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Thursday, August 23, 2007 |
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A Second Look at the Xbox 360
I had a 360 prior to the release of the PS3, but I sold it once I got my hand's on Sony's machine. I actually had a couple of 360's, but my first one died... I'll just call this my second look at the console though. Anyways, I recently had the opportunity to try out an Xbox 360 Elite on my HDTV with no strings attached. Basically, I bought it, tried it out, did some comparisons and then returned it. Based on this experience, I've come to the following conclusions about the Xbox 360:
First off, I no longer like the Xbox 360 hardware. I used to love the controller, but now that I've gotten my hands on it again it just feels off. The analog sticks are stiff and have those stupid nubs, the face buttons are stiff and hard to the touch, the triggers aren't that smooth and feel too springy and the battery pack just gets in the way. Still, the guide button rocks, it’s got rumble and it's nice and weighty. The console itself looks and feels cheap in comparison to the sleek and shiny PS3. The plastic used to shell the 360's innards seems like it'd be more fitting on a remote control car than a high tech gaming device. The addition of HDMI is great for those with an HDTV, but it just serves as a reminder of how rushed the 360 was. Still, I appreciate its delayed inclusion and notice the difference it makes right away. The very first 360 logo that pops up on your screen appears sharper and more vivid from the get go.
 All of this for $450... it seems like a good deal until you weigh in how cheap it feels and how many 360s that have died.
Enough about the hardware, let's talk about games. Specifically, I want to draw comparisons between two games that are on both the 360 and the PS3: NCAA Football 2008 and Dirt.
The 360's EA Sports titles have been getting higher scores than their PS3 counterparts upon every new game's release and I just thought I should check out the situation for myself. From the first kickoff of every game, you can see that the 360 has a better framerate. However, the difference isn't as integral to gameplay as IGN's review would lead you to believe. The PS3 version runs at a solid 30 frames per second and it is extremely playable. More striking than the framerate, however, is the cartoony look of the 360 version of the game. The PS3 version just has more definition overall. The stadiums appear more detailed from a distance and players have more defined musculatures and uniforms from a distance and up close. The aliasing done by the 360 makes everything look too smooth and glazed over. Silly things such as socks look better on the PS3. On the 360 the socks kind of just run into the legs while you can clearly see the difference between the two on the PS3. Lighting is hands down better on Sony's machine. It is more realistic and creates better shadows.
 Duh! The PS3 version looks better and plays just fine at 30 FPS. 60 FPS will be awesome next year though; make it happen EA!
Next up, I compared the Dirt demos on both the 360 and the PS3. At first glance, the 360 version looks better simply because it is more poppy. By that I mean that it pops off the screen and catches your eye. Further investigation reveals that the game has too high of a contrast between lights and darks that leads to details being lost though. This is caused by the unrealistic lighting that the system is pushing. Shadows are overly dark, car interiors are overly dark and the game, again, looks more unrealistic because of it. The PS3 has much better lighting and contrast. Track details and car interior details are not lost due to overly dark shadowing. Furthermore, Dirt runs at a perfectly smooth framerate on the PS3 while it jerks and clips on the 360.
What I've concluded about the 360's graphical capabilities and people's perception of them is that the system uses high contrast and smooth aliasing to attract your attention. At first, this looks better than what is being offered on the PS3. In the end, I think this leads to unrealistic lighting and a loss of detail. That's just what I've noticed though... don't yell at me for it.
Finally, Xbox Live is the undisputed king of online gaming and community. Sony is making an attempt to challenge with their free and respectable PlayStation Network, but it just doesn’t have the content and server speed. There is something to be said for Microsoft's subscription based service, but in the end it's a toss up between free and $50 a year. I, for one, wouldn't mind paying Sony for faster download times, more content and real dedication to their service.
I bought this 360 Elite with the intention of keeping it and just having one of each console this generation. However, after putting the system through its paces and weighing the good and the bad, I decided that I'll just stick with my PS3 and Wii combination. The games that I care about seem better on the PS3 to me, so I have no reason to keep a 360 around. My thinking was that I'd get my cross platform games on the 360 if they really were that much better, but they really aren't... in ways, they're inferior.
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 |
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Metroid Primed
I've recently been playing Metroid Prime 2 on my Wii in order to get "primed" up for the new Metroid game coming out next week. While I've been enjoying the game, I still can't get myself too excited for Corruption. I don't know what my problem is, but after reading stuff here on IGN and watching Nintendo's videos on my Wii… I'm still not feeling it. I'm a big fan of the series, but I guess a lengthy quest just sounds off-putting to me at this time. I just got Twilight Princess and Super Paper Mario so another 20+ hour game would probably be a little too much at this point. Should I wait to pick this one up or should I put some of the stuff I've got on the backburner? That is the question.
 Samus, please don't make that face... I love you... I just don't have time for a serious relationship right now...
Show me what you got!
You should know the drill by now, but just in case, the purpose of this feature is to celebrate the American way of life by sharing about the stuff that we buy. Every Monday I'll let you know about my previous week's spoils, and, in return, I'd like you to show me what you got!
I posted two blogs last week referring to my HDTV's inability to properly display the Wii's outputted signal in widescreen. I fixed that problem with the purchase of a Sharp LC-32AV22U for my bedroom. It's a smaller 32" 720P HDTV, but it fits in perfectly. I like this TV because it doesn't look too flashy, but it still has superb image quality. The Wii looks wonderful on it and I can now play all of its games the way the were intended to be played. Nintendo's games POP! on an LCD screen TV; very nice!
I also picked up a copy of Super Paper Mario. I've only played it for about half an hour thus far because I had to help out my parents at their house over the weekend, but it definitely looks unique. I'm excited to play a Mario game with a little more substance. Also, I've always been interested in the series because of it's awesome art style; I'm definitely looking forward to getting into this one.
What did you pick up last week? Keep in mind that this isn't a games only feature and that all kinds of gear & gadgets are appreciated.
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Thursday, August 16, 2007 |
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A shoddy Wii feature? (Updated)
Earlier this week I reported a problem I've been having with my new Wii. After getting feedback here on IGN and looking around on Nintendo's forums, I began to suspect my Sony HDTV as the real problem.
My investigations revealed a disturbing trend; everyone experiencing the same problem owns a Sony TV! It turns out that Sony TVs are made to display almost all 480i and 480p resolutions with bars on the sides; this means that they display in 4:3 instead of 16:9 even when the source is outputting a widescreen resolution. The only way around this is for the source to flag the Sony TV.
Flagging is a process in which the source, say a DVD player, tells the TV that it is outputting a 16:9 widescreen resolution; anamorphic widescreen DVDs do this. The Wii outputs an anamorphic widescreen resolution, 854x480, but it fails to send out a flag. This causes my TV to compress the widescreen signal from the Wii to 4:3. At this point I have to stretch the image to make it fit my widescreen TV causing decreased sharpness and detail.
Ideally, an HDTV receiving a widescreen 480i or 480P signal will simply scale the image to fit the 720P, 1080i or 1080P native resolution of the TV. This is impossible for my and maybe all Sony TVs to do. This means that if I want to see what the Wii can really do, then I have to buy another TV and I have to buy something other than Sony... that will be very hard for me.
Should I be mad at my TV for requiring a flag in order to properly display an anamorphic widescreen resolution or at the Wii for not sending the flag in the first place?
Disclaimer: All of the above information was taken from both professional and nonprofessional sources. If there is a technical error, then I am sorry. I did my best to try and understand the problem that I’ve been experiencing and to understand the Wii’s hardware capabilities.
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