Be Excellent To Each Other

Ho ho ho! I am always right. Nice try, Bezzies.



You've learned a new word, don't be mad.

A word only used by people trying to correct others, mind...

I agree with Monsieur Christophe.

Yes - I did say </pedant>.

....I'll get me coat.

So, Mr. Chris. What games are you gonna get, and stuff? Got any in mind? Want some recommendations?

CRACKDOWN. That's my one.

Here are mine (in alphabetical order as they're on my shelf):

Bully Scholarship Edition
Burnout Paradise
Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 4
Crackdown
Dead Rising
Earth Defence Force 2017
FlatOut Ultimate Carnage
Forza Motorsport 2
GTA IV
Guitar Hero II
Halo 3 (I still have a spare box)
The Orange Box
SEGA Rally
Test Drive Unlimited

I'd love to recommend Call of Duty 3, but the single player is rubbish and hardly anyone plays the excellent multiplayer game anymore.

Oh, and here's a list of the original Xbox games I recommend that run on the 360:

Burnouts 1, 2 & 3
Crimson Skies
Fahrenheit
Grand Theft Auto III trilogy
Halo
Halo 2 (multiplayer anyway)
Manhunt
Max Payne 1 & 2
Mercenaries
Outrun 2
Psychonauts
The Suffering

Since the shelf is behind me, a quick 1 line review of all my games (scores may be inflated based on the fact old ones can be had cheaper)

Amped 3 - Surprisingly superb snowboarding game that doesn't take itself even a little bit seriously. Worth the fiver it'll likely cost you just for the cut scenes. Any game that starts with you dressed as a giant pink rabbit is clearly worth 9/10 straight away - 8/10.

Bioshock - Oodles of atmosphere but, predictably, not half as clever as billed. Still a very strong FPS with a worthy story - 7/10

Cars - Not played it.

Colin McRae Dirt - Gorgeous, if you like Bloom but never QUITE convincing. Plenty of variety though and the only "proper rally" rally game on 360 - 7/10

Crackdown - Not played it.

Dead Rising - A multitude of pacing and gameplay mechanic issues but a very very ambitious idea done within a gnat's crotchet of brilliantly. Genuinely feels like being in a good monster movie - 8/10

Fatal Inertia - Not played it. I really need more time to play games.

Flatout Ultimate Carnage - Absolutely brilliant carnage filled adventure game. The main game is probably more a continuation of the Burnout series than Burnout 3+ is and the side stunt mode is probably worth the £10 itself - 9/10.

Football Manager 06 - It's the PC game. It does virtually everything the PC game does. Advantage, because old football games are worth noting I've seen it as low as £2. If you've somehow never played this series and like Football, well worth a go but beware it's basically a playable spreadsheet. 9/10

Forza 2 - Chances are, if you think you'll like this, you will. If you don't you'll play it like a twat and delete any posts disagreeing with you. Like Gran Turismo 4 but better in ever conceivable way and plenty of bezzie mates to race - 10/10.

Full Auto - Frame rate problems mar a crash filled racing game with some great locations. I really enjoyed it but that was long before Flatout appeared and even at the fiver you can probably get it for it just has no reason to exist now. - 5/10

Grand Theft Auto 4 - The best GTA game certainly, many of SA's problems are gone at the cost of very few of its good points. The driving is good, the shooting is better, the main character is likable and the story almost comprehensible. - 9/10.

Halo 3 - Not played it. No really.

King Kong - FPS that does some very interesting things with the movie plot (You can "be" Kong) but a last-gen port and it does often show. You'll run through it in 5-6 hours for the achievement points and enjoy yourself but 3 years into the 360's life there's just so many better games even at a fiver or so. 5/10.

Nascar 08 - Like Nascar 09, but less good in absolutely every single way and thanks to its UK rareity, not any cheaper either. 3/10 now.

Nascar 09 - If you're not into Nascar let me give this a 0 right now. If you are you'll be impressed. The career mode is good, the 360 now makes a very very nice fist of throwing 43 cars around (are you listening Turn 10?) and it's really quite deep, packed with racing fan squeeables. Again though, if you don't know who Mark Martin is and can't explain the Daytona 500 qualifying procedure you'll just feel you're turning left a lot. 8/10

Need for Speed Carbon - They're trying. They really are. It's not bad but still it's the new slightly souless, slightly wooly driving, slightly overcomplex game progression NFS of the "Underground" era and that's just "meh". I'm told Most wanted is better. 6/10.

Pro Evo 6 - They're not trying. There's a reason this is £3.99 in GAME - 2/10

Project Gotham 3 - Rated on the basis you can buy it for pennies. Slow loading yet missing all the excellent slow cars from 1 and 2, PGR 3 nonetheless provides a decent diversion. 8/10

Project Gotham 4 - I know it's better than 3, I really do. But I've just not been able to get into this one. Maybe I'm burnt out on PGR... 6/10

Race Driver : Grid - Deep career mode with a few major flaws punched in face by inconsistent physics engine. At its best I've played nothing ever that's felt more like being in an actual motor racing when playing the AI, at its worst a nightmare. When it's £18 I recommend unreservedly but for now - 7/10.

Ridge Racer 6 - Sublime, easily the pinnacle of the Ridge Racer series even including 7 (although admittedly it's close). Takes a while to get tricky but has super track variety and a massive career mode. Also online. As a launch game you can probably find someone who'll sell it for the price of a Starbar and as such - 9/10.

Saint's Row - Seriously, I should just stop buying games shouldn't I? Not played it.

Sega Rally - Not quite your Grandad console's Sega Rally but a stupendous first (and last) effort from Sega Racing Studio. It feels right, it looks right. I'm not sure the game progression isn't a little over complex for a Sega Rally game but still - 8/10

Star Trek Legacy - Not ("Played it" - ed)

Test Drive Unlimitted - Still my favourite 360 game. It's by no means perfect, the frame rate is iffy, some of the game progression is iffier still and it's not even that cheap if you buy the car packs (and you WILL love it enough to do so) but having the whole of Hawaii (and it looks GORGEOUS) to drive fast cars around in is worth the price of admission on it's own. A game so charmingly done with clearly massive love for the project from its creators that little flaws just don't matter. 10/10.

Tomb Raider Legend - Short maybe but humorously done and a massive return to form for the series. Gets two extra points for managing to use Cornwall as a punchline. A very strong storyline and decent characters maintain interest even when it stutters with (for example), a hideous motorcycle section. 9/10

Tomb Raider Anniversary - A remake of the first game using the Legend engine. Trouble is that means most of the flaws of game 1 are there too. And bonus QTE sections. The lack of being able to mess with the story means the entertaining banter with home base and the villians is missing too and none of the set pieces are half as smart as Legends. It's ok to good but seriously, play Legend first - 6/10.

Xbox Live Unplugged - Little point unless you see it cheap this is simply 6 early XBLA games on 1 disk. They range from the essential Geometry Wars : Retro Evolved, to the very clever Wik and Outpost Kalooki, to the "my mum plays this" bejewelled 2, to the "It's poker" Texas Hold'em Poker and the "Why?" Hardwood Backgammon. The first 3 are a total of about £15's worth on XBLA and this way you can lend the disk to your mates too. 9/10 most because everyone in the world should have GW:RE.

Yes I know the average mark is high, I DID buy these. I can certainly point you at some crap if you like.

As an addendum, can I reiterate that the marks for Football Manager, Forza and Nascar all rely on you having some love for the source material.

No syphilis, brooms or apples required thanks (unless these apples have been fermented and magically turned into falling-down juice, of course).

PM me a postal address if you want it. You get mine in return so that you know I'm not a stalker / weirdo*


*Much.

Oh, okay then...

Assassin's Creed - get it only if you try Crackdown but find that having outrageous awesome fun isn't your thing, and you want to watch lots of cut-scenes and push 'up' lots instead. But teh graphix!! etc.

Beautiful Katamari - eh. Mixed feelings about this. It's okay, but it's not half as much fun to play as I imagined it would be. YMMV etc.

Bioshock - if you liked System Shock 2, you'll like this etc.

Bullet Witch - an average third-person shooter. There are better ones on the 360. About as good as the hideously overrated Earth Defence Force 2017 though etc.

Bully - massively overrated in my opinion, but still decent. Buggy and with shit controls, mind. Again, YMMV etc.

Crackdown - awesome, vertigo-inducing climb-em-up. With guns and rockets and cars and multiplayer and co-op etc.

Burnout Paradise - er, I don't particularly like this. But everyone else does. So it's probably just me being a hideous twat and trying to be different and difficult just for the sake of it etc.*

Call of Duty 2 - the second-best one. Not as good as Infinity's Ward's critically-acclaimed Call... etc.

Call of Duty 4 - The single-player is still entirely shit and desperately overrated - to play, that is. But it has a couple of awesome playable cut-scenes that tend to overshadow this. It's a bit good online etc.

Cars - I like this, though I seem to have encountered some kind of infuriating bug whereby I can't 'progress'. I think. A kid's game really, but a good one. It has different race types, including NASCAR and straight-up Burnout-style dashing about, all linked with a charming-enough free-roaming world. Or, to be lazy, it's Burnout Pixardise, Grand Theft Pixar etc.

Civilization Revolution - Excellent. Doesn't have the depth (and so probably not the longevity) of the mighty, mighty CIV** but it's definitely good - it's just different. Far faster-paced than its PC predecessors, I'm eagerly awaiting some other cunt buying it so that I can completely crush and dominate them. In real life, etc.

The Club - Mehh. It's alright. Definitely worth a tenner, I'd say, but not particularly captivating. It *is* interestingly different though. I'd say it's the closest that the 360 has to a silly, balls-out 'adult' shooter like Max Payne, Max Payne 2 etc.


This, etc.

Forza 2 - It's the best 'realistic' driving game that I have played, definitely, yo. Take that as you want to, YMMV again etc.


This, again, etc.

Halo 3 - a decent single-player game. A fine multiplayer game (the 'IT'S COD4 OR NOTHING!' brigade are very wrong, but that's what happens when you forget how to play something properly ). An absolutely fucking superb 4-way co-op game, played on 'Legendary' difficulty, that absolutely everybody should play through at some point, with three Bezzies watching their backs and checking their six. In real life, etc.

Conan - very decent barbarian-em-up. Although, it does have frustrating bosses, and it gets sucky towards the end. Just like real life, etc.

Fight Night 3 - For a last-gen port, this is a still fine-looking game, and very amusing and playable, especially when drunk and on multiplayer - but also very entertaining and compellingly difficult in single-player. Any game that lets you 'be' Muhammed Ali is worth a few quid IMO YMMV etc.

Frontlines - it's sort of like splendid PC online multiplayer series Battlefield, and indeed the team origianted from a Battlefield mod. However it's just not popular enough (when I played it), leaving to impressively large and potentially interesting maps that are empty and boring. Plus, you can't 'do' voice-chat with Bezzies, without twattery,and then not properly. Stick with Infinity's Ward's critically-acclaimed Call... etc.


again, again, etc.

Gears of War - the most homo-erotic game I've ever played (though still not as romantic as The Darkness, alas). It's good, but with Halo 3, COD4, and the like, there's not really a place for it IMO YMMV LOL etc.

Star Trek Legacy - Erm. Plus points: it has WILLIAM SHATNER's voice. It is initially, superficially pretty and stuff. Plot-wise, it's not bad, and it's a decent 'cap' on things. Negatives: everything else. Over-complicated and sluggish controls, repetitive audio, actually quite crappy graphics (such as when destroying anything big - it just looks shit), hour-long missions that can be fucked up and require restarting in the final minutes, no WILLIAM SHATNER's face etc.

Guitar Hero II - excellent fun, still the best Guitar Hero game. You'll love slapping your whammy to Tattooed Love Boys. In real life, etc.

Mass Effect - deathly dull conversation-em-up. Mildly amusing for me because I met GazChap (in dim lighting, at night, whilst tired) the night before getting it, and the lead bloke looks exactly like how I remember GazChap looking. You spend the game either staring at his face, whilst engaging in dull chats, or staring at his arse whilst he minces about. I've heard from Craster and others that the story is good, and so I'm willing to believe it 'gets good' Just not in the TWELVE FUCKING HOURS that I gave it. Not worth it even for the jiggly buttocks, etc.

Oblivion - it's an RPG! If this is the sort of thing that you think you'd like, then you'd probably like this, etc.

The Orange Box - Less worth it since nobody*** plays it on-line anymore for Team Fortress 2. But if you like Half-Life 2, or want to give it a go, then fuck, y'all are gonna have a real swell time now y'hear? And, it's definitely, actually, really worth getting just for Portal alone. There is no cake, etc.

Prey - A perfectly fine quake-style FPS. Y'know - a bit lumbering, more about shiny engine than fast gameplay at times. But, but, it's actually, good, too! The wall-walking, perspective-distorting, head-fucking portals business is superb too, and an excellent companion piece to Portal. Gets bonus points for using (Don't Fear) The Reaper to atmospheric, slightly spine-tingingling effect. Plus, you can shoot tiny, crying ghostly children. In real life, etc.

* Nah.
** Civilization IV. CIV. I love that.
*** Bezzies

Cos its 1 am and I'm bored but cant sleep, I'll "do a Dudley" with my 360 titles.
Expect less words and paradoxically more BS:


GTA4 - Its GTA in hi res with an overlong into (some 8 hours) but then kicks in around the 20% complete mark. Beautiful art direction. Satisfying online and single player. 9/10

Orange Box - for the £20 I paid 2nd hand, its a bargain. 5 great games in one to some extent, more like 2.5 games to some people. 9/10

Condemned 1 - pant wetting crime scene melee FPS 9/10
Condemed 2 - pant wetting FPS with super powers 7/10

GRAW 1 - ace face next gen combat game for £5 ? 9/10
GRAW 2 - more of the above for £10? yes please 9/10

Forza 2 - geek racing simulator. I hate them. It was free. Its fun to crash into Dimrill. 9/10

Guitar Hero 3 - 10/10 cos its ace

Guitar Hero 2 - 8/10 cos of the covers

Rock band - 9/10 cos its not hard enough

The Club - not played, still sealed. Demo was 4/10 for me.

Dead Rising - fucking hard fucking frustrating fucking zombie massacre! - 8/10

Call of Duty 4 - great single player and hugely frustrating / rewarding in equal measure online experience. Definitely a must buy - 9/10

Assasins Creed - Ubisoft get a good idea then cum all in the harddrives of their game making machine leading to a repetitive self indulgent work of art - 6.5 / 10

BioShock - beautiful but shallow FPS, gorgeous to look at, bit boring to play. limited - 7.5/10

Skate - definitely one of my favourite 360 games, eye popping graphics for a sports game, balanced, excellent learning curve, fun to play online, pick up and play at any time. deep. 10/10

Frontlines fuel of war - not too fussed about this one. Large maps, but 2nd rate graphics, and I didnt like the single player. coulda done better. 5 / 10

Rainbow 6 vegas - single player is very impressive, graphics ace, gameplay VERy challenging. frustrating, but you dont really feel cheated, just like you werent good enough, which is easier to accept. Coop is great fun. Online, havent found it that easy to find a game. for the peanuts its available for - 9/10 i heard number 2 is just like an add on, so go with this.




obviously if you dont like guitars or skateboards, ignore those games.

Staple them all together into a giant, slightly boxy, luminescent green replica of The Incredible Hulk? Dudley is sort of like the Hulk. All 'Raarrrr!' and angry and that.

(Stewie Griffin)

Your funny. And it makes me laugh.

You idiot. Play it now. Don't even try to argue with me.

Oi! Crackdown is MY ONE. Stop stealing my one. Insist he play something else, dagnabbit.

That, of course, appears to be a US site.

The holy bible for these things, my Oxford English Dictionary (yes, I went and looked this up this morning), defines "Initialism" as "n. acronym". And that's it.

"Acroynm" is, of course, defined as "a name or term formed from the initial letters of a group of words and pronounced as a separate word, such as Nato, Laser", so you're right about what "acronym" means, at least.

So we're actually left without a word which covers things like HDD or HDMI, assuming we all agree "abbreviation" isn't it.

How vexing.

All - thank you for your recomendations - I will probably be sticking with Forza 2, Burnout Paradise and COD4 for some while,as I've spent all my money buying the Eggbox.

Indeed, yes, the Oxford English Dictionary, expressing an initialism as a synonym for an acronym. Well that tells me! According to that notoriously untrustworthy pack of lies, Wikipedia:


Like I said - don't be mad, you've learned a new word. Sssssh. Sssssh, calm, yourself, Mr. Chris. Calm.

GTFO :hat:

Don't forget it coems with Devil May Cry 4!

this is the best 360 game without a doubt for me, Ive been vexed by games tm for taking it out of the top 10 360 games when its clearly the best.

No, it defined "initialism" as "acronym". That "n. Acronym" was the sole entry under "initialism". I don't have the full three volume version of the OED, of course, but still, if it had more than one meaning I'm pretty sure they'd have dropped the second one in there even in my one volume version.



Indeed I have, which I've acknowledged. I have learned a new word for "acronym".
I've also learned what "acronym" actually means though, so it's been a good day for me.

Calmer than you are.

/Walter.

To quote (almost) Penny Arcade: "Do you know what else means 'acronym'? Fucking 'acronym'!"

Hey if that means that I'm The Dude, I'm more than happy to acquiesce with just about anything!

Fuck it Dude. Let's go bowling.

Walter is possibly (and possibly worringly) my favourite character ever in anything.

Heh. Mmm... it's certainly the best role I've ever seen John Goodman play*. And it's almost certainly my favourite film ever.

Nihilists... I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude - at least it's an ethos.

* other than King Ralph obviously...

I also rather liked Mr Goodman as the Speaker of the House in West Wing when he steps in as President - he's a very, very good actor - far more so than his time in Roseanne might suggest.

Also - the exterminator in Arachnophobia, man. Awesomes.

But yes, Big Lebowski is my favouritist film ever too. If nothing else, it introduced me to White Russians.

I know what you mean. Yet, he was nominated for the Best Actor Emmy (not what it's actually called) about eight times, and for a slew of other awards too. See.

Glad to see he won one, for his guest turn in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip; can't say if he was best, but he was very good indeed in that.

He was pretty good when he made an appearence in Studio 60 too.

Award-winningly good, no less.

Dudley - have you seen all of Studio 60? I really want to have a conversation with someone about the hilarious awfulness of the last episode, and it's "Everything wrapped up all nicely because we've been cancelled" nature. I do genuinely wonder if it was intended as a piss-take. Really very good up until then.

John Walker has expounded at length abut Studio 60. So much so that I'm probably not going to bother watching it.

I haven't seen the last 5 or so I'm afraid. Knowing all involved, I can well believe it's a piss take yes.

On a related note, EVERYONE get hold of the run of Sports Night. It's a comedy by the West Wing/Studio 60 people about the running of a late night sports news show and it was consistently brilliant.

OOOOOOH.

Guess what just turned up?

Did it look like it'd been packaged by someone that was insane?

An elephant?
A slug?

In a box that it didn't actually fit into?

I got really excited by the Elite box and thought you'd gotten confused and sent the wrong eggbox.

Small query - can you get the manual online?

Second small query - what on earth have you covered the controller in?

IS IT MY IPHONE????

edit: oh. *kicks empty pop can disconsolately* down road*

* Clever wording I know, cheers.

A new kid? That was quick. Congratulations! Three now - blimey!

Grim... really likes consoles.

He has had Craster round to play with it, what did you expect?

(Sorry, Mr Craster)

Edit: See, he even tried to deflect the blame.

What is it with big beardy men on this forum covering their 360 controllers in dubious substances?

Welcome to your future, Mr Chris!

Was the controller covered in Foie Gras and Hawkman feathers?

That's why I mentioned it a while ago


http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/syste ... anuals.htm (but it's all really simple)


I don't know. Er... Is it dirty?

I forgotted....



Cool! Thanks.

Things tend to be complicated for me these days as I have lost my branes to sleep deprivation.



Not so much, no. Just wanted to cast some innuendo your way...

Manual?!!?! YOU ARE NOT A MAN!

I didn't actually check it when it came back from the fixers, so I'm now really worried that it won't work

Ha!

Well, we'll soon find out.

My dog said the same thing after he came back from the vet's last week.

Awesome.

Let's get Mr Chris on CoD tonight and kill him mercilessly.