16 years later, has the Xbox v. GameCube debate changed for you?

[spacecadet]

 

Source? I have a hard time believing that was the case considering their other Chihiro arcade-to-home conversions. Not to say it's not possible, but I am just curious.

 

Well, the most obvious "source" is that the Chihiro board that the arcade machine runs on was released in 2003, whereas the Xbox version of the game was released in July of 2002. You can easily look that up.

 

But here are some links too:

 

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Taxi_3:_High_Roller#Development

 

Here's IGN's review - notice not a single mention of an arcade version, or how it compares: http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/07/22/crazy-taxi-3-high-roller-review

 

Here's Giant Bomb's review, where they specifically say "It was (At the time) exclusive for the Xbox, then later release for the PC, and the arcades." (all misspellings are theirs): https://www.giantbomb.com/crazy-taxi-3-high-roller/3030-8316/

 

And here's another Wikipedia article that lists the arcade game's release date as 2003, vs. 2002 for the Xbox version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Taxi_(series)#Crazy_Taxi_3:_High_Roller

 

But really, I'm sure you can agree that it couldn't have been released to the arcades in 2002 on an arcade board that didn't exist yet.

[Austin]

 

Well, the most obvious "source" is that the Chihiro board that the arcade machine runs on was released in 2003, whereas the Xbox version of the game was released in July of 2002. You can easily look that up.

 

But here are some links too:

 

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Taxi_3:_High_Roller#Development

 

Here's IGN's review - notice not a single mention of an arcade version, or how it compares: http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/07/22/crazy-taxi-3-high-roller-review

 

Here's Giant Bomb's review, where they specifically say "It was (At the time) exclusive for the Xbox, then later release for the PC, and the arcades." (all misspellings are theirs): https://www.giantbomb.com/crazy-taxi-3-high-roller/3030-8316/

 

And here's another Wikipedia article that lists the arcade game's release date as 2003, vs. 2002 for the Xbox version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Taxi_(series)#Crazy_Taxi_3:_High_Roller

 

But really, I'm sure you can agree that it couldn't have been released to the arcades in 2002 on an arcade board that didn't exist yet.

 

That's fine and all, and thanks for the links. Regardless of release date I was thinking it was more likely to have been developed for the arcade first like with OutRun 2 and House of the Dead 3. Of course, based on what you posted that may not have been the case with Crazy Taxi 3.

[+wood_jl]

Soft-modded Xbox with CoinOps wins every time, but that's kind of cheating. However, Gamecube with Gameboy Player earns respectable attention (add Everdrive Gameboy/Advance for extra points). Guess there's just too many threads to consider it all? Can't vote since I like 'em both. Where's the 3rd option (like 'em both) in the poll?

[djour]

I honestly never heard anyone debating this. The main showdown at the time was XBox vs PS2. The GameCube seemed to be the red headed step child of that generation. I knew 2 people that had one and only one of them played it. I have nothing against the cube, but it was rarely mentioned in the best console debate at that time.

[enoofu]

First off, the Chihiro wasn't that success and was very comparable to the Sega Triforce, as most Arcade makers went with the Dreamcast based arcade boards such as Sega NAOMI and Sammy Atomiswave or PS 2 based arcade systems such as Namco System 246 and its related family.

 

Secondly both Xbox and GameCube do both have a excellent collection of sleeper titles that no one really talks about

[JaguarVision]

Although search is clunky you can find some old topics on this forum in regards to Xbox vs. GameCube. Seemed a bit even then as well.

[derFunkenstein]

 

Source? I have a hard time believing that was the case considering their other Chihiro arcade-to-home conversions. Not to say it's not possible, but I am just curious.

Well, here's a copy of the arcade game flyer with a "Chihiro" logo in the lower-right: http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=4467&image=1

 

And here's a reference of the Chihiro hardware: http://segaretro.org/Sega_Chihiro

 

So there's at least some overlap. Whether that means High Roller was built for arcade or Xbox first, who knows. My theory is that it was always targeted at both platforms since they shared common hardware.

 

Also, IMO, no Crazy Taxi sequel could hold a candle to the original either in the arcade or on the Dreamcast. The PS2/Gamecube port had different voices and dropped a lot of the corporate sponsor stuff like KFC and The Original Levi Store and whatever else..

Edited November 1, 2017 by derFunkenstein

[enoofu]

Pretty normal to give the arcade operators some period of exclusively since arcade machines are pretty costly firsthand

[derFunkenstein]

Pretty normal to give the arcade operators some period of exclusively since arcade machines are pretty costly firsthand

That's only assuming you made a lot of machines to sell. At least in the US, the "corner arcade" was dead. There were some chains (Aladdin's Castle) but by 2003 or so, the one near me had closed and the next-closest one was also on its way out a few months later. There's been a renaissance of "beer-cades" in the last few years, but even those seem to be focused on more classic (pre-2K) games.

 

TL;DR - I doubt Sega made a ton of High Roller machines in the first place.

[enoofu]

Sega did quite well especially in Japan in 2003 with its Arcades and their seems to be quite a few High Roller machines in the after market so it probably sold quite well to Coin Op operators

[derFunkenstein]

Incidentally, Microsoft sold approximately six OG Xboxes in Japan. Maybe seven.

 

And what is "quite well", anyway? If I make 15 and sell all 15 in a week, it sold quite well? I

Edited November 1, 2017 by derFunkenstein

[Bill Loguidice]

Incidentally, Microsoft sold approximately six OG Xboxes in Japan. Maybe seven.

 

And what is "quite well", anyway? If I make 15 and sell all 15 in a week, it sold quite well? I

 

Supposedly they sold about half a million Xbox's in Japan, compared to a million more than that of Xbox 360s. The Xbox One though is selling especially poorly there. It's probably less than a hundred thousand units in total at this point with little hope of doing a great deal more.

 

That's why any time an Xbox console can beat or come close to Sony or Nintendo in overall sales in a particular generation, it's a pretty big deal, because they're effectively a non-factor in one significant territory. Naturally, North America and Europe are more important overall, but Japan is still a solid third and has some significance because of the games that come out of there (although the importance of having Japanese-sourced games has diminished in the past few generations).

[JaguarVision]

Japan's not been a significant territory in home considering sales in awhile though. O the Xbox one really isn't doing worse in Japan when adjusted for contraction. I don't even think Wii I hit 4 million and it took awhile for the PS4 to pass it.

 

For the Xbox 1 and 360 though, the beating Gamecube with Xbox then demolishing, then later matching neck and neck with Sony via 360, both without Japan, was quite impressive.

[Greg2600]

They were literally giving the XB's away for free in Japan!

[Bruce Tomlin]

I've got two chipped Xboxen stashed away somewhere, and I should have a third one (because of a dead unit I found with a chip in it!), they're great for jukebox play, but I haven't had much interest in playing console games at all. GC games can be played on Wii, and I've got that. (I've got two Wiis that literally have not been played since before the Twlight hack came out!)

 

So right now they're about equal, not playing either of them. And while I've stopped trying to keep a PS2 working (stupid crappy optical drives), it's got decent emulation on PC these days, if I took the time to set it up. The whole generation was pretty good, and I still never bought anything from the PS3/360/PS4/Xbone era, other than a couple of random games with no system to play them on.

[Scotterpop]

For me it was always Xbox over Gamecube, then as it is now. In fact, the first Xbox I owned came from a friend of mine who sold it to me so he could buy a Gamecube to play Windwaker. He threw in the original Halo and as soon as I started playing I was hooked. Very few games before or since really impressed me the way that one did. Mech Assault was another outstanding exclusive, and is probably my favorite OG Xbox title after Halo. Other games I really enjoyed were Midtown Madness 3 (a great free-roam multiplayer racer), Armed and Dangerous (a very original and hugely enjoyable shooter, also utterly hilarious!), Doom 3, Star Wars KOTOR, Fable, Stubbs the Zombie, Chronicles of Riddick, Splinter Cell (it was on Xbox first), as well as enhanced versions of the Grand Theft Auto games and Silent Hill 2. There are so many more I could mention, but I will keep that original Xbox forever just to be able to play these standouts.

 

I did end up getting a Gamecube about a year later, mainly because I really wanted to play Resident Evil 4 and it was a Nintendo exclusive at the time. I ended up really liking that console as well, but never as much as the Xbox. Having to go back to managing memory cards was really inconvenient after being spoiled by the Xbox's hard drive. But a handful of exclusives eventually won me over: Rogue Squadron was absolutely gorgeous at the time, Mario Kart was a fun multiplayer racer, and Eternal Darkness… oh man, I nearly crapped myself the first time it threatened to erase my game save! The way that game messed with your perceptions was truly unique at the time. The Cube also had two of the best remakes of all time with Resident Evil and Metal Gear Twin Snakes. And it also had one of the greatest game reinventions ever with Metroid Prime.

 

They're both great machines, but the Xbox will always be the preferred format for me. True, it's an ugly hulking beast (if ever a system needed a slim redesign, it was that one!) but it was a great first effort from Microsoft.

 

Also, it's a helluva lot cheaper to get a component video signal out of an Xbox than it is a Gamecube!

[spacecadet]

So there's at least some overlap. Whether that means High Roller was built for arcade or Xbox first, who knows.

 

Well, it's not really "who knows". It was built for Xbox.

 

You can easily look up all the announcements from that time about the game - there is no mention of the arcade version at all, because there was no arcade version. Here's Sega's own press release: https://segaretro.org/Press_release:_2002-07-23:_SEGA_Ups_The_Ante_With_Crazy_Taxi_3:_High_Roller_Exclusively_for_Xbox

 

They do say it delivers "arcade action", but that's true regardless of platform - it is an arcade-style game.

 

The Xbox version was released in July of 2002; the arcade version was released in March of 2003. That's a full 8 months apart. Given the similarity of the arcade hardware to the Xbox, if it were being developed for arcades first, there's no reason for that gap. That 8 month gap was to a) get the Chihiro hardware ready, and b) port Crazy Taxi 3 to it. There was no Chihiro hardware to even develop it for before that.

 

I specifically remember this too, because I was both in the industry at the time working on Xbox games (for Rockstar) and I also was following Sega pretty religiously, especially what they were doing on Xbox. I remember thinking I'd have to buy CT3 basically sight unseen but not minding because CT2 was the same deal and it was great. I had planned to get CT3 on day one of its release (and I did) and at that time that meant not even many reviews being up yet. But it was not like the original Crazy Taxi where it was a known quantity because the arcade machine was already out. I ended up being a bit disappointed because the tone and feel I thought were different than the two earlier games, which I didn't know ahead of time or expect. And I would have, had it actually been based on an arcade game that was already out there.

[derFunkenstein]

 

Bloviating wildly

Dang dude relax. You can be right if it makes you feel better. I don't have a dog in this fight. LOL

[JaguarVision]

For me it was always Xbox over Gamecube, then as it is now. In fact, the first Xbox I owned came from a friend of mine who sold it to me so he could buy a Gamecube to play Windwaker. He threw in the original Halo and as soon as I started playing I was hooked. Very few games before or since really impressed me the way that one did. Mech Assault was another outstanding exclusive, and is probably my favorite OG Xbox title after Halo. Other games I really enjoyed were Midtown Madness 3 (a great free-roam multiplayer racer), Armed and Dangerous (a very original and hugely enjoyable shooter, also utterly hilarious!), Doom 3, Star Wars KOTOR, Fable, Stubbs the Zombie, Chronicles of Riddick, Splinter Cell (it was on Xbox first), as well as enhanced versions of the Grand Theft Auto games and Silent Hill 2. There are so many more I could mention, but I will keep that original Xbox forever just to be able to play these standouts.

 

I did end up getting a Gamecube about a year later, mainly because I really wanted to play Resident Evil 4 and it was a Nintendo exclusive at the time. I ended up really liking that console as well, but never as much as the Xbox. Having to go back to managing memory cards was really inconvenient after being spoiled by the Xbox's hard drive. But a handful of exclusives eventually won me over: Rogue Squadron was absolutely gorgeous at the time, Mario Kart was a fun multiplayer racer, and Eternal Darkness… oh man, I nearly crapped myself the first time it threatened to erase my game save! The way that game messed with your perceptions was truly unique at the time. The Cube also had two of the best remakes of all time with Resident Evil and Metal Gear Twin Snakes. And it also had one of the greatest game reinventions ever with Metroid Prime.

 

They're both great machines, but the Xbox will always be the preferred format for me. True, it's an ugly hulking beast (if ever a system needed a slim redesign, it was that one!) but it was a great first effort from Microsoft.

 

Also, it's a helluva lot cheaper to get a component video signal out of an Xbox than it is a Gamecube!

 

I always found the more niche of the unique exclusive titles always seeme dbetter on Xbxo to me.

 

Xbox would have Maximum Chase or Steel battalion and Gamecube would have Virtua Quest and Gotcha Force. I mean I know there were others but the Gamecube had so many of those types of "games" in its library.

[MrMaddog]

For starters, it was more of a Xbox vs. Playstation debate since we still have that now...

 

For me I wanted an Xbox back then b/c it can be modded for running MAME on. But once I got my Xmas bonus I went to Circuit City and they were sold out, so I picked up a GameCube that had Metroid Prime included and a free $20 game as well (got Sands of Time).

 

I actually did like the GameCube in spite of being a Nintendo box and the games & graphics do stand toe to toe with the Xbox. My favorites were Smash Bros., Resident Evil 4 and a remake of Zelda: Ocrine of Time I picked up used. But in the end I was playing games in general less and I needed the money so I sold it.

 

Right now I have an Xbox 360 and plan on getting a Xbox 1 S hopefully soon. Someday I would like to get an original Xbox to have "all" the generations of that platform.

 

But for anyone who wants to emulate 6th gen games, I recommend using Dolphin to play GameCube stuff...way easier to set up than PS2 emulation.

[JaguarVision]

For starters, it was more of a Xbox vs. Playstation debate since we still have that now...

 

For me I wanted an Xbox back then b/c it can be modded for running MAME on. But once I got my Xmas bonus I went to Circuit City and they were sold out, so I picked up a GameCube that had Metroid Prime included and a free $20 game as well (got Sands of Time).

 

I actually did like the GameCube in spite of being a Nintendo box and the games & graphics do stand toe to toe with the Xbox. My favorites were Smash Bros., Resident Evil 4 and a remake of Zelda: Ocrine of Time I picked up used. But in the end I was playing games in general less and I needed the money so I sold it.

 

Right now I have an Xbox 360 and plan on getting a Xbox 1 S hopefully soon. Someday I would like to get an original Xbox to have "all" the generations of that platform.

 

But for anyone who wants to emulate 6th gen games, I recommend using Dolphin to play GameCube stuff...way easier to set up than PS2 emulation.

Interesting how Xbox emulation still is barely a thing in 2017.

 

I know the chipgpu was customer but it couldn't be that much harder than trying to emulate a Jaguar or, in the past, Saturn, given 80+% of the Xbox 1 (ugh) is basically a abthen high-end Pentium PC.