AMN 2005 Holiday Buyer's Guide - Part One
Laptop Battery Part One of AMN's 2005 Holiday Buyer's Guide
Part Two of AMN's 2005 Holiday Buyer's Guide
Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And since weve no place to go, lets just sit on our butts and play video games. Its the holiday season once again, also known as the time of the year when all the biggest and most highly anticipated releases of the year take place. All console owners have something to keep themselves happy this year, although some may have wider smiles than others. Sit back as AMN takes you on a journey through all the most anticipated releases in the entertainment world coming out this holiday season for each major platform. At the end, the guys from the upcoming AMN channel Gadgets Advanced will take us on a tour of all the hottest tech toys for the holiday season as well. Hopefully well have something in here that will wind up wrapped in colorful holiday paper with your name on it.
Say hello to the first chapter in the next generation of gaming. Undoubtedly, the Xbox 360 is the most highly anticipated item of the holiday season. People have been preordering the machine since before they even knew that there would be multiple packages to choose from. The Xbox 360 is a powerhouse of a console and will launch will an array of games, but first let's take a look at what youll be getting with your hardware purchase alone.
Packaging for the Premimum (left) and Core System (right) bundles If you purchase the $299 package, youre going to pay less, but youre going to get less out of your purchase. Youll receive the core system and component A/V cables. You also get a corded controller, and thats honestly it. Every Xbox unit comes with a free basic Xbox Live Silver membership, but to connect to the
Live network, you will have to have a memory unit which alone costs $40. If you spring an extra hundred for the $399 package, you save a ton of cash in the end by getting all the extras you need to be fully functional and ready to do anything your system is capable of. With the Premium bundle, you receive: The core system, a wireless controller + rechargeable battery (a $50 value together), the Media Remote for DVD and music playback ($30 value), the External 20GB Hard drive ($99 value alone and required for Xbox Backwards compatibility), and the Xbox Live Headset ($30 value, but any cordless headset will do as well). If you dont own a headset, this totals up to $100 on its own. Without the hard drive, youll need the memory unit, and to get the full use out of your machine, youll need all of the other gear. In reality, the premium bundle saves you a ton.
Whichever way you go, youre going to be hard pressed to find one this winter. The Xbox 360 was released Tuesday November 22, and will be released across the rest of the world within about a weeks time. Production facilities can only produce a certain amount of units within the holiday time period, so there will undoubtedly be a 100 percent sellout of all bundles. Add to the fact that the machine is launching just before Black Friday (November 25th, the busiest shopping day of the year), and youve got yourself what is likely to be one of the craziest console launches in history. Best to be first in line because theyll go fast. Just dont forget to pick up your Xbox Live Gold Account activation membership card if you dont already have an account so that you can get the full use out of the system. Good luck young padawans. Also, be forwarned that as with almost all past console launches, Microsoft has accidently put out a few defective units. The odds of gettin gone are slim, but if you do wind up with one, Microsoft will repair/replace it for you free of charge and pay for all shipping, so don't let this minor issue keep you from your 360 this Holiday season.
Now for a look at some of the biggest titles that will be available this winter.
Xbox 360 Games Perfect Dark Zero - Out Now
Here is the Xbox 360s Halo killer. Courtesy of legendary developer
Rare,
Perfect Dark Zero tells the story of Perfect Agent Joanna Dark and the trials and tribulations that made her the person she is. It features a long and immensely detailed mission and up to 32 players over Xbox Live. Its undoubtedly a system seller, but whether it will be available on day one is up in the air. Microsoft says it will release in the launch window, but wont commit to a firm date. Either way, it will be out before Christmas and is undoubtedly one of the best reasons to buy an Xbox 360.
Kameo: Elements of Power - Out Now
Kameo shares a heritage with
Perfect Dark Zero in the fact that it started as a GameCube title, was moved to Xbox then bumped to Xbox 360s launch. The countless months of development have more than paid off. Join Kameo in her epic quest to save her people in one of the most beautiful games ever created, as well as the record holder for the game with the most on-screen fully 3D characters in console gaming history (4000 or more). Featuring gameplay from the platforming masters at Rare, and an epic soundtrack from Steve Burke and the City of Prague Philharmonic,
Kameo is one memorable experience. Also, seeing as the bug testing phase was complete in October,
Kameo is also guaranteed for launch day.
Dead or Alive 4 - Out Now
Leave it to Team Ninja to make sure there is a
DOA game available for the launch of the next Xbox.
DOA4 strives to be the most beautiful looking, sounding, playing, and almost perfect game in the fighting genre. The game doesnt really make any major changes to the formula that has made the series so legendary, but that is by no means a bad thing.
DOA4 includes new characters, Live play, some of the most beautiful fighters to ever exist, new story twists, and many of the most elaborate, interactive, and multi-tiered arenas ever to be attempted in a fighter.
Project Gotham Racing 3 - Out Now
Following in the tradition of blending the arcade and simulation experience,
Project Gotham Racing 3 offers gamers an unparalleled racing experience that will be available on launch day. Career mode, Street Race, Eliminator, Team Street Race, Capture the Track, King of the Hill, and Photo mode help round out the available options. The games visuals easily give it the title of most visually stunning racing game ever with over 80,000-95,000 polygons per car.
Madden NFL 06 - Out Now
Though it will arrive a little late compared to its other incarnations on the current machines,
Madden 06 will pack more visual punch than any other football game ever created. Still, next years version is bound to blow this one away with its brand new graphics engine (this one is an enhancement of the current gen engine) and this version lacks some of the options and modes of the less graphically polished versions. They were likely dropped to make launch. Either way, Madden is always a million seller and for this year, Xbox 360 has the most beautiful version of the game to date.
Ridge Racer 6 - Out Now
Its a tradition in the video game world for Namco to welcome a new game machine with a new
Ridge Racer. The PS1, PS2, DS, and PSP all had the honor, and now Xbox 360 will too. But this version will be the first game in the history of the series to offer Xbox Live functionality to go with the timeless arcade drift physics, not to mention the custom soundtrack option available to all Xbox 360 games. The game is built off of the engine that was used to make
Ridge Racers for PSP play so damn smoothly. As such,
Ridge Racer 6 should soon be the best looking, sounding, and playing game in the series.
Call of Duty 2 - Out Now
There have been countless World War II games over the years, but never before has one looked this real, and played so accurately.
Call of Duty 2 from Activision features probably the most advanced AI yet seen in a war sim, and will have a high difficulty level to please series fans. It uses the Xbox hard drive like
Elder Scrolls to kill loading times completely, and offers full 16 player Live support running at 60 FPS. If youre a War Sim fan, here is an unforgettable experience.
Xbox 360 will also feature a multitude of content available on the Xbox Live Arcade for purchase including
Joust, Hoopworld, Hexic HD, Hardwod Spades, Hardwood Hearts, Hardwood Backgammon, Geometry Wars 2, Gauntlet, Feeding Frenzy, Crystal Quest, Bejeweled, and
Astropop. Each game you buy will be saved to your Xbox 360 hard drive and will feature full Xbox Live online functionality.
Need more on Xbox 360? Be sure to check out our Xbox 360 Launch Buyer's Guide
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