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On Xbox's Progression, Positioning For The Future
Thanks to GameSpy for its article charting the progression of the Xbox from its launch to the present day, with the author's introduction suggesting: "For Microsoft, the video-game industry has been a whiplash rollercoaster ride with lucrative peaks, costly valleys, and a changing list of passengers going along for the ride." After charting a timeline for Xbox's history so far, he concludes: "Xbox has not lived up to all of the predictions, but Microsoft has more than made its point. After two years and two months on the market, the numbers speak for themselves." Has the Xbox been all you expected and wanted it to be?
The XBOX as far as games and titles has left me feeling a little ... lacking. But as far as it's multimedia capabilities (with some creative adaptation to the hardware of course) has impressed me. Mind you that's not the obvious use for the XBOX, and thusly posed against the question, would leave a resounding "No, has not lived up..." but all in all I'm happy with my purchase.
I've always been a bit of a Microsoft hater, but I was tempted to the Xbox by Halo and Dead or Alive (I'm a DoA fanboy) and have to say I've ended up loving it. I've ended up playing on it to the exclusion of my GC and PS2.
They made a pretty powerful machine and did a great job of getting some brilliant developers to make games for it (whether by fair means or foul).
The build quality of the components is also surprisingly high. The cables that came with my console are gold-plated and very strong. The controllers are the least flimsy feeling of all the controllers on the market. As soon as it came out of its packaging, it oozed class and effort.
They even made an effort to create a better size and shape of controller. Okay they failed with their first one. But full marks for trying.
I don't think they'll win the console war, but I think they are definitely bringing some fresh thinking to the marketplace, and making Nintendo and Sony raise their standards.
(BTW My only disappointment was that it had a cheap little CD draw. When I first switched it on, I expected the whole top to raise off with a hiss of hydraulics and a glowing green light inside. I was gutted when it didn't)
and the hardware was pretty unreliable. So, I recently bought another one. I have too many games to NOT have a functioning Xbox, but having spent close to $1500 on Xbox-related purchases, I can say I am pretty dissatisfied.
By contrast, I bought a Cube for $99, and you can play most of the same games. And, you get Zelda, the new FF, and Mario Golf.
Of course, having every title on warezed DVD helps.
XBox Live, though, is where it's at.
Project Gotham on XBox live is the best racing ever. Bar none. They have multiplayer *exactly* right.
I bought Need For Speed Underground on PC at the same time and it's online system was a disappointment. It's update system uses javascript and activex ffs and so first thing I had to do was piss about bringing my I.E. up to date on a box I don't use for web browsing (being a Mozilla user on FreeBSD and all).
The controllers are an abomination and getting a force feedback steering wheel has been a long long wait.
I hope Sony get the networking sorted out on the PS3 and the xbox2 is stillborn.
It is really irksome seeing ads for MSN while playing SSX Tricky or Links2004.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
My first 2 games for the XBox were "Crimson Skies" and "Prince of Persial - SOT". I fell in love the the console after that. Since then I rented Soul Caliber II, Panzer Dragoon, and Rainbox Six III. Also, the free "XBox Live" trial sweetened the deal, as I love kicking people's asses in Crimson Skies (though I suck at Rainbox Six).
However, it's getting harder to find decent games to rent/buy after the ones I listed. Part of me wishes I had gone the Gamecube route (and saved like $200). While a lot of the GC games are corny-looking, they are pretty fun to play.
In all, I think the XBox is an alright system, but they need to make more "must have" titles. Halo 2 was looking promising, but now that's delayed until Fall. Oh well, on the PC side I have (hopefully) Half-Life 2 and UT 2004 in a month.
I think it's somewhat premature to say that "the notion that Xbox will be the center point of the livingroom... has been tested and has failed." What failure has occured, is in the creation of an attractive software package for making the Xbox a centre point of the livingroom. It's as if little to no effort was made at all in this respect, yet the Xbox management imply that they tried as best as anyone could and failed at the task.
The Xbox had no PVR functionality, didn't include the DVD player as part of basic package, had no ability to transfer media files (or at least stream media), and has a lack luster though useable interface for media playback. Furthermore, what functionality they did provide in these regards, did not even match what was availible in similar devices at the time. Even as a simple DVD player, it was only adequate at best; lowend DVD players could be obtained at a similar cost of just the Xbox DVD package and offered a better experience.... It's no wonder Xbox didn't succeed as "the centre point of the livingroom."
It's one of the few times where Microsoft could not say they dominated the market. Mind you, because it's Microsoft, people tend to be a bit more critical about their accomplishments. This is partially attributed to their marketing hype at the initial launch of the X-Box. I think from this point forward, Microsoft really needs a series of "Killer Games" (in parallel to the Killer Apps). Consumers need to be convinced that in order to play THAT game, they HAVE to buy the X-Box (just like how Gran Turismo or Final Fantasy did to the Playstation). We'll just wait and see...
The XBOX is really a fantastic console, and imo, its a huge leap in the console market.
:P
-The hard drive is absolutely fantastic; game saves are effortless, and i don't need to buy memory cards. What happens when i run out? By that time, we'll be way into XBOX3 or XBOX4
Custom soundtracks are a pretty cool feature, i love funking out to gorillaz down a mountain on Amped (Snowboarding game), when i get bored of the music in the game.
XBOX Live is, dare i say, the most fantastic, complete product that MS has ever made:
-Downloads are plentiful, and a great incentive for me to keep those single player games that are 'play through once'. The new Splinter Cell levels were great.
-Cheating protection is great. Modchips are are automatically banned, and if anyone ever finds a game exploit, patching is automatic and mandatory, and in some cases (MotoGP) scoreboards are reset.
-Voice Support completely changes everything. On PC, it's pretty much optional, but on LIVE, nearly everyone has a communicator (it comes with the kits) and EVERY GAME SUPPORTS IT. The difference in team organization in a first person shooter, for instance, is immediately clear.
-Prizes, leagues, tournaments. I don't have an XSN game myself, but from what other people have told me, the setup is pretty good. Prizes are a cool addition too; right now there is an official competition for a cool $25,000US. Nice.
On top of all this, the lineup is shaping up, too. It doesnt have the Japanese RPGs like the PS2, or the Nintendo games, but it has everything else. Its the only console for which FPSs actually work *AT ALL* (Gamecube's controls are too rigid, and PS2's analog sticks are too short), and i actually prefer (blasphemy!) the analog sticks to WASD and a mouse.. its just so much more natural.
So yeah, MS did an excellent job with the XBOX. Surprise, Surprise.
Newsie, Moderator, www.tauniverse.com
the numbers speak for themselves.
Isn't the X-Box trailing behind the other two consoles in every market except for a relatively small lead over the GameCube in North America? I know they aren't flying off the shelves in Japan. Dreamcast and the PS-One were still outselling X-Box at least most of the year last year.
If I liked sports and racing games, I would likely treasure my X-box more than I do, but as it stands, I consider it a 3rd place in my collection behind the Cube and PS2. This isn't to say that I don't like it, Knights of the old Republic, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Jet Set Radio Future and other titles are great exclusives, and I am looking forward to Halo 2 and Fable just to name a couple.
X-Box live on the otherhand is a bit Underwhelming (my Live ID is Underwhelmed, perhaps this is a self-fufiling prophecy?) Crimson Skies and Rainbow Six 3 have been the only recent games I have bothered to play with, and neither of them were enjoyable enough for me to put up with the army of 8 year-olds that just discovered the wonders of 4 letter words who usually inhabit most of the public games. This is more an issue of game library versus quality of the service though. I want some multiplayer RPGS or action games or something beyond glorified Death Matches and capture the Flag.
Am I happy with my Purchase? Yes, I am happy enough that I bought a new x-box when my old one died last week.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I did the solder TSOP thingy on 2 of my xbox's, I got one cheap server for Mail and DNS as well as one very cool entertainment system which includes MP3, DVD (Multi Region) loads of cool emulators as well as some pretty good XBox games and online play (XLink Messenger).
A Highly spec'd PC (which im probably getting for Doom3) could do all this, but the XBox is way more social with interfaces that are good on TV. I also often stick the thing in a backpack and it round to a friends house for some great 2 lan gaming which would be a much bigger operation with PC's.
So yes, the XBox has far outweighed my expectations.
There were doubters about Nintendo's philosophy back in 2002, but I guess that's a +5 Insightful in retrospect.