I agree with illspirit. Jack Thompson had characterized Bully as a "Columbine simulator" long before this whole SCMRPG debacle hit the news. I suspect the clueless politicans were probably picking up on that rather than confusing it with SCMRPG, though it's possible there was some of that going on too.
Perhaps I haven't been paying enough attention, but I never got the impression that SCMRPG even got much attention in the mainstream press.
I didn't own an original XBox. Last generation I started out with a Dreamcast that I got used well after it's demise. Then I moved on to a Gamecube and eventually a PS2. The 360 is the first console I've gotten at launch price (though I probably would have waited for the first price drop had my wife not gotten it for me for Christmas). There just weren't enough games I was interested in on the original XBox.
"""Looks like you were fooled by Atari's marketing scheme. Two 32-bit processors don't make a console 64-bit.""
I forgot about that, but then, ppl still call Genesis a 16bit system even though it's just two 8bit processors"
The Genesis has a 32-bit processor with a 16-bit ALU and 16-bit bus (68000) as it's primary CPU. It also contains a completely 8-bit CPU (Z80) for managing sound effects and a 16-bit graphics processor with a 16-bit bus to main memory, but an 8-bit bus to its own RAM.
For reference the SNES has a 16-bit processor with an 8-bit bus. I dont' know enough about the graphics processor to say what it's bit widths are.
You might me thinking of the TG-16 which had an 8-bit CPU and main memory bus. It's graphics chip was 16-bit internally and had 16-bit wide graphics RAM, but was clocked slower than the one in the Genesis and was generally less sophisticated.
The Jaguar is a rather wierd system. The only proper general purpose CPU is the 68000 (same chip as the Genesis). It also has a 32-bit DSP (with a 16-bit databus) and some kind of primitive 32-bit RISC processor (with a 64-bit databus) called the graphics processor. The main 64-bit parts are the object processor and the poorly named blitter. The object processor appears to be largely for 2D graphics generation with support for zooming whereas the "blitter" handles polygon drawing, gourard shading and texture mapping. Apparently it's rather difficult to use the object processor and the blitter together.
In the end, the bit-numbers aren't particularly useful in the broad fashion they're applied in game consoles.
It's worth noting that none of that 3DO homebrew actually runs on the real hardware. To my knowledge, no one ever figured out away around the need for at least the initial program (and possibly all code) to be signed (some of it might be encrypted, I don't remember all the specifics) to get code loaded.
The 3DO had no copy protection, but it had pretty nasty protection against unauthorized code (used a fairly long key for the signature/encryption).
The 3DO and Jaguar aren't the only obscure consoles to have a homebrew community though. The Sega CD and 32X have both had at least a little bit of homebrew (the Sega CD had a decent shooter developed for the PD-ROMS coding contest and a homebrew turned commercial release). The Saturn also has an active (though small) homebrew community, though it isn't quite as obscure.
Technically Beggar Prince isn't a homebrew release. It's a release of a translation of a commercial game that was never released in English. Still pretty neat though.
"Apparently you missed the part of the article where it was noted that the 360 has been selling below expectations."
The question is who's expectations? Microsoft's expectations have clearly been 10 Million units by the end of the year and given the currently available numbers it would appear likely that they probably hit that or at least came very close. It may have fallen short of some analysts expectations, but I don't put a lot of stock in what analysts say.
"By the end of 2007, we'll all have a pretty good idea of how this market's gonna end up in the current generation." Agreed.
"You'll notice I'm not giving much credence to the 360's "head start", because it doesn't matter. That's been proven time and time again in the game industry, going all the way back to the early 1980's and pretty much repeating itself in every generation since (and in both the US and Japan)." Nintendo's head start with the NES certainly helped keep its stranglehold on 3rd party developers to the detriment of the Master System. Sega's head start with the Genesis helped it make inroads against Nintendo's virtual monopoly on the console market. The PS1 launched ahead of the N64 and it seemed to do well. Likewise the PS2 launched ahead of the Gamecube and XBox and it did quite well. Launching ahead of the PS2 didn't save the Dreamcast, but it would be hard to argue that they would have done better launching at the same time as the PS2 and it certainly could be argued that they would have done worse.
Obviously launching first doesn't guarantee success, but that doesn't mean its not an advantage. The 360s head start over the PS3 has already lead to some PS3 exclusives getting 360 ports planned. It's still anyone's game to be sure, but if anyone needs to pick up the pace it's Sony. Currently Microsoft probably has more to worry about from the Wii (a price cut or a Core with a hard drive would certainly help here).
"First order of business: If it doesn't sell, reduce the price if you can. Next up: Free, with the purchase of ______ months of _____ service." It's important to note that he said the first order of business was to reduce the cost not the price. That's the cost to Microsoft, not the end user. Since the manufacturing costs for the 360 are still relatively high compared to the retail price (though not nearly as bad as the current situation with the PS3) Microsoft has a vested interest in reducing the manufacturing costs of the console regardless of whether they choose to reduce the price.
Personally, I doubt we'll see 360 price cuts until next holiday season unless Microsoft decides they need to better compete with Nintendo on price. The most I would expect is perhaps the Core getting the 20GB drive and the Premium getting a larger drive and even that I wouldn't expect until early 2007. Sony isn't in a position to cut prices on the PS3 anytime soon (assuming iSupply's estimates are in the ballpark of the actual figures, which is a reasonable assumption) and I don't see any evidence that Blu-ray is going to be a major selling point for a large portion of the overall market anytime soon.
"Contrary to popular reports the PS3 is an impressive piece of tech." The Cell is certainly an impressive piece of hardware, but it remains to be seen how well suited it is for games. The PS3 is also saddled with a GPU that is arguably inferior to the 360's.
I would very much like the Fossil PDA watch. I so wanted to buy one when they were only $50 at TigerDirect, but my finances were tight at the time and once things improved they were no longer available. I love weird gadgets like this and I'm a big fan of Palm OS. Such a big fan in fact, that I've been trying to get an open source Palm OS clone off the ground since Palmsource seems intent on killing Palm OS in favor of Linux. I would very much like to attempt porting my humble little clone (not that it does a whole lot at the moment) to this cool device. Even if that fails it would be fun to relive my Visor deluxe days. Plus it would make a fine addition to my collection of "extinct" Palm OS devices (Visor Deluxe, Visor Prism and Tapwave Zodiac).
The Political Game: Industry should distance itself from Columbine game
Feb 2nd 2007 3:36PM (Joystiq)Perhaps I haven't been paying enough attention, but I never got the impression that SCMRPG even got much attention in the mainstream press.
Microsoft says "over half" of 360 buyers didn't own Xbox 1
Jan 18th 2007 2:40PM (Joystiq)Long live the 32-bit 3DO and Atari Jaguar
Jan 17th 2007 4:06PM (Joystiq)I forgot about that, but then, ppl still call Genesis a 16bit system even though it's just two 8bit processors"
The Genesis has a 32-bit processor with a 16-bit ALU and 16-bit bus (68000) as it's primary CPU. It also contains a completely 8-bit CPU (Z80) for managing sound effects and a 16-bit graphics processor with a 16-bit bus to main memory, but an 8-bit bus to its own RAM.
For reference the SNES has a 16-bit processor with an 8-bit bus. I dont' know enough about the graphics processor to say what it's bit widths are.
You might me thinking of the TG-16 which had an 8-bit CPU and main memory bus. It's graphics chip was 16-bit internally and had 16-bit wide graphics RAM, but was clocked slower than the one in the Genesis and was generally less sophisticated.
The Jaguar is a rather wierd system. The only proper general purpose CPU is the 68000 (same chip as the Genesis). It also has a 32-bit DSP (with a 16-bit databus) and some kind of primitive 32-bit RISC processor (with a 64-bit databus) called the graphics processor. The main 64-bit parts are the object processor and the poorly named blitter. The object processor appears to be largely for 2D graphics generation with support for zooming whereas the "blitter" handles polygon drawing, gourard shading and texture mapping. Apparently it's rather difficult to use the object processor and the blitter together.
In the end, the bit-numbers aren't particularly useful in the broad fashion they're applied in game consoles.
Long live the 32-bit 3DO and Atari Jaguar
Jan 17th 2007 2:35PM (Joystiq)The 3DO had no copy protection, but it had pretty nasty protection against unauthorized code (used a fairly long key for the signature/encryption).
The 3DO and Jaguar aren't the only obscure consoles to have a homebrew community though. The Sega CD and 32X have both had at least a little bit of homebrew (the Sega CD had a decent shooter developed for the PD-ROMS coding contest and a homebrew turned commercial release). The Saturn also has an active (though small) homebrew community, though it isn't quite as obscure.
Dreamcast: the system that won't die [update 1]
Jan 8th 2007 1:23PM (Joystiq)Technically Beggar Prince isn't a homebrew release. It's a release of a translation of a commercial game that was never released in English. Still pretty neat though.
There was an actual commercial homebrew release for the Sega CD a while back, Mighty Mighty Missile (a chu chu rocket clone). See the following link for details:
http://www.gooddealgames.com/Publishing_SegaCD_MightyMightyMissile.html
2007: A year of truth for Xbox 360 (and everyone else?)
Jan 3rd 2007 12:44AM (Joystiq)The question is who's expectations? Microsoft's expectations have clearly been 10 Million units by the end of the year and given the currently available numbers it would appear likely that they probably hit that or at least came very close. It may have fallen short of some analysts expectations, but I don't put a lot of stock in what analysts say.
"By the end of 2007, we'll all have a pretty good idea of how this market's gonna end up in the current generation."
Agreed.
"You'll notice I'm not giving much credence to the 360's "head start", because it doesn't matter. That's been proven time and time again in the game industry, going all the way back to the early 1980's and pretty much repeating itself in every generation since (and in both the US and Japan)."
Nintendo's head start with the NES certainly helped keep its stranglehold on 3rd party developers to the detriment of the Master System. Sega's head start with the Genesis helped it make inroads against Nintendo's virtual monopoly on the console market. The PS1 launched ahead of the N64 and it seemed to do well. Likewise the PS2 launched ahead of the Gamecube and XBox and it did quite well. Launching ahead of the PS2 didn't save the Dreamcast, but it would be hard to argue that they would have done better launching at the same time as the PS2 and it certainly could be argued that they would have done worse.
Obviously launching first doesn't guarantee success, but that doesn't mean its not an advantage. The 360s head start over the PS3 has already lead to some PS3 exclusives getting 360 ports planned. It's still anyone's game to be sure, but if anyone needs to pick up the pace it's Sony. Currently Microsoft probably has more to worry about from the Wii (a price cut or a Core with a hard drive would certainly help here).
Microsoft's Robbie Bach calling out Xbox 360 price cuts?
Nov 27th 2006 3:43PM (Engadget)Next up: Free, with the purchase of ______ months of _____ service."
It's important to note that he said the first order of business was to reduce the cost not the price. That's the cost to Microsoft, not the end user. Since the manufacturing costs for the 360 are still relatively high compared to the retail price (though not nearly as bad as the current situation with the PS3) Microsoft has a vested interest in reducing the manufacturing costs of the console regardless of whether they choose to reduce the price.
Personally, I doubt we'll see 360 price cuts until next holiday season unless Microsoft decides they need to better compete with Nintendo on price. The most I would expect is perhaps the Core getting the 20GB drive and the Premium getting a larger drive and even that I wouldn't expect until early 2007. Sony isn't in a position to cut prices on the PS3 anytime soon (assuming iSupply's estimates are in the ballpark of the actual figures, which is a reasonable assumption) and I don't see any evidence that Blu-ray is going to be a major selling point for a large portion of the overall market anytime soon.
"Contrary to popular reports the PS3 is an impressive piece of tech."
The Cell is certainly an impressive piece of hardware, but it remains to be seen how well suited it is for games. The PS3 is also saddled with a GPU that is arguably inferior to the 360's.
Engadget Black Friday giveaways (part 1): Xbox 360 Premium pack!
Nov 24th 2006 6:33PM (Engadget)Engadget's relaunch giveaways: Xbox 360 Premium pack
Sep 23rd 2006 5:42PM (Engadget)Engadget's Cleaning Out Our Closet Contest
Aug 17th 2006 12:33AM (Engadget)