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XBox Delayed
rumrum writes: "From CNet: 'The company says it will delay the launch of its video game console by one week to Nov. 15 but declines to clarify exactly how many units it will have available at launch.'" AP has a slightly more informative article which points to production problems, and the LA Times has a story noting that production hasn't yet begun.
Did anyone read penny arcade today? They make a good point about how marketing is done in stores. Hardly any store is actually actively marketing the N-Cube (because they are both supposed to come out November).
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Heck, even the space shuttle gets delayed 1.5 times per launch!
:)
It's nothing tremendous, and, given the events in the past week a delay could be the best thing to do- give people a time to get out of their shell shock (and I am still in it) and move out into our life that Osama hates so much.
Personally, I won't buy one... but that doesn't mean another game console couldn't help
I don't ever recall MS missing a release date for other products. Wait, maybe it was the fact that they never met a release date...
What was that hard drive for? Saving games? How about the broadband? Internet play? If I'm not making it clear enough as it is, MS is probably going for the patchable console we feared. I mean, they have seven weeks to begin building them, so errors are bound to happen.
It shouldn't be a surprise that microsoft is not reliable. Microsoft makes good hardware, but they don't have final fantasy, zelda, mario or sonic.
If you read the news post attached to that comic, the point they're making is that retailers are supporting either one or the other. They go on to say how they received e-mails last year saying how Sony threatened to not give stores their fair share of PS2's if they advertised XBox.
When one of the X-Box consoles running Halo went out at E3, there was an RCA box behind the glass that the Microsoft people went to reset - so I don't even know if there's a working X-Box in existence.
The other funny thing is, I went into E3 expecting to be blown away by the X-Box and go ho-hum at the Gamecube...And I went out being blown away by the Gamecube and going ho-hum at the X-Box. (Personal opinion.)
VA Linux stock fell 25% in one week! Yeeaaahhh baby!
Desperate parents will probably be able to pick up one up for their whining spawn off eBay for $25,000.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Wait. No I'm not.
This is par for the course -- announce vaporware to attempt to destroy preemptively the competition. "Why would a want I [game cube | PS2 | Go Tablet | etc] when Microsoft's gonna have one in a month or two?"
In this case, the competition didn't just evaporate -- much, I'm sure, to MS's chagrin.
I wouldn't be *terribly* surprised if the thing slipped into spring... then never launched at all.
As long as it gets out before Thanksgiving in the US, they will still sell an assload of these, at least in my opinion.
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
'The company says it will delay the launch of its video game
The company? What, is there only one now? Did Microsoft take over all the others last night while we were sleeping?
You're using her as bait, Master!
Microsoft has always followed the philosophy of getting their products working JUST ENOUGH to be functional, then release them to the public and put out patches and updates later, to fix the problems they should have fixed before ever releasing the title in the first place.
The thing is, you can't do that with a console system, and nobody wants a console system or games with bugs. Suddenly Microsoft has found themselves in a situation where they have to get things right THE FIRST TIME! I wonder how many poker games Mr. Gates has had to skip while worrying about this one?
...All I can say is that my life is pretty strange...
And I wanted to buy 1000 of them, put them into racks and load Linux on them to run a web server farm.
I think that maybe there is an actual downturn going on in the game industry that is larger than has been publicised. Sony are also rumoured to be dropping the price by $100 so it will effectively kill the $1200 "MS package deals" for X-Box, especially with Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2 and loads more. PS2 Christmas line-up is the strongest of all the consoles, and it also will be the cheapest.
There have been many rumours on the net for the past week that MS's production might be halved. Remember the hype around X-Box last year? A simultaneous WORLDWIDE launch? Right about now with production difficulties and strong lineups from Sony, it's seems even the might monolith MS can have trouble.
Plus the PS2 has a nice retro look with the grill and all. X-Box looks like the sort of console Gordon Gecko would design, only he would probably put a big G on it or something. Actually, Bill Gates probably would do that to.
A G-Box would be cool..........it might even come with built in pr0n as well.
Acting stupid isn't much fun when there's someone around who knows better
Since Nintendo delayed the GCN until the 18th or so, MS probably decided they've got a few extra days to churn out some extra units, as well as maybe build up the hype a bit.
But is anyone getting any new preorders in? I got mine at the local EB the first day they had them, but they were out of their allotted units within 5 days. Maybe with this delay, a few more will get their XBOX for launch day.
Personally, I was kind of waiting for the X-Box for hacking purposes. The standard CPU makes a lot more sense to hack than the custom CPUs in both the Playstation 2 and GameCube (although the GameCube's games seem to look the pretiest of them all).
Also, if reports are correct, you will soon be able to buy a new Dreamcast for $49.99. That's a nice bit of pocket change for a little system that can run a variant of BSD.
apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple
apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple apple
According to the LA Times article:
Main said Nintendo, which recently pushed back its North American launch by two weeks, was "locked and loaded" to deliver 630,000 GameCubes to the United States and 70,000 to Canada before Thanksgiving weekend
I'm amazed that the number of units going to Canada is so low. Are there really only 1/9th as many games in Canada as in the US?
I'm looking for a HEPA media filter for my TV. I'm alergic to reality shows.
How long will it be from the launch date to the release of the first port of linux for it?
or will the EULA force you to only disparage linux?
Interesting that they're choosing to delay it. In previous interviews I'd read, the Microsofties sounded pretty hyped about how they're not going to have the supply problems the PS2 had. This was then followed by the rumormill working overtime on a reduced launch.
Check these out, courtesy of Gamespot:
Some Microsoft comments on the delay.
Ed Fries discusses XBox launch
- - - - - - - -
Don't worry, being eaten by a crocodile is just like going to sleep in a giant blender.
Any thoughts on how this will affect the Nintendo Game Cube? Can we expect imense competition, maybe even (gasp) an extra free controller or two? I loved the launch of the NES... it was expensive, but at least it came with two controllers, a lightgun, and two games. Fun and variety right out of the box! Some bundles even came with the R.O.B. robot and even more games.
Personally, I'd like to see the hackable X-Box make more of a splash. I love to work on various SW/HW hacks. The very closed GameCube, to me anyway, is a symbol of a vanilla money-hungry console of the past.
That Microsoft has been saying up until Wednesday that they will absolutly ship on time.
They have also repeatedly denied any production problems.
Assuming that they are not all simply lying scum:
My questions is how can a company wake up one morning and discover that they will have no where near the number of units on hand they said they would and will need to push a launch date back. It's been a two day span between nothing is wrong, everthing will ship to, "We are delaying and have 'moved past' talking about specific launch numbers." What this would seem to indicate is a truly SPECTACULAR level of ingorance or incompetence.
This follows of course on the Mhz reductions in their GPU and spec reductions across the board.
The collorary to the first question is when will the fan sites covering the xbox stop just eating up what they are told. I have yet to see a fan site use an iota of intelligence in reporting on the xbox, but blindy eat up overhyped stats. What type of control does Microsoft exert over these numbskulls.
It makes for great reading however... the fan sites are truly a bunch of nitwits who can't seem to critically evaluate a thing. I'd love to get the customer list for xbox buyers and call them selling the brooklyn bridge.
Not that there is anything new, but...
Nintendo's advertising will probably start shortly. While Xbox may be building hype right now, Nintendo has year and years of name brand recognition and several widely known franchises (Mario, Metroid, Pokemon, et al) to their advantage. One good month of advertisements and kids'll be hocking their N64's like there is no tomorrow. Nintendo doesn't need to work as hard as MS to have the same (or greater) effect.
Second, Microsoft is in the unenviable position of having the most expensive console. Sony could potentially drop the price of the PS2 to $250 now that they're over a year into mass production. The Nintendo GameCube has always been targetted at a much lower price point ($200) so it has a fairly good advantage over Sony and MS both in that regard.
Finally, the recession is on the way (face up to it, boys and girls) and that means less money sloshing around to spend on toys. If a full-fledged depression hits, then Nintendo and Microsoft and Sony are all going to take a hit, and the odd man out, Microsoft in this case, will probably fall by the wayside.
Anyway, this doesn't touch on the issues that others might find problems with like (a) having to buy a special remote to use it as a DVD player (b) the network adaptor being effectively useless until at least March 2002, and (c) the lack of real support from Japanese companies. (Token games, for sure, just to test the waters, but they'll probably pull back real quick when the recession hits full on.)
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
It makes sense that they aren't in production yet. Consider that essentially what they're selling is a repackaged PC. Most of the components in there are the same components any PC has in it. Now consider how much those components may well drop in price between now and mid-November.
PC manufacturers try to keep a parts inventory measured in a few days (Dell actually has negative inventory, considering that their terms usually say they pay 30 days after receiving the parts, or so I hear).
Sure, they're going to have to do a bunch of advance production to keep up with the initial demand, but it makes sense to minimize this.
And that's leaving aside the marketing advantages of creating the appearance of a hit product by constraining supply to create shortages.
AP has a slightly more informative article which points to production problems, and the LA Times has a story noting that production hasn't yet begun.
:)
Yeah...I'd say that production not beginning yet is a problem
Companies like Sega, Nintendo, Sony, and their developers work work very to make sure console games aren't buggy. And considering how difficult it is to produce bug-free code, they do a pretty darn good job, if not a perfect one.
Fortunately, a lot of very experienced console developers will develop for XBox, but what of those who are used to PC development and patch-releases? An what of bugs on the OS level? Might the hard drive be for "Quake4IPpatcha.exe" or worse, Xbox SP1-6a?
Maybe the era of the bug-free console game is over.
m
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
It'll still be out before Duke Nukem Forever.
Anybody remember the hype trying to buy a PS2? (Sony, not IBM) Anybody have a hard time buying one now?
Geez people, have a little patience! These too will reach bargain bin status faster than Nimda infects.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
Michael
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Was this maybe more of a move to mask Nintendo's launch of the Gamecube? Originally, it was Nintendo that had the 3 day cushion. In my eyes (looking from north of the boarder), I see Nintendo's launch being less of a bang then what would have been with the original dates. It's getting out advertised up here by 2 to 1 easy.
Hmmm... according to the LA times article, if Nintendo is "locked and loaded" with their consoles, would they release on their original date of Nov. 5? That's a 10 day buffer to sell a ton of $440CD (2 game bundle) systems, and watch Microsoft wait and wallow with their $600CD (2 game bundle) systems.
Who to believe.. one source says the factories aren't producing.. another says they (or at least one) is/are.
from the latimes article:
Microsoft's vice president of games, Ed Fries, this week told online game magazine Gamespot that two factories in Hungary and Mexico have not yet started to manufacture final retail machines.
From http://xbox.ign.com/news/38488.html
The Guadalajara plant has been in production for around two weeks.
You crazy man? You piss off supahfly!
That is why I'm buying an X-Box.
I think JSR is one of the best games I have ever played. I can wait another few months if I have to.
BTW, If the XBox delay bothers anyone and they haven't played Jet Grind/Set Radio, buy a Dreamcast & JS/GR. It will keep you going for 2 weeks while you wait.
Anyway, it must be about 10 dollars for a DC nowadays.
On a Saturday morning it's always great fun to read posts by the drunken Americans.
Wow, didn't Sony do this last year? Right before Christmas they delayed the release and then came up with drastically fewer boxes than they expected, thereby putting the market into a buying frenzy. Anything with the PS2 logo quickly sold out, and Sony raked in the money.
Get out and start standing in lines now, cuz those units that you grab at the local Best Buy will be gold on eBay. And if you keep one for yourself I'd like the box from ya so I can sell it to some rube on eBay for $1500.
Remember when PS2 was delaying and initial shipments were constrained? People were selling PS2 on eBay before Christmas for as much as $5000.
:-D
Anyone with some spare cash should probably get their pre-orders in, it looks like another hot investment opportunity...
You may not use the hardware modem in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft, MSN, MSNBC, Expedia, or their products or services, infringe any intellectual property or other rights of these parties, violate any state, federal or international law, or promote racism, hatred or pornography.
Which big corporation does everyone think of as inspirational, moral-always does the right thing, and makes everyone happy?
;)
I don't know of one. Granted, only a few others sport the sort of egregious abuses of monopoly power that Microsoft does, but so what.
You don't like Microsoft? Fine go buy a Nintendo. Have fun. Go buy your shiny new ball from a different evil corporation.
Any for-profit entity is *for profit*. You want to support a new order that respects people and the world in general? Then support, work at, and otherwise propagate non-profit entities.
I for one, probably won't buy any new game system at all. I don't have time for it anyway with the new Compaq Presario 7000Z I bought from the "evil" for-profit Compaq Corporation.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
Apparently, you don't have any "toleranse" for a dictionary either:)
If you're going to be pompous, at least be thorough about it.
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
I really, really, really would like to be dominated and fucked in the ass by Gillian Andersson dressed in tight black and red leather and wearing a strap-on dildo.
Monkey?
I do hope your sig file is supposed to be ironic.
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
For your edification please see www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=toleranse
If you didn't mean it ironically, then I suggest you be more tolerant. A lifetime of self-hate really sucks.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
The GPU is different from anything else nVidia is making or will make. they have specifically stated this. Also, the API's are different.
All games are written to run at ring-0 priority on the x-box. No way that you'll ever see this on a normal PC. The OS is gutted then refortified so that the Win2k variant runs what it needs, and only that much.
Those two facts in the preceding paragraph make the console faster and better, gaming-wise, to anything you'll see on a PC in the same time that the x-box is being sold as a main-stream contender. At least, that is what I would expect.
Just because the thing uses a pentium doesn't mean that it's a PC-in-a-box. I would guess that the Pentium is the only standard major component of it. Even the USB for the controllers has been altered to meet the x-box needs.
Is it just me, or does the CNet link go to a page about "Congressman pushes for more encryption"??
I hate to get on a rant here... But are you people dense?? Why do you keep calling it vaporware when sites like xbox.ign.com have working hardware and games in their possession? That they're reviewing no les... Sure let's all jump on the I hate Microsoft bandwagon. You people are the same ones who complain that there is a monopoly in the desktop OS arena. But when it comes to consoles you feel only Sony and Nintendo should rule. (insert smart-ass remark here) Unless Indrema does make it to shelves... Then you'll only cry and complain how open source solutions don't get a chance to compete in the market. Cry me a river. If you don't like Microsoft's products do what all of us do... Don't buy them. But don't say because it's MS it must suck. Imagine if you were told don't use Linux it's not Microsoft so it must suck. You like others know that you need to evaluate new products before you use them, so you can make a solid judgement on merit, not brand name. That's why I haven't bought a PS2. My friend has one, and I'm not that impressed. I loved my PSOne, and my DC but the PS2 isn't all that. But that's just my opinion and because I'm and American I'm entitled to have one.
The scene: Xbox marketing and development lab conference room. Two MSX-droids hash out the ongoing
problems with the Xbox project...
Drone #1: Our box needs to kick ass, or we lose big time. The guys over in the hype machine have set the
bar seriously high! The later it gets, the better it has to be! We might not ever get done!
Drone #2: Yeah it is almost a PC now, maybe we should have thought that Dell offer through a little
more... It will be ok though because that is what we do best --hype now and build later. Half of them
don't even know the difference!
Drone #1: What are we going to do about the price? I mean everything but the kitchen sink is in there!
Parents know how much PC's cost, we have to drop that image, or they will never buy. They will say they
already have one. Everyone knows there is a difference between a PC and a game machine.
#1: That's ok, we will make it up on the licensing. Thats how those Sony and Nintendo guys do it.
Besides the hardware guys know what they are doing.
#2: For that it has to be closed. Damn! that means we have to get it right the first time. No
upgrades...
#1: We can use the expansion port! Everyone has one on their systems right? Anything we need to add goes
in there.
#2: Not everybody buys them though. Expansions make it messy for the dev guys. Remember they said they
would port if the environment was stable. If it gets ugly they will probably just stick to the PC. We
better just make sure we are covered on the hardware front and take the hit on the price. We have deep
pockets -everything will be ok. Remember the chief did say 'at any cost'!
#1: What if we don't have the best games? Damn Sony and their contracts! The bigger the initial loss the
more games we have to sell.
#2: Are you kidding? We have great games. Between Sega, the PC ports, and those cool guys over at the
Microsoft Game development team, our games are going to rock! We don't have to have the best games
silly, we just need the games that people are willing to buy. Remember Sony seems to mix in a lot of
that Jap Crap, we have an all American line up. What could be better for America than American games?
#1: Ok, we are covered on the games. Sounds good! --Wait! What about all those hippy Open Source Linux
running geeks?!? They are going to make webservers, mp3 players, emulators and all sorts of things on
cheap hardware we paid for! What about that!
#2: Linux does not run on Xbox, whats the big deal? Quit worrying.
#1: Man, Linux runs on everything! It's even on a wristwatch for Gods' sake! You don't get outside the
campus enough. Besides we promised the Hollywood guys that it would be closed and cheaper than Sony.
You know how they hate to pay one of their own for distribution -gives them fits just thinking about it.
It's our ace in the hole!
#2: We will just have to make sure it will never run. We can encrypt the ROM and CPU like they do with
some of the Arcade games. That combined with special hardware will make it tough. Who said you get to
leave campus? Running Linux are ya?
#1: No, never... b-but it's all over the web, just look at Slashdot! There are ports mentioned every
couple of weeks! Besides, if our stuff runs, then they can look at that to make their stuff go too. We
would just be adding to the price in order to put them off.
#2: Slashdot-Trashdot, that is why the DMCA was passed remember? You worry too much. Besides I hear
that we are buying another law. It will be perfect! Linux will be illegal because it is not certified
by hollywood and us to run, so even if they run it, they are screwed!
#1: So, does that mean we have to include a contract that requires owners of an Xbox to buy our games?
That is not going to make us look good at the DOJ. They seem to have backed off, but a lot of people
are still pissed.
#2: Which people? Oh, you mean the ones that don't have any money? They won't matter, we have some of
the best inside help working with us on this one. By the time they scrape together any sort of a plan,
this thing will go through right to the top!
#1: Maybe you are right, it is just complex. Why can't we just do what we need to do without all these
hassles?
#2: Ok here's the plan just in case. Every Xbox connects to a phone line and we set up a new free online
service like Sega did with PSO Online. When the machine comes on it checks its boot media, if a non
Microsoft OS is there, it stops and reminds the users of their duty as a citizen to follow the DMCA.
#1: That does not sound like a very fun game machine. Tech support is going to kill us. They are already
buried with product activation, and this will send them through the roof. Ever talk to a pissed off
Apple user. Clueless and angry, enough to drive you nuts! They are nothing compared to the parents who
have to call about the game machine they bought to keep their kids busy!
#2: It will be fine. Lots of things connect to the phone these days. Don't worry about it. Look at all
those cable users with a phone line on their box. The geeks even like their TVIO machines with a phone
line.
#1: The new rage is cell phones, college kids all over the place don't even have a normal phone, and how
are you going to do game parties? They don't want phones, they want ethernet!
#2: Ok you make the call, we have to have more input on this.
#1: No way! I remember what happened last time. That is why you are #2 --remember?
(In walks #3 fresh from school with visions of stock options in his head.... )
#3: Hey guys! What's with the long faces?
#1 & #2: Just in time! Hey we have a little project we would like to to head up for a while, you seem
ready for something new. Lets meet in our office later today to discuss the details.
To be continued...
Blogging because I can...
More then likely, MS got caught offguard by the gigantic typhoon that slammed into Taiwan last weekend, effectively shutting down various production plants. That'll put a dent into anyone's shipping schedule.
"V - ã ?
TENKA MUJYOU?
World Supremacy?
Did you know what that would render into in Japanese encoded text?
Microsoft makes good hardware, but they don't have final fantasy, zelda, mario or sonic
It's been said that there have only been seven video games ever made, and that all other games are remakes of these. I can't get more specific because Slashdot search seems to be broken.
For example, the Xbox may not have Final Fantasy(tm) brand final fantasy, but it does have Morrowind brand final fantasy. It may not have Zelda(tm) brand zelda, but it does have Azurik brand, Malice brand, and New Legends brand zelda, and these aren't cel-shaded like Z9 for GAMECUBE. It may not have Soul Calibur(tm) brand or Bushido Blade(tm) brand swordfighting Star Wars brand swordfighting. It doesn't have Mario Kart(tm) brand or Crash Team Racing(tm) brand kart racing/combat, but it does have Blood Wake brand water vehicle combat and Mad Dash brand foot racing. It doesn't have Goldeneye(TM) brand goldeneye, but it does have Halo brand goldeneye. It doesn't have side-scrolling mario, but neither does GAMECUBE.
On the other hand, OmegaMan mentioned that Sega develops Xbox software and may release Sonic(tm) brand sonic.
DISCLAIMER: Trademarks in this comment are used for comparative and comic effect.Will I retire or break 10K?
There's an older one about the delay of the Game Cube that could easily have X-Box substituted in.
Honestly if you didn't see this one coming a mile away... well just read the comic and have a laugh.
Ha-haa!
</NelsonM>
GTRacer
- Where is my Linux for PS2? C'mon guys, i wanna MAME!
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
It'll be more eciting, more advanced... just like Windows XXXP. All hot stuff coming to you from MS in the near future!
Sigged!
Although it was designed and coded in the short time since the terrorist attack, developers felt the game would have fewer bugs than, say Myst III: Exile.
Full story
Box art
Screen Cap
This is humour by attrition.
Sayeth the moderators: "I give up! I'll moderate it funny! Please stop typing!"
Is it just me, or has the XBox had flop written all over it since the start. I can't see any point in it.....
M0571y H@rml355.
MSFT missed their ship date and indications are the consumers won't buy many xBox units due to pricing and lack of games that sustain interest.
NTDOY is doing well, but the Japanese market is even worse than ours - my $10K in Nintendo is down to $7K right now due to currency.
It looks like Nintendo will have a killer year, so if I had spare cash, I'd buy some Nintendo on the Nikkei exchange with US dollars.
My guess is Nintendo will win, MSFT will end up third. MSFT needed to be second to stay in the race, so they're dead by 2004 is my guess.
I'm holding my NTDOY stock. I'm not selling my MSFT stock, since it's 90 percent a holding company and the xBox failing won't impact profits much, just another failed product.
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
I never quite thought about this. The existing hardware vendors have their stuff very polished. I've had Bond freeze a couple of times on the N-64, but only after leaving in on to the left of forever. Enter M$. A buggy OS, software, or hardware could be just what the doctor ordered, inspiring M$ to leave the gaming hardware the pros.
My guess is Nintendo will do some cool bundles for the Thanksgiving and Christmas ones, where you pay $200 but get an extra game or a Pokemon version instead.
The controllers are going to be Game Boy Advance - throwing in spares eats into the GBA upgrade path from the GB Color that they're looking at right now.
Now if they could just release some of the cool Japan-only games for North America and throw those in the bundle, that would be severely cool.
--- Will in Seattle - What are you doing to fight the War?
McNealy said the problems probably wouldn't affect Xbox in the long term but was still an embarrassment as the company seeks to make its first impression in the gaming industry.
After an EULA that forbids "disparaging" comments about Frontpage or its company and affiliates, they think this is embarrassing?
All this means is that I've got to wait another week before PS2 drops to $199. *sigh*
When you say "it has been said," what you mean to say is "I have said, over and over and over."
No, I refer to a specific comment made here a few stories back, which I can't find at the moment because Slashdot's search seems to be broken.
Non-Miyamoto Zelda is not Zelda
You got that right; bad gameplay and buggy code puts the 'blo' in a popular imitator.
Let us be clear: when a poster says, "It doesn't have Zelda, Metroid, Perfect Dark, etc.," he or she is not talking about trademarks. It is a matter of preference in design teams and fundamental vision behind the projects.
True; metroid, z3, and pretty much everything by Rareware rock. But moms still have whiny kids who want their Pokemon regardless of how bad the gameplay is (not counting the GB titles but rather the merchandising, which is all based on the $#!++y TV show). As Pikachu says: "BEAT THE JEW!"
You mentioned Perfect Dark. Good game, but expensive, as it costs nearly $800 to enjoy fully: $50 for Perfect Dark, $100 for an N64 to play it on, $40 for a RAM expansion pack (required for all modes except a couple 2P deathmatch levels), $90 for 3 extra controllers, $30 for Perfect Dark for Game Boy Color (required to unlock some PD features), $70 for a Game Boy Color system to play it on, $50 for a Game Boy Camera to create face textures, $50 for a Transfer Pak to copy the textures to the game (nintendo says the msrp for the Transfer Pak by itself is $20, but I havent see Transfer Paks in stores apart from the Pokemon Stadium 1 bundle), and at least $300 for a TV large enough to fit a 4-player split screen. You can get an entry-level PC with Quake III Arena and 1000 hours of AOL(tw) for that price.
But what do you know about games? How can anyone who knows what he's talking about associate a serious simulation like Bushido Blade with Soul Caliber?
I gave them as examples of swordfighting games. I should have just mentioned the souledge series without bringing up Bushido.
Will I retire or break 10K?
A good time to buy Nintendo? Maybe if you like games that are made to appeal to a 10 year old. WTF is wrong with you people? PS2 is good. It's got a huge fan base and will not lose it's #1 spot.
*grumble*
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
The facts are pretty simple. Microsoft is LOSING money on the X-Box console. The X-Box console is also closer to a PC than a Console in traditional sense. While MS will make up some of the money from lisencing fees, they probably still make tons more off of every new copy of Windows they sell for PC markets.
If Microsoft is successful with X-Box, and take Sony and Nintendo out of the picture, then they can stop supporting the X-Box. No more consoles, and all gamers will now be consolidated onto the PC. Microsoft can then make the newer versions of DirectX only work with their most recent operating system.
Then they can make a new Windows every year, at $200 a pop. Gamers who want to play newer games have to upgrade to the newest version of Windows all the time. Microsoft stands to make more money off of this than any game console.
Of course, maybe I'm wrong.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Forget the Xbox. Here's my prediction. On November 15, Sony will slash the PS2 to $199 in response to the Xbox launch. In addition it will also offer a $299 "professional" system in the US that comes with a hard drive, network card, and a Linux CD (finally!) bundled with the system.
So which one will you buy?
"My guess is Nintendo will do some cool bundles for the Thanksgiving and Christmas ones, where you pay $200 but get an extra game or a Pokemon version instead."
The Pokemon Nintendo 64 was released 4 years into that console's lifespan. I doubt Nintendo would be redesigning the GameCube so soon...
"The controllers are going to be Game Boy Advance - throwing in spares eats into the GBA upgrade path from the GB Color that they're looking at right now."
This idea that Game Boy Advance units can be used as GameCube controls is wrong. True, there are some games that you can link a GBA with to control the game or aspects of the game with it(Kirby springs to mind from Spaceworld), however the GBA will not just work as a control for any game.
The GameCube control has two analogue control sticks, a digital D-pad, Digital buttons A B X Y Z and Start. The Game Boy Advance has a digital D-pad, digital buttons A B L R and Start. Even if Nintendo wanted to use the GBA as GCN controls, they simply lack the required functionality.
"Now if they could just release some of the cool Japan-only games for North America and throw those in the bundle, that would be severely cool."
What cool games on the GCN are Japan only so far?
That's what everyone said about Nintendo before Playstation came out. :)
And you're right, PS2 is good, but not great. I have a PS2 and I love it for 4 reasons: GT3, SSX, backwards compatibility and DVD playability. Waiting for 2 more reasons: Final Fantasy X and Metal Gear 2.
Only appealing to 10 year olds? Nobody knows. We'll see when NCG comes out.. and it is the ONLY next-gen console to have exclusive Resident Evil games heron in as stated by this article from IGN.
yes
If you hadn't heard already, Best Buy (big USA chain) bought Futureshop a month or 2 ago.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
They've ALWAYS announced products before they were even started in order to get people to hold off buying the competitor's products. "Oh, but microsoft is coming out with a product very soon that will be better than your product". Then 'very soon' turns into delays and more delays mixed with more hype as they actually start to desgin the product. And people are still holding off buying the competitor's product. Eventually microsoft's product is finally released (with many bugs) and everyone is SO HAPPY to buy their long awaited thing. In the meantime, the competition has suffered. Sometimes the competition suffers enough to be bought up by microsoft for dirt cheap.
Ever hear about 'Microsoft for Cable TV?'
They failed at that - spent huge money on it, didn't even get a product out the door. Then they bought WebTV instead for cheap.
--jeff
ipv6 is my vpn
If you play zelda games for the graphics, you're a lost cause anyway ;). The best ones were the gameboy ones, and I was underwhelmed by Majora's Mask because it was essentially the same game as Ocarina of Time. It's all about new, innovative styles of play, not who has the biggest, er, fastest 3d graphics.
It's $30 for the official RAM expansion
When I saw them at that price, they were on sale. I was assuming that players aren't waiting for a sale.
forget about the $50 for a Game Boy Camera because that option got taken out at the last minute.
Noted in my E2 writeup.
Oh, and I believe everyone has a TV.
Four-player Goldeneye or PD on the 13" TV a typical college student buys is not very fun. Note that I said "big enough to hold a four-player view," which implies at least 25 inches, preferably 31.
Actually, if you can get the Transfer Pak alone for $20
As I said in my previous post, not in any store I've seen, and shipping is a bitch.
However, I forgot to mention that there are "NP Exclusive" codes printed in the pages of Nintendo Power, so add $100 for back issues.
the total is really $270
$270 only covers N64 ($100), the expansion pak ($30), PD64 ($50), and the controllers ($90). It does not cover the GBC, PD/GBC, Transfer Pak, and NP back issues needed to unlock all cheats. Heck, I didn't even mention Rumble Paks, but I didn't include those, as I assume nothing in the game absolutely requires vibration feedback (as it would in a fishing game).
Will I retire or break 10K?
[canceling the Game Boy Camera] should be $150 off the total.
No, $50 off, as you only needed one camera.
how much do you have to spend to "enjoy fully" Quake 3 Arena? $650 ($800 after monitor) in hardware doesn't go oh-so-far in terms of games
A Celery 500 with a TNT2 runs Q3A just fine (I've tried), and so does the free laptop that many colleges are giving out to students. (Rare markets M-rated Perfect Dark primarily to college students.)
if I wanted to play with an actual friend, it seems fair to say that I would have to note the purchase of multiple copies of the game.
Three more Q3A licenses cost $30. If you just want to play against other players who aren't as predictable as bots, you can play across the Internet; however, that can cost $200,000.
And that's assuming you don't "need" any fancy controllers to "enjoy it fully."
Any computer with a keyboard and an optical mouse should work.
By the way, I apologize for the tone of my previous post.
Apology accepted, but note that your signature, when taken in context, made your tone sound even worse.
Will I retire or break 10K?
PS2: $300
Gamecube: $300
Used Atari 2600 with 10 games: $3
Look of horror on friends' faces when I invite them over to play some videogames: priceless
Some things money can buy. For everything else, there's blocky, 2-color graphics.
-Legion
The Xbox looks great on paper, but one look at it in real life shows it for what it is-- basically a badly executed PoS. This is why it lost so much steam at E3. When you actually play it, you see why... the controller is monumentally stupid, the games themselves feel mushy and are generally uninteresting (the Xbox Halo looked _worse_ than the late lamented OpenGL version of Halo showcased how many years ago). The box design is reminiscent of a $29 VCR. Of course, worst of all, most people don't care at all. Remember that the Xbox was supposed to try to appeal to hardcore gamers... ask them what they think of it, though, and most of them will go "enh."
Why would you need to look at the Nintendo Power back issues for codes.. im sure most of them are available over the net. (www.gamefaqs.com).
Who wants to make a guess as to when someone will make an emulator on pc to play xbox games?