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X-3:
Launch is served
This
is a great time to be a home console videogamer. With the successful
releases of both the Xbox and GameCube, we now have three, count 'em,
three great
systems to choose from to fill our gaming desires. While Metal Gear
Solid 2 helped stabilize PS2 defections and the GameCube was predictably
popular with the
under-17 gaming youngsters, the Xbox more than held its own with what
should be considered an extremely auspicious launch. Make no mistake
about it, Microsoft
has the longest road to travel if it wishes to reach the top of the home
console mountain ahead of Sony and Nintendo. But if they continue
forward as they have
begun, they just may be a worthy adversary and serious player in the
lucrative, billion-dollar console market.
When assessing how well the Xbox has done so far since its launch three
weeks ago, consider what both Sony and Nintendo have going in their
favor. The PSOne and PS2 control 70% of the console market. It has a
large, established library of titles. And Sony chose a great strategic
time to release what is considered one of the PS2's greatest games to
date, MGS2.
What Nintendo has is an established brandname and a stranglehold on the
young gaming public with the "Pokemon" factor. The GameCube
appeals to all those
grade-school kids still trading Pokemon cards during recess. Microsoft
also took a huge risk placing their system into the retail marketplace
at a $300 dollar price
tag. Especially when the GameCube only cost $200 bucks in these tough
economic times. Moms and dads who don't know the difference between a
GameCube and a Rubik's Cube will be making a decision on what videogame
system to get little Johnny for under the Christmas tree based on the
GameCube's lower cost or their young child's Pokemonically-influenced
demand, not the quality of the games or the console. Of course, it helps
to have the systems available. Going into the second week of its
release, there weren't GameCubes available at ANY store in my vicinity.
Nintendo promises to churn out 100,000 - 200,000 units a week onto
retail shelves through the entire holiday season (the same amount the
Xbox is pledging to supply, which actually HAD units in stores, albeit
in small numbers when I was out in the mall).
Nintendo is claiming a 2-1 selling ratio of GameCubes to Xboxes. Its
hard to tell if that is indeed a true assessment of the total systems
sold so far, because Microsoft has been secretively quiet on the
subject. But from the early buzz, the Xbox has placed itself solidly and
more importantly, reputably into the older, 19-34 demographic it needs
to compete in with Sony for domination of the marketplace. The early
indication based on the reviews floating around in magazines and the
'net, is that the Xbox launch titles, which will fuel any chance
Microsoft has to rocket into the Sony stratosphere, are really a solid
bunch of games. That isn't the same reaction that the PS2 received. The
PS2 launch last year was considered disappointing because of the lack of
system-selling titles available although it was tremendously fortuitous
to Sony's financial bottom-line. Quite frankly, the gaming public was
expecting some much better opening day titles. Sony has since then given
gamers a lot of great games.
If we're keeping score on such things, the Xbox comes out ahead of the
PS2 on the quality of their respective launch games. Halo is truly an
awesome title. I haven't
seen a home console First-Person Shooter as addicting since Perfect Dark
for the N64. Isn't it great when a game actually lives up to the
pre-release hype? Halo is
easily one of the top two titles of the year (MGS2 vs. Halo: the debate
will rage on in forums everywhere!). Every time since November 15 I walk
into an Electronics
Boutique, GameStop or Toys R' Us, the crowds are literally gathered
(usually three or four at a time) waiting to engage in a Halo battle on
the playable Xbox kiosks running it. Halo is actually the one title that
could convince some from the massive Sony Nation to switch allegiances.
Throw in Project Gotham Racing, Dead or Alive 3, and NFL Fever, and
there hasn't been a better overall assortment of launch titles released
with any system before.
Seeing that the Christmas shopping season that will give us a better
indication of who REALLY had the better launch has just begun, let's
wait before claiming a better Xbox performance than it already appears.
But if Microsoft keeps pace with the great foundation it has built for
itself, we could be looking back five years from now, reflecting on the
momentous kick-start of a home console success story.
Lee Cieniawa
Next month: All I wanted for X-mas
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