Little bit? Perhaps you don’t realize how much of a difference there is between a 12 MB cartridge and a 650 MB compact disc…
The CD-ROM has over 54 times the capacity - that’s the difference between an RPG with 10 areas and an RPG with 500 areas, or between 32x32 textures and 256x256 textures, or between MIDI soundtracks and MP3 soundtracks, or between having one low-quality FMV scene at the ending and having several high-quality FMV scenes after each level.
If you look at any arcade game that’s been ported to a cartridge-based console, they almost always had to cut something out to fit it on a cart. Fewer characters, lower graphics quality, missing sounds, etc. With the advent of CD-ROMs, that was over.
That’s what Game Boy is for. It’s perfect for playing during another console’s (which shall not be named…) load times.
Seriously though, you’ll get used to them. Most load times I’ve seen on disc consoles are 15 seconds or less. There are a few offenders that seem to take forever, though. I’ve heard Morrowind for Xbox is one of these, but unfortunately I probably won’t find out for a while.
Back on the original topic, I predict that this game will be a spectacular failure. It will then become a collector’s item because of the limited numbers available, and it will subsequently keep its value to a much greater level than other video games. This is especially true if the controllers have some sort of flaw that makes them break or lose pieces easily (and given the size of that behemoth, it wouldn’t surprise me).
Hence, go and buy a few now and keep them in their original packages. Wait a few years. Repeat if necessary.
Now, this was from Nov. of last year. I am almost certain that I read somewhere that the PS2 was costing sony about $150 to make and the XBox was costing Microsoft $290ish …
$30 is a ridiculously low price. I have heard from Intel engineers that each Pentium 4 chip costs somwhere in the vicinity of $36 and Pentuim 3 chips are, ironically, more costly. More importantly, if the Video card was less than $30, then nVidia must be laughing all the way to the bank since they used to sell the exact same graphics chip cut down a bit for well over $400 when it was first released.
Never mind the fact that motherboards are usually at least $20 per unit in 100 unit quantities.
Yes, but do you think that Dell is paying $20 a unit for it’s motherboards? I seriously doubt it. Remember, they’re not buying them in lots of a hundred, but in thousands. One of the reasons that companies move production out of the US is because the labor costs are greater than the materials costs.
Wired magazine’s done a piece on my former employer, where you can read a description of the plant that XBoxes are built in. I should like to note that the plant I worked in, had no air conditioning (except in a few of the offices) and no heat! (One of the reasons why I’m glad I’m no longer working there, now that winter has begun to set in.)
I believe the XBox is what is called a Loss Leader. That is, the company makes little money on it or even loses money, planning to recoup it on selling peripherals. Xbox hopes to do it with games. Microsoft also loses a bit of money on them too.
Welcome to what it is like living in Europe. Imagine if every game was marked up like this. In the UK nearly all gaming equipment (consoels, games, controllers etc) works on a 1 UKP = 1 USD principle. Here in Stockholm one of the biggest software stores is selling Timesplitters 2 for the PS2 for 729 SEK. That’s approximately 73 USD.
Does that have something to do with the 17.5% tax in England? In the US the prices are almost always quoted before sales tax. If 100 UKP includes the tax there is about half of the markup.
The price is right, no mistake there. It costs that much because, basicly, it is an arcade type game created for a home console. It it a highly complex setup, which requires a very complex controller. This is why it costs so much, and understandably so…
…it’s also been getting great reviews, and from what I hear, is more than worth the money.
i just got the game last week and the controller is huge plus the foot pedals. very well made however. luckily i got it for early christmas from my family who chipped in 150 so all i had to pay was the remaining 50 bucks. great game.
