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XBox (Games)

State of the 360 113

Posted by Zonk from the good-ship-xbox dept.
IGN is reporting on The State of the Xbox 360, detailing information on the next-gen console since this past E3. From the article: "Coming into the home stretch here, it's clear Microsoft has had its fair share of problems. The MTV event, though brilliantly conceived, was a hype-without-substance infomercial that impressed nobody, especially the most important people -- gamers. At the actual MTV event, I did an informal poll which revealed that three-fourths of the people attending were there only to see the Killers. E3 was underwhelming to put it mildly, and the summer months proved to be vacant of everything but rumors, leaks, and more rumors and leaks. The Tokyo Game show helped Microsoft's cause a little, and Microsoft finally revealed its Japanese pricing and the worldwide release dates, leaving one major news announcement left open - the day-and-date launch games. Apparently, Microsoft and friends are still working on these last details."
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State of the 360 More

State of the 360

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  • Its not surprising that all of this has happened, maybe the people were right. Maybe microsoft did rush the xbox360 out the doors to try to get a head up on the ps3 and maybe there going to pay for it. Alot of the things microsoft has done to hype up the 360 have failed miserably. The only thing i normally hear people talking about is either live or gears of war. Being somewhat of a sony fanboy i can only hope that they will botch up the 360 release, giving sony an extra edge on there release. They should o

    • I was a fanboy... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by KingSkippus ( 799657 ) * on Monday October 03, 2005 @08:15PM (#13708755) Homepage Journal

      First, I said, "Let there be PS2," and there was PS2, and PS2 was good.

      I hadn't owned a console system since my old NES, and I was blown away by the graphics, sound, and playability of the latest generation of games. I bought Tekken. I bought Madden. I bought Ridge Racer. I bought SSX.

      Then, I said, "Let there be Xbox," and there was Xbox, and Xbox was good.

      Several of my friends passed up the PS2 in favor of the Xbox, and I ended up buying on purely out of peer pressure. I hosted a few cookouts where they brought their Xboxes, hooked them up to my spare tv's, and we kicked each other's asses on Halo. I bought DOA Volleyball, and said, "Wow, a really unique and original game. (Oh, and by the way, Hitomi is a goddess...)"

      Then, I said, "Let there be Gamecube," and my wallet reached up and punched me in the eye, so I had to pass up that system. :-(

      I bought a few more games for each of the systems I had, and slowly came to the realization that the impossible had happened—I was bored with them. I bought Generic Fighting Game #362, Generic First Person Shooter #178#, Generic Role Playing Game #204, Generic Racing Game #140, and a bunch of others. (I've got to admit, Generic Stealth Mission Game #78 was not half bad...)

      At this point, I am thinking that I will forego the Xbox 360 and the PS3 in favor of the Revolution. Why? Because what I need now aren't better graphics and sound. I've been there and done that, and it's no longer enough. What I need are new and original games, games that leave me saying, "Wow, that's pretty cool, the first of a new generation of Generic Games that will inevitably follow on the other systems. But until now, I haven't been there, and I haven't done that!" All indications I've seen so far from Microsoft and Sony point to just a bunch more Generic Games.

      I may be mistaken, but Nintendo seems to be the only company right now thinking outside of the proverbial box. When I first saw the controller, I thought, "Are you kidding me? How can you play a decent game with a remote control?" The more I think about it, though, the more I think that it's probably not a bad idea after all. And more importantly, I respect Nintendo's willingness to say, "We know you haven't seen anything like this before, and that's what we're going to sell you: something different, and really, it won't suck!"

      Next time I buy, that's exactly what I'm going to look for. If you're looking for prettier pictures, buy your Xbox 360 or PS3 and have fun. As for me, I'm going to wait until something more interesting comes along before I plop out hundreds of dollars.

      • Re:I was a fanboy... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by defkkon ( 712076 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @08:29PM (#13708836)
        I own an Xbox, a PS2, and a Gamecube. I enjoyed quite a few of the PS2 games I played. I also enjoyed quite a few Xbox games (KOTOR, Ninja Gaiden, just to name a few). However, I couldn't agree more with your assesment of the generic games that come out.

        The Gamecube, on the other hand, is a whole other story. If you're not planning on purchasing an Xbox 360 or a PS3, I highly recommend you purchase a Gamecube to keep you busy until the Revolution comes out. I easily purchased twice as many games for the Gamecube as I did for the Xbox and PS2 combined. There are some stinkers for the Gamecube (mostly the ones that come out for all three consoles), but I found the experience to be better on average. Throw the Wavebird controller into the mix, and you can't beat it.

        I'm not a Nintendo fanboy - I just appreciate good games. There are some unbelievable games for that little console. I have passed more time playing games like Windwaker, Eternal Darkness, Metroid, and Pikmin than I have with the games for the other two consoles. That's saying a lot considering how much time I've put into Morrowind on the Xbox. :)

        • Re:I was a fanboy... (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Delphiki ( 646425 )
          I have to whole heartedly disagree with the parent post. I owned a PS2 and a Gamecube, and I feel like the Gamecube was a big waste of money. Other than Metroid Prime, Windwaker, and Pikmin, there were no games I gave a crap about. And none of those three got as much play time out of me as any of my favorite games on PS2. I got some other ones as gifts or bought them because they looked good (i.e. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes), but didn't end up playing them very much.
          • You pay youse dime, youse takes yer chances.

            I have all three systems.

            Nintendo seem to have the edge on 4 player games though Xbox was right behind...and had Live to boot.

            PS2 had, for me, GTA series plus a big pile of shovelware, for a lot of its lifespan, and then it got better. Katamari, Ico, Eye Toy, a few others. In general though a less interesting system than the other 2.

            But YMMV. It really depends on the genres that you get into.

            Nobody but GC has Rogue Squadron or Smash Brothers or Mario Kart though..
            • Ah, see, if I'm hanging out with my friends I would rather play poker, euchre, a board game, pool, or do any number of other things. For me video games mainly occupy alone time. So party games really don't appeal to me. I've tried super smash brothers with a group of friends, along with halo, and super monkey ball, and a variety of other party games. They just don't do it for me.
              • Fair enough. I find the GC relatively ok for that kind of solo gaming, though obviously it's well supplemented by other systems.

                Most non-creativity-based (ala Pictionary) table games bore me, I suck at pool, and just don't get my act together enough to head out to darts. "Party Gaming" and the accompanying trash talk are just about my favorite form of gaming...
      • nice choice.

        Plus... you'll be able to play all those AMAZING gamecube games you missed out on, not to mention the SNES and N64 consoles you didn't own either, downloadable onto the Rev (i love backwards compatibility...)

        • And don't forget that MS and Sony have pretty much screwed over backwards compatibility in this generation. With MS only going to do select games for backwards compatibility/emulation and the PS3 only supporting Memory Stick Duo, the Big N's GCN backwards compatibility and FREE (for first party titles at the moment) backwards compatibility off the internet looks golden.

          Sony and MS probably don't care about backwards compatibility anyways, they're gonna make money off the next iteration of the popular franc

          • Re:I was a fanboy... (Score:1)

            by Anonymous Coward
            "Sony and MS probably don't care about backwards compatibility anyways"

            Yeah, Sony supporting full backwards compatibility for two generations means they don't care.

            Whatever. If you're going to troll, at least make it funny.

            • Actually what I think the parent was talking about was that you won't be able to use the memory cards you have for the PS2 and PS. So you lose all your saved games. Even if it does play all the games. Has anyone heard anymore on the use of old memory cards? And why did they decide not to including the "magic gate" memory card system with the new PS3.
              • That's what I was trying to get at here. And since when does "full backwards compatibility" mean "we give you compatibility but no mem card for you?", and they've only been doing backwards compatibility for a single generation now, the PS3 still isn't on the market yet.

                Let's put it this way, PSOne games can't use a PS2 mem card, so you're forced to use a PSOne card in a PS2 for saving games. Now, Sony has come out and said all they're supporting is Mem Stick Duo. Doing the math that means yes, I can play
      • I went through the exact same thing with the Revolution controller. I'm just worried that they'll drop the ball with it. I mean, look at the DS. Outside of a few games and a few features, its still just a gimmick.
      • I wouldn't be surprised if instead of a 3-way race between the consoles, that the Revolution will break away from the competition. So most people will get a revolution (it'll be cheapest, and have the kind of games impossible on the other consoles) and then it's a choice of either the 360 or the PS3.

    • Re:Maybe they -did- botch it. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Hast ( 24833 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2005 @08:33AM (#13711364)
      The only thing i normally hear people talking about is either live or gears of war. Being somewhat of a sony fanboy i can only hope that they will botch up the 360 release, giving sony an extra edge on there release.

      That's just stupid!

      No really, it's just really, really stupid.

      Do you know who will win in the next gen consoles? I can tell you that now, and it's the same answer as for the current gen. The winners are the gamers that have all consoles and play the games on the console which they are best on or exclusive to.

      Seriously, stop using you consumer choices as a basis for your self image. It will only end you up in therapy.
      • Amen and haleluyah! I'm glad I'm not the only one rolling my eyes at these morons.
      • I agree wholeheartedly. I own all three current systems and enjoy them all for what they do.

        However, most of the discussion here is more about whether or not these systems are worth buying at launch, worth dropping $100-$150 more on the system than if you'd waited 'till the first or second price drop. At least, that's what I've seen.

        KOTOR was the deal breaker for the Xbox for me, and I'm sure that eventually there'll be some exclusive that I glom onto and end up buying a PS3 or 360 solely for, at whic

  • Rushing to Market (Score:3, Interesting)

    by FadedTimes ( 581715 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @05:50PM (#13707808)
    I feel MS is going to rush the product to market and may have a poor launch because the quality of the first titles won't be much better than the games we have now on the latest generation of consoles. The one thing MS does have going for it is the upcoming holiday season, they will be the only new console in town and may get a lot of sales just from that. You would think MS would be doing a lot more to make people want to get the 360, but so far it's all been 'talk' and no actual content to look forward to.

    • Re:Rushing to Market (Score:3, Insightful)

      by lazyrobb ( 879369 )
      I agree that Microsoft seems to be rushing. They are trying to go from being the one with the last console out to the first; however, the four year separation is similar to the minimal time period between unsuccessful Sega systems. There is a wide range of launch titles which should help, but it is looking like the PS3 will have better games at its launch. It's still to early to see if the PS3 dev kit will be too complicated at first, but at the same time Microsoft rushed out its own developement kits wh
      • Personally, I'm not too worried about it not including HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. The vast majority of games these days don't come close to using the space on a normal single-layer DVD anyway. There are exceptions of course but for the most part I don't think it's that much of a restriction. I'd rather have a hard drive myself and I'm a little choked that it's not being included this time around from what I hear.
        • The hard drive's being included, it's just in the $400 package. And as for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, there's talk that Microsoft will release another version of the 360 that has one of those formats in it, which would be tantamount to suicide. They'd piss off the early adopters that didn't hear about the switch, and lose a whole slew of people that think that's an important feature. It's very amazing to me how well Microsoft takes aim at its foot before firing the gun.
    • may have a poor launch because the quality of the first titles won't be much better than the games we have now on the latest generation of consoles

      What launch titles?

      That's the thing with the 360. I keep looking for a reason to want to go get a pre-order in, or to be excited for the first console launch in a long time, but... What am I going to play on it? DVDs?

      I'm sure the reason they haven't announced the list yet is because developers are still trying to figure out if they can deal with the sudden lack o

  • Which is surprising... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @05:53PM (#13707827)
    ...seeing how the MTV audience usually devours everything that is spoon-fed to them.

        People are falling less and less for the hype, and that's a good thing - besides asthetical differences, there's nothing really different with the current-gen console systems and the one that's soon to be unveiled to us. IMHO, Nintendo is the only one coming with something remotely interesting.
    • and nintendos baby is not intresting because of the device itself or because of the games that come with it(because nobody knows of them for real)... ...but because of the controller that for all that matters could have been shipped as a gamecube addon.

      (and of course because of that "will play old nintendo games" thing too - whatever it will turn out to be on the final device when we really get it - but that could have been technically delivered on gc as well)
      • The Revolution will have alot higher specs than the current gamecude (and if you have played resident evil 4 you will know that they were high already) plus wifi built in, the disks will be bigger enabling more space etc...

        Just like all the next gen machines, the has been losts of little improvements, but this time the controller will add a new dimension to the control, and this will come as standard.
        • I think most people's biggest question is how well the controller actually works. Do they expect people to play Mario with it, or will most people fall back to the more standard controls? The same question was applied to the DS [ign.com], and the DS was found to be lacking. My bet is that people young and old will play Mario with the standard controls.
          • And a D-pad is better for playing classic Super Mario Bros. than an analog stick (if for no other reason than the fast direction switching). So bring out something truly next-generation where the Revolution control will be better.

          • Re:Which is surprising... (Score:5, Insightful)

            by cowscows ( 103644 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @09:09PM (#13709049) Journal
            Mario 64 is a pretty crappy game to be judging the potential of a touch screen on, seeing as the game was originally designed to show off what an analog thumbstick could do. Meanwhile, there's been plenty of games released for the DS that could not be played without the touch screen controls.

            I have no doubt that people looking to play N64 games on the backwards compatible revolution will use a more standard controller to do so. But you can be sure that when they release a new mario game specifically designed for the revolution, the new controller will be required.
      • ...the controller that for all that matters could have been shipped as a gamecube addon. The problem with that argument is that games are rarely designed with peripherals in mind. Not many developers would want to cut their market drasticcally by making a GC game that uses a different controller.

        The games of the Revolution will all be designed with this new controller in mind - Mario, Link, &co. will all be re-invented to fit the new design.

    • Re:Which is surprising... (Score:5, Funny)

      by TitusC3v5 ( 608284 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @06:08PM (#13707915) Homepage
      IMHO, Nintendo is the only one coming with something remotely interesting.

      You, sir, need to be shot.

    • Re:Which is surprising... (Score:5, Funny)

      by game kid ( 805301 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @06:26PM (#13708028) Homepage

      I think 2006 will be marked by the return of the cartridge--at least, to PCs. All the consoles and their games seem a bit out of reach of the Incredible Shrinking Wallet at this point.

      We'll start seeing small companies selling USB flash sticks (the "cartridges") with their games saved on them. Big corps will fight back with overly DRM'd, 20-GB dongle-games that only look like they're on USB flash sticks.

      Hey, if artists can do it with music*...

      *I can't seem to find the /. article that mentioned that...

      • Huh? The advantage that cartridges had over CDs back when this was an issue was the lack of load times. A PC has a hard drive so everything on the CD/DVD can be copied to the hard drive...

        And it's not as though small time developers are going to be saving money using your scheme. DVDs are much cheaper to produce than USB drives.

    • People are falling less and less for the hype

      What?!?! Are you saying that my PS2 isn't able to render "Toy Story" real time?? Why sir, I'll have you know it's a supercomputer good enough to power Iraqi missle guidance systems!

      -Eric

  • alternative name for product (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 03, 2005 @06:04PM (#13707891)
    Dreamcast 2

    Seriously, I give Nitnendo credit for showing something interesting because othewise it's all tech-demos until the product takes advantage of the hardware. And graphics aren't the only thing. I recall Next-Generation overlooking Grand Theft Auto and giving it a mediocre review when of course it brought sandbox-gameplay to the table. The graphics weren't drool-worthy, but the gameplay resulted in the first - and most amusing crowd responsees I'd seen when it appeared at the local Gamestop.

    I'm hopeful that the tech-specs of Sony's product will provide the muscle needed to blow my brain cells at some point, but I suspect they won't be blown until a year after the product is on the shelves. Of course, having some major horsepower behind GTA will be nice in of itself.

    I thought microsoft might have put itself behind Nintendo once they kept themselves to their off-the-shelf model. I can't see the point in having a next-next-generation system that's only marginally better than my home computer - but then that's just me.

    But a race for 3rd place isn't nearly as interesting as what Sony's doing anyway (HDTV centric - next gen HDTV movie playback sooner than the rest - GTA first release - deep developer pile - count me in).

    • Re:alternative name for product (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Freexe ( 717562 ) <serrkr@tznvy.pbz> on Monday October 03, 2005 @06:11PM (#13707945) Homepage
      I think I may well be temped to buy sony, but only if the price is right (you gotta get the extended warranty with sony because you know it will break 3 days after it runs out.) But I will definatly be getting a revolution as i think it has the potential to kick start my love for computer games (the last gen didn't really do much for me)
      • i guess i'm in the minority here. i'm looking forward to the 360 and planned on buying one at launch (fortunately i won one through the mountain dew contest). games like call of duty 2 [xbox365.com] are going to look sweet on the wide screen HD. plus the fact that it's a media extender just makes the microsoft whore inside me all giddy.
      • you gotta get the extended warranty with sony because you know it will break 3 days after it runs out

        What the hell are people doing to their playstations? My original, first day released playstation 1 still works! My PS2 has never had a problem either. What, do you dunk it in mud or something? How does something like that break? I just don't get it.

        Also, to add to this discussion, I don't think I'm going to buy either of the new consoles because it's too damn expensive! Unless the Revolution is cheap
        • My original PSX (bought when FF7 came out) had the design problem of the metal laser housing eating it's plastic rails so it ends up at an angle to the media (minuscule is enough to cause problems) and it now works best tilted at a 70 degree angle (lid side facing towards the floor). It has never been abused and spent 99.99% of it's life on my entertainment center.

          I have 3 PS2 units. A version 2, works still but is incompatible with "The Zone of Enders" locks up solid after booting from the game media. The
    • "when of course it brought sandbox-gameplay to the table"

      Hmmmmmmmmm... Syndicate. Syndicate Wars. Theme Park. Populous. Sim City. Any one of a myriad of driving games where you could cruise around and do whatever you want.

      And FYI the Dreamcast was actually very good and quite innovative, it was just poorly timed and marketed. I still play my DC more than any other console, mainly for its fantastic arcade ports.
      • I LOVE each game you mentioned (especially Syndicate) but to be fair they're all PC games. I know most of them got console ports but most of the ports were terrible. The best port of that lot I can think of is Syndicate for the Atari Jaguar and it was mediocre at best. What GTA did was take an not-so-innovative idea that has been a staple of PC gaming forever and brought it to the masses on a console (and actually did a decent job of it).
      • None of those games you mention really provide worlds gamers are likely to WANT to run around in. The vehicle, pedestrian, and weapon variety in the GTA series makes it a crowd favorite in a way I haven't seen duplicated...watching people find stunts or try to run from a high wanted level makes for some great entertainment. I mean, hell, you can generally run arond the world of tons of puzzle platformers and the like, even the somewhat linear ones...you just have no reason to.

        DC shoutout: Bangai-O!!!!

  • Dreamcast 360 (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 03, 2005 @06:08PM (#13707917)
    Even the Dreamcast 360 label seems a little silly now. The Dreamcast was another dead before it hit the shelves console, but I don't think Sega could have had more disasters with their Dreamcast pre-launch if they had tried.

    I don't think we will ever see a console launch disaster of this magnitude ever again.

    Going all the way back to the 2600, I can't think of any console that even is in the same league as the 360's year long release and launch fiasco. Jaguar, CDi, Dreamcast...none of them are close to MS's 360 disaster.

    • Re:Dreamcast 360 (Score:3, Interesting)

      by badasscat ( 563442 )
      Even the Dreamcast 360 label seems a little silly now. The Dreamcast was another dead before it hit the shelves console, but I don't think Sega could have had more disasters with their Dreamcast pre-launch if they had tried.

      I don't think we will ever see a console launch disaster of this magnitude ever again.

      That's revisionist. There was nothing wrong with the Dreamcast launch. If you're talking about the internal competition and arguments that went on prior to launch, that's just par for the course. The

  • Well.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Daysaway ( 916732 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @06:10PM (#13707932)
    While strolling through the EA Tiburon campus, I overheard a few things about the XBox 360 development units. It seems out of the 10 (or so) Dev Kits that Tiburon recieved, 7 of them had something serious wrong with them. Now granted these are beta kits, and not expected to function perfectly, but 7 out of 10 that could not so much as operate at all is a bad sign for even betas.

    I also overheard this quote, "If the release version is even twice as good as these beta dev kits, you will never see me throwing down for one."

    I am praying that there was just a bad string of chips, or the parcel was run over by a forklift before being delivered, but if they are correct, then I forsee a very rocky release.

    • Re:Well.. (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Microsoft marketing have forgotten the windows ce Dreamcast.

      The reasons Dreamcast failed was:

      * PS2 came with DVD-player, Dreamcast didn't (just like PS3 will come with BluRay and XBox360 won't)
      * Dreamcast used a cheap-to-develop but expensive-to-manufacture off-the-shelf desing (just like XBox1 & XBox360) while the PS2 used a highly optimized design which is hard to develop but drives down the cost per unit
      * Sega thou

      • Re:Well.. (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Mingco ( 883841 )
        Dreamcast failed for exactly one reason: How they previously treated developers in the Sega Genesis days.

        Both Sega and Nintendo charged outrageous fees for cartridges. When PS1 came out with the CD as a format, Sony did not gouge developers, and thus all of the ill-will that the developers had pent up against Nintendo and Sega worked in Sony's favor.

        Then, they burned developers with Sega 32x, then they burned them again with Sega Saturn. Any developers and publishers who supported those formats lost a small
        • More than burning devs- they burned consumers. I ought a Sega-CD. It turned me off the Saturn and the Dreamcast. Releasing 2 absolutely useless platforms, and one mostly useless one killed it in the mind of consumers- noone trusted Sega to stay with it after that.

  • Just don't care (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wandazulu ( 265281 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @09:56PM (#13709265)
    I have read a lot about the 360. I was there with the IBM jokes, I even watched the MTV show pretty much in its entirety (exception: I don't really care for the killers). After all is said and done, I'm probably not getting one.

    Why? Microsoft hasn't triggered my herd instinct. There's no buzz or *reason* to want to line up at 12 am or whatever to be one of the first to buy the thing. Project Gotham Racing 3? Yawn...I haven't finished PGR2. I didn't like Perfect Dark on the N64, why should I like it on the 360 (full disclosure: I'm one of the few people, I guess, who didn't like Halo *at* *all* and have decided that for the rest of my life, I will play FPS on a mouse/keyboard rig, not a gamepad).

    In short, I'm not going to spend that kind of money for "more of the same".

    But wait, there's more!

    Here I may be crossing into treasonous territory, but I feel pretty much the same about the PS3 as well. Lots of cool pics, awesome specs, but no game that I really care about has me marking Xs on my calendar till launch date.

    The only *interesting* console was the, you guessed it, the Revolution, and the only thing that has piqued my interest is, like everyone else, the controller. Other than that, I think my feelings about the games run about the same...there'll be a Mario game (though hopefully a decent one...the GameCube seemed to have missed that). There'll be a Zelda game probably, and throw in a MarioKart and you have yourself a Nintendo console.

    Come to think of it, *none* of the systems have inspired me to want to get the latest-n-greatest. I don't have a HD tv, I don't play sports games. So this puts me in an interesting situation...I can sit back and wait for the inevitible price drops. I can wait to see if certain vaporware ever materializes. I can kick back with my I Love Katamari and Zelda Twilight Princess and PGR2 (yes, have all three consoles) and determine my next move entirely on the *games* available.

    Looks like I won't have to think about it for quite awhile.

    • Re:Just don't care (Score:4, Funny)

      by cornface ( 900179 ) on Monday October 03, 2005 @10:26PM (#13709471)
      Looks like I won't have to think about it for quite awhile.

      Yes, other than every day for the next year during the times that you eagerly log on to slashdot to post excessively long and detailed posts explaining how disinterested you are, it will be completely out of your mind.
    • Here I may be crossing into treasonous territory, but I feel pretty much the same about the PS3 as well. Lots of cool pics, awesome specs, but no game that I really care about has me marking Xs on my calendar till launch date.

      No, thank you for being honest instead of another MICROSOFT IS DOOMED LOLZ fanboy. I disagree with you, but at least your opinion is well founded, unlike 99% of Slashdot's.

    • Re:Just don't care (Score:5, Interesting)

      by StingRay02 ( 640085 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2005 @05:15AM (#13710834)
      My family owns a console gaming center, and, by and large, I've heard little to no buzz in the store for either the 360 or the PS3.... I get the same thing from my old co-workers in the Electronics department at Wal-Mart. It seems like there was an excitement with the last generation of consoles that just isn't there right now, something palpable that's missing. I was working for Wal-Mart when the DS and PSP were releasing, and we had people coming into the store on a regular basis, for three to four months in advance, asking about new information, looking for anything that they might not have heard elsewhere, and that just doesn't seem to be present. We're not even certain that we're going to need any 360s when they come out for the center.

  • Microsoft fanboys? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 04, 2005 @03:13AM (#13710547)
    What I kinda want to know is why Microsoft has such hardcore fanboys. The Xbox was a terrible excuse for a console, yet there are legions of gamers who love it, not only for Halo, but for what other random crap they put out on there. They seem to love paying $50 dollars for playing an FPS online with a controller. Some of them even sold their Gamecubes and PS2's because they were 'bored' with them.

    Why has their market penetration grown beyond just the stupid people who will buy whatever's marketed to them?

    • Re:Microsoft fanboys? (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The vast majority of the losers who make up the Microsoft/Xbox population are:

      1) Dreamcast freaks
      2) Microsoft freaks
      3) Peecee gamers

      The Dreamcast freaks hate Sony because 'they killed the Dreamcast with teh Hype' they will latch on to any console that is not made by Sony.

      The Microsoft freaks deeply believe that 'Microsoft is always teh Winner' the will latch on to any Microsoft product because 'you know what Microsoft did to Netscape' or something like that

      And then there are the peecee gamers who have enoug

    • Re:Microsoft fanboys? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by bitkari ( 195639 )
      Your rhetoric displays a certain degree of ignorance in regards to current consoles.

      There really are not that many differences between the Xbox or the PS2. The software catalogue is diverse, and contains many of same titles that can be found on either the PS2 or Gamecube. The hardware specification is generally regarded to be better than any other existing console, and the Xbox has the most comprehensive online service so far.

      Sure, some of the most popular Xbox titles are FPS games, much loved by a certain
      • Oh no... It's the attack of the armchair psychologist!
      • Exactly correct. Thank you for responding to my troll [imageshack.us] with a well thought out argument.

        Surprise. I'm actually an Xbox fanboy, and was wondering if anyone seriously thought that the Xbox was a failure anymore. As you can tell from some of the other replies, some people just love living in denial.

  • The guy who started this thread posted the first paragraph in the IGN piece. That first paragraph definitely gives the impression that the 360 is going to fail miserably. However, if you actually read the entire article, you're left with a slightly different impression. Here's the final paragraph.

    Despite Microsoft's rough start, and a lineup that doesn't have a single, clear-cut killer app, this launch is really just the start of a much broader assault. The 25-plus launch window titles are like appetizers

    • Scratch that, the poster didn't quote the first paragraph of the report. It's the first paragraph of page three. Guess I need another cup of coffee. Jeez.

  • Pay more! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Winterblink ( 575267 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2005 @01:32PM (#13714194) Homepage
    "When you connect that Xbox 360 to your HD TV and Dolby 5.1-enabled stereo, you're going to find out just how sophisticated, deep, and fun the box itself is."

    Of course if you preorder and buy the Core System SKU, you won't find out how sophisticated, deep, and fun the box is, because you didn't spend the extra hundred dollar Marketing Tax. Thanks IGN, you're so helpful.
  • Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I personally don't have enough cash to say, use it as toilet paper or smoke it or something. In fact, I'm broke. Kind of limits my choice to the Nintendo Revolution, which you know will be the most affordable one.
  • There really will only be one major factor in xbox's demise. The Blu-Ray. If MS had waited to get HD-DVD into thier box they might have had a fighting chance, without it they are going to go spiraling down hill. There are two major aspects to this speed, streaming is very slow on current-gen DVD's, streaming on te Blu-Ray is 4x-5x faster. For games like GTA that steam with is invaluable. The second is size. With current get dual layer you only get 7 gigs (2 gigs for MS use only). 7 gigs is not muc

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