My first experience of an actual Xbox 360 was a good one. I was annoyed at the demo software on the machine, but that’s not the Xbox 360’s fault. All in all I thought it was a great machine. And who are we kidding? $400 isn’t such an unreasonable price when you consider the history of console release prices, no matter what the current media is saying.

So it comes as somewhat of a surprise that the Xbox 360 is receiving a so-so rating from several media outlets. “Good, but not great,” says CNN. “Don’t buy the Xbox” writes The New York Post. Mostly they complain about the price. Personally, I think the Xbox Live price is the kicker, not the price of the console. And upgrading to HDTV? You should be doing that anyway.

They do have a point about must-have games for the system. There’s nothing jaw-dropping. Well, unless you’re a huge fan of one of the franchises. Personally, I’m a PGR2 fan, so I look forward to playing PGR3. Too bad it’s only two player.

So what do you think? Boom or bust? How’s the Xbox 360 now that it’s actually playable, and you can see the launch titles? Come Tuesday, you’ll be able to play it, too.

CNET - Early Xbox reviews: so-so

If you’re a surgeon, or want to be, this post by AnandTech might be right up your alley.

AnandTech got their surgical little hands on an Xbox 360 and vivisected it just for their own pleasure. How morose!

AnandTech - Inside Microsoft’s Xbox 360

HD Beat has an HDTV buyers guide for XBox 360 owners.

If you’re looking to get an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3 (PS3), this guide will apply equally to both. Except for one thing. The guide mentions that there will be no HDMI/DVI for the Xbox 360 (also backing up my article). This is not the case for the PS3. So if you’re planning on buying a PS3, getting an HDTV with HDMI is very important. You could go halfway and get an HDTV with DVI/HDCP (which is what I did last year before HDMI was commonplace), but really, HDMI is better.

HD Beat - HDTV Buying Guide: Xbox 360 Edition

Want to win an Xbox 360, a flat panel HDTV, and some Adidas sneakers?

Join the NBA Live Arena True Baller Championship Ladder, and you could do just that. Lace up those shoes, and show ‘em who’s the champ.

Yeah, yeah, I know this is for the Xbox. But I figure there must be some Xbox readers reading this!

IGN: Great at Live?

1UP.com has a fascinating look a the Dreamcast and Xbox 360, and how they compare. First they give 23 similarities between the two systems and their launches. Then they give 10 reasons why the Xbox 360 launch will succeed versus the Dreamcast’s failure.

Some of the 23 reasons include:

• Plays previous generation games under emulation.
• Unable to play the latest in cutting edge movie media (HD-DVD/Blu-Ray).
• Launching a year before the competition (likely).
• Software medium (DVD-9) criticized as having not enough capacity by some developers.

Some of the 10 reasons why the Xbox 360 will succeed where the Dreamcast failed:

• Following on the heels of the very popular Xbox.
• Has the full support of EA, with a whole lineup of titles at launch.
• Backwards compatible (mostly). (Though I have my doubts. We’ll have to see.)
• [Microsoft] Can, and will, spend whatever it takes to make the Xbox 360 a success.

It’s a fun read. Do you think they got anything wrong?

1UP.com - Dreamcast 2.0

In a reversal from the current generation of consoles, it looks like Microsoft will be producing Xbox 360 boxes for less than Sony can produce PS3 boxes. According to Merrill Lynch.

“…The PS3 will not only be significantly more costly than Xbox 360 at launch, but will continue to operate at a cost disadvantage for several years. … We think that the Xbox 360 could be selling at half the price of PS3 in the latter half of 2006.”

“…Our analysis indicates that Microsoft has a significant advantage in terms of cost. Taking Sony’s weakened financial condition and Microsoft’s deep pockets into consideration, we conclude that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 should emerge as the early winner in the next round of the game console wars.”

“Competitive pricing [for Microsoft] could hurt margins for Microsoft in the near term, but we think that Microsoft has the potential to exit 2006 with an installed base of 10 million units, with all that implies for more profitable software sales for 2007.”

Of course it’ll help that Microsoft is so huge and has so much money that it doesn’t blink at the $4 billion dollar black hole the current Xbox has left in Microsoft’s coffers.

Merrill Lynch estimates that the cost at launch of the PS3 will be $495 and after 3 years it’ll cost $195. As for the Xbox 360, it’ll cost $340 at launch and $145 3 years later. So that’s a $155 cost difference at launch and $50 later.

Does that mean we can expect the PS3 to cost $455 at launch? (The price of the Xbox 360 core system at launch, plus the cost difference.) At $455, Sony would be taking the same loss as Microsoft - $40. But Sony and Microsoft are two totally different companies, so to assume Sony would price the PS3 just to take the same loss is absurd.

So who wants to start putting down their price guess for the PS3? I’ll pick $439. As good a number as any. Anyone else care to join in the conjecture?

Next Generation - Xbox 360 “Half the Price of PS3″ by Late 2006

Microsoft is up to its old tricks again. Oooh, wait. I need a disclaimer of some kind, because this is really just a rumour I’m talking about here. Uh… ah forget it. I don’t feel like writing one this time.

Some dude over in Norway has revealed some of Microsoft’s marketing demands, and they’re not fun.

Retailers in the land of King Herald V are each being alloted a supply of 20 consoles, 6 core editions and 14 premium versions. But there is a catch: In order to get all of them, each shop or chain has to sign an agreement saying that they will sell out of all 20 consoles on the release date (which is December 2 over there). On top of that, the retailers must agree to sell a minimum of 2 games per console.

And there is nothing like a sell-out to generate publicity (even if it requires slowing the production line to ensure a shortage).

Ah, yes. The good old Microsoft that we’ve all come to know and love.

Gizmodo - Xbox 360: Retail Bully

So Microsoft is coming out with a Xbox 360 controller that can be used with a PC. It plugs into a standard USB port using a 9 foot breakaway controller cable.

Does this mean I can use it on my PS3?

Sure the PS3 boomerang looks a little whacky, but it’s basically the same as the DualShock 2 controller now used with the PS2. Nothing added to increase play value. So why can’t I use something better? If the Xbox 360 controller uses a standard USB connection, then you could hook it up to the PS3. Someone just needs to write a driver for it and voila! The only problem is that developers won’t write games that actually use the cool features of this controller.

The best would be if Sony actually decided to improve their own controller and add new stuff like triggers.

Hmmm. Haven’t I said that before?

Eurogamer - 360 controller for Windows
Microsoft - Microsoft Announces Company’s First Cross-Platform Gaming Controller

If the latest poll figures are to be believed, Microsoft is doing very well in Japan compared to last time around.

According to Famitsu, 23.9% of Japanese gamers are interested in aquiring an Xbox 360. The number one reason for getting the Xbox 360? The controller. And you know, I have to agree with them. Unless Sony enhances their controller for the next gen, Microsoft’s controller will be the one to beat. Hey Sony! Are you listening???

That compares to 63.2% of gamers who are interested in buying a PS3. Number one reason? The features. Kind of nebulous, I know, but there are a lot of them to choose from. And the number three reason not to buy the PS3 was… the controller. Surprise surprise.

As the interface to the console, the controller has to be just right. And it looks like Microsoft is getting it this time around. And while the DualShock is a great controller, it’s getting a little long in the tooth. It needs to be a bit more ergonomic, maybe some online functionality. But most importantly, it needs triggers! I’ve mentioned this before, but got no reaction. Anybody at all agree with me?

Next Generation - Japanese Console Plans Revealed

The November issue of Famitsu Xbox 360 has a talk with Team Ninja’s “lead ninja” Tomonobu Itagaki.

First of all, he notes that the number of gamers with HDTVs is low, according to their reader response cards. So he is impressed that Microsoft will be included HD cables in the Japanese Xbox 360 kit. As people pick up the Xbox 360 and PS3, though, I hope they’ll realize just how much better the games could be in HD and make an HDTV purchase. And in a most accurate expression of technical prowess, he thinks that CRT displays offer the best picture quality for gamers. Of course, owning a CRT HDTV, I have to agree. The good news is that DOA4 will offer a 4:3 aspect ratio for 4:3 sets, and a widescreen aspect ratio for 16:9 sets. No black bars anywhere! This should definitely be S.O.P. (standard operating procedure) for all next gen games, PS3 or Xbox 360.

On the topic of sound:

Itagaki is also sure to give some talk to sound, offering the hope that players will invest in a 5.1 system. Dead or Alive 4 is fully 5.1 compliant, and Team Ninja has even mixed separate surround and stereo tracks for some parts, including the ending movie.

Again, as an owner of a surround sound home theater system, I couldn’t agree more. But what about the HDD, over which there is much debate. Here’s where it gets really interesting:

“Without a hard disk,” he explains, “it’s difficult to do things like the Ninja Gaiden Hurricane Pack. There are also problems with caching.” He suggests that smooth startup sequences for games would be difficult. Also regrettable, he states, is that, minus a hard disk, he won’t be able to manage sound in the way Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball does now, where music is copied over from the game disk.

However, those who plan on buying the fully equipped hard disk needn’t worry, as Itagaki adds “The Xbox 360 I buy will have a hard disk equipped. I believe 80% will buy the hard disk model. And so, take solace that we will make games that fully utilize the hard disk, just as we have until now.” Those without the hard disk are being taken care of, though, with Itagaki planning on tuning the game for the core system as well.

So there you have it. Not having an HDD is quite a disability, but Team Ninja will be fully supporting gamers without an HDD and gamers with an HDD. These are exactly the kind of developers Microsoft wants on their side, it seems.

IGN.COM - Itagaki Speaks (thanks to 360hacker.net)

It looks like the Xbox 360 will get a staggered release after all, though the staggering is pretty tight. Maybe that makes it more of a stumble.

Microsoft has always said that it would launch the Xbox 360 globally and simultaneously. Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach clarified this Wednesday, saying that “We will launch in North America, Europe and Japan in the same holiday season. There will probably be a week or 10 days in between the different territories, just to give us a chance to manage the logistics.”

Makes sense, really. It’s hard to launch a major product all over the world simultaneously. It’s pretty obvious that North America will get the Xbox 360 first. The question then becomes: who gets it next? Japan or Europe?

Reuters - Microsoft sees week between Xbox debuts

Well, the answer came at the Tokyo Game Show. First, North America, of course. Then Europe, then Japan.

• North America: November 22, 2005
• Europe: December 2, 2005
• Japan: December 10, 2005

This will put the Xbox 360 on store shelves in time for Thanksgiving.

News.com - Xbox 360 to hit shelves before Thanksgiving

Naw, just hard to crack. For once, someone realizes that the security will be broken eventually. That someone is Chris Satchell, on the Xbox 360 development team. They’re building a lot of security features into the Xbox 360, down to the silicon level. I don’t know if that means that they spray-painted “please don’t crack me” on the chip, or what. But I guess it means the security is in the hardware. But Mr. Satchell is wise enough to realize that the system will eventually be broken, saying “I’m sure sooner or later someone will work out how to circumvent security. But the way we have done the design doesn’t mean that it will work on somebody else’s machine.” Got that? Even if someone does crack the Xbox 360, it might just be that particular Xbox 360 that gets cracked. You’d have to do it all over again for the next one. Hmmm. Makes me wonder how that would work.

BBC - Microsoft aims for hack-proof 360

It looks like the Tokyo Game Show next week will have a few more Xbox 360 titles on display than PS3 ones. So far only Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4 and Koei’s Ni-Oh have been announced as PS3 games the show. The show takes place September 16-18 and will show off the several Xbox 360 games. Ridge Racer 6 will be playable, and so will World Air Force and Kameo: Elements of Power.

Gamespot - First playable next-gen games confirmed for Tokyo Game Show
1UP.COM - Next-Gen Hits Tokyo Game Show

Developers finally have final Xbox 360 dev kits less than three months before the console release. (I think it’s safe to assume it’ll launch before Dec. 6th.)

Cliff Bleszinski, Lead Designer at Epic Games, has updated his developer blog revealing that the final version of the Xbox 360 XeDK (Xenon Development Kit) has arrived. This means that developers now finally have the same silicon found in the retail Xbox 360 consoles that will be available to consumers this Fall.

Developers will continue to receive software updates but now they are working with final hardware, which means they can obtain final benchmarks to fully optimize their code and take advantage of the Xbox 360’s three symmetrical cores (each running at 3.2 GHz) and custom ATI graphics chip.

We also hope to see Xbox 360 games running on final hardware soon, probably at the Tokyo Game Show and definitely at the X05 show in early October.

team XBOX - Final Xbox 360 Xenon Development Kits Arrive

[Update 9sep05: Ageia has withdrawn these comments]

The PhysX library by Ageia is one of the technologies that Sony has licensed for use by PS3 developers. Here’s an interesting note from the PhysX library developers:

Although the PhysX libraries accelerate a host of technologies, from physical object interactions to fluid-based particle effects like water and smoke, only the PlayStation 3 and a PhysX PC will have the horsepower to process all of the technology’s features, Ageia executives said. The Xbox 360 will not be able to process the fluid-based technology, because of the limitations of its architecture.

It looks like those SPE’s the Cell contains will come in really handy for all sorts of particle effects in PS3 games. Although I don’t think Xbox 360 gamers will miss out much if they just miss out on fluid-based technology. It’s implied that it’s just the fluid-based stuff that the Xbox 360 can’t handle, though I wonder if that’s the only thing.

ExtremeTech - BFG To Manufacture Ageia PhysX Cards