Thinking About an Xbox

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: V00DOO
I am modding my Xbox as I writing this. I was going to get the solderless but decided against it due the fact many people complaint of the solderless misallignment. I got the Executer 2.3 lite. I started soldering last week when I decide to mod the Xbox myself. The hardest point to solder is the D0. You can use the alternative D0 point on the back of the motherboard which is a lot easier to solder. All wires were soldered and I am ready to put everything back and see if it boots. Wish me luck.

Did you solder the d0 point? I tried putting tape and it wouldn't work so I worked up the courage to solder the d0 point on the underside of the motherboard. I just thinned the wire with solder and placed the wire in place, and touched the iron over it. It was very easy.

 

[V00DOO]

Original Quoted By Nocturnal: Did you solder the d0 point? I tried putting tape and it wouldn't work so I worked up the courage to solder the d0 point on the underside of the motherboard. I just thinned the wire with solder and placed the wire in place, and touched the iron over it. It was very easy.

Yes, I did solder the d0 point on the back. It was very easy. I soldered it exactly the way you did, I thinned the wire with solder and touched the iron over it for a split second. Keep in mind I bought the soldering iron last week and have never solder anything before. I did practiced soldering on my old BX motherboard before attempting to solder the xbox. Although my hand was nervously shaking while soldering the Xbox. I just installed 160 GB hard drive and in the process of FTPing all the goodies over to the modded Xbox.

For those that wants to modded their own xbox, my advice are patience and practice. Take your time and practice the soldering before attempting on your Xbox.

 

[phreakah]

got my xbox back from being modded today.. got the chipless mod

dashboard

 

[Gurck]

Only reason to get a console is if there's a game or games out only for it & not the pc that you must play. Aside from that, the higher initial cost of a pc gets you much better looking & higher resolution games on top of everything else a PC can do; play music & movies, run word processers & spreadsheets, access the internet, edit photos & videos, etc etc etc - the list goes on almost infinitely. Further, the "need to update", as many put it, is mostly a game of keeping up with the Joneses imo; we (especially at AT) read about enthusiasts scorching their shorts over their new 6800gt and *have* to have one for ourselves, but often it's simply not necessary. My 2 year old ti4600 (they came out almost 3 years ago) can easily play current games and probably will be able to play new games in better-than-console resolutions & detail levels for another year or two... Far Cry in 10x7 v.high settings, Doom3 in 10x7 high settings... Upgrading was nice, but far from necessary (and I wouldn't even have done so if I didn't happen to need a card for my other pc).

 

[clicknext]

Are there any common places you can get your xbox modded that you can find in any town?

 

[shimsham]

get it. its fun. i use my xbox for sports, racing, action, and fighting games. i use my pc for strat, sim, and fps. its win win.

 

[ItsPat]

Fable went gold, should be an awesome rpg will be in stores in september.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: ItsPat
Fable went gold, should be an awesome rpg will be in stores in september.

Whoa, it did?! I know Sim2 just went gold recentl ytoo... Oh I can't wait....

 

[Hav0k99]

Originally posted by: LordSnailz
Any suggestions where we can pick up a xbox for a fairly decent price?

electronics boutique for $110 refurb (most come with the better samsung dvd drive)

 

[clicknext]

Originally posted by: Hav0k99

Originally posted by: LordSnailz
Any suggestions where we can pick up a xbox for a fairly decent price?

electronics boutique for $110 refurb (most come with the better samsung dvd drive)

How reliable are refurbs? Anything bad about them? I heard the older Xbox consoles came with a smaller hard drive or something?

 

[bigalt]

rpging on the xbox is pretty weak, but I really do like having it around for exactly the reason you are considering it.

if i get sick or something and i need a weekend of gaming, I can head to blockbuster and rent a game. And the best part is I know it will work without any work.

Gladius was interesting, but repetitive. My roommates played sudeki for a while, and I can't really think of another rpg we played, except for the gauntlet clone ones.

it is fantastic for sports games though.

and modding is super-easy, if you are at all handy you can do it yourself without problem.

 

[phreakah]

Originally posted by: clicknext

Originally posted by: Hav0k99

Originally posted by: LordSnailz
Any suggestions where we can pick up a xbox for a fairly decent price?

electronics boutique for $110 refurb (most come with the better samsung dvd drive)

How reliable are refurbs? Anything bad about them? I heard the older Xbox consoles came with a smaller hard drive or something?

the smaller hd would only be a problem if you dont plan on modding it, since you'll most likely put a larger one in there when you do.

Also, one thing to think about if you get a refurb is which model the DVD drive is.. i believe the ones that have the most trouble reading dvdr and cdrs are called thompson

 

[Hav0k99]

Originally posted by: phreakah

Originally posted by: clicknext

Originally posted by: Hav0k99

Originally posted by: LordSnailz
Any suggestions where we can pick up a xbox for a fairly decent price?

electronics boutique for $110 refurb (most come with the better samsung dvd drive)

How reliable are refurbs? Anything bad about them? I heard the older Xbox consoles came with a smaller hard drive or something?

the smaller hd would only be a problem if you dont plan on modding it, since you'll most likely put a larger one in there when you do.

Also, one thing to think about if you get a refurb is which model the DVD drive is.. i believe the ones that have the most trouble reading dvdr and cdrs are called thompson

yup thompsons's aren't as good as samsungs. Samsung drives have 2 wholes in the the tray. Thompsons have none. That's how you can tell. I highly recommend a refurb if you plan on modding.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: V00DOO

Original Quoted By Nocturnal: Did you solder the d0 point? I tried putting tape and it wouldn't work so I worked up the courage to solder the d0 point on the underside of the motherboard. I just thinned the wire with solder and placed the wire in place, and touched the iron over it. It was very easy.

Yes, I did solder the d0 point on the back. It was very easy. I soldered it exactly the way you did, I thinned the wire with solder and touched the iron over it for a split second. Keep in mind I bought the soldering iron last week and have never solder anything before. I did practiced soldering on my old BX motherboard before attempting to solder the xbox. Although my hand was nervously shaking while soldering the Xbox. I just installed 160 GB hard drive and in the process of FTPing all the goodies over to the modded Xbox.

For those that wants to modded their own xbox, my advice are patience and practice. Take your time and practice the soldering before attempting on your Xbox.

isn't it tinned the wire...not thinned.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: clicknext

Originally posted by: 5489
definitely buy it, even if the reason is just to mod it and use it as a media player on the big screen , that alone is worth the money you spend.

My computer is already hooked to my big screen. PC is the ultimate media player.

I rarely touch my computer since I got my xbox. I don't know if you have played it but Knights of the Old republic was a great game and so is Morrowind. Morrowind is actually driving me crazy right now, I have been playing for a couple weeks and I have barely scratched the surface.

I liked KOTOR somewhat, but I played Morrowind for about 20 hours and never was able to get into it so I eventually stopped. North American RPGs are just not for me. Maybe it's the complicated system, or maybe it's the fact that the D&D system shows through the game in the menus and dialogues and everything, but I just can't get used to them. Japanese RPGs appear more polished and straightforward to me.

That's the reason why after playing North American RPGs, Japanese RPGs are so easy now. Go in a straight line, go fight another boss. If you can't beat him after several tries and different ideas, level up and try again. Very little chance of screwing up.

 

[clicknext]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: clicknext

Originally posted by: 5489
definitely buy it, even if the reason is just to mod it and use it as a media player on the big screen , that alone is worth the money you spend.

My computer is already hooked to my big screen. PC is the ultimate media player.

I rarely touch my computer since I got my xbox. I don't know if you have played it but Knights of the Old republic was a great game and so is Morrowind. Morrowind is actually driving me crazy right now, I have been playing for a couple weeks and I have barely scratched the surface.

I liked KOTOR somewhat, but I played Morrowind for about 20 hours and never was able to get into it so I eventually stopped. North American RPGs are just not for me. Maybe it's the complicated system, or maybe it's the fact that the D&D system shows through the game in the menus and dialogues and everything, but I just can't get used to them. Japanese RPGs appear more polished and straightforward to me.

That's the reason why after playing North American RPGs, Japanese RPGs are so easy now. Go in a straight line, go fight another boss. If you can't beat him after several tries and different ideas, level up and try again. Very little chance of screwing up.

Yeah, I like linear RPGs because the story seems stronger. I never did notice much of a story in Morrowind, just faint glimpses of one in between wandering the world for hours.

I found what looks like a pretty good deal on a new Xbox: Console, 2 extra S controllers, and Project Gotham Racing for $250 CND, which is approximately $170 USD. I guess my only concern would be the DVD drive then. I'm guessing it's not possible to replace it? Is there any way to tell what kind it has from the box? Or at least how old the console is?

 

[imported_FishTaco]

Originally posted by: clicknext
*snip*

I found what looks like a pretty good deal on a new Xbox: Console, 2 extra S controllers, and Project Gotham Racing for $250 CND, which is approximately $170 USD. I guess my only concern would be the DVD drive then. I'm guessing it's not possible to replace it? Is there any way to tell what kind it has from the box? Or at least how old the console is?

I don't think you can tell what type of DVD till you open it. As for your second question, you can see the manufacture date through the little hole in the back of the box. The hole shows the sticker on the bottom of the xbox that has the serial number and the manufacture date.

 

[VIAN]

Used to be an owner of an Xbox. It broke right in the middle of a kickass game. DVD drive wouldn't read the discs anymore.

Also owned PS2 and Gamecube.

Personally, I never liked the graphics from PS2 because they always hurt my eyes. Gamecube had a lot of fun proprietary games. Xbox had some decent games. Xbox is about as fun as the Gamecube. PS2 has every cool game, included massive amounts of RPGs, all multiplatform hits which aren't worth getting other consoles for, and some proprietary games that kick ass.

I've since sold all my consoles to focus on PCgame because of some instances. I've actually encountered random bugs within the Xbox that stopped me from completing some games. How exactly would the company patch that. I notified the company, but they couldn't do anything and I was already hooked on the game. So F-that. PCs can be patched. Plus it would be too many games and too much money to support all three consoles plus a PC upgrade every two years. so the way I see it, it's either one or the other and PCs are much more fun than consoles.

How is the Xbox for RPG's, though? That's my favorite type of game. That, and hockey. I'm talking about japanese style RPGs such as Final Fantasy, Grandia, etc. I havn't actually seen any, so I'm wondering if that's a weak spot? It's a tough decision between the Xbox and PS2.

If RPGs are your thing then the PS2 is your console. Buying a console with better graphics isn't really a cool thing with this market right now. Because if a game is released on many consoles. 99.9% of the time it will be made with PS2 minimum specs so, there isn't gonna be any big differences between the other consoles.

Of course PS2, why would anyone say it has better graphics than PC?

The Voodoo5 actually has better graphics than the PS2, along with the Geforce2. Also the Dreamcast, RIP, had better graphics.

I rarely touch my computer since I got my xbox. I don't know if you have played it but Knights of the Old republic was a great game and so is Morrowind. Morrowind is actually driving me crazy right now, I have been playing for a couple weeks and I have barely scratched the surface.

Both available cheaper for the computer and it's easier to control with better or similar graphics.

In conclusion, if you want RPGs the PS2 is the console.

 

[clicknext]

Well, looks like it will be PS2 or nothing. I'll decide whether I'll buy anything after I've seen the workload for Grade 12. Thanks guys for your input.

 

[clicknext]

Well to update and maybe wrap up this thread, I got a PS2. Online bundle, with the network adapter and ATV Offroad 2. I also bought NHL 2K5 because I'm a hockey fan, and also got a memory card because Sony forces me to pay $35 for a stupid 8MB memory card. The RPGs in the end made me decide on PS2 over the other two systems.

One strange thing to note is that there is no firewire connector on the front of my PS2, unlike all the other ones I've seen. Strange.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: clicknext
Well to update and maybe wrap up this thread, I got a PS2. Online bundle, with the network adapter and ATV Offroad 2. I also bought NHL 2K5 because I'm a hockey fan, and also got a memory card because Sony forces me to pay $35 for a stupid 8MB memory card. The RPGs in the end made me decide on PS2 over the other two systems.

One strange thing to note is that there is no firewire connector on the front of my PS2, unlike all the other ones I've seen. Strange.

good choice on the PS2... but why would a PS2 have a firewire connection? I've never seen that before.

 

[0roo0roo]

 

[PliotronX]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: clicknext
Well to update and maybe wrap up this thread, I got a PS2. Online bundle, with the network adapter and ATV Offroad 2. I also bought NHL 2K5 because I'm a hockey fan, and also got a memory card because Sony forces me to pay $35 for a stupid 8MB memory card. The RPGs in the end made me decide on PS2 over the other two systems.

One strange thing to note is that there is no firewire connector on the front of my PS2, unlike all the other ones I've seen. Strange.

good choice on the PS2... but why would a PS2 have a firewire connection? I've never seen that before.

The older models included 1394 right next to the USB ports. It was dropped in later models, as it had virtually no use compared with the USB ports (cost cutting, might have to pay royalties to Apple for the use of it). Later PS2 models also include things such as progressive output and "smoothing", a.k.a. bloom which introduces a fuzzy filter in an attempt to addresses aliasing without the performance hit of FSAA (although I absolutely hate bloom).

 

[OMG1Penguin]

A note on Kotor and morrowind... they are both on PC, morrowind I hear is better on the PC, and KOTOR looks amazing.


I can't stand console games, but maybe my TV isn't big enough (27"). MY roommate wants to get a projector, however~

 

[JoPh]

FABLE --- for rpg