So I bought an Xbox 360....

[Brad]

For the last month or so Melissa's been telling me about this "must-have" game for the Xbox 360 Kinect. It's a Disney game basically were you can walk around Disneyland and do stuff. The game world is a very realistic model of the actual Disneyland park. For nostalgia reasons mostly this is pretty cool for her...

Also as I've been playing with XNA lately I was thinking that it would be pretty cool to be able to program for an actual game console.

Anyway, I was wandering through Target the other day and noticed they were offering a $75 gift card with the purchase of an Xbox 360 bundle (offering ending that day). After much debating, later that day I decided to head back to Target to buy one. Of course they were completely out as were all of the rest of the Target stores in Oregon (yes, the guy checked...)

So slightly dejected I headed home and started looking on the internet for other possible deals. Turns out Amazon was matching Target's deal. So I bought it from Amazon yesterday. I should be receiving my gift code for $75 at Amazon tomorrow. Which is actually a lot better deal as the possible selection at Amazon is much greater than a target store, the prices are better too.

So... owners of Xbox 360s... what games should I purchase with my $75? I'm sure Melissa is going to steal some of it to buy other random stuff but I should be able to get a game or two out of it.

Not entirely sure when I'm going to have time to play this... but hey who thinks about those kind of details anyways.

TL;DR - I bought an XBox 360 Kinect bundle and got a $75 gift card at Amazon.

[zourtney]

For an FPS, try Gears of War. A band new one (#3) is out. You can borrow Gears of War 2 from us...I'm pretty sure we still have it.

If you want a racing sim, Forza is the series. They just released Forza 4, which I haven't tried. But I have 3, and it is top notch. It is the Xbox's Gran Turismo, and it is as good, if not better. Forza 3's graphics are excellent, and 4 is supposed to e even better. I'm impressed with what they're doing on 5+ year old hardware.

Other random titles: Lego Star Wars (original trilogy), Batman: Arkham Asylum, Fallout 3.

Eve could provide you more, I'm sure Also, come raid our game collection. The 360 has not been used much lately.

[Brad]

Definetely was looking at Batman Arkham Asylum (new one is coming out soon) and also Fallout but hadntt heard of Forza. Thanks for the info. I'll probably take you up on the offer to borrow some games.

[Nick]

If you want fallout 3, I have it for the PC you can borrow.

From those of you that have one or both, what is the more enjoyable system? PS3 or Xbox-360?

[zourtney]

Most enjoyable? Having both so I can giggle at platform-based mud-slinging conversations on the internet 

Our 360 is the old, non-HD-capable model, so there is a difference there, though only in clarity, not quality of graphics (if that makes sense) Most PS3 games look quite impressive. But Killzone 3 and Rage are some of the most striking that I've seen. And, granted I've done no PC gaming in years.

The old 360's cooling fans are loud! I think some semi-truck engine bays might be quieter than our own beast. Ok, maybe not quite. And the new model is supposedly a LOT better.

Xbox controller wins. Hands down. (Everything after than disgusting first-gen anglebrick, anyway). I missed it last night while playing GT5...

Anyway, the PS3 has stolen the place of entertainment centerpiece in my home lately. Mostly because of DVD/Bluray playback and free Netflix streaming.

[Brad]

The Xbox should be here on Tuesday.

I've chosen one game I'm buying with my $75 amazon credit: The Gunstringer. It's a kinect game... but it is one of the few which actually looks pretty awesome. I've only heard good things about it.

Now I'm just looking for another game for $20, Batman Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition was out of stock... so maybe Mass Effect 2 or something? That leaves another $20 for Melissa to buy whatever other random things she wants.

[zourtney]

I remember Eve playing Mass Effect (2?). I didn't see it much but I thought she liked it. We might even have it. Maybe. The Batman one is definitely worth getting, if you find it. (We don't own it.)

Is your Xbox coming with the Kinect? Because that looks like a fun toy. I think Microsoft has even released an official SDK by now.

Also, try Donkey Basketball. I hear it's the best of all.

[Brad]

Yeah it is the kinect bundle. I really wanted batman but could only buy from Amazon (no other sellers on Amazon) and they are out of stock. Will try to get it later.

I am really looking forward to The Gunstringer. Controlling an undead gunslinger marionette out for revenge should be cool. You control his movement with your left hand and use your right hand to point at the tv make gun shooting motions to shoot things. Sounds crazy but is supposed to work well. Also comes with Fruit Ninja Kinect? Chopping up fruit with karate chops? Should be interesting.

Also the kinect itself is just kind of interesting technology.

[zourtney]

It is interesting, indeed. Some people have some really cool proof-of-concept projects out there. You should try to make something awesome when you get it!

Recently, I wanted to try mapping audio tones to moving images (brightness, color tone, shapes, motion, etc). Kinect data would be perfect for that.

[Brad]

When I get tired of playing games on it I'll attach it to a robot or something.

[Brad]

The Xbox has finally arrived! I've only been able to play so far for about 15 minutes... but the kinect actually seems to be working pretty well.

On a more annoying note, when I signed up for Xbox Live it gave me this incredibly embarrassing gamertag "TeenLotus45345" or something like that. I put my date of birth in... the thing should reliase that I am not a teenager, also "Lotus" really?

Anyway, I only get one chance to change my gamertag... afterwhich it costs cash moola to change. Any suggestions?

[zourtney]

Teenage mutant ninja lotus? JambTaco? Brad-Li? JugOrNot? FireflyFanFortyNineMillionAndSix? DalkianDino? SudoKnim? IambicPedometer? Jeerio? ZombieHuntingIsNotMurder? JustinThyme?

Anyway...since when do you not create your own screen name? Or were you just feeling uninventive at the time?

[Brad]

I never got a chance to create one... it just gave me one. Also there is a limit of 15 characters.

[zourtney]

Weird. Well, obviously I don't come up with awesome screen names. Especially without trying. But yeah!

[Nick]

Howabouts:
SpaceRobot5?
CombatBurrito?
RecumbentBurrito? <- Only 3 google results
SporkMaster?
DriftingLotus?
Mazarati185?
Chicken_Black-Dogs?
LegoTrain?
SporkRobot5?
AimForTheHeadShot?
McSuperFly?
SwampDiver007?
UpperArmLocal319?
CarelessSoup?
ObliviousDuckMan?

Or just keep the lovely TeenLotus moniker