360 Has Best Launch Lineup Ever? 204
J. Allard had a chat with Edge magazine about the launch lineup of the Xbox 360, and makes the claim that they have the best launch lineup ever associated with a console. He also talks about the overall vision they had for the launch, and how well their expectations are being met. From the article: "I think it's pretty much spot on. I spoke with someone who was very involved in the planning about three years ago - he came over for about five minutes to drop something off and ended up spending three hours looking at all the capabilities of the machine, and he said, 'Son of a gun, if you guys didn't do 95 per cent of the original vision of the machine!' And I looked at him and said, 'Well, what was the other five per cent, what did we drop?' and he said, 'I don't know. I couldn't find it!'"
not saying much (Score:3, Insightful)
"Launch Lineup" includes titles not available (Score:5, Informative)
Some story awhile back detailed this and made the example of "Oblivion" as a launch title, even though it won't be available until 2006.
Spin, spin, spin....
Re:"Launch Lineup" includes titles not available (Score:3, Funny)
MS has stated before that their "launch window" is 14-weeks long. So anything between Nov 20 to about February 18 is available at "launch"!
Really, had they not defined "launch", I would have erroneously assumed that it meant "when it is released".
It isnt spin, theyre just making their own rules. Wow, they really kick ass with their own rules!
Re:"Launch Lineup" includes titles not available (Score:2)
Re:"Launch Lineup" includes titles not available (Score:2)
Re:"Launch Lineup" includes titles not available (Score:2)
Although, I do agree with the premise that gaming is better on a properly built and configured PC than it could ever be on a console.
And yet, no blockbuster games for 2005 (Score:4, Funny)
Re:And yet, no blockbuster games for 2005 (Score:2)
My immediate reaction was to say that the NES or SNES had better launch line-ups: I seem to remember U.N. Squadron, Super R-Type, Gradius 3, and Actraiser being in the launch, with Final Fantasy 4 maybe a month or two down the road for SNES. Hell, many of the best SNES titles were first-generation titles dating at launch or first year.
Re:And yet, no blockbuster games for 2005 (Score:2)
Re:And yet, no blockbuster games for 2005 (Score:2)
Re:And yet, no blockbuster games for 2005 (Score:2)
Re:And yet, no blockbuster games for 2005 (Score:2)
My brother would have given me his orignal Xbox to hack if it had been, but the 360 won't play quite a few of his games (Shenmue II and Nightcaster come to mind) so no Xbox for me.
No. (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember the times when consoles would come with a game that was good enough to play for very very long time before buying a new game?
Re:No. (Score:2)
Re:No. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:No. (Score:2)
Times when games were fun to play for a very very long time? Surely you're from outer space?
Tell us about these times, let us dream with you dear sir!
Re:No. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No. (Score:3, Interesting)
More examples come to mind:
SNES: Super Mario World
Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog etc etc
Now if you buy a console... It doesn't come with a game nor are most of the other games a killer app so to say. I'll admit that even Nintendo has shied away from this practice. I had to purchase Mario DS seperatley and it wasn't even that great of
Re:No. (Score:2)
Re:No. (Score:2)
Re:No. (Score:2)
Those are timeless games, they're simple, and so the development time/costs would've been minor. I think it's a shame so
Re:No. (Score:2)
Re:No. (Score:2)
Perhaps you mean "I percieve E-Prime to be a great thing?" Or, maybe
Re:No. (Score:2)
Re:No. (Score:2)
Re:No. (Score:2)
That came later.
Re:No. (Score:2)
As good as Super Mario Bros. was, however, I'd jump ahead a bit and state that Super Mario World was the best launch title. By this time Nintendo could have sold a ton of copies of it on it's own and incl
Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
And they met their own expectations -- sort of! (Score:2)
Gee whiz! It's nice to know the people involved in XBox planning were so very, very up on their math skills. Now go out there and give the team
Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm still furious that it isn't even backwards compatable with Ultramix 2 or Ultramix 3 which just came out!
How hard is it to be backwards compatable with a simple dancing game?
At least when I buy the PS3 I can play all my DDR games on it the first day!
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:3, Informative)
Kameo. The best 360 launch title is also a great one for female gamers.
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
Having played Kameo, I'm not sure I agree -- just because it features a female protagonist, that doesn't mean it's a game female gamers will enjoy.
Bah. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
It's a shame that good graphics and good playability are a difficult combination to find in modern gaming.
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
The reason that most women don't like video games less to do with theme, setting, graphics or anything like that, and more to do with the fact that most women have lives, and anyone with any kind of objective perspective upon life will be forced to recognize that most games suck.
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
Most decent dance pads come with a USB adapter already these days - so you can use them with the PC and StepMania. At least all the Red Octane pads come with them and the Cobalt Flux has pro
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:3, Insightful)
They did it a hell of a lot more successfully than MS has - 99.5% backward compatibility is good enough, especially when compared to ~25% compatibility (based on about 200 of 800 releases - i think those are close for US release numbers) where titles keep coming and going with promises of 100% compatibility.
Now if Sony does the same thing with PS3, I will be
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
Bingo.
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
I don't like pink. I don't watch Lifetime. I watch the History Channel, the Cartoon Network, and Discovery Channel. I don't play with Barbies.
I play GuildWars, DDR (all kinds), games with strong stories such as Thief III or Deus Ex or No One Lives Forever. I like co-op games like Gauntlet Dark Legacy or Baulder's Gate.
And yes, my spelling is terrible
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
I'm not female though. where I take issue is that you seem to think that games are somehow divided along gender lines.
I would not be caught dead playing Maden.
But what makes "twitch" games, inherently "male"?
As for the pink and bows and barbies comment, I hate to have to say it, but that was sarcasm. I was making fun of you for saying that there are no games aimed at female.
I think that when companies try to target a demographic like that, what they w
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
As for the litmus test comment, the 360 fails my litmus test (for me) but the root of my argument which I'm affraid may have gotten lost was that games shouldn't be inherently "male" or "female".
From her post, it seems I like the same kind of games she does (story based) minus the dance games, and MMO games. Yet
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
Uh, I won't. My sisters don't. My mother doesn't.
I did like the Midnight Club series of racing games due to the trash talk and the whole free roam city aspect, but I despise Goth 3 and Ridge Racer type games... too confined.
Call of Duty? ICK. Where's the story?
Seriously, where are the story games in this lineup? Where are the fun games? Like Whiplash, with the cute fox and rabbit. Like Voodoo Vince with the
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
However, artifically lengthening the game by making you go through all the stages twice *did* suck.
Have you tried Spyro? If you liked Whiplash, you'll probably like Spyro as well.
Re:Still no Ultramix DDR support! (Score:2)
I hate PGR. Style points? Mindlessly memorizing turns through a narrowly defined map? Screw it. I do love Midnight Club III, but that's not on the XBOX 360. I love racing my car up ramps over buildings through the mall and down onto the highway to gain a few seconds of racing time.... I love how Midnight Club III is fairly open ended so you CAN manipulate the map to gain time if you are smart enough to th
Wow. (Score:3, Funny)
Go Spellcheck!
This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:4, Interesting)
Most of the release titles were sequels of solid games (COD, Perfect Dark, EA sports games). These are phenominal launch titles because they are easier to create and already have a fan base.
Case in point: The best release title is Kameo. It is the best adventure game ever to be released with a console spare Mario 64. It doesn't get the press it deserves because it isn't a sequel.
My local Best Buy had every 360 claimed by 6PM on Saturday night (40 people in line), when there wasn't even 40 in line on the launch day.
Re:This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:3, Funny)
Re:This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:2)
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
I think you answered your 2nd line with the 1st...
Re:This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
So what you're saying is that this launch features a bunch of generic, lowest-common-demoninator sequels that appeal to people who have already played the previous versions.
This is a good launch lineup? At best, it will appeal to some of those who already own Xboxes. It will not initiate any interest in anyone beyond that. This is the problem when you have a launch lineup that's mainly a bunch of sports games and sequels.
Good launches always have at least one "must-have" game that shows off what the new system is capable of and/or offers a new gameplay experience. They also have to have most of the popular genres represented. The Xbox 360 has most genres represented (though it's missing a few important ones, like fighting games and RPG's), but it has no must-haves whatsoever. There is nothing in the 360's launch lineup that makes me go "wow! I've never seen anything that cool before, and I have to have it." There's no equivalent to Super Mario or Soul Calibur or even the original Ridge Racer in there (no, RR6 just doesn't carry the same cachet). MS obviously thinks there is in PD0 and CoD2, but these are sequels - they are basically graphical upgrades to previous games that a lot of people have already played. They may have a few gameplay tweaks but the core gameplay is nothing we haven't seen before.
I'd say the 360 launch lineup is middling. It's not the worst ever (go look up something like the Intellivision launch lineup), but there have been better ones, including the PS2, PS1, Coleco Vision, NES, SNES, Game Boy, N64, and Dreamcast. Not all of these systems had the same quantity as the Xbox 360 but they all had at least one game that everybody just had to play, and in some cases they had several.
I don't think the 360 launch lineup will hurt or help the console; I think it will mainly be forgotten about once the next round of games comes out.
Re:This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:2)
Exactly. The 360 launch titles have the same problem as the original Xbox - they're a bunch of mediocre titles that would be the filler games if the console had been out for 1-2 years. The possible exception is PGR3, although not for me. I played PGR once, and while it was pretty, I didn't find it fun at all. At least there's no Azurik this time, but still.
There used to be two
Re:This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:2)
Geometry Wars 1 was the best game I played on the Xbox, I simpled loved it. And the sequal is suppose to be good. If the Xbox 360 cost £100 I would buy one tomorrow just for that little gem!
Re:This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:2)
It is the best adventure game ever to be released with a console spare Mario 64. It doesn't get the press it deserves because it isn't a sequel.
Even if we grant Kameo (which we most certainly do not, we have far better things to grant with our granting stick), you overlook the fact that Mario 64 itself was a launch game!
Indeed, it and Goldeneye, which, while I don't think it was a launch game was pretty close to being one, were responsible for the N64's treme
Re:This won't go over well on slashdot (Score:2)
Sorry for the inaccuracy.
I beg to differ - Dreamcast (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I beg to differ - Dreamcast (Score:2)
Virtua Fighter 3 did not launch with the DC. About a month or so after launch, I believe. Soul Calibur was good. The Sonic game was mediocre at best. Too much of its focus seemed to involved going around, getting those eggs, and raising them on your memory unit. If I wanted a pocket pet thing, I would have bought one!
I'm not saying the Xbox 360 has the best launch lineup, as that's a very subjectiv
next-gen DVD (Score:2, Flamebait)
And that's fine with me. It was expensive to buy all three consoles this generation, not to mention how much sp
Re:next-gen DVD (Score:2)
If Microsoft hadn't designed it to go on the side, why does just about every publicity shot of the unit show it that way? (And the demo pods also have the console vertically).
Other 5% (Score:2)
Seriously. They screwed up bigtime on this one. Among my friends, there is virtually no hype around the 360. As a matter of fact, a lot of us are seeking out older consoles and their representative games. N64 still has the best selection of 4-player games hands-down. Goldeneye, smash, mariokart, marioparty, etc....
Re:Other 5% (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not very familiar with the N64, but I suppose Dreamcast may have a better 4-player lineup:
AeroWings ~ Armada ~ Boku No Tennis Jinsei (JP) ~ Bomberman Online ~ Caesars Palace 2000 ~ Championship Surfer ~ Chu Chu Rocket ~ Cool Herders ~ Dead or Alive 2 ~ ECW Anarchy Rulz ~ ECW Revolution ~ ESPN International Track and Field ~ ESPN NBA 2Night ~ Fur Fighters ~ Gauntlet Legends ~ Giga Wing 2 ~ Golf Shiyouyo (JP
Re:Other 5% (Score:2)
Re:Other 5% (Score:2)
Re:Other 5% (Score:2)
.
I'll post a witty response... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I'll post a witty response... (Score:2)
Not enough genre variety (Score:2, Interesting)
I guess the xbox 360 is great
The Xbox 360 philosophy? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's hard to tell if the 360 will ever live up to this philosophy. Xbox Live and the 360 Marketplace seem to be a big focal point, and I love what they're doing with retro downloadable games (although Nintendo will undoubtedly do it better).
But while Allard's "grand vision" of the Xbox 360 sounds amazing, it's hard for me to imagine Microsoft actually pulling it off. He claims that they're going to attract casual gamers, yet the launch lineup was aimed squarely at the same audience that bought the Xbox 1. He says that Microsoft can change their reputation through their actions, but their actions are only giving us PGR3, Halo 3, PDZ, and Kameo.
Nintendo was able to shift the DS's audience a bit by promoting first-party games like Nintendogs, Brain Training, and Electroplankton, which should open the door to third-party "non-games". But I really can't see Microsoft doing something like that. If Microsoft made a puppy simulator, their core fanbase would go nuts. The only non-games I can imagine MS promoting would be puzzle games and card games, both of which are readily available on the PC. The 360's price point isn't very non-gamer oriented, either. Microsoft can't win over non-gamers by considering them an afterthought.
Microsoft has good intentions, but it they're trying to cover two completely different markets in an attempt to compete with both Sony and Nintendo. Problem is, they can't do it all. One of those markets is being completely ignored, and the 360 will likely end up with the same core audience as the Xbox.
Re:The Xbox 360 philosophy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmm... odd I seem to remember Microsoft and Sony getting into a peeing contest over their specs, and Nintendo being the only one to state that specs didn't matter three months ago.
"Philosophy" of "innovation," no doubt (Score:3, Insightful)
So: Does all the talk about philosophy and innovation match up with the product? If not, you can saf
MS always has philosophies (Score:2)
The x-box was an odd product in that it reached no new homes. It was bought by gamers. Now in itself that is not a problem except that this is not what this vision is all about.
Why does everyone want to get non-gamers to game? Non-gamers don't game because they don't like playing computer
Re:The Xbox 360 philosophy? (Score:2)
You're thinking too narrowly - the RETAIL games are aimed at the traditional Xbox audience. The casual gamer content is sitting right there on the Marketplace, and Bejeweled and friends are filling the casual niche pretty damn well from the word "go". At the Austin Game Conference, MS had a booth all about their "Casual Games". It was pretty much all games on the Ma
Re:The Xbox 360 philosophy? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not going to claim that MS can't earn any casual gamer support, but they've already dug themselves into a bit of a ditch. How are casual gamers going to learn abo
... but one of the worst console launches ever (Score:3, Informative)
Also they sold something between 41.817 and 62.000 units in Japan during the first 2 days while they sold 123.000 XBox1 unit in the first 2 days.
Seems like the XBox360 launch is even worse than that of XBox1.
Re:... but one of the worst console launches ever (Score:2)
Didn't I read somewhere they only had 400k units for NA launch? If so those are pretty good #s.
Re:... but one of the worst console launches ever (Score:2)
This question will not die, Why is it that only AC keep asking it?
Look, for the last time and for the non econ majors in the crowd. What's better: selling damn near all you can produce or having a stockpile of unsold goods? If every day kids & parents are going to walmart asking for 360s and can't get them, MS I wish I had your problem. As long as they refill supplies before the other guys lauch thei
Re:... but one of the worst console launches ever (Score:2)
Best? I don't think so... (Score:3, Interesting)
Hardly any of the 360's launch games are exclusives, those that are exclusive aren't that great and all of the games were clearly rushed out of the door in a desperate attempt to have some games on the shelf for launch. I think in the long run MS will have to concede that getting your console out the door first isn't a good idea when it means leaving a sour taste in the consumer's mouth.
It is a success, unless you ask J. Allard (Score:3, Interesting)
Interviewer: What was the first piece of 360 game software that you played that made you say: "Yes, that's it, that's what we were trying to accomplish"?
J. Allard: Uh - well, in a way it hasn't happened yet, I would say.
Interesting. The most successful console launch ever, hasn't even impressed the guy who architected it.
Later on: These early games? They cut a lot of corners... but don't worry after knocking his own launch twice, But I still think it's the best launch line-up of any console ever. Of course he does!
Dreamcast (Score:2)
hmm (Score:2)
This isn't a movie launch, there isn't infinite supply. Microsoft created around that 500k mark with the rest going towards the Euro launch and the Asian launch.
How many times have you seen people line up outside Best Buy for a console a month after the launch? Every Best Buy in the US had lines of 40+ people by midnight Sunday morning for the 8am re-launch.
These numbers you
It's about the "IT" (Score:2)
Claims (Score:2)
Hey, I don't blame him. It's not like he's biased, or anything. If Edge magazine were to ask me about, say, web-based multiplayer online games, I'll make it a point to mention that BattleMaster [battlemaster.org] is certainly one of the best. And that has nothing to do with the fact that it was made by me or anything...
Hmmm (Score:2)
I think they have to compare it in context, as in which games are exclusive for the xbox360 on launch.
One (more) typo away from funny... (Score:2)
I checked this story more because of the big-ass obvious typo in the headline then out of actual interest.
"360 Has Best Launch Limp Ever?" would have been funnier and perhaps more accurate.
=tkk
Super Mario World is a contender but what about? (Score:2)
Re:Super Mario World is a contender but what about (Score:2)
Re:Super Mario World is a contender but what about (Score:2)
And you download the driver for the game...
And it works in emulation...
There are some very popular Xbox games that don't work on the Xbox 360 (yet).
But yeah, in essence, but the PS2's backwards compatibility is much better than Xbox 360s. We'll have to see how the PS3 will fare.
Xbox360 launches with best ever range of games... (Score:3, Funny)
Nintendo (Score:2)
In fact, I'm very disappointed by the 360 lineup on it's own; I have yet to see any 360 game which goes beyond "slightly better looking version of a game which I've seen before". Apart from minor graphics improvements (shinier cars in PGR3 are _not_ major improvements), the 360 seems to offer nothing new.
Re:Sometimes It Is Better Just To... (Score:5, Interesting)
Over the past week all I have seen is this bald douchebag telling me how games are going to take a "new direction" and microsoft is going to be there for it. The ONLY thing xbox has going for it is xbox live, and that's not all that great.
PLaying a puzzle game to make food for your Halo army? WTF? Does this guy not understand that these types of forced roles have been attempted before? I am not playing ANY game where I might have to handle some remedial task over and over again so my team can win. I'm not talking holding a position that no one comes to for a little while, or distributing healthpacks during a clash - I'm talking Halo: Pizza Puzzle Online. Yeah, that's neato.
Hearing him talk about multi access portals is even worse. Mr. J - have you even thought of the technical requirements for playing in the same game world from a phone, PC, and console? It's called lowest common denominator and it will sink that dream like a stone. You could have multiple different games in the same world on different platforms but that would be the same thing we have today. Way to blow smoke dumb ass.
I have yet to hear a Japanese Third party developer gush over your machine. Mostly I hear corp speak from a rep, not a developer. Not good dude.
You say you're a fan of persistent worlds? Then why did you guys purchase Bungie and change their dream of what HALO was supposed to be, a persistent online fragfest warzone, into a mediocre FPS with no tactical elements to it. Oh, probably because you don't know what your talking about.
This guy even has a writeup in POPSCI magazine about how innovative his console is. Yeah, no hard drive, selective backwards compatability, a release lineup where all the games aren't available yet, and a flawed DESIGN resulting in overheating - innovative in that maybe no one has tried to screw themselves over this hard with a new console release since the Jaguar.
You're publicist called, she says you sound like a moron.
Re:Sometimes It Is Better Just To... (Score:2)
Re:Sometimes It Is Better Just To... (Score:2)
Actually, I have played plenty of it - and I still think it sucks. It's an opinion.
As for Bungie, I never said a bad thing about them, in fact - I think their product got screwed by MS. That's it. I don't have a foul word for them.
Re:Sometimes It Is Better Just To... (Score:3, Interesting)
"The Xbox 360 is the best solution [to delivering the highest quality gaming] at the current time," said Tecmo producer Tomonobu Itagaki.
That would be because it is the only next gen console available at the current time. More a statement of fact than a statement of support.
Capcom producer Keiji Inafune said the console offers plenty of potential, but how much of that gamers get to see depends on how develope
Damn the preview button next to reply button (Score:2)
Mr. Allard misses the point to broading the video game market. They ask him:
Looking at the Revolution, with its controller and game download service, how important is technology like that for growing the market, or is there still room for growth with conventional games?
He then starts talking about the cost of games. As if the cost was the thing preventing more people from picking up the newest console and start gaming. Granted, it some way i
Re:Best System Out Right Now Is... (Score:3, Insightful)