Slashdot Mirror
Game Industry Experts Discuss Xbox 2
Alan Wong writes "Taken from the latest issue of Xbox Nation magazine, 1UP.com has posted a feature entitled Doing The Right Thing, where eleven industry insiders discussed what it would take for Microsoft to make the next Xbox a success. Among the panel members were Nolan Bushnell, Trip Hawkins, Steven Kent, Bioware's Greg Zeschuk."
"Among the panel members were Nolan Bushnell... Who?
what it would take for Microsoft to make the next Xbox a success
Come on... Disclaimer: I have never owned an Xbox (I bought a PS2 a year after it came it, and a Gamecube shortly after that. After selling them both when I moved, I bought another PS2, and will buy the gamecube again, as well, but used this time.)
I mention the above, because it's plain to see that the Xbox is already a success. By market standards, they're in an incredible place. (Um.. TurboGrafx, anyone... Or N-Gage?) Sure, they're not the number one player, but coming from nowhere, they've made themselves into a contender, and that's a success as far as I can see.
They've taken one portion of the market, and done it better than anyone else, and that's the 'net connection. Anyone who has used the PS2 network adapter (as I have) has seen that it's a pale comparison to Xbox live.
If Microsoft wants to succeed, all they have to do is keep doing what they've been doing well, and make sure to continue pushing out good games.
Nintendo has historically pushed out some of the best games, but limited to mostly first and second-parties. Sony has managed to have the most games, with the few gems spread throughout the abundance overcoming all the other really crappy games, and Microsoft nailed the online market.
Since the online market is going to do nothing but grow, they're already in a good position for the future...
General Editor
Newsweek Magazine
N'Gai Croal lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Why is a general editor of a non-video game focused magazine commenting on this? If he was the editor of say, GMR, I'd give him some slack, but Newsweek?
However, if the DS is a success I think that it could give Nintendo the edge it needs to take the lead over MS in North America (the only place the XBox is beating the GC in sales) and help it maintain and widen it's lead in the world. With it's low price of entry (especially by the time the next round of consoles are released), it's unique data entry, ample screen space, and wireless networking, the DS could actually suceed in the handheld/console connectivity segment that the GBA, let be honest, failed in.
Anyways, if there are a few million DS's in the market by the time the GC2 launches, and they include wireless connectivity between them (here's an idea: give the GC2 a built in ethernet port AND a wireless adapter and have all GC2s function as an AP for DS's) right off the bat (in terms of having games that give a truly usefull feature when used w/ a GC2 and DS link at launch) it could be what spurs those DS owners to choose the next GC over the Xbox2.
Or I could be wrong, it happens.
Don't forget, while Bioware's Neverwinter Nights was not released for the Xbox, they also produced Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, probably still the best RPG released for Microsoft's console. They're also working on Jade Empire , which will be an Xbox exclusive, and was specifically designed from the start for the Xbox.
WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
The experts seem to be pushing for an early launch, which seems strange to me.
Microsoft have unique levels of flexibility on their launch date - they can simply wait a bit and up the specs of the machine as their off-the-shelf parts fall in price.
If they go early, they have lower specs, less software, and less time to polish that software, and they will be up against people's perception of how good the '1000x more powerful than PS2' PS3 will be rather than the actual device.
If they go for the same day as Sony, they can use the cash mountin to outspend Sony on marketing and to go $10 cheaper than Sony.
If they go late, they can out-spec Sony.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
Going by other murmurings and apparent leaks, the Xbox 2 will be based around a customised 3.5 GHz Power PC CPU, including 128bit vector processing units. This architecture is much more effective than x86 for raw processing.
The interview talks of a sensible price being $299 or even $199, with subscription services providing a subsidy.
This (provided one can bypass whatever DRM lockdown is slapped on), could make the Xbox 2 a very cheap way of doing high performance clustered computing.
Alex
So in summary (this being slashdot): Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those... when will it run Linux?
Why did he even bother to participate? He had one sentence in three pages.
You want to know who isn't running Firefox 2.x? They spell it "definately" and "rediculous".
I am biased, because I am a big Xbox fan...but...
Most of the excitement I see around consoles currently, is around the Xbox. The PS2 is starting to look really bad lately, in comparison to Xbox games. The Gamecube has the whole on-line vaccuum which many Nintendo fans say is no big deal. Because they don't understand why there is excitement around on-line gaming. (Trust me, there is)
I was recently at a professional conference at Purdue University. (No, this was not for students, but for technical professionals) The agenda had 'game night' listed for 3 of the nights. I had no idea what it would be- charades, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey...who knows. Imagine my happy surprise when I walked in the room and saw 4 Xboxes connected via System Link and projected onto big screens. We played for 2 or 3 hours every night, and people who weren't even videogame fans got into the action.
I really don't think people would have/could have done this with the other consoles. This type of technology is what is making the Xbox 'cool' right now. When I have videogame neophytes (or even PS2/Gamecube owners who aren't familiar with the Xbox) over to play some games, they are usually blown away by Xbox Live. "These are REAL people?" they say over and over into the microphone...(sullying my gamertag while doing it).
The better technology built into the Xbox is finally becoming more important, now that people see that all 3 consoles can play games. But the Xbox can save more games, play your own music, play on-line, download new content, system-link...
Hopefully the next Xbox pushes the envelope a little bit further, so games are still exciting 3 years after the launch of the console.
Because when I play on a PS2 or Gamecube, I think that just playing 'standard' console games is a real snore-fest.
No reason to lie.
" mention the above, because it's plain to see that the Xbox is already a success. By market standards, they're in an incredible place. (Um.. TurboGrafx, anyone... Or N-Gage?) Sure, they're not the number one player, but coming from nowhere, they've made themselves into a contender, and that's a success as far as I can see."
What a lot of Slashdotters don't know is that it's okay to not be in first place in the games market. A lot of people say the Nintendo 64 failed because the PS sold more units. Um, Nintendo sold 30 million N64's along with millions of software they produced. I'm surprised Nintendo doesn't have a McDuckian Money Bin on their property.
"Derp de derp."
Trip Hawkins started Electronic Arts..
I mean, the 3DO is an amusing (actually kind of depressing) misadventure of his, but by that time he'd already had way more than his fair share of success.
And not knowing who Nolan Bushnell is is just unconscionable...
Trip should have probably said: "Do the exact opposite of anything I suggest."
Why this puff piece was posted is beyond me. I am planning on opening a gaming cafe in the next 3 months. This menas everything about gaming interests me these days. I want to know what is popular now and what may be popular in the future and why. Perhaps some discussion of market share or sales statistics. How about details on hardware specs or online services. Maybe information on their relationships with resellers and publishers. All this article does is try to convince people that Microsoft is still in the console business and attempts to convey the impression that Microsoft wont get its ass kicked by Sony again while providing excuses for when they do. If OSDN wants to sell Ad space they might as well be honest with us about it. Oh but wait, the whole purpose of the article was to give the Xbox some "street cred" with industry leaders that read slashdot wasnt it?
I can't believe this was not even mentioned! I would say backwards compatibility with Xbox titles is going to be an extremely important thing that Sony has a great track record on.
--- "End Of Line" - MCP
When I have videogame neophytes (or even PS2/Gamecube owners who aren't familiar with the Xbox) over to play some games, they are usually blown away by Xbox Live. "These are REAL people?" they say over and over into the microphone..
Just because you bring idiots over to your house doesn't mean anything. I'm a gamecube owner, but that doesn't mean I don't play Battlefield, Enemy Territory, and America's Army online on my computer.
The best multiplayer games out there are FPSs, and FPSs suck on the console. That's why I'm not too worried about the gamecube not supporting online play.
Plus there's too many 13 year old punks on xbox live. Maybe if all my friends had it, it'd be worth it, but as it is, none of my friends subscribe to xbox live.
Thanks for the warning. Now I can avoid your entire fanboy post.
I notice you don't mention the vast diversity of games found on the PS2 and Gamecube... most likely because you only play one genre of game and avoid all the rest. Katamari Damacy? Donkey Konga? Sly Cooper 2? Pikmin 2? All PS2 and Gamecube exclusive titles released within the last month that you will never see. The Xbox only has a few AAA titles, amid an overwhelming list of ports and same-as-last-year sports titles.
Let's go through the rest of your big Plus list:
"save more games" Well, the memory card vs. HD thing is well debated, and there are certainly benefits to both. But isn't Xbox2 NOT going to have an HD anyway?
"play your own music" This one gets thrown around a lot, and it sounds great... until you learn that only a handful of games support it. It's a featureless feature.
"play online" Score. Xbox has online play figured out, and no one is going to argue that. Of course, there's far too many chatty asshats out there, plus only a minority of Xbox users subscribe. But the underlying service is well constructed.
"download new content" Even. Yeah, new levels are great... but new patches and fixes are not. We don't need our console games as sloppy and rushed as most PC games.
"system link" Another feature that applies to only a select few. Most people just aren't going to bother with this. I know, I know, YOU do. But most consumers do not. Regardless, you could do this on certain PS1 games - and you can on some PS2 and Gamecube games anyway, so why all the fervor? How about some love for games that provide awesome multiplayer within the cost-friendly experience of one screen? Mario Party? Smash Bros? WarioWare? EyeToy?
If you think online play is the vanguard of video game innovation, you obviously don't own a PC, nor have you bothered to check out the varying game types and hardware available from the competition. At least you didn't jizz all over the usual "AWESUM GFX!!!11!!" argument.
Actually, this could have been done with a Gamecube and network adapters. Mario Kart DD multiplayer is a hell of a lot of fun.
I have all three consoles. For me what makes the XBox different is the type of titles you get on it - it naturally attracts a lot of PC developers. I doubt we'd see anything too much like Fable on the other two consoles.
Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
StocDred, you are a big anti Xbox fanboy. Shut the fuck up.
There's a lot of talk about MS releasing early to gain a foothold. There's a side of this whole thing that makes me think this is a bad move. Besides the fact that a year early release won't necessarily help that much, there's the whole disc format issue. One of the main reasons the PS2 did so well, especially in comparison to the dreamcast, was its incorporation of a DVD drive. As DVD was taking off, PS2 came with one for free. That convinced a lot of people to pick one up when otherwise they might not have.
Now we have the HD format wars brewing. Sony is pushing for BluRay, and all indications are that the PS3 will be using it. There's no word yet on which format (blu ray or HDDVD) the xbox 2 will support, or even if it will support an HD format.
This is going to be a key success factor, IMHO. Now that HD-ready tvs are becoming more widespread, people will start to get eager to use them for things besides games and TV. HD DVD, in some format, will take off, only because people will already have the TVs for it. I don't know if people will be super-eager to buy an HD DVD player right off the bat, but if they can get one for free with a game machine, they'll probably be like that. In fact, my main point is that if one game machine offers an HD DVD player for free and another doesn't, that's a HUGE selling point. Maybe not in 2005 but definitely in 2006 and 2007.
For that reason, I think it's a mistake for MS to release early without either understanding which HD format will succeed or waiting for the drives themselves to come down in price.
I'd like to supplement this by saying the PS2 is the only one with FFXI, and that Square Enix's PlayOnline is excellent. This is the game I want to play, and the PS2 has it. (The PC has it too, but 1. it requires Windows which I don't run and 2. it would require far more money upgrading than it would to buy a PS2, hdd, and net adaptor combined.)
Also, THUG, the only other game I care about playing online, was far better in its PS2 support than XBOX or Cube. Maybe THUG2 will fix that.
Otherwise, I don't care about this month's FPS or sports game.
On another topic, I see posts about the PS2's graphics suffering. Maybe. But Halo is looking like a glorified N64 game, and Halo 2 isn't significantly better. Not only that, graphics don't make the game: Katamari Damacy, for instance, has near-first-gen PS2 graphics, and yet it's one of the most unusual, fun games I've played in awhile.
(On the other hand, I've been playing Silent Hill 3-4 recently, and it's one of the few games I can look at after seeing Doom 3 and not say "wow... bland". Wonderful complex texturing and shadow casting.)
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Just two simple steps.
First, have Billy boy sit down with his waller and talk to Shigeru Miyamoto. Write down 0s until Miyamoto says stop. This would absolutely cripple Nintendo.
Next, have him sit down with the president of Square-Enix. Have him write down 0s until they agree to an exclusive 10 year deal. There's just huge numbers of RPG gamers who bought PS2 only for the Ffinal Fantasy line, and that isn't mentioning what Dragon Warrior does in Japan. SE games are one of the few differences between the 2 platforms.
If they managed to do that, I'd put my money on the Xbox t win the next round.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Yes, you're right- Mario Kart Double Dash is a good LAN game.
And when you're done with that- you can play Kirby's Air Ride and 1080- those last two only allow for 4 players.
So how long would we really want to keep playing Mario Kart Double Dash?
Of course, the only reason you would be playing it at all, is that you can't run Burnout 3 on the Gamecube...
No reason to lie.
Shithead.
Those main people the summary lists are all wash-outs of the industry. If they know anything, it's failure. Does that mean they know what it takes for Xbox 2 to be a success?? I hardly think so. The only guy with any credence would be Kent, since as a writer/reporter, he's covered it all. But even then, critics are rarely right.
Nolan Bushnell?! Trip? The industry has changed and outpaced these guys by light-years.
Make the xbox-2 more like a modded xbox.
It is clear to me that none of the "experts" have ever played with a modded xbox. I assure you it is the greatest gaming/entertainment device ever built.
The only thing wrong with a modded xbox (from the industries perspective) is that you can steal games. If they can get around that issue, and deliver the same experience.. they will not only win the console crown, but change the whole arena.
All I have to say is I own 3 PS2, 1 Xbox, 1 Gamecude, 2 GBA and 2 GBA SP.
I not a viedo game nut or anything but I think the best system is PS2. They have great games, also since sony have a lot of fun titles from japan that xbox does not have.
The only thing I hate is the slow loading.
I saw the new PS2 Slim verison, might get that for my car =)
It took me so long to get the xbox because it was so big and i hated the controller. The smaller controller is a lot better.
"you can't run Burnout 3 on the Gamecube..."
And that certainly isn't our fault as Gamecube owners.
EA fucked us, hard.
I was all set to pre-order it as I have loved burnout 1&2 on the Cube.
Now I have the choice of buing a new (old one died) PS2 for a crappy Burnout (if it is anything like how 2 was developed) or buy a Xbox.
I'm sorry but as good as burnout is I cant justify buying even a used xbox for just 1 game as noting else on the X-box realy makes me want to own one.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.