I got home today from the local videogame store with my third Xbox in hand. No, I don’t have three different Xboxes; this is just the third one I’ve owned. I picked up the first one at launch in a packaged deal which included Halo and some other games (please don’t ask about cost). I got the second one because I was thinking about modifying it. I assure you, at that point I had experienced minimal disc read errors with the launch box and they were usually solved by cleaning the disc. There was nothing wrong with my first Xbox; unlike my first PS2 that required replacing almost a month after launch (I’m not bashing, just speaking from experience). After a while I decided to forgo the cost of modifying a second Xbox and decided to do away with it, keeping the newer console of the two. So where does the third box come in?
Well, dear friends, recently Microsoft decided to treat gamers to a special edition Halo Xbox package that includes a translucent green Xbox, Halo and some Halo 2 footage. I immediately picked one up (I traded in my Xbox for it and I suggest you do it too. It’s a thing of beauty). On the way home I couldn’t help but think back to when I first picked up that package deal. I remember having to hurry to the game store to pick up this big, bulky unlikely console contender from Microsoft, which at that point was a complete newbie to the console gaming market.
Anyhow, in spite of all the Microsoft bashing that was happening at the time, I decided to pick one up. I ignored all the talk about how American consoles would never make it in this industry (yes, in spite of actual precedents set by companies such as Phillips and Panasonic). Most importantly, I ignored the one rumor that actually scared me. The Xbox was going to be nothing more than a PC game port machine. Rumors about how the box would only be supported by first party titles and Microsoft driven companies ran rampant online. At one point an employee at a local videogame retail store warned that I should not waste my time or money on an Xbox.
Well, it’s been a few years since launch, my TV has been graced by three different Xbox consoles and I have yet to play a noteworthy direct PC to Xbox port. Sure there are some games on the box that have been influenced by computer gaming and even some that were ported from PC originally, but how many of those would you say are worthy of setting a standard for the Xbox?. Games such as MechAssault (inspired by the MechWarrios series), the Unreal(s), Soldier of Fortune 2, Mafia and others undoubtedly have ties to PC games, but none of those games, in my humble opinion, are games that sell Xboxes.
Instead gamers got titles like Halo, Project Gotham Racing, and Splinter Cell. These titles were developed specifically for the big green gaming machine and have since set the standard for their respective genres across all systems. Though Halo was at first going to be developed for PC, it was reworked, retooled and rebuilt to shine on the black behemoth as a whole new console first person shooter. It is now the standard against which all console first person shooters are measured. Project Gotham Racing was Microsoft’s answer to the Gran Turismo series on Sony’s machines; and what a resounding statement it was! Better still, the Splinter Cell series was developed exclusively for the Xbox (at first) to take advantage of the machine’s true processing prowess. Now the Splinter Cell series is the absolute definition of stealth action. Earlier this year, gamers were once again treated to yet another Xbox exclusive. Tecmo’s masterpiece Ninja Gaiden (originally of NES fame) proved that the Xbox is not only a first person shooter whore as many have maintained. Instead it showed how action games can be so versatile, creative, deep and beautiful on the box. Again, a new standard is set by an Xbox exclusive.
Perhaps most notable is the fact that while there have been advances in computer gaming (isn’t there always some advance every six months?) the Xbox has managed to stay afloat in an industry full of veterans without having to call the home office for back-up from its computer colleagues. Sony is now in its sophomore year; Nintendo is still the grand-daddy of them all and Sega turned into the “guy behind the guy.†Meanwhile the Xbox continues to put out original, quality titles without having to draw on its Microsoft game library for resources. Where are all the Tycoon games or the Age of Empire-style titles? Where is Microsoft’s famed flight simulator series? Not in my library, I can tell you that.
I will not deny that Microsoft has draw from its computer gaming background. Quite the contrary, it has. However, it has done so only in the interests of bringing its best qualities to the console market. Take into consideration the Xbox Live service. It is, by far, the most thought out and well developed online service on any console to date. Sony’s “free†online services won’t cost you a penny (with most games) and Nintendo’s will cost you even less (ha!), but remember you get what you pay for. You won’t find the same support across games with your online service on any other console. Perhaps that is why Xbox live membership has hit well over 750,000 gamers worldwide. That puts Xbox Live membership well on its way to the 1 million mark by June this year. Not bad for a rookie in the console market. That figure becomes much more impressive when you consider that the bulk of those numbers can be spread across many different games, many of which were not PC ports. Counter Strike, Soldier of Fortune 2 and Rainbow Six: 3 have to share online elbow room with Xbox original titles like Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Project Gotham Racing 2 and soon, the much anticipated, overly delayed, Halo 2 (sigh).
In the end computer gamers have also gained from Microsoft’s experience in the console market. After having ported over Xbox versions of Halo and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to PC, for example, the PC gaming community has enjoyed some truly unique games with a hint of console flavor. Now-a-days it’s become harder and harder to find a big name title that hasn’t been developed with a console or PC iteration in mind and vice versa. Furthermore, Microsoft’s new development platform, XNA, will make it even more difficult to separate the two (Xbox 2 and PC). It will no longer be a case of whether the chicken or the egg came first, but rather which one tastes better.
After three years of gaming with Microsoft’s kid wonder I have yet to find a reason to put down the controller.
