xbox purchase

[Hydra XL]

here da deal: own ps2; ps2 dvd player is kaka; want a new dvd player; i know xbox dvd player is better and i can get one for $50 us less than the 199 retail @ $150, but i would still need a dvd remote. thought about the xbox for pretty much only 3 games - HALO, Dead to Rights & Quantum Redshift. but HALO still floats at it's original MSRP of $49.99, and the other will undoubtedly be that price as well when they are released. not too mention the controller is a dysfunctional clunky stool sample, so i'd need to get the controller converter (another $20 us retail).

so basically... those of you who own the x-box (or those who don't) -- ur unbiased opinion -- worth it?

(btw, if i want to save games, would i need to also shell out for a memory card or can you use xbox's HD for that?)

[Sven]

have you tried the new PS2 DVD drivers yet? they're quite much better than the old ones. They come with the $20 Sony PS2 DVD remote. Also, you don't have to get x-b mem cards, but then how do you transport your game saves?
In short, don't get the x-box

[Nick Burcombe]

>thought about the xbox for pretty much only 3 games - HALO, Dead to Rights & >Quantum Redshift.

What a nice circle of games you have us pegged with.
BTW QR is starting to get some pr coverage around the web, here is a favourite of mine...

"When the public got word of Microsoft's futuristic racer, Quantum Redshift, it appeared safe to write it off as yet another WipeOut clone. The game had a decent showing at E3, but on-site kiosks (likely set to "Novice" difficulty), failed to show off the game's incredible sense of speed. After hours of intense racing, it's obvious that Quantum Redshift is the new standard."

LOL. We had a collective blush at the office.

I hope you guys like it anyway.

Nick

[AmishRobot]

QR is looking very nice. I still have a couple reservations about it, but I'm willing to give you guys the benefit of the doubt. Whenever I do get an xbox (which may not be for a few more months) I expect QR to be my first purchase.

One thing I did notice, however, is that I went to the store yesterday and saw a promotional box for the game, and it had the absolute worst screenshots I've ever seen on the back. They practically screamed, "For the love of god, don't buy me!"

If you guys have any sway whatsoever over the marketing department at Microsoft, I strongly suggest you check the design on the production boxes before they get made. A distance shot of a bridge does not sell people a racing game!

Hydra: If you've got the extra cash, I say go for it.

[Nick Burcombe]

http://forums.teamxbox.com/showthrea...hreadid=124587

Here's the whole article - should give you guys a better idea of whats different and whats involved.

Nick

p.s. I'll mention the poor screenshots.

[Nick Burcombe]

Amish,

What store was it? Just curious.

[stin]

the game looks pretty cool (QR) but i don`t want a X-BOX yes for ps2!!!
its look realistic also pure graphics too and i`m sticking ps2 at the moment cos i`m enjoying wipeouts anyway.

stin

[infoxicated]

Is there any chance of a PS2 version, Nick, or are you totally submerged in Micro$oft's back pocket? :-?

[AmishRobot]

Amish,

What store was it? Just curious.

I saw it at Electronics Boutique, in America. It was a (slightly) oversized cardboard box that was clearly for promotion only.

I only brought it up because I've seen some screenshots of the game that are absolutley mindblowing, and these weren't it!

[lunar]

A friend of mine who has an X-box thinks Gotham City Racing is the best game for it. I guess this isn`t true but it shows how there`s a short supply of great games compared to the PS2. X-Box graphics don`t really blow me away compared to PS2 graphics. They`re not a massive leap forward, just less slowdown generally.

I`ve seen a lot of QR movies, and it seems to have more a traditional floaty wipeout feel than fusion does., which has to be good.

What bothers me is that, like in Fusion, the ships don`t seem to lose speed much after hitting walls. You can`t tell properly from movies of course, but they look like they have invisible rubber rings around them. It has an arcadey look to it, with "powerup bonuses", lots of pink and green bits, and overall pretty graphics (like Star Wars Bombad Racing!!), and not at all like any Wipeout, even Fusion. Having said that its not meant to be Wipeout and its probably fun to play.

To get back on topic, PS2 has Wipeout Fusion, SSX Tricky (X-Box version is inferior), GTA3, Pro Evolution Soccer, Frequency (that`s just my collection) and many many more classic games. Until you`ve got them all I`d say its better to spend your cash on software than hardware, though this depends on how much cash you`ve got!!

[zargz]

x box has dead or alive 3 pretty good I have to admit thou I just played for a 20 min ..
my kid bro howhever was playing it for a week or so and I've seen alot
the original (1) was real crap this one's got a fine system with the buttons - about 80 moves each character ..
I'm dissapointed with fusion, my friend bought it (after alot of lobbying from me )
and we've completed 70% but as many other guys here we just played FFX last time I was to see him ..
so I'm still ok with wo3se!! ans psx I still didnt complete soul reaver and punch the monkey!! anybody heard of that game?? :wink:

[Nick Burcombe]

Is there any chance of a PS2 version, Nick, or are you totally submerged in Micro$oft's back pocket? :-?

Not for the foreseeable future. We're only a team of 9 people so we concentrate on one platform at a time.

Nick

[Wiseman]

So Microsoft is just funding the advertisement/production side of it then, Nick?

I thought they had scooped up the whole project (funding everything) so they would be the only ones to ever have it.

Still though, you'd have to wonder what would have to be dumped in order to be able to make a PS2 version, after seeing screenshots like these(bump-mapping looks spetacular, BTW ):

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images..._screen025.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images..._screen012.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images..._screen001.jpg


My only beef with it is that the HUD looks a bit, erm, cramped, to me. I think it has more to do with that they're just so far towads the middle of the screen. I know you need to move them in a little, so people with wacked up displays don't get half thier info chopped off, but I just think that's a little *too* much.

I like my HUD's where info is easy to see, but they don't distract me when I'm busy doing my main goal, whatever it may be.


Besides that, from what I've seen so far, it looks great. Whenever it comes out, I'll definitely rent it (and buy it if I like/love it enough). One things for sure, I'm still hungry for some AG racing, and Wipeout Fusion definitely cut me a few courses (excuse the pun) short.

[Wiseman]

Oh wait, I should have said something on topic, bad me! :

Anyway, I have an X-Box (and a GameCube, and a PS2, and a GBA :wink, so I like to think I'm pretty "unbiased" when it comes to the whole scope of things.

If you don't need to sell your PS2 in order for you to be able to afford an X-Box, then I'd say go for it. But if you plan on trading in your PS2 for one, I'd say stick with the PS2 for the time being.

The X-Box has a few great games, and more are coming, but I'm still on the "if you can only afford one system, and you want the greatest vareity available, then go with the PS2" stance.

If you like Nintendo, go for Nintendo, if you want variety, go for a PS2, if you want a second system, go for an X-Box. That's my 2 cents in a nutshell.

[AmishRobot]

Wiseman earns a gold star, and validates his name!

[Lance]

.
while we're offtopic, i pretty much ignore the HUD in racing games. i pay attention to the power bar at the start of WO3, just for getting the turbostart. but otherwise, no. i like to have a vocal announcement of how many laps are left in the race, and one for 'shield energy low'. i don't need any performance info till after the race is over; you can generally tell how well you're doing just by 'feel'. i would prefer to have the view as unobscured as possible. vocal announcements of weapons acquired by me or weapons aimed at me, preferably in a different voice for each of those, would be good.
.

[JABBERJAW]

nick, lunar had asked about how much you slow down when scraping the walls. if you remember I had suggested adding small amounts of turbo for not hitting. Was this incorportated(I had also sent it to you by email). Or is it faster to not scrape? Wipeout fusion was ruined for me because it was faster to just scrape the wall. September 12th now? wise choice. I'm not too sure about many people picking up the game on the 11th in the states. Hey, is it coming out in the US and Europe at the same time? And before I ramble on too long ?LINK MODE!! Hopefully this can just be an extra for multiplayer.

[Nick Burcombe]

Zoolander - we tried this but eventually you get so good at not hitting walls the amount of turbo you "could" gain was making it far too easy and it took the challenge out of it. We then thought about just putting it in the TT, but then the records and what they meant against each other went a bit out the window - something usability feedback came back with. Wall scraping is not severe and infact I think a little bit generous. It's quicker to get a good line but (and this is something WO1 suffered from) you generally get away with scrapes at the higher speeds.

Wiseman - Wise words indeed. RE: Console flavours.

Wiseman - RE: HUD. HUD design is one of those tasks that goes on and on and on when you're making a game. Chris (prog) and Lee (artist) and the rest of us have put a lot of time into trying to get the best balance between keeping the player informed of EVERYTHING and keeping that information out of the way. Not an easy task. The balance struck, I believe is about right. At the higher speed it all seems to just melt away from your vision and it's actually very comfortable. Bear in mind that those screenshots are a little misleading - the HUD elements would appear to sit too far from the edges of the screen on those shots, but this is for a very good reason. All TV's are slightly different in alignment and where the screen center will be. The area outside of the HUD is called the SAFE AREA and caters for the absolute worst case scenario for a really badly configured TV. Most of this is not seen at all on normal, well manufactuered TV, but we have to render it just in case. When grabbing a screen shot from the XBOX you get everything that is rendered, not just what in on-screen. The tolerances for 4:3 PAL/NTSC regular broadcast has to be about 80% (which is very poor - up to 20% differences between televisions)!!!! HDTV as a standard has a tolerance around 95% which mean we will be able to give the player even more screen because we know that every TV will only be about 5% different.

Wiseman - RE: Funding. Microsoft are the Publisher for our game. We work "1st party" for Microsoft at the moment. They pay us to make it then they try to sell enough copies to recoup that money and make a profit. The publishing of a game includes (although other companies may do thing slightly differently) - Translation, Documentation, Website, Marketing, Advertising, Testing, Duplication, Distribution and probably a bunch of stuff I can't think of.

Hope this answers all your questions.

Nick B

[Lance]

.
Nick: would it be difficult to include an option to simply turn the HUD off?
.

[Nick Burcombe]

We have that already - Mini map off, HUD off or Hud On.

N