Inside X360: Jeff Henshaw Interview Part One AND TWO

[Sis]

exclusives sell systems though.

That's just not true. Blinx was an exclusive and didn't sell any Xbox systems. Compelling games that catch the eye of the public sell consoles. None of the games you listed, save maybe GoW, have yet to prove that they are compelling in that way.

.Sis

 

[London Geezer]

exclusives sell systems though.

Exclusives that matter, yes.

And where is it written that Sony has fewer exclusives, or fewer than MS, or fewer than PS2?

Things have been moving multiplatform since the last generation, and will continue being that way in the future.

 

[Tap In]

A well designed and implemented Online infrastructure with software built into the machine with instant no cost initial access might very well sell systems this gen also.

 

[Sis]

A well designed and implemented Online infrastructure with software built into the machine with instant no cost initial access might very well sell systems this gen also.

Very true, I think. I think a lot of the non-hardcore gaming stuff in the Xbox 360 are potential system sellers.

Woe is to MS though if a huge chunk of poeple buy the Xbox 360 without buying the games. At an estimated $75 loss per console, just to recoup the manufacturing costs MS needs a tie-in ratio of about 8:1. At least initially.

I think MS needs the hardcore gamer who buys 5 games on launch day to support the Xbox 360 initially. Once they've cut manufacturing costs, then it'd be beneficial to expand out to the recreational gamer.

.Sis

 

[scooby_dooby]

exclusives sell systems though.

That's just not true. Blinx was an exclusive and didn't sell any Xbox systems. Compelling games that catch the eye of the public sell consoles. None of the games you listed, save maybe GoW, have yet to prove that they are compelling in that way.

.Sis

That;s your opinion. If you don't think APB a MMO game from the creator of GTA, has the potential to become a system seller I won't argue, point its it's exclusive.

Huxley? The first concole MMO-FPS with RPG elements, not to mention amazing graphics? This has no potential in your opinion to get huge?

Oblivion? a huge openended RPG that is looking amazing

Lost Odyssey? Are you kidding me? Take a look at the talent on this design team, basically the father of FF with famous japanese composers, and artists. This has potential to be absolutely huge.

 

[Embedded Sea]

"MS is getting more support, and Sony still have all the support they always had."

This is not necessarily true. If Sony has 75% of what they had with PS2, and MS has even just 25% more than what they had with Xbox 1, then we are already pretty close. The fact that EA is not going to give much exclusive content at all is going to even the playing field a lot.

The battlefield is simply who creates more buzz, and which is the better platform to play games on is secondary.

 

[London Geezer]

Looking at history, Halo1/2 was the only exclusive on Xbox that could be called a system seller.
Then the system kept selling, but you can't really attribute any more games that can be called proper system sellers on the Xbox.

The titles you give might become system sellers, but i'm sceptical, since they're showing me nothing for me to jump around telling people they will sell i n the millions and will drive X360's off the shelves like PGR3 will. We'll see.

 

[Alpha_Spartan]

Not to start out on another "MS FUD" tangent, but..

The total number of 1080p-capable TVs on the planet today is ... zero. There are none. Sony has got a dual ... I want to make sure I say this right, because it's science fiction. They had dual HDMI outputs off the back of the console. And I think that there's some theory that you could take dual 1080i signals and interlace them together to have a progressively rendered scene. But again, there are no TVs that actually support this. I think most people are going to actually take one of the HDMI outputs and just feed it out at 1080i.

Errr...what? That makes little sense at all. He's saying you'd need two HDMI/DVI inputs on your TV to have a 1080p picture out of PS3?

He's right. There's no device out that can output 1080p. The bandwidth required for 1080p is around 3Gb. HDMI can only do as high as 1080i. So for "fake" (I'll explain it later) 1080p you need the output of two HDMI ports for 1080p. The reason it's still fake is because it's not true 1080p/60Hz. No device, including the PS3, can do 1080p/60Hz. Just too much bandwidth required.

That's the most ridiculously ignorant piece of "information" i've read for a LONG time. My god...

Thanks for the laugh though.

Well, if you believe I'm wrong, please do me the service of pointing out where I was wrong and then point me in the right direction.

 

[Sis]

exclusives sell systems though.

That's just not true. Blinx was an exclusive and didn't sell any Xbox systems. Compelling games that catch the eye of the public sell consoles. None of the games you listed, save maybe GoW, have yet to prove that they are compelling in that way.

.Sis

That;s your opinion. If you don't think APB a MMO game from the creator of GTA, has the potential to become a system seller I won't argue, point its it's exclusive.

Huxley? The first concole MMO-FPS with RPG elements, not to mention amazing graphics? This has no potential in your opinion to get huge?

Oblivion? a huge openended RPG that is looking amazing

Lost Odyssey? Are you kidding me? Take a look at the talent on this design team, basically the father of FF with famous japanese composers, and artists. This has potential to be absolutely huge.

I'm certainly not debating the potential of these games--don't get me wrong, since you and I are on the same page in terms of our excitement about the games (I also have a soft spot of JE and pretty much anything Bioware).

No, my point is that I think you can count the number of system sellers, for all consoles, on one hand (and depending on how generous you are, maybe two).

Halo. GTA. Mario games. Zelda games. Final Fantasy (or the Square game that sells like gangbusters in Japan? Name escapes me.)

That's about it. All other games that you might mention are just plain successful. They move units, not necessarily consoles.

.Sis

 

[Alpha_Spartan]

If you're buying a PS3 for 1080p/60 games, then you will end up dissapointed. You might get a couple of BR movies in 1080p/24. We MIGHT see TV's in a couple of years that can accept true 1080p input.

 

[Edge]

> "You forgot one, 11. The CGI KZ demo..."

PC Engine is a major annoyance. I can't understand why he is allowed to continually post here. Almost every post he makes he puts smilies down, either laughing or poking fun at people's opinions. He refuses to engage in any intellegent discussion.

I banned him recently from the alwaysgame forum for doing the exact same thing, and after repeated warnings to him.

 

[dukmahsik]

one thing's for sure, live on 360 will majorly own!

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

Actually, you will be disappointed if you're expecting 1080p/60, but not if you're expecing 1080p/30, which is WELL within the HDMI A standard. So don't expect sims, racers, and fighting games at 1080p... everything else is still up for grabs IMO. I still think most people can't tell the difference between 60 and 30... we may, but the average gamer can't, and THAT's the demographic that really matters.



Also, I can see the popularity of the eytoy 2 exploding if properly used.

Just as someone said earlier imagine sports games where you get to interact -- can you imagine super punchout where YOU get to go up against tyson or even head to head with someone else online?

Or dance games and stuff -- I can EASILY see parapara being mimiced with the eyetoy and so on.

Imagine playing an RTS game where you use your hand instead of a mouse -- draw a big circle in the air and then point in the direction the troops should go.

Or imagine a game like Myst -- you reach up with your hand and pull a lever that turns gears.

OR... and this is where I can imagine the fastest adoptions of the eyetoy2 is something like a love-adventure game or (snicker) an H-game -- instead of picking options in text the player is actually a PART of the game... pervs across the wrold rejoice.

The eyetoy seems amazing in the possabilities it opens up... comparing it to something like the power glove which was nothing more than a controller mapped to a glove (the input never really changed) is frankly just stupid.


EDIT:: Also, I don't expect mistwalker games to be sellers at all... Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are sellers BECAUSE they're Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest... it's like brand naming almost. Personally, I think there are much RPGs out there than the FFs and DQs, but I'll be darned if I don't own every FF and DQ that cmes along. Whats more, is that many of the other RPGs just don't garner anywhere NEAR the financial and popularity success that FF and DQ do. In other words, those games are phenomenons and even if Mistwalker makes a better game (which I doubt, even with the talent involved) they won't be sellers.

 

[3roxor]

one thing's for sure, live on 360 will majorly own!

..If you're willing to pay for it.

 

[jvd]

one thing's for sure, live on 360 will majorly own!

..If you're willing to pay for it.

Why ? Its free ?

 

[Tap In]

one thing's for sure, live on 360 will majorly own!

..If you're willing to pay for it.

I used to think the same thing.

for one, I was totally turned off of online gaming with the PC and for a second thing, I also said that I would not pay for the service.

After trying a 2 month FREE trial subscription (comes with many games) I was hooked like the day they installed my first Broadband connection.


Now you'd have to pry it from my cold dead hands.


$0.97 a week is nothing for this service IMO.

 

[AlNom]

$0.97 a week is nothing for this service IMO.

That's one way of looking at it I look at it as cost per playtime, and I don't actually play a lot. I'm not hooked on Live, but I do recognize it's quality. At the rate I'm playing, it would have been $80 for less than 20 hours. Now, I didn't actually subscribe (using the 2 month free trial), but I don't intend to play anymore anyway because I refuse to buy a 150 feet cable or a wireless adapter. The only reason I even played Live was because I brought the account to a friend's house.

 

[scooby_dooby]

EDIT:: Also, I don't expect mistwalker games to be sellers at all... Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are sellers BECAUSE they're Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest... it's like brand naming almost. Personally, I think there are much RPGs out there than the FFs and DQs, but I'll be darned if I don't own every FF and DQ that cmes along. Whats more, is that many of the other RPGs just don't garner anywhere NEAR the financial and popularity success that FF and DQ do. In other words, those games are phenomenons and even if Mistwalker makes a better game (which I doubt, even with the talent involved) they won't be sellers.

SO according to you no game ever could possibly match the success of FF and DQ? It's a ridiculous position, that no new franchise can ever become as popular as the FF franchise. New franchises do come along it's not as if there's no more room in the RPG genre for amazing games.

How many RPG's scored over 9.0 on gamespot with PS2 and XBOX combined? 3? FFX, KOTOR and Suikoden. 3 games out of nearly 4000 and spanning 6 years of develoipment. Ya there really is no room for new RPG franchises....

Also you're completely underestimating the pull that Saguchi has with japanese gamers, despite no released gameplay or screenshots, and with very little information at all, Blue Dragon is #23 most wanted in japan according to Famitsu. That says something.

#23 overall with all systems included. The top 3 most wanted XBOX 360 games in japan are:
1. Odyssey (85)
2. Blue Dragon (57)
3. Dead or Alive 4 (46)

Considering pretty much othign about these games has been released except the name's of the developers, that's pretty impressive.

 

[Oda]

Also you're completely underestimating the pull that Saguchi has with japanese gamers, despite no released gameplay or screenshots, and with very little information at all, Blue Dragon is #23 most wanted in japan according to Famitsu. That says something.

#23 overall with all systems included. The top 3 most wanted XBOX 360 games in japan are:
1. Odyssey (85)
2. Blue Dragon (57)
3. Dead or Alive 4 (46)

Considering pretty much othign about these games has been released except the name's of the developers, that's pretty impressive.

First, to be fair, there has been a significant amount of screens and info released on Blue Dragon in Famitsu over the past couple of months. Second, MGS4 which has seen absolutely nothing beyond it's development crew released is almost in the Top 10. And third, DOA3 was much higher on the most wanted list before it and the Xbox released in 2002.

It's simple fact, many Japanese gamers are looking less forward to the 360 than they were to the original Xbox. All the numbers prove this.

 

[Sis]

It's simple fact, many Japanese gamers are looking less forward to the 360 than they were to the original Xbox. All the numbers prove this.

What numbers?

.Sis