Consoles are hardly ever a profit.
Thats why Nintindo doesn't swing 3rd party.
All the profit is made in the titles.

3rd party titling doesn't turn the profit that Home Bre titles does, since all you get to sell is the licence instead of all profit.


Xbox prolly will go 3rd party if its not already (I'm not up on the news) just to establish itself. However Xbox is backed by the most powerful multimedia company on the planet, I don't think its a big scare if it doesn't turn a huge profit.
Hell, I just see little Billy sitting there giggling "hehehe, I have my own videogame system, hehehehe"

You don't suppose this guy doesn't own any video gaming system. He is totally against all of them because he has a kick ass computer system that he will continue to upgrade and add more and more money too. This is a general video game console bashing statement.

Too early to tell. I do believe that the "Big Three" will be strong for at least 2-3 years.

I'm sorry but even on a decent sized monitor, (19") playing games on a PC sucks.....Power or no power it's just not the same....

none of these systems will "die", they will all last as long as their respective companies want them too. in other words, five years from now, MS, Sony and Nintendo will all launch new consoles and this debate will happen again.


it's pointless.

How can you tell? Are you psychic? A lot of things can happen, like Squaresoft going multi-platform, or one of Nintendo's little 3rd party developers that they bought developing the next killer franchise. Only time can tell.

Why does this matter?

It never ceases to amaze me, especially on a home theater oriented site, how many people either bash the X-Box or doubt its future... It is, by far, the best console for a home theater-oriented person...

In-game Dolby Digital 5.1
Progressive scan in-game support
Games in excess of 480 resolution (they are coming...)
Somewhat higher technical specs than the PS2
Built-in hard-drive and ethernet

I have had both the PS2 and X-Box. When I used to have the PS2 hooked up to my Toshiba 50H81 HDTV via component inputs, most games (with the possible exception of GT3) looked terrible on the big screen... Jaggies everywhere...

Same games on the X-Box looked much better... and other games like Halo are just amazing in its graphics and immersive Dolby Digital 5.1...

My point to all this? If the X-Box were to die first, it would be a tragedy to the home theater types out there... But, I don't think the X-Box is going anywhere...

If I had to pick a console to go first, it would be the PS2 because of their thoughts on rushing the PS3... but with the game titles out right now, I don't see it going away any time soon either...

And the PC versus X-Box comments...

Yes, many of the components of the X-Box are similar to a PC... BUT there are some important differences as well... On a PC, do you play your games on a 50" widescreen monitor capable of 1080i? On your PC, do you play games connected to a full-blown DD 5.1 receiver with matching speakers and subwoofer (and don't talk to me about those toy computer 5.1 packages they have)? Don't get me wrong... I like to have a powerful PC too, and I will probably be rebuilding my system this summer. But playing on a PC and playing the X-Box is still quite different...

It would suck is any of these systems would die.- They are all nice gaming systems. We have gotten to a point were gaming systems offer more of what we expect from them than they ever have in the past.

Looking at the above arguments, makes me see that each system has a reason for staying and each one has a weakness that may doom them.

I'm going to have to say X-box will be the first one to "die." Die meaning lack of developer support (or No more Games). I came into this thread thinking the Cube would be the first, but after reading the thread and talking with actual game developers across the hall I have turned 180. Even though Microsoft has a big company, that doesn't mean that they can continue supporting the X-box as long as they want. It's not that easy. Just because I have $1000 in the bank doesn't mean I have enough money to buy a DVD player. Microsoft is a publicly owned company and a large part of it's revenue is generated by stock purchases. If the X-box does not generate revenue or meet its costs, Microsoft will lose more than just the price of the hardware. They will lose investors and "face" in the Market.

Unfortunately the similarities between the Dreamcast and the X-box make the system just ripe for the pirate plucking. Basing the OS on a known and easy format is just asking for rampant cracking of the system. Using a common and now, burnable medium makes it cost effective to pirate games. The outstanding price of the system as well as accessories, encourages users to spend less and copy more. I know that Playstation 2 games can also be somewhat copied, but as seen with the PSX, Low cost of games, accessories and different developing environment help thwart widespread copying.

What I think the largest factor against the X-box is what I think is the stupidest. Japan's acceptance. These people (a few of my friends included) will outright dismiss the X-box based on it's size and amount of heat generated. It's crazy, I know. But if you go to Japan and look at the size of their rooms, and how much space they have, you'll see why they dismiss it. It is also very difficult to export electronic hardware to Japan. Taxes and tariffs will most definitely increase the price further. Most importantly, it is not "socially cool" to purchase and use bulky American electronics. Its lame, but it's true. Game designers and industry insiders in Japan have already begun to release statements predicting the failure of the X-box in Japan. This is usually every unprofessional and practically burns bridges in the business- but they are doing it anyways.

So who cares if Japan doesn't accept the thing? Well, it may not directly affect us, but we import the majority of our console software from Japan and localize them for our own use. Many of the quality established franchises come from Japanese Developers. A great amount of revenue stems from Pacific Sales that distribute through Japan (they are the primary localizers for the Pacific region). The X-box will suffer all over the Pacific if it is not liked in Japan. The Asian launch, having spend million on, would put Microsoft further away from profits. This effect will eventually trickle over here when we don't get the Japanese software that the other consoles are getting and Microsoft doesn't earn the additional licensing fees for each game copy. Microsoft needs the Global acceptance to survive.

This is all speculation until we see the results of the Asian Launch- and hopefully the x-box does well.

The XBOX

Sorry for the bad info!

Nice joke...

Note the fake link...

Awww.... bluesman...

Your other thread with this story got deleted...

I'M SOOOOOOO... SORRY!! I need to look at links closer. It sure looked real when I got it.

mmconhea Great post.
Bluesman Nice try, but really not funny, you could of scared some people.

Since when is Microsoft a quitter? Oh, sure, BOB was a piece of crap and they bailed on it, but that's not the case with the XBox. Microsoft is aiming on the long-term, you can't compete on the long-term if you're not willing to break a few eggs in the short-term. MS could have bailed on IE when it wasn't penetrating the market like Netscape, but now they dominate the browser market. BTW, I believe the company is its own biggest shareholder, so I don't think they can get browbeat by outside investors into not carrying out what they want to do.

The opposite side of mmconhea's view would be the GCN going under. Why couldn't they go the way of Sega and just become a 3rd party game developer? If they make more profit off of their games, and they lose or make very little money on GCN, why not just go make games for other systems? Heck, they'd sell a lot more games that way, wouldn't they? This is JUST as feasible as Microsoft folding. Weren't there rumors about Nintendo being purchased just a year ago?

The reason I don't think Nintendo will loose is just what people are saying in favor of the X-box. Deap Pockets. The Gameboy alone is the biggest Gaming empire in the world. Almost every console developer in the world develops for that system- on Nintendo's carts with Nintendo's development kits. The Gameboy has penetrated the most countires in the world and has proven to have the longest harware life of any other system.

Nintendo's profit margin is higher than the other game companies. Couple that with their Million Seller 1st party games. They, on average, make more money per game sold than Microsoft or Sony.

That's the deapest pocktes you are going to get in the video game industry.

Piracy is almost a non-issue. Proprietary devices may be in the furutre, as with the N64 but how many people do you know actually owned those devices. Nintendo Fights Piracy with an iron claw.

Utilizing the GBA hook-up to the cube as well as Pokemon products (a proven seller for over 6 years) will also help drastically.

Not to mention it's low cost and size.

Are you talking about the gameboy or the GBA?

Gallant Pig I commented earlier about Nintendo going "3rd party" and the likely hood of it.

In terms of the "buy-out" of Nintendo, that was back when the xbox was still highly secretive, a bunch of "analysts" were pointing fingers at tons of companies saying MS would buy them. (Including Sega) The Nintendo rumor stayed fresh a bit longer simply because they are nex door neighbors in Redmond.

Jeff, I didn't see any mention to why Nintendo shouldn't drop their hardware and go the route of Sega. In fact, if Sega is successful, then why not? If I remember right, the time when Sega was rumored to be dropping the Dreamcast, lots of people mentioned the big cash reserve they have just like you mentioned with Nintendo. But they chose not to deplete that cash reserve and instead adopt a more attractive gaming route.

So if Gamecube doesn't make Nintendo money and selling software does, why shouldn't they ditch the hardware just like Sega?

Okay Gallant Pig, I'm sorry I miss understood your post.

They are several reasons Nintendo why "won't" do this, notice I don't use the words "should not".

1) They see themselves as inovaters in the field of games. Nintendo is infact a leader in inovation, and they fear that becoming software only would limit this. Nintendo does try new things with their hardware, sometimes they fail, most of the time they set the standard. For example, Nintendo introduced analog control, rumble features, pop out cords, etc. to the console maket. It would be difficult for Nintendo to launch these ideas into the market being software only. Those examples are only minor and its hard to fully show what kind of impact Nintendo has had.

2) Nintendo is trying to protect their buisness interests by "preserving" the game industry. Nintendo beleives that their focus on content and quality over quanity is the only way to keep games going. The popularity of games in japan is declining fast, and Nintendo seeks to preserve this.

3) Along these first two is Nintendo's pride. Nintendo is a very proud company. Thus they don't want to bow out.

4) I could go on probally for several pages wy Nintendo will not leave, but the main and ultimate reason is that Nintendo can be profitable with just their hardcore base. It's true that could lose people, but time has dicated that Nintendo has a very loyal base that is capable of supporting the company.

I really don't have the time, but will elaborate and back things up later if people actually care, but most of this info is easily pulled off several websites around the net. Reading Game Over: Press Start to Continue also gives much insightful info behind Nintendo.

Ok, sorry about an earlier post

I never heard that rumor. What I heard was that Sega people were visiting Redmond, and everyone was speculating that Nintendo would buy Sega.

It turned out Sega's people were actually visiting Microsoft, but those negotiations must not have gotten very far, because Sega's marquee titles are on the other two systems. Jet Set Radio Future will be great, and Shenmue will be, well, Shenmue. But neither of these titles will give the XBox the mileage it desperately needs in Japan.

Sony is getting Virtua Fighter 4, which is Sega's biggest property in Japan, and probably also their biggest in the US (though Tekken is more popular here). That shows Sega's hesitance on Microsoft.

None of the Japanese developers are really giving Microsoft any AAA exclusives.

The next Crazi Taxi will be on X-Box. I would like to see some numbers verifying your claim... I think Sega is supporting the X-Box at least as much (if not more) than Sony or Nintendo...

Crazy Taxi is not Virtua Fighter. Especially not in Japan, where Virtua Fighter is HUGE. Committing VF4 as PS2 exclusive shows who Sega thinks is the king of the hill here.

Besides, with Wreckless looking terrific, and GTA3 eventually coming to XBox, I don't think Crazy Taxi is even relevant anymore.

So if X-box goes under does that mean that most, if not all of their games will be ported to most or all the other systems, like what they did to the DC when it died??