360 on a 13 inch, Standard TV

[Artlover]

Okay, maybe we're just very different types of people, but how many saves do you need at one time? Have you ever thought of deleting any you aren't using?

Well again, ignoring multipul saves, I'm still using 211 megs in only 103 games. That just about fill's up the Arcade's 256mb of memory. I'm pretty sure there must people out there have even more games. Lets face it, if someone owned 200 games, that 256mb isn't going to be enough for all of them.

 

There is no such thing an unused save. It's serving it's purpose, saving progress till you play it again. Even when renting. Someday I might buy it myself or rent it again. I want my previous progress to be there.

 

As for multipul saves. I guess it depends on the game. But on games like Fallout 3, it comes in handy. Find out later down the road you missed something or you just made too many bad decisions, you can just go back to whereever it was that made the difference without having to start all over. Or if you just feel like replaying certain areas, you can just jump to that save. Having 400+ saves in F3 is great for that. Have a complete running chronological set of saves from begining to end and everywhere inbetween.

[Atarifever]

Well, now I am a little disenchanted. I just decided to give the OXM disc a try and it wouldn't start without an update. The update was, of course, the new Xbox Wii menu. Now I have just 40 megs free (with only some arcade game saves, saves for Portal, HL2, Sega Superstar Tennis, and Mass Effect). This is annoying, and doesn't leave much room for anything else. Looks like Artlover was right. Guess the Xbox 360 and me may not get along so well afterall. And all this just so the Dashboard I liked can be more like the Wii's, which I like less well. Great.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Atarifever

[moycon]

Well, now I am a little disenchanted. I just decided to give the OXM disc a try and it wouldn't start without an update. The update was, of course, the new Xbox Wii menu. Now I have just 40 megs free (with only some arcade game saves, saves for Portal, HL2, Sega Superstar Tennis, and Mass Effect). This is annoying, and doesn't leave much room for anything else. Looks like Artlover was right. Guess the Xbox 360 and me may not get along so well afterall. And all this just so the Dashboard I liked can be more like the Wii's, which I like less well. Great.

 

The worst part is there's no way to get rid of the NXE update that I know of (I've heard you can do it but it voids your warranty.)

If a person could, believe me I'd use the old dash. It was pretty inevitable though so don't feel bad. Even retail games are being shipped with the update. F%$#'s

 

I think you can get a 20 GB hard drive off eBay or Amazon for like $30-$40 if the storage becomes an issue.

You might also consider a cheap 256MB card. They can be found for like $15.

[Artlover]

So it got me to wondering... I looked it up and NXE takes 128 megs.

[Artlover]

The worst part is there's no way to get rid of the NXE update that I know of (I've heard you can do it but it voids your warranty.)

Well, a lot of people don't care about voiding their warranty.

 

Also, from what I understand, the work that needs to be done to allow for it needs to be done before the upgrade. Not after the fact. Once the efuses are triggered, you're screwed and locked in to it.

[moycon]

Well, a lot of people don't care about voiding their warranty.

 

As unreliable as the 360 is, they must spend a lot of cash keeping a system up and running then.

[Artlover]

Well, a lot of people don't care about voiding their warranty.

 

As unreliable as the 360 is, they must spend a lot of cash keeping a system up and running then.

Not really.

 

Very first thing I did as soon as I got my 360 home was open it, rewire the two cooling fans directly to 12vdc, then cut a hole in the top of the case and installed a 3rd fan over the heatsinks. RRoD is largely a heat triggered issue, eliminate that and you elimintate the RRoD. It made a fairly decent difference in heat output.

 

The goofy thing about it as designed is the whole temperature dependant variable speed fan controll. Maybe they don't know it's easier to keep the heat off to begin with than it is to try and pull it away later after it's built up.

Edited April 16, 2009 by Artlover

[moycon]

The goofy thing about it as designed is the whole temperature dependant variable speed fan controll. Maybe they don't know it's easier to keep the heat off to begin with than it is to try and pull it away later after it's built up.

 

My house took a lightning hit and the NIC in my first Elite got fried. Would your re-design have helped that?

Also there was the time both my 360's stopped reading disks (I think it was a crap power supply since I used the same one on both before they went) Would your fans have helped that from occurring? I've sent back 2 Xbox 360's just because they froze up periodically and I wouldn't have it. Just hope that RRoD was the only thing you would have sent your 360 back to MS for. I'm rooting for ya.

Edited April 16, 2009 by moycon

[Artlover]

Just hope that RRoD was the only thing you would have sent your 360 back to MS for. I'm rooting for ya.

Moot issue since mine is over a year old now, and nothing else but RRoD would be covered anyways.

[moycon]

Just hope that RRoD was the only thing you would have sent your 360 back to MS for. I'm rooting for ya.

Moot issue since mine is over a year old now, and nothing else but RRoD would be covered anyways.

 

If I was in that situation, I wouldn't mind doing something to void a warranty then!

[NE146]

Just hope that RRoD was the only thing you would have sent your 360 back to MS for. I'm rooting for ya.

Moot issue since mine is over a year old now, and nothing else but RRoD would be covered anyways.

 

E74 error is covered now too.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/04...ds-warranty.ars

[Artlover]

E74 error is covered now too.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/04...ds-warranty.ars

 

the E74 error was a widespread issue, and seemed connected to the NXE

All the more reason to not upgrade to that crap!

[Shannon]

The worst part is there's no way to get rid of the NXE update that I know of (I've heard you can do it but it voids your warranty.)

Well, a lot of people don't care about voiding their warranty.

 

Also, from what I understand, the work that needs to be done to allow for it needs to be done before the upgrade. Not after the fact. Once the efuses are triggered, you're screwed and locked in to it.

They triggered an efuse with the NXE update? I didn't realize that..

[Artlover]

They triggered an efuse with the NXE update? I didn't realize that..

They triggered an efuse after almost every dash update, even before NXE.

[Atarifever]

Well, now I am a little disenchanted. I just decided to give the OXM disc a try and it wouldn't start without an update. The update was, of course, the new Xbox Wii menu. Now I have just 40 megs free (with only some arcade game saves, saves for Portal, HL2, Sega Superstar Tennis, and Mass Effect). This is annoying, and doesn't leave much room for anything else. Looks like Artlover was right. Guess the Xbox 360 and me may not get along so well afterall. And all this just so the Dashboard I liked can be more like the Wii's, which I like less well. Great.

 

The worst part is there's no way to get rid of the NXE update that I know of (I've heard you can do it but it voids your warranty.)

If a person could, believe me I'd use the old dash. It was pretty inevitable though so don't feel bad. Even retail games are being shipped with the update. F%$#'s

 

I think you can get a 20 GB hard drive off eBay or Amazon for like $30-$40 if the storage becomes an issue.

You might also consider a cheap 256MB card. They can be found for like $15.

Yeah, I'll be keeping an eye open for a used memory card or HDD in the wild. I've seen 20 Gig Hard Drives fairly frequently in game stores in the city. I won't be shelling out for new (would have if that $20 offer were still on), as I don't want to hurt my finances and reward MS for an update I think is a move backwards. Gone is the plain functionality of the old dashboard, so that I can have something that looks like it belongs on a Wii or iPod.

[NE146]

Yeah man you definitely need a hard drive... a 20 gig at the very least. How else would you download lots of xbox live titles?

[Video]

Ok, the Dash does NOT use the HDD, or the memory cards, so I don't know what the deal is about it takeing up space (unless the newer arcade with buit in memory works different, though there's no reason for it to)

 

Untill the 360, I actually only played consoles on analog SD TV's (I actually bought the HD digital a week befor getting the 360) and I have never had a problem with it. I even played the 360 on it just to see, and unless your playing a game with assloads of text (and no speach) pretty rare this day in age, you actually don't loose much by staying SD. Yeah, even in 640x480 mode (which I leave my X-box in cause it refuses to play 3:4 aspect in any higher HD setting) I still notice the drop in quality from the LCD to the CRT, though as I said, nothing important really lost.

 

It's surprising how realistic the already pretty realistic things look when played on an SD.

 

Now you just gotta play on a 5"B/W TV (yeah, Ive done that too )

 

As for Internet, I had it up to about a year after the release of original live, didn't care for it, and now I live where I can't get broadband　(for a half way decent price) so eh...not happening.

 

Unless you download a lot of crap, or play Oblivion or Fallout, the 256 that comes with the Arcade is more memory than youll ever neeed.

Exactly. All I'm doing is pointing out to people that, with the exception of a couple games not working, buying a $200 360 doesn't mean one has to spend an extra $1000 on HD or shell out for internet fees. The 360 is a perfectly solid offline, standard TV, no HDD having machine that any traditional gamer could be quite content with.

 

I spent two hours last night playing Portal (longest continuous game session in awhile). Not once did lack of internet, harddrive, or HDTV detract from the experience. It was still incredible.

 

Yeah, Portal is a perffect example of games perfectly playable on an SD (the whole orange ox for that matter)

 

Unless you download a lot of crap, or play Oblivion or Fallout, the 256 that comes with the Arcade is more memory than youll ever neeed.

Barely, maybe.

 

MANY games, have large individual game saves. Larger then even Oblivion & Fallout3 put together.

• Forza is 34 megs
  
• Orange Box is 20 megs each for HL2, HL2E1, HL2E2 and Portals
  
• Viva Pinata is 12 megs
  
• Bioshock is atleast 11 megs (it's variable and grows as you play)
  
• Fallout 3 is atleast 9 megs (it's variable and grows as you play)
  
• Mirrors Edge is 9 megs
  
• Fable II is 8 megs
  
• Farcry 2 is 8 megs
  
• Dead Rising is 4 megs
  
• NHL 09 is 4 megs
  
• Onechanbara is 3 megs
  

 

Those are single saves under one profile. NOT including multipul saves, multipul profiles or DLC.

 

Now throw in that many games allow you have have multipul saves, and having multipul profiles.

 

Not to mention, some of that 256mb is used for that crappy NXE.

 

I just browsed the System/Memory/HDD/Games/ on my console. Opened up every single game and looked at how much each is using and how. I ignored DLC, I ignored XBLA, I ignored my other profiles, I ignored multipul saves (picking only the most recent one) and found I am using 211 megs across 103 games. (And if you want to include multipul saves: then my Bioshock alone is taking 201 megs, FarCry 2 is taking 362 megs and Fallout 3 is taking 2.1 gigs.)

 

All you need to do is have/play a lot of games and/or use more then one save per game, and that 256MB ain't going to be crap.

Okay, maybe we're just very different types of people, but how many saves do you need at one time? Have you ever thought of deleting any you aren't using? But then, I'm back to basics with the baby on the way and all, so I rent more than buy again now, so I don't really want to keep many of my saves. Still, counting download games, I only recently ran out of storage on the Wii after getting it in early 2007 and having a couple dozen games for it, and ten or twelve download games, and the internet channel.

 

Well, one 4GB save (or 12 on Vive pinata, or whatever) isn't tha\t bad, but I always keep half a dozen saves, Per profile, and it takes no time at all to take up a 256 wheen you do that. I actually have two 512's though (bought them for the games on them, now I got escentually a hard copy of some live games this way) but eh, yeah, evven one of those is full, and the other's mainly for backup in case something happens to the saves on one.

[Artlover]

Ok, the Dash does NOT use the HDD, or the memory cards, so I don't know what the deal is about it takeing up space (unless the newer arcade with buit in memory works different, though there's no reason for it to)

Yes, NXE DOES.

 

NXE requires 128mb. All 360's except for the newer arcade units (post NXE) have only 64mb of internal memory. It was for exactly this reason before NXE was released, MS was giving away 512MB memory cards (or discounted 20gig HDD's) to owners of core and older (pre 256mb version) arcade consoles.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Artlover

[moycon]

They should have bumped the arcades up to 512 internal or better yet put the 256 internal and still included a 256 external card.

In my opinion the external cards are worth it. I have 120 GB drives and still keep my profile and all my latest game saves on the cards. Makes it easy to go to someone else's house, or just switch between Xbox's if you have more than one.

[+wood_jl]

No way in hell would I play my Xbox 360 on a 13" sdtv. When I bought our Xbox 360, we didn't have a HDTV so we played it on a 27" sdtv via s-video. It was acceptable, but sometimes the text was unreadable.

 

I would suggest a pc monitor. I bought a 4:3 17" LCD monitor with built in speakers for $30 off of craigslist. A much better alternative and takes up the same amount of space. My kids sometimes use it when a friend comes over with his Xbox 360.

 

I've seen it on a $10 CRT monitor and it looked great! Trouble is, the VGA cable is $50 (or so) at Gamestop. I got one off Ebay for cheap because nobody else bid. Note that if the monitor you're hooking to has a built in cable, you'll need a VGA gender changer which comes with the new cable, but with most used ones it is lost. There's a place selling them (gender changers) for REAL CHEAP with CHEAP shipping (like $3 total) on Ebay, which is where I got one.

 

Disclosure: I don't have a 360 yet. I've just been slowly accessorizing in preparation as I find stuff cheap. (I can't stop buying retro stuff but I'll get there)

 

I am wondering, however, about the LCD monitor option because there's very little chance the 360 is going to hit the native resolution of the panel, which is necessary to look the best, right? That's why the CRT looked good. But then again, no widescreen!!!

 

I have also seen 360 on a cheap 13" TV and I have to say that I - like the original poster - was somewhat impressed, considering the modest display.

[Rev]

yeah,hd is over rated.its all about the gameplay anyway.

[Atarifever]

yeah,hd is over rated.its all about the gameplay anyway.

Most certainly. To be fair though, as stated before, there are 360 games where the gameplay is hurt by lack of HD. Mot that this should be the case, as I think offering a "standard def font" option wouldn't drain too much of the budget for a title. I played the Lost Planet (original) demo the other day, and that was fine on the 13'' Standard def TV. Then I played the Halo Wars demo on the Standard Def TV, and the information that was coming up was way too blurry.

[Video]

Ok, the Dash does NOT use the HDD, or the memory cards, so I don't know what the deal is about it takeing up space (unless the newer arcade with buit in memory works different, though there's no reason for it to)

Yes, NXE DOES.

 

NXE requires 128mb. All 360's except for the newer arcade units (post NXE) have only 64mb of internal memory. It was for exactly this reason before NXE was released, MS was giving away 512MB memory cards (or discounted 20gig HDD's) to owners of core and older (pre 256mb version) arcade consoles.

 

Ok, try this, unplug your hard drive, and unplug all the memory cards, I'd bet like mine, you still have the NXE (heh, while the system is off of course, apparently they removed the hot swap with the dash update, but the update is most definately there even without the drives, so that leads me to believe it's in the systems casch, not the memory)

 

I actually posted about it way back when, cause I was pissed as hell when it moded my system, I did NOT want that shit on there, but eh, eventually, some game will have it on the disc anyways, so at some point I would be screwed anyways.

[Artlover]

Ok, try this, unplug your hard drive, and unplug all the memory cards, I'd bet like mine, you still have the NXE

Yes, a stripped down NXE that can't do anything more then boot game discs and defeats the purpose of having NXE at all.

 

NetFlix, PhotoParty, custom avatars and all that (pretty much every single thing NXE add's over the old dash) is non functional without the additional storage or memory.

[NE146]

Ok, try this, unplug your hard drive, and unplug all the memory cards, I'd bet like mine, you still have the NXE

Yes, a stripped down NXE that can't do anything more then boot game discs and defeats the purpose of having NXE at all.

 

NetFlix, PhotoParty, custom avatars and all that (pretty much every single thing NXE add's over the old dash) is non functional without the additional storage or memory.

 

No one uses that anyway.. everyone I know just hits the old middle button and gets to business with those menus