The Pensive Gamer

Posted 05/22/2007 @ 08:45:38 PM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: Accessories , Xbox 360 , Xbox Live Arcade

I just returned from the Gamerscore Blog Road Tour stop here in Toronto. The location was great and there were a good number of stations to try what was mostly unreleased games.

Here are my quick thoughts on what I saw.

Xbox Live Arcade Games

Track and Field seemed to be a favourite with many folks, though retro games just aren't my thing. I was shocked to see the 360 controller survive the abuse it was receiving. It certainly looked like it played similar to the original title.

I had some good fun with Mad Tracks. The dynamic of monitoring and controlling the spring that allowed the car to move was a nice twist and there was some nice variety in the game types. This felt like a fun quick game to play with friends.

Undertow was not quite my game. It is a 2D scrolling arena shooter in a 3D environment. I found myself dying all too often (against enemy AI) and sometimes it was hard to tell where you could move about on the screen (though familiarity is probably key here).

I didn't get to check out Carcassonne, though someone was always playing it. Regardless, this is an instant buy for me. I love this trend to add board games to Xbox Live Arcade.

Full Disc Games

I played a fair amount of Forza 2. It was the release version of the game, so for those curious, no the graphics are not improved from the demo. The gameplay was solid, different cars behaved and sounded very different, and yes there was damage. Anyone who likes racing games will definitely find this a solid purchase.

Shadowrun was constantly in play both on the 360 and the PC. The graphics seem improved from the beta and the gameplay, from the little I did both here and on the beta, seemed roughly equivalent. But I didn't get enough game time to truly test it. I'm curious to see how well this one sells.

While I didn't get to play Project Sylpheed, it did look like fun. I definitely want to check this one out more.

In addition there was Halo 2 for Vista and Guitar Hero II. I didn't try Halo 2 at all (I have my Halo fill via the Halo 3 Beta). While I didn't try Guitar Hero, it was, not so shockingly, in constant use.

The Chatpad

As reported yesterday over at Gaming Nexus, the Chatpad is indeed a nice piece of hardware. It snapped into place snuggly, never really got in the way and felt nice and light. While obviously I didn't have a prolonged gameplay session with the unit, it does seem like something that can be left on a controller. I didn't see nor have a chance to check the associated headset, but the Chatpad definitely had a different connector. The Gamescore crew could not confirm a price, nor a date (other than summer).

People

The Gamescore Blog folks were a great group of people; very social and engaging. They were having just as good a time as the rest of us. It was also great to have them answer our questions and listen to our feedback. No they wouldn't let out any secrets except something about a 'teabagging' achievement in Shadowrun ... I didn't ask any additional questions.

The folks from the community were also a good jovial group. It is interesting to meet the folks behind other blogs, such as one of the fellows behind XBLArcade.

Posted 01/30/2007 @ 06:00:00 AM by Joseph Molnar Filed under: Accessories , Product Ideas , Xbox 360

Most of my family and many of my friends live a few thousand miles away. Sure, you can use web cams to communicate but sitting at a computer isn’t a great social or family experience. While the Xbox Live Vision Camera can be used for family room video chats it is still largely a solo experience since a headset must be used.

Now imagine an accessory, I'll call it the Xbox 360 Wireless Communicator, that acts like a good speaker phone (or for those that are familiar, a Polycom Soundstation). When combined with the Xbox Live Vision Camera you can have true room-to-room video chat. I would love for my family to have weekly video chats with grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, etc, where everyone can participate. Even if that doesn't sound exciting to you the Communicator is the perfect party gaming experience; you can trash talk an entire room.

The features would be as follows:

• 100% wire-free
  • Communicates with the Xbox 360 wirelessly
  • Runs on battery (same charge packs as the controller), though can use AC
• Mute button
  • Coloured LED to indicate when mute is on or off
  • Anyone in the room can easily see the LED and now the status
• Full duplex audio (i.e. send and receive sound at the same time)
• Echo cancellation  (i.e. prevent sound from looping back on itself)
• Works with the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows

From Microsoft’s perspective, the Communicator requires no software changes on the 360 since it is essentially an Xbox 360 Wireless Headset. Just let me emphasis that this must have superior sound quality; as close as possible to a Polycom Soundstation.

This is as a device that could further expand the target audience of the Xbox 360. In conjunction with being a media extender, having downloadable movies and later in 2007 adding Internet television, the Xbox 360 would be front row as a true family-room social media appliance.

I would buy the Communicator for family members with 360s (currently a couple do) and would consider buying 360s for those that don’t once a price drop happens. I can certainly think of one Xbox team member that could have put it to good use.