Xbox Question...

Don't be knocking the Dreamcast. That thing was ahead of it's time. Sega just sucks at marketing.

 

too bad their controller was the biggest POS.

 

I liked it, and I love the Xbox original controller even more. I guess I got a thing for controllers 98% of the population hates.

Dreamcast was awesome. It had some of the greatest games I've ever played. It's a good system, but if you own systems that came out after it, then obviously it'll be pushed to the side. If DC is all you have, though, that ain't bad. Only a few more months 'til the 360, so you could wait.

 

I am wondering the same thing, I want to play madden, but don't want to wait until christmas. what to do? what to do?

 

if you've waited this long just to get your hands on an xbox, i think you can wait just a bit longer for the 360. i'm sure if you simply explain it to whoever got it for you, they'll understand.

 

i love the dreamcast.

if you were going to hack your xbox, then it's totally worth it to keep. having a media center and access to legal backups to your games is a great reason to keep the original xbox.

 

Just wanted to add to the Dreamcast love fest... rented the system from Hollywood Video before it came out and I knew I had to have it. I can't remember ever enjoying a system and its games as much as I enjoyed the Dreamcast and its and I've been a gamer all my life.

 

If it were me, I'd see if there was any way to wait for the Xbox 360. Besides price and probably the modding factor, the Xbox 360 is far superior. This wouldn't be like going from the PS2/DC to the Xbox/Gamecube (although DC to Xbox is probably halfway there); this should be a serious jump up in overall quality.

Also, I'd expect the Xbox 360 to be released around November, not so much around X-mas, unless you like in Europe or Japan. I think the last rumor I saw even had it in the early part of November, so it isn't too much longer. I already hinted at this, but keep in mind that Microsoft is aiming to distribute these in all the three major regions by the end of the year. This isn't really normal since it is hard enough to come up with enough to supply the demand of one region, let alone 3 in the launch time period. So I just want to say that there is a chance that these could be very hard to get, maybe even harder to get that the 1st PS2's (depends on any yield issues, distribution of the consoles, etc.). So if you decide to get one, be prepared to "fight" for it. This may not happen, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

The DC was pretty cool. In fact, I like most of Sega's consoles and games. I think with some better business decisions and marketing, they could possibly be sitting on top. They came up with a bunch of creative ideas, something I wish I saw more of from industry. From a tech standpoint, it would have been interesting to see what Sega could have come up with for a console to oppose the PS3, Revolution, and Xbox 360.

BTW, did you have any favorites from the DC, or even other Sega consoles? I ask this since some of the Sega franchises are exclusive to the new consoles, and that could help make the decision. For example, I believe Microsoft has the rights to Shenmue, and I believe there have been rumors to a X360 version of the game. And of course, the DOA series seems to be Microsoft franchise for a while (not technically a Sega game, just one I think of when I think Dreamcast).

 

if u r getting a new-gen console, please get a warranty from ebgames, gamestop, bestbuy or circuit city to get a replacement if the 1st gens of 360, ps3, or revolution crap out on u. plus, iirc, 360 pre-orders are much gone i believe or u will get the 2nd shipment in from ebgames/gamestop (which comes in approx 1-2 weeks after launch)

 

My current x-box is hanging on by a thread. I can only play slow games like Tiger Woods and Knights of old republic. I have to save a lot to protect from crashing. Having a hard time waiting for the new x-box, but think I can make it until then.

 

Definately wait for 360.. november will be here soon..

 

Great points. AFAIK, you are correct about the pre-orders. If you want to pre-order, you'll either have to wait until the 2nd or maybe even 3rd shipment, or you'll have to go to a store that doesn't do preorders (Target, Wal-mart, etc.)

I love the 2K games; even though the DC may have died, I'm glad we have those games to compete with the EA offerings.

If you have any worries about hurt feelings or whatever, I would probably just keep the Xbox and wait until later to take the next-gen (didn't realize how much of an issue it could be to take the Xbox back). You can still get some great play out of the Xbox; it is just that the Xbox 360 offers more. What you could do is stick with it for 6-12 months or so, and maybe decide then to get a next-gen console. By then, each console should be released along with plenty of info, which leaves you with plenty of options. Not to mention that the Xbox 360 may receive a price cut during that time.

BTW, semi-OT, but to those looking forward to the X360, there are some events coming up soon where more info/screenshots/clips will be shown. And actually this is true for all 3 consoles; Sony had one today where they showed a few next-gen clips, including Resident Evil 5 (also on Xbox 360 BTW), a playable Gundam demo, and a Dynasty Warriors-esque like demo. Probably wasn't enough to mention a thread about it, but one of the upcoming Xbox 360 events might be if some rumors come true.

 

tell them it wasn't compatible with your TV, and you had no choice.

 

RC, just to go along with what you said about the release date.

If you go to ebgames.com and find their 360 section, they have links to some of the launch titles in which all of them have a ship date of November 1st. So, I assume it will be released sometime around then.

About Dreamcast, I liked it as well. 'Seaman' was revolutionary, IMO, even though it was a tad boring. The dreamcast certainly had some good ideas going for it. I liked the controller with the animated window that did certain things depending on the game you were playing.

It's too bad it flamed out because it had some quality games. The original NBA2K was one of the best bball games I ever played IMO.

 

I've been reading that first generation games on the PS3 and Xbox (most likely Revolution too), won't have a great leap in graphics because most programmers haven't mastered multi-threading and therefore they can't make full use of the multiple cores inside each system.

So if graphics aren't a priority, I'd go for cheap Xbox, hack it, play the heck out of their library of cheap quality games and buy the next console at the soonest price drop. I have concerns about hacking the 360 since they're probably using Live even more to crack down on piracy and modding.

It'll take a year or two for the dust to settle on which console will survive, but if these guys want to make the lifespan 5 years, by then there will be a price drop of around 50 bucks or a sweet games bundle. I'd avoid the numbers hype for now and not be an early adopter.

If you don't understand a word I've just written, an Xbox360 will do fine.

 

Depends on what you mean by graphical leap. It will take time for developers to really get the best peformance from the CPU's of the PS3 and Xbox 360 (don't know enough about the Revolution to make a judgement call there). Stuff running off the machines 3-4 years from now should be amazing. I do wonder if PS2 developers may adapt quicker due to the similarities between Cell and the Emotion

All that said, even running off of just one core plus the new graphics chips is seemingly enough to provide gorgeous graphics. I mean, just look at a bunch of the clips of games from the Xbox 360 and PS3. Games like Gears of War, TES:IV Oblivion, PGR3, Huxley, Heavenly Sword, Fight Night, etc., all look WAY better than anything on the PC, let alone the consoles. And I would guess that a lot of them are still trying to find way to use optimize their code. I know Heavenly Sword is for sure, and that is one of the best looking games I've seen yet from all the clips.

Now there are some games that don't look much better than current high-end PC games, but there are only a few of those that I can see. And that can be attributed more to laziness, relatively speaking, than anything, IMO.

edit: Also, I'd like to add that the two GPU's going into the Xbox 360 and PS3 are very powerful and full of features. It is probably because of them that these games look so good despite the problems with multicore programming.

 

Nice edit.

MS's claims on power (10x more powerful than xbox?) heavily relies on the numbers of all the cores running smoothly. Theoretical numbers are already overinflated as it is, so I think the multi-threading issue is relevant in comparing leaps of performance. Many probably wouldn't upgrade from a visual difference of the final games of a Dreamcast with the initial games of a Gamecube.

I'll definitely be buying a system, but as usual, I have early adopter concerns and I'll inform others who might have the same issues.

 

I'm not quite sure I'm understanding you, especially since CPU performance, while a great part of, isn't necessarily the biggest factor of graphics. As I already pointed out, developers are already getting graphics close to the level of CGI, mostly without even a line of code meant for multiple cores. That is hardly a small jump in graphics like the DC->GC. In fact, I can only think a few next-gen titles that are unimpressive, and most of those are from EA or Activision, which shouldn't be too surprising. Everything else looks amazing. First-gen may not be using all the power available, but it will still be very impressive.