Xbox 360 Slim Quick Review

Posted by Tiberius Jonez

I was lucky enough to secure an Xbox 360 slim on the Friday following the console's unveiling at E3. My guy at my local Gamestop held one for me until I got off work in the evening, even though they only received five of them and they're not supposed to do holds on merchandise - their policy is first come, first serve. Thanks dude who shall remain unnamed, seriously.

I traded in my 360 Elite with the 20 GB hard drive from my original release date console and so after trade-in credit I paid $177 and some change for the $299 360 Slim.

First impressions:

As soon as I got it out of the box, I was struck by the 360 Slim's aesthetics; it is a beautiful console that will add a touch of class to any entertainment center.

Wow, it's silent. Not just quiet - it is inaudible. And yes, the power is on. ;0-)

The smaller and cooler processor, generous vents and much stronger, yet silent fans, means there should be much less chance of overheating issues and console failure.

The gloss black finish, added USB ports, repositioned optical audio port and touch sensitive buttons are all lovely additions and really raise the overall impression of the console's build quality. While I've always considered the 360 a better overall gaming console than the PS3, the PS3 has always had a distinct advantage in looks, in my opinion. But not anymore. The new 360 Slim looks every bit as good as the old shiny PS3's and considerably better than the new PS3 Slims.

The built-in wireless "N" means I finally have some hardware to show what my new N Router can do. Last but not least, the 250 Gigabit hard drive is my favorite upgrade; no more deleting games to install new ones.

After a week of heavy play, I can say I am thoroughly pleased with my Xbox 360 slim. It has performed perfectly under heavy stress and is a beautiful addition to my electronics menagerie.

The new matte black wireless controller is very cool too - it's size and form factor are unchanged, but the new finish is very "Batman" in design.

If you can get your hands on one, you won't be disappointed with the new Xbox 360 Slim.

Thanks Microsoft. I don't know how you pulled it off - unexpectedly unveiling a completely redesigned console AND having it available on store shelves only 72 hours later, but I'm impressed.

Game on!!

Alpha Protocol - hit or miss?

I can't lie. Alpha Protocol looks extremely overrated, but what do I know? That's why I rely on you, the GameJonez Reader to determine whether or not this game is a diamond in the rough or cubic zirconia. So tell me, is Alpha Protocol legit or illusion? Please comment. THANKS!

UPDATE 5/28/10: Apparently I wasn't far off with my first impression of Alpha Protocol. Gametrailers.com is less than impressed with the game. I doubt I'll even rent this one. RPG games that try to be shooters don't seem to work unless their name is Mass Effect.

Video Games | Alpha Protocol | Review HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

What's wrong with DLC?

by Tiberius Jonez

There's been a lot of debate during this console generation regarding downloadable content, or DLC as it's commonly known. Some people love it, others, not so much. I've always been of the opinion that DLC, like most anything, is great when done properly and useless, even insulting, when done wrong.

DLC falls into three general categories for me. First is expansion packs. To me, an expansion pack is new content that adds significant value to an existing title. New levels or missions in GTA IV or Elder Scrolls: Oblivion are good examples of expansion packs. I would even consider the map packs for Modern Warfare and Gears of War to fall into this category. These kinds of new content add potentially tens or even hundreds of hours to the original game's playtime. At $15 or less, I consider these to be decent to excellent values.

Next is original stand alone games like Shadow Complex from Xbox Live Marketplace or Pixel Junk Shooter on PSN. In fact, these are probably the two best examples I can think of of games that could easily be sold at retail, but are perfectly suited for sale as DLC. Again, at $15 or less, these games represent fantastic value for the gamer and a great source of revenue for publishers who maximize profits by eliminating packaging and all the infrastructure required to get products to brick and mortar retailers. By the way, if you haven't played either of these games, do yourself a favor and check them out - you won't be disappointed. These are two of the 20 or 30 best games to come out in the past two years in any format.

Finally, we have micro-transactions. This last category is where things get more dicey. This includes everything from new outfits for your Xbox Live/PSN avatar or Mii, to individual cars for Forza Motorsports 3 or EA's "unlocks" - such as paying $10 to unlock all the courses and equipment in Tiger Woods Golf without having to play through the game to "earn" them. Some of these, such as the EA unlocks, can represent a significant value. If I want to play Tiger Woods online competitively but don't have the time to invest 40-50 hours of offline playtime to level up my golfer, then the cash to unlock my character's levels and equipment would represent a decent value to me. However, offering me Horse Armor (pictured) for my Oblivion steed for 200 MS points is just silly. EA's offering to sell me the NFL Jersey of my favorite team for my avatar and charging $5 (400 ms points) doesn't represent a good value to me either when I can go to Walmart and buy a real Miami Dolphins shirt on sale for $7.

What actually bothers me more than the items offered as DLC is the way two of the three console makers price their offerings. Microsoft sells items on Xbox Live using "Microsoft Points", which are offered in 400 point increments. Each 400 MS points is roughly $5 real money. Microsoft recently changed the pricing structure of their DLC in response to complaints from customers. Previously, most items for sale on Xbox Live Marketplace were structured in such a way as to insure you were always short 100 points or had 100 points left over. It was basically a way for MS to force you to either forfeit that extra 100 points or buy 400 more points so that you could buy some other item. Nintendo uses their own "Wii points" price structure similar to Microsoft's points. 400 Wii points is also roughly equivalent to $5 real money. Fortunately, Nintendo does not seem to price items in the same way MS used to.

Why is it Sony is the only console maker with enough sense to simply offer their wares for actual real currency? It is simple, when I add $5 usd to my PSN wallet, I know $5 usd is coming out of my bank account and this simplicity actually seems to have the affect of encouraging me to buy more software rather than less. Plus, they price many of their micro-transactions under $1. I bought a cool hat for my PSN Avatar, and it cost me 38 cents. I thought it was a fair price and gladly paid it without hesitation.

I find the points systems used by Microsoft and Nintendo to be insulting. There's just something about the points systems that makes me feel dirty. I never feel like I know what I'm actually paying for any given item with those pesky points, and honestly, 1200 Microsoft Points just feels like more than $15 dollars to me, which may be part of the reason why I don't buy much add-on content through Xbox Live Marketplace.

As DLC becomes more prevalent, and eventually (a decade or more) all software is purchased via electronic delivery, it would be nice if all three console makers would just get into the mode of offering good values for real money. As the industry continues to expand their customer base, conventions like these "points" systems will only confuse new customers and potentially turn them off from DLC completely.

DLC can be a great tool for publishers and developers to increase revenues and extend the shelf-life of the games they create, while (hopefully) offering gamers more fun experiences at a good value. But, for DLC to reach its potential, console makers need to make the pricing of DLC simple and transparent.

Ubisoft ignoring Assassin's Creed 2 audio problems

by Tiberius Jonez

I was very excited to receive Assassin's Creed 2 last night. Unfortunately, after 5 minutes or so of playing, my excitement quickly turned to irritation and finally, complete disappointment. From the first cut-scene on, I experienced audio issues ranging from skipping dialogue to overlapping dialogue to a complete freeze of the game at one point. No, my disc is not scratched and my Xbox 360 Jasper Elite is working perfectly, thank you very much!

I really wanted to enjoy the game, but after an hour or so, the problem was so bad that it was impossible to follow the plot due to all the lost dialogue. The game is simply broken.

I researched around the net today, and sure enough people are complaining about similar issues with both console versions of the game. On Ubisoft's own forums, people are complaining and apparently Ubisoft's response is simply silence. There is no mention of a fix or upcoming patch to fix the problem. You can complete a work ticket on Ubisoft's forums, but no one has reported any progress or even an acknowledgment of the problem from Ubisoft.

The fact that Ubisoft, one of the most respected game developers in the industry, would release a game as big as AC2 with this kind of severe problem is fuel on the fire of gamer's reticence regarding the industry's move toward more PC-centric game development. Five years into this console generation and we still have game companies releasing games that require patches to correct problems that should have been addressed prior to release.

While I'm sure Ubisoft's board of director's will be happy with their stock prices next quarter, they may be whistling a different tune if the next Assassin's Creed is released to disappointing sales due to their complete disregard for their benefactors - namely us, the gamers.

If you've experienced audio issues with AC2, let us know by commenting.

Tritton AX 720 Gaming Headphones Review

by Tiberius Jonez

“The Unfair Audio Advantage.” That’s what Tritton technology’s website declares on the product page for their AX 720 Gaming Headphones. After using these headphones in Modern Warfare 2, can I honestly say it’s a fair statement? Read on and find out.

There are two major players in the Gaming Headphone space, Turtle Beach and Tritton. Turtle Beach seems to be the better known of the two; likely due to their long-standing availability at Best Buy stores across the land, but Tritton’s products are now also available through Best Buy and other major retailers. This, combined with the quality of Tritton’s product line could be giving Turtle Beach legitimate cause for concern.

Being Christmas time, I was given $100 to buy something for myself and I’ve been in the market for some decent gaming headphones for a while. I couldn’t stand the idea of buying another crappy Microsoft headset or some other junk from Madcatz or Nyko, so I started researching. What I found initially was that Turtle Beach is well-reviewed around the internet, with only sparse mention of Tritton. So, I ended up buying a set of X31’s from Turtle Beach for $99.99 plus tax.

I chose the Turtle Beach product because for $100, the X31’s are wireless and are supposed to do a decent job of mimicking surround sound with a stereo headphone. I got the X31’s home and at first glance, they seemed kind of cheaply made to me. They were light, which is normally a good thing in headphones, but they seemed a little TOO light – like they’d break easily under any kind of strain or abuse. I’m a hardcore gamer, so whatever I buy is going to take some abuse – there is simply no way to avoid it.

Once I got the X31’s setup and running, my impressions were mixed. On one hand I thought they were comfortable and the ability to adjust your chat volume independently of game audio was a very nice feature (the Tritton AX 720's also have this feature). Unfortunately I found the “surround” capabilities of the X31’s to be sorely lacking. While playing Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360 I could hear that enemies were somewhere near me, but I had no idea what direction they were coming from. Worse yet, I experienced severe popping noises whenever either end of the cord attaching the headphones to the controller got jostled. For $100, I was very disappointed.

So, I headed back to Best Buy to exchange them for a pair of Tritton’s AX 720’s. At $129.99, the AX 720’s are $30 more than the X31’s and they are not wireless, but I had read a few reviews that gave the Tritton’s extremely high praise for their sound quality – which is always better with a wired product VS a wireless one. Unpacking the AX 720’s, the first thing I noticed is the build quality – these things just feel well made. They are larger and a quite a bit heavier than the X31’s but they look really nice and feel very sturdy.

Setting up the AX 720’s is a bit of a process. The unit comes with its own Dolby 5.1 amplifier that connects to your Xbox 360 Elite via the optical input. The amplifier is quite small and should easily fit in most peoples setups. The amplifier has it’s own power supply, so you’ll need to have a free outlet available on your power strip. Xbox 360 owners must have an Elite model to take advantage of Dolby 5.1, as it requires the optical input. By the way, the AX 720’s can be used for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC and will work great with any BluRay/DVD player or other audio/video component with the requisite optical output. PC users can use the included standard 3.5 MM connection for stereo sound as well, but you will miss out on the surround sound goodness. The cord running from the headphones to the amplifier is 12 feet long and should be sufficient for the vast majority of players.

I did have one hitch with the setup. The manual is less than comprehensive, and at first I had other players in my game complaining about a very irritating buzzing sound coming from my mic. My wife and I searched the internet for a solution and nothing suggested fixed the problem. Then I started messing with settings on the AX 720’s amplifier and stumbled on the answer. For Xbox 360 users, make sure you select 5.1 Dolby, headphone mode, and game mode. Setting it like this eliminated the buzzing being heard by other players. Now it was time to get to fragging.

Before I even started a game, I noticed the sound quality difference over the Turtle Beach X31’s. I have my dashboard set to the water effect. Low and behold when I turned on my 360 I heard water sounds and at first couldn’t figure out where it was coming from – then it hit me – it was the dashboard effect. I had never even heard it with the X31’s or from my TV's speakers.

So, I joined a game of Modern Warfare 2. I took a couple of seconds to adjust my chat volume and game volume to a nicely balanced level. This is accomplished with an inline volume control on the cord running from the headphones with independent volume controls for chat and game audio. There is also a mute button so you can speak to someone in the real world without annoying other players in the game.

Once the game started, I was instantly blown away. I heard a chopper fly in from behind me and then I started taking in all the ambient sounds in the game; bullets whizzing by, explosions near and far, and people scurrying about. I could not only hear all these sounds, but I could tell exactly where they were coming from – both the direction and distance. Explosions were full and powerful and every sound in the game was crystal clear and beautifully recreated.

What you want to know is, did wearing these things make me a better player? Normally, I'm a solid player in MW2, but I absolutely dominated with these things on. It was so easy to find a comfy camping spot and just listen for enemies to approach. This was especially effective inside of doorways. I would simply setup inside a doorway and wait for someone to approach, then just as they were about to enter the door I’d leap out and knife them.

The second match I played was on Karachi. Here I didn't camp, and I can't tell you how many times I avoided a death because I heard someone approaching from behind and was able to wheel around and take them out – much to their chagrin. Once the dust settled I was the top player in the match by a large margin. going 25-4; my best single match score ever. Oh my, the sweet gaming goodness. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

A significant side affect of using these is that it seems to make the game's graphics better. That's not to say the graphics are literally improved but it is astounding how much easier it is to spot enemies – especially distant ones, when you have audio cues pinpointing the direction you should be looking in.

This is truly something that cannot be adequately explained – you simply have to experience it for yourself to appreciate the added sense of immersion true surround sound adds to your gaming enjoyment. Not once did I find myself wondering where a shot or approaching footfalls were coming from – it really lent a sense of confidence to my playing that I would never give up now.

To be plain – if you enjoy first-person shooter games and don’t mind ponying up the $130, you will not regret buying the Tritton AX 720’s. I give them my highest recommendation.