Xbox 360. IT'S OUT DECEMBER 2nd. SHOULD YOU GET ONE?

We recently flew out to Amsterdam so Microsoft could convince us that the new Xbox 360, out this December 2nd, would be worth your pocket change. Frankly, we think they did a pretty good job.

Aside from being able to port all your MP3s to the machine's hard-drive - from any MP3 player mind - and have one of the coolest interactive visualisers in current existence warping to each of them, you can have any tune from your music library play in the background of ANY Xbox 360 game you buy!

Also controllers can be used wirelessly - if you get the 'everything you need pack' and not the retarded minimalist pack that doesn't even come with a hard drive - and the Xbox Live service has been upgraded substantially to record almost everything you achieve in a game, complete with a bonus system that scores you and gives you a 'reputation' for online willy-waving.

As for the games, we got to have a tinker with some of them at the X05 event in Amsterdam. Here's our pick of the lot:


Call of Duty 2
Cited by many as THE game to own on Xbox 360, you play as squadies from varied campaigns - Russians, Brits and so on - out in pursuit of Hitler's gimps. Looking the best of all the 360 titles, the game features a bunker-load of multiplayer features and the same gameplay that made the original Call of Duty one of the PC market's best selling and most critically acclaimed titles.

For fans of the original's story, it picks up where the last left off. As for gameplay improvements, it now plays a bit like Halo, where upon being damaged, running away and not being hit for a while, will restore your health. You now also have the use of smoke grenades, making life for a tactical player a little more interesting.

Other notable features include all the usual multiplayer modes to expect online and offline, including Split screen multiplayer, with up to 4 players on the same Xbox 360. It also boasts superior frame rate and graphical detail to the PC version.

If you get a 360, get this along with it.


Project Gotham Racing 3

Easily the most awesome looking racing game you're going to see for a while. Pseudo-photo realistic visuals now dress Gotham's signature style-based arcade play, plus a choice of hundreds of cars and some of the world's most famous roads and tracks.

The Tron-inspired multiplayer extra called, Geometry Wars 2 is crack-cocaine gaming at its finest and on top of the fantastic main game modes and online multiplayer modes, makes the Gotham 3 package more than essential for any 360 owner.


Dead or Alive 4
Visually, there's not much to distinguish it from the Xbox version of Dead or Alive: Ultimate, bar improved backgrounds and some blur effects. Gameplay-wise, the fighting is as polished as ever with counters harder to perform, new ground counters and throws and a number of new fighters and online multiplayer modes. We got to play with some of the new characters that compliment the roster nicely, but the new online features were kept under wraps.

Oh. And Master Chief's female version is in there as a hidden playable character. No really. Go on bungie.net if you don't believe me.

The other launch titles that are worth a looksee:


Perfect Dark Zero
Sequel to the highly acclaimed N64 FPS that was good but not quite as good as N64 GoldenEye. It played decent enough and had some great co-op gameplay, but some long-time play will be needed before judging this title, as there were quite a few rough edges encountered during the X05 demo.

AI was highly retarded and some of the character art is utterly dreadful. No matter, the multiplayer options in the game are said
to outweigh any problems the game has.


GUN
A third-person, semi-linear spaghetti western adventure that's said to play out like a bigger and far more freeform Red Dead Revolver. The story writing duties were undertaken by the exceptionally-skilled Mr Randal Jahnsen, who aside from directing music videos for some of the greatest punk bands of all time - Black Flag for one - also wrote the Legend of Zorro and The Doors film.

The game is constructed by the team behind the Tony Hawk series - Neversoft - and features numerous homages to classic westerns. To find out more, you can head on over to the official site: www.gunthegame.com or read this awesome interview with writer Randal Jahnsen >>>


Condemned
Brutal and moody first-person RPG thriller about a guy chasing a killer only to find he's chasing himself. Or something along those lines. First person combat is much like in the excellent Chronicles of Riddick game on Xbox, only more violent and bloody. Like Marmite, some loved it and others hated it. It's on launch week so you can judge for yourself.


Other games coming in the future that already look tasty:
Gears of War
Crackdown
Football Manager 2006
Virtua Fighter 5
Virtua Tennis 3


Stay tuned.