“For the software publishing industry, video games are a numbers game. And for now, Microsoft is on the losing end. That’s the upshot from the Electronics Entertainment Expo, the game industry’s main trade show, where new games for Microsoft’s Xbox have largely been limited to “me too” titles–games already appearing on other consoles. Microsoft has said it expects to have more than 200 games for the Xbox by the end of the year, but less than two dozen of those will be exclusive Xbox titles from third-party publishers.” Read the story at ZDNews.
Is Microsoft Losing the Console Game?
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
To be more specific about the ending points in the article:
MS has $30+ billion in cash; one would think that they could easily fund a half-dozen or so XBox-exclusive game development shoppes and produce unique games to show-off the XBox.
What makes for a compelling game experience anyhow?
Does the X-Box have anything of an edge that makes it worthy to even be discussed?
I speak as someone who has not played it, so I merely want to know.
Peace.
I thought that was the whole idea. I mean, I thought MS *had* bought a bunch of game publishers.
And before the release, MS was yapping about “how easy it was to port” games to the XBOX and how it was so “developer friendly”. It is funny that all ported titles are not from the PC game market, but rather from the PS2 market… and even PC games that got ported got ported to PS2 first. IF YOU CAN’T PROGRAM FOR THE PS2, YOU PROBABLY DON’T BELONG IN THE GAME MAKING BUSINESS. LOL
What is also funny is how capcom’s exclusive title was a port! At least in Japan, Onimusha 2 for PS2 came out about a week after Onimusha 1.1 for the Xbox.
I think if MS does have $30 billion + in cash, they should just buy SONY. LOLOLOLOLOL
if microsoft would do one simple thing it could change the landscape entirely…
lower the barrier for entry into the console market for new developers
i know thats unheard of in the console world… but hey, ms is still mainly a software company …
why not make a free sdk for the x-box available for download from msdn?
and give a free licence for producing games?
if theyre afraid of all their licencing fees drying up they could always provide more functionality in their main kits and keep charging
i feel this would #1 make it easier for new programmers to enter the market as professionals
#2 bring more titles to their console… which would make it more appealing in general
#3 possibly give people a reason to like them instead of hate them
i know it will never happen… i know… but i can always dream
One thing the author doesnt tell you though. Is that ports from other systems look better and play better on Xbox. Most have additional levels, characters and features.
Plus the exclusives coming to Xbox the two dozen or so this year alone are some of the best games around. No other console has achieved this sort of thing in such a short timeframe.
Spiderman for example is best played on the Xbox as anyone who has played it will tell you.
i hope they die in this area. there is no way they can use the embrace and extend method here.
I really have to disagree with this article, it seems like MS bashing for the sake of it. Usually I wouldn’t mind of course.
But the XBox has a number of exclusive titles due out for it that aren’t ports. Blinx is an incredibly original game from the creator of sonic the hedgehog that lets you pause, rewind or fast forward time, something only possible with the XBox hard drive. The trick is your character is unaffected by the time changes – very neat, shows promise, so much so that it could just become the XBox mascot character ala sonic and mario. Then there is Tao Feng, a very promising looking new fighter with a number of different ideas (no rounds for one) from one of the co-creators of mortal kombat that looks excellent. And that’s just the start. Really, I’m no big MS fan, just like most of the world, but the XBox is a quality piece of kit with a number of excellent games out and due.
If your not a gamer you might believe this artical,
if u want to find out the truth watch the zdnet video reports on E3. Read the gamespot, gamepy or ign reports on e3. All gave microsoft “best of show” with heaps of great content and sony comming a slight second with not much exciting.
Check out the demo videos .. this artical was obviously paid for by sony because no other artical says anything similar.
Glenn
i don’t happen to be a hardcore gamer, nor do i like ms much. i have dabbled with all 3 main systems( gamecube, ps2, exbox) at stores and didn’t get to play very indepth, but for me, i wasn’t stunned when i saw the xbox, it was nice enough, but nothin great, the controller was too big and the box itself was very large. the game play was fine, but again, i wasn’t blowen away. it just seems that the majority of console buyers don’t need to worry that, on a technical level the xbox has better graphics cause only hardcore gamers notice.
First off it is easier to port games to xbox from the pc then to ps2. Secondly it is very developer friendly (it uses the same language that most developers use for pc, where as ps2 uses asembly).
“IF YOU CAN’T PROGRAM FOR THE PS2, YOU PROBABLY DON’T BELONG IN THE GAME MAKING BUSINESS.”
Interesting quote since even sony owned program houses (psygnosis to name one) have mentioned how hard it is to program for ps2. Because of the retardedly steep learning curve (inherent when your using a language never meant to make 3d objects) companies won’t be completely comfortable programming for it until its ready to be replaced (fall of 2004 in japan).
Lastly onimusha is a horrible title to mention. The original came out for ps2 a full year before the xbox launched (hell they were over half done with the sequel before they started working on the port for xbox). Add to that the fact that japanese developers are dragging their feet on making xbox games (many feel threatened because its the first american console with a decent chance of being a contender since the pre-nes days). If you want to make relevent observations you should use a market that is a more level playing field (europe or the americas). Doing that shows that the next generation of titles (and this generation) that will be cross platform will be ready for both at about the same time (spiderman, tony hawk, madden, sega sports line, etc.). Add to that the fact that sega one of the best 3rd party publishers (in the opinion of many major magazines) is splitting its major releases between ps2 and xbox (with the cube gaining just the family orientated games for the most part). Of course to see all of that you 1.) can’t be biased towards japanese games (for years consolers have played them for the most part), 2.) you can’t hate ms (or at least be able to put that aside and see this objectively), and 3.) must realize that sales trends are making japan just another market, not the main market (if you look at growth and total sales north america is now a much larger market). But even many hard core american gamers still look to japan when it comes to games, even if most japanese publishers still look at non-japanese markets as an afterthought.
No one can be surprised by this article. The only news sources still under the delusion that MS ever had any chance are the financial press.
There never was a console ‘war.’ Sony won the current console cycle three years ago. You would have know that a long time ago if you read something other than teamxbox and Usenet posts for your console info.
Hopefully MS will wake up and either kill the turd or turn to the pc game market where gamers give a shit about them.
As long as they just go away. We’re in a tremendous console boom with the PS2 and GameCube and it is tiresome to have to constantly read about:
Why the XBox really isn’t dead.
Why the XBox controller really isn’t that bad.
Why everything is all part of MS’s grand scheme to take over the console market – the first step clearly is to fail miserably and become the laughing stock of the console world.
Why MS is just about to have a big surprise that will have PS2 and GameCube owners tossing their consoles in the garbage.
The endless supply of dopes who constantly write “You can’t ever count out Bill Gates”
The endless suplly of dopes who constantly write “But you forget, MS has 40 billion in the bank…”
“Just wait for next E3”
“Just wait for next Christmas”
“Just wait for next E3”
“Just wait for next Christmas”
“Just wait for next E3”
“Just wait for next Christmas”
…
The Dreamcast crowd was never this bad.
this has always been my point. the xbox may have a better graphics engine, but, you can only make a tv screen look so good. i have a ps2. i’ve seen the xbox in stores, and really, was not overly impressed. if i had not bought my ps2 a year ago, and was gonig to get something now, i would get the ps2. it has a lot more games, and can play the ps1 games, giving it a grand total of a sh*t load of games. the xbox has what, 20-30, if that? now, i may not be a hardcore gamer, but, i think most “normal” people would agree with me, not to say the hard core gamers aren’t “normal”
I bought a PS2.
i bought a ps2 too.. wont get an xbox.. already got a pc.
MIGHT get the gamecube.. if metroid ever comes out and it looks awesome. i saw pictures of the new zelda.. it looked far more cartoony than the n64 zelda. i wonder why they would do that if the gamecube has so much power? i guess its an asthetic choice for cartoony characters.
About that assembly comment… the PS2 isn’t programmed in assembly. It’s done in C/C++ like all the others. The thing that makes it hard is it has 3 processors, and to get decent graphics you have to know how to use them well. The Xbox uses DirectX for graphics, and the GameCube uses OpenGL, which make those two systems a lot easier to program for.
Japanese developers aren’t dragging their feet because the Xbox is an American product. Look at the overall situation. The Xbox isn’t selling in Japan or Europe. Sales have died down in the US – the GameCube has passed the Xbox in sales, and is starting to distance itself (Nintendo is only starting to be able to keep up with demand, whereas Microsoft had to scale back production).
Microsoft’s own sales predictions are to sell 3.5 to 4 million Xboxes in 2002. Add on the 1 million sold last year, and it’s 5 million max by the end of the year. Nintendo has already sold 4.5 million GameCubes – and that’s before their big games come out. MS is looking at a distant third.
I’m quite curious to see how Nintendo will do this fall. Metroid Prime is looking amazing, and of course Mario will sell well, as should Star Fox Adventures.
i hope they die in this area. there is no way they can use the embrace and extend method here.
Really, in this field, is Sony any better than Microsoft? Nope. So why should I support Sony over Microsoft? I would buy a PS2 over am XBox because of the games, but right now, I would rather buy XBox, because of its exclusive games. Plus, ported games seem faster on the XBox than PS2. But we can’t expect EA games… sigh. So PS2 it is…..
Besides, XBox sales is just as good as PS2 in the same time period.
I heard that the worldwide video-game industry has surpassed the worldwide movie industry (at some point about a year or two ago) in terms of overall annual revenue generated.
The Playstation is Sony’s lifeblood. Something like half of their entire corporate revenue comes purely from Playstation unit sales and platform licensing for the game developers. Forget the Walkman.
Everyone concerned (Sony, MS, Nintendo) takes this very seriously because the money involved is huge.
….. there’s go the theory that ZDnet is a secret division of Microsoft….
hmmm, $200 (malaysian street price), not bad for a DVD player that can also play some hot games 😀
You seem to forget that Microsoft failed numerous times at the PDA market, but now, Pocket PC is gaining market share, Palm is loosing it. So, Microsoft failed it is first attempt, but I’m very sure one day, Microsoft would either would be a very major player in the console market, or be a leader of it.
To rajan r: Its very rare to get 2nd chances in the colsole market, for reference see Atari and the Jaguar, or Sega and the DreamCast. Once you screw up, people just wont buy your stuff. I dont know if Microsoft knows how to handle itself here, its coming into a new market that has different rules, yet they are trying to play it the same way as the software market
This is most amusing, i dont even own an Xbox yet its easy to see on all the forums about consoles on the net most ppl prefer the xbox allready over the ps2. Even thoguh the xbox is still new with fewer game titles, ppl who own both like the xbox more. There are quite a few ppl going arg xbox its aweful cause i tried it in a shop once for a sec. Do u really think youve been impressed like that with a ps2.. gime a joke my pc with tnt2 m64 looks better in most titles than the ps2.
Xbox online comes with real time voice connection to all your game buddies ..and a client server online experience provided and guaranteed by microsoft rather than relying on independant game developers.
Im in australia and i cant see EA starting up any ps2 servers for games here.. simply not profitable..
Yet if i get an xbox with xbox live its supposed to be hosted by my current broadband provider (Telstra) ill get all the games and content free instead of getting charged per meg, and awesome ping times.
Sounds like a lot better… 1 login to all games and easy jumping between them and msging my friends.
Compared to the ps2? or the gamecube? they have no idea.. err developers will provide there own servers..?
A Ps2 user must
A) buy a hard drive
b) buy a modem or ethernet adapter
C) find a isp or use AOL
d) purchase an id for each game
e) find where your friend is .. perhaps ring them?
f) login to that game.. if you both have also bought some future microphone and headset setup that ps2 dosent have yet you might be able to talk to them
An xbox user must
a) find a isp or use the xboxlive one for your country
b) purchase there xbox live subscription
c) login and chat to all your friends and join any game or swap games when your friends come online
Allready xbox has the best ports of all multi console games.. the best graphics full stop..a hard drive .. broadband and a well thought out online delivery system thats integrated to make it fun and easy.
Suddenly ps2 and gamecube arent the industry leader ….
but ya never know perhaps online gaming is just a fad
What is this? So many defending the XboX? Gee, it must suck to admit you’ve wasted your $300 ;0)
You can explain in the greatest theories and detail on why the XboX is better than PS2 or GameCube; but guess what?
It doesn’t matter $h!t what you say . . . it boils down to MARKET SHARE, and no matter what you THINK you know the fact is the XboX is the WORST selling nexgen console. Thats right folks; there are MORE people who own PS2’s and even the GameCube than the XboX. And thats all that matters.
I don’t give flying fat babys @$$ how much money MS has – – that didn’t help ’em sell any Web TV’s or their TVO wannabe. And that certainly isn’t why WinCE platform is overtaking PALM. PALM has dragged their feet for years in keeping PALM (hardware AND software) up to date and MS zoomed right past – – somehow I don’t see SONY or NINTENDO asleep at the wheel like PALM.
And before you accuse me of just being another MS Basher – – your right!! But I’m an MS Basher with a point. Go away XboX defenders and come back when a couple more million units sell!
Another thing that MS is doing wrong here is they will only sell XboX’s to retail markets in VERY LARGE bulks. Due to that a LOT of mom’n’pop shops aren’t even selling them. To top that off, some of the “bigger” retailers are nervous to purchase more since current supplies are only trickling out.
First off dreamcast was sega,s 5th console (master system, genesis, segacd/32x (both were half steps so most industry observers combine them), saturn then dreamcast). Secondly the jaguar was atari’s 4th system (2600, 5200, 7800 then jag).
As for the guy who said the gamecube is outselling the xbox your just dead wrong. There haven’t even been 4.5 million cubes manufactured for the american market so how could that many have been sold? Xbox and cube have sold roughly the same amount of units (in the us and europe, in japan the xbox isn’t selling well at all). btw the so called shortage of cubes is false. They slowed production pre-release so there’d be fewer in stock to make it look like a large demand (designed to push up sales when supply “finally” caught up to demand), even with that it hasn’t been hard to find in most places (california and nyc are the 2 exceptions, but everything new is scarce in those places).
Hey Chris. Your not missing anything… it’s like a PS2 but with a horrible controller. IMOP, the PS2 is better… there is one game (halo) I wish they would make for the ps2 tho.
-Kevin (nighthawk)
no, i disagree. the graphics are only a tad bit better… and the only reason tehre are more l;evels on the xbox/gamecube versions if because thoese came later and tey had time to make the levels…. if they ported a xbox only game (say, halo) to the ps2 it would have additional levles, i’m sure.
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=9…
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=9…
Nintendo has sold, not shipped, around 4.5 million GCs worldwide.
MS has only sold, not shipped, around 2.5 million XBoxes worldwide.
But what is more important than MS’s distant last place is that Nintendo is accelerating in sales with the European launch and their big E3 showing.
XBox sales have been plummeting since March. Anyone who could possibly want an XBox has already bought one. Every pc owning Quake player with 3-4 hundred extra bucks has already bought an XBox with Halo.
Even among the pc gamer core of XBox owners, the appeal of the XBox has dramatically dropped in the past month with XBox owners realizing that pc versions of games are looking better than the XBox versions. Ouch. It was supposed to be at least a couple years before home computers could match the XBox’s performance.
With the progress being made in cracking the hardware, it looks like the only future for the XBox is as cheap but ugly firewall/server boxes running Linux.
it looks like the only future for the XBox is as cheap but ugly firewall/server boxes running Linux.
Yup. The irony will be almost unbearably painful
Well I wouldn’t have posted, but I figured since I was a hardcore gamer myself growing up all the way until I entered military service, I figured I would share a bit of history with you. It seems that a lot of the Xbox owners are preaching the technical superiority over other consoles, so I’ll try to show a timeline of past failures:
Atari 2600 -vs- Coleco Vision… well everyone from this era knows that Atari ruled the game console scene, but the Coleco had some more spunk, but failed to woe the gamers from Atari. Of course both systems played the same game cartridges, so it was nice to have that compatibility. End result, Atari won!
Atari 5200 -vs- Intellivision… well again the Atari 5200 had great arcade like graphics, but Intellivision was superior due to its great gameplay and with extras like voice module plugins, it was a techno wonder. End result, Atari won!
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) -vs- Sega Master System… another sad story, Sega offered 3D graphics (remember Space Harrier 3D) and other nifty addins, but Nintendo’s marketing just couldn’t be beat and with a huge game catalog growing to mass proportions, Sega couldn’t compete.
Turbo Grafix 16 (released by NEC in 1988)… well contray to popular belief, the TG16 was not really a true 16 bit system, it had 2 8 bit CPUs, so it was more in the running with the NES and SMS. The Japanese version of the TG16 called the PC Engine was the most popular system until Nintendo’s Famicom hit the streets. The TG16 was far more superior than the NES and the SMS in both graphics and gameplay it was sickening, but unfortunately that didn’t matter, the NES. It also was competitive with Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo at the beginning, but that didn’t last too long once more advanced games came out for the other 2. Though I can say the Turbo CD addition to TG16 was alot better than Sega CD addition was to Genesis.
Sega Genesis -vs- Super Nintendo… (boy do I remember the 16 bit wars) this was when the game console war was exciting since both of these systems have some advantages/disadvantages over the other. End result, Sega Genesis won by a landslide, due to the extras and Sonic making Mario look preschool like!
Atari Jaguar -vs- PlayStation… these 2 came out about the same time period, I was really stoked about Atari re-entering the Game console battle since their handheld Lynx was very popular at the time, but failed with no vision and no games to speak of. End result, Playstation won by a landslide!
PlayStation -vs- N64… well I have to say though I like game cartridges over game CDs, the N64 seem to show the side of old tech and couldn’t capture the hardcore gamers attention verses Sony and its PlayStation. The PS1 had a lot of games and was popular with the college kids, so Nintendo couldn’t compete with that. End result, the PlayStation won!
Dreamcast -vs- PS2… well we all know what happened here, though the hype on the Dreamcast was exciting, but that was about it, it had promise, but Sega under delivered and the dream was never realized. End result, the PS2 won by a landslide!
PS2 -vs- Xbox -vs- GameCube… well this one will be interesting to see the end result. At the moment the PS2 has already won, but it has a good reason, it was out almost a year before the other 2. If the Xbox is superior in both graphics and gameplay is not going to matter, take the TG16 story for example, it fell under the same story, but was doomed for the start in America because of Nintendo’s popularity, and being that we see the same situation with the Sony’s success, I think history will repeat itself in this instance. It’s a sad, but true tell and unfortunately that is how the old ball bounces.
Here is a look of the game consoles I owned:
Atari 2600/5200
NES
Sega Master System
TG16
Genesis
My favorite system was the TG16. The saying use to go “Think you can beat our games… you and what army?!”, and it wasn’t far from the truth to say the least!
I sold all but the NES and the 2 Ataris. My brother has them now and he has added the following:
Super Nintendo
PlayStation
N64
Dreamcast
PS2
He is pretty much a couch potato, of course he is just 14, so what do you expect from kids these days?
The number of consoles sold between the new elite:
PS2 = 30 million
GameCube = 5 million
Xbox = 3.5 million
I’m not sure of what is happening in the US, but the PS2 and the GameCube are selling quite well, while the Xbox is not doing so well. The PS2 has about 300 games, the GameCube 200 and the Xbox with near 70, that is where the problem lies. The one with the most games always has an advantage over the others, and there is nothing you can do about it!
I’m not sure of what is happening in the US, but the PS2 and the GameCube are selling quite well here in Europe, while the Xbox is not doing so well.
“Sega and the DreamCast. Once you screw up, people just wont buy your stuff.”
Mostly true, I’d say, but remember: Sega lost the Master System vs. NES war, but came back with the Genesis and kept up nearly evenly with the SNES in terms of market share (in the US at least).
You CAN come back from defeat in the console wars, but only if the $$$ and willpower are there.
I was very big on MS bashing until I played an Xbox at my friends house.
I LOVED sony and thought nintendo was ‘O.K.’, I thought MS was the source of all evil and should burn in hell…….. but even if you are not a hardcore gamer, or even if you dont play games except 1-6 times a month, you can notice how much better Xbox is than PS2.
I bought a PS2 and have a few of its very best releases(MGS2,THPS3,Devil May Cry,and Dark Cloud)….. I thought that the way MGS2 and THPS3 looked and played were revolutionary and a sending from god….
I was annoyed and frequently yelled at my friend for trying to convince me about how much better his Xbox was; I finally gave in and went to his house to play it…. needless to say I was stunned, he turned it on with Halo inside… and I was blown away while we played, then we switched to Dead or Alive 2 …. oh god you have to see that game =)(drools remembering the cleavage and other exposed female flesh– it was sooo real looking best I’ve ever seen). Anyway the Xbox blew away everything Id ever seen on PS2(MGS2 was the closest thing to the quality of Xbox)
yes I know I know; what about the cube?
Before I bought a Xbox I decided to stick with my MS hateing ways and bought a cube…. let us just say the graphics were decent(a step below xbox tho) but the games sucked, I played the game I thought would redeam the systems childish games… I rented Resident Evil, Oh that game was great I loved it, but I have never really enjoyed that genre so I returned the cube to the store and bought an Xbox and Halo to replace it. I still like my PS2, and dislike MS products on PC… but they have beaten Sony in quality…. Sony beat them in numbers sold b/c the PS2 was released a year before Xbox, with loads of games and Hype….. The Xbox is the Better system in this console war, even my 6 year old brother likes Halo better than anything on PS2 or GC(cant say PC b/c he loves Command And Conquer RA2)…..
~~~~~Get over all this MS is evil sh*t because they have a the best console on the first try, and deserve some credit for being innovative(maybe just this once who knows)~~~~~~
“PS2 = 30 million
GameCube = 5 million
Xbox = 3.5 million ”
These are ship numbers and are meaningless.
Sell through is what matters. Sony is in the upper 25+ million range, too many to care about exact numbers anymore. Nintendo is around 4.4-4.5 million. And MS is around 2.5 million.
MS and their fans have been pretty good at getting people confuse ship and sales numbers. Unfortunately for MS, Nintendo is pulling so far ahead that even ship numbers don’t make a difference.
From what i have read MS tried to buy Sega, and nintendo befor the launch of the Xbox. The basic idea was to be able to have there games as exclusives to the Xbox. If that had happened then i think Xbox would have had a chance.
As i see it PS2 will be the dominate machine for a while.
Gamecube will be in second place, with a good chunck of market share.
Xbox will be last, with a small but very very hardcore set of supporters.
A thing that many people forget in the will videogame wars are the handheld systems. Right now nintendo has around 95% market share with handheld gamers. If you factor in the handheld game market with the home consel market nintendo is actually in the lead.
I’m just curious to know how many people have refrained from buying an Xbox simply because it’s a Microsoft product.
My reasons for not buying one are different, but I’m just wondering if this was an issue for anyone.
someone was right when they said it all boils down to market share. more market share, more high quality games.. ps2 is the best selling console. and has the best selling games.. its only natural that many developers want to make games for the ps2. it is THE next gen console to have if you have any.
“…. if they ported a xbox only game (say, halo) to the ps2 it would have additional levles, i’m sure.”
Tony hawk 3 for xbox comes with a level thats not in the ps2 version or gamecube version .. or EVEN THE PC VERSION. Its a tony hawk 4 style level.. so your just wrong.
In the zdnet e3 videos you can see the xbox and gamecube have sold a similar amount.. but gamecube has had bigger sales in uk and japan.. making xbox bigger in america.
Theres so many annoyed ps2 users.. if they really didnt think the xbox was something to worry about why would they get so annoyed? If sony wasnt worried about it why did they release all that crap about the ps6 being made of biochemicals.. or the ps3 was going to use grid computing for distributed fps servers. (yeah sure)
Anyway every person i know has been ditching ps2 for xbox allready. With such a crap online policy from ps2 and gamecube .. and with the limitations of the hardware allready hit on ps2 it is only going to get worse for them.
Glenn
my local best buy, target, and gamespot the x=box on disply don’t play ’cause the manager said they overheat.
manager at toysrus and gamespot told me he had to return a lot of x-boxs back to m$.
overheating is a serious problem and constitutes a design flaw in the x-box.
so i got a gamecube instead
i’m happy with it.
Here’s hoping that the XboX will remain an utter failure!
Rajan: actually, you have to add the remote console, without that you can’t play DVDs. And, you can’t make it region-free.
$230 for a region-blocked DVD player: pretty freaking expensive.
..I think PS2 has a definite edge over the Xbox:
1) it costs less: you pay $199 for the PS2 and can play DVDs right out of the box. With the Xbox, you must pay $199 + $30 in order to play DVDs
2)There are multiregion firmwares for the PS2, so you can play DVDs from any region. No such thing for the Xbox.
3) Many worrying reports of Xbox scratching DVD movies in Japan.
And just for the record: I (the whole family, actually) prefere the Nintendo kind of games.
“If sony wasnt worried about it why did they release all that crap about the ps6 being made of biochemicals.. or the ps3 was going to use grid computing for distributed fps servers. (yeah sure)”
It’s called Hype (combined with a tad bit of FUD), just the same stuff Sony used to get rid of Dreamcast. Funny MS is now hit by the same tricks they use against others 🙂
I bought a PS2 and ditched my other DVD player. It is very stable and I have neven had it start skipping on my (my other player did that on occasion unless you tipped it up on its side).
Another plus is that I was able to buy a DVD that, when booted in the PS2, allows the PS2 to play DVDs from any region.
This is a plus since I like to watch Japanese movies on occasion.
Is there a way to do this on the Xbox yet?
Sony beat them in numbers sold b/c the PS2 was released a year before Xbox, with loads of games and Hype….
Nope. If you take away the PS2 sales from the year before teh xbox was released, you see that more PS2s were sold… it’s not just becuase of the one year diffrence. PS2s rock. The xobx is pretty good, i’m not saying it’s a piece of crap, but I like the PS2 much better – and it is for now more popular.
But i’m sure in a few years microsoft will solve that problem…
Went into a game shop, asked them for an XBox (they had plenty spare) and they threw in a “FIFA Soccer” game box with it. I live in Europe, so there are shops here literally clearing their XBox stuff from the shelves.
We opened up the XBox and put some wood in there to weigh it down, and put a copy of Final Fantasy X in the “FIFA” box. Then we wrapped the whole lot up, and handed it over, poker faced, at his birthday bash.
Totally hilarious. “An XBox? Gee… um… thanks” and then of course he got suspicious, opened it up and found the PS2 game inside and was happy
Oh wait, is the XBox actually a console? I figured it must just be a cardboard box, I certainly don’t know anyone who owns a Microsoft made console, what a waste of space that would be.
<paraphrase>”More units sold for PS2 automatically makes it the better console”
Yep, and we all know that music CDs that sell tons are ALWAYS better than others…so many people can’t be wrong, right?
IMO, Xbox = better console…PS2 = more games. Who gives a shit, anyway…get what you have fun with.
“PS2 = 30 million
GameCube = 5 million
Xbox = 3.5 million ”
These are ship numbers and are meaningless.
Well no, they are neither ship numbers and nor are they meaningless. They may have been ship figures at one point, but not today.
Sell through is what matters. Sony is in the upper 25+ million range,
Heh so you think that out there, there’s more spare Sony inventory than the entire number of Gamecubes which have been sold worldwide to date? Nonsense.
Even if your made up numbers were right, the ratios are the same so the ship figures would not have been meaningless. That’s why real shipping rates (SCE have shipped quite a bit over 30 million PS2s now) are not meaningless when compared with ship figures of other consoles.
Market share of shipping versus sell-through is virtually identical.
Ed said;
About that assembly comment… the PS2 isn’t programmed in assembly. It’s done in C/C++ like all the others.
Well, there’s actually a heck of a lot of assembly programming in PS2 development. More so than any of the other comparable consoles.
My company only just recently released (this month) the world’s first compiler for the PS2 vector units. Up until this point, it was *only* possible to program the vector units in assembly.
And the vast majority of PS2 game development makes extensive use of assembly outside of vector unit programming because the compilers do not support loads of features of the PS2 hardware. The CPU in the PS2 is not a generic MIPS CPU, it has a fair amount of extra stuff and you need to whack in in-line assembly to use.
Basically, 89% of the FP performance of the PS2 has only been utilised via assembly.