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Who'd live in Europe, eh? While the Japanese and Americans are all at home now, playing on their next-gen consoles, we're here salivating (is that a word?) over a few grainy pictures, waiting for the Spring to come. And what a wait.
I don't know about you, but just watching the latest clips of games such as Halo and Resident Evil makes me want to board the nearest plane and head for the land of the free (that's the US by the way). Unfortunately, that's when reality takes it's cruel hold, and leaves me wishing I could change time.
So here I am, typing this, growing older all the time, waiting for Spring, waiting for the UK launch of the the console I will be getting, the Game Cube. I was discussing with a friend the new era of gaming, and he told me he had already pre-ordered an X-box. I asked him why he chose the black behemoth over it's competitors. He said one word, "Halo".
"Oh", I replied. "So your buying a £300 pound console (£100 more expensive than the Game Cube and PS2) for a single game!"
"Yep" he replied.
It was then I realised that the X-box's 'killer app' seemed to be a single game, and not it's impressive specification. If you look back, you will notice a similar situation, Nintendo's Game Boy. Nintendo needed something to sell the Game Boy, something people would buy a Game Boy just to play. That game was Tetris, and is one of the main reasons the Game Boy 'series', Mono, Pocket, Color (or, if you live outside the US, Colour!) and Advance, is still here today. Does this mean that X-box is destined for success? Well, maybe. The Game Boy was what, £60 (with Tetris), whereas the X-box is £300 (without a game I believe). And that's assuming the makers of Halo don't make a PC conversion because, after all, the PC audience is one Microsoft have carefully targeted, and why get an X-box when they can play the game on their Computer.
I pondered a while longer, wondering if that's why the PS2 didn't live up to expectations, because it didn't expand on it's real purpose, a games console, and instead emphasised its other features (such as DVD). It relied on it's 'cool image', and though the PS2 ain't dead, its hardly running with the big boys anymore, is it!
So, I have concluded the success of a next-gen console will lie with its games.
The Game Cube, designed with playing games in mind, could be an advantage to Nintendo, but the X-box has cost Microsoft a lot of money to create, and they don't like losses (tell me a company that does?)
So, only time will tell then. At the moment it's all pretty close, though if I were a betting man, I'd say the Game Cube has the edge but, that's only because X-box doesn't have any Monkey games! Well, not yet anyway:)
I don't know about you, but just watching the latest clips of games such as Halo and Resident Evil makes me want to board the nearest plane and head for the land of the free (that's the US by the way). Unfortunately, that's when reality takes it's cruel hold, and leaves me wishing I could change time.
So here I am, typing this, growing older all the time, waiting for Spring, waiting for the UK launch of the the console I will be getting, the Game Cube. I was discussing with a friend the new era of gaming, and he told me he had already pre-ordered an X-box. I asked him why he chose the black behemoth over it's competitors. He said one word, "Halo".
"Oh", I replied. "So your buying a £300 pound console (£100 more expensive than the Game Cube and PS2) for a single game!"
"Yep" he replied.
It was then I realised that the X-box's 'killer app' seemed to be a single game, and not it's impressive specification. If you look back, you will notice a similar situation, Nintendo's Game Boy. Nintendo needed something to sell the Game Boy, something people would buy a Game Boy just to play. That game was Tetris, and is one of the main reasons the Game Boy 'series', Mono, Pocket, Color (or, if you live outside the US, Colour!) and Advance, is still here today. Does this mean that X-box is destined for success? Well, maybe. The Game Boy was what, £60 (with Tetris), whereas the X-box is £300 (without a game I believe). And that's assuming the makers of Halo don't make a PC conversion because, after all, the PC audience is one Microsoft have carefully targeted, and why get an X-box when they can play the game on their Computer.
I pondered a while longer, wondering if that's why the PS2 didn't live up to expectations, because it didn't expand on it's real purpose, a games console, and instead emphasised its other features (such as DVD). It relied on it's 'cool image', and though the PS2 ain't dead, its hardly running with the big boys anymore, is it!
So, I have concluded the success of a next-gen console will lie with its games.
The Game Cube, designed with playing games in mind, could be an advantage to Nintendo, but the X-box has cost Microsoft a lot of money to create, and they don't like losses (tell me a company that does?)
So, only time will tell then. At the moment it's all pretty close, though if I were a betting man, I'd say the Game Cube has the edge but, that's only because X-box doesn't have any Monkey games! Well, not yet anyway:)
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Why do games with monkeys in always do well?
Who'd live in Europe, eh? While the Japanese and Americans are all at home now, playing on their next-gen consoles, we're here salivating (is that a word?) over a few grainy pictures, waiting for the Spring to come. And what a wait.
I don't know about you, but just watching the latest clips of games such as Halo and Resident Evil makes me want to board the nearest plane and head for the land of the free (that's the US by the way). Unfortunately, that's when reality takes it's cruel hold, and leaves me wishing I could change time.
So here I am, typing this, growing older all the time, waiting for Spring, waiting for the UK launch of the the console I will be getting, the Game Cube. I was discussing with a friend the new era of gaming, and he told me he had already pre-ordered an X-box. I asked him why he chose the black behemoth over it's competitors. He said one word, "Halo".
"Oh", I replied. "So your buying a £300 pound console (£100 more expensive than the Game Cube and PS2) for a single game!"
"Yep" he replied.
It was then I realised that the X-box's 'killer app' seemed to be a single game, and not it's impressive specification. If you look back, you will notice a similar situation, Nintendo's Game Boy. Nintendo needed something to sell the Game Boy, something people would buy a Game Boy just to play. That game was Tetris, and is one of the main reasons the Game Boy 'series', Mono, Pocket, Color (or, if you live outside the US, Colour!) and Advance, is still here today. Does this mean that X-box is destined for success? Well, maybe. The Game Boy was what, £60 (with Tetris), whereas the X-box is £300 (without a game I believe). And that's assuming the makers of Halo don't make a PC conversion because, after all, the PC audience is one Microsoft have carefully targeted, and why get an X-box when they can play the game on their Computer.
I pondered a while longer, wondering if that's why the PS2 didn't live up to expectations, because it didn't expand on it's real purpose, a games console, and instead emphasised its other features (such as DVD). It relied on it's 'cool image', and though the PS2 ain't dead, its hardly running with the big boys anymore, is it!
So, I have concluded the success of a next-gen console will lie with its games.
The Game Cube, designed with playing games in mind, could be an advantage to Nintendo, but the X-box has cost Microsoft a lot of money to create, and they don't like losses (tell me a company that does?)
So, only time will tell then. At the moment it's all pretty close, though if I were a betting man, I'd say the Game Cube has the edge but, that's only because X-box doesn't have any Monkey games! Well, not yet anyway:)
I don't know about you, but just watching the latest clips of games such as Halo and Resident Evil makes me want to board the nearest plane and head for the land of the free (that's the US by the way). Unfortunately, that's when reality takes it's cruel hold, and leaves me wishing I could change time.
So here I am, typing this, growing older all the time, waiting for Spring, waiting for the UK launch of the the console I will be getting, the Game Cube. I was discussing with a friend the new era of gaming, and he told me he had already pre-ordered an X-box. I asked him why he chose the black behemoth over it's competitors. He said one word, "Halo".
"Oh", I replied. "So your buying a £300 pound console (£100 more expensive than the Game Cube and PS2) for a single game!"
"Yep" he replied.
It was then I realised that the X-box's 'killer app' seemed to be a single game, and not it's impressive specification. If you look back, you will notice a similar situation, Nintendo's Game Boy. Nintendo needed something to sell the Game Boy, something people would buy a Game Boy just to play. That game was Tetris, and is one of the main reasons the Game Boy 'series', Mono, Pocket, Color (or, if you live outside the US, Colour!) and Advance, is still here today. Does this mean that X-box is destined for success? Well, maybe. The Game Boy was what, £60 (with Tetris), whereas the X-box is £300 (without a game I believe). And that's assuming the makers of Halo don't make a PC conversion because, after all, the PC audience is one Microsoft have carefully targeted, and why get an X-box when they can play the game on their Computer.
I pondered a while longer, wondering if that's why the PS2 didn't live up to expectations, because it didn't expand on it's real purpose, a games console, and instead emphasised its other features (such as DVD). It relied on it's 'cool image', and though the PS2 ain't dead, its hardly running with the big boys anymore, is it!
So, I have concluded the success of a next-gen console will lie with its games.
The Game Cube, designed with playing games in mind, could be an advantage to Nintendo, but the X-box has cost Microsoft a lot of money to create, and they don't like losses (tell me a company that does?)
So, only time will tell then. At the moment it's all pretty close, though if I were a betting man, I'd say the Game Cube has the edge but, that's only because X-box doesn't have any Monkey games! Well, not yet anyway:)
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