Updated Xbox 360 Impressions

I've had that Xbox 360 for a while now so i can go a bit more detailed and give more up to date impressions. The new dashboard as mentioned before is still nice, but a few things about it i'm not a huge fan of. For one thing, i keep forgetting how to change my theme! It is my fault I keep forgetting this, but on the PS3 and even the older 360 Blades it was easier to do this! Also, I dont like the way the marketplace is set up now. They seperated the game and video market place. To put it simply, i don't like GETTING to the marketplace, but its easy to navigate once you get in. To download demos for example, you see giant floating game cases, just highlight a case, click it and done. Thats a good example of one of the things MS did good with the New Xbox Experience.
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In my previous post i mentioned how the parties seemed to disconnect randomly, and it still happens. I can't tell if its XBox Live's fault, or a connection of someone in the party. Regardless of why, it still happens, but i can't blame one or the other because simply... I don't know whos fault it is! One thing that surprised me was that when your in game, you can't view ( at least to my knowledge ) who is in a friends party. For example, in the dashboard, I can go to my friends tab, see my "totally awesome pal" Brian *cough* and everyone in his party. I tend to do this in case someone may be in the party who i cant stand! If i go into Halo 3, i get the option to join his party, but i can't view who is in it ( If i am wrong, someone tell me so i can omit this. )
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I got more updated impressions on Xbox LIve now as well. I have been able to play more games online and i noticed that connection is generally stable for me. This changes of course due to various ISPs, connection types ( Wifi / Ethernet ), Internet speeds, etc. For me though i generally seem to have a stable connection. I still run into lag.
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In fact today in Halo 3, i ran into the worst lag ever.
Imagine walking 10 inches, only for a big fat sweaty Scottish man to jump in front of you and push you back 4 feet, that was happening. It was useless to move, i couldn't control where i went. Sometimes i'd be pushed back, pushed foward, sometimes i would just appear in a random room full of guys throwing stickies at me!
It was literally unplayable, and it was only with 5 people in the room.
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Now i know that is was just a bad case, but I don't expect to see THIS kind of lag on Xbox Live! Maybe on the Wii, but not Xbox. Microsoft is a company with loads of networking experiences! They were able to switch the Xbox 360's Operating System relatively smoothly with the NXE, but they can't seem to deal with lag. Now i know you must be thinking i am trying to bash Xbox, but that is NOT the case. The reason i keep on hammering this topic is because Live is a paid service. While i don't expect lag to be killed off completely, ( Would be sweet though! ) I don't expect lag to happen so often on Xbox. Again, lag isn't usually that bad, but the fact that lag seems to happen quite a bit on a paid service, it really gets too me. PS3 games such as Warhawk with 32 people, SOCOM Confrontation with 32 people, and Resistance 2 with SIXTY people run with no lag, and thats on PSN which is free! Why is it that Xbox Live can lag with 10 people? Again, i don't mean to bash Microsoft or bash Xbox Live, but the fact we have to pay for it, and in some ways, its worse than a free service just annoys me.
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I can tell overall that the Xbox is more simple than the PS3. For example, if you want to burn a CD, all you have to do on the xbox is put the disc in and click burn. For the PS3 its like that, but there are tons of more options so you can burn in AAC, MP3 or ATRAC, and at different bit rates such as 128, 320, and everything in between. This allows you to get the BEST quality or just good enough all depending on your tastes. The xbox 360 does it easier, but at a loss of options. This probably isn't an issue for most, but it is something audio buff's such as me should look at.
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Also, it sucks that the 360 can't view Blu Ray movies. Now this is also Sony's fault most likely. Blu Ray won the Format War between HD DVD, which was backed by Microsoft. Sony probably doesn't want 360 to have a Sony format. With that said, i think the 360 needed needed SOME kind of built in HD Disc player, Blu Ray or HD DVD. Yes, the 360 had an external one but that was yet ANOTHER add on you had to buy for the 360! Plus it was only movies. If it were built in, HD DVD would probably still be alive, and 360 games would get a benefit of havign more disc space than they are limited too right now. Yes i know the marketplace has HD movies and there is also Netflix support ( Which you NEED Xbox Live Gold, AND you gotta pay Netflix a subscription as well! ) But i'd rather save the bandwith and just buy a Blu Ray disc. It costs more, but you get a physical copy and higher quality.
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The next thing is what is really killing the xbox for me right now, the games. I have Halo 3 and its good. ( Not my favorite shooter, but still fun none the less. ) Fable II ( Good RPG, but i'm not sure it matches KOTOR, Oblivion, Fallout 3, etc. Mass Effect is good. I'm not big into Gears of War. Theres not a whole lot on the 360 that appeals to me. What has me shocked is the 2009 line up. Of course we don't know everything as there is bound to be annoucements, but out of what i saw on a release list from IGN, The only two 360 exclusives that interest me are Halo Wars and Halo 3 ODST! That's not alot!

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Overall the 360 is a good system with some flaws. It has a big library of games, but the library seems to have alot of hardcore games which appeal to me less. Don't mistaken me, i like a good competitive game, but I don't like being flooded with them! It is a good system, but I just don't think it is the right system for me.