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View Full Version : Clash of the Titans: Round 1



TheCovenant
05-28-2005, 04:28 AM
its official, our two beloved consoles are running smear campaigns. The tension is so thick you could eat it. Never before have two systems had so much at stake. Xbox, with everything to gain, and everything to lose, and playstation, nothing to gain, everything to lose. The aggressive remarks are going back and forth, the confusion in specs has started, and the slanderous tongues have began whipping in this all out console war. If you thought the first console wars in 01' were fierce, gear up soldier. This cold war is heating up.



Round 1:


Impress’ PC Watch has published the second part of its interview with Ken Kutaragi, in which the father of the PlayStation discussed the true purpose of the PlayStation 3, explaining that the next-generation console is “more than just a game machine”.

As the interview turned to talk about the competition, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment talked up the console capabilities and said that thanks to the Cell processor, which has been designed with entertainment in mind, the PlayStation 3 will be superior to a Windows Media Center PC.

After discussing the supposed PS3 superiority over a Media Center PC, the comparison with the Xbox 360 seemed inevitable and Kutaragi took opportunity to talk about the Xbox 360 and disregard the console’s architecture.

"The approach of adopting multiple, all-purpose processors will just raise integer calculation capabilities, that will only benefit general applications," said Kutaragi. "This approach will increase the machine's capabilities as an all-purpose computer, but it won't change the type of entertainment."

Finally, Kutaragi gave the final deathblow to the Xbox 360 specs saying “We welcome the fact that Microsoft invests is this area but, by only improving the graphic performance and increasing the output resolution of the current Xbox, [Xbox 360] won't change anything from the current world of videogame consoles.”

Following Kazuo Hirai’s line of thought, Kutaragi also said that “the Xbox 360 is more of an Xbox 1.5 than a next generation console.”



http://www.computerandvideogames.co...y.php?id=119432


E3 2005: "WHAT WE HAVE IS REAL" - XBOX'S PETER MOORE SOCKS IT TO SONY AND NINTENDO

Xbox's global marketing guru on why the Xbox 360 is the real deal - and how it will touch a billion people

16:51 When Microsoft revealed the Xbox 360 in a hurricane of publicity, Peter Moore was at the eye of the storm.
As Xbox's corporate vice president for worldwide marketing and publishing Moore is the man who orchestrates how and when we see the machine.

It was Moore, for instance, who managed to snaffle the services of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yoshiki Okamoto and Square Enix.

It was Moore who championed the MTV unveiling of the system, having pulled a similar trick with the Dreamcast when he worked at Sega.

And it was Moore who stood astride the stage at Microsoft's glitzy pre-E3 press conference and boldly claimed that Xbox 360 would reach a billion people.

A billion? It's easy to scoff, but when we meet Moore in the bowels of Microsoft's cavernous E3 stand (ten minutes late - he's been hobnobbing with Steven Spielberg, no less) he's so full of genuine energy and enthusiasm for the system that we reckon he could make it reach two billion.
But anyone can make promises. We sat down with Moore to find out how he intended to follow through on them.

Now that you've done the whole MTV thing, you've shown the system to the specialist press, and it's playable downstairs on the E3 showfloor, how do you feel?

I feel great, and I'll tell you why. Xbox 360 is real. It's downstairs right now. It's shipping this year, and gamers around the world will be able to play games in high def this year. It's real. The games are real. There are Alpha kits downstairs that you can get your hands on and play. I've just played Call of Duty 2 with Steven Spielberg, he was blown away by it. And then there's stuff like Full Auto with the destructible environments and damage models. Again, it's all running on Alpha at the moment so it can only get better from here.

You keep mentioning that what you have is 'real'. How big of an advantage over Sony and Nintendo do you have because of that?

When we saw the technical specifications for PS3 we weren't surprised, and I think once everyone starts to digest those specs they'll realise that there's not an awful lot of difference. They don't have a chip yet so what they're giving you is what they think they'll get. We have chips, as the people playing the games downstairs will testify, and we feel happy we've made the next leap forward.

I think time will tell how much of an advantage we have. What I will say is that we've always made it clear that we didn't want to be at a disadvantage with timing. We don't like that idea any more.

The MTV UK special didn't show much of the console. Did that disappoint you?

I'll tell you why that happened. UK broadcast regulations are incredibly difficult to get around. If you look at the US broadcast it's completely different. So when we signed the deal with MTV we knew the UK was going to be a problem. I haven't seen it but I'm told I'm on a commercial in the middle, and that's not what I expected it to be. But if you watched the US show, like 18 million people did, you'd have seen a very cool, very hip show. And the UK show had Snow Patrol. The US didn't get them.

But don't you think UK gamers who tuned in to see the console would be disappointed?

We knew there would be problems, so the best I can do is to tell UK gamers to link to the US broadcast on MTV.com or Xbox.com. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do. Tony Blair's not going to change the rules for me!

I think everyone was surprised by how different your design aesthetics for Xbox 360 are to the last console.

Well, you've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you get the prince. That's what we did with all of the prototypes. Our main goal was that the design had to pass muster in Japan, and when we asked Japanese consumers their opinion of the design they told us that they thought only two companies could have designed it - Sony or Apple. That was good enough for me.

Let's talk launch line-up. What are your picks?

Things like Gears of War are still a while away but they look amazing, and even Call of Duty 2, which is much closer, just took Steven Spielberg's breath away. The sound, the visuals, the quality - we're happy with it all. In my role I get to see all of the games so I've seen about 25-30 titles in different stages, and I'm delighted.

I'm particularly excited about the games coming out of the UK from Rare and Bizarre Creations. Kameo is great, it's classic Rare gameplay and it's just beautiful, but it gets really tough as you get into it. Project Gotham 3 looks stunning and plays fantastically, and I'm especially excited about the Spectator Mode - Gotham Television. I struggle with the braking patterns, so the fact that I can sit in my living room and learn from watching guys around the world is just amazing.

And then there's Perfect Dark Zero. I played Perfect Dark Zero a year ago with 49 other people from Rare. So we're talking the return of Joanna Dark and 50 people playing online at once. Now that's exciting.

So there's your launch line-up right there in those three titles.

Where do you see Xbox Live going with 360?

I'm excited that multiplayer gaming is really beginning to come into its own. We recently announced 2 million subscribers for Xbox Live, and I'm excited that we're getting rid of credit cards and offering a free level of service for Xbox Live. Especially for Europe, because we need to do better with Xbox Live in Europe. Obviously need to pay a subscription to play online but if you talk to anyone with Xbox Live they'll tell you it's worth every penny.

How important are the Japanese games and developers for Xbox 360's success?

I've spilt a lot of blood for Xbox in Japan. But when you see that we've got Sakaguchi, Okamoto, Mizuguchi and Final Fantasy XI on Xbox Live you can sense the shift in momentum for Xbox in Japan. We've heard so many different complimentary stories about how what we do things is better than how Sony does things. We're evangelical. That's the way Microsoft works. We call it 'dev love', in that without developers all we'd have is a platform. A great platform, but a platform without games all the same.

But there's a little bit of cynicism that the only reason the Japanese developers have signed up is because of hard cash. What would you say to that?

Yeah, the big fat cheque, right? I'm not going to put words in Sakaguchi-san's mouth, but he chose to come out of retirement for 360. I sat down with him at his home in Hawaii about a year ago. We had the 360 architecture even back then, so I talked to him about online, about our vision for bringing people together not only through the console but also the PC and how we believe it will all come together in the future. He doesn't need to work. He doesn't need to be doing what he's doing now, which is managing hundreds of developers working on Xbox 360 projects in Tokyo. But he shared the dream. He believes in our vision.

The fact of the matter is, when developers work with Sony they don't jump in for free. This is a business. So we presented the developers with the architecture, a set of tools, and broad technology support to provide all the Japanese developers with everything they needed to fulfil their dreams. Mizuguchi-san was here ten minutes ago. If he came in now it wouldn't be about the big cheque. He and I go back years. Yes we have financial arrangements, but who doesn't?

The strong movement towards the Japanese market and the planned worldwide release suggests you want Xbox 360 to be a global console...

It is a global console! That's why we're doing what no-one has ever done - launching in all three major markets [Japan, US and Europe] before Christmas.

Do you think Nintendo and Sony will follow suit?

I don't care what they do. For us, I think it shows commitment to the European gamer because they usually get shafted. It shows that we've had dev kits out to European developers for two years. The fact that the majority of our launch titles are from UK developers shows that commitment.

So will Xbox 360 launch on the same day across the world?

Will you be able to buy the console on the same day around the world? Probably not. Will it be a week or ten days later? Probably. But it definitely won't be the six months and 479 Euros it was last time.

You mentioned at the press conference on Monday that you wanted to reach one billion people. How?

If we're going to grow we need to appeal to different people in different ways. If I can have Steven Spielberg come in - as he just did - and tell me how incredible Xbox 360 is, then why not? Steven Spielberg, on his own, has touched a billion people with his movies. Why can't we?

Does the Spielberg connection mean he's interested in working on Xbox 360 with you?

Well, movies and games are already pretty much tied at the hip, and it's something we want to advance with Xbox 360. As for Steven himself, he was certainly impressed with what he saw.

But most important for us is to stay true to our hardcore, the people who want to be totally immersed in the game experience and get connected to the real 'zen' of gaming. But we also have to make the experience more approachable so that other people who haven't played games in the past will stay up and play. Kameo in particular is a game that my daughter will play, my mum might even play. And then there's the 'non-gaming' experiences in the Arcade, like chess, checkers, and that kind of stuff.

That's how we reach a billion people. We're not going to sell a billion consoles, but we're going to get the whole family back on the couch in front of the TV and reach them that way..”

and where is nintendo? keeping very silent, maybe they'll make their voice heard in round 2...

(the actual round 1 was started by sony at the sony press conference. They initially said the name "Xbox 360" and superior in the same sentence, then went off to show charts. The folks down at MS rebuttled by submitting comparitive analysis on why xbox 360 is superior to playstation. Then the above mentioned slurs happened. We'll see what round 2 brings in the near future...)

so who do you think won round 1?

Highlite23
05-28-2005, 09:18 AM
I'm giving Round 1 to MS, why?

They said all aong they would be showing and releasing this year, I think Sony & Nintendo had their doubts.

At which point it seems, to me anyway, Sony & Nintendo felt they had to do and show something at E3, a couple of cases, alot of talk and some CG supposedly looking like what they will deliver...anyone remeber the PS2 promiss? Toy Story like graphics.

DING!DING! Round 1 MS, but round 2 will heat up.

ColdArmoR
05-28-2005, 10:00 AM
Round 1 goes to MS... I feel like PS3 will disapoint liek it's predessor.

Solid Snake 015
05-30-2005, 12:47 AM
Sony's Playstation line has always been dissapointing, they lie about the product or bend the truth so much its no where close to the facts. Sony's playstation branch has no business ethics... this one goes to MS and will always be with MS...I dont see this monopoly getting knocked down (sony is scared)

Nurb
05-30-2005, 04:04 AM
oh geez, last thing we need are game companies acting like political parties ><