is Arcade 360 worth buying?

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=29845

USD 279 with five XBLA games

After months of speculation Microsoft has finally confirmed the existence of a new Xbox 360 SKU as the Arcade bundle goes on sale in stores across the US.

Retailing for USD 279.99 the Xbox 360 Arcade is designed to appeal to family groups and comes with five Xbox Live Arcade favourites, a wireless controller, HDMI cable and 256 MB of memory.

Not for me. I don't play old games. And even if i did, there would come a time when I'd like to play all of the new ones. And sooner or later I will need a HDD to do so.

Oh, loems will deny this. They will say you don't need an HDD to play today's games. They are wrong. Without high-capacity disc media, the HDD will be a "sure thing" when it comes to being needed for big games.

And if I didn't care about new games, I would buy a Wii. You get some of the best old games available and no threat of missing out due to HDD. Plus, the Wii is cheaper.

Not for me. I don't play old games. And even if i did, there would come a time when I'd like to play all of the new ones. And sooner or later I will need a HDD to do so.

Oh, loems will deny this. They will say you don't need an HDD to play today's games. They are wrong. Without high-capacity disc media, the HDD will be a "sure thing" when it comes to being needed for big games.

And if I didn't care about new games, I would buy a Wii. You get some of the best old games available and no threat of missing out due to HDD. Plus, the Wii is cheaper.

The_Crucible

Really, you don't need an HDD, no matter how much you claim to see into the future.

And XBLA is mostly new IPs and games, not just retro games.

the only thing 360 arcade lacks is HDD, other then that i would deffo get it coz it has Flacon chip meaning less problems (well i dont have problems with my current 360 but some people do) and for HDTV users, it has HDMI + some good arcade games + wireless controller.......i would deffo get it then later get a HDD 20 ro 120 gig seperatley

Oh, and on topic...

Xbox 360 Premium = the real 360. I suggest that version if you are thinking about a 360, especially with two free games this holiday.

It's a great deal !

Pick up a 20 gig HDD and snap you have a 360 Pro with 5 free games and a mem card to boot.

At 279.99 for a true this gen. console; MS will sell a boat load of these.

[QUOTE="The_Crucible"]

Not for me. I don't play old games. And even if i did, there would come a time when I'd like to play all of the new ones. And sooner or later I will need a HDD to do so.

Oh, loems will deny this. They will say you don't need an HDD to play today's games. They are wrong. Without high-capacity disc media, the HDD will be a "sure thing" when it comes to being needed for big games.

And if I didn't care about new games, I would buy a Wii. You get some of the best old games available and no threat of missing out due to HDD. Plus, the Wii is cheaper.

SpruceCaboose

Really, you don't need an HDD, no matter how much you claim to see into the future.

And XBLA is mostly new IPs and games, not just retro games.

Yeah, great new IP's limited due to non-standard HDD. Right? MS limits the DL game sizes because of the non-standard HDD?

And you seriously don't think the DVD/non-standard HDD issue won't come to light? You don't think the lack of storage is going to hurt 360 in either lesser games or some 360 owners missing out? Seriously? I find that a little ignorant.

Once again, Wii is the better option. All Wii's are without an HDD. Therefore, there's no risk in not being able to have the full Wii experience due to lack of hardware.

Isnt other 360 comes with 512 megs of ram? ni6htmare01

That would be every 360 since launch.

Yeah, great new IP's limited due to non-standard HDD. Right? MS limits the DL game sizes because of the non-standard HDD?

And you seriously don't think the DVD/non-standard HDD issue won't come to light? You don't think the lack of storage is going to hurt 360 in either lesser games or some 360 owners missing out? Seriously? I find that a little ignorant.

Once again, Wii is the better option. All Wii's are without an HDD. Therefore, there's no risk in not being able to have the full Wii experience due to lack of hardware.

The_Crucible

No, MS limits download size so that they will be small, light downloads.

And the limit on game size is well over the size of a mem card, so you wouldn't be able to download some of them without one anyway.

And seriously, if Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, TF2, and Portal fit on a single DVD, and Mass Effect can as well, I see no evidence that DVD is anything less than adequate this generation.

[QUOTE="The_Crucible"]

Yeah, great new IP's limited due to non-standard HDD. Right? MS limits the DL game sizes because of the non-standard HDD?

And you seriously don't think the DVD/non-standard HDD issue won't come to light? You don't think the lack of storage is going to hurt 360 in either lesser games or some 360 owners missing out? Seriously? I find that a little ignorant.

Once again, Wii is the better option. All Wii's are without an HDD. Therefore, there's no risk in not being able to have the full Wii experience due to lack of hardware.

SpruceCaboose

No, MS limits download size so that they will be small, light downloads.

And the limit on game size is well over the size of a mem card, so you wouldn't be able to download some of them without one anyway.

And seriously, if Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, TF2, and Portal fit on a single DVD, and Mass Effect can as well, I see no evidence that DVD is anything less than adequate this generation.

Right, they only limit them so its a smooth running XBL. Right. And not because fo your second point, in that they would want to make as many games as possible availble to non-HDD owners. Not to mention how your second point proves mine. You get the 360-arcade, you miss out.

And, yeah, name those 360 titles. You have no idea what they would have been if allowed the extra room. And you ignore devs that have come out saying DVD is limiting. Not to mention the increase of those complaints as time goes on and these games are pushed further. Ever compare a launch title to a title released in a console's final year? Yeah, huge difference.

How much juice can they squeeze from the 360 before it runs dry?

And, yeah, name those 360 titles. You have no idea what they would have been if allowed the extra room. And you ignore devs that have come out saying DVD is limiting. Not to mention the increase of those complaints as time goes on and these games are pushed further. Ever compare a launch title to a title released in a console's final year? Yeah, huge difference.

How much juice can they squeeze from the 360 before it runs dry?

The_Crucible

And you are missing all the devs that come out and say that the PS3's memory architecture is a bottle neck and its very difficult to program for.

When you try and make it seem like any one platform is flawless, you end up looking silly.

None of the systems are perfect. All of them have huge flaws. Would I have paid an extra $100-$200 for the 360 to use HD-DVD discs? Heck no, and I doubt most people would have.

I would never have bought the PS3 if I didn't get it for $350, since anything over $400 is outrageous for a game system.

Oh, and on topic...

Xbox 360 Premium = the real 360. I suggest that version if you are thinking about a 360, especially with two free games this holiday.

SpruceCaboose

Not an SKU its a Bundle.martin_f

No, it's a SKU.

A SKU is a Stock Keeping Unit, which means every time a new bundle launches it comes with a new SKU number. The Holiday Bundles are separate SKU's too.

Either learn what a SKU is before throwing the word around, or call them 'models' or some other word.

[QUOTE="The_Crucible"]

And, yeah, name those 360 titles. You have no idea what they would have been if allowed the extra room. And you ignore devs that have come out saying DVD is limiting. Not to mention the increase of those complaints as time goes on and these games are pushed further. Ever compare a launch title to a title released in a console's final year? Yeah, huge difference.

How much juice can they squeeze from the 360 before it runs dry?

SpruceCaboose

And you are missing all the devs that come out and say that the PS3's memory architecture is a bottle neck and its very difficult to program for.

When you try and make it seem like any one platform is flawless, you end up looking silly.

None of the systems are perfect. All of them have huge flaws. Would I have paid an extra $100-$200 for the 360 to use HD-DVD discs? Heck no, and I doubt most people would have.

I would never have bought the PS3 if I didn't get it for $350, since anything over $400 is outrageous for a game system.

How much of a bottleneck is the RAM though? Do you think a lot of 360 games are using 400 MB of GPU RAM and 112 MB for everything else?

They can switch it around, but how much does it really affect anything? It might give them a bit more leeway, but how significant is it?

How much of a bottleneck is the RAM though? Do you think a lot of 360 games are using 400 MB of GPU RAM and 112 MB for everything else?

They can switch it around, but how much does it really affect anything? It might give them a bit more leeway, but how significant is it?

D_Znuhtz

I was not really arguing about the memory. I couldn't care less, as its devs problems to figure out, not mine. I was merely pointing out that developers will whine and moan about anything that they feel to be a challenge to them, as that is human nature and no design platform is perfect.

[QUOTE="D_Znuhtz"]

How much of a bottleneck is the RAM though? Do you think a lot of 360 games are using 400 MB of GPU RAM and 112 MB for everything else?

They can switch it around, but how much does it really affect anything? It might give them a bit more leeway, but how significant is it?

SpruceCaboose

I was not really arguing about the memory. I could care less, as its devs problems to figure out, not mine. I was merely pointing out that developers will whine and moan about anything that they feel to be a challenge to them, as that is human nature and no design platform is perfect.

You could care less = you do care.

You couldn't care less. ;)

I wasn't asking as an attack, and I know devs like to whine. I just hear that "PS3 bottleneck" argument a lot, and if everything works the way these boards lay it out (PS3 is assigned 256 for system RAM and 256 for GPU, while the 360 has 512 it can assign where it's needed), I don't see how it makes much difference. You are going to end up splitting them pretty evenly anyway, unless one aspect of the game is severely lacking.

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"][QUOTE="D_Znuhtz"]

How much of a bottleneck is the RAM though? Do you think a lot of 360 games are using 400 MB of GPU RAM and 112 MB for everything else?

They can switch it around, but how much does it really affect anything? It might give them a bit more leeway, but how significant is it?

D_Znuhtz

I was not really arguing about the memory. I could care less, as its devs problems to figure out, not mine. I was merely pointing out that developers will whine and moan about anything that they feel to be a challenge to them, as that is human nature and no design platform is perfect.

You could care less = you do care.

You couldn't care less. ;)

I wasn't asking as an attack, and I know devs like to whine. I just hear that "PS3 bottleneck" argument a lot, and if everything works the way these boards lay it out (PS3 is assigned 256 for system RAM and 256 for GPU, while the 360 has 512 it can assign where it's needed), I don't see how it makes much difference. You are going to end up splitting them pretty evenly anyway, unless one aspect of the game is severely lacking.

Ha! I fixed it before you corrected me! :P

I have yet to see anything on either system that made me say, "Wow, my other system couldn't do that!" I just don't see all this difference that everyone is talking about.

Each system is great for what it offers, Wii included. Each has different games and a different experience, and I don't see how a gamer could look out and say, "That system has nothing that looks good to me." There is just great games out and coming for all platforms.

Its been a great 2007 to be a gamer, and 2008 looks great as well. I am very excited about it.

[QUOTE="D_Znuhtz"][QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"][QUOTE="D_Znuhtz"]

How much of a bottleneck is the RAM though? Do you think a lot of 360 games are using 400 MB of GPU RAM and 112 MB for everything else?

They can switch it around, but how much does it really affect anything? It might give them a bit more leeway, but how significant is it?

SpruceCaboose

I was not really arguing about the memory. I could care less, as its devs problems to figure out, not mine. I was merely pointing out that developers will whine and moan about anything that they feel to be a challenge to them, as that is human nature and no design platform is perfect.

You could care less = you do care.

You couldn't care less. ;)

I wasn't asking as an attack, and I know devs like to whine. I just hear that "PS3 bottleneck" argument a lot, and if everything works the way these boards lay it out (PS3 is assigned 256 for system RAM and 256 for GPU, while the 360 has 512 it can assign where it's needed), I don't see how it makes much difference. You are going to end up splitting them pretty evenly anyway, unless one aspect of the game is severely lacking.

Ha! I fixed it before you corrected me! :P

I have yet to see anything on either system that made me say, "Wow, my other system couldn't do that!" I just don't see all this difference that everyone is talking about.

Each system is great for what it offers, Wii included. Each has different games and a different experience, and I don't see how a gamer could look out and say, "That system has nothing that looks good to me." There is just great games out and coming for all platforms.

Its been a great 2007 to be a gamer, and 2008 looks great as well. I am very excited about it.

Agreed 100%. Signed and co-signed.

I'm going to buy my 360 this Xmas and the Wii sometime in 2008 so I don't miss any of this gaming goodness.

NO.

*spits*

trash it is.
Doesent even include full arcade games.

As far as im concerned the 360 Pro is the best console - value for money - no question.

If you are into playing great games at an affordable price, then yes. The Arcade bundle is going to sell like hotcakes this holiday season. Casuals are not into playing online, they don't care about HD, all they care about is Madden, GTA, Halo, and a good racing game. If casuals cared about any of the other things the Wii would not be selling the way it is.

Msoft comes out on top this holiday season.

Bank on it.

NO.

*spits*

trash it is.
Doesent even include full arcade games.

As far as im concerned the 360 Pro is the best console - value for money - no question.

skrat_01

It has the full arcade games and 5 demos as well.

http://majornelson.com/archive/2007/10/22/officially-announcing-the-xbox-360-arcade-finally.aspx

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]

NO.

*spits*

trash it is.
Doesent even include full arcade games.

As far as im concerned the 360 Pro is the best console - value for money - no question.

kuu2

It has the full arcade games and 5 demos as well.

http://majornelson.com/archive/2007/10/22/officially-announcing-the-xbox-360-arcade-finally.aspx

for $25 bucks more than the wii. you would have to be an idiot to get the wii over the 360 especially if you have a HDTV. HDMI cable cost $50 by itself, and you also get a wireless controller and a 256MB memory card and 5 XBL games.

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"]

Oh, and on topic...

Xbox 360 Premium = the real 360. I suggest that version if you are thinking about a 360, especially with two free games this holiday.

musicalmac

[QUOTE="kuu2"][QUOTE="skrat_01"]

NO.

*spits*

trash it is.
Doesent even include full arcade games.

As far as im concerned the 360 Pro is the best console - value for money - no question.

skrat_01

It has the full arcade games and 5 demos as well.

http://majornelson.com/archive/2007/10/22/officially-announcing-the-xbox-360-arcade-finally.aspx

They didn't read the packages correctly. If you look at them it says 5 Full Arcade games PLUS 5 Trial games.

If you are into playing great games at an affordable price, then yes. The Arcade bundle is going to sell like hotcakes this holiday season. Casuals are not into playing online, they don't care about HD, all they care about is Madden, GTA, Halo, and a good racing game. If casuals cared about any of the other things the Wii would not be selling the way it is.

Msoft comes out on top this holiday season.

Bank on it.

kuu2

If you are into playing great games at an affordable price, then yes. The Arcade bundle is going to sell like hotcakes this holiday season. Casuals are not into playing online, they don't care about HD, all they care about is Madden, GTA, Halo, and a good racing game. If casuals cared about any of the other things the Wii would not be selling the way it is.

Msoft comes out on top this holiday season.

Bank on it.

kuu2

Correct me if I'm wrong but can't you play Madden and Halo 3 online with out the big HD? I mean you don't have to download anything to play those games, just go online and play. Can't download new Halo 3 maps in the future no though...

Really, you don't need an HDD, no matter how much you claim to see into the future.SpruceCaboose

What about the extra content for Oblivion and GTAIV and such?

for $25 bucks more than the wii. you would have to be an idiot to get the wii over the 360 especially if you have a HDTV. HDMI cable cost $50 by itself, and you also get a wireless controller and a 256MB memory card and 5 XBL games.

svp0123

But...the 360 doesnt come with HDMI cables. Besides, you can get them for $15 if you know where to look.

[QUOTE="svp0123"]

for $25 bucks more than the wii. you would have to be an idiot to get the wii over the 360 especially if you have a HDTV. HDMI cable cost $50 by itself, and you also get a wireless controller and a 256MB memory card and 5 XBL games.

gromit007

But...the 360 doesnt come with HDMI cables. Besides, you can get them for $15 if you know where to look.

http://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Feet-Super-Resolution-Cable/dp/B0002L5R78/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1843377-8785432?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1193158714&sr=8-1

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"]Really, you don't need an HDD, no matter how much you claim to see into the future.Jandurin

What about the extra content for Oblivion and GTAIV and such?

Again this is for casuals mostly and I don't think casuals are dying to play demos so that's why they pay less for this Bundle / SKU.

Also Oblivion I believe is having a GOTY edition aren't they? Like how Halo 2 sold the bonus maps on a disc same can be done here for oblivion and GTAIV

not unless your one of the many that still don't have a 360, even then,it a bad deal. even if it is 279mlbslugger86

Nope, great deal for Casuals... and that's all there is to it.

Also Oblivion I believe is having a GOTY edition aren't they? Like how Halo 2 sold the bonus maps on a disc same can be done here for oblivion and GTAIV kcpp2b

[QUOTE="Jandurin"]

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"]Really, you don't need an HDD, no matter how much you claim to see into the future.kcpp2b

What about the extra content for Oblivion and GTAIV and such?

Again this is for casuals mostly and I don't think casuals are dying to play demos so that's why they pay less for this Bundle / SKU.

Also Oblivion I believe is having a GOTY edition aren't they? Like how Halo 2 sold the bonus maps on a disc same can be done here for oblivion and GTAIV

[QUOTE="kcpp2b"][QUOTE="Jandurin"]

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"]Really, you don't need an HDD, no matter how much you claim to see into the future.SecretPolice

What about the extra content for Oblivion and GTAIV and such?

Again this is for casuals mostly and I don't think casuals are dying to play demos so that's why they pay less for this Bundle / SKU.

Also Oblivion I believe is having a GOTY edition aren't they? Like how Halo 2 sold the bonus maps on a disc same can be done here for oblivion and GTAIV

You need HD space for the GOTY edition stuff.

[QUOTE="SecretPolice"][QUOTE="kcpp2b"][QUOTE="Jandurin"]

[QUOTE="SpruceCaboose"]Really, you don't need an HDD, no matter how much you claim to see into the future.Jandurin

What about the extra content for Oblivion and GTAIV and such?

Again this is for casuals mostly and I don't think casuals are dying to play demos so that's why they pay less for this Bundle / SKU.

Also Oblivion I believe is having a GOTY edition aren't they? Like how Halo 2 sold the bonus maps on a disc same can be done here for oblivion and GTAIV

You need HD space for the GOTY edition stuff.

I don't get it - that sounds silly. :PSecretPolice

[QUOTE="SecretPolice"]I don't get it - that sounds silly. :PJandurin

I was just acting like some typical S.W. posters. ;)