Xbox:ooh ahh just a little bit...

chernobyl

Went into gamesworld waterford just to ask how pre-orders on the box were going, ofcourse the answer was "great", but i was informed that the Xbox has been given a price increase to €500, not a big jump but certainly significant?

Games will cost between €70 and €75, so basically €650 [-€50 deposit] damage on the day of launch for me which is almost what i paid for a saturn and a couple of games.

Surely MS have gotten this one wrong, demand cant be high for the box?

€500???? 500 ****ing euro?? screw that...and on top of a game €70...no way can anyone want to buy that...maybe in the older days, when consoles were "exclusive" and every system was different, but not now, in today's modern world where pretty all the systems offer the same thing...games are ported over to each different system...what's the point in spending so much on a different console, by a newcomer in the games field, and the games will probably be on the other alternatives??

I see Nintendo doing very well with its game cube and then Playstation 2 will probably fall in a close second this time round.

Q_Ball

Originally posted by chernobyl
Went into gamesworld waterford just to ask how pre-orders on the box were going, ofcourse the answer was "great", but i was informed that the Xbox has been given a price increase to €500, not a big jump but certainly significant?

Games will cost between €70 and €75, so basically €650 [-€50 deposit] damage on the day of launch for me which is almost what i paid for a saturn and a couple of games.

Surely MS have gotten this one wrong, demand cant be high for the box?

Tis true unfortunately. MS really are taking the pee with the increase, and while it won't stop people buying it because they have to have the newest and therefore best (you know the people, more money than sense) I think it'll just send more people towards the ps2. Ninty would want to be advertising the GC fairly soon IMO

kayos

Well the price in England has not gone up its still STR£299 for the console and I think its STR£350 for console with game and extra controller and top of the range pack which has something like 4 games extra controller and the DVD remote is something like STR£550.
It is a bit steep and to be honest I was looking forward to getting one (ya I am one of those ppl with more money than sense when it come to gagets) but now I am thinking about a PS2.

I've played one last Friday night and its sweet but the price is a turn off.....

kayos

Q_Ball

I can see the price of a ps2 going down to compete with the gamecube at least so I wouldn't count that out yet. Personnally if i didn't already have a ps2 (twas a present from the g/f god bless her) I'd probably go with the gamecube.

Of all the release titles on the xbox, Halo is the only one to excite me, and that's due for a pc release in august so i can wait.

Lemming

Originally posted by Q_Ball
I can see the price of a ps2 going down to compete with the gamecube at least so I wouldn't count that out yet. Personnally if i didn't already have a ps2 (twas a present from the g/f god bless her) I'd probably go with the gamecube.

Of all the release titles on the xbox, Halo is the only one to excite me, and that's due for a pc release in august so i can wait.

The GC won't usurp the PS2 for one simple reason. Nintendo consider Europe an "after-thought" as regards their products unlike Sony who are a little smarter and recognise profit as being profit.

Asfor Halo on PC release, it was my understanding that the game was being shelved indefinitely (since M$ now own the developers Bungjee software), and do not want a PC release damaging XBox sales. At the very least there was supposed to be a 6 month lock-out on it, but that changed to "indefinite" status a few months ago. I could be completely wrong here, but it was in a few of the PC mags press release pages

po0k

If they included a 17" monitor they could justify it. I'd pay that for a basic PC with similar specs (cpu+hdd esecially).

Shinji

The GC won't usurp the PS2 for one simple reason. Nintendo consider Europe an "after-thought" as regards their products unlike Sony who are a little smarter and recognise profit as being profit.

I'm not convinced that's the case with the Cube, actually. Nintendo have treated Europe remarkably well with the GBA so far - hardware price is competitive, tons of stock at launch, most games out shortly after US launch (Advance Wars the exception that proves the rule).

The European Cube is competitively priced, includes RGB output and a 60Hz switch - showing that they've gone to the trouble of redesigning the hardware for Europe, something of a first for Ninty. Of course they may yet drop the ball on software, but the early signs are good.

Dont be at yourself

Nintendo is giving Europe make-up sex for all the times its mistreated us.

Anway, €500 for an X-Box, €30 for a DVD remote and €70 for a game? Its a little bit steep, innit? I could buy a PS2, GameCube *and* a GBA for that.

Q_Ball

Originally posted by Lemming
The GC won't usurp the PS2 for one simple reason. Nintendo consider Europe an "after-thought" as regards their products unlike Sony who are a little smarter and recognise profit as being profit.

As shinji said.

Asfor Halo on PC release, it was my understanding that the game was being shelved indefinitely (since M$ now own the developers Bungjee software), and do not want a PC release damaging XBox sales. At the very least there was supposed to be a 6 month lock-out on it, but that changed to "indefinite" status a few months ago. I could be completely wrong here, but it was in a few of the PC mags press release pages

It is still down on EB's release dates as august, and afaik the decision to port it or not hasn't been made yet.

Still, i wouldn't buy a €500 console for a €75 game

chernobyl

The price is not a huge jump, and considering i was fine paying €479 then the increase wont deter me, but the Xbox is already being sold in europe for €80 more than MS could ever account for so WTF, is this €100 pure profit to MS and retailers?

The games are stupidly expensive, £59.07/€75, but that in mind, Station2 games have been hiked as high too, but who can justify it?

Q_Ball

Originally posted by chernobyl
The games are stupidly expensive, £59.07/€75, but that in mind, Station2 games have been hiked as high too, but who can justify it?

Still €10 more expensive than ps2 games

Xterminator

For the last year some of you have been saying nothing but

"When the xbox comes out that'l be the end of the PS2 blah blah blah ... ... Xbox will kick sonys ass ....blaah blah blah"

Its been on so many threads, etc. You know who you are.
So now everyone who said that, and is now moaning about the overpriced Xtradearbox, please hold up your hands and say 'X you were right all along' .

X

tHE vAGGABOND

I dont think anyone said that XBox will kill Sony, dont be daft. Personally I hope XBox does well as I work for a company with a XBox game coming out, and if XBox does well then we will. At the same time everyone who works here has a PS2, we have a PS2 upstairs in our games room. People will buy a PS2 as it has some good games. If XBox or the pube does well and get some good games out it will be very intresitng to see which one does best next christmas.

Anyway there is plenty of room for a few consoles in the market - competition is a good thing. Its like Blur V's Oasis and the whole Brit Pop thing a few years ago - they fought it out and the end result was everyone sold more records..

This 'battle' will result in more games being sold and therefore, hopefully, more good games being made.

Lemming

Originally posted by Q_Ball
afaik the decision to port it or not hasn't been made yet.

Halo was already WELL under way on PC when M$ stepped onto the scene. And as I said ... when M$ bought over bungjee software, they initially wanted it on an XBox-first release with a 6 month lock-out before the PC version was to be released, but then saw how good it was looking and posponed the PC version indefinitely.

The curious thing is this .. last I heard (from a press release) M$ were saying "indefinitely", whilst Bungjee were saying "about 6 months later".

Lemming

Originally posted by NekkidBibleMan
Anway, ?500 for an X-Box, ?30 for a DVD remote and ?70 for a game? Its a little bit steep, innit? I could buy a PS2, GameCube *and* a GBA for that.

Coming from a company that has had its pricing questioned by various groups of late are you surprised at the price?

Coming from a company that consideres a "student" price of its software to be circa IR£150, go figure.

Krusty_Clown

I still think this'll be the make or break for the XBox..
Check out this rather long post:

XBox invades Japan 10:29 PM
Microsoft today announced that Bill Gates has handed over the very first Xbox console system to be sold in Japan. Here's the dirt:

TOKYO — Feb. 22, 2002 — Three months after a triumphant North American launch, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates is taking the XboxÔ video game system into new territory, launching the future-generation console in Japan today.

Backed by Japanese game developers and an intense launch lineup, the most powerful video game system available — the one with the best graphics, sound and game experiences — can now be tapped into by game enthusiasts in Japan.

“Japanese gamers are among the most sophisticated in the world, and Xbox is the future-generation game system that matches their sophistication, fires their imagination and tests their skills,” Gates said, as he greeted the first gamers in Japan to buy Xbox.

“Today’s Xbox launch demonstrates our long-term commitment to Japanese video game players,” said Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer (CXO) at Microsoft. “Xbox is just getting started in Japan, and already the launch lineup of games is very strong. It’s amazing to see what many of the legendary Japanese game designers have been able to accomplish on Xbox.”

Xbox is on sale at thousands of Japanese retail outlets, and 12 titles are available. The launch lineup includes great titles from the top names in video games, such as Sega Corp., Konami Corp., Capcom Co. Ltd., Tecmo Ltd. and Microsoft Corp. A total of 22 titles are scheduled to be available in Japan by the end of March. Many of these Japanese games have global appeal and may be localized in various markets around the world.

“This is just the beginning for Xbox in Japan,” said Hirohisa Ohura, managing director and head of the Xbox Division at Microsoft Japan. “We are continuing to work with our incredible partners to develop unprecedented games that can only be created on Xbox.”

ThrAx

I was over in Brussels there for a few days and had a go on a demonstration machine, I must say I wasn't impressed. The controller is really crap and didn't feel comfortable in my hands. I played Amped Snowboarding and Project Gotham. Project Gotham played exactly like MSR, the graphics were only marginally better and Amped was ok but not as good as I had expected it to be and somehow the graphics didn't seem as good as the ones in the screenshots I've seen.

amp

I dunno, out of the three of them the GC is looking the most attractive to me. Besides I'm way overdue owning a ninty console.

I'm still not convinced that the x-box is anything but a standardised and hobbled pc (both good things and bad things), the specs of which most of us will have overtaken within a 6 months to a year.

Yeah, yeah, we'll finally be able to see what PC hardware could do if the developers knew the exact specs of each machine but it still smells funny.

chernobyl

I really think the console wars is directly between the station2 and Xbox, the cube will always be able to offer something different and original but the xbox and ps2 will have pretty much the same games and go head to head.

ThrAx man, you have to see RalliSport Challenge, finally a GT3 A-Spec beater on both image and playability quality is going to be released.
PGR was a very rushed title and MSR was nothing great either, and 355 was the best on the dreamcast.

segadreamcast

MSR far outdid 355 of the DC in terms of playability...

355 was (Dare I say it) too close to the real thing...it was so dull and tedious! MSR was innovative at least.

chernobyl

Originally posted by NoelRock
MSR far outdid 355 of the DC in terms of playability...

355 was (Dare I say it) too close to the real thing...it was so dull and tedious! MSR was innovative at least.

blah blah blah, i said 355 was the best racer on DC, i was not making any comparison because there simply is none, one was a junky arcade game with ..kudos...right and one represented the definition of motorsport and the most realistic racer ever to appear on a console.



Now thats -200 kudos for you m8.

Dont be at yourself

I have to agree with Noel here. I thought 355 was far, far too realistic (not that I've driven a F355) for its own good. Realism does not always equate to fun, something that F355 illustrated.

MSR on the other hand, while having its fair share of flaws, was a finely crafted, original, and ultimately good fun game.

chernobyl

Its just a clash of opinions but considering my favourite games on PC are Grand Prix 2 and Grand Prix Legends, GP500 and SBK 2001, i like simulations.

I have never even bothered with the arcade section in Gran Turismo games.