Safety's Off

With the recent rumors of Microsoft cutting the Xbox 360’s price confirmed today, it would appear that Microsoft has preemptively stolen the spotlight from the new PS3 Slim’s introductory price matching the reduced tag on the “fat” Playstation models. In all honesty, Microsoft is only setting itself up for failure this holiday season by not pricing it lower than the PS3, which sports an arguably better feature set. In addition, the news that Microsoft is cutting HD cables out of the retail box for the Elite is stirring up a storm on the internet, and raising questions of whether or not $300 for the slightly outdated system is a decent price when pressed against a $300 Blu-ray player.

Of course, Microsoft expects to prey on the unwitting customers who see the inevitable new marketing campaign for the 360’s price cut to rush out and buy the new console without much thought or research on the current gaming marketplace. When looking at a spec sheet, the PS3 bests the 360 in nearly every checkbox. Blu-ray? Check. Free online services? Check. Wi-Fi? Check. The list goes on, and while LIVE may or may not be worth paying $50 a year for (depending on your perspective and how much you use the service), to the raw, uninitiated consumer this looks like a bargain compared to the inevitably more expensive 360. What’s more is that the new PS3 Slim has the same allure as the PS2’s slim offering, in the fact that it’s essentially a rebirth of the original system. Sleeker, sexier, and definitely smaller, the PS3 slim is going to stand out in the crowd of consoles this holiday season, even if it isn’t to gamers looking for their Uncharted 2 fix, but rather entertainment enthusiasts eager to see what the latest Blu-ray Bond movie looks like in 1080p.

The Arcade model for the 360 isn’t helping matters much either, considering that to get a piece of hardware that rivals both the Elite and the PS3 costs, in the end, more than just buying one or the other right off the bat. Microsoft’s insanely inflated prices on their first-party accessories are so insulting to anyone who knows anything about technology that most people end up going with third-party devices that either work just as well (in the case of wireless adapters), or a whole lot worse (in terms of Mad Catz controllers vs. official Microsoft ones). With the price cut of the Elite, the only way that the 360 could have a remote advantage in a direct price-point comparison is to lower the cost of all accessories to match their “real-world” value (I’m looking at you Wireless Adapter). The official HDMI adapters for the 360 offer one advantage over standard HDMI cables, and that’s the optical audio port, but the retail price for these is so horrifically high that most people won’t even bother, opting instead to just use cheap cables (that, for the record, work just as well) that they can easily find online for under $5.

The only effective way for Microsoft to beat out the PS3 this holiday season is to really market, and I mean REALLY market, the new social networking features such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as the Instant-On 1080p video technology rolling out later this year. Instant-On could very well be the 360’s saving grace in the HD movie department, granted it works as advertised (you can check out an impressive demo of the tech here). Unfortunately, most of the big name exclusives happen early on in the holiday season, and the rest of the heavy hitters (Modern Warfare 2, this means you) are multiplatform. And if I may do a little speculation, why not ditch the practically worthless Arcade model altogether and replace it with the Pro, not the other way around? Hard drives are cheap, and you can’t possibly tell me that the chrome disc tray is costing upwards of $50. Microsoft’s multiple SKU strategy is wearing thin every year, and it would at least be nice if the most accessible, cheapest model was also a fully capable one, not a gimped machine missing core components.

In the end, I love my 360 as much as the next guy (maybe even more!) but Microsoft is doing a horrible job of keeping up with the Jones. The PS3’s got a better feature set on paper, the Wii is still a mainstream sensation, which puts the 360 where exactly? An overpriced console with few truly advantageous abilities over the other guys? It’s time to wake up Microsoft. I miss the company that launched a year early to prove to its fanbase that it was more than capable of delivering the premium console of choice for gamers with all the fixings. While it still has a ton of redeeming qualities and features some of the best exclusives, I can’t help but feel that Microsoft is playing its cards a little too close to its chest when it really needs to lay down the chips in preparation for the big game this holiday season. Lower the price of accessories, make the Pro model the entry-level system, and market the hell out of the new dashboard features and the aging system will stand a chance against the much newer-looking PS3.

Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments!

Rage is id Software’s latest foray into the video game world, and after watching the recently released trailer from QuakeCon 2009, it’s looking like it might be a game that id’s never done before. Sure, there are shooter elements (which id is obviously no stranger to), but the entire trailer seemed to reflect aspects of open-world RPGs and an overall Bioshock-like approach to combat. What struck me most about the trailer however, was just how gorgeous and vast the environments were, and how the game’s story seemed to reflect that of Fallout 3’s post-apocalyptic theme. However, the difference in Rage is in how the world is realized: the game isn’t just brown and grey, there’s a genuinely unique art style bringing the world to life amidst what appears to be some widespread explosive destruction, and most of all, the shooter elements look incredibly solid from the brief glance seen in the trailer.

Fallout 3, for all its shortcomings, was not a bad game. Yet, the praise it received is something that I’ve always felt was misdirected and unfounded. The combat was dull, the environments were even more so, and the characters you interacted with, although interesting, had such archaic animations that the overall experience felt stiff and uninspired. Rage proves that these flaws are not a prerequisite for the open-world RPG hybrid genre, simply based off the trailer alone. What stood out to me the most was the sheer scale of the game and yet how utterly captivating the visuals were. Fallout 3 never managed to wow me despite its large and moody Wasteland, and I chock this up to the fact that the game was running on very old tech. Although Rage is sporting id’s latest engine, id Tech 5, it only goes to show how much the game proves that there is no reason why an open-world game cannot be both big and beautiful, especially in this console generation.

While its graphics are important to an extent, it’s the art style of Rage that really makes Fallout 3’s environments look sloppy and rushed. From the QuakeCon trailer alone, it looks as if id has created a world that appears both destroyed and beautifully-conceived in the studio’s realization of what a bombed-out nation would look like. The color palettes are much more tangible and appealing, which only enhances the creativity seen in the unique architecture and shanty towns teased briefly throughout the trailer. Where Rage really beats out Fallout however, is in the “wasteland” design. Bethesda felt satisfied in creating a relatively flat environment, punctuated every so often with small, makeshift towns or wandering enemies, and as a result the world felt sparsely populated and in all honesty, pretty boring to roam about in. Rage looks to put an end to that type of design with its wasteland looking much more geographically diverse. Canyons and hills dot a sprawling landscape, and the towns that you do run across are incredibly detailed, fairly populated, and as far as we know, varied. One look at the bar scene in the QuakeCon trailer (embedded after the break) versus Moriarty’s bar in Fallout 3’s Megaton city says a lot about the quality of the atmosphere in Rage compared to Fallout’s.

I could really go on forever about the things Rage offers that Fallout 3 doesn’t: fast-paced combat, excellent character animations, a world that looks and (hopefully) feels alive, but instead I’ll leave you with these screenshots and ask you a very simple question. Which looks more like the kind of game you would want to explore?

Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments!