VIDEO Billie Gates is Not My Lover: The Xbox 360 Discussion

What do I think of that? I want to sell my Halo Reach 360 and buy me one of those nao, is what I think!

 

Can you say... want?

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Later this year, gamers and Star Wars fans will be able to get their hands on what might very well be the coolest limited edition system -- Xbox 360 or otherwise -- ever produced. Launching alongside Kinect Star Wars this holiday is the Xbox 360 Limited Kinect Star Wars Bundle, a package that includes an Xbox 360 system made to look like R2-D2.

Beyond the (supremely awesome) look of the console, there's more to it: R2-D2 sounds are played when powering it on or ejecting the disc tray (hear those here and here, courtesy of Major Nelson). According to Gizmodo, the disc tray hides a secret message -- the first time anything has been put there by Microsoft -- which reads, "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

The included Kinect ditches the existing black color scheme in favor of white to match the system, and the accompanying wireless controller is a shiny gold with what looks like exposed wires meant to resemble C-3PO.

Besides the obligatory copy of Kinect Adventures that comes with every Kinect, Kinect Star Wars comes included, too, as does exclusive downloadable content of some sort.

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This all comes at a hefty price tag: it'll be $449.99 when released later this year. That's a lot of money, but barring any price cuts between now and then, it's no more expensive than buying a 250GB Kinect bundle and a copy of Kinect Star Wars.

This is described as a limited edition bundle, so Star Wars diehards will want to get their pre-orders in immediately to avoid missing out. For those of us with an Xbox 360 who can't justify $450 plus tax on another system, we can still stare longingly at pictures, more of which lie on the next two pages.

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They don't mention that the D-Pad is silver as a reference to C-3PO's silver leg.

 

Okay, I will finally buy a 360 now

 

Want. Even though I already have one.

 

Pass. Silly wabbit, gimmicks are for kidz!

 

I'm debating if I'll pick it up for not. I really don't need it, but LOOK AT IT.

 

Just pre-ordered mine from Amazon. Usually I just ignore special edition systems, but not this one. Gotta have it.

 

A rather neat little console, a drool worthy controller and a Star Wars themed clay pigeon all in one box.

Might have to look into it as my Xbox is playing up at the moment.

 

Did anyone else notice that after the Halo 4 trailer there was no Xbox 360 logo that usually pops up? I think a new console is probably on the horizon..

 

I see Halo 5 being a launch title for the next Xbox in 2014, honestly. If there were a new system for 2012 we'd know by now. Thats the same launch window for the Wii u after all.

 

The biggest turn off for me with the new R2 console/3PO controller is the inevitably smudgy controller. It's shiny and nice and I like it, but when I use a controller that is very mirrored, it's going to become smudgy and I'm going to hate that.

Beyond that, I do like the console and it is nice...but I'll talk myself out of it the same way I talked myself out of the GoW3 console: The next Microsoft console is bound to come out in very near future and I'm sure if I buy the newer console (for a saucy 450 dollars) the next system will follow shortly.

Oh well, such is life.

 

I expect that Halo 6 will be a launch title for the next console with 4 and 5 being forwards compatible or the next console being made to be backwards compatible with them 100%. I mean, it's what happened with Halo 3. "You've played Halo 1 & 2 but if you want to find out what happens at the end you'll just have to buy our new console!" Maybe I'm being cynical here, but it wouldn't surprise in the least.

 

IIRC Halo 3 was to be a launch title for the 360, but that would have been rushing it pretty hardcore.

I don't know if the intent is to make you buy a new system to finish the story, but with at least 2 years in between each game, and Microsoft promising that it will be a trilogy, you're looking at Halo 6 coming out no sooner that 2016. I have to imagine we'll have a new generation of systems by then. We're looking at 2013, at the soonest I think, for the Xbox 3. That puts the 360 at least 8 years old by the time it's retired. That's just crazy.

 

The thing is though the 360 still looks very good. ME2 was superb, Crysis 2 was beautiful, Forza 3 is very impressive and Forza 4 looks like it'll blow Forza 3 out the water completely, and ME3 will probably be the best looking game ever. I don't know if they implemented it or not, but there was talk of adding dynamic air flow to Forza 4, and that'd be an overnight simulation for an F1 race team, so it seems that the console is certainly still capable of delivering high end gaming.

I'm also looking at games lately and wondering how they can improve. Graphics could be a little better and higher resolution and stuff, but that seems to be it. It's not like the old days when '3D' really meant '2.5D' (and that was a huge breakthrough at the time), and when Deus Ex and Half Life were revolutionary because of mouth animation (Deus Ex had the first moving mouths, Half Life had the first models that had mouths that actually opened and had detail inside).

All I can see improving is little details and nothing that'd actually add anything substantial to gaming. Kinect seems great, a genuine revolution in game control. If they were going to release a new console soon, why didn't they wait with that, or did they release it now to hop on the bandwagon and give the thing some serious testing before the new console came out? Remember the fuss over the PS3 controller? First they caused drama when they announced it wouldn't have rumble, and then they caused more drama by backtracking and releasing one that did have rumble.

I could speculate all day and all I'd end up with is a headache, so I'm going to stop there. Although I will say this: adding AR would be awesome.

 

Which ME3? You don't mean Mass Effect 3? The same Mass Effect 3 that, when demoed, looked identical to Mass Effect 2...do you?

As for "Where do we go from here!?" That's always the question prior to a new console coming out. Sure the graphics aren't going to be a leaping bound, as we already have highly-realistic graphics, more like a hop, skip and a jump forward but did anyone else see the trailer for the new Unreal engine that will be used for next-Gen consoles? Yeah, that's how things can get better. Improved lighting, better textures, etc.

I'm not saying the new X-Box will be announced a week after this console's release, but what I am saying is that it's bound to come in the near future. Sure, if I buy the new console I'll get some great play out of it, but in reality it's a big investment that doesn't really need to be made. I could easily put that 450 dollars away for the next-gen console.

But, that's just me.

 

The new Xbox will have to have support for Kinect. Microsoft wouldn't have made such an investment only to give up on it 3 years later. With a more powerful processor, the Kinect sensor may even be capable of more than it is now. It also stands to benefit from Blu-Ray as well since games have obviously hit the limit of the DVD format.

 

Just a heads up on this week's deals! The original Fable is now 800 points as is Black. I've not played Fable so I don't know what it's like but Black is definitely worth getting if you haven't got it already.

 

Have just seen the new MW3 branded 360, which looks amazing.

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Best looking 360 yet, except maybe the R2-D2 one.

 

Just registered my console for the Xbox Live Preview Program. Really looking forward to the cloud saving, I've lost so many Mass Effect saves over the years.

Will probably be a few days before I can update the system. Pity I won't be allowed to talk about it.

 

Yeah, that's what put me off from signing up to that. I have a feeling that I'd be all 'wow, you guys, <feature> is too cool!!' etc. Seeing as my XBL tag is the same as my username here and my twitter name and my name elsewhere I'm not exactly hard to find.

 

Has anyone tried the new wireless wheel? I'm tempted to get it but I'm not sure it'd be worth it as I only have two racing games, and they're both Forza.

 

my Gold subscription is up on the 26th. Debating whether to re-up or not as Maulfly is currently hogging the system with Skyrim, and I'm beta testing SWTOR. Honestly, I haven't really played it in some time. I may drop it, and that's really saying something.

 

Yeah just drop it, you can always come back later. It took me a few months without it to realise how much I missed it.

 

Target is going to have the 3 month Gold cards on sale for $10 (down from $25) on Black Friday. x4 = 1 year for $40 instead of $60 for a 12 month card. I think that will come in handy, even if I just want to use it short term instead of a full year.