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XBox (Games) Microsoft

Game Studio Flight From Microsoft A Sign of Troubles? 122

Posted by Zonk from the watch-out-for-the-stingers dept.
Newsweek's LevelUp blog continues to produce some highly interesting material. Today they have up a look at the 'flight' of game studios from Microsoft's corporate umbrella. BioWare's purchase by EA distances it a bit from their cosy relationship with Microsoft, as does Bizarre's purchase by Activision. Bungie's departure from the company itself goes without saying. So what does all this mean? Is this a sign of troubles in Redmond, or just more fallout from the huge undertaking required to get the Xbox 360 to the position it has today? "For us, the flight of the Killer B's is a clear indication that Microsoft as a whole is still shell shocked not only by the massive losses in the Xbox division, but also more importantly by the poor showing of Rare, which has to rank as not only one of the Microsoft's least successful purchases, but as quite possibly the worst acquisition in the history of gaming. Microsoft paid $375 million in cash for Rare, and based on the modest revenues from its ensuing titles--a Conker's Bad Fur Day remake, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero and Viva Pinata--all they've got to show for it is that proverbial lousy T-shirt, completely stained with red ink."
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Game Studio Flight From Microsoft A Sign of Troubles? More

Game Studio Flight From Microsoft A Sign of Troubles?

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  • Bioware? Bizarre? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by EveryNickIsTaken ( 1054794 ) on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:17PM (#20986083)
    Since when was either Studio owned by Microsoft? This is such a fluff piece for a slow gaming "news" week.
    • The Bioware part is more than likely refrencing EA's less than great relationship with MS. Bioware's done alot of exlusive RPG's for the xbox and now with EA pulling the strings it may become a major issue. As for Bizarre, PGR4 is their last game of the series since MS owns the rights.

      • As for Bizarre, PGR4 is their last game of the series since MS owns the rights.
        Until you get Project Metropolis Racing. Good-bye Batman; hello Superman.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by gorbachev ( 512743 )
      Both companies had an exclusive publishing agreement with Microsoft Game Studios and were developing games only for the XBox and Xbox 360 platform.

      Both companies will now be able to develop for other platforms as well.
      • only if/when EA ponies up a big wad of cash to buy off MS's publishing rights. Any development so far would have been done with XBox as a target, so they may still be released on XBox first.
      • Why, because when you get bought out all your existing contracts are voided? There was serious cash that changed hands for such agreements, and special access to resources. That's not coming without a contract that doesn't go away because you got bought out by EA.

    • Re:Bioware? Bizarre? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tbannist ( 230135 ) on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:33PM (#20986317)
      No, it's definitely not a fluff piece. It's overanalyzing a trend of 3 items. And the point isn't that Bioware and Bizarre were owned by MS, but that they had close partnerships with MS and were making the games that sell 360s.

      If they go platform neutral that's a large blow to Microsoft's Third Party development and the release of Bungie is a huge blow to Microsoft's internall developed games. Overwall it reflects poorly on the 360s continued success. It might be a blip or it might be the first signs of major trouble in Microsoft's games department.

      To put it more bluntly, the idea is that if Microsoft were on the ball and interested in developing first part titles for the 360, they would have kept Bungie and bought both Bioware and Bizarre. As it is now, they are leaving themselves very much at the mercy of their third party games developers. Hoping that they will stick with the Xbox line of products. If the PS3 ever surpasses the Xbox in sales (I know, not terribly likely at this time), they could end up royally screwed.

      • Re:Bioware? Bizarre? (Score:5, Informative)

        by powerlord ( 28156 ) on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:50PM (#20986571) Journal
        You're right, it might be over-analyzing the trend (based on the number of points). It does look at an overlooked part of the picture though.

        Nintendo has lots of development companies inhouse and exlusive ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_developers [wikipedia.org] ).

        Even Sony has been pretty consistent about maintaining worldwide developer studios ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Computer_Entertainment#Internal_organization [wikipedia.org] ). Leaving aside studios like Insomniac Games (Resistance:Fall of Man, Ratchet & Clank Series) who have "Close ties" to the studio.

        MicroSoft has a much smaller stable of inhouse (and related) development companies ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Games#In-house_studios [wikipedia.org] ). They also have the split focus of providing games for the XBox 360, and providing games for Vista (though this is not mentioned). Any decrease in the inhouse development obviously puts more reliance on outside development, and as more and more games (especially from developers like EA) go cross-platform, its those in-house developers that help provide differentiation between competing products (all else being equal).

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rtb61 ( 674572 )
          A hint of an upcoming buying spree by M$ as they target a range of mid level game publishers with a diverse spread of in house game titles. The only way M$ will ever get a dominant range of xbox only game titles is to buy them, because there is one thing software developers have definitely learned, do not trust M$. So which major publishers will be the M$ targets for acquisition. Likely they will pursue the bread and butter titles, like the board game translations etc. (family gaming).

          • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

            by Anonymous Coward
            What the hell are you talking about?

            It is close to two years into the 360's life. Microsoft isn't buying ANYONE. They just let their entire first party line up of developers go multiplatform outside of their basket case of a dev Rare.

            With break even on the hardware losses being pushed back year after year before the 1.1 billion dollar RRoD fiasco and multiple Microsoft execs having made it clear over the past few years that bleeding cash is something that will no longer be tolerated for the Xbox mess, Micro

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tim C ( 15259 )
        If the PS3 ever surpasses the Xbox in sales (I know, not terribly likely at this time)

        You can say that again. I've not looked for a couple of months, but the last time I checked prices here in the UK I could be an XBox 360 *and* a Wii for less than I could get a PS3. I know cost isn't everything, but *damn*.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by antek9 ( 305362 )
          While it is obvious that you indeed haven't checked prices for a while: thanks for letting us know that it was (or still is?) cheaper to get a defective-by-design console *and* a last-gen system for less money than a premium next-gen powerhouse.

          The point is: the 360 *and* the Wii are already on the decline, technically and software-wise, while the Playstation 3 is still warming up. The latter is the system with the most stuff up its sleeves, and Sony sure are patient guys. The system sellers are not out ye
      • the release of Bungie is a huge blow to Microsoft's internall developed games

        No, not at all. They were always independant within the company and MS still owns a large chunk of their equity. No don't expect to see Marathon on the PS anytime soon.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ECMIM ( 946033 )
      Actually, the point is simply that MS is losing a lot of devs that were exclusive to them, content-wise, for the past 5 years, and are responsible for some of their biggest sellers (even if they own PGR, losing the dev isn't exactly something to be happy about.)

  • Don't dis (Score:3, Funny)

    by Jeremiah Cornelius ( 137 ) * on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:18PM (#20986099) Homepage Journal
    !Viva Pinata!

    That's the only reason my boy swaps the XBox on, in place of the Wii.

    We are a market of ONE!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cheeko ( 165493 )
      Make that 2. My room mate have been playing on and off for a few months now (and we're in our 20's). Its a great game for sitting down for 20 minutes and blowing off a little steam.

    • !Viva Pinata!

      That's the only reason my boy swaps the XBox on, in place of the Wii.

      Your boy might also like Animal Crossing, a GameCube game with a lot of the same ideas. It works fine on a Wii, and a native Wii version is rumored to be in the works.

      X [] O [uncyclopedia.org]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by radish ( 98371 )
      VP is awesome, first I got hooked then my wife did. One of those well reviewed but strangely under appreciated gems.

  • The story behind Rare? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by lpangelrob ( 714473 ) on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:20PM (#20986123)
    What happened with Rare? I remember when Nintendo announced that it had let Rare go from 2nd party Nintendo developer to Microsoft exclusive developer. I figured that would be the "white flag" moment for Nintendo.

    They took with them the underrated Conker's Bad Fur Day series, anything Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie (I think)... arguably the best games development studio behind Nintendo itself. What happened?
    • Rare had been making increasingly crappy games for Nintendo even before they left the fold. Star Fox Adventures was an atrocious pile of crap.

    • Re:The story behind Rare? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by twistedsymphony ( 956982 ) on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:30PM (#20986275) Homepage

      They took with them the underrated Conker's Bad Fur Day series, anything Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie (I think)... arguably the best games development studio behind Nintendo itself. What happened?
      They neglected to take with them most of the developers that made those titles so great... IIRC most of the core staff behind Rare in the Nintendo days now work under Free Radical which hasn't done much beyond the "Timesplitters" series, though not a blockbuster franchise, it's certainly more well received than Rares offerings over the last 5 years. They're also the ones behind the upcoming game: Haze...

      When Microsoft bought rare, all they really bought was the name and some semi-popular franchses. Honestly the games they've made for the DS have probably made MS more money than the Xbox branded stuff they're put out. I'd be impressed if they've even as much as made half of the original investment back at this point.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Fozzyuw ( 950608 )

        the "Timesplitters" series, though not a blockbuster franchise, it's certainly more well received than Rares offerings over the last 5 years.

        Sadly, TimeSplitters was and still is an excellent game series. The game play matches, or not passes, that of GoldenEye for the N64 and the story was super fun and humorous. Sadly, I never meet many people who knew this, despite them saying how much they loved GoldenEye.

        Cheers,
        Fozzy

        • Getting off-topic but FWIW I was (and still am) a fan of the Timesplitters series. I remember back when I first got an Xbox I picked up Timesplitters 2 and loved it, I never even bought Halo. Of course I could never find anyone willing to play a few rounds with me as everyone was more interested in Halo. The TS series does truly follow in the footsteps of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.

          Perfect Dark Zero, despite being developed by a completely different staff, actually does capture a lot of the spirit of Gol

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Kelbear ( 870538 )
            Something to note is that Perfect Dark 2 is underway with rumors of a late 2008 release.

            I agree that PDZ's controls were poor and the core flaw of this launch title. What I don't get, is why this was allowed to happen. Halo is an MS franchise and Bungie was MS-owned at the time. Shadowrun's console controls were stellar because they were taken directly from Halo 2. Why didn't they carry over the same aiming scheme from Halo like they did for Shadowrun? Or was PDZ's failure the lesson that taught them to bri
            • What I don't understand is why MS doesn't utilize Rare to make Killer Instinct 3 or another Banjoe Kazooee platformer, heck a new Jet Force Gemini would be well well received too.

              Honestly, looking at the genres where the Xbox 360 is lacking... Platformers and Fighting games come to mind.

              This is their competitor's biggest advantage right now. Nintendo obviously has platformers on lock, Sony's got great franchises like Rachet&Clank, Jax&Dexter, God of War, etc. What does MS have? Kameo could hav
    • Here is how I called in 2002 and I'm sticking with my statement! [gamezero.com]

      You can read the whole post there, but in short I closed with: "While I hate to see a core group from Nintendo go over to the hands of the soulless boys and girls of Microsoft... deep down I almost hope that Rare actually continues it's pitiful slide into the hole of mediocrity and takes MS with them... but that would be hoping for to much I guess."

      Or you can read one of my many posts on the subject [slashdot.org] on this very site.

      Maybe that's actually playi

  • Microsoft paid $375 million in cash for Rare, and based on the modest revenues from its ensuing titles . . . all they've got to show for it is that proverbial lousy T-shirt, completely stained with red ink
    They seemed to do pretty well when they were playing nice with Nintendo. I wonder what is it Nintendo was doing for Rare that Microsoft isn't, or what Microsoft is doing that Nintendo didn't.

    • Re:Rareware (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Sciros ( 986030 ) on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:42PM (#20986457) Journal
      Nintendo made them DO STUFF. I remember reading something in 2001 where Rare complained that Nintendo was "working them too hard" or something along those lines. Well, at least they had something to show for it. And by "something" I mean games that set new standards in their respective genres, from Goldeneye for FPS's to KI for fighters to DKC for side-scrolling platformers, and everything in-between. Rare kept the N64 afloat because their games were semi-frequent and they all were pure awesome.

      Now it seems Rare has gotten lazy, and MS let that happen. Nintendo's probably been laughing their butts off at all this. AS IF Rare could have made $375 mil for Nintendo if they'd been this lazy releasing games for GCN.
      • They weren't all awesome. Jet Force Gemini sucked ass.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Sciros ( 986030 )
          Sacrilege. JFG is rightly considered one of the most underrated games of all time. The music alone is tremendously good, right up there with DKC and DKC2.
      • MS bought the company. Many people who made Rare jumped ship for Free Radical. It's dicey buying game companies. If the talent doesn't like you...well...your humped.

    • Re:Rareware (Score:4, Insightful)

      by badasscat ( 563442 ) <basscadet75NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Monday October 15, 2007 @03:09PM (#20986919)
      They seemed to do pretty well when they were playing nice with Nintendo. I wonder what is it Nintendo was doing for Rare that Microsoft isn't, or what Microsoft is doing that Nintendo didn't.

      And yet there was a reason Nintendo was willing to part with them. Remember, Rare was not an independent company - MS bought them from Nintendo.

      Rare's output was dropping for years before the sale. In their last three years of development for Nintendo, they released five home console games: Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Starfox Adventures. Of those, only Perfect Dark could be called a legitimate hit. (DK64 sold well as a pack-in game, but it wasn't what you'd call a top quality game.)

      A lot of people were pretty shocked at the price MS paid for them. This isn't just a 20/20 hindsight thing - many people said at the time that it was a dumb purchase. There were some hardcore hopefuls who thought otherwise, but this was not a purchase that was universally praised at the time.

      And while this doesn't really apply to a studio like Bungie that's buying themselves, whenever one publisher is all too willing to dump a development studio onto another publisher, you have to ask yourself why. It's always a big red flag, and it seems obvious now that Nintendo knew something that MS didn't. Not about how to run Rare, but about how far Rare had really fallen.

  • Was M$ forcing them to make new games vista only? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Joe The Dragon ( 967727 ) on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:33PM (#20986311)
    Was M$ forcing them to make new games vista only? and the game coders do not want to piss of people who still have XP.
    • This was actually what I was wondering. DirectX10 could be the problem as well. Vista so far seems quite unpopular and forcing gamers to it isn't going making anyone happy.

  • So? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by coolhandlucas ( 1174225 )
    Microsoft failed to keep first- and third-party developers happy? THAT'S news ... The BioWare thing is a tragedy, but lack of console exclusivity is the least of my worries there. I don't care what console it comes out for, if I see "EA Games Presents Mass Effect 2009" I'm getting out the torches. The Rare deal was a stupid decision that was more about keeping the brand away from Nintendo, and it's old news anyway. As a fan of Bungie since the first Marathon, I am absolutely ecstatic that they're going in
  • That about says it all. Does Microsoft still own Newsweek?

  • Xbox Losing Money? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Cheeko ( 165493 ) on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:43PM (#20986469) Homepage Journal
    This article came off very strange. It seems like trying to create a story out of nowhere.

    Last I heard MS was already making a profit on the 360, due to the cost coming down quicker than expected. Yes they took that billion dollar charge, but as I understand it each one sold is still profit at this point.

    Add onto that some pretty killer titles in the last year and MS has made some cash. Halo3 alone would offset any losses in the last year I would assume. (Short of the charge).

    If you read the statement Bungie released on their website it sounds more like what MS did was pull lots of companies into the fold, in order to foster the growth of its image as a gaming company. Now that they've established their beachhead, they can let those companies go sink or swim on their own merits.

    I think Rare is the perfect example of why MS is letting the studios go (though still in publishing agreements for many of them). With a good partner relationship MS doesn't take on the risk of a studio starting to turn out poor quality product. At the same time, its become a large enough, established enough player, that those publishers will pay attention to MS, even if they aren't subsidiaries.
    • MS projected they would finally make a profit by the last quarter of the year- that was however only before the massive cost of the extended warrenty.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by king-manic ( 409855 )
      Last I heard MS was already making a profit on the 360, due to the cost coming down quicker than expected. Yes they took that billion dollar charge, but as I understand it each one sold is still profit at this point.

      You heard wrong. The billion dollar allocation for RRD problems with the existing retail models pushed their possibility of profitability into 2008. Each machine is sold at a profit but the division itself is still in the red due to warranty issues. If you factor in the extended RR of D warrant

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Cheeko ( 165493 )
        Yeah, but I made a specific point of talking outside the bounds of the charge. In corporate terms you write the charge off once and then operate based on profitability and margin past that quarter. While the overall cost of R&D + the charge won't be payed off until 2008, as long as the system remains profitable on each sale, that investment will eventually be paid for. Admittedly it means in a year instead of today, but they are still turning a profit on the systems (I'd call that gaining money, even

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by powerlord ( 28156 )
          Yes, but as you point out:

          Nobody seemed to read into MS's decisions to acquire and spin off PC studios, and that was all because MS is in a singular place in the PC gaming market.

          The reason this is interesting is because the console market is NOT like the PC market where "MS is in a singular place".
          There is actual competition in the market, and exclusive titles (usually developed by in-house publishers), is one of the key differentiators between one console and another.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Cheeko ( 165493 )
            I'd argue that only Nintendo tends to do most of its exclusives out of in house shops. Most of the major Sony exclusives aren't Sony shops, they are simply partners that Sony set up publishing agreements with. Which is the same situation MS is in with Bungie and a few other independent companies.

            Partnering and software alliance are VERY common in the Enterprise market, a market MS knows all too well.

            I just see this as MS applying much more of a software/IT market philosophy to its gaming division.

            As any H
            • Interesting idea, but you do realize that, traditionally, MS, being on the software side has always owned many of its own important completer apps (Windows, Office, MS-SQL, Dev Studio), so its interesting to see them take the other approach in this case. It implies a different culture, as well as an awareness of a different situation (although arguably the Windows monopoly on x86 could be argued as comparable to a hardware platform such as that from HP, or IBM).

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by fwarren ( 579763 )
        The truth is. There is NO proof that any of the XBox-360's that Microsoft is selling at a "profit" have the overheating causing the board to warp and chips to pop fixed. The red ring of death is still very real. Microsoft may have been very nice extending the warranty on the boxes that are already out there. But they have done nothing to really fix the overheating issues. The one billion write off will be consumed by repairs. Those old units will continue to break, even after the warranty period is over. T

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Kelbear ( 870538 )
          The shrink from 90nm to 65nm on the processor may have little to no effect since the design flaw is in the X-clamp on the GPU. The new repair service that went in hand with the warranty extension involves an installation of a new heatpipe on the GPU. So there is something being done, but in a passive form, rather than an active product recall. That's what supposed to fix the issue, the idea of the new Falcon chip solving the RROD was pure speculation, and as parent has mentioned there is NO proof. Not even
          • Nice to know I can think about getting a 360 during the Holiday Season 2008 (three years after launch), and hopefully get a stable hardware platform. :/

            I'm glad neither Sony or Nintendo are taking lessons in hardware development from MS.
            • Nice to know I can think about getting a 360 during the Holiday Season 2008 (three years after launch), and hopefully get a stable hardware platform. :/

              even then only on their top of the line model. As well there is some FUD about the halo package being the falcon chip. It's not. Neither is any retail unit in the system right now.
    • Also, is Viva Pinata doing poorly? I was under the impression that, while Rare had a few bombs after Microsoft acquired them, Kameo was pretty good and Viva Pinata is pretty excellent.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MenTaLguY ( 5483 )
        The problem is that Microsoft decided not to advertise Viva Pinata, in favor of spending their advertising budget on e.g. Gears of War and Halo 3. It's a good game, but most people haven't even heard of it, and correspondingly stores didn't exactly give it priority for shelf space either.
        • Don't they have a Saturday morning cartoon which is basically nothing but advertising for the game? Not that I watch Saturday morning cartoons, for all I know it was canceled after one episode...

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by DeepHurtn! ( 773713 )
      One (potential) quarter of profitability does not come *close* to touching the $7B+ losses they have incurred over the lifetime of the Xbox project. From a business perspective, the Xbox has been a disaster for MS. The shareholders should be in revolt; MS has been pissing away *their* money, and the stock price over the last 10 years reflects that. I mean, a billion here and a billion there, and all of a sudden you're talking about *real* money, even for MS.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Shadowlore ( 10860 )
      it sounds more like what MS did was pull lots of companies into the fold, in order to foster the growth of its image as a gaming company. Now that they've established their beachhead, they can let those companies go sink or swim on their own merits.

      And how is this demonstrative of good behavior?

      Seriously, what you are describing is essentially the use of other companies' mojo, name, ability, image, etc. until said attribute was ascribed to MS, then let the used up company go "sink or swim" after taking thei
      • Hasn't this been obvious from the beginning? microsoft has been trying forever to take over the living room and extend the windows monopoly. It's too bad, because FIFA and Winning Eleven are easily the best on xbox, but no way I'm going to support the end of digital entertainment freedom represented by microsoft as a leader in the video game/set top box market. As bad as Sony is there's nothing they can do that would be as horrible as what would happen if this generation of consoles ends with microsoft i
        • Not to mention that Sony has actually been the most open of the three consoles this generation.
          • Standard USB-drive/Thumb-drive connectivity (or standard memory card format support on most models) for loading/saving music/pictures/video, and for moving saved games around.
          • Standard Bluetooth connectivity for wireless controllers.
          • Standard user upgradable SATA hard-drive.
          • Standard HDMI port built in (no funky, overpriced, Sony proprietary adapter needed).
          • Standard DLNA/uPnP support for streaming from any DLNA/uPnP
  • The games Rare made for Nintendo were some of the only playable non-Nintendo titles on the N64. Rare certainly benefited from having access to Nintendo's characters and Nintendo benefited from having a studio which could competently create a playable game. I'm looking at you Namco and Capcom. After the break-up there were too few good games on the Gamecube and this article tells you everything you need to know about Rare's post Nintendo success.
  • The goal behind Microsoft isn't simply to do business as its primary feat of social engineering.

    Subversion of the masses through electronic drugs is the primary goal. If Microsoft dies, then it will be replaced by some other machine designed to make people dumb and slow and distracted.

    I'm sure all the MS employees, however, don't see it this way. But they're just expendable cogs in the works of a greater force.

    Among the best things I ever did for myself was to throw out my television set, to stop playing
    • That's fun, you go eat your leaves and enjoy what you think is interesting.

      Don't go drawing silly conspiracy theories and backhandedly painting yourself as superior simply because you don't enjoy things that other people do.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Fantastic Lad ( 198284 )
        Don't go drawing silly conspiracy theories and backhandedly painting yourself as superior simply because you don't enjoy things that other people do.

        Silly? I'm just looking at the results of the forces which have been playing upon society and drawing conclusions which, yes, I believe do infer intent, though not probably from the standard sectors people might assume. --But wherever it stems from, the old patterns still work; Bread and circuses, and all that. And even in the event that there is no delibera

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by biovoid ( 785377 )

      Healthy food I agree with completely, but there are quality television shows and videogames that don't turn your brain to mush. I'd prefer to be selective about what entertainment I consume, rather than completely cutting out entire mediums of entertainment which, if used properly, can be great sources of education and self-improvement. To follow your own drug metaphor, it looks like you were forced to go "cold-turkey", because you were unable to manage them any other way.

      The videogames and television show

      • Healthy food I agree with completely, but there are quality television shows and videogames that don't turn your brain to mush. I'd prefer to be selective about what entertainment I consume, rather than completely cutting out entire mediums of entertainment which, if used properly, can be great sources of education and self-improvement. To follow your own drug metaphor, it looks like you were forced to go "cold-turkey", because you were unable to manage them any other way.

        Well, I'll concede a point here. .
    • ...bodily fluids as well?

  • Nonsense (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ThirdPrize ( 938147 )
    More like 3 stories makes a conspiracy. How many of those companies were EXCLUSIVELY with M$? One maybe? Sounds like PS3 scaremongering.
    • What makes you think it's ps3 scaremongling? Sony's lost a few exclsusives to multiplatform, but MS lost entire companies, some of which made the games that made the xbox worth owning in the first place.

      I think all 3 are is rough shape. Sony can't seem to generate the sales, MS is bleeding cash due to design decisions and now close companies jumping ship, and nintendo can't seem to stop releasing wiimote addons nor can it seem to really come up with concepts that fully utilize it's controller. Toss i
  • Bring back Jet-Pac !

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