Xbox 360 For The Win?
MS machine all set for Xmas. XNA Game Studio now available for download too.
Yesterday we mentioned the increasing unease of developers and manufacturers about what seems on the outside to be a troubled launch for Sony's PS3. Judging by playable demos at Leipzig and the forthcoming press conference, we'd say that Nintendo is pretty confident it'll get its Wii on target and be ready for Christmas.
With one holiday season already under its belt, the Xbox 360 is bound to be freely available, unlike last year when it was cursed with 'most-wanted' toy syndrome. In fact, talking to Eurogamer, European Xbox boss Chris Lewis has stuck his neck right out, promising there will be no shortages anywhere in the region this year.
So established has the Xbox 360 become, that as we reported earlier this month, MS can concentrate on philanthropic exercises like educating the masses in game design. A Beta version of software suite XNA Game Studio Express is now available for download from Microsoft. It's only focused on making Windows games at the moment - you'll have to wait longer for an X360 version, and pay a yearly $99 subscription to port it to your console and share it.
So Microsoft is taking console gaming in new directions, installing a legitimised homebrew community. And Nintendo has a new angle too, with the intriguingly novel Wii controller. It's getting harder to see what the PS3 is really for. Kuturagi's supercomputer line is sounding hollow amidst the rumours of a desperate Sony rushing to hit deadlines. Is Sony heading for disaster? Or will the third PlayStation become the king of the generation for a third time running? Let's all speculate in the forum!
With one holiday season already under its belt, the Xbox 360 is bound to be freely available, unlike last year when it was cursed with 'most-wanted' toy syndrome. In fact, talking to Eurogamer, European Xbox boss Chris Lewis has stuck his neck right out, promising there will be no shortages anywhere in the region this year.
So established has the Xbox 360 become, that as we reported earlier this month, MS can concentrate on philanthropic exercises like educating the masses in game design. A Beta version of software suite XNA Game Studio Express is now available for download from Microsoft. It's only focused on making Windows games at the moment - you'll have to wait longer for an X360 version, and pay a yearly $99 subscription to port it to your console and share it.
So Microsoft is taking console gaming in new directions, installing a legitimised homebrew community. And Nintendo has a new angle too, with the intriguingly novel Wii controller. It's getting harder to see what the PS3 is really for. Kuturagi's supercomputer line is sounding hollow amidst the rumours of a desperate Sony rushing to hit deadlines. Is Sony heading for disaster? Or will the third PlayStation become the king of the generation for a third time running? Let's all speculate in the forum!
Companies:
Microsoft
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Comments
majin dboy 31 Aug 2006 19:24
1/3
picked up a 360,feel really dirty but just had to play oblivion,360 and Wii will offer the most comprahensive gaming experience.
vault 13 1 Sep 2006 05:37
2/3
majin dboy wrote:
picked up a 360,feel really dirty but just had to play oblivion,360 and Wii will offer the most comprahensive gaming experience.
Oh so you've played the PS3 and Wii then have you? Because I haven't and if you haven't, wild speculation does nothing but to feed the hearts and minds of fanboys.
DoctorDee 1 Sep 2006 13:02
3/3
vault 13 wrote:
Oh so you've played the PS3 and Wii then have you?
I have. And to be honest - it's going to be an interesting generation. All three platforms have their good points.
Wii is most fun. By a mile.
Xbox has some good games - is well established and is reasonably priced. The XNA studio thing is incredibly laudible.
PS3 is the most powerful
But PS3 is its on first generation games when 360 is on second. The development libraries aren't finalised yet -and it's going to be a bit of a scrabble to get a good (even decent) launch line-up out there. PS3 will be rare this Christmas, and there won't be a large selection of games. And we all expect that it'll be expensive - though remember all the speculation about PSP being very expensive - and it turned out not to be too highly priced.
So who knows... it's way too early to tell - but Sony certainly isn't going to have thnigs as easy as they did last time...