All weekend I've had friends calling me - what's it like? is it the future of gaming? how the hell did Saints lose when 3-0 up at half-time? - yes, I've finally managed to get my hands on an Xbox 360. It's very early days as I only have two games at the moment - Kameo and King Kong - but my initial impressions are good. Kameo itself is lovely, although its truly gorgeous graphics mask, in essence, a fairly straightforward third-person action/puzzler. Whether its the sky full of flying dragons or the startlingly clear textures that help show, for example, moisture on the walls, Kameo is a real looker. And the fact that there isn't a gangster or audi TT in sight is a welcome change.
At the moment I'm running the 360 on a standard def telly. It still looks good, although having seen the 360 on a hi-def TV before, the drop in quality is fairly noticeable. It isn't enough to stop the graphics shining, but it's clear that hi-def makes the difference. But it's the non-gaming features that have most impressed so far.
While Kameo is highly enjoyable, and KK suitably polished up, tellingly I have spent as much time faffing around with the 360's non-gaming features as I have playing. The menu system is fairly intuitive and much friendlier than the original Xbox. It is key to the whole system and accessing it while playing a game - for example to change some music or answer a friend request - has already become second nature.
Likewise, connecting your iPod or camera is easy and creating a slideshow on the TV is a simple way to show the benefits of the 360 to any recalcitrant partner. While Live isn't working yet everything seems obvious and I've even dabbled with the marketplace. Finally, the DVD playback is a step up from the Xbox and good enough for all but the most anal AV fans.
So far so good, but there are some issues. The power supply is huge while I've had a few occasions where the 360 gets very loud - fan noise is a potential issue, but I'll need to try other games to confirm. It also gets hot quite quickly.
At this stage it's clear that the 360 itself is a decent bit of kit that demands to be used online (I've got the nifty wireless connector) and is more than "just" a games console. I hate it when marketing types say this - after all, everyone who buys the 360, at least for the next three years, is buying it "just" to play games - but in this case it may be true. Having a box under the telly that you can use with your digital content is very addictive.
Whether it is worth getting a 360 now or waiting till next year depends on the quality of the games - oh, and whether you pre-ordered or not - and I'll blog some impressions when I get more titles.
