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From Midway to Xbox, The story of Seamus Blackley
Matey-O writes: "Red Herring has an interesting look at Seamus Blackley, the Man behind the Xbox, and what it took to bring the console to market." I like that this article points out the risks that Microsoft took by trying to enter a field with very established competition (and with mixed results, so far).
THERES NO ARCADE UNIT!
Sony has a machine, Sega has several machines, Nintendo is working on one but needs one less so than M$ does.
Japanese gamers live in the arcade, thas why the strange (to us) puzzle games go over so well over there, because there in the arcade. Who is going to buy a 300 dollar console without ever playing it before? I didnt buy my dreamcast until i played several hits in the arcade. (dc is still better than anyhting)
M$ needs to realize that theyre not marketing to PCGAMER anymore. Halo is not a killer app, not by a long shot!
I want 2D games back.
MS may be taking the risk on losing hardware because they know the software sales will be high. XBox games are basically just directx based games. Windows has directX also. someday soon I expect to find a way to trick an xbox game into thinking it is on an xbox, when it is really on a PC. of course the pc would probably have to have an nvidi video card but many already do. And i don't think MS would mind one bit about this, because the games are still selling, and they are not taking a loss on game sales.
I have been struggling on whether or not to buy the xBox. For the price, ~400 bucks with the games I want, I could just upgrade my current PC and then have access to play every kick ass game the market has to offer as well as a faster computer overall for doing other stuff like web browsing, etc. Computer hardware is so cheap these days, it might be a waste of money paying ~400 bucks for a console system dedicated to just playing video games.
;-)
;-]
I do like the console idea because it keeps me out of the computer room and down in the living room with the rest of the living
Maybe I'll just have work upgrade my T20 thinkpad to an A series with the builtin Geforce4 chip.. *drool* [which wouldn't cost me a dime
Live web cams
Pay careful attention to the part of the article where it describes the Xbox team versus the WebTV team vying for the support of Bill Gates, and notice the tactic which was used to convince Gates that Xbox was a worthwhile venture: "Bill, if we don't go forward with this, Sony will wipe out any hopes of a consumer presence," is the basic gist of it.
Ah, Microsoft. Once again they demonstrate their ability to thrust themselves into a market based on paranoia. Xbox fans, take note: if not for Sony, there would be no Xbox. Hopefully my geekiness isn't getting too extravagant because I have a sense of smugness over having bought a Gamecube. I feel that way because Nintendo doesn't see the Gamecube as a trojan horse to take over my living room's connectivity.
Many of the Xbox team's original ideas were tossed aside, including the team's proposal that the Xbox run Microsoft's Windows operating system. Upon hearing this, Mr. Gates blew his top. But he eventually saw that Windows would only get in the way of developers creating great games.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
If it was the presentation _I've_ seen Blackley put on, it wasn't an accident. He demoed NFL 2k2, then pause the playback, zoomed in on the football in mid flight, and commented that the texturemap for the football ALONE was larger than the entire video memory for the Gamecube.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."