The following article was written on the 17th of January 2001, so here it is:

Well many people think that in 2001 the Sony PlayStation 2 will beat all other consoles in the race to become the best but is that really true? Will the XBox and Gamecube launches be a success? What will happen to Sega's Dreamcast? Well read on and find out as I explain my thoughts on what the year 2001 will hold for consoles...

17.01.01

The Sony PlayStation has had its fair share of victories over the Nintendo 64 or even the Sega Saturn, while the Saturn's life is over and the Nintendo 64 only has a couple of games left for release this year, the Sony PlayStation is also on its last breath. With a expected 50 or so games to be released many developers are turning their heads to future consoles like the PlayStation 2, Nintendo's Gamecube and Microsoft's first breakthrough to the console world with its XBox.

I have heard people say that the PlayStation has no competition because the Gamecube will be another failure like the N64 and what does Microsoft know about consoles and games? Well let me just put one point through, if you think that the XBox will be a failure just because Microsoft is only known in the Computer industry then that is just a load of nonsense! When the first PlayStation was announced did everyone say "Well its going to fail because Sony can't make consoles and is only good at stereos and TV's"? No they didn't say nothing and waited until the PlayStation was released till they made their decision and look at how popular the PSX is now!

So you never know the XBox could be the new 'king console'. Also why do you think that the PlayStation 2 will survive? It has had its fair share of problems at launch and it could fail just like Nintendo had its triumph with the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Nintendo but then failed with the Nintendo 64. Developers have complained at how hard it is to program for and how they have spent so much time but their games have not come out what they imagined it would, for example Hideo Kojima said that Metal Gear Solid 2 may look good now but he imagined the PS2 could pump out a higher graphical level then what it is currently doing. I have been playing the PS2 at stores and people have walked past and said "I thought it would be much better, it doesn't look any better then a Dreamcast", so why should people spend so much money on a PS2 when they can get just as good graphics on a Dreamcast? Now don't say "but its got a DVD", so what? If I wanted a DVD then I would buy one but I want a gaming console, I don't want a entertainment system. I just want it to play games thats all, sure having a DVD will be a bonus but if I wanted to play DVD's then I would buy a DVD player and be able to play all DVD's not just some as the PlayStation 2 can.

Nintendo has a good idea! Release the Gamecube in 2 versions. one that can just play games and another one that can play games and DVD's. The one that can just play games will be a lot cheaper then the PS2 and will be able to pump out much better graphics and users can choose which version they want. Games that where PSX-only like Crash Bandicoot are being released on the XBox and Gamecube as well as the PS2, you see companies are realising that the other new generation consoles are just as good as the PS2. Even Munch's Odyssey which was going to be released on PS2 but has been cancelled in favor of a XBox release.

Now you may think that I don't like the PS2 but that's not true! I'm just saying that the PS2 isn't the only good console and that all of the other new generation consoles will be just as good if not better. So what about the Dreamcast? Well I reckon its going to last another year and many people will buy it because its a cheap alternative to new generation consoles. The system has a good following behind it and they are brilliant games being released on it (one being Daytona USA which will allow online play). Oh that reminds me how about online play? The Dreamcast finally allows for online play and Sony is waiting for broadband access to become more common in households before actually releasing a online network, the Gamecube and XBox are said to allow online support also. What this means in that about 5 years time online play will be common and I believe every game will have online support, Final Fantasy X has online support but only in allowing users to hook onto the net and access Squaresoft's own PlayOnline network to view online guides for the game while FFXI will be online only.

Sure the future will hold some great things but what I wish is that everyone will choose a system not because of the whether its a Sony or a Nintendo but because of the games that it will produce. 2001 will be a great year for gaming and I eagerly await the new consoles to see what games will come out on them.

Well keep on gaming.