Exactly, also on a console you can play your mates online because again everyone has a console.

Messing around trying to make a PC like a console is a bit pointless to me, the only reason I would get a PC is to have amazing FPS (Frames per second I mean) and Graphics, of which don't really matter enough to me to justify buying and updating one.

I'm tempted to buy another Xbox 360 as I haven't had one of the new ones. Currently have a PS3 but I arn't a big gamer at all any more currently only have 2 games but mainly use it to watch my Blu rays. Have missed been able to play games such as GOW3. Does any one know any offers going on good deals?

None of my mates play PC games but I've met loads of people playing PC games. There is definitely more of a 'community' with the ability to chat a lot easier and the transition to forums, IRC, etc. simpler.

Apparently the next Xbox will be sold on a similar basis as a mobile phone contract. Eg. console only £450 ish, console with 12 months Xbox Live £200 up front plus £12 a month, console with 24 months Xbox Live £100 up front and £12 a month, console with 24 months Xbox Live plus music, TV & movies subscriptions £0 up front and £25 a month.

They have started trialing it by selling current gen 360s in the states for $89 plus 24 months Live subscription at $14.99. That's a £250 console for £60 up front.

I think it's a brilliant concept on two fronts. Firstly take up of the new console will be far higher than usual. A 'normal' console release sees relatively slow sales as people are put off by the massive price they put on them to recover the development costs as quickly as possible. But this way, there would be potentially nothing to pay up front and many people are already paying for Live anyway, so upgrading to the new console could be extremely cheap. Secondly it will massively increase the take up of Live if people are getting it when they buy the console and know they are paying for it.

Clever by Microsoft if true...

No one know any good deals going about for a 360 which isn't the 4gb version?

Sainsbury's were doing save £60 on a new console when you spend £30 on games or accesseries, not 100% sure if this makes it a decent price or if the offers still on though.

That sounds decent but also pretty crud. If it becomes a 'contract' situation, what happens to the kids that want to go out and spend their Christmas money on one? What about the younger people who want to get one, but maybe don't have the credit rating? How many parents do you know that buy their children mobile phones on contract? Maybe teenagers, but not children. If Microsoft go that way, it will only make Nintendo do even better IMO. They already have the under-12 market by the balls, if Microsoft basically go out and say we only want people to be paying monthly for our service like a phone, are they basically saying they don't want offline gamers anymore? If they value the console at £400+, they're pricing out quite a large percentage of people who just want to go to a shop and buy a console, especially if those people decide at a later date that they want to invest in Live.

It's a good idea from Microsoft, and it will definitely work for a portion of gamers, but I wouldn't be interested in taking something out on a contract and, judging by the many people I know with 360s and PS3s, I doubt they would be either.

Those figures aren't real, just examples. In this scenario the contract idea is optional. You can still buy the console outright if you choose to and the estimation of £450-£500 includes the assumption that it'll come with an improved Kinect sensor. It's basically just an interest free deal assuming you're paying for Live anyway. I know I wouldn't be paying £400+ for a console on launch, I'd wait at least 12 months until the price had halved.

The PS3 was £400 at launch in the UK, so I'd say the next gen from both Sony and MS will at least match that.

The next Xbox won't come out for £400. I think realistically it'll be £350 tops.

I do think the option to pay monthly is a good move in terms of encouraging people to take up the new console at launch when the prices are at their highest and also getting people signed up to Xbox live gold.

The current deal they have is you get a new Xbox + kinect sensor for $99 if you sign up to a 2 year Xbox live gold subscription which runs at $15 a month. So overall you work out to have paid more then if you had just bought the console outright, but you do get to spread out the cost quite a lot.

There's a lot of people out there who would be interested in the new machine but maybe couldn't pay out 3-400 in one go for a machine plus peripherals and games, but could pay, say £15 per month over 24 months making a total outlay for the machine of £360.

More importantly, they'll have to carry over Gamerscore and achievements, right?

That sounds like a really good idea. I would imagine most people who buy an xbox would want a live subscription anyway, so it makes sense really.
If, by the time the next gen consoles come around, I have space for more than one console then I will seriously consider buying the next iterations from both Sony and Microsoft, especially if a deal like this becomes reality.

Its already a reality in the US. I imagine if it takes off there then we will see a similar scheme here. Im pretty sure doing it for the 360 now is just a dry run ahead of new consoles being announced/launched next year

I'm currently not interested in a new console. I'm not really interested in my current console if I'm being honest, I'm having far more fun playing small, 69p games on my iPod than I am playing £40 games on my PS3. IMO, developers really need to give up this cinema-esque experience we currently get with games and go back to getting the core gameplay and longevity right. I remember when I was a kid growing up, every time I got a new game, my mates at school would be telling me about a new one that was also great. Now when I speak to people, it's all CoD and Fifa; where's the innovation? Fresh ideas? Where's the challenge? Trophies and achievements just don't cut it for me. Maybe I'm just being old man grumpy, but every time I go to the gaming shops, read reviews etc., I always feel underwhelmed. Console gaming is getting boring now, maybe I need to buy a Wii and play some kiddy games to truly appreciate what I have on the PS3. Or maybe I just need to start playing the minis and so on on the PS Store, as I imagine those quirky small games are quite fun.

Try the Japanese market. Generally rubbish controls and game play but overall thats where the best ideas come from.

I created a Japanese PSN account once to try and download their crazy demos, but the language barrier got in the way.

I like the Japanese and their crazy ideas. I'd love to see the Monster Hunter games over here.

There are still enough good games about, it's just the marketing men know what sells. If people stopped buying stupid military FPS games by the bucketload, developers might look a bit further afield. There have been plenty of fantastic games over the last 12 months, far more than I've been able to keep up with anyway.

We're now 20 years+ into the development cycle of computer games. I really think we've run out of genuinely new ideas. What is there that hasn't already been done?

Had the last week off work so finally had chance to give my ps3 a proper go rather than the odd hour I usually get. Got really into LA Noire even though alot people I know don't like it cos its not GTA. Journey and Arkham City are better than I thought they would be too!

FIFA 12 has got to be the worst football game I've ever played. I've seen more realism from World Cup Italia '90 & European Club Soccer on the Mega Drive. At least you can pass to a player and strikers play up front on that game!

Know the feeling mate. Most backward game ever.

I don't really get your point. Are you suggesting you can't pass to players in FIFA? And that strikers don't play up front?

Both seem relatively bizarre suggestions. I could understand criticism of the lack of variety and ping pong passing, but not that.

It's awful mate, simply awful. Me and my mate were that annoyed with it, we put PES2008 on the PS2 and it was a much smoother, flowing game.

Well since I stated the above in my last post, then yeah, I guess I am suggesting that. However, it's not really a suggestion, just a statement of fact. Having played the game quite a number of times against my brother in law a couple of weeks ago, and seeing how awful the passing is, how it never goes to the player you want it to (or goes out of play), how utterly terrible the through ball pass is (which never ever reaches your intended target) and how whenever you are on the attack (even when playing ultra attacking), as the ball carrier approaches the half way line, your striker is actually running BEHIND the man with the ball, I feel that I have valid reasons to call this game utter e.

Now I know you're a bit of a FIFA buff, you play it all the time, so you will be weaing the EA/FIFA tinted specs, however I am also a football fan, enjoy my football games, actually own FIFA 10 & 11 (which were much better) but I stand by my comment that FIFA 12 is quite possibly one of the worst football games I have ever played. I'm dreading when FIFA '13 comes out.



Not bizarre in the slightest. I've seen it first hand, it frustrates the hell out of me. In actual fact, the ping pong passing is more accurate than passing to feet. But I'm not a long ball kinda person, but playing this game, you have to be.

And don't get me started on the pathetically unrealistic crossing of the ball from the flanks. Anyone would think you were playing in a wind tunnel the way the cross whips in, and then ends up curving in a 90 degree angle and heading back towards the half way line.

Agreed. This is what Saddened never grasps with Fifa. The almost moronic pace in which Fifa is played really is frustrating. I don't mind it being hard, but when it's endless closing down, endless AI gaffs and infuriatingly repetitive, it really is shown up when you go back to the older PES games and realise what made them so great.

I remember when last year's PES demo came out, the original demo was outstandingly good. The football was played at varying speeds, but it was so realistic and seemed like a 'proper' footy game. Then they updated it and it was awful: fast, dumb and ugly to look at. I keep my fingers crossed that Konami release a smash hit this summer, but I really can't see it. They're not only well behind in the gameplay stakes, they're well behind in the game mode area as well. It will take a miracle for them to better Fifa, but if they can get the gameplay better (which isn't hard), then they'll have 80% of the job done.

[url=http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/man_spends_decade_playing_epic_pc_gamethis guy needs to get out more![/url

So finally decided to get myself another xbox (had a first gen xbox years ago). I went to with the deal from Sainsburys which a poster on this thread told me about, thankyou for that btw


I bought Ghost Recon: Future Soldier with the console and then bought GOW3 for £15.
Next I'm going to buy Halo Reach and then I reckon I'll wait for:
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Medal of Honour (looks better than the new COD imo)
Hitman: Absolution
GOW4
Crysis 3
and the game I'm most looking forward to is, The last of us! Looks brilliant.

When all of these come out though I do not know.