Is the Xbox 360 Really Mom Friendly? 85
Alex writes "Just prior to the XBOX 360's launch last November, in an interview with Primotech, Peter Moore boldly declared that someday "your mom would be playing the XBOX 360." In a twenty-page feature, we today put his words to the test, with a thorough investigation of how mom-friendly the 360, and videogaming in general, has become. The bigger picture: Has gaming finally reached the massive mainstream market?"
not enough soap opera games (Score:1)
Re:not enough soap opera games (Score:3, Insightful)
The Sims has been pure Soap Opera from day one.
Re:not enough soap opera games (Score:2)
Re:not enough soap opera games (Score:5, Insightful)
Your Mom (Score:5, Funny)
definately not (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:definately not (Score:1)
Re:definately not (Score:1)
however, if we're talking about the 360 here, you have games like:
- Hardwood backgammon
- Hardwood Spades
- Hardwood Hearts
- Uno
- Billiards
- Bejeweled
- Hexic HD
- Zuma
- list goes on...
XBox Live Arcade is full of Mom friendly games.
PC gaming is the same. Hundreds of cards and board games on services like Yahoo, MSN and tons of Flash games.
Those arn't the games that "gamers" play, but people like "moms" play all the time. There is a market for them.
With
Re:definately not (Score:1)
Re:definately not (Score:1)
My argument was limited to answering the following comment:
"yeah all those xboxs games out there with mom friendly written all over it..."
In that regard the comment was wrong. There are "mom friendly" games on the 360. They are mostly not located in retail outlets, but are available through the Live Arcade service.
As to if a "mom" is going to buy a 360 for herself for 400$ that she could play on a PC... (not talking about a Palm because i think she has even less chance than
Won't someone think of the children?! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Won't someone think of the children?! (Score:1)
Re:Won't someone think of the children?! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Quite possibly the worst thing I ever did was get Mom a DS. Four words: Mario Kart competitive multiplayer. If I had any gaming pride left before, it's gone now.
Xbox might not be friendly with your mom... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ob Bill & Ted quote (Score:2)
Re:Ob Bill & Ted quote (Score:1)
Re:Ob Bill & Ted quote (Score:2)
Re:Xbox might not be friendly with your mom... (Score:2)
your mom (Score:1, Troll)
Moms are playing just now? (Score:2)
Re:Moms are playing just now? (Score:1)
Re:Moms are playing just now? (Score:1)
Re:Moms are playing just now? (Score:1)
Re:Moms are playing just now? (Score:1)
Your mom wouldn't happen to be Sally Field [ew.com] would she?
Re:Moms are playing just now? (Score:1)
Re:Moms are playing just now? (Score:2)
How is this specific to the 360? (Score:5, Insightful)
"I dont consider myself a very tech savvy person. Heck, I still have trouble navigating my email. Yet I had no trouble hooking up the XBOX 360. A perfunctory glance at the included documentation was needed to verify a few points, but other than that, its nearly fool-proof."
Hasn't this been true of just about every console in history? If anything, the 360 is far more complex than previous consoles because it relies on a network connection for much of its functionality, and thus one more wire and one more point of failure. The article goes on to describe how the games are reasonably accessable...
"I found the controls in most titles to be too esoteric for me and I was just uncomfortable sitting in one place, holding a controller in my warm, tense hands. But over the course of time, I came to relax with the controller and master several of the controls in the games I attempted to play."
Again, things have only risen in complexity since the days of the NES and prior (not a bad thing, of course). If anything has brought gaming to the masses, it's marketing - certainly not any change in ease of use.
Re:How is this specific to the 360? (Score:2)
You apparently have never played the Nintendo DS, nor heard anything about its current market dominance (whether or not you believe it competes directly with the Xbox 360, it is nevertheless outselling it worldwide by a factor of about 10 to 1).
You've also apparently never heard of the upcoming Wii
Re:How is this specific to the 360? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:360 Selling Worse Than The Xbox (Score:1)
Re:360 Selling Worse Than The Xbox (Score:1)
A mom would prefer a 12 button, 2 sticks, 1 dpad controller for a game BEFORE she would use a mouse / keyboard combo.
Most games on PC uses esoteric or complicated button configurations on the keyboard. The mouse / keyboard combo takes a longer time to get used to than anything that can be put on a modern controller.
If you're strictly talking about point and click adventure games, then yes. The PC versions might be better and more intuitive. Would a
Re:360 Selling Worse Than The Xbox (Score:1)
The difference in control difficulty is minimal to you but to a person who has never used a controller having to remember which mouse button clicks is much easier than remembering which console button does the same. Mostly because there's four face buttons on a controller and two on a mouse. One if you're using a Mac. Never mind that pointing is much more natural with a mouse than d
Dr Mario (Score:2, Interesting)
We (my sister and I ) recently introduced her to the wonderful world of emulation....I get this phonecall from her one day because she can't figure out to play some strange platformer that my sister threw on there.....I made the comment about how I need to get her zelda or one of the other RPGs and she says "Yeah I am kind of interested in playing the warcraft game...." Go figure.
Interactive entertainment is where its at.
Mom Friendly? Only if she's a psychopath. (Score:5, Insightful)
</sarcasm>
Re:Mom Friendly? Only if she's a psychopath. (Score:2)
Re:Mom Friendly? Only if she's a psychopath. (Score:2)
Depends. Can she tie-dye them?
Re:Mom Friendly? Only if she's a psychopath. (Score:1)
Astropop
Bankshot Billiards 2
Bejeweled 2
BOMBERMAN Act:Zero
Burnout Revenge
Cloning Clyde
Crystal Quest
DEAD OR ALIVE 4
Enchanted Arms
Everyparty
Feeding Frenzy
FINAL FANTASY XI
Frogger
GALAGA
Gauntlet
Geometry Wars Evolved
Hardwood Backgammon
Hardwood Hearts
Hardwood Spades
Hexic HD
Jewel Quest
Joust
Just Cause
Kameo
King Kong
Marble Blast Ultra
Mutant Storm Reloaded
Oblivion
Outpost Kaloki X
PAC-MAN
Robotron: 2084
Rockstar Table Tennis
TGM ACE
Tomb Raid
Re:Mom Friendly? Only if she's a psychopath. (Score:2)
And WTF ever convinced you that "Mom" would want to play "Dead or Alive 4"? I mean, seriously?
Re:Mom Friendly? Only if she's a psychopath. (Score:2)
Larva.. (Score:2)
what..
We may never find out (Score:1)
I'm not sure ... (Next page)
If the XBox ... (Next page)
[obscured by google ads] (Next page)
Mom friendly. (Next page)
Ok, the article had pretty pictures and all that snazzy magazine feel, but why must I click click through twenty, ad-filled, pages to read all of your poorly formatted content. On top of that, for several of the pages my Firefox browser rendered the ads in front of the article text. If there is anything more annoying then having to needlessly click through several pages to read your
Re:We may never find out (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:We may never find out (Score:1)
(I find it pretty sad that a magazine-like site doesn't have a print-friendly version, the usual antidote to such silly high-concept design. Even Wired looks better on the web.)
Are you willing to pay for "printable version"? (Score:2)
Several magazine-like sites have a print-friendly version available only to credit card holders. Ars is one.
DS. (Score:4, Insightful)
Using the 360 to judge if the mass market is into the new gaming era is like using a people carrier to judge if people like fast cars. It makes no sense when we have something with a very clear cut answers right infront of us.
Re:DS. (Score:2)
Ans she didn't just go out and buy it
My mom already has a game console (Score:2)
By the way, does anyone know where I can find replacement controllers for a Sega Master System?
Re:My mom already has a game console (Score:1)
Re:My mom already has a game console (Score:2)
Re:My mom already has a game console (Score:2)
Re:My mom already has a game console (Score:1)
mother i'd like to... (Score:5, Funny)
too complicated (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:too complicated (Score:2)
You mean like...
- Geometry Wars
- Hexic HD
- Uno
And for the *slightly* more complex gamer, Marble Blast Ultra?
Plenty of casual games on the 360, just not the type you would buy off a store shelf.
Re:too complicated (Score:1)
Re:too complicated (Score:2)
Didn't you read the article? (Wait, stupid question.) "Mom" hated all of those games, with the notable exception of Hexic. In fact, it sounds like it took several days of grueling gameplay to get "Mom" to warm up to any of the games.
The entire article can be summed up like this:
- "Mom" loves the idea of murder mysteries and sportscar racing.
- "Mom" wants them to be less action oriented and more cerebr
strange coincidence (Score:2)
The Wii? (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, a rising tide lifts all boats, so I'm sure the XBox 360 will benefit. But the 360 is not the vanguard, IMHO.
My mother used to really use an Atari 2600. (Score:2)
Possibly one that isn't directly related to me.
Consoles for parents (Score:1)
By the time my brother and I became less interested in our Gameboy, my mom got hooked. Tetris and Shangai being the first victims of cartridge burnout, followed by Dr. Mari
Can't get my wife off it (Score:2)
Bigger market than you realise (Score:1)
Gin Rummy, Bridge, Hearts, 500 etc. over Live! with a bunch of friends while they played cards and talked about how their son had run off to Canada to work on a ski resort and how he w
That was hilarious! (Score:1)
Alex: Final question, what are we having for dinner?
Mrs. P: Are you kidding? After all that, you expect me to make dinner, too?
Alex: Touché.
That was the most obvious, but it was all pretty funny - almost satire, even better because it *wasn't* actually satire.
Be Mom Friendly when she gets Taito Collection :) (Score:2)
Of course Taito collection is already on the XBox so it was mom friendly when it came out. Does it still work under the emulation?
I only wish they would have provided a real Bug joystick, and let Bub and Bob jump using pushing up of the joystick, rather than pressing a button. You can't fire rainbows and jump so easily with two buttons on one hand
She loves the ORIGINAL Mario (or the Mario Allstars version. As long as it's the Su
Too many buttons (Score:1)
That's where the Wii will come in. Hardly any buttons
MS was right, according to TFA (Score:1)
I think the conclusion might be that MS was right (even if it wasn't obviously stated in the article):
The 360 IS mom friendly.
She wouldn't buy a 360 by herself, but she would play it if it was in the house.
The MS comment was that "your mom will play it". Well looks like they were right. That mom would play it if it was in the house.
The article itself has some methodology problems though,
It started correctly, with her having to in
Moms will pwn you! well maybe not but... (Score:1)
Mom friendly? More like Mom-addictive! (Score:1)