Well my adsl router died on xmas day, but fortunately a friend returned from the states with 4 xboxes and 4 copies of Halo :)

So at least i had something to play with till BT came round with a new router :)

I have to say i'm very impressed with the xbox, HALO is stunning, normally FPS games are poo on consoles and using a 'pad never seems right, but thankfully being pc based its been done VERY well. So well, i'm struggling to return to the mouse for UT....

The graphics and sound are great, the bump mapping looks LOVELY.

So in my little office at home i've now got xbox, gamecube, psx2 and gameboy advance coo no wonder i need glasses.....

Both the cube and the box surpass the psx2 imo which is starting to look like a poor relation in comparison.

I also got pro evolution soccer for the psx2 following some good reviews, but im not very impressed at all, the players even when you control them are not totally under your control, wandering off after balls that are about to go out, then touching them to give the other side the ball grrrrrrrr.

so my little league table of hardware faves runs like this.

1. xbox and cube (cant decide a winner till i receive a bit more software for the xbox)
2. gameboy advance - great for a handheld, hurts your eyes and hands after long periods, think its holding this place out of novelty at the mo, suspect psx2 will at least claw this place back.
3. psx2 - looking very dated already, still waiting for some 'great' titles to get me back into it, bored of gt3, bored of gta3 nothing else has really endeared me to it yet....

Wait til you play Metal Gear Solid 2 on PS2.

I got my girlfriend to keep it for me til Xmas Day and boy was it worth it.

It WILL blow you away if you like that type of game - eg. switchable third / first person view, sneaking about avoiding evasion. Not everyone's cup of tea, but its a contender for game of the year.

Quality.

-DV

PS: Got to agree about PS2 looking dated, but thats inevitable isn't it ? The one thing it does have going for it, is that the devlopers have been writing for it for a long time now, know the machine and will put out 3rd generation games on it. eg. This Christmas we got SSX Tricky, GTA3, Metal Gear Solid 2 (US), Tony Hawks III, WRC, Jak & Daxter, etc...

XBOX got....halo
CUBE got....rogue squadron

Saying that I WILL buy a Cube as soon as Zelda or Mario hits it.

happy new year daz, just replied to your mgs2 post :)

One thing worth considering though re your post is that Halo is a great launch title, but i cant remember anything on the ps2 being that good within its first few weeks, took gt3 to make it really move imo. (tho star wars starfighter did look good but i finished it so quickly - quicker than halo, plus halo seems to be a little clever in that when you replay levels the monsters are either spawning in different places or they wander off as they never seem to be in the same place too often - certainly the bigger ones anyway).

As for the cube, luigi's mansion is also a very good launch title, for those of us old enough to remember it is ghostbusters on steroids, but the gfx etc do make it a very nice title took a couple of days to finish that one.
Waverace is graphically stunning but has no depth and looses appeal far too quickly, looks good tho - but good graphics dont make a good game as we all know.

The best console (as in technology at least) is always the last console to hit the shelves normally, but i do think the cube and xbox have a better selection of launch titles than the ps2 had, this bodes well for the future of them i think.

Have you seen the rolling demo of mario and mario kart on the cube yet? Now that does look nice.

Sorry, probably going to get flamed slightly here by some folk, but I found the PS2 to be a complete letdown graphically. I know, I know, it not how the game looks, but how it plays right? No, It's extremely important as to how the game plays, But I personally am just as interested in how visually immersive and realistic what I am playing is.
I have also seen Halo in the flesh and I can tell you that IMO, comparing the PS2 to the Xbox or Cube is like Comparing the PS1 to the Dreamcast. I took my PS2+GT3 back within a week of getting it recently, I was that unimpressed. I am gutted as the PS2 could have been a whole lot better and should have been, before they started skimping on the power of the final release revision.
Anyway, for all of you that are blissfully happy with your PS2, cool and to each their own.

Cheers,


Nick.

I found this about ids Doom III, which may make me swap my PS2 for Xbox

"It's undoubtedly the most demanding game that id has ever designed. The game was born to take full advantage of the PC's growing graphical strengths and couldn't be ported over to the PlayStation 2 at the same level of detail, although the Xbox could handle it. "

Hmmm!

Geezer

Yeah, Carmack, Doom III's creator, has targetted GeForce4 as the ideal graphics card for running the game on, so X-Box will be lacking in certain respects. Undoubtedly the best platform to play it on will be a ninja PC.

GeForce4 will be introduced in the middle of next year, and Doom III will allegedly be looking at release Dec2002 onwards, although I wouldn't hold your breath.

-DV

I know this is slightly connected, but have any of you guys played the new Medal of Honor: Allied Assault single player demo???? WHAT A GAME!!

Its so atmospheric, it blew me away..... airstrikes, germans dropping on grenades to save their mates, intelligent computer teamplay.... I WANT THIS GAME..!!

but yeah - The Xbox is plagued with GSOD as far as I've been told.

played medal of honour....

preferred rtcw.

Didn't realise the single player demo was out - will go and download now. Remember playing the original Medal Of Honour on PS1 and was very impressed with the 'atmosphere' bit.

Cheers for the info!

-DV

been out for a while daz, you surpise me :) i'll have to keep you up dated more :)

its a hefty download tho

Will put my new GeForce Ti500 in over the weekend and try it on that. In the meantime, I've got to kill my first boss in Metal Gear Solid 2 - Fatman (fat bloke, on rollerskaes, who designs bombs - go figure!)

The single player demo was released on the net on New Years Day (although it was featured on the US PC Gamer's magazine cover CD) - the multiplayer demo was out about a month earlier.
Get your demo quick, cos I think EA are trying to pull it from being hosted on the internet.

Downloaded last night at 45kb/s - www.gamesdomain.co.uk

Will try it at the weekend.

Yep, PS2 does look dated - its probably not until other developers see Metal Gear Solid 2 that they'll sit up and take notice.

Totally agree that XBOX is the best spec - but then it comes down to WHO is writing games for it - and the list isn't that impressive. I'll only buy an X-Box if there is a couple of AAA killer apps written for it, even then I don't like its bulkiness and feel of joypads.

PTHOLT - I've seen the Mario Sunshine demo, if thats what you mean, but the rumour is Miyamoto is working on TWO Mario games, not including Kart. I've seen a quick demo of Mario Kart, but that one was written in a fortnight and just drives over a textured logo.

When PS2 was released SSX was the killer app along with Tekken Tag - don't forget the machine is 2 years old now isn't it ? As us PC owners know, 2 years is a LONG time graphics features wise so its not surprising its looking dated. Saying PS2 looks dated is the equivalent of saying X-Box looks dated against Playstation 3!

Me ? I'll just look for a cracking game I like and buy the appropriate console that plays it. Thats why I've got Megadrives, SNES, N64, Amiga1000, BBC'B and PS1 sitting in my loft!

-DV

PS: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!


[Edited by DazV - 1/2/2002 12:54:16 AM]