BigSky
07-20-2001, 07:56 PM
From the A&M College Buying Guide, August 2001 iss:
Students facing major exams in November should be forewarned; both Nintendo and Microsoft will be debuting their new video-game consoles that month. Nintendo's $199 GameCube hits shelves November 5th. Three days later, Microsoft's $299 Xbox will enter the fray and further fracture the attention spans of college kids.
"Microsoft and Nintendo will really attract different audiences," says Billy Pidgeon of Jupiter Research, "with Microsoft going after some of the early adopters of Sony's Playstation 2." Pidgeon says Nintendo's lineup will appeal more to younger gamers and families.
Microsoft's Xbox seems poised to go after the hardcore gamer with a variety of action and sports titles including the eye-catching shooter Halo and the racing simulation Project Gotham Racing, not to mention an impressive upcoming lineup from EA sports.
Xbox, like Sony's Playstation, will also be able to play DVD movies, something Nintendo's GameCube cannot do.
"We didn't cut corners on our TV encoder," says J. Allard, general manager for Xbox at Microsoft, who cites the system's video capabilities including HDTV support, component video output, and real-time encoding for Dolby Digital sound.
For those seeking pure arcade-style gaming fun, Nintendo certainly won't disapoint. Long-time favorite Mario won't yet be returning for another solo adventure, but the favorite little guy will be a part of the ensemble cast of the fighting game Super-Smash Brothers, along with a few Pokemon characters. And Mario's brother finally gets his starring role. Poor Luigi, who normally plays second fiddle, gets top billing in Luigi's Mansion as ha inherits a stately home only to find out that he's got some ghostbusting to do to make the place suitable for the living.
Never before have two gaming systems been released in the same month, let alone the same week, so obtaining one or the other will almost certainly be a little easier than it was with the PlayStation 2. But you'll probably want to plan ahead to make up some lost hours.
--Peter Suciu
Students facing major exams in November should be forewarned; both Nintendo and Microsoft will be debuting their new video-game consoles that month. Nintendo's $199 GameCube hits shelves November 5th. Three days later, Microsoft's $299 Xbox will enter the fray and further fracture the attention spans of college kids.
"Microsoft and Nintendo will really attract different audiences," says Billy Pidgeon of Jupiter Research, "with Microsoft going after some of the early adopters of Sony's Playstation 2." Pidgeon says Nintendo's lineup will appeal more to younger gamers and families.
Microsoft's Xbox seems poised to go after the hardcore gamer with a variety of action and sports titles including the eye-catching shooter Halo and the racing simulation Project Gotham Racing, not to mention an impressive upcoming lineup from EA sports.
Xbox, like Sony's Playstation, will also be able to play DVD movies, something Nintendo's GameCube cannot do.
"We didn't cut corners on our TV encoder," says J. Allard, general manager for Xbox at Microsoft, who cites the system's video capabilities including HDTV support, component video output, and real-time encoding for Dolby Digital sound.
For those seeking pure arcade-style gaming fun, Nintendo certainly won't disapoint. Long-time favorite Mario won't yet be returning for another solo adventure, but the favorite little guy will be a part of the ensemble cast of the fighting game Super-Smash Brothers, along with a few Pokemon characters. And Mario's brother finally gets his starring role. Poor Luigi, who normally plays second fiddle, gets top billing in Luigi's Mansion as ha inherits a stately home only to find out that he's got some ghostbusting to do to make the place suitable for the living.
Never before have two gaming systems been released in the same month, let alone the same week, so obtaining one or the other will almost certainly be a little easier than it was with the PlayStation 2. But you'll probably want to plan ahead to make up some lost hours.
--Peter Suciu