I believe they did. But wasn't there some falling out btw the two? Wipeout ended p on the N64 and such. Not sure about the story behind that one.

Psygnosis was a 2nd party developer for awhile, I believe. Or were they 3rd party and THEN 2nd party?

I don't know why you'd assume that. I would guess that a higher proportion of FPS fans would own an XBox over a GC, for Halo 1/2 and Doom 3 if nothing else (no figures on that though sorry). With both the box and the cube selling in similar numbers then I'd say PD would sell more units on the box than the cube.

I guess that does mean stiffer competition on the box (which comes back to Triggers point) but Rare does have a bit of a pedigree with Goldeneye and PD under the belt.

The Rare game I'm looking forward to is the sequel to Blastcorps (if such a thing is even planned). Apart from that I'm not too fussed with what they do.

Chris

The developers that created the games Twisted Metal, Grand Turismo, etc. where all once independent. Once those games sold extemely well, Sony was quick to buy them out. Nintendo just recently purchased 100% of Retro Studios, so it isn't just MS who are going around buying up developers.

If this rumor turns out true, I wonder if Nintendo will try and keep the Perfect Dark, Conker, Banjo etc. brand names? If you remember when MS bought out Bungie, they were forced to leave their great Myth series behind with their former publisher.

Actually, Polyphony and Singletrac were always first party developers.

But, yeah ...

I can't speak for him, but I agree with his notion that PD would sell more on the cube than the X-box.

My reasoning is it would have very little competition on the cube as there are very few FPS and mature games in general, where as the X-box has more FPSs and mature games for gamers to chose from.

In other words every cube owner that likes FPSs would by PD, whereas X-box FPS fans might pass up PD for something like Halo 2.

Plus a lot of Gamecube owners probably owned an N64 and therefore might know a bit about Perfect Dark. The game didn't sell all that well but it was highly publicized and much talked about.

Oops, I was thinking Wipeout but wrote Gran Turismo instead. Singletrac did release a PC game called Outwars (published by Microsoft), before Sony bought them out. And of course the once mighty Psygnosis was also bought out by Sony.

www.psygnosis.com

Was Pygnosis ever really mighty? This wouldn't be a big deal if Microsoft was buying out a small developer. Everyone is shocked by this becaus they're buying out a big name developer. I don't think Pygnosis was as important then as Rare is now. I could be wrong though -- I never even heard of Pygnosis until GT2.

Polyphony published the GT series, not Psygnosis.

But I never thought they were that big anyway. I don't even know anything they've done other than the Wipeout series.

Teeechnically ... Polyphony developed the GT series' and Sony published. But I'm just splitting hairs because I'm bored.

Would be interesting ... But I would rather see Rare do multiplatform games than become exclusive again. KnowhutI'msayun?

Maybe then we'll see more than one game a year!

never even heard of Psygnosis but I'll take your word for it. So they made the game and Sony put it out, then Sony bought them? Is their claim to fame 1 game?

http://www.google.com/ is a wonderful thing, s}{ammer. Here is a list of Psygnosis games, though I'm not certain how complete it is -- http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/company/35.html I first heard of the company around the time "Shadow of the Beast" was first released on the Amiga.

Look, I know that this isn't the same thing as saying "OMG MICRO$OFT AND XBOX SUX LOL," but let's all keep the "no console bashing" rule in mind. If you haven't noticed, people here can be sensitive about certain things, and I'd rather that we erred on the side of caution. Thanks.

Yah I hear that.. I want a company like Sony that improves technology!!! Give me 2 controller controller ports so I can buy the 4 player adaptor after the fact... Give me paralle processors without built in anti-aliasing so the developers can struggle to develop their games!!! Make me buy the HDD and ethernet adaptor seperately!!! PUSH THOSE ENVELOPES BABY!!!!!

Microsoft is the one that is pushing the technology forward in videogames. If they ever become a monopoly, it will be because of the great games MS and other developers produce, and their great push for innovation in videogaming hardware.

Also, everyone says thay are afraid of Microsoft producing "set top boxes" and owning the livingroom. As far as I have ever seen, Microsoft only wants to do games with teh Xbox. They wont even let you surf the web with Xbox Live! They are all about the gamers!

Sony are the only ones trying to make set top boxes and calling their gaming machines "computer entertainment machines."

-Jim

What about the jukebox feature? Playing DVDs? Isn't there a combination "Ultimate TV/Xbox" in the works?

Not that there's anything wrong with any of this...these are all great features. I'm just pointing out that the Xbox is about more than just games...and this very well may be the future of consoles.

FYI, Nintendo brought 4 controllers ports first, and built in anti aliasing with the N64. Perhaps there was another system before this? But to think that MS brought it to the market is wrong. I may be misreading your post, if so I apologize.

Regardless they are simple advancments that I wouldn't really champion to much. The fact that Sony left them out, well not the greatist idea.

As far as bringing things to the market, I think MS may end up being the largest role in modern online gaming by packing in a ethernet adapter. Something I'm quite grateful for.

True. MS has much larger plans for the xbox "series" if you will then just games. One day there will be a central unit in a house doing more then just games, and MS wants a big piece of that. Bringing the xbox to market now is just the first step in that movement.

Sony has declared their intent to do the same type of thing. I think MS might be thinking bigger, but Sony def. wants to be the center of all entertainment into and out of homes.

On the opposing POV Nintendo believes there will always be a market for just games, and thats what they are shooting for. Nintendo has no known desire to be a multimedia center, it's all about the games for them.

After reading this thread this is how I see the current score (as by Game Forum posters opinions)


Rare: -4 "...to slow..."

Nintindo: -0- "... could be bad, could be good, who cares Mario Sells Nintindo, not Rare..."

Xbox: +2 "...even the Nintindo boys in the back gota say its got some pop..."

Microsoft: -1 "...immage is everything, and M$ looks like the Devil! who cares about thier great hardware....."

MS buying Rare: -0- "... They'd belong to MS, thats bad. PD0 might be Online, thats GOOD..."



Winning Post:

Ciao

Also,

Nintendo cant just unload its 49% of shares to anyone it wants.. Its a bigger process, considering its nearly half the company. They would either have to flood the market with them, (is it even publicly traded) or they can try and sell that 49% to someone else... But that would be a big deal and not very easy.

Microsoft could probably care less if Nintendo keeps their 49% share of Rare. MS will still control the boardroom.

-Jim

Rare: - They put out so few games, I hardly see what the fuss is all about

Nintendo: - They aren't really losing anything since Rare doesn't really "put out"

Xbox: - Would be a great place for any FPS.

Microsoft: They can buy whatever game company they want as long as they don't stick their nose in the development process like other console companies do. What they've been doing is no different than what Nintendo or Sony have been doing. Putting a dollar sign in MS is really childish.

MS buying Rare: - I think it's a bad move - Rare is worth 1/20 of what they are considering paying. Half a billion bucks is something they'll never recover from Rare.

I agree, I was just paraphrasing someone elses post from above.
I don't agree with the Micro-Evil-Soft mentality at all. The best hardware I have for my PC is MS hardware. Best Joystick, Best Mouce, Best Headset, They just make good stuff.

And as far as the Monopoly issue goes, even if they would have been broken up, it wouldn't have affected the Xbox in the slightest. These are common place strategies and the Xbox project would have been run by the same people runing it now, it just would have had a difrent brand name.



Brand: a mark cattle drivers place on thier cattle to desegnate what belongs to who.

Friends don't let Friends be Cattle.

If you go to a hardware or OS forum pretty much everyone will refer to them as M$ and it is not because they are all childish. It's because of the way M$ behaves. I also don't think the breakup would have made much of a difference except that perhaps the xbox project would have had to license the M$ OS they use instead of just having it available as internal technology.

Yujinaka, as was stated by other posters M$ does want to make the xbox with support for ultimate tv or whatever and they already have CD/DVD support. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing.

As for the HDD, controller, and NA issue. Most users have no need for a HDD. I don't have one and I still enjoy the PS2. I will probably get one when it comes out but I am in the minority. It won't sell as a HDD is not needed for gaming. The 4 port controllers would be wasted for most people. I have never used more than 2 controllers at once again I may be in the minority but I don't have the stats on how many multitaps have sold. Network Adapter, yeah lets see, I paid $40 and am up and running with the network adapter and paying zero monthly fee and no fee for next year. Xbox has a built in adapter, no dialup yet, and you still pay $50 to get going this year. Next year there will be another fee and of course all this money and information such as CC numbers goes through M$'s hands.

Edit: Oh yeah and the anti aliasing would be a nice feature but not necessary. I play the games for the games not the graphics. As long as they are current graphics and the game is fun why worry about having some perfect picture? Are we watching movies or playing games here?

You are making a lot of assumptions there s}{ammer. I would guess that if you'd experienced Halo's load times (which greatly benefit from the box's HD) then you'd never want to go back... Also as online gaming takes off then a HD becomes essential for downloading customised content and new levels. Even sports games are already pushing the limits of portable memory storage (GC owners obviously the first to feel the pinch)..

And while you might be prepared to purchase a 4 player adaptor for your PS2, most people aren't. Therefore a lot of companies won't bother to make 4 player games for the PS2 (compare the number of 4 player games on the PSX to the N64). Therefore fewer people will bother to buy the adaptor. It's a neverending cycle! At least Nintendo, Sega and MS all stuck with 4 ports for their consoles.

If we weren't worried about a perfect picture then we'd all still be happily playing our Atari 2600s..

Chris

Why does everyone think there will be all these great things to download for your games? It's not gonna happen.