The first time you saw XBOX was coming out, did you think it was a joke?

[Golgo13]

I really thought it was some kind of prank the EGM magazine was playing when I first read about it.  Im not saying this to be funny because I really did not believe it was a real system. 

For 3 reasons.

It was Shaped like a Box

It had the word "Box" in the title, and at the time I thought that was such a ridiculous idea it couldn't be true.

The controller looked absolutely insane.


Am I alone in this?  Please share your first impressions

[Kitsunexus]

Yeah, but Microsoft was why I thought it was a joke.



And let's face it, the first XBox WAS a joke, albeit not a very funny one.

[nat]

I'm still in disbelief that anyone actually bought it up and that it somehow became popular. Ugh.

[Golgo13]

Never under estimate Johnny American Meathead and Joe SiX pack with a credit card.

[Golgo13]

"Hey guys, did you play the new Madden"

[Seldane]

I definitely thought it was a joke, and I was honestly SHOCKED when a friend of mine actually bought one. I just couldn't take him seriously for a rather long while after that.

I was also pissed to see that Micro-penis-soft bought Bungie and fucking dropped the Mac/PC release of Halo and ported it to the X-tra large box instead. At least they ported it BACK to PC again later... too bad they went that route though, as it probably would've been a lot better graphically if they never had ported it to the Xbox.

[Kitsunexus]

Halo would have been a better third person game than a FPS.

[Seldane]

Massive disagreement.

[Kitsunexus]

Anybody remember that shit Azurik game the XBOX launched with? Anybody remember how the press practically orgasmed over Munch's Odyssey?

More importantly, anybody remember the "tech demo" ?

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I didn't think that it was a prank for three reasons.

1)  It looked like a box, but the PS2 was shaped like a rectangular box.  The PS3 is a 12% bigger curvy box.  So what?
2)  I got over the 'PlayStation' name so 'box' didn't really phase me.  Of course, I'm preferential towards boxes anyway.
3)  The controller wasn't that bad, and PS2 controllers left a lot to be desired too.  The Xbox surely didn't compete with the craptasticness of the CD-I or Jaguar controllers.

The Xbox wasn't too bad for a first stab at a game console, and the online support easily surpassed any other offerings.

Halo would have been a better third person game than a FPS.

Absolutely stunning comment.  You're right, Halo was shit, and the millions of sales were all due to dumb US NASCAR fans who didn't know any better.

[Kitsunexus]

Absolutely stunning comment.  You're right, Halo was shit, and the millions of sales were all due to dumb US NASCAR fans who didn't know any better.

You say this in jest of course, but compare a gathering of NASCAR fans to a gathering of Halo fans.

Halo is the NASCAR of the gaming industry, and I'm not afraid to say that.

I'm an Unreal Tournament fan until I die.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

It was what I like to call 'sarcasm'.  The NASCAR thing was in response Golgo13's assessment of Xbox owners.

[Kitsunexus]

I think the best thing about the XBOX was all the jokes and Photoshops people made about it's size and weight. It truly was the "ugly fat chick" of the console wars. 

[Golgo13]

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=xbox_suckit  I think he does a pretty solid analysis of this game system.

[Kitsunexus]

ROFL! Too bad I'm anti-conformist, and hate him.

[Turbo D]

ya, haha, I always hated the xbox when it first came out. But over the years I've come to tolerate its ugly ass  Halo ain't so bad when ur playing online. I have the pc version tho.

[Kitsunexus]

But as has been mentioned before, while faithful to the original, the PC port was a near-complete rewrite of the engine providing better controls and graphics. Of course it's better.

[offsidewing]

I really thought it was some kind of prank the EGM magazine was playing when I first read about it.  Im not saying this to be funny because I really did not believe it was a real system. 

For 3 reasons.

It was Shaped like a Box

It had the word "Box" in the title, and at the time I thought that was such a ridiculous idea it couldn't be true.

The controller looked absolutely insane.


Am I alone in this?  Please share your first impressions

It, like all other systems, are complete shit because they can not play games from the greatest console ever made:  The Turbo Grafx 16 Super System!!

[Kitsunexus]

So technically, you fucked up because you said "all other systems" and yet the Wii plays TG-16.

OH YEAH, WHO'S YOUR DADDY? WII YOUR DADDY! LICK YO WII DADDY!

[Hobo Xiphas]

It was what I like to call 'sarcasm'.  The NASCAR thing was in response Golgo13's assessment of Xbox owners.

Don't worry, I've got your back, Necromancer.

Bashing the Xbox just because it is made by Americans is retarded.  The original Xbox is worth playing for the games that Sega released for it alone.

[Turbo D]

OutRun? That game is bad ass.

[Joe Redifer]

I didn't care about the Xbox when it came out.  I was too busy playing Super Monkey Ball, which is better than any other Gamecube, Xbox or PS2 game.  Eventually after a few worthy games came out, I got an Xbox.  It was pretty cool.  It had 5.1 sound in games, which was a first anywhere, and it was used to fantastic effect in a lot of games.  Pro Logic 2 is for weak pussies.  Pro Logic 2 is for people who enjoy drinking warmed diarrhea.  It had a few games in actual HDTV resolutions, and that also kicked ass.  But what really sets the Xbox apart is the ease in which it is hacked.  You can put emus for most systems on it (including the TG-16), but the emulators pretty much suck ass because the GUI the losers made for them are the worst ever.  But Xbox Media Center is extremely awesome.  Get realtime weather updates for your area.  Get news.  THAT FUCKING ROCKS!  People think that the Wii invented weather and news.  Nope.  The Wii can lick the corn out of my a-hole.  Oh, and you can stream just about any kind of media you can think of from your PC and watch it in HD or listen to it or whatever.  No mod chip required.

[Keranu]

Mono sound blastin' outta Odyssey II is the way to go.

[OldRover]

I didn't think it was a joke but I did know that it wasn't going to be popular in Japan...too many Sony and Nintendo fanboys. I also figured that in the US, people would buy it up because it would likely have a lot of braindead FPS games. Turns out I was right on both.

[offsidewing]

EMUs and Virtual Console are for people who like Masturbating versus the real thing (or have no other choice but jurggen off).

If I can't put Dungeon Explorer 2 in it and play it with out downloading something, it SUCKS!!

Actually, I'm just bleeding all things TG-16 right now.  I think all game systems are great and have great game for those who are brave enough to be open minded.  For those who are bored, there are hardware deficiencies in all systems that can be pointed out.  Of course, those who like to point out the shortcoming in things feel villified by doing so...

Although, I must say, when the XBOX was announced, the modern Blind Fanboy-ism that we know today was born.  It is a strange mixture of Star Wars Fan-boyism and Kevin Smith Anti-Fan-boyism. 

If it's gaming I like it, and I don't discount a system or game because of it's specs or what system it's on.  Crap is Crap no matter what system its pushed through.

Sadly and most hippocratically, I let emotion and a connection to my youth rank the Turbo as the best system ever made.

[Golgo13]

You know, I guess I just have a bias towards trusting the Japanese with games rather than the Americans.  My first system was an Atari 2600 II and it was ok but I compared it to the NES at that time , and then later I saw atari release the "Jaguar". My patriotism for american game developers was at an all time low.  Im not one of these "Otaku" people that collects everything japanese and tries to speak Japanese and do everything Japanese while at the same time not knowing jack shit about my own ancestral culture.   I just think American games in general suck, granted there are exceptions, but you get what I mean.


I thought about reasons why this is, my theory is this:

I have a suspicion that the average american game developement worker does not work as hard as the average Japanese one.   I could be wrong, but the impression I get is that he more than likely sits in a dirty office from 9 to 5 with crumpled up arby's wrappers around him and extra large soda cups,  he is at least 40lbs overweight and is pre-occupied with all kinds of stupid shit.

Now from what Ive heard about the Japanese, is that they stay up all night on crank, they are smoking cigarettes in the game development office and working out every last detail of a game, they aren't intimidated by their wives or girlfriends and ignore any complaints about them not coming home and working too late (assuming they complain at all), because she knows that if the game hits big and she leaves, there will be some other 19 year old japanese girl to take her place and get the spoils.  When the crank wears off, they often get a cot and sleep right in the office so they don't even have to go home.


I could be wrong, but hey, its just a theory.

[Seldane]

The Japanese can make good platformers, shooters and adventure games. They really need to leave racing, fps and (to a large extent) rpg games to the outside world though. All other genres are obsolete and can be dropped from the planet. The reason to this is because I say so.

[Golgo13]

Gran Turismo was my favorite racing game, and it was made by insomniac japs.

[offsidewing]

Gran Turismo was my favorite racing game, and it was made by insomniac japs.

No, it was a collaborative effort between Jimmy Carter and Snoop Dogg.

[Golgo13]

Gran Turismo was my favorite racing game, and it was made by insomniac japs.

No, it was a collaborative effort between Jimmy Carter and Snoop Dogg.

Jimmy Carter eh?  No wonder it was such a good game!  That man can do no wrong, I tell you....

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Jimmy Carter - that remind me to pick up some peanuts for my laptop before the hard drive dies.

[Kitsunexus]

Japanese games are better because they're quirky, fun, have better aesthetics, play better,  are more original, etc....

But there are those few American games, like the first Unreal Tournament for PC that are just something special.

[GUTS]

The Xbox was a great system that had some awesome games (everything Sega made for example), I don't know how anyone could possibly argue otherwise.  Plus it always had the BEST versions of any multi-platform game.  Why would I play something on the PS2 or shitcube when I could play a graphically better version with shorter load times on the Xbox?  Plus if you liked FPS and didn't want to sit in front of stupid PC, the Xbox was an awesome alternative.

[Hobo Xiphas]

Japanese games are better because they're quirky, fun, have better aesthetics, play better,  are more original, etc....

Bullshit.  American games are just as good on average.  This is just Japanophile propaganda.

[Golgo13]

Japanese games are better because they're quirky, fun, have better aesthetics, play better,  are more original, etc....

Bullshit.  American games are just as good on average.  This is just Japanophile propaganda.

You know when I was a kid, my grandma used to yell about how she was buying me video games and the money was going to the japanese, because she was in grade school during WWII she was very concerned about the Nintendo menace, almost like it was some kind of plot to get back at America for WWII.

[Seldane]

Japanese games are better because they're quirky, fun, have better aesthetics, play better,  are more original, etc....

Bullshit.  American games are just as good on average.  This is just Japanophile propaganda.

Yeah that's true. Americans even made the best game ever: Halo.

And no, I will never stop talking about Halo.

The French are quite talented as well. They've made many excellent games.

[Keranu]

The thing most Japanophiles don't realize is that Americans started video games! America rules so much.

[TurboXray]

 Man, the original 'Box looks like ass. In fact, I use it as a pedestal for the more sexier 360 - sits right on top.

[offsidewing]

The French are quite talented as well. They've made many excellent games.

I don't know about that, but they did a bang up job with Viet Nam and Lebanon.

[Kitsunexus]

Actually, even though he was in America at the time, Ralph Baer (the father of videogames) was a Jew from Germany (fled right before Kristallnacht). So considering him and the Weinsteins, the Jews are not resonsible for all the wars in the world, just the entertainment industry. ;)


And even though America invented videogames, Japan set the bar for how they should be made.

And despite me liking Kitsune, Japanese games, and the occasional anime thing,I am NOT a Japan-o-phile.

[Kitsunexus]

The French are quite talented as well. They've made many excellent games.

Rayman is homo, and Splinter Cell is just a cash-in on Metal Gear Solid.

[Turbo D]

I think that both Japan and America have been making hits at the same rate. Japanese games are sometimes more appealing because of the culture difference.

[Joe Redifer]

Man, the original 'Box looks like ass. In fact, I use it as a pedestal for the more sexier 360 - sits right on top.

Ha ha, mine too!

[Kitsunexus]

I think that both Japan and America have been making hits at the same rate.

This is something I want to see, as in visual representation.

Here's what I propose. We do this in vertical bar-graph style. This is kind of complicated, because we have to deal with bias, but what we need is to scour gaming publications all the way back to the days of the NES, and compare US and Japanese games, console ONLY, all the way until present day.

A hit would be considered as a game that receives the publication's highest honor (eg: 5 stars, 100% 10/10, etc...). We would only use games that came out in both US AND Japan, however I'm not to sure as this is kind of biased for Japan.

I dunno, if we could figure some way to do this, this could be REALLY cool. Too much time and effort for anyone here, unfortunately (Yes, including me ).

[offsidewing]

The Japanese definately have better post-apocalyptic imaginations than Americans do!

[Turbo D]

Its true, alot of there games are post apocalyptic. Like Akira for the Familycom

[Golgo13]

The Japanese definately have better post-apocalyptic imaginations than Americans do!

Yeah, its like we cant think of shit to do after the world gets fucked up, except maybe guarding our property with a 12 gauge.

[Hobo Xiphas]

The Japanese definately have better post-apocalyptic imaginations than Americans do!

Although it is obvious from how badly Kitsune got flamed for his Fallout thread, you guys really need to play some Fallout to prove that is not true at all.

[OldRover]

He didn't get flamed, Fallout got flamed.

[Seldane]

UK rocks too! Bullfrog, anyone?