Perfect Dark to be 360's Halo

[Mochan]

MS looks like they're positioning Perfect Dark to be their killer ap.

http://www.xbox360news.com/Blogs/News/hqs/blr_587.aspx

“If you take one thing away from this conference, then it must be that Perfect Dark Zero will be to 360 what Halo was to the original Xbox,”

What do you guys think? Will it have the ability to take the number one title and drive system sales?

[ThaMaskedGamer]

I certainly think that MS is positioning the game that way, that is clear. But as of today not enough is known about the game. We know it is a shooter, we know its a prequel, we know you can 50 people online with good quality, but that is not enough to say it will be a killer game. Not enough is known about the play mechanics and any improvements over current shooters aside from graphics. Indeed, graphics have been called into question by them pulling the game from E-3. One thing is for certain, a HUGE HUGE marketing campaign is going to be needed to bring this game anywhere near the levels of anticipation that surrounded Halo. I think a lot of people, like myself, are looking forward to 360, but not PD:0,

I'm more interested in as a shooter, GR-3, and other than that Oblivion. It will take a lot for PD0 to bump either of those two games. Particularly with Farcry and Half-life2 still lingering around as quality shooters on the XBOX, and presumably playable on 360. Given MS' faith in the game, you have to assume the game is going to be better than Halo2, Doom3, Halflife2, Farcry, I mean you have to assume the game is going to be better than any XBOX FPS, and maybe MS knows the answer to that, and that is why they have so much faith in the game. I don't really think they would make a dude game the cornerstone of their launch. I mean, they have backed some dude games, as have all console manufacturers, but MS wouldn't seemingly back a dude at launch. And that is the only thing that gives me a little hope the game must be great.

The article you referenced said we won't be hearing anything about Halo3. I think that is good. I don't want to hear about Halo3. Don't do what Sony is doing, talk about and show tech demos of games that are years away, just to drum up excitement. If the game isn't close and you don't have any real game footage to show, then I don't want to hear about Halo3. But, I guess, given the response to the MetalGear tech demo movie, maybe that is what MS needs to do. I guess anything goes now a day in marketing. Sony can't even tell you if US consumers will be get the console in Spring. I don't care about the Japanese launch date. I'm not flying to Tokyo to stand in line to buy a region specific console. But clearly, they want to drag American consumers on to take the focus away from a product that is ready, only to announce in Spring, well US consumers wait till XMAS '06 or Spring '07. If it was MS doing this kinda stuff, they get all kind of flak.

[Mochan]

They are definitely going to pump a lot of cash into the marketing for this one; apparently we can expect the blitz next month.

Perfect Dark itself, having neverplayed the original games on the N64 I have no idea how the game plays. I know people praise it but I honestly have no idea how it compares to a typical PC shooter, and of course I am sure you know I am skeptical about it.

Naturally I am more interested in Ghost Recon 3 as well. The shooters on the 360 that I am most interested in are GR3 and CoD2, with Quake 4 placing last.

BTW what do you mean by a "Dude game"?

As for drumming up excitement, MS really, really needs to show game footage. Whether you are an XBot or a Milkdrinker, I don't think it's contestable that Sony is owning MS in the PR and hype department, and hype plays a major factor in the psyche war. MS needs to bite back whether it is with actual games to be released (this is the best option to take) or a game a year away, anything they just need to show that the 360 has things to be excited over.

I don't think this should be too hard; with games like GR3, CoD2, Q4 and UT2K7 there should be enough powerful games to wow a crowd using footage. What is MS doing? Taking the smug silent route and waiting to wow and shutup its detractors when the actual games ship? That has its impact to and gives a "In your Face" thing to Sony but I wish they'd put a little more effort into it. Sony is really just making them look bad.

[Superior Beatslayer]

They are definitely going to pump a lot of cash into the marketing for this one; apparently we can expect the blitz next month.

Perfect Dark itself, having neverplayed the original games on the N64 I have no idea how the game plays. I know people praise it but I honestly have no idea how it compares to a typical PC shooter, and of course I am sure you know I am skeptical about it.

Naturally I am more interested in Ghost Recon 3 as well. The shooters on the 360 that I am most interested in are GR3 and CoD2, with Quake 4 placing last.

BTW what do you mean by a "Dude game"?

As for drumming up excitement, MS really, really needs to show game footage. Whether you are an XBot or a Milkdrinker, I don't think it's contestable that Sony is owning MS in the PR and hype department, and hype plays a major factor in the psyche war. MS needs to bite back whether it is with actual games to be released (this is the best option to take) or a game a year away, anything they just need to show that the 360 has things to be excited over.

I don't think this should be too hard; with games like GR3, CoD2, Q4 and UT2K7 there should be enough powerful games to wow a crowd using footage. What is MS doing? Taking the smug silent route and waiting to wow and shutup its detractors when the actual games ship? That has its impact to and gives a "In your Face" thing to Sony but I wish they'd put a little more effort into it. Sony is really just making them look bad.
Perfect Dark was probably the best N64 game I've ever played, if it ever somehow went online, I think you'd have played it. The variety of options compares to those of 2k4, and it DEFINATELY had a **** load of weapons, heck there was even a vehicle in the game, and lots of things to keep you coming back to the game, target practice, challenges...etc.

If rare takes the same approach to Perfect Dark:0, I think the game will be very good indeed,

[Gadfly2317]

Perfect Dark was probably the best N64 game I've ever played, if it ever somehow went online, I think you'd have played it. The variety of options compares to those of 2k4, and it DEFINATELY had a **** load of weapons, heck there was even a vehicle in the game, and lots of things to keep you coming back to the game, target practice, challenges...etc.

If rare takes the same approach to Perfect Dark:0, I think the game will be very good indeed,

There was also a massive amount of customizable bot options in both solo and multiplayer modes. This is where next-gen AI could shine, but aren't most xbox games skipping these kind of features now so people will play Live?

[ThaMaskedGamer]

Yeah I meant DUD game, not dude.

I can't say what they should do in terms of marketing. I mean I know what I would do. I would stoop to the level of my competition. But maybe MS is saving that for holiday '06 when PS3 actually gets to America. Maybe they aren't pushing too much behind Japan, cause they know the Japanese consumers arent going to buy 360. I mean, really, no matter what they do, its not gonna be supported. So I think they are continuing to focus on launch. They got a lot of things to do before 11/22 and maybe TGS just isn't as important as being ready on launch day.

They really don't have to prove much at TGS, in reality. Its like boxers getting into a fight at the weigh-in or a press conference. Why? You will actually be fighting each other the next day. So for MS, why do all of this, when in a few months, real games will be available for real gamers. Not saying that's how I would necessarily approach it, but that is probably how they are approaching it. Also, never forget, that if MS promises something and doesn't deliver, the anti-fans go into attack mode. Sony and Nintendo can afford to promise the world and never deliver, nobody ever cares when they don't deliver.

In the end, it will be the games that speak for themselves. And maybe those who are barking now won't be barking as loud or have a different bark when it comes time to show some real games.

[ThaMaskedGamer]

There was also a massive amount of customizable bot options in both solo and multiplayer modes. This is where next-gen AI could shine, but aren't most xbox games skipping these kind of features now so people will play Live?

With this game I understand two people can play cooperatively though the main story, online. I also understood that they were going to allow something similar to cooperative story mode, where the 2nd person plays the bad guy, not sure if this made the cut. I hear all the weapons from the N64 game are here and they all have primary and secondary fire modes as well as a melee attack. There are jet packs in the game too.

I don't know about bots. Yeah, most live players prefer playing live opponents, guess that is why they call it XBOX 'LIVE'. But, others such as myself, prefer playing cooperatively. I don't really hear many LIVE users clamoring for bots. So, they have frag and cooperative gaming covered in terms of online.

Still not sure I'll get the game. I like what they are doing. But I prefer objective based military shooters that require teamwork. I am actually sick of this gen's military shooters. Rainbow6 Lockdown, I just traded it back in. It wasn't bad, in fact, it seemed better than Black Arrow. But it was just too similar I couldn't do it any more. So, I am hoping that GR3 will really really push military shooters. I'll keep my on PD0, if I get 360 i'm sure at some point, maybe when it hits platinum status at $20 bucks i'd get it.

[Mochan]

I think MS is pushing really hard in Japan. As hard as they can. Their quest for Japanese support (where there was almost none previously) looks like a herculean effort. And then there's the news of the Japanese SKU being a lot better than the American SKUs. I don't know I feel like MS is giving Japan preferential treatment to America this time around.

Looks like MS is content to just let the games speak for themselves though, unlike Sony. I think Waco posted a thread about how the playable games wowed the Japanese market to increase their interest in the 360.

Now while I do enjoy fragging and deathmatches like the next joe (especially when I was still good at them, LOL), I do also enjoy coop almost equally. And in many ways, coop can be more fun.

I can understand how you might be sick of Rainbow Six Lockdown, all the R6 games pretty much play like each other. Ghost Recon is a different matter, though. Have you ever played the original Ghost Recon on the PC? (not that junk you got on the XBox GR2). If GR:Advanced War fighter managed to keep the same wide-expansive feel as that game, then I'm sure you'll have a great time with it. Ghost Recon blew me away back in 2001 (or was it 2002, whatever) and I was a hardcore Rainbow Six fan throughout college (we used to "party" 4-6 hours a night after classes). After Ghost Recon, R6 just didn't have that 'zing' anymore. When Ravenshield came out a few years later, it seemed like a boring game in comparison.