Jack of All Trades?

[Debitt]

I was reading an article on Yahoo about the XBox 360 (here: http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/feature/115575) and something in it stood out to me:

No one's going to buy a device just for games

Do you agree? Do you think that the gaming industry should make the shift towards a "jack of all trades" type of console? Or do you prefer a gaming platform to be dedicated almost solely to games?

Me...personally I don't go for all the extra gimmicky add-ons. I want a console to be a console - I'm not going to buy a console so it can be my phone, or my mp3 player, or my DVD player, or whatever the gaming industry is going to throw at us next. I want a console just to play games, because that's what consoles DO. I couldn't care less about the extra things it does, as long as it runs nicely and has good games. *shakes head* Goodness gracious, people.

[Tommy]

Yeah, I saw that in computer class today.

I agree with you.

[Joshua Christopher]

Videogames?!

Psssssh!

I'll spend MY $300+ for all of the extra stuff like added toasters and water heaters and trampolines and ajsfhsjkghkgha;gejkthsuaG.



I bought my DreamCast for the games. Got my GameCube for the games. Yes, I do quite enjoy the PS2's built in DVD player... but I bought it because of games like Metal Gear and Devil May Cry.

[Nate]

No one's going to buy a device just for games

You know, I agree with him. That's why the Atari, the NES, the SNES, the Sega Genesis, the Playstation...all those systems failed miserably because they were made just for games and didn't have any additional features.

Oh...wait a second...

Hmm...apparently people at Microsoft have somehow totally ignored the past twenty years of video gaming. So...this gives me even less of a reason to buy an Xbox, since the makers of it are apparently idiots who can't look at history properly, or have created their own little fantasy world. Either way, I don't trust them.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

it looks.... ugly

[MasterDias]

No one's going to buy a device just for games

Chalk that one up to a hot shot suit who doesn't know what he's talking about and just happened to wind up in a position of power...

I buy my system for games. I don't mind having a DVD player on it, but I could really care less as to whether it has a MP3 player, a phone, or the like.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

why would you go through ALL the trouble... and turn on an xbox... to listen to music.... i don't get it... ur wasting the tv for something that could be done on a computer

[Sync]

the entire industry has shifted focus to the casual gamer, thats why they think all the extras are necessary.

[Joshua Christopher]

the entire industry has shifted focus to the casual gamer, thats why they think all the extras are necessary.

Thank the good Lord for Nintendo. Though they're getting a tad more mainstream, they mostly still cater to the hardcore folk.

[Wise Dragon]

I dont mind having a DVD player feature for my PS2. Thats all I have to watch DVDs on. Thing is I dont want all this other stuff because all its gonna do is jackup the price of the system for something I have no use for.

[Myoti]

It's all based on one little word...greed.
I mean, Microsoft already has one of their computers in nearly every home in America, and now they want to try and do the same to the gaming industry?! I didn't have much of a problem with the XBOX, but it was basically just a computer with less functions, and please, tell me, what in the world does the 360 look like? That's right, a computer. OK, I think I'd rather spend my hard-earned money on a really 733T computer with a DVD player then get a "console system" that can only play some games, music, and movies.
Nintendo makes games. It's what they've done and always will do. They aren't big hardware companies like Microsoft and Sony. Sega just made games, and their consoles did, for the most part, quite well.

No one's going to buy a device just for games

...is like saying I'm not going to buy a piano just for playing music. Instead, I'm going to have a TV with movies installed in into it that can be worked by pressing certain keys on the piano itself.
Someone, please just drop an XBOX on my head and get it over with.

[Yojimbo]

It's all based on one little word...greed.
I mean, Microsoft already has one of their computers in nearly every home in America, and now they want to try and do the same to the gaming industry?! I didn't have much of a problem with the XBOX, but it was basically just a computer with less functions, and please, tell me, what in the world does the 360 look like? That's right, a computer. OK, I think I'd rather spend my hard-earned money on a really 733T computer with a DVD player then get a "console system" that can only play some games, music, and movies.
Nintendo makes games. It's what they've done and always will do. They aren't big hardware companies like Microsoft and Sony. Sega just made games, and their consoles did, for the most part, quite well.

...is like saying I'm not going to buy a piano just for playing music. Instead, I'm going to have a TV with movies installed in into it that can be worked by pressing certain keys on the piano itself.
Someone, please just drop an XBOX on my head and get it over with.

People who say this kill me... What do you think an Atari 2600, a Super Nintendo, a Playstation, and a Gamecube are? They're computers.

Microsoft isn't evil at least not any more evil than Nike, Sony, Pepsi, and any other huge corporation on this planet is. So it's foolish to call them out like they're the only company out there trying to make money. It's called capitalism and there's nothing wrong with it.

Every console is just a computer, they're just not desktops where you can play your online poker while making some Excel spreadsheets. Sheesh people just have to freak out because the Japanese don't have a monopoly on consoles anymore.

Nothing wrong with having a DVD/CD player and a gaming console in one. I know it saves me space in my entertainment center.

[desperado]

i agree fully, im looking forward to the 360 and ps3 for two reasons... one for the games, and two for all the crazy extra stuff to mess with. come on sony learned there mistake and is putting a harddrive in, its so much better then memory cards.
so when you say that new features dont improve the gaming experience i disagree, it just gives you more things to play with when your done with the game (xbox harddrives are fun to mess with)

[Fireproof]

The only thing I'll commend Xbox 360 for is Halo 3, which will be out on it someday...

[mastersquirrel]

I've often wondered why Sony and Microsoft put all that extra stuff on their systems and I still don't get it. I buy a console for the gaming, just that. I already have a DVD player and a CD player and my computer can play MP3s so why do I need a console to do the same things?
I'm not saying that those systems are bad, I just think they should focus on the gaming aspect rather than all this extra stuff.

[Yojimbo]

Do you know how many memory cards I have for my Playstation and my PS2? One for each. I've had a Playstation since 1997 and a PS2 since 2000 and I've constantly had to delete things from my memory cards. It's a big pain but with my Xbox I've never had to delete a single thing. Having extras like these a IS good for gaming. I'd rather drop as much for the hardrive as it would cost then pay $25 each for a couple megs of memory in a plastic stick. But of course the hardrive will be included and there will be an extended one.

The only thing I'll commend Xbox 360 for is Halo 3, which will be out on it someday...

You haven't even played a 360 yet...a bit early don't ya think?

I've often wondered why Sony and Microsoft put all that extra stuff on their systems and I still don't get it. I buy a console for the gaming, just that. I already have a DVD player and a CD player and my computer can play MP3s so why do I need a console to do the same things?
I'm not saying that those systems are bad, I just think they should focus on the gaming aspect rather than all this extra stuff.

Not everybody has a DVD player or a computer. I remember reading a report that said Sony making PS2 able to play DVD movies has increased the number of DVD players in home by at least 25% since it's come out. That's a good thing and just shows that not everybody had one.

And you know these consoles use DVD (and CD too in the case of the PS2) anyway discs for their game right? It doesn't cost them really any extra effort to allow you to watch movies or play CD's with the same format. I gurantee you go to Xbox or Playstations site and get a poll going over how many people use the DVD/CD features. It would be at least half I gurantee you.

And have you seen the gamplay videos? They look really frickin good. Some of them are ports for upcoming PC games like Quake IV and Call of Duty 2 so I know they're realtime. So obviously they're concentrating more on games or they wouldn't sell anything in the future would they?

[Debitt]

I really don't have anything against a PS2 being able to play DVDs or CDs. Like Yojimbo said, the systems are already rigged to read the DVD format of the games. What bugs me is the "it HAS to have something extra or people won't buy it" mentality of the gaming industry right now. Because that's not true. Personally at this point I think companies should be more concerned about the backwards compatability of a console rather then the "extras" (no, of course this isn't a sstab at the yet unanswered question "will the XBox 360 be backwards compatable") - I'd much rather be able to play all my games on one system rather then have my next console brew 42 different varieties of java with it.

[Myoti]

I don't want this to get into a console fight or anything, which is why I wadn't to pleased about the "Console War" thread. I was just agreeing with Kokoro about how the VP of Microsoft said that systems can't survive on just games. That's bull.
Yes, I have fun playing around with the features and I might like to buy a XBOX to use as both a game system and DVD player, though I'll be playing more on the Nintendo systems because it's what I, personally, find to have more fun games on.
If anything, this thread is going after the Microsoft VP, not the XBOX itself. The XBOX just existed to serve, it didn't say itself it was better than other game systems. It's creators did.

As to the graphics, I'm not really impressed. Most of the ones I saw didn't think looked much different than that of the XBOX or PC graphics. Besides that, I don't really care. I want better gameplay. I mean, yeah, I want the game to look good, but what good is it to spend all your time on graphics for just a couple of screenshots and then kill the gameplay? Of course, there are those (Halo and RE4) that know how to do incredibly well with what they already have. So, most of the time, the graphics have more to do with the skill of the company and not the power of the system. That's why you can sometimes find crappy graphics on the XBOX and incredibly ones on the PS2.

[Tommy]

Memory cards were a good idea. Plus, if they have a built in saving hardrive then what happens when it has too much room? (Or is it unlimited?)

The thing avout memory cards is if I want to bring an RPG to my friend`s house, I`ll often wanna show him my file. I`d rather bring a small card in a pouch then bring the entire system.

Also, I starting getting into RPGs after I got my Ps2 therefore I started playing FF7,9,6,5,4,Chrono Trigger, and others after getting my PS2s. That was one of the most gold things about PS2 that Gamecube and Xbox doesnt have (Xbox wouldn`t have it anyway). The thing is it can play PS1 games and you could put in a PS1 memory card and have a file on it. So if I wanna buy a PS3 do I have to keep my PS2?

[Nate]

Yes, Jimbo, I don't think anyone is attacking the system itself. I know I wasn't. We were attacking the person saying that. To say, "No one will buy a system just for games." You'd either have to be five years old and know nothing about video gaming or a total idiot to say that, since systems have survived just fine without extra features for over twenty years.

I'm NOT bashing extra features, either. I really like my PS2 having a DVD player, it's nice. The hard drive is a nice feature as well, and PS3 has a built in one, yes? If so, that'll be nice. I don't like having to keep up with memory cards either, Jimbo. I only have one PS2 memory card, but I have four PS1.

And Miyoti is exactly right. No system has better graphics than another, in my opinion. It's merely how the programming is done. Want proof? Compare a first generation PS1 game to a last generation PS1 game. SIGNIFICANT improvement in graphics. I've seen some Gamecube games that have graphics that put Xbox's to shame. Just depends on the developer, not the system.

I just want to see systems made with games in mind, not a ton of extra features. Features are nice, but a system shouldn't be planned around them.

[Yeshua-Knight]

well, for me the main reason why i purchase a game system is to game, but the add-ons do help to justify in my mind the inflated price of it, let's face it a system that can play games, dvd, cds, mp3, and has online gaming capabilities is a lot easier to shell out 200 bucks for that a system that just plays games, besides, sometimes the addons come in handy, although i do wish the ps2 did a graphic thing like the ps1 did when you played a cd, that was cool

'nuff said

[Myoti]

I don't mind extra features, as long as they don't overshadow the gameplay. I mean, I just found out that the Revolution is going to have DVD complatibilty. That's great and all, but I'm buying the Revo for unique gameplay, not just the add-on.