Now what?

May 15, 2002 6:18 AM

Now what? MS is following Sony's lead by dropping the XBox's price to $199 USD. I don't know about you, but I -was- going to get a PS2. Now I'm not so sure.
posted by shadow45 (38 comments total)

Already linked here. Suggest continuing discussion in the original thread.
posted by mcwetboy at 6:23 AM on May 15, 2002

Uh, you seriously wonder if you should buy Xbox? Never.
posted by fleener at 6:34 AM on May 15, 2002

Microsoft already owns my desktop/office but they ain't gettin' in my living room. Not even if they went to $129. ($99, i might consider).
posted by zoopraxiscope at 6:43 AM on May 15, 2002

they do have some kick ass games on the X-box, which is what its all about if you ask me.

not to say that the PS2 doesn't have kick ass games
posted by howa2396 at 6:45 AM on May 15, 2002

I'd consider buying it for Halo alone, but since Halo will be coming out for PC and Mac later this year, it doesn't seem worth it. I might reconsider if a few more must-have games come out.
posted by ry at 6:58 AM on May 15, 2002

[Microsoft already owns my desktop/office but they ain't gettin' in my living room. ]

That is exactly my reasoning as well. I don't need another reason to despise Redmond.
posted by revbrian at 7:05 AM on May 15, 2002

both systems are worthy of owning.

but for the sheer ammount of games that are worth buying the PS2 still wins.

XBOX is catching up though and has a forcast of great looking games that have potental.
posted by Qambient at 7:06 AM on May 15, 2002

Qambient: What are some of the games? Now that Gamespot is for pay, I'm a bit out of the loop.

Any suggestions of a quality video game review/news site?
posted by ry at 7:12 AM on May 15, 2002

I've been using Game Rankings recently. So much so, in fact, that I hadn't yet noticed that GameSpot had gone pay.
posted by jammer at 7:17 AM on May 15, 2002

the playstation2 also plays dvds (not sure if X-box does...)
posted by stifford at 7:29 AM on May 15, 2002

The PS2 has several things going for it, if you are an uber-geek.

The PS2 is compatible with almost all Playstation 1 games.
The PS2 can be modded to read CD-R discs, meaning you can watch VCDs on it.
The PS2 has a linux kit coming out that turns the PS2 into a linux computer with ethernet & a 40 gig hard drive.

If there is a specific game you want that is Xbox only, go grab one. But for general gameplay & home use, the PS2 has the edge...
posted by Argyle at 7:30 AM on May 15, 2002

XBox plays DVDs also, and has less trouble with funky encodings than the PS2.

Halo, DOA3, and Project Gotham Racing are all good.

But the main reason we have an XBox is my roommate has a buddy at Microsoft and can get a huge discount on games they publish. Heh.

Not that I don't want a PS2 also. Gran Turismo A-Spec. Drool.
posted by Foosnark at 7:35 AM on May 15, 2002

I'd argue that it's not just an edge -- it's a huge lead. Even with this price cut, XBOX is going to have a hard time making inroads.
posted by jragon at 7:37 AM on May 15, 2002

I just took a look at the top one hundred games according to gamerankings.com. Interesting numbers:

Xbox had 2 titles.
PS2 had 13 titles.

The sales seem to mirror these stats.
posted by jragon at 7:46 AM on May 15, 2002

Of course, the XBox has only been on the market for less than a year. The PS2 has a more than a year of game development under its belt. I own a PS2, I'm buying an XBox, but then, I'm a gamer, so that's a given.
posted by eyeballkid at 8:02 AM on May 15, 2002

Yes, definitely the PS2. I can't think of any games on the X-Box that I am really desperate to play, but there are several such games on the PS2. Gran Turismo 3, Final Fantasy X, Grand Theft Auto 3, Metal Gear Solid 2; these are the games i am mainly interested in, and none are available for the X-Box. The only X-Box games I am interested in are Jet Set Radio Future, Project Gotham Racing, and Shenmue 2, and I can play all of those on my DreamCast, basically. I might be interested in Halo, but it isn't enough by itself.

So is there anything else coming up for X-Box that might change my mind?
posted by donkeymon at 8:16 AM on May 15, 2002

It's not a marriage folks. You don't have to be monogamous.
posted by NortonDC at 8:33 AM on May 15, 2002

MetaTalk
posted by mcwetboy at 8:35 AM on May 15, 2002

The PS2 can be modded to read CD-R discs, meaning you can watch VCDs on it.

Of course, that is all you would do with a modded PS2, ... watch (fully legitimate) VCDs :) And not, say, play copied games... no :)

Gamecube. Rogue Squad 2.

With the seemingly very desperate drop in prices... I can't see Microsoft not abandoning the Xbox soon. (double negatives ahoy)
posted by aki at 8:37 AM on May 15, 2002

I really think it'll take a lot worse for Msoft to exit the market....it seems that they're in this for the long haul, since they see the Xbox as their trojan horse into people's living rooms. And since they're sitting on a pile of about $38 billion in cash (a luxury that former console makers who failed--like Sega--most definitely did not have) they have the resources as a company to take big upfront losses if they think that their ultimate strategy is still viable. It'll take worse than what's happened so far to make them jump ship in my opinion.
posted by zoopraxiscope at 8:58 AM on May 15, 2002

Why would Microsoft abandon the X-Box? It's selling in the US and it seems like a decent console (spoken as a PS2 owner who'd love to pick up an X-Box or GameCube on the cheap).

Remember, the X-Box and PS2 aren't just consoles; they're the Trojan Horsies companies want sitting in your living room to sell you all sorts of content. A gaming console's just the easiest way to sell it.
posted by yerfatma at 9:02 AM on May 15, 2002

Penny Arcade's take.
posted by yerfatma at 9:19 AM on May 15, 2002

Hope I'm not stating the painfully obvious, but as far as the Trojan Horse angle goes, you'd think MS has the advantage over Sony, since the Xbox comes bundled w/the hard drive and network connection. Making people buy them seperately, ala Sony, kinda defeates the purpose of "sneaking" in to the consumer's living room and hoisting content on them, dunnit?

I wonder how this set top box thing will turn out in the long-run, anyhow. Will we get an Xbox with PVR capabilities? Will my ps2 network connection throw a freshly-downloaded ad at me instad of the boot screen whenever I reset it?
posted by andnbsp at 9:37 AM on May 15, 2002

I think you're right, that from a hardware standpoint Msoft has a better setup out of the box for dealing with online gaming, etc. But personally, I'm still not completely convinced that this is yet the killer app these companies want it to be, and I really think that it might be the next generation of consoles before that really takes hold in a meaningful way, so it may be that Sony's strategy is ultimately better since they've ensured for the time being that they'll lose less money on the hardware. Only time will tell who was right on that angle.

But damn. It sure is a good time to be a gamer. Now if only Nintendo will cut their price....
posted by zoopraxiscope at 10:04 AM on May 15, 2002

SWEET JESUS, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MY SAVINGS?! ::college boy weeps::
posted by lotsofno at 10:27 AM on May 15, 2002

You have savings in college. Don't you dare cry :)
posted by bittennails at 10:50 AM on May 15, 2002

you'd think MS has the advantage over Sony, since the Xbox comes bundled w/the hard drive and network connection

It's all a massive bet on whether or not broadband takes off in the next couple of years.

If it does, the x-box presents the best way to play online in the living room.

If not, that ethernet port (no modem), and hard drive are a liability. In the end stages of a cycle, every cent you shave off your unit price represents an enormous amount of money.

Personally I think they're a generation too early.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 12:06 PM on May 15, 2002

Personally I think they're a generation too early.

Given that Sony's online direction is a bit, err, muddled, should I not be getting my hopes up for online play? (I'm asking because you're something of an inside source)
posted by yerfatma at 1:09 PM on May 15, 2002

I don't know that much about Sony's online strategy. Certainly nothing more than what you can read in the press. Which, I would agree, lacks clarity. Not that I'm not quite sure what Microsoft and Nintendo envision either.

No, I just have doubts about online consoles in general, and the wisdom of ignoring modem support specifically.

(Although, I am going to buy an X-Box now that the price has dropped to something sane ;)
posted by inpHilltr8r at 4:51 PM on May 15, 2002

As for online for Sony, EA announced that EA sports 2003 is online exclusively for PS2, so if that's not a damn good strategy, I dunno what is. If you look at the DC, it was sports and Phantasy Star that were used by online gamers. PS2 has Final Fantasy 11 and EA Sports. Looks good.
posted by Kevs at 5:00 PM on May 15, 2002

PS2 has Final Fantasy 11 and EA Sports. Looks good.

Absolutely. But if you throw an online party and there's no network, it kinda spoils the fun. It's not that the PS2 doesn't have games with terrific online potential (never mind the ones that have been mentioned-- what about a massive multiplayer GTA3? You all get to be the ladies with Gap bags and I get to be the Banshee driving, flame-thrower totin' yahoo), it's that Sony's American network plans aren't very clear.
posted by yerfatma at 5:47 PM on May 15, 2002

You all get to be the ladies with Gap bags and I get to be the Banshee driving, flame-thrower totin' yahoo

i usually played as one of the girls with the small backpacks.. more girls need to shoot bazookas.
posted by lotsofno at 6:26 PM on May 15, 2002

I've heard rumors that MS intends to shorten the console lifecycle and release new Xbox revisions every two years.
Other than Halo (and only then because Bungie used to be the coolest developer on the market), Xbox has nothing which grabs me. I'm all about the Cube (which I already own) and the PS2 (gonna get one this summer). Don't forget, Nintendo's thrown its hat into the broadband ring as well. Hopefully they'll make the right moves (read: Mario Kart Online).
posted by darukaru at 7:03 PM on May 15, 2002

if you throw an online party and there's no network, it kinda spoils the fun.

By network, I assume you mean servers, as the internet is the network.

As for providing those servers, I suspect it's mostly going to be up to the publishers and developers. Which makes sense, as if they're trying to sell a network game, it's in their interests to make sure the servers are there for it.

I don't think that Sony/Nintendo should really do much more than provide drivers, and standard configuration code. However, I expect Microsoft to try and route everything through MSN, even if they don't actually host the server.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 7:25 PM on May 15, 2002

I've heard rumors that MS intends to shorten the console lifecycle and release new Xbox revisions every two years.

That would be commercial suicide. You'd fracture the developer base, confuse the consumer, and quite frankly, two years isn't enough to produce a console that's significantly better than the previous generation.

The current x-box 2 rumours can be divided into two camps. The first is actually referring to a board revision that will simplify the hardware, and lower the unit price. Everyone does this. I lost count of the number of board revisions the PSX/1 went through, indeed, is still going through.

The second is the mythical HomeStation, which sounds like the WebTV / UltimateTV unit desperately trying to get back into the game. Again, I reccomend this book.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 7:40 PM on May 15, 2002

there's an interesting angle on the online strategies of these companiesthat was posted in the NY Times (registration required blah blah blah) about how EA (the largest independent games maker) has chosen to align itself more with Sony than Microsoft since it objected to how the Redmond giant was trying to

"Force software publishers to offer their online games on data-serving computers controlled by Microsoft."

Also interesting is a quote from EA's president:

"We understand and like Sony's business model, and we don't yet understand Microsoft's".

posted by zoopraxiscope at 5:58 AM on May 16, 2002

From my viewpoint, MS is betting huge on two products -- XBOX and .NET. And for a company that's heralded as one of America's finest, both strategies seem hopelessly muddled.

From what I've seen, MS has the best luck when copying (OS, browser, media player) but the worst when innovating (bob, xbox, .net, home of the future).
posted by jragon at 7:52 AM on May 16, 2002

.NET is a swirling mass of confusion even within MS.
posted by NortonDC at 8:51 AM on May 16, 2002