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."

Comments

Re:Where are the games?

[Mr.Dippy]

True, there are really no games that I want and there have been no games worth mentioning since launch. However, remember last year with the Nintendo DS? The system launched with like 2 good games. It wasn't until at least 6 months later that anything worth wild came out. For me it was Meteos and Advanced Wars Duel Strike. When Nintendo 64 came out there was only 2 games for a few months to choose from. With that said it takes time for stuff to come that is worth playing. With that said I'm not holding my breath for xbox360. I'm still waiting for Sony and Nintendo.

Re:Baffled by so-called 'failure' of 360

[OmegaBlac]

the 360 wasn't launched before it was ready, but before the manufacturing process was ready

So in other words the Xbox 360 was not ready period. Cut the crap and apolisgist nonsense--the Xbox 360 was rushed in more ways then one. The Xbox 360 is as much failure as the PSP.

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.

Nothing worse than a fanboy making execuses for the product they worship day and night over. Look at this nonsense you posted. No "killer" game + prolonged console shortage + lackluster average game catalog + fanboys conducting spin control for a rushed console = failed launch.

Confused by your post.

[Inoshiro]

" 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.... 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!

Have you not looked at the 360 lineup? EA n+1 ware, Gun, and PGR3. It's the same stuff you could get on the Xbox, but it a different coloured wrapper.

This has to be the most confusing paragraph. If the PSP has had forever to get games, why does it suck so much?

Maybe you'll tell us why the 360 won't be a PSP.

" 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."

Your sentence structure is a little hard to read here, but it sounds like you said that despite there being no real reason to own a 360 game-wise, you still bought one despite not being a hardcore gamer (who would buy it if it had nothing for it). Like most people, you find the games fun (if you're not hardcore, you'll have a smaller pool of experience, and probably won't know bad games as quickly -- the first ones always seem better).

This means Microsoft won; you had other options available, but you went with their product, even though you haven't given a clear reason to.

"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.

And for your money, you could've also got a Mac Mini, USB controller adapter (allowing you to use Xbox or PS2 controllers on your Mac Mini), and used its built-in NIC to play Mame (and NES, SNES, N64, PSX) games online, or played DVD movies on your TV via its DVI connector.

In that respect, the Mac Mini (which costs the same as a 360 + games) seems a better deal.

"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."

This point is rather moot. Given the incredibly small # of Xbox Live subscribers, it's no surprise that Nintendo beat the Microsoft records with the number of people online playing Mario Kart DS last month.

So, there again, no real reason to choose the 360.

"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,"

The EE was both a GPU and a T&L engine. If you were an insane assembler master, you could make something like MGS3: Snake Eater. If you weren't so hot, you got the plasticy crap-ware that most titles seemed to be. Another person argued that this is a good idea because it means that people will learn and gain "full power" over the console later.

People, programming is not an MMO grind. You do not "get better" over time regardless of starting skill level. Most of the developers on these games don't know how to wring out the last bits of performance. That's why the Itanium did so poorly -- you have to have a good development environment if you want good software.

"... I'm a bit too old school to like the Revolution controller"

Even though you're not a hardcore gamer. At least they're doing something different.

"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..."

and Microsoft.

Why buy the 360?