PGR3 to miss 360 launch?

By Ellie Gibson Published 6 September, 2005

Believable rumour mills about.

Rumours are abounding that Bizarre Creations' Project Gotham Racing 3 might not make it as an Xbox 360 launch title after all.

At the European Game Developers Conference last week, associate producer Chris Pickford was asked how long the game had been in development and replied: "We're up to about month 19-20, something like that. It's a two year project."

So if you do the maths, that could of course imply that we won't see PGR3 on the shelves until Christmas at the earliest... And the 360 is famously rumoured to be launching in November. Hmm.

What's more, the team at Electronic Arts behind PGR3 rival Need for Speed: Most Wanted don't reckon the game will make it to the starting grid either. According to an article on TalkXbox.com, "Most everyone there at EAX doesn't expect PGR3 to make launch.

"Microsoft has apparently been giving EA all the help they can give with getting Most Wanted out at launch, and they wouldn't be doing that as much as they are if they had their own racing game ready for launch.

"Also, PGR3 is very ambitious, and from what they've seen it won't make launch," the article continues.

"Most of them expect it to be in the second wave of 360 titles, along with Gears of War."

Course, this is speculation on EA's part... But this isn't the first time we've heard rumours that PGR3 is slipping. Nothing's been confirmed and Microsoft was unavailable for comment at the time of writing, but we'll keep you posted.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (66) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Darkedge #1 7 years ago

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
    *dies*

  • Talha #2 7 years ago

    there goes 50% of the attraction of XBox 360 launch.

  • Darren #3 7 years ago

    I find it very amusing that EA claim that the reason that PGR 3 won't make launch is becuase it's 'very ambitious' yet their own Need For Speed: Most Wanted WILL make launch. So they are effectively admitting their own game lacks ambition!!!

    Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! lol

  • mr_chiquita #4 7 years ago

    EA, lack ambition?

    Naaaaaaah surely not!

  • space_ace #5 7 years ago

    so it begins.
    fingers crossed for Dead or 4live

  • Darkedge #6 7 years ago

    so with a month for mastering that means 22 months of 24 will have gone.. most possible. EA being twats I hope

  • bootsy_NL_30 #7 7 years ago

    ok I agree , 50 % of my intrest has dropped off for this console (for the next 4 months anyway) games consoles are luxury items,especially something like the 360, if it hasnt got a good starting lineup I'll wait
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 11:18

  • #8 7 years ago

    b0rked

  • Mr_Brown #9 7 years ago

    50%? So Elders Scrolls 4 Oblivion isnt good enough then? Or Perfect Dark Zero? What about Frame City Killer or Saints Row? And perhaps Final Fantasy XI or more importantly Dead or Alive 4.

    It would be nice to see PGR 3 come out on launch, but if it don't I won't be too fussed. In fact I'd be glad, might spare a bit of mercy to my bank balance.

    But to be honest, if all your interested in is one game for the system, I suggest you don't waste your money. If alot of these Launch titles don't interest you, nothing well.

  • Zomoniac #10 7 years ago

    It made me cry, but the positive side is I've been racking my mind over the last month asking myself "when I get it set up, do I dedicate my time to Kameo or PGR3, assuming both are wonderful?". As long as Kameo gets out on time it'll be ok. Plus there's DOA4, Oblivion, Perfect Dark, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Burnout which I will definitely pick up, and Full Auto and Saints Row which look interesting and I may get if reviews are promising or if a demo is available over Live.

  • drumbaby #11 7 years ago

    Cuz it's all about the gfx, after all....

  • Darren #12 7 years ago

    It's all very well buying a new graphics card for your PC, FluffyTucker, but it isn't just the GPU that makes great hardware and thus great games possible, it's the CPU too. I'm betting your PC doesn't have three PowerPC cores running at 3.2GHz each...

  • realworld666 Verified Lead Programmer, Fuzzy-Frog Games #13 7 years ago

    "Unless of course you can tell me something the 360 adds to gameplay that wasn't possible on the old hardware?"

    Improved AI due to faster spec hardware, more realistic physics, better framerate, larger amounts of enemy AI?

  • Gurgeh #14 7 years ago

    Gabe Newell posts again on the problems developers face for next-gen consoles

    http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?artic le_id=10480&filter=&rp=357

    "Xbox 360 doesn't make my life any better, and in fact, it makes it a lot worse, as you're telling me I can't count on having a hard drive"

    "Newell was equally harsh, if not more so, on Sony for its design of the PS3 architecture and programming environment. "There are incredibly few programmers who can safely write code in the PlayStation 3 environment. And I totally see why Sony wants people to write code that runs on seven SPEs and a central processing unit, because that code is never going to run well anywhere else," he said....
    "They're saying, 'Make your code not run on anything but one of our machines, and we're betting that we'll have market share that's so high that everybody will have to write code for our platform, and we'll just starve the air from the other platforms by absorbing everybody's R&D budget and making their code less portable.'"

  • jiveguy #15 7 years ago

    "Unless of course you can tell me something the 360 adds to gameplay that wasn't possible on the old hardware?"

    I'm sure the same argument was made during the last few generational transitions. No one is complaining now that they could have done without their PS2, that the PS1 was fine as it was. The innovations of a console should be judged at the end of its lifetime, not before it is released because we just dont know what developers will do with it until its done :)

  • Darren #16 7 years ago

    FluffyTucker - Why would Microsoft have used a triple PowerPC-core in the Xbox 360 if a cheaper single Athlon64 2.7GHz chip would have sufficed?

    The Xbox was far more powerful than an equivalent 733MHz PC with 64MB of RAM and a GeForce 3/4 graphics card that much is true yet they were the specs of the console! A console doesn't need to run a resource hungry operating system like a PC and PCs aren't exactly optimised to run games either. Thus a PC needs to be at least twice as powerful as an equivalent console to be able to do the same things. How many console games judder and jerk like PC games do on high settings?

    The developers of Oblivion have stated on record that the Xbox 360 is the best looking version simply because PC technology isn't good enough for it yet. Whether they are exaggerating or not remains to be seen but I'm inclined to believe them since they aren't affiliated directly with Microsoft.
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 12:29

  • kingmob #17 7 years ago

    I'm still getting one at launch but am now beginning to get REALLY edgy about launch titles.

    Surely a confirmed list has to appear soon... doesn't it?

  • oceanmotion #18 7 years ago

    Hope its not true but I why would you believe what a competitor like EA has to say. Seems daft.

    PGR3 is one of my picks for launch so I hope it makes it.

    The launch line up won't be announced till October probadly. MS is waiting to see if developers can actually make the first day launch. No point in making promises you can't keep and releasing sub par games. Also, there is a launch windows lasting weeks, months so there won't be a drought after launch day. So if games are not quite up to scratch they can delay and release a few weeks later.
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 12:37

  • The-Bodybuilder #19 7 years ago

    "Halo2 could have been done on a playstation1 with sprite characters and flat shaded environments".

    What? You mean the ps1 could have done the same physics and AI seen in halo 2? Along with keeping a steady frame rate and fast loading time?

    You don't know what you're on about.

  • JayG #20 7 years ago

    'The developers of Oblivion have stated on record that the Xbox 360 is the best looking version simply because PC technology isn't good enough for it yet. Whether they are exaggerating or not remains to be seen but I'm inclined to believe them since they aren't affiliated directly with Microsoft'

    Considering these are the clowns who developed Morrowind, I woudn't count on them knowing a lot about programming for PCs. Let's see what a Valve or Epic Games thinks.

  • #21 7 years ago

    " Boy, and people were complaining about the PSP launch line up."

    Erm atleast we dont have to wait almost a year, if one expected title is a little late no probs (although im sure PGR will arrive with the console) 1 game being delayed wouldnt upset me.

  • #22 7 years ago

    "Halo2 could have been done on a playstation1 with sprite characters and flat shaded environments".

    i think thats true, just like tekken5 was actually developed for the sega master system but they waited to release as they knew that in the future sony fanboys would buy it more on the ps2.

  • BadBoyBonner #23 7 years ago

    While EA might have a point in MS’s over zealous help, perhaps pointing to PGR3 not making launch another point could be made with a question and answer.

    What’s better than one driving game at launch? 2,3,4 etc add your own number.

    However, anyone remember the old classic killer app for Dreamcast, Metropolis Street racer? If memory serves me right it could have been somewhat delayed!!

    Bizzare Creations seem to have many talents, unfortunately a leading talent seems to be one of scheduling errors, on quite a large scale.

    While every sympathy goes out to the team for the sheer size and scope of the task, surely they are the authors of their own burden? Hopefully this will all turn out to be a load of fuss an nonsense; but if it doesn’t, I have a suggestion…..

    Put a couple of PGR3 tracks as a fully playable demo on the HardDrive allowing "live" play to all, giving the buyer something to play straight out of the box and getting them hooked “50 cent style” onto the game itself & "live", possibly even allowing people to purchase an extra course or part of a course etc to get in on the micro purchase philosophy.

  • glaeken #24 7 years ago

    So this news is based on an off the hand ambiguous comment made by a developer of PGR3 and comments made by a competitor. Wow what a scoop.
    Seriously could news stories get any more flimsy?

  • L42yB #25 7 years ago

    I am disappointed in you Eurogamer. This article is so full of sh*t it could fertilize the Sahara. If you ask ANY rep on the PGR team or Microsoft, I am sure they will tell you that PGR3 is still well on course to be an Xbox 360 launch title. However, you didn't ask anyone at Microsoft or anyone from the PGR team whether this would be the case, nooooooooo, you just went and published what EA had to say along with some vague comment from Chris Pickford. Why didn't you ask Chris if the game would still make launch? Because he would have said "Yes, it will", that's why. You guys are just driving a rumour mill when do stories like this.

    /loses just a little bit of respect for Eurogamer

  • davyuk #26 7 years ago

    Damn. PGR3 is why I bought an HDTV. Oh well, I'm sure PD will keep me busy for a few minutes...

  • HarryB #27 7 years ago

    i hope it is delayed so it isn't a bland launch title and they serve the series well and make all the features they want and have time to polish, nice one - it's not like i was gonna buy at launch anyway so i can wait till xmas to feb kinda time if thats what they want

  • tengu #28 7 years ago

    "/loses just a little bit of respect for Eurogamer"

    Of course you'll come back and apologise once this story does turn out to be true, right?

  • L42yB #29 7 years ago

    "Of course you'll come back and apologise once this story does turn out to be true, right? "

    It's Eurogamer that owes all of us the apology. How can they publish something so speculative? They didn't even ask the parties being accused whether or not it was true... I can speculate on a whole bunch of things, and even if those things turn out to be true later on, it doesn't mean that it was right of me to speculate.

    Now, don't get me wrong, I love speculation and its tons of fun, BUT, I expect a journalistic site such as this to not speculate and only provide the facts. No apologies to Eurogamer.

  • Shyvah #30 7 years ago

    "Of course you'll come back and apologise once this story does turn out to be true, right?"

    I think his point is that they haven't even asked anyone related with the product for their opinion. Why not try and get a comment from Bizarre?

    EA's comments are based on the fact that they are getting lots of help for their title... MS are well known for their good developer support so that's not suprising. It just doesn't follow that therefore PGR3 will be delayed.

    Personally, I just hope PGR3 gets the attention it deserves and is not horrendously rushed.

  • InfiniteFury #31 7 years ago

    Edit - to Tengu:

    Well yes - you could use the Spong style of journalism, write 200 bullshit articles and when one of them proves to be right say: "A-ha, remember where you read it first...."
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 13:37

  • Shrimp #32 7 years ago

    "The AI was only made up of a few branched scripts anyway"

    "yes the ps1 could have handled the limited AI and physics"

    Sorry but you're actually just embarassing yourself now. You *are* an experienced game AI programmer though, right?

  • tengu #33 7 years ago

    The story wasn't posted as fact though, and 'speculative' articles such as this are hardly a regular occurence. What's the point in treating the highlighting of an interesting rumour as if it was a story calling yo momma a ho'?

  • #34 7 years ago

    Tengu is a complete mong , he gets upset when i go onto a Psp thread to give my views(as negative as they may be) and then the fool comes straight onto a 360 thread to do the exact same thing.....Tard-ism at it's worst.

  • Peekaboo #35 7 years ago

    Petay -You know sometimes when reading your comments I think, "Guy might almost, maybe, one day, eventually, have a valid and well made point"

    Other days I think you perhaps have a thing for Tengu.

    Other days I think lou might be Tengu having a laugh.

    But it must be said, thank god for the ignore button.

    What is it with all of the XB fanboys flocking together today, and where have all of the Sony fanboys gone ???

    /Ah, now I see, they are too busy playing on their PSP's ;-)

  • kangarootoo #36 7 years ago

    @L42yB

    Jesus, did someone nick your M&Ms or something? EG don't owe us an apology of any sort. They wrote an article containing the info they had available at the time, and they listed their sources quite clearly so we can make our own minds up as to the validity of the statements.

    Did it not occur to you that M$ have better things to do than respond to this? If they don't speak, EG can't relay what they said. And if they just sat on their thumbs until they had an official quote from M$, they wouldn't be running the sroty at all (and someone would then winge about them falling behind other publications).

    I think the adage "don't shoot the messenger" applies pretty clearly here.

    p.s. For the record, how is your daft kids text message shorthand username supposed to be pronounced?

  • tengu #37 7 years ago

    "where have all of the Sony fanboys gone ?"

    I'm doing my best to cover their absence, but I'm only one man ffs :)

    And pete, how exactly do my posts in this thread, which say nearly nothing negative about Xbox 360 end up as 'the same thing' as you spamming up the PSP thread with such utter bile as "All PSP buyers are chav idiots, all it's games are worthless and Sony are c***s"?

    Seriously, stop following me around and get a life son.

  • L42yB #38 7 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    I disagree. As good journalists they should have asked both Bizarre and MS what for a statement on this issue. If neither responded then they could have added *worlds* of validity to this story by including a line such as "When asked for a response, neither Bizarre nor MS were forthcoming with an answer." I expect at least that much from a site that supposedly posts "news" about the games industry.

    Maybe I am wrong and Eurogamer has turned into the equivalent of a tabloid newspaper.

    EDIT: And it's pronounces "LAZY B"
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 14:03

  • Peekaboo #39 7 years ago

    Ooo I was right, some silly text/Leet thing going on.

    As for MS, they 'never' respond to rumours apparently. Well so says Gamespots coverage of same rumour.

  • L42yB #40 7 years ago

    "As for MS, they 'never' respond to rumours apparently. Well so says Gamespots coverage of same rumour. "

    Please go and look up the word "speculation" in the dictionary.

  • Shyvah #41 7 years ago

    If this rumour qualifies as newsworthy, which I can understand as some people obviously want to hear about it, then how come the fact that each blu-ray drive in PS3 will cost over $100 (thus making them expensive and backing up Kutaragi's comments) which *is* newsworthy has not been mentioned on Eurogamer?

    http://www. theinquirer.net/?article=25901
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 14:31

  • Shyvah #42 7 years ago

    lol...fair point....tho it hasn't stopped them before :)

    I wasn't aware quite how expensive it was gonna be...I mean it's 1/4 of the cost of the Xbox 360 in the US. Anyway, it will be interesting to see the final price.
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 14:54

  • BadBoyBonner #43 7 years ago

    Who cares what the cost of a part going into a machine is to the manufacturer? It gives no real indication of final price, as the unknown factor is if it will be absorbed or passed on.

    “Blur-Ray disc to cost $100….” And??? ”That’s it end of news” Surely this should stop here an go to another forum.

  • Shyvah #44 7 years ago

    Agreed... I'd rather they spent some time polishing it.

  • oceanmotion #45 7 years ago

    Straight from the good lads at Bizarre

    "Well, I'm not saying anything on our release date. However, ask yourself this: Is it Bizarre Creations making these comments? Is it Microsoft? Well, if it's not either of the aforementioned parties then it's just meaningless Internet twaddle.

    Ben"

    "Yeah, unfortunately I was working in general terms on the occasions I was talking about our project length and how far along we were - I remember using the words 'about' and 'roughly' a lot...

    My maths suck when I'm put on the spot, needless to say the EG article isn't cut and dry :("

  • lotteryman82 #46 7 years ago

    well admit it would be better to have PGR3 at launch not having it there makes you second thought your purchance for later and it has nothing to do with Sony or Ninty

  • weblaus #47 7 years ago

    So.. based on what MS did show of PGR3 at the Games Convention a few weeks ago, I really wouldn't be surprised that much if the game really slipped, as disappointing as that would be.

    On the fuss about EG not asking MS or Bizarre along with the quote from their forum: Doesn anyone really believe they'd give a straight answer at all to that question? All you'd get in the best case wouldn't be any less useless twaddle than the speculation EG posted in the article (which isn't very informative and on top of that quite late again, agreed).

  • jmctavish #48 7 years ago

    Who gives a flying shit if a game isn't coming out at launch. It'll come out eventually and most of you will end up purchasing a 360 during its lifespan.

  • Peekaboo #49 7 years ago

    ""As for MS, they 'never' respond to rumours apparently. Well so says Gamespots coverage of same rumour. "

    Please go and look up the word "speculation" in the dictionary."

    Yay I'm being heckled by a text speak troll !!!!!

    Hate to break this to you but all I was doing was pointing out that Gamespot have run the story (So it's not just Eurogamer that are scrapping the bottom of the journalistic barrel) and that MS don't comment on rumour as a rule, hence giving an answer as too why EG didn't bother confirming with MS......Jeez, this PSP thing has really pissed off a lot of people hasn't it..........

  • tengu #50 7 years ago

    Hey l42yb or whatever you're called, if you're genuinely bothered by EG posting specualtive stories, then why aren't you over on the story about the 'possible' new Sonic game on the way? It's every bit as speculative as this story.

  • Xerx3s #51 7 years ago

    "Electronic Arts behind PGR3 rival Need for Speed: Most Wanted" - How can you even call that a rival? Thats like calling a trabant a rival to a ferrari, porsche or even mini for that matter (although its a kewl car ;p).

    Ahh well, look on the bright side, now you have to buy one less game. Perhaps buying 4 or 5 games at once is a bit 2 much ;p.

    Guess we'll have to do with ES4, DOA4, Q4, PD0, Kameo, GoW, GR3, etc.

    "Halo2 could have been done on a playstation1 with sprite characters and flat shaded environments" - Yes, and your ps1 would have reached 5000 c in less than a sec.

    PS: EG, did it ever occur to you that he was picking a date somewhere in the region? That would basically make this article bs.

  • Teeth #52 7 years ago

    l42yB = Lazy B, lol. Sorry - in future I shall pronounce this internet nickname correctly when I say it out loud in real life, because I talk about you all the time so help me God
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 17:03

  • Zomoniac #53 7 years ago

    "Electronic Arts behind PGR3 rival Need for Speed: Most Wanted" - How can you even call that a rival? Thats like calling a trabant a rival to a ferrari, porsche or even mini for that matter (although its a kewl car ;p).

    But it is, that's the thing. Most people will not buy two racing games on launch. If there is a NFS game available on lauch it will outsell PGR3, end of story, but if NFS doesn't make it and PGR does, will they wait or be tempted by the game they don't know but has a shiny Ferrari on the cover? Which once they've played they will hopefully (though probably not) realise is infinitely superior in every way. NFSU went up against PGR2 and won considerably. Just about everyone bought one or the other, but not that many people bought both. Just because they play differently and are very different, at the end of the day both racing games that are supposed to be coming out at the same time, and that to me puts them in direct competition. A Whopper doesn't taste anything like a Big Mac...

  • Xavier_B_OXford #54 7 years ago

    So? So what if one single title in the orgasmic gold rush that IS the 360 launch line up doesn't appear? That's still like Kylie Minogue saying she's only going to let you hump her ass ten times instead of eleven. Extreme pleasure in a slightly reduced quantity is STILL extreme pleasure.

    The sad Xbox hating $ony worshipping dickwads who are infesting their cancerous selves upon this thread like Fluffytucker and tengu should fuck off and shove a PSP up their diseased buttholes, as that's the only pleasure they're likely to get from THAT load of shit.

    Xbox 360 is going to be the best console ever created, it has the best launch line up of all time, and it will be twice as powerful as the worthless BS3 with it's Blu-Gay crapnology!

    Hail the X!

  • Shrimp #55 7 years ago

    "Jesus Christ Shrimp, yes I've done a fair bit of AI scripting and the scripted stuff in Halo does not require anything but a fractional amount of CPU cycles, Jesus Christ."

    The scripting isn't the expensive bit. The Halo AI in total takes up 15% of the Xbox CPU (733MHz) so, doing some naive maths, it would run on a 100MHz processor with no room for anything else. The PS1 had a 33MHz CPU and therefore you would need 3 PS1s glued together with jam to run the Halo AI, and thats without the physics. Maybe you could add 3 more PS1s to the parallel PS1 jam farm for that.

    Q.E.D.

    /big underline

    /chalk snaps

    This thread is cool.

  • Scimarad #56 7 years ago

    As I posted in the other Xbox360 thread I am seriously starting to consider cancelling my pre-order and buying one after christmas. The whole Xbox360 launch is starting to look extremely rushed and I don't have a great deal of faith that this isn't going to compromise the quality of both the games AND the system.

    It may be wise to wait and see...

    On another note how come all the 360 devotees on this thread are getting so damn defensive?
    Edited by 1 at 06/09/05 @ 18:24

  • p3rks #57 7 years ago

    lol at zavier, you are ace mate...

    I hope this isn't true... would mean holding off for me for sure.

  • DocTep #58 7 years ago


    See... This is what happens when you employ slightly loopy former GAME managers with 'Nights' tatooed on their arm.

    Erm.

  • IronGiant #59 7 years ago

    Sit and wait.. in a few months time the machine will be cheaper anyway.

    This place was much funnier when Balor was posting.

    /that was a lie

  • Yaz #60 7 years ago

    "I am seriously starting to consider cancelling my pre-order and buying one after christmas. The whole Xbox360 launch is starting to look extremely rushed..."

    Well serves you right for listening to each and every rumour out there instead of just waiting to see what REALLY happens. :p

    I'm still looking forward to the XBox 360 launch, as I really don't see where it's suppose to be 'rushed'.

    No doubt an XBox launch delay rumour will be arriving here soon! ;)

  • Scimarad #61 7 years ago

    You really don't see how it's supposed to be rushed? Er, okay...

  • Yaz #62 7 years ago

    ^^^ As expected, you have nothing to add on the matter. :p

    But do go on to explain what is so DIFFERENT about the XBox 360 launch which makes it rushed when compared to previous consoles. In particular, what has actually happened SINCE you pre-ordered which has changed it from being a normal launch, to a rushed launch.
    Edited by 2 at 07/09/05 @ 17:44

  • Bates #63 7 years ago

    Oh, that's a very defensive post there, comes off as very insecure.

  • Yaz #64 7 years ago

    "Oh, that's a very defensive post there, comes off as very insecure."

    Really? And in what way may I ask?

    Scimarad has (in more than one thread) mentioned how he is NOW concidering cancelling his pre-order because the XBox 360 is starting to look extremely rushed. I asked for an explaination, he couldn't provide one, so I stated the fact.

    That's not defending the XBox 360 for the sake of it, because there's actually nothing in his arguement to defend yet (but once he offers reasons, THEN it can be discussed). It's also not insecure for the same reasons (BTW, I haven't pre-ordered an XBox 360, since I'll purchase the console if and when I'm ready).

    It's like someone coming here and saying Sony is cheating gamers with the PS3 yet offering no explaination (and it hasn't even launched yet). Well, don't just tell me Sony are cheating gamers, tell me HOW Sony are cheating gamers, then atleast there'll be points for discussion.

    That's all I'm asking for here, i.e. how is the XBox 360 launch extremely rushed?
    Edited by 1 at 07/09/05 @ 18:51

  • Scimarad #65 7 years ago

    Okay, I'll explain what I mean.

    The machine launches is in November, correct? It is now September.

    Have we seen any ACTUAL in game footage yet? At all? That is what I'm worried about.

    This might have been the case for the Xbox, PS2 & GC etc, etc but I don't think so. Anyway, calm down! I'm not slagging off the 360, just saying I'm goint to wait for a bit.
    Edited by 2 at 07/09/05 @ 18:48

  • Yaz #66 7 years ago

    "Okay, I'll explain what I mean. The machine launches is in November, correct? It is now September. Have we seen any ACTUAL in game footage yet? At all? That is what I'm worried about."

    Er, yes we have, granted not running on final hardware, and far from complete in some cases, but actual footage just the same. Anyway, since the final kits are complete (some developers have final kits now), we should see some games in the advanced stages running on final hardware very soon (probably at TGS in a few weeks).

    "This might have been the case for the Xbox, PS2 & GC etc, etc but I don't think so."

    It was the case. I followed the developement and launches of the Jaguar, the 3DO, the original Playstation, the Saturn, the N64 when it was the Ultra 64 (and before that Project Reality), the Dreamcast when there were two versions in developement (Black Belt based on 3Dfx and Katana(?) based on PowerVR), the PS2, the GC when it had the codename Dolphin, the XBox and now the next gen consoles.

    That's why I've seen nothing leading up to the XBox 360 launch to suggest it's any more rushed than previous consoles (so I'm not being defensive Bates, just talking from experience).

    Perhaps the difference today is that we expect to see MUCH more than before because of the internet. For example, over 10 years ago, my main source of information came from monthly games magazines. In fact, by the time information made it into print, it was often already out of date! And of course, all I had were screenshots to go on, no ingame footage which we take for granted today.

    "Anyway, calm down! I'm not slagging off the 360, just saying I'm goint to wait for a bit."

    Hey, I have no problem with you wanting to wait (that's what I prefer to do), in fact I have no problem if you choose not to buy an XBox 360 at all, I was just picking up on the reasons you gave for waiting, which I didn't feel were valid. However, there ARE good reasons for purchasing a console after the initial launch, so go ahead if you prefer to wait instead.

    Being an early adopter can be great fun though. :)

  • Scimarad #67 7 years ago

    Are you really sure we hadn't seen stuff running on earlier machines at this point? Not that I'm doubting you, I should point out.

  • Yaz #68 7 years ago

    "Are you really sure we hadn't seen stuff running on earlier machines at this point? Not that I'm doubting you, I should point out."

    Hmmm, that's not what I'm saying (xboxyde.com has lots of footage of 360 games in developement), I'm saying that at this stage we see games which were still in developement, not complete games ready for launch. For each console launch, developers really have to work very VERY hard to get their games ready on time on the new hardware. Sometimes compromises have to be made to make the deadline, but if the result is too poor, then the game may be delayed until sometime after. Some games just make it, with the developer just managing to pull everything together on time. Remember this is a unique situation for developers, since after launch, they are more free to set and break deadlines for their games.

    So that's where the real 'rush' exists, i.e. developers creating games to meet the launch deadline. It always happens, and expect the same for the PS3 and Revolution. That's part of the reason why console launches result in very a few great games (1 or 2 if you're lucky), numerous average games and the rest really poor (the PS2 launch in Japan was very poor, however the extra time for the US launch resulted in better games overall).

    We'll see what happens for the XBox 360, but launch games do tend to be hit or miss.
    Edited by 2 at 07/09/05 @ 20:27

  • L42yB #69 7 years ago

    I know its late, but I only got back to this site today.

    OK, so firstly on this comment:

    "Yay I'm being heckled by a text speak troll !!!!!

    Hate to break this to you but all I was doing was pointing out that Gamespot have run the story (So it's not just Eurogamer that are scrapping the bottom of the journalistic barrel) and that MS don't comment on rumour as a rule, hence giving an answer as too why EG didn't bother confirming with MS......Jeez, this PSP thing has really pissed off a lot of people hasn't it.......... "

    Ahem... I *hate* to break this to you, but I was only pointing out that saying that MS 'never' respond to rumours IS speculation. The only way for it to not be speculation is to actually ask them.

    Next

    "l42yB = Lazy B, lol. Sorry - in future I shall pronounce this internet nickname correctly when I say it out loud in real life, because I talk about you all the time so help me God "

    They asked so UI told them. I don;t just go around explaining the phonetics of my nick in forums.

    That will be all for today, thank you