As of December 20th I went Wii60. I’d really been hoping to buy a Xbox 360 sometime soon but getting one for a birthday/Christmas present was even better. It was the Premium bundle, of course. I don’t know if you can even find the Core system anymore, and why would you want one anyways? The hard drive alone makes it worth it. The better version also has an Ethernet cable, head set, wireless controller and, most importantly, chrome finish. This is old news, though. On to what really matters: the games!

My console came with Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter, Xbox Live Arcade Vol. 1 and Kameo. While I’m not too fond of Kameo, the other two are great for bundle-ins. I actually almost bought GRAW for the PC at one point. It isn’t really what I thought it was but it is still pretty fun. The whole game is tactics so that means a lot of trial and error. Error, of course, meaning death. I find myself dying a lot in this game because even when I know exactly what to do, who to snipe first, whatever, my life is almost gone because I was in a just as challenging situation earlier in the level. This usually isn’t a problem because you can just send your team mates into the action and hang out but the game gets a lot harder when you’re on your own.

Xbox Live Arcade on a disk seemed an odd idea to me: Is it really worth producing this just for people who don’t have Live? Yes, apparently. It is a good introduction to XBLA for me even though I have Xbox Live, but really most of the games aren’t that great. If you have no way to get on Live, can’t use Microsoft Points or have some other excuse, though, I’d still recommend this game to you. Why? Geometry Wars: Evolved. This game is awesome. It’s old, but it is still one of the best games on the console, not just on the Arcade. I played it a while back on my friend’s 360 and failed miserable but it is not hard to learn and a lot of fun. If you know nothing of this game go search for a video on YouTube or something, I’m not going to explain the game itself.

I also received the game that almost single-handedly made me want a 360: Gears of War. I’ve only completed the game on Casual difficulty so far but I plan to finish Hardcore and, if I can, Insane. The game play is rather original which is a big surprise for yet another shooter. This is probably because the heart of the game is not shooting but covering. Even though this isn’t a tactical game like Advance Warfighter, you can’t (usually) just run into the action, gun blazing. Running, ducking, covering, hiding and finding alternate routes are all part of becoming a master killer. Gears has some pretty disgusting elements but it all works very well with the direction the game takes. The story isn’t that bad, either. Sure, it’s archetypal, but the heroes aren’t overly heroic and the game is just a battle, not a one man war. I haven’t had a chance to experience online multiplayer, but I did have my friends over last week and we had a great time playing system link. I’ll probably end up writing a full blog on Gears of War once I dive further into it.

I see now why the 360 has been such a big hit. The Xbox Live and Achievement systems are genius, adding a whole lot of extra content and dimension to games. Microsoft sometimes lacks the frequent big titles that Nintendo churns out, though. Even though titles like Gears will keep gamers playing for a long time there is always a need to produce something epic that they can look forward to. Now that Gears of War is out, that spot needs to be filled. Halo 3? That may be it solely because of the fan base, but does it really deserve that position? What about BioShock? These seem far away and secretive. Xbox has accomplished a great feat getting to the top, and it’s the gamers who are going to win while they try and hold their spot. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

If you’d like to add me to Xbox Live, my Gamertag is dotKenneth. I’m switching from a Silver to a Gold membership in the near future so hopefully I’ll see you online soon. Check out my Xbox.com page or look at my mini Gamercard in my sidebar for my stats.

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