Xbox 360: Back to the Drawing Board

[Zeus]

The Firing Squad say "After a month with the Xbox 360, I'm ready to talk about all the mistakes that the Microsoft Xbox 360 team made in developing their console. The feedback is designed to be constructive".


Mistake #1: Overheating CPU or GPU
Mistake #2: No MSN Music
Mistake #3: No HDMI support
Mistake #4: 20GB is too small
Mistake #5: Microtransaction Security
Mistake #6: No Web Browser
Mistake #7: No WMV-HD DVD Playback
Mistake #8: No MPEG-4 AVI playback (i.e. XviD, etc)
Mistake #9: No System-Wide Video Calibration
Mistake #10: Poor DVD Playback Quality
Mistake #11: No pressure sensitive face buttons

While this article is focusing on all the problems of the Xbox 360, I'm still having a blast with the system. After adding an additional cooling fan to my unit, it's been perfect, even in the entertainment system. In a way, it is because Microsoft did so well with Gamer Cards, the voice chat, and downloading demos from the Xbox Live Marketplace that these mistakes seem so much more glaring. I know Microsoft can't keep up with demand yet, but hopefully they'll be able to spend some time addressing these mistakes to make the Xbox 360 even better than it currently is.


These guys are absolutely spot on with their 'flaws' for the Xbox 360. Each and every flaw is backed up with solid information, certainly worth a good read over at the <a href="http://firingsquad.com/hardware/xbox_360_mistakes/" target="_blank">firingsquad.com</a>

[Almighty_Peanut]

those have to be the worst complaints i've read about the 360 yet. if i were to make complaints i'd say:

1. overheating systems (hasn't happened to me, but has happened to many others)

2. no true next-gen games. all games out just look like xbox ports with face lifts. OH WAIT!

3. $70 for a complete controller if you want wireless + hardwired capability and to be able to recharge your batteries instead of buying new ones

4. xbox live marketplace very buggy. constantly get kicked mid download and have to start completely over

5. leaving console standing upright puts more scratches on disc than leaving it flat

6. which brings me to size. laying it flat, it's the same size as the old xbox. not to mention the huge power supply. not really a space saver

7. very few USB ports (guess i could just get a USB hub) for controllers, keyboard, mouse, external storage, etc


those are complaints. my xbox's dvd playback works just fine. the analog component HD outputs look beautiful on my tv. i don't know what i'd need more than 20GB of storage on a GAME CONSOLE for.

i don't care to make an entire music library on my xbox. last i looked, you could stream the songs to your 360. why would MS bother making a marketplace for an itunes like thing for the 360? there's so much other competition out there, it wouldn't be worth it. why download songs that will be locked down to your xbox? the only way i could see that working is if it was like napster and you pay a monthly service or it's including in xbox live.

i don't get the whole web browser on a console thing either. if i want to browse the web, i'll go to one of my 5 computers in the house or one of the laptops. unless you have a keyboard plugged into your 360 at all times, who wants to use a controller to put in web addresses?

[chukz]

yeah your points make a lot of sense, the ones i like the most are:

the 20g HDD is way more than enough, like you said they don't want you to replace yoru PC, they provide enough so you can hook up your iPod or MP3 player or connect straight to your PC...

the other thing is the web browser... on a home console this makes NO sense to me at all, on a portable console sure, your out and about and want to check something real quick (maxconsole forums of course ;) )... but at home i'm not gonna fire up a Xbox/360/PS2/PS3/GC/Rev just to browse the internet, these are GAME systems, main purpose is to play games on them... by the time you power on your system and remember to keep keyboard plugged in you could have booted up yoru PC, loaded up the web browser and got the info you need...

[g8crapachino]

Some of these so called Mistakes are only one sided. Many of the features the author "wishes for" would only raise the cost of the Xbox but be of no use to many people. Think of this from a legitimate standpoint and not from the point of view of the people that only intend to MOD and hack their xbox or only think bigger is better. Plus many of this so called mistakes can easily be rectified via a Live update when a valid need is actually justified.

Mistake #1: Overheating CPU or GPU (So how many people actually have this problem and can prove it vs. the number of people just jumping on a bandwagon and saying "me too"?)

Mistake #2: No MSN Music (so what?! )

Mistake #3: No HDMI support (The TV's that have HDMI are expensive and there is practically NO content that actually needs the full capabilities of HDMI. HDMI cables are expensive. To make everyone pay for a port that only a small percentage of people will actually use is stupid)

Mistake #4: 20GB is too small (too small for what? When used as intended 20gig is more then enough for most people. The 360 is expensive enough as it is so why should everybody pay more just so that the few people that only think size matters would be happy? The drive is removable so the people that do need more could theoretically and eventually get larger drives)

Mistake #5: Microtransaction Security (Pure Guessing on the authors part. Plus many of this hypothetical arguments are just that, hypothetical. If you tried to accomodate every single hypothetical argument about security the Xbox would be too complex to take out of the box.)

Mistake #6: No Web Browser (The number of people that would actually use their game console to surf the net in their living rooms would never justify the cost. How many people do you know own a WebTV system?)

Mistake #7: No WMV-HD DVD Playback (How many WMV-HD DVD are there and why should everyone pay for a function that only a very small handfull of people would actually use?)

Mistake #8: No MPEG-4 AVI playback (i.e. XviD, etc) (So what?! I bought mine to play games)

Mistake #9: No System-Wide Video Calibration So when and why does it really matter that it be System-Wide?

Mistake #10: Poor DVD Playback Quality (So how about using a DVD player to play movies and use your xbox to play games??)

Mistake #11: No pressure sensitive face buttons (Sure. So how many people walked up to a Xbox 360 and actually thought "No pressure sensitive face buttons"? The simple fact is buttons DO NOT make good analog controls no matter how the author tries to spin it.)

[RMF]

those have to be the worst complaints i've read about the 360 yet. if i were to make complaints i'd say:



4. xbox live marketplace very buggy. constantly get kicked mid download and have to start completely over



I've never been kicked mid download, and even if i was I wouldn't give a **** as you NEVER have to start over. All downloads resume if you decide to end it yourself to do something else or if you lose connection to whatever you are trying to download.

[Almighty_Peanut]

I've never been kicked mid download, and even if i was I wouldn't give a **** as you NEVER have to start over. All downloads resume if you decide to end it yourself to do something else or if you lose connection to whatever you are trying to download.

that's somewhat true. sometimes when i get kicked, i'll resume where i left off, but if i get kicked multiple times in a row. i have to start completely over. trying to get the kameo demo was a nightmare. i only got about 50MB of it and eventually just gave up. i could do a video of me trying to download if there's any doubt. i haven't logged into xb live in awhile now. it did this crap both at my house and at my buddy's house when i plugged in over there. playing games online has no issues though. :D


hey g8crapachino, nice to see someone else sharing my love for that review. actually, the 360 controller does have pressure sensative buttons. i just remembered. the trigger buttons are pressure sensative. what the reviewer meant was "the buttons I want aren't pressure sensative." :)

[GodsMinion]

Why does microsoft even try to make a console. They screw up every time, and to be honest, they're too juvenille to compete with Sony. It's like a "geno" trying to fit in with geeks....it doesn't work. Oh well, the system is some competition, I'll wait to further my hate later :D.

[chinese_fury]

Just for testing purposes I left my 360 powered on all night long. To see if it would overheat as so many people are complaining. To my surprise it is just fine. Then again I am using a little common sense and it is well ventilated and not having any problems so far. Also I haven't had any problems with Live, no freezing, no lock ups, no hanging when downloading. I downloaded demos of Kameno & NFS: ms. Also did the updates to the hd. And dl'ed some maps for Halo 2. Not a single hitch or hick up.

Just purchased my 360 last week from Walmart.
Core system with a 20gb hd.

[Almighty_Peanut]

interesting. i haven't tried to download demos since... i think like a week after launch. i would say maybe my HDD is bad, but i can save games to it just fine. thought it was my router, but i couldn't download at my cousin's house either with it. i can play games on xb live just fine though. :mad:

[chinese_fury]

When you try to dl a demo from Live, does it give you an error message?

Maybe check your settings to make sure on the dashboard that the hdd is picked. Just a thought.

[Almighty_Peanut]

nah, no error. it just says the download failed. i downloaded geometry wars (awesome game). it took awhile, but it eventually got the whole thing. i don't know what the deal is with my xbox. maybe it's just a factory freak. the market place is just horrible for me no matter where i'm at. :mad:

[c4dm4n]

I had the same problem and this is what I found.

1. I was constantly cut out on live while downloading.
2. I found out that my settings will put my xbox360 on sleep mode after 10 min.
3. I turn it off. Guess what problem solved!!!!!.
4. now that's a screw up!! go microsoft!!!. when it goes to sleep mode it just cancels your download. :p