Gears of War + XBox Live = Connecting with old friends
I have to admit. I’ve been a complete anti-XBox zealot for no good reason (other than the fact that I had an original Xbox and didn’t really like it that much). The XBox 360 controller is great. The graphics are great. All the media capabilities (sans the evil evil DRM) are great.
But most importantly, it’s a social thing. The other night, for the first time in years, I had a long conversation with my friend, Trevor, who I first met when I was getting my Masters degree at Illinois State University back in 1996. Trevor and I have stayed in touch via our blogs, an occasional email, and an occasional online chat, but this was the first time that we’d talked in years. What brought us to this point? Playing Gears of War on XBox Live with the headset on. Amazing.
I know I’m late to the game on this, but, wow. This blows Skype out of the water. There’s a shared purpose in playing a game together online along with the ability to discuss what’s up. It’s an amazing bit of online social interaction.
I’ve been trying to find a Nintendo Wii to get for my brother for a combined birthday and graduation present, but now I’m thinking about getting him an XBox 360, just so that we can hang out and play video games like we used to when we lived in the same house.
![[Valid RSS]](/images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
April 28th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Yup, yup. I was a true blue Playstation dork until my wife bought the 360 for my birthday last year, and I have to admit being blown away by the XBox Live experience. Microsoft does a lot of things half-ass and outright wrong, but the 360 and XBL just aint one of em.
When are we playing again?
May 1st, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Nintendo really should have done this. Too bad, MS has picked up a gauntlet Sony and Nintendo didn’t even think they wanted to pick up, which is how mighty empires are forged. I’m not called MS stupid anymore, that’s for sure.