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?

Comments

Kind of....

[Lukano]

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.

Re:Kind of....

[Singletoned]

I've been more than impressed with the games. It's had a lot of the 'Best in their class' games of recent years (or at least ones that were arguabley best).

Halo, Dead or Alive, Amped, Topspin, Links, Panzer Dragoon, DoA:XBV, etc.

There's also been loads of games that I've preferred playing on Xbox rather than PC (like KotOR and GTA3/VC), due to having a good controller.

It hasn't got the range of PS2 software, but it has got lots of better games.

Love it personally.

[Singletoned]

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)

Re:Love it personally.

[Singletoned]

The other thing that has just occurred to me:

The reasons I (we) have often hated Microsoft (DRM, forced updates, market control, etc) actually work on a console. Their entire philosophy seems to fit the console market better than the PC market. You can utterly control a console and control what people do with it. There is no freedom except if you use a modchip, and if you do that you are banned from online gaming (which is half the fun).

You could never have a successful open source console, because they have to sell the console at a loss and make their money back on their licensing fees. This model really suits Microsoft, who are good at controlling that kind of relationship, and who have the deep pockets to make a bit of a loss.

Also, the Japanese market tends to suit regularly improvements to products (constantly releasing slightly improved versions) which doesn't suit consoles (who wants a PS2.1, or 2.2?), but it does work with an Xbox. They have updated the 'operating system' many times since I bought mine, and are sure to keep doing so.

Microsoft may just have found a niche that they can be good at, and where their business model is actually loved rather than hated.

i bought one the first week ($300)

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Ehh

[kannibal_klown]

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.

Centre of the Livingroom?

[Cebu]

I found it interesting that the Xbox Timeline article mentioned:

"Despite the fact that Xbox now trails behind the competition, Takahashi says that he is confident that Microsoft will release a second-generation Xbox. What has changed, however, is the notion that Xbox will be the center point of the livingroom. "I think that the idea that game consoles are going to take over all processing in the livingroom has been tested and has failed," says Takahashi, who continues to cover the games industry for the San Jose Mercury News."

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."

Flame me all you want for supporting MS, but...

[Recoil_42]

The XBOX is really a fantastic console, and imo, its a huge leap in the console market.

-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 :P

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.

The numbers...

[samdu]

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.

Following Nintendo

[Anonymous Coward]

So...they're using a similar chipset to the GameCube, taking out the harddrive like the GameCube, trying to be a price-competitive system much like the GameCube, and they say "I think that the idea that game consoles are going to take over all processing in the livingroom has been tested and has failed," suggesting that they're going to take up the philosophy which Nintendo stood by for GameCube.

There were doubters about Nintendo's philosophy back in 2002, but I guess that's a +5 Insightful in retrospect.