ptholt

The only downside i see to this is Sony's current attitude.

Sonys attitude at the launch of the original playstation was to help developers to give the machine a solid and fast ground base in terms of half decent software.

Unfortunately there attitude with ps2 is 'well everyones going to buy one so you'll have to develop software for it'.

I have many friends in games writing and publishing and several of them are not at all impressed with the ps2 or sony.
Xbox on the other hand they are being given lots of help, assistance etc.

So if xbox comes to market with much more games which almost definately will have better graphics capability (when you look at geforce 3 which is what xbox will get albeit heavily customised) i think its xbox will do well.
Plus what may be interesting to watch is whether many back catalogue pc games get xbox friendly releases, and whether the xbox can produce 'quickie' arcade style games that the consoles do so well.

Bajie

And PS3 is already under develpment.
Allegedly ...

DazV

Hideo Kojima is the most influential force in games development today. He talks, you listen. So when he weighs up two next gen consoles, you pay attention

Xbox is not the powerhouse Microsoft is leading you to believe. Kojima says so. In an interview with MSNBC, arguably the best known developer on earth has confirmed that the differences between Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Xbox really aren’t as pronounced as you might think if you’re in the habit of taking Sony and Microsoft company pills.

"I don’t think that Xbox is that much better than PlayStation 2. Other than little improvements in graphics, I don’t expect much difference," said Kojima.

Blow Dog

Its very vague.

Having said that, however, when have graphics taken precedence over gameplay? A console is only the platform, the developers will dictate the magic for it.

If X-Box has the support, then it will succeed.

Cem

DazV

Blow Dog,

For it to succeed it needs killer apps. Killer Apps for consoles come from Japan on the whole. The Japanese developers have already expressed concern over X-Box and have comitted only limited resources to it.

With the news from Kojima that is isn't that much more powerful than PS2, then I think it'll end up as a platform for PC ports like Quake, Half-Life and Unreal - all the games I hate.

X-Box = PC Ports.



[This message has been edited by DazV (edited 09 April 2001).]

DazV

Doesn't matter how easier it is to write for, X-Box will suffer cos it'll be dominated by PC ports.

All the quality comes from Japan, with a few exceptions and the Japanese are reluctant to develope for it.

MS are desperate to do well in Japan - Bill Gates even went there for the Tokyo Game Show.

ptholt

you missed my point tho dazv, companies are being offered incentives to develop for xbox and the same companies are being given assistance and help in developing titles on xbox, if companies are struggling with psx2 (which they are) which platform do you think most companies will turn to ?

The one thats easier and is offering incentives to do so methinks, UNLESS Sony can bring out an incentive that will put ps2's in peoples homes at the same sort of rate that the original playstation did, cos if that happens xbox will be hamstrung.

As for japan producing all the quality games i disagree a little there. Who wrote the base programs on playstation 1 launch ?
a company in liverpool did both wipeout and destruction derby, two out of the four initial titles that prompted take off.
Granted Japan brings out mega stuff like mgs2 and gran turismo, but having worked for Sega i can honestly say that for every good title theres about 50 that dont even make it to a release stage over here.

Plus sega is developing for xbox so that'll make things interesting.

The xbox will being fans from consols wanting to play pc style games that have more depth and longevity.

I'm not particularly biased as to what happens and when, I own all the current consoles on the market (including defunct dreamcast) as well as playing on pc's, but i do find if i have a quick 10 mins to kill i'll play on a console.
If im babysitting for the evening i'll play on the pc for a much longer (and sometimes) harder game.

I do find console games are deliberately written so that they can be finished fairly easily just in time for the next release.
A good example of this is star wars starfighter on ps2, really nice game but over very quickly. I found the mgs2 demo very easly as well, maybe im just getting old for all this hehehe.

DazV

I still think ultimately the X-Box won't get the crucial support from Japan, which in my view will leave it struggling for 2nd (or 3rd behind Nintendo) place.

As for developers finding it easy to write for - thats the problem - it'll be deluged with a sea of mediocre rubbish JUST like the PC. I can almost feel those crappy microsoft joypads now. Yeuch!

By the time the X-Box's first killer apps come along from who knows where, the PS2 will be onto its 2nd or 3rd generation games and the price of the PS2 will have tumbled.

I guess we'll agree to disagree.

-DazV

DazV

Capcom and Enix are the latest to express doubts on Xbox's success in Japan.
Speaking with MSNBC, Capcom vice president and game legend Yoshiki Okamoto said, "I won't say that Microsoft has no chance [of succeeding in Japan]. It has a slight chance, but it is a very tiny opportunity."

"I have two concerns about Xbox," Keiji Honda, president and COO of Enix Corporation, told MSNBC. "My first concern is that it is being designed and marketed by Microsoft, and my second concern is that it will be compatible with Windows. Most of the [game] developers for Xbox are PC game publishers. I believe that PC games and console games should be different, and I don't know if Japanese gamers will be interested in playing PC games on a console."

ptholt

What i reckon will happen is that sony will drop the price of the ps2 in a huge blaze of publicity probably around the launch of xbox.

you misread me when i said the xbox was hard to program, it isnt. I was saying the psx2 is.

I'm not really disagreeing as such, i'll play on anything, im a computer gaming *****
But i foresee the xbox doing very well IF they can cross the barrier between 'console game' and 'pc game'.

I know of many gamers put off the pc by the cost, the hassle (getting patches etc) downloading and installing drivers. So if Microsoft produce something that literally plugs in and runds, i do think there'll be a fairly large take up.

The only catch being if pc technology keeps moving as fast as it has, the hardware in xbox will be out of date in its first quarter, unless the mgihty MS can make them hold back.

Plus we have gamecube to contend with, though i have to say, its a pig ugly thing! and theres very little in the way of appetitie whetting being placed for it.