Sony trash-talks Microsoft, Nintendo

[Juggernaut]

Multiplatform may not be useless to count at all, atleast when we're talking mere ports.

Compare Tony Hawk for the different consoles, for instance. Slightly different features in everyone. PS2's version is less anti-aliased than GC's version, for instance.

[Blisterz]

I was having a hard time deciding what console to pic up. 'till a friend offered to sell me his game cube for 150 $CA (inc. 2 controllers and a mem card).

Not to hard to make up my mind then.

[Saint Marcus]

I got a PS2 when no other consoles were out there. Also, I wanted to be able to play Gran Turismo 3 and Final Fantasy X. Those games are still unbeaten in their categories.

but like I said, I'm prolly gonna buy a Gamecube too.

[moomin]

SM, I like your new avatar. Are you aware of any strategy titles for the PS2?

[Saint Marcus]

thanks

strategy? as in Red Alert or Civ?

[moomin]

I'd take RA if I had to, but I'd certainly prefer Civ... The argument that you can't have decent strategy games on consoles because of the gamepads seems weak. We were playing games like Panzer General and Mule with joysticks back in th C64 age, for chris' sake.

But much as I'd like to do my gaming on consoles and finally free my computer for work only, all that seems to be available for consoles is an infinte amount of FPSs, platformers and racing games. Simply not my cup of tea.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Juggernaut
Multiplatform may not be useless to count at all, atleast when we're talking mere ports.

Compare Tony Hawk for the different consoles, for instance. Slightly different features in everyone. PS2's version is less anti-aliased than GC's version, for instance.

And the Xbox version has more levels, more skaters, allows you to rip your own music to the HD and play that in game, and is more crisp, clear, and anti-aliased than both versions.

Same story with Spiderman.

I'm seeing a trend here...

[Asher]

Marcus: I never cared for FFX, and quite frankly I'm glad it'll stay on the PS2. I don't want Xbox gamers to start becoming that demographic so we get all of the lame FF clones. I realize it'll sell more copies (especially in Japan), but it's not the market I want for the Xbox.

And regarding GT3: http://xbox.ign.com/articles/359/359894p1.html

Sega GT may just beat it. It's coming out this year. Visually it surpasses it, and according to the previews the audio surpasses it (how can you beat Dolby Digital 5.1 -- crank the sub!), gameplay hasn't been tested in depth yet.

To quote the IGN preview on sound:

We'll say it now and stand by it -- Sega GT 2002 has the best sound to ever grace a car racer. Beautifully done in 5.1, this is the first racer we've played that actually sounded like you were driving a car. You can hear other cars as they zip by, and there is even a Doppler effect as they speed by. As you head past the stands, you can hear the rise of spectator cheers. But nothing could prepare us for going through a tunnel. It's about as real as it gets in terms of sound.

[Asher]

This just in: http://www.reuters.com/news_article....StoryID=997145

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The head of the nation's top specialty toy retailer said on Wednesday the recent price cut for the Xbox game console had boosted sales and predicted that Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT.O machine would become the industry's leading platform.

"With the pricing adjustment that just took place, the lift in unit sales is fabulous," Toys "R" Us Inc. TOY.N chairman and chief executive John Eyler told other CEOs at Microsoft's annual "CEO Summit" gathering in Redmond, Washington.

In a display of support for the U.S. software giant's bid to take a chunk of the $20 billion gaming industry away from leader Sony Corp. 6758.T and its PlayStation machines, Eyler said that the Xbox would become a leading platform for games.

"It is going to accelerate over time to where we have critical mass and this platform really becomes the premier (medium) of the video game industry," he said.

Whee.

[Wiglaf]

Actually Sony would appear to be kicking the crap out of MS all over the place. Japan, Europe, all those king-craving third world mini-islands, etc etc. The only place XBox is selling very well in would appear to be North America. (And don't get me wrong, from a moral standpoint, I'm extremely pumped up about that)

But in terms of sales, it's nothing the Dreamcast didn't do, is it? Failure in the outer space countries killed Sega IIRC.

[Juggernaut]

Whee.

Congratulations.

[Asher]

The dreamcast wasn't exactly successful in North America, and Sega was extremely low on cash with the DC. Not so with MS. Hell, they're still releasing DreamCast games in Japan. It was quite successful there.

Sony is still selling more, but you guys keep looking at the short term.

Sony's press briefing was pretty sad, they showed (at best) B-level first party games. That means all of the good games for PS2 tend to be third party, which means they tend to go multiplatform in upgraded forms on Xbox and GCN.

And if you'd look in the long term, PS2 sales are declining while Xbox and GCN sales are rising (in ALL regions).

There's a bunch of Japanese RPGs and other exclusive Japanese games in development for the Japanese Xbox, and Microsoft doesn't expect it to sell very well over there until that happens.

Sony's riding on the tailcoats of the PSX support. They got everyone so hyped up about the PS2 when it came out, even though first gen PS2 games looked WORSE than Dreamcast games. Now they've convinced so many people (30M) it's such the greatest thing in the world it'll be around for the whole generation.

But as games look and sound better on other consoles, less and less people will buy PS2s and PS2 games and more of the real next-gen consoles. It's inevitable.

[Juggernaut]

Xbox is still selling piss poor in Europe and Japan...

[Asher]

In England and Australia it's selling neck and neck with the PS2, which is phenomenal.

And quite frankly: If the Xbox is selling "piss poor" in Europe, how come it's sold 500,000 units there already?

200,000 in Japan is really low, but they only got Halo the other week and they don't have ANY real Japanese games yet, those are being released in the coming months.

And if the Xbox is hurting in those regions -- I don't see it as hurting the Xbox game selection. 50 more games than GameCube this year, including many more interesting games (according to people who watched both press conferences).

[OneFootInTheGrave]

And I read somewhere MSFT will spend a Billion USD on X-Box Live! that comes this Autumn... scary

Will Sony be able to compete? Well this is the battle of the titans unlike AMD vs Intel. That is David and Goliat.