedback, shifting, etc. Watching that Forza Kinect demo really just made me want to buy a good racing wheel
(Besides, let's say Forza does end up supporting Kinect while sitting down. With a coffee table in front of me, how the hell do I accelerate?
Pedals will fit in front of me fine, though.)
And yeah, there is going to need to be a way to disable/enable voice commands as well as gestures while watching movies. Otherwise you know there's going to be one d-bag at get togethers that keeps pausing the movie
And yeah, there is going to need to be a way to disable/enable voice commands as well as gestures while watching movies. Otherwise you know there's going to be one d-bag at get togethers that keeps pausing the movie
Well from the demo they did you have to say "Xbox" before the commands, and I am pretty sure you will have to set it up to recognise your voice as with any other voice recognition software. If it didn't it would be way to unreliable during a movie because it might pick up actors in the movie saying something like stop, and stop the movie...
Well from the demo they did you have to say "Xbox" before the commands, and I am pretty sure you will have to set it up to recognise your voice as with any other voice recognition software. If it didn't it would be way to unreliable during a movie because it might pick up actors in the movie saying something like stop, and stop the movie...
If that's the case, legions of geeks are going to make their 360 think that "Computer" means "Xbox".
If that's the case, legions of geeks are going to make their 360 think that "Computer" means "Xbox".
That on top of really wanting to play with Red Dead Redemption would tip me over to getting a 360 - and yes yes, sad sad little geek here. But I mean lets be honest, isn't one of the main motivators with tech the dream to eventually have all the toys from Star Trek? Today 3d TVs and talking to your gaming console (without necessarily being mad as a hatter), tomorrow... holodeck adventures without the pesky PG13 rating.
In watching the videos and demos I see that the voice recognition is set for "xbox!......" I wanna change it to something different Computer, Jarvis, GLaDOS, Hal.
Dell home currently has the xbox slim arcade on sale for 170 currently with free shipping, I'm picking one up for a media center functions, if they sold replacement hd enclosures on ebay for the Slim I would of picked up two, and sell off my old one. (yes i know you can line up a bare hd into the module and get it to work but dont want to risk breaking it)
