As you may remember, I wasn't sure what I wanted to bring for content a few weeks ago, so, I ended up starting this newspost and seeing where it took me. I figure I'll ramble on about my impressions on the XBOX 360 and the games I've played for it, eventually fleshing out the game blurbs into full-fledged reviews (some of which have been realized).

Initially, when it came out, I had no real desire to invest in the console, partially because it was expensive, and partially because none of the games out there for it whispered sweet "Play Me"(s) in my ear. That changed a couple of weeks ago when was overcome with a strange desire to play the Halo games again. So, as twisted sense of logic dictated, why would I want to spend the money to purchase the original XBOX and the Halo games, when I could spend triple the amount and get the new X360 with the Halo games?

And, as my coworker had predicted, I was regretting the purchase right up to the point where I hooked the console up and turned it on. I'm really enjoying it right now, and I don't even have a game selection for it. The only game I own for it is NHL 2K6. However, it came with Hexic and Bankshot Billiards, so I was almost instantly hooked on the Arcade classics. (Which is why I am looking so forwards to the Revolution. Come on NES/SNES/N64/SEGA/TurboGraphix games!)

The whole Gamerpoints system is pretty cool too, but I fear that too many gamers are going to become obsessed with getting a high point total, and not enjoying the gameplay of the games anymore. I fearfully envision some person going out and purchasing a disk that's entire game is just to put it in your tray to get the maximum 1000 gamerpoints from a game.

The idea of the gamercard is well implemented as well, especially when it allows you to have multiple cards on a single unit, which is ideal for a house with several gamers in it. No messing with my totals and reputation on Live anymore. The dashboard itself is well presented as well, and is also customizable with themes. Basically, its got a lot of nice little features that make it a good overall experience so far.

That's not to say there's nothing I've run across that I don't like though...I love the idea of being able to stream music off my iPod to use in in-game soundtracks, I don't however, like the idea that it can't read any of it. I realize it has to do with copyrights, but damn, it doesn't read a single music track from my iPod - copyrighted or not. The other pet peeve I've gotten with the system right now is that there's no option to set it to boot to the dashboard. I tend to go there first (to log in, to check messages, to play arcade games), and the constant upspin of the DVD can't be good for the system when it's stopped almost immediately. Oh well, thank goodness for service plans. Heck, Microsoft only gives 90 days on the system. I'll spend the extra for 3 years of guarenteed workidness thank you. One last thing before I move onto the games...why the hell wouldn't the Play'N'Charge kits have a plug on them? You have to charge it from the USB on the console or your computer. I'll be picking up a USB hub to see if it'll work through that next payday...cancel that, I'll be picking up the new "Quick Charge" kit on payday. It plugs into the wall, and charges two batteries at once. No playing while charging though...

Now, onto the games. I've got six arcade titles right now, two X360 titles, one demo, and I've rented a bunch, so here's a flurry of sentence thought bullets...

Hexic HD - It's free on the HDD, so it can't be that bad right? It's actually pretty fun for a Bejeweled rip-off. Hard as hell to get the Gamerpoints.

Bankshot Billiards - It's a free download with the purchase of a Xbox Gold year subscription prepaid card. It's a pretty fun game of pool, with plenty of games available. I suck at it just as much as regular pool.

Gauntlet - Ahh, the arcade jewel. It didn't age well at all, but all the multiplayer fun is there.

Joust - WTF! There's no way in hell this game was this hard. I think they forgot to adjust the speed and sensitivity of the game.

Marble Madness - Ahh, before Monkey Ball. The MM games were always fun, and this one is no exception. Plenty of challenging puzzles and mazes.

Bejeweled 2 - I just had to download this one. The classic puzzler on the 360. It's worth the Microsoft Points you'll spend on it.

The Outfit (Demo) - I enjoyed playing the game, I can see its merits, but alas, it's not really in my genre of games. Looks great, plays well. Matt gets his ass kicked online.

NHL 2K6 - Incredible hockey game, but its new features aren't really worth upgrading from the other console versions for. Easy gamerpoints.

Madden 06 - Beautiful looking game. Unfortunately, it's not the "you'll love football after playing this game" game I was lead to think it was. If you're not an American football fan, this won't change you.

Gun - A bit faster to load than on the GCN, but other than that, it's the same game.

Oblivion - Well, everyone was ranting about it, so I gave it a rent. I couldn't get into it, despite the excellent game it was looking and playing like. I think a mandatory main storyline could have been useful, instead of instantly being able to spend hours freeroaming, however, that didn't stop me from buying it, and once you get into the main storyline, it's really addictive.

NBA 2K6 - Just rented this one the other day, not a bad game of basketball so far, and I don't even like the sport. :)

King Kong - This one isn't that long of a game, but still a fairly interesting game to see how it differs from the movie.

Well, that's my inital impressions on the system, and once I play with it some more, you'll see more reviews go up for it.

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