Pues en ign han puesto una comparativa entre los lanzamientos de ambas consolas, es este:
Launch Battle: Xbox Vs. Xbox 360
A sibling battle to the death: which launch reigns supreme in the annals of video games?
by Charles Onyett
January 5, 2006 - Nearly two months after the launch of the Xbox 360, we've heard many things positive, and also many negative. For instance, there was and still is a shortage of Xbox 360 units, many complaints of disk scratching and hard drive issues and some even reported their console overheating. Aside from the hardware, there were many that praised the all-around high quality of the Xbox 360 launch, yet there were many others who deemed the launch a failure. How do we know? We're still getting mail about it.
What we now have is some good old fashioned perspective, and since Sony's PlayStation 3 has yet to launch, what better system to compare the Xbox 360 to than its little brother, the Xbox. Our focus will be the launch of each Microsoft system. Specifically, we'll be answering these questions: How do the games that launched with the Xbox and Xbox 360 compare? What were the big issues surrounding each launch? What worked, what didn't? And which launch was ultimately better?
The exact definition of what better means is highly subjective, as is the majority of this article, but we're going to give it a shot. Let's start with one of the most important aspects of any system launch, the games list.
Xbox Launch Lineup
*
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved
* Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
* NFL Fever 2002
* Project Gotham Racing
* Fuzion Frenzy
* Dead Or Alive 3
* Madden NFL 2002
* NASCAR Thunder 2002
* Cel Damage
* NHL Hitz 20-02
* NASCAR Heat 2002
* TransWorld Surf
* Test Drive Off Road -- Wide Open
* Mad Dash
* Shrek
* 4x4 EVO 2
* Dark Summit
* Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X
* AirForce Delta Storm
Total: 19
Average Score: 7.84
Xbox 360 Launch Lineup
Perfect Dark Zero
* Amped 3
* Call of Duty 2
* Condemned: Criminal Origins
* FIFA Soccer 06
* GUN
* Kameo: Elements of Power
* Madden NFL 06
* NBA 2K6
* NBA LIVE 06
* Need for Speed Most Wanted
* NHL 2K6
* Perfect Dark Zero
* Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
* Project Gotham Racing 3
* Quake 4
* Ridge Racer 6
* Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06
* Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Total: 18
Average Score: 7.80
Game Vs. Game (Trends, Sequels, Originality, and Halo)
When you mention the Xbox launch, one title immediately springs to mind: Halo. For the Xbox 360, the best isn't so easy to decide. Some may say Perfect Dark Zero, others Call of Duty 2, and of course Kameo: Elements of Power and Condemned: Criminal Origins could be thrown in as well. The fact that there isn't a definitive agreement on which Xbox 360 title is best versus how easy it is with the Xbox can be seen as one of the Xbox 360's strongest launch aspects. There isn't that one undeniably great title, yet there are many very good ones. We voted Call of Duty 2 best on the X360, but its online multiplayer options were severely limited, despite having an excellent single player mode.
From a relative standpoint, Halo can still be seen as a game with a more lasting impact, similar to that of Super Mario 64. People still talk about the game with a religious type of fervor, which very well may not be the case with any of the Xbox 360 games. Even Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding is talked about by hardcore fans as one of the best of its genre. Are people going to talk about Amped 3 when the next wave of consoles launches five years down the road? No.
One trend shared by both consoles is the porting of a large bulk of the lineup from existing consoles and the PC. On the Xbox, we saw a group of rehashes from existing Dreamcast games, most notably the first appearance of Project Gotham Racing, which was almost identical to the DC's Metropolis Street Racer. The Xbox 360's lineup was also padded by many ports, most notably Electronic Arts', Activision's, and 2K Sports' line-ups, which for the most part were games that you could already play on Xbox, PC, or PS2 with a fresh coat of graphical paint. Even Gun, Quake 4, Need for Speed Most Wanted and Ubisoft's Peter Jackson's King Kong weren't really next-gen games, they were just ported from the previous console generation.
One thing that seems clear is that the Xbox launch had more originality than the Xbox 360. You've got the first titles in several now major franchises, namely PGR and Halo. There was also a wealth of unique titles at the Xbox launch, meaning they were not continuations of a series like Transworld Surf, Dark Summit and Cel Damage. The Xbox 360 boasted only Kameo and Condemned as unique titles, and Kameo was initially supposed to release on the Xbox initially and even the Gamecube before that. Perfect Dark Zero wasn't truly a new game, since it pretty much followed the gameplay model of its predecessor, though it boasted an improved multiplayer component.
Project Gotham Racing 3
Project Gotham Racing
While some people may be screaming, "IGN you should die because Dark Summit was clearly released on PS2 and was therefore not a unique Xbox game. I hope your children are cursed by witches and your father is mutilated by a warlock's demonic minions," should know that the PS2 and Gamecube versions of that game were contemporary titles. Another one of the big differences between the Xbox and Xbox 360 launches is that the Xbox 360 is first on the market, whereas the Xbox was launched under the PS2's increasingly gigantic shadow. Essentially that meant that many of the games that launched on the Xbox were actual next-gen games, instead of the pseudo next-gen that dominates most of the Xbox 360 lineup.
It's amazing given the five years between the console launches that the lists are so similar. The Xbox launch had a Madden game, a Tony Hawk game, a Dead or Alive game and a Project Gotham Racing game. Granted, Dead or Alive 4 didn't launch with the Xbox 360, but it was originally planned to. Are our tastes so stale as consumers that we're willing to gulp down sequels to games that have been around for over a generation? Well, sadly, yes. Clearly we're more than willing, provided they keep cranking out good sequels for games like PGR and DoA. So far, they have.
So what can be definitively said about the games of the two launches? Xbox had more originality. The Xbox 360 had some great games, but also many that were simply ported over from the Xbox. If you take away the top titles in both launches like Halo, TransWorld Surf, PGR, PGR 3, CoD2, Condemned, PDZ, Kameo, you'd most likely be a happier gamer if left with the remnants of the Xbox launch. What's true about both is that you'll find a wide variety of game genres. The lineups have games in the alternative sports, conventional sports, racing, first-person shooter and action. Actually, the Xbox went even further to include a party game with Fusion Frenzy and an air combat game.
Online Vs. Offline
All right, all right. Right now you either agree that the Xbox launch was in fact a deeper, higher quality and more historically significant game library, or you want to assassinate all of IGN. Now here's why the Xbox 360 launch will ultimately be remembered as a better launch. Quite simply, it's because of the X360's Xbox Live functionality which without a doubt represents the absolute pinnacle of online console gaming right now. Gamers can download demos for upcoming games such as for Fight Night Round 3, get movie trailers, gamer pictures, backgrounds as well as Xbox Live's current best use: Downloading Xbox Live Arcade games.
This aspect is really what sets the Xbox 360 apart from the consoles that came before it, and even those to come. For even though the Revolution will be offering something similar, it's not going to be in HD. After all, if you've got the choice of playing retro games in normal mode versus HD, aren't you going to pick HD? And if the Xbox 360 is already getting great titles like Zuma, Wik and Geometry Wars Evolved as well as Street Fighter II in March 2006, it's clear those in charge realize exactly what gamers want. The PS3 won't, as of right now, have anything comparable to the XBLA. Of course it can be expected that both consoles will have some great games, but when the Xbox 360 has great games and an entire other dimension of great games with the XBLA, you might expect Sony to be getting nervous.
Madden NFL 06
Madden 2002
But that's way off topic. Focusing strictly on the Xbox and Xbox 360 launches' online functionality, the Xbox 360 is the obvious winner. While the Xbox does have Xbox Live that allows gamers to download patches and extra game content as well as compete online, it wasn't available at launch, if you remember correctly. In that sense, though many of the Xbox 360's games may seem rushed, its online capabilities help the system to transcend its software limitations.
Hardware and Controllers
A few other issues to consider include the hard drives and controllers. The Xbox launch was significant because it represented the first time a console launched with any sort of significant hard drive. To gamers, it meant the elimination of reliance on memory cards for game saves. Definitely a big deal. The Xbox 360 refined the idea of the hard drive by making it detachable and small enough to make it reasonably portable. In the end though, it was the first Xbox's hard drive that made a bigger impact, and having played the Xbox and Xbox 360 significantly, it's hard to see why other companies didn't include one as well.
The controllers of both systems makes for a rather one-sided argument. There is absolutely nobody on the planet who would say that the original Xbox controllers were well designed. Quite frankly, they sucked. They were huge, uncomfortable and had an inexplicably gigantic Xbox logo right in the middle of the controller. Before the messiah that was the controller-s appeared on store shelves, gamers were at a total loss as to what went wrong in the design process. Thankfully, the Xbox 360 launch saw the release of one of the most comfortable and easy to use controllers we've ever seen, and the easy to use wireless version makes it even better.
Over Promising and Under Delivering?
Before you start to think the Xbox 360 had the far and away better launch, let's not forget all the technical issues. Disc scratching, corrupted hard drives, corrupted memory cards, faulty hardware, noise and overheating issues were all over message boards across the Internet when the system launched. In addition, there was an undeniable shortage of units. Why? While Microsoft would never admit to this, it could be said that they were trying to rush the console out of the door too quickly, which would explain why many of the launch games look like they were rapidly thrown together and play similarly to the current generation versions.
Microsoft set an insane precedent for itself with the Xbox 360 launch. They wanted their console in every major market around the world, all at the same time. Additionally, Microsoft was late on its beta and final kits, pushing developers to the last second as well. Because of such an ambitious goal, several basic issues have been overlooked to a greater degree than if Microsoft concentrated its launch on a more limited geographic area. It's clear that Microsoft wanted to be first on the market with the Xbox 360, especially considering how much of a user base the PS2 was able to amass when it released months earlier than the first Xbox.
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x
Youth vs. Age
The first launch effort with the Xbox took place under totally different circumstances. Microsoft was trying to make a name for itself in the vicious console market for the first time, and did so quite successfully. In fact, it outperformed Nintendo. The Xbox's success was in large part due to Halo's rabid popularity, but also because Microsoft had produced a quality console to back it up. Ultimately it was the widespread interest in Xbox Live that kept Microsoft going. The company obviously realized this, pushing online console gaming much, much further with all the options available on the X360 like gamerscores and the Marketplace.
Winner?
Given Microsoft's overabundance of ambition for the Xbox 360 launch, it can still be considered a more successful affair even despite the shortages and technical issues. Why? Because Microsoft actually pulled it off. Yes, there have been issues -- serious issues -- but a lot of people have a system and are playing Xbox games online every night. Also, more Xbox 360s are on the way and the PS3 doesn't even have a launch date yet. The Xbox 360 launched with all the pieces for a great system in place. Though some components and features may not be totally finished yet, they've got time to polish them up. Before long we could be seeing a regular stream of demos and XBLA games in addition to more true next-generation games. The original Xbox may have had a few games that stand out more, but the system itself can't match the Xbox 360's features, refinements and adaptability for the future.
P.D. Si alguien se anima a traducir...
