In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin shares his first impressions of the Xbox 360 and the PS3 as well.

Game on-screen is EndWar. Bose Wave Radio/CD in front of monitor.

( Read the rest of the blog entry after the jump! )

I finally got it.

After waiting for a month ( plus the 4 years since its release ), the holy white box finally sits on my table and my life has suddenly gone up a whole new level of enlightenment.

Now it’s really frag time.

Since the new Samsung monitor I bought does not have built-in speakers, I had to use my Bose Wave System as speakers because it has the red/white inputs for the audio connectors of the Xbox HD VGA cable. Playing on a 1920 X 1080 resolution is really a huge step forward from playing the old Xbox on my 15″ screen ( though I believe the Hitachi plasma TV in the living room will do an even better job ) but it’s not perfect. Why? Because it’s in VGA format – the same reason why using the composite cable on a HD-ready TV will not produce spectacular results. Microsoft should now make a new DVI cable for the Xbox so that gamers with HD monitors like mine can experience richer visuals, but I’m not complaining now.

Microsoft’s Xbox Live interface has undergone a total makeover and the result is pretty positive. The menu is much livelier and with the addition of an avatar, it adds to that ‘personalizing the gamer’ touch though this aspect totally stinks of a Wii imitation. I have not had the chance to try out the customization features on the Wii so for now I’m quite contented with what Microsoft has to offer. At this point of writing my dashboard is now using the Microsoft Winter Theme which is really soothing especially when you’ve returned shagged from losing a battle against those smug-about-their-energy-weapons-Europeans.

My mole's ain't that big in real life.

Currently I have 3 games to play, 2 of which were bought second-hand to cut costs. Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is looking to be a worthy sequel to the previous game but has a number of flaws; EndWar was well worth the long wait especially with the voice command which actually works, and Midnight Club: LA’s open world concept is so neatly done it gives me a reason to believe why Need for Speed: Undercover has faltered this year. Full reviews of these games will be posted when I’m done playing majority of the game but in the meantime if you want to hook me up for a street race or a war against my USA-JSF battalion then look for my gamertag mortpenguin.

It’s even better now that I can switch between using the computer or the Xbox by a press of the input switch button on the monitor. So I can engage in world domination and when I hear the MSN tone, I can just pause the game, press the button and I can immediately reply. It’s exactly like switching AV modes on TV and I love the convenience. Singapore Power would definitely want to have more customers like myself to dispense nice-looking bills.

PC can be accessed easily with the press of a switch.

How fun it is to have converted my messy study into a neat gaming room. I’m not kidding – this was the only time I was motivated to completely clear my table of all that stupid papers from the past 2 years, plus the school bags and waste paper bin. Since the end of ‘A’ Levels the table was only half-cleared and I was either too busy or lazy to finish the fight against the mess. If only I could add 5.1 surround sound speakers to complete the transformation.

Last Monday I was at a friend’s house playing Guitar Hero: World Tour and Little Big Planet for the first time on his newly-bought PS3. Having played Frets on Fire at home, Medium difficulty for GH’s guitar ( which is quite nicely designed by the way ) was pretty much a piece of cake but I still have yet to touch a fifth fret so I still have a lot to improve on. I like how they added cymbals to the drum set but there is one major fault with the pedal – it is not sensitive and we have to stamp down really hard to get a feedback, which is not easy. Continue the stomping and I’m pretty sure the neighbours will come up to complain soon.

Or maybe they will come and see the cool set-up and instead ask if they can give Guitar Hero a try.

I got to admit, the song list in World Tour isn’t fantastic as we have never heard of more than half the songs inside ( the most popular song so far is What I’ve Done by Linkin Park ). It’s not a big problem for the guitarist and drummer because you just take on the keys as they come – but for the singer it’s a different story. On Little Big Planet, I only have two words to describe it – uber cuteness. I never knew you could have so much fun with a doll in a world that is probably made of cardboard – you have to play it to believe it. LBP also makes me wonder whether the PS3 graphics are really more superior than the 360. Right now most cross-plaform games are too similar while platform exclusives have failed to blind us – Metal Gear Solid 4 looked stunning but to me Call of Duty 4 was equally impressive with its graphics showcase.

By the way I’m still not used to playing soccer games with a controller. I want to shoot straight, not diagonally!

Now I think I need to get a router so that I can stay connected on my computer and Xbox all the time because right now I have to disconnect the ethernet cable leading to my computer and connect the one from the console when I want to use Live. That’s really lame. It’s like your grandmother telling you to get off the phone so that she can gossip with your aunt.

2009 is only 3 days away. Which game’s release are you looking forward to?