Getting To Market First Helped MS Beat Sony This Generation
Each console generation brings with it fierce competition between the consoles/companies. While it’s undisputable that Nintendo did what was necessary this generation to securely capture the casual gaming market (as Wii sales clearly indicate), the battle for the attention of the more hardcore gaming crowd was, again, between Microsoft and Sony.
Could it be that simply making it to market first is the reason Microsoft is faring better than Sony this console generation? It very well could be - and if that’s the case, it’s all due to some smart business decisions by Microsoft, and a bit of embarrassing oversight by Sony.
In their new book, “The Race For A New Game Machine,” David Shippy and Mickie Philips (two people direclty involved in the development of the Cell processor chip), shed some light on the intense battle to bring the Xbox 360 and the PS3 to market.
From a Wall Street Journal article on the book:
All three of the original partners had agreed that IBM would eventually sell the Cell to other clients. But it does not seem to have occurred to Sony that IBM would sell key parts of the Cell before it was complete and to Sony’s primary videogame-console competitor.The result was that Sony’s R&D money was spent creating a component for Microsoft to use against it.
Some might see this as IBM being deceitful but most of us are well aware that, in business, money is the bottom line - and Microsoft had made quite a generous offer to IBM for the technology.
From the book’s prologue:
Akrout told me that over a billion dollars (from Microsoft) was involved, spanning the entire spectrum from development to chip manufacturing.
In addition, as pointed out above, Sony neglected to make sure their agreement to not sell the cell technology until later covered individual components of the chip instead of only the completed processor. So IBM was on firm legal ground.
Both chips, the Sony version and the MS version, were on the same design timeline for IBM, but one key decision made my Microsoft and not by Sony is a big part of what allowed Microsoft to beat Sony to market.
Both designs were delivered on time to IBM’s manufacturing division, but there was a problem with the first chip run. Microsoft had had the foresight to order backup manufacturing capacity from a third party. Sony did not and had to wait another six weeks to get their first chips.
So Microsoft actually got the chip that Sony helped design before Sony did. In the end, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 hit its target launch in November 2005, becoming its own success. Because of various delays, the Playstation 3 was pushed back a full year.
Most of the other delays the PS3 suffered in getting to market were related to manufacturing difficulties and shortages for components of the blu-ray drive (a big risk by Sony at the time, since the format war had not yet been decided). However, the delay in getting the manufactured chips meant a delay in Sony getting development kits to the game developers. This may not seem like a big deal, but it had a major impact on the first few batches of PS3 game titles to hit the market.
The early, non-exclusive titles that appeared on the PS3 all suffered from one unfortunate criticism: they all looked worse than their Xbox 360 counterparts.
PlayStation loyalists worldwide didn’t understand. How could this be? Sony had been touting the PS3 as a far more powerful system (part of their justification for the PS3’s initial price tag of $499/$599), yet the games were looking better and sharper on the Xbox 360. What was going on here?
Let’s take a moment to think back a generation. Technologically, it was quite clear last generation that the Xbox was superior to the PlayStation 2. However, for the first year or more of the Xbox’s life cycle, every non-exclusive title that came out looked better on the technologically inferior PlayStation 2.
The reason has to do with typical game development practices. Designing a game concurrently for two different platforms from scratch is a lot of work, and far more clostly than developing for a single platform and then ‘porting’ to others.
This is what happened last gen. Since the PlayStation 2 came out first, it was the development platform of choice for the majority of game developers. A game would be developed for the PS2 and then simply ported to the Xbox without any enhancements to take advantage of the Xbox’s more powerful processor and additional memory.
This generation, the opposite occurred. Since the Xbox 360 arrived first (and Microsoft provided excellent developer tools to game designers), the Xbox 360 became the development platform of choice for most game developers. This meant that, for the first year or more of the PS3’s life cycle, it’s games were developed on the Xbox 360 and then simply ported to the PS3.
Since the Xbox 360 and the PS3 use such similar technology, however, even if the developers had spent the extra time and money to develop those early titles for the PS3 seperately, from scratch, the PS3 versions wouldn’t have looked any better than their Xbox 360 counterparts - just as good perhaps but not better.
The only percieved advantage the PlayStation 3 has over the Xbox 360 is the inclusion of a blu-ray drive. Once blu-ray won the format war against HD-DVD, this became an ever greater advantage for PS3 owners. However, deciding to include the blu-ray drive was a major reason for the delays in bringing the PS3 to market, and gave it an initial price tag that put off a lot of gamers (many of which felt that Sony was ‘using’ them to further blu-ray’s position in the movie format war).
Is the PS3 a good gaming machine? Yes - witout question. However, it appears Sony may have helped themselves lose the battle this console generation due to some unfortunate business decisions along the way. The delays those decisions caused are the main reason Sony is struggling this generation. If not for the stellar sales of the Wii to the casual gaming crowd, Microsoft would surely have taken the crown this generation.
Game on!
No commentsBack From Holiday Break
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been a bit slack on posting this past month. Well, it’s been a busy holiday season for me, but now that the horrible year of 2008 is behind us, we can all focus on making 2009 the best year ever.
Watch for more gaming news, more articles, and my own personal progress towards getting my Microsoft certification and hopefully heading my career in a new direction.
Keep working. Keep playing. And, of course, game on!
2 commentsBatman: Arkham Assylum Teaser Trailer
To compliment the Dark Knight Batman film series, here is the trailer for the upcoming game, Batman: Arkhma Assulym, which will be out for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC next June. Enjoy!
Game on!
1 commentArcade 360 ‘Quietly’ Upgraded to Accomodate NXE
When NXE first hit, Microsoft realized the shortcomings of the 360 Arcade model and offered owners an inexpensive way to upgrade (memory card or 20GB HDD at a discount).
What about new owners, though? Will they need to upgrade instantly, or give up a good chunk of their one & only memory unit to accomodate the NXE upgrade? Aparently not. Microsoft has ‘quietly’ updated the internals of the 360 Arcade model to include 256MB of internal memory storage space. This will easily accomodate the NXE update.
As a result of this upgrade, the 360 Arcade model will no longer come with an external memory unit. However, you’ll still have a bit of space on the internal 256MB to store a few profiles and game saves even with NXE on board.
Game on!
No commentsBethesda Softworks Announces Creation Kit and First Downloadable Content for Fallout 3
Editor to be Available in December; Downloadable Content coming for January, February, and March
Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, today announced plans to make both its editor and downloadable content available for its award-winning game, Fallout® 3 in the coming weeks. The official editor for Fallout 3, called the G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit), will be available for free download in December and will allow Games for Windows® users to create and add their own content to the game. In addition, the first official downloadable content, Operation: Anchorage, will be available exclusively for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows® in January, and more downloadable content coming in February and March.
“We’ve always seen the original world of Fallout 3 as a foundation for even more content. Some created by us, and a lot more created by users,” said Todd Howard, game director for Fallout 3. “It’s fun to create your own character, but it can be equally fun to create your own adventures. We can’t wait to see what the community does with the G.E.C.K.”
The release of the G.E.C.K. provides the community with tools that will allow players to expand the game any way they wish. Users can create, modify, and edit any data for use with Fallout 3, from building landscapes, towns, and locations to writing dialogue, creating characters, weapons, creatures, and more.
Three downloadable content packs will be coming to Xbox 360 and Games for Windows Live starting in January that will add new quests, items, and content to Fallout 3.
- Operation: Anchorage. Enter a military simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe – the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. An action-packed battle scheduled for release in January.
- The Pitt. Journey to the industrial raider town called The Pitt, located in the remains of Pittsburgh. Choose your side. Scheduled for release in February.
- Broken Steel. Join the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave remnants once and for all. Continues the adventure past the main quest. Scheduled for release in March.
Released on October 28 in North America and in Europe October 30, Fallout 3 has been hailed as one of the most anticipated games of 2008, and received a 10 out of 10 review score from Official Xbox Magazine, a result then repeated around the world with perfect scores by some of the industry’s most influential and respected critics including: Gamespy, GamePro, UGO, the Associated Press, MSN, The Washington Post, Guardian, FHM, G4-TV, The Toronto Star, and Eurogamer. MSNBC’s review offered the observation that it viewed “Fallout as a no-brainer for game of the year.” The Daily Star in the UK echoed that conclusion, saying “You can hold all bets on game of the year – I think we have a winner.”
Fallout 3 features one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, you can create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of Washington, D.C. however you choose. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, and other dangers of the Wasteland.
Original source available here.
No commentsAll Netflix ‘Watch It Now’ Content From Sony Blocked For 360 Users
Sony is being a petty little bitch. You read that right.
As you know NXE launched yesterday. Just one day earlier, all movies distributed by Columbia Pictures (which is owned by Sony) were removed form the Netflix ‘Watch it Now’ queue - but only for Xbox 360 users (note - these movies may still be streamed to any PC - note the column on the right: LINK).
Netflix claims it’s a licensing issue for streaming to ‘partner devices’, but it seems quite conspicuous that only titles tied to Sony are affected - and affected only for streaming to the Xbox 360.
Perhaps it’s becuase Sony has been promising PS3 users ‘Home’ since early 2007, while MS’ NXE for Xbox 360 was announced only this year & is now here.
Bitter much, Sony? Pathetic.
Game on!
No commentsBungie Says Don’t Install Halo 3 To The HDD
As you know, the NXE now allows us to install Xbox 360 titles to our hard drive. This is done to make the 360 quieter (no constantly spinning drive) and to improve load times (things load faster from a HDD than from a DVD).
Well, Bungie came out with info just yesterday, advising 360 users to not install Halo 3 to the HDD. Unlike with other titles, installing Halo 3 on you 360 can actually decrease performance & increase load times.
The reasons for this are somewhat complicated, but here’s an excerpt from bungie.net:
”When Halo 3 runs, if a HDD is present, we copy maps from the DVD to the utility partition (on the HDD). Think of it as an on demand install of Halo 3 to some scratch space on the HDD. Halo 3 doesn’t actually know where it’s running from, so it always assumes it’s running from a DVD. This is an unfortunate consequence of new features (namely, install to HDD) being added to the Xbox 360 after Halo 3 shipped. And as a result, it means that even if Halo 3 is already installed to the HDD, it will still copy maps to the utility partition.”
For the complete explanation, you can look HERE.
We’re forced to wonder now if any other games might suffer from this same issue. Hopefully MS will do a bit of research on this issue and let us all know.
Game on!
No commentsNXE Is Here
Frag Monger’s Avatar
The New Xbox Experience has arrived! For the most part, the reviews have been positive. There are, however, a few annoying issues that many users don’t seem to like:
-You start off at the ‘Spotlight’ area, rather than in ‘My Xbox’ and there is no option to change this. Many users are annoyed with this. While I don’t mind too much, I must agree that an option to change your startup location would be a good idea.
-Old themes and even custom background pictures are ‘cut off’ by a gray ‘background’ that covers half the screen. I don’t like this. Why have a gray background cover half (or more) of your desktop wallpaper? I’ve already seen a few of the ‘Premium’ theme packs - and they have backgrounds that completely fill the screen. Is MS punishing those of us who chose not to purchase any themes by cutting off our custom background photos?
You also see only one blade background from previously purchased themes on the new NXE. This could really annoy a lot of people who paid good money for those themes (which are now ‘gimped’ by the NXE).
-Avatars. This one I don’t really get. Many users are coplaining about having to use an avatar (avatar creation is mandatory upon starting the NXE). I really don’t see the big deal. Take a minute to create one and then you’ll almost never have to see it again (currently it only shows on the dash at the ‘My Xbox’ area). You can even still use your old gamerpics on your gamercard (you do not have to make your 3D avatar your new gamercard pic).
I still need to mess around with the features more and try out the Netflix streaming, etc. etc. So look for a full NXE review ASAP right here on 360 Rant Rave.
Game on!
No commentsDead Space Premium Upgrade Packs
Electronic Arts Inc. announced today that the critically acclaimed Dead Space(tm) will be releasing premium upgrade packs* to provide the game hero, Isaac Clarke, an everyday systems engineer, with the ultimate Necromorph-dismembering equipment in his fight for survival aboard the space-traveling USG Ishimura. Players can experience the glory of strategic dismemberment November 13 on Xbox LIVE(r) Marketplace worldwide and the
PLAYSTATION(r)Store** in Europe. These premium upgrade packs will be available on the PLAYSTATION Store worldwide November 20.
Winner of over 23 critic awards and boasting a score of 89 on Metacritic.com, Dead Space delivers the ultimate in psychological thrills and gruesome action. It is a bold and often-bloody sci-fi survival horror game set 500 years in the future. The innovative combat in the game calls for intense gore and character dismemberment that can be experienced even further with these premium upgrade packs.
The complete list of upgrade packs include:
* Astronaut Pack: Download the Astronaut Suit and Weapon Skin Pack,
featuring an amazing Astronaut Suit and new skins for the Plasma Cutter, Pulse Rifle, and Ripper! * $3.00 / 240 MS points
* Big Gun Pack: Download the Steam Punk Force Gun, the ultimate in
Necromorph-killing destruction. * $1.00 / 80 MS points
* Heavy Damage Pack: Download the Heavy Damage Weapon pack featuring a cool new look and massive firepower for the Plasma Cutter, Contact Beam, Pulse Rifle, and Ripper. * $3.00 / 240 MS points
* Hot Rod Pack: Download the Hot Rod Weapon Skin Pack, featuring awesome flame graphics for the Flamethrower and Pulse Rifle. * $1.00 / 80 MS points
* Military Pack: Download the Military Weapon Pack for a new look and
enhanced power for all 7 Dead Space weapons. * $4.00 / 320 MS points
* Pedestrian Pack: Download the Pedestrian Weapon Skin Pack, featuring a
fresh new look for the Contact Beam, Plasma Cutter, and Ripper. * $1.50 / 120 MS points
* Scorpion Pack: Download the Scorpion Pack featuring an upgraded Level 5
Suit and powered up Plasma Cutter, Line Gun, and Force Gun, all decorated in an awesome red Scorpion Skin. * $4.00 / 320 MS points
* Scorpion Weapon Pack: Download the Scorpion Weapon Pack featuring a faster death-dealing Plasma Cutter, Line Gun, and Force Gun in awesome red skins. * $2.25 / 180 MS points
* Speed Kills Pack: Download the Speed Kills Weapon Pack! Includes
faster-firing Force Gun, Line Gun, and Plasma Cutter. * $2.25 / 180 MS points
* Tank Pack: Download the Tank Pack featuring an upgraded Level 5 Suit and powered up Flamethrower, Force Gun, and Line Gun, all covered in Unitology script. * $4.00 / 320 MS points
Xbox 360(r)-Exclusive Packs:
* Elite Weapon Skin Pack: Download the exclusive Elite Weapon Skin Pack now, available only for the Xbox 360(r) video game and entertainment system! Includes weapon skins in Xbox 360 colors for the Line Gun, Plasma Cutter, and Pulse Rifle. * 120 MS points
* Elite Pack: Download the exclusive Elite Suit and Weapon Skin Pack now,
available only for the Xbox 360! Includes an upgraded Level 5 suit, and weapon skins for the Line Gun, Plasma Cutter, and Pulse Rifle in Xbox 360 colors. * 240 MS points
So gear up and get what you need to wipe out the Necros.
Game on!
No commentsQuantum of Solace Review
Introduction:
The name’s Bond, James Bond. Treyarch and Activision try to breathe new life into an old genre with the latest installment in the Bond franchise. The game begins with the end of Casino Royale and moves forward a bit before going all the way back to the beginning of Casino Royale. Then it plays through the more action packed parts of that movie with a final level back in the Quantum of Solace story line. It’s a very interesting way to remove as many spoilers as possible.
Gameplay:
Girls, gadgets and guns; that is what James Bond is famous for and boy are there a lot of them in this game. The gameplay is smooth and fun if not challenging. It’s an interesting hybrid between a first-person shooter and third-person action game with a cover system tossed in. I, for one, typically do not like cover systems. I do not need a system to help me hide behind a rock. I do that well enough on my own. That said, this cover system is really well done.
The AI seemed a bit confused. I had heard that this game was easy from several people so I started playing it on 007 mode, which is the hardest mode available. I cleared the first level no problem but upon making it into the second level I was stuck - not because the AI was using advanced tactics on me but because their idea of difficulty was lowering your life and/or upping their damage. So, frustrated, I moved it down to normal and played through the game with little to no problem. On the two levels I had played at the higher difficulty I noticed no difference in AI tactics; just the difference in damage and life. This was disappointing.
There were several times that I actually got lost in the single player, but that is largely due to the fact that I was not paying enough attention to one thing or another. The game has several objects that explode and cause some effect on the enemies/environment near them. Some things explode into flame and others into gases that just choke or stun them. This can lead to some interesting situations and resolutions to those situations.
Extras:
Multiplayer: that’s what we all remember from Goldeneye64 and its what we all expect from any respectable shooter on the market today. Quantum of Solace does not quite live up to the standards of the other top shooters out at this time. The one thing that was favorable to the online experience was that, instead of unlocking new weapons and attachments from leveling up, you gain credits after each game and you purchase specific weapons, attachments and gadgets with them. Each item has a specific price, and after one or two games you will begin to notice their effect.
That brings me to another point about the game - the gadgets. Sadly, they are nothing new. It’s basically Call of Duty 4’s perks rehashed so that they fit better with the mechanics in place. However, they do allow for flexible design of your kits.
Conclusion:
The game is enjoyable but when a company releases a game that has such steep competition, even from one of their own games, they should make more of an effort. This is the problem with Quantum of Solace; they have another game coming out later this month that would be in direct competition with this title. So I feel that this game was made inferior compared to what it could have been had the developer not been creating competition for their own game. All in all it is a solid rental with four or five hours of story mode and a below average multiplayer experience.
Score: 6
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