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State of the 360
IGN is reporting on The State of the Xbox 360, detailing information on the next-gen console since this past E3. From the article: "Coming into the home stretch here, it's clear Microsoft has had its fair share of problems. The MTV event, though brilliantly conceived, was a hype-without-substance infomercial that impressed nobody, especially the most important people -- gamers. At the actual MTV event, I did an informal poll which revealed that three-fourths of the people attending were there only to see the Killers. E3 was underwhelming to put it mildly, and the summer months proved to be vacant of everything but rumors, leaks, and more rumors and leaks. The Tokyo Game show helped Microsoft's cause a little, and Microsoft finally revealed its Japanese pricing and the worldwide release dates, leaving one major news announcement left open - the day-and-date launch games. Apparently, Microsoft and friends are still working on these last details."
I feel MS is going to rush the product to market and may have a poor launch because the quality of the first titles won't be much better than the games we have now on the latest generation of consoles. The one thing MS does have going for it is the upcoming holiday season, they will be the only new console in town and may get a lot of sales just from that. You would think MS would be doing a lot more to make people want to get the 360, but so far it's all been 'talk' and no actual content to look forward to.
Dreamcast 2
Seriously, I give Nitnendo credit for showing something interesting because othewise it's all tech-demos until the product takes advantage of the hardware. And graphics aren't the only thing. I recall Next-Generation overlooking Grand Theft Auto and giving it a mediocre review when of course it brought sandbox-gameplay to the table. The graphics weren't drool-worthy, but the gameplay resulted in the first - and most amusing crowd responsees I'd seen when it appeared at the local Gamestop.
I'm hopeful that the tech-specs of Sony's product will provide the muscle needed to blow my brain cells at some point, but I suspect they won't be blown until a year after the product is on the shelves. Of course, having some major horsepower behind GTA will be nice in of itself.
I thought microsoft might have put itself behind Nintendo once they kept themselves to their off-the-shelf model. I can't see the point in having a next-next-generation system that's only marginally better than my home computer - but then that's just me.
But a race for 3rd place isn't nearly as interesting as what Sony's doing anyway (HDTV centric - next gen HDTV movie playback sooner than the rest - GTA first release - deep developer pile - count me in).
While strolling through the EA Tiburon campus, I overheard a few things about the XBox 360 development units. It seems out of the 10 (or so) Dev Kits that Tiburon recieved, 7 of them had something serious wrong with them. Now granted these are beta kits, and not expected to function perfectly, but 7 out of 10 that could not so much as operate at all is a bad sign for even betas.
I also overheard this quote, "If the release version is even twice as good as these beta dev kits, you will never see me throwing down for one."
I am praying that there was just a bad string of chips, or the parcel was run over by a forklift before being delivered, but if they are correct, then I forsee a very rocky release.
Colonel Cranium this is Rectal Reconnaissance, we are on a collision course sir, Abort Abort!
The Gamecube, on the other hand, is a whole other story. If you're not planning on purchasing an Xbox 360 or a PS3, I highly recommend you purchase a Gamecube to keep you busy until the Revolution comes out. I easily purchased twice as many games for the Gamecube as I did for the Xbox and PS2 combined. There are some stinkers for the Gamecube (mostly the ones that come out for all three consoles), but I found the experience to be better on average. Throw the Wavebird controller into the mix, and you can't beat it.
I'm not a Nintendo fanboy - I just appreciate good games. There are some unbelievable games for that little console. I have passed more time playing games like Windwaker, Eternal Darkness, Metroid, and Pikmin than I have with the games for the other two consoles. That's saying a lot considering how much time I've put into Morrowind on the Xbox. :)
I have read a lot about the 360. I was there with the IBM jokes, I even watched the MTV show pretty much in its entirety (exception: I don't really care for the killers). After all is said and done, I'm probably not getting one.
Why? Microsoft hasn't triggered my herd instinct. There's no buzz or *reason* to want to line up at 12 am or whatever to be one of the first to buy the thing. Project Gotham Racing 3? Yawn...I haven't finished PGR2. I didn't like Perfect Dark on the N64, why should I like it on the 360 (full disclosure: I'm one of the few people, I guess, who didn't like Halo *at* *all* and have decided that for the rest of my life, I will play FPS on a mouse/keyboard rig, not a gamepad).
In short, I'm not going to spend that kind of money for "more of the same".
But wait, there's more!
Here I may be crossing into treasonous territory, but I feel pretty much the same about the PS3 as well. Lots of cool pics, awesome specs, but no game that I really care about has me marking Xs on my calendar till launch date.
The only *interesting* console was the, you guessed it, the Revolution, and the only thing that has piqued my interest is, like everyone else, the controller. Other than that, I think my feelings about the games run about the same...there'll be a Mario game (though hopefully a decent one...the GameCube seemed to have missed that). There'll be a Zelda game probably, and throw in a MarioKart and you have yourself a Nintendo console.
Come to think of it, *none* of the systems have inspired me to want to get the latest-n-greatest. I don't have a HD tv, I don't play sports games. So this puts me in an interesting situation...I can sit back and wait for the inevitible price drops. I can wait to see if certain vaporware ever materializes. I can kick back with my I Love Katamari and Zelda Twilight Princess and PGR2 (yes, have all three consoles) and determine my next move entirely on the *games* available.
Looks like I won't have to think about it for quite awhile.
i guess i'm in the minority here. i'm looking forward to the 360 and planned on buying one at launch (fortunately i won one through the mountain dew contest). games like call of duty 2 are going to look sweet on the wide screen HD. plus the fact that it's a media extender just makes the microsoft whore inside me all giddy.
"first they ignore you, then they mock you, then they fight you, then you win"
Why has their market penetration grown beyond just the stupid people who will buy whatever's marketed to them?
This is more a failing of the Microsoft PR department than anything else. MS was releasing hyped up and glorious screenshots of what they thought the 360's real graphics might well have been, but now that we're only a couple months from release, we're starting to see real screenshots, instead of "made on computer hardware that has sort of the same specs as the console" screenshots.
Sony, on the other hand, is just starting to enter the "we think they're gonna look like this" stage, and it's only Microsoft's own fault that their real shots end up compared to Sony's assumed shots. Every console, and most games, really (think Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness one... two.... three years prior to release), go through that stage. Most people understand it's just hype, but being Microsoft's stuck with being the proof that it's hype.
The consumer looks at Sony's mock-ups and Microsoft's real shots, and says "Hey, you (MS) promised me those graphics, with this system! I'll wait and see if Sony pulls it off better, before I spend my money on either."
I'm not sure I'd even classify the hype machine as any one company lying anymore. If it's anyone's fault it's the game media for publishing these pictures and gushing about how great it looks, only to bitch about the real game in their reviews that come out a week after the game releases on their own preview reccomendations. I've seen games that EVERYONE knows are going to be crap (Tomb Raider, again) hyped to high heaven by outlets like EGM, PSM and the likes, and then give 50% reviews.