Alex

Boo!

#26... you hit the nail on the head. Thank you for doing the typing for me. :)

Thanks, Steve (#14), for your comment.

So if it works out as you describe, I kinda have a problem with that. With the relatively small amount of space that the current hard drive has, I really don't want to be filling it with content that I don't want. I have to think that the high-res textures for 12 cars is a decent amount of space... at least 200MB (I may be way off on that... it's a total guess). It's not a big deal to me now, but it will be when my hard drive starts filling with more patches, xbox live games, and whatever else.

Wait, isn't it impossible for someone who buys the new cars to race against people online who haven't bought the new cars? The cars have to be loaded on the local 360 for them to display on a player's screen, so people who didn't buy the new cars wouldn't be able to display their opponents' cars if they were the new ones. Or would they just substitute the new car with an original car on the screen of the player who hasn't bought the new cars?

I don't think it's Shenmue 3 since that's not a true RPG, but I was curious whether Sega has mentioned a third installment coming out on the 360 at any point. Anybody have info?

Don't forget Panzer Dragoon 2 on the Saturn. The graphics of that game at the time were absolutely breathtaking. It's one of the first titles I remember running at 60 frames per second, the other one (that I remember) being Virtua Fighter 2. The fluid movement and amazing artistry made that game probably my favorite Saturn game. I never got to play the Xbox game because I didn't have an Xbox. Now that I have a 360, I'm sure hoping they make a new one... or at least make the Xbox game compatible with the 360. Hope hope.

I guess I'm really waiting for someone to come up with a way to stream HD quicktime movies from my Mac to my 360... something that most likely will not happen. Hopefully Apple really is making a video-enabled Airport Express.

In any case, I'm very happy with my 360 so far. An overall great user experience, though it can definitely be improved... and hopefully it will be with some updates to the system. Why we can't currently download items in the background is beyond me.

Please clarify whether you mean regular AAC files that you created from CDs or iTunes Store AAC files that have digital rights management attached to them. If you're talking about AAC files that you yourself ripped using iTunes, then the Xbox 360 will definitely recognize them after you download the iPod reader update on Xbox Live. I have been able to play AAC files that were on a jump drive that I just stuck in one of the 360's USB ports. Just need to make sure you download the iPod update from Xbox Live.

Another fix would be for MS and others accepting the MPEG4 codec as the standard for HD. I'm genuinely curious... what are the negatives that would come from doing this?

Well, streaming the video (as opposed to the datastream) would probably mean losing all of the cool features that watching a PGR3 race brings with it: control over the cameras. It's so cool be to be able to first select which car to focus on and then decide whether you want to watch it from a conventional set of stationary cameras along the track or from inside the friggin car (with 180 degree control of the view with the right analog stick). You guys who haven't seen this in action need to find a friend with the system and game. It rocks! Funny thing is I haven't actually raced online yet. I'm too engrossed in the offline career mode.