Just another thing to add to the mix if you’re coming from N64 and like their exclusive title franchises.
While their forthcoming Gamecube doesn’t play standard DVDs, Panasonic is coming out with a hybrid player that DOES. Of course it isn’t out YET (slated for Dec. in Japan,) so if you need it NOW it’s not a consideration.
Then we agree to differ, then. It’s just not a very good DVD player, IMO. I think this a definite case of YMMV.
And whoosh… the great superhero SPOOFE arrives to save the day!
Slortar, did your friend get one of the first PS2’s to be shipped? Sony got a lot of criticism for the laser technology they put in the first 500,000 (or whatever the number was) units to be shipped. The laser reader was better suited for games (where the laser reads the disc ever couple seconds) and not very good for DVD’s (where the laser reads the disc constantly). This resulted in grainier images, and if you watch too many DVD’s, the laser could get overworked. Subsequent shippings of PS2’s had this flaw fixed.
Does that hypothesis work to everyone’s satisfaction?
By the way, I was at Circuit City the other day, and I noticed that Sony’s released a DVD-only player that also stands vertically, like the PS2 can. This DVD-only player also sold for $300. I just found that ironic… although it was capable of playing VCD’s and Mp3-CD’s, which I don’t believe the PS2 is capable of doing.
Oh, and KPM… a clarification, please…
The X-Box DVD quality isn’t as good, or the X-Box games aren’t as good?
Tony Hawk 3 supports online play, but the network for this hasn’t been started up yet. You’ll also need add-on hardware to do this.
The guy said the XBox games didn’t look quite as good as PS2 games. I bought the PS2 to play games not for DVDs, but the fact that it plays DVDs is a nice extra you get for free. I am not really into movies so I probably would have waited to get a DVD player. I would guess that when the XBox is officially released you will see lots of reviews comparing it to the PS2.
BTW, I am not a big fan of Microsoft, but I don’t hate them either. Since there are a lot of people who hate Microsoft you have to be wary when they review the XBox. If the person uses a Mac or Linux you can pretty much bet their XBox review might be at least somewhat biased.
That works for me–he’s a real console freak. I haven’t counted yet, but wouldn’t be surprised if he has more than 8 or 9 consoles hooked up in his living room. That would also explain the occasional random lock-ups on DVD playback.
Spoofe-man saves the day. 