Xbox 360 Launches In U.S. 551
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."
Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:3, Insightful)
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:3, Insightful)
That would be true except that you seem to have ignored the fact that new games will be constantly released for the system for at least the next 4-5 years.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:4, Insightful)
a media center (Score:3, Insightful)
Yup. Its perfect for college students and the like who have to pick up and move every few semesters and share stuff with other people. Why stock up on a lot of equiptment when a XBOX will function as your multimedia center?
-everphilski-
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.
The stages of profit (Score:1, Insightful)
Phase 2) Release next-gen console, intentionally undersupplying the retailers to ride that "sold out" hype wave.
Phase 3) Profit.
Phase 4) Release all the games on PC anyways.
Phase 5) More profit.
Phase 6) Suckers realize they wasted $400 on a console whose games are coming out on PC anyways.
Phase 7) "Leak" (a.k.a. plant) information about the NEXT next-gen console onto the web.
Phase 8) Return to Phase 1.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, by living in a rural area in a poor part of the state, I've found it EASIER to find the must-have systems (well, I've only been here for the Nintendo DS and sony PSP) available on launch day. I'm not sure if the K-mart two towns over still has 360's 'cause I don't need one and don't have a reason to be near there today, but I'm sure that it took them at least several hours to sell out if they did.
Re:Ridiculous people (Score:3, Insightful)
Then again $2K isn't a large slice of the XBox marketing budget. It might be worth it to Microsoft for breathless media reports of XBoxes going for $2K on EBay.
Re:I don't know... (Score:3, Insightful)
1. It's rumoured to have a lower price tag.
2. You get free access to Nintendo's back catalog of games (excl. GCN games) going back to 1985.
Therefore, right out of the box, you've got access to tons of games. And if you're in your late 20's or 30's, you probably won't need much more than those games. Throw in a couple physically-oriented games that use that gyroscopic wand and you're all set.
fake shortage may backfire (Score:5, Insightful)
While the intended effect is to create a buzz that encourages a christmas buying frenzy, it could backfire just as well. The original Xbox launch had an enormous supply. I wasn't really looking to buy an xbox at the time, but I happened to be in Best Buy 2 days after the launch, so I decided to give it a shot.
Today, Xbox 360's are selling for nearly $2,000 on ebay. Not even a package, just the system. The "shortage buzz" will certainly keep casual purchasers away and I'm sure quite a few people might decide to wait a few months for the ps3.
Not Trolling, just bitter (Score:4, Insightful)
Why not buy an XBox original and get oodles of games for it if you don't already have a system. You get way more entertainment bang for your buck. I guess keeping up with the Joneses is more important these days than it's ever been in the past?
The media coverage this thing is geting makes me nearly sick. It's on the radio, the TV, and in print. I've only heard one reviewer say they wouldn't buy their kids the system because it's going to be at least $150 less in 6 months. Don't these parents realize that their heating bills are going to be about 50% more this year?
Re:I admit it (Score:5, Insightful)
Lest you forget, they also make an Operating System. They also make media apps. Why are you upset about greater competition in the console market? That should benefit all of us.
2. "The first X-Box was just a PC in a box."
Ata fraction of the cost. Tons of people won't spend $1k to buy a new computer, but $300 for a console is fine.
3. "The name is stupid and personifies what I hate about this machine and its community"
What does this have to do with anything? Is the Dreamcast, or the Revolution, any better? Who cares what it's called.
4. "The game library will mostly just be PC ports and Playstation ports"
See above comment re: PC-in-a-box. Also, as a social activity, gaming on a PC with a few friends just sucks. Much easier to sit on the couch.
5. "At least with the Playstation 3, it has the appeal of being the absolute top hardware"
Hah. It's not so different from the 360. By the time the PS3 launches, it won't be near the top, compared to first-class gaming rigs.
6. "Instead of letting the product sell itself based on its own value, as other companies do (a cliched example, but see Apple and its iPod...all Steve Jobs had to do was hold up an iPod nano to the camera, and everyone was SOLD on it)"
You really crack me up. Apple spent millions and millions to market the iPod brand.
"this thing is just a shareholder-driven profit grab"
Now, a profit grab would imply that MS is making a profit on these. They are building a long-term business with the 360, not grabbing profits.
"not a genuinely fantastic product from a company that actually makes games and game consoles and belongs in that market
I won't claim to know if the 360 is fantastic or not, but like it or not: MS makes game consoles and they also make games. By your rationale, shouldn't Sony stick with audio equipment, and get the hell out of the game console market?
It's obvious you hate MS. That's fine. By why are you upset that they released a product YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY? Or are you just upset that it gets press?
Re:and the x-box? (Score:2, Insightful)
Getting back to the games, and opening the doors of the target audience to the average family and regular folks is the real path to success. If Nintendo doesn't drop the ball, they have this one in the bag. There has never been so much demand for a decently priced, family game system. The ages of older NES/Atari gamers are out of PS3/360 demographics and they generally have budding families... could be time for a Revolution.
Parent wins moron of the month award! (Score:1, Insightful)
Buying something because it offers the most opportunity to spend money in the future is the most moronic thing I've heard all month.
Re:Out first=Clear Advantage? (Score:2, Insightful)
1. Market Share - Releasing somewhere between 7 - 9 months before Sony will intially give MS a larger market share. Sony's PS3 will have to play catch up which I have no doubt it will do but at the cost of market share. Forcasts estimate MS shipping 6 - 8 million or more 360's to Market by the PS 3 launch date. Shipments of the 360 are expected to outpace the PS 3 until 2008.
2. Cost - Using the market share above MS will have the ability to leverage it's cost advantage over the PS 3. http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_cont
Your 4th grade analogy is only partially correct. Yes it is like a 4th grader rushing to turn in his test first but the difference is that this 4th grader may end up doubling his market share to 40% or 45% by doing so.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:1, Insightful)
Of course it's hackable. Everything is hackable!
Since it might not be (odds are, even if it is, it will be a much bigger PITA than the Xbox) I'm not buying one until either hacks come out or the price comes down quite a bit.
Ooooooh! Now I get it. You don't mean you want it to be 0 you mean you want it to be "hacked by other people with more skill than me, so I can follow some simple instructions on a web page and feel all '1337 and stuff because I can make it play my bootleg pr0n off a file server."
Why didn't you just come right out and say so?
I give it a year, maybe 18 months tops, before the exploit kit you want comes along. Meanwhile, why not just buy a Mac mini, and do pretty much everything you would have done with your "hacked" 360 today? Oh, that's right... using a Mac is easy, and therefore not '1337. You need a fugly media interface based on hacks that you did not write for a console that wasn't intended for what you are doing, or else your scr1pt k1dd13 friends will laugh at you.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:3, Insightful)
Bitterness over other's success or excesses (Score:2, Insightful)
STOP IT.
Damn it, we are a society of achievers. It is what drives this country. Yes it can be excessive but damn if we keep up this "loser" mentality then we truly will fall behind.
It is the lack of celebrating the winners that is affecting our schools. We have systems which now "play games" with grades so as not to embarras those who don't strive to succeed. Schools go out of there way to minimize the success of a few and wonder why the students stop trying? If we want to know why our schools are falling behind in math and science we have only to look at why we stopped celebrating those who truly were outstanding. If you punish success you will get mediocrity.
You ever think that many of the people buying these things don't have to care about their heating bills; which btw are not going to be that hideously different from last year. My price per therm hasn't budged, don't believe all the BS hype
Re:My problem with gaming... (Score:3, Insightful)
Therefore we aren't their target demographic.
Pretty screenshots sell more games than actual gameplay does. Sad, but true.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course the real trick is getting paid. As a seller of other items on eBay I've had the occasional twit bid and never pay up.
Probably the best way to capitalize on this craze is to require immediate payment, or it stays in circulation.
Status symbol. (Score:3, Insightful)
Chicks want useless shiny rocks, guys want useless shiny electronics.
Re:Zero Hour (Score:5, Insightful)
I feel about 10x more connected to people on my friends list than I did on the original Xbox. It's no longer this separate "play online" section - you're ALWAYS playing online in one way or another, with scoreboards or directly against opponents.
I really think that anyone with a 360 and broadband needs to at LEAST make sure they're connected with a silver account, even if you don't want to pay the $50 to play online. It adds that much.
Re:Out first=Clear Advantage? (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re: Microsoft is in for the long haul (Score:2, Insightful)
no matter what else the box promises, once you're tired of playing the games it'll end up in the back of the closet, covered with hardened Cheeto grease, dust, a few dents from being kicked when things didn't go quite to plan in a game and utterly forgotten until Garage Sale Season.
Wow. I'm so glad that such a hardcore gamer got the first punt at this topic. My PSOne, Dreamcast, Saturn, Genesis, SNES etc etc aren't on my closet. I haven't become bored of the games, persay, just that I've moved on. I occassionally go back to Duck Hunt on the NES or Speedball 2 on the Genesis, because they're FUN games. Moving on doesn't mean giving up on the past altogether. There's room for all of them if you're creative with your space.
As for your Athlon64, perhaps you have some issues there. Are there three hundred older and slightly less powerful processors in your closet waiting for a garage sale? You're using "top of the line" kit to play some kid's Java dream. Nice. Like I say, maybe this is why you have such hatred for Microsoft, although they didn't MAKE you upgrade to play Settlers of Catan, you chose to because maybe the satisfying clicky-clicky of the buttons won't slow down when you have your non-Microsoft media player running off MP3's by the dozen.
Yes, I'm ranting. Yes, I'm sick to the fucking back teeth of Xbox360 stories on Slashdot. Why? Because they all end the same way. Some tit opens up Internet Explorer on a Windows XP (SP4) machine, goes to Slashdot, reads about the Xbox360, thinks for half a second, then writes a torrent of pure unenlightened, uneducated and downright uncalled for bullshit about how he hates Microsoft and how Microsoft screws everybody. Sometimes, he might substitute the "s" in Microsoft for a dollar sign, to represent the fact that they make a shitload of fine money. Then, he sits down with some piss-poor "update" or "fan conversion" of his favourite game from 1987 and plays that, because he can't get the original running without booting into DOS - another Microsoft product. "FUCK Microsoft. Always screwing me over! I don't Goddamn need them. Never did, never will." - Again, as he boots into DOS, which is required to play the original of his favourite game.
I used to have a calculator. I used to have a word processor. I used to play games on an Atari 2600 jacked into my TV. I used to have to speak to people or pick up the telephone to get my message through. Shopping? I'd go outside and do it. And you talk about convergence and how its such a bad thing? I do all of that at my PC now - which runs Windows XP. I use Word for word processing, since AFAIK no open-source Word processor (I had OpenOffice for a while) exists that does decent grammar and spelling checks - on my Windows XP PC. I use the built in Calculator for calculating stuff - if I don't use Excel - both of which are stored on my Windows XP PC. I shop using my browser - which isn't Microsoft branded, I have to say, but runs on my Windows XP PC. I email my friends or use MSN/YIM/AIM/ICQ/IRC to speak to them - again, from my Windows XP PC. Do you see what I'm getting at?
I don't love Microsoft. But I sure as hell love what they've done for me. I wouldn't have been designing websites or writing about games for the last ten years and making some decent money for it, if it wasn't for Windows.
I'll be buying a 360. Why in hell's name does everyone always act like you can only buy one console, anyway? I love games - so I'm going to love Project Gotham Racing 3. Its only for Xbox360 - so since I have a crappy PC that doesn't get upgraded daily, I have some spare cash to pick up a 360 to play it on. The same as I'll pick up a PS3 for Gran Turismo 5, and a Revolution for the new, new, new Mario. Buying a 360 certainly doesn't put me into a box that stops me from buying a competitor's console.
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:Bitterness over other's success or excesses (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean seriously how is forking over $400 for a toy some sort of success in your life? If you equate buying things with success you need a reality check. Currently us Americans are spending more than we earn. If we continue this trend we are going to be in trouble. They tell us to keep spending, it's good for the economy, etc. But it's bullshit. The economy is the same, we keep losing jobs, inflation is creeping and we have a huge national debt. In other news the House passed a bill cutting 50 billion in social services but in the same day passed 60 billion in tax cuts which mostly target the rich. WAKE UP!
Re:Out first=Clear Advantage? (Score:2, Insightful)
A game console should wait for potentially years for the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD problem to be resolved?
Especially when both formats will have virtually no impact on games?
The average current pc game that uses all the latest features and high resolution textures is only around 4-5 Gigs. The higher that goes, the more expensive games become to make.
And if one dvd isn't enough, just
The PS3 having Blu-Ray has very little to do with games, but with Sony's overall consumer electronics plans.
"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. "
I don't see how microsoft swapping out the standard dvd drive for a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive a year from now would make any difference for games. All older games would work as before, but now you can also watch Blu-Ray/HD-DVD movies.
Where's the confusion?
The Debut linup is widely regarded as pretty good for a new console. Historically, console launches don't have a great long term impact.
That you don't like sports, or "shooting Nazis" is at best anecdotal evidence. Console companies wouldn't stay in business very long by only catering any one person's specific tastes.
Only one of the fps games available involves World War 2, and even that one has received pretty good ratings.
"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". "
Which is a clear cut advantage, once you realise that Speculation goes both ways.
Option 1: Watch movies of what "the revolution/ps3 may play or look like." The price and release dates aren't set in stone, you know nothing more than it "will" be coming out eventually. Revolution controller "seems" like a new idea, but how will it work out in games?
Will PS3 be able to make games from what they've shown, or is it again simply typical Sony hype ala "the PS2 with an Emotion Engine SUPER COMPUTER that's so powerful that the US government is baning them from being sent to Iraq to power nuclear weapon progams."
Option 2: Buy the console that came out today, play games, and take advantage of the console's online advantages today.
Or buy it later. When the other consoles come out, xbox 360 will be a better value for the money. From being out first it will have more and better games available and have a lower price due to a price cut.
"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."
I don't get it... (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe I just don't get the appeal of a console, but being policed by a DRM protected system, spoon fed expensive content/games and restricted to a TV or forced to buy a HDTV with a lower resolution than my monitor doesn't appeal to me at all.
Re:Not Trolling, just bitter (Score:3, Insightful)
The whole world is my neighbourhood though, as it is your's. The mistaken belief that it is not is the reason things like Sept. 11 was so shocking to people here. Things we do in North America are felt all around the world, and if we act like affluent ignorami, then we're going to have the rest of the world rather pissed off at us. There's nothing wrong with success, unless you rub other peoples noses in it, then it's about one-upmanship, not success for success's sake.
It's because we live in a bubble here. I know you couldn't say to the face of a starving Myanmar child that it's reasonable to have 4 video game systems because you have $1000/month disposable income; you have a heart. But because our bubble [that is sometimes breached by scary events like Sept. 11, Katrina] makes sure we don't have to face the harsh reality of the rest of the world, we can sit in front of our $1000 entertainment center with a clear mind and soul. I like my digital camera as much as the next guy, but I'm not fooling myself. I know I'd have to give it up if the rest of the world, the 3rd World, ever had the ability to go to war with my country and possibly win.