"Yeah, some pictures have finally surfaced of this box with with a big "X" on it. Apparently these first were posted at Voodoo Extreme, and they were then asked to take them down. Joystick 101.org grabbed them first and now are showing them on their site. They're taken from an issue of EGM magazine that isn't due out until next month. What can we say? The Xbox looks a lot like a console system."

Whaddya think? Black is kind of sexy, but it's still a console system. Egad.

I wonder why websites so freely link to obvious copyright violations. Oh right, it's because they're just magazines... they probably wouldn't duplicate a page from another website, but if it's in another form... hypocrites.

I was thinking it is kind of a hideous brick of black plastic. It looks like it was intended to match other home entertainment components, like a VCR. Couldn't they work the X motif into the front panel? I'd much rather have the big silver X, but I suppose that is way too expensive to manufacture. That did lead me to expect something interesting, and I find this design dull and uninspiring. Maybe I'm spending too much time at HardOCP, but I think it is dying for some spraypaint, or a flame job.

looks perfunctory. . . matches my other elctronics . . . though i now prefer white since getting a DC!!! though the ps2 looks kinda cool; i think the blackish purple is kinda . . . too futuristic. ..

so in total . . . i kinda like the DC, then the XBox pics, and then the ps2. . .

the gamecube looks sorta funny

etc

also note, the xbox controllers have TWO analog sticks . . .

so is this xbox gonna be THE console?

i guess we have to stay tuned til end of year!

etc

"also note, the xbox controllers have TWO analog sticks"

They better start on the Crazy Climber, Robotron, and Smash TV ports, then!

I like it so far. It makes me realize how ugly I think the PS2 is... certainly an improvement.

That controller's D-Pad looks lacking, though. If I'm right, that's another blow to traditional 2D games... not that I'd expect to see many on the system anyway.

Finally, that big orb in the middle of the controller is just unnecessary. But, maybe they can be ripped out and customized or something when you get sick of the X-Files/Ion Storm green.

BenT

Ugh, it looks just like a PS2 to me! I can see the confusion as I absent-mindedly reach out to put SSX in the X-Box. Oops.

And that controller. God knows I'm a big Dreamcast fan, but I can do without any more voluptuous round controllers swelling outwards into my palms. I think I'm getting turned on.

-Tom

I'm much less enthused about XBox today than I was a few months ago. Where are the games? We're about 9 months from the suspected launch and all I know about are Munch's Oddysee, Halo, Dragon's Lair 3D (!) and a few other less interesting games. If all it's going to get is PC ports which is all we've really heard about up to now, this system is deader than the raccoon I saw on the road on my way to work today.

By this time with Dreamcast and Playstation 2, the lineup of release games was getting firmed up. Lots of stuff in development was appearing in Next Generation and other gaming mags. They're just showing hardware now...

Not only that, the hardware is pretty fugly. I dislike trays for discs since kids have a habit of breaking them easily. The huge green things that are on the controllers are a monumental waste of space. Where's the LCD screen I need to call plays in football or see confidential information in another type of 2 player competitive game? Worse, why do I even have that giant sized neon green ball on there?

With a hard drive in there, Microsoft may have cut off a valuable source of revenue... memory cards. What about rumble support? Hopefully that will be revealed at CES. Finally, if this system really IS a game system and not a DVD player that plays games as Microsoft keeps on driving home, why on Earth is this thing debuting at Winter CES?! The games industry left that gathering a long time ago and never looked back.

I don't know... there's just too many things that can go wrong with this thing. It has a lot more moving parts in it by virtue of an added hard disk. What if that thing goes kaplooie? Is MS going to have hardware repair techs placed at big retailers so I can get it fixed? Servicing this thing may be a major issue if the Western Digital hard drives crap out. WD has been known to have some problems with their drives in the past... could be an issue.

Yes, this is the biggest corporation in the world and they rarely enter a market that they can't dominate. But in this case, I'm not convinced. This could end up being one of those MS products that hits with a big splash and quickly dies off while they work on getting it right for the next generation. Frankly, I'm more interested in the Gamecube. I can at least count on the game support being top notch there. Though I doubt we'll see the Gamecube in 2001. It's more likely to be a 2002 release given the launch of GameBoy Advance and Nintendo's track record of lateness to market when they're still doing well with an old machine. N64 game sales are still pretty brisk on their AAA titles.

Finally, does anyone else see the Dreamcast as STILL the best system available now and in the foreseeable future? The games have been stellar, the system keeps showing it can do more, and it has the right things for games over all other concerns. The modem is in there and does the web, but it's really more for gaming. The controllers are innovative as are the memory cards. It looks like none of these other controllers are going to have the fantastic analog triggers of the DC for racing games. If the gamers keep talking about how good the DC lineup is (which they continue to do), word is going to continue to spread. If you want to play great games, you need to buy a Dreamcast. Hell, the Shoot Club guys keep playing Virtua Tennis long after its release. :)

Yow! Is that post really that long? Someone stop me after two paragraphs next time... sheesh!

Argh! I thought the PS2 would be the only console to worthlessly mimic stereo equipment. HINT: What is good for a CD player or amp is NOT good for a console. CDROM-style drive = bad. Side buttons = bad. I'm going to put this on the floor, dammit, not on my CD rack.

The controllers look like they tried to mash too many controller ideas together and ended up with bloat. And I'm not sure how valuable two analogs are if they aren't parallel.

All that said, I agree with Dave. Where are the games I'm going to want to play? You'd think they'd be announcing them about now...

"If the gamers keep talking about how good the DC lineup is (which they continue to do), word is going to continue to spread. If you want to play great games, you need to buy a Dreamcast."

Good post, Dave. I completely agree with you about the Dreamcast. In an odd way, I'm really proud of some of the games that have come out for that system. Even if they're games I don't like (I *hated* Shenmue), I'm glad to see them a) attempted and b) successful. Sega has bold and colorful stuff being made for their system. By and large, it looks good, it plays good, and it makes me hopeful for the future of console gaming.

-Tom

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Quote:

By and large, it looks good, it plays good, and it makes me hopeful for the future of console gaming.

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"Yeah, too bad Sega is on the verge of going OUT OF BUSINESS."

Quit confusing the discussion with pragmatic considerations!

I don't know much about the business side of the console industry. Is that really the conventional wisdom? That Sega is on its way out and won't be able to hold out in a four-way division of the console market?

-Tom

That seems to be the "video game magazine writer's opinion". Never mind that it costs millions of dollars to launch a console in the various territories and they're all going to bleed money for the next few years.

Don't believe everything the mainstream press tries to sell you, wumpus. Sega's money man, Mr. Isao Okawa has plenty of cash to burn on his company. CSK, the parent is doing just fine as well. Sega is simply a division of that. Oh, and they split out all the development divisions for the sole reason of accountability for their own financials. Sonic Team, AM2, WOW!, they're all old internal Sega divisions now running on their own power.

Personally, I perfer Sega games on a Sega console. I fear the day they have no hardware of their own because you might be forced to own two or more consoles to get their fantastic (and often groundbreaking) games. Remember what a bitch it was to play certain games on Genesis and others on SNES because one was clearly better than the other at certain genres? I don't really want that again...

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Quote:

Don't believe everything the mainstream press tries to sell you, wumpus.

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Hey, Sega is going to do Sonic for Gameboy Advance. They're branching out. Sonic on the GBA may generate enough revenue to save the Dreamcast!

Speaking of Gameboy Color, has anyone tried that new game Warlocked? Is it out yet? It's an RTS of all things. I was wondering how it played.

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Quote:

Oh yeah, that worthless tabloid rag the New York Times. They've run two articles on this now. Slap me and call me Sally, but I think that's a pretty damn good source.

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"With a hard drive in there, Microsoft may have cut off a valuable source of revenue... memory cards."

I thought that, too, but just read this in the Official Xbox Newsletter that went out by email:

"Another area of the hard-drive will be for save games and add-ons. While it is not meant to serve as a primary replacement for the traditional memory card, Xbox will allow you to save games to the hard-drive, then manually choose which games you want to put on the memory card. This also means that games can save automatically, saving all that fiddling around with memory cards."

So a hard drive and a memory card. I can't figure out where the memory card goes, though.

Man, that is just stupid. Why do I want both a memory card and a hard drive? The only thing I can think is that they can use the memory card like a kind of floppy drive and sell game updates that way -- new levels, etc. They can't count on everyone hooking the Xbox to a broadband connection.

BTW there was a semi art movie "exisTenz" about a game designer who designed some kind of virtual reality world and had some funky looking console . . . was a sorta sick and erotic looking console machine. . . made me think what goes into the design of these boxes. . . kinda makes you wonder. . .

anyway, anybody who hasn't seen this movie its called "ExistenZ" Cronenberg guy who did the Fly and some other weirdo movies about ppl masterbating to car crashes . . .

WEIRD

etc

Btw I checked the Sega financial reports (www.sega.co.jp). Sure they are losing money but they seem to have enough capital to stay for a long time. If I'm not mistaken they still make a healthy doze of cash from their arcade machines as well.

Marcus

Yes Marcus, that's the thing that most people prefer to overlook when they say Sega is dead or dying tomorrow. They have a decent amount of working capital and they have a guy with a lot of cash at the top.

As for this memory card/hard drive thing. I think it's a bad idea. It's going to be confusing as hell for people to have to manage files through both devices. I bought a PC to do that kind of crap, I don't want to do it on a console too.

Why do all these companies think I want all of this extra stuff in a machine dedicated to playing games?!

--Dave

Btw I bought a Dreamcast today :). So now they have at least 1 more user.

I got Virtua Fighter 3tb with it, plus I bought Aero Wings(very cheap), Le Mans and Virtua Tennis. Unfortunatelly Crazy Taxi was sold out :(.

Any opinions on these games Dave?

Marcus

You got a good selection there. Le Mans is one of the best racers on the system. I'm really enjoying it. Virtua Tennis is digital crack as Tom's Shoot Club shows week in and week out. VF3tb is a very good conversion of a great arcade game. It's the best hand to hand fighter you can get for the DC and rivals Tekken Tag Tournament on PS2 and Dead or Alive 2 for top honors. VF3tb is a much deeper game than both, but you almost have to get a FAQ to appreciate how deep it is. AeroWings is an unsung hero on the system. The graphics are stunning, but the gameplay is especially cool because it's stunt flying in formation rather than the usual fly and shoot. The sequel to that one has combat also.

So that's a great start to be sure. Games to look for down the road... Crazy Taxi definitely, Ferrari F355 Challenge if you want a more sim-like driving game. Sega GT for a Gran Turismo style racer. Grandia II or Skies of Arcadia for a great console RPG. Grandia II is more linear than Skies but also more traditional. Skies is very unique with its flying airships. Jet Grind Radio is a great action/rollerblading/tagging game. You should probably read a few reviews to see how that works. Shenmue is of course a technical masterpiece that some like and others don't as Tom pointed out. If you go into Shenmue expecting an adventure game with some action elements, you may appreciate it more. I certainly am enjoying it.

Some cheapies to look for include Re-Volt which is in some ways better than its PC counterpart. Sonic Adventure which has 3D action segments connected by a kid-like "adventure". Sonic is good fun for the whole family, my kids love to watch me play it for them. OH! I almost forgot... I think it's a mandate that if you own a Dreamcast you must own Soul Calibur. A game I wrote up for my own site here when it came out. It's still the greatest fighting game ever made for the home. Graphics to die for and gameplay to match!

Whew... I could go on for awhile... one good resource and a well-written site to boot is IGN Dreamcast. I'm not a big fan of the other IGN sites, but the DC one is probably the best console system specific site on the net. The writers are great (and funny!) and their reviews are very much right on. Check it out and use the "Games" or "Reviews" link on the left to read up on what's out and what's coming. Despite the constant talk of Sega's death, there are a lot of great games to come in 2001 including Phantasy Star Online from Sonic Team in about 2 weeks. From early reports, it's similar in some ways to Diablo or Diablo II in that you team with up to 4 people over the net to unravel the mysteries of different areas. It's the first online role-playing game on a console and even has over 2000 words that can be translated among 5 different languages. Just one more feather in Sega's innovation cap. I'm probably getting the game as soon as it's available (funds willing) and will be playing online. Maybe we can get a Qt3 party together? :)

There's a lot more I didn't list. IGNDC is the place to check for more. I love the rhythm games like Samba de Amigo and Space Channel 5 and there's always NFL2K1 as well as its basketball counterpart NBA2K1 with online play. You won't have a lack of games to play and you already have a great start. Ah... and don't miss Daytona in a couple months. The racing game with the fruitiest game music ever has been remade for 2001 and is apparently a fantastic arcade racer.

That's a pretty universal sentiment about the Daytona music: Look at this.