My Two Bits
(The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)

What is "My Two Bits?"

My Two Bits is the official editorial page for the editor of Techtite.com. Techtite will accept reader submissions, for reviews as well as any editorials deemed well written and pertinent to this web site's audience.

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No sidebar comments for this review. Yet.

The My Two Bits editorial for November/December 2005 is titled :

The New X-Box: "360" Degrees of "Good" and "Bad."

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Nobody is going to go all "Fox and the Grapes" here about what's the hardest thing to get this November (and December, for that matter). For those who are unaware of the tale: there's this piece of children's folklore about a fox who tries in vain to get grapes, gives up, then deals with his failure by convincing himself the grapes totally sucked. Maybe that fox should've counted his blessings: he could've pre-ordered an X-Box 360.

Why would that be a harder quest, you ask...? Because it's truly, absolutely, and positively hard to get. How hard...? I made my pre-order in June, and the guys at a here-nameless game store told me I still could not get one on launch day. I wound up getting it on the following day-after-Thanksgiving sale three days later, when a family member told everyone in the store within earshot that my nephew got one of the systems simply by standing in line at 3 AM, and his Uncle had a 5 month pre-order in this very store and he still didn't get it. Soon after, the manager says that my 360 "just" come in and they were "just" about to call me.  Maybe it's just a coincidence; that's what I'll tell myself anyway. What do I care? I have a 360! Yeah!

Still, my situation is unique. It's "unique" because my pre-order was in June, compared to hundreds of supposed "guaranteed" pre-orders that were made afterwards. That isn't even getting into the millions of people who will be teased with 360 promos for the rest of the year, when the system's pre-orders have yet to be completely fulfilled. What this means is that the system may not see a legitimate store shelf for Joe Six Pack until 2006. Should these consumers be concerned? Hmm...

It deserves mentioning that I cannot answer that last question for everyone. This being an editorial, however, I don't have to. All I have to do is voice another dose of My Two Bits, about the latest "360" degrees of "good" and "bad" about the latest video game system. Since I like to hear good news first, let's begin with the "pluses":

• The hard drive is now removable. Take it with you to any friend's 360. Buy a separate drive and double your storage. Cool.
• Downloadable...everything. Removable hard drives aren't much without stuff to fill it...quickly. Well, how about the ability to play downloaded video, and even shareware games? Play a free demo of these games after downloading them right to your hard drive on the 360...then buy the full versions right online!
• The. New. Controller. Just. Rocks. The new controller is wireless, has its own rechargeable battery, and turns the system on like a remote control. This controller is simply perfect.
• "Better" Old Games. I said it before and I'll say it again; Playstation 2 fumbled the ball somewhat when not 3D accelerating old PS One titles (which, thanks to unauthorized third party ware, was proven to be possible). The new X-Box, if just for select games, augments the graphics with antialiasing and superior TV support.
•  Cool Graphics: 2006. True, hardware muscle is obsolete as early as the following year. But even those cool Call of Duty commercials show you how cool the system's firepower is, pun not intended.

Sure; it is fair to say the new system has bumps in the carpet too. Here's the top five, just for starters. Enjoy!

• Downward Compatible? Well..."sort of." It's already widely reported that the new 360 is not entirely downward compatible, as the PS-2 was with the PS One. Only a finite list of X-Box games are compatible with the system at all. Time to get that original Box back from the game store you sold it to.
• Why just "Face plates"...? Those "graphix" stickers sold here and there prove that it's only cool if you can decorate a game system all over. A different face plate is a cool idea but it looks kinda "odd" when the entire rest of the unit looks the same color it always did. Personally, I like the wooden finish face plate --a nice salute to the days of the Atari 2600-- but it still seems like just a novelty option.
• Get the "Core" system without hard drive for less!!! Oh shut up.
• Dead or Alive 4 not out for launch. Given that they made Hitomi/Kasumi or whomever she is the "icon" of all advance screen shots of the new system, that's one very serious omission.
• Limited Release!!! Come on Microsoft; you can release the latest Windows OS in droves but not a new game system whose launch was planned for over a year? This was a cheap marketing ploy to make the system seem more "sought for." Please play fair next time.

Overall, the "cons" list looks like we're reaching for gripes about this system, and it shows. The only viable gripe, really, is the limited release, which as I said (and meant) was clearly a marketing ploy at its very core. I made my pre-order in June, and my pre-order couldn't be fulfilled on launch day? That just sounds odd to me.

Yet in the end, the fact is that a new system is upon us, and it rocks. Maybe most people won't know how rocking it is until 2006, but it's definitely something you want to buy...regardless of its aptly named "360" moniker, preparing consumers for the full circle of "good" and "bad." 

As Always: I'm Techtite, and these are My Two Bits...