Malik
(5/11//04)
Microsoft and EA Unites...Plus a
Halo 2 Release Date
Well, it seems that EA
and Microsoft have patched up some of their issues in regards to
online requirements/desires. EA, in the past, didn't want to do the
whole XBox Live! thing since Microsoft owned and operated the
servers used to handle any game sessions online via the XBox. This,
for sports fans in particular, led to the disappointment of EA only
doing online console action on the PS2, since Sony doesn't have
centralized servers for PS2 online games.
It seems that Microsoft decided to
concede having sole operation of XBox Live! servers. This in turn
led to EA agreeing to join the growing family of Live! content
supporters. This means, in particular, when it comes to sports
titles, XBox fans who want to fun of online, will have some
additional titles to chose from in the near future. EA already has a
large line-up of titles for the next several months that will be
including Live! compatibility. Besides the obvious choices of EA
Sports titles (such as Madden...which sold far better on the PS2
due, in my opinion, to the online component), EA will be bringing an
XBox Live! compatible Battlefield to the XBox soon.
At the same time, in a bit of
nearly unrelated news, Microsoft finally announced a set release
date for Halo 2 (XBox). Microsoft decided, as the publisher, on a
November 9th release date. This is good in theory, since so many of
the over-hyped FPS games that will "soon" come to the XBox
(like Doom 3...hahaha...and Halflife 2) are without firm release
dates. On the down side, we have seen a lot of release dates, in
recent days (or years...), go down the crapper not long before the
supposed release was upon us. I suppose only time will tell for
sure. While I know that I shouldn't get my hopes too high, I
personally cannot help it since...well...it's freakin' Halo 2 we're
talking about. Sony
Does The Expected (PS2 Price Drop)
Sony
just announced the overly expected; the PS2
will be dropping to $149. For those who haven't been paying
attention, this makes Sony the last of the big three consoles to
drop below $150 (technically below $150...for those who don't like
in sales tax free zones like Oregon, it is still way above
$150...especially in Washington...blah!). It is being thought that
Sony is doing this move in order to boost sales of the already
oversold system to match expectations of local (American) game
studios. It was being speculated that without some method to boost
PS2 sales, US developers would soon lower their level of support for
the aging system in order to better meet their target
audience.
Personally,
I think this logic is complete and total bullshit. Any development
studio with any intelligence at all would see that the number of
PS2s on the streets in the US compared to the volume of XBoxes on
the streets is pretty largely unbalanced. The PS2 is not slowing in
sales nearly as much from a price issue as much as the fact that
after all these years of being at the top of the game, the
interested public is saturated with PS2s. In other words, if you
have a PS2, you are probably not going to buy a second one
(especially now that Sony will repair the DRE issues for free), but
you may buy that XBox that you don't have. So, if you want to target
the largest audience and you don't give a shit about technology, the
PS2 is still the way to go.
On
the other hand, I do fully support the price drop for one simple
reason. The PS2 is getting on in years and it is not becoming any
more technologically superior with it's age. Thus, if the
technologically superior XBox is a certain price, it would only make
sense to have the inferior PS2 match it (I'm not dissing my beloved
PS2 by calling it inferior...the truth is, it's a year or so older
and thus it is inferior...). This also can help give Sony a better
public image for the future (...far off future..) when we see the
PS3 and also in the nearer future when the PSP hits the
market.
Malik
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