Slashdot Mirror
Xbox 2 to Release in Fall of This Year
GamesIndustry.biz has the news that the Xbox 2 will be launched sometime in late fall of this year. With EA games already working on Xbox 2 titles and rumors of a name for the console in circulation, it looks like the first of the next-gen consoles will be here soon. From the article: "Many have expressed concern that Microsoft is forcing the next generation of console hardware too early, and that the current generation still has much to achieve. The most famous example of this came from then Nintendo of Europe MD David Gosen speaking at an ELSPA summit in London last October, where he lambasted Microsoft for pushing a next generation machine to market in 2005, and even went so far as to question Microsoft's motivation as profit." Additionally, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has Balmer saying that they will "blow by Sony" with their next console.
I think as a good rule of thumb it's useful to disregard everything Steve Ballmer says. Everyone knows he's a MS pumpet and nothing more.
First, Microsoft is slammed for not being innovative and meeting market needs. Now Microsoft is slammed for being too innovative. I know this is Slashdot, but I sense a pattern. Whether you love or hate Microsoft, fast graphics and awesome games stand on their own merit.
For the parent poster, I am sorry you will have to buy a new system from Microsoft to be in the latest crowd. If this bothers you, just wait six more months and buy a PS3 so you can use your current games on the (then) latest system.
Some people will complain about anything.
I'm quite content with ps2 and even more content that I discovered WOW so i say da hell with xbox :). They can release it yesterday for all I care, still won't change the fact I'm not buying one.....
Except this time Sony will probably deliver the goods. Microsoft is going using the PPC in the next version of the XBox Sony is using the PPC+Cell. Throw IBMs know how in to the mix and you have Sony at least a generation ahead of Microsoft. That plus the fact that most people feel Sony has better games than the XBox and lots of brand loyalty from developers and gamers you have what looks like a clear win for Sony.
The only issues left are.
1. Will the Cell really deliver.
2. How hard will it be to develop for the PS3.
Development on the XBox is known quantity. Windows 32 plus direct X. The Playstation 3 is a big unknown. How hard will it be to use the Cell to it's potential? What about the API? What OS? Linux or maybe BSD? Who knows? But it should be interesting to see what happens. Microsoft blow away Sony? I doubt it.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
The one good game for the XBox (Halo - the most anticipated game ever on the Mac) was actually hijacked and re-ported to XBox. Even then, it seems entirely dumbed down and less innovative that what was shown at the MacWorld preview.
Nintendo is complaining because Microsoft doesn't really care about the quality of the games - it's not going to be a battle about who has the best games for their platform, it's going to be about "features" and "performance specs".
WHAT?!!??!
I am SO sick of the misguided impression that Nintendo is some saintly group of craftsmen chugging along, doing their work like a bunch of elves cobbling shoes, whose artistry is lost in a world where people buy sweatshop shoes from Southeast Asia.
Nintendo is one of the most mercenary, profit-driven companies out there. Look at their history (including when they were the monopoly and they "owned the market"). Has Sony or MS ever made anything as heinously market-driven and self-serving as "The Wizard"? What about shoving Pokemon down kids throats, and releasing every Pokemon game in 2 different versions, just to get kids to get their parents to by the same game twice? What about the relentless marketing of sequels? What about the fact that Nintendo turned down Sony's original overtures to jointly product a "playstation" because they didn't want to turn over any part of the market? What about the ruthless way they treated third party developers throughout their history, especially when they completely controlled the market?
Please do not confuse the fact that Nintendo is smart enough to realize that good games will encourage loyalty and thus profit with some sort of actual desire to do right by gamers. Also, recognize that Nintendo is lucky enough to employ one of the most brilliant game designers in history (Miyamoto), and that without him, they would have done as well financially but the games would not have been as good.
Nintendo is a ruthless competitor and it backfired on them in the last generation. Now that they're playing catch up, everyone wants to look on them with rose colored glasses and see them as some sort of boutique developer. But they are a console maker through and through, churning out and rehashing crap and playing hardball just like any other company.