[Mumrik]

Xevion, I (and probably most of the gamers here) will agree with you in that the PC is the superior gaming platform...
I have never myself owned a console (unless you concider my old Amiga 600 a console

) and I probably never will.

BUT, the consoles are superior party machines (

), some of my buddies and I (4-10 people ages 18-27) regularly meet and spend up to twelve hours beating the **** out of each other in SSB on the N64. It's easy and fun - and doing something similar on the PC platform would either require us to do it over the net, thus lacking the "party-feeling"OR we'd need to transport loads of heavy and expensive equipment somewhere to setup a LAN...

There is a place for the consoles... and I can't wait to try SSBM on the Gamecube

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF !!! Really? It looks incredible!

Looks dont mean nothing, how's the gameplay, storyline, characters and so on, thats what matters!

George

 

[Mumrik]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF !!! Really? It looks incredible!

I've never seen anything look incredible on a low res TV... or was this on an HDTV or something?


Sadly this means that I've never had the WOW-experience with any console out there... I even had a hard time telling some PS2 titles from PS1 titles. I'm totally drugged on high res/high refresh/non-interlaced gaming...

 

[dhwilkin]

Console games are finally getting to the point now where having a good TV (and at least S-Video, if not component, cables) is mandantory for really seeing a game. Take DOA3: I first saw it on one of those displays in Electronics Boutique. I was not impressed, looked no better than DOA2, if that good. Then my friend (who has a X-Box hooked up via component cables to a Wega) got DOA3, and it looked absolutely gorgeous!

I also think consoles and PCs are natuarally suited to different game genres. For instance, if I'm gonna play a FPS, I must have a mouse & keyboard, which means PC. If I'm gonna play a fighting game, I must have a control pad, which means console.

 

[Vertigo-1]

Quote:

Xevion, I (and probably most of the gamers here) will agree with you in that the PC is the superior gaming platform...

I'd tend to agree with you...except that I can't even name one good RPG that's for the PC (FF7 and FF8 don't count since those are just ports). Not to mention just about no fighting games whatsoever. And I happen to be a big fan of old style turn by turn console RPGs and fighting games. So unfortunately consoles are the way to go for those, period. And that's not even counting what the Japanese market hoards to themselves and don't release in the U.S.

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mumrik I've never seen anything look incredible on a low res TV... or was this on an HDTV or something?

That's the thing -- Halo is being written simultaneously for Xbox, Mac, and PC. It was originally going to be a Mac-only game until Microsoft saw it and realized that it was the "killer" game the Xbox needed.

The demos I saw were Mac-based, using top-of-the-line graphics cards. No low-rez TV there

The demos were simply incredible.

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by Vertigo-1 And that's not even counting what the Japanese market hoards to themselves and don't release in the U.S.

Thats one issue that has sat on my shoulders since i played Final fantasy 1 and found out 2 and 3 were japan release only...that really pissed me off!

George

 

[Mumrik]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF That's the thing -- Halo is being written simultaneously for Xbox, Mac, and PC. It was originally going to be a Mac-only game until Microsoft saw it and realized that it was the "killer" game the Xbox needed. The demos I saw were Mac-based, using top-of-the-line graphics cards. No low-rez TV there The demos were simply incredible.

Yeah, I know about the cross platform development... I just thought we were talking about the Xbox version

It'll be interesting to see the PC version when the time comes...



Quote:

Originally posted by dhwilkin Console games are finally getting to the point now where having a good TV (and at least S-Video, if not component, cables) is mandantory for really seeing a game. (...) I also think consoles and PCs are natuarally suited to different game genres. For instance, if I'm gonna play a FPS, I must have a mouse & keyboard, which means PC. If I'm gonna play a fighting game, I must have a control pad, which means console.

1) Sadly I have yet to see a console hooked up to something nice like a Wega so I have only seen ****ty graphics

2) It's not the lack of control pads for the PC that is the problem (There are heaps of them, you can even buy adaptors so you can use your console's control pad for the PC), the problem is that PC fighting games have died out since console fighting games took off - it must be the big screen... Perhaps we'll se more PC fighting games as TV-out becomes more used... who knows

 

[CaptBubba]

I saw an X-Box hooked up to a huge HDTV at my local Best Buy and I must confess, it looked awsome. But then I relised that the combination would cost well in excess of $2000, it looked slightly less impressive.

I think all the consoles have kind of settled into there own little niches and their designs reflect it.

PS2 is not ment to go anywhere, more of a single player RPG system. Ever since the FF series took off, nobody has really chanenged sony. Even so, its slots for only two controlers without an expansion almost compleatly rules it out in terms of use in get-togethers.

Gamecube is definatly intended as a party system. Small, light, and with four controlers, you can go just about anywhere. Also the games are more arcadish, Luigi's Mansion, SSBM. Ever since Mario Cart and MC64, Nindendo has been THE console to play with friends.

XBox is really just a computer you can use a big screen with. It is in between PS2 and GC. The big games for it, Halo/DOA3 need other people to be fun, but are kinda too in-depth compared to GC's pointlessly fun lineup.

Thats IMO, of corse. I personaly would get a GC and use my computer for the more "serious" games.

 

[DarkAngel]

>>>Does the Xbox support HDTV?

Xbox was designed with high-definition TV support specifically in mind. Xbox supports HDTV and TV resolutions up to 1920x1080 with the purchase of the High Definition AV Pack.

The High Definition AV Pack supports HDTV RGB video and your choice of RCA Audio or Digital Audio over optical cable.

Does Xbox support Dolby Digital?

The Xbox video game system features a theater-quality audio experience, the best ever heard in a video game console. It has 256 simultaneous audio channels, 3D positional audio, and real-time Dolby Digital audio encoding. <<<

This was taken from Xbox FAQ website, I mentioned this in my original post of this thread, asking who has played Xbox on HDTV!
Xbox has big advantage in being better thought out with features to fully integrate with home theater HDTV and dolby sound.

Again wait about one year and you will see Xbox really outclass PS2 as more and better games appear, that is really Sony's ace in the hole is large game library which is important, but to me technically PS2 was a let down and not huge advance from PS1.

I would love to see Xbox version of Gran Turismo 3 on HDTV!

 

[Vertigo-1]

Quote:

Again wait about one year and you will see Xbox really outclass PS2 as more and better games appear, that is really Sony's ace in the hole is large game library which is important, but to me technically PS2 was a let down and not huge advance from PS1.

Uhhhhhhhhh...if GT3 for the PS2 wasn't an insanely massive jump from GT2 for the PSX, then I dunno what else it would be. GT3 literally renders GT2 unplayble. I think the PS2 is a far cry from the PSX.

 

[DarkAngel]

Vertigo
GT3 is the brightest star in the PS2 galaxy, it is the best racing game period on any format.....for now. But the average PS2 game is much less impressive vs previous PS1 version

It would look even better on Xbox.

 

[gloco]

Whos's to say, but a lot of people have gripes about the complexity of the PS2 vs the Xbox and GC. I assume the PS2 is just a hassle to work with, i'm actually surprised its taken this long, the PS2 is a powerhouse as is the Xbox.

George

 

[dhwilkin]

The PS2 is a programmer's nightmare. You have to do pretty much everything, as there are no system libraries available. You're coding in little better than assembly language, and the hardware setup is very different from the average console or PC. Put all this together, and you have (maybe) the most difficult console to program for, ever! This is why the first PS2 games didn't even have anti-aliasing. The advantage of an architecture like this is programmers can eventually learn how to access the full power of the machine. The problem is that acquiring this knowledge takes a really long time, and the market may have moved on during that time.

 

[dhwilkin]

Oh, and what's the deal w/ the X-Box giving the US market super-sized controllers? Those things are just too big for precise, long-term use.