Analysts Predict Bad Times For Xbox 360

[Joeshie]

Microsoft's game library is very well suited to markets like America, and not very well suited to markets like Japan. From all the articles I've read, and all the 360 games I've played (I've got one right next to me, so don't think I'm unhappy with the console), Microsoft [http://maps.google.com.au/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enAU258AU258&q=United+States&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title] just doesn't seem to be pushing anything remotely literary [http://www.bookrags.com/articles/21.html] with their games. By which I mean that their games focus on the gameplay [http://www.freetetris.org/], and not the literary elements like characterisation, plot structure, etc, etc, etc. Mass Effect [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science fiction] was a let down, really. It just mixed a pathetic shootey system with bland dialogue-trees. Two to Three choices is not an open-ended masterwork story, and generic [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybermen] sci-fi [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_%28Star_Trek%29] plotline [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicator_%28Stargate%29] #4 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylon_%281978%29] isn't a masterwork story full of groundbreakingly tough decisions for players. Seriously, "stop the ancient mysterious robot supremacist race"? Try harder.

I found that Mass Effect was far superior to any story driven game that has come out within the past five or six years. It certainly beats the pants off any of the MGS games in terms of narrative and any of the recent Final Fantasy games. MGS stories have been interesting occasionally, but always suffer from sub-par and incoherent storytelling, which really just drags it into the mud.

I also find it funny that you criticise Mass Effect for not breaking any new ground in story, when no game has really ever broken ground in terms of actual plot. Most video games, even games where the plot is highly revered, are usually derivatives of masterful stories that have been told years ago.

If you want to hold non-groundbreaking narrative against Mass Effect, especially in light of the great literary pieces of all mankind, then I guess I can't really stop you. But it seems rather ignorant to hold Mass Effect down for that reason and then just excuse all other video games.

There aren't the platformers to draw people like fix-the-spade or rayman 101.

Yeah, the 360 definitely doesn't have a solid line-up of platformers, but what console does anymore? While platformers used to be the dominate genre in the 8-bit/16-bit days, it no longer is much of a well-represented genre. Platformers have really fallen by the wayside in recent years, considering their past popularity.

They don't have the big name [http://www.digital-images.net/temp/HollywoodSign_HS4421.jpg], story-based games [http://www.konami.jp/mgs4/us/top.html] (especially RPG's [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=Dnd/welcome]) that the PS3 has/will have.

What in the world are you talking about? Did you just somehow completely ignore titles like Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and Eternal Sonata? Hell, Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon are/were big name titles simply due to the people that worked on them. Previous Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi worked on both of the titles, with acclaimed character designer Akira Toriyama working on the designs for Blue Dragon. They may not have the name-brand power of Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid, but they both had highly acclaimed developers working on them.

Final Fantasy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII] is an absurdly huge draw for people. White Knight Chronicles [http://www.gametrailers.com/game/3241.html] looks very promising. Disgaea 3 [http://au.ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/950618/disgaea-3/videos/disgaea3_060508.html] will be truly insane [http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/insanity_test.htm]. As mentioned by others above, Ratchet and Clank [http://www.ratchetandclankgadgets.com/], LittleBigPlanet [http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=MuoRp32W5l0], etc, aren't on 360.

Final Fantasy is big name, but it won't see a release this year. Likewise, Square has already stated that they are working on games for the 360.

White Knight does definitely look awesome, but we will have to wait and see how it goes. Haze and Heavenly Sword were also touted as essential exclusives, and look at how they went.

Disgaea is more of a niche title, which I've never been fond of due to the excessive grinding.

LittleBigPlanet and Ratchet and Clank are great games as well, but there are plenty of 360 exclusive titles somewhat similar to these such as Dead Rising and Viva Pinta. The 360 will also be getting Banjo-Kazooie 3 as an exclusive title.

So for the people wondering what "The trouble with Xbox 360 is it hasn't managed to shake off this urban, irreverent adult male feel" means, well, basically, if you're an irreverent [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inviolability] adult [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolescence] male [http://maddox.xmission.com/] who's into violent games [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide]/racing games [http://www.nascar.com/index2.html], you'll love the 360. If you're someone else, you won't. And that's where this analysis is coming from.

If you aren't a irreverent adult male, than really the only suitable console right now is the Wii. Despite it's past brothers, the PS3 really is highly focused on the hardcore demographic of young adult males just as the 360 is. Games like Oblivion, Resistance, and CoD4 are among the highest touted PS3 games with similar games such as Killzone 2 being hyped.

The problem is that while the 360 does have the highest appeal to young males, the PS3 ain't far behind it. And as weird as it sounds, the 360 DOES have the highest collection of narrative driven games of any given console (even after considering MGS4), it's just that these titles are frequently drowned out by the massive amounts of highly touted FPS games.

360 does have good titles other than FPS games, you just have to look past the FPS games, which for many people is hard to do.

Also, don't think that I'm some 360 fanboy who hates the PS3. I think both are really great consoles and I do plan on picking up a PS3 sometime this summer, but I do feel that the 360 has this unfair stereotype of only having FPS games to play and the PS3 has this wide and diverse library.

 

[Sennz0r]

I want Rayman back
Or another Oddworld adventure, they were always fun to play. Where have the Oddworld Inhabitants gone to anyway?

 

[meatloaf231]

Honestly when people do these studies or whatever they really seem to miss the Xbox Live Arcade part of it. How's that for some casual gaming? Oh noes, they don't make their customers pay full price for a puzzle game! Some of those XBLA games are amazingly fun... Geometry wars, Undertow, N+, etc.

 

[hayejos]

Ok here's the deal: First off the platformer is far from dead. Mario Galaxy was one of the biggest titles last year, as was R&C, let's also not forget Uncharted which was a platformer at heart, and we all know that more Jak and Sly titles are just around the corner. Then of course there is probably the most eagerly anticipated game this year worldwide, Little Big Planet.

Now as to what these analysts are talking about. They are simply stating something that is a known fact, the x-box does very well w/ Western gamers and nobody else. The little box of fun known as the Wii is beating both of the other consoles into a bloody pulp and for good reason, it is, at its core, the simplest, easiest, pick-up-and-play system ever created. And while the hardcore gamers like us want more of a deep experience, there are a lot more people who are looking for something to do for 20 mins to an hour that they don't need an instruction manual for. In this market they will own both the PS3 and 360 and neither has the chance to make a dent.

Now the good news, the 360 and PS3 are both designed for a different market than the Wii and really at this point the Wii really shouldn't even be included in the discussion, as it's no so much a gaming console as a physical entertainment device. The 360 to this point has outsold the PS3, again an acknowledged fact, but, the PS3 has been outselling the 360 since the pricedrop last October, that's bad. The 360 had a huge jump on install base, this time last year having topped 10 million units and outselling both the Wii and PS3 combined (although not by much as the Wii was still outselling production) and now the PS3 at this pace will overtake the 360 before this time next year in sales worldwide. The Playstation brand became a household name across the world in the previous generation and that still means something. it's a well-known fact that the x-box did not catch on outside the west and MS wanted to make it more eastern when they designed the 360. They didn't however change their strategy which is about making games for a western audience. Very few games that come out of the first party developers of SCE are specifically targeted to an audience. They are universal, as are the Nintendo titles. The 360 will continue to sell reasonably well in North America and England, b/c MS makes games for us, but it won't do well in the rest of the world (Especially Japan where they can't give em away)b/c MS doesn't seem to understand what those areas want.

Oh and as far as MS making/not making profit, keep this in mind, besides suffering a loss on every console, they also have the billion dollar warranty issue to as the consoles seem to have an average lifespan of 2 years, and MS extended the warranty to 3 years.

 

[Fenixius]

Xbox 360 will survive at least to the end of the generation. Microsoft won't back down on it. The only question is how far the Xbox 720 (as I like to call it) will go.