Game Theory: ‘Titanfall’ Won’t Be Xbox One’s Magic Bullet

Adam Najberg reviews the highly anticipated “Titanfall” for Xbox One, explaining why this first-person shooter won’t be another Halo.

[italkgame]

Can't judge the video content since it is not available for my location

[Lior]

these media morons don't know its out on pc

[nategrigs]

Yeah, this guy said a few things that leads me to believe that he didn't know what he was talking about.

I don't think that this game makes use of all of the xbones power. It may be fun, but certainly doesn't look impressive technically.

Halo sold a ton of x360s in 2001? really?

[SilentNegotiator]

This is the most embarrassing thing I've watched in the longest of times.

-Like you said, he suggested that Halo sold Xbox 360s in 2001
-He complains about not having AI to learn the game against
-He clearly isn't aware that the game is on any other system (be it PC or X360)
-He refers to shooting as "fighting"

WSJ...STAHP. You know nothing about video games.

[sonarus]

The only way MS is surpassing playstation is dropping price to match playstation or lower. Abandon kinnect and focus on games. 360 enjoyed success over PS3 for many reasons but one major factor in my opinion was the far advanced game library the 360 already had before the PS3 even showed up to the party. I remember in the early days of my PS3 buying crap game after crap game just to have a game to play SMDH. Not to mention receiving lower ports compared to 360.
PS3 survived by releasing exclusive games that pushed the power of the console to at least show it was in equal footing with Microsoft and oh yea dropping the price from 600 also helped a lot.

Unless MS is releasing games that can at least show parity with PS4 there is just no way to justify higher price point. Titanfall running on ancient source engine isn't gonna cut it. They need that new HALO asap

[nategrigs]

I see what you are saying, but I disagree on a few minor points.

Forced Kinect is one of the reasons that I refuse to buy an xbone. However, I am open to changing my mind if they are able to come up with compelling uses for it. In game, not UI nonsense. I know this is a long shot, but I won't say that they absolutely need to unbundle it. They need to unbundle it OR put it to good use.

I also don't think that xbone games will ever achieve true parity with ps4 games. The ps4 is simply more powerful, and the internet is full of pixel counters. A game like TF is not technically impressive, but it will move consoles. If they are able to secure more really good exclusives, they will continue to be ok (whether these games look as good as ps4 exclusives or not).

[sonarus]

Truth is nobody really cares about kinnect especially developers. Sure some compelling uses could show up in the future but that is a maybe. Forcing it on consumers so far havent forced developers to use it so its dumb to force it on consumers. Take it out make it optional. Microsoft should be responsible for showing compelling use of kinnect via their internal studios and when they do come up with something then they can bundle in that something with kinnect.

Games like ryse show that MS is capable of pushing visuals at least somewhat on par with playstation. I would argue ryse looks probably as good as any game on the market for ps4. Titanfall will move consoles like any good exclusive should however its not going to be enough to catch up to PS4 because sony will also be dropping their exclusives which will equally move units as well.

If MS wants to win, they need to place themselves in a position to more effectively compete with Sony and the first step to doing this will be a price drop. 2nd step will be more compelling games or features. The system with best graphics won't always win but the one that is most affordable with most compelling games almost certainly will.

[Fz6soldier]

People overrate the success of the 360. even with a year headstart, being much cheaper and counting RRod replacement units into sales, the PS3 still surpassed it. now the X1 has none of those advantages, I don't see it ever coming close to the PS4 in sales.

[mewhy32]

Well I don't think that Titanfall is going to change much of anything. If they really wanted it to drive new xbone sales then they should have made it a 'True' xbone exclusive and not have released it on PC or 360 making xbone the only place you could play it. That would've possible spurred sales. The way it is now, current xbone owners will get this game but others will probably wait for the 360/PC release.

[BelkingOfSony]

titanfall is definitely no halo

[Anon1974]

Where'd this notion that Halo made "Xbox 360's fly off the shelves" come from?

Let's look at Halo 3, the biggest seller in the series. Halo 3 launched at the very end of Sept 2007, so if Halo 3 boosted console sales, we'd see that in the sales data immediately following, right?

According to MS's data (and you can verify this yourself on their investor relations site) sales of 360 actually dropped slightly for the quarter immediately after Halo 3's launch compared to the same quarter the year before. Oct-Dec 06: 4.4 million, Oct-Dec 07: 4.3 million. This accepted idea that Halo was a system seller would lead you to assume that sales of the 360 went up corresponding with Halo's launch, correct? Yet we don't see that in the data post launch.

Now, no doubt Halo contributed to long term 360 sales but this notion that Halo simply caused 360's to leap off the shelves doesn't appear to be rooted in the data available. It made copies of Halo leap of the shelves, but not so much the consoles themselves. It has yet to be determined if Titanfall will boost the Xbox One's fortunes long term, but I guess we'll find out. It certainly has me itching to pick up an Xbox One, but I'm still not sold yet as I don't have time to play the games I already have on the consoles I already own.

[lunatic0001]

I think he was reffering to the original Xbox and halo combat evolved which did make xboxes fly off the shelves....but he said 360 instead of original xbox

[BX81]

No it's not but it doesn't have to be. Titanfall is awesome as hell. Loving it.

[SteamPowered]

What the hell is a magic bullet? Is that good or bad?

[JeffGUNZ]

http://www.buythebullet.com...

[WeAreLegion]

It's no SlapChop, but it's decent.

[RiPPn]

Slap Chop Remix:

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[IcicleTrepan]

The term was coined for the JFK assassination to explain what was thought to be the physics-defying actions of the trajectory of one of the bullets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

I believe the way they are using it here is in reference to Microsoft firing a shot (Titanfall) and somehow it magically making XB1 the top console.

BTW - the bullet really didn't do anything magical, they just didn't understand how it managed to do what it did at the time. Modern day physics and recreations do cover what it really did.

[SilentNegotiator]

Well, they used the term "Ps4 killer", so I'm assuming they're asking "will it kill the competition?" sort of a thing.

[Bonkerz]

Ttanfall is a damn good game, level 36 atm, and just an overall fun experience, one of the best FPS ive played in a long time. Overall thought i am more excited about the new gears than anything. With the amount of money MS has put into black tusk, Gears should be incredible.

[HacSawJimThugin]

Same here brother. I love TitanFall, can't get enough of it but I'm really hoping to hear some info about the new Gears at E3.

[No1up]

I don't know about magic bullet, but I have been wore out by FPS for a long time. This is the first one I've tried in years that actually gets my excited. It has its flaws, short rounds, to easy to lose your titan, graphics, and so on... But there is simply no denying how absolutely fun it is, and when your playing... You don't tend to think of those things.

I ccan't wait to get off work and get a few rounds in.. Just now starting to get good at wall runs.

[imt558]

Where are the TitanFall 24h sale numbers???

COD sale numbers are revealed immediately day after launch.

[iamnsuperman]

Although I agree with you, COD is different. Activision do that to appear the most popular game out their (it comes out in a very competitive month). Look at the last time Activision did it. They thought they were being clever by trying to seem as popular as GTA. I would expect Microsoft to throw out some Titanfall number soon.

[djplonker]

Since you can play it on pc and 360 I doubt it will help as much as microsoft thinks it will!

[SirDjss]

Im gonna play the shit out of this game on pc with my multi monitor setup with 3xmonitors. Its gonna be fun. See you out there guys ;)

[Hicken]

You're doing that on PC... which is sorta the point people make when they say it's not gonna be the XB1's killer app.

It's not even that the game won't be fun, or won't sell well, or anything like that. It's just that, because it's available on two other platforms, both of which have much larger install bases, it's not necessary to have an XB1 for the game. Why shell out $500 to play Titanfall if you've already got a 360 or capable PC?

And, for sure, there will be some that will buy the console SPECIFICALLY for Titanfall. But that number isn't likely to be significant enough to be the big hardware mover that Microsoft hoped for.

[ThichQuangDuck]

Titanfall will be very limited in the amount it last. The gameplay is fast and addictive,but very little changes between matches due to amount of bots and structure.

Halo 5 will need to bring it very much so

[shwisha]

This was awful... these people are out of touch and have no idea what they're talking about.