Our sweet test setup
by Vladimir Cole 
{ Nov 17th 2005 at 12:38AM }
It was hard work unpacking the Xbox 360, but it was all worth it once we reclined on our big red couch in front of the humongous screen pictured here, projected onto the wall in 720p with our newly purchased Panasonic PT-AE700U (lumens so high, gotta wear shades). Following the split, another photo of the setup where we'll be spending lots of time this weekend.
Pictured above: a couple of cheapy leather Ikea sofas, the Xbox 360 dev unit atop an Xbox 360 retail unit, and a wireless Xbox 360 controller on each couch. In between the two couches, the above-mentioned projector. On the back of the far couch, a Tivoli Audio Model Three next to a GameCube.
This weekend, well be spending 48 hours straight (no sleep allowed) playing the hell out of the Xbox 360. Dan Choi is here from Chicago, and Chris Grant is also going to be participating in the 48-hour play-a-thon. James Ransom-Wiley from NYC will be coming down for some quality play-time and blogging too.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
I really like the dark model
Eliot Phillips @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Glad to hear you've got the team in town, but it looks like you need a second projector.
Matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
lucky s.o.b.
miguel @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
I am going to laugh so hard if they fall off of your couch.
Crummy @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Man... I hate you guys :'(
txmazda3 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
The darker unit looks like one of those cheap Dell desktop computers ... and what was in the silver case?
Willb3rg @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Woot, and I'm at a LAN party this weekend. (more than) 48 hours solid gaming, no sleep allowed. We'll be awake at the same time! Make sure you make poorly-spelt, sleep deprived posts here; I'll be online in my second monitor refreshing :-)
Andrew Hsieh @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Red couches in a whitewalled room? What are you, crazy?
Einhanderkiller @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Give me an Xbox 360.
Please?
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
In the silver case:
- one wireless controller and a detacheable wire for it
- a rechargeable battery pack
- an xbox 360 keychain
- a few CDs of stuff (just one game)
- some batteries
- the universal remote
- a slip of paper saying that the memory card is "coming soon"
- the wireless networking adapter
- a reviewer's manual
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Andrew: we're nuts.
Laugh Monk @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
just think, by 2007 we could have a picture of the final PS3 sitting on top of the developer unit on this very same red couch.
miguel @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Is that the 360's power unit that the projector is sitting on?
Matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
wow, all that expensive geek hardware, on cheap ass furniture. Living large, my man, living large.
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
That's what ya call priorities! ;)
Psiven @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Let's here some news about the visualizer please. It's the only reason I have designs for an Xbox.
ronald.raygun @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
$1000 for a nice hd panasonic projector.
$650 2 red feaux(sp?) leather couches
$400 for an xbox 360 complete with 20gb hdd.
knocking over the xbox 360 causing it to break and give you permanent bad sectors on your hdd...priceless.
Matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
I think you should throw in some bourbon whiskey too though. And knives. See my example picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fearmattdotcom/48812578/
theburn16 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
does anybody know if you can use any usb wireless network adapter or do you have to use the one made by microsoft?
Blake @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Vlad diddy,
Is that you raising up in front of the lights? "I have a projector this big..."
Good times.
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Dat is I!
Shawn @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
#16 ronald.raygun, nice Panny HD projector $1000 in our dreams, try $3000 and up!
Nome @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
The projector is about $2000 in most places.
Shawn @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Nome, I will give you this... I froogled the one listed in the blog and found them for as low as $1325 but I bet from a not so trusted website. And DLP is the way to go and those are the expensive ones.
Chris @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Oooh, a GameCube on the other sofa...nice :)
Chris @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
"I caught an Xbox thiiiisssss big"
lol
*mummble* lucky bastards */mummble*
boneyard @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
yeah that stack (is two a stack?) of xbox360s on a couch doesn't look too stable.
Asher @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Where's the sweet sound setup for your Dolby Digital?
fat_bunnies @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
enjoy sitting there playing your 360 and saying to yourself "hey didn't i already do this on the first xbox?". Revo all the way baby!
gozer @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
they don't need a dobly setup, there's a tivoli model three by the GCN.
joss @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
You'll of all killed each other by the end of it- trying to decide who gets to keep them :p
What games did you get?
Condemmed and PD0 are taken ages to get reviewed, just wondering if you could do a small 1st impressions or summat :)
Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Shooting the projected image onto bare drywall? Ghetto. Trying to watch TV that way always gives me an eyestrain headache after about 30 minutes.
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Joss -- we're not sure what games we got. They haven't arrived yet, so we've been playing Halo 2. ;)
Ptaaty @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Do yourself a favor and repaint the walls and ceiling a neutral flat gray. Go get one of those kodak ref cards from a photo store and match the paint color, and get a screen :)
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Halo 2 is much, much better on the 360. It's farqin sweet.
Pete @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
vc, if you need me to come up for the play-a-thon just let me know bud! Haha, have fun guys...
joss @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Cool, read the Bungie update bout it and it does look sweet from the screenies.
Just read some disconcerting news about PD0 though from Ign:
IGN's Doug Perry wrote:
OK, so here's the deal with Perfect Dark Zero. We saw it at E3, we saw and played it at X05, and we played it at MS's gameplay visit the week after X05. That's been our total experience with Rare's FPS. I am on the phone or email with Microsoft daily about everything, and PDZ is always on my list of questions. The answer I get is this "PDZ is coming." No explanation at all. Just "it's coming."
Just like everyone else, I am going to the store tomorrow to buy it. I bought the special edition, hell if I know why... Anyway, the only difference between you and me is that I have a 360 to play it on. (Heh heh heh.)
So, what's going on? In my opinion, Microsoft is worried about Good ol' Joanna Dark and her sequel. They're worried about how much scrutiny it will be under; they're worried that PDZ isn't that good, and they're giving Rare as much time and support it can possibly give. At X05, J Allard said it learned a lot about game development with Halo 1, and it wants to give Rare as much time as possible to finish the title -- seeing how well Halo did with the same treatment. BTW, the game is done. The game will be in stores tomorrow. That's when I'll be picking mine up. Cause MS has not sent it to us. And tomorrow is when we'll be playing it. (In fact, if and when we do get it, make sure to check our site for movies and screens and new impressions. We'll let you know either way.) I dont blame MS at all on this one, either. No matter how good or bad that game ends up being, it's a first-person shooter from Rare, and it's a sequel to a Nintendo game, and for whatever other unbeknownst reasons, it's got the lovers and the haters all ready to do their thing on it.
So I think MS is hiding it from us? The thought had crossed my mind. I mean, why else would we have a copy of Kameo and PGS3, but not the biggy, PDZ? I'm a little confused on that one. Usually, when a publisher holds off a game from us, we know it's going to suck eggs. But would MS really hold off PDZ because it thinks its own game sucks? I don't have an answer to that yet, but I am suspicious. And I'll stop being suspicious when I get a copy and figure out how good or bad that game ends up being. Hopefully, tomorrow we can shed some light on it. Lastly, we won't review the game until we beat it and play it online, considering how important online play is for it. For Call of Duty 2 and PGR3 we played a substantial amount of online and LAN play to get a feel for it prior to their release. With PDZ? not nearly enough. So, expect at least one preview piece before the 22nd, and once it comes out, I think we'll wait to play with you guys before scoring it.
Cheers, Doug
Can't find a link coz I red it off a forum, but I doesn't look good for ol' Rare :'(
Condemmed is shaping up nicely apparantly though :)
Steve @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
next-gen.biz has a piece on the last minute pressings of PDZ which would explain why its slow getting out to reviewers. Question is whether it was too little too late or just in time.
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1662&Itemid=2
Chris @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Is he flashign signs in that picture or is it just me?
Honestly though, joystiqs coverage of receiving thier XBox360 has been pretty lame. We got pictures and descriptions of every bag and box, but have yet to see or hear anything actually related to using the friggin system.
alps @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
cool set up, but do you think you could post some thing on how it looks on a regular, non fancy, non hd, non composit TV? Cause thats what I have and I'm afraid its just not going to be very impressive on an already unimpressive tv.
funkonaut @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
alps, go to http://www.kotaku.com/ . He has a 360 unit just like Joystiq's and he's running it on a 30-something inch CRT without HD.
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
We will definitely test games at standard TV resolutions. Worry not.
Need For Speed @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
As someone else said, lucky bastards.
Corey @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
And where do you sign up for this job?!?!? Gaming for 48hrs straight. Load me up on coffee and I am so down for that.
Ingrid @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Will you guys be releasing before and after pictures of yourselves after this ordeal? ;)
Btw, I hate you guys.
But in a loving sort of way, of course. ;)
Eric @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Sure its a great set-up people....but the larger the screen the higher quality it ain't in this case. I'll have my dream system saved up for and bought within the next couple of months, and it doesn't include projecting a hundred inches onto my drywall...
Sorry to dog everyone...I still think its bitchin...dont get me wrong. Its a setup that would make me wanna slap my momma
Nome @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Shawn, what is DLP all about? How is it better than LCD?
John @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
Um, Eric, it's a 720p projector. HAVE YOU SEEN ONE OF THOSE?? Get out of the dark ages.
ZipperSeven @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM
DLP is digital light projection. If you believe the sales hype, DLP tv's and projectors have a higher refresh rate and tighter, crisper colors. In a projector sense, they are supposed to last longer. In an LCD unit, there is a transparent LCD panel with the projector lamp shining through it. The LCD panels can burn out with the high heat. A DLP system has like millions of individual mirrors, the color they project is created by the angle of the individual mirrors, the angle is controlled by small servos.