XBox Released 1062
Gallowglass writes: "Salon has written a review of the Xbox which damns with extremely faint praise." There was a big hoopla in Times Square last night, but apparently no one pied Bill Gates. So, for all you poor souls who lined up to give money to the borg: does it work? Any blue-screens yet? :) Update: 11/15 15:23 GMT by M : Okay, I'm sorry. That's green screen of death, not blue screen.
why so negative towards xbox? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this my imagination, or does slashdot take its anti-microsoft bias into everything they do?
I mean really, linking the xbox release with one totally negative article, while other sites have given it a much better outlook.
Please try to be fair here slashdot.
Re:A PS2 with different games (Score:1, Insightful)
The true potential for the XBOX (Score:3, Insightful)
The launch titles suck.. Rehashed fighting/racing/whatever games.. extreme sports, extreme driving, extreme first person shooters with a console controller..blech..
But what we've got is a pc.. Fast as hell nvidia chipset, hardrive, network card, dvd drive..
Tell me someone isn't going to turn that into some cool as hell hardware.. slap a bigger hardrive into, make an mp3 box.. slap an even bigger hardrive into it, turn it into a pvr..
Take it even further.. turn it into the convergence device people have been talking about for the past 10 years.. Except instead of paying 999.99 for it, buy it for 299 (or less when the price drops)..
I think as a piece of hardware its got great potential...
As a console.. well its motsos.. (More of the same old s..t)
lastly.. for your truly rabid anti-ms people..
The XBOX represents the only true way you can DIRECTLY damage microsoft through buying things.. Every unit they sell is sold at a loss.. Buy one.. Hack the hardware.. make it do stuff its not supposed to do.. And don't buy any software for it
Okay maybe the logic's a little spurious.. But it sounds good on paper
Re:For a different perspective... (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:A PS2 with different games (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:A PS2 with different games (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:too bad it was going to be a big leap forward (Score:3, Insightful)
oh well
I'm not convinced. Fanboys deified Bungie and Halo years before anyone had ever seen the game. I think this is just yet another case of too much hype and people willingly buying into it. (And everyone ignoring that it is much, much easier for a game developer to *claim* they will do something than to actually deliver.)
Halo has been used a rallying cry by various factions, and those factions have changed dramatically over the course of its development. At first the Mac owners were screaming about Halo, because Bungie started as a Mac company. Then Windows users were using it as an example of game that you needed a PC for, that just couldn't be done on a console. Then Xbox fans were using it as a way of putting down the PS2. Of course none of these groups ever played the game, and in the end it turned out to be much less than everyone had built it up to be.
the problem is that, yes anastasia... (Score:2, Insightful)
you can build a better PC for the cost you're talking about. bigger harddrive will be $100, so for $400 you can build a better machine than the X-Box.
...dave
Salon's biased look at innovative games... (Score:5, Insightful)
Salon is overlooking something very critical. They run down the list of X-Box titles and call them boring and pedestrian, then detail FUTURE Sony titles that will be innovative...
But they don't mention any future X-Box titles which will innovate, other than a dismissive mention of the 2002 lineup which claims to have 'nothing ambitious'.
Are they forgetting that Sega has close ties with Microsoft? Jet Set Radio Future, the first franchise to effectively work cel shading into the game's stylistic approach, is due out for X-Box. In addition, Shenmue, the series which redefined how adventure games and peristent worlds work on Dreamcast, will be an X-box franchise from now on. US gamers will be getting Shenmue 2 on X-box alone.
If you're going to hold one console above another, at least consider all aspects of both, rather than forgetting a key area. That's just good journalism, whatever your preference for gaming platforms or your like/dislike of Microsoft may be.
We've seen this before (Score:2, Insightful)
Microsoft is in this to make money. They will. Patience... The grim reaper will visit...
Re:We've seen this before (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:No more BSOD (Score:5, Insightful)
Michael, this is neither funny nor professional. You're doing more to reinforce Slashdot's reputation as a childish, "M$ sux0rs linux 0wnz j00" site than any hundred Anonymous Cowards.
I've almost never agreed with Jon Katz's editorials. But I've always felt that squelching his opinion by banning him from my front page was wrong. You, Michael, have crossed that line. I'm banning you from my front page. I know that will cut my story count in half, but at least I can read the front page with the resonable expectation that I won't have my intelligence insulted.
*: That's the XDK in "XDK Launcher".
**: Sorry 'bout the annoying pop-unders, but that's the only crashing demo reference I could find through HardOCP on short notice.
Re:The true potential for the XBOX (Score:3, Insightful)
The XBOX represents the only true way you can DIRECTLY damage microsoft through buying things.. Every unit they sell is sold at a loss.. Buy one.. Hack the hardware.. make it do stuff its not supposed to do.. And don't buy any software for it :)
Your logic is flawed. Which is of more use to Microsoft, a big pile of unsold Xboxen, or the cash equivalent? They lose -more- money if they have to scrap them.
As for hacking, hasn't the message [slashdot.org] got through yet?
Green screen of death? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:A PC in dressup? (Score:1, Insightful)
All these people bashing Xbox simply because it is MS might be in for a big surprise. If I remeber correctly, at launch, the PS2 was nothing but hype. The games didn't even look as good as Dreamcast. But things change as a platform matures. I'll reserve judgement until then...
Chris
My take on the whole thing (Score:4, Insightful)
What Xbox has going for it...
1 - PS2 is known as a more adult gaming platform. I just bought a PS2 and finding games for my 9 year old daughter is interesting. Maby MS can capitalize it if they are smart.
2 - Should be easy to port PC games to it. Something lacking in PS2/Nintindo worlds.
What Xbox has going against it....
1 - Sony rules the console market right now. Hands down. Nintendo has some a good new platform and more kiddy friendly games. Xbox has to compete with this
2 - Microsoft is used to being able to do what they want because they have a Monopoly. How will management react to situations when they are the small guy. It's like General Moters starting to offer blenders. They are not experts and the people the people who have been making them know a lot more about it and actually listen to there customers.
3 - Lack of vision. Ties into #2. Where's the killer app? Do you really think Gates and Balmer can envision great new games.
4 - Game makers won't produce for a console that hasn't got a proven track record. Why spend millions developing a game for a potential 50 people when I can do it for tens of millions across the world (PS2).
5 - Blue/Green screen of death will put off gamers. I bought a PS2 so I could get away from computer gaming and costant error messages and rebooting. When has anyone ever seen an error message on a Playstation or a Nintendo? I want drop in a game and play it never seeing an error message. PC users are use to getting them and can live with it. Console games don't and won't tolerate it. I gave up PC gaming because I got sick of upgrading video cards, getting more hard drive space, better processors. I just want to drop that disc in and play the game.
6 - The goofy Balmer/Monkey/music crap that the Salon article talked about. If you have to dance around on stage and talk like a motivational speaker your not selling stuff in the console market. When Grand Theft III is released or the next version of Final Fantasy they don't even need to air a commercial. They could send it to the stores and put it on the shelf without a word and it will sell out. Microsoft ain't cool. Sony is, Nintendo is some what.
I could go on and on. I can't see Xbox being anything but a niche market. Microsoft bit off more than they can chew with this one.
C O N V E R G E N C E (Score:4, Insightful)
While we're at it, it would be nice if it would let me browse the web, or perhaps run some online games that are playable at some distance from a relatively large, low-resolution (640x480) screen (though I have an HD-ready high-resolution set, most don't). And you know, all these entertainment devices with their complex controls, some of which have a video output for interactive menus are getting a pain to control. Why can't they provide a web server interface to a device with a browser and appropriate plugins, and just be hubbed into the local room 'net?
The ability to run local entertainment software (i.e. games), networked or not, is a feature that comes for free if we're going to have enough "oomph" to do MPEG2 decoding. While you might want to use it for non-entertainment duties (i.e. checking one's bank acount, or ordering a pizza on-line), work isn't it's primary purpose.
THAT is what the XBox could be. Architecture should be open, so third parties can develop apps/add on hardware for it. Still, it should be useful enough on it's own to justify it's price. Whether the hard disk (if present) and or CD/DVD-ROM is integrated, or outboard (firewire?) is more of a stylistic issue -- today we have A/V receivers as well as separates.
In my search I have come across some neat tech by Sigma Designs (http://www.sigmadesigns.com, http://www.sigmadesigns.com/products/netstream_con sole.htm (watch the damn inserted space), and particularly the iDVD3036 [allwell.com.tw]). So decent convergence products are coming (say 2002).
But, if PC history tells us anything, the ones that succeed will be more open than the one's that don't. Unless Microsoft opens the XBox up architecturally and makes it easy for third party hacker developers, they will be among the convergence also-rans.
Re:huh?? (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's say I'm developing Spankman III: Out of Tissue and I've got some cross-promotional stuff going on with Kleenex and I have to ship by December 12th. It's November 15 and I'm not done.
Without a hard drive, I have to wait to ship until I'm done.
With a hard drive I can ship, even if the thing is still in beta because I can ask you - the player - to download patches later.
The Xbox means one thing to me: PC developers' bad habits can now follow them over to the console environment.
Bad idea.
Re:why so negative towards xbox? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, I know MGS2 is supposed to make it to XBox, but that's exactly my point. I'm not going to buy the same game twice. Every major title on XBox is available elsewhere, with the exception of Halo, which I wasn't really impressed with. It's just another FPS (and it felt like a Tribes ripoff) added to the fact that FPS games really don't play well on consoles. I'm not saying the XBox is bad/evil because it's made by Microsoft, I'm saying that I see no real reason to buy one. Most of my "non hardcore" gamer friends feel the same. Their attitude is "I already have a PS2, I don't need another one." The hardcore gamers hate the thing because it's Microsoft. I have a feeling this will be a failed experiment for Bill and Steve.
Re:why so negative towards xbox? (Score:2, Insightful)
Give proof, please. Considering the fact that the way to make money in the video game console business is to take a cut on each game sold, this doesn't make sense. Also, I've never seen anything but wild rumor-mongering and speculation that this is happening, anyway (well, sure, unless you count Microsoft purchasing Bungie and Oddworld Inhabitants, but two developers out of 150+ is not a trend).
And Sony doesn't have an advertising budget? Or Nintendo? Or Sega, back when they were a contender? So maybe they never spent quite as much, but I'd expect Sony spent close with the PS2.
Hello? Anybody in there? This is HOW THE MARKET WORKS for video game consoles. Nintendo does this. Sony does this. Sega even did this, up to the point where they bailed out on the Dreamcast. Hell, even Indrema was going to have to do this if they wanted to be competitive. Now, I could see this argument if Microsoft were selling the XBox for $100 or $150 right out of the gate, but when it's being priced at a competitive $299 (same as PS2, $100 more than GameCube), I don't see where this is relevant.
Microsoft losing 3-4 billion does not mean Sony will also lose 3-4 billion. And even if Sony were to lose that much in the video game market (which they won't), Sony is a very large company with their fingers in lots of different pies. Their video game division might be in for some rough times, but how is that new? Since the old NES (and probably before, though I wasn't into gaming then), there has never been a company that has successfully turned its lead in the market in one generation over to a lead in the market in the next. NES, Genesis, and Playstation. Nintendo hung in there, and Sega did for a while (still at it with the great games). The "winner" of this next generation is obviously not clear yet, but the XBox is a contender at the very least. If Sony can pull off a repeat of the success of the Playstation, more power too them. But just because they had something good with the PSX doesn't mean they automatically have something good with the PS2 (it's decent, but with its difficulty to program, don't be surprised when more and more developers flock to the GCN and XBox, which are both much easier to program).
Re:Xbox is the only American made console. (Score:2, Insightful)
The Intel CPU is manufactured in Asia, the console was farmed to Flextronics and is being built in Mexico.
And to add another argument, is it really patriotic to buy poorly made products in your own country so you can reward people who can't do the job as well as people in other countries? The argument didn't wash with cars in the 80's.
Re:A PS2 with different games (Score:2, Insightful)
You say that Sony who do several times the revenue of Microsoft worldwide can be crushed by Microsoft like a tiny startup founded by a handful of people that Netscape was?
You really think that?
Really?
It's called HUMOR guys (Score:2, Insightful)
Here...I'll explain it for you though. Every Windows owner has probably seen the BSoD. Windows is made by a little company called Microsoft. Microsoft has also started selling home game consoles. Therefore, it would be a good joke to relate the BSoD from Windows to this new console. That might be funny, huh? Don't just rant about this joke being MS-bashing. Laugh a little.
Short memories (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:huh?? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Salons review.. (Score:3, Insightful)