QJ.NET review: Plugging the Xbox 360 into Headplay

With the release of Halo 3 we thought it was the perfect time to review our Headplay device on the Xbox 360. Our first review of Headplay covered the basics of the device: what it is and what it does. Now it’s time to see how it holds up to par with the consoles, starting with the Xbox 360.

Although it’s not the ultimate visual display, there are obvious advantages to playing the Xbox 360 with the TV directly attached to your head. With Headplay, the difference is like playing on a hi-def 62-inch flat screen TV versus playing on a projected image on a movie screen. It’s not exactly better, but it has its own charms.

Check out the rest of the review in the full article!

With the release of Halo 3 we thought it was the perfect time to review our Headplay device on the Xbox 360. Our first review of Headplay covered the basics of the device: what it is and what it does. Now it’s time to see how it holds up to par with the consoles, starting with the Xbox 360.

Plugging the Xbox 360 into Headplay

Although it’s not the ultimate visual display, there are obvious advantages to playing the Xbox 360 with the TV directly attached to your head. With Headplay, the difference is like playing on a hi-def 52-inch flat screen TV versus playing on a projected image on a movie screen. It’s not exactly better, but it has its own charms.

With the video feeding directly to your eyes there’s an immersion value there you can’t get with a regular TV. This works especially well with games where you step into the character’s shoes, like first-person shooters. It might not make you feel like you stepped into Master Chief‘s battlesuit when you’re playing Halo 3 but at least you get to feel like you’ve stepped behind his eyeballs.

The video output is more than satisfactory for the average gamer. Clarity may be an issue for those who need thick glasses to see with, but mostly it’s nothing to complain about with the proper adjustments. Even some of us here who avoid FPSs were able to enjoy Halo 3 and had no problems with aiming (at least, for Headplay’s part – their skill level was something else entirely).

Some of those who tested text heavy games (like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) observed that they had some minor problems with reading small text. Reading small text on Headplay isn’t any worse compared to a normal TV display, but it can be more strenuous for the eyes after a while since you can’t exactly just walk nearer towards the screen to take a closer look. Most games didn’t have this problem though; for reference, the text in the Dashboard is more than legible enough.

The Xbox 360 as a media device

The Xbox 360’s capabilities as a media hub – playing movies and music as well as being a game console – is also complemented by Headplay. After all, the true strengths of the device come from just lying back and enjoying the show. The music player’s visualization feature, in particular, gets more psychedelic.

Unfortunately the device doesn’t have a plug for the new HDMI output that the new Elite and Premium 360s sport. However, the display via the component cables is more than satisfactory if not spectacularly crisp.

One very conspicuous problem with using Headplay is that only one person can use it at a time. It’s an inherent logical flaw of a TV being strapped to your head that only you will get to enjoy it. That being said it really diminishes from the full experience of gaming since you can only play solo games.

Of course there’s always online multiplayer games but that’s not the same as actually having a person who’s playing right beside you. There’s some satisfaction in gloating when your opponent’s sitting next to you. The need to point and say “ha-ha” aside, it’s still pretty wicked on online multiplayer since the Xbox 360 specializes in that particular function.

The one-person-only display also prevents enjoying movies and music with other people. The whole thing can conceivably be solved by buying a component splitter so you can divide the audio and video between Headplay and other media devices, but it would have been nice if the function was already built in. Then again that might have made the device bulkier and would have crippled the idea of the device being portable.

All in all the Headplay is a pretty effective tool to enhance the gaming experience. Lacking a physical second player to share it with isn’t really a bother since the 360 pretty much compensates with their online multiplayer functions. And since the 360 also acts as a media hub and Headplay is a personal cinema system, the two complement each other in such a way that the combination is a unique experience in itself. Headplay is currently available for purchase through the company’s website for US$ 499.99.