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Xbox 360 Launches In U.S.
Posted by
Zonk
on Tue Nov 22, 2005 01:23 PM
from the omgbbq dept.
from the omgbbq dept.
Well, it's here. Braving long lines and launch parties, and even jail time, those that were willing to pony up the time and money have their hands on the first player in the next-gen war. 360 impressions are available all across the web, with [H]ardOCP and Gamespot offering exhaustive experiences for the interested gamer. The BBC, as always, offers a bigger perspective on the launch, and Gamasutra confirms that Microsoft is in for the long haul in the games industry. From the BBC: "Sony and Nintendo are planning to unleash their next gen consoles during 2006, giving Microsoft an edge over its rivals. The software giant is virtually tied with Nintendo for second place, way behind Sony, in a games market worth $25 billion globally. Microsoft has ambitious plans for its new machine. It said it expects to ship up to three million 360s worldwide within 90 days. But the company has admitted that the worldwide launch of the console could mean shortages in the run-up to Christmas. The console is due to hit Europe on 2 December and Japan on 10 December and some retailers are also warning about limited supplies."
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Xbox 360 Launches In U.S.
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Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.dragonswest.com/ | Last Journal: Monday November 05, @07:35PM)
Microsoft is in for the long haul
This is where it all falls apart. Killer this, great that, awesome the other thing. Really, the only hype that matters is this:
Microsoft touts this as a brilliant center of home media and that's probably true for anyone who doesn't already have a home entertainment center of some sort. But what the distillate is you're not going to buy it to watch DVDs on, you're going to play games with it. You're not going to surf the internet, you're going to play games with it. It won't transform you into some actuallized renaissance man (or woman) through shear wonderfulness of the Total Microsoft Experience, you will play games with it.Microsoft is under some crazy dellusion that this is some hook into the household which will bring more fish in. Really, it'll just bring gamers who are only loyal until the next gotta-have game pops up on the next revolutionary console.
If you've guessed by now that I'm not getting one, you would be right. My Athlon64 PC with top of the line video and sound cards plays this game [sourceforge.net] just fine. I see no reason to switch.
"worldwide launch of the console could mean shortages in the run-up to Christmas. The console is due to hit Europe on 2 December and Japan on 10 December and some retailers are also warning about limited supplies."
Argh, the hype! Must resist... must resist!
Oh. That wasn't so difficult.
I wonder how many of these will actually go straight from the store to eBay [ebay.com] because money is more attractive than having one.
It must suck to live in a rural area and have to get your fix this way.
new for xbox 360: uncle steve's chair toss and monkey dance combo! limit numbers, buy today!
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:5, Informative)
(http://slashdot.org/)
I wonder how many of these will actually go straight from the store to eBay
2734 when I checked [ebay.com]. That might be one or two percent of the entire US supply so far.
I don't know... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't know... (Score:5, Interesting)
Not free access. Many, many Nintendo reps (including president Iwata) have gone on record saying not free. You'll pay. You won't pay much, but you'll pay.
Re:I don't know... (Score:5, Funny)
This Iwata guy has got to be the nicest super villan ever.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually if you read the HARDOCP review (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/)
I was actually impressed with its ability to work with other devices to include an iPOD and PsP. The nice thing about this machine is that it really is expandable as wireless gives them many options. You will probably see an addon keyboard/mouse combo one day.
There are many of us out here who don't need our PCs to program on, we have them for games, other entertainment, e-mail, and surfing. Give me an insta-on box with those features and I may just consider it. The XBOX360 is actually the first console I am seriously considering because of the potential.
Playing DvDs is a bonus, if it means one less component I have to hook up or keep up with all the better. People harped on the PS2 for the same reason yet I know many who have one for that very reason.
Just because its Microsoft doesn't make it wrong which seems to be your whole beef against it. (who made it)
(allow me to run some IBM style emulator/vpn over the net with a wireless keyboard and I really really need a PC even less)
Re:Actually if you read the HARDOCP review (Score:5, Interesting)
There are many of us out here who don't need our PCs to program on, we have them for games, other entertainment, e-mail, and surfing. Give me an insta-on box with those features and I may just consider it. The XBOX360 is actually the first console I am seriously considering because of the potential.
That's the point I think is being missed. After everything is said and done, the thing is still, design-wise, pretty much a glorified PC. Microsoft has come out with a proprietary platform which they're using the gamer market to propagate. They can gradually add other functionality to increase it's market.
Don't be surprised when it eventually evolves into what amounts to the Microsoft version of the Mac.
Re:Actually if you read the HARDOCP review (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.jwnyc.com/)
What, you mean kinda like this [intellivisionlives.com]?
The fact of the matter is every console is pretty much a "glorified PC" (or a "dumbed down" PC, depending on your perspective), and every single time - yes, every single time a new console is released, the manufacturer claims that it's going to do this, that and the other thing eventually, or that it's going to converge a whole bunch of devices into one. This is true going all the way back to the Odyssey II and Atari 2600, which also promised PC functionality. The Sega CD and NEC Turbo CD were the first (or among the first) to then promise home entertainment functionality once optical storage became the norm.
The reality is people just don't care. A few do, and those are the kind of people that sued Mattel when they never actually released their promised keyboard component from lack of interest (they only had something like 4,000 orders, which meant they couldn't get the component cost low enough to make a profit). Those people can be very vocal. They're the real hardcore. They're on the internet complaining when companies don't release promised add-ons, they're the ones that always have to be the contrarians when someone like me points out that they're the minority.
But they are the extreme, extreme minority. I agree with the parent poster who said as soon as the next hot console comes along, gamers will abandon the Xbox 360, because it really is about the games and only about the games, and it always will be. This is not going to be some great window into the living room. It is simply the console of the moment, and in five years it will be forgotten like every other console of the moment. MS is not creating some sort of home entertainment "standard" with the Xbox 360.
It never ceases to amuse me how people say the exact same things every time a new console is released. "It's going to do all these great things besides playing video games! It's revolutionary!" Ha! So in other words, it's just like every other console ever.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, they'll make a killing since they didn't spend a penny on advertising, manufacturing, research and development, haggling with developes, distribution... nigga, please.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.underachievement.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday January 21 2007, @10:58PM)
See, that's the thing. I believe more people than you give credit will use it as both a media center and a game console. Essentially anyone living in a smaller space like an apartment will like the idea being able to play games, watch movies and listen to music--all in high-definition and surround sound--without having a big (and expensive) stack of components.
In addition, the console brings something pretty new to the scene. Now, if you have video or audio stored on your computer you can play it on your 360 via wireless or wired networking. Why try to watch content on your computer from an uncomfortable chair using poor speakers watching on a small monitor when instead you can watch it from the comfort of a coutch on a large TV screen (YMMV here).
Is the 360 some magical gift from God? Obviously not, but in the same token it's not the same game console we played back in 1985. Also, nobody should make it sound like it's a big Microsoft ploy to hype this up as much as they can. Sony is just as bad (if not worse in some ways) about hyping up anything new they release. Nintendo doesn't seem to be quite as bad, but they still do some crazy stuff [1up.com] to try and get attention [vgcats.com].
Edge? (Score:5, Funny)
In short, people will wait for the next-gen offerings from Nintendo and Sony.
So...... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:So...... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.dragonswest.com/ | Last Journal: Monday November 05, @07:35PM)
Just before a chair is hurled through your window with a Cease and Desist letter attached to it.
do it and we'll bury you, love steve
So is there a sight for posting pools on the interent as to when the first article will appear on /. announcing a successful 1) Linux install 2) Mod chip ?
Fry's Line (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.civic-minded.com/)
To the edge and beyond (Score:5, Funny)
Gee, Microsoft are really taking viral marketing to new heights here. Move over iLoveBees...
Ridiculous people (Score:5, Informative)
(http://symbii.com/)
--
For those that haven't gone blind yet (article minus the blinding blue theme): http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/22/17462
It launched? (Score:5, Funny)
Long lines == No food (Score:3, Funny)
Played It (Score:5, Informative)
But thankfuly not my pixel junkie mate and I got to play it. Overall it seems really solid but out of the 4 games he got, nothing grabbed me. His long wait for a native title that can push this new system to its limit has begun.
eBay (Score:5, Informative)
HA HA HA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:eBay (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://therapyshopper.com/)
The cost of such an astroturfing operation is the eBay listing fees and that's it. Pretty cheap for a lot of buzz.
Just a thought.
Out first=Clear Advantage? (Score:5, Insightful)
1. No HD-DVD or Blu-Ray- whatever happens with this media format debacle, the people with the new 360 out now wont have it.
2. Future Version Product Confusion/Backlash- Because of the above, when they begin to release future updated hardware versions of the 360, the market will be confused as to what they should purchase. Its not a new system, but it has new features this time around. Will there be expensive add-ons to accommodate current owners? Because those who have the old and not the new are gonna be pissed that they didn't get the finished system. This isn't the slim-downed PS2 I'm talking about here. That was a cosmetic change or downgrade option(imho), this will be a complete technical upgrade.
3. Debut game lineup-What lineup? If I don't like sports or shooting Nazi's... not much left, maybe Kameo. Much of the "meat and potatoes" was delayed past X-mas, creating a weird kinda of late winter "secondary launch".
4.All they are competing with is heresay and conjecture-The hard and fast realities of the PS3 and Revolution are still out in the open. So a decision by the consumer is hard to make, because no real comparison can be made. This will inevitably create a bubble of "undecided". Although with how rabid gamers can be, there will always be those too impatient to wait.
I'm no fanboy, I own all three of the current generation and agree all have things about them I like. It just seems to me that we've got a situation here where the 4th grader has rushed to finish his test first and hand it in to the teacher so he can look back at the class and say "I'm done first". Even though he did a sloppy job, didn't fully answer each question and in the end didn't get a great grade.
Re:Out first=Clear Advantage? (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/)
2. Future Version Product Confusion/Backlash - I don't see the problem here. This happens with every generation. Backward compatibility has always been a sore spot, and even the PS2 didn't fully support EVERY PS1 game out there.
3. Debut game lineup-What lineup? - See, now, here's where you and I differ. I see a console built for 21-34 somethings with an 18-game launch. Those 18 games more or less cater to that demographic: shooters, sports and racing. The only thing really missing from the launch is platformers, and that usually only covered well by Nintendo's launches. Kameo looks to be a good game for the kids, and that's all I really need to justify the purchase for the family: one good game for them.
4.All they are competing with is heresay and conjecture - This happens with EVERY launch with EVERY console. It's a part of the entertainment industry. From the beginning of the first medieval jester's appearance, likely announced with "this'll be the funniest thing you see ever", there's been hype. That "bubble of undecided" always exists, and it's always negated by market whims.
In short, don't read too much into this. If you're a gamer you'll get all 3 regardless. I'm a gamer: I'm getting all 3.
Poorly Managed Release. Traders making money. (Score:4, Interesting)