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"Microsoft wrecking gaming"

What's all the crap I hear about Microsoft trying to monopolise the gaming market. They're "buying all the other companies" and "using their money to get what they want"... aparantly. I beg to differ.

To begin with, let's have a look at the above quotes.

Contrary to popular belief, MS have not bought any big games companies. They bought Bungie- who are so small the MS relocated every single person in the company- and more recently Rare- the tiny midlands developer. No sign of any big publishers yet. And what have they done with these companies? Microsoft allowed Bungie so many resources that Halo has been nominated for "Game of the Year" awards numerous times. Is this a bad thing?

At the same time, MS are throwing money at other publishers for exclusives. Which is exactly what Sony did with the PS1. In both situations the companies gave wods of cash, development tools and premade libraries to third party developers to produce exclusive games. This is how Sony wooed Konami, Square and Namco away from Nintendo.

And this all adds up towards a great thing for gamers. If the Xbox's successor gets nearer to Sony's sales figures then we will once more find ourselves in a console wars where it is the games that determine the outcome, and not company branding. Let's face it, the PS2 had no competition when it came out, and the quality of games was nowhere near as paramount as it had been in, say, the SNES vs Mega Drive days.

So, to those who curse the Xbox, think before you speak. MS have not bought out many companies, made any more third party deals than any other manufacturer (including Sega!), and are certainly not dominating the market. Competition is good.

Sonic

===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> What's all the crap I hear about Microsoft trying to monopolise the
> gaming market. They're "buying all the other companies" and
> "using their money to get what they want"... aparantly. I
> beg to differ.

I think its down to the perception of what microsoft, sony and nintendo are like.
Nintendo didn't have the same kinds of criticisms back when they first started out in the console business (my gaming history is a little fuzzy) so this doesn't apply as much to them...
When Sony came into the industry riding on the back of working with nintendo on the cd thing, they essentially came in as an entertainment company as just that- an entertainment company... not many people had any bad feelings towards them (except the hardcore fanboys or zealots as they were known back then, oh yeah and the last of the amiga bunch lol)
Fast forward to now when microsoft come into the market just after one of the biggest names in gaming has pulled out of the hardware market and you have people who may or not have the best of impressions towards the whole microsoft corporation who are worried that their entrance might destabalise the industry enough to knock out one of the remaining 2 (sony or nintendo).

So microsoft have had a huge hurdle to overcome in getting into the gaming sector (even though the Xbox is in a separate division to the operating systems part of MS) some people (rightly or wrongly) will still have a negative image of the Xbox based on the workings of Microsoft as a whole.

(I now appologise for any dodgy spelling/bad grammar in this post as I was writing it all out as I was thinking of it) :)

what state would that be in? :)
maybe I've been there already lol

sideshow buzz wrote:
> I intend to return someday... (I spent a year at michigan state
> university :) )

Or come down and Visit your Favorite SR Quiz-awnserer! lol..

sideshow buzz wrote:
> I intend to return someday... (I spent a year at michigan state
> university :) )

michigans alright... Univeristy of FLorida Kick mor @rse.

I intend to return someday... (I spent a year at michigan state university :) )

sideshow buzz wrote:
> PsychoticKiller wrote:
> My Solution is That you move to America :)
>
> I tried that, got all my gameboy advance games early and cheaper than
> here... then had to move back in may :(

wow , Sorry for dat Quizmaster.

PsychoticKiller wrote:
> My Solution is That you move to America :)

I tried that, got all my gameboy advance games early and cheaper than here... then had to move back in may :(

Miserableman wrote:
> Here in Europe, we very much see the a®se end of Nintendo's global
> strategy. If anything happens, we invariably get it last and most
> expensive. During the N64 days, we used to have to pay £50 for a
> games (that's about $80). Around the same time in Germany they had to
> pay up to the equivalent of £80-90, which is around $130.
>
> Extortion. Pure, blind, unthinking extortion.

My Solution is That you move to America :)

Here in Europe, we very much see the a®se end of Nintendo's global strategy. If anything happens, we invariably get it last and most expensive. During the N64 days, we used to have to pay £50 for a games (that's about $80). Around the same time in Germany they had to pay up to the equivalent of £80-90, which is around $130.

Extortion. Pure, blind, unthinking extortion.

===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> For God's sake, have you not listened...
>
> SEGA should dominate

I agree.