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[vatstep]

Does anyone know yet what stores will be participating in a midnight first-come-first-serve launch? Best Buy? WalMart? Target? Others? Thanks.

Walmart's site says 360 will be available at midnight, but it's unclear if that means ALL stores or just the 24 hour ones. As for Best Buy, it's up to the store manager. Some locations are already confirmed to be opening at midnight, others will open at least an hour or two early.

 

[SuperPac]

Clerk at the local Best Buy told me that they're doing a midnight launch the night of the 21st. I'll probably make that my first stop and if they sell out before getting to me I'll do Target / Circuit City in the morning (since they are a minute's walk away from the front door of my apt.).

 

[Fifty]

Does anyone know yet what stores will be participating in a midnight first-come-first-serve launch? Best Buy? WalMart? Target? Others? Thanks.

Yeah I'm curious what places in Toronto are doing that. I guess I should ask Best Buy and Walmart.

 

[DopeyFish]

Yeah I'm curious what places in Toronto are doing that. I guess I should ask Best Buy and Walmart.

bestbuy has preorders so i'd assume walmart

I'll be waiting overnight at the walmart at Queen's Square (across from Sherway Gardens)

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

Does anyone know yet what stores will be participating in a midnight first-come-first-serve launch? Best Buy? WalMart? Target? Others? Thanks.

According to this Kotaku report, Target opens at 6 AM and will be first come first serve.

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/xbox-360/target-xbox-360-launch-policies-134231.php

 

[Kabuki Waq]

anybody spot and 360 kiosks in Toronto yet?

 

[krypt0nian]

anybody spot and 360 kiosks in Toronto yet?

The odd thing is that I haven't seen one Canada kiosk in any 360 thread anywhere yet. =(

 

[krypt0nian]

Gotta post this from the IGN forums...

King Kong PC demo - LCD screen photographed

Now the 360 build also photographed on a LCD screen

WOW!

 

[DMczaf]

Gotta post this from the IGN forums...

King Kong PC demo - LCD screen photographed

Now the 360 build also photographed on a LCD screen

WOW!

Pfft, that's nothing.

 

[krypt0nian]

Pfft, that's nothing.

geh, we're going to have to disagree there.

 

[Mrbob]

Gotta post this from the IGN forums...

King Kong PC demo - LCD screen photographed

Now the 360 build also photographed on a LCD screen

WOW!

What video card and settings is the PC game on using?

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

I did a google search, and it says that pelican is coming out with a force feedback wheel.

 

[vatstep]

Gotta post this from the IGN forums...

King Kong PC demo - LCD screen photographed

Now the 360 build also photographed on a LCD screen

WOW!

I'm looking forward to King Kong, but the X360 version just looks..darker. And because of that, you can't really tell if the visuals are really that much of a leap.

 

[krypt0nian]

I'm looking forward to King Kong, but the X360 version just looks..darker. And because of that, you can't really tell if the visuals are really that much of a leap.

Cannot agree...just darker? Really?

 

[vatstep]

The ground texture looks better and Kong looks a bit more realistic. The building in the background - a bit better, can't really tell - but the rest is just far too dark to tell.

Anyways, here's another comparison. It's between Xbox and Xbox 360, though.

 

[krypt0nian]

The ground texture looks better and Kong looks a bit more realistic. The building in the background - a bit better, can't really tell - but the rest is just far too dark to tell.

Anyways, here's another comparison. It's between Xbox and Xbox 360, though.

I totally agree that we cannot get a total overall difference, but I'm seeing enough in what is there in the dark pics to get excited. It looks as though the PC is a hi-rez PS2/xbox version while the 360 build is something else.

 

[krypt0nian]

360 LIVE matchmaking algorithm posted at majornelson.com - - -

Far over my head but what so the math heads here have to say?

μwinner ← μwinner + σ2winner/c * v((μwinner-μloser)/c,ε/c)
μloser ← μloser - σ2loser/c * v((μwinner-μloser)/c,ε/c)
σ2winner ← σ2winner*[1-σ2winner/c2 * w((μwinner-μloser)/c,ε/c)]
σ2loser ← σ2loser*[1-σ2loser/c2 * w((μwinner-μloser)/c,ε/c)]

c2 = 2β2 + σ2winner + σ2loser

 

[CarlosX360]

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=23897990

Providing the game actually works on the Xbox 360's limited backwards-compatibility -- Yes, you can. In a recent issue of Official Xbox Magazine, they said that when the 360 is playing an Xbox game, it thinks its an actual Xbox, and funtions as such. The game can use the 360's ethernet port, harddrive, stored music, etc. as if it were an Xbox.

 

[atomsk]

so it seems walmart contacted a company that subcontracts to the company i work for.

the problem? they want the wireless in thier 360 demo unit "turned off"

is this possible? they'll probably send me out to do it if the contract goes through. :lol

 

[Tiktaalik]

I just got news that I won the Befirsttoplay contest, so I have to read up on stuff. I wasn't planning on getting a 360 at all, since I'm in university and there's NO WAY I could have afforded one.

A few questions:

1. Do people who win the befirsttoplay contest get them earlier than launch? when?

2. Do we know anything about whether Mizguchi's Ninety Nine Nights is coming out in North America?

3. Can I buy Xbox Live Arcade games if I'm not a paying member of xbox live? I'm really interested in getting Robotron:2084 and Joust, but I'm not interested in getting a gold membership yet.


So far I'm interested in King Kong and Condemned and Robotron (please be graphically updated). I was interested in GUN before I knew I was getting a 360, so I'll probably get it for 360 if it has any extras that warrant it. The graphics look pretty similar to the xbox version it seems.

Unfortunately I'll be playing my xbox360 on an old fashioned tv

Also I'm wondering if that xbox 360 controller is glowing red because the battery is low?

 

[IJoel]

I just got news that I won the Befirsttoplay contest, so I have to read up on stuff. I wasn't planning on getting a 360 at all, since I'm in university and there's NO WAY I could have afforded one.

A few questions:

1. Do people who win the befirsttoplay contest get them earlier than launch? when?

2. Do we know anything about whether Mizguchi's Ninety Nine Nights is coming out in North America?

3. Can I buy Xbox Live Arcade games if I'm not a paying member of xbox live? I'm really interested in getting Robotron:2084 and Joust, but I'm not interested in getting a gold membership yet.


So far I'm interested in King Kong and Condemned and Robotron (please be graphically updated). I was interested in GUN before I knew I was getting a 360, so I'll probably get it for 360 if it has any extras that warrant it. The graphics look pretty similar to the xbox version it seems.

Unfortunately I'll be playing my xbox360 on an old fashioned tv

Also I'm wondering if that xbox 360 controller is glowing red because the battery is low?

Congrats! I also hate you!

1. No idea.
2. Yes, MS is apparently planning to release it next year.
3. Yes. You can buy arcade games, play demos, download trailers, keep friends lists and do messaging with a Silver account (free.) Basically the only thing you can't do with it is online mp.

That glowing red controller has been modded. You can check how much battery life you have left by using the Xbox 360 dashboard.

 

[Lonestar]

360 now paid off. Now, to decide what's worth purchasing in games.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

360 now paid off. Now, to decide what's worth purchasing in games.

Me too.

Madden 2006, Condemned, and Call of Duty 2 are definites.

Jury still out on PGR3 and Perfect Dark Zero.

 

[Spazbiohaz]

Sweet. Halo 2 up and running. Played about 5 minutes of the game on 360 and it seems the same. The V-Sync line does not occur anymore, and the Frame rate seems improved but no major action occurred to look for slowdown. The Cut scenes still have the texture pop in's so that sucked. The textures look a little better, but it may be the difference in a LCD screen vs. my Flat screen HDTV. I tried some newer games but I received a this game is for Xbox 1.0 Please check online for available compatibility. I will try some more games later in the week. I will also check some online play with halo to see if it is smoother online. Also all Xbox 360 features are disabled while in Xbox 1.0 mode, so no custom soundtracks, or Xbox Live lists by pressing the Center button on your controller.

 

[SuperPac]

And this is on a debug? Retail?

 

[Spazbiohaz]

And this is on a debug? Retail?

Retail.

 

[Unison]

Well, I guess Oblivion's massive delay did it for me. I cancelled my pre-order today.

I had signed up for one of the bundles at Walmart.com, and when I looked at it, I just couldn't justify spending $800 on a system that really only would have one must-play game for me this year (PGR3).

Combined with the questionable BW compatibility list, the underwhelming demo unit experience and the persistent release date slippage of the other launch games, I just felt that I should ignore the hype for now and let the system prove to me that I need to buy it.

 

[TerryLee81]

Am I the only one who wants BC for GTA Triple Pack?

 

[JJConrad]

Just back from Best Buy (Porter Ranch, CA) and tried out the 360 kiosk. Played King Kong, CoD and Kameo.

The 360 version looks just like the PC version shown above. Details look the same, both in the characters and background. That's just a poor picture of the 360 above, the contrast difference allows your imagination fill in the blanks. The demo had horrible, horrible clipping (that's the right term?) issues, even in cut-scenes. Characters would pass through objects, their feet would step below the surface... just really really bad. For some reason the T-Rex turned blue, maybe that means something to the game play, but it just looked silly if you ask me.

CoD2 looked pretty decent. Id had some LOD problem, but wasn't bad.

I thought Kamoe was the best looking of the demos I played. It looked like it used more of the systems effect better. The one thing I noticed in all of the demos, which I hoped would be eleminated next-gen were the jaggies. It didn't look bad while paused, but in motion they crawled around everywhere. They weren't noticalbe in Kameo's cut-scenes but they were in gameplay.

The controller seemed nice. Very light. It was that crappy-feeling demo plastic, so I looked and felt a little cheap. I wouldn't call it the "perfect controller" but it was good.

There were a lot of people watching, but the demo selection seemed to turn a number of people off. The games and stages playable weren't very fun, in the three I played after the first section of action, the next area seemed unreachable. I saw 2 people give up playing after a few minutes of not being able to find to the next area. Another person said "WOW" when he first saw it (Kameo), but left saying "It looks like an Xbox game" ... he probably visits GAF.

 

[hgplayer1]

just got back from my local best buy and still no sign of a 360. they do have some of those preorder cards on the shelves and there are now 360 games in the mix of them. Ghost Recon was among them which I thought was odd since the game has been pushed past the launch day window, right? all of the cards for 360 games had arrival dates of 11-15-05 on them. Sure would be nice to shop for my games a week before so I can concentrate on locating hardware on the 22nd.

I asked one of the BB guys if they were doing preorders and he said no but then said unless they do something last minute like they did with PSP but as of right now the most they may do is open a little early that day.

near the front door some guys were working on setting up a tv, surround system chairs and an Xbox. I wonder if they are doing that to get ready for the 360 at which point theyll just swap out the Xbox for the 360. I didnt ask but I also one working taking all the stuff off of one of those displays thats in the middle of the aisle that has XBox games and controllers and stuff.

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

Sweet. Halo 2 up and running. Played about 5 minutes of the game on 360 and it seems the same. The V-Sync line does not occur anymore, and the Frame rate seems improved but no major action occurred to look for slowdown. The Cut scenes still have the texture pop in's so that sucked. The textures look a little better, but it may be the difference in a LCD screen vs. my Flat screen HDTV. I tried some newer games but I received a this game is for Xbox 1.0 Please check online for available compatibility. I will try some more games later in the week. I will also check some online play with halo to see if it is smoother online. Also all Xbox 360 features are disabled while in Xbox 1.0 mode, so no custom soundtracks, or Xbox Live lists by pressing the Center button on your controller.

Woah wait a second! Can you clarify this for me? So Xbox 1 games have no custom soundtracks period, or you just can't access the custom soundtracks menu via the Center button?

 

[newsguy]

Me too.

Madden 2006, Condemned, and Call of Duty 2 are definites.

Jury still out on PGR3 and Perfect Dark Zero.

Holy crap, I thought I had typed this, this is exactly my list down to the jury being out on PDo and PGR.

 

[Jesiatha]

Woah wait a second! Can you clarify this for me? So Xbox 1 games have no custom soundtracks period, or you just can't access the custom soundtracks menu via the Center button?

You can't access custom soundtracks via the Guide (the center button) or any other Guide features while playing Xbox 1 games. You can "return to dashboard" (to play an Arcade game, of course) and that's about it.

I don't know offhand whether the emulator exposes custom soundtracks to the games (it might if you have songs ripped to your hard drive, but that's probably the only case it would).

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

You can't access custom soundtracks via the Guide (the center button) or any other Guide features while playing Xbox 1 games. You can "return to dashboard" (to play an Arcade game, of course) and that's about it.

I don't know offhand whether the emulator exposes custom soundtracks to the games (it might if you have songs ripped to your hard drive, but that's probably the only case it would).

Ah ok, songs ripped to hard drive is the only way to play custom soundtracks on Xbox 1 anyway.

I was just curious, I doubt I'll be playing Xbox 1 games on the 360 in any case

 

[Khalid-S]

I dont know if someone post this,
Xbox 360 Japan Tv Commercial.

http://tokyo.cool.ne.jp/p4-841/xbox360_01_15.avi
size: 2.44 mb
time: 15 sec

 

[Lo-Volt]

I dont know it someone post this,
Xbox 360 Japan Tv Commercial.

http://tokyo.cool.ne.jp/p4-841/xbox360_01_15.avi
size: 2.44 mb
time: 15 sec

It's new to me, and it's a bit interesting. I just hope we can see some longer efforts on both sides of the Pacific.

 

[vatstep]

So has ANYONE been impressed with the Kameo demo? I haven't played it myself, but the impressions I've heard on messageboards has been 99% "looks like an Xbox game". All of the videos that I saw for this game made it look pretty amazing - all of the hands-on stuff from TGS, X05 and other events was extremely positive as well.

So are people just idiots, expecting too much..what?

 

[Lo-Volt]

So has ANYONE been impressed with the Kameo demo? I haven't played it myself, but the impressions I've heard on messageboards has been 99% "looks like an Xbox game". All of the videos that I saw for this game made it look pretty amazing - all of the hands-on stuff from TGS, X05 and other events was extremely positive as well.

So are people just idiots, expecting too much..what?

It looks alright, but the little gameplay I experienced was uninspiring; it was practically like too many things I played before. I also had slight difficulty controlling the camera. In short(er), there's nothing wrong with Kameo as we've seen it, but nothing's spectacularly right according to this first impression.

 

[SuperPac]

So has ANYONE been impressed with the Kameo demo? I haven't played it myself, but the impressions I've heard on messageboards has been 99% "looks like an Xbox game". All of the videos that I saw for this game made it look pretty amazing - all of the hands-on stuff from TGS, X05 and other events was extremely positive as well.

So are people just idiots, expecting too much..what?

It could have something to do with the area of the game in the demo. Or when the demo was created/completed. Or the size of the TVs in the kiosks vs. what was being used in trade show demonstrations (with professionally calibrated televisions).

A good rule of thumb is to always take demo impressions with a grain of salt. At a trade show, you've got Microsoft/Rare reps showing off the coolest "wow!" bits of a game and helping out if someone gets stuck. In a kiosk at a Gamestop, you've got a continuous bit of gameplay which may/may not be any good and no one to show you the wow. It's very easy to walk away from a kiosk unimpressed.

Most of us will probably know the real deal if the final games go on shelves prior to the 22nd and people who won the Dew contests post impressions.

 

[Xenon]

So has ANYONE been impressed with the Kameo demo? I haven't played it myself, but the impressions I've heard on messageboards has been 99% "looks like an Xbox game". All of the videos that I saw for this game made it look pretty amazing - all of the hands-on stuff from TGS, X05 and other events was extremely positive as well.

So are people just idiots, expecting too much..what?

I was not impressed with this game at all. I played the thorns castle demo and it seemed like it suffered from horrible direction. I didn't feel the "grand battle" effect they were trying to capture. It just seemed like they threw as much shit on the screen as they could.

Maybe I'm just a little spoiled from having played SotC and RE4 on the PS2. While both games are technically inferior to Kameo, they both are perfect example of why it is so important to have a consistent graphic level and style in a game. In SotC the world, objects and its character all have the same grainy dull look. At first I had a little problem with the quality but after some time I was able to get lost in the game. Kameo on the other hand is the exact opposite. The characters and the background just didn't seem to match up for me.

I really didn't spend enough time on the game to comment on the gameplay. The controls were different from most games of this type. I kept pressing the A button to attack which would make me change back into Kameo.

 

[Spazbiohaz]

Woah wait a second! Can you clarify this for me? So Xbox 1 games have no custom soundtracks period, or you just can't access the custom soundtracks menu via the Center button?

Via the center button. I will get you a update later with running custom. But it seems if the Xbox 1 game uses it it is supported. But the Xbox 360 feature will not work unless it is a 360 game.

Edit: didn't see Jesiatha post. sorry.

 

[Mrbob]

Looks like the Kameo website is up:

http://www.kameo.com/kameocom/microsite/en-us/main.html

Love the music.

 

[dark10x]

So has ANYONE been impressed with the Kameo demo? I haven't played it myself, but the impressions I've heard on messageboards has been 99% "looks like an Xbox game". All of the videos that I saw for this game made it look pretty amazing - all of the hands-on stuff from TGS, X05 and other events was extremely positive as well.

So are people just idiots, expecting too much..what?

It feels so much like an XBOX game for some reason (a reason I can't even quantify), but there ARE some really impressive visuals at work. The textures, shaders, and lighting are all top notch and reach far beyond anything the XBOX could do. The end result just doesn't FEEL all that impressive, though...and it's difficult to explain exactly why that is.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

Holy crap, I thought I had typed this, this is exactly my list down to the jury being out on PDo and PGR.

:lol :lol

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

My impressions on Kameo, as I posted earlier, are that while it does look nice, very colorful, and lots of details, smooth animation, it was the gameplay that didn't get me all that excited. The shaping changing thing wasn't as interesting as I thought it might be, and the character's moves seemed limited as well. I don't think it would hold my interest over the long haul, but might be ok for a rent.

All that said, playing at Wal-mart is not a great way to judge. The controller sits too low for me and the damn screen hangs too high, so you end up straining your neck, which could influence your ability to play comfortably. It may be more fun, kicked back in an easy chair at home.

 

[8bit]

http://media.putfile.com/360ad

 

[Speevy]

My brief impressions from a FYE demo:



First of all, the setup is absolutely superb. This is how a demo kiosk should look. Each X360 feature is outlined, and the unit itself is just gorgeous. The controller has to be the best one yet, for any console. It just melts in your hands and the buttons are perfect.


Now, for the two games I tried (minus King Kong, which I'm not interested in)


Call of Duty 2

Let me first say that I suck at first person shooters, so I was killed a few times on this one. I was pretty impressed with the amount of intense fighting going on in this demo. The drawbacks were a bit of aliasing and rather current-gen ground textures. But with planes flying overhead and all sort of bullets, explosions, and smoke, the atmosphere is pretty amazing. What really impresses though is the finer details. When you really stand next to a soldier or vehicle and view the amount of polygons or the textures and lighting. For example, standing next to a jeep was awe-inspriing. Next-gen stuff indeed. And the soldiers themselves could go on a postage stamp. Controls were responsive and the objectives straightforward, but I'm sure fans of this series know all about how the game plays.

Kameo

This is the most detailed game I've ever played. Wow. The scope. The lighting, textures, effects, character detail, everything. Just breathtaking. I took a little trip around the castle and beat up some guys with "bad art plant monster" and "Monster's Inc. dude". Both animated well, and especially the furry monster was just Pixar-esque. I know that idea is overused, but really, you have to see it. I rolled into a ball Metroid-style, which is always okay by me. Everything in the game is so shiny, and you can see forever. The dragons flying above are an especially nice touch. Kameo is a must-buy game for me.

Please, ask any questions and I'll be happy to answer.

 

[Speevy]

Oh, and beating an enemy to death with his buddy rocks.

 

[SuperPac]

Will it still rock when you're beating the 12,456th googly-eyed ogre to death with his buddy?

 

[Kabuki Waq]

REJOICE!!

The first official Launch day title has been revealed.

























Amped 3