Stupid reason for buying an X-box

MJOMJO Denmark New
edited June 2003 in Hardware
The other day I was at the local shopping centre.
In the shopping centre they have a shop that sells a bit of everything, Hi-Fi, tv's and mobile phones.
They also have a few bits for computers

I heard one of the shop assistants tell a customer:
"The good thing about an X-box is, that you will never need to upgrade"

I came very close to saying that it was a load of *BS*

You cannot upgrade an X-box and what he did not tell the poor bastards was that in a few months MS will release a new X-box.
Dunno how far MS is in the development of the new X-box, I do not care either.
I would say that one of the big advantages of the PC is that you can upgrade.

Btw they looked like a couple of farmers, the customers that is.

Comments

  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited June 2003
    The things salesmen will say to make a sale.

    And the thing is they dont know nearly as much as they need to do that job. Those type of people do not stay up to date enough to do those kinds of jobs.
  • McBainMcBain San Clemente, CA New
    edited June 2003
    Well, the new xbox is at least 2-3 years away, and every game released for it will obviously be able to be played on it, so you WILL never need to upgrade. Its a big reason for console success.
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    I think the keyword is that you cannot upgrade.
    But eventually you will be "forced" to buy a new X-box.

    Look at the PSX and the PS2. When the PS2 was released no new games were released to the PSX.
    You had to buy the new box.
    Quite clever actually and I believe that it has always been like that. It is called progress.
    And if you do not buy a new X-box or a new Playstation you will not be able to play your old games anymore.
    So in a way you are forced to stick with the manufacturer you chose initially. Unless of course you do not care about your old games.

    Well I will never buy a console, I am quite happy with my PC.
    And the graphics looks better on a decent monitor compared to a grainy television.

    Another big minus is updates.
    On a pc you can patch your os, your can patch your games, you can pretty much patch everything.
    You cannot do that on a console, or am I mistaken here?
    If a game slips through with lets say a rather fatal error you will have a problem. You have no way of correcting it.
    I remember MotoRacer3 for PC it couldn't even be considered a beta version. Every important setting was missing.
    You could not change resolution and so on.
    It was corrected in a large number of patches I believe.
    What if it was released in that state for the X-box?
    You would not be able to patch it. I know that I would have returned the game.
    Hope that you can see what I am discussing here.

    Btw I did not know that the new X-box was that far from release.
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Yes, the XBox still has a few years before a new release. MS wouldn't be dumb enough to release something else while the XBox is still selling.

    You can use XBox LIVE to patch games on the Xbox.

    I recently spent over $300 to upgrade my video card to the latest and greatest. The XBox costs less than that and it's got everything in it already. The games are the same price as PC games, and you canwory less about cheating. Everyone has the same thing.

    Just my $0.02 on the whole thing. That's how consoles have always been, and that's how they will continue to be. I play games on consoles and PCs. I just prefer some games on the console and vice versa.

    So, read up before ya go postin', buddy. :p
  • SlickSlick Upstate New York
    edited June 2003
    Xbox Live makes you patch games for it. Just yesterday I updated unreal championship cause I hadent played it in a while, then I downloaded four new levels they had released. Most the other games require an update to the harddrive aswell.
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    Hmm point taken
    That X-box live thing sounds like a good thing.
    I remember hearing from a couple of friends with consoles that some bugs in the games they had were so annoying.

    But now that you can patch that should be a thing of the past.

    And yes consoles are getting cheaper.

    But I have to say that one of the best things about a PC is that you can upgrade.

    At HardOCP I saw an article once, it summed up the contents of the X-box.
    A mobile celeron 733 Mhz with 64 Mb RAM and a modded GF4 graphics chip.
    It aint the most powerful. And the developers were also getting rather mad because they had to keep the games within the 64 Mb limit.
    Then again the contents of the X-box, or any other console is limited by the cost. It is impossible to put a Cray supercomputer under the hood at that price.

    Btw MS are not selling the amount of x-boxes they had expected are they?
    I remember reading about rather dissapointing sale figures.
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Right, they aren't selling what they expected. It's their first machine in the console market. Right now, they're trying to take it over.

    One thing you have to realize, as well, is that console are made specifically for gaming. Not to run desktop applications, etc. It's not necessarily the memory that is needed.

    Personally, I think the XBox has some nice looking games, as does the GameCube. Also, I feel some games are meant to be played with a controller.

    It's probably more personal preference than anything. Like I said before, I play on both, and I'm not a fanboy. I just defend where defense is needed and attempt to educate. :D
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited June 2003
    Fair enough
    I am getting tired of the pityful Console to PC ports that are around. Maybe that's what's bothering me.

    I have a controller for my PC, an MS sidewinder an excellent controller.

    And I hold no grudges against consoles I just hope that all the different platforms could benefit from each other.
    And the quality of a game on each platform should be similar of course.
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Yeah, pitiful ports are everywhere these days. It's really annoying.
  • NixxerNixxer Nottingham, UK
    edited June 2003
    I game on consoles and PC's too. I own an Xbox, Gamecube and PS2 which gives me access to near enough any game on the market. I can't say I prefer any over the others, but each are good in their own way. Like I couldnt play Planetside on an Xbox - that would just be crazy. And playing Zelda on a PC wouldn't "feel" right.

    Just my opinion, no need to go against anything. Also, Vice City for PC is an example or a poor quality port. I have it for both PS2 and PC and although the graphics are better for the latter, its alot more fun to play on the PS2, with the PS2 controller.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2003
    ...you had to buy a new stereo every few years just so you could play all of the latest releases? What if you had to keep all of the old stereos you owned hooked up so you could play your old tunes? I've been that route with LP's, 8-Tracks, Cassettes, and CD's. The big difference is the usable life of the format. LP's lasted about 40 years. CD's look likely to do the same. Will we all be re-encoding our mp3's to something new in a few years?

    I was trying to think of a solution to the planned obsolesence of game consoles. What I came up with was a modular design. This looked like a good idea until I realized I had just reinvented the computer!:D
    You can contact me privately to get the info on where to mail the royalty checks...


    Prof

    PS: If you haven't done so already, please give us your input in the “Utilities Discussion – Week2” thread under General Software!!! This week we are asking for your recommended programs in these categories: HD Speed benchmark, CD Drive Speed Benchmark, Video Performance benchmark:nudge:
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