Curious about the Xbox 360
By r_benchley --
GameSpot Posted Nov 21, 2006 6:05 pm PT
I've been deeply dissappointed by the mess that Sony has made of the PS3 launch. Granted, the PS2 debut wasn't exactly as smooth as butter, and it is probably my favorite console of all time, but that was an unmitigated success compared to the PS3 launch. The price tag is the first and most obviously troubling factor. It does have the BluRay drive, but BluRay and HD-DVD are answers to a question that no one has asked. People are very happy with their DVD players and probably will remain so for another 5 to 10 years. Also, I'm not blown away by the games that are out for the system, nor the games that are due to come out over the next year. I will obviously be interested in Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4, but aside from those games, there is nothing I'm looking forward to. There have been rumors of new entries in the Megami Tensei and Makai Wars games, but nothing concrete. My question goes out to my fellow gamersis this: is the Xbox 360 picking up enough in Japan that there is a reasonable chance that the Japanese developers will devote more time and resources to the Xbox 360? Capcom will not be making Dead Rising and Lost Planet available for other consoles and Square-Enix has said that they're more interested in being platform agnostic during this console generation. tri-Ace's new game for the 360 looks amazing. Some of the Japanese developers who are being backed by Microsoft are putting out the kind of JRPGs that I love on the PS2. Do you think that the 360 has a real shot at gaining more traction with Japanese developers, or are they simply biding their time until the PS3 is available in greater quantity and then release the majority of their A-list titles for the PS3? I'm sorely tempted to pick up a 360, but I don't want to invest time and money in it if there are only going to shovelware ports of PC games. Splinter Cell, Rainbow 6, and Oblivion are very decent games, but I can play them on my computer without having to invest several hundred dollars in new hardware. If it looks like Sqaure, Capcom, Namco, Konami, et all are going to commit to the 360, I'm ready to jump on the bandwagon and pass on Sony for a while. If the Japanese developers are not going to try and make the 360 a winner, I'll either wait for Sony to get their act together, or I'll wait out the rest of this console generation. I still have well over 100 PS2 games that I can play and am very happy with. Let me know what your thoughts are.