"We own(ed) a N64, PS2, PSP, GBA, XBOX and others.
But we have not bought a Xbox 360 yet. The reaons are multiple:
- The Price
The Xbox 360 is significantly more expensive than most other consoles before it. It simply doesn't fall into the "playmoney" category somehow. This makes the barrier of entry too high.
- The Games
I've bought the Xbox almost solely because of multiplayer Halo and because my wife is a big Oddworld fan. No sign of either for the 360. Call of duty looks nice, but nothing to shell out ~$350 for (X360+game)."
Price? At $300 it is $50 more than the PSP and exactly the same as the Xbox, PS1, and PS2 at launch date.
Games? See how many other consoles are released with *4* titles grabbing 90+/100 ratings at launch. COD2, PD0, Kameo, and PGR3.
People will find any reason to try to bash this system, even make things up.
"After Sony stole the show last year with their dazzling game trailers, will actual hands-on impressions of the PS3 stand up to all the hype"
That E3 show set Sony back. The trailors were nothing more than CGI movies of what Sony hoped their games would look like. The hardware no where near resembled what will really be in the PS3.
Also the PS3 will not launch any less than $500 without absolutely massive losses per unit. The 360 at this point will have markdowns to around $250.
The PS3 will win this generation only if they can convince the average family that the PS3 is worth 2x the price. The normal fanboys will buy it no matter what the price, but these sales will be limited.
The titles weren't the problem. Best Buy left it open which games you could buy, and there were multiple games that everyone wanted (Perfect Dark Zero, COD2, PGR3, Kameo).
The problem was many Best Buy stores *forced* you to purchase certain accessories. One of the bundles included 2 games and a wireless adapter (waste of money) the other forced controllers and recharge packs.
"This opens up a whole new world for the 360. Soon we might be able to run our own home brewed games and show our favourite Xvid movies." "
1) You can already play your favorite movies that are on your XP Media Center PC on the 360.
2) This has very little to do with home brewed (or pirated) games. You can already copy over music, movies, and download games from XboxLive to the HDD. M$ did the same with Xbox1 - they have allowed people access to their own HDD.
"Besides, Sony doesn't intend to sell the PS3 at a loss, so the profits won't have to be made back in the games. "
Yes absolutely Sony intends to sell the console at a loss. Other Blu-Ray players being released later this year will be pushing $1500. There is no way they are selling an early (practically beta) version of a Blu-Ray player AND a gaming machine with a CELL processor at cost.
Sony will most likely be selling this at a substantial loss. PS3's release will coincide with the release of Halo3 and a Xbox360 price cut to around $250. PS3 must launch in the 400-500 range at most to have any chance of competing, and this is much less than the manfacturing costs.
"But gamers say few, if any, of the community-oriented online PC games are as consumer-friendly as Xbox Live, which has standardized and automated the process of selecting servers and competitors for the best game playing experience"
This is where Xbox Live dominates PC online games. Microsoft is able to place Live servers all over the world to 1) minimalize lag between 360/server and 2) easily find opponent matches that will have little lag. Xbox Live still offers the ability to find matches outside your area also.
The only PC games to do this are MMORPG's. Other online games give you a huge list of servers having you do all the work.
"Too many Republicans oppose is extremist views on science"
Most of the population, let alone Republicans, support his views on science. Opposing human cloning, selling of human embreyos, and creation of human/animal hybrids is not extreme.
This was one of Bush's best speaches of the last year, radical liberals are just nit picking now.
Consoles will dominate everything else. The amount of fewer hours spent on development, testing, debugging, and support for a console where all hardware is static is dramatically less than a PC that could have a near unlimited combination of pieces.
MMO's, which often require keyboards for constant communication and 3rd-party communication programs, are the perfect fit for PC's.
2005 set a record for console game sales while also being one of the worst years ever for PC's for a reason. World of Warcraft has 5.5 million subscribers for a reason.
"If you were willing to give up the Xbox 360's... ability to play games, would the box still be useful?"
Why should it be? It has *3* 3.2 ghz cores and a video card worth about twice as much as the $300 console itself.
If people could buy this system for the hardware and never play games, M$ would lose a ton of money. They lose money on the hardware and make it back on each game sold.
...but isn't it just the least bit ridiculous that a company cannot ship their own anti-virus solution with their OS? I'm sure they could make it an option similar to the firewall in SP2.
" I don't know that many people who really care to buy one. It's expensive, buggy, and doesn't really have that many good games available."
If no one wanted to buy one, there wouldn't be a "shortage" genius. Its cheaper (adjusted for inflation) than the NES, SNES, N64, PS1 or PS2. It had one of the best launch lineups for a modern console (name a better one) and only about 2% of people experience any issues whatsoever.
What are they going to do, finish games for 3rd party developers for them?
The 360 already has a solid release lineup (PGR3, COD2, PDZ, Kameo all receiving 85+% composite scores at rating sites - almost unheard of for launch titles) with some major titles about to hit the market (Saint's Row, Elder Scrolls, Fight Night R3).
What if Microsoft made a handheld gaming machine that only played games from Xbox Live Marketplace? What if they removed in-store purchasing of games alltogether?
They would use the same business model for the 360 (buy a card at Best Buy, enter the code and download games). They could offer demos of each (same as the 360) and have all of the same competitive high score/leaderboard functions.
The only way Microsoft would successfully enter the handheld market would be NOT to clone the PSP (which is a POS anyway).
There have been multiple stories lately about the rise of casual gaming. Even at $5 for geometry wars (which is the most expensive one I believe??), you can buy 12 for the price of one major "published" game.
Even being able to download a bunch of demos was really a great idea.
Microsoft is trying to take over the gaming market through online. Not just marketplace, but also the amazing online support within major games and the ability to send/recieve text and voice messages.
Video game industry has become the Console Wars. PC gaming is on a major decline and arcades are a thing of the past.
Each console brings something different to the market. Nintendo with its edgy and risky ideas and strong 1st party titles, Xbox360 with its live component and the "winner" for time to market, and the PS3 with its established user base.
Slashdot Mirror
XBox 360: ATI card with no equivilent on today's market and 3 3.2 ghz processors - $299.99.
Computer with best available ATI card and only a single 3.2 ghz processor - $1000+.
Computer manufacturers are not receiving a cut of every piece of software used on the system (unlike MS and the Xbox or Sony and the PS).
"Do you think we'll have to put up with some sort of American Idol game release?"
too late
Sony *has* announced that this will be launched in Japan first, with US and Europe following.
September for Japan makes this a November/December (Christmas) release in the US for a PS3, about where most people anticipated.
"We own(ed) a N64, PS2, PSP, GBA, XBOX and others. But we have not bought a Xbox 360 yet. The reaons are multiple: - The Price The Xbox 360 is significantly more expensive than most other consoles before it. It simply doesn't fall into the "playmoney" category somehow. This makes the barrier of entry too high. - The Games I've bought the Xbox almost solely because of multiplayer Halo and because my wife is a big Oddworld fan. No sign of either for the 360. Call of duty looks nice, but nothing to shell out ~$350 for (X360+game)."
Price? At $300 it is $50 more than the PSP and exactly the same as the Xbox, PS1, and PS2 at launch date.
Games? See how many other consoles are released with *4* titles grabbing 90+/100 ratings at launch. COD2, PD0, Kameo, and PGR3.
People will find any reason to try to bash this system, even make things up.
"After Sony stole the show last year with their dazzling game trailers, will actual hands-on impressions of the PS3 stand up to all the hype"
That E3 show set Sony back. The trailors were nothing more than CGI movies of what Sony hoped their games would look like. The hardware no where near resembled what will really be in the PS3.
Also the PS3 will not launch any less than $500 without absolutely massive losses per unit. The 360 at this point will have markdowns to around $250.
The PS3 will win this generation only if they can convince the average family that the PS3 is worth 2x the price. The normal fanboys will buy it no matter what the price, but these sales will be limited.
"They have to move those titles somehow..."
The titles weren't the problem. Best Buy left it open which games you could buy, and there were multiple games that everyone wanted (Perfect Dark Zero, COD2, PGR3, Kameo).
The problem was many Best Buy stores *forced* you to purchase certain accessories. One of the bundles included 2 games and a wireless adapter (waste of money) the other forced controllers and recharge packs.
"Don't worry, the PS3 will be the most powerful machine on the market..."
Probably, but is the extra 2 FPS over the 360 really worth paying an extra $300+ for the worthless blu-ray drive?
"This opens up a whole new world for the 360. Soon we might be able to run our own home brewed games and show our favourite Xvid movies." "
1) You can already play your favorite movies that are on your XP Media Center PC on the 360.
2) This has very little to do with home brewed (or pirated) games. You can already copy over music, movies, and download games from XboxLive to the HDD. M$ did the same with Xbox1 - they have allowed people access to their own HDD.
"Besides, Sony doesn't intend to sell the PS3 at a loss, so the profits won't have to be made back in the games. "
Yes absolutely Sony intends to sell the console at a loss. Other Blu-Ray players being released later this year will be pushing $1500. There is no way they are selling an early (practically beta) version of a Blu-Ray player AND a gaming machine with a CELL processor at cost.
Sony will most likely be selling this at a substantial loss. PS3's release will coincide with the release of Halo3 and a Xbox360 price cut to around $250. PS3 must launch in the 400-500 range at most to have any chance of competing, and this is much less than the manfacturing costs.
"But gamers say few, if any, of the community-oriented online PC games are as consumer-friendly as Xbox Live, which has standardized and automated the process of selecting servers and competitors for the best game playing experience"
This is where Xbox Live dominates PC online games. Microsoft is able to place Live servers all over the world to 1) minimalize lag between 360/server and 2) easily find opponent matches that will have little lag. Xbox Live still offers the ability to find matches outside your area also.
The only PC games to do this are MMORPG's. Other online games give you a huge list of servers having you do all the work.
"I find it so ironic that this powerhouse console is most played for a $5.00 remake of Asteroids on LSD"
GW's sales, even at 5$, haven't come anywhere near the 800,000 copies sold of Call of Duty 2.
Call of Duty 2 for 360 made the top 20 list of games sold in 2005 even though it was only out a month, and the console was scarce.
"When will you make a videogame that's going to teach my students chemistry?"
Cause we all know THAT will make money.
"Too many Republicans oppose is extremist views on science"
Most of the population, let alone Republicans, support his views on science. Opposing human cloning, selling of human embreyos, and creation of human/animal hybrids is not extreme.
This was one of Bush's best speaches of the last year, radical liberals are just nit picking now.
MMO's are the future of PC gaming.
Consoles will dominate everything else. The amount of fewer hours spent on development, testing, debugging, and support for a console where all hardware is static is dramatically less than a PC that could have a near unlimited combination of pieces.
MMO's, which often require keyboards for constant communication and 3rd-party communication programs, are the perfect fit for PC's.
2005 set a record for console game sales while also being one of the worst years ever for PC's for a reason. World of Warcraft has 5.5 million subscribers for a reason.
This is no different than a Police Officer asking to search your car after you were pulled over.
Most people say yes, and the police can legally search with permission.
You can legally say no, and the officer must let you go due to the lack of a warrant. This happens on a daily basis.
"If you were willing to give up the Xbox 360's ... ability to play games, would the box still be useful?"
Why should it be? It has *3* 3.2 ghz cores and a video card worth about twice as much as the $300 console itself.
If people could buy this system for the hardware and never play games, M$ would lose a ton of money. They lose money on the hardware and make it back on each game sold.
...but isn't it just the least bit ridiculous that a company cannot ship their own anti-virus solution with their OS? I'm sure they could make it an option similar to the firewall in SP2.
" I don't know that many people who really care to buy one. It's expensive, buggy, and doesn't really have that many good games available."
If no one wanted to buy one, there wouldn't be a "shortage" genius. Its cheaper (adjusted for inflation) than the NES, SNES, N64, PS1 or PS2. It had one of the best launch lineups for a modern console (name a better one) and only about 2% of people experience any issues whatsoever.
What other biased anti-M$ crap can you dream up.
"I can down to EBGames or Future Shop here in Canada and pick up the "ultimate" edition off the shelf."
Put it on ebay, I know dozens of people I work with still waiting.
"3) Getting a decent Xbox 360 library developed"
What are they going to do, finish games for 3rd party developers for them?
The 360 already has a solid release lineup (PGR3, COD2, PDZ, Kameo all receiving 85+% composite scores at rating sites - almost unheard of for launch titles) with some major titles about to hit the market (Saint's Row, Elder Scrolls, Fight Night R3).
What if Microsoft made a handheld gaming machine that only played games from Xbox Live Marketplace? What if they removed in-store purchasing of games alltogether?
They would use the same business model for the 360 (buy a card at Best Buy, enter the code and download games). They could offer demos of each (same as the 360) and have all of the same competitive high score/leaderboard functions.
The only way Microsoft would successfully enter the handheld market would be NOT to clone the PSP (which is a POS anyway).
The line of Qualia televisions were actually replaced by the SXRD line.
SXRD's have better image quality, longer life, and are much much cheaper. I have one in my living room - they beat the hell out of Plasmas.
How about:
IF(Post=Old_And_Tired) GOTO Mod_Down
There have been multiple stories lately about the rise of casual gaming. Even at $5 for geometry wars (which is the most expensive one I believe??), you can buy 12 for the price of one major "published" game.
Even being able to download a bunch of demos was really a great idea.
Microsoft is trying to take over the gaming market through online. Not just marketplace, but also the amazing online support within major games and the ability to send/recieve text and voice messages.
Video game industry has become the Console Wars. PC gaming is on a major decline and arcades are a thing of the past.
Each console brings something different to the market. Nintendo with its edgy and risky ideas and strong 1st party titles, Xbox360 with its live component and the "winner" for time to market, and the PS3 with its established user base.
They will all do well.