Bill Gates vs. Sinister Death Round 2

[Emperor]

They used to call it the "Core" system, but now it's the Xbox Arcade! That's right, Microsoft has officially announced an addition to the Xbox family: The Arcade.

 

The Arcade costs $279 and includes a wireless controller, and at least three Xbox Live Arcade games: Pac-Man, Uno, and Luxor 2, although online reports say the game will come with five games in total, including Boom-Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy.

 

It does not come with a hard drive.

 

The systems is a shot across the bow of both Nintendo and Sony: The price point puts the 360 in direct competition with the Wii for casual gamers and the timing of the announcement coincides with Sony's announcement of a cheaper PlayStation 3.

 

What do you think, gamers? Is the cheaper 360 a cost-effective alternative to too-expensive gaming? Or is it too gimped-out to deal with?

 

[The Outsider]

I don't think it will help MS to compete with the Wii at all..  It's the new control system of the Wii that makes it attractive to a wide audience and is the reason for it's great sales.

 

This thing is just a cheap, "gimped down" (as you say) version of something better.  Most people will still prefer the high end version, because most people arent going to want to feel that their neighbor has a better version of something than they do.  Especially so since I think they are going to have games that require a hard drive and they won't be able to play those with this version.

[Tenshin_Xo]

It comes with the larger of the two memory modules, and also has the wireless controllers and the HDMI port. Thank you very much..

 

Gizmodo has pics of them from a few weeks ago, thats right, they were released BEFORE they were announced.  Much like the Go Pro, and Go Big kits for the Pro and Elite version which come with free games.

[Samuraiflip05]

Bottom line Xbox released to soon.  They showed a lack of respect to the consumer by putting profit and time advantage over making sure the system was thouroughly tested.  Hence the red ring of death.  Wii and PS3 took their time getting the products out and have not taken much damage for being "Later".  Wii has the casual gamer audience locked up because this stripped down Xbox will wind up with bad press due to it's inability to even compete with itself.  PS3's bigget Dilemna is it's price.  It is still the cheapest Blu-ray player around, but personally I could care less about Blu ray.  Until the battle of HD vs Blu ray gets settled and one format is decided upon, the people who buy either are setting themselves up for another Laserdisc fiasco.  And if Xbox is so much better than PS3, why would it need this stripped version of it's console regardless of PS price drops?

 

  Microsoft has the Online advantage, because they are online/OPS.  But PS has the Gamer advantage because they have been there longer.  The only way Xbox wins the console war in the long run is if Bill Gates monopolizes VG designers the way he tried with Windows.

[SinisterDeath]

Blu-ray is already 'leading' the HD disk player market, (leeding = sales).

while sony may have 'released' the ps3 late, the blu-ray wasn't 'late', HD-DVD was. + it is CLEAR that while sony may be having issues with vidoe game developers, they have basically been making Ties with every movie producers to allign with them on the Blu-Ray format. Microsoft = Windows/Xbox. And not much else. (asside from the ZUNE which was a response to the Ipod).

 

Sony? They have everything..

Phones

Tv's

Movie studios

Song Studios

Gameing Market.

Electronic brands that aren't "tv's"

 

Blu-Ray players, however have 'dropped' price comparitively to what they were, and with the ps3 blu-ray, they've already got a 5mil + blu-ray user base. Odds are, given past trends, that Sony will lose this format war, like they did every other one. But if you remember every other war...

 

VHS vs Beta Max. Beta max had better quality, but was short duration (1 hour max). It got beat by pron.

CD/DVD vs Laser Disk. I mean really, The laser disk WAS better quality... BUT THOSE WERE FLIPPIN FRISBIES!

Needless to say, Sony has 'learned' there lessons, They have been 'studying' the market. I'd place money on blu-ray winning this war.

 

But if it doesn't, still doesn't hurt me at all, I mean the games can still be printed on Blu-Ray disks so it still has that advantage. :P

 

 

BTW, I hear Microsoft will make a blu-ray addon in the near future, depending on how poorly the HDVD does. And boy, Would I hate to buy that addon. :P

[Samuraiflip05]

  I thought HD had been around a little longer, but I get tired of the competing formats and wait until they play themselves out before I start re-investing in my library.  And I can remember in the old days (PS1) when I was of the opinion that Sony spent too much time making big money deals to hold exclusive rights to games (Big hurt to Nintendo).  But now I look for two main things.  Ease of use (No problem/glitches) and variety of titles.  I tend to rent as opposed to buy games due to the fact that I beat most games very quickly.  As of today I have not been impressed with Xbox or 360 (Played both).  Nothing has impressed my enough to make a switch.  Not to mention the limited BC of 360 discourages me even more.

[Silver]

the thing i hate about Sony is all the proprietary crap. so friggin annoying. that's why i refuse to get a MP3 player from them.

[Samuraiflip05]

Lol...my Mp3 is RCA.

[SinisterDeath]

the thing i hate about Sony is all the proprietary crap. so friggin annoying. that's why i refuse to get a MP3 player from them.

 

well, they ARE a music industry, unlike Microsoft or Apple.

[Segurant]

Yes I'm an Xbox guy, but I think Sony will win the war and here is why........

 

It is only going to be a matter of time before the PS3 console takes off.  It is not the price that is hold the console back, it is the lack of games but that will come shortly.  Sony always have a good selection of games not to mention better RPG games.

 

People will say it's the cost but let's looks at some examples.  People are willing to pay $500 for the iPhone.  People are willing to pay $200 for games like Halo 3, Guitar Hero, etc.

[eclipse0]

The war will eventually be decided by the porn industry, no that's not a joke.  The porn industry decided to use VHS over BetaMax and that's why VHS became popular.  If the porn industry decides to go blu-ray, that will make the decision alot easier for the rest of the cinema universe, thus making game consoles which blu-ray compatibility all the more valuable.

[SinisterDeath]

The war will eventually be decided by the porn industry, no that's not a joke.  The porn industry decided to use VHS over BetaMax and that's why VHS became popular.  If the porn industry decides to go blu-ray, that will make the decision alot easier for the rest of the cinema universe, thus making game consoles which blu-ray compatibility all the more valuable.

 

That was true for VHS/Beta max, and to some extent, DVD, but not so much with blu-ray, HDVD.

Why?

The Internet.

[eclipse0]

That's partially true that this battle might not be decided since most folks get their porn on the web now-a-days.  I think the rest of it might be do to the fact that porn isn't conducive to HD.  Most porn stars have lots of scars and stuff from cosmetic surgery and HD pics them up easily.

 

I've still go a gentlemen's bet on it though.

[SinisterDeath]

That's partially true that this battle might not be decided since most folks get their porn on the web now-a-days.  I think the rest of it might be do to the fact that porn isn't conducive to HD.  Most porn stars have lots of scars and stuff from cosmetic surgery and HD pics them up easily.

 

I've still go a gentlemen's bet on it though.

 

I quite simply disagree pron will play a major role.

Now, Direct to DVD movies on the other hand.. THOSE will play a major role this time around....

Its like for every 1 box office movie, theres 50 direct to dvd movies... And since they are so cheap, they might lean towards hdvd 'if' they are cheaper to produce. Assuming they are even FIlMED in HD to begin with...

[Tenshin_Xo]

Last I heard the major Porn publishers split between HD and Blu-ray...  get it, split?  HAH.

[Silver]

yeah, i doubt the pron industry will be a major factor these days.

 

 

and just because they're the music industry doesn't mean they need all the proprietary stuff. they would get more customers if you didn't need to install 'custom' software just to use their stuff

[SinisterDeath]

yeah, i doubt the pron industry will be a major factor these days.

 

 

and just because they're the music industry doesn't mean they need all the proprietary stuff. they would get more customers if you didn't need to install 'custom' software just to use their stuff

 

Music Industry = Paranoid about copyright infringement. Thats why they do that. Its similar why many PDF books are 'copy right protected' and 'audio tapes' you donwload are the same way..

 

But hey, the ps3 isn't wiht out hope, You can put music/movies ripped or 'real' onto the ps3. You just need a 'removeable flash drive' to get it onto the thing. (not sure if you can download, hard to find direct download sites like that on the web, and doens't require windows to dl.) :P

Though, movies are trickier... Mpeg4 is about the only format it likes. (theres probably 2 others..

[Samuraiflip05]

*Scratches his head*

 

I'm trying to figure out when VG consoles stopped being about VG's...lol.

[ironcross]

it was when people realized that PC's were so much better at everything.  :D

[eclipse0]

More like it was about the time that Sony joined the game console battle.

[Tenshin_Xo]

it was when people realized that PC's were so much better at everything.  :D

 

Assuming you don't mind dropping 300$ every 6 months of a graphics card.