I REALLY hate Microsoft's marketing people

[yashiro]

You honestly believe that the Xbox is devoid of good games? Or is it just the case that none of the games are to your particular tastes?

Later.

Both, but primarily the latter I guess.

[Manta Ray vs Guitar]

It hasn't worked. If it had worked PS2 sales would be dropping as people "see the light" and buy an Xbox instead.

You know, that's actually true. PS2 hasn't been scratched by XBox sales.

XBox is a success because it is considered the 'other' console. Outside the internet gaming community, nobody knows what the hell a Gamecube is. MS made the brand known, and it's growing all the time. I think this is just a matter of one down, one to go for MS.

[Prine]

It hasn't worked. If it had worked PS2 sales would be dropping as people "see the light" and buy an Xbox instead.

Outside the internet gaming community, nobody knows what the hell a Gamecube is. MS made the brand known, and it's growing all the time.

Exactly, i dont understand why you people hate Xbox so much, i mean, i dont exactly play my GC that much at all (only bought 1 game this year Zelda:WW which i thought was fantastic) but i dont hate the machine.

If your crying about "good games" make sure you all play KOTOR, best game so far this generation.

[df0notfound]

" That was in response to your comment on how the headsets are a rip-off at ?20. Games cost less than a pound to make, but they're sold on for a load more. "

oh lets see, well to make a game first we need an idea that actually works, then that idea needs to be developed in to something of commercial standard thne you need programmers, artists, musicians, perhaps actors all those people need paying then you need designers for all your packaging and advertising campaigns etcetc then finally you pay the pennies it costs to stamp the finished product on a disk. See what I'm getting at? Games dont cost less than a pound to make, i believe what you meant was "metal and plastic disks cost less than a pound to stamp" because thats what you get for that less than a pound, you dont get a game, games cost a hell of a lot more to make.

Now lets have a look at the xbox mic, well its hardly anything original, bog standard mic stuck in a headset, so what the components prolly cost less than 50p in bulk, then you pay which ever moron designs the xbox's tumoriffic pads and case to design a bit of plastic in to a more branded bit of plastic, prolly about a days work seen as it doesnt do much, then make the things that wont cost much because they're nothing special, in the end the thing prolly costs like ?1 to make, the designer wont be paid that much because its prolly the same person or team who did the xbox itself so they're prolly getting paid for it in one lump sum which will be paid for by xbox sales (hopefully) thus for the sake of argument the headsets cost ?1.50 or so to make, prolly less i mean its just a cheap mic in a headset for god sake, if it wasnt like proprietary you could get the same results with like a ?5 mic from a computer shop.

So no, ?20 is way more than the headset could ever be worth even in the most warped universe, you cant compare it to a game which can take over a year full time to make, when the headset was i bet litrally just thought up in an afternoon. I mean ms hardly have a track record about caring for usable or good design, they just like adequate.

Jesus christ I'm still shocked you compared it to a game

[Manta Ray vs Guitar]

Exactly, i dont understand why you people hate Xbox so much, i mean, i dont exactly play my GC that much at all (only bought 1 game this year Zelda:WW which i thought was fantastic) but i dont hate the machine.

If your crying about "good games" make sure you all play KOTOR, best game so far this generation.

Peter Moore?

[Bomberman UK]

Exactly, i dont understand why you people hate Xbox so much, i mean, i dont exactly play my GC that much at all (only bought 1 game this year Zelda:WW which i thought was fantastic) but i dont hate the machine.

If your crying about "good games" make sure you all play KOTOR, best game so far this generation.

Peter Moore?

Kotor the best game this generation? Maybe if you're in to PC RPG's and Star Wars...

[Bomberman UK]

It hasn't worked. If it had worked PS2 sales would be dropping as people "see the light" and buy an Xbox instead.

Outside the internet gaming community, nobody knows what the hell a Gamecube is.

Don't be so stupid. I'm sure people don't completely miss the "GameCube" section when they buy multiformat magazines or go shopping for games. Geez.

[Commander Marklar]

This thread is great!

[Ady]

So far, I only have a PS2 and GC from this generation of consoles.

There have been few XBox titles that have tempted me, and the main reason I'd consider getting one is to do something I'm not actually meant to wdo with it.

This kind of petty, schoolyard bickering (from a grown man, no less) makes me not want to support the machine out of principle.

At least Nintendo and Sony have some level of decorum.

[Mr Spew]

Exactly, i dont understand why you people hate Xbox so much, i mean, i dont exactly play my GC that much at all (only bought 1 game this year Zelda:WW which i thought was fantastic) but i dont hate the machine.

If your crying about "good games" make sure you all play KOTOR, best game so far this generation.

Peter Moore?

Kotor the best game this generation? Maybe if you're in to PC RPG's and Star Wars...

I'm not particularly into either, yet the game is ace.

[Mr Spew]

" That was in response to your comment on how the headsets are a rip-off at ?20. Games cost less than a pound to make, but they're sold on for a load more. "

oh lets see, well to make a game first we need an idea that actually works, then that idea needs to be developed in to something of commercial standard thne you need programmers, artists, musicians, perhaps actors all those people need paying then you need designers for all your packaging and advertising campaigns etcetc then finally you pay the pennies it costs to stamp the finished product on a disk. See what I'm getting at? Games dont cost less than a pound to make, i believe what you meant was "metal and plastic disks cost less than a pound to stamp" because thats what you get for that less than a pound, you dont get a game, games cost a hell of a lot more to make.

Now lets have a look at the xbox mic, well its hardly anything original, bog standard mic stuck in a headset, so what the components prolly cost less than 50p in bulk, then you pay which ever moron designs the xbox's tumoriffic pads and case to design a bit of plastic in to a more branded bit of plastic, prolly about a days work seen as it doesnt do much, then make the things that wont cost much because they're nothing special, in the end the thing prolly costs like ?1 to make, the designer wont be paid that much because its prolly the same person or team who did the xbox itself so they're prolly getting paid for it in one lump sum which will be paid for by xbox sales (hopefully) thus for the sake of argument the headsets cost ?1.50 or so to make, prolly less i mean its just a cheap mic in a headset for god sake, if it wasnt like proprietary you could get the same results with like a ?5 mic from a computer shop.

So no, ?20 is way more than the headset could ever be worth even in the most warped universe, you cant compare it to a game which can take over a year full time to make, when the headset was i bet litrally just thought up in an afternoon. I mean ms hardly have a track record about caring for usable or good design, they just like adequate.

Jesus christ I'm still shocked you compared it to a game

I also compared it to everything else, which is ridiculously over-priced. Such as peripherals for the PC, and loads of other stuff like clothes.

But then again, it does cost ?20 for the "official" system link by Microsoft, which is just black CAT5 in disguise.

Good design? Have you even played with any of their peripherals? They're all brilliant.

[Burai]

I wouldn't go that far man. Everything else that plugs into my Xbox is of quite high quality apart from that headset. I feel I could throw the joypads, scart lead, console itself, etc. and all onto concrete and they'd all live.

Not so the headset and its little controller dongle. That's why it seems like such a rip off, because it's a cheap OEM headset with an Xbox logo on it and looks completely out of place with the rest of the range. It's designed this way purely so it doesn't eat into the profit that the Live kit brings them.

Hey man, if you're happy with paying ?40 a year for nothing, that's up to you.

[tankplanker]

Actually live doesn't work out so bad, I use it to speak to my friends in the US/UK for free so that works out quite good value over the 12 months.

I surpose this is another way of not using the xbox for what it is meant for.

I've always prefered the attach ratio as a better measure of console success, selling 60 million consoles is a waste of time if you don't sell enough games as well to make a profit.

[daxus]

In the current console war it really is hard to state that Microsoft are doing better than Nintendo. Because they are not yet directly competing.

Microsoft is buying itself a slice of the action for some future date and suffering enormous losses as a consequence. These losses, although pre-planned, will only be supported for a finite period of time as there is simply no point being in any industry if do not to make money at the end of the day. And Microsoft is as answerable to shareholders as the next company.

So, to say that MS is doing well since they have sold hardware as well if not better than Nintendo is not comparing like with like. Nintendo make profit month after month with their console strategy, MS lose money month after month with theirs... One of these models is not sustainable long term...

Any moron should be able to launch a popular product given a multi-billion dollar budget, with no requirement to turn in a profit.

The real test comes when MS have to make a profit from their console arm. They are hoping that they will have sufficient market traction, and have sufficiently destroyed their competitors by that point that they can sell at high enough prices to turn in a profit. If they haven't achieved this by that point in time, what will they do then?

[Prine]

Exactly, i dont understand why you people hate Xbox so much, i mean, i dont exactly play my GC that much at all (only bought 1 game this year Zelda:WW which i thought was fantastic) but i dont hate the machine.

If your crying about "good games" make sure you all play KOTOR, best game so far this generation.

Peter Moore?

Kotor the best game this generation? Maybe if you're in to PC RPG's and Star Wars...

Nope, im not into either.