I'm a long time gamer, have bought nearly every system till now and am not buying the hype of either system yet. I waited a year or so to buy an xbox till it was cheaper and Jet Set Radio Future was out (I loved the Dreamcast verson). I waited to get a PS2 until Final Fantasy X was released. The last system I bought at launch was the Dreamcast because it wasn't badly priced and had something REALLY nice worth playing at launch (Soul Calibur and soon after NBA 2K and Jet Grind Radio).
The Xbox 360 does NOT use proprietary disc formats that can, at the vendor or manufacturers will, brick your box.
How is Blu-Ray propriatary? I see a bunch of recorders coming out and some major studio and vendor support. (http://www.blu-ray.com/) Sure they may try to lock it so you can't burn discs but what developer hasn't tried? If you think hard you'll remember when dvd recorders and discs were expensive, and if you think really hard you'll remember when cd-r's were expensive. I remember buying a 1X cd burner for $200 when the discs were too expensive to buy to really use. This is a silly argument.
WHO NEEDS SEVEN CONTROLLERS ON ONE BOX!? Perhaps you don't play sports games Mr. FPS. Most sports games I know have at least 10 people on the field/court/rink. I've easily had 4 buddies over playing NBA 2K* or NHL. You can have direct user contribution in a party environment like this. I've also been at a friends house where they were playing Mario Party and we had 6 people but only 4 could play. Sure you could 'pass' the controller in that game, but I'm it's inconvenient, and I'm sure theres more ideas beyond that if you have a big screen hi-def TV, beyond splitting it into 6 mini squares. Maybe you never played Gauntlet? Or any of Konami's classic (6 player) arcade games like X-Men?
One fee. No ten bucks a month here, five bucks a month there... $50 a year. Like most other people say, I still play Warcraft 3 and other FPS games on my PC for free, no bucks a month here. Most of the games that are online on the PS2 are free too, I've played a few rounds of burnout 3 when it was popular and even though the service isn't as nice as live you can still get going. It would be nice if microsoft 'had' a free option of some sort.
Time. Xbox 360 is here now whereas the PS3 is going to offer comparable hardware and games in a year. While X360 has maybe 3 good games, 2-3 in the next 3-6 months and nothing ever comes out in the summer. And developers are still working on PS3 and Revolution games so they'll all be ready to ship at launch. X360 is a test development for 2nd gen X360 and 1st gen PS3.
Developer backing. Bungie and Rare are both developing for the Xbox 360, and that's only naming two big name developers. Rare is releasing nothing but prettied up versions of old games (Kameo=Banjo Kazooie with transformations and particle effects, Perfect Dark Zero=Prettier Perfect Dark, don't even talk about the xbox games) and Bungie hasn't even shown anything yet.
Also Final Fantasy will be coming to Xbox 360 too. Yea, Final Fantasy XI, a game thats been out on the PS2 and PC for over a year, WHOOPIE! PS2 is getting XII next year. Dragon Quest 7 is sweeter than any RPG that'll be exclusive anyway for awhile.
I know you're trying to justify your $400 purchase. Next year, when it's head to head with real competition 'MAYBE' they'll have real games, but I look at my shelf And I see some 8 xbox games and around 30 PS2 games. This was most of the 39 PS2 games that averaged over 90% on GR, there are 17 for the xbox.
The only XBOX 'exclusives': Halo 2, Ninja Gaiden, Project Gotham Racing 2, Forza Motorsport, Crimson Skies. (So basically Tecmo, Bizarre Creations, other internal MS teams) So like 5/17 exclusive and at the top.
The PS2 'exclusives': Gran Turismo 3, All the Konami Soccer games (Though most are out on the PC too, and 9 is coming to xbox), God of War, Guitar Hero
The money really was nothing though, $15 a month? I spend that in a few days in gas/lunch almost now. It was more the fact that if I'm paying for it or have an active account I feel obligated to play.
I've got so much time now I don't know what to do with.;)
Yea, I went to MC about 40 times with one character over 2 months, and a few times with an alt I levelled to 60, I played though all of the high level instances too many times to count. (enough to ALMOST a full tier 1 set for both and better dire maul pieces than the full set to make up for it)
Yea, there's a point where the game burned me out, especially as a healer or caster, clicking the one same button, watching the same bars. There's no skill for 95% of a 40(10/15) man raid, only during the boss fights and then it's typically a kill them/keep the killers alive before you run out of mana or potions challenge.
Oh I had all that, I don't think I was missing anything, I'm really amazed at the guilds that go as far as Blackwing.
Yea, I levelled a priest and warlock concurrently to 60 doing basically completely different quests and zones. When I almost hit 60 with both I started a druid and shaman on horde side got them to the mid 30s, and a few characters (pvp rogue/warrior). Horde is basically the same, it's fun to see Origrimmar and Undercity, fun to play though their low level instances, see the morons on Barrens chat. It's all basically the same boring quests/grind again, unless you're playing with a friend(s).
Yea, I had several alts too horde and alliance. I had played every character type except mage to at least 30. (Seemed like a warlock without a pet, constantly begged for water/portals, not interested)
PvP the way the game is made can't be much better... The click/wait no collisions style gameplay doesn't work that great for pvp. Maybe for some, but not if you come from a FPS or even an RTS background that have real pvp and strategy.
If they could nail that endgame they'd really have other companies worried.
Don't worry, after you run through that Dire Maul 20 times, Strat 20 times, and every other instance in the game over 20 times you'll see how less interesting it becomes. (Usually takes about a month or two if you do a few a night)
I was walking to Dire Maul on my last day with some friends when I realized I didn't want to do this crap anymore, the pulling, the single button attack/heal pressing, the status bar watching, the shard farming (I was a warlock with an alt priest) so I quit right then and there. Took about a month after hitting 60, ran the instances enough times to have 6/8 things of the set. (Probably around 80 hours after level 60) At that point you either cut down your time to eliminate staring/posting at a LFG channel and taking forever to find a group when you login, or wait around till new content comes out. (every two months)
1-60 = new spells, new places to see, new quests to do, new spells and abilities and crafts
60 = never ending quest for new clothes that, unless you're a plate or find a weapon, typically aren't *that* much better than your old clothes.
Same deal as you guys, lvl 60 other misc levels, played a few months in the high end stuff, bored out of my mind. Went back to playing Warcraft 3/Starcraft. Much more enjoyable games with more 'game' involved and much less of a time sink. Also had a stack of games/movies/books I put off while playing WoW.
I'll probably go back when the expansion comes out just to see the new content, it was a great 1-59 game but after 200 hours you've seen it all. It's basically like Square console RPGs with some very rare multiplayer aspects, unless you're playing with real life friends/family.
If they could figure out a fun/playable end-game and figure out a way to have a more dynamic 'living' world overall somehow people would be hooked forever... Few more years...
I agree, I was writing my own stuff in basic on Commodore 64 and Apple II at 6 and 7, and I had cool games and some good applications (including a calculator, no GUI) at around 9. I gave it up but when I got to middle school at like 12 I was basically teaching the computer class and got to do cool stuff with the brand new IIgs and the Mac. I mostly played games until later high school when I got back into programming again and do it full time now.
If I was a kid today I'd probably have sweet stuff with the tools they've got if my parents got me into it. (Very few 10 year olds are installing linux on their dads machine or searching out compilers, but many might love to use it if someone shows them)
Napster was great in the day, I think I bought more cds and found out about more new artists using that than anytime before, then that got shut down and I didn't buy anything new for a few years. Enter Allofmp3, they charge a nice quarter a song (up from like 10 cents in the start), which I think is a decent rate for music that is:
1. lower quality than cds (CD quality is almost a buck a song on there but available)
2. Doesn't include any extras
3. Doesn't involve any production on anyone elses part.
and I'm happier to use it than napster if they are paying royalities like the site claims. I hope the investigation turns out to be nothing because I've spent at least $300 in the last 12 months on music (cds/videos) solely off stuff I heard on this site.
On the other hand maybe it's better for me to keep my cash, the recording industry obviously doesn't want it anyway but the groups with the bucks already aren't getting much of it anyway... Most of the music I listen to isn't from the US either, and allofmp3 has some great russian and euro music that theres nowhere else I've seen!
Yea, the game price is really a problem for me. To be worth $50 a game has to give at 'least' 25 hours of total quality game time to me. I'll wait and buy one when the initial games go greatest hits and are cheaper to still give me a $2/hour of game time. They're still pricing most DS games in the $30-$35 range...
I actually really liked the video game awards (countdown?) last year that MTV did with the EGM editors and Seanbaby(!). I remember them having interviews and such with real gamers and game developers/programmers. How come shows like what was on Spike (which did the same crap for a awards show last year) think that all gamers are male, rap, loving madden players.
I agree that X-Play was, and usually is, a good show along with whatever Tommy and Victor are involved in on G4. (Judgement Day, Electric Playground) You could get a bunch of people who really loved games together, but I guess they figure less people would watch it.
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I'm a long time gamer, have bought nearly every system till now and am not buying the hype of either system yet. I waited a year or so to buy an xbox till it was cheaper and Jet Set Radio Future was out (I loved the Dreamcast verson). I waited to get a PS2 until Final Fantasy X was released. The last system I bought at launch was the Dreamcast because it wasn't badly priced and had something REALLY nice worth playing at launch (Soul Calibur and soon after NBA 2K and Jet Grind Radio).
The Xbox 360 does NOT use proprietary disc formats that can, at the vendor or manufacturers will, brick your box.
How is Blu-Ray propriatary? I see a bunch of recorders coming out and some major studio and vendor support. (http://www.blu-ray.com/) Sure they may try to lock it so you can't burn discs but what developer hasn't tried? If you think hard you'll remember when dvd recorders and discs were expensive, and if you think really hard you'll remember when cd-r's were expensive. I remember buying a 1X cd burner for $200 when the discs were too expensive to buy to really use. This is a silly argument.
WHO NEEDS SEVEN CONTROLLERS ON ONE BOX!?
Perhaps you don't play sports games Mr. FPS. Most sports games I know have at least 10 people on the field/court/rink. I've easily had 4 buddies over playing NBA 2K* or NHL. You can have direct user contribution in a party environment like this. I've also been at a friends house where they were playing Mario Party and we had 6 people but only 4 could play. Sure you could 'pass' the controller in that game, but I'm it's inconvenient, and I'm sure theres more ideas beyond that if you have a big screen hi-def TV, beyond splitting it into 6 mini squares. Maybe you never played Gauntlet? Or any of Konami's classic (6 player) arcade games like X-Men?
One fee. No ten bucks a month here, five bucks a month there... $50 a year.
Like most other people say, I still play Warcraft 3 and other FPS games on my PC for free, no bucks a month here. Most of the games that are online on the PS2 are free too, I've played a few rounds of burnout 3 when it was popular and even though the service isn't as nice as live you can still get going. It would be nice if microsoft 'had' a free option of some sort.
Time. Xbox 360 is here now whereas the PS3 is going to offer comparable hardware and games in a year.
While X360 has maybe 3 good games, 2-3 in the next 3-6 months and nothing ever comes out in the summer. And developers are still working on PS3 and Revolution games so they'll all be ready to ship at launch. X360 is a test development for 2nd gen X360 and 1st gen PS3.
Developer backing. Bungie and Rare are both developing for the Xbox 360, and that's only naming two big name developers.
Rare is releasing nothing but prettied up versions of old games (Kameo=Banjo Kazooie with transformations and particle effects, Perfect Dark Zero=Prettier Perfect Dark, don't even talk about the xbox games) and Bungie hasn't even shown anything yet.
Also Final Fantasy will be coming to Xbox 360 too.
Yea, Final Fantasy XI, a game thats been out on the PS2 and PC for over a year, WHOOPIE! PS2 is getting XII next year. Dragon Quest 7 is sweeter than any RPG that'll be exclusive anyway for awhile.
I know you're trying to justify your $400 purchase. Next year, when it's head to head with real competition 'MAYBE' they'll have real games, but I look at my shelf And I see some 8 xbox games and around 30 PS2 games. This was most of the 39 PS2 games that averaged over 90% on GR, there are 17 for the xbox.
The only XBOX 'exclusives': Halo 2, Ninja Gaiden, Project Gotham Racing 2, Forza Motorsport, Crimson Skies. (So basically Tecmo, Bizarre Creations, other internal MS teams) So like 5/17 exclusive and at the top.
The PS2 'exclusives': Gran Turismo 3, All the Konami Soccer games (Though most are out on the PC too, and 9 is coming to xbox), God of War, Guitar Hero
The money really was nothing though, $15 a month? I spend that in a few days in gas/lunch almost now. It was more the fact that if I'm paying for it or have an active account I feel obligated to play. I've got so much time now I don't know what to do with. ;)
Yea, I went to MC about 40 times with one character over 2 months, and a few times with an alt I levelled to 60, I played though all of the high level instances too many times to count. (enough to ALMOST a full tier 1 set for both and better dire maul pieces than the full set to make up for it)
Yea, there's a point where the game burned me out, especially as a healer or caster, clicking the one same button, watching the same bars. There's no skill for 95% of a 40(10/15) man raid, only during the boss fights and then it's typically a kill them/keep the killers alive before you run out of mana or potions challenge.
Oh I had all that, I don't think I was missing anything, I'm really amazed at the guilds that go as far as Blackwing.
Yea, I levelled a priest and warlock concurrently to 60 doing basically completely different quests and zones. When I almost hit 60 with both I started a druid and shaman on horde side got them to the mid 30s, and a few characters (pvp rogue/warrior). Horde is basically the same, it's fun to see Origrimmar and Undercity, fun to play though their low level instances, see the morons on Barrens chat. It's all basically the same boring quests/grind again, unless you're playing with a friend(s).
Yea, I had several alts too horde and alliance. I had played every character type except mage to at least 30. (Seemed like a warlock without a pet, constantly begged for water/portals, not interested)
PvP the way the game is made can't be much better... The click/wait no collisions style gameplay doesn't work that great for pvp. Maybe for some, but not if you come from a FPS or even an RTS background that have real pvp and strategy.
If they could nail that endgame they'd really have other companies worried.
Don't worry, after you run through that Dire Maul 20 times, Strat 20 times, and every other instance in the game over 20 times you'll see how less interesting it becomes. (Usually takes about a month or two if you do a few a night) I was walking to Dire Maul on my last day with some friends when I realized I didn't want to do this crap anymore, the pulling, the single button attack/heal pressing, the status bar watching, the shard farming (I was a warlock with an alt priest) so I quit right then and there. Took about a month after hitting 60, ran the instances enough times to have 6/8 things of the set. (Probably around 80 hours after level 60) At that point you either cut down your time to eliminate staring/posting at a LFG channel and taking forever to find a group when you login, or wait around till new content comes out. (every two months) 1-60 = new spells, new places to see, new quests to do, new spells and abilities and crafts 60 = never ending quest for new clothes that, unless you're a plate or find a weapon, typically aren't *that* much better than your old clothes.
Same deal as you guys, lvl 60 other misc levels, played a few months in the high end stuff, bored out of my mind. Went back to playing Warcraft 3/Starcraft. Much more enjoyable games with more 'game' involved and much less of a time sink. Also had a stack of games/movies/books I put off while playing WoW.
I'll probably go back when the expansion comes out just to see the new content, it was a great 1-59 game but after 200 hours you've seen it all. It's basically like Square console RPGs with some very rare multiplayer aspects, unless you're playing with real life friends/family.
If they could figure out a fun/playable end-game and figure out a way to have a more dynamic 'living' world overall somehow people would be hooked forever... Few more years...
I agree, I was writing my own stuff in basic on Commodore 64 and Apple II at 6 and 7, and I had cool games and some good applications (including a calculator, no GUI) at around 9. I gave it up but when I got to middle school at like 12 I was basically teaching the computer class and got to do cool stuff with the brand new IIgs and the Mac. I mostly played games until later high school when I got back into programming again and do it full time now. If I was a kid today I'd probably have sweet stuff with the tools they've got if my parents got me into it. (Very few 10 year olds are installing linux on their dads machine or searching out compilers, but many might love to use it if someone shows them)
Napster was great in the day, I think I bought more cds and found out about more new artists using that than anytime before, then that got shut down and I didn't buy anything new for a few years. Enter Allofmp3, they charge a nice quarter a song (up from like 10 cents in the start), which I think is a decent rate for music that is: 1. lower quality than cds (CD quality is almost a buck a song on there but available) 2. Doesn't include any extras 3. Doesn't involve any production on anyone elses part. and I'm happier to use it than napster if they are paying royalities like the site claims. I hope the investigation turns out to be nothing because I've spent at least $300 in the last 12 months on music (cds/videos) solely off stuff I heard on this site. On the other hand maybe it's better for me to keep my cash, the recording industry obviously doesn't want it anyway but the groups with the bucks already aren't getting much of it anyway... Most of the music I listen to isn't from the US either, and allofmp3 has some great russian and euro music that theres nowhere else I've seen!
Yea, the game price is really a problem for me. To be worth $50 a game has to give at 'least' 25 hours of total quality game time to me. I'll wait and buy one when the initial games go greatest hits and are cheaper to still give me a $2/hour of game time. They're still pricing most DS games in the $30-$35 range...
I actually really liked the video game awards (countdown?) last year that MTV did with the EGM editors and Seanbaby(!). I remember them having interviews and such with real gamers and game developers/programmers. How come shows like what was on Spike (which did the same crap for a awards show last year) think that all gamers are male, rap, loving madden players. I agree that X-Play was, and usually is, a good show along with whatever Tommy and Victor are involved in on G4. (Judgement Day, Electric Playground) You could get a bunch of people who really loved games together, but I guess they figure less people would watch it.