Seriously Considering a 360
September 29, 2007

Much to Emily's dismay, I am now seriously considering picking myself up a tasty little Xbox 360 sometime soon. I managed to snag another contract job which has definitely padded out my "happy Jordan fun-time" savings to the point where I can aaaaalmost afford to get one without using any un-budgeted resources. I'm still a little on the fence though, as I am with any big purchase.

I mean, the $350 for a Pro system is quite a few tasty burgers from Val's. Though on the other hand, being able to bypass all the PC gaming ass-hattery that's going on lately is quite a nice bonus. Coupled with actual online functionality within games and the presence of many great looking titles I'm really tempted. I'm definitely wanting for some Gears of War, Eternal Sonata, Geometry Wars, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Forza and Doom action. Not to mention when Hellgate finally comes out (if it comes out) for the 360.

Of course, I would take Draz's advice and buy it from Best Buy. Why? When the sales-droid begins "Would you like to buy the $20 extended warran"-yes. Why yes, I would like to buy your extended warranty. Although, I am sure that the droids are instructed NOT to offer the warranty for 360s now-a-days.

Then comes the next question... when to buy? I mean, Kotaku has info on a new bundle that might be coming and including the updated-not-sucky SKUs. But, do I really want to wait until around Christmas? I think not. I want to get some Gears of War and Geometry Wars action going now dammit.

So, summary... maybe. I still needs some convincin'.

Update: Looks like I won't be getting any Halo 3 action for awhile.

James 2007/09/29

Don't forget that Portal's coming out on the 9th too...

Jordan T. Cox 2007/09/29

Holy shit, it's James! Yes... the Orange Box is amongst my "must purchase" games of the year. I'm still not sure about PC Vs. 360 on that one. I may see about picking up HL2 for the 360 and seeing how it works. Playing w/ the gamepad is definitely a new and interesting experience.

Jordan T. Cox 2007/09/29

That is, of course, assuming that I do buy a 360. :)

James 2007/09/29

Heh... I'm in the same boat. I must say Halo 3 and Bioshock look real spiffy. And what with Potral coming out on the 360 as well, I'm starting to consider getting one too.

James 2007/09/29

Oh, and interesting new feature you've added to the blog, I see...

Jordan T. Cox 2007/09/29

... and if everything works out right there should finally be cookie support, meaning that you won't have to fill crap out. Ruby on Rails' cookie support sucks massively.

If you buy one then I would definitely have to buy one... James and Jordan actually getting to play online together... wouldn't that be amazing?

Also... you are totally missing out on BioShock. You'll have something to look forward to when you upgrade your compie or get a 360 though.

Jordan T. Cox 2007/09/29

Yes! It seems to have worked out. Huzzah! ActionController::Base.session_options[:session_expires] = Time.local(2008,"jan") is my friend. Also, I really liked the concept of Gravatar. It's a rather old service that was recently revamped, but was dead to new users during the entire revamp - which took almost a year. Thankfully, it's all done. I've got to look into some server side caching to improve performance though (since their servers are slow).

OnyxRaven 2007/09/30

I got me a 360 last night for many of the same reasons. Only bought Halo 3 - the xbox area at bestbuy was a total disaster of people looking to buy consoles and games.

The droids are definitely instructed to sell sell sell those extended warrantys - they get spiffs from sales of them - and really, it doesn't cost BestBuy any money in the long run - they just do the RMA juggle instead of you. PLUS you can cancel it for your money back at 30 days - I was surprised.

There were over half a million people playing last night (12:00am local time) so I doubt the so called 'hardcore' blogs have a real point. (note my disdain for destructoid)

OnyxRaven 2007/09/30

oh btw, my gamertag is the same as this username!

OnyxRaven 2007/09/30

AND i have a gravatar now!

Jordan T. Cox 2007/09/30

Well then.... that just about does it. :) I think that I'll pick up Gears of War though, since I'm not far enough into Halo or Halo 2 to really want to mire up the "storyline". But mm-mmm... I haven't played OnyxRaven online since the days of Quake 2.

OnyxRaven 2007/09/30

ya, GoW and DiRT are likely my next purchases. My little brother has a few games I'll probably borrow as well (Bioshock, maybe Vegas)

Mass effect when it comes out - that'll be HOT.