[richard plumb]

Just my 2p (and all my own opinion of course).

If you don't have any consoles, buy a PS2. Its the safe bet, already has some great games, developers getting to grips with the machine now, it'll still be the market leader at the end of this generation so support is guaranteed.

If you already have a PS2, then I'd recommend a Gamecube. Its cheap, and the price isn't likely to drop short term by a large amount. It will be the only host to some fantastic Nintendo games, and it should complement the PS2's lineup nicely.

Xbox will be nice, but the high price means at least a £70-£100 price drop by Christmas, and its not going anywhere yet.

Richard,

Your comments about the XBOX price drop will probably be right. But the same comments applied to PS2 just prior to its launch and thats exactly what happened. In my experience the only thing that has ever sold a new platform is its potential, PS1 and PS2 both had great potential and went on to exploit it. Time will tell if XBOX and Gamecube fulfill their potential, but from what I've seen of XBOX I'd say it will hit the ground running in Europe.

[thestorm]

Richard

Interesting point of view, but the games on the ps2 are not as
good as the xbox. they're very good but they don't come
anywhere as good as as the xbox games. I really wish it was the
other way round as i had great fun on my ps1 from day1.
But i don't want to buy a ps2 just for gta3 & mgs2.
(both mediocre games, I heard mgs2 is just a click through cgi movie).
When deep in my heart i know i want jsrf,doa3,pgr,halo.
They're all tottaly excellent games.
The xbox is priced at a "fair" point. You should consider it's
specification too. By the time you upgrade the ps2 it all gets very
expensive and "cluttered". u'll have bits of hardware all over the place.

I don't pay attention to the cost of these things.
As I want quality... and if u want quality u have to pay for it.
Else just buy a ps2\game cube if u want a cheap and cheerful bargain.


Cya,
Shaz

[M0T]

Wow, thats got to be the best disguised fanboy post I have seen in a while. Having played all the games on the Xbox, the only game that I didn't feel that I had already played was Halo, and I am not going to buy a console that has 1 game that is actually any different from games I already have.

The PS2 started with a range of titles that were mediocre to poor but is now being fleshed out with much better ones like MGS and Final Fantasy etc so has a lot of games going for it and is a safe bet to buy.

The Gamecube Started with a range of good titles but lacked the AAA title that many were hoping for. The gamecube's prospects are also looking good with Mario, Zelda, Resident Evil and now the Final Fantasy series etc heading to the console it looks now as though this could be more succesful than most had thought and is also a pretty safe bet to buy, although some may be irrated by the current lack of games (its as though they released it to get it out whereas a lot of the big titles wont be out until may/june time)

The Xbox came out with a AAA title a decent game and some ok games, but like the Gamecube and PS2 before hand it wasn't a spectacular launch. At the moment Xbox doesn't have the all star line of the PS2 and even the gamecube but has a few potential AAA titles (Project Ego et al) and THPS3 is coming out on it , which is never a bad thing. The Xbox obviously comes out on top in terms of features (DVD, broadband hardrive etc) and also technical merit, but its also the most expensive of the 3 and wont win any awards for its size.

For me, I'd go with either the PS2 or Gamecube. The PS2 is guaranteed success because of the PS1 and so has a good selection of games coming out for it. The Gamecube, is nintendo, this therefore guarantees quality it now has Resident evil exclusivity(except online RE) and Square support. The Xbox will be a great system if it can last until this time next year, which will give a lot of the companies the confidence to put their games on the platform, although it is worth noting that its not doing too well in japan, mainly to do with the Zenophobia of the Japanese m,ore than anything else though.

Just wanted to share my opinion on this, I've owned a PS2 and I've owned a gamecube and I've sold both of them. Graphically they are very disappointing and didn't even come close to PC games but the X-box is a different story altogther. It not only matches it surpasses what a decent PC can do (at least for the moment) without all the PC hassles of setup/configuration. I don't see the point of buying a PS2 or a Gamecube when I am perfectly happy with the X-box and the games out and coming out for it. If one decent game comes out for the X-box every month or 2 months that's all I need (quality over quantity). The Gamecube is a kiddy machine, there's no avoiding that fact, ok Star Wars rogue leader would appeal to the masses as would Resident Evil but overall it's aimed at a younger market than the PS2 and X-box and when I had one and saw the graphics of Rogue Leader and Super Monkey Ball and compared them to Halo on the X-box there was no way I could live with the Gamecube after that.
Given the choice between having an X-box or having a PS2 and a Gamecube I'd go for the X-box any day and I can't understand anyone that wouldn't to be honest (unless they hadn't seen them all in action I guess).

Cheers
Andy

[richard plumb]

Firstly, you shouldn't buy a console for graphics.

Having said that, recent PS2 games are really getting some nice graphics (ICO and MGS2 are amazing looking).

Gamecube also has a really good image quality - rogue leader and Super Smash Brothers are good examples.

Sure, Xbox has some graphics muscle, but so did Dreamcast compared with PS1 and N64, and it didn't make any difference.

Its down to the games, and the marketing. (if it was just down to the games then the Dreamcast would be No.1 right now).

PS2 has an unassailable lead IMO. If you can only buy one console, that would be my first recommendation. You can take a risk on the Xbox, but it is a gamble. If sales don't stay high and 3rd parties don't stay loyal, then it can quite easily do a dreamcast and disappear in a few years.

I'm not saying it'll happen, but its clearly a riskier prospect than PS2. Several of us will most likely own all three, or at least two of them, so we shouldn't let our buying pattern cloud the reality of the situation.

[jon smith]

I had a PS2 and then bought a US Gamecube. After about 6 weeks the GC just sat there collecting dust, with no games on the horizon to catch my attention. So I sold it and bought an Xbox, which I hadn't even considered as an option before.

The XBox is a great machine, with great games. Halo is better than anything I have played on the PS2 (including GTA3) and certainly better than the GC launch games. But even then, my time is being taken up with Max Payne, Oddworld and the like. Jet Set Radio is an amazing game for the Xbox, better than the DC original by miles.

My PS2 will be sold as soon as ISS2 comes out for the Xbox.

The XBox is being called the next Dreamcast, which is no bad thing in my opinion. It is certainly the console that is taking up all my time.

I'm sure I will be called a fanboy for saying the Xbox is the best machine (it seems you can't actually stand up for the XBox without being called one).

john

[M0T]

You can't stand up for any console without being called a fanboy, however a true fanboy is someone who won't even try another console or makes beiled bashes against another.

To the guy who says that PS2 & Gamecube don't look better than the PC, do you own a cray supercomputer, or did you Hijack deep blue? If you have a normal desktop PC then the Graphics on all 3 of the consoles are far better. Unless you hooked up your consoles with composite cables, in which case the PC probably would look better, but then thats your fault for not having a TV which supports Svid or higher.

[Rock Da Bass]

Originally posted by zAndy1
The Gamecube is a kiddy machine

LOL

As opposed to what? A wordprocessor?

Seriously, you don't think games like Mario, Zelda, Waverace etc have appeal for adults? We don't all want to play endless Doom clones.

RDB

Most new PC's come with fairly decent graphics nowadays but if you have an old one you will be looking at £150 for a card to get up to console standard. Then of course you will need more memory or the game will keep stopping while the HDD kicks in. You will also need a (very long in my case) TV out lead and audio leads to connect to the TV and that's before you get the controller over to the sofa.

Let's face it a console is just a much better bet for the money whatever the make of it. I saw an Xbox on demo in Currys the other day and was mighty impressed with Project Gotham. Not as big as I had feared either. I will have one to replace my PSX. In my opinion the PS2 was not a big enough jump to make it worth changing.

S

[richard plumb]

Of course (just to play devil's advocate with myself ), if Xbox does well over the next year or so, it could reduce the risk of ownership and become a legitimate first choice console.

doesn't stop Sony running away with it this generation, but it'll give Microsoft a good foundation for the next generation. And hopefully provide the impetus for Sony to take the plunge and stick a CELL in the PS3 and make it crazy powerful.