I purposely held off from buying a PS2 because I wanted to compare the last three consoles side by side. They only side by side comparison I\'m going to get is E3 in May. Who ever has the best of show between MS and Sony (rumor is that MS is trying to get twice the floor space as Sony) is who I\'m probably going to support. GameCube is out of the question for now because my funds are limited.
I\'d like to quell the arguments that Xbox is a mini-PC and a dumping ground for PC ports. Well, first of all what\'s wrong with a PC? One must agree that if all the overhead that is used for business applications are stripped from a PC and it is fully optimized for gaming that it would be the best game system ever. A PC with no boot sequence, huge OS and hard drive defragmentation and was fully optimized for gaming would be a...a game console. A high-end PC without all the PC hassles is really the ideal gaming platform. It\'s easy to develop for and has all the advantages of primary storage (HDD).
If you\'re going to make the argument that the Xbox is a jr-PC, then so is the PS2. It has USB (PC USB ports--Xbox has customized ones), FireWire(found only on high-end PC\'s), and a bolted-on hard disk. Gasp!! That makes PS2 more of a PC than the Xbox. Hell, Sony is even calling it a "computer entertainment" system. Anything wrong with that? Not to me. However, fanboys calling the Xbox a jr-PC should realize that PS2 is more of a jr-PC than the Xbox.
As far as PC ports go, ddaryl and the others answered elegantly. However, I would like to add my two cents. All consoles
WILL have PC ports, like it or not. Unreal Tournament for the PS2 is a PC port. Half Life for the PS2 will be a PC port. There\'s even talk of Giants: Citizen Kabuto being ported to the PS2. Is that bad? HELL NO! All those games I listed are excellent products that will add to the PS2\'s growing library. I don\'t have a problem with this and neither should anyone else. However, I don\'t care for crappy ports of crappy PC games and I think ports to game consoles should have extras to make it more worthy of a purchase.
Microsoft has been adamant about this. There will be no crappy PC ports to the Xbox. If there are PC ports (which I\'m sure there will be), they will be enhanced for the Xbox with Xbox-only features. Microsoft has stated that it will not accept shovelware so you can be sure that only the best of the best PC titles will ever show up on the Xbox. Whether or not Sony has the same policy is unknown. Judging by the crap they allowed on the PSX, I don\'t think so. To each his own. If Sony wants quantity over quality, so be it. They\'ll have more than a few gems like the PSX had.
So in short, PS2 is more of a PC than the Xbox will be and ALL consoles will have PC ports. So if you don\'t want PC ports, go waste quarters in an arcade because there isn\'t going to be a console that fits your tastes. One more thing. If there is more than one version of a game that spans multiple platforms, is it a port? Is Madden 2001 on the PS2 a "port" of the PS2 version? Is Madden 2001 on the PSX a "port" of the N64 version? I don\'t think so. Is Madden 2002 for the Xbox a port of the PS2 version? You answer that one. Some have said that "I won\'t buy a game console just because one version of the game is shinier than the other!" Well then why did you buy the PS2 version of Madden rather than the PSX version? Wasn\'t it because the PS2 version was "shinier"? Thank you. Face it, people buy new game consoles because the graphics are better. Plain and simple. End of story. Most of you shelled out $300 (or more) for a PS2 because you wanted better graphics. If not, you would have stuck to your trusty PSX. Admit it. There\'s nothing wrong with buying a system because the graphics look prettier than another version\'s.
Games that the Reverend is looking forward to:
- Munch\'s Oddysee
- EA Sports Offering
- SSXX
- Halo
- MGSX
I\'ll buy the system with the "shiniest" games!--ReverendXbox 2001.
Hey, it\'s my new signature. I\'ve found peace with Sony and have realized that the PSX was just paving the way for the PS2. Sony couldn\'t launch PSX as a do-everything machine because people wouldn\'t buy. They had to build a name in the video game community before they could do the other stuff. PSX accomplished that and now PS2 is set to fulfill their original purpose: Unite All Forms of Entertainment Into One. I may not agree with that philosophy, but they have my blessings. If PS2 impresses me at E3 more than Xbox, I\'ll get one. End of Story.