Newbie 360 Experience/Questions :)

[Syd]

Ok been playing my new 360 for most of the weekend and have these thoughts.

1)Visauls: Good on a 36" SD TV, was quite impressed, although I struggled with the map a bit on crackdown as it's a bit blurry, but overall very nice

2) OMG its noisy and Hot , it was sitting in my large and fully open hifi rack with inches of space around it in every direction and getting really hot, and the noise, well its louder than any pc I've had!!!!

3) Dead Rising is a great game, i'm a little confused as I have wiped out my save game twice now though when I start from the beginning all my stats/level are still there - how do you guys play - do you save and try and do the campaign or play more arcade style??

4) What happens if I let somebody join my crackdown game, do you play together or against each other?? I guess co-op means you work towards a common goal, but I haven't really worked that out yet so I just keep saying no

5) Today I thought I would try HD capabilities on my Dell 2405 ..........
What a difference, GOW looks better than ANY game I have ever seen running before, IMO better than even oblivion was on my PC, and crackdown's cel shaded graphics look awesome too, the 360 will stay with my dell until the autumn when I buy a 40/46" LCD for downstairs. BTW is it Sont screens that do not support 1080p over component????? come to that neither does the dell

A question at the end of this, in your experience is 720p or 1080i the better, I have been using 720p and it looks great - but any comments welcome

Also any suggestions for best other games?????

I have also just bought Tony Hawks 8 which I must admit is very good!!!!!

Thanks for reading and any comments are welcome.

[steve threlfall]

Ok been playing my new 360 for most of the weekend and have these thoughts.

1)Visauls: Good on a 36" SD TV, was quite impressed, although I struggled with the map a bit on crackdown as it's a bit blurry, but overall very nice

2) OMG its noisy and Hot , it was sitting in my large and fully open hifi rack with inches of space around it in every direction and getting really hot, and the noise, well its louder than any pc I've had!!!!

3) Dead Rising is a great game, i'm a little confused as I have wiped out my save game twice now though when I start from the beginning all my stats/level are still there - how do you guys play - do you save and try and do the campaign or play more arcade style??

4) What happens if I let somebody join my crackdown game, do you play together or against each other?? I guess co-op means you work towards a common goal, but I haven't really worked that out yet so I just keep saying no

5) Today I thought I would try HD capabilities on my Dell 2405 ..........
What a difference, GOW looks better than ANY game I have ever seen running before, IMO better than even oblivion was on my PC, and crackdown's cel shaded graphics look awesome too, the 360 will stay with my dell until the autumn when I buy a 40/46" LCD for downstairs. BTW is it Sont screens that do not support 1080p over component????? come to that neither does the dell

A question at the end of this, in your experience is 720p or 1080i the better, I have been using 720p and it looks great - but any comments welcome

Also any suggestions for best other games?????

I have also just bought Tony Hawks 8 which I must admit is very good!!!!!

Thanks for reading and any comments are welcome.

What sort of games are you into?

If shooters then:
Ghost recon 1 and 2 are great
Rainbow 6 Vegas is fantastic
Call of Duty 3 is decent.

Racing:
Burnout Revenge
PGR3

Kameo is a great platformer.

http://uk.gamespot.com/games.html?ty...ll&sortdir=asc

[grayg1]

1080i is higher resolution but 720p is considered superior because it allows a frame rate double what 1080i offers

higher resolution vs smoother image

[bigblue]

Ok been playing my new 360 for most of the weekend and have these thoughts...

BTW is it Sont screens that do not support 1080p over component????? come to that neither does the dell :

Yeah, some Sony 1080p screens won't take 1080p over component. Some aren't "officially" capable of supporting it, but do anyway !

A question at the end of this, in your experience is 720p or 1080i the better, I have been using 720p and it looks great - but any comments welcome

Depends on your sets native resolution, and whatever you're playing/viewing native res. Also a matter of finding out which scaler is better, the one in your TV, or the one in your 360.

For example, I have a 1080 screen but I (like many others) find that most games look better in 720. Virtua Tennis looks better in 1080 but that's a native 1080 game.

I watch streamed media and view photos etc. in 1080.

Also any suggestions for best other games?????

Thanks for reading and any comments are welcome

If you're new to the 360 then a lot of last years games (which are available mega cheap) will probably be fairly impressive. I've picked up Amped, Fight Night R3, Pro Evo6 and Need for Speed fairly cheaply and all were well worth a play.

Other than that, enjoy !

[djphatic]

3) Dead Rising is a great game, i'm a little confused as I have wiped out my save game twice now though when I start from the beginning all my stats/level are still there - how do you guys play - do you save and try and do the campaign or play more arcade style??

Whenever you level up on Dead Rising the next time you start a new game your 'Frank' will have the same abilities and level, the reason being its much easier to complete the game to unlock all the modes and achievements as your 'Frank' is a higher level and you don't have to go through again trying to level up. Im sure there will be away to reset the levels and abilities but when you start a new game you will be able to play the missions through from scratch.

4) What happens if I let somebody join my crackdown game, do you play together or against each other?? I guess co-op means you work towards a common goal, but I haven't really worked that out yet so I just keep saying no

If someone joins your game you will work together to complete the game killing the bosses etc. Id recommend playing co-op with a friend who has there character on a similar level to yourself as its no fun if the person you are playing with has a character leveled up as they'll be able to kill the bosses much easier and you wont level up as good.

[bigblue]

1080i is higher resolution but 720p is considered superior because it allows a frame rate double what 1080i offers

higher resolution vs smoother image

It's sometimes a wee bit different on today's TV's. "xxxP" over "xxxi" is twice the frame rate as the images are progressive rather than interlaced, no alternate lines. But 1080i is 540 lines displayed at once, whereas 720p is 720 displayed.

But Plasma, LCD and RP are progressive displays, so the sets will deinterlace 1080i feeds. Some well, some not so. It's not the same as a 1080p feed but barely noticeable for many folks.

[djphatic]

Also any suggestions for best other games?????

Burnout Revenge is an excellent game, the game is plenty long enough and the online mode is decent as well and looks excellent on a HD display.

[daza]

Sorry to state the obvious but gears of war has to be a must buy, and nfs most wanted I've completed it on the ps2 but it looks so good on the 360 that I had to get it (£15) try downloading the demo if your unsure.

[Syd]

What sort of games are you into?

If shooters then:
Ghost recon 1 and 2 are great
Rainbow 6 Vegas is fantastic
Call of Duty 3 is decent.

Racing:
Burnout Revenge
PGR3

Kameo is a great platformer.

http://uk.gamespot.com/games.html?ty...ll&sortdir=asc

I am traditionally a FPS/RPG fan, I jusy find that a controller is quite hard when you are used to mouse/kb since quake 1

Must try Burnout revenge, sounds good fun.

The Dell 2405 is Native at 1920 x 1200 so 1080 would be closest, BUT It looked to me slightly more flickery at this res over the 720p, maybe just me but I prefer 720.

Thanks for all the replies

[bigblue]

Yeah, it seems that some games, althought listed as 1080i on the packaging, are actually 720 native, but then upscaled.

So it may be the scaler in your monitor is better than the one in the 360, or that if it is a 720 native game you're having better results as you're only doing 720>1200, rather than 720>1080>1200.

[grayg1]

If you're an FPS and RPG fan definately get Oblivion

I would say get it for PC because it is better on PC, graphics are better and you get the tons of great mods. You can use your 360 controller to play it though.

It is a first person RPG and you aim kind of like a shooter with crosshair in the middle of the screen, of course combat is nowhere near as good as shooters but the game is amazing still. Walking around towns chatting to people, solving mysterys and running errands for people it's brilliant.

[Syd]

Yeah, it seems that some games, althought listed as 1080i on the packaging, are actually 720 native, but then upscaled.

So it may be the scaler in your monitor is better than the one in the 360, or that if it is a 720 native game you're having better results as you're only doing 720>1200, rather than 720>1080>1200.

Probably a very obvious answer, but how do you know which device is scaling???

[Syd]

OK Teething Problems now

Is it normal for 360's to crash in the middle of a game, this morning it was after about 3 minutes od dead rising, yesterday after 3 hours of crackdown.

I keep getting 3 red ring lights flashing when I start up if the controller is on, if i start from front panel button it SEEMS ok although there could be an element of coinsidence (err spelling??)

And lastly I think the wireless 360 is interfering with my pc network as if I have the Xbox on and then turn on the pc i get a tray icon telling me that there is a network cable unplugged, I then turn off BT homehub router, turn back on, it runs through a process of repairing link, clears all BUT the DNS cache and then tells me I might have limited functionality, although it seems to work after that - please any help as this is quite an annoying process!!!!!

[GeorgeTuk]

Check the channels on your PC and make sure it is set to use one channel only (ie. not pick itself one or change and swap) and then make sure other devices are the same but on different channels.

Ring of lights i know nothing about, just bought one myself this weekend.

In Crackdown do you have to find the gang leaders yourself or do you go somewhere for intelligence? And Gears of War I suck at big time, wheres the mouse when you need it! I think I need practice.

[Syd]

Forgive my ignorance, but how do i check my channels plz

I find GOW insanely hard - need to persevere with controller I guess.

Crackdown bosses gradually reveal themselves as you play I think, have only played for a bit and killed 3 early bosses.

[GeorgeTuk]

Well just to keep you on your toes its different for each router! But basically you need to go to the hubs internal web page or configuration web site. Its normally around 192.168.0.1 but it will be in the manual or support website. Once inside where you set the Wireless Network Name (SSID) and the network key there will be a setting to choose the channel. It may be just one in which case make sure it is off Auto-Select and then choose a channel and check all your devices.