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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."
If you where in the industry those names would be as familiar as Tony Hawk to a pro-skater or...well some big sports star name to people who watch sports. ;)
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
Trip Hawkins tried to compete in the market with 3D0. No sucess, but I'm sure it taught him something about the console biz.6
http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=10049
Steven Kent. Writer - here's his book:/ qid%3D1015862334/sr%3D1-5/gamingageonli-20/002-162 5945-0001657
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0970475500
Greg Zeschuk. Bioware -- ring a bell? Bioware did the enormously successfull Neverwinter nights game. It's even got a Linux client, for heaven's sake.
http://nwn.bioware.com/downloads/linuxclient.html
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...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Bushnell
They should've contacted Ken Williams (of former Sierra fame - http://www.sierragamers.com/), and maybe they'd gotten some input of how to make games that appeal to the cerebral part of the marketplace as well.
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.
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."
Which means years before release, right now. IBM has hit a wall, for the time being, at 2.5 GHz, much like Intel has hit a similar wall at around 3.6 GHz.
Otherwise, we'd be seeing (or at least hearing about) the 3.0 GHz and 3.5 GHz G5's in Apple PowerMacs soon. And Jobs admitted that Apple and IBM weren't able to hit the 3.0 GHz mark on the G5 just yet back at the WWDC in June, even though both companies had hoped to have the 3.0 GHz G5's out in the PowerMacs before the WWDC.
Initial rumors about 3.5 GHz PowerPC chips are fine and dandy... but, as of right now, IBM simply can't produce them. If the Xbox 2 goes with the PowerPC architecture, it might be at the 2.0-possibly as high as 3.0 GHz mark, depending on the price of the chips and the rest of the system components.