IMO, (this is something I've wanted to discuss for a while), the biggest threat to the Xbox ISNT the PS2 or GC, rather the PC. The initial lure of the Xbox was the PC-like approach to consoles, with many PC oriented titles cross over for no-hassles gaming (thus tapping a new user base). Whats happened instead, is that many publishers have decided to port/recompile their Xbox games with little to no trouble, and release them for PC. This is essentially easy money, as very little labour is involved. What it does for the Xbox is make slick games like Halo, Rallisport Challenge, Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, etc NOT "Only on Xbox". PC gamers now realize that they don't have to buy into MSs machine to play these titles, they now know that if they wait patiently, it'll eventually be ported. This is usually because of a loop hole in an exclusivity contract (ie: PC is not a console) that publishers want to cash in on, or in-fighting within Microsofts games division (PC vs Console).
In anycase, I have a lot of PC gaming friends, one of which bought an Xbox due to all the fun he had at my place playing Halo, Rallisport, etc, and now he's pretty pissed that had he waited, he could have gotten them (for free ) on PC. I also can't really gloat about Xbox exclusives anymore, as many ended up being ported. It also looks bad on the system, kind of like "well our Xbox game isnt selling its quota, port it to PC and see if we can't make it up".
Blah, pretty OT, but its something thats been irking me for a while. PC and console systems have come alot closer over the years, that I'd almost be inclined to group them in one catagory for sales tracking and legal contracts.
Your thoughts?
zurich
In anycase, I have a lot of PC gaming friends, one of which bought an Xbox due to all the fun he had at my place playing Halo, Rallisport, etc, and now he's pretty pissed that had he waited, he could have gotten them (for free ) on PC. I also can't really gloat about Xbox exclusives anymore, as many ended up being ported. It also looks bad on the system, kind of like "well our Xbox game isnt selling its quota, port it to PC and see if we can't make it up".
Blah, pretty OT, but its something thats been irking me for a while. PC and console systems have come alot closer over the years, that I'd almost be inclined to group them in one catagory for sales tracking and legal contracts.
Your thoughts?
zurich