NEXT Generation: They may have been one of the most trusted names in gaming news, but this industry mag was real bad at getting some of the facts right!
It used to be that video game systems came out of nowhere. The media didn't report on their development, the company's didn't leak any information and nobody really cared. But by the late 1990s all that had changed. By that time we had already lived through the 8-bit era, saw the Super NES vs. Genesis battle and chose between the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. We were ready for the next big thing, and for awhile it felt like that was going to be Microsoft's long-rumored "X-Box" game console.
NEXT Generation magazine was there from the beginning, giving us monthly updates about the goings on at Microsoft. They reported on all of the games, the big hardware announcements and so much more. But there was a problem - most of their reporting was erroneous. That's right, NEXT Generation dropped the ball and started reporting rumors as facts and promising much more than any game system could deliver.
NEXT Generation taught America's gamers that you need to be skeptical when it comes to what you read about an unannounced game console. And to help spread that message, we've decided to debunk all of the rumors found in NEXT Generation magazine. In this episode of They Said WHAT?!? we go From X-Box to Xbox to XBOX. We chart the very untrue history of Microsoft's first real game system.
Quote #1 - In the Beginning There Was a Denial
"We [Microsoft] don't have a strategy to do a $200 game console that is a direct competitor to what Nintendo, Sega, and Sony
It all starts with a simple denial from Bill Gates!
are doing, and business model isn't to charge software developers money." - Bill Gates (June 1996).
Reality:
We start this history lesson with a little white lie from none other than Bill Gates himself. Let's give Billy the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this quote, maybe there wasn't a $200 game console currently in the works. But it couldn't have been too long before Microsoft started to seriously consider it. To start the research and development, to woo third parties and to make games, all these things take time. And considering that the Xbox came out a mere five years later, it stands to reason that Bill and company decided to go full steam ahead almost immediately after talking with Next Generation. And it's a good thing they did, because Microsoft has really pushed the concept of online gaming and downloadable content. If this article will teach you anything, it's that you shouldn't believe a word that is said about a game system before it's announced.
Quote #2 - nVidia over 3Dfx?
"The system will have USB ports for controllers, and an internet hookup is "likely". Like the Dreamcast, the system will have its OS (a WinCE variant) on discs. The system will
This may just be the most boring picture I've ever posted on Defunct Games!
use DVD discs and you will be able to watch DVD movies using the system. It will certainly use DirectX as its graphic API. Although there may be a 3Dfx option, sources indicate nVidia is the target graphic platform." - NEXT Generation (October 1999)
Reality:
There are a bunch of rumors here, so I'll try to address each and every one of them in order starting at the top. Early on it seems like NEXT Generation was starting to get their facts straight. For one thing, the Xbox does indeed use USB technology. It also has an internet hook-up. As we all know, the Xbox was the very first console to offer an ethernet jack right out of the box. Of course, we didn't really have a use for that port until a year in, but that's not important in this situation.
Moving on, the Xbox does indeed have an operating system, however it is a custom OS based on a modified version of Windows 2000. This operating system did not come on discs, instead it was pre-packaged with the hard drive. The system did in fact use DVD discs and you were able to watch DVD movies using the system (though you had to buy the official remote control). And last but not least, NEXT Generation was right about Microsoft using nVidia and supporting DirectX. Phew. That sure was a busy paragraph.
Quote #3 - X-Box on the PC (Part 1)
"It's possible that X-Box games will run on PC without modification." - NEXT Generation (October 1999)
You cannot play the original Half-Life on your Xbox!
Reality:
No, it will not be possible to play Xbox games on your PC. Not with or without modification. Oh, I suppose there's probably somebody out there who has a working emulator, but that's certainly not something endorsed by Microsoft and was never the purpose of the Xbox disc. I have a hunch I'm going to have to say this again, Xbox games did not work on the PC out of the box, that was not one of the selling points of the game. Instead they played on Microsoft's proprietary game console, just like the PlayStation 2 and GameCube.
What's troubling about this quote is how people just assumed that this would be true, even though there was no track record to back it up. Assuming that Microsoft's console would play PC games because of their involvement on that hardware would be like assuming that tapes will fit in your Sony MP3 player just because they used to make the Walkman. It's a ludicrous assumption, which is probably why it never materialized. Still, how cool would it have been to play all of your PC games on a home console?
Quote #4 - Well Under $300?
"What about cost? Our sources say "well under $300" is the target mark, with a release date scheduled for sometime in fall
Who's afraid of Crash Bandicoot?
2000. Sources also say the marketing budget is designed to beat the PlayStation's." - NEXT Generation (October 1999)
Reality:
Well under $300? While the system certainly did launch at under $300, you have to be fast talker to convince me that $299.99 is "well under $300." When I hear NEXT Generation suggest that the system would be "well under $300, that suggests that maybe it will be $250 or $200. But for all intents and purpose, the manufacturer suggested retail price IS $300. That one penny does not make all of the difference. The second part is true, Microsoft definitely put a lot of money towards marketing this device. And, when it comes right down to it, that marketing worked. While the Xbox didn't do well in some parts of the world, in most of the English speaking regions it gave the PlayStation 2 a run for its money. That still doesn't mean that $299.99 is "well under $300."
Quote #5 - Introducing the Microsoft ... Mariner?
"The system will be a non-upgradable, closed box built using top-of-the-line PC components, including a 4 GB hard drive. Although X-Box is the name of the
I have a hunch that this isn't the type of Mariner they had in mind!
device, the development program has the slicker code name, "Mariner." - NEXT Generation (November 1999)
Reality:
Mariner?? Okay, let's just forget they said that. Here is yet another example of somebody just pulling numbers out of thin air. It wasn't enough to simply say that the system would come with a hard drive? You know, that would have been a perfectly normal announcement that would have kept them from looking stupid months later. But no, they opted to make up a number. No good ever comes from predicting a number. Unless you are predicting that the next PlayStation console will be called PlayStation 4 ... and even that isn't something I would bet the farm on.
So the Xbox is going to come with a 4 GB hard drive, eh? Well, that's not exactly what happened. You see, a few months after NEXT Generation published this rumor, Microsoft announced that a 20 GB hard drive would be standard with the system. And then, several months after that, Microsoft announced that the hard drive was cut down to ... 8 GB? Unfortunately that's the case, they only gave us 8 GB to work with. Still, that's better than NEXT Generation's fictitious guess.
Quote #6 - X-Box on the PC (Part 2)
"There is no current library of specific X-Box titles announced, but soon after the system is announced the first X-Box enabled PC games, which should run on box X-Box and PC, will be released. By the 2000 holiday season, some expect most PC games to be X-Box compliant." - NEXT Generation (December 1999)
You can't play Half-Life 2 on the original Xbox ... oh wait, I guess you can!
Reality:
By the end of 1999 there were a number of Xbox games announced ... they just weren't announced for the Xbox. Take Halo as an example, here's a title that went on to become one of the biggest launch games of all time. Yet, in 1999 the game was slated to come out on the PC (with Bungie talking about a PlayStation 2 port). Same goes for Malice, the much-delayed game from Argonaut that was intended to be a PlayStation 2 exclusive, but later switches ships and found its way to the Xbox. The truth is, we knew about many of the third party Xbox launch titles, we just didn't know that they would also hit Microsoft's console.
Now, let me continue to stress this, there is no such thing as Xbox enabled PC games. There were PC games that also hit the Xbox, but there was not compatibility between the two. The idea that "most" PC games would be Xbox compliant is ludicrous, and the fact that NEXT Generation reported this as news is appalling. What's even more shocking is the suggestion that perhaps there wouldn't be any Xbox games at all, they would just be PC titles that were compatible. What really happened couldn't be further from the truth, and I have a hunch that the news writers at NEXT Generation felt pretty stupid when Microsoft officially announced the system a few months later.
Quote #7 - Wireless TV Cables?
"What better than a DVD-playing. web-surfing, game-playing super-console? How about a DVD-playing, web-surfing, game-playing super console that can work wirelessly on any TV in your home? That's apparently the latest feature added to the still-in-development box, and it makes a lot of sense; you want X-Box attached to your main TV for DVD moves, but what do you do when your spouse wants to watch Ally McBeal, and you want to play Quake III?" - NEXT Generation (February 2000)
Reality:
What's better than DVD-playing, web-surfing, game-playing super-console? How about a game magazine that gets the facts right. Yes, the Xbox played DVDs (after you bought the remote) and games, but at no point did the Xbox (or the Xbox 360, for that matter)
Look, it was either a picture of Quake III or wireless component cable, I chose the slightly more interesting game picture!
go "web-surfing." You can play games online and download new content, but calling that web-surfing is a gross mischaracterization of what the system can actually do.
Sadly the web-surfing is the least of my worries. In a move that is hard to believe even nine years later, NEXT Generation suggested that you would be able to play games on any TV via a wireless set-up. That is, the information would be beamed into your TV set. And, according to NEXT Generation, that feature "makes a lot of sense." They also get into a weird thing about Ally McBeal and playing Quake III on the Xbox (even though Quake III never actually made it to the Xbox).
Now, I'm sure I don't even need to say this, but the Xbox does not have a wireless hook-up. Heck, it doesn't even have a wireless internet hook-up out of the box, and that's the thing that would actually make sense. Here we are nine years later and we still don't have any game consoles offering us the ability to hook the fun up to the TV wirelessly. Is that even possible? Are there wireless HDMI cables? And again, let me remind you, this is NEXT Generation - one of the most trusted names in gaming journalism. No wonder print media is dead.
Quote #8 - Death to the PC!
"We've got a really, really miserable PC market, and it's not getting any better. I'm going way out on a limb, but I think the PC is going
If you don't count the success of The Sims, Crysis, World of Warcraft and a dozen other games, then yes, the PC industry is dead!
going to cease to be any kind of viable platform within the next 18 to 24 months. It's going to be completely supplanted by Microsoft's X-Box or whatever else. I think Microsoft, if the X-Box is real, is basically raising the flag and saying 'We're seeing a huge problem on the PC side.' There are just so few games that do anything on PC." - Next Generation (March 2000)
Reality:
You heard it here first, folks. The PC games market is dead. Kaput. Toasted. Unviable. Defunct. Long live the Xbox, the ruler of all video game consoles. Let us worship our new video game overlords, Microsoft's Xbox. Oh wait ... no, that's not right. Because nine years later the PC market is very much alive and well. It's hard to argue with the success of World of Warcraft and The Sims, and even now we're seeing huge hits like Crysis,
World of what?
FarCry, Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3 and more. Steam now allows us to buy games digitally, check up with classic titles and see what our friends are up to. Online MMOs have revolutionized the way PC gamers view role-playing games. Even small game companies are supporting the PC. The PC market is far from dead.
Now, there's one thing that is definitely true about this quote. NEXT Generation is right, the Xbox was Microsoft saying that they saw a problem with PC gaming and didn't want to be a part of it. While they may debate the point, it's hard to argue that after moving to the console they lost all interest in PC gaming. They stopped releasing big games almost immediately, and even today when they have a PC release it's usually a port of a year-old Xbox game. Microsoft has completely tuned out ... at least for now.
Quote #9 - From X-Box to Xbox to XBOX
"And like any good name, it came about by accident. Xbox (formerly X-Box and currently - and officially - XBOX) was a code name referring to both the mysterious
In a world without an Xbox, Peter Moore would have a lot fewer tattoos!
nature of the letter X and, of course, to Microsoft's own DirectX technology. So like many a code name before it, Xbox stuck." - NEXT Generation (September 2000)
Reality:
You have to love how NEXT Generation points out that the console's name is, officially, XBOX (all caps), yet they then go on to continue to spell it "Xbox". At least they decided to throw out that hyphen. I say they should bring back the hyphen for the next console, it should be the X-Box 720 or something. Then again, if you believe Michael Pachter, this will be the last console generation. I still say bring back the hyphen, if only to vex all of those games journalists that had to switch from X-Box to Xbox to XBOX.
What troubles me about the name "XBOX" is that it comes from "X" being a mystery. I guess that everybody born in my generation, Generation X, is mysterious. Or that the game Revolution X was mysterious and intriguing. Well, it's not true. There's nothing mysterious about Generation X. We're the same greedy douche bags that came before us (and came after us). And the only thing mysterious about Revolution X is why anybody would put a quarter in an arcade unit to listen to Aerosmith music and shoot CDs at people (or why anybody would think it was a good idea to make such a ludicrous game). "X" isn't mysterious, it's overused. Xbox. PlayStation 2. GameCube. Seriously, when it came to console names, that generation was the worst. It was as if everybody was bereft of creativity. The Wii may not be the coolest name I've ever heard, but at least it doesn't have a number after it!
