The XBOX360 is god-send nuff' said. All I need is Linux on it with an emulator and all my 8-bit Nintendo games (River City Ransom anyone?) and life will be good.

Look people, lets consider common sense here.

The Xbox 360 IS CAUGHT UP in hardware and will remain that way for a few years, look at the specs!

The thing about the Xbox 360 is that it is the best possible gaming expierience that $400 could ever buy you, thats the deal with consoles. Making gaming cheap, widespread, and all out more popular.

Not all people want or need a big honking three thousand dollar pc for gaming, most really dont want that.

The Xbox 360 is ahead of modern pcs, the first Xbox was obsolete, the 360 is not.

And furthermore, Sony sucks. You wont be able to play any used games on a Playstation 3, Sony will have no unified online service..

Its not in the box, its in the band, and Sony is making stupid moves. Its not all about hardware anymore, its about quality, and Sony is dropping lower and lower each day.

SONY!! SONY!! SONY!!

All your PC are belong to Sony.

I'd get a ps3, but sony might use it to monitor my activities and tell me what games I can and can not play... Well, at least that's the "sony" way of doing things lately...

I use my PC for too much. I'll be saving that $400 and upgrading my PC instead. This rocks for console gamers though, as now they'll enjoy the stunning visuals PC gamers have for a while.

Is there Tekken, Dead_or_Alive in PC ? No? Then Game Console is the Gaming Machine... not PC.

nothing new to a PC gamer o.O

but, in the console world I guess it's uber, I dunno, ever since I started playing PC games many many many years ago, consoles just don't appeal anymore with "revolutionary" technology that came out 1-2 years ago on PC.

I guess for its niche in the market, the 360 will be the first in line in the next gen machines, with a perfect holiday release ;-p.

I agree, PC Gaming is so much better! but there are those people who are just used to the console...Keyboard...mouse...even joystick...the way to go :)

So much better? If you want to play certain types of games, yes. Others, no. Zelda for PC? Not going to happen. Consoles usually deliver a superior single player experience due to superior ergonomics and gamepad control schemes in a standard platformer or action/adventure game setup (compared Prince of Persia PC to Prince of Persia console; the console version felt more natural and the controls worked a lot better). Also, gamepads (even the best Logitech ones) just don't cut it on the PC.

The other factor is that you're playing on a television, looking from a distance. You can relax, sit on your sofa, and enjoy the game. PC games just don't work that way. You can throw things like "oh, well I have an amazing setup..." at me, but they're irrelevant, because the average PC gamer doesn't have an outstandingly comfortable and relaxed setup. The console gamer does by default: it's called a living room.

And a gaming PC could cost up to $3,000 USD, suddenly $399 for the XBOX 360 isn't so bad...

this came out 1-2 years ago on the PC?

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
- 3 symmetrical cores at 3.2 GHz each
- 2 hardware threads per core
- 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core
- 1 MB L2 cache

You make a good point, but you also miss a point. The hardware may not be up to the minute, but it is exactly the same in all Xbox consoles. This means that developers need to write code for that hardware only. As we have seen with Xbox, game software is now squeezing much more out of the console than 2-3 years ago. Take PGR and PGR2 for example, where the graphical quality increased dramatically. With PC hardware changing all the time, developers never really get the best of out it before it changes again.
I got myself an Xbox a few years ago because I was tired of every new shooter requiring a new graphics card. With Xbox what I see on the game box details is what I WILL get. I compromised on the cutting edge graphics but as I am not a games addict I can live with that.

PC is better as far as graphics and online gameplay, to me PC Gaming is so much better, you take games like Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2, Call of Duty, Doom 3, Quake 4. Play them online using an XBOX Controller is much difficult, to me atleast. I have tried to play CS on the XBOX and I thought it was horrible compared to the PC, and Battlefield 2 is ALOT better on PC, Yeah a PC setup is alot more expensive, but a PC Setup is much more powerful.

AMD 4800+ X2 Processor
1GB DDR400
2 80GB SATA-150 HDD
ATI Raedon X850 256MB Video Card (soon to be running 2 GeForce 7800GT's in SLi once all the bugs are worked out of SLi"
Creative Live Audigy 2

Now as far as comfort??

Plush leather PC Chair :) thats comfort

Vision?? 20" Mitsubishi Diamondvision Monitor :) OR!!!
I can hook it up directly to my 32inch Sony Vega HD TV :) and sit on my "couch" with my wireless keyboard and mouse

Logitech G15 Wireless keyboard
Logitech MX1000 Wireless Laser mouse

Man...it's the life :)

Zelda? Pfft... That would mean I would have to buy a Nintendo...ok no...

Final Fantasy? HEY! it's on PC!
Dead or alive? yeah...but I can live without it
Tekken? I can live without it too...

The only game I wish was made for PC that isn't is Gran Tourismo, but I can live without it too, I got NFSU2 for PC, I'm happy with it, and NFSMW will be out on PC too.

Now here is another game, NFSU2
Play this on PC
Play this on XBOX

The graphics, game play, loading speed, EVERYTHING is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better on PC :)

I'd rather spend $3,000 on a PC than $399 for an XBOX system that I won't be happy with...

Oh, and I'm NOT dogging the XBOX or the Playstation. They are great systems, those of you outthere who prefer the console over PC, don't get upset, but PC Games know what I am talking about, PC Gaming isn't like what it used to be years ago, and neither is console gaming, but the possabilities with a PC is much more widespread, 2 years down the road you'll notice with the new games they won't look as good on your two year old console, they'll take longer to load etc, whereas all I have to do is slap in a new chip, more memory, or even just a new video card. there are UPS and DOWNS to both systems. It's preferance.

Dang... you apparently have the bucks to spend on hardware. Wish I had that kind of money.

Incidentally, you might want to add more RAM. I'd say 2GB min for that kind of setup. =p

Consoles work because they have such great performance with a much smaller price tag.

PC on Online Gaming is so much prone to cheating. And if you add cheating to the gameplay... that sucks... bye to your $3000 gaming rigs.

Because you can't mod Xbox live game... cheating is virtually non-existing on Xbox Live !!!

I dunno how long that will last though, seeing as how the hard-drive will apparently be a large factor in game play now. Someone's going to start coming up with cheats somehow. Heck, you could probably put your own emulator on there for the old XBOX games that would allow you to cheat any way you want.

Although this is all pure speculation of course...

Or $700USD if you know what you're doing and build it yourself.

Assuming he has windows XP, XP gets flakey around 2gb or higher. 1gb is fine and would likely ensure is PC _never_ crashes, similar to a console.

Edit: But yeah, I'd like it too! :P

People already figured out how to replace the built-in OS of the XBox with a different one, correct?

Well, even if it's only a select few, if they can do that they can do whatever they want without being caught.

At least on the PC you just know somebody is trying to hack it. :P

I sit on a ball. It's quite relaxing and fun bouncing up and down. Although my system is quite locked into a wall(my keyboard can't be pulled more than a few inches out), I still find my setup quite relaxing. Prince of Persia's controls were really messed by default on the PC - I set it up so that it used 100% keyboard, and then it was absolutely fine. I rarely got hit at all throughout the entire game, and I must say that's one of the best adventure games out there!

Something I miss about consoles is the number of times you can press a button. On a PC you have to use macros to get keys to press insane amounts of times, rather than just rolling your thumb.

I have XP Pro with 2GB DDR400. It runs fine.

**EDIT**
And I know a guy that runs XP on 4GB without a problem. With no paging file, it actually runs BLAZINGLY fast compared to my 2GB (still not quite enough to eliminate my paging file).

The good hardware doesn't come _that_ cheap. You still get what you pay for.

################################
By Paradise-FH-

posted Nov 14, 2005 - 1:24 PM

this came out 1-2 years ago on the PC?

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
- 3 symmetrical cores at 3.2 GHz each
- 2 hardware threads per core
- 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core
- 1 MB L2 cache
################################

yes, lol i had that actually 1.5yrs ago, was not so difficult to find, now though I'm outdated, yet still run all the games I want, even Quake4..
I'm unsure about the VMX-128 though, never noticed that specific spec....and not windows, linux, yes, running ALL the games just fine.
which, btw, if any of you are unable to run games under linux go here: www.transgaming.com, so far 100% success on all the old and newest.

Actually, with the xbox, if you make ANY modification to your xbox at all and go online, xbox live will ban you automatically from the service. It bans your xbox serial # so even if you undo your mod you're still banned. You might find a way to get around the "current" checks, soon as xbox live is updated (which is often) on the backend with new checks, you're banned. Xbox 360 will not be any different.

Adding a bigger hard drive or changing the OS or adding a mod chip all get you banned with automtic checks...so it's pretty efficient.

Read my previous post...you can do whatever you want to the xbox, but soon as your xbox goes online xbox live checks your box for ANY modifications and you get automatically banned.

I just built an uber system for someone @ 980$ out the door price, runs Quake4 @ highest settings quite well (i use Q4 as a standard now for top of the line hardware)
winxp.
if you shop, you will find it.

"AMD 4800+ X2 Processor
1GB DDR400
2 80GB SATA-150 HDD
ATI Raedon X850 256MB Video Card (soon to be running 2 GeForce 7800GT's in SLi once all the bugs are worked out of SLi"
Creative Live Audigy 2"

Great...that ran you a good $3k...xbox 360 is MORE powerfull and runs you $400. Not to mention for the 360, developers know what they're working with, they don't have to "dumb down" their games for the people who have slower pc's (not everybody spends $3k on a pc).

"Vision?? 20" Mitsubishi Diamondvision Monitor :) OR!!!
I can hook it up directly to my 32inch Sony Vega HD TV :) and sit on my "couch" with my wireless keyboard and mouse"

I know pc on a tv can look decent, but it's not 100% and can get pretty finicky (sp?). But hey, I much rather be playing on a 32 inch HDTV then a 20 inch monitor...and just like your $3k PC, you can play the $400 xbox 360 on either one.

"Logitech G15 Wireless keyboard
Logitech MX1000 Wireless Laser mouse"

Great...xbox 360 has a wireless controller...and developers are making games specifically for that controller, meaning you don't have all those keys to map, pop the game in and it works "out of the box"...no need to worry about configurations.

Don't get me wrong, I play PC games too, first person shooters are much better with mouse and keyboard, but consoles are nothing to laugh at for a PC gamer anymore. Console games are beating out PC games, the one thing PC games actually do much better currently is MMORPGS...those will be moving to consoles soon too tho', I think there's been talks of making World of Warcraft for the 360.

Thing with PC games is, though it may be great now, like you say 2 years down the line you buy this new game you wanted only to find out that your video card is too slow. Ok you go out and buy another $500 video card, but now you need a PCI-Express3 slot on your motherboard, so you buy a new board, but now you need different RAM or a different CPU....you just spent $1000 to play this $50 game.

Meanwhile your friend goes and buys the same game for the xbox 360 he bought 2 years ago for $400 and it works fine and looks amazing...who looks dumb now? :)

cheating in PC gaming is rare in my experience.

back when online clan gaming was newer yea it was prevelent to where you might actually run into it, but now administrators come down hard on cheaters and I personally play a lot and haven't seen any actual cheating for awhile..long long while..

Edit:
Quote: "Great...that ran you a good $3k...xbox 360 is MORE powerfull and runs you $400"

More Powerful? are you an idiot?
X360: PowerPC Processor with 3x 3.2Ghz Cores
3G PC: Athlon X2 4800+

ok lets compare the two...
Yes the X Has a nice chip in it, but it's a "POWERPC" chip. now as we all know this is an IBM Brand chip with 3 cores running at 3.2Ghz each. Now these 3 cores only run at Half Duplex at 800Mhz, where as the X2 Chip runs at FULL duplex at 2000Mhz EACH

X2 4800+ 14.4GB/s Bandwidth
Power PC Chip 6.2GB/s Bandwidth

X2 4800+ 2xCores @2.4Ghz w/1MB Cache Each
Power PC 3xCores @3.2Ghz w/1MB Cache Each

When it all comes down to it these chips are pretty equal in power, the powerPC chip may handle multi-tasking alittle better than the X2, but what does the X360 need multi-tasking abilities for???

X360 512MB "SHARED" Memory (it's divided between the system and the video
3G PC: 1GB Total System memory, 256MB Video Ram

X360 500MHZ Video Core, 400MHZ VRAM
3G PC 590MHZ Video Core, 2x540MHZ VRAM (1080MHZ total)

X360: 20GB ATA-100 HDD 7200RPMS
3G PC: 2x80GB SATA-150 HDD 10,000RPMS

Wow...I'd say the $3,000 PC is ALOT more powerful, and you can do ALOT more with it :)

Well let me tell you somthing else, my PC makes me money, HOw do you think I paid for it? I am a IT Pro and a web developer on the side, I design beautiful flash websites, I need a powerful PC to design those websites, I make approx. $700-$3000 per website (yes this is just my side job, not including the $75k a year I make as an IT Pro) So yes I did spend a hella lot on my computer, but my computer paid for itself and I am extremly happy with it!

Quote Niro
"Thing with PC games is, though it may be great now, like you say 2 years down the line you buy this new game you wanted only to find out that your video card is too slow. Ok you go out and buy another $500 video card, but now you need a PCI-Express3 slot on your motherboard, so you buy a new board, but now you need different RAM or a different CPU....you just spent $1000 to play this $50 game."

Ok it doesn't change that rapidly, my old system still runs the current games fine, I built my old system over 3 years ago, it runs doom 3 at highest settings with no problem.

AMD Athlon XP Barton 3000+
512MB DDR333
2x 40GB ATA HDD
ATi Raedon 9600XT 128MB
Creative Live Audigy

Now you could go out right now and build that system for under $400, hell I'll sell ya mine for $150 lol

Where as I said before, NFSU2 runs beautiful at full settings on my second weaker machine than it does on the XBOX...hmmm...

As I stated before, I am NOT Bashing console gaming, and also like I said before, it's preference. but anyway you look at it the PC is more powerful than any console will ever be, the console is just "affordable" power, and Game makers DO weaken the graphics of their games for the consoles, as you see with a PC you can change the settings due to your PC performance, so if you have a weak PC, you run at low settings, if you have on like mine, you run at the most beautiful graphics you'll ever see!

In my case, spending 3Grand on a PC is a good idea because I need a nice powerful machine to do my work, but at the same time I can use it for play too, Will your XBOX360 or PS3 work for you? Didn't think so, so yeah, the 3 Grand on my PC looks better.

Yes cheating is a pretty big problem for PC Gaming, but not really anymore. Developers have gotten so good at preventing hacking, but they were also smart by creating certian servers to where you can cheat if you want too, but EVERYONE else is cheating. Diablo II: LOD for example, over 20,000 accounts were banned and deleted just for using Maphack, all it is, is a little tool that is used to help you find your way around. It doesn't make you better, or tottaly uber! but look what happend to all those people, Over 8,000 Steam accounts have been banned in the past year for using hacks and cheats. But with all their detection won't detect everything! People create the hacks so they won't be detected, then a few months or so, the software gets upgraded and then they can be detected, then the same hack designer createst somthing newer that won't be. So the XBOX360 will have hacking online, there is no suchthing as a foolproof hackproof online gaming system, people don't care. They'll just gotout and get a new XBOX Live account, or you take someone smart, they'll turn around and sell their X360, and go out and buy a new one! There are ways around everything, expessially with a Microsoft product...everyone knows that Microsoft products can be hacked easily :P

Thats somthing else! What if your HDD Dies in the XBOX? you can't put a new one in it? that's pretty gay. that means you gotta go out buy a new XBOX anyway, I've had a few friends that had a HDD go bad in their old XBOX...yeah they were screwed. PC...HDD goes bad, replace it :)

I've been thinking about upping to 2GB, Running Photoshop, Imageready, Fireworks, Flash, dreamweaver, and freehand all at once kinda sucks up ram. but so far I've only seen it utilize about 65% running all those progams at once. But by the time the newest versions come out, I'm prolly gonna have to up it lol

Yeah I have XPP, had X64 Edition for about...a week after a Built the system. yeah, I wiped it and loaded XPP on it lol

you get it fixed under warranty...yea warranty...what a weird concept huh...

ah I see...You call up M$, sit on hold for 2 hours, finally get some guy from india that can't speak english telling you there is nothing wrong with it, then finally after 3 hours of talking with this guy you get a way to ship it back, you spend $20 to ship it back to M$, you wait 3-6 weeks, then M$ ships it back to you. Then you wait another 3-5 Months for a Shipping reinburstment...Yeah more like a crappy concept.

PC HDD Goes bad under warranty (I used WD HDD's)
go online and get a RMA #, ship it back. spend $6 on shipping, wait 3-5 days, WD ships me back a brand new HDD with a shipping reinburstment check.

I deal with M$ everyday with my career...I know how they are.

Yes, but XBOX 360 uses a TRIPLE CORE processor which, if I'm not mistaken, is not yet available for purchase yet from Intel or AMD (refering to triple core). The video graphics are quite cheap, however, with only 10MB of video memory built-in, while the rest uses shared memory. Stupid mistake if you ask me, but then again, nvidia geforce 6200 uses the same type of config, and has surprisingly high performance (I don't personally own one or recommend buying one--I've seen the benchmark results though. If looking for an inexpensive high-end card, try the GeForce 6600 instead.)

I just put together a system for about $1,000 USD that's nice, but it has an Athlon 64 X2 4400+ that cost me the most money. Those IBM processors probably cost more than MS sells the entire system for at this point in time, which is why game consoles are good. If MS would release a Windows GE or something (Gamer's Edition), then PC would be better. Don't get me wrong, I currently don't even own a gaming console. I'm only saying that they do give you more bang for your buck as far as gaming performance.

PC is more powerful, but XBOX is designed strictly for gaming. 512MB of memory is plenty since explorer.exe, svchost.exe, csrss.exe, spoolsv.exe, smss.exe, lsass.exe, and those 112 or so system required threads that run in the background are taken away (Linux, Mac, and others, substitute those bloated underused system processes here). Also the vid card does have 10MB of built-in memory you didn't mention. You forget that running your desktop at 1024X768 at 32-bit color uses over 24MB on _MODERN_ video cards (older cards use older drivers that can narrow the usage down to 2MB of VRAM...never use new drivers for old video cards!). Multitasking? XBOX 360 games are designed to use all three cores optimally, so they do multitask (how many PC games are designed to utilize the dual-core processor on your PC? One? Two?). It's not that the XBOX 360 is better, only that it is DESIGNED for gaming, while Windows, Linux, Mac, and so forth, are designed for business...oh yeah and on the side make it able to play those video games when you have time to waste.

The other thing that people often forget is that PC specs vs. gaming hardware specs are not equal. Even if it was a single core 3.2ghz processor, it would have more power than a PC with a 3.2ghz processor.

That's because gaming consoles are specialized pieces of hardware. And, you only have the XBOX OS, and the game running versus 70 processes and all of Windows services running at the same time on a PC.

Gaming console processing power goes a LOT farther than PC processing power.

I know, I was just replying to Niro's comment that the X360 was more powerful, I was just explaining that the X360 is not. (and I am talking about OVERALL power)