Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

This is still the only game I'm really interested in playing on the 360. Until
Bioware releases an entire catalog of exclusive 360 games, I'm still all set
to upgrade my computer rather than buy a 360.

(It was a close call, though)

Guess I'm just not too big on most of the other "Action-oriented" titles they have
to offer.

Ultimately you gotta do what you want, but I think the 360 has a pretty well rounded collection of games that you can't totally get anywhere else and the price of the system is pretty damn cheap right now.

Waaaaay cheaper than upgrading your PC to run Mass Effect I'd guess.


I'm talking about cool little games like (Settlers of) Catan, Carrasconne, Mass Effect, Bio Shock, Katamari (for the casual gamers), Guitar Hero/Rock Band (again for the casual gamers).


Also the ability of the 360 to stream video, music and pictures to your TV from your PC (wirelessly if you're on a wireless network in your house) is awesome.

Plus you can, of course, purchase TV shows and rent movies on XBox Live too.


I just think the 360 is the best buy right at this moment, but every person's wants and needs are of course very different.

I agree that the 360 is a good buy for games...I think it comes down two questions though:

1.) do you want to play first or third/first person games with a gamepad?
2.) do you actually want to play modded versions of the various PC-RPGs that are coming out on the 360 or are being made 360-exclusive (like mass effect)

for me, after my experiences with Oblivion and to a lesser extent BioShock...I just can't play those games on a gamepad. Yes, my computer will cost twice as much as a 360 will, but the experience will be much better if you do it right. At least, for specific types of games...they just happen to be the ones I like. Oblivion had the added bonus of being a much better game modded (via some simple menu and graphical mods if you wanted to go simple, or through huge monster and character-levelling system overhauls)

I cannot argue with all the board games and mini games available for xbox live though, they rule. But I've been playing settlers online for like 6+ years through various other means (java settlers and then sea3d.net) so it's not ALL new

Not really interested in Xbox Live, so that's a no-brainer for me.

And lambadomy my answers are no and maybe, but definitely wouldn't want to play
Oblivion on the gamepad (I like it just fine keyboard and mouse).

TV? Television has been unnecessary for me for a long time now. I get by with the
Netflix account I barely keep on top of.

RHythm Games? Only good for parties for me, and then someone else is bound to
have one of those already anyway.

yeah, I'm in the same boat. Before Mass Effect looked like it was actually going to be 360-exclusive for the forseeable future I had little interest in getting a 360. My PC may not make it look as nice, but I'm going to wait anyway and hope it comes out sometime early next year for the PC.

I thought Bioware had no PC port plans for Mass Effect? Or are you holding out?

As far as I know, they don't have any plans. I just hold out hope, since it seems to be more common nowadays for people to say "we have no plans for port X" and then see port X happen anyway. But I don't have any inside info.

lambadomy wrote:I agree that the 360 is a good buy for games...I think it comes down two questions though:

1.) do you want to play first or third/first person games with a gamepad?
2.) do you actually want to play modded versions of the various PC-RPGs that are coming out on the 360 or are being made 360-exclusive (like mass effect)

for me, after my experiences with Oblivion and to a lesser extent BioShock...I just can't play those games on a gamepad. Yes, my computer will cost twice as much as a 360 will, but the experience will be much better if you do it right. At least, for specific types of games...they just happen to be the ones I like. Oblivion had the added bonus of being a much better game modded (via some simple menu and graphical mods if you wanted to go simple, or through huge monster and character-levelling system overhauls)

I cannot argue with all the board games and mini games available for xbox live though, they rule. But I've been playing settlers online for like 6+ years through various other means (java settlers and then sea3d.net) so it's not ALL new

The 'third' point you always need to include is the most important one to me:

Do you want to play games sitting on your couch on a big-screen TV with surround sound or do you want to play them hunched over your computer on a smaller (but higher resolution) screen?


To me, games are fun and an escape and having a nice leather couch and a 60" Plasma means that I want to play games in my living room regardless of whether I'm losing the optimal controls for a FPS or RPG.


When it comes to Malfred, I'm guessing he probably doesn't have a big-screen TV so that probably makes sticking to a PC for his gaming even that much more attractive.


For me, its no contest: I'm done for all intents and purposes with gaming on my computer, likely forever.

yeah, I understand that yak. So I hooked my PC up to my TV But playing a game on a keyboard and mouse in the living room doesn't work as well as a gamepad

I guess you could rig up some TV dinner type roll up tray that would give you a desktop surface for a mouse/keyboard while chilling on the couch.


But I personally would just rather suffer the imperfect controls and use a wireless gamepad than try to do something that wacky (plus that would look *super* geeky when anyone came over and saw you using it).

yakface wrote:

When it comes to Malfred, I'm guessing he probably doesn't have a big-screen TV so that probably makes sticking to a PC for his gaming even that much more attractive.

Dangit, that was a poor teacher joke, wasn't it.

Dangit.

lambadomy wrote:As far as I know, they don't have any plans. I just hold out hope, since it seems to be more common nowadays for people to say "we have no plans for port X" and then see port X happen anyway. But I don't have any inside info.

Not to mention the fact that Jade Empire was to be Xbox exclusive and was instantly released to the PC when the exclusivity agreement ran its course. Excellent game btw, if a little on the short side.

Grr...video review makes it look fun.

Must resist.

Another great thing about the 360, relative to other consoles I think, is that it can play your music you have burned to it and games at the same time. Gears of War is hilarious with Earth, Wind and Fire blaring over your speaker system as background music.

There is definitaly a nice social aspect to consoles that I think PC multiplayer games can emulate, but not quite match. I've had a good deal of fun playing Team Fortress Classic with people online, but not near as much fun as I've had when a group of close friends and I have system linked X-boxes together and fragged each other all night long on Halo.(all 3 of them)

Just finished my 1st playthrough of Mass Effect. What a ride!!

I'd definitly put in on my short list of "greatest sci-fi stories of all time"

Yes, there will be multiple play throughs of this game. Playing ME only once would be like watching Star Wars only once. Clearly a crime.

Oh yes. Mass Effect is freakin' fantastic

Like most say, it mostly a matter of taste. I'm a PC gamer, utterly and completely. There's a bit TV in my living room, but I almost never touch it (and if I do, it’s usually to turn it off). I find PC games to be superior. Its a lot easier to tweak and mod them for greater enjoyment. I found Oblivion to be utter crap due to spell casters being completely worthless (and I wanted to play a mage)...until I moded the game to make them viable. And despite the greater outlay of money for a good PC, you can come out ahead of the game in the long run with all the free "content" you have access to online. There are thousands of play-for-free games, share ware, and abandon ware games out there that you can get hundreds if not thousands of hours of enjoyment out of. Beats the hell out of $50 for a game that gets 16 hours a play and you find has little or no replay value afterwards. Lets also not forget the keyboard and mouse interface which is vastly superior to the game pad for most (although not all) applications.

I find the shift in ports recently to be rather amusing. I used to be that PC games would eventually get ported to the console systems. Now days, console games are getting ported to the PC.

I'm on my second play through now. Man it's definitely worth it. I'll be playing through it another 2 times at least.

It's all a matter of personal preference. Personally I'm a console gamer. PC's never really gotten a grip on me and I prefer having a controller in my hand to a mouse.

Like I said it's personal preference, but ME is definitely in the top 3 of the best RPG's i've ever played.

I used to be a die-hard PC gamer, until the original x-box lured me in. Now, with my 360 jacking into my 42" TV, it's hard for me to sit in front of my 20" monitor on my PC and get as into it.

The PC definitly has variety, hands down. But one thing to remember when thinking about cost:

- Most consoles are about the price of a new video card.

- The conosle can also double as a media hub for your home network. i.e. You can watch stuff on your PC on your big TV or play music from your PC in your living room without needing a computer in the living room.

- Although it is true that console games are more expensive than PC games (usually $60 vs $30-$50) the big advantage of consoles is that you can RENT THE GAMES. Services like Gamefly essentially let you play all the games you can handle a month for roughly the price of a WoW subscription.

- Don't have to deal with mucking about with the "latest drivers"

I grew up in front of my PC playing old EGA RPG games over and over again, and at one point I never imagined I would ever not be a PC gamer.

That said my roommates have Oblivion for their 360 and I have to say it's "kind of fun" to play. Thing is, Oblivion's game mechanics were deliberately toned down and designed to work well with the 360 controls, watering the game down a bit. Or so it would seem. There's definately something to be said for big TV + couch rather than being stuck in your room on your computer.

Now, Fallout 3 is coming out and my brother and I are planning our hardware purchases. He's a mac user and finally chose an uber mac over a mid range mac alongside a 360. I myself will likely follow suit with a PC purchase and play it on my PC for no other reason that #1 it is Fallout and #2 it will support the mod community.

I also enjoy RTS and the occasional FPS so I like to maintain a reasonably powerful gaming PC around anyway.

PC Gaming allows me to game while my wife uses the
television for other media. Works out for me.

I got this from Kotaku today I just thought it was funny.



That said, I kind of like the achievements thing and I was thinking it would be cool if PC games had the same. Some of the younger guys I know view games eg WoW and Halo 3 the same way I view sports rather than 'just games'.

All RPGS have an achievements system.

Tacobake wrote:I got this from Kotaku today I just thought it was funny.



That said, I kind of like the achievements thing and I was thinking it would be cool if PC games had the same. Some of the younger guys I know view games eg WoW and Halo 3 the same way I view sports rather than 'just games'.

The 'games for windows' brand of games by Microsoft has achievements as far as I understand.

Yes, if you hook up with "Windows Live" you can get achievements in "Games for Windows".

It links to your 360 gamer tag also, so you can keep adding them up.

Achievements sound kinda silly on paper, but it is amazing how quickly they become addicting. It is also kinda cool to be able to see how far your friend has gotten in a particular game.

http://global.gamesforwindows.com/en-GB/games/featGames.aspx

nifty.

Just to add to the general consensus regarding Mass Effect.

As Russ says, it's definitely a winner. I loved playing the game, despite my being a fairly skeptical RPG player. It took me about 25 hours (I like to go it slow and explore a lot) to complete my first playthrough, and I only did about a third of the side missions. I'd be willing to bet that this game will easily give you more than 35 hours of play if you're up for completing every single side mission. On top of that, the replay value is pretty phenomenal - I'm loving each of the character classes, and after running through it the first time as a Soldier, it's really making me appreciate the ability to throw my opponents off cliffs as a Vanguard.

I give it a 5 out of 5.

By the way, does anyone know of talk regarding Mass Effect being the first of three linked games?

CK

I just finished my first play through of Mass Effect last night and Wow, I was blown away. At first I thought "hey not bad, but maybe not as good as it could be..." Then I played through the ending which sold the game for me and made me want to start a necron army (Saren).

Anyway, Like what Russ said, with a console it does cost about the same as a video card and you don't have to worry about it becoming obsolete for at least a few years =)

Corpsman_of_Krieg wrote:
By the way, does anyone know of talk regarding Mass Effect being the first of three linked games?

Yes, the marketing line from Bioware (I heard this on various pod casts such as Major Nelson) is that Mass Effect will be a trilogy that will "Span the life of the 360"

Future installments will also somehow look at saved game data from prior games and adjust things accordingly. I've no idea how that will work because the ending can really be different depending on what you do. I've also no idea how it will handle if you have multiple characters with multiple play throughs.

Bioware has also promised a good deal of 'downloadable conent' story additions. I assume this will work like Oblivion did, perhaps with new planets showing up that you can visit with perhaps more indepth missions than found on the typical 'random planet' mission.

Freak'n great game, and even though I'm currently playing Assasin's Creed and enjoying it, I do find myself wishing to go back to ME for 'just one more playthrough'. It reminds me of a great movie like Star Wars or LoTR that you just have to watch again and again even though you've already seen the damn thing 6 times.

Curse you Bioware for such a great game...

By the way Yak, here's and achievement for the front page:

http://achievements.schrankmonster.de/Achievement.aspx?text=You've%20found%20Dakka%20Dakka

For those that don't know, you can make your own silly achievement banner here:

http://achievements.schrankmonster.de/