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The announcement of the Xbox launch in Europe came much sooner than many had anticipated, and it clearly is set to arrouse more interest in the console, the Gamecube announcement should come quick on the heels, and we all know what the PS2 is about, so, I guess it's time for another estimate at the strenghts and weaknesses of each system.
Hardware:
The base of all games, the actual system that runs them. In this department there is one obviousl and clear winner, and one obviously clear loser.
As I'm a bit of a pessimist, I will start with the hapless annoyance that is the PS2. Why do I introduce it like that? Becasue Sony are playing a game with developers. The have made a pig of a system to develop for, and rocketed game budgets through the roof. It is difficult and itricate, and we wont see the best of it for another year at least.
The winner................the Xbox of course. The most powerful console ever produced and based so closely to PC architecture and components, that any muppet games company can make games for it. The GC may be heralded as easy, but nothing is easier than the devil you already know, and Microsoft have stuck to the tried, tested and successful DirectX standard, well done.
Peripherals:
The Gamecube loses, sorry. No DVD, lacking online capability (for now) and doesn't really do much. The memory cards look quite decent, and there is always that pacemaker intefering Wavebird controller. The pad, looks like a bigger Dual Shock 2, but never mind, eh.
The PS2, well, what can we say. Broad and narrow band modems, keyboard, mouse, monitor, memory card, dual shock 2, popegg printer, force feedback steering wheel, USB, Firewire and AIBO. Sure fire winner.
Xbox - Broadband modem, decent pad and DVD remote. On the right path, may catch up with the PS2 eventually, but not quite there yet.
Release Date:
The Gamecube loses once more only because it is unconfirmed to date.
The Playstation 2, 20 million consoles worldwide already installed in people's homes, I think it wins.
The Xbox, only just ahead of Nintendo on the basis of the announcement made yesterday.
Price:
Gamecube - this could be the cheapest of the new consoles, but as of yet unconfirmed at a recent PS2 price drop puts it's position in close peril. I'm sure this will leapfrog the PS2 and Xbox into an easy first, but without a confirmed price, as of yet, it comes in last by default.
PS2 - currently in the lead because of it's recent price drop and SR's stupidly low priced games, but the Gamecube will provide stiff oposition, I expect.
Xbox - the same price the PS2 was a year ago, and it's still six months from release, games will be the average cost. Definately second, but not for long.
Software:
NO WINNER.
May be a controversial decision, but this is where the console battle will be lost and won, so why is ther eno winner?
Easy, this topic is far too opinionated for anyone to win, I like Porsche's more than Ferrari's, someone else will not, but does that make a Ferrari better than a Porsche or a Porsche better than a Ferrari, of course not.
Conclusion:
For the factual efforts of the consoles, the PS2 wins, mainly because it has a massive head start over the other two. As I hopefully have shown there is little to pick and chose from between the systems, and for the first time since the days of the SNES and Megadrive, people will be able to buy a console which they prefer the games for, not the console which will be most likely to last them a little while. All of these consoles should be around for a good few years, and have massive third and first party support, so get onto some websites, find the games you really want, find the console they are coming out for, and buy it, simple really.
Hardware:
The base of all games, the actual system that runs them. In this department there is one obviousl and clear winner, and one obviously clear loser.
As I'm a bit of a pessimist, I will start with the hapless annoyance that is the PS2. Why do I introduce it like that? Becasue Sony are playing a game with developers. The have made a pig of a system to develop for, and rocketed game budgets through the roof. It is difficult and itricate, and we wont see the best of it for another year at least.
The winner................the Xbox of course. The most powerful console ever produced and based so closely to PC architecture and components, that any muppet games company can make games for it. The GC may be heralded as easy, but nothing is easier than the devil you already know, and Microsoft have stuck to the tried, tested and successful DirectX standard, well done.
Peripherals:
The Gamecube loses, sorry. No DVD, lacking online capability (for now) and doesn't really do much. The memory cards look quite decent, and there is always that pacemaker intefering Wavebird controller. The pad, looks like a bigger Dual Shock 2, but never mind, eh.
The PS2, well, what can we say. Broad and narrow band modems, keyboard, mouse, monitor, memory card, dual shock 2, popegg printer, force feedback steering wheel, USB, Firewire and AIBO. Sure fire winner.
Xbox - Broadband modem, decent pad and DVD remote. On the right path, may catch up with the PS2 eventually, but not quite there yet.
Release Date:
The Gamecube loses once more only because it is unconfirmed to date.
The Playstation 2, 20 million consoles worldwide already installed in people's homes, I think it wins.
The Xbox, only just ahead of Nintendo on the basis of the announcement made yesterday.
Price:
Gamecube - this could be the cheapest of the new consoles, but as of yet unconfirmed at a recent PS2 price drop puts it's position in close peril. I'm sure this will leapfrog the PS2 and Xbox into an easy first, but without a confirmed price, as of yet, it comes in last by default.
PS2 - currently in the lead because of it's recent price drop and SR's stupidly low priced games, but the Gamecube will provide stiff oposition, I expect.
Xbox - the same price the PS2 was a year ago, and it's still six months from release, games will be the average cost. Definately second, but not for long.
Software:
NO WINNER.
May be a controversial decision, but this is where the console battle will be lost and won, so why is ther eno winner?
Easy, this topic is far too opinionated for anyone to win, I like Porsche's more than Ferrari's, someone else will not, but does that make a Ferrari better than a Porsche or a Porsche better than a Ferrari, of course not.
Conclusion:
For the factual efforts of the consoles, the PS2 wins, mainly because it has a massive head start over the other two. As I hopefully have shown there is little to pick and chose from between the systems, and for the first time since the days of the SNES and Megadrive, people will be able to buy a console which they prefer the games for, not the console which will be most likely to last them a little while. All of these consoles should be around for a good few years, and have massive third and first party support, so get onto some websites, find the games you really want, find the console they are coming out for, and buy it, simple really.
The announcement of the Xbox launch in Europe came much sooner than many had anticipated, and it clearly is set to arrouse more interest in the console, the Gamecube announcement should come quick on the heels, and we all know what the PS2 is about, so, I guess it's time for another estimate at the strenghts and weaknesses of each system.
Hardware:
The base of all games, the actual system that runs them. In this department there is one obviousl and clear winner, and one obviously clear loser.
As I'm a bit of a pessimist, I will start with the hapless annoyance that is the PS2. Why do I introduce it like that? Becasue Sony are playing a game with developers. The have made a pig of a system to develop for, and rocketed game budgets through the roof. It is difficult and itricate, and we wont see the best of it for another year at least.
The winner................the Xbox of course. The most powerful console ever produced and based so closely to PC architecture and components, that any muppet games company can make games for it. The GC may be heralded as easy, but nothing is easier than the devil you already know, and Microsoft have stuck to the tried, tested and successful DirectX standard, well done.
Peripherals:
The Gamecube loses, sorry. No DVD, lacking online capability (for now) and doesn't really do much. The memory cards look quite decent, and there is always that pacemaker intefering Wavebird controller. The pad, looks like a bigger Dual Shock 2, but never mind, eh.
The PS2, well, what can we say. Broad and narrow band modems, keyboard, mouse, monitor, memory card, dual shock 2, popegg printer, force feedback steering wheel, USB, Firewire and AIBO. Sure fire winner.
Xbox - Broadband modem, decent pad and DVD remote. On the right path, may catch up with the PS2 eventually, but not quite there yet.
Release Date:
The Gamecube loses once more only because it is unconfirmed to date.
The Playstation 2, 20 million consoles worldwide already installed in people's homes, I think it wins.
The Xbox, only just ahead of Nintendo on the basis of the announcement made yesterday.
Price:
Gamecube - this could be the cheapest of the new consoles, but as of yet unconfirmed at a recent PS2 price drop puts it's position in close peril. I'm sure this will leapfrog the PS2 and Xbox into an easy first, but without a confirmed price, as of yet, it comes in last by default.
PS2 - currently in the lead because of it's recent price drop and SR's stupidly low priced games, but the Gamecube will provide stiff oposition, I expect.
Xbox - the same price the PS2 was a year ago, and it's still six months from release, games will be the average cost. Definately second, but not for long.
Software:
NO WINNER.
May be a controversial decision, but this is where the console battle will be lost and won, so why is ther eno winner?
Easy, this topic is far too opinionated for anyone to win, I like Porsche's more than Ferrari's, someone else will not, but does that make a Ferrari better than a Porsche or a Porsche better than a Ferrari, of course not.
Conclusion:
For the factual efforts of the consoles, the PS2 wins, mainly because it has a massive head start over the other two. As I hopefully have shown there is little to pick and chose from between the systems, and for the first time since the days of the SNES and Megadrive, people will be able to buy a console which they prefer the games for, not the console which will be most likely to last them a little while. All of these consoles should be around for a good few years, and have massive third and first party support, so get onto some websites, find the games you really want, find the console they are coming out for, and buy it, simple really.
Hardware:
The base of all games, the actual system that runs them. In this department there is one obviousl and clear winner, and one obviously clear loser.
As I'm a bit of a pessimist, I will start with the hapless annoyance that is the PS2. Why do I introduce it like that? Becasue Sony are playing a game with developers. The have made a pig of a system to develop for, and rocketed game budgets through the roof. It is difficult and itricate, and we wont see the best of it for another year at least.
The winner................the Xbox of course. The most powerful console ever produced and based so closely to PC architecture and components, that any muppet games company can make games for it. The GC may be heralded as easy, but nothing is easier than the devil you already know, and Microsoft have stuck to the tried, tested and successful DirectX standard, well done.
Peripherals:
The Gamecube loses, sorry. No DVD, lacking online capability (for now) and doesn't really do much. The memory cards look quite decent, and there is always that pacemaker intefering Wavebird controller. The pad, looks like a bigger Dual Shock 2, but never mind, eh.
The PS2, well, what can we say. Broad and narrow band modems, keyboard, mouse, monitor, memory card, dual shock 2, popegg printer, force feedback steering wheel, USB, Firewire and AIBO. Sure fire winner.
Xbox - Broadband modem, decent pad and DVD remote. On the right path, may catch up with the PS2 eventually, but not quite there yet.
Release Date:
The Gamecube loses once more only because it is unconfirmed to date.
The Playstation 2, 20 million consoles worldwide already installed in people's homes, I think it wins.
The Xbox, only just ahead of Nintendo on the basis of the announcement made yesterday.
Price:
Gamecube - this could be the cheapest of the new consoles, but as of yet unconfirmed at a recent PS2 price drop puts it's position in close peril. I'm sure this will leapfrog the PS2 and Xbox into an easy first, but without a confirmed price, as of yet, it comes in last by default.
PS2 - currently in the lead because of it's recent price drop and SR's stupidly low priced games, but the Gamecube will provide stiff oposition, I expect.
Xbox - the same price the PS2 was a year ago, and it's still six months from release, games will be the average cost. Definately second, but not for long.
Software:
NO WINNER.
May be a controversial decision, but this is where the console battle will be lost and won, so why is ther eno winner?
Easy, this topic is far too opinionated for anyone to win, I like Porsche's more than Ferrari's, someone else will not, but does that make a Ferrari better than a Porsche or a Porsche better than a Ferrari, of course not.
Conclusion:
For the factual efforts of the consoles, the PS2 wins, mainly because it has a massive head start over the other two. As I hopefully have shown there is little to pick and chose from between the systems, and for the first time since the days of the SNES and Megadrive, people will be able to buy a console which they prefer the games for, not the console which will be most likely to last them a little while. All of these consoles should be around for a good few years, and have massive third and first party support, so get onto some websites, find the games you really want, find the console they are coming out for, and buy it, simple really.
from a Sony zealot w000000000!
Anyone have valid reasons to disagree?
Apart from the amount of tome Nintendo lost by "default"?
The only reason why Sony will win is because it's sold so many already that the other systems won't catch up.
I reckon that the PS2 will end up with about 45 million sales and the other two will have to make do with 35 million between them.
I think that the Gamecube should manage about 20 million which will be enough to keep Nintendo alive, keep third parties interested enough to make games for it and generally stop the machine from dying.
It's not that the Gamecube loses by default, it's that the PS2 wins by default.
Sony are so lucky that people ignored the Dreamcast which was much better than the PS2 software wise until atleast late may...
The only reason why Sony will win is because it's sold so many already that the other systems won't catch up.
I reckon that the PS2 will end up with about 45 million sales and the other two will have to make do with 35 million between them.
I think that the Gamecube should manage about 20 million which will be enough to keep Nintendo alive, keep third parties interested enough to make games for it and generally stop the machine from dying.
It's not that the Gamecube loses by default, it's that the PS2 wins by default.
Sony are so lucky that people ignored the Dreamcast which was much better than the PS2 software wise until atleast late may...
Strafex wrote:
> Apart from the amount of tome Nintendo lost by "default"?
I only said that Nintendo only loses out on price by default, because it hasn't actually announced one yet.
> Apart from the amount of tome Nintendo lost by "default"?
I only said that Nintendo only loses out on price by default, because it hasn't actually announced one yet.
Bonus wrote:
Hardware:
Becasue Sony are playing a game with developers. The have made a pig of
> a system to develop for, and rocketed game budgets through the roof. It is
> difficult and itricate, and we wont see the best of it for another year at
> least.
And? It's actually based on Linux, probably the best program in the world for complicated maths and graphics... Maybe new to develop for, but all they did was produce a system that went beyond the boundaries of current consoles!! One of the first problems was getting the two vector units to work, which, by the way, also exist in the n64 and something nintendo didn;t work out how to use until is was too late!!
The winner................the Xbox of course.
Doubt it...
The most powerful
> console ever produced and based so closely to PC architecture and components,
> that any muppet games company can make games for it.
Thats a good thing? Open GL and Direct-X... not really the greatest way to make games!!
The GC may be heralded as
> easy,
This is due to the system architecture being very close to that of a Mac G4 velocity engine. Everybody knows that a Mac has better capabilities than a PC especially when it comes to graphics and processing power!!
Peripherals:
The Gamecube loses, sorry. No DVD, lacking online
> capability (for now) and doesn't really do much.
No DVD... that's because it's a games console and nothing else. The Games ARE DVD media, so yes, it is DVD, but it doesn't allow film playback!! And as for Online... BB adapter and 56k modem? I think that allows GCN online capability... The PS2 lacks it to at the moment, but due to a lack of BB infrastructure in this country... The XBOX on the other hand is packaghing a BB adapter for the UK which will have no use for a long time to come!! Leaving XBOX buyers having to purchase a seperate modem for now!!
The Playstation 2, 20 million consoles worldwide already
> installed in people's homes, I think it wins.
In the space of 18 months too!! Over a million in the UK alone. They had a head start though by having an existing user base of 30+million.
Price:
Gamecube - this could be the cheapest of the new
> consoles,
Going by $'s to£'s the GCN should be about £150 - 199. Nintendo have confirmed it will be below £200.
Software:
NO WINNER.
May be a controversial decision, but
> this is where the console battle will be lost and won
Probably won on the basis of originality instead of platform converions, sequals and re-makes!!
Conclusion:
It will be a while yet before there's an ovbious winner as such but probably it will come down to Sony and Nintendo (these two have a huge history between since the CD add on for the SNES don't forget!!)
As for Microsoft... bill Gates said years ago that his aim would be to have a microsoft product in every household... Cool, but it wonlt be the XBOX and it's PC arcitecture. Games consoles are designed for games and so their architecture is custom made to perform just for games... The XBOX wasn't, P3 chipset, PC based graphics card... it's a cut down PC as always will be...
Hardware:
Becasue Sony are playing a game with developers. The have made a pig of
> a system to develop for, and rocketed game budgets through the roof. It is
> difficult and itricate, and we wont see the best of it for another year at
> least.
And? It's actually based on Linux, probably the best program in the world for complicated maths and graphics... Maybe new to develop for, but all they did was produce a system that went beyond the boundaries of current consoles!! One of the first problems was getting the two vector units to work, which, by the way, also exist in the n64 and something nintendo didn;t work out how to use until is was too late!!
The winner................the Xbox of course.
Doubt it...
The most powerful
> console ever produced and based so closely to PC architecture and components,
> that any muppet games company can make games for it.
Thats a good thing? Open GL and Direct-X... not really the greatest way to make games!!
The GC may be heralded as
> easy,
This is due to the system architecture being very close to that of a Mac G4 velocity engine. Everybody knows that a Mac has better capabilities than a PC especially when it comes to graphics and processing power!!
Peripherals:
The Gamecube loses, sorry. No DVD, lacking online
> capability (for now) and doesn't really do much.
No DVD... that's because it's a games console and nothing else. The Games ARE DVD media, so yes, it is DVD, but it doesn't allow film playback!! And as for Online... BB adapter and 56k modem? I think that allows GCN online capability... The PS2 lacks it to at the moment, but due to a lack of BB infrastructure in this country... The XBOX on the other hand is packaghing a BB adapter for the UK which will have no use for a long time to come!! Leaving XBOX buyers having to purchase a seperate modem for now!!
The Playstation 2, 20 million consoles worldwide already
> installed in people's homes, I think it wins.
In the space of 18 months too!! Over a million in the UK alone. They had a head start though by having an existing user base of 30+million.
Price:
Gamecube - this could be the cheapest of the new
> consoles,
Going by $'s to£'s the GCN should be about £150 - 199. Nintendo have confirmed it will be below £200.
Software:
NO WINNER.
May be a controversial decision, but
> this is where the console battle will be lost and won
Probably won on the basis of originality instead of platform converions, sequals and re-makes!!
Conclusion:
It will be a while yet before there's an ovbious winner as such but probably it will come down to Sony and Nintendo (these two have a huge history between since the CD add on for the SNES don't forget!!)
As for Microsoft... bill Gates said years ago that his aim would be to have a microsoft product in every household... Cool, but it wonlt be the XBOX and it's PC arcitecture. Games consoles are designed for games and so their architecture is custom made to perform just for games... The XBOX wasn't, P3 chipset, PC based graphics card... it's a cut down PC as always will be...