Malik
(5/17/05) Microsoft
Ready to Battle The
news I've been waiting for has been announced by Microsoft at their
usual pre-E3 press conference. This is something that truly matters
to me, despite the weird wording Microsoft used; The XBox 360 will
be backwards compatible. You can see the details at Gamespot,
but Microsoft is simply doing what was expected. While they chose
their words in a way in which most would scratch their heads, the
XBox 360 being backwards compatible with "top-selling XBox
games" seems to just say, to me, that Microsoft is just trying
to make XBox games sound more important than they really are. I
don't think Microsoft would go through the hassle of actually
picking and choosing select titles to work on the 360. That would be
way too much hassle when their make the 360's OS. No. It just means
that Microsoft is making XBox games sound more impressive by calling
them "top-selling". I mean would you expect them to say
something like "the 360 can play both the top-selling and the
crap-tacular titles"? No. That would be admitting that there
are some really bad games. Also,
it looks like Microsoft and Square Enix have finally worked out a
deal. FFXI will be available on the 360. This simply means that not
only is Microsoft more poised to take over the Japanese game market,
but also that they are ready to do something that far too few
console makers usually do; admit to the US audience that they know
that RPGs are important. I mean when PS2 and when PSX both launched,
Sony kept trying to keep all mention of RPGs out of the US. On the
other hand, Microsoft is not just ready to fight for dominance of
the next generation, but they are actually picking their battles
with more skill and tact than other developers have done in the
past. To
further fuel their fire, Microsoft is also saying that around 40+
games should be available within the first 3 months of the 360's
life. Now that is something that no other console maker has been
able to pull off before. If this is true, and if the usual 10-20% of
launch titles are fun, then Microsoft will easily have the best
American launch for a new console, ever. In
the end, what this all means is that Microsoft will not only be
trying to take dominance in the next generation. No...they are also
make some serious plans to back up this ambition. While I don't want
to sound like a Microsoft fanboy, I can say, without a doubt, that
this could be a great time to be a geek when PS3 finally launches. I
mean Microsoft is pulling out all of their guns, and it will
probably culminate with the release of the PS3. As I always say,
competition is what drives a fun and exciting game environment, and
unlike how Sony became lazy when the PS2 launched ahead of everyone,
Microsoft sees the threat on the horizon and are ready to blow us
all away. Malik
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