Aborted Launch
Posted on | November 21, 2005 at 5:48 pm | 4 Comments
Tomorrow is Launch Day for the new Xbox 360 videogame system (mainstream media review here). I always have to have the latest new gadgets, especially video game systems, and I’ve thought long and hard about buying a 360 on Launch Day. But ultimately I’ve decided I’m not going to do it.
Reasons I’m Not Buying An Xbox 360 On Launch Day
- Cost. I’ve already had one big expenditure this month (new tires for my car) and can’t afford another one, especially with the Christmas gift buying season rapidly bearing down on me like Paris Hilton looking for the next shipping heir to ensare. The 360 “Core System” is $300, but no real gamer is going to get that. Instead, the $400 “Premium System” is the way to go. It adds, among other things, a wireless controller (the Core System has only a wired one), an HDTV connector (which I would want), and a removable 20GB harddisk, which is needed for backward compatibility with regular Xbox games, game saves, and stuff. The games themselves are $60 each, though there are few that are $50. So once we take all that into account, just the Premium System and one game alone is going to be around $500 with tax. Yeowch. And who can settle for just one game at launch?
- Lack of launch titles. At launch, only 18 games will be available for the system. Most are sports games, which I don’t play. I’m not real big on racing games either (3 of the 18). I prefer action/adventure titles, and there are not a lot of those. Going by both my own intuition and the gaming website reviews, none of the launch games look like “must haves” for me. The most interesting is King Kong, which I’ve seen demoed at Best Buy. It does look great, especially the texture and lighting effects on the dinosaurs, but I couldn’t tell how much I’d enjoy the gameplay. Best to wait until a killer title comes along.
- Backward Compatibility. The Xbox 360 is backward compatible with Xbox games only through software emulation (the harddrive is needed to store the emulation profiles for the Xbox games, which can be downloaded through Xbox Live). At launch, there are only going to be less than 200 backward compatible games. True, most of the really popular ones (Halo, etc.) are available, including the new Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction game I’ve been playing lately. But some will not be there right away, like the popular Burnout 3: Takedown, which I’ve also been playing. Due to space and connection issues, I don’t really want to have both my Xbox and a 360 hooked up to my system. After getting a 360, I’d like to eventually sell my Xbox or give it to a friend or family member.
- Shortages. If the hype about 360 shortages is to be believed (and I’m not buying into it by any means), then I may not be able to get one even if I wanted to. Sounds like the only hope for those who have not pre-ordered is to stand in line early tomorrow morning or show up at midnight tonight at Wal-Mart or some other store that is open late. I did that for the Sony PSP, which had similar pre-launch day shortage rumors, and it turns out I didn’t really need to, as plenty were available for sale all over the next few days. I’m On Call this week and can’t really risk spending time standing in late night or early morning lines, even if I wanted to. And I have no wish to help Microsoft in their strategy of making this the hot thing to buy for Christmas by intentionally(?) shorting supply and creating demand.
It would be nice to have a new machine and games to play over the holiday vacations, but I’m happy to wait until after the first of the year. I’ve got enough games to play on my current systems. Maybe I’ll wait till waaaay after the first of the year depending on how much debt I’m in. Or maybe I’ll wait till Sony’s PlayStation 3 comes out, but who knows when that will be or how much it will cost. Besides, I’m pretty upset with Sony these days due to the copy protection fiasco (please read the summervillain’s piece about that here, which includes an even more dire look at the future).
Bizarre news report of the day: Todd Rundgren fronting a new version of the Cars. I’m speechless.
Latre.
Comments
4 Responses to “Aborted Launch”
November 22nd, 2005 @ 9:08 am
I know things can’t go on like before, but can the new Cars still be friends? Perhaps it will turn that Todd Rundgren is just what they needed.
November 22nd, 2005 @ 6:19 pm
Hello, it’s me. I saw the light. I just want to bang on the drum all day, so shake it up.
November 23rd, 2005 @ 9:18 pm
Well you may have “decided” not to get an XBOX 360. But I, like many other gamers, tried quite hard to get one and came away with nothing. Just plain wrong…
http://iwantanxbox360.blogspot.com/
November 23rd, 2005 @ 11:10 pm
Which brings me to my forgotten reason #5: Even if I did try, chance of failure was 99.9%…
But I feel for ya, man!