Slashdot Mirror
Recovering From the Xbox 360's Big Mistakes
Two pieces up in the media right now talking about problems with the Xbox 360. Games.net has an overdramatically title piece, Five Ways to Save the Xbox 360. The article lays out ways in which Microsoft should revamp the console and its games in order to truly dominate the next-gen war. Meanwhile, a 1up editorial asks the question Is the Xbox 360 Hurting the Games Industry? The article looks at the ways in which Microsoft's console was rushed out the door, and the negative consequences that may have on the industry as a whole. From that article: "More important, though less remarked upon, is that the Xbox 360 was also launched before the industry was ready. If you pay attention to companies' end-of-year financial reports, which I'm sad to say my job requires me to do, one thing that stands out in the postholiday reckoning was the statement, again and again, that the Xbox 360 launch had hurt sales across the industry."
As far as I'm concerned, the 360 wasn't launched before it was ready, but before the manufacturing process was ready - not really a point for failure. Software always comes later and the game certification issues sound like classic come-to-market problems. However here in the UK, we also suffered from PSP shortages, although not to the same extent. Sony launched the PSP here over a year behind its Japanese launch, and we still seem to have a certain lack of decent games for it - month in month out I go to the shops and it's the same damn games!
That said, I own a 360 and I really like it. I didn't get mine in the first wave - there were only something like 50,000 allocated to the whole UK - but I did pick one up in early January and so far I'm pleased with what it does. Ok, so there's no 'killer' game, but I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore gamer, but the few games I do have I find entertaining and great fun with friends. I'm not realy 100% sure what people mean by a 'next generation game', I bought the console specifically for its online capabilities and its ability to be a media extender. In those respects it's very, very good, and Nintendo and Sony have a long way to go to catch up with the likes of Xbox Live.
I'd be interested as to what people exactly thought the 360, PS3 and Revolution were going to do for gaming really. Every time a console is released a wave of hype about its features appears. We never really found out what an Emotion Engine enabled the PS2 to do differently, and ditto for the obilgatory USB/keyboard/hard-drive attachments that are mooted for each machine. The PS3 for me seems a little ambitious and I'm a bit too old school to like the Revolution controller (I'm saying that without obviously having used one, the opinion may change). All I bought my 360 for was to play HD games against other people in my lounge and the rest of the world, and in those respects it's been a success for me, and evidently for all the other people I'm playing against...
...until the next tiers of its release come out. This is being posted as AC because I got this info from an MS insider last night (part of their surveying and testing groups) who was drunk enough to start chatting openly, so listen up:
Currently, the plan is to introduce MORE TIERS of Xbox 360 in the next 12 months. Thought the two current versions were bad enough? Supposedly, three more are coming--set to introduce bigger hard drives and MS Media Center functionality, along with "more HD support" (though I didn't understand that last part--does that mean an HD-DVD drive included? Or 1080p? He didn't explain, but whatever). In short, the next Xbox 360s, whether it's one or even three versions, will double as TiVos. Anybody know more about this? Or was this guy just a drunko spouting lies? Either way, an interesting idea to spark the system's life after a botched debut when the PS3 is finally afoot...
I've been playing FPS games on PCs since The Catacomb Abyss came out. And I recently got an Xbox (the original) and have tried it for a while. And let me say that the Xbox does NOT excel at FPS games. It does OK, but it does NOT excel. Having two analog joysticks does work nicely in that it lets you run and shoot in different directions, which worked very nicely in MechAssault (which is a 3rd person shooter, but it's close), but it wasn't perfect.
Basically, the ideal contoller for a FPS is a mouse and keyboard. I'm aware of nothing better at this time, though the keyboard could be replaced with a better keypad of some sort. The mouse lets you zoom right in on a guy's face quickly and fill it full of lead (or plasma, rockets, etc.) To make controllers like the Xbox's work well with a FPS, generally they either add auto-aiming (you get close to a guy, and the target jumps right to him, like in MechAssault) or they slow the game down so quick aiming isn't so important. And head shots? Auto-aiming kind of defeats the purpose ...
I haven't played the Xbox 360 so I can't really comment on it, but considering how similar the controller is, I doubt it's much better. On the plus side, the controllers are straight USB (the Xbox 1 also used USB, but with a custom connector) so maybe some games will actually support using a mouse and keyboard. I'm pretty sure the Dreamcast had some games that would support that ...
Of course, on the other hand it's hard to play a mouse/keyboard game while siting on your couch. ...
From TFA:
Microsoft shouldn't be shy about boosting the price for the Xbox 360 NEO, either: $450-600 is a reasonable introductory price for a streamlined, enhanced Xbox 360
I don't fucking think so. If Microsoft wants to charge $600 for their console, Sony and Nintendo are going to knock them right out of the market. And don't buy the hype that the PS3 is going to cost in that range, either. Sony will bring it in for a price more in line with gamers' expectations to keep their stranglehold on the console market. A $600 price tag won't save the 360, it'll kill it.
This poo is cold.