I play my Xbox 360 at 720p on my HDTV, and sometimes 1080i on my projector. Thank you, Microsoft, for bundling component cables with my system.  The Xbox 360 and HDTV is a powerful combination.  Perhaps more powerful than the average person believes.

I have been actively playing my Xbox 360 since shortly after Christmas.  I don’t count a few rounds of Project Gotham Racing 3 or the 3-4 hours of Perfect Dark Zero.  I count “actively” playing when I started playing a game with dedication.  That game, by the way, was Kameo: Elements of Power (an experience I’d like to expound upon another time, perhaps in a podcast).

I recall getting frustrated with it at one point, but not because the gameplay was at fault.  I got frustrated that there was a blade of grass obscuring my view when I rotated the camera down to the ground.  Yes, I was annoyed by an individual blade of grass.

Then it hit me, as these things are wont to do, like the proverbial freight train.  I was mad at grass.  Not a muddy texture, not flat ground, but grass.  I appreciated the shiny bits of the game to a much greater degree after that, and there was a lot of it to appreciate.

Before, I often found myself thinking “this is the next generation?” I took many of the advancements for granted.  Things like grass.  the HDTV thing is not so new to me.  I always played my Xbox on an HDTV.  Even so, even belated, I couldn’t fail to be stunned by some of the things I’ve seen from this burgeoning new generation.  I can only imagine the person who plays Xbox on a 13” TV with composite input, and the depth of their experience the first time they play an Xbox 360 on an HDTV.  Whoever you are, please keep your cholesterol down beforehand.  Microsoft doesn’t want to deal with heart attack suits when they’re busy releasing HD-DVD peripherals.

I don’t want to turn my Xbox on.  I don’t want to throw in a beloved game only to find myself secretly disappointed at graphics I would have been impressed with a month ago.  I remember once thinking, “gaming can’t look better than this.” I think that a lot; and I’m always wrong.

- jinx

PS - check out this thread in our forums to nominate your game awards picks for 2005.

fade to black im sick of trying