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[Ulairi]

N64. It was the first system to really show off the importance of 3D graphics and Mario 64 is the most important game created.

I don't care if a system launchings with a ton of games, I'll most likely only buy two at launch anyway.

 

[chinch]

Alright, I have seen a lot of people on these boards and in the media throw hissy fits whenever MS has claimed that the XBox 360 has the best launch line up ever. Yet often, these people can't point to another launch lineup that was better. So, what launch lineup do you think was the best ever? I personally think XBox 360 may have a good claim on it given the well reviewed and varied titles.

Surprisingly, it really is the Best launch for sure based on various necessities

* Many good games that would sell even after launch. Most launches have the blue stingers, fantavisions & kessens that fanboys hype and early adopters are stuck with buying to play their new toy. The 360 games don't fall into that category.

* Diversity. see live below also

* Sports games covered - seasonal NFL, NHL, Soccer games

* unbelievable Buzz/Hype - this is making front page news today in large market papers. The articles are positive not talking about "sega bleeding red ink" ala Dreamcast or prognosticating "wait for something else".

* Worldwide launch.

*Xbox Live & Media Capabilities- this starts the "media pc" craze and makes it accessible to masses. you could also play 360 for HOURS and not even purchase a game. LOL.

 

[puck1337]

It's pretty good, but a bit bland. It certainly has a lot of of solid titles, but as almost everyone else has stated, it's missing that ONE game that makes people scream. I'm taking a wait and see attitude with this thing, as are a few of my friends. Shadowrun at launch would have put us over the top, without a doubt. Obviously anecdotal and non-mass market, but it says something when a lot of diehard gamers question the purchase of a new system.

None of this really matters much to MS, since they'll still sell out almost everything they can produce. The real test is whether they have the software to keep sales high in the months leading up to the PS3 launch. They can't really afford to hit a software slump at any point, because the price makes it very easy to talk oneself out of buying a new console.

 

[chinch]

It's pretty good, but a bit bland. It certainly has a lot of of solid titles, but as almost everyone else has stated, it's missing that ONE game that makes people scream. I'm taking a wait and see attitude with this thing, as are a few of my friends. Shadowrun at launch would have put us over the top, without a doubt. Obviously anecdotal and non-mass market, but it says something when a lot of diehard gamers question the purchase of a new system.

None of this really matters much to MS, since they'll still sell out almost everything they can produce. The real test is whether they have the software to keep sales high in the months leading up to the PS3 launch. They can't really afford to hit a software slump at any point, because the price makes it very easy to talk oneself out of buying a new console.

good point in that this is more a "mass-market" launch than "geek jizzing over Ridge Racer w/ jaggies" (PS2 launch) or "Mario 3D" launch.

PS3 launch would be similar given high prices, multimedia aspects, & likely slow production numbers.

the amazing part is that mass market will gobble them up at $400-500 while some of the "geek" crowd sits it out initially.

 

[Dilbert]

The launch is shitty to me for the following reasons:

No *must have, you'll die without it* titles to help sell the system
Poor allocation numbers which makes finding one a bitch...which makes you really think about why you even want one in the first place since there aren't any *must have* titles.
High cost of entry (console, peripherials etc.)
No real technical leap, just a new coat of paint.

He summed up what I was going to say.

 

[Ponn]

Reasons I don't think it's the best launch and i'm not picking it up or going gaga over it right now..

1) Lackluster launch lineup - solid for pretty much the current Xbot crowd, meaning FPS, Racing and Sports, but lacking in all my favorite games like RPG's, Fighting and quirky/puzzling titles.

2)Questionable problems, issues with heat, lock ups and such. Hasn't even launched yet but we are hearing these problems pretty loud and that's not a good sign.

3)So-So BC, seems rushed and added at the last minute at E3 as an afterthought., requires HDD and connection to LIVE to even update so far, poorly implemented.

4)Promises that fall through or are gimped and missed opportunities, Media Streaming, WMVHD, HDD standard (still feel may be problem later on with acceptance by developers), no HD-DVD.

5) Overall feeling of just being rushed and totally giving up on the Xbox 1 does not paint a good picture of good support later. MS's feeling that the rush jobs can be fixed through patches or "upgrades" later bringing the PC mentality of shipping buggy and broken shit is ok with "Windows Update" and patches. Don't want that shit in my home consoles and that's always been a main appeal of console gaming for me compared to PC gaming. And the disturbing trend of gamers actually accepting this mentality in their console and defending it makes it even crazier.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

My thoughts on the X360 launch line up were kind of summed up by watching Clerks the other night

- I'm a trainer. l know what that sound signifies. You're out of shape.
- What ? There's no fat on my body.
- No fat ! No tone either! You don't get enough exercise.

There are no stinkers in the X360 line-up a la Azurik, but there don't seem to be any AAA gems either (barring PGR3 and if you aren't in to racers :lol )... everything is... solid... yet dull.

 

[Nerevar]

I'd rather have an xbox-style launch with 1 phenomenal, industry-shaking game that I'll still be playing at the end of the console's lifetime like Halo versus a plethora of mediocre games.

 

[genjiZERO]

How many Japanese made games does it have.... RR and that's it? not good in my book

 

[shpankey]

IMO, it is hands down the best launch lineup ever... and I mean, in my book, it's not even close. 2nd would be the Playstation 1 launch. No other launch in history is even worth mentioning... I can't believe people think the PSP launch was even good, let alone great... and the Dreamcast was good, but not great.

 

[kaching]

Was it me or Evilore that chinch put on ignore? *shrugs* let's find out...

* Many good games that would sell even after launch. Most launches have the blue stingers, fantavisions & kessens that fanboys hype and early adopters are stuck with buying to play their new toy. The 360 games don't fall into that category.

This launch will be no exception - the law of averages applies here and there will be clunkers that fail to sell relative to the big sales winners in the launch lineup, nor live up to all the hype piled on them by early adopters.

* Diversity. see live below also

* Sports games covered - seasonal NFL, NHL, Soccer games

* unbelievable Buzz/Hype - this is making front page news today in large market papers. The articles are positive not talking about "sega bleeding red ink" ala Dreamcast or prognosticating "wait for something else".

None of these are really out of the ordinary looking at most recent console and handheld launches.

* Worldwide launch.

How does that necessarily help make it the best launch if it means you're still dealing with heavily supply constrained conditions and aren't seemingly putting your best foot forward in terms of software support in all regions (see Japan).

*Xbox Live & Media Capabilities- this starts the "media pc" craze and makes it accessible to masses. you could also play 360 for HOURS and not even purchase a game. LOL.

We'll see. There's a lot of overhead that's caused the media pc "craze" not to materialize yet and I'm not sure the X360 does much to reduce that. It's not designed as an "always on" device, its playback capabilities for DVDs and videos sound more limited than those in a standalone DVD player or a PC with a decent media player, questions of compatability around various media sources, etc.

Not to say the X360 doesn't have the makings of a good launch, but your picks for what makes it the best launch "for sure" are certainly a little puzzling as they're either not surefire bets or not out of the ordinary with recent game hardware launches.

 

[chinch]

Reasons I don't think it's the best launch and i'm not picking it up or going gaga over it right now..
1) Lackluster launch lineup - solid for pretty much the current Xbot crowd, meaning FPS, Racing and Sports, but lacking in all my favorite games like RPG's, Fighting and quirky/puzzling titles.

DOA ships within days and there is this thing called Xbox Live Marketplace where you can play free demos and buy quirky titles for $5-10 or so tomorrow

2)Questionable problems, issues with heat, lock ups and such. Hasn't even launched yet but we are hearing these problems pretty loud and that's not a good sign.

Applies to any new hardware. Deal with it.

3)So-So BC, seems rushed and added at the last minute at E3 as an afterthought., requires HDD and connection to LIVE to even update so far, poorly implemented.

LOL.

4)Promises that fall through or are gimped and missed opportunities, Media Streaming, WMVHD, HDD standard (still feel may be problem later on with acceptance by developers), no HD-DVD.

Now you're really trollin.

You'd make some sense if only HD-DVD was a shipping product with finished spec. You don't even know what it can stream today (connected to XP w/o media center) nevermind next year (connected to Vista & it's built in Media Center.

5) Overall feeling of just being rushed and totally giving up on the Xbox 1 does not paint a good picture of good support later. MS's feeling that the rush jobs can be fixed through patches or "upgrades" later bringing the PC mentality of shipping buggy and broken shit is ok with "Windows Update" and patches. Don't want that shit in my home consoles and that's always been a main appeal of console gaming for me compared to PC gaming. And the disturbing trend of gamers actually accepting this mentality in their console and defending it makes it even crazier.

Cry me a river. :lol :lol :lol

 

[Red Scarlet]

Wonderswan Color.

 

[1st Born]

The Dreamcast launch blew my socks off. The Xbox 360 line-up is BETTER.

 

[chinch]

Was it me or Evilore that chinch put on ignore? *shrugs* let's find out....

No offense, but you're on ignore... i had a minute and i figured you replied

None of these are really out of the ordinary looking at most recent console and handheld launches..

PS2 didn't have online NHL, Madden, etc. Dreamcast had a 56k modem and promises in the USA only. No Madden. By the time a baseball game shipped it was on life support. 360 takes the live concept to a new level with incredible support from day 1.

This launch will be no exception - the law of averages applies here and there will be clunkers that fail to sell relative to the big sales winners in the launch lineup, nor live up to all the hype piled on them by early adopters.

Overall quality is there, sales will be too. The point is most LAUNCH titles would be buried alive if they were released next holiday season as they're very forgettable.

The 360 titles such as Madden, NHL, PGR, PD0, etc, etc, are not forgettable titles.

Teh GAF has japan-lust, doesn't like sports games and obviously tilts reality toward the 360 launch sucking, but fact remains that it is FANTASTIC and as good as thet most devout xbot would have wanted and quite troubling to sony defenders of the faith.

How does that necessarily help make it the best launch if it means you're still dealing with heavily supply constrained conditions and aren't seemingly putting your best foot forward in terms of software support in all regions (see Japan).

Worldwide buzz and excitement. Dramatically helps developers who might have a bulk of sales in one region. No amount of spin in the world can change the fact that it's a brilliant concept and it's execution seems to be well coordinated.

Not to say the X360 doesn't have the makings of a good launch, but your picks for what makes it the best launch "for sure" are certainly a little puzzling as they're either not surefire bets or not out of the ordinary with recent game hardware launches.

My picks are mainstream and without corporate bias (ie. irrational love for sony, ms or nintendo). I'm calling them as i see them and as you can read in the Walmart thread just decided to buy a 360 (i don't own an xbox).

If 360 launched with promises, a few Fantavision-level titles, Madden and Soccer they'd still probably SELLOUT WORLDWIDE thru next xmas. I'm clearly stating that there are 15+ games shipping for 360 that have wide appeal.


PS - i should also have thrown in HD 720p/1080i support for GAMES in every title. That puts it an unprecidented level for gamers.

 

[koam]

Best launch ever = NES, nothing comes close (20+ titles, Mario, Dunk Hunt, HFS SCROLLING BACKGROUNDS)

Second Best = Dreamcast

Third Best = I would have said Xbox360 for the amount of titles, however, based on reviews, I'm not sure, still since I can't think of any better launch, I'll say Xbox360.

Worst Launch = N64 (Mario 64 was awesome, but 2 games at launch, ouch).

 

[Sathsquatch]

Well, I am impressed with the launch since the first launch of a system almost always is terrible. The Japanese launches are almost always terrible, and devlopers have many more months to work on the final hardware by the time of the US launch.

I usually prefer one really amazing launch game to a bunch of really good ones. I still love Mario 64, and I still play through Halo about 4 times every year. Those games really defined entire generations for me, and they remain my two favorite games of all time.

That being said, I think it is a very strong launch, overall. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why some people say that there is not one good game in the launch lineup. I can see someone not liking the genres covered in the launch lineup, but the top X360 games are clearly quality titles. People complain about narrow genre coverage, but launches almost always cover only a few genres well.

 

[hahahax]

You can't have a good launch without a flagship title bundled with the system.

I hated it when they started to give away demos instead of a game with consoles.

 

[kaching]

No offense, but you're on ignore... i had a minute and i figured you replied

None taken - it only puts you at the disadvantage and you end up turning it off anyway

My picks are mainstream and without corporate bias (ie. irrational love for sony, ms or nintendo). I'm calling them as i see them and as you can read in the Walmart thread just decided to buy a 360 (i don't own an xbox).

Truly mainstream picks wouldn't cite things like Live support as a significant factor for example, since online gaming in either a free or subscription based form has yet to catch on with anyone beyond a core 10% of gamers on these platforms.

Further a worldwide launch is of little consequence to the mainstream because they're not the ones who run out to buy a newly launched system in droves. They'll wait for months or years anyway.

No amount of spin in the world can change the fact that it's a brilliant concept and it's execution seems to be well coordinated.

No amount of spin was applied by me at least - just pointing out it isn't a "for sure" indicator of best launch ever. Risks inherent in going with a worldwide launch could outweigh the potential gains. Something I'm sure a no nonsense, no spin person like yourself can surely agree on.

Overall quality is there, sales will be too. The point is most LAUNCH titles would be buried alive if they were released next holiday season as they're very forgettable.

The 360 titles such as Madden, NHL, PGR, PD0, etc, etc, are not forgettable titles.

...

If 360 launched with promises, a few Fantavision-level titles, Madden and Soccer they'd still probably SELLOUT WORLDWIDE thru next xmas. I'm clearly stating that there are 15+ games shipping for 360 that have wide appeal.

Wide appeal that has already been tapped in large part in some cases by releases of the game on multiple platforms already and without the $10 markup that the X360 iteration may have. Some of those game iterations will be definitely be forgettable in comparison to next year's iterations/sequels when developers are more focused on making next-gen games for next-gen hardware.

Also, PGR is specifically interesting to include on the list of games that have wide appeal considering sales of the series dropped by half going from the 1st iteration to the second, and that's with an impressive online component that's supposed to be of interest to the mainstream gamers.

Teh GAF has japan-lust, doesn't like sports games and obviously tilts reality toward the 360 launch sucking, but fact remains that it is FANTASTIC and as good as thet most devout xbot would have wanted and quite troubling to sony defenders of the faith.

As I pointed out the last time we exchanged text (for which I think you put me on ignore in the first place), inflammatory and deliberately inaccurate comments like these really belie your claims of no bias. GAF doesn't like sports games? Which GAF are you visiting?

PS - i should also have thrown in HD 720p/1080i support for GAMES in every title. That puts it an unprecidented level for gamers.

Just to be clear, this isn't one of your alleged "mainstream picks" is it? After all, you've been pretty vocal in Blu-ray/HD-DVD threads about the mainstream audience not being able to appreciate what higher resolution brings to visual clarity, so I assume you wouldn't be changing your tune for the mainstream gamer, right?

 

[M3wThr33]

Nothing beats Tetris. Therefore Game Boy is still the winner.

 

[chinch]

Truly mainstream picks wouldn't cite things like Live support as a significant factor for example, since online gaming in either a free or subscription based form has yet to catch on with anyone beyond a core 10% of gamers on these platforms.

You're missing the point entirely. The 6 bullet items I posted are the reasons i gave collectively... we can nitpick and debate back and forth but it's a more realistic view than the avg GAF zealot (sorry) with an agenda. Mainstreamers now have BROADBAND (in the USA certainly) and have FREE silver (or whatever it's called) to see marketplace, free demos, etc. I didn't say every casual will play online gaming exclusively to clarify.

Further a worldwide launch is of little consequence to the mainstream because they're not the ones who run out to buy a newly launched system in droves. They'll wait for months or years anyway.

It is a factor in being a great launch. Buzz in USA, JPN, Europe far exceeds buzz in one country with a horrendous launch another (ie. PS2 in jpn vs usa)

Wide appeal that has already been tapped in large part in some cases by releases of the game on multiple platforms already and without the $10 markup that the X360 iteration may have. Some of those game iterations will be definitely be forgettable in comparison to next year's iterations/sequels when developers are more focused on making next-gen games for next-gen hardware.

You're missing the big picture trying to prove your point, which seems to usually be pro-Sony might I add. All these games are in HD for the first and are not shovelware. If they were released 10 times before (15+ in case of madden on consoles) that is not relevant to best launch ever since they have great appeal.

Just to be clear, this isn't one of your alleged "mainstream picks" is it? After all, you've been pretty vocal in Blu-ray/HD-DVD threads about the mainstream audience not being able to appreciate what higher resolution brings to visual clarity, so I assume you wouldn't be changing your tune for the mainstream gamer, right?

Notice i didn't list HD originally and that was for a reason... it was more the inevitable not a reason for best launch ever... the cherry on top

I agree that HD in and of itself is not "mainstream" in households and is not one of the resons 360 is the best launch ever. HD certainly will create buzz among casuals (ie. kiosks where people play 360 (and eventually PS3)) which will help followup to the best launch ever.

 

[P90]

Nope. Didn't convince me to buy one at launch.

 

[cubicle47b]

If Oblivion had made it out this year it would be the best launch ever (to me, obviously). As is, it's merely good. A little better than the PSP launch (which was also quite good).

The Dreamcast launch is overrated. The next fall was fantastic, however. I went from three games to around 15 in 4 months and it made the weak PS2 lineup at launch look extremely sad.

 

[davis]

No

the games are geared too much to xbox1 ppl which is good but they really want to have the best evar they really need to be better games. If this is the best ever I feel sorry for gaming, nice hype though.