Slashdot Mirror
The Xbox 360 Launch Examined
A few days have gone by now, and more details of the 360's launch are becoming available. Gamasutra reports that, as expected, there were far too few units of the new console to meet demand. In one place, in fact, a pitched fight broke out when it became clear that not everyone waiting in line would get a unit. Additionally, the occasional glitch or crash has been reported in several locations online. This primarily seems to be the result of an overheating power supply. Despite these issues, and mixed reactions to launch titles, overall consumer reaction seems to be generally positive.
For me the 'Never' choice was not correct but represented the best of the options; with the XBox 360 I am not planing on getting one unitl there are 5 games that I want on it and the price is $200 or less; I would say the same thing about the PS3 except that (if backwards compatibility being is as good as they claim) I only want to wait for a price drop because I never owned a PS2 and there are dozens of PS2 games I would like to play.
In fact the only system I am planning on buying at launch is the Revolution (assuming the price is reasonable which, knowing Nintendo, it probably will be). Being that I no longer have my NES,SNES, or N64 (and there are still games I would play on them) that alone almost covers the potential entry fee, throw on top of that the unique gameplay experiances that Nintendo (and some key third parties) will deliver and you have reason enough to buy it.