Xbox being pulled from the marketplace, production halted...

[child of Thor]

Fingers crossed(backwards compatibility).

It will also help ensure the xbox will get thrid party support(well ok it generally all goes through MS, but other developers do develope on it) once the plug is officialy pulled. I wondering how many current xbox users will be ready to upgrade (and splash out the new asking price!) after the relative short cycle of xbox(its been 2-3 years right?).

[lord of the mark]

case in point

Halo. THE killer app of the Xbox platform, IIUC.
Developed by Bungie Software. A company that started in 1996 developing for the PC (Marathon, Myth, etc) Will the Xbox environment be friendly to small new developers, who will create the Halos of the future?

[Asher]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
case in point

Halo. THE killer app of the Xbox platform, IIUC.
Developed by Bungie Software. A company that started in 1996 developing for the PC (Marathon, Myth, etc) Will the Xbox environment be friendly to small new developers, who will create the Halos of the future?

Actually, Bungie got started in 1991 developing Mac software.

[Drake Tungsten]

Asher beat me to it. Marathon was the shiznit!

[Nostromo]

Intriguing stuff I found on Gamespot:

TOKYO--In a recent interview on the official Xbox Web site in Japan, Game Republic's Yoshiki Okamoto revealed that other big-name game developers may soon join the growing crowd of next-generation Xbox supporters. He also added that, when announced, the lineup of launch titles for the console may shock the game industry.

[Final Fantasy creator Hironobu] Sakaguchi-san, [Space Channel 5 creator Tetsuya] Mizuguchi-san, and myself have been the focus of attention so far. But I've been hearing that some other designers will also be joining [in making games for the next Xbox]. There are a lot of surprises. I find myself saying: 'What, this development studio!? This game!? These people!?'.

"If the current line-up [of games] in development for the next-generation Xbox was revealed," Okamoto said in the interview, "it would not only surprise users, but the entire industry. There probably wouldn't be anyone [in Japan] that would still be uninterested in buying the next-generation Xbox when they see the line-up." He called the still-under-wraps list "a powerful fleet of Japanese designers."

Okamoto revealed that he is currently making a number of games for the next Xbox, all in genres that are new to him. He added the games are already in playable form.

When asked if there was a negative side to working with Microsoft Game Studios, Okamoto commented, "We can't port the games to other hardware even if it seems possible, so that's a disappointment. But even with that downside to income, Xbox has specs that make us want to develop for it." Then, as a final tease, Okamoto said, "I can't reveal the specifics, but one of the games we're making will really go to the extreme."

It seems they're playing their cards right this time.

[Frankychan]

/bump

This is important.

I am surprised that Xbox is growing support in Japan. From what I've heard of, most of Japan supports the PS brand simply because it's a Nihongin company.

Anyway, with the release of the PSP, I really am curious whether or not the XBox empire plans on releasing a portable product like PS and Nintendo has.

From the estimates I've obtained, Sony has gained an EXTREMELY large foothold on the portable gaming industry that Nintendo seemed to have had exclusive "rights" to.

My money is in the PSP unless the XBox brand can step up and show everyone that they can compete.

[Sikander]

Getting a console seems like the ultimate redundancy for the PC owner. Besides, I don't have to deal with little kids at the computer store when I go see what new titles are out, 'cause they're all looking at console titles.