Entertainment/Gaming Consoles

[Chewbaccus]

Dave, define "games for 39 year olds".

Little-reported but extremely interesting: <b>Microsoft turned a profit on the Xbox this past quarter.</b>

That's <b>two</b> years after starting out. Not bad, really.

More interesting is the recently announced deal between IBM and Microsoft where IBM will be making the chips for "Xbox Next" aka Xbox 2. It's widely speculated that IBM's Power 970 chip, aka "G5" will be the basis for the machine, since fabrcation processes are already in place for it and it boasts excellent performance in games.

With ATI providing the graphics for Xbox 2, Sony may actually have something to fear. From the looks of it, Microsoft is really trying to use their (admittedly small) foothold to crush Sony's PlayStation.

Compatibility with older games will be a major selling point. How will Xbox 2 handle running x86 applications on PowerPC? Why, with VirtualPC, of course. Microsoft purchased Connectix, maker of said product, earlier this year. This is all being mentioned in the press. What isn't being mentioned is that Connectix used to make an excellent PlayStation emulator for the PC that - get this - actually made it through the courts. HMMMMMMMMMM.

Another player in the field may be the former manager of Microsoft's MacBU (Macintosh Business Unit), responsible for all of Microsoft's Mac software. Guess where he got transferred to? Yes, the Xbox division. His experience with the PowerPC architecture is almost certainly being tapped for what Microsoft presumably expects will be their PS3 killer.

I think this will be <b>very</b> interesting.

Well Chew, Tony is 39. He's single. Lives by himself. So what we need are games for 39 year old dudes living by themselves. He's mostly gonna be playing by himself.

I love my GameCube, but it doesn't have many titles that seem to fit that mold. Metroid Prime <b>maybe</b>. I don't see The Tone getting into Eternal Darkness or Wind Waker. SSB Melee isn't really all that fun single-player. Don't see The Tone doing Super Mario Sunshine. I dunno man. I just don't see him having much fun with the GameCube currently.

But the Xbox has got all the Clancy games and TimeSplitters 2 *plus* Halo, the good racing games (PGR, Rallisport), RtCW, Mech Assault, Unreal Championship, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, etc. I can see The Tone enjoying all of those games, and he could even enjoy 'em with me 'cause we'd both get Xbox Live and then own everyone online. Mwahaha!

Cube's awesome if you're in the target audience, which, honestly, I would say is anyone under 30. People in the older age group were not, in general, playing Nintendo back in the day, and Nintendo's core audience is made up of two parts: people that have always played Nintendo and kids. Most older people are neither.

[vsp]

I have a Cube (at age 32), but I've barely used it. I bought Metroid Prime but haven't started it yet (can't... stop... playing... PS2 Disgaea...), rented Wind Waker (and disliked it intensely, to the point where I could've bought it for $20 later on and turned it down), and blasted through Bloody Roar in an evening.

My wife has gotten more mileage out of it, via hunting zombies and other dead things (Eternal Darkness, Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero), and we haven't gotten around to plowing through Hunter: The Reckoning much yet.

If you're into the classic Nintendo franchises (Mario platformers, Mario Kart, Metroid, Zelda, F-Zero, Mario sports, Starfox, Mario Party), the GameCube is an absolute steal at $99 or less. If you're not -- and, as Dave noted, many older gamers aren't -- there's not nearly as much to recommend it. The only other exclusives of note are:

* Animal Crossing (basically, The Sims gone Saturday-morning cartoon)
* Skies of Arcadia Legends (only RPG of note, similar to DreamCast version)
* the shoot-dead-things games mentioned above, which are an acquired taste
* Viewtiful Joe (which is getting major critical acclaim, but it hasn't clicked with me yet)
* the Monkey Ball games.

Not exactly a console custom-made for PC-gaming/FPS junkies.

[Undertoad]

It's true. I played Donkey Kong on the Intellivision, but I think in the 20 years since then, I've gotten more sophisticated in gaming taste.

The other thing that appeals to me, and seems not to appeal to any of you, are the sports games. I generally get the EA NHL series every other year, and FIFA, and occasionally Madden. I even liked the High Heat series OK even though I'm not a big baseball fan anymore.

I hate all fighting games and will not play any of them.

I hate puzzles to death, as well as games that look like games but are actually puzzles. Some of the original FPSes had that feel; you were fighting bad guys or monsters, but half the time you were pushing on every section of wall to find the secret room. That kind of thing really annoys me.

[vsp]

Originally posted by Undertoad
It's true. I played Donkey Kong on the Intellivision, but I think in the 20 years since then, I've gotten more sophisticated in gaming taste.

(insert Charlie Brown-missing-the-football AAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGH! here)

I'm not knocking the Intellivision, as it was my first system and remains my old-school console of choice. I'm knocking Donkey Kong for it, as Coleco intentionally botched the 2600 and Inty ports so as to make the ColecoVision look good by comparison.

(Note: Intellivision games seem to be all over the place these days. There are PC emulators, there was a commercial PC release, there's a standalone gadget that I saw at Kay-Bee, and there's an upcoming PS2 pack called "Intellivision Lives." One problem -- how the hell are they emulating the controller, which had a twelve-digit keypad, four independent fire buttons and a 16-position disc?

Analog joypads can handle the disc and improve upon it, and the fire buttons are easy, but the keypad is a sticking point. Games like Space Spartans and Treasure of Tarmin used every button on the keypad, and NFL Football had you typing in numeric formations and plays.)

The other thing that appeals to me, and seems not to appeal to any of you, are the sports games. I generally get the EA NHL series every other year, and FIFA, and occasionally Madden. I even liked the High Heat series OK even though I'm not a big baseball fan anymore.

My friend Rick is a chronic sports junkie; he's magnetically attracted to EA football, soccer, hockey and rugby games. I haven't caught the bug myself; I'll play them, but not fanatically, and have tried to sway him towards the Sega Sports lineup (N__2K* -> ESPN Sports), as they're getting better reviews these days.

I hate all fighting games and will not play any of them.

I like fighting games a lot more when I'm not paying for them (hello, MAME), and thus not blowing rolls of quarters trying to beat some twelve-year-old who's memorized a 65-hit dial-a-combo string that kills anyone who hasn't memorized its twelve-button-and-joystick-move-combo countermove.

I have a soft spot for SNK's Legion of Street Fighter Knockoffs and Endless NeoGeo Sequels.

I hate puzzles to death, as well as games that look like games but are actually puzzles. Some of the original FPSes had that feel; you were fighting bad guys or monsters, but half the time you were pushing on every section of wall to find the secret room. That kind of thing really annoys me.

This is why I wanted to throw Zelda: The Wind Waker through a window. Old school Zelda was all about running around and zapping bad guys with your magic sword, with an occasional wall to bomb; Wind Waker was all about exploration and problem-solving and collecting clues and dull fucking ocean travel in your anthropomorphic talking boat just to be able to find something to HIT, let alone to reach the boss and advance the storyline. (And even then I could've gotten more into it if the control scheme wasn't monumentally retarded.)

If I want puzzles, character development and deep dark secrets, I'll play an RPG.

And there it is. Xbox has got all the sports games GC has *plus* Microsoft's in-house efforts (which aren't half bad).

Xbox is teh win for The Tone, with PS2 coming in second. GC just doesn't have much to offer him right now.

Video Sex Pope makes me laugh.

Oh yeah, and I like sports games. I just never got good at the football ones. I'm more into basketball 'cause I'm better at them overall. NBA Jam is teh win.

FIFA World Cup 2002 is awesome. I love that game. So we could always play that.

And I'm down to try and get better at football games if they a) support Xbox live for online play and b) I have someone to play with that won't make it a point to totally own me all the time until I get up to speed.

[Undertoad]

If I get an Xbox I will definitely get Live.

Money remains the problem, because as y'know I suddenly have to support myself and keep this house while taking on a ZZ Top-related hobby.

[perth]

You might think about getting a Dreamcast. Yeah, its not the "latest and greatest", but it did have great graphics, great games and the console and games can be had for cheap (and you could get quite a large collection of games for *very* cheap, see vsp's message a ways up). Only downside is online play. I don't really know to much about setting it up on the DC, because it was a pain in the ass.

Dreamcast rules all over the place. GameStop here is selling them for $30 with everything you need. I have about 30 DC games totally legit, with maybe $150 invested in 'em. Plus the options for it are basically endless with emulation.

Dreamcast is probably my favorite console nowadays. If only the controller didn't suck so bad for fighting games...

[Chewbaccus]

The other thing that appeals to me, and seems not to appeal to any of you, are the sports games.

Dave's right, all sports games - save Microsoft's in-house attempts - are cross-platform. Here's where I want to know what kind of sports gamer you are. If you're the type that just enjoys the genre, the pure contest of it all, then you'd dig Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. If you're one of those inner-childless die-hard realistic-sports-games-only types, then you won't appreciate it as much.

I hate all fighting games and will not play any of them.

This is a shame. Soul Calibur II was bloody designed for the Cube's controller. True Crime: Streets of LA is a hybrid fighter/shooter/racer that is simply fantastic. If you can look over the fighting part, you may enjoy that one.

I hate puzzles to death, as well as games that look like games but are actually puzzles. Some of the original FPSes had that feel; you were fighting bad guys or monsters, but half the time you were pushing on every section of wall to find the secret room. That kind of thing really annoys me.

This wasn't a Wolfenstein reference. No siree.

I've found that the Clancy games are on equal if not slightly better footing on Cube than on XBox, Splinter Cell as an example. That being said: Metroid Prime, TC:SoLA, XIII, Geist (in the near future).

Tony, where are you on fliers? Because the Rogue Squadron series on Cube just owns all. Literally, after Rogue Leader and now Rebel Strike, Factor 5 has this Scrooge McDuck money bin-like structure that contains all things in the universe. Known and unknown.

Eternal Darkness, dave, I'm not so sure. ED is a thing of pure beauty, nothing but. Action game, some aspects of the puzzle, but nothing like you describe in the FPSes Tony. If you have a friend with a Cube, swing by with a copy from Blockbuster or whatever and try it out. LotR: Two Towers and Return of the King are pretty straightforward, you might dig those. Linear with 3D illusions (like Viewtiful Joe, another good title), they're basically contests to try and kill the bad guys in as spectacular a way as you can to unlock more spectacular ways to kill them. (Also like Viewtiful Joe)

In parting, I'm just making a case for the other side. I'd pick up an XBox if there were more than three titles on it that I'd want and couldn't find on Cube (Halo, Halo 2, KOTOR). As there isn't, oh well.

[Undertoad]

OK, for one thing golf is not a sport.

There is <b>definitely</b> a case to be made for the GameCube (I own two of them and am finding it <b>extremely</b> hard not to pick up a purple one to complete the trifecta). I just don't think it's the "this is an adult gamer console" case. Hehe. For dudes our age, it's awesome, 'cause we grew up on Nintendo and Super Nintendo. For dudes Tony's age, he's like, "What the fuck is this Shines? Why am I squirting everything with water? This is dumb."