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2004 Good Year for Xbox
Voodoo Extreme has details from a Microsoft release about Xbox accomplishments in 2004. From the article: "Xbox Live online gaming service has set a new standard for online gaming with more than 1.4 million members around the world."
Yes! Never before have you been able to hear teenagers get yelled at by their parents, and foul-mouthed 10 year-olds exclaim that you're a "fucking gay homo faggot" before they drop out of the middle of the game!
Now, you too can wonder in amazement how no one is playing the game you want online, because it's 6 months old and they're all playing the latest and greatest!
Truly, Xbox Live has elevated PC gaming to new heights.
# Xbox Live online gaming service has set a new standard for online gaming with more than 1.4 million members around the world, surpassing expectations and cementing its position as a leader in the digital entertainment landscape.
# Xbox was the only platform to see year-to-year growth during Q4 as well as the full calendar year 2004, while the overall market was down year-to-year, in Europe.
# Overall software sales for Xbox lead the way in 2004, growing units sales 44 percent during Q4 and 48 percent for the calendar year 2004.
# There are now more than 200 Xbox Live-enabled titles, making it the richest library of online console games available today.
# The overall Halo franchise, which includes predecessor "Halo: Combat Evolved" for the PC and Xbox, has sold a collective 12.8 million copies in just three years. Where can PS2 or GameCube boast a system only title selling like that?
"It'll destroy you if you try to make it mean anything to anyone but yourself." - Henry Rollins
It's a slight pity that a piece of marketing hype was linked to as news. However, I'd agree with the main thrust of the story. 2004 was certainly the year of the X-Box.
It's interesting to note how the perceptions of the X-Box have changed since it was launched. Originally, it was mocked, reviled and no serious gamer would touch one. Nowadays, it's only the die-hard Nintendo fanboys who cling to this view. The X-Box gets virtually all of the cross-platform console titles and the X-Box versions of these games are usually the best, due in part, although not entirely, to features such as the HDD and customisable soundtracks. It also gets most of the "big name" PC action games, although MS hasn't quite got the confidence yet to insist on pure "X-Box only" releases for games such as the Halo and KOTOR series.
The last stats I saw showed that the X-Box had out-sold the PS and the Gamecube by a considerable margin during the 2004 Christmas period. With the PS2, you don't have to look far to find the reason; it's achieved near total market saturation and there just aren't many customers left. However, the presence of big exclusives like Halo 2 and a multitude of cross-platform titles such as Burnout 3 and Silent Hill 4 has allowed it to extend a real lead over the Gamecube for the first time.
Of course, we shouldn't ignore the fact that the X-Box did take a long time to come into its own. MS certainly has a fight on its hands to carry over its current success into the next round of the console wars.
Xbox Live online gaming service has set a new standard for online gaming with more than 1.4 million members around the world.
It's a pretty low standard if you believe that. Microsoft seems to be giving preferential treatment to some games over others with regards to Live.
Originally with DDR Ultramix, DLC was supposed to be made available on a monthly schedule, and the first songpack was available at launch. The next one came three months later - apparently Microsoft requires a 30-day period to approve content before uploading it. The reasoning for this "approval" process baffles me, but even allowing for that, a 30 day period is outrageously long.
Anyway, packs 2-5 came out more or less on schedule, but the 6th one was delayed for several months because Microsoft just plain forgot about it. Konami's Hawaii studio had to harrass them several times before it finally went up at the end of the summer.
Enter Ultramix 2 - a lot of Canadian people were looking forward to it because they weren't able to get DLC for Ultramix, since it wasn't officially released in Canada due to licensing restrictions.
Songpack 7 was due out at launch, along with a DLC item unlocking two additional characters. The game launched in mid-November - SP7 was three weeks late, the characters are nowhere to be found (despite the DLC being finished), and Canadians are still in the dark. SP8 was due in early January, and Konami Hawaii tells us that it's been approved for 3 weeks now and still isn't up on the servers. Plus, the online rankings system is intermittently broken, and Microsoft has no idea why.
So, if this is the new standard, then it shouldn't be exceptionally hard to beat.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
Seriously. Give Feedback.
Bungie is very serious about banning modem cheaters, as well as those who violate the verbal aspects of the Code of Conduct. It can be hard, during the heat of battle to see who just mouthed off, but if they do it repeatedly you'll get an idea. After the game, send them some bad feedback. If enough people do that to them, they'll lose voice privileges. Now, maybe you won't ever play that person again, but you will have done you're part to clean the place up.
Also, it's not that hard to find at least a few of the seven or more other players who are not utter jerks. Send those people Friend requests and then invite them to games.
I pride myself on being a fun and respectful (if not particularly skilled) opponent. Please feel free to email me with your gamertag, and I'll send you a Friend request.
Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
"Xbox Live online gaming service has set a new standard for online gaming with more than 1.4 million members around the world."
steam claims over 2.5 million unique users a MONTH (4.565 billion player minutes/month). Xbox live hits 1.4 million in its (already long) life and it's a new standard for online gaming? please.