Strangling the Xbox: Year 1 (and a couple months)
By The Strangler (duh)
Is it just me or did this year seem like a decade in Gaming time? After the flurry that was 2001 with the launch of both the Gamecube and Xbox and the prerequisite “my console can beat up your console” arguments that were prevalent both before and after the consoles were released, 2002 seemed downright mundane in comparison. Even though it may have seemed like a slow year, a whole lot happened and I’ll try touch on as many important events as possible.
Games
The backbone of any console is its gaming library, and man did the Xbox scare the CRAP out of me earlier this year. There were a ton of delays on several highly anticipated games for the Xbox, including WWF Raw (that’s the wrestling one, this is not a game about how to prepare uncooked Panda, just in case you were confused) and Morrowind. Both were intended to be launch titles at first, they were both delayed many times and seemed to be microcosm’s of the Xbox’s first ¾ of the year, gamewise at least. Hit and miss was the phrase used to describe the few games that were released, especially over the summer. While Morrowind was hailed as a tremendous success for the Xbox, finally justifying the addition of the hard drive as more than merely a massive memory card, WWF Raw certainly fell on the opposite of the spectrum as a highly anticipated, hugely hyped example of mediocrity in gaming. Speaking as a self-proclaimed wrestling/wrestling game expert, I can confidently say that it was very disappointing. So Sayeth The Strangler, So Sayeth Us All.
But not unlike the single flower that blossomed at the end of the big fight scene in Fist of the North Star (beat THAT obscure reference, Dennis Miller!), so came the Fall and Holiday Season for the Xbox. Splinter Cell, Blinx, Steel Battalion, Unreal Championship, MechAssault, the numerous sports great sports games, Ghost Recon, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Medal of Honor, Serious Sam, and Shenmue 2, to name a few. So many good-great games came out so quickly that I had a hard time deciding what games to get for the holidays. The biggest piece of software to come out this fall though, was the fantastically popular and very successful launch of…
Xbox LIVE
It looks as if Microsoft’s big gamble is going to pay off. Will sales 100% more than what they had expected Xbox Live is quickly becoming more than just an online gaming service, but a community unto itself. Spend a couple hours playing quick matches on MechAssault and you’ll actually begin to become friends with many gamers online just by running into the same players off and on. I still regret that I have not been able to find Big T online since the first few days after launch. Big T, if you’re out there send me an invite.
The best part of Xbox Live is the permanent and required addition of the communicator. How much this simplifies online gaming cannot be put into words. There is no fiddling with a keyboard in you lap trying in desperation to type “You SUXXORS, I ROXXORS” before someone FRAGS your pre-pubescent butt while fat-fingering the keys. If any trash is to be talked on Xbox Live, it can be done while playing the game and done quite eloquently I might add. My favorite insult I’ve heard so far was when someone I was playing told me: “You do not just suck, but you suck so badly that when you walk down the street men stare, women turn away and small children gape and scream ‘Oh daddy, look at that man. I have never seen a man who sucked as badly as he. Dear God ALMIGHTY… HE SUCKS!!’” Now THAT’S some TRASH TALKIN’!
Trash talking, while being the main reason for the communicator, is not the only reason. The communicator allows for quick and easy organization of team games as well as providing a more personal gaming experience as you get a true vision of your compatriot’s online personalities, and more importantly AGE. That way when an 8-year-old frags your butt in Unreal you can feel considerably more humiliated than you would have otherwise.
Also, this is long distance phone service at no extra charge. I got my brother Xbox Live for Christmas, and he lives in Florida. We have gone from barely talking to talking over Xbox Live a few times a week. True, it’s mainly about who’s going to kill whom, but its still brotherly love, DAMMIT!
There are some problems with Xbox Live, though. Menu systems and online lobbies need to be updated and even created for many of the games. I’ve experienced numerous problems with players being dropped from games in MechAssault and slow downs caused by servers not being ready for the large amount of users in Unreal. Now many of these problems are being worked on as I speak, and the Unreal slowdowns have been taken to task, but improvements can still be made to make an ideal online gaming experience. Even with that being said, Xbox Live is the best Online Console system available.
Rare Buyout
Once again we find out that if Microsoft likes to do anything, its to prove Ric wrong and embarrass the hell out him prompting him to never come to the forums anymore (That was the GameTavern Inside Joke of the Week!). With the Rare buyout, Microsoft has… well… not really done anything. Besides being a heavy topic of conversation for a very long time, the Rare buyout does not really help Microsoft as much as it hurts Nintendo. If Rare would have been a more prolific studio, then maybe it would help out Microsoft, but this fall proved that MS and other smaller developers can produce fantastic games for their console without the help of established “AAA” developers. Rare was one of Nintendo’s more valuable assets, making games that pushed consoles, but that’s a story for another part of this Website.
What will Rare do for the Xbox? I don’t think they’ll do all that much. They’ll make great games, but when they are released years apart from one another who really cares? I think the exclusive deal with Peter Molyneux will be far more productive considering the ingenious Satellite Developer system Lionhead Studios has created. While Rare has one game known to be in development for the Xbox, Lionhead and its Satellites have three.
Japan
Sweet Jebus is the Xbox laying a big, fat steaming load in Japan. Not only does the Xbox have the disadvantage of being both big and American in Japan, but Microsoft has also done next to nothing to make the Japanese gamer want an Xbox. With only a handful of titles attracting to the Japanese such as Murakurarumo, or Murakana, Muralakarakshiki or WHATEVER, DOA3 and Tenchi (aka. Steel Battalion), the Xbox has failed to really touch on what Japanese gamers want, which is EASTERN STYLE ROLE PLAYING GAMES… if anyone says “what about Morrowind?” you should be drug out into the street and beaten with a sack of mackerel…
I’m talking about Role Playing Games like Final Fantasy, Grandia 2, Skies of Arcadia (my personal Fav), Xenogears/Saga/Warrior Princess and the like. The Xbox has NONE of these types of games as yet, and it’s KILLING them in Japan. My advice to Big Bill? Whip out that massive wallet called “$40 Billion in Liquid Assets” and buy you some RPG developers, and there are some out there that wouldn’t cost them an arm and a leg. Example: Game Arts, developers of Grandia II. Grandia II was one of the best, if not the best RPG of the Dreamcast and I think they would do a splendid job making an RPG for the Xbox. Better yet… throw some of that cash right at Sega to get the Xbox more exclusives and potential franchises such as Skies of Arcadia Legend. I know that Microsoft could not buy Sega (or maybe they can, who knows) but they could get more than a few valuable exclusives from them with a big wad o’ lettuce. With Microsoft’s money Skies of Arcadia could threaten the mighty Final Fantasy for the greatest RPG franchise in the world today.
Will any of this happen? I doubt it. But if the Xbox continues to dog it in Japan, any hopes of them becoming the King of the Gaming Mountain, which is Microsoft’s goal, will be dashed.
Europe
Well slap me twice and call me Susan! The Xbox is truly doing great in Europe! Not only is the nine pounder soundly beating the Gamecube, but its even started whittling away at the massive oak that is the PS2. This is an excellent example of what price cuts and Das Uber Bundles can do for console sales.
Well that’s about it for Europe. Hey, I live in Pennsylvania, not Transylvania. Sue me.
What the Future Holds
This is always the most important question whenever consoles are discussed… “What have you done for me lately?” The gaming world is a very fickle one that is ruled by the “cool” factor as much as the “is this actually any good” factor. Microsoft will need to keep doing what they have been doing, which is establish themselves as a gaming entity that is not going anywhere and will not abandon the people who have invested so much money in their system.
The fact is, although many would loathe to admit it, is that the Xbox is a good gaming system. It isn’t buggy, it doesn’t crash like so many would have loved you to believe when it launched, and it has some of the best support available for any console. Yes, this is Microsoft we are talking about here. Doubters can speculate and deride all they want, but the fact is that the Xbox is not Windows, and the facts supporting the system over the 1 year + its been out prove that the Xbox is a hell of a gaming system, and will be for quite some time.
As software goes, it looks like the Xbox is in good, if not great shape. The soon to be released Panzer Dragoon Orta, Star Wars: KOTOR and Ninja Gaiden are looking to be phenomenal near future releases. A few Eastern Style RPGs are on the way, even if they aren’t franchises, and there are a handful of MMORPGs making their way to Xbox Live soon as well as free downloadable content becoming available for MechAssault shortly. The far future releases look even more promising with games like Fable, BC, Perfect Dark Zero, and Brute Force (if it EVER comes out).
The Xbox’s future looks bright. Now it is up to Microsoft to make sure that it lives up to expectations.
Strangling the XBox Vol. 1
Linear Mode
