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It was just under a year ago now when the Gamecube was announced, the final contestant in the so-called console war. Millions of console war topics popped up, more numerous than EA’s sports games and everyone quickly got fed up with them. Now they’re banned. :-D
As the Playstation 2 launch drew near, big arguments broke out in the SR forums over which console would be the dominant one.
Sony fans claimed that the PS2 would be an almighty hit and control the games market. The rest claimed that it was so hard to program for and that Sony had made such a mess of it that it would shrivel and die like the Saturn did.
Both sides were wrong.
At the launch itself, the Dreamcast proved to be a better buy with (and this surprised everyone) better games. Who’d have thought that the older technology would be outpacing the newer stuff.
Lucky for Sony, this did not spell the PS2’s demise. Many of its best games were yet to come and the Dreamcast?
As good as it was, no one bought it. It was ignored and went out of production.
The Dreamcast died, the N64 gradually fell off its last legs, and the PSOne was hardly going to compete with its big brother…
The PS2 had the market to itself. Some it’s games were reasonable if not as good as it should’ve been and despite this, there was no decent competition to put it down. The competitors were still a year off arriving to the UK.
The Gamecube disappeared… the Xbox seemed to be the only competitor. Every month, Microsoft released a demo or a bit of information. The Xbox began to look stronger and stronger.
May came and Nintendo official stated that they were considering cancelling the Gamecube it wasn’t a success at E3.
So the Gamecube seemed to be dying while Microsoft and Sony released more details on their upcoming machines in order to get attention.
Then E3 came. Microsoft’s stand was fairly good. But it was just things that people had heard over the last couple of months. Nothing new.
Sony’s stand had a few neat games but again, not much new to shout about. One or two nice games were unveiled but nothing really special.
The Nintendo stand blew everyone away. All it’s secret surprises were let out in one go. The hardware was magnificent and the Games were both good quality and unique.
Sony and Microsoft’s machines all seemed to orientate around “serious adult games”. The Gamecube had a several of these games and a healthy balance of unique FUN games, the sort that had never been seen before on it’s competing systems.
So a year since the console wars started but things have changed.
The PS2, it was launched with a drab amount of games, one or two nice ones like SSX and Timesplitters but otherwise pretty dull. Over the year, its catalogue has built up and there’s now a fair amount of decent titles. There’s plenty that I’d like to play, not £300 worth (or £270 worth for that matter) but it’s getting there.
I expect that come February (the Gamecube and Xbox launch), the PS2 will have a nice selection of games and be priced at £250 with a game. It will certainly be competitive.
The Xbox? E3 wasn’t its greatest moment but it still has plenty to promise.
And what’s more, “anything the PS2 can do, it can do better” seems to stand.
It’s got all the best features from the PS2 (the same sort of games, DVD, Hardrive, Operating system etc) and it’s easier to make games for too, not to mention being more powerful.
And I expect that it’ll have the best online facilities too, Microsoft being very experienced in that area with MSN’s gaming zone and messenger.
It’s downfall? It’ll be released at £300. Most people are likely to go for the cheaper option.
And then there’s the Gamecube. The cheapest system (I reckon £150 or £200 with a game). It will have all the adult games of its competitors and a rare breed of fun games. The Playstation was a breath pf fresh air to the industry with proper adult orientated games.
With every system promising the same old adult games, fun games will probably be a breath of fresh air.
I’ve got friends at school. They all own Playstations and are all casual gamers. They’re completely unbiased to any company. They all adore Mario Kart on the N64. They love it. There is a big market for fun games and it seems that Nintendo have it to themselves… unless they get shunned for their childish image.
So as it stands it can still go either way.
The PS2 was a mess up but it’s built its strength and is ready to compete with its more powerful competitors. It’s built a nice library of games and plenty more are promised.
The Gamecube has been pretty much ignored pre-E3 but it has a unique type of game that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s the best multiplayer machine by far (offline that it) and people might find themselves buying one alongside their PS2 or Xbox for when friends come round.
The Xbox is the most powerful but the most expensive. It is the ultimate tool for developers to create the games of their dreams. It depends on whether it can convince people to part with £300+.
It all depends on the advertising now. Sony needs to show the world that their console is a good as the new ones. Microsoft has got to convince everyone that his or her ultimate power machine will dominate and is worth the money.
Nintendo have got to convince the public that the Gamecube is not simply a children’s toy…
In Japan, the Gamecube is just one month away from its release. The battle for console domination is about to begin.
Who will win?
Out of all the answers and theory’s I’ve heard, Meka’s seems to be the best one:
The gamers…
As the Playstation 2 launch drew near, big arguments broke out in the SR forums over which console would be the dominant one.
Sony fans claimed that the PS2 would be an almighty hit and control the games market. The rest claimed that it was so hard to program for and that Sony had made such a mess of it that it would shrivel and die like the Saturn did.
Both sides were wrong.
At the launch itself, the Dreamcast proved to be a better buy with (and this surprised everyone) better games. Who’d have thought that the older technology would be outpacing the newer stuff.
Lucky for Sony, this did not spell the PS2’s demise. Many of its best games were yet to come and the Dreamcast?
As good as it was, no one bought it. It was ignored and went out of production.
The Dreamcast died, the N64 gradually fell off its last legs, and the PSOne was hardly going to compete with its big brother…
The PS2 had the market to itself. Some it’s games were reasonable if not as good as it should’ve been and despite this, there was no decent competition to put it down. The competitors were still a year off arriving to the UK.
The Gamecube disappeared… the Xbox seemed to be the only competitor. Every month, Microsoft released a demo or a bit of information. The Xbox began to look stronger and stronger.
May came and Nintendo official stated that they were considering cancelling the Gamecube it wasn’t a success at E3.
So the Gamecube seemed to be dying while Microsoft and Sony released more details on their upcoming machines in order to get attention.
Then E3 came. Microsoft’s stand was fairly good. But it was just things that people had heard over the last couple of months. Nothing new.
Sony’s stand had a few neat games but again, not much new to shout about. One or two nice games were unveiled but nothing really special.
The Nintendo stand blew everyone away. All it’s secret surprises were let out in one go. The hardware was magnificent and the Games were both good quality and unique.
Sony and Microsoft’s machines all seemed to orientate around “serious adult games”. The Gamecube had a several of these games and a healthy balance of unique FUN games, the sort that had never been seen before on it’s competing systems.
So a year since the console wars started but things have changed.
The PS2, it was launched with a drab amount of games, one or two nice ones like SSX and Timesplitters but otherwise pretty dull. Over the year, its catalogue has built up and there’s now a fair amount of decent titles. There’s plenty that I’d like to play, not £300 worth (or £270 worth for that matter) but it’s getting there.
I expect that come February (the Gamecube and Xbox launch), the PS2 will have a nice selection of games and be priced at £250 with a game. It will certainly be competitive.
The Xbox? E3 wasn’t its greatest moment but it still has plenty to promise.
And what’s more, “anything the PS2 can do, it can do better” seems to stand.
It’s got all the best features from the PS2 (the same sort of games, DVD, Hardrive, Operating system etc) and it’s easier to make games for too, not to mention being more powerful.
And I expect that it’ll have the best online facilities too, Microsoft being very experienced in that area with MSN’s gaming zone and messenger.
It’s downfall? It’ll be released at £300. Most people are likely to go for the cheaper option.
And then there’s the Gamecube. The cheapest system (I reckon £150 or £200 with a game). It will have all the adult games of its competitors and a rare breed of fun games. The Playstation was a breath pf fresh air to the industry with proper adult orientated games.
With every system promising the same old adult games, fun games will probably be a breath of fresh air.
I’ve got friends at school. They all own Playstations and are all casual gamers. They’re completely unbiased to any company. They all adore Mario Kart on the N64. They love it. There is a big market for fun games and it seems that Nintendo have it to themselves… unless they get shunned for their childish image.
So as it stands it can still go either way.
The PS2 was a mess up but it’s built its strength and is ready to compete with its more powerful competitors. It’s built a nice library of games and plenty more are promised.
The Gamecube has been pretty much ignored pre-E3 but it has a unique type of game that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s the best multiplayer machine by far (offline that it) and people might find themselves buying one alongside their PS2 or Xbox for when friends come round.
The Xbox is the most powerful but the most expensive. It is the ultimate tool for developers to create the games of their dreams. It depends on whether it can convince people to part with £300+.
It all depends on the advertising now. Sony needs to show the world that their console is a good as the new ones. Microsoft has got to convince everyone that his or her ultimate power machine will dominate and is worth the money.
Nintendo have got to convince the public that the Gamecube is not simply a children’s toy…
In Japan, the Gamecube is just one month away from its release. The battle for console domination is about to begin.
Who will win?
Out of all the answers and theory’s I’ve heard, Meka’s seems to be the best one:
The gamers…
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SR obviously have problems with their servers sometimes. I really have no idea why. You can test to see if it's your computer by loading up Google.com. If it loads, then it's SR. If it doesn't, it's a problem at your end.
cool, i thought it was just my computer.
Yeah, it does that sometimes. I don't know why.
yo turbo, did SR go dead on ya last night at about 4am?
Good point. Play on it when you want and sod him. If he wants an NBA game, let him get one, but don't let him play on it when you want to.
choices?! anyway, my brother ented it today form blockbuster. It actually pritty okay, but i didnt let him play it for too long becasue i wanted to play on GT3. MY PS2, i decide what goes in the drive!
Woa Nice post Strafex, I read all of it, and it made a good point too!
Well, my latest OPS2 mag is in the car, but as far as I know, all NBA games have got 6/10
You should let your brother buy his own games anyway. Go into Choices and rent a few to see what he likes.
You should let your brother buy his own games anyway. Go into Choices and rent a few to see what he likes.
oh, i had heard a few good things about it. my brother wants a NBA game u see. u know any other good NBA games?
I think OPS2 gave it 6/10. It's not good anyway. Graphics are poor for a start, that's all I remember apart from it's crap.
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