It Just Hit Me, This November Will Be Huge For Gamers In North America!!!

DirectXbox, posted this at http://forums.msxbox.com/showthread.php?postid=171116#post171116

I was just sitting around thinking when it hit me: This November is going to be huge. I mean, barring WWIII or a huge natural disaster, the week of November 5th 2001 will be huge for videogaming. Both the Xbox and GameCube launches will be monumental events. Microsoft will be advertising through Taco Bell and Nintendo most likely grab up McDonalds. Along with magazine ads and TV spots, the public will be saturated with Xbox and GCN. It will be a couple of months before Christmas so people will be getting their shop on and it will be all over the news. Local and national. I can see local news networks warning parents to have their preorders in by a certain time and tips on how to make sure you get a GC at launch. Later that week, they will interview people camping out in front of game retailers waiting for the Xbox. There will be more people there than systems available and it will cause some tensions...extra officers will be needed to calm the crowds. I can imagine going to Wal-Mart and seeing Nintendo and Microsoft trying to one-up each other. Nintendo will have a big GCN banner with the logo under the Walmart sign just as you pull into the parking lot. Then Microsoft will meet you with a big Xbox banner hanging from the front of the store. Xbox and GameCube will have to share the November issues of the game magazines since they launch the same week. With all of that exposure, each console will in effect be advertising for each other. Every time a news station mentions the GameCube the Xbox will come up and vice versa. Everytime an Xbox commercial comes on TV you can bet someone will think, "the GC\'s coming out too!" I myself never witnessed two consoles launch in the same month and watching Nintendo and Microsoft battle it out with advertising cash will be half the fun.

I know I sound a little too enthusiastic, but I just watched the three fanfest Halo videos and the Luigi\'s Mansion video and the casual gamer in me got excited. I wanted both of them. A friend of mine will be getting the GCN and I and a friend of mine will be getting the Xbox. When a store in a medium sized city has over 150 Xbox preorders before ONE ad is put up, you can\'t help but be excited. How in the hell can someone walk in Babbage\'s, play at an Xbox kiosk and then play at a Cube kiosk and then buy a PS2? I don\'t see that happening. I don\'t see a casual gamer walking into Babbage\'s and saying, "Wow, GCN and Xbox graphics rock, but they don\'t have a 10 million userbase and Square making games for them!" I don\'t see that happening, because the casual gamer is attracted by what he or she sees.

GCN will be the Furby this holiday season, and Xbox will be on a lot of older people\'s wishlist. I can say this because of what I saw at Walmart a few months ago. I overheard two non-gamer rednecks talking about the PS2. All they mentioned were graphics. "Bo, them graficks look good on that football game my boy has." Hell, they don\'t even know what the name of the football game is (it was Madden). All they talked about was graphics. I didn\'t hear any of them say, "Hey, bo, I like this here PS2 because they have Square and massive mindshare." PS2 fanboys may know that, but casual Joe doesn\'t.

Fence sitters who haven\'t plopped down their preorder, will soon regret it. Hey, if the Xbox and/or GameCube happen to suck at launch, you can always get your money back, right? But if you decide you want either console in November, if you don\'t have a preorder, then likely you\'ll be screwed. Anyone who hasn\'t purchased a PS2 by the time Xbox and GCN comes out are potential Xbox and GameCube buyers. I can say this because I just can\'t imagine someone stepping from playing DOA3 on an Xbox kiosk and stepping away from playing Rouge Squadron II on the GCN and then saying, "Those are nice, but I still want a PS2." I don\'t see it happening. Therefore the GCN and Xbox launches are going to be huge...no doubt.



How in the hell could a casual gamer walk past this and buy a PS2?

I wonder the same thing?????

Sorry but dosent really do much for me, its all eye candy from the neon lights to the empty game packages, PS2 and GameCube probably did the same thing.

Originally posted by TheOgodlyThing
I wonder the same thing?????

OGodly you are soooo right, I mean I\'m a Sony Playstation 2 owner but I\'m getting a X-Box becuz I love the games they have.

Do you really think a casual gamer will walk in a store see the X-Box and say "It\'s a nice system but Sony has 10 million plus users, and Square, so I want buy it".  If you think that, your brain is really screwed.

Originally posted by tHe GaMe
"Bo, them graficks look good on that football game my boy has." Hell, they don\'t even know what the name of the football game is (it was Madden). All they talked about was graphics. I didn\'t hear any of them say, "Hey, bo, I like this here PS2 because they have Square and massive mindshare."

That was very funny. I guess you have to picture two rednecks talking about Madden. For some reason I pictured Kid Rock and Cletus(From the simpsons).

Also that is a very well thought out post by DirectXbox; but allow me to play devil\'s advocate for a second. If the PS2 has the userbase then it will get the games. If it has the games, it will get the casual gamers. Plain and simple. Although for the most part I agree with the post except the statement about people just overlooking the PS2(I seriously do not see that happening).

BTW, Where is that pic from? Looks very cool. I want to visit and take stuff.

Originally posted by Gohan

That was very funny. I guess you have to picture two rednecks talking about Madden. For some reason I pictured Kid Rock and Cletus(From the simpsons).

Also that is a very well thought out post by DirectXbox; but allow me to play devil\'s advocate for a second. If the PS2 has the userbase then it will get the games. If it has the games, it will get the casual gamers. Plain and simple. Although for the most part I agree with the post except the statement about people just overlooking the PS2(I seriously do not see that happening).

BTW, Where is that pic from? Looks very cool. I want to visit and take stuff.

Go here:
http://www.xbox.com/news/0105/1601.htm

I wonder where he nicked that post from.

Originally posted by Samwise
I wonder where he nicked that post from.

DirectX-Box is the one who typed it @ MSXBOX.com forums.

Originally posted by tHe GaMe
DirectX-Box is the one who typed it @ MSXBOX.com forums.

Just for the record: I wasn\'t referring to you, but to DirectXbox and his original post.

Is that a real pic of all that XBOX stuff?? I mean where was that from?? If it\'s not don\'t mind me I\'ve been a little slow today...

Originally posted by KrillinX
Is that a real pic of all that XBOX stuff?? I mean where was that from?? If it\'s not don\'t mind me I\'ve been a little slow today...

Yes it is it\'s from the xbox.com site under e3 2001 recap.

Originally posted by tHe GaMe

How in the hell could a casual gamer walk past this and buy a PS2? [/B]

well some people are stupid and deserve a kicking ......... and thats why i was on the phone to bill to get him , to place armed gaurds at the stands, to drag the ones that slip past kicking and screaming to the X box stands.

It\'s going to be hard for the PS2, but I think they will pull through.  They will need to do some huge promotional things like the Xbox is doing (maybe Burger King or Karl\'s Jr. ).  They will need to advertise the great games coming out on the PS2 at the same time (MGS2 and Baldur\'s Gate).  They will also probably have to go to a warehouse that is storing the Xboxes and NGCs and burn them down.  Like I said, it will be hard, but I think Sony will do a great job against the two newer systems.

Well, I don\'t think anyone could just walk right by that display without looking at it.  Unfortunately, displays won\'t be that damn big.  They\'ll be about a third of that because there has to be room for PS2, GC, and XBox.

And I\'m sure when a casual gamer walks into Toys R\' US, EB, , it\'s going to look just like in that shot. :rolleyes: Yup, EB is going to be the \'Official X-Box store.\'

That shot looks nice, but the logic is flawed. I noticed tons of people playing the PS2 @ launch and still went off to buy a Dreamcast. And of course Sony is just going to sit back and not do anything w/their PS2 come this November right?

Hell, you\'re right though. November is going to be great. MGS2 and Shenmue II. Awesome.

- dm
- the trick is to keep breathing.