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Then you could have a RedOctane GitaDora! http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/puzzle/guitarfreaksvdr ummaniav/index.html

Though I'd be surprised if they didn't eventually do this after copying DDR and Guitar Freaks. Drums are a natural next step and I don't think they're gonna go after Beatmania and Pop'n Music unless rhythm games REALLY catch on over here.

PS3's are not selling out any more.

Evidence:
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/nikkei/nikkei-on-big- ds-and-wii-sales-slow-ps3-sales-226834.php
http://www.unscripted360.com/2006/12/28/playstatio n-3-sitting-not-selling/
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ps3/plenty-o-ps3s-but -no-takers-225271.php
http://www.techimo.com/forum/t180097.html
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162141.html
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/06/ps3-available-on -bestbuy-com-still/

Good games are going to be expensive to make, no matter what. I'd be curious to know what Zelda cost to develop versus, say, Oblivion.

I would be interested in the Zelda vs Oblivion costs, but when THQ states "it was far less expensive making games for Nintendo's console." and that "they could be as little as a third of the high-end next-gen titles... Maybe the range is a quarter to a half." I believe them.

Except that Square-Enix has already shifted their focus back to Nintendo.

Dragon Quest IX is DS exclusive. Dragon Quest is THE big gaming franchise in Japan, I'm told it sells bigger numbers than the top 3 franchises in the US combined. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6163073.html?sid=6163 073

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and It's a Wonderful World (a Kingdom Hearts spinoff) are also both DS exclusive. Being spinoff titles and not major releases, this isn't as big of news, but it's still pointing at the end of SE's relationship with Sony. http://ds.ign.com/articles/732/732509p1.html http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3154010

That's one million PS3s shipped TO THE US and only in 2006. One million does not include consoles shipped after the new year and consoles shipped to Japan at any date.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6163828.html

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I'm rooting for the 360 because I'm sick of anime and senseless/cutesy Japanese story lines. Come on, hasn't this Japanese fad in the West lasted long enough?

The NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, and PS2 all had a lot of western developed games (and Japaneese games) which didn't have senseless/cutesy story lines.

Before the Xbox, where could us Western console gamers go for realistic eyes and hair? Where could we go for a game originally written in English (without some strange translation)? Where could we go for an RPG that wasn't on rails? Where could we go for a game whose main character was a clear heterosexual?

For realistic hair and eyes, I'll tell you when we actually get them; considering realistic Skin, Hair and Eyes are still difficult on pre-rendered movies (because humans are very good at telling the difference between computer generated and real people) I expect that it will be a couple of generations. If you're talking about where you could get them from an Artistic perspective I think you should look into a couple of games Link, and Link,Link. Many Japaneese companies have been on the forefront of 'realistic' graphics.

RPGs that "aren't on rails" are mostly an American (typically PC) genre and have never been (particularly) popular ...

I, for one, am glad that an American company is finally back in the game.

There is nothing wrong with an American (or Japaneese) company being very successful in the industry ...
Blindly following that company simply because they are American (or Japaneese) is foolish because they will (likely) take your support for granted and you will (probably) become angry with the company.

I'm rooting for the 360 because I'm sick of anime and senseless/cutesy Japanese story lines. Come on, hasn't this Japanese fad in the West lasted long enough?

The NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, and PS2 all had a lot of western developed games (and Japaneese games) which didn't have senseless/cutesy story lines.

Before the Xbox, where could us Western console gamers go for realistic eyes and hair? Where could we go for a game originally written in English (without some strange translation)? Where could we go for an RPG that wasn't on rails? Where could we go for a game whose main character was a clear heterosexual?

For realistic hair and eyes, I'll tell you when we actually get them; considering realistic Skin, Hair and Eyes are still difficult on pre-rendered movies (because humans are very good at telling the difference between computer generated and real people) I expect that it will be a couple of generations. If you're talking about where you could get them from an Artistic perspective I think you should look into a couple of games Link, and Link,Link. Many Japaneese companies have been on the forefront of 'realistic' graphics.

RPGs that "aren't on rails" are mostly an American (typically PC) genre and have never been (particularly) popular ...

I, for one, am glad that an American company is finally back in the game.

There is nothing wrong with an American (or Japaneese) company being very successful in the industry ...
Blindly following that company simply because they are American (or Japaneese) is foolish because they will (likely) take your support for granted and you will (probably) become angry with the company.

I'm rooting for the 360 because I'm sick of anime and senseless/cutesy Japanese story lines. Come on, hasn't this Japanese fad in the West lasted long enough?

The NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation, and PS2 all had a lot of western developed games (and Japaneese games) which didn't have senseless/cutesy story lines.

Before the Xbox, where could us Western console gamers go for realistic eyes and hair? Where could we go for a game originally written in English (without some strange translation)? Where could we go for an RPG that wasn't on rails? Where could we go for a game whose main character was a clear heterosexual?

For realistic hair and eyes, I'll tell you when we actually get them; considering realistic Skin, Hair and Eyes are still difficult on pre-rendered movies (because humans are very good at telling the difference between computer generated and real people) I expect that it will be a couple of generations. If you're talking about where you could get them from an Artistic perspective I think you should look into a couple of games Link, and Link,Link. Many Japaneese companies have been on the forefront of 'realistic' graphics.

RPGs that "aren't on rails" are mostly an American (typically PC) genre and have never been (particularly) popular ...

I, for one, am glad that an American company is finally back in the game.

There is nothing wrong with an American (or Japaneese) company being very successful in the industry ...
Blindly following that company simply because they are American (or Japaneese) is foolish because they will (likely) take your support for granted and you will (probably) become angry with the company.

Not to be too Pro-Microsoft, but I've always found their games division to be really good to work with. At heart they're a bunch of game geeks who are thrilled that they've got the juggernaut to bankroll whatever it is they want to do. And, generally, they seem to want to fund nifty stuff. From a communication standpoint as a platform company they've been every bit as good about communication as Sony and Nintendo, and in certain respects better (in others, worse. Each has their quirks). But, of course, get the toothbrush salesmen involved at a higher level, and who knows what MS will do.

The french company that is licensed to work on this title has a good history of licensed conversions, some with MS IP. But they've never handled anything that would lead one to believe they could do Halo as anything other than a 2D sidescrolling shooter. And they started with wallpapers and ringtones... not exactly a prelude to doing an IP justice. Plus with an IP license cost that alone could develop a mid-level PS2 game, how much could they have left over to actually develop the title?

So I really wouldn't know who to believe without more evidence, but I'd be willing to give MS the benefit of the doubt until other stories like this emerged from developers. In my admittedly limited experience, this doesn't sound like the kind of thing MS's game division usually does. Anyone with more experience working with licensed IP from Redmond willing to share?

from Natural_Mystic at http://uk.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php? topic_id=25247543 :

First, we start with Sony itself. Yes, I was going to only make a timeline of the PS3 news, but how can you ignore this arrogance from late 2005?

Nov. 10th, 2005 - Sony is caught hiding a rootkit inside music CD's that place a virus on users computer. Sony's Tom Hesse defends the decision by stating that people don't know what it is, so they shouldn't care

Now that we know Sony cares about us, lets move on to the PS3...

Feb 27th, 2006 - Sony misses it's Spring launch date
May 8th, 2006 - Sony holds it's E3 conference announcing the pricing of the PS3 at $600/$500
May 8th, 2006 - New PS3 controller will have six degrees of motion, but no rumble feature. Sony's Phil Harrison states that rumble was last gen and no longer needed.
May 31st, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison denies copying the Wiimote and states that the PS3 will replace the PC
Sep 5th, 2006 - Gamers looking to get the best picture out of Sony's premium PlayStation 3 package will need to shell out extra for proper hookups.
Sept 6th, 2006 - PS3 is delayed in Europe until March 2007
Sept 6th, 2006 - PS3 launch shipment is cut from 2 million to 400,000 in the US (100,000 to Japan)
Sept 8th, 2006 - Sony's President admits that the company's hardware is in a current state of decline
Sept 26th, 2006 - PS3 first-party titles announced to be the same price as third party titles, at $59.99
Sept 26th, 2006 - Square Enix will not exclusively support Sony's PS3 as much as they did with the PS2.
Sept 29th, 2006 - Sony's President Ken Kutaragi states that his company does not care about the Xbox 360 and Wii competition.
October 12th, 2006 - Sony Exec calls the 360 and Wii "too expensive"
October 19th, 2006 - The infamous spec sheet comparison and how Sony claims the Xbox 360 requires HD-DVD to play games
October 20th, 2006 - Announced that Sony may have to replace your PS3 controller for you after it no longer holds charge
October 24th, 2006 - Sony sinks Lik-Sang
October 26th, 2006 - Sony's Q2 profits decrease by 94%
October 28th, 2006 - Sony president Ken Kutaragi said he expects the PS3 to be capable of running games at a stunning 120fps
October 30th, 2006 - PS3 will push Sony $1.71 billion into the red
October 31st, 2006 - Japan launch of the PS3 is cut to 80,000 units
Nov 8th, 2006 - Sony ships without update. You must update your PS3 out of the box in order to use PlayStation Network
Nov 9th, 2006 - NBA Live 2007 is cancelled on the PS3
Nov 9th, 2006 - Oblivion is pushed back from launch title to Jan 2007
Nov 10th, 2006 - Sony's Phil Harrison states that he can no longer confirm a March 2007 launch for Europe
Nov 11th, 2006 - PS3 launches in Japan and rewards few
Nov 11th, 2006 - Sony unprepared for Japan launch
Nov 14th, 2006 - Sony will miss 400,000 unit target for the US. Approx 150k to 200k will be shipped for launch
Nov 14th, 2006 - PS3 has backwards compatibility problems
Nov 16th, 2006 - PS3 downscales 720p games instead of upscaling to 1080i
Nov 16th, 2006 - Sony's Jack Tretton comments on the PS3 BC problems and states that the Wii has 0 backwards compatibility
Nov 20, 2006 - NYT not impressed with PS3
Nov 20, 2006 - Game Devs Prefer 360
Nov 20, 2006 - PS3 annoys Joystiq
Nov 21, 2006 - PS3, PSP Rainbow Six held till '07
Nov 23, 2006 - Saving Sony, one console at a time
Nov 25, 2006 - Sony retracts 1080i fix statement, leaving customers in lurch.
Nov 26, 2006 - More PS3 exclusives head to 360
Nov 26, 2006 - Bloomberg: Sony missed PS3 ship targets
Nov 30, 2006 - Sony shuffles senior execs
Nov 30, 2006 - Analyst: "I cannot imagine a PlayStation 4"
Dec 4, 2006 - Sony Australia: Wii "More Fun" than PS3
Dec 8, 2006 - Court rules for Immersion; Sony to pay up
Dec 11, 2006 - Industry watchers weigh in on "record-low tie ratios" for Wii

If you're willing to get into "reasonable future technology", the Minority Report user interface had a lot of thought put into it. John Underkoffler gave a presentation on it at the 2005 Game Developers Conference, discussing what thought went into the design of the interface. (Here's an article covering his lecture.)

Googling around, you can see that more than a few people have pointed out flaws with such an interface, but also that many places (including slashdot) have reported on multi-touch or gesture-based interfaces in the last few years. These start to scratch the surface of what was seen in the movie. I'd highly recommend viewing some of these movies; I was especially impressed with some of the work being with multi-touch displays.

I see you're a ps3 graphics fanboy.

When the two 'big games' that supposedly show off the 'true power' of the 360, PGR3 and Gears of War:

* PGR can't even run at full 720p resolution
* Even with the low resolution it still is only 30fps
* A jaggy mess in actual gameplay
* Only bogus 'photo mode'/non-gameplay movies/images are released for the game
* Actual gameplay captures of Gears of War simply do not exist on the Net - nothing but high rez bullshit marketing shots
* Just as much of a jaggy mess as PGR in actual gameplay

PGR3 is not some MAJOR game for the 360, by the way. Most players don't even like it. I bought it and resold it within a week because I hated it so much. It was a launch title, so it got plenty of hype. Nothing more.

* PGR3 not running at 720p has nothing to do with the 360. It's a result of the developers deciding to run it that way. It DOES run higher than SD which you apparently didn't quite get. It's rendered at 1024x600 sized up to 720p (1280x720) which isn't a larger jump anyway. SD is much lower than that. There are also many, much more graphically demanding games out there than PGR, and they're running at full 720p. Burnout Revenge for instance. (funny you should mention it though though...isn't the PS3 having trouble running at 720p?) Enjoying your PS3 at 640x480?

* Oh, is your eye faster than the rest of ours? Motion is percieved at anything faster than 11fps... They've stated all kinds of framerate issues with many of the new PS3 games anyway. To actually have it affect gameplay you're gonna have to get below 20FPS...which doesn't say much for the PS3.

* Jaggy mess? The 360 has guaranteed 2x MINIMUM anti-aliasing in ANY game. It's also manditory and enforced by Microsoft. If you looked into the 360's archetecture you would know that it also comes with NO performance his WHATSOEVER which is why almost all games have 4x support (the 360 has a separate post processing effect processor Things like motion blur (and plenty of other things) can also be completely performance free if the developers wish). The PS3 has OPTIONAL AA support and it's all handled by the main GPU. Your jaggy mess comment is just as clueless as your previous two. Jaggies are dependant on resolution...and AA pretty much does away with that problem.

* I've seen TONS of screenshots of PGR3 at IGN and Gamespot and other review sites that don't look ANYWHERE near as good as the game ACTUALLY does. I'd sure like to see where you get off saying it's "bogus."

* There are gobs of actual gameplay screenshots. Tried looking at any gamesites lately? The problem is that you don't seem to realize that ALL the shots you see are rendered in the game/game engine. The screenshots also don't anywhere near do justice to the actual game. Try watching a sidebyside GoW and R:FoM video and see how much the GoW graphics beat the living tar out of R:FoM. By the way, the "hi-rez" shots you're talking about are 720p screenshots... 720p is 1280x720 resolution...

* Again...read the comments about AA above. You're just making stuff up.

Are you just stuck on moron or something? I'm not fanboy at all, but what you said is just idiotic to the max. Gamespot did a sidebyside graphical comparison of crossover games on the PS3 and 360 and at this stage of the game the PS3's looks are a good deal below the graphics of the 360. Apparently the only people denying that are fanboys like you.

This isn't to say that the PS3 will never compete, but IF the corresponding launch titles on either system were indicative of "true" graphical power, the 360 is well beyond the PS3.... Do a little research and next time don't come here and make a moron out of yourself.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6162742/ For example.

You don't want to think about a new pair of sneakers or getting a sandwich.

I don't want to think about buying sneakers or eating a sandwich, no matter what I'm doing. People don't watch TV because they're hungry or they want to go shopping (exception might be the Super Bowl ads and the Home Shopping channel). They don't drive their cars to look at billboards (unless there's something news worth about one). And they don't go to the cinema to sit through 20 mins of ads (though, I love seeing the pre-views). Yet, advertisements are there (often times undesirably so, just ask any European who watches a TV show in the U.S. how annoying ads are).

You bought the game to play it, not to solicit advertising for upgrades to your lifestyle.

I paid for cable to watch TV, not watch ads. I paid my $10 for a movie ticket to see a film, not watch ads. I pay my taxes and toll fees to drive on good roads, not watch ads. Yet, they're there. Why? Because there's an audience. Part of what I got from this article was that advertisers realize that ads are not effective in some (if not most) games, not just that gamers didn't want ads. Ads will become common in games soon, in one way or another. WoW is already doing marketing tie-ins for some time, through their website with Nvida and other companies. They're running Coka-Cola TV ads and cross-promotion in Asia.

A lot of this 'games in Ads' is just FUD. You're not going to see Pepsi billboard in your Lord of the Rings game, and your not have to eat a Domino's pizza to regain your life points in Half-Life 2. (though, companies have made their own video games, and continue to do so, look at Burger Kings mascots games)

What you will see are Nike ads in NBA 2k8, or maybe some kind of half-time "Ford Motor Company Quarterback Challenge" mini game in the next Madden. Whats FUD is to not realize that game developers are still the ones who are making games and not marketing people. If a company is going to pay to put an ad in a game, first, the marketing department is going to make sure there is a good potential ROI for spending that money on an ad. Second, the game developer is going to make sure that promotion will and can be fit into the game without destroying the game play or story or whatever. What you'll see are littered Dr Pepper cans in the streets of Resident Evil. Or maybe you bust down a door in some 'COPS' game to find the bad guys scarfing Pizza Hut pizza (or hey, maybe it's not delivery, it's Di-Gorno's!).

Ads are not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, they can be a good thing! They can make a game feel even more 'realistic', a common mantra of many gamers desire. It's ultimately going to be up to the game developers choice to how to implement ads. I can tell you, ad revenue will not be enough to compensate a crappy game and it won't sell a game, and that's the primary purpose of a game company, to sell games.

Now... I'll be waiting for the companies listed above to send me some money for all the advertisement I just gave them. =P

Cheers,
Fozzy

you can see that problem in screen shots of PS3 games, compare fight night on the xbox 360 and the PS3

on the PS3 the parts drawing the background don't know what the lights are doing or what the models are doing, so you'll have a powerful light shining on a sweat covered upper torso and not glaring off it at all, while the xbox 360 allows the lights to interact with the models as you would expect in real life

http://au.gamespot.com/features/6162742/p-6.html keep in mind fight night round 3 was also released only 3 months after the xbox360, so it does not have an advantage of the year of experience with the 360 that current cross console games will have.

In a previous interview, Phil stated that he didn't think developers would ever use all the features/capabilities of the PS3.

Video (.wmv) about halfway in.

yup!
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6125078.html

If you don't mind the adds then IGN also states it was going to use the Revoloutions WiFi
http://wii.ign.com/articles/670/670552p1.html

See, no one remembers! but I do!

Probably because I am a HUGE geek, and love Smash bros, and the concept of it being online just made me enter a state of geektopia.

I also enjoyed GameSpot's coverage ( Dubious Honors 2006 ). If anyone's keeping track, the biggest "loser" this year was EA who was mentioned several times in both articles. I'd have to agree. Next year, everyone can get their hand on whatever hardware they want. Bad games will stay bad and be lost to history. But we're still going to be dealing with overuse of in-game ads and microtransactions for in-game cheats thanks to EA.

I think maybe some of your 'exclusives' aren't so exclusive.

SingStar PS2
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/puzzle/sing/

Oh, and 'Unitled' is vaporware. Shouldn't even bother listing it until it's got a name. There's too big a chance it'll never make it.

...Of course this statement is true because no one will be using the PS3, period. I read this article thinking Sony wants to distance themselves from the 360 so they can standalone like the Wii. Therefore people will feel the need to pick up a PS3, in addition to the 360 and Wii they already own. It's not going to work Sony, you went on record saying you were the best and you were setting your sights on Microsoft. Stealing Nintendo's position of being separate from the pack is even worse than stealing their controller ideas.

Honestly, when Game Spot reports a major magazine wrote that the PS3, "just isn't that great", you have serious issues. These are the kind of media outlets that are supposed to be supporting you, not posting your eulogy.

The brash statements made Sony executive Phil Harrison are just more hyperbole from Sony trying to salvage their once great reputation. Those of us in the Internet Generation, or "Millennials", don't care about what Sony has done in the past; we care about who is doing good now. Meaning you have to bring your A-game every single time instead of resting our your forefather's laurels. Our friends don't like the PS3, they like the 360 and the Wii. And lets face it, the PS3 and the 360 are just alike, it's just the 360's overall execution is better.

Sony's hype will always be overshadowed by the haunting statement Time Magazine made about the PS3 having been beating by "something called a Wii.". Truth hurts, pal.

Any slashdotter will agree that Micro$oft is one of the greatest marketing companies of all times. They've put paid to companies far bigger than Sony (IBM anyone) and will continue to do so until some IT focused, consumer-orientated CEO decides to up his/her game.

It may also be an excuse for Sony to avoid customs fees, because now the PS3 is a usable Computer as compared to just a video game.

The "customs fees" issue hasn't been an issue for a while, now:

So you'd might be instead interested in the DS port which is in glorious 2d and on a handheld with a touch screen. I can only assume it will have 4 player nifi and internet play.

I remember when Battlefield 2 came out, the blackhawk helicopter was ridiculously imbalanced. Engineers could repair it when in the air and the miniguns on it were way too powerful. On many ranked servers, it got to the point where, if you weren't U.S., it was impossible to win. Everywhere you went, the bodies of Chinese and Middle Easterners would be strewn in the streets while white American soldiers killed from above with virtual impunity. Did anyone call this racist? NO! Why? Because it's a video game! The race of the teams was incidental at best and served only to reinforce what very thin plot-line there was.

I'm inclined to think there's another reason why people didn't call BF2 racist: because accusing racism didn't serve anyone's agenda. This myopic view of equality has become the chief weapon through which Americans serve to politically bludgeon those who disagree with them. And I for one am tired of it. Not only is it a slap in the face to the REAL Civil Rights movement (by implicitly associating political bullshit with justice) but it's an emotional appeal that's literally no better than "THINK-OF-THE-CHILDREN!"

That being said. The game in question is, by most reputable accounts, stupid and not very fun. Does it really deserve the exposure it's gotten by being on the front page of slashdot?

-Grym

That's interesting. There is conflicting information with regard to this, as I believe Sega originally claimed it to be $70 million. See http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/adventure/shenmu e/review.html

I try not to get pissed reading /. and I'm not sure why this post is an exception. Perhaps the post itself is innocent/naive enough, but it was the "informative" mods that set me over the edge.

#1. Everyone in gaming wants you to think their stuff if cool. Everyone. It's nice if the reason you think it's cool has something to do with quality, but in the end, that's not an absolute necessity. Question, which one was it, the GBA, or the DS that Nintendo purposely set out to look uncool? Neither? Well, thank you for entering reality. (BTW ads showing sweater-wearing yuppies smiling and laughing while they play with their Wii are very, very cool, if you're a sweater wearing yuppie.)

#2. The PSP is a fucking awesome game machine. It also happens to be a passable music and movie player. Don't let your prejudices prevent you from being honest about this. In playability, in fun, in versatility, it god-damn rocks. Is it better than the DS? I'm not gonna touch that with a thousand foot pole, not the least because I don't happen to own a DS and thus would not be able to make a fair comparison. However, even if the DS were ten times better than the PSP, that DOES NOT mean the PSP "is not a particularly good portable videogame machine." Say what you want about the relative merits of the two, but you are smoking crack or worse if you think the PSP is actually bad for playing games.

#3. I'm sick and tired of this "the DS sells better" crap. Do you live in Japan? What was that answer? Say it a little louder for us here in the U.S.? That's what I thought. Though /. has an international readership, the vast majority of readers are Americans. This is the score in America:

Wikipedia says that, "On December 1, 2006 Nintendo of America released launch-to-date information indicating that the Nintendo DS had sold 6.63 million units in the United States." Nice numbers. Wish I sold that many of the Total_Wimp Portable Game Console.

However, according to Sony, they had shipped close to that number, 6.39 million units, by the end of March and had exceeded that number, 7.57 million, by the end of June. The number shipped by the end of September was 9.57 million.

Two points here. One, I absolutely know that number shipped does not equal number sold. I am also not a moron enough to think that Sony didn't sell all the stock it sent back in April and July by Dec 1. Yes, I freely admit that I do not know the exact number of units Sony sold by Dec 1, but despite whatever you may think of them, they're not quite stupid enough to ship 3 million more units into a market that can't sell that last 6 million units it sent. It's time for you all to admit it, Sony has sold more PSPs in the US than Nintendo sold DSs. And it's done that despite Nintendos very significant lead in release date.

Point two. Who cares about the fact that Nintendo outsells the Sony in Japan. I'm sure the game designers do. I'm sure the Japanese do. But the last time I was in the store and decided to give the DS another shot, I was greeted by Elite Beat Agents, an anime inspired game that featured "yelling guy", "frantic gut" and a whole lot of other anime stereotypes that I've been actively trying to avoid now for several years. My daughter loves this stuff. I'd buy it for her in a heart beat (or an "Elite Beat". Har! I crack myself up!) But if I never see another sweat drop, bloody nose or chibi, it'll be too soon. So why, may I ask, would I want to encourage the game designers to be making more games specifically tailored to the Japanese taste? Heck, as far as I'm concerned, it's a blessing the PSP isn't selling as well in Japan. Game designers will need to cater to their core audience and for the moment, that audience looks American

It may not have the All-Star voice acting, but it is fun, and significantly more realized as a game than Star Trek: Legacy.

...to have an identity Crysis...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6125078.html

... the crowd went berserk when Iwata said that an online version of Super Smash Bros. would be available at launch.

Excite Truck? You know, the game that every store I've seen is demoing on their Wii.

And the first time I got my hands on a Wii-mote, I held it backwards & was confused as shiat as to why left was right & right was left.

When asked whether he'd agree that it's larger companies like EA which are driving bigger game budgets, Tascan replied, "I think a lot of [other companies] are spending even more money."

EA's Godfather cost well over $20 million for a primarily current-gen title, and he wants to blame the other companies?

Alain Tascan also claimed Gears of War had zero innovation, completely ignoring the active reload, and the best implementation of a cover system in games to date. How did he make such a mistake? According to him, he never played Gears of War, so that might have something to do with it.

Why would Tascan make such ridiculous comments? Why would Ken Kutaragi make them? It's great gaming press, and it gets people to focus on your company and your games. EA needs someone to spout off occasionally (Sony's doing okay). But here's a question for Tascan: how well did that work out for Kutaragi?

.. and it was great.

http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/action/sonicadve nture/review.html

Why they haven't been able to replicate that success is puzzling.

Many people are pointing out the very good Sonic Rush for the DS. The developer deserves credit for that game, not SEGA: http://www.dimps.co.jp/pro/list-hard.html

> No one wants to buy extra hardware to play games and these add-ons better be dirt cheap if they expect anyone to pick them up for HD-DVD playback.

MS has said the player will be only used for movies. It seems like (assuming you want an HD-DVD player at all) a decent price if you already own a 360, but otherwise not so much otherwise. A quick check at Best Buy and Circuit City's websites for "HD-DVD Player" puts it at $200 for the add-on, about $500 for a stand alone player. Although I guess a Core 360 + HD-DVD add-on is about the same price as a standalone player.

Heh... Found the GameSpot live video.
Now THIS is the most fucking hilarious video youve ever seen :)

"While The NPD Group's retail tracking service shows what appears to be a decline in PC game sales, critical developments in the PC games industry, specifically the Internet, is fundamentally changing the PC software industry," Anita Frazier analyst at NPD said in statement. "With the increase in high speed Internet access, not only are users purchasing their games online, they are also willingly paying additional recurring fees over and above the price of the game to subscribe to services that let them play with others online."

Intel's share of the 74.9m GPUs that shipped in Q1 rose from 37.5 per cent in Q4 2005 to 39.1 per cent. ATI took 28.7 per cent of the market, up 2.2 percentage points, while Nvidia's share was up a third of percentage point to 18.7 per cent.

Intel claims the X3000 is Shader Model 3 compliant, and meets Microsoft's GUI requirements for Vista Aero Premium. Intel has released production version drivers for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista that enable the Aero style.

PC Gaming is dying. If you want to make a truckload of money, just get out of the PC entertainment market and sell to consoles exclusively. If idiotic tripe like Star Wars: Republic Commando and The Guy Game never touched the PC I'd have no beef with you, but by developing for consoles and then porting those horrid, god awful titles to the PC you consistently stifle the development of original IP, and original IP is what has made the PC game market so consistently great over the years.

"That said, if the Wii shipped with a "game cube" controller and made it a way to build games for both, they might have been able to snag more by being the uber-system (both types of games), but that might have discouraged Wii-style games, so who knows."

like this?

A key thing to note in comparing the profits of these two sales is that Sony isn't profiting, while Nintendo already is. So from my understanding, Nintendo has already sold many more units, has just as strong (if not a stronger) foothold in the market, they profit from each Wii, and have more reshipments before the Holiday season. Meanwhile, Sony is losing a significant amount of money per PS3 and won't even have a big reshipment until when? Next year? That's a giant amount of potential money they're losing by not having consoles available for Christmas. I'm not saying Wii is better than PS3. I'm just saying Nintendo wins the launch war with flying colors.

A key thing to note in comparing the profits of these two sales is that Sony isn't profiting, while Nintendo already is. So from my understanding, Nintendo has already sold many more units, has just as strong (if not a stronger) foothold in the market, they profit from each Wii, and have more reshipments before the Holiday season. Meanwhile, Sony is losing a significant amount of money per PS3 and won't even have a big reshipment until when? Next year? That's a giant amount of potential money they're losing by not having consoles available for Christmas. I'm not saying Wii is better than PS3. I'm just saying Nintendo wins the launch war with flying colors.

Nintendo has managed to get major numbers out there (4million estimated before Christmas).

I kept wondering where the judge would get the idea that God of War is like The Odyssey... then it hit me:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/godofwar/player _review.html?id=364862

Gamespot! And look at the very first comment. Sounds like a game we need to keep!

But all the information in the current world does not support these predictions:

1. Sony loses a few more high profile exclusives ... http://www.gwn.com/news/story.php/id/10792/

2. POSSIBLE Microsoft XBox 360 Price Cuts http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1335 1

3. eBay shows slow demand for ebay crash in PS3 Prices http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162338.html

You can already shoot a UMD at passers by (see rumour #2, video link). Wonder how long before the media decides to push them to be banned from flights? :)

Well looky loo.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162190.html

Sony didn't blow up - but if you expected one before then - guess what - you're FUCKED. Fucked fucked fucked fucked FUCKED - boy are you - what's that word? FUCKED.

They aren't easy, and they're not impossible. You get one for each act (and another for full game completion) on each difficulty. On casual difficulty, they are only worth 10 points. More on the harder difficulties. There is one for 100 Live kills for each weapon (that would take some work).

Most notably, there is one called "A Series Of Tubes" for hosting enough games, and Ted Stevens is credited for the inspiration in the ending credits. Also Ted Nugent ("The Nuge" Torque Bow 100 kills).

Anyway, here is the actual list.

In addition to the problems mentioned in the article I have been noticing quite a few other issues with the PS3 at this point. Here is a listing of a few of the problems reported already:

- Poor backward compatilibity with PS1 and PS2 games (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136677.html)

- Numerous high def upscaling issues including PS3 BluRay movies not appearing in high definition properly (http://loot-ninja.com/2006/11/19/ps3-hd-scaling-i ssues-other-annoyances/)

- A very poor online system, as compared to the Xbox Live System (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/arts/20game.htm l)

- No high definition cables ship with the system, you are stuck with a composite cable unless you pay extra (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/arts/20game.htm l)

- Poor graphics on side to side game comparison tests: http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/sports/tonyhawksprojec t8/review.html?sid=6161341

- Poor framerates and "tearing" reported on multiple game titles, including Tony Hawk and Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire (http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/sim/gundamworld/revie w.html)

- Poor buggy development tools which make development very hard as compared to other current gen systems (http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=19611&he d=Atari+Founder+Likes+Xbox360%2C+Disses+PS3&sector =Industries&subsector=EntertainmentAndMedia)

- Multiple launch titles cancelled or delayed due to development issues (http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=7200)

With the Xbox 360 already having 7 million units sold worldwide, the Wii approximately 600,000 units, and the PS3 only having sold 200,000 units in North America and 80,000 units in Japan and none in Europe it is hard to see Sony succeeding with the PS3. The PS3 may be the largest disaster yet for Sony this year, with each PS3 losing $306 for Sony (http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2006/11/16/ps3-l oses-up-to-306-per-unit-xbox-360-profits-76-per-sa le.htm) and the PS3 having the lowest attach rate (0.98) of any launch in the industry, including the original XBox.

O RLY?

GameStop Sales Nearly Double

I've had no problem returning anything, EVER. Even with no receipt.

Any time I go in to a GameStop or EB Games, I stay about 20 minutes longer than I intended because I end up chatting with the employees about what's out/fun/sucks.

And I'm pretty sure preorders exist so people like me reserve Gears of War there rather than try my luck getting it at Fry's or Best Buy, where I still have not seen a copy. Not to mention I walked in to EB Games at 10:00 on Sunday to pick up my preordered Wii, rather than camp out at Best Buy.

Avoiding the long lines and crowds at a big box is nice too.

I really don't think publishers care too much about the used gaming market anyway. I buy more games knowing I can sell them. And I rarely buy used games anyways since the new copy is typically only 5 bucks more. For new releases anyway. And I imagine your Microsofts realize that they'll be able to market the XBox catalog as a feature of the 360 for some time, knowing those title will actually be available.

You (and your friends) seem to be in the minorty.

Fastest Selling 360 Game
#3 Most Popular Game
9.4/10
9.6/10

Go look on eBay now, those PS3s that were going for $8000 are now down to about $700-800

Everyone with decent levels of feedback is still getting quite a bit. And I hope to god that all the assholes with more money than sense are done. Not everyone can afford to go crazy like that, so it's not very telling that it's dying down.

Now there's a flood on the market, and nobody wants to buy the damn things.

People not getting several grand on eBay for the things is not an indicator that nobody wants them. Being willfully ignorant much?

Next you'll be telling me about the negative user reviews of PS3 games so far. Funny how most games had more user scores than pre-release units of the PS3 existed. Yeah, it's not the anti-Sony nuts doing it, couldn't be.

Also... 400,000 PS3s? You realize the Wii launch is about 10 times that large.

A.) I don't fucking CARE! I have ABSOLUTELY NO CONCERN FOR WHO WINS THIS "CONSOLE WAR." What I do care about is pointing out the bullshit, lies and FUD.

B.) WRONG. There are nowhere NEAR 4 million Wiis. Nintendo said they'd have 1 mil in NA at launch, and they supposedly didn't quite achieve that. I do not care, just pointing out that you're wrong. Here's a source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162151.html

FUD is not fun for anyone, no matter who is spreading it. Please stop it.

Link to the article.