Neo Se Advanced Controller (Xbox 360)
Customer Review: Cheaper, but noticeably worse than the official controller.
I wanted an extra controller for when playing with buddies at home. Since this only happens occasionally, I didn’t want to spend more money than necessary. For the purpose of this review I will compare with the official controller.

Overall feel and design - sits well in my hands, and feels comfortable in general. I don’t like the placement of the back/start buttons though, as it feels a bit awkward reaching them. Still, there is less risk of pressing them by accident like this.

Buttons - feel a bit hard, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I suspect that button-mashing games will make your fingers hurt though. Sensitivy is on par with the official controller.

D-pad - this actually feels more precise. I always had a wee bit of problems with the official D-pad, and especially the diagonals feel imprecise. This one’s better, and should be good for fighting games.

Triggers - firmer and with more resistance than the official controller. Neither better nor worse for any practical purpose. With driving games I actually think it’s easier to maintain exactly the right level of acceleration. If you need to repeatedly press the triggers fast, they can feel a little too tough.

Analog sticks - these feel flip-floppy, imprecise, and not that analog. They are too soft, and movement often becomes all-or-nothing. On shooters this can be compensated by turning overall sensitivity down, and it’s ok. But play any game which recquires precise sequences of movements (trick games, driving, FNR3) and it becomes a major pain. It is a noticeable handicap playing with this controller, which is not how I want my coop or vs games at home.

Conclusions - if a good D-pad is crucial for you, to the point of not caring that much about the sticks, buy it at good value. Otherwise, wait until you can afford a better controller, or you will regret your buy like I did.

Customer Review: Do not buy!
after my friend got his 360 we put our cash 2gether to buy a cheap controller and we brought this. what a mistake, the anaolog sticks are way to sensitive and are not accuarate, the sticks feel very delayed and are a pain when playing driving games as your constantly trying to keep your car in line.

The trigger were very tough too but im guessing thats because it was new. the 360 button did work and all the player lights were correct.

Buy the official controller's! its worth the extra cash trust me!

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Skate (Xbox 360)
List Price: ?49.99
Amazon Price: ?24.97
Used Price: ?28.99
Customer Review: Underwhelming and Counterintuitive
Everything about this game just feels a bit wrong. I bought it yesterday and am trading it in for Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground tomorrow. The way in which you have to press a button to push for speed takes so long that by the time you get to where you want to do the trick you are not going fast enough so you have to scramble to get your thumb to the ‘flickit’ control and because it is so counter-intuitive and difficult to use you fall every time and if you miss on a run to an object you have to do a massive wheel to turn around, or a powerslide which makes you lose all your momentum meaning you have to build up speed again, causing the same problem. The camera angle is horrendous pointing from some point behind your knees so you can’t see where you are going. For any fans of THPS who thought about buying this instead of Proving Ground as an alternative, don’t it’s not worth the money.
Customer Review: skate
1st of that “rob the brilliant” dont no what hes talking about lol. iv been waitin for a realistic skating game since for ages now as tony hawks has gone to major unrealsticness. skate is jus so realistic its unbelievable lol it almost looks real. and u can do proper sesh’s i could play it all day n not get bord. quality game 10/10

Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged : Volume 1 (Xbox 360)
List Price: ?24.99
Amazon Price: ?17.96
Used Price: ?8.99
Customer Review: A taste of the other side
This title offers a solid preview of the other side of XBOX 360: the Live Arcade. It is evidently aimed at those who aren’t part of the XBOX Live Arcade (XBLA) online community, and provides those gamers with a taster for the kind of title offered. The pick of the bunch has to be Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Loosely based on the gameplay of classic Robotron: 2084 (incidentally also available on XBLA), it is a fast, engrossing and sharp game that has a real appeal to the serious gamer. Elsewhere, Texas Hold ‘Em and Hardwood Backgammon are as expected, but are reasonable nontheless; Wik: Fable of Souls is an odd one with a limited lifespan; Outpost Kaloki challenges you to build an intergalactic business in a unique way; and Bewjeweled 2 offers a similar style to Hexic (which you should all be familiar with if you’ve acquanted yourself with the Dashboard). Three demos are thrown in for even more tasters. It has to be said that almost a year on from its original release, the games featured certainly aren’t the pick of the bunch, and only Geometry Wars and Texas Hold ‘Em have stood the test of time with the online community. However, with a months free trial subscription to XBOX Live Gold (worth ?4.99), and the games valued at around ?30 if bought over the Marketplace (an online shopping site exclusive to the Dashboard), it does represent value for money. Certainly, at the moment you can buy this for as little as ?10 new, which is grand, although it is worth noting that the redeemable codes for the trial subscription will run out by the end of June 2007, so make sure you have yours by then. So, if you’re wondering what it’s like on the XBLA, then look no further then this. Just don’t be put off by the quality of games. Even though they are reasonable, the six game spectrum no longer represents what is on offer. This could be resolved by Microsoft with the anticipated Unplugged: Volume 2, which is hopefully just around the corner. With a range of new and retro titles including Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Boom Boom Rocket, Alien Hominid, Worms, Pac-Man, Centipede/Millipede, Double Dragon and Lumines Live available online now (to name but a few), to really know what there is to offer you will have to just take that leap of faith. For those who don’t wish to, Microsoft needs to put out a second installment as soon as possible before this game strays too far away from its original objective: to advertise the cream of the titles on offer on XBLA.
Customer Review: Good value if you dont have the games.
It has 6 Xbox Live Arcade games plus 3 trails on disc, plus a one month XBL Gold card (which can be used to add an extra month to an existing sub) Anyway, you put the disc in your 360 like normal, but it doesnt auto load like a normal 360 game. Instead, you have to nip over to the arcade section, where it adds them to your list but with a DVD icon next to there names. When you select one it loads just like normal, with no changes from the download version. If you select play game on the main screen it just dumps you into the arcade area. Oh and yes, it doubles them up - so i have two versions of Geometry Wars listed, one with a disc icon one without, lol. When you take the disc out, they arent listed any more, but they are still llisted under games/achievements etc Loading times are petty much non-existent, apart from a brief load at the start (before the game your playings title). It saves your game fine, but for some reason it doesnt show up in the Memory section of the dash. Me thinks MS need to fix that (like they did with the Xbox content download not showing glitch) My verdict? Worth it if you have none of the games, or say max 2 and you want the others. Heck MS should give it away with new 360s, imo.

Project Gotham Racing 3 (Xbox 360)
List Price: ?25.99
Used Price: ?7.98
Customer Review: Top Gear!!
I was a huge fan of Metropolis Street Racer on the Dreamcast, so when I found out that PGR3 was in the pipeline I was excited, VERY excited! MSR was unique in the way you were awarded for how you drove, not how fast you drove. PGR3 is everything MSR was and so much more. Everything about this game oozes class. Graphically it’s gorgeous! everything from the hands on Big Bens clock face to the gravel on Las Vegas strip is beautiful but it’s the gameplay where this game excels. You are actually awarded for how you drive fast, not how fast you drive, and thats what makes this game so brilliantly unique. Drifting your Ferrari around a 90 degree bend and leaving the pack in your own tyre smoke, breathtaking!
Customer Review: More arcade than sim
PGR is more of an arcade style driving game than a driving sim. Anyone who has played GT4 will be disappointed by the way the cars handle, it’s all gas and oversteer. The car selection is a little predictable and the cars are all really pretty similar. As a pick up and play driving game this is good fun and easy to use, if you want a big complex sim buy Forza instead.

Xbox 360 Halo 3 Limited Edition Console
List Price: ?279.99
Amazon Price: ?259.96
Used Price: ?240.00
Customer Review: Oozes Cool….
So it’s only ?20 quid cheaper than the Elite console, who care’s, it’s a thing of beauty, all green and Master Chief ‘ish, go on, treat your self, buy it….
Customer Review: Quick and Easy
Straight out of the box and playing within minutes. The only reason I got an Xbox was to play Halo 3 with pals and online. I paid the extra ?20 quid or so for the halo edition becuase it stands out and is different and is a newer version and less likly to over heat or have problems. (not sure if this is correct but what I have heard). You are only getting half of the game if you do not use Xbox Live! Enjoy! I know I am…… Rob

Neo Se Advanced Controller (Xbox 360) Customer Review: Cheaper, but noticeably worse than the official controller.
I wanted an extra controller for when playing with buddies at home. Since this only happens occasionally, I didn’t want to spend more money than necessary. For the purpose of this review I will compare with the official controller.

Overall feel and design - sits well in my hands, and feels comfortable in general. I don’t like the placement of the back/start buttons though, as it feels a bit awkward reaching them. Still, there is less risk of pressing them by accident like this.

Buttons - feel a bit hard, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I suspect that button-mashing games will make your fingers hurt though. Sensitivy is on par with the official controller.

D-pad - this actually feels more precise. I always had a wee bit of problems with the official D-pad, and especially the diagonals feel imprecise. This one’s better, and should be good for fighting games.

Triggers - firmer and with more resistance than the official controller. Neither better nor worse for any practical purpose. With driving games I actually think it’s easier to maintain exactly the right level of acceleration. If you need to repeatedly press the triggers fast, they can feel a little too tough.

Analog sticks - these feel flip-floppy, imprecise, and not that analog. They are too soft, and movement often becomes all-or-nothing. On shooters this can be compensated by turning overall sensitivity down, and it’s ok. But play any game which recquires precise sequences of movements (trick games, driving, FNR3) and it becomes a major pain. It is a noticeable handicap playing with this controller, which is not how I want my coop or vs games at home.

Conclusions - if a good D-pad is crucial for you, to the point of not caring that much about the sticks, buy it at good value. Otherwise, wait until you can afford a better controller, or you will regret your buy like I did.
Customer Review: Do not buy!
after my friend got his 360 we put our cash 2gether to buy a cheap controller and we brought this. what a mistake, the anaolog sticks are way to sensitive and are not accuarate, the sticks feel very delayed and are a pain when playing driving games as your constantly trying to keep your car in line.

The trigger were very tough too but im guessing thats because it was new. the 360 button did work and all the player lights were correct.

Buy the official controller's! its worth the extra cash trust me!

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