Xbox360 launch review by IGN...

[Descartes]

Hardware:

Summary: Thus far Microsoft's system is an untapped goldmine of power. The Xbox 360 is powerful in all respects; it's designed as a software-friendly tool to program for, with healthy amounts of RAM and programming flexibility, and that given time, dev teams will show us something amazing come this spring. The Xbox's potential weaknesses are its medium (something that's still somewhat intangible), multiple processors instead of one (a double-edged sword), the erratic backward compatibility, and its system crashes and disc scratching issues.

Overall Rating: 7

Software:

-1st Party:

Summary: Microsoft Game Studios delivered solid and likeable first-part games to lead the system's launch. Each one is worthwhile in its own right. None one title is a knockout, AAA-title like Halo was at the launch of Xbox, but not everything can be Halo. MGS can be proud of all these games, all of which scored over 8.4 at IGN.

Overall Rating: 8

-3rd party:

Summary: Microsoft garnered solid third-party support from all the key developers in North America, Europe, and Japan, all of which is a big win in the long run. For a system launch here in North America, the quality ranges across the board. The third-party games represent the best to the worst scoring games, with the standouts Call of Duty 2 and Condemned at top, and with NBA Live and FIFA 06 dragging at the bottom. Overall, this is a respectable launch stable of games with a few real winners among the mass of slightly-above average titles.

Overall Rating: 6

Online Support:

Summary: In short, the pillars of Microsoft's online infrastructure are remarkable in their simplicity and, so far, they have been extraordinary in depth, breadth and ease of use. No console or PC has ever provided such a vast and well thought out community/ecosystem/financial model for the Internet, and we think Microsoft has nailed it on the head with a vengeance.

Overall Rating: 9

Controller:

Summary: There is very little to dislike about the new Xbox 360 controller. It's deftly designed, lightweight, wireless of wired, and the shift of the black and white buttons from the button right to th shoulder positions is key. The Silver Xbox Live Button is smart and useful. Yes, this isn't a major overhaul of the previous system, but boy does it feel good with every game we've played.

Overall Rating: 9

Marketing:

Summary: Microsoft might have tapped into something major with its annoying viral ads but the slightly underwhelming Zero Hour party (a Burning Man event meets Xbox party in concept), and the lack of units in the marketplace have dimmed the onslaught of advertising and marketing we expected to hide from, and that really aren't that visible after all.

Overall Rating: 7

The Launch:

Summary: On the one hand, the launch is a success because its worldwide and it has actually happened, even if by the skin of Microsoft's teeth. But hardware problems, scratched discs, and lack of units don't make gamers very happy.

Overall Rating: 5

Future Potential:

Summary: All of the pillars for an excellent system are established, and now that the hardest part is almost over, the games will do the talking. The Xbox 360 has enormous future potential.

Overall Hardware and System Launch Rating: 8
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So there you have it folks, IGN thinks that the hardware is ok, that the online features are great, that the games were ok for launch titles but the the scarce amount of units available and some issues regarding the hardware made this launch lackluster.

I'm not on the lookout for an Xbox360 atm, but if I were to find one while shopping I'd probably buy one.

You can read the full article here:

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/673/673188p1.html

[longliveshadow]

This is probably why I'll wait to purchase one after the holidays.

[Smoke_Dawg_187]

Good post!

[Camron Kosciozko]

I was reading this yesterday and pretty much agreed with everything.

If there were, say, 1 million consoles at launch instead of 300-400k, it wouldve been a better overall launch. Fact is there wasnt enough machines, and theres alot of p*ssed people still.

The only things i didnt really agree with was their cons for the system. The medium is fine as of now ofcourse, but if blu ray doesnt take off, then it wouldve been a smart decesion on microsofts part. If it does, they planned to upgrade anyway. The multiple processors is the way consoles (and pcs) are going to go. It was difficult because its new, but every developer will have to get used to it if they want to make any types of games in the future. You gotta start somewhere.

[haddyrikabi43]

Exactly why I always buy a game console whenever problems are reported to be fixed.