'Splain Yourself Part II

[Chewbaccus]

That's a nice quote you took from me, Syc. I mean, I check the newest post here, and the first thing I see is:

Originally posted by Chewbaccus
Writing

Quite humorous, I must say.

Appeasedly,

~Mike

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by Chewbaccus
That's a nice quote you took from me, Syc.

Short and to the point. Although, you could say that I took it out of context.

[wolf]

Reading
Crocheting
Cross Stitch
Beading
Shooting
Playin' Games (board and video ... I'm an N64 owner too!)
Occasionally being a Video Vegetable ... (not as much as I used to. My VCR only lets me program to record 8 events/week so I have to pick and choose my tv shows more carefully than I used to)
Hanging out with friends

However finding time for all this stuff is usually difficult ... I work nights and have to play harder on the weekends to make up for this. (I definitely need weekends to be longer!!)

[Chewbaccus]

Originally posted by wolf
My VCR only lets me program to record 8 events/week so I have to pick and choose my tv shows more carefully than I used to

Can't wait until I get my TiVo.

~Mike

Did I mention that I love movies?

Also, I just got an Xbox, Project Gotham Racing, Amped, Dead or Alive 3 and Halo. So that's a new hobby of mine

[Chewbaccus]

XBox?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lord, forgive dhamsaic, he knows not what he plays...

~mike

[jaguar]

What? msft sells them at a loss. Get it, wait a few weeks till full insturtions are out for linux, hack it up and use it as a DVD/Divx/MP3/VCD player
prrrfect.

They are selling them at a loss. And it's a hell of a gaming system. Having fun while spending Microsoft's money. Cool!

[vsp]

Every game console is sold at a loss, with very few exceptions (the first editions of the NeoGeo home system and the 3DO come to mind). The PS2, GameCube and XBox are all being sold at a loss -- the money is in software, and (coming soon) online services. Sega took baby steps in the latter direction (NetLink for the Saturn, online play, downloadable upgrades and PSO for the DreamCast) and would still be making consoles today if they'd gone balls-to-the-wall with the concept. (Note that they're sticking to software now, where they can actually make some dough.)

As much as the concept scares me, massively multi-player online RPGs are going to be a major force for consoles in the near future, and those that adjust to that will succeed. A cheap console that can play Everquest and hook suckers into $n-per-month subscriptions will both succeed wildly and drive America's national productivity into the ground.

That having been said, if you're buying a system for your loved ones this year, my choice is (by FAR) the PS2. The PS2 has a year's worth of software on the shelf, an assortment of top-notch titles in multiple genres (MGS2, Gran Turismo 3, Devil May Cry, Grand Theft Auto 3, Frequency, lots of sports), a vast assortment of preowned and reduced-price titles for bargain-hunters, PLUS the massive PS1 library to choose from. And it's got a Linux kit on the way as we speak. It's a year older than the XBox and GameCube, but for now it's got power to spare to keep up with the newcomers.

Despite my better judgement, my second choice would be the GameCube. I'm not usually a big Nintendo fan (I openly mock the Game Boy series, and 90% of the N64 titles bored me; between the Atari 2600 days and the PS1, the only major console I haven't owned is the N64). However, they're finally getting the idea that disc-based games (FMV and increased storage) and some edgier titles (locking down the rights to future Resident Evil games, for instance) can bring back some of the older audiences lost to the barrage of colorful pre-teen crap games that the N64 hosted. Combine that with the usual array of games with Nintendo's flagship characters (the Mario family, Pokemon, Metroid, Zelda, etc.) AND the fact that it's $100 cheaper than its competitors, and it'll do just fine this holiday season. Time will tell what its future software lineup will look like.

The XBox is Microsoft's first foray into the console world, which makes many nervous. (Then again, the PSX was Sony's first console and look how that turned out.) It's got a hefty price tag when you figure in games and accessories, but it's no worse than the PS2 in that regard. Microsoft has quietly acknowledged that they're planning on the online-services revenue stream in the future -- i.e. picture a substantial number of games with online-subscription components in years to come.

There's nothing wrong with it RIGHT NOW per se... except for a relatively weak initial software launch. Much like how the Dreamcast had Soul Calibur, NFL2K and little else at launch, the XBox has Halo, Halo and Halo (and perhaps Dead or Alive 3 if you enjoy the series, which has never been a system-seller elsewhere, or Munch's if you buy into its hype). Beyond that, it's slim pickings into next year, which makes me want to wait until (a) more titles (particularly exclusives) begin to pop up, (b) the system drops in price, and/or (c) a clearer picture of the online component emerges.

One other quibble that has me worried is the XBox's internal hard drive. It sounds like a selling point, except for two things:
a) What happens when the drive gets corrupted, virus-infected, or dies?, and
b) it allows games to be rushed to market in a half-assed state, with patches available online to be downloaded later to fix them (which is one of my big problems with PC games in general).

None of them are bad systems; the PS2 has been proven good, and the jury's still out on which of the others will fare as well.

And me? I picked up a NeoGeo Pocket Color for $20 recently and I've played little else for the past week or so. ;)

I picked up the Xbox for a number of reasons. You might want to check out this /. post of mine

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=24432&cid=2649922

I'll go ahead and explain it a little better here.

First of all, it looks absolutely incredible. These are just the first-generation games, and they look absolutely fantastic. It will only get better as more and more game companies tweak their code to exploit the hardware in the Xbox. If you haven't played Dead or Alive 3 or Halo, you can't truly appreciate the power of the Xbox. Soul Calibur looked incredible on the Dreamcast, but I can't help but be amazed at how much better Dead or Alive 3 looks. The fights are absolutely amazing. In a word, the graphics are incredible. Same with Amped, which I recently picked up. I also got Project Gotham Racing, which has arguably the worst graphics of all 4 games I now own. But it still looks great. The cars look incredible. The environment looks good. They're all exceptional in the graphics department.

Secondly, the online play was a pretty big seller for me. I got the Xbox hooked up and that night I was playing deathmatch in Halo against a friend - but he was at his house an hour away and I was in mine. We both have pretty speedy DSL, but still, we experienced no lag. More and more games will support this feature, and when they do, they'll be that much further in front of everything else. Online gaming will definitely have a big part in the future of consoles, and I want to be playing it too. It's convenient, it's fast, it's easy. Gotta dig it.

Third, I didn't find the opening lineup lacking. The 3 games I wanted most I now have, and I'm enjoying them quite a bit. I find Amped in particular to be awfully hard to stop playing. They're all very enjoyable, and I don't have 8 hours to be playing games all day, so they're quite sufficient.

The controller is also a selling point. It's important to me. The Playstation Dual Shock controller was my previous favorite - but now it's tied with Xbox. I just find the controller very comfortable to hold - unlike the GameCube's controller, for example. The Dreamcast controller kinda grew on me, but I hated it at first. Once one is used to it, it's not so bad. But it's still not great. The Xbox, on the other hand, has a great controller. A lot of thought went into it, and it works.

Now, I'll probably also buy a PS2. I would buy one just for Metal Gear Solid 2 (Metal Gear Solid is my favorite game of all time - it's the reason I got a Playstation). GT3 , GTA3 , Silent Hill 2 and the like just serve as a reminder that I need to pick one up eventually. I still find it kind of expensive though - for some reason, the $300 price tag on the Xbox makes more sense to me than the $300 price tag on the PS2. Also, I don't believe that the PS2 has really been exploited yet. To me, it doesn't look that much better than the Dreamcast, and it surely gets knocked out of the water by the Xbox. Its extensive library of games is definitely a bonus, and the controllers are good as well. It's expensive to own, though - have to buy extra memory cards, etc. I only own like 4 games for my Playstation, and I've got 2 full memory cards. I don't even use them for anything except Metal Gear Solid and Syphon Filter. Any more and I have to buy another one. It's not that it's a lot of money, but it's a pain in the ass. The same problem exists with the Dreamcast (though I haven't filled one of those up yet) and the PS2. It just seems to me that it's a more expensive console when all things are taken into consideration. I'll probably buy one when the price reaches $250 or so.

Anyway. I find the Xbox to be an exceptionally good console. On par with the Dreamcast as far as "most ass-kickingest console at time of launch". Maybe you have to own one to really appreciate it. But to me, it looks like this is something that Microsoft got right.

[vsp]

> Soul Calibur looked incredible on the Dreamcast, but I can't help but be amazed at how much better Dead or Alive 3 looks. The fights are absolutely amazing.

I should hope it looks much better. It's on a system that's two years newer than the Dreamcast.

>Secondly, the online play was a pretty big seller for me. I got the Xbox hooked up and that night I was playing deathmatch in Halo against a friend - but he was at his house an hour away and I was in mine. We both have pretty speedy DSL, but still, we experienced no lag.

Now, this is via the unofficially-supported LAN hacks, right? (Just clarifying. AFAIK, the XBox's online functionality hasn't been formally "turned on" yet.)

>Also, I don't believe that the PS2 has really been exploited yet. To me, it doesn't look that much better than the Dreamcast, and it surely gets knocked out of the water by the Xbox.

Each to their own. I've seen things on both systems at their high points that looked great, and wouldn't say that one's a huge step graphically over the other. But that's my take.

>Anyway. I find the Xbox to be an exceptionally good console. On par with the Dreamcast as far as "most ass-kickingest console at time of launch". Maybe you have to own one to really appreciate it. But to me, it looks like this is something that Microsoft got right.

And I'm saying that the jury's still out, as far as I'm concerned. I didn't buy a PSX until well into the system's second year, and held off on the PS2 until two weeks ago. (Okay, I bought a Dreamcast on day-of-release, but that was a weak spot, and I knew that Fire Pro Wrestling D was coming for it.) In a year's time, with two tough competitors in the market, the future of the XBox will be a lot clearer. It may well do just fine -- the gaming world revolves around marketing, after all, and who has more money for that than Mickeysoft?

The PS2 could indeed use a price drop, however. I suppose that doing so right before Christmas wasn't in Sony's best interest, however.

jeff. who's still madly playing Cardfighter's Clash on his NGPC.

It is indeed through unsupported hacks. xboxgw & xboxgwd. Still *very* badass though.

I guess what maybe I didn't make clear is this:

I don't really care about the system's future - it's awesome for me *now*, and no matter what happens, I'll still be able to play Amped & Project Gotham Racing & Halo & Dead or Alive 3. Plus, if it tanks, I can get the other titles really cheap. Shit, I do kinda hope it fails awfully But to me, it was worth the $540 or so that I've spent on it already. Than again, I'm kinda partial to expensive toys

PS2 really is very badass though, and I expect I'll have one in 6 months time...

[vsp]

Well, I can't argue with that. Of the four, I'm not much for racing or skate/snowboarding games, but I can see how the other two could be addictive.

If you've got the cash to spring for it and enjoy the games, it's a good deal. I have a feeling that a lot of parents will look at $500 game systems (which covers both the PS2 and Xbox) and flinch this Christmas, which is why I think the Gamecube (with a lower price tag and the Nintendo name) will kick major ass this year in sales. But that's just me, and you know which system I bought.

I am SHOCKED that Sony isn't hyping the living hell out of Final Fantasy X, which comes out the week after Christmas in the US on the PS2. If that's not a system-seller on name value alone, what is? (Caveat: I am not a big fan of the Final Fantasy series myself, but I can't deny that it puts asses in stores.)

Actually, I am honestly curious -- which developers do Microsoft have stuffed in their back pocket for the XBox? There aren't that many exclusives left. Sega, EA and Tecmo are all multi-platform. Square is Sony's pal, and Konami will do some titles but won't be bringing over, say, MGS2 any time soon. Nintendo has the Resident Evil series locked up. Rockstar may be porting GTA3 at some point, but I saw no mention of State of Emergency (which was MY system-seller -- I am physically drooling over SoE, and will be lined up on day-of-release). Nintendo has its usual cast (whatever Miyamoto dreams up, plus the Pokemon/Mario/Zelda family). Apart from Microsoft themselves, is there anyone major I'm forgetting?

Don't think so. But Microsoft has some serious cash. Shit, it wouldn't surprise me to see Age of Empires on the Xbox. And some other cool games, like Flight Simulator.

I agree that GameCube is going to be a top seller. But Xbox is doing well so far - they've both sold out. Though I find it easier to find GameCube's around here, but that's because Nintendo made more. It was hard as fuck to get an Xbox - I called probably 20 stores, about 10 had them in the morning (11:30 am)... by 4:30 pm, there was only ONE left at any of the stores... luckily, I managed to reserve it and get down there an hour later to snag it.

Dead or Alive 3 is, to put it gently, a mother fucking best. The load time between fights is literally about 1 second (aka, nothing at all), the levels are INCREDIBLE, the models are INCREDIBLE... the control is tight. It's awesome. One really has to see the levels though. WOW.

Like yourself, I'm shocked that Sony isn't hyping it more too. 'Cause Final Fantasy sure as shit sells systems. MGS2 does too though. Or at least, it will for me.

Anyway. I think Microsoft will manage to get a good bit of games out. If they fall flat on their face, obviously there won't be any games for it - but then, there will probably be more developers for PS2 & GameCube, which means we should eventually see prices drop there so companies can sell, 'cause there will be more competition. I think Microsoft's entry is definitely a good thing, especially if they can take advantage of the online playing segment. Xbox is a very well thought out product. You can come over and play if you want

[jennofay]

i was told that i should introduce myself as dhamsaic's "jenni". so there you go.

and so with that said, in response to his last five posts...

you have an x-box. yay.

but seriously, though... the original question was, i believe, 'hobbies'?

art
sewing
beading
movies
music
reading anything about psychology or history
i feel obligated to put 'david' here, although i dont really consider people a "hobby"
putting off things until the last minute...especially my figure drawing homework...to which i must return.