Finally, Gaming Technology that surpasses the PC!

I've been a faithful PC gamer for as long as I can remember. Yes, yes, i've done my time with Consoles. I have owned the original xbox, Playstation 2, Playstation, Sega Saturn, and just about every Nintendo unit known to man. I have always preferred PC gaming. Why? Well, there are a few reasons, but the main reason is "technology". PC's have always been a step ahead in graphics technology. Whether it's pixel shaders, texturing or what not, the PC has always had newer technology because of a video card's life cycle (usually around 6 months) versus a console life cycle (usually around 2 years).

But now that's all changed.

The Xbox 360 builds on the strengths of its predecessor as well as wiping out most of its weaknesses. As such, it is the first console to outclass PC graphics as it includes technology that has yet to be leveraged. Microsoft certainly did everything they could to secure a place in the next-generation console wars, and as far as I can tell, it looks very, very promising for them.

First, let's talk about the unit.

The exterior styling of the unit reminds me of an old Dell GX220. It's roughly what you'd expect in size from a console. It has a single DVD drive up front along with a couple of memory card ports. A small panel hides the compartment housing the unit's now-standard USB ports (the original xbox had standard USB ports, but non-standard connectors. They decided to fix that in this iteration of the Xbox.) On the "left" or "top" of the 360 (depending on whether you have the xbox oriented horizontally or vertically) sits the unit's 20GB hard drive. Note that this is missing if you bought the Core unit which does not include the hard drive (I do NOT recommend the core unit, read on to find out why.) The 20GB hard drive is a Serial-ATA unit which looks to be a standard notebook-sized 2.5" drive. This is where your profiles/saved games will be stored. It also has some preloaded high-definition movie content including the "How the Xbox 360 Came To Be" video which I highly recommend watching.

The back of the Xbox has the required connectors for Power, choice of A/V pack (the Pro version comes with a component set), Ethernet and additional USB port. The additional usb port in the back allows for the use of the $99 wireless networking option - a bargain at its price because of its 802.11 A/B/G capability.

Now, there are some differences between the "Core" unit and the "Pro" unit that are being sold. The "Core" 360 lacks a hard drive and includes a single wired controller that must be plugged into one of its USB ports. The "Pro" system includes the hard drive and a WIRELESS controller. It's important not to confuse the wireless capability of the xbox 360 with the wireless capability added by including the $99 wireless network adapter. ALL XBOX 360 UNITS HAVE WIRELESS CAPABILITY FOR WIRELESS CONTROLLER USE! It's just that they opted to include a corded controller for the core set as opposed to the wireless controller they included for the "pro" set.

The "wireless network" adapter is completely separate and offers connectivity to Wireless A/B/G networks.

Now, if you do the math, the core unit is $299 and the pro unit is $399. The extra $100 you spent gives you a wireless controller instead of a wired one, the xbox live headset, AND the 20GB Hard Disk. If you add up the components separately - the Hard Disk ($129), headset ($20 and the Wireless Controller ($40) - you see just how bad of a deal the Core unit really is. Also, you MUST have a hard drive if you wish to use the backwards compatibility offered for original Xbox titles. Since the architecture of the 360 is vastly different from the original xbox, all original xbox titles are run via software emulation, and this emulation must run from the local 360 Hard Disk.

Also included with each 360 unit (core or pro) is a "silver" membership to xbox live. The silver membership level is free, and allows you to chat with other users, view what they are playing and browse the Xbox Live marketplace to download demos and games (some requiring "points" to purchase, which can be earned by getting certain "achievements" in games or by purchasing points outright at around $15 per 1200 points.) Obviously the biggest selling point of Xbox Live is the ability to play with your friends. This will require an upgrade to the "Gold" level of service, which costs roughly $50 for a one year subscription. Those of you who already have an xbox live account with their original xbox can migrate your account over to the 360. In fact, you can migrate the ID between the two as much as you would like and still enjoy both platforms with the same yearly fee.

Now, let's talk about the technology.

The 360 is the most powerful and technologically advanced game platform, PERIOD. CPU power is handled by a triple-core 3.2ghz IBM-made processor. That's THREE 3.2ghz cores for a staggering 9.6ghz of multi-threaded computing power. This means that games can be programmed to have certain functions offloaded to other cores for processing. In a nutshell, this means one CPU core can be dedicated to AI (Artificial Intelligence used by computer controlled opponents), another dedicated to polygon pushing and yet another for anything else they wish to program it for. By comparison, PC's have a max of 2 simultaneous cores as of this writing for desktop computing purposes. For once, the 360 is ahead of PC's in technology. But the leap didn't stop there.

Graphically, the 360 includes a custom made ATI graphics solution which scores another first in the gaming world. It has a unified shader architecture in hardware which is capable of doing 120 BILLION shader operations per second. What does this mean for games? A perfect example for this kind of shader power would be ground texturing. This kind of shader power could make grassy areas look incredibly realistic, with billions of blades of grass moving independently of each other. And that's just a small example. Water ripples, cloud formations and other graphical elements would allow game developers to make very elaborate graphical scenes with this kind of shader power. It's important to note that a hardware-based shader architecture is another xbox 360 first, as the first PC-based unified shader architectures won't be arriving until ATI's forthcoming PC-GPU codenamed "Fudo" or Nvidia's forthcoming G80. Yet another item of note - the Playstation 3's graphic engine will be powered by an Nvidia part dubbed the "RSX", which is based on the G70 GPU. This means the Xbox 360 already has a serious technological advantage over the PS3, and the PS3 hasn't even made it to market yet. The Unified Shader Architecture hardware is part of the upcoming Pixel Shader specifications coming in DirectX 10 which will be released with Microsoft's Vista operating system.

The ATI GPU didn't stop at the Unified shader architecture. Aside from having Multiple-gigabyte/sec paths to the CPU cores, they also added a 10MB chunk of ultra-fast Embedded DRAM (EDRAM). This 10MB of ultra-fast memory is almost completely used in a single high-definition scene at 1280x720 (720i). Within this 10MB of EDRAM includes logic that can do frame buffer effects like Motion blur, Depth of Field, lens flaring, antialiasing and other advanced tricks. This offloads a lot of functions from the GPU - essentially making features that utilize EDRAM "free" to use by developers. With PC technology, everything comes at a price. If you want to run 4x anti-aliasing (which makes jaggy edges look straight), there's a performance hit. These types of operations come "free" on the 360, meaning there's little or no performance hit when using them. This is another graphical feature that does not exist anywhere else but the Xbox 360, and I don't see any competing technology in the Playstation 3's RSX chip.

Another item of note is the power brick. All that technology requires quite a bit of power. As such, the power brick included is enormous. You will want to give it plenty of room as there have already been sporadic reports of some overheating and causing game lockup issues (usually reported by people who put the power brick on carpeted surfaces). I have tile floors, so this is of no concern to yours truly.

Ergonomics 101

I won't be reviewing any games in this review per se, though some may be mentioned for appropriate reasons.

First off, the controllers are very comfortable. A very welcome change from the first original xbox I had, which included gargantuan-size controllers. I opted for the 360 Pro kit which includes a wireless controller. The controller itself has a big green "X" button in the center which serves multiple functions. Holding it down brings up a panel allowing you to shut down the console or shut down the controller (they're wireless, they have batteries, you know!). A fast press of the green X brings up your profile panel, which allows you to see your friends list, invite people to chat or join a game, or allow you to join their game. This right here is where the Xbox 360's integration with Xbox Live starts becoming apparent. Microsoft has made the integration of xbox live virtually seamless in the 360, and everything makes perfect sense with regards to layout and menus. They made it incredibly simple to add friends, remove friends, rank friends, chat, etc. It makes for a feeling of "community". After you've added a few friends and get regular updates of what they're up to, you immediately feel that you're a small part of something big.

But I digress. Back to the controller. On the top of the controller is a port for the plug/charge kit. The plug/charge kit is a cable and rechargable battery combination that allows you to dispose of the normal AA batteries in favor of a rechargable battery charged by the included USB cable. The jury is still out on whether this is a necessary item, since my son has yet to burn through a set of AA's and he's played every day for a month. I personally bought the plug and charge kit and have yet to recharge my controller battery. It simply won't die! Battery life on the wireless controllers is simply excellent whether you use AA's or the Plug/Charge kit's rechargable.

On the bottom of the controller is the connector for the Xbox Live headset. This allows you to chat with other players on Xbox Live, either in or out of game. Note that some in-game communication becomes limited to your team if you're involved in a team game, such as what is offered in games like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I love the chat functionality even out of game though, as you'll frequently find me chatting with my son on it while he's playing a game or just lounging around doing nothing. It's also interesting how they handle voice chat. When the headset is plugged in, only voice sounds are routed through the headset's earpiece. However, if you decide not to use it, voice sounds are routed through your main speakers so you can still hear OTHERS talk. The headset also includes a mute switch if you'd like to hear others through the headset but don't wish to hear others speak.

Voice quality over xbox live is "mediocre". If you're used to high-quality voice chat with PC gaming such as Ventrilo or Teamspeak, Xbox live's voice quality is a bit disappointing. However, it's still very easy to understand and doesn't have you saying "What?" every couple of seconds. It's rumored that voice quality will get a hefty upgrade once they release their new Xbox Live enabled webcam.

Graphically, the Xbox 360 is what I would consider to be "on par" with the most graphically impressive PC games. But a lot of the programming being done on the 360 right now is not leveraging the full potential of the hardware. The unified shader architecture is largely unused (DirectX 10 is still under development). Developing for multiple cores is still elusive to a lot of developers. There are still many improvements that can be made - and if history is any judge, these improvements will be huge. If you take a look at any console in the past, look at a "launch day" game and compare it to a game released a year later. The difference is night and day.

One can argue that PC games could easily "catch up". Well, that can easily be debated. Most PC game developers code their games for the "least common denominator" to increase sales. They won't code large, elaborate scenes because they know that only a small population of people will be capable of displaying that level of complexity. Some will add additional code to allow these advanced features to run - but they still have to take into account performance levels for different graphics adaptors. But with the Xbox 360, you have already purchased technology that OUTCLASSES the most expensive PC to date, and can be fully leveraged over its lifetime. This gives developers a much bigger palette to work with. The hardware is all "known" and they can push it to its limit. This in theory should mean graphically superior games on the Xbox 360 versus any other current platform.

Another nicety added to the 360 is its Media Player functionality. With the use of the Media Connect software provided my Microsoft for free, you can share all your Audio files from your computer to your Xbox 360. This allows you to play your music with your 360 and take advantage of the 3d "visualizations". You can also use a Windows Media Center Edition PC to stream content to your 360 as well. It's obvious they included this functionality to appease the folks who modified their original Xbox units to make them media center PC's.

Now, let's talk about the unit's DOWNSIDES. There are ALWAYS downsides, right?

First off, the DVD drive is noisy. When playing Xbox 360 games via DVD, the DVD drive is constantly spinning. It makes a very annoying whirring sound that's very very obvious. Even in my entertainment center cabinet, it's still audible. This will need to be the first thing Microsoft fixes in the Xbox 360.

Secondly, heat. Boy does this sucker EVER get hot. While I haven't had any heat-related lockups yet, I won't rule them out. All the technology crammed into this little box makes it one very hot little number. As such, you will want to make sure it has PLENTY of ventilation. I pity the folks who play this console in non-air-conditioned rooms.

Third, the power brick is so large, placement could be an issue for some people. While it isn't an issue for ME, it could be an issue for some who already have cramped areas around their TV.

Fourth, there is no "standard" output, and each output cable exhibits different characteristics. This isn't necessarily Microsoft's fault, but more the fault of the HDTV industry. The outputs for the 360 come in the form of "AV packs", much like the original xbox. You can get AV packs in 3 flavors: Component (included with pro), S-Video/Composite and VGA.

The component cables included with the Pro unit offer the most vibrant colors. However, it only supports TWO resolutions called "720p" and "1080i". They display at resolutions of 1280x720 (which is the Xbox's "Native Resolution") and 1920x1080i (which is really 1920x540). On most HDTV's, this should be fine. but depending on your TV's native resolution, you could see some scaling artefacts that cause diagonal "jaggies". On my Westinghouse 1080p set, I notice a lot of artefacts from upconversion. There's no way around it. However, on my plasma, I don't notice them anywhere near as much. Item of note: The included comonent cable also outputs SDTV signals both via component and composite - but you must first throw a switch on the cable connector to do so. I will only mention that much since you would be doing an xbox 360 a severe injustice if you limit its output to standard definition.

The VGA cables (sold separately) offer a larger variety of resolutions for both 16:9 and 4:3 sets as well as some standard resolutions for computer monitors. The lowest resolution offered is EDTV (852x480) while the highest resolutions offered are 1360x768 for widescreen and 1280x1024 for 4:3 computer monitors. These resolutions are output to look like "native", and as such do not exhibit the same artefacting I noticed using component cables. With my plasma unit, the 1360x768 resolution output by the 360 with a VGA cable is only 6 pixels off from my plasma's native resolution of 1366x768. The result is an incredibly clean picture. However, the VGA cable has a drawback. Color "saturation" is much less than the component cables. While I am able to compensate for this by lowering my brightness to 30 and increasing my contrast to 100, you may not have the same luck. Note that this is a common complaint with people using the VGA cables.

Also it's important to note that the AV pack is responsible for digital audio output as well. The only available digital output for the 360 remains optical TOSlink, just like the xbox before it. You will need a receiver that is capable of decoding Dolby Digital to get the full surround effect that Xbox 360 games offer. Though these days that shouldn't be incredibly hard.

Fifth, you are limited to DVD9 for game and movie content. We're approaching a crossroads when it comes to high definition DVD content. The Xbox 360 includes neither of the competing formats (HD-DVD or Blu-Ray). For games, this should be a non-event. Games almost never fill up a full DVD-9. With audio formats retaining CD quality in compressed modes (WMA/MP3) and graphics moving away from large space-hogging textures towards using more procedural shader models, I have the feeling the DVD9 barrier won't be bumped into for quite some time. Microsoft has announced an add-on HD-DVD drive for the 360, but they have already specified that it won't be for game content, only movies. At that point, I personally would rather buy a dedicated HD-DVD component than have it be dependent on a game console.

The last "drawback" to the 360 is that there is no Digital output option (DVI or HDMI) for the 360's video. Microsoft has not said whether they will offer a DVI or HDMI output in the future, and i'm starting to wonder if the 360 is even CAPABLE of doing so. Though for today's sets, that really shouldn't matter. The whole idea of "Copy Protection" that requires a special cable will likely be shot down over time by consumers the way the original "Divx" player was killed off by consumers opting for DVD.

And that's it for the "cons".

So the bottom line is that the 360 is a technological marvel that outclasses the best of PC's available at a price point of around $400. At the time of this writing, they are still difficult to find. Is there any wonder why?

4.5 out of 5. It's a definite buy.