Blinx Review

[StefanS]

Microsoft knows games as well as Sony, but not as well as Nintendo and Sega. Amped, Oddworld, Halo, Project Gotham, Rallisport, and Quantum Redshift are all great games. That's a good hit rate for only being in the console business for one year.

But some aren't first or second party titles. E.g.: Oddworld, PGR, Rallisport.

If you compare,
be fair.

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

Microsoft most definately owns the rights to PGR and Rallisport.

 

[bbot]

What kind of noise does Blinx make? Does he meow alot? Does he talk? If I were to get it, would the game be too difficult for me (remember what I said before about games I returned)?

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Well, since the comments was: "MS doesn't know games", I was addressing their publishing (ie. where they chose to put their money) as that is a very good indication of what they think is good about gaming.

Also, bear in mind that when you are the market leader (Sony) and have massive 3rd party support out of the gate, you can pick and chose your 1st party projects a lot more easily. If the Xbox had 2-3 really great platformers on the way this holiday, they probably would have let Artoon take a little more time with Blinx.

They are under constraints that Sony is not under. Not to mention the fact that MS can't exactly dictate terms to Japanese developers right now. They have to take what they can get to a certain extent. Thankfully most of it has been decent.

PS: Gamerankings.com - Sony average - 73.1%, MS average - 76.1%. 8)

 

[Teasy]

PS: Gamerankings.com - Sony average - 73.1%, MS average - 76.1%

MS's average is 73% AFAICS, and Sony's average is 72.1%, 74.4% and 76% (depending on wether you mean Sony Europe, Sony America ect).

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Thanks Teasy. That supports my point that MS knows games about as well as Sony does, but not as well as Nintendo or Sega.

PS: Sony's average on PS2 is 71.4% at Gameranking.com, Microsoft's average on Xbox is 76.4%, maybe Microsoft knows games better than Sony afterall.

 

[iscariot]

p

the major culprit bringing Sony's score dow is 989. All their titles are rounding less then 60 or something silly. Other than that, MS is well below Sony in software quality imo. Sega's score isnt too hot either afaics...


software

Sony > Ms

 

[Mr. Angry Pants]

What does AFAICS mean?

And this is a pretty pointless comparison. Microsoft and Sony have little control over the quality of third party titles.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Sports games represent about 40% of the market and Sony's sports games are crap. Wouldn't it be nice to tailor all statistics to your own desires.

Sega's rating is 79% across PS2, GCN, and Xbox making them second only to Nintendo's on GCN at 80.2%.

PS: These ratings are for games published. ie. very representative of what the company believes will be good enough to sell to gamers.

I'd also like to note that Rare's average at Gamerankings.com is 85.9%, hence the acquisition. 8)

 

[marconelly!]

Gamerankings.com - Sony average - 73.1%

Sony's average on PS2 is 71.4% at Gameranking.com,

So, in the next post they will be at what? 68%?

989 ruins Sony's library, and as I don't care about sports games, the rest they have to offer has been extremely good lately.

 

[iscariot]

.

Wouldn't it be nice to tailor all statistics to your own desires.

indeed. And if I could, I'd exclude 989

26. NFL Gameday 2003 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 28 5.1 66.3%
27. NCAA Final Four 2002 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 22 5.4 61.5%
28. NCAA Gamebreaker 2003 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 25 4.3 59.7%
30. NFL Gameday 2002 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 21 3.7 54.6%
31. NBA Shootout 2001 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 18 4.3 53.6%
32. NHL Faceoff 2001 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 23 4.0 51.9%
33. NCAA Gamebreaker 2001 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 19 3.2 49.4%
34. NFL GameDay 2001 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 24 2.6 48.4%
35. NCAA Final Four 2001 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 21 2.6 47.7%

 

[Teasy]

I'd also like to note that Rare's average at Gamerankings.com is 85.9%, hence the acquisition.

Heh, why not check out Rare's average on GameCube? Oh hold on, they've only managed 1 game in the last 2 years so they don't even have an average

BTW Nintendo's rating accross all platforms is 84% over 45 games! Rare's is 85% average score over only 16 games.

It might be interesting to remember that the company with that 85% rating is a Nintendo owned company (Rare LTD) We can do an average for RareWare themselves in 5 years when they have a few games out for XBox/XBox2 and see how well there doing then.. we'll see I suppose.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

marconelly!

Sony's average fell when I looked at their PS2 titles. With their PSX titles, their average is a little higher. Since all the Sony fb's are complaining that I'm including 989 Studios (which is a decision by Sony to own them, so I don't know why I should exclude them), I'll take them out. This leaves Sony at 74.2% - still in last place amongst next-generation publishers.

You have to be a pretty big fb to argue that Sony publishes mostly quality games. That's absurd. It's always been widely recognized that Sony plays second fiddle to their third party developers. The big PS2 games are just about all third party (GTA, MGS2, FFX), with the exception of Gran Tourismo for a pretty good reason.

Teasy

Rare has been busy on a number of projects for GCN other than Starfox that they are now moving over to Xbox. On N64, they published a game every 6 months. Expect the same on Xbox once they get going. Nintendo fb's like to tell themselves that Rare was only good when owned by Nintendo, but that's absurd. They're probably better now than ever after having worked with Miyamoto for so long. There's no subsititute for experience.

The point I'm making: People who hate MS/Xbox will find any way they can to justify it. Why can't anyone here admit that Microsoft's quality ratio on Xbox is higher than Sony's on PS2? The facts are there, plain to see. It does go to show you the uphill battle that MS has to wage in order to convince the ignorant.

Typical MS/Xbox hater comments:

- Nintendo's price drops are "brilliant move", Microsoft's are "they're losing too much money, Xbox is doomed."

- Blinx gets bad marks for things that pretty much every other platformer suffers from - quirky camera and poor story.

- Audio ripping is scorned as a gimmick, when in fact it is a great feature.

- Xbox Live is extremely cheap for what you get (matching services across all games, good security, free games, voice in all games), but there are still complaints.

- Hard drive features like downloadable content and not having a need for memory cards are amazing features that go ingored by the MS haters on this board.

Kudos to MS for innovating by:

- putting a hard drive in the Xbox
- having 5.1 and 480p support for every game
- building Xbox Live
- recognizing that certain games are cult classics (MotoGP) and including them free with Xbox Live.
- recognizing that many people didn't like the controller, so they downsized it to the Type S model.
- making 10 feet the standard controller cable length.
- making the break-away cables that will save your console from damage.

Saying that Microsoft doesn't understand games/consoles is clearly wrong. They don't have everything perfect, but they are a learning corporation. That's why they purchased Bungie and Rare, after realizing they needed more 1st party quality. They will continue to persist and slowly improve in all areas until they can seriously challenge Sony next time. In the meantime, the Xbox will have some great games and some good games. Blinx is one of the good ones. 8)

 

[iscariot]

safe

You have to be a pretty big fb to argue that Sony publishes mostly quality games. That's absurd.

not true. Again, majority meaning not 989, are good games. And if by your definition of 'good' includes Blinks, going by the numbers, most of Sony's PS 2 games are good.


1. Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 80 8.6 94.2%
2. Twisted Metal: Black PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 67 8.2 91.1%
3. ICO PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 69 8.5 90.9%
4. Dark Cloud 2 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 1 6.7 90.0%
5. Jak & Daxter PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 60 8.4 89.6%
6. Sly Cooper PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 16 8.7 88.8%
7. Hot Shots Golf 3 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 41 8.4 85.8%
8. SOCOM: US Navy Seals PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 33 7.9 85.2%
9. Frequency PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 49 7.7 84.5%
10. Ape Escape 2 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 3 6.7 84.0%
11. ATV Offroad Fury PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 51 7.8 83.7%
12. Mark of Kri, The PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 52 7.8 83.3%
13. Twisted Metal: Black Online PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 11 7.1 82.8%
14. Drakan: The Ancients' Gate PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 53 7.6 79.8%
15. World Tour Soccer 2002 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 22 6.1 79.7%
16. Dark Cloud PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 60 7.3 78.3%
17. Kinetica PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 34 6.6 76.0%
18. Gran Turismo Concept PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 14 7.6 75.4%
19. Wild Arms 3 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 5 7.5 75.4%
20. Formula One 2001 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 38 6.2 74.2%
21. Cool Boarders 2001 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 26 5.4 73.7%
22. NBA Shootout 2003 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 10 7.4 71.5%
23. Fantavision PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 42 5.5 70.9%
24. Extermination PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 53 6.1 70.8%
25. Okage: Shadow King PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 44 6.6 70.2%
26. PaRappa The Rapper 2 PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 46 5.6 68.4%
27. Tsugunai: Atonement PS2 Sony Computer Ent. 16 7.5 66.9%



anyway I also think MS makes decnet games, MM, MTM and HAL0 being my favorites. Not quite up there with other companies but pretty decent...oh and Rare without Nin10do = fish out of water

 

[Teasy]

Rare has been busy on a number of projects for GCN other than Starfox that they are now moving over to Xbox.

Projects that were scheduled for late 2003 and beyond, meaning that after SFA the next game would be 2004.

On N64, they published a game every 6 months. Expect the same on Xbox once they get going.

I'm sure they can do that, wether the games are up to much is another question... 4 years for SFA remember

Nintendo fb's like to tell themselves that Rare was only good when owned by Nintendo, but that's absurd.

Not at all, Rare were only great years before they left Nintendo IMO, that's what I've always said, they're still good of course.

They're probably better now than ever after having worked with Miyamoto for so long. There's no subsititute for experience.

Firstly, they've lost allot of there best members over the last few years. Also having experience from working with Miyamoto is not as good as having the man himself ready to help you with a game and give you guidence any time you need it.. they've lost his help now. Who will replace Miyamoto for them at MS?.. Bill Gates?

The point I'm making: People who hate MS/Xbox will find any way they can to justify it. Why can't anyone here admit that Microsoft's quality ratio on Xbox is higher than Sony's on PS2? The facts are there, plain to see. It does go to show you the uphill battle that MS has to wage in order to convince the ignorant.

I don't have an opinion on that myself, I haven't really thought about it much.

- Nintendo's price drops are "brilliant move", Microsoft's are "they're losing too much money, Xbox is doomed."

An occasional price drop is ok, plummeting prices is not. XBox started at £299 in the U.K, it dropped to £199, then £159 and now apparently £129, all in under a year of release! (I'm assuming the £129 price is a real price drop here?.. because nobody will answer me on this for some reason).

- Blinx gets bad marks for things that pretty much every other platformer suffers from - quirky camera and poor story.

They were just some of the problems mentioned with the game. As I've said before if a game is great in allot of ways and just has a few small problems then the small problems can be overlooked. But small problems don't seem so small when the game doesn't have much else to offer. For instance SMS's story isn't great, but given the incredible controls, excellent level design and the sheer fun of the game, nobody really cares about the story. But if the game wasn't fun the small problems like bad story would be allot more noticable.

- Audio ripping is scorned as a gimmick, when in fact it is a great feature.

To some this is a good feature, and to others its a gimmick, that doesn't mean people thinking its a gimmick are MS haters. For instance if I did anything like that I'd just do it on my PC.. so to me its unneccesary.

- Hard drive features like downloadable content and not having a need for memory cards are amazing features that go ingored by the MS haters on this board.

Amazing features?.. overselling there aren't you? When the HDD is actually used for something amazing in an XBox game it might be considered an amazing feature. As for not needing memory cards, well it might be nice, but again I don't need it as I have memory cards anyway so..

 

[Johnny Awesome]

It doesn't change the fact that you're dissing great features, just because they aren't things you personally care about. Microsoft is still moving games forward with new features that allow you to get more out of your games and/or get better value out of your console.

Iscariot:

That list is missing a few big steaming piles of you-know-what published by Sony on PS2. The only way you get Sony's publishing quality above Microsoft's is by taking out the bad stuff. That's not a fair comparison.

I realize that Sony fans are in shock because Sony's publishing quality on PS2 is lower than Microsoft's on Xbox at Gamerankings.com, particularly because MS publishing has always been criticized, but at least admit that it's true.

It's not a huge margin, so that's why I said they are comparable. I still think MS is doing great for their first 11 months in the business.

 

[Teasy]

It doesn't change the fact that you're dissing great features, just because they aren't things you personally care about.

How am I "dissing" any of the features you speak of? Please explain.

 

[CosmoKramer]

What does AFAICS mean?

As Far As I Can See

 

[marconelly!]

You have to be a pretty big fb to argue that Sony publishes mostly quality games.

First of all, I find it amuzing that any person hellbent on defending any manufacturer doesn't see the irony of calling someone else a fan boy. That aside, I don't care what Sony *mostly* publish. I care about certain titles, like Ico, Frequency or GT3 that are extremely high quality games that I love. If you think there's something wrong with it, please clue me in what that might be.

As far as Microsoft goes, I own one of their PC games (Crimson Skies), and don't find the others very interesting. Only after the acquiring of several new developers, I actually started caring about their offerings.

 

[Ooh-videogames]

I think what happend is Microsoft is made some smart decisions in aquiring some small dev houses that are talented out of the gate. Thus giving them an image that says we're here to stay. You can only last in this industry if the hardware and software you have put in this position. Microsoft and Nintendo had better launch games then Sony, and I think this will continue threw the rest of this generation. Microsoft had exclusive rights to Splinter Cell before it was announced to the press. I also remember a former employee of Nintendo's name Ken Lobb leaving for Microsoft and has an eye for good dev houses. AFAICS Microsoft knows games.