Shopping list

Last night I was looking at an Xbox game review online and something struck me:

Why don’t my games look that good?

Of course, I realized what it was just a few seconds later. On my PC I’m looking at a HD screenshot on a HD monitor. When I’m actually playing a game, I’m playing on my plain old regular TV. As a result, the picture’s a lot fuzzier and ‘muddier’.

Then something from the depths of time spoke in the back of my head.

Hey! When you got your new monitor, someone commented on your review, saying they’d bought it for their 360 and it worked great!

I had a ‘eureka’ moment. It would be no big deal to set up the 360 on my desk next to my PC. My monitor has both VGA and HDMI inputs…and this would have the added bonus of putting the 360 within ‘cable range’ of my router.

In other words, for the price of a HDMI cable, I could play my games in wide-screen Hi-Def, save a hundred bucks because I wouldn’t need a wireless adapter…and not have to fight with Sunny about who’s turn it is to use the TV.

Awesome, right?

Well…no.

I forgot one thing. The sound. My PC monitor is just that, a monitor, with no speakers. My PC speakers have a regular headphone jack, and my surround system…the one speaker system I have in the house with RCA inputs, would be back across the room next to the TV.

So it basically comes down to a choice. Leave things how they are and deal with a low-rez picture and no Xbox Live…or buy a forty dollar cable, get a nice sharp HD picture, Xbox Live and no sound…unless I want to also buy a fairly serious speaker system.

Yeah…I just don’t think Guitar Hero would be all that much fun without any sound…don’t you?