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XBox (Games) It's funny. Laugh. PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

The State of the Game Console Wars 439

Posted by michael from the no-holds-barred dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Two years after the next-gen game consoles hit the market, the verdict is in. What does the future hold for each of the Big Three? Here is a thoughtful but crude summary of the X-Box vs. GC vs. PS2 ordeal."
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The State of the Game Console Wars More

The State of the Game Console Wars

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  • Who cares really... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by desenz ( 687520 ) <roypfohNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:18PM (#6720356)
    Basically, it depends what kind of games you like to play. Although, those lines are getting a bit blurry too.
    Personally, I am a gamecube person. I have always been a fan of nintendos first-party games, and they are the only non-PC games I usually find an urge to play.
    Yes, I enjoyed Celda.

    • Re:Who cares really... (Score:5, Funny)

      by RTPMatt ( 468649 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:22PM (#6720376) Homepage
      its all about the XGameStation [xgamestation.com]!! I cant wait till this thing comes out, give the market a good kick in the anti DMCA direction! It dosent matter how good the system is, as long as its being pushed to its limits!

    • Re:Who cares really... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Osty ( 16825 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:02AM (#6720539)

      Yes, I enjoyed Celda.

      I enjoyed Celda as well. Unfortunately, it's pretty much the only Gamecube game I've truly enjoyed so far (enough so that I played it entirely through). I admit that I only have a small library of Gamecube games, but that library does include Mario Sunshine and Metroid Prime, both of which were extremely disappointing to me. In fact, Metroid was extremely disappointing, considering that it was the reason I bought my Cube. Luckily, Celda made up for Metroid and made me not totally regret the purchase.


      Right now, I've been playing Mario Golf, and it's enjoyable, but it's certainly not going to hold my attention for more than another week or two (just up until Soul Calibur II hits the XBox, at which point Mario Golf will go back on the shelf with Mario Sunshine and Metroid Prime, to eventually be sold or traded away).


      For completeness, my Cube library consists of:

      • Mario Sunshine (came with the Cube)
      • Metroid Prime (disappointing)
      • Wind Waker (and the Zelda: OOT remake)
      • Rogue Squadron II (I was pretty disappointed with this one, so much so that I don't care that RS3 is coming soon)
      • Skies of Arcadia. I liked this one, but Knights of the Old Republic made me put it off to the side, and I don't see me picking it back up any time soon. Also, this was almost a straight port from the Dreamcast, so I'm not sure I'd really consider it a win for the Gamecube
      • Mario Golf. After Celda, this would be my best Cube game. It's fun to play through a round or two of golf, and I guess that's a plus because I can sit down and play for fifteen minutes or half an hour and then put it away. However, I don't anticipate it holding my attention long.

      Any suggestions on what would be some good Cube games to pick up? I don't have time to really play something like Animal Crossing (plus, I played the old Harvest Moon on the SNES, which seems to be similar in style to AC, and wasn't that enthralled), and I generally don't have enough friends over at my place to make something like Smash Brothers: Melee worth a purchase (and when I do have enough people over, we generally will play Halo on two XBoxs and TVs). And no cross-platform games, please. I'd rather play those on my XBox, though if there's a good game that's only on the Cube and PS2, I may consider picking it up for the Cube (no PS2, and no interest in a PS2).

      • Re:Who cares really... (Score:2, Informative)

        by desenz ( 687520 )
        You and I are in a surprisingly similar situtation. I'll admit, I have a fairly small collection of games too. When I purchased my gamecube, it was majorly for Metroid Prime And Zelda.

        I agree with you completely, I was definitely dissapointed with Metroid. But really, I never liked FPS on consoles, the controller is too clunky. If there was a PC port I might pick it up just to try the game on a platform with controls more suited to the genre. In all honesty, I played at most 50% through this one.

        I
      • My list of games I own and like:

        Mario sunshine (excellent fun, although it was my first mario game)
        Zelda
        Pikmin
        Luigi's mansion
        Smash Brother's is incredible fun even single player

        Then of course, there are the pieces of crap

        Resident Evil (please, someone take the development team out back and shoot them)
        Sonic Adventure Battle 2 (I thought this was a sonic game? Where is he then?)

        I don't get why everyone plays first person games like Halo on a console. No mouse==no control.

      • Re:Who cares really... (Score:5, Funny)

        by Ziviyr ( 95582 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @05:45AM (#6721329) Homepage
        Any suggestions on what would be some good Cube games to pick up?

        Super Monkey Ball (if you like high-altitude monkey death)
        TimeSplitters 2 (if you like being chased by flaming monkey death)
        Eternal Darkness (no monkeys, fairly easy to finish, coincidence?)
        Blast Corps 2 (hard to find, I know it rocks though, a giant monkey robot is a bonus vehicle, this time the truck is actively homing in on the buildings and contains the unexploited plotlines of BC1, having the same result as the nukes if released)
      • Three words:

        Super
        Monkey
        Ball        .

        Trust me, it rocks. There's also Super Monkey Ball 2 out now, which means you can get the first quite cheap..

      • Re:Who cares really... (Score:3, Interesting)

        by fupeg ( 653970 )
        I've had a PS2 for awhile (3/01) and my wife bought me a GC shortly after they came out (11/01.) I don't have an XBox because I have this thing called a concious that prevents from buying things from Microsoft. So for cross-platform games, I generally go with the GC over the PS2. My GC lib:
        • Monkey Ball 1 & 2 -- the most fun game on the GC.
        • Zelda
        • Metroid Prime -- I was NOT disappointed by this game, but maybe that's because I had no problems with the controls
        • Star Wars Rogue Leader
        • 007 Nightfire
        • Madden

  • Thoughtful? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by acxr is wasted ( 653126 ) * on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:22PM (#6720372)
    I can enjoy the sort of tongue-in-cheek humor this article has, but I wish I could rate this as "-1, Redundant" for the front page. Honestly, it's pointless. This current generation of consoles has had their fates sealed for a year now. Anyone who would take the time to read the article would already be aware of everything presented. None of what is explained in this story qualifies as "news."

    • Re:Thoughtful? (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by Buran ( 150348 )
      The story in the link disgusted me. I don't want to see graphical stuff like that without a warning. Someone go back and add a warning to the link, for godssakes.

    • Re:Thoughtful? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Gherald ( 682277 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:26PM (#6720390) Journal
      Well you gotta at least give the article a +1 funny:

      Gamecube "non-sales" ?

      PS2 = PS1 painted black ?

      Within three years it will be a violation of federal law to not own an X-box ?

      C'mon now, thats funny.

    • Re:Thoughtful? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb&gmail,com> on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:57PM (#6720525) Homepage
      None of what is explained in this story qualifies as "news."

      Amen. In fact, I stopped reading because the writer presented something that not only wasn't news, but wasn't even true:

      "Starcraft: Ghost, a game about a popular female character from the outrageously successful PC game who must perform a series of dangerous missions while avoiding being punched in the breasts, is now an X-Box exclusive."

      The rumor that Ghost will be Xbox exclusive has apparently been spread around so much that it's now being taken as a fact. The truth, of course, is that no such announcement has been made and Blizzard's official website still has the icons of all three consoles on the Starcraft: Ghost front page.

      I was nearly stopped in my tracks by the beyond insipid "penis chart." There was no way I could continue after the paragraph quoted above.

      Two words for the linked article: "Utter crap."

      Three words for michael [mailto]: "Shame on you."

  • I don't really understand the idea of console wars (Score:3, Insightful)

    by AntiOrganic ( 650691 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:22PM (#6720373) Homepage
    There really is no sense to this "console war" thing. PC vs. Mac is a viable religious debate, because Macs cost thousands upon thousands of dollars unless you want a low-end eMac. But with game consoles costing $129 and $149 (OMG TOO AMERICAN-CENTRIC) is it really a big deal anymore to own all three? You can buy all of them with one week's paycheck, if you make a good salary. If you play enough games on each to justify the initial cost of the console, it really shouldn't be a big deal.

    • Re:I don't really understand the idea of console w (Score:5, Insightful)

      by lightspawn ( 155347 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:47PM (#6720489) Homepage
      But with game consoles costing $129 and $149 (OMG TOO AMERICAN-CENTRIC) is it really a big deal anymore to own all three? You can buy all of them with one week's paycheck, if you make a good salary.

      The PS2 and xbox are normally priced at $179. And how many households make a good salary? Some don't have a salary at all, any more, and a second console certainly isn't a priority.

      Also consider that some gamers are (gasp) underage, and as such have limited resources to spend on gaming. Let's say you're a kid with a PS2 and $240 burning a hole in your pocket. Would you prefer to buy an xbox, second controller, memory card and one (1) platinum hit game, or twelve (12) greatest hits games for the console you already own?

      • Re:I don't really understand the idea of console w (Score:5, Insightful)

        by AntiOrganic ( 650691 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:47AM (#6720681) Homepage
        Talk abounds concerning another round of price drops in the near future. Speculation says that Gamecube will fall to $129 while PS2 and Xbox will be priced at a modest $149. I had assumed the prices had already fallen. Silly me, they'll cut it in time for the holiday season like last year.

        I realize that many gamers are underage, but I take the position of assuming that the article's writer (while he doesn't show it) is over the age of 18, and most likely, so are you and the rest of Slashdot's readers. This comment, being posted on Slashdot, was designed to cater specifically to Slashdot readers rather than, of course, to people who will never read the comment.

        You do have a point about the Greatest Hits games, but chances are that there aren't 12 Greatest Hits games worth buying (which there almost certainly aren't) and you'll be suckered into buying more new games at $50-55 apiece. This is, of course, assuming that you don't already own the originals of Grand Theft Auto 3 and Final Fantasy X. When I was younger, I owned about 35 Playstation games. The only Greatest Hits title I owned was Crash Bandicoot, and it was given to me as a gift. I would go so far as to make the assumption that most people don't wait a long enough time for the low-price Greatest Hits release to actually buy it. If they want it, they'll probably get it when it's new. So, essentially, it boils down to 3 full-price games vs. one new console. Though, you do have me on one point -- I hadn't bothered to factor in the costs of memory cards, controllers, and other peripherals.

        But the inverse may actually be true -- for many people, it may actually be more likely that you will buy more "Greatest Hits" titles for the new console that you just got -- so, if it comes down to 5 full-price games for PS2 that you've never played (since you own the originals of the Greatest Hits games), or 5 Platinum Hit games for Xbox that you've never played, you're only spending a marginal amount more on the Xbox games including the console.

        I could be entirely wrong, but it sure makes sense to me.
        • Speculation says that Gamecube will fall to $129...

          ACTUALLY, according to this link [cube-europe.com], Nintendo is going to be dropping the US price of the Gamecube to $99 by the end of September. Unfortunately, the only other place I found the info was here [ign.com] and there's no linkage in that "viewer mail" section to get more details. Nintendo's website was similarly not helpful at all.

          Assuming the above is true, it was probably at the end of last week's news cycle and we'll probably hear more tomorrow.


    • Good point. But both Netscape and IE were free, and yet how many browser choices are there now?

      That's gross over-simplification, to be sure. But I think that a large part of the sentiment that underscores these "wars" is the question: have we sold our collective soul to MSFT again? Or have we managed to resist this time?

      Just because the console is $179 this year doesn't mean that it won't be $799 for an X-Box when MSFT has a monopoly on consoles. That might seem ridiculous, but MSFT's economics of th
      • I don't think MS are ever betting on making loads of dosh from the hardware. What is going on between Sony and MS at the moment is nothing less than a war for control of the living room. The current generation of consoles have already changed from being straight gaming machines to being able to play DVD's (I'm leaving the big N out of this cause they always marketed the GC as a pure gaming experience). And both of the big console makers have started to dip their toes in the waters of online gaming, and w
    • ...Like the fact that you can get a very GOOD Mac for much less than your "thousands upon thousands of dollars" -- and it's not an eMac. You can get a very nice iMac G4 for about $1,300. You can even get the new Power Mac G5 for just $2,000 (for the low end of the line), considerably less than thousands upon thousands.

      Blatantly wrong hyperbole like that doesn't do much for the credibility of your point.
      • I am referring to the latest iteration of Macintosh computers, the G5, which to my recollection start at $1,999 for the low-end model ranging through $2,999 for the dual 2.0 GHz. Certainly discussing console wars by pitting the Gamecube up against Playstation 1 doesn't make a ton of sense. If you're not going to compare the latest product cycles, then what's even the point?
        • Take a look at what you actually wrote, not what you might have been thinking. If you're going to be as irrelevant as to bring up the cost of Macs, at least get the facts right. You claimed that you couldn't get a Mac other than an eMac without spending "thousands upon thousands" of dollars. You are wrong. Period.
          • You are correct. Perhaps I should reread my original postings.

            However, assume that you do, then, have a $1300 Power Mac G4, and a comparable PC. Is the cost of both of these able to be paid off in a single paycheck? Unless you're Steve Jobs, probably not. Would even a $1300 product have to be something worth investing in, going all-or-nothing, to justify zealotry and a "platform war?" I would certainly hope so.

            So, considering the above, is the actual cost of a Mac relevant in any way to the point I was ma
            • I'm the one who pointed out that the cost of a Mac wasn't relevant to this discussion. If you had merely asserted that a high-end PC (of whatever kind) might cost thousands of dollars, you would have been accurate and I wouldn't have objected. I'm merely trying to keep others from being misled by your incorrect assertion about the cost of Macs. There are a LOT of people who believe what you said about the cost of Apple hardware until they get the facts. Something that keeps getting repeated tends to be beli

  • I'd be interested in a Slashdot poll.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:27PM (#6720393)
    ..about the current state of gaming. Something like,

    I like to play games on:

    My PS2
    My XBox
    My GameCube
    My N64
    My Computer
    2+ of Above Choices
    CowboyNeal's couch

    Seriously, excluding the obCowboyNealReference, I'm really interested in a breakdown. I used to be terribly addicted to console games, starting with an Atari 2600, then moving to the NES and the SuperNES. Once I discovered computers, console gaming lost all its magic to me and although I've played on friends' PS, PS2, and even a 3DO, I never really got into consoles again.

    Would be cool to see a survey of how many people still use console games nowadays, vs those who game only on their computer, vs those who don't care about games at all (except in the toxic waste dump that is CowboyNeal's couch ;)

    --
    Rate Naked People [fuckmeter.com] at Fuck Meter! (not work-safe)
    • I've gone back to consoles as most PC games that come out these days are just a fps that is 1% prettier or an add-on pack for 'The Sims'.

      I got tired of shelling out for upgrades to get them to run, when the upgrades cost more than the consoles that started tempting me.

      I don't think I'll look back for a while now, half-life 2 and doom 3 seem to be the highlights on the horizon; more fps, more power needed to play them. Nothing even remotely diverse. Half of the release list are 6 month late conversions of

  • Just like the domain name: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gotr00t ( 563828 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:27PM (#6720396) Journal
    It's a pointless waste of time. The entire article does not really poke the surface of any actual fact, and is either mostly speculation (like speculting about how Sony will eventually need to make good on their promise for a PS3 in order to even be able to stand up to Microsoft, who "always wins") or just stereotyping about stuff (like how playing Nintendo makes you look less manly... if I read that right) Moreover, like any good ./er, I hate his pro-M$ slant.

    This is nothing more than a person's personal opinion on the state of the console gaming market today, and you would be crazy to site it in any research paper or anything of that sort.

    • you would be crazy to site it in any research paper or anything of that sort.

      Yeah, you might look dumb calling Sony's custom hardware technically inferior while prasing Microsoft's DRM gimped 700 MHz Celery machine.

      Oh wait, I just put more thought into that silly article than the author did in 27 hours. His lack of productivity must have something to do with his dick size.

      That poor dude needs to get over himself. A complete humiliation combined with completion of mundane but challenging tasks might

    • This is nothing more than a person's personal opinion on the state of the console gaming market today, and you would be crazy to site it in any research paper or anything of that sort.

      But I cite penis graphs and stories from the far future in all of my research papers! And I pretty them up with renders of naked women fighting! That's how you know it is serious!
  • Microsoft and Nintento are scrapping it out for second place. Does that really constitute a 'war'?

    Sega and Nintendo, that was a console war. This is... not.

    • Re:Worst. War. Ever. (Score:5, Informative)

      by edwdig ( 47888 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:36PM (#6720440)
      Look at it this way:

      Nintendo is making a huge profit. Sony is making a (relatively) small profit. Microsoft is taking a loss the size of Nintendo's income (not profit). Very different picture there.

      Oh, and the SNES outsold the Genesis 2:1. Profit wise it was probably an even wider gap, although I've never seen financial figures for the two companies from back then.

  • numbers? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jest3r ( 458429 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:35PM (#6720432)
    Can anyone answer the following questions:

    1. How many PS2 consols have sold to date
    2. How many Xbox consols have sold to date
    3. How many Gamecubes have sold to date

    I would also like to know when M$ is planning on making the XBOX smaller ... right now the thing is big and ugly ...
    • Are you looking for American sales figures or global sales figures?

      Also, a smaller Xbox has been talked about for many months now and will probably be seen fairly soon.
    • Approx...

      PS2 - either 40 million
      Gamecube - 9.55 million
      Xbox - 9.4 million

      The PS2 lead isn't as big as it seems though, as the production quality of them is very low. Many of those purchases are replacements. EVERYONE I know who owns a PS1 or PS2 has had to have their system replaced.

      Shinji Mikame, the creator of Resident Evil, has publicly said that one of the reasons RE is GameCube exclusive is because he dislikes the PS2, due to having to replace his system 3 times.

    • Re:numbers? (Score:5, Informative)

      by PipianJ ( 574459 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:51PM (#6720507)
      Worldwide figures are:

      1. PS2: 51.2 million worldwide (As of March)
      2. Gamecube: 9.55 million worldwide (As of March)
      3. Xbox: 9.4 million worldwide (As of July)

      US figures are:

      1. PS2: 17.7 million (As of May)
      2. Xbox: 6.2 million (As of May?)
      3. Gamecube: About 4 million? (figures not known, but estimated to be 2 million under Xbox)
      • So where did these numbers come from? Can you cite your source(s)? I'm not accusing you of being deceitful or wrong its just that I hate seeing a supposedly objective ranking based on hard data when there are no sources provided.

        As many others in this thread have noted, manufacturers will use any number available that may boost their respective sales positions. These numbers could be units manufactured, shipped to vendors, or sold at retail or any combination of the above. Having the sources of the data a

  • crude yes. thoughtful.. no. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by binarybum ( 468664 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:36PM (#6720439) Homepage

    I fail to see how an opininated piece of rubbish that lays out predictions, nay, edicts for what game console is the l3373S7 without describing the details of how the conclusions were drawn can be reffered to as thoughtful.

    btw: I think that infographic was already published in USA today.

    I turn to slashdot for informative tech news, not something I could find with a search engine by typing in video games +boobies

  • Pricing of Game Consoles (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wwhsgrad2002 ( 698991 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:42PM (#6720464)
    The PS2 and the Xbox are the two hottest selling consoles on the market right now. These two consoles in some ways redefined gaming by including a way to connect the console to other players around the world via the internet. The next generation of game consoles will obviously be better. They will be faster. They will have bigger hard drives. The will have better graphics. In short they will almost be as powerful as a desktop computer. Can Sony, Microsft, and Nintendo sell these next generation consoles for less than $300 conoles and still make a profit. The console that wins the pricing war will likely win the "console war."

  • I wish for the old days (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bersl2 ( 689221 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:43PM (#6720471) Journal
    when game companies were game companies. I hate Sony for releasing the Playstation, and I despise M$ for the XBox (and other obvious reasons). I think it's awful that those two compainies are not dependent for survival on the quality of the product.

    Call me sentimental, but I feel as though the PS? and XBox have no substance, no charm, no soul. Nintendo and Sega have all those things for me. It's something that cannot be explained by logic or statistics.

    Also, I know I can't be the only one who thinks that first-person shooters do not belong on consoles.
    • Granted I don't have the links to back this up, but I remember reading a trustworthy news article on Sony's profits on quarter, and the amount that the playstation 1 accounted for that.

      It was basically the difference between profitability and losing money. Granted there's accounting involved here, but the playstation is critical to Sony's profitability these days.

      Microsoft will not win in the long run because Sony owns Japan, and Microsoft will never own Japan. And the Japanese make the best console g

  • Good to see... (Score:5, Funny)

    by oasis3582 ( 698323 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:48PM (#6720492)
    that everyone else here thinks this article is downright asinine. Since when did some penis-fetishist's *opinion* on the state of the console war start to matter? If this works so well, I'm going to write an article on how I think alien invasion is the cause of the East coast power outages, and see if I can get it posted. Sheesh...

  • Kwality Kontrol. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by August_zero ( 654282 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:49PM (#6720496)
    Um, maybe I'm a little out of things considering that I took the MCAT yesterday and have been more or less drunk since it concluded, but why was that article posted? Are the admins off this weekend?

    Don't get me wrong, the subject matter could have been an interesting read, but My cat has buried things in his sand box that had more journalistic merit than that "article" did.

  • Wow, what rubbish (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fuzzeli ( 676881 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:49PM (#6720499)
    Finally, an acknowledgement that flaccid US Gamecube sales are due to the majority of American gamers being insecure in their manhood.

    The format of the article underscores this point beautifully.
    • So...wait a minute. Does the fact that I own, enjoy, and am unashamed to admit I own, a GameCube, make me secure in my manhood...or gay? Someone please tell me what to think.

      Please.

  • Save Your Mod Points (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FauxReal ( 653820 ) on Sunday August 17, 2003 @11:50PM (#6720503)
    Although the article is informative in the fact that it names the three major consoles, there isn't any other usefull content there. I do wonder if the writer truly is clever in their textbook depiction of a completely stereotypical trailer park reject wrestling fanatic with a breast obsession. It couldn't be the writer's real perosnality because this person obviously knows how to use a computer.

  • ugh (Score:2, Funny)

    by Hellasboy ( 120979 )
    Did Michael even bother to read what he linked to? This "article", and I use that term loosely, reads as bad as last months Stuff magazine - like a 9 year old boy who can use MSPaint and should be on Ritalin.

    There is nothing "thoughtful" about this article.
  • Hmmm. Last I checked, Starcraft: Ghost was still a multi-console release. Interesting article, though slightly misguided.

  • Hell! (Score:2, Funny)

    by NetNinja ( 469346 )
    Collect them all!
    Hack them!
    Trade them with your friends!

  • hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)

    by gimpimp ( 218741 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:09AM (#6720566) Homepage
    i think the Indrema box will win the console wars!

    /been under a rock...

  • Editorial...not technical review (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MikeD83 ( 529104 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:11AM (#6720571)
    I think people should stop complaining. It was a quite humorous editorial piece on the status of the console industry. I stopped taking it seriously when I saw the image of the fake testicles attached to the Game Cube. If you take it as a light-hearted editorial- it's actually a good read.

  • Missed the point on Xbox. (Score:5, Informative)

    by incom ( 570967 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:15AM (#6720586)
    The reason the Xbox isn't closer to the ps2 is that it isn't "cool" in japan, and thus the amazing console game creation prowless of the japanese isn't paying much attention to the Xbox(except for the companies that MS pays to create games). That, and the lack of good games aside from halo for the first year and a half of the Xbox's existance.

  • whua? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    whats an "Xbox" is that like the new master system?
    Does it run on minix?

  • Discount GC too soon? (Score:5, Informative)

    by aSiTiC ( 519647 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:23AM (#6720615) Homepage
    I'd just like to say this article is quite ridiculous, but even if the entire article is a TROLL, I will respond.

    There are a number of GameCube releases that excite me in the future:

    Mario Kart Double Dash [gamespot.com]

    Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles [gamespot.com]

    I do not own a GameCube currently but I'm planning on buying one to play these two games...

    Still, I'm glad to have a PS2 so I can play this game:

    Final Fantasy X-2 [gamespot.com]

  • Part of my issues in buying a game system such as PS2 / Xbox / GameCube is not so much their practical value as a gamming platform, but rather their practical value to do other shit.

    I'm happy to say I own none of the above.

    The GameCube takes those funky ass 3 inch disks, making them none to useful to play full sized DVDs

    In theory both PS2 and x-box have the ability to do DVD, I don't know the details nor do I know if they do VCD/SVCD.

    I would *hope* the next generation of concole game devices would take

  • He missed something important (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mnmn ( 145599 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:44AM (#6720673) Homepage
    And that is market momentum. Nintendo is still on the mind of the ones among us who are in their early 20s. We remember lusting after those Donkey Kong handhelds and NEOGEO games that seemed to define video games after Atari. Even after GameCube, I'm still open to give Nintendo a chance but I'll be wary. Younger ones will not remember the glory days of nintendo and have already associated the image of nintendo with crap.

    Enter Playstationa and both 1 and 2 were huge successes. They have whipped up a market momentum ( PS2 would not be such a success without the success of the PS1) that will benefit them much. Seriously which console are we all looking forward to most? Playstation3 of course.

    And we all know the XBOX is really a celeron computer with a TV output and a different BIOS. That does much harm to its image as a sleek game box, as much as its sales performance so far. Microsoft has also garnered up a bad image just like AOL for internet connection, with its BSOD and Outlook worms conquering the world.

    Given all three consoles come out at the same time with the same pricetag, everyone will buy the PS3 first without checking reviews and specs whether or not it is the winner.
    • I have a large (~290) game library. I'm not looking forward to any new consoles, because the current generation is just starting to realize its potential. The Xbox is very much an online console, and the Live! service still only has a couple of good titles (Mech Assault, Tetris, ...). The GameCube has about 12 must-have titles, but the third-party support is still weak (I'm waiting on Snake Eater and CVX to step things up).

      And the PS2, well... of the ~35 PS2 games I own, the only ones I recally really,
    • "And we all know the XBOX is really a celeron computer with a TV output and a different BIOS."

      Actually, I'd imagine most XBox owners have no idea what the fuck is in there. Hamsters on wheels, or elves, or something.
    • Some of us are well-aware that the Xbox doesn't use a Celeron, actually.

      And honestly, no one I know is looking forward to PS3 all that much. Plenty of people remember how much the PS2's launch sucked, and I don't think the same hype will exist this time. Obviously, if Sony shows off some AAA class launch titles, this could very well change.
    • Personally I'm not that sure that image and momentum play that much of a role.

      Except for

      1. a handful of nerds who are still stuck at the "Nintendo rules because of Donkey Kong on NES" point in time, and

      2. the few die-hard nerds debating MHz and megabytes and "Microsoft sucks"

      ... the rest of us just look at the available games, and make a choice based on that. It's all about the available games. It's that simple.

      Hype and past successes can only help that much. It didn't help the N64 compete with th

  • The site is a Joke site.. I doubt any of the "information" is accurate.
  • Well, let's see. Maybe because of articles like this one.

    1) It's juvenile, which fits right in with the stereotype that all video game players are 15 year-old boys.

    2) It's sexist, which not only reinforces (1) but also leads people to believe that video games are not for women.

    3) It focuses on violent video games, which might lead a reader to believe that all video games have violent themes. Come to think of it, the vast majority of them do. Perhaps it's because game companies now cater almost exclusi

  • I Own All Three Consoles... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by John_Booty ( 149925 ) <johnbooty@noSpAm.bootyproject.org> on Monday August 18, 2003 @02:11AM (#6720887) Homepage
    ...mentioned in the article- XBox, Gamecube, and PS2. Of the three, I find myself enjoying the Gamecube the most, followed closely by the XBox, with the PS2 as a distant third.

    I find the XBox and the Gamecube to have much nicer/smoother graphics than the PS2 games. Also, I like the fact that they each have four controller ports- four-player simultaneous games are a blast. Yeah, I know you can buy a multi-tap for the PS2, but nobody I know has a multitap and there isn't much game support for them. Nintendo has the best controllers ever, IMHO, followed by the XBox S-Controllers. The PS2 controllers are... adequate.

    I also like the small, cute appearance of the Gamecube. Yeah- call me weird, but something appeals to me about a system that squeezes that much power out of so little hardware. Maybe it's some sort of innate engineer's sense, I don't know. By contrast, the XBox seems to have slighly nicer graphics but is many times more massive.

    People complain about the game libraries on the XBox and GC, compared to the PS2's. It's true that the PS2 has hundreds as times as many games as the other two systems. But I think that's only really an issue if you play hundreds of games. If you take the best 5, 10, or 15 games or so from any system's software library, I think the three consoles are pretty even.

    Even though it made this point in a "funny" way - that article was SERIOUSLY RIGHT about one thing- the "kiddie"/"girly" image of Nintendo is KILLING it. Nintendo has to re-establish itself as a system for "real men". Like it or not, the reality is that a large portion of the game-buying public just doesn't want to be seen buying something like the Gamecube, and would rather go with the more-manly XBox or PS2.
  • Good story. And if you think a short aside on slashdot icons is OT, and if you are offended by value judgements, then by all means skip and mod down.

    I wonder why the editors, in their infinite wisdom, elected to use an Xbox controller to represent 'games'. I think we can all agree that Microsoft is on our various shitlists, for one reason or another. And indeed the reasons are as varied as the people who read slashdot and the markets they (MS) have muscled their way into. Putting that aside, though, wouldn

  • I like money (Score:3, Interesting)

    by M3wThr33 ( 310489 ) on Monday August 18, 2003 @04:33AM (#6721182) Homepage
    Really!

    Sony's profits are down 98% [google.com].

    Microsoft's game division is down 42 percent [microsoft-watch.com].

    Nintendo posts a 11.5 billion yen profit for the quarter [heraldsun.com]. That's about $1 MILLION A DAY or $12 a second.

    Who's the loser here? Console sales aren't instant profit. Games are what matters, and with Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire selling 9.5 Million worldwide(Who said it was dead?), Nintendo can afford to make the games they want without having to copy anyone else to make a quick buck.

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