How would you fix the 360?

Fhaze · 01-03-2007, 11:53 AM

I love my 360, however if Microsoft is going to win the next gen battle I think everyone would agree there are key areas they need to address. What are the top three things you would change about the 360? Mine are in order of importance:

1.) New version
We all know this is going to happen its just a matter of when. If they partnered with EB Games/BestBuy etc. to offer a trade in of your existing unit and then pay $200(max) for a new quieter unit/bigger hard drive/HDMI, sign me up.
2.) XBLA
If you say you are going to release a game a week on a Wednesday, do it. If not, don't say it.
3.) Gold Memberships
Make it worthwhile. Start by hosting popular games on dedicated servers and giving some exclusive content to gold members.

FlyACL · 01-03-2007, 12:11 PM

Well, I see this is your first post so let me start by saying welcome to the site!

I have seen a number of these type of threads on how to improve the 360/XBL/XBLA/Etc. I think it is hard when it is to general like "How would you fix the 360?". To me that implies something is broken and needs fixing. And in the case of the 360 I just don't think that is true.

But understand what you were going for. I will have to think some more if I am going to just list three. But for now, I will comment on your list.

I think you have a nice list. I too believe that a new version is coming. As to if people actually need to upgrade that is going to greatly depend on how you use your 360 and what type of TV you have. The number of people who actually have a HDTV that can accept and/or display a 1080p signal is pretty small. So I don't see a lot of people having to upgrade just for HDMI. As for the hard drive I think more people would be interested in that but only at the right price. They would also have to come up with some type of method to transfer the stuff from my current drive. Personally I would like to see a version that attaches in between the 360 and my current drive allowing me to use both. I don't think it will happen. But I can dream.

XBox Live Wednesday! As Major Nelson tried to clarify on his podcast and blog, this does not mean there will be a game every week. It just means when there is a game it will come out on a Wednesday. But I will say if the Wii can pound out tons of VC games, I think MS should be able to make it so a game does come out every week. Personally I just wish they would put out Worms already and just get it over with...

Last is the Gold memberships. I agree with you here. Give us something besides early access to content. Dedicated servers would be awesome and I fully believe they are going to do it for Halo 3. But I don't see them doing for any others. How about a free XBLA game a month or one free movie download per month. Something like that would be nice. And it would actually encourage people to join Live and use the download service. The movie thing would really cost them nothing.

Anyway, I will get back with my 3 improvements. Take care and again, welcome to the site!

Fhaze · 01-03-2007, 02:14 PM

FlyAcl

Yeah, I realized after the title wasn't the best for the thread. Possibly something along the lines of "What do you think Microsofts strategy should be moving forward" or something to that effect. I just feel these are the points that will be sore spots for 360 owners that the competitors will pick away at. HDMI I could possibly care less about. However, Sony will keep bringing this option up every chance they get. So I think Microsoft needs to put the port on, or if they can just deliver a cable that will do HDMI. I find it sad that I am kind of wishing that my 360 gets a red ring of death so I might be able to get a quieter one. If a new version is released I will want it, however I don't want to buy the console over again.

Fhaze