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Xbox 360 Doesn't Want To Be Hardcore
An anonymous reader writes "CNET.com.au has just posted an interview with Microsoft Game Studio head Shane Kim. The head games exec for the Xbox 360 admits he wants the console to be more family friendly (read: more like Nintendo and Sony). From the article: 'The positioning of the platform is very different now. We were so paranoid that people knew the Xbox was a hardcore gaming machine in the first generation that we really alienated, or closed off, a lot of our opportunity.'"
Don't worry Microsoft - we never thought it was! (*snare roll**high hat*) Thank You! Thank you Slashdot! I'll be here all week.
My humor is probably your flamebait
I'm not a Troll, it's reverse psychology.
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I thought this was Nintendo's strategy. Microsoft pushing for HD, and debuting at 400 bucks, and a huge focus on graphics seems to me 3 very blatant pushes for trying to capture the "hardcore" area.
Kent Simon Multitheft Auto
Xbox was an interesting lesson in a lot of ways.
It really did many things right; I think the controllers were the best from that generation, or at least after the "giant hands" oopsie got fixed.
And it was a terifically powerful system, and I'm so glad that they're landbreaking moves into online multiplayer didn't stop them from giving full-hearted 4 player support...Sony dropped the ball on both of those, with ad hoc per-game network support, and only 2 controller ports w/o a multitap.
On the other hand, even from the outset...the form factor was terrible. The sucker was a beast...one of the reasons why the GC is my "travel" system. The original controllers, though some people dig 'em, were also beastly, and didn't you need to buy a remote if you wanted to watch DVDs? That kind of sucked.
Despite generally having somewhat superior ports of the mainstream games, Xbox relied on its "Killer App" Halo more than the other systems. I enoyed odd PC ports like Crimson Skies and oddball one offs like Fuzion Frenzy...
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
...When mostly the Xbox 360 is made for things like High Definition Television, and many of the games are heavily geared towards older people.
Considering that Microsoft has generally made the XBox quite a bit about online play also furthers the distance from what's being said here.
Most parents don't want their younger kids doing things online without their supervision or at all, due to much media attention, so trying to make online play the main attraction of it (and making it cost money to do so) would seem to be leaning towards a more mature audience.
Now that is a sweet title. Although, I thought they usually called that "marketing" :)
Microsoft's history as the provider of all things crass, square, and ugly?
Nope, that was Sony. The character design in FFX2 was crass and Square...though I'm not sure if "ugly" applies.
If they are trying to be family friendly, they need to become more simple, put in the disk, and play. Seems to me like Microsoft is making yet another PR stunt to gain traction on the 360.
The discussion was regarding Microsoft's announced intentions to make the Xbox 360 a "mainstream" system, not for "hardcore" gamers at all.
And yet - they have a $400 console, the games for the system so far are a lot of FPS games, then there's Condemned, and Dead or Alive 4 - all interesting games, but nothing that makes me want to sit down with my 4 year old son and 7 year old daughter and say "Hey, let's play some DOA4, kids! Watch Kasumi's bounce physics!"
We have started up a game of "Kingdom Heart 2", which we can all enjoy, or Mario 64 DS, or my daughter really likes "Animal Crossing" and wants her own DS someday for "Nintendogs" (which she can only get if she keeps her grades up and does well in her chess club), and my non-gamer wife likes Tetris on the new DS.
So far, I'd say that if Microsoft intends for the 360 to be a "non-hardcore" system, then so far they're doing a crappy job of it. Right now, it *defines* the hardcore console gamer.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Really? I always thought of Sony as having the drunk frat demographic. I mean the PS* was built on sports games.
I'm not a 'sports nut' kind of guy. I can expound endlessly on the minutiae of systems administration, various languages and even the details of esoteric RFCs. But I couldn't tell you who is playing (or has played if it's over already) in the college basketball championships this year. I did run cross-country and track in junior and senior high school (many moons ago), but sports just don't interest me.
That, however, doesn't mean I don't encourage my kids to at least try them out, or stick with the ones they like. The subtle insinuation of your comment and the reply to it is that my wife and I are somehow lacking in our parenting skills, and more importantly have little concern for the welfare of our children. I forgive you for the implied insult, however, as I can understand why some leap to such conclusions, even lacking any evidence to support them.
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This
Sounded more like the buttons on a PlayStation controller. Y'know: crass, square, ugly, and triangle.
Not Microsoft's marketing at all. Its the games available for the Xbox: First Person Shooters (and Halo), roster update , GTA (yes I know they're also on PS2), and . . . .well thats pretty much it.
PS2 has its RPGs and Nintendo has its first party long-running franchise games (Zelda, Metroid, Mariokart, etc).
While just about every game available on Xbox is also available on PS2 the big difference is Xbox Live.
Nintendo's for people with good taste and who appreciate the finer things in life.
Darling, don't forget that after the polo match, we have dinner with the Addisons, then cocktails on the veranda, followed by the fundraiser at the Museum of Modern Art, and then the Pokemon tournament. Don't forget to bring a couple bottles of Dom and the DS.
There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
If you take inflation into account, and look at some of the prices that children's toys are going for today (some dolls are close to $100 by themselves, some board games go near $50 [heroscape], the xbox 360 isn't really expensive. Of course, the revolution is going to be less expensive, and this will work better for some families. IIRC the SNES was $199 when it came out what, 10 years ago? An extra $99 is a drop in the bucket.
"I mean the PS* was built on sports games."
not even remotely ass much as the XBox is/was, first person shooters and sports games seem to make up over half of the library for the XBox.
The Xbox1 does make a great console for little kide if you mod it and put all their games on the HD. You could even disable/remove the DVD-ROM.
I major reason I got an Xbox 360 because I wanted to listen to MP3s and to look at photos on my television. A device to do this is about $200, or for $400 you get the same thing and a new console. The Xbox 360 interfaces seamlessly over the lan between my PC (once you configure it), and it was super easy. I can listen to music from my PC in my office, with a remote control on the stereo in the living room, which is convienient.
I enjoyed playing games on my 8088 PC back in the day, so no matter what the difference between the next gen consoles are, they are gonna all have fun games to play. The question will be who offers the best secondary features. Xbox 360 is offering integration with your PC, and has Xbox Live Arcade (I enjoy the classic arcade games)... Sony is offering Blue-Ray, so audio/video buffs will be excited for that... It will all depend on secondary features to see who really is the winner, though.
Actually you're pretty dead on. I was a frat boy in school (granted, I went to an engineering oriented school, RPI) but most people had Xboxes because we hooked them up to the house network and played each other in Halo. There is something quite humorous and fun about playing Halo with 15 friends spread out around the house that you don't get by playing with a few in the same room. Since PS2 didn't have the network games setup (not talking about Xbox Live or PS2's equiv) no one really bothered with them.
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If you can't get over the fact that there's a Pokemon game on your console, you have far bigger psychological issues than can be discussed here. Seek help immediately.
beer-funneling fratboys
;)
Wait. How are you supposed to have a beer when playing, when you need both hands? I think the Revolution with it's controller will be the perfect fit if you want your beer while playing
Just because I can imagine doing a hippopotamus, doesn't mean I'd like to do it.
"They may not be games for 6 year olds, but I don't remember anything in Jak II that a 3rd or 4th grader couldn't handle. Nothing that I hadn't seen in Battletoads or Ninja Gaiden or Bionic Commando. Well, except boobs, but they're clothed,"
I'm pretty sure most people don't care about boobs in any way until after puberty. Considering that people are still breastfed as kids anyway, what's the big deal? Boobs are boobs. They're not going to fly planes into buildings, or shoot your mother.
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I have to agree.
Honestly, when I bought my 360 I wasn't too excited about it because of the launch titles (though I do enjoy a few of them) but I was blown away at the sheer amount of extra things that I didn't think I cared about.
It's come to the point that Someone Who Isn't Me pirated a copy of Windows Media Centre just to get the streaming video to round out the features on his Furnace 360.
disclaimer: I've been known to store numbers in my ass for which to dig out when quantities are required.
How did XBox games have more "substance"? I'm really not trying to sound like a dick, I just would like some examples.
Does anyone know what the hell Microsoft is trying to do in the console market?
They are now the only company where you have to pay to play online. There entire online service as a revenue generating machine pretty much looks like a joke now that Sony and Nintendo are providing the same types of services for free.
They rushed the 360 hardware out the door but clearly still haven't nailed down the manufacturing process with the massive defect problems people are having.
They talked up the HD era but have no way of outputting 1080p.
They talked up what a safe long term bet the 360 is but managed to include disc storage that is actually smaller than the first Xbox.
They talked up the graphic power of the machine but those claims have become a joke.
And they talk about expanding out of their old demographic and their library of games is almost exactly the same as the first Xbox.
It's almost like they are actively trying to fuck up across the board in every area of console hardware and software. Every single thing they talk about looks to be the complete opposite in reality. Maybe E3 will turn things around.
"Microsoft is playing catch up in the next generation console market they had hoped to define."
X360 *is* the next-generation of gaming, and they *have* defined it, because no other next-gen consoles are out yet. So who exactly are they iplaying catch-up in the next generation with?
"Microsoft deciding to be more family friendly now means they completely missed their mark"
No, it means that they are concerned with Nintendo, who has an actual functioning product and is ready to hit the market soon at a reasonable price. Sony has delayed and priced themselves out of the market, so Nintendo is the focus now. If PS3 were a tangible threat, M$ would be saying the exact opposite and harping about how hardcore they are.
And as others have pointed out, this is also a bit of reverse-marketing. "We are too hardcore for our own good! w00t! lolz"
I don't understand these articles. I can't follow why someone making comments about trying to get a more 'family' image for the console & not mention the fact the the 360 actually has very good parental controls.
I've experiments to run, there is research to be done on the people who are still alive.
Xbox never had more than a few decent titles, and so far Xbox 2 doesn't have much to offer either. Not very hardcore if you ask me. Job done Microsoft. You can go home early today.
man I really should learn to proof-read my posts... the ass was completely unintentional...
One is there because it was original first. Sony. Another is there because it caters to kids. Nintendo. You must find another niche. You build it, and we will come. People will come aboard when they see something they can't get anywhere else.
Not trying to be flamebait, but what part of Sony is (or really ever has been) "original" or "first"? Nintendo and Sega were duking it out long before playstation was even a gleam in a sony exec's eye. And of course, you could go back further to things like Atari.
Your "open letter" really confuses me. "first"? Nintendo and many others were in the console market long before Sony. Original? Nearly everything about the PSX was derived from earlier consoles.
What am I missing?
Buy your kid a bike and tell him to ride over to a friends house to play video games.
Then tell him he has to ride back every hour to check in.
Hmmm. OK, wait til he's 9 or 10.
A blog about stuff.
"You create high-end hardware that caters to the needs and desires of hardcore gamers, as well as lifelong gamers, in a way that Playstation (even the new one) will have to catch up to for a long time."
If you think that hardware power has any bearing on the desires of actual hardcore gamers, you really ought to rethink whether you should be calling yourself one, or presuming to speak for others.
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The CD. You're missing the CD. That was the "original" thing the PSOne brought to the table. And I guess that being easy to copy its games was an aditional... bonus. That, together with awesome marketing (who'd have thought that a bunch of four symbols would be instantly recognisable?), a lot of support and pretty diverse software for everyone. There are some other little things as well...:
I admit I didn't have a N64, or any console, up until I bought my PS2 and, now, PSP. I was an Amiga guy, so I had access to a lot of nice games, and didn't feel any need to buy a console. Some years ago, I decided to check out, through emulation, what the consoles of ole times that I missed had to offer. So...
On SNES/Genesis I found at least 100 games that were quite interesting. They hold up pretty well.
On PSOne I found at least 50 games that were quite interesting. They hold up pretty well.
On N64 I found 5, I repeat, FIVE games that were quite interesting: Zelda, Banzo Kazooie, Super Mario (from a purely technical standpoint, since I never liked the idea of an Italian mustached plumber riding turtles, eating mushrooms and jumping arround), GoldenEye and Perfect Dark. So, you bought a console to play FIVE games.
Lastly, keep in mind that freshness and style matter, a lot. Remember Wipeout 2097, its soundtrack, presentation, fast action... F-Zero could be first, but it seemed... well... incomplete, in comparison to Wipeout 2097.
Ofcourse, I understand that "buying a console at the time it was released is a bit different than playing its games in an emulator", but I think that you can get a pretty good idea from it about what each system offered.
Ok on a broader level. Perhaps the XBox (v1 & 360) was/is popular due to it's unintentional target audience of older gamers. Would it not cheapen or loose market share by changing it's target audience?
Isn't that why the Nintendo GameCube is popular with some people? Due to the unintentional targeting of games for younger audiences?
I view the game market as being a spectrum, with the Xbox as the older audience, the Playstation as the mid range and the GameCube as being on the youngest end. Now there are games that I like on all three.
I get so fed up with companies attemting to capture/control the entire market. Pick a target audience and do the best that you can with that darn audience!
In the end the only reason I buy a game controller is if it is hackable so that I can run Linux/BSD and thereby a non susceptible browser (read no way IE). So that I can check out some ad I see on TV.