Best wishes for 2007, be safe and have fun!
It's been a busy year, hence the lack of updates and this one is heading the same way.
Since February of 2006, I got an MS X-Box 360, besides the well know problems of reliability and the amazing lack of testing of their products; it is a great gaming console.
I'm totally addicted to the X-Box live service. From the community features, video chat and downloads to the online gaming, it rocks! (Except, obviously, for the unbelievable moron who came up with the microtransaction idea, EA anyone?)...
A message to MS though: stop selling beta/unfinished products to the consumers, remember, they are the ones making your platform a success or a failure. Stop ignoring the community, no divx/xvid support for a next gen multimedia console is laughable and your arguments are pathetic, even the cheapest dvd player on the market has such capabilities... 2 different SKU's, was it really worth it? 20Gb hard disk, no comment. What's up with the microtransactions? How is it even possible you allow EA and EA-wannabe to charge for content that is by default available on other platforms and already on the disc? Stop shooting yourself in the foot: X-Box live is great, innovative and has lots of potential, keep it that way.
I've been spending countless hours on Gears of War leading to lots of frustration but with so much fun! I admit, it's far from being perfect and there are still a lot of nasty issues that they need to fix (the lag, matchmaking, lobby system, number of players; cheating, voice-chat, the weapons balance, the maps...) To summarize: the multiplayer mode seems rushed and under-tested, the single player campaign is way too short, it's a shame as it was so close to being a reference!
Out next week: Lost planet! ;-)
A few links you may want to chek out:
EN:
http://www.xboxscoop.com/
http://www.kotaku.com/
http://www.achieve360points.com/index/
http://xboxelle.spaces.live.com/
http://www.fragdolls.com/us/
http://gearsofwar.com/Emergenceday/
http://www.consumerist.com/
FR:
http://x360.gx-mod.com/modules/news/
http://www.fragdolls.com/fr/
