Catching up

I haven't talked about recent events in the video game industry lately. So I guess this is as good a time as any.

The Xbox 360 has finally reached all three major markets: USA, Japan, and Europe. While the Xbox 360 isn't doing as well as Microsoft hoped (which was expected as such by me), the system is pretty much dead in the water at this moment in Japan. Despite what ever pompous comment J Allard has to say about the Xbox 360 launch lineup, I feel that it's the lineup that is hurting the Xbox 360 the most. Sure it has awesome graphics and a snazzy new integrated Xbox Live interface but what does all of this fancy crap mean when there's nothing worth playing? It's really sad that Activision's Call of Duty 2, a PC port and the #1 selling Xbox 360 title in the U.S., is the game that shows what the hardware can do. Of course, CoD2 and Kameo were the only two playable titles at every demo station so that could have only helped that game to sell more. In fact, there's not one title in the lineup that hasn't been already seen in some way or form on another platform. And Microsoft wants us to pay $400 for the system plus $60 per game? I don't think so.

Oh, and kick ass job on adding the dated Final Fantasy XI demo with every Xbox 360 system in Japan. There no better way to show off the abilities of a new system with a PS2 port. Kudos!

The fact that the PSP is tanking in every market is not surprising. It's been out since March 2005 and there still is not even one must have title. Yes, I do enjoy Lumines very much, but it is by no means a must have title. If you think about it, the PSP suffers from the same problem that the Xbox 360 is suffering from. All PSP titles to date are simply direct ports from the PS2 - minus some features but with the same exact price. Huzzah!

And I still think that anyone that buys a UMD movie is a dumbass. DVDs are perfectly fine thank you. DVDs have an added bonus, for a lower price you get better quality and more extras. WOW!

Poor Nintendo. The GameCube platform is fading away from gamers' memories. Oh where art thou Link? Come and bring back the life to our GameCubes. On the other hand, the Nintendo DS is fairing very well thanks to Nintendogs (not my kind of game, but my girlfriend really enjoys it). The games that really valided my purchase of a Nintendo DS are Castlevania and, of course, Mario Kart DS. I do hate the fact that Mario Kart DS is missing an online Battle Mode, but hopefully Nintendo will learn from this and no exclude a major feature of their future online games. I'm even more amazed that the Game Boy Advance is still selling as well as it is. It didn't really have any big titles until the end of the year - that being Final Fantasy IV Advance.

Well if you think about it, the Nintendo DS had a very slow start. Maybe the PSP will have a better go in 2006. Or maybe not... look out for the PS3 and Revolution. 2007 maybe? Hmm... no, Nintendo will probably announce the Game Boy Evolution at that year's E3. The PSP is screwed.

Speaking of the Revolution, some hardware specs have been unveiled. While there's no way of knowing these specs are true, they are very interesting. Personally, I feel Nintendo is doing exactly as they said they would when they announced the GameCube. They said that the GameCube platform will be used for the next 10 years or so (I'd quote it, but I can't find the original comment nor a reference to quote from other than my memory). This statement will hold very true if the Revolution is just an upgraded GameCube. Without snazzy graphics to make the casual gamer sheep follow the revolution, Nintendo will have to have so really kick ass titles at launch and soon after launch. Hopefully, unlike the GameCube, the Revolution will launch with a Mario game. A Metroid title would really help in the U.S.

I do applaud Nintendo for trying to bring new ways of game playing to the industry. However, at the same time, I'm worried that casual gamers won't be as interested in playing something so radically new. It's not as "safe" as playing on the PS3 or Xbox 360 where you're guaranteed to play a sequel or something you've already seen previously. Let's hope my worries aren't warranted.