XSN Sports - It Coulda Been A Contender?

Thanks to Gamers With Jobs for its article discussing the apparent problems inherent in Microsoft's XSN Sports titles for Xbox Live. The article points out: "The XSN Sports brand was intended to provide a unifying structure for the ultimate online sports gaming experience." The author then goes on to argue that "the games upon which [XSN is] based do not compete in market share with the competition, at least for the most popular sports", also pointing out the alleged clunkiness of Rallisport Challenge 2's XSN Sports event settings, which has you "manually entering the name of the competition [and a number of other selections] into the Xbox using the controller." What would you like to see from XSN Sports, after its break for 2004 ends?

Is The XBox Dead?

[blueZhift]

Stuff like this does not bode well for the future of the XBox. With most XSN titled benched for this year and titles being cancelled left and right along with uncertainty on the specs of the next XBox, one can only wonder if we're seeing a pattern of withdrawal from the field.

Granted, that none of this definitively means XBox is dead, but nothing has happened yet to assure that another XBox is a certainty.

Re:Is The XBox Dead?

[nullvector]

Actually, right now is probably the most alive the Xbox has ever been. The price drop to $149 really helped them.

Look at upcoming xbox games and it tells you how the future of xbox is panning out:

Halflife2 - After PC release
Doom3 - Fall/Winter 04
Halo2 - Christmas 04
ForzaRacing - Fall

In addition to a few other titles like DeadOrAlive:Ultimate, Conker, etc...

Seems like the xbox has a pretty bright future as far as the games that are coming out. There will be some best sellers there, and the list of games

Re:Is The XBox Dead?

[jchenx]

The parent pointed out mainly FPS games, which yes generally find themselves on the PC (for good reason, since the mouse+keyboard combo will always be king, IMHO). However, it's probably important to note that none of those games will at least show up on other consoles.

Anyway, the Xbox exclusive games I'm looking forward to are:

• Jade Empire
• Dragon Age
• Fable
• KotOR II
• (okay that'll probably be on the PC as well)

Those games should keep me busy for a while. (As you can see, I prefer RPGs) Microsoft still nee

Re:Is The XBox Dead?

[bigman2003]

Do games have to be exclusive to be good?

This arguement is heard over and over 'Xbox sucks because the same games are on the PC'.

So?

This might be a factor if someone A: already has a PC and B: is wondering which console to purchase. But when it comes down to it, the important part is 'what games can I play'. Not, 'what games can I play on my console, that nobody else can play, unless they own the same console.'

But I don't see how it relates to the quality of the Xbox. But if you are all jizzed up abo

Re:Is The XBox Dead?

[nullvector]

HL2, and Doom3 are "Xbox console only" games. In other words, they come out for PC, but only appear on console for the Xbox.

How many people out there have a computer that can adequately play HL2 and Doom3 right out of the box? I'd say 10%.

I have a P4 - 3.0C with 1Gb Ram, and an ATI 9600pro, and there are still games that I cant run smoothly with good quality.

Of course, you can spend $500 on a video card, plus another $300+ for a decent looking monitor, or $149 for an Xbox that will work with your TV.

And

Re:Is The XBox Dead?

[Quarters]

The cancellation of 2004 XSN titles was the price Microsoft paid to get EA sports titles to support Live!, pure and simple.

It's no big thing to Microsoft, I'm sure. So they gave up one season of XBox sports titles (shrug). I'll bet you any amount of money that those teams have already been seeded with XBox2 dev kits are are working on the all important sports-title-lineup for the XB2 launch.

Re:Is The XBox Dead? Not even!

[Blakey Rat]

Uh, just this week both Full Spectrum Warrior and Chronicles of Riddick were released as XBox Exclusives. Look at their ratings. XBox is stronger now than it's ever been.

XSN games were put on hold for a single year as part of the deal with EA to get EA to use Live instead of wanting to use their own game servers. It was a good move on Microsoft's fault... Microsoft needs EA to take advantage of all the XBox's features more than it needs a little bit of sales from some sports games. In addition, everyon

Re:Is The XBox Dead? Not even!

[gamgee5273]

But, at this point of its life cycle, the Dreamcast and its fans could make the same argument, but that didn't stop it from dying. Many of the failed consoles (the TurboGrafx, NeoGeo, 3DO, etc.) in the past could say that they were "stronger now than it's ever been" and die very quickly after that. If you do not have a strong launch, like the PS2, or strong franchises, like Nintendo, then you really have to make up for it quickly. It's been almost three years since release and only now are we starting to

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Is The XBox Dead?

[jchenx]

Actually, I think it's because the Xbox is doing so well that we are seeing in-house titles from MGS (Microsoft Game Studios) being cancelled left and right. Why bother making mediocre titles to fill genres, when you can get 3rd party developers to do it for you, and better? Who needs NFL Fever Live, when you've got Madden Live now?

I'll gladly see fewer titles like Azurik and Blinx, and more Halo 2 and Fable (assuming those games are as good as claimed).

Communicator

[poindextrose]

I recently purchased the aforementioned Rallysport Challenge 2, and have to say I am very pleased with it. _Except_ for the XSN BS. Or the plain Live! content.

Sure, it's great to race ghost rallies realtime, but the killer is the comms. For some reason, the game developers thought that it would be interesting if you could only talk to the person in front of you, and the person behind you. For one thing, this leads to you talking to seemingly random people when you're lined up at the start. Also, during a close race, it's hard to keep up a conversation with one person, as that person would have to be within one position of you. Not to mention the fact that the guy ahead of you is keeping up a conversation with the guy ahead of him, so you only hear half of it. Kind of like someone talking on 2 cell phones at once to someone talking on 2 cell phones at once [... ad infinitum]

I've played lots of Live! games where you can talk to your whole team at once (ala Rainbow Six 3) or everyone in the game at once (ala PGR2). I haven't done any bandwidth measurement, but from the sounds of the audio, they're using a fairly high compression codec, and they're band pass filtering for additional size reduction. There's no reason why I should only have to talk to 2 other players bandwidth-wise.

I suppose I should mention how impressed I am with the use of the communicator in SC:PT. In that game, the communicator becomes a somewhat vital part of gameplay (the spies can intercept mercenery communication, and the mercs can jam the spies). This obvious good sense comes from Ubisoft (who, IIRC, also made PRG2) so it doesn't surprise me that they got things right. What suprises me is how much MSGS got things wrong.

Did nobody play-test this stuff?

Some obvious answers

[a_peckover]

1) A deal with Konami to bring Xbox Live support to Pro Evolution Soccer - with Microsoft's cash they should be able to sort out the official player and team name problems (ie it's Manchester United, not Manchester and it's Arsenal, not North London).

While I'm sure most Americans don't appreciate this, Pro Evo 3 on the PS2 is somewhere in the top two or three best games of all time, it's that good. It's sort of the European John Madden, as well - it's the game of choice when you've got your friends round.

M$ sports games lag behind

[superpulpsicle]

Every season I rent a ton of sports games, and I would say 80% of the time I find sega's lineup to be the best. My brother owns an Xbox and PS2 and he has yet to buy one M$ based sports game. He claims the 2004 series are literally comparable to Sega/EA sports games in 2002.

Re:M$ sports games lag behind

[Singletoned]

Have to say I disagree with that.

Links is a brilliant golf game, and Topspin is the best tennis game I have ever played. Amped was also fairly good (it was a bit like a chill out version of SSX. More relaxed).

"Break"?

[Have Blue]

It's likely the XSN series will not be coming back at all, as MS has finally convinced EA to make games for XBL. If they port all their sports franchises, the Xbox would be a more attractive platform for sports gamers than MS could make it alone, and they must know that.

He is right about some of it

[bigman2003]

I'm a huge Xbox fan. Okay...probably to the lengths of being a 'fanboy'- but I have the same problems with the XSN Sports thingy.

If I sign up for a tournament on my PC, which is linked to the gamertag- then why do I have to put in all the info again, on my Xbox? Unlike the author though, I finally got smart enough to write the shit down on paper. Even that was annoying, because the way the screens are set up on the XSN site, you can only print ONE password at a time- because the other rounds are behind 'tabs'. So, I end up writing them. This sucks, because in my daily life I don't write anything anymore.

Another problem with the XSN setup, is that I have to go to my PC to sign up for a tournament. The tournament usually doesn't start for a few days. By that time, I probably will be busy or something. Here is a scenario that would be a lot better:

• I'm playing on my Xbox, and decide to start a tournament.
• On my Xbox I go to the XSN tab and 'Start a Tournament'
• I invite friends and stuff, and boom- an hour later the tournament starts.
• The tournament only runs a few hours, and we know who the winner is by the end of the day
• We can stare at the stats for the rest of the week on XSN.

Also, the only game that I have successfully taken part in tournaments in Links 2004 (golf). Because there, you are only competing for a low score, and you don't need to go head-to-head. I guess you can do this in Rallisport Challenge 2 also, but I am so bad at that game that entering a tournament would be an absolute joke. But the important thing is that I don't need to arrange a play time with a stranger. Like I really want some dumbass e-mailing/calling/IMing me because we are scheduled to play a game of basketball.

The delay of days, or in some cases weeks before a tournament starts is crazy. If I get the itch to start a tournament, I want to start it NOW not sometime in the distant future.

That's why I end up playing 'Optimatch' all the time. I don't want to wait around for this stuff. But if tournaments were immediately available, and I know I can sit and play for a few hours- sure, I might as well. Otherwise it's too damn complicated. What's next- mandatory practices?

XSN is a great concept. They just need to integrate it into the games a little more. Bigger tournaments are usually not better, because getting 64 people to cooperate is never gonna happen. But if Microsoft keeps trying, and they come out with XSN 2.0, I'm sure this could kick some butt.

Actually, come to think of it. XSN is really not necessary if the games themselves have this built in. But at least it was a push in the right direction.

What's the need for XSN?

[eeg3]

It doesn't seem like there is still a need for XSN, as EA has announced it will be making their games for Xbox Live. Sure, XSN games were good, but they don't compete with the fame of EA titles. No football game can ever beat Madden, same goes for NBA Live, imho.

I'd like to see...

[DaZedAdAm]

> What would you like to see from XSN Sports, after its break for 2004 ends? ...a break for 2005.