XBOX SUCCESS DEPENDENT ON BROADBAND!!!!

[shagg]

An interesting article from Red Herring regarding the future of Xbox and broadband. Apparently the folks at Redmond are under a lot of pressure to deliver on their promise for online gaming. But with DSL and Cable subscriptions dwindling, will the Xbox prevail?
Check out the article on this link.
http://www.redherring.com/investor/2002/0220/xbox.html

Shagg

[wweomaniac]

lol, read the article and they don't know what theyre talking aboot. Lots of people will play XBOX online. most people with XBOX probably already have high speed internet (assuming since they had a smart knowledge for choice a console, they have good knowledge in picking the right internet provider). Don't worry about it, right now, more than 500 people are on gamespy at the moment and it gets up to 800 some days. Most xbox owners don't even know aboot gamespy, and if there are 800 users on aat one time, guess how many users there are in total?? LOTS!

[shagg]

I appreciate your optimism. Being an Xbox owner and PC game fanatic, I am also optimistic about the success of Bill's baby.

shagg

[FpS_PhReeK]

XBOX SUCCESS DEPENDENT ON BROADBAND!!!!

In reality the vast majority of Xbox owners will probably never play online or will do it rarely. True gamers like those touched individuals in the Asylum will probably be online a lot. I will be there whether there is a fee or not. Some people just will never want to fork over the money, and some people just prefer to play multiplayer games on the livingroom floor with friends.

Regarless, Xbox is already a success and will soon be recognized by all nay-sayers as the only console with a future, it is time to send that PS2 to the retirement house come July... by then their will be more software than any of us will have time to play.

PhReeK out!

[l Maximus l]

I play on Gamespy right now and there is no sign of anyone getting tired of playing Halo on-line. I was on yesterday in the mid afternoon and there was over 700 people on-line. Keep in mind, that is actually over 700 XBoxes, many of which had more than just one player on it! In other words, just because there were just over 700, there were 1-4 people on each XBox!

Also, many people have cable and DSL. Yes, there has been a fall out of people that own DSL or cable, but, rarely does any internet enthusiast go back from 256K to 56K access.

Even the occassional lag doesn't stop people from playing on Gamespy. Some may leave, but, it has been very consistent with how many people that are using it just to play Halo. The lowest I have seen on there was about 240 people and that was about 3:00 in the morning Pacific Standard time!!! There are some really hardcore gamers on Gamespy!!

To make the on-line gaming forum big, there has to be gamers. And, to do this, I would expect Microsoft to charge a minimal fee straight out of the gate! After people really start catching on, the price may go up a little. I guess we'll see. Personally, I can care less how much it is, I just hope that there will be enough people to kill while playing Unreal Championship!!

[Msterrrr]

Thats good news max,,, i havent played over there in awhile but i remember around xmas time there was about 200 to 300 people on at a time ,,
So game spy looks like its growing nicely just like this forum page,, not too long ago we had reached 3000 ,, now its 5000 members
xbox is gaining steam even after a lack luster month of release's in feb,, next few months look real good for games

as far as a fee goes i'd expect some sort of free trial period then a small fee,, , to hook gamers

i remember seeing something about a special dvd that enables online play i'll try to find the article

[AvedisZ]

All I wanna know is how much $$$$$$ ?????? I think any more than $10 a month is crazy. I pay $60 a month for 1.5mb down/256k up DSL. Do you need this whole Xbox online thing or can you just use Gamespy? Which is still free right?

[Msterrrr]

Avedisz
,,gamespy is free as long as you dont mind the ads popping up

and after you get the network set up its been posted here a few times try a search if you need any help with that

i cant find the article about the dvd enabling online,, seen it about a month ago. somehow it was going to hook up to a mircosoft network,, one time fee ,,,cost of the dvd

who knows maybe it was a rumor anyway that news disappered fast

[xbox2k2]

It will be a while before I can play xbox online i live in the middle of nowhere and want be able to get broadband for at least another year and a half. Im stuck with 56K and rarely even get above a 33k connection

[FpS_PhReeK]

The point is that the Xbox's success does not rely on broadband!

It is already a huge success, broadband is awesome, I will use it a lot, so will the rest of you guys, but it will not make or break the xbox. As I said earlier, Some people just will never want to fork over the money, and some people just prefer to play multiplayer games on the livingroom floor with friends.

Putting you back on topic at no expense, your welcome.

PhReeK out!

[thunderkiss2k1]

Jay Allard from Microsoft said they are trying to make where online play is selectable from the main menus of its online titles.

[Hugh_Jass]

The ONLY thing that will determine the success of the XBOX is the quality of the games. Broadband is just another feature of the total XBOX gaming experience but it isn't THE definitive feature.

[Koopa]

I think the thing here is that the future of ONLINE console gaming AND broadband is at stake here, not the whole xbox. It can stand alone as an offline console, but IMO MS seems to be the biggest supporter of online gaming (dont they plan to have the network up around summer, while it took PS2 a year to get online), as wel as the biggest suporter of broadband. Bill is hoping to use xbox as a way to get broadband into peoples homes, then probably use it for some other pet project. anyway, i've got DSL so i don't need to worry about the poor schmucks with 56k

[Highlite23]

I think the success of XBOX will be from it's purist form...playing games.

Online play will draw alot of people but i don't think thats going to make or break the system. Not everyone has a high speed connection or, lets face it, the extra cash.

But everyone will be able to go out and buy a game and play it, thats where the xbox will succed or fail.

I think the xbox will do just fine, and Broadband play with the communicator will blow the roof off of gaming from here on out.