Not to mention Soul Caliner II ... which is coming to all three consoles

True, the Dreamcast controller is similar to the XBox one, that's why i'm not too big on the Dreamcast.
But, as my friends and i have talked about, the XBox, being made by microsoft shall have A LOT more upgrades than any other system will. You may need certain system upgrades to play future games which could end up a major hinderance on the XBox forcing people to buy countless upgrades.
This may not be true, but, this is a theory my lil group thinks may happen.

As for the Gameboy Advance.
Damn man, batteries last forever on that lil bugger.
I played Golden Sun on it with new batteries and played for a total of 26 hours before the batteries finally died.. That just blew my mind! Hehe, i'm used to the other systems that eat up batteries pretty quick. ( About 8-10 hours of play )

The Sega Gamegear had internal problems and some defects, thus, they stopped with it. Not to mention that it ate batteries like a starving pig.

~Luke
--,-'-,-<@

*snicker*

Lilith

Time to add my tuppence to this turbulent thread.

My first computer was a sinclair ZX Spectrum with a whopping 48K of RAM, on which I eagerly played such classics as "Dizzy" and "The Lords of Midnight". After that I went onto a Game Gear (yes it ate batteries like a starving man at a banquet, but it was still great dammit!) and then finally to the PC, which I have been with ever since ("My preciousssss").
I am a computer snob and very little on consoles impresses me much: all console games are developed on PCs anyway and anything that sells well inevitable gets converted back to the glorious beige box, so why should I buy a console?

Some of the most groundbreaking, original games ever have come out on the PC (Anyone remember a little game called "Doom"?) and all consoles can do is play catch up. So the new consoles are trying to implement online play: big deal. SEGA did that with the Dreamcast(*sniff* how the mighty are fallen) and with PC games its par for the course. The PC is what has led the way in online gaming technology: Counterstrike (originally a player-created Modification for Half Life) is still the most played FPS because of its online multiplayer mode.

I'm not saying all console games are crap: I have a Megadrive emulator with which I have fun playing old SEGA games and I have enjoyed numerous scraps on Tekken 3, but we've come a long way from the days when the PC was never considered as anything other than a business tool. Unreal Tournament 2003, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Tron 2.0, Warcraft 3: these are just some of the great games coming out for the PC, along with Republic and the uber-sumptuous looking Deus Ex 2 (its the sequel to that game which PS2 owners have only just got, and which we PC users have had for years).

What do you get on the X-Box? Max Payne, Obi Wan and Halo (the only games I ever see on sale for it), whoopee. I've played Halo, and while the graphics were very nice (nothing spectacular though when you compare it to the upcoming Unreal 2) the control system was a complete pain in the arse (personally I feel that if an FPS doesn't use a mouse and keyboard then it aint worth bothering with). Max Payne, well, we have that on PC. As for Obi Wan, well, it sucks so no great loss for us PC players, especially since we just got Jedi Knight 2 which looks and plays far better.

The only reason I would buy a PS2 is to play Silent Hill 2. I loved the original and it is criminal that neither of these two great survival horror games (who needs Resident Evil?) were converted to the Glorious PC.

The Gamecube gets off lightly in this rant, because I like its control system and the way it is designed: its efficient and unobtrusive, unlike the X-Box which is nothing less then a mid-spec PC stuck crammed into a black plastic box and marketed as a games console. Oh yes, and I liked Rogue Squadron 2.

And don't talk to me about the overhyped and overblown and generally wanky Final Fantasy series, because Phantasy Star 4 roolz you all! :b

*This has been a public service announcement from your friendly neighbourhood PC Fascist* =:)

My take on the 3 new systems out is this.

XboX- This is a good system aside from the fact that it its made by Mocrosoft and will requiore countless upgrades in the future. I can see it now XboX 2005 edition. I simple hate this machine. the control is the size of a damn dinner plate and its not user friendly. But the only reason that i would want an XboX is becuase it has some badass games. Mainly most of the really sweet Starwars Games are on it, that and Deus Ex 2 is going to be comming out on the XboX first and not the computer. Most of its games are really shitty, i mean they take no skill to play and are mainly child like in nature. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone to get.

Game Cube- This system has really blown my mind recently. I went and rented a gamecube and the new Resident Evil(i am a huge fan of these games). I must say this game blows my mind away it is so awesome. The Game Cube does rather well with this game, the people are life like and the game play is smooth and not choppy. I have also played the two Starwars games for it, Rouge Leader and Starfighter. The System overall top notch the only draw back is there arent many really good games out yet for the Cube mainly sports games and childrens.The controller is a bit difficult to use but you get used to it after about 3 hours of play. But if they can manage to put out more games like RE then i an defantly getting one.

Playstation2- The first of this little series of systems to come out. I persoanlly like this system the best. for several reasons. the controller is very user friendly, as it is the exactly the same as the PS1 only its black(which of course makes it better (: ). The added bonus of a built in DVD player makes it also a great buy too. but the PS2 has a huge array of games in which it choose from. Its smoothness in the gaems and the graphics the games have shown for the PS2 thus fare are quite decient. I really like this system, i dont own one as of yet. but it is on my to get list.



Just my opinion and observation of the systems as i have all tested them and these are my conclutions.

You mean like the PS2's modem upgrade to play online games and its hard drive upgrade?

I think your group is very wrong about the Xbox. Any minimal amount of research on Microsoft's part would show that console gamers wouldn't put up with that. And they've been very clear that that's exactly what they're *not* going to do.

Or you could get that same game on the Xbox (with some enhancements)...



Personally I enjoy Halo far more than Unreal tournament ... the last FPS I remeber being this good was Half-Life. I feel Halo has advanced that genre much more than any game since Half-Life. And as far as the control, it's simply a matter of getting used to either format. The mouse/keyboard combination gets me out of the game a bit, a good console FPS usually works better at making me feel I'm "in" the game. Of course, I'm only talking about Goldeneye and Halo ... but that's beside the point ...

As far as other games on the XBOX:

Project Gotham Racing, Rallisport Championship, Jet Set Radio Future, GUNVALKYRIE, World Series Baseball (Sega) ... these are all great games ... and i think all of them benefit from the console treatment.




Oh, I agree ... I can't stand Final Fantasy (though I am excited about the online FF) ... but ... Phantasy Star is another console RPG ...

Personally, my favorite RPGs are Ultima VI and VII, both PC RPGs ... and I've always felt PC RPGs have been superior.

Again, so far, the PS2 is leading the race as far as "upgrades"



Well, unfortunately, all the systems have more bad games than good games ... that should never be surprising.

However, the Xbox has the same style of games as the PS2 ... so I don't see how it's a kiddy machine (like the GameCube could be construed to be)



Unfortunately the GameCube doesn't seem to be getting many games ... again, this is the system that can be called "kiddy" ... though I don't mind that at all.

Super Monkey Ball and Super Smash Bros Melee are always fun to play for me



Most of which are crap, and 90% of which *are* good are coming to the Xbox ... right?



Well, as far as graphics ... the PS2 is the least powerful of the three systems. It's beaten on all levels by the Xbox, and most levels by the GameCube.

Games on the PS2 look better on the Xbox and GameCube.

Don't forget that the PS2 has been out a lot longer than either the XBox or the GameCube too, so that's not all that surprising.

And in the case of what Detnemrot was saying, their theory was more to the degree that Microsoft has a way of making games/software/things that you *need* to upgrade for, because you can't play it otherwise, PS2 is backwards compatible with PS1 games if I'm not mistaken, so I don't think that any of their upgrades will have meant that without them you can't play any more of the newer games. However, I'm not up to date on the facts here, so I could be wrong.

As for Microsoft's strategy in the console gaming industry... they'd have to adapt that anyway as the competition is a lot more fierce there than it is in the PC industry. One wrong move and the entire mass of customers swings over to the other side... all they need is a good excuse to leave, because between the major consoles there's not all that much difference when you break it down. Most of what I've read of people's opinions of them is based on personal preference rather than vast technological differences.

Lilith

what do games run on all the new systems? $25,$30 bucks? im not sure, i have maby ten bucks to my name so i dont do much shopping. Would someone mind doing a wee-bit of reasearch?

I guess thats why i love emulators. PHREE PHREE PHREE. oh wait i forgot about the $850, 5 year old computer im sitting at. WHOOPS!

Uhm... have a look next time you're at a mall or department store? Even if you don't shop much, unless you're a complete hermit you'd come near a place like that every once in a while.

Or check out someplace like amazon.com which has a computer game section. (walmart.com? google.com definitely.).

In case you haven't noticed already, people get flamed around here for not doing their own basic research.

Lilith

Microsoft has only come out with one system, the Xbox. So it remains to be seen whether they'll inculde backwards compatibility in their next system.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Sony skips out on backwards compatibility the next time around. Either way is cool in my opinion, there's advantages and disadvantages both ways.

*Smacks head against desk*

WRONG!

"Deus Ex 2 will be released on PC and at the same time if possible, be released on the next-generation console which is still unknown at this time."

Warren Spector is the do0d. I can't wait for Thief III either.

As for the Star Wars games, well, us PC owners have had great Star Wars games for years now. Ahhh yes, I remember when I first played X-Wing: flying around humungous Star Destroyers and charging down the Death Star trench to pop a todpedo into the exhaust port. Then TIE Fighter came out and I was gripped by the Dark Side. After that we had Jedi Knight and now we have Jedi Knight 2.

While I liked Rogue Squadron 2 on the Gamecube, its not as involving or "realistic" as TIE Fighter or X-Wing: Alliance. I also forgot to mention Star Wars: Galaxies.

Consoles? Who needs em!



Edited By thetragicclown on June 04 2002 at 17:23

Oh well, like I tell console purists who say the same about PCs ... there's advantages and disadvantages to both ...