From: Victor Ireland - view profile
Date: Mon, Jul 23 2001 12:38 pm
Email: virel...@nospam.com (Victor Ireland)
Groups: rec.games.video.sony
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In article <bzX67.35166$k33.3353...@typhoon.kc.rr.com>, s...@wi.rr.com says...


> Ouch, I don't know who did the circulation, but if this becomes true sony is
> in big trouble.

> I just don't know how MS is going to pull this off thou....


> http://www.fgnonline.com/xbox/news/19331.html


> check it out.



Considering that Microsoft has ZERO games that any large sector of the gaming public is
excited about AND have even LESS to appeal to mainstream audiences in any kind of appreciable
number, and these projections are quite laughable. 5 Million the first year? Maybe that's a
sold IN number, with at least 3.5 million left sitting in warehouses or on the shelf.

The general consensus was that E3 was a disaster for Microsoft X-BOX. Even those that went
in hyped for stuff like Halo had to admit that their showing was less than impressive, and
actually somewhat DEpressing. No real XBOX units to play on, huge, unwieldy controller,
and dull mostly-boring selection of software with BAD framerate problems in stuff like Halo,
which should have been silky-smooth.


Anyway, I think the increasing numbers for launch and post-launch from their PR dept is just
setting the bar so high there is bound to be disappointment in whatever is actually sold
through in the US, which is supposed to be their key market, since their Japanese launch is
widely expected to be DoA. Whatever happens, it'll be fun to watch - especially if you're
Nintendo or Sony.


--
Don't Believe the Hype -
Vic

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From: Victor Ireland - view profile

Yeah? What happened when one of the largest companies in electronics ($17 Billion in 1988
dollars) got into games in the late 80's? Remember the Turbografx? That was backed by NEC,
who thought that making the machine more than twice as big as its Japanese counterpart would
make Americans like it better. The size of the company backing it should have no bearing on
your purchase. Are the games you want THERE NOW. If not, hold on to your cash or buy
something else. Worst case scenario, the machine will be cheaper when you buy it later when
it already has the games you want.

It also has no more real-world technological advantage than Gamecube or Playstation 2. I
played all three at E3, and I own a PS2 and Gamecube already. XBOX has no discernable
advantage over those graphically, and in fact, most if not all the games looked WORSE than
the stuff on Gamecube and Playstation 2. If you're talking about the Hard disc, 8GB ain't
gonna do much. It might as well be a memory card.


--
Don't Believe the Hype -
Vic

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From: Victor Ireland - view profile
Date: Thurs, Aug 30 2001 2:05 pm
Email: virel...@nospam.com (Victor Ireland)

> > We've got some PS2 and other things in the works but no announcements yet.

> Hey Vic, how's it feel to be proven completely wrong about the XBOX?
> MS is throwing money at Japanese developers, and they're getting a ton
> of top-notch Japanese games. Sony will never have another exclusive!
> MS can simply say, "Whatever Sony's paying you for the exclusive
> rights, we'll double it." And they will!



Let's talk in 18 months. All the non-vaporware XBOX titles suck or are coming out on PS2
already, so there's nothing to crow about, unless you think forcing retailers to create
packages that put the XBOX at $499 to START is a plus.

--
Don't Believe the Hype -
Vic

Click to expand...

From: Victor Ireland - view profile
Date: Tues, Apr 2 2002 4:31 pm
Email: virel...@nospam.com (Victor Ireland)
Groups: rec.games.video.sony, rec.games.video.sega, rec.games.video.nintendo

- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

> The weekly Credit Suisse First Boston report for the period of 3/17
> through 3/23 (Adobe .PDF) has been posted on the net. The report
> gives details for investors on just how publishers and console makers
> are doing in the US market, minus the spin. It appears that all 3
> home consoles are still selling at or above expectations.

> GBA - 100,000 units, installed base at 5,814,000
> Playstation 2 - 63,000 units, installed base at 8,267,000 units
> Xbox - 30,000 units, installed base at 1,766,000 units
> GameCube - 28,000 units this week, installed base at 1,457,000 units


> --------------8< CUT HERE


> Victor Ireland, if you read this, care to share your thoughts on
> this? This is not flame-bait, I always enjoy your insighfull
> commentary as a game dev.


> I thought the Xbox would be selling better, makes me wonder if the
> "initial Xbox frenzy" has died.


> - Raist



XBOX was all about the launch. Actually, I've said it a number of times...XBOX did better
and Gamecube worse at launch than I expected. Looking at the next 9 months, I expect XBOX to
continue falling off and Gamecube to pick up steam once they actually start releasing games
we want to play instead of crap and ports. The only thing that's 100% certain is that Sony
has won this generation with PS2. They cannot be caught at this point. And the key thing to
remember is that the player that gets their network infrastructure working best this
generation will OWN the next generation, too. This gen is the staging area for connectivity
- the next gen's key feature.

- Vic

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But all is not lost. Even though they can't return the box, at least they can find
other uses for it. Japanese apartments are so small, they could probably use the XBOX as a
space heater on those cold Hokkaido winter nights if they leave it on. The power light would
also double as a nightlight! Bonus!


--
Don't Believe the Hype -
Vic

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CountZeroInt said:

Victor,

Why not make games on XBLA or Xbox 360? America needs a publisher that can take games like eM and translate/put polish on them

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demi said:

"Xbox is stillborn" -- Victor Ireland

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Vrolokus said:

Wow, I never knew Ireland was so vitriolic when it came to the Xbox.

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CountZeroInt said:

Victor,

Why not make games on XBLA or Xbox 360? America needs a publisher that can take games like eM and translate/put polish on them. We need to kick some of these Japanese devs in the rear and tell them "No, you don't have to spend $20 million on a game".

Click to expand...

Why is it whenever anybody mentions 2D gaming anymore, they assume that those games should automatically be distributed via online services? Aren't they good enough to share shelf space with REAL games anymore?

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meltpotato said:

suprising position coming from someone whose business suffered severely due to SCEA policies.

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CountZeroInt said:

Culdcept is your friend.

Spectral Force 3 too: http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20060117/sf.htm

And what about Zegapain XOR?

So many friends waiting for you to show up at their party. But seriously - I bought almost every Sega CD Working Designs game and miss those days of looking forward to the hardcore quality releases instead of endless PS2 fanboy drivel RPG shovelware equivalent crap. I want to be smacked up by an RPG, not watch some anime fanservice over and over.

Dave Z also called me and said he wants you to release Xbox games (or maybe he didn't).

PS Sorry for stepping on my Lunar case that one time, I switched it out with Robo Aleste's case and it looks pretty again now

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CountZeroInt said:

Sony is probably going to be more strongly against cheap 2D games than ever, but I'm sure lots of Japanese otaku still want to play them.

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jjasper said:

Wouldn't that make it a great sucess?

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AlanHemberger said:

Wow. he sounds absolutely retarded.

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HyperZone<3 said:

Why is it whenever anybody mentions 2D gaming anymore, they assume that those games should automatically be distributed via online services? Aren't they good enough to share shelf space with REAL games anymore?

Click to expand...

Wow, I never knew Ireland was so vitriolic when it came to the Xbox.

Click to expand...

suprising position coming from someone whose business suffered severely due to SCEA policies.

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CountZeroInt said:

Victor,

Why not make games on XBLA or Xbox 360? America needs a publisher that can take games like eM and translate/put polish on them. We need to kick some of these Japanese devs in the rear and tell them "No, you don't have to spend $20 million on a game".

Sony is probably going to be more strongly against cheap 2D games than ever, but I'm sure lots of Japanese otaku still want to play them. What about Falcom, they will run out of money before PS3 has a big enough installed base to support Ys sequels.

BUT your post history doesn't make you sound like much of an Xbox fan. How about you go to Microsoft and see what they are like? I think you would like them, they are a bunch of passionate folks. And they would like you. It could be like a big happy family of folks desperate to get good Japanese RPGs released.

bye
Your Xbox-fanboy nr. 1

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vireland said:

Nothing, and I mean *nothing* is completely static in this industry. It changes all the time. SEGA was WD's best friend, Sony wanted nothing to do with WD. Then over time, Sony staff shuffled over to SEGA and many SEGA staff went to Sony, and new blood came in. The SEGA relationship tanked, and then the platforms. The Playstation relationship blossomed, and we did a lot of great stuff. It happened to XBOX/PS2/PS3/X360 (worst->run for first), it's happening to PSP/DS. I *love* the potential for the PSP, but it's been absolutely butchered on the software front, while the DS started slowly and has really taken off. If you could freeze a set of people at a company and work with great people forever, that would be fantastic, but it just isn't the way it is. Companies change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. All the stuff that was said was true at the time it was said, but it changed - as things often do.

Aside from flamebait, what was the point of this thread?

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Skilotonn said:

Never heard of Victor Ireland, but he sounds like an idiot... I hope this isn't his day job, since he's not really that good at "predicting"...

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CountZeroInt said:

All I can say is Sega fanboys have long memories full of pain and trauma. DarienA doesn't want me to copy and paste his Usenet trolling either I'm sure.

I can't believe this site is going to be 10 years old soon:
http://segatech.com/

The saddest thing ever:

http://alwaysgame.com/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic_id=1&topic=SEGA Forum

First message: 2001-06-19 02:19:34-06
Most recent posting: 2006-06-12 14:00:18.214761-06

Hey! It's still alive! Oh wait a minute...

New Threads by Day
SEGA Forum : Threads by Day
Forum: SEGA Forum
June 12, 2006: 1
June 7, 2006: 1
June 6, 2006: 1
May 16, 2006: 1
May 15, 2006: 1
May 10, 2006: 1
May 9, 2006: 2
May 8, 2006: 4
May 5, 2006: 1
May 4, 2006: 2
May 3, 2006: 1
May 1, 2006: 1
April 27, 2006: 1
April 25, 2006: 2
April 23, 2006: 1
April 19, 2006: 2
April 15, 2006: 1
April 13, 2006: 1

Okay nevermind it's pretty much dead

Sega fans have good reason to be bitter

I don't think many people who are so positive about the state of the Sony dominated industry ever owned a Saturn or Dreamcast. Even Shidoshi from GameFan was a huge Dreamcast fan, I think the shock of its failure was really hard on a lot of us folks who've been playing games that long, picking up PS2 and moving on was fine but there's always been something missing...and it STILL is missing, so that's sort of what I'm getting it here.

I want to see Treasure and Radiant Silvergun 2 and Sylph from Square be a huge hit. I want to see Culdcept released in the states. I want to see RPGs taken away from the hands of sweaty 13 year olds and back to some happy medium that most people can enjoy. Which platform is going to offer the sort of Japanese games that aren't just metrosexual Gackt character showcases or samurai sword weilding movie stars and are more about having fun gameplay? From everything I've seen, it's not going to be PS3, it's not going to be 360, and it's not going to be the Wii either, so fans of what I'm describing are pretty much screwed.

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