LIVEBLOGGING: XBox 360 Preview Party
Posted by: kmikeym | From: November 19, 2005
7:48 pm
Mike: We're here at Cabel's where we're checking out the new XBox 360... it's totally EXTREME! The controllers are blinking and Cabel has been working back behind the TV for like 30 minutes. He says there are too many cords.
Steve: A- on the box. The box is a huge improvement. Smaller. But the power supply brick is a disaster. It's the biggest thing I've ever seen in my life. F for the power supply. So many dudes playing Mario Kart. Not enough dudes inspecting Xbox 360 cables and connectors.
7:52pm
Cabel: Unpacking the Xbox 360 was a magical experience. By far the most interesting part of the packaging is a flip-open cardboard flap on the side, allowing the retailer to scan the unit's serial number without requiring the box to be opened. I've seen transparent open holes before, but never a flip-open cardboard flap -- that's innovation. 100%, Microsoft, innovation. The power supply, on the other hand, is as big, as a Manatee.
7:54
Mike: We're ordering pizza now. With nine of us here we figure three large pizza huts will be good to go... One pepperoni, one Hawaiian, and one chicken and red onion, plus bread sticks and cinnamon sticks. Nothing tastes better with an XBox than some Mt. Dew and Pizza Hut pizza.
8:00
Mike: We have three games to preview tonight: Kameo, Call of Duty 2, and Perfect Dark Zero. Word on the street is that Perfect Dark Zero was sent to manufacturing before it was certified, so if they found bugs they were going to have to recall like hundreds of thousands of copies!!!
8:09
Mike: WE HAVE PICTURES!
8:17
Josh: So far, I like the XBox. We haven't fired it up yet, but I like it. Mostly because I like any alternative to getting my butt kicked over and over again in Mario Kart DS. Last place: It sucks.
Also, the XBox is shiny and white. Also, its controllers are nicer than the husky big boy controllers they gave us last time. Holy crap, those are some bad controllers. XBox should have failed entirely just based on that. Why would they be so big? What did they have in them that was so Xtreme?!
Oh, Cabel's gonna turn on the XBox Three Sixty! I'm out.
8:28
Waiting... waiting...
Video input...
Oh god!! It's a big globe! SO WHITE! It's like an albino whale cresting over a mountain of vanilla ice cream.
We missed sound... trying again. The men are restless. There it is... WHHHHHOOOOOOSSSHHHHH! GREEN NOW. So Green. Ian says the interface is great, everyone laughs... We are in the master...
"You are about to enter a new world of amazing games and digital entertainment" is says... Confusion reigns as we attempt to get past the menus. Language settings... hott.
Brushed metal! Entering gamer tag, IE your totally awesome nickname! Now set your gamer picture.... Cabel asks, "Who drew these piece of shits?" Cabel chooses the scary man icon.
Setting hi def settings... 1080i... the men are still restless... boredom is setting in and the caffeine form the MDX is causing catcalls and rowdy behavior. Belches and grumblings... I think we're in for a long night.
First game has been launched: HEXIC! It's like tetris but a puzzle game on your phone... Why are we playing cell phone games? Group consenses is that HEXIC is lame, except for Alex, who says, THAT GAME WAS HOTTER THAN PARIS HILTON EATING A BURGER ON A HOOD OF A FAST CAR.
8:32
Mike: FIRST REAL GAME: PERFECT DARK ZERO.
the electronic music and hot ladies of perfect dark really set the tone for this system! It's extreme like a techno remix of a a james bond movie and a euro dance hit.
We are confused by the "samsung" logo in the top right pf the game.
Someone says they are dissapointed by the breast size of the players. It is totally NOT EXTREME.
Mike: Cabel is shooting a metal spider. WE ARE IN AN UNDERWATER WORLD. It is totally next gen! It looks like 20,000 leagues under the sea at Disney. Dave doesn't like the caustics.... Cabel shoots the computers, steals ammo, and is now climbing some stairs after going under a tripwire.
She is sneezing! No, wait, that is her "grunt". There are CRATES! WE HAVE CREATES IN THE GAME! Shiny game!!! SMASH DA CRATE!!! BEST GAME EVER!!!
8:37
Mike: Those crates don't stand a chance against Cabel's viscious mean melee attack. Now thru a sensor filed.... Push "left bumber"... oops! AUTOMATIC GUNS SHOOTING THE SHIT OUT OF US. He made it thru my rolling past the guns. They must be controlled by motion detectors.
Alex saw dust in a column of light. NEXT GEN DUST PARTICLES.
Cabel says this PD:0 character looks like Mary Kate.
BAD GUYS! They have guns. They are shooting! HE SAID "BITCH!" THAT IS EXTREME.
Cabel has to hack the gibson now... he has a "hacking tool" that is like HEXIC. NICE WORK! Ian says it's like in Swordfish, but w/o Halle Berry's boobs.
8:45
Steve: OH NO!!! Cabel just turned into a floating camera. He has to go blow up a computers. The camspy mode in perfect dark zero makes the screen look like an xbox360 green circle ad. deeper branding.
i don't really love espionage hot lady underwater games. games should get more shenmue and less halo. personal call. pizza time. PIZZA BREAK YA'LL!!
9:09
Mike: More pictures! This time from Steve!
Mike: It turns out the first mission, as expected, is just a "simulation". EFF THIS, time for multiplayer action!!!
9:24
Mike: Multiplayer PD0 seems so EXTREME. The controllers aren't working? Why won't the other controllers work? The manual has to consulted... you have to push a button on the XBOX, which makes things dance, then registers the controller... ugh.. I hate reading.
Wade says there is a lot of lag... Well, it's not lag exactly, it's just the weird motion of the camera. Everything is still VERY SHINY. There is no jump, but if you hit the L dongle you can do somersaults.
The first match is over, let's see what Cabel has to say...
Cabel: I enjoyed using the hands only for a while. I had a difficult time moving. I tried hiding but people would shoot me. Wade shot me. There were sounds of guns. I hit a tire with my bare hands. I tried to go up a ladder, but I just hid at the base of it, which was not effective cover. Also fists.
9:30
Mike: Time for some CALL OF DUTY 2.
9:34
Alex: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I guess I have been instructed to LIVEBLOG EXTREME STYLE OMG THIS LIVEBLOGGING IS SORT OF LIKE BLOGGING INSIDE OF SOME KIND OF A SWEET ASSED BASEBALL CAP INSIDE SIGMA KAPPA GAMMA! We are approaching the glowing mannequin, this is fantastic!!
Mike: Alex isn't allowed to liveblog anymore.
9:43
Mike: The graphics on this game look much better.
So much for training... You start with teddy bears and potatoes and pretty sure you are a brutal evil man!!Cabel just gunned down five people as they got out of a truck! That dude just got shot in the FACE!
SCARY MASK MAN!!! Oh shit!
Oh, he kicked that table over!!!
9:45
Steve: Dudes are freaking out and screaming and saying "THIS IS AWESOME," and other stuff like "WHOA!!" There are lot of explosions and lots of smoke. LOTS OF SMOKE. The smoke looks really cool.
9:48
Cabel: OK. That was totally an awesome game. The sound -- the graphics -- the Nazis -- holy smokes. The word "visceral" is pretty sucky, so I'm not going to use it here. But it was totally visceral -- seriously. That was a great first level -- throwing you right in the middle of all sorts of madness. Truly enjoyable -- smoother, prettier, louder than PD0, thus far. Which game will have more longevity? Time will tell.
9:53
Steve: Quotes I am hearing from people playing "multiplayer deathmatch" in Call of Duty 2 and some other people playing Mario Kart DS.
"Who's doing the sexy breathing?"
"So far this is the must own."
"oh oh oh oh oh killcam is cool."
"no girls allowed"
9:57
Mike: NEW PICS FOR CALL OF DOODIE 2!!
10:03
Stevenf: Kameo - This game is going to be full of furries. It's going to be non-stop rainbows, faeries, dinosaurs, and unicorn all with terrible Scottish accents. It's what we've come to expect from Rare.
10:07
Steve: So far this game is that that one part in Shrek 1 where Shrek saves the princess from the scary fiery castle. Not enough Dunkey though. THAT DUDE IS FUNNY FOR REALS!!!! The real deal is that you keep changing forms for different sections. First he was a lady, then a weird plant, then a weird ball that was like Metroid Prime. It's sorta silly looking. Cabel really likes the music and he is a video game music aficionado. I mean looks pretty cool, just the character design is pretty dumb. He's being a mean plant again.
10:16
Josh: Cameo: It's like when you're in a movie, but only cause you're famous, but you don't really have to rehearse!
What it has to do with this game, I have no idea.
Cabel keeps changing! He's a fairy! He's an abominable snowman! He's plant-creature! He just threw a troll up through a stained glass window! It's a signature Brutal Carnage move!
It's trying to be Lord of the Rings-esque, and I guess it does that. Epic music, but the sets are pure video game.
What I want to know is why are all the games on this system so SHINY! The wood crates in Perfect Dark looked like they were lacquered right before they released the game.
Cabel just realized he's an elf, and I think he found that depressing. He'll be immersed in Everquest in no time. Whoever makes Everquest for XBox 360 is going to be rich and famous.
He turns into this ball, and rides around on Tony Hawk-style ramps. He fights other ball-characters. His motivation is unclear. Kill balls?
I'm out.
10:23
Steve: Great call about the lacquer shininess, Josh. It's like Xbox has some sort of deal with Minwax. VARNISH TO THE EXTREME!!! The shininess is sorta bugging me. Too much shiny.
10:28
Mike: In game pics of Kameo:
Definition of NEXT GENERATION GAMING: Killing a Dragon *with* an ogre!! (shouldn't it be called 'this generation' gaming?)
10:38
Steve: Cabel is setting up an Xbox Live account, because now we are out of games. The Xbox says it is 6:39am. You have to fill so many things out. PHONE NUMBER!?!?!? He's been inputting information for a solid 15 minutes. Every one is getting mega bored. Xbox Live Gamer Zone - Choose the Xbox Live Gamer Zone that fits your gaming style. Edit your profile to change zones anytime. RECREATION, PRO, FAMILY, UNDERGROUND. I don't think you are exactly "underground" if you are telling XBOX that you are Underground.
10:52
CS: I like Rare games. I'm the only person on earth who completed Donkey Kong 64, AND collected 100% of the items -- bananas, donkeys, monkeys, barrels, tic-tacs, stars, trees, satsuma oranges -- everything. So, I'm excited when a new RARE game comes out. And therefore, I'm exctied about Kameo. Unsurprisingly, the production values look great -- the music (recorded with a live orchestra in Prague) is amazing, the background are filled to the brim with particules, fire, dragons, etc., likely the result of a Gamecube game upgraded to X360 with a heck of a lot of processing power left over. The character designs, unfortunately, are classic RARE -- i.e., pretty ugly. But, you know, the game looks like fun -- four different kind of creatures, that you can switch between, and accomplish different tasks with, with some basic puzzle solving within. I obviously haven't played it much beyond the first 25 minutes, but I have a feeling I'll enjoy -- and, that I may be the only X360 player who will enjoy it, because, come on, the game stars a faerie. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything to collect -- so what's the point? Unless I only have 99% of the Yorkshire Puddings laying around the level, and I'm searching for that remaining 1%, it's not a RARE game now, is it?
11:30
Stevenf: It doesn't seem all THAT next-genny yet, but hey, it's still early. They sure do make a money-grab the second you get onto Live. At least I got a free Mountain Dew totally extreme t-shirt.
wade: First gen games look a lot like current Xbox games. The controls in Perfect Dark Zero are jacked. Kameo was the surprise of the evening, all I can say is "poly count"? Backgrounds were particularly good. Call of Duty 2 looked real good and was pretty fun. Dashboard was vastly improved, but lost some simplicity in the process. And someone should tell MS that metal is totally out.
ian: Not very impressive. Totally happier watching South Park than playing launch titles for the 360. Also Mario Kart was a good distraction. With no good titles on the horizon it looks like we'll be playing an awful lot of Call of Duty 2 and Game Boy DS. Perhaps Quake 4 will be MS's saving grace. Not holding my breath. Oh and WTF was with the XBox Live setup (Gotten worse and more complicated since the original XBox)?!?!?
Josh: Rippin'!!! ... Um, I mean...
I don't really care about the XBox 365. It just doesn't seem that fun, you know? The online thing really bummed me out. So many pages! The same thing over and over again. "What's your name?" "Thank you. Now that we've got that, would you please give me your name?" "Excellent. And your name?"
During all this, we got on our Nintendo DS handhelds and were in a networked game of Mario Kart DS within 30 seconds. Says it all.
Alex: Rare games! One good and one not as good. Call of Duty 2 was great, some amazing stuff. Xbox Live is 50/50, I really like the idea that tiny developers can make little arcade games and sell them for $5 -- especially when the current game development environment pretty much requires you to spend 18 gazillion dollars on voice acting, mocap, etc. Some interesting little games are sure to come.
Final verdict - Rare games are enough for me, really! But I'm a Rare nerd, so whatcha gonna do.
Dave: I brough salami and brie and crackers, but it turns out we were ordering Pizza Hut. I drank my first Mountain Dew in ten years and had some dill flavored potato chips and cheddar Sun Chips. Then the pizza came, so we ate it. It was not very good. I didn't have any of the bread sticks. I drank one of the beers I brought, and then I drank another. Then I brought out the Tofutti I brought and everyone had one. They seemed to like it.
Oh, and we played some video games, too.
Cabel: Interesting experience! First, the "blades" based UI interface was a good idea on paper -- mirroring the "inhale" form factor of the console in an graphical way. Unfortunately, there's a lot of jankyness to the menus that doesn't make the process as free-flowing as it should be -- sometimes drawers fly open, sometimes the screens replace, sometimes the blades stay, sometimes they go away. Second, don't be fooled -- the console is huge, and the much talked about power supply is as big as a fat baby. Third, watching us have to resort to a manual to get four controllers working was an eye-opener -- I'd blame it on us, but I'm pretty sure that's the system. People Don't Read Manuals. Still, the overall design of the system, and the UI, is significantly less for the XJocks, which is nice. Finally, the games -- they look nice. And I've no doubt they'll be fun. But they're not going to change the world -- yet. Is there anything interesting on the horizon? Or is this the PSP all over agin? Unless you're a RARE nerd -- as I am, and probably Alex is as well -- you can safely wait for some good cames to come out before buying. That said, THANKS MOUNTAIN DEW AND MICROSOFT FOR GIVING ME AN XBOX THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME and I don't deserve to be negative in any way. Hooray!
THE END - THANKS FOR WATCHING
How is COTD2? I haven't heard anything for like 10 minutes. Either it's great or you're all dead? What's going on?!!!
Posted by: Erik at November 19, 2005 9:39 PM
The games are shiny because the 360 has powerful pixel shaders. I'm guessing that developers have over-used one of the main advantages of having these shaders: better material modeling (including how shiny a something is...).
Posted by: Erik at November 19, 2005 10:30 PM
Well, the Rare games were shiny -- Call of Duty was Very Realistic. Not a lot of glisten and shine in north africa.
Posted by: Alex at November 20, 2005 12:38 AM
True -- two out of three games get a high shiny rating, but not that one. That WW2 stuff made me crap my pants.
Posted by: josh at November 20, 2005 12:49 AM
Who are those two guys without mustaches? They look funny.
Posted by: freddy at November 20, 2005 9:24 AM
Thanks dudes; that was awesome. After reading that whole thing I feel like I just mainlined the Dew.
Posted by: Caps at November 24, 2005 6:50 PM
Sounds great. Hope the pizza doesn't stain the controller.
(ps. I hate when the pizza stains the controller.)
Posted by: Ndrew at November 19, 2005 8:15 PM