My Xbox 360 games and Pal 60 problems
Filed under: Gaming, Xbox 360 | By: Mark
Posted on: July 30, 2007 | 43 Comments
Now before I get into this I must say I am so ticked of it is unreal and have pulled out all my hair. To start things off I have to say I really put all hands up and bow effortlessly to the Xbox 360, I was so confused of what games console to buy, I had the choice of the Nintendo Wii, the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 then I had the choice of waiting for the Xbox 360 Elite, but have to say I could not wait for the Elite so I chose the Xbox 360 and am glad to say I have made the right choice.
Right now to the “My Xbox 360 games and Pal 60 problems” I recently bought from Pixmania a 27 inch LCD HD ready TV which was from Paris, I received my LCD TV which I am very happy about. The TV is stunning and for £299 I cannot complain at all (well until now).
I got my Xbox 360 2 weeks ago and am so happy with the game play and graphics it is awesome, I got a package deal which consists of the Xbox 360 console, wireless controller, headphones, Forza 2 Motorsports game and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter game (lovely). Yesterday I went out and bought 4 more games of which 3 of them work and 1 DOES NOT (damn).
Now you’re asking yourselves “WHY? Well let me explain; I get the game home I try out the first 3 briefly and am really happy, then I try the fourth which is Top Spin the tennis game, oops damn and why are you not working, I get an onscreen message saying please change over in the settings to Pal 60 because this game only works on Pal 60 NOT Pal 50.
Ok not a problem so I go to the Xbox then go to Console settings and try to change it, oh no oh blooming no it will NOT let me, why oh why will you not let me change this. To tell you the truth I am still confused, does this mean I am doing something wrong, or does it mean my new 27 inch LCD TV is not Pal 60 compatible.
What really annoys me is not the fact that this one game does NOT work but the fact is how many games out there only work on Pal 60 format, this means I have to buy another HD LCD TV.
Has anyone had this same trouble when it comes to Xbox 360 games and Pal 60 problems?
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The answer to this is actually very simple. Set you 360 to standard tv and the Pal 60 option will then appear in the settings menu. Then switch off the console, flip the switch on the back to HDTV and you should find that Top Spin will now work.
Mark, your first comment adressed to Ricky didn’t make much sense at all. No offense, but the failure rate doesn’t necessarily increase with how recently the console launched. To tell you the truth, the Xbox 360 has a much higher chance of breaking down than the Playstation 3, and even Microsoft acknowledges that. Now, I’m not going to get into mindless, non-intellectual talk like “Teh Xb0x 360 pwns!” or “Da SuxB0x 36o suxorz!!1!”, but when you actually take some time to look into the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 peripherals, the PS3 is an amazing console.
First off, a comment like “If you only looking for gaming, graphics, great choice of games and online gaming then there is no way anything will beat the Xbox 360.” is completely ludicrous. Let’s compare the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 first, then the Elite to be fair.
Graphics:
The Playstation 3 is a powerhouse, and focuses greatly on graphics. It’s highest resolution is 1080p, ready since launch, whereas the Xbox 360 was only capable of 1080i until a recent update. Next, the Playstation 3 has an HDMI output, while you can only get that otherwise by buying an Xbox 360 Elite. The PS3’s HDMI out port is v 1.3, a significantly higher quality than the Elite’s v 1.2, although the .1 difference may seem insignificant at a glance. Right there, the Playstation 3 beat both Xbox 360s.
Cost:
Right now, the premium Playstation 3 costs $499. The premium Xbox 360 costs $399. Let’s make the characteristics even, by comparing the features.
Standard Hard Drive. Playstation 3: 60GB Xbox 360: 20GB
The Playstation 3 has an upgradeable internal hard drive, allowing the user to add any compatible hard drive, such as the 200GB I upgraded to recently. For the Xbox 360, you need a Microsoft-made hard drive that only comes in 20 or 120GB.
Controller:
The Playstation 3 can use up to 7 wireless controllers, while the Xbox 360 can use only 4 wireless controllers. The PS3 has motion-sensitive Sixaxis controllers, yet the Xbox 360 was confined to wired controllers at launch.
Headset:
The Playstation 3 can use any Bluetooth or USB headset. The Xbox 360 uses the provided Microsoft headset, but other headsets are possible if you can try to get them to work hard enough.
Cost:
Playstation 3: $499. Let’s make the two even.
Xbox 360: $399.99
120GB Hard Drive: $179.99
Xbox Live Gold: $49.99 annually
Wireless Adapter: $99.99
High Definition DVD Player: $179.99 with the price drop.
All of this comes to $909.95. You could have gotten all of this in a Playstation 3 for $499, but the extra $410 to an Xbox 360 doesn’t hurt, right?
There’s lots of other aspects to add, as well. Playstation 3 users enjoy their consoles more, and use them more than the average Xbox 360 user. Studies show that the average Playstation 3 session is 83 minutes long, while the average session for the Xbox 360 is only 61 minutes. Like others have said, the 360 failure rate is between 30-50%, the PS3’s is 1-2%, etc.
So, have any opinions been swayed with the truth?
So here is a gentleman asking a serious question about his TV and xbox 360 configuration and the little closed minded ps3 little b*tches are here attacking him. Get a life! Are you guys just surfing the web for bad news on xbox to make yourselves feel better about throwing down 6oo dollars to play games that you can play for 399. Dude you made the right decision on your purchase. Xbox has a ton of exclusives with and unmatched online community (it’s been around longer). I hate to break it to you guys that are still into PS3, but Kill Zone is no Halo. Never was, never will be. Metal Gear solid 4 not a halo either. It may be close to Gears, but gears has a terrific online multiplayer mode. All we have seen out of games to come from ps3 is prerendered stuff no gameplay. Oh and by the way Konami has found a loop hole with metal gear and they are outsourcing it to another company to port over to the xbox a couple months after it release for ps3. Reguarding the 33% defective console. At least microsoft is doing us right by giving us a three year warranty. Your wonderful Sony wouldn’t do that. That’s why the ps2 crashed after two years and all those who bought the ps2 in the beginning had to buy another one 2 years later. Us Xbox fans started out as PS2 fans… So why do you think we moved to xbox? We wanted something more! Lose your Sony loyalty and try the Xbox like we did and you’ll see why we changed. Or you can just let Sony tell you what to buy.
Ignore Fanboy Daniel. You have made the right choice going for the 360, and the PAL 60 issue does exist… However annoying it might be, the solution is connecting the machine using the standard TV connectors, letting the game download an update, and then connect back with the HDTV connectors and see if that works.
Jed is right, I had the same problem with Hitman. My console is connected to a PC monitor. I just plugged into into a standard TV, the Pal options became available, changed them and plugged the box back into the monitor. Simple as Jed says!
Oh and by the way Konami has found a loop hole with metal gear and they are outsourcing it to another company to port over to the xbox a couple months after it release for ps3.
Ummmm, no. That is definitely not the case, unless you care to back that up with a reliable (read not blog or unfounded rumour) source? (Which will be extremely difficult, seeing as there is none available)
on the output lead, switch from hdtv output to pal. Alter the output on the settings tab to pal 60. turn off machine them switch back to hdtv. this worked for me.
Chris, I have to say there are some holes in your comparisons between the Xbox 360 and PS3, so I wanted to redress the balance of what is clearly a pro-PS3 and somewhat anti-360 opinion. I also happen to live in Europe so I want to point out some things from our end.
First off, your response to the comment that “If you only looking for gaming, graphics, great choice of games and online gaming then there is no way anything will beat the Xbox 360.” as being completely ludicrous, I do actually agree with. It is ludicrous to presume that nobody is going to ever be able to match, or better what the Xbox 360 is doing at the moment. However, in the here and now, The Xbox 360 is the far better choice for the serious gamer. The Xbox, in my own, and in many others, opinion has the best line up of games coming this fall of any console in memory. That’s not to say the PS3 doesn’t have some great games on the horizon, but a lot of their biggest games, like MGS4 and Killzone won’t be around till next year.
As far as the failure rates go, yes Microsoft has acknowledged the problem, and also taken steps to combat this, as well as providing a 3 YEAR warranty. PS3 has not been dogged with too many complaints yet, but it’s still early doors, and I know from my own experience with Sony’s previous products (working in the customer service department of a major retailer) that many of the faults tended not to materialise until the warranty had expired (especially the PS2 dvd drive). I’m not saying that this will be the case with the PS3, but I’m interested to see what happens once those first year warranties have run out. I am also curious to know where you got your failure rate figures, although I suspect they are sourced from internet forums and therefore I would advise anyone to take them with a large grain of salt
Right down to your comparisons:
Graphics:
Both consoles are capable of rendering at 1080p, and the Xbox 360 is no less capable of this just because the facility was added as an upgrade; just look at Virtua Tennis 3 or NBA homecourt. However, most next-gen games, as I’m sure you well know, but failed to point out, are being rendered at 720p natively anyway so it’s a bit of a moot point. Also, most lay-people would struggle greatly to tell the difference between something running through component and HDMI. One point I would make though, is if you look at one of the biggest games for both machines this year, Madden 08, the Xbox 360 version runs at 60fps whereas the PS3 one only runs at 30fps, and that does make a but of a difference, not a damning one, but one nonetheless.
Cost:
Right now the PS3 costs €629 (over $800), whereas the Pro Xbox 360 console costs only €399. As well as that, all Pro consoles come with at least one extra controller and 2 games in every major retailler, so that’s added value there. Certainly you get more features out of the box with the PS3, however, many of these features have no real benefit to gaming, such as wi-fi, HD movie playback and the larger HDD over the Xbox 360. Also, there is no comparison between the online experience with XBL and the PNP; XBL wins hands down. Sure you have to pay for it, however, I would point out that Sony, when questioned, have not ruled out charging for online gaming in the future.
Controllers:
The PS3 can use up to 7 wireless controllers. Now, please name one game that has support for 7 controllers. You can’t because there are none. Even if there were, you would be hard pushed to have a 7-player split screen. 4 controllers is all you really need in the home. You did however neglect to point out that the sixaxis is a design that is completely outdated. The xbox 360 controller on the other hand has a very ergonomic design and fits more natually in you hand. The trigger buttons and analog sticks are far superior on the Xbox 360. Sony do have motion control in their controller, but this has not been implemented well as yet in any game, and has come at the cost of force feedback (which I do know they may well be getting back), most notable when playing FPS and racing games.
As far as headsets go, Sony do indeed have the edge, being able to use any bluetooth headset with ease. But the Xbox 360 wireless headset is a fine piece of kit also, and at a fairly reasonable price.
I did have to laugh when I read that “PS3
I think what guy means is that Yes Kojima has said that although MGS4 will be a PS3 exclusive. The updated version of MSG4 (supersubsistance, or whatever he decides to call it) will appear on xbo. Just look at MGS2. Original was PS2 exclusive but MGS2: Substance came out on the xbox. Konami want to see how it fares on the PS3 & then, if they have the need, they will release it on xbox. And even if it never comes to the xbox 360, who really cares? Yes it dose look like a good game. And t WILL sell well. But it is nothing like halo. Recall MGS3 only sold as much as Gears of War (around 4 million). Halo 2 sold 8 million.
And Killzone 2? Halo killer? Are you serious? Killzone 1 had nothing on Halo. It didn’t even get good reviews. Gamespot gave it a 6.9/10 while it gave halo 2 a 9.4/10.
http://uk.gamespot.com/ps2/action/killzone/index.html
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox/action/halo2/index.html
And the xbox IS better value for money. The xbox gives you choice. It dosent force you to go HD unless you want to. And because it didn’t include an internal HD-DVD drive it is cheaper & more convenient. And as for the hard drive, I’m from europe & we dont get to download movies so the 20 GB suits me fine. And for those who want more, they can buy the elite. And Microsoft even cater for those who dont want a hard drive, and only want to play great games.
So in my opinion Microsoft have catered for all kinds of gamers, while the PS3 shoves all this great technology down your throat for a very hefty fee. And sony have stopped manufacturing the 60 GB PS3, and in an attempt to sell it off quickly have dropped the price to $499. So soon there’ll only be one model available - the 80 GB PS3 which will sell for $599.
And Microsoft has just dropped the xbox 360 price by $50, so now the Premium is only $350 compared.
Yes it has a high failure rate but who cares? We get 3 years free repair. And few are turned off buy a bunch of unnofficial figures of failure rates. Yes thouse rates have not been confirmed, several retailers have claimed 33% failures. No official statements have been announced. Although I’m sure the figures are high, there not 1 in 3. And even if they were, who cares? Most people buy a console for its games, not just for its great technology.
And as NICK said, remember the PS2? Every single person I know(including myself) has had their PS2 brake after 2 or 3 years. And ALL of us were forced to but another to compensate. Sony didn’t give a great customer service like Microsoft. And just like NICK I bought an xbox, & it more than lived up to the hype. It was a GREAT console, with GREAT games. As is the xbox 360.
And xbox dose have great games. Apart from stealing most PS3’s exclusives, the xbox has halo 3, halo wars, Mass effect, DOA, fable 2 that ARE still exclusive!
These comments are a joke, the once that caught my eye as being worthy of particular scorn is the post from Chris.
I can forgive mindless fanboy rant, when it doesn`t try to dress itself up as a logical, reasoned argument. However our friend Chris seems to think he can dress up his fanaticism for a brand of console as the “truth” and get some kudos for it.
Sadly you are oh so wrong. You`ve got learn, my boy, that in order for people to respect your opinion you need to think about what your saying, and why your saing it, before you speak (or post).
I think you need to understand that you are a fanatic, and therefore your comments are not objective in any way. Theres no problem with enthusiuasm, but you`ve taken it a bit too far.
I won`t attempt to address any of your points, because to do so would simply drag me down to your level. Understand this. There is room for more than one console in the marketplace. The choice is down to the consumer, and right now, he has some great consoles to chose from. There is no right and wrong. There is only choice.
Grow up.
Now grow up, and
A word you may want to look up in the dictionary is “Objective”.