Xbox, Microsoft’s new videogame console, has done things right regardless of what many say about it. Even though you haven’t heard of them, there are plenty of absolutely stunning games, and as Microsoft promised there are a plethora of developers galore. They’ve recently shown up with a hefty list of Japanese-made games that could very well boost the system to greatness. However one major obstacle lies and that is no one seems to bloody care what they do, so a gamer needs to tread carefully, lest they end up with a hunk of Dreamcast, discontinued and forgotten, although having a few good games.

The problems with X-Box are pretty obvious.

Besides the ugly-neon green black box design, X-box has completely failed in it’s attempt to generate media hype and most of all a positive outlook. You may be thinking, “good games on x-box? where?” and that my friend, is precisely the problem. There are some great up and coming games; much the way Nintendo has “promised” great Zelda and Mario action on the GameCube. There simply are little or no signs of them. Microsoft with its obviously crap-method of branding decided it would be cool to have Bill Gates stand up there and speak in order to promote their product. Because they did that, millions of gamers simply turned their backs.

They should have gotten The Rock or just any plain ol’ bum from the street to make the X-box speeches. In fact, what Microsoft should have done to promote the X-box would have been to simply remove their corporate name from it completely, and create instead an independent company. Unfortunately they didn’t, and now suffer the worse of the worse media campaign ever. If you follow any of the Internet polls, while they still manage to grasp 10-20% of gamers out there, that’s not a lot compared to the overwhelming support of GameCubers and Playstation 2 fanatics (including myself). This may very well kill the X-box, but before we all stomp on it angrily and throw bricks at them, let’s all take a look at those “good games” I mentioned earlier, hm?

The foremost and most famed Xbox game as of now is the dreaded Dead of Alive 3. It’s by Tecmo, a pretty tough Japanese developer, known for making its share of hits. DOA3 is a fighting game with backgrounds that take place along beaches, rooftops and beautiful ice caverns. It looks absolutely stunning and goes with everything that is Xbox. Ultra-powerful graphics, with a super-smooth frame rate. Stuff that has never been done before visually is being done on the Xbox as promised. The game looks great, and should continue the same fighting spirits the DOA series has. Once again however, it lacks the hype and publicity that Nintendo can make with Soul Caliber 2. While DOA3 will definitely pull over some eyes when it comes out, having this game itself won’t pull Xbox to the top.

Some new recently announced games might however draw some PS2 owners, and some other skeptics over. Capcom is looking to release Gemma Onimusha, a special edition port of the PS2 ninja-hacking Onimusha. The Xbox enhancements look to put crystal-clear graphics and some new bits of gameplay here and there. It’s a great idea and definitely helps Xbox a lot to have Capcom support. There may very well be a continuation of the Resident Evil series and possibly a Street Fighter game or two.

There are also many Xbox games announced a long time ago that have almost completely disappeared off the radar. Although somewhat burning out due to lack of hype, there is still the release of Metal Gear Solid X, a MGS2 for the Xbox. Yeah, it’s not fresh news anymore, but this is definitely a big game for the Xbox. Another is Halo and of course there’s Abe’s Odyssey, the game that totally ditched the PS2 for the Xbox.

And just for arguments sake here’s the lineup for the Xbox:

U.S. Release List -

Thunderstrike Operation Phoenix
NASCAR Thunder 2002
Madden NFL 2002
4x4 Evolution 2
NHL Hitz 2002
Cel Damage
The Simpsons Road Rage
TransWorld Surf
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Air Force Delta Storm
Project Gotham Racing
Mad Dash
Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition
Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey
Fuzion Frenzy
Dark Summit
NFL Fever 2002
Azurik: Rise of Perathia
Halo
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding

The Xbox lineup is not all too different from the Ps2 one. It has the same sports games, with better graphics, a snowboarding game, racing games, and a few PC action/rpg games mixed in. The Xbox lineup most likely will always be missing Japanese RPGs and Mario/Zelda/Metroid styled platformed games that only Nintendo is good at, but nonetheless, it does have some cool support from Sega with Crazy Taxi Next, House of the Dead 3, and Jet Set Radio Future.

I have no doubt that the Xbox won’t see a quick death. In addition to just a strong lineup of games it has perhaps the strongest online gaming feasibility than both the PS2 and Nintendo whom have yet to release hardware and setup networks. Being that the PC is already an online gaming system, the Xbox should have no problems easily integrating into some sort of online gaming form. The Xbox in fact comes with a Ethernet port, so its immediately online-capable out of the box, unlike some other systems.

Hardware Bonus!

We mustn’t forget that the Xbox although at a hefty price, comes loaded with a big hard drive and Ethernet port for instant online gaming and near unlimited save-game features. (No overpriced $30 memory cards Sony!!) What does this mean? On the books, this system easily beats Sony in terms of hardware, no need to shell out $130 more for a Sony Ethernet port and hard drive, a total of $430 to get your PS2 config close to the Xbox. In terms of games, Xbox sure has a long way to go, but it took the PS2 a year before it could crank out hits like Devil May Cry, SSX Tricky, FFX and Metal Gear Solid. Give Xbox a year, and you may see some great things.

Bottom Line –

The Xbox isn’t unreasonably priced, given the features. It is your standard gaming system, but comes included with a hard drive and a pretty high-end progressive dvd player (for an additional $30). However starting at the high price of $299, it is easier to get a lower-priced PS2 or GameCube. But keep in mind that Xbox games are likely to be cheaper because Microsoft does not charge as high game fees as Nintendo and Playstation 2 do. This keeps games relatively cheap and plenty of developers producing so much so that this system may actually pull in the most games next year, when many of the PC games run over and the tons of U.S. developers finish their products. Keep an eye on this console, even though it seems some gamers have already dug Xbox an early grave.

Updated- May 16th 2002

In a suprise move, Microsoft cuts Xbox to $199. Now folks deciding on GC or Xbox can't complain about the pricing...


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