Xbox 360 deel 35: Dank U Sinterklaasje!!

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Op maandag 28 november 2005 23:54 schreef kepler het volgende:
een vraagje: je hebt van die USB-connectors voor op de huidige Xboxen geloof ik. Zou je op deze manier de oude controllers kunnen gebruiken op de Xbox 360

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Op maandag 28 november 2005 23:57 schreef P-Style het volgende:

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Ik denk het niet. Microsoft zal wel gezorgd hebben dat je op de xbox 360 alléén maar xbox 360 controllers kan gebruiken.

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 00:10 schreef Notorious_Roy het volgende:
De USB connectors zijn alleen voor Media, andere bestanden leest ie niet afaik (niet getest eigenlijk ) Een controller zal die dus wel niet herkennen.

Overigens zullen er best wel connectors komen om andere controllers te gebruiken, dat is er voor deze generatie ook voor elke console namelijk.

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 00:12 schreef kepler het volgende:

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hoe worden de controllers met een draadje aangesloten dan

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 00:14 schreef Notorious_Roy het volgende:

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Via USB zeker?

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 00:14 schreef Notorious_Roy het volgende:

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Via USB zeker?

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They say that the closer you get to realism, the more you notice the stuff that's missing.

So, by that token, FIFA 06: Road To FIFA World Cup must be one of the most realistic games ever made, because I have a notepad full of things I've classed as "missing".

Of course, what they really meant was that as you start to better emulate the smallest details - moving eyes, mouths, jawlines, flushing cheeks and so on - your brain does a much better job spotting the smaller blemishes, and weighs them more heavily against the overall image. In the case of FIFA 06 on Xbox 360, things like the way that everyone's been glazed in slime, the way John Terry's jaw appears to be trying to escape his face, and the way that David Beckham looks like some sort of comedy duck. Close in on someone's face in Pro Evolution Soccer and you're left in no doubt that it's unrealistic, but the makings of resemblance are easier for your brain to reconcile with than what we have here, which is the reanimated occupants of a mausoleum caught in the bask of a full moon. After a gunge-shower.

Shot, it has to be pointed out, against a backdrop of choreographed muppets, who leap up and down in unison and clap their hands as though Mr Motivator is standing behind you with ten pounds of C4 strapped to his chest and a sign saying "Work it!" held above his head. To round out the effect, we have the effects. I have no idea what the individual technological terms are, but I can tell you that they have given us grass that appears to be six inches long for no other reason than we need to be able to marvel at the grass, and a thin layer of blurry fur that appears to be stuck to every man, woman and child (and ball and goalpost) in the stadium - presumably a side effect of the varying focus, which blurs anything it doesn't expect you to be directly looking at, resulting in a headache for this writer after extended play. There's also the lighting effect, so powerful and intense that when you pause and unpause the game, it takes about a second for it to refill the world with its faux-vibrancy.

The animation system had the potential to rescue FIFA from the horror of its make-up department, but sadly fails just as spectacularly. The player models are often quite impressive (I've never seen so many shadows and ripples of muscle on a man's calf, for example), but only in very small doses. When you first see Rio Ferdinand turn to the ref and his eyes widen, before he wheels round raising his arm in a mixture of anger and bewilderment at a peculiar decision, it's rather more believable than anything else you've seen in a football game (assuming it's Rio and not, say, Zombieface Terry or Ben Grimm Rooney). But when you've seen it 25 times, from different players, it loses its impact.

The mistimed challenges that prompt the animation certainly don't lose their impact, however; one of the most entertaining things in this version of FIFA (if not the only entertaining thing) is scything down your opposition and then receiving a close-up replay of the highly detailed models - almost human from the waist down - attempting to redistribute a person's joints using their studs. Of course, the fact that your ludicrously braindead tackling prompts genuine disbelief and confusion in players and commentators alike merely serves to reinforce the fact that this game is actually far, far less believable and engaging on a pure footballing level than anything Konami's made in the last five years. The parts themselves, even if you can overlook the genuine hilarity of their overall composition, simply don't work together believably.

What's amazing is that I haven't even mentioned the awful slowdown that occurs in all the replays yet - nor the absolutely dreadful regular animation, where players appear to be frolicking along as though held up by the strings of a puppeteer, managing to lumber somewhat like zombies as well as resemble them, and then manoeuvring like dancing fleas as they pirouette inorganically three or four times in a row on the spot whilst under no pressure at all.

But, you know, if we're going that way, we might as well get into the game itself.

You will already have spotted that this is a "Road to the World Cup" edition. The reasons for this are twofold: 1) it's the World Cup next year, and obviously we need a game which allows us to play through the group stages with a similarly slothful and depressing lack of endeavour, and 2) obviously the content creation for a far more visually intensive next-gen console game is a lot simpler when you can get away using around 15 per cent of the players you featured in the last Xbox version.

Here you can adopt the mantle of one of around 72 teams involved in the quest for qualification, and guide them through their group stage (including a few preliminary friendlies for good measure). You can also create custom tournaments, practice, and play matches (ranked or unranked) on Xbox Live. That's it. But this skeletal structure is not even the most obvious reason not to buy it.

The problem appears to be this: a couple of years ago, EA sat down and thought, "Why is Pro Evolution Soccer so popular?" Its answer was, "Because there are no goals!" It didn't quite understand this, but somebody hit 'New' on the flow-chart application anyway and what we've got at this point is game which feels slow, cumbersome, awkward and unexciting. Where it's virtually impossible to get into the final third without relying on cheeky lofted through-balls that are cut out more often than not anyway; where the ball switches possession more often than Wayne Rooney uses a purple word; where players don't so much embark on runs as they do map cul-de-sacs whilst dragging a ball and chain; and where the differences between individual players are best catalogued using their facial deformities and the commentators' habit of paying undue attention to whichever's been in the papers lately, as their actual skills are almost indistinguishable from one another.

I am Zinedine Zidane! And not, for example, Skeletor.
The ball moves seemingly on rails, at weird velocities with unjust momentum, robbing any lofted ball of the feeling of weight. Precision is at an absolute premium. Players move glacially, even the nippiest ones, so that they can be scythed down in time to prevent them reaching anywhere dangerous. The ball bobbles along like it's made of wool and someone's snagged an end on one of the salmon in the stands. There are virtually no breakaways, and defenders just drop off and drop off and drop off; goals are often scored simply because you've comically dispossessed somebody on their six-yard line, or the ball's scuffed in off someone's shin.

Dropping deep is something the AI does in PES, of course, but while it defends deep there it also gives you the means to defend. With its unbelievable ball behaviour, erratic AI and inconsistent or unmanageable tackling mechanics, oft-inexplicable player selection, and that prevailing sense that if you point the stick the right way and hold the pressing button you'll solve the defensive problem before it becomes an issue anyway, FIFA is ultimately hugely tedious, and utterly misses the point. Worse, in the context of the series, is that the goals don't even look spectacular any more.

Really, to describe what EA has produced here as dreadful would be to do a terrible disservice to things that merely inspire dread. It's a game that not only fails to live up to the potential inherent to the new graphics and processing hardware at its disposal, but arguably in its failure manages to raise valid questions and concerns about everybody else's attempts to wield said technical advances as tools of realism, because it exposes so expertly the potential flaws in this approach. In a sense, it's not only awful, but it's also sabotaging everybody else's efforts at the same time. As a game, it's not much better. I like football, I like football games; I find it hard to recognise this in either category.

2/10

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 07:45 schreef BloodhoundFromHell het volgende:
zo 2/10 , das niet best!

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 01:11 schreef Retuobak het volgende:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27985
Ik zie de launch van de X360 in Japan niet echt goed gaan

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:25 schreef P-Style het volgende:

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Ziet ièmand de launch van de 360 goed gaan in Japan!?

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:30 schreef Morthill het volgende:
100.000 stuks in de 1e maand is mijn voorspelling.

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:35 schreef Bastard het volgende:
Hoe werkt dat nou eigenlijk met die draadloze controllers
Moeten batterijen in dus begrijp ik? Dus als je de 360 haalt, tevens voor een jaar batterijen er bij halen?

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:43 schreef Bastard het volgende:
Of DIT er op zetten dus.

[afbeelding]
Of je nou 20 euro aan batterijen koopt of zoiets... is de moeite ook niet dan denk ik.

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:44 schreef Morthill het volgende:

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Nee ok. Accu werkt ook prima. Alhoewel penlite batterijen natuurlijk geen 20 euro zijn

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:46 schreef Bastard het volgende:

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Maar wel als je ze meteen voor een jaar inkoopt
Duurder wellicht, stel dat je 25 uur op een stel batterijen kan doen.. dat is dus ieder weekend een setje vervangen.

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:46 schreef Morthill het volgende:

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zoveel tijd heb ik niet. Heb nog een leven

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:35 schreef Bastard het volgende:
Hoe werkt dat nou eigenlijk met die draadloze controllers
Moeten batterijen in dus begrijp ik? Dus als je de 360 haalt, tevens voor een jaar batterijen er bij halen?

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 08:46 schreef Bastard het volgende:

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Maar wel als je ze meteen voor een jaar inkoopt
Duurder wellicht, stel dat je 25 uur op een stel batterijen kan doen.. dat is dus ieder weekend een setje vervangen.

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 09:17 schreef Ceased2Be het volgende:

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2 Sets oplaadbare batterijen kopen incl snellader? Die penlites laden hier in 3 uur op en 1 setje kost 15 euro ofzo... Als je 1 set in de lader hebt en 1 in je controller heb je genoeg toch?

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 09:51 schreef Kevin_VS_Ps3 het volgende:
xbox360 is slecht. alleen maar klachten en geen complimenten. Ook kranten melden slechte dingen. wave xbox360 goodbye

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 09:51 schreef Kevin_VS_Ps3 het volgende:
xbox360 is slecht. alleen maar klachten en geen complimenten. Ook kranten melden slechte dingen. wave xbox360 goodbye

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 09:56 schreef Chocobo het volgende:

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reviewers die ik serieus neem ook

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 09:51 schreef Kevin_VS_Ps3 het volgende:
xbox360 is slecht. alleen maar klachten en geen complimenten. Ook kranten melden slechte dingen. wave xbox360 goodbye

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:06 schreef Fliepke het volgende:

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Eindelijk iemand die mij serieus neemt

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:07 schreef Chocobo het volgende:

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Vond Noot's stuk van de 360 echt cool gedaan..... !

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:07 schreef Chocobo het volgende:

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Vond Noot's stuk van de 360 echt cool gedaan..... !

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:09 schreef Fliepke het volgende:

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Noot != Fliepke

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:10 schreef kepler het volgende:

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dank je

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:14 schreef Chocobo het volgende:

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Jij hebt meegeholpen zeker ! Was echt leuk om te lezen.

Dit is ook leuk om te zien

[afbeelding]

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:14 schreef Chocobo het volgende:

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Jij hebt meegeholpen zeker ! Was echt leuk om te lezen.

Dit is ook leuk om te zien

[afbeelding]

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:14 schreef Chocobo het volgende:
Jij hebt meegeholpen zeker ! Was echt leuk om te lezen.

Dit is ook leuk om te zien

[afbeelding]

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:28 schreef Strolie75 het volgende:

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Vind je dat niet vreselijk? Wel een spel in huis hebben maar geen console om deze op te spelen?

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 09:51 schreef Kevin_VS_Ps3 het volgende:
xbox360 is slecht. alleen maar klachten en geen complimenten. Ook kranten melden slechte dingen. wave xbox360 goodbye

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:30 schreef kepler het volgende:
beter dan andersom toch

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:31 schreef Strolie75 het volgende:

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Dan heb je nog Xbox Live Arcade

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:28 schreef Strolie75 het volgende:

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Vind je dat niet vreselijk? Wel een spel in huis hebben maar geen console om deze op te spelen?

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:34 schreef Fliepke het volgende:
Hier overtreffende trap
[afbeelding]

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:36 schreef Strolie75 het volgende:

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Je hebt een DS, en die powned de 360 en Kameo sucked toch.

*snel wegrent*

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:32 schreef kepler het volgende:

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goed puntje

maar goed ik heb liever nu al een game liggen, dan dadelijk nergens mijn game kunnen vinden...

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Op dinsdag 29 november 2005 10:43 schreef moz het volgende:

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Denk je dat echt?

Ik verwacht geen mayhem