OK, *I* think this is hilarious...

[miffy495]

Gamespy recently posted their Top 25 X-Box Games and while I was reading the article, I started counting. The results are in: only 7 out of the 25 are exclusives. The rest, if not ports themselves, were ported to other consoles or released simultaneously on multiple platforms. The cream of the X-Box: Available everywhere else too. I feel so vindicated for reasoning that this would happen back when X-Box was "teh 5h17." I love my 'cube even more now... It's exclusive best games really are.

[twmac]

Yeah, I can see your point. Nintendo's exclusives own the competition.

But, have you ever tried playing Rainbow Six on the Gamecube? The control system sucks, there is no online option and the graphics are atrocious.

Sorry, adding this on top before I sound like a Microsoft fanboy.

Nintendo's first party stuff, designed to work to the Gamecube's strengths are phenomenal (apart from Starfox adventures which I hated), it is just that, bar a few (Capcom) third party titles, most tend to suck.

The Xbox's only defence is that it kind of shrugged at the lack of original titles, and offered the best console version of multi platform titles.

Shit I really shouldn't have posted this, I'm so going to get burnt for it...

[Tanukitsune]

I'd hate to say it, but of ALL the consoles I have the XBox is my least favorite and least played...

I'm probably not the only one who only bought and XBox to play Psychonauts and bought the PC version instead?

I haven't bought an XBox game since Prince Of Persia, which I only bought because the XBox version had the orginal game, which WASN'T included in the PAL version...

[Savage Cabbage]

Shit I really shouldn't have posted this, I'm so going to get burnt for it...

Not at all. You stand by what you say. I totally agree with you. Microsoft may not come with a ton of original content but they make the best version of a multiformat without challenge (maybe one or two exceptions).

[Savage Cabbage]

That list sucks anyway. Where's great titles like:

Steel Battalion 1,2

Kingdom Under Fire

Jet Set Radio

Otogi 1,2

Outrun

Panzer Dragoon Orta

Powerdrome

Yager

And that's just those I can think of not on other systems or no where nearly as well presented.

Multiformat? Where's between Good & Evil? The list goes on.

Sorry, anyone who goes around saying Xbox has nothing to offer is an idiot and they are seriously doing themselves out of a great console.

[Spaff]

Jet Set Radio!

Andac's rage will destroy you for suggesting this is not superior on Dreamcast

Xbox is good though

you need them all....

[twmac]

I looked a little closer at the list... How the hell did NBA Street Vol. 2 get on the list?

I've read a lot of EA reviews on Gamespy, and they are never short of generous with their scores and support.

Do EA sponsor them?

[Savage Cabbage]

I looked a little closer at the list... How the hell did NBA Street Vol. 2 get on the list?

Exactly. Some PlayStation generation bitch put it together.

Spaff, I would NEVER even think about putting XBOX over Dreamcast Jet Set, but that's just my point. How many cocks ignored owning a Dreamcast 'because they don't like SEGA' Don't get me started alright? I can't even standup without aid to throw a tantrum and Kez isn't hear to help!!

[SpiderMonkey]

Heh, I saw that list the other week and did my own clunky maths on it.

Gather the titles up by publisher and you can see (through my hugely scientific and accurate methods) who has contributed to the truly memorable games for that platform:

All genres

Microsoft - 7, Ubisoft - 4, EA - 4, LucasArts - 2

No sports games

Microsoft - 7, Ubisoft - 4, LucasArts - 2, EA - 1

No sports/racing games

Microsoft - 5, Ubisoft - 4, LucasArts - 2, EA - 0

I'm looking forward to the other lists being published, so I can declare which publishers have produced the most memorable games this generation. Maybe I'll do the same with IGN's Top 100 that they are in the process of revealing.

[n0wak]

Nintendo's first party stuff, designed to work to the Gamecube's strengths are phenomenal (apart from Starfox adventures which I hated), it is just that, bar a few (Capcom) third party titles, most tend to suck.

And that is why Microsoft bought Rare for $350 million.

[miffy495]

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't saying that the X-box had nothing to offer. However, as a student with limited funds, I have been much happier with the selections available to me on my Gamecube and now that I'm getting one (Mostly for Katamari and Okami, but whatever), PS2 than friends I know that have the X-Box. While the X-box does have some great games, there just aren't as many as for the other systems. As for the Rainbow Six thing, I never really got into tactical shooters, so I don't know what to tell you. Add that to the fact that I never liked Halo, and there are only two games that I would want to play on the X-box that I couldn't get elsewhere. Those being Crimson Skies and Godzilla: Save The Earth (...yeah. I actually LIKED Destroy All Monsters and would love the chance to play as Jet Jaguar, arguably the coolest creature of the series).

There ya have it. I don't hate the X-Box, or Microsoft. I'm just saying of the three, and in retrospect, they may have been the worst choice for the gamer who could only afford one console this generation.

[Dingo Chavez]

Xbox never did anything for me. Looking at that list, the only game I was ever really interested in is Psychonauts and Microsoft didn't even care to keep it exclusive (their loss is the world's gain). I played Halo on PC (tee hee) and found it to be like any other shooter, I played KOTOR also on PC (tee hee) and nothing.

Why should I even care about it? Because its slightly more powerful than the competition? That's one of the worse sales pitch I've heard in my life. I rather buy encyclopedias from an illiterate heroin addict over Microsoft trying to tell me stronger is better while their product isn't that stronger than the competition. Even if it was much stronger I doubt that I'll care

I don't find it funny, I find it depressing.

I'm gonna go hug my GameCube.

[OftenK]

... I like my Xbox.

[miffy495]

Yeah, the X-Box is a really good system for some people, but I like my games to have a really defined sense of style. The X-box tends to go for hyper-realism and I can respect that, its just not my thing. You KNOW when you're playing a Mario game. You KNOW when you're playing Zelda. Viewtiful Joe was a GCN exclusive for about a year. Of all the consoles, the 'cube seemed to be the one people were willing to take the most risks with. Killer 7 was originally part of the Capcom 5 as well. Hell, the fact that there even WAS a Capcom 5 (for those who don't know, this refers to 5 games that Capcom made/planned to make exclusively for the 'cube. Viewtiful Joe, RE4, Killer 7, Product Number 03, and a game involving people with wings that just kind of faded into obscurity.) helps to make the case.

Every cosole had its personality. If it suited you, thats fine. Here's the way I saw it:

X-box: WE HAVE POWER!!! With the might of our console, you can see every drop of sweat on your fellow soldier's face in our incredibly detailed, realistic environment.

PS2: Heh. Fart. We've developed a whole lot of games with attitude. Our mascots can fling snappy comebacks faster than... YOUR MOM, BITCH!!! (See Jak, Ratchet, et al.)

GCN: Well, we've got the lowest North American sales, so what the hell? Let's experiment a bit. See what sticks and maybe we'll have a hit on our hands. What weird things can we do to make the gaming experience unique enough that people will buy it?

Of course, this does not go for all games, but I'm calling it like I saw it.

Hmm... That was longer than expected. I should go.

...seriously, I'm going now.

...Bye.

[Aussie Ben]

Actually, the GameCube's philosophy seemed to be more like:

"Let's whack a backpack on our main franchise characters, whore out the rest of our franchises (after all, three Mario Parties are better than one!), insist that linking up four of our portable systems to our lukewarm-selling console is a much better idea than online gameplay and bring out more novelty control methods that are only used in approximately six games in total. Oh, and apparently there's these third party things. Oh, and only Japan can have another Kururin game."

Ignore the fact that I'm a Nintendrone that bought those godforsaken bongos (x2) anyway. *sigh* Well, at least we're getting the nice European track list in the Donkey Kongas.

I liked Grabbed by the Ghoulies - only in small doses though, I couldn't play it all in one go. Oh, and Katamari was nice. Oh, and Mojib-Ribbon was a bizzare but entertaining...thing. Luigi's Mansion was nice, and probably would have been appreciated more if it wasn't released at launch. And for some reason, I was utterly obsessed with Pokemon Channel. You can watch Psyduck reading the news. Which consists of nothing but him repeating the syllables of his name over and over. It's hypnotic. And then you have Meowth as the roaming reporter, and he ends every report with:

"And there you have it. Dat ends my report from da scene!" in his Brooklyn accent.

God, Meowth is awesome.

[twmac]

Yeah Miffy I apologise for my last post, I think I had a point to make but it got lost in my hangover, and the fact it was my penultimate day of testing this game... Which it was decided I would be moved over to the PS2 from Xbox.

The graphical difference was so bad it hurt my eyes, I don't mean that aesthetically I found them distasteful. They actually started to hurt the sockets in my head, the jagged lines of thin platforms wobbled every time you moved the character and I kept finding myself trying to follow them all (I spoke to someone who said it had to do with anti-aliasing or something like that), and it hurt.

At that point I hadn't really thought there was much difference between the consoles (and in terms of gameplay this project was excellent on both) but seeing those migraine inducing wiggly lines endeared me to the version on the Xbox.

My hangover just made my slightly vitriolic post worse, I think savage cabbage did the best job of listing some of the more interesting titles on the Xbox (did they mention Kung Fu Chaos?).

And your observations were totally astute, although mildly biased to the GC (but with good reason), this is seems to be because that is the way that the companies want to be seen. Each platform has it share of odd little titles. Only Nintendo seems to be gleefully advertising them.

[miffy495]

Oh yeah, I definetly wasn't saying that the GCN was the only platform out their with innovation. Just that they were the ones who made the most effort to get people to buy the niche titles. And yes, Ben, I have two sets of Bongos too. Did you play Jungle Beat? It was actually quite good, though incredibly short. Yeah, the PS2 has the ugliest graphics, the cube in second, and the X-box first, but really I have never found that to be too distracting unless I was moving from one system to another in the space of an hour or two. Otherwise, the difference has never been enough for me to notice.

On another note, don't get me wrong Ben. I thought the lack of internet play (although I don't really like online play in the first place...) was a stupid move, and the linking of the GBA to the GCN was never used enough and really a useless thing to publicize. I can't help it if I'm biased towards Nintendo with comparison towards the other companies, but they have made some colossally stupid and whore-ish moves as well, and I can admit that. All I ever used my GBA link cable for was to unlock the extra stuff between Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion. Other than that, it's pretty damn dusty at this point...

As for the novelty controls though, exactly how many games can use the PS2's dance pad?

[Guest]

Big problem with the connectivity of the Gamecube and Gameboy Advance, was that one of the major advocates for using it (Zelda: Four Swords), required you to have four gameboys and four link cables.

Unless you have four GBA's and four cables...(about £300) or four friends, it's a bit pointless. Same problem arose with Crystal Chronicles.

It also didn't help the Zelda title was originally a gameboy title, added onto the back of "A Link to the Past".

Nintendo had something over the other consoles there, really reminded me of the VMU unit in the Dreamcast, it was different, and it was a nifty little feature, that can add a new dimension to a gaming experience.

Without doubt, Gamecube is the innovator of this generation's consoles. I find it half amusing that PS2 and Xbox, are just NOW latching onto Monkey Ball, arguably one of the best multiplayer games to have surfaced in some years.

I believe in the Revolution, and I see it being the console I'll have most fun with. I'm placing my bets on that one.

Also, the DS PWNS!11111

[Aussie Ben]

I don't know... the PS2 has the EyeToy, which singlehandedly made playing games accessible to all sorts of people who can't play games. Then there's that SingStar game, which detects how on key you are to the song you're singing. That's pretty damned impressive, if you ask me.

Then there's Microsoft, who created one of the most streamlined, user friendly, and fairly well moderated internet communities via Xbox Live. Certainly nothing to sneeze at.

I love Nintendo as much as the next gamer, but really - have they honestly been innovating this round? Miyamoto himself said of the EyeToy "I wish I'd thought of that first." That's a fairly big compliment.

[Guest]

Aye, I'd go with you on that. Hardware wise, there isn't much Nintendo has generated that is original, during this term.

However, in terms of games, they've given us the likes of Pikmin, which is a very clever and fresh take on the strategy genre, which actually forces the player to use their brain, and conserve their time, appropriately. We also had the Wind Waker, which introduced some rather clever approaches to puzzles, they brought us Wario Ware in a few different forms, and also Metroid Prime, which is still a very dynamic and fresh approach on the FPS genre.

I believe they were also the first to make the infared controller (Wavebird) official, before their opposition. And like I said, the addition of using the GBA as a controller, while not unique, still opened new avenues in games. In Wind Waker, it's actually a bit of a life saver!

And we all know about the DS, and what that offers.

Eye toy certainly has done wonders for Sony, and X-Box Live is a very strong Internet Service, which will probably be Microsoft's coupe de gras in the upcoming years. Nintendo's internet sucked ass, and if not for Double Dash, would be pointless to even pursue.

However, I see Nintendo as more of a gamers system, rather than this whole "entertainment system" fiasco, which we're being drawn into.

The gaming World is very changed...

[Ag3nt_Sm1th]

i live off of my computer not xbox think of keyboard and mouse + i never liked gamespy the free registration comes with alot of adware and constantly