"BRILLIANT!"
Posted on 11/23/2005 12:42:11 PM PST by Cagey
They relayed to me that they see the online feature to be key and the money maker for MS and that the new XBox will change the landscape and has technology advances that will survive the legacy issue. Plus MS is giving them tons of support, virtually anything they need they get. Have you seen any evidence of this?
It'll be interesting to see how it rolls out.
LOL, one of the problems Microsoft had with XBox 1 is actually their developer program. They would let a lot of uhh, unqualified people make (not the big sin) and release (the big sin) games. And their testing/QC department was substandard as well to Sony or Nintendo. And then of course, we have Microsoft implementing the core OS and firmware for this beast.
Can't entirely say I'm surprised. On the flip side, these things and these games are far more complex now. QC/QA is one major area that all of the major developers have let slip as budgets and content continues to spiral out of control.
I wouldnt be so sure about that. Before I quit electronics repair repairing a DVD player, VCR etc for even minor things would outcost purchasing a new one. Even for a cheap DVD player the lens would cost as much as the player itself, not to mention labor.
I was a huge XBox fan before and I own two XBoxes. But the 360 is a piece of garbage. Already there are reports of widespread crashing, overheating, and hard drive problems. My office mates who stood in line and purchased them are angry that they can't play their old XBox games right now. Plus, the thing is WAY TOO expensive for a console system. Microsoft blew it, pushed this out the door too soon, and it is going to flop.
Microsoft developer support is second to none (has been for a long time), and their tools are very mature (can't compare MS Developer Studio to Code Warrior for instance).
There's also the language barrier with Sony for American developers. I don't have the PS3 materials (not working at a company with a relationship with Sony) but the PS1 and PS2 manuals/materials were translated straight from Japanese (and they would take their time doing the translation).
This was also somewhat purposeful in the older days, American and British developers were 2nd class citizens to the Japanese developers. This has changed considerably recently however. But in the 80's/90's if you worked on game consoles it paid to know Japanese (in fact a lot of my good friends know Japanese for this reason) -- however I was always on the PC side of things since they typically moved technology faster, though the market was smaller. Still true, but the PC market keeps shrinking. Anyway, I digress.
Heh. Never pays to be an early adopter. The only time I have went against that rule was when I got my new Canon 5D a week after release. I needed it for a photoshoot though (that's my side business when not making games). Paid MSRP for it though.
To be fair though, the original PS2 had more than its share of problems as well. We'll see how this shakes out, but the silly early adopters get to be Microsoft's guinea pigs. Would you want to pay $1k to enter the XBox 360 beta program? :)
That has to be the one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. It's like paying hundreds of dollars for a beanie baby or a Tickle-me Elmo.
I guess the value of getting your kid to finally STFU is pretty high for some people :-)
Heh, the code names for all our applications are Simpsons characters. The only problem is that nobody can remember how to spell Szyslak.
"BRILLIANT!"
I'll stick with my trusty Pac-Man and Dig Dug. Those damn classic games are addicting enough already.
Got the little Pac Man unit last year and it's fine for me. Pac Man, Galaxian, Dig Dug, RallyX and Bosconian, all for about $20. Who needs 14 different buttons to push?
SD
both of them...
Back in Star Wars days,
we'd get in line like ten hours
before the first show . . .
he is not the idiot, rather the idiot is anyone who actually pays $6500 for it...
I am tempted to go through and see how many I can bid up.
Paying more than twenty bucks over list price to avoid having to wait a month or so for a product like this is simply insane.
The loss would be much greater than that unless Best Buy is selling it at cost.
I doubt anybody but a few MS executives know the true costs on these.
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