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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."
IMHO, Nintendo is the only one coming with something remotely interesting.
You, sir, need to be shot.
And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
Even the Dreamcast 360 label seems a little silly now. The Dreamcast was another dead before it hit the shelves console, but I don't think Sega could have had more disasters with their Dreamcast pre-launch if they had tried.
I don't think we will ever see a console launch disaster of this magnitude ever again.
Going all the way back to the 2600, I can't think of any console that even is in the same league as the 360's year long release and launch fiasco. Jaguar, CDi, Dreamcast...none of them are close to MS's 360 disaster.
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!
I think 2006 will be marked by the return of the cartridge--at least, to PCs. All the consoles and their games seem a bit out of reach of the Incredible Shrinking Wallet at this point.
We'll start seeing small companies selling USB flash sticks (the "cartridges") with their games saved on them. Big corps will fight back with overly DRM'd, 20-GB dongle-games that only look like they're on USB flash sticks.
Hey, if artists can do it with music*...
*I can't seem to find the /. article that mentioned that...
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
First, I said, "Let there be PS2," and there was PS2, and PS2 was good.
I hadn't owned a console system since my old NES, and I was blown away by the graphics, sound, and playability of the latest generation of games. I bought Tekken. I bought Madden. I bought Ridge Racer. I bought SSX.
Then, I said, "Let there be Xbox," and there was Xbox, and Xbox was good.
Several of my friends passed up the PS2 in favor of the Xbox, and I ended up buying on purely out of peer pressure. I hosted a few cookouts where they brought their Xboxes, hooked them up to my spare tv's, and we kicked each other's asses on Halo. I bought DOA Volleyball, and said, "Wow, a really unique and original game. (Oh, and by the way, Hitomi is a goddess...)"
Then, I said, "Let there be Gamecube," and my wallet reached up and punched me in the eye, so I had to pass up that system. :-(
I bought a few more games for each of the systems I had, and slowly came to the realization that the impossible had happened—I was bored with them. I bought Generic Fighting Game #362, Generic First Person Shooter #178#, Generic Role Playing Game #204, Generic Racing Game #140, and a bunch of others. (I've got to admit, Generic Stealth Mission Game #78 was not half bad...)
At this point, I am thinking that I will forego the Xbox 360 and the PS3 in favor of the Revolution. Why? Because what I need now aren't better graphics and sound. I've been there and done that, and it's no longer enough. What I need are new and original games, games that leave me saying, "Wow, that's pretty cool, the first of a new generation of Generic Games that will inevitably follow on the other systems. But until now, I haven't been there, and I haven't done that!" All indications I've seen so far from Microsoft and Sony point to just a bunch more Generic Games.
I may be mistaken, but Nintendo seems to be the only company right now thinking outside of the proverbial box. When I first saw the controller, I thought, "Are you kidding me? How can you play a decent game with a remote control?" The more I think about it, though, the more I think that it's probably not a bad idea after all. And more importantly, I respect Nintendo's willingness to say, "We know you haven't seen anything like this before, and that's what we're going to sell you: something different, and really, it won't suck!"
Next time I buy, that's exactly what I'm going to look for. If you're looking for prettier pictures, buy your Xbox 360 or PS3 and have fun. As for me, I'm going to wait until something more interesting comes along before I plop out hundreds of dollars.
Mario 64 is a pretty crappy game to be judging the potential of a touch screen on, seeing as the game was originally designed to show off what an analog thumbstick could do. Meanwhile, there's been plenty of games released for the DS that could not be played without the touch screen controls.
I have no doubt that people looking to play N64 games on the backwards compatible revolution will use a more standard controller to do so. But you can be sure that when they release a new mario game specifically designed for the revolution, the new controller will be required.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Looks like I won't have to think about it for quite awhile.
Yes, other than every day for the next year during the times that you eagerly log on to slashdot to post excessively long and detailed posts explaining how disinterested you are, it will be completely out of your mind.
Why has their market penetration grown beyond just the stupid people who will buy whatever's marketed to them?
My family owns a console gaming center, and, by and large, I've heard little to no buzz in the store for either the 360 or the PS3.... I get the same thing from my old co-workers in the Electronics department at Wal-Mart. It seems like there was an excitement with the last generation of consoles that just isn't there right now, something palpable that's missing. I was working for Wal-Mart when the DS and PSP were releasing, and we had people coming into the store on a regular basis, for three to four months in advance, asking about new information, looking for anything that they might not have heard elsewhere, and that just doesn't seem to be present. We're not even certain that we're going to need any 360s when they come out for the center.