Change of Pace! PS2, XBOX or GC?

[DinoDoc]

Ugh! I haven't liked Peter Molyneux since Black & White.

[Asher]

Originally posted by The Pioneer
Asher, do you know if any Medal of Honor games are going to be developed for the XBox?

A much improved version of Medal of Honor: Frontline is in the works for Xbox due out in a couple months.

EA's games tend to be multiplatform.

How do you know the X-Box is getting it best? For MGS2, Europe & Japan got neat new features missing from the US version because we got it first. I'm not saying you'll neccessarily get it worse, of course, but this is hardly a set thing.

Because the Xbox is much more capable hardware. The extras that went in the Europe & Japanese versions are in MGS2: Substance, plus more.

They're starting to develop MGS3 right after they finish producing Substance, so I seriously doubt the team responsible for porting it to the PS2 will add anything of value, since they'll be spending all their time trying to break decent framerates and lowering texture resolution.

[Asher]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Ugh! I haven't liked Peter Molyneux since Black & White.

Both BC and Project Ego are being developed by Lionhead Satellites, not Lionhead itself. Molyneaux is just the producer of BC and Project Ego.

[Sixchan]

Hardware is pointless if the games aren't good enough to back it up. That's why I'm getting a Gamecube, and you, and X-Box (at least, I hope you are buying it for the games, and not the hardware). If it were based on Hardware, everyone and his dog would be getting an X-Box, and equally, if there weren't only opinions about games, everyone would get the one console. The fact that we have multiple consoles and that different people buy them shows that if the people like the games, they will buy that console, regardless of hardware.

[Saint Marcus]

that's why the PS2 is still outselling both the GC and XBox. It's hardware is inferior, but it's games clearly aren't.

And FFX obviously made that quite clear.

[Jon Miller]

actually I agree with Jaakko

and I bought a PS2 because I was willing to buy it for a couple games (mostly RPGs) with the knowledge that most of the good Xbox ones (like Morrowind) woudl come out for PC

Jon Miller

[Sixchan]

In hindsight, if the N64 had used CDs, the PSOne would have failed miserably. After all, the PSX was doing really bad until FFVII came along, and they only split from the big N because they didn't feel that FF full potential could be reached in cartridges. Ah well. I'll have to buy both now.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Saint Marcus
that's why the PS2 is still outselling both the GC and XBox. It's hardware is inferior, but it's games clearly aren't.

And FFX obviously made that quite clear.

Yep, but there's absolutely nothing from stopping quality games from coming to the Xbox, while there are clear hardware limitations on the PS2.

Which is why you'll never see games like Blinx on the PS2 or Gamecube. Mainly because it's impossible to do.

I've got a PS2 and Xbox, not just a PS2 like you, so I can play both. There are, no doubt, great games on the PS2 with mass market appeal. There are also great games on the Xbox, with way more even yet to come (as evidenced by the PS2's pathetic E3 showing, and the strong showings by both Nintendo and Microsoft).

In the words of the Infogrames CEO, the Xbox is the BMW and the PS2 is the Toyota.

Check out the monthly sales figures in the PDF report I cited earlier. The gap between PS2 and Xbox is quickly shrinking in terms of monthly units sold, and in about 1-2 years time the Xbox will most likely eclipse the PS2 in units sold. The PS2 will still have most at the end of this generation, because of this overwhelming head start, but the PS3 is in a far, far worse position. Especially since Microsoft has said they're going to launch the Xbox2 alongside the PS3.

[Sixchan]

The problem with saying that to some older gamers like me, is that game power and game fun don't go hand in hand. I'm one of the people who believes that Sonic 1 is better than the 3D Sonic Adventure, and that the Donkey Kong that involved Jumpman is better than the others. FFV is still a favourite over the newer ones. To me, fancy 3D that shows of a console's power doesn't impress me. I still play Super Mario Bros. and I'd have that over any 3D mario game today.

It is Gameplay, not graphics, nor the latest 3D engine, or whatever. Console power pales in importance to the ever essensial need for innovative and fun games.

[Asher]

I've still got an Atari, so the "older gamers" idea I still get.

I too believe in gameplay over graphics, but awesome graphics still help out, especially when dealing with 3D worlds.

When a console hits mainstream, that doesn't guarantee innovative and fun games. Rather, it guarantees repeats of the tried & true games and constant sequels (how many Final Fantasies are there? How many Grand Theft Autos? How many Metal Gear Solids?)

Microsoft knew it needed to innovate to get attention. That's why they bundled the hardware & ethernet out of the box, to innovate with game console hardware. Not only that, but they're spending tons of money funding lots of projects that publishers deemed too risky since they were, in fact, too innovative.

That's how BC and Project Ego came about, to name a few.

MS is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on an "Incubation Program" for publisher-less game developers. They fund the projects completely and offer to be their publisher, while giving them full creative control. That's how they got Tim Schaffer, among others, to develop for the Xbox.

That's also why E3 was full of tons of innovative games for the Xbox, while the PS2 and GC were essentially sequels of everything. A new Mario, a new Zelda, a new Wario, a new GTA, a new GTA clone, etc.

[Sixchan]

Well, all credit to the X-Box, BC sounds really good. Let's hope it lives up to the hype it'll get. Of course, if you want a machine that will deliver you the most high powered games, with powerful hardware, an internet connection, and some of the best third party developers in the world, nothing beats...a PC.

[monkspider]

I reccemend either Gamecube or PS2. PS2 already has one of the greatest libraries in gaming history and Gamecube is seen as having the greatest e3 lineup of the three major systems and has a lot of potential.

[monkspider]

I don't reccemend that anyone get a X-BOX, because, as has been previously stated, most exciting games for it will inevitably come out for PC. Also, the system is in dire straits in Japan and Europe and faces an uncertain future.

[Asher]

Originally posted by monkspider
I don't reccemend that anyone get a X-BOX, because, as has been previously stated, most exciting games for it will inevitably come out for PC. Also, the system is in dire straits in Japan and Europe and faces an uncertain future.

Japan doesn't look so good for either the Gamecube or Xbox, which is why I said anyone interested in those "Japanese" style games is best off with a PS2.

And I really disagree with your PC comment, if you look at the Xbox Hits lineup you'll find a surprisingly very little amount of the hits come to the PC. In fact Microsoft is preventing a bunch of the titles from being released on the PC because of attitudes like yours, including Halo, Project Gotham, Amped, Gunvalkyrie, JSRF, etc.

I mean, look at the PS2, it's in the same situation. GTA3, MGS2, etc all come to the PC too. The only reason Nintendo's first party games don't come to the PC is because they want people to buy their console, and only that reason...

[Asher]

And I personally think the Nintendo E3 lineup was grossly overrated.

Zelda is basically the next installment of the franchise, and from all the previews I've read there's nothing added to gameplay. All they've done is cell-shaded it, which I also think was a bad move.

Mario Sunshine looks exactly like Mario 64, graphically and gameplay wise, except he's got a waterpack this time and the only environment is a tropical island, rather than Mario 64's diverse landscape.

Metroid Prime has ~7 hours of gameplay according to IGN who interviewed developers and played the game, has no multiplayer mode, and has very limited environments (at least compared to games like Halo)

Wario World looks like a tedious puzzle-solver.

I haven't seen anything new and interesting out of the Nintendo camp at E3. And the fact that they recently canceled Spaceworld for this year tells me that they did indeed pull out all the stops at E3 and have nothing else to show for a year or so.

The GC is the least appealing console right now as far as I'm concerned, as long as you're not very big on the old Nintendo franchises.

It's also got the worst amount of third party support out of all of the consoles.