[Steve Mehs]

The results of the largest survey, conducted by Gigex, of gamers this year revealed that Microsoft's Xbox would be the game console of choice this holiday season (12,288 responses).

Over 12,000 gamers were queried, "What console gaming system do you plan to buy in the coming year?" and 39 percent answered they plan to buy a Microsoft Xbox, 27 percent will buy a Sony PlayStation 2, and 17 percent plan to purchase Nintendo's GameCube.

The study also showed that game demos have the most influence over game purchase decisions. When asked "Which of these items highly influence your game purchase decisions?" nearly 8 out of 10 respondents (78 percent) ranked game demos the number 1 factor, far ahead of the number 2 response: Game reviews (47 percent). Both television commercials (35 percent) and magazine ads (31 percent) trailed furthest behind as drivers of retail purchase behavior.

The survey shows that gamers will be ringing the cash registers at retail stores across the country this year, with 59 percent of gamers purchasing game products from electronic stores, 43 percent from computer superstores, 35 percent from department stores and 19 percent online.

From SkyRetailer (Used with Permission)

 

[MarkA]

I'm sorry. I won't believe that survey. PS2 will be in the lead. With Nintendo's GameCube having it's own niche in the younger children's and family market - therefore also doing well. And the Xbox will be a distant third. Anyone remember Bob? I believe the Xbox is headed that way. Does the Xbox have "attitude"? Yes. After a year, has it established ANY brand recognition or loyalty. Not among my informal survey of my friends Some of who were going on about how great the Xbox was going to be this time last year...

- Note, this is based upon my observations living in a small town. If things are different where you live I'd love to hear about it! But here, nobody cares about the XBox.

 

[Karl Foster]

If anyone wants to send one my way to test it out, I'd love to have one....

in all seriousness, though, everyone I know that is into gaming has a PS2.

 

[Steve Mehs]

Same here Karl, all the hardcore gamers I know have either XBox and/or PS2. I might get into gaming one of thses days, if I do I'll never be able make up my mind between the two.

 

[MarkA]

Personally, I like the GameCube for it's games. But it's really aimed at a different market. It's what I own. If I was deciding between the PS2 and Xbox it would have to be the PS2 any day despite it's lesser capabilities.

 

[JBKing]

Originally posted by Zac
Not among my informal survey of my friends

I think I'll believe a professionally conducted survey over an informal one.

 

[Jasonbp]

Well, being that was only 12,288 gamers out of 25 million gamers in the States alone that kind of hard to believe.


One: PS2, in the lead this holiday season. No question's asked. Look at all the games out now, plus alot of great titles coming out before the holiday season, and during the season.

Second/third: is still hard to tell, Xbox and Gamecube are doing very well in sales. Both have alot of great games out now, and quite a few coming out before holiday season, and during the holiday season.

Forth: PSone, yeah they are still making games for it. Alot of new games on the market cheap. TONS of used games on the market cheap. Plus the system alone is at a price of a PS2/GC/Xbox game alone.

Fifth: N64 can still find them new just about anyplace. Wal*Mart had them for $34.99 Tuesday. No new games coming out, but alot of Nintendo Only games on the N64 that were great.

Sixth: Dreamcast, which you can still find new at places if you look hard enough. Alot of good games. I picked one up this past weekend at a Kmart that had six of packed up away in "who knows where land" in the back. Paided $38.99 for it.

Seventh: Saturn, same as the Dreamcast. Not the games though, alot of them sucked, and they only had two Saturns. Paided $21.99 for it.

 

[Steve Mehs]

I'm surfing Best Buys website, I would get XBox at $200, but the cost of the games. $50 for Mortal Kombat, $50 for Blood Omen 2, I think I'm gonna wait. From a quick comparsion, it looks like Xbox is more suited for me, but if I ever do jump in I'll compare them more carefully. Who knows I might just get a Dreamcast on Ebay.

 

[Rick_EE]

Originally posted by thatguy16
Well, being that was only 12,288 gamers out of 25 million gamers in the States alone that kind of hard to believe.

that is actually a pretty good sample size. considering that presidential polls are usually 1000 people.

 

[John Corn]

Just my $.02
I guess alot depends on the type of gaming you enjoy.


Playstation 2 Price Us $ 199
Pros
-Huge Library of games
-great controller
-sleek look
- you cannot go wrong with this product

Cons
-Takes forever to load
-sometimes, ( not all) but sometimes graphics are not up to par with xbox and ps2.

Microsoft Xbox Price Us $ 199
Pros
-Hard Drive so no memory cards needed
-Most powerful system on the market
-releasing a lot of games this fall, up to 200 by christmas
-Controller, if you get the controller S, it is th ebest in the business, IMO
-quick loading
-length of controller is great up to 10ft long!!!

Cons
- Original Controller, not many like it, i do IMHO
-not a large amount of games out right now, but that is to change in a couple of months
- Big and bulky, not easily portable

Nintendo Gamecube Price US $ 129.99? im not sure if this is correct, but i believe it is 60 bucks cheaper? Please correct if wrong
Pros
-small size, nearly portable
-good graphics sometimes even surpass the ps2
-cannot go wrong with Nintendos games, if you like them
- quick loading
-cheaper price than competitors

Cons
-Some say games can be to directed to kids of younger ages.
-Not alot of games ot right now
-memory cards do not hold alot
-length of cord on controller is very short

 

[Jasonbp]

Originally posted by John Corn
Nintendo Gamecube Price US $ 129.99? im not sure if this is correct, but i believe it is 60 bucks cheaper? Please correct if wrong

The Gamecube is $149.99. $129.99 I *think* is for a used system at Gamestop.com, or something like that.

 

[MarkA]

"-good graphics sometimes even surpass the ps2"

SOMETIMES? The graphics capabilities of the GameCube are similar to the Xbox, being more powerful in some special effects and less powerful with more basic drawing operations. The GameCube is far more powerful and has far better graphics capabilities than the PS2

"-Some say games can be to directed to kids of younger ages."

That's not a "con" - that's Nintendo's market

"-memory cards do not hold alot"

Not true anymore

"-length of cord on controller is very short"

Not a con, a characteristic It's harder to tangle up

 

[JBKing]

And the DP doesn't have 'bugs'--- they're features!

As far as kids games, pro or con depends on what age you are, or if you have kids.

IMHO, all 3 systems are good, but are better suited for different groups. And again, IMHO, for what I want, the XBox is the best choice, followed by PS2. And I have to admit, the Gamecube is starting to get some more 'adult' games out.

John Corn, I agree. I love the Xbox controller that comes with the system. The other one is too dang small!

 

[James_F]

Look, no one is taking advantage of the systems. If a game comes out for all three systems, it looks almost identical. Just buy the system that has 1st party games that you want. Most of the other games will arrive eventually on all systems (mostly 1st on the PS2, but not always). I'd say PS2 is a safe bet due to its market size, Microsoft has deep pockets, but could always pull the plug (not very likely) and Nintendo isn't ready to give up on hardware. I'd love to see Nintendo take the route of SEGA and produce games for all systems.

BTW, I read in the Wall Street Journal that Sega is looking at buying Acclaim, THQ and possibly Blizzard Entertainment to take one EA. Very interesting indeed.

 

[MarkA]

"Look, no one is taking advantage of the systems."

True of the Xbox and GameCube, but I believe that developers are starting to push the PS2, requiring more software tweaks and stuff to get a game to look as good on it as on the GameCube and Xbox.

Personally, I'm really happy with my GameCube and like it better than the other two (which is why I wanted it in the first place). I LOVE Nintendo's games, as well as the Rare games we will hopefully be seeing more of soon. I think Nintendo, while not getting quantity of games, gets quality. I think the Xbox has "attitude" and lots of "mature" games - which is great for their audience. The PlayStation2 tries to offer something for everybody, and while it doesn't excel (IMHO) in any area except perhaps RPGs, it would be great for a large, single-console family. As to which being the safest investment - I think the PS2 and GameCube are here to stay. The Xbox - well, I don't trust Microsoft, so my opinion on it's future is too biased to listen to

 

[PeterB]

I sit here and wonder why the Dreamcast didn't sell. Its STILL better than the PS2. The PS2 barely out performs the thing graphicly. Oh thats right, Sony's massive hype machine wouldn't let you forget how great the PS2 will be "as soon as it comes out" I have press releases stating that the PS2 would lay waste to everything in its path and go as far as to "Jack you into the matrix"

The only thing the PS2 jacked is $300 from millions of consumers. Id love to see a study of how many of those millions of PS1 and PS2s sony loves to claim have been "shipped" vs. how many of them actually still work.

I hope the Gamecube or the Xbox wins this christmas, just to put sont where they belong, in the gutter.

 

[BearsFan]

I've had the luxury of sampling all three systems talked about here (GameCube, PS2, and XBox).

After sampling all three, I waited 'til the day XBox dropped their price to $199, and got one.

I'm amazed by the XBox every time I turn it on.

At the risk of sounding like a "fanboy" (i.e. one who claims "my system's the best, and yours BLOWS..." actually, I don't feel that way at all), the XBox wins with me.

The hard drive on the XBox is truly mindblowing. There's no need for a memory card for XBox (unless you want one). The hard drive is THAT BIG. The cool thing about the XBox memory card is that you can load your saved game info on the card; hence your XBox becomes "portable."

Just one example of a feature the XBox has that the others don't, is the ability to load your own music onto the hard drive...and once your songs are on the HD, some games will let you use those songs in the games themselves! This is a neat feature, one that the GameCube and PS2 cannot offer, due to the lack of a harddrive/capabilities to do so.

Otherwise, I loved the graphics of the XBox. I gotta admit, the GameCube games I've seen are really good too...but I'm not the market for Nintendo, per se. I buy gaming systems for the sports games and racing games (just not NASCAR...PLEASE!!!).

The PS2 obviously has the widest selection of titles, but for me, that doesn't matter. I don't play the shoot-'em-up games or the "platform"/fantasy games. I like the Sony PlayStation controller the best, and the GameCube's controller the least.

The original XBox controller made my hands sore, so for me, the "S" controller for the XBox is the way to go for me. LOVE that controller! It's great for the football games I play.

All three systems have their pluses/minuses, as mentioned. I gotta admit, that new Super Mario Sunshine game (for GameCube only) looks like it's really fun to play. I'd agree that it'd be nice to see Nintendo make their games available for other systems...I'd think about buying a few titles if they were available.

And for PS2, being able to go to BallBuster/any video store, and rent one of over a 100+ titles is a nice option. And the PS controller is by far, IMHO, the best.

But for overall graphics, sound, portability (the XBox memory card holds more than you think), options, and Hard Drive availability/size, the XBox works for me. Not having to buy multiple memory cards (I had 5 for PSOne), and fast load times on the XBox also make it a nice purchase.

I'm not a "graphics whore" as some hard core gamers are. I don't play a whole lot of vid games (I do try to have a life outside of sitting in front of a tube/CPU screen), but the ones I do play, I cherish. The XBox does it for me...I'd recommend it, but would also say you can't go wrong with the GC or PS2. It's true, more games are coming out for the XBox (& GC too), and most teens seem to like the PS2 the best...kids love the GC (it's regarded as a "kiddie system" by a lot of gamers I know), and the older folks like me like the XBox.

It took literally 2 years of saving money to get an XBox and the games I've wanted, but it was worth the wait.

--BearsFan

 

[Nick]

???? Which platform was it you prefer?

 

[BearsFan]

Originally posted by Nick
???? Which platform was it you prefer?

XBox.