To console, or not to console?

[Ivelliis]

I sold my 360 before Christmas quite cheap (if I do say so myself!) as I hardly ever used it.

Now I'm increasingly itchy to get a new one, £200-ish (which would be perhaps 2months wages, with money left over to live off), and I'm not sure. What's the verdict on you guys in the Misc Games forum?

PS3 is out of the question, the price is way too high. Would be able to link up to Xbox live with the wireless network, but I'm unconvinced.

Someone convince me!

[pritchke]

Wii, nice price, decent games, with more and more coming out everyday, controls are a plus, no more confusing button combinations, and sports games have never been more fun, try there football. As well as being able to play any Nintento game ever invented.

If graphics are a must than the Wii is a little lacking especially compared with PS3 and to some extent the 360.

I am having a blast with mine and Wii parties are becoming more common.

This is more of a preference of mine but I have always been a game play over graphics person.

[ 07-05-2007, 02:15 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[Ivelliis]

My mother bought a Wii 'cause they looked fun *grins* Wii Sports, Spiderman (so cool swinging your webs!) and Mario Soccer thing at the moment.

[JrKASperov]

Save it for a decent PC.

[Balintherlas]

Hey, a you can spend well over a thousand dollars on a decent pc if your wanting to play video games. I'd say, if buying a 360 would take out a big chunk of your change, just wait. Try putting back a lil money from each pay check, then it'l be easier on your budget. Plus you need to spend 60 bucks (American) on games. That said, playin xbox live is prolly one of the funnest gaming experiences Ive had, so really its just about your priorities.

[Micah Foehammer]

Might want to read this article about the XBox 360.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/07/06/x...ref=newssearch

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- In another setback for Microsoft Corp.'s unprofitable entertainment and devices division, the company says it is planning to spend at least $1 billion to repair serious problems with its Xbox 360 video game console.


The Xbox 360 has seen slow sales in Japan.

Microsoft declined to detail the problems that have caused an onslaught of "general hardware failures" in recent months but said Thursday it will extend the warranty on the consoles to three years.

The glitches, and the bad publicity, could weigh the company down as it claws for market share in the highly competitive console market. In May, the Xbox 360 ranked No. 2 in unit sales behind Nintendo's Wii, but still beat out Sony's Playstation 3, according to data from NPD Group.

"We don't think we've been getting the job done," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, which also makes the Zune digital music player, a distant competitor to Apple Inc.'s powerhouse iPod. "In the past few months, we have been having to make Xbox 360 console repairs at a rate too high for our liking."

Bach said the company made some manufacturing and production changes that he expects will reduce Xbox 360 hardware lockups, but he declined to identify the problems or say which others might remain. Microsoft said it will record a charge of up to $1.15 billion for its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended June 30, to cover the additional costs associated with the warranty extension.

The news comes just days before the video game industry descends on Santa Monica, California, for its annual E3 conference, and it could overshadow Microsoft's plans to build buzz for holiday season video game releases and "Halo 3," a much-anticipated shoot-'em-up for the Xbox 360 set to launch in September.

The software maker also said Thursday that sales of the game console fell short of expectations for the fiscal year that just ended.

Matt Rosoff, an analyst at the independent research group Directions on Microsoft, estimates that Microsoft's entertainment and devices division has lost more than $6 billion since 2002.

Microsoft has written down larger amounts in the past -- more than $10 billion in the late 1990s related to investments in telecommunications companies, and more than $5 billion related to antitrust issues -- but a $1 billion write-down for one division in one quarter is significant.


"It suggests the problem is pretty widespread," Rosoff said.

Microsoft will pay for shipping and repairs for three years, worldwide, for consoles that experience hardware failure, which is usually indicated by three flashing red lights on the front of the console, something gamers sometimes refer to as "the red ring of death."

This isn't the first time Microsoft has made changes to the Xbox 360 repair plan. Last December, the company extended the warranty from 90 days to one year for U.S. customers. In Europe, the warranty previously expired after two years.

Microsoft also will reimburse the "small number" of Xbox 360 owners who have paid for shipping and repairs on out-of-warranty consoles, Bach said.

In June, bloggers speculated that the Xbox 360 return problem was getting so severe that the company was running out of "coffins," or special return-shipping boxes Microsoft provides to gamers with dead consoles. "We'll make sure we have plenty of boxes to go back and forth," Bach said in an interview.

Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said in a conference call that the company sold 11.6 million Xbox 360 consoles since the product's November 2005 launch, missing a target for 12 million units by the end of the fiscal year.

Xbox 360 prices range from $299 to $479, depending on their configuration.

Microsoft's entertainment and devices division reported an operating loss of $315 million on $929 million in sales for the three-month period that ended in March. Microsoft has said it expects the division to post a profit in fiscal 2008.

Microsoft announced the warranty extension after markets closed Thursday. Microsoft shares fell 11 cents to $29.88 in extended trading after falling 3 cents to $29.99 in the regular session

[Thoran]

The problems with the 360 have been well known for a while now... it's nice to see Microsoft stepping up to the plate to address them on their own dime instead of passing the buck to their customers.

I've got a PS3 and 360 (as well as a bunch of PC's), and I'm getting my wife a Wii for her birthday (on her request). I think all three consoles have their advantages and disadvantages.

I think the PS3 has the most potential but thus far is only good for Blu-Ray movies because they have yet to release a single game that doesn't stink.

I think the 360 has a number of solid titles (I bought it for Forza 2, an outstanding racing sim) and a generally better controller than the PS3... but the pay for online gaming gimmick is a big turn-off for me.

The Wii is the best party console EVER, the kinetic games like Wii Sports that leverage the innovative control are excellent. Where the console stumbles is with traditional games, especially on the graphics front... it just can't compete. The Wii is THE console for non-gamers.

The PC as always is the ugly stepchild... with superior graphics and processing capability to ANY of the consoles, but without the large homogonous gaming base needed to entice developers. Where it still handily shows its stuff is in the FPS genre where superior control leads to a vastly more immersive gaming experience. Crysis is COMING!

[Balintherlas]

You need to play Resistance: Fall of Man for the PS3, one of the best games I've ever played.

[Jaradu]

Originally posted by Thoran: The Wii is THE console for non-gamers.

Hey, I almost take offense from that.

[Gnarf]

Originally posted by Ivelliis: Someone convince me!

Castle Crashers. Space Giraffe.