Official XBox 360 Launch Thread

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
This is the happy thread. If you'd like to say anything negative, do it in the Frustration thread.

I got my controller and first game today. They were out of the ones I wanted at the first three stores. I got the last wireless controller that Target had, and one of their last few Project Gothams. Here's a side by side comparison between the original and new controller. https://www.wcnews.com/chrisreid/xbox360launch02.jpg As I've mentioned before, it's a bit slimmer and you have a better grip on it. The triggers were brought closer together and moved up so you also have access to new third and fourth triggers on the top that replace the white and black buttons. There's a new circular guide button in the middle that drops out of games and loads up the system's user interface when you press it.

Since we determined in the other thread that most of our preorders aren't good for this month, I found some local friends and we've got a good backup plan in place. In the other thread we weighed the various options: try a small store that's getting only a few units in the hopes that not many people will show, or try a superstore that's getting hundreds of units, but a huge crowd. I've done some calling around to nail down quantities and things, and we've decided to go to the small store. We found a Walmart that's only getting 16 units, but it's a relatively secluded Walmart that only opened this year, so it shouldn't get a huge crowd. There will certainly be people lining up early though, so my friends will be there at noon. I should be able to make it by 2 pm after work. And hopefully, ten hours later, I'll have my 360 (and four hours after that, I'll need to get ready to go back to work).

If that doesn't pan out for some reason, we have a set of contingency plans. There's the alternate midnight opening at the Best Buy near Microsoft headquarters. They're getting hundreds of systems, but will have the craziest crowd in the country. That'll be the first stop if the Walmart is a bust. After that, Fry's starts handing out tickets at 5:00 am. Alternate Walmarts and Fred Meyers open at 7:00. Target will be an 8:00 opening, with other Best Buys at 9:00 am. And then Toys R Us and CompUSA open at 10:00 am.

Here's a picture of the hypnotic ring of light that circles the guide button while the controller seeks out a base station to connect to. https://www.wcnews.com/chrisreid/xbox360launch03.jpg

The PSP and DS are charging right now. I'll drop by IRC via my cell phone when I'm in line. Wish me luck.
 
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Sounds like a great time, I wish I could join you in the line. I'll be trying my best to make the cut at my local Wallmart. My initial plan is this, stop by local Walmart after work at around 4:30pm see what it looks like. If no one or not many people are there I will head home and return around 8pm to recon the situation again. If things look good I'll wait it out from there. Otherwise I head over twenty miles to the superwalmart there and see the situation. If things don't look good I head home and sleep. Around 5am I get up and head to a nearby Super Target and try my odds. If nothing there I move on over to Kmart. If not there we go to Best Buy. If not there I try Compusa (highly unlikely). If not there I move on in a last ditch effort to Sears. If not there then I will try Costco and other Target/Kmarts. If I don't get one it won't be for a lack of effort.
 
Just as an update, Sears actually sounds like a good bet. they are opening at 8:00am because of the holidays (not the xbox360) and it didn't sound like they had received many requests about the system so even if they have just a few there might not be a line. Also I found another Target that sounded promising, they are also opening at 8:00am and should have between 30 - 50 units in to be sold on a first come first serve basis. They suggested I be there at 7:30 though. :)
 
I'd honestly suggest getting there at 5 am. If they told you to be there at 7:30, imagine how many other people got the same suggestion?
 
Certainly I'll be there much earlier than 7:30...it's the places that are opening at 8 am and telling people to be there at 4 am that I want to stay away from.
 
I'm not sure why but in my area I have never seen lines for any big release, electronic systems, movies, etc. I always see huge lines and people camping out on TV, but when I actually go to the store, it is no busier than usual and they have plenty of stock of the new product. I'll be going to EB games tomorrow ot pick mine up after work. If they don't have it, there's another EB, Best Buy, Target, Sears, WalMart, and Circuit City in the immediate area.
 
Make sure you tell us how that goes Sarty. I've seen a lot of heartbroken parents over the years because of all the various shortages, so I certainly hope people can just find them while checking out a handful of regular stores on launch day. I'll have somewhat less sympathy for them in several weeks. I have seen a lot of midnight lines for video game stuff, and to a certain extent, movies as well. For once it'll be really nice to not have to worry about working them. A year ago this month I had to be at the store for Halo's midnight launch, which took several hours, and then return around 7 am for the early opening.
 
I've been to midnight lines for consoles and midnight lines for genre stuff; the latter is purely for fun... nobody goes to Toys R Us at midnight because they actually think it's their one chance to get a new Admiral Ackbar figure and no one lines up for a week waiting for a new Star Wars movie because they actually think it'll be hard to get tickets. The former not so much... it's jerks and parents competing with each other for a prize, and that kind of sucks in terms of mood.

Still, I imagine that one intelligent Wingnut could probably plan his or her way around all the rich soccer moms and teenage dorks in the universe to get a Y-Box.
 
I don't envy you of that, Chris. If your Halo 2 launch was anything like it was here (it was probably worse for you) then that must have been hell. Sarty, I doubt there will be any 360s left for you after work on Tuesday but if so, good luck! I'm not even sure there will be any for me and I'm going at the crack of dawn. (plus I'm going to try walmart tonight). My friend just emailed me and said at lunch he already saw 10 guys camping outside Best Buy.
 
The local Wal-mart is getting 14 core systems and 26 of the one with the harddrive... They open at 8 and are using a ticketing system... But I start work at eight and (although I could probably weasle into starting 20 minutes late) I don't really have the money (or the apropriate justification) to buy it.... I didn't check out any other local retailers though I cant imagine anyone bothering to camp out in this weather (although I imagine people will be lining up at least an hour or two ahead)
 
Just got home. :( It was a hard twelve hour battle, but I'm going to claim victory. Lots of interesting stories and pictures to come, but I'm going to lie down for a half hour now before I have to get ready for work. Ended up going to the Bellevue, Washington Best Buy launch. Apparently other forums and things have been discussing it, and there were like a thousand people there, so if you read about that then you've got a head start.
 
Just got home from work and I did manage to get one. My first stop(EB) was sold out, my second stop(Best Buy) had 4 left. 1 premium and 3 core systems were left, I got the premium with Perfect Dark Zero. Hooking it up right now!:D
 
Glad to hear some people got it. Striker got one after numerous stores and several hours of camping, but ace and Blonde didn't have as much luck. I've got mine now, but I'm too tired to really play anything. Tried Halo 2 and Project Gotham 3. Wondering if I should get Call of Duty or Perfect Dark or just wait for Dead or Alive next. Pictures and stuff still coming, but not tonight.
 
ChrisReid said:
Wondering if I should get Call of Duty or Perfect Dark or just wait for Dead or Alive next.

Gamespot gave Perfect Dark Zero a 9. http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/perfectdarkzero/review.html
Call of Duty 2 Got a respectable 8.8 score from gamespot as well. http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/callofduty2/review.html

PC gamer said COD2 was a polished game but werent as generous citing a number of things including "uninspired game design" and that some missions " descend into tedium". They still gave it a respectable 84% though. They also say though that "the game delivers exactly what fans of the first game are expecting." They conclude saying its a great pure action game but look elsewhere if your into digital storytelling.
 
Just as an FYI, the two posts by BES and cff regarding X-Box 360 stats and PS3 were moved to the "frustration" thread.

ChrisReid said:
This is the happy thread. If you'd like to say anything negative, do it in the Frustration thread.

(And before anyone gets a chance to ignore the "don't argue an admin's decision, with a public forum post" rule, while commenting on the system stats may not really be negative, it still doesn't belong in this thread.)
 
Good call, Death. Yeah, I got mine at Costco after checking out basically every other store in the city. I had to wait in line for about 3 hours but that's not nearly as bad as what others have had to do. Costco actually gave a great bundle too! I got the premium 360 with two wireless controllers, the game Kameo, a wireless charger and of course the DVD remote for $479.99. I was number 17 of 24 people. (well there was a lot more there but for those of us who actually waited in line in order).

I've bought the games Call of Duty 2 and Perfect Dark both games which got high ratings. I put in Call of Duty first and haven't even tried Perfect Dark yet. I've played through the Russian Campaign and some of the British. Pretty fantastic game. The battles in the devastated Russian ruins are mind blowingly good. You can tell a little bit of it is scripted but the AI is first rate and can have you in some pretty hairy situations quickly. (Especially when they start tossing grenades). Your team mates' AI is pretty great too though at times they will leap forward grab the grenade and throw it back. Or...sometimes they just grab the grenade and that's all she wrote.
 
Just got the system, only the core but as of yet the memory card and controllers haven't turned up (d'oh).

So far I'm loving PDZero (i.e. after the training mission, no save function kind of puts you playing further. Territory multi, even with bots, rocks too though), most of the complaints reviewers had were true of the original and in some cases such as having to replay a large section over and over until you mastered it as opposed to check points every two minutes far more appealed to me. I've always enjoyed games which force you to build up your skill base.

Anyway PDzero was the only launch title and whilst its nice to look at (especially at 1360*768 by means of the VGA cable) its not blown my socks off. I don't normally buy a title for visual appeal but the launch of a new system is a little different; what would you guys say was the ultimate demo piece for the system? Kameo?
 
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