There was a great deal of activity in the world this week, so naturally the only way to deliver the impartial unbiased account is blog it. Naturally. Either way, now that I've spent some serious time with my 360 I have a number of observations to deliver in standard gamer prose.
From my point of view, the Xbox 360 is having a wonderful time due to the superb catalogue of games. Right now I own PGR3, Kameo, Gears of War, Ghost Recon, and Viva Pinata. I only play PGR, Gears and Ghost, but I'm enjoying the hell out of them. I've played multiplayer with most of my friends, and been thouroughly wooped by you all, and I can honestly say that without friends, playing online is for chumps. There are more matches I have quit than I have played because people were being chumptards. Friends ftw.
On a personal note, Ghost Recon has the worst AI in a single player game since, well, forever. There have been instances where I order my guys into a bunker to clear it out, they report it's clear, I run in, and notice my teammates trying to run through a wall on the left, and two soldiers waiting for me on the right. Go figure. Don't play single player.
I downloaded Doom, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting, and Assault Heroes off of the Xbox Live Arcade Market Place last night, and I enjoy those titles, but they would be a lot better if 1. there were more people playing them and 2. the people playing them weren't jerks. I tried to play coop in doom only to get tked a billion times. Apparently the shotgun is a mystical device whose sole purpose is to ruin my world. Ammo isn't that plentiful. Either way, great idea, needs more people.
The live service allows you to download demos for upcoming games, like lost planet and so forth, but there really aren't that many demos for upcoming games. It's still a bit early in the running, but a wider selection of titles here would have been really nice so we can compare and contrast differences from multiplatform games.
There are movie download services, but those are also pretty dissapointing because of selection and the licensing agreement. Where the 360 shines however is that you can stream media from your computer to your 360 to play on your tv, which is neat, but requires you to have wmv formatted files. Irritating to no end, but doable to say the least. Mystery Science Theatre has found a way!
If I knew how the 360 was before I purchased it, I probably still would have done it, I'm pretty pleased with the capability, and I'm enjoying the games, but if I don't get an hdtv for it I'm going to blow up.
I start some clinical trials this week so I'm working 10-12 hours, and probably won't have much time for anything other than work, so don't wait up so to speak.
President Bush announced that he was indeed going to be deploying 20,000 more troops to Iraq in an effort to stabalize the region, which is an admirable endeavour but his methods are suspect. Most of the US generals are in agreement that it would take at least 60,000 to curb the violence, and it is going to be even more difficult when our allies start pulling out next year. I predict that the US will announce a pullout as well along with them so it will look politically savy. Just me though, and I have no idea what will happen, but if I were in his position with his goals, I would probably do the same.
May extra lives bless you and all your family.