Video Game Diplomacy

[Lazarus]

This is could easily remind one of a nerd's Dennis Miller rant, but its chopful of my gaming philosophies:

I have several complaints against people having allegiances to game companies. Number one, you are a customer to these companies- they are interested in your money and providing you with lasting entertainment to attain your money, for this reason I believe they will try extremely hard to keep your money coming. All the systems will linger 2 years from now because I believe all three are setup to go for twelve rounds.

Don't buy something just because it received a high review, just look for what interests you. In no way does a company guarantee that you will prefer their product, they can only market it and follow it with a powerful lineup- so they try their best to avoid slandering other systems, therefore avoiding free advertising for other systems.

While I'd be pressed to say that there is a best among the three, the most powerful is no doubt the Xbox. This far from makes it the best though. The best game-lineup to date is easily sheltered underneath the PS2. And I fear for the Gamecube. It has some serious competition in a world that has much older demographic than that of the late '80s. The only thing anyone can do is trust their instincts if they have yet to fail you. In 1995 when I was only 11 years old, I got a Playstation on gut. Twisted Metal, Gameday and NBA Shootout were my first games and all were without benefit of an 'opinionated' source. I just read the backs of the games and dreamed until Christmas. Needless to say, the Playstation was massive.

I remember when Half-life came out for the PC and how I bought it a few days after its release. I purchased it just because it gave me one of those good "hairaising misadventures in science" (similar to weird science, but ...completely different.)feelings ...nothing more motivated me, nor did I need extra motivation, it appealed to me - even if it were only I to enjoy this game. Everyone (even the most devout console gamer) knew that Half-Life was and still is a breathtaking game on any level or platform. Perhaps everyone has become a little too reliant on everyone else's opinions about what you should do with YOUR money. Maybe it's time everyone realizes that there are successes and failures, but they are only bystandards to personal preferences, not ones dreamed up by a critic or 'professional gamer'. Example - Dreamcast is considered a failure, but I own one that still serves alongside my Xbox and PS2. I happen to like it even if everyone else likes to use it more as a metaphorical gaming outhouse. Trust your own feelings, don't get caught up in a debate about strengths and weaknesses of systems that will have little impact 3 years from now.

Shame on me, I almost bought Mega Man X6 for the aging PSOne. I may have almost commited a crime in the face of people who seem to emulate "Leonard" from the film Memento and forget all the gaming goodness that can still appear for their elder systems. I'm only 16, but I know what I want and that's all I can ever really know about gaming. Reviews set my anticipation and allow me to be guilt-less on a game purchase. The devastation I would have if no games were ever reviewed might do permanent damage to me. Besides, after Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon comes out, hit or miss, I'll be playing it on my Xbox. (I wrote a similar version of this on Gamespot's Xbox Forum on 12/23/01 - this is a revised version.).

[Lazarus]

I always have trouble putting in all those meaningless words.....

[mattcoxonline]

I totally agree........with Big T.

Sorry, but it was too long.
Don't take this personally, but it people are going to write a big long essay in a forum - don't.
Yes, I have done this before and people don't read it. Try sending it in to the site, or a number of sites and they may publish it or contact you back or summet. That way at least someone is reading it.

[Lazarus]

Me get something published? Ha. Thanks for the sympathy, but I'd rather have it get bad attention than no attention at all. I probably cannot get it published,...

[l Maximus l]

Originally posted by Lazarus
I always have trouble putting in all those meaningless words.....

You make some interesting points, but, they are pretty obvious. I will have to disagree on one point. The PoS2 is only "better" because it has been out for a year and they have tons of games out on the market. But, XBox is demonstrating that it will blow PoS2 out of the water. Think about this for a moment: The XBox has been on the market for 46 days on December 31, 2001, New Year's Eve. And, coincidentally, there were exactly 46 XBox games on the market. That ratio adds to one game per day. Now, Nintendo's LameCube and the PoS2 combined never had a number like that just one and a half months after their launches.

Just give XBox some time, they will catch up undoubtably.

Personally, I'm not one to purchase every single console on the planet just so I can play the games. I'm a little more conservative in that I do the research, do the plus and minuses to each console and go out and purchase the right one based on my criteria and data. It all added up to the XBox...most powerful system ever created which includes a Hard-drive, on-line broadband standard, four controller ports, and so on for the same price as a PoS2. That was a simple decision there. But, also, the XBox will have many of the same games as the PoS2 except they are improving the games by adding more levels, smoothing out any potential jaggies so us XBox consumers can benefit by having the best version of the same games....just throw an "X" behind the title and now it's an exclusive best version of the same game. Not a bad marketing approach either

I'm really not argueing with you, just sharing some of my points. Besides, you mentioned Mega Man 6...too bad you couldn't rip your own music tracks to replace the horrid music on that game! lol...good game, crappy music...you have to admit that! lol

[Lazarus]

Great points, I'm just happy you read it considering the attention the article has gotten so far. The PS1 was almost placed in the shadow when the much more powerful N64 appeared on the market. Just remember that while I support the Xbox completely ( far more than PS2 or GameCube ) I am also trying to reason that it may take it just as long as the PS2 did to tune up; or it may fail completely- nonetheless, if I get the games I want, the purchase was not in vain. Excellent points- and yes- I strive for the obvious points which are hidden to the younger demographic concerned with slandering and 'hating' other systems.

[l Maximus l]

Originally posted by Lazarus
Great points, I'm just happy you read it considering the attention the article has gotten so far. The PS1 was almost placed in the shadow when the much more powerful N64 appeared on the market. Just remember that while I support the Xbox completely ( far more than PS2 or GameCube ) I am also trying to reason that it may take it just as long as the PS2 did to tune up; or it may fail completely- nonetheless, if I get the games I want, the purchase was not in vain. Excellent points- and yes- I strive for the obvious points which are hidden to the younger demographic concerned with slandering and 'hating' other systems.

One thing, though, Lazurus....I live practically down the road from the Microsoft World Headquarters...and one thing I can tell you...if Microsoft is going to go into something, they are not going to do it half-assed. And, if you think about it, not that Microsoft would, but, Microsoft COULD buy out the entire Sony Corporation 10 times over. One thing is for sure, the XBox will not fail. And, so far, I see that the XBox has a lot of catching up to do...but, I predict that the Sony Playstation will become a dead, but great wonder...I give it a year and a half, in my opinion. I also predict that the GameCube will crash and burn in six months but Nintendo will always be unstoppable in the handheld market...and rightly so, they do a very impressive job with the handheld stuff.

As for the N64 putting to rest the PoS1...I'm not sure about that...and the reason is, I think they are both pretty much dead. I work part-time at an Electronics store and we only have, at most, 8 N64 games on the rack compared to over 200 different PoS1 games. Granted, most PoS1 games are nothing better than beer coasters, they still manage to sell like crazy out of the store that I work at. And, I'm with you...I am clearly not a Sony Playstation fan only because Sony has the resources to make a gaming console like the XBox but didn't... It's just business and I am happy that Sony is trying to push hard in the gaming industry because that will force Microsoft and even Nintendo to make even better games and better technology. This is great for us consumers...but, my bet is on the XBox. I know Microsoft very well...and when they put their mind on something, they are in it for the long haul

[mattcoxonline]

Originally posted by Maximus
I live practically down the road from the Microsoft World Headquarters...and one thing I can tell you...if Microsoft is going to go into something, they are not going to do it half-assed

Sure, I agree that Microsoft won't do something "half-assed" but I have seen you say that you live down the road from Microsoft a few times and would just like to say, as I seem to be in a critical mood, that this wouldn't make you anymore "in the know."
All you would be able to tell from living down the road from them is an estimate of how many Gamecube's they're burning from the purple smoke coming from the chimney...

(maximus, from what I can tell, you are a great guy, but you have to admit it's true!)

[Big Ben]

Some rare, unusual, and hopefully insightful points:

1) Getting a system out early, even if it is less powerful than the competition, can do wonders for the sales and the brand loyalty. The reason the NES won in the US over the more powerful Sega Master System was because the NES came out before it. The reason why playstation beat out Saturn was because PS1 came out before Saturn (not the only reason, but a big one). The reason why PS2 isn't going away and Gamecube won't survive long is because PS2 came out well before the others and Xbox slightly before the cube.

2) The more games you have on your system, the more crappy games you have on your system, but also the more great games you have on your system. PS destroyed Saturn because Sega wanted to produce only games that they Ok'd as high quality and great games. Every game that came out on Saturn was a great game, but just by looking at first releases for Xbox you can see that bad games are sometimes well worth it for the demographic they hit. Cel Damage is a prime example of a crappy game that everyone I know loves. PS2 has more games which means more great games than either Xbox or Gamecube, and there's no way for either system to catch up.

3) If you're ever in South America, take a Llama ride, it's fun.

4) Xbox may be the most powerful system, but it does not have an endorsement from Ralph the Wonder Llama, star of Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail.

5) I still play my old systems because soem games are just more fun than the new games that have fancy graphics and amazing audio. Eye Candy is sometimes just a way to get people to think the game is better (Madden series is case and point).

6) Xbox lovers better hope that PS2 and Gamecube don't fail, for as long as there's competition, the games will keep getting better. Without any competition, Microsoft could produce crappy games and still get good sales because there was nothing else to play.

That's all, and props to Lazarus for writing a tight and revised argument for the propagation of video gaming equality.


-Big Ben


P.S. - There really is a Ralph the Wonder Llama... check the opening credits!

[Frostberg]

Ahh so now I see why 1297 people are registered but dont have any posts...if he takes the time to write something out you should at least read a little bit of it and if you arent interested in it, thats fine but dont knock him just because his post is too long for you to read...its more of a waste to read "your post is too long!!" than it is to read his post...it was actually quite true in a few ways and was very well written, good job Lazarus

[l Maximus l]

Originally posted by mattcoxonline


Sure, I agree that Microsoft won't do something "half-assed" but I have seen you say that you live down the road from Microsoft a few times and would just like to say, as I seem to be in a critical mood, that this wouldn't make you anymore "in the know."
All you would be able to tell from living down the road from them is an estimate of how many Gamecube's they're burning from the purple smoke coming from the chimney...

(maximus, from what I can tell, you are a great guy, but you have to admit it's true!)

lol...I'm glad you brought this up because I don't want people thinking that I was trying to communicate that I am the know it all dude because Microsoft is a neighbor! lol... I just know a lot of people that work there and from what I know about Microsoft is that whenever they put their mind to something, they are simply in it for the long haul. So, my point was to expect a long lasting and beautiful relationship with the XBox That's all I was trying to say...

Hey, if you think I type a lot, just think about how much I talk! lol...I'm in sales...I just love the sound of my voice

[mattcoxonline]

I'm glad you didn't take that the wrong way!

[Frostberg]

Originally posted by Big Ben

4) Xbox may be the most powerful system, but it does not have an endorsement from Ralph the Wonder Llama, star of Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail.

Ahem, Speaking of Money Python and the Holy Grail
Click Here! Its amusing for a short laugh

[JAC]

Originally posted by Big Ben

6) Xbox lovers better hope that PS2 and Gamecube don't fail, for as long as there's competition, the games will keep getting better. Without any competition, Microsoft could produce crappy games and still get good sales because there was nothing else to play.

I think this is a very important point that you made that shouldn't ever be overlooked. I find myself understanding this point more and more each day. Not only would they not strive as hard to make better games, but just how long do you think it would take for them to realize that they could up the price? How long before the money hungry Microsoft would up it them to at least $60 or $70 for a title and especially if that title was a very highly anticipated one! I'm sure we can name a few titles that we know most people will surely buy...

[JAC]

Originally posted by Frostberg
its more of a waste to read "your post is too long!!" than it is to read his post

I read them both and now feel twice as abused.

[Lazarus]

Competition is a powerful idea. It motivates companies and allows them to maintain pace with a trendsetter- we gamers, are in luck since both Sony and Microsoft are very powerful trendsetters in their respected fields. This makes both a battle of deep pockets,... but pride as well- in money, pride can substantiate large amounts of money, money to be sent to developers for higher quality games. Everyone wins, except- perhaps our aging Nintendo, who WAS the trendsetter with games, now a geriatric stuck on the 6-12 demographic.

[l Maximus l]

Originally posted by Lazarus
Competition is a powerful idea. It motivates companies and allows them to maintain pace with a trendsetter- we gamers, are in luck since both Sony and Microsoft are very powerful trendsetters in their respected fields. This makes both a battle of deep pockets,... but pride as well- in money, pride can substantiate large amounts of money, money to be sent to developers for higher quality games. Everyone wins, except- perhaps our aging Nintendo, who WAS the trendsetter with games, now a geriatric stuck on the 6-12 demographic.

I agree, but, I think Nintendo will do fine between now and the next 6-7 months...then it will crash and burn like the N64...and rightly so I buried mine

[Frostberg]

Well, if say they has the MSRP of Brute Force as $69.99 I think that there would be so much rage within the video game community. Im sure that would just lead to petitions and protests and such and I dont believe MS could risk breaching the $50 mark yet...they just started...it would be a bad for their reputation, thinking they can charge more...especially with PS2 and GC games all $50 when they are released...If you ask me console games have always been overpriced to start with...When the PSX came out games for it were cheaper because the cost of a cartige didnt jack up the price. PC games sometimes dont even start at $50 anymore, you see your share of titles at $40, and then a select few of games at $30 or lower when they come out...Console games are at a good price now, $50...charging more just because a game is "hyped" about is crazy...And they didnt do it with Halo, so dont look for them to do it anytime soon, ainstead look forward to some kind of "Greatest Hits" games that are only $20 or so...

[l Maximus l]

Good point, Frostberg. I was surprised to see that Half.com has XBox games for less that $50...they must have almost all of them...no joke...check it out

[Frostberg]

hehe I sold Oddworld 2 days ago and PGR there yesterday...a lot better than trading them in to EB for $25...got about $35 for each and I'm thinkin about picking up Blood Wake soon