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First year sales tend to set the tone for a console's success, but both the Wii and PS3 have only just arrived. It's also too early to say what the prognosis is for the XBox 360. "Didn't sell the staggering amounts of units we expected" != disappointing season. It means the analysts misread the market. Again.

A Dec 19 report published on http://www.next-gen.biz/ suggests that XBox 360 will maintain the lead until 2009, when PS3 overtakes it (both leaving Wii a distant third).

For the record, I bought an XBox 360 last month and have been very pleased with my purchse. I'm bitterly disappointed that I haven't been able to get my hands on a Wii. The PS3 sounds like a good system, but I plan to wait a few years before picking one up. I don't need bleeding edge hardware - I just want fun games. Hardware is always eclipsed within a year. Fun games are forever.

A variety of laws have been put forth by state legislature to act toward censoring game content or controlling the sale of games. ... The result is often a jumbo size bite taken out of artistic expression and individual liberty.

No, the result is often not a "jumbo size bite" taken out of anything artistic or liberty related. The result is often a "jumbo sized bite" taken out of:

1. The time of the legislative branches of the states that approve these bills. Thanks to various politically aspiring politicians that write up, debate, and vote on these bills that they know will get overturned but make them look like they give a shit about your children, state legislators, who often don't work very much anyway, waste time that could be spent on anything else, maybe even stuff that would be constitutional.

2. The time of both state and federal judiciaries. They have to take the time to issue injunctions against these laws and hear the cases that result in said laws being found unconstutional 100% of the time, further bogging down an already vastly overburdened court system.

3. The tax payer's ass. From this earlier story's linked to article:

... some states are now having to foot the legal bills of the parties who took them to court in the first place. The ESA is trying to extract the $500,000 that Illinois still owes it and this past week Michigan got a bill from the ESA for $180,000 in legal fees.

And this story in particular:

To date, the ESA has fought and won nine out of nine cases on these issues, having the state laws declared unconstitutional. Furthermore, the ESA has sought and won more than $1.5 million dollars in attorneys fees.

And let's not forget it's not just the tax payers in the states in question that have to pay for fucktard legislation, though they do front the lion's share, everyone gets a little. When these cases come before Federal Courts on appeal, as is often the case, remember, someone pays the salaries of the Federal employees.

Not to mention the loss of all credibility a state suffers when it passes one of these bills, as it has been shown that these get shot down every time and do nothing but cost time and money that could be spent on anything else.

Score another point for dumbocracy and the retards that put these retards into power and keep them there.

I wouldn't exactly call it a trouncing. according to this article by years end the DS(all versions) should sold about 8.3 million units, the PSP 6.5 million. Now granted that number is 80% of the DS number so they aren't leading(in console units sold), however I wouldn't label that a failure.

Whatever you think of Future's other publications, Edge Magazine is the holy grail of video game publications. They get interviews that most online sites can't and most crappy gaming mags for 14-year-olds won't. Their reviews are also excellent and show a fine taste for gaming in general. What Edge really does best, though, are the feature articles. They can go on site and are able to put together a really polished piece of journalism with gorgeous full page photographs on glossy paper. They have people writing for them that are in the industry and know people in the industry and write about what they think is important. It's not all press releases, previews, and reviews of games like every other gaming publication.

I also subscribed to the entire run of Next Generation magazine, the US version of Edge, until its unfortunate cancellation. I'm still impressed by the slightly wider pages, velvety cover, and substantial heft. It showed a level of sophistication that was woefully lacking in the EGMs and GamePros of the day (no offense Seanbaby!). The recent Next Gen, a web only publication, is excellent but a mere shadow of the magazine.

If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Edge off the rack at Barnes and Noble. They seem to be the only book store that imports it to the US. You will get an idea of what you are missing by just reading the online blogs.

From the Next gen article http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=4236&Itemid=32&limit=1&limitstart= 1 "Star Wars games, nowadays, are almost always good games." This shows you how arrogant Lucasarts is. I personally love Star Wars but the majority of the games created under the franchise are crap. There have been a few absolute gems, but the company needs to take some cues from the companies that actually complete their games before releasing them.

THe most recent article on current costs of the blu-ray component is $125 out of the $840 required to build a premium ps3. The reason standalone blu-ray drives are so expensive is because they are pc's that happen to have blu-ray drives included in them (don't believe me? look at the makeup of a current blu-ray drive).

Here is the link on ps3 manufacturing costs:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=4222&Itemid=46

I'll be that in the next three years cost of making the blu-ray will go down from $125 to to $35 and lower (dvd drive components are below $15 dollars).

It's about the brand stupid.

When 100 plus million people buy into a logo - you get headlines like this:

"Study: PlayStation Brand Strong as Ever"

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=4220&Itemid=2

60 percent retention rate kind of puts a crimp on niddling things like "crossover-forecasting".

The PlayStation 2 was always a mess with the multiple processors on there, but the new generations, with Cell or the Xbox 360,
make it much, much worse. They can quote these incredibly high numbers of giga-flops or tera-flops or whatever, but in reality,
when you do a straightforward development process on them, they're significantly slower than a modern high-end PC.
- John Carmack, http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=2164&Itemid=2

Considering how much those controllers are going to cost, $50, they better replace it at no cost.

It reminds me that I spotted today that Zonk was in Next-Gen's Gaming's top 50 journalists. I wonder how objective are the ones not in the top50.. It can't be worse, can it?

The representatives of DICE (the developers, EA is the publisher) have now clarified on the forums that it only records what ads you look at and for how long you look at them - it does not monitor your browsing habits, your cookies, or your hard drive.

Or so they say...

But even if it's not spying on my pr0n, I still have problems with paying full price for a game and having it be supported by ads. If they want to knock off $10 and give me in-game ads, that's fine by me. I consider it a fair trade. But the recent ad craze in the video game industry is not lowering prices, it's just creating more revenue for the game publisher.

And since EA is not only charging for cheat codes and adopting **AA tactics on torrents I've decided to stop buying EA products - even Spore.

The Xbox 360 is selling worse than the first Xbox.
The 360 is completely dead in Japan.
The 360 hasn't even broke a million sold in Europe.
And in what is supposed to be the strongest market for the Xbox, the US,

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=3978&Itemid=2

The 360 has sold less units in its first year compared to the first Xbox.

And all of this during a time where their only competition was the six year old PS2 that has been beating the 360 almost every single month this year.

There was talk of Microsoft using profits from the 360 to fund the Zune going up against Apple, but the massive 360 losses keep getting pushed out into the future. Right now best case scenario is 2008. Although the massive money they must be spending on fixing the huge numbers of defective 360s for free will certainly push that date ever more.

Microsoft talked of having 10 million 360s in consumer hands by the end of 2006, but right now they have only sold 3.4 million worldwide. ~2.4 in NA, 0.14 in Japan, and 1 million in Europe.

And the Wii and PS3 are one month from hitting the shelves. It is hard to imagine that 360 sales will pick up when faced with the two biggest names in console gaming arriving in the market with their new consoles.

Use this link for the printable version on one page, instead of ten tiny pages full of banner ads.

Much better link: http://www.next-gen.biz/index2.php?option=com_cont ent&task=view&id=3962&Itemid=2&pop=1&page=0

'Print' is your friend.

Printer Friendly link for those of us who hate clicking next every 2 seconds.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index2.php?option=com_cont ent&task=view&id=3962&Itemid=2&pop=1&page=0

For everyone going gonzo on the price - here's a perspective one of those about Microsoft's losses on the Xbox 360 as quoted in Next Generation:

"Since Microsoft entered the console market in 2001, the Xbox strategy has been one of heavy investment, leading to significant losses in its home and entertainment division.
The losses are clear in recent financial reports. For fiscal year 2005, Microsoft's game division posted a $485 million net loss. In fiscal 2006, ended June 30, 2006, the division lost $1.26 billion."

So in fiscal 2006 Microsoft lost nearly as much as Google's stock deal. Only Microsoft didn't lose stock - they lost real money.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=3963&Itemid=2

I think you overestimate Mistwalker's chances. Earlier today Slashdot ran a story about Next-Gen's top 20 games at the Tokyo Game Show. If you read through their article, they list the two Mistwalker games as co-winners of the #1 slot. (I'll try linking to the last page but I have a hunch it won't work without paging through the rest of the article first.)

These are severely muscular names; any fan of Final Fantasy would do well to check these games out. In fact, most of them would spare no expense to buy an Xbox 360 simply to have these games -- that is, once they know the games exist.

At the show on two public days -- Saturday and Sunday -- only the hardcore gamers who had read Famitsu and knew Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey were something not to miss were lined up around the booth.

Apparently there isn't a lot of buzz about those games. Now I know that Japan isn't like America, but I'll bet they aren't immune to marketing either.

Final Fantasy VII was a giant hit in the US, but it was also the only Final Fantasy I can remember being heavily advertised. I don't think it would have been anywhere near as big without the giant advertising campaign in the US.

Unless Mistwalker does some serious advertising, no one is likely to notice them, if only because they're releasing for the XBox360. The XBox360 has done horrible in Japan. Without knowing to look for it, I expect most Japanese gamers will ignore the XBox section of the stores and skip straight to the Nintendo or Sony sections.

The Mistwalker games could do really well - but only if people know about them, and know to look for them as XBox360 games.

(Although the XBox360 is considerably smaller than the PS3, and Japanese are notorious for liking smaller electronics, so Sony may not be as much of a sure thing in Japan as they think...)

Some tidbits: Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon (both XBox 360) share first place, and of the 20 (21 counting both first placers) 7 are for XBox 360, 1 PC, 4 NDS, 2 PS2, 1 Wii, 5 PS3 (I keep recounting and still get 20 - clearly I keep missing an entry). -Trillian

Of the multitude of links, there wasn't one to Next Gen's summary. Here's a further condensed report:

$250 : main system, 1 Wii-mote, 1 nunchucks, Wii Sports

$40 : extra Wii-motes
$20 : extra nunchucks

$50 or less : new Nintendo made games (no cap on third-party games)
$5 : downloadable NES games
$8 : downloadable SNES games
$10 : downloadable N64 games
$?? : Opera browser ...

and the gamecube version of Zelda:TS will come out ~3 weeks after the Wii version; Metroid Prime 3, not 'till 2007.

Sony made this distinction, to a large extent, not so much through original design or perspective or technology as through psychology. Their message: videogames are childish, uncool garbage. What we have to offer, it's barely even videogames. It's more like movies, or some other kind of entertainment. They reinforced the premise by generally refusing "old fashioned" 2D games on their systems, unless explicitly labeled as a retro package; through putting a heavy emphasis on "mature"-themed games, and by funneling Sony's limitless funds into years of blanket advertising - rarely showing actual game footage if CG was available, emphasizing the cinematic and familiar. The implication was, the less videogames in any sense resembled what you and I think of as videogames, the better. -- What's Wrong With Console Design?

Honestly, while I'm anti-Sony for various reasons, the way the Sony videogaming marketing department has approached gaming with a Maoist Chinese-style "Cultural Revolution" would be tops on the list. Still, they must have been right, it got them control of the videogame market, unfortunately.

Wow, yeah.. I just kinda shat out a response without looking into it.. and based on some really dated knowledge of my own. Here's a listing that backs up a lot of what you're saying. I don't think they would need people who have "Worked with multiple large databases greater than 1 Terabyte in size" to handle their billing databases...

That link is pretty bad, too. I can't figure out which picture and description go to which title: http://www.next-gen.biz/images/stories/PCTop100/98 _slots2bboop.jpg probably doesn't go to 'Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone!', as it seems to indicate.

Print link because, seriously, 10 words/page just so they can display more ads is annoying

The obvious answer to the "What event will replace E3?" question is Quakecon.

1)It already has a huge following.
2)It is in the US.
3)There have been E3 sized displays at the convention for years now.
4)There seems to have been some word from ID software that they are willing to let more companies throw up displays in the future: http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=3596&Itemid=2

First of all, the guess that 10% of systems were sold on eBay was correct.

Except that the story I linked to was dated December 2nd!!!! The volume went up from there as Chirstmas approached and prices stayed high...

Next, you have to consider statistical pricing for what people are willing to pay. Of the ones not sold on eBay, how many were sold in VERY expensive bundles? quite a few.

Of the remainder, then you consider that if 40k people are willing to pay around $800, then how does the curve get as the prices get lower? $300 less is a HUGE price difference and would obviously attract a great deal more consumers, not to mention that Sony also has a very strong established brang and knows how to market.

The eBay sales are a very good indicator of a much larger market willing to pay $500 for a good console.

As always though, this result is tempered by games - a PS3 launhed with no games would have few sales indeed. But a number of launch or near-launch titles look promising enough that the system will probably do well.

You should check out the article linked a few days ago from Slashdot:
http://www.next-gen.biz/page1.html
Ignore the hyperbolic title. The listing is in terms of money made. Look at how many sequels and tie-in games there are. Look how much money they make. Tie-in games (especially movie tie-in games) are the first thing I ignore since they are routinely crap, but they seem to make someone a lot of money. Publishers will likewise keep making franchise games because they produce the big bucks. They aren't great games, but the business isn't about making great games.

I do hope that an aging gamer demographic will help counter these trends. I feel like lots of tie-in games move because parents buy them for the kids, but the parent-for-kids market is shrinking against the adult-for-self market.

Sony made this distinction, to a large extent, not so much through original design or perspective or technology as through psychology. Their message: videogames are childish, uncool garbage. What we have to offer, it's barely even videogames. It's more like movies, or some other kind of entertainment. They reinforced the premise by generally refusing "old fashioned" 2D games on their systems, unless explicitly labeled as a retro package; through putting a heavy emphasis on "mature"-themed games, and by funneling Sony's limitless funds into years of blanket advertising - rarely showing actual game footage if CG was available, emphasizing the cinematic and familiar. The implication was, the less videogames in any sense resembled what you and I think of as videogames, the better. -- What's Wrong With Console Design?

Well, this is something that goes along with another quote I read recently:

Are you still dicking around with lovingly detailed 2D sprites? Enormous Gouraud shaded triangles are the wave of the future! Glazed, emotionless eyes! Hair that's been hacked out of stone! Giant 3D booger men in diapers are what today's gamers want, and we'll give you the tools to craft those horrendously ugly damn creatures. Someone perfect time travel already so we can just bomb 1994. -- Worst Video Game Ads comments

This is why I get irritated whenever anyone says Nintendo censors (oh they do, and in very irritating ways) and Sony doesn't. Sony loves to censor, and they have from the beginning, but they are good at projecting an image, I'll give them that. You suck, Sony!

11 pages for one article? It starts at 100, and gives you no option to click through to the top ten. next-gen.biz are pageview whores, and deserve their ad-free printable version link to be published.

You could just change the web address for page 11 ... http://www.next-gen.biz/page11.html.

11 pages for one article? It starts at 100, and gives you no option to click through to the top ten. next-gen.biz are pageview whores, and deserve their ad-free printable version link to be published.

Print version

Dear Sony shrill, you forgot:

60-70% of the Japanese retail find your competitor more interesting/capable.
65-70% of the Japanese develoupment houses interest rests with your competitors.
65-75% of Japanese consumer market interested in buying your competitor's product citing the #1 reason as "cost" against your product.

And in Famijitsu, THE japanese gaming mag...you are pulling 5% more popularity in Japan than the Xbox 360... (* That right there alone should be causing panic!)

Sources:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=3403&Itemid=2
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=3162&Itemid=2

Dear Sony shrill, you forgot:

60-70% of the Japanese retail find your competitor more interesting/capable.
65-70% of the Japanese develoupment houses interest rests with your competitors.
65-75% of Japanese consumer market interested in buying your competitor's product citing the #1 reason as "cost" against your product.

And in Famijitsu, THE japanese gaming mag...you are pulling 5% more popularity in Japan than the Xbox 360... (* That right there alone should be causing panic!)

Sources:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=3403&Itemid=2
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=3162&Itemid=2

Well, why not? Sony is planning on it for the PS3. According to Ken Kutaragi: "I think a year from the launch we could indeed extend the configuration of the PS3. Why not!"

And we all know that Sony hasn't been making any bumbling moves with the PS3! If Sony does it, it must be a great idea!

</sarcasm> <!-- for the humor impared -->

Print version

If you hadn't tried to get First Post (and by the way, you failed) you would have had time to make a link.

The new terms had Take-Two pay 3D Realms $4.25 million up front along with the aforementioned $500,000 promissory note

"I think a year from the launch we could indeed extend the configuration of the PS3. Why not!" Kutaragi conceded, "Okay, this is may be joke or a personal opinion. I mean we have no such plan at this very moment. However, companies like Dell or Apple have such programs. In the PC world, specifications rarely last more than two years. You need to update them. I believe the PC is always evolving. I think that the time may come that the 60GB HDD would become too small or the RAM to low. Such issues are numerous."
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=3175&Itemid=2

But hey we are on slashdot - news for geeks and fair an balanced !

"I think a year from the launch we could indeed extend the configuration of the PS3. Why not!" Kutaragi conceded, "Okay, this is may be joke or a personal opinion. I mean we have no such plan at this very moment. However, companies like Dell or Apple have such programs. In the PC world, specifications rarely last more than two years. You need to update them. I believe the PC is always evolving. I think that the time may come that the 60GB HDD would become too small or the RAM to low. Such issues are numerous."

"The HDD is not the only element which gives the PS3 its computer nature. Everything has been planned and designed so it will become a computer. The previous PlayStation had a memory slot as its unique interface. In contrast, the PS3 features PC standard interfaces. Because they are standard, they are open.

Kutaragi went into greater detail about how he feels the PS3 will be a computer. "The HDD is not the only element which gives the PS3 its computer nature. Everything has been planned and designed so it will become a computer. The previous PlayStation had a memory slot as its unique interface. In contrast, the PS3 features PC standard interfaces. Because they are standard, they are open.

"We put up no restrictions. Because it is a computer, it can interact with anything, freely. If someone is familiar with PC building, he or she can upgrade easily PS3's HDD."

They can't.

I don't think Sony is capable of NOT trying to control a format. The PS3 is simply thier attempt to get an installed base of Blu-Ray players, fast, and beat out HD-DVD. The rest of the company is simply using the PS division to futher thier own ends.

WHY they need to control a format is up for grabs -- it's possible it's just thier culture, or the dogma handed down by the leaders that has been followed for decades. But this is the exact same thing as Beta, MD, Memory Sticks, and UMD -- all of which failed to get any support outside of Sony products.

The PS3 is expensive, but it's the only player in it's domain in Japan -- the Xbox 360 has, somehow, been less successful than the original Xbox over there.

There's also an interesting column about E3's fallout in Japan that makes the next-gen battle much different over there. It's interesting to note that if the PS3 will be bringing demo/content delivery services to Japan, it would be a revolutionary first, given that Japan's gaming landscape is much different than North America's (difference: Nintendo managed to get game rentals outlawed there back in the day. So game magazines have much more clout, which a demo download service could disrupt.)

... which claims: "Kutaragi said that that the PS3 will require a hard drive, which will have a 60 GB capacity and support Linux OS."

- Kutaragi at the earlier PS3 Conference Report

... which says: "He [Kutaragi] did offer some tantalizing new details about the system, though. PS3 will include a 60GB hard drive (which is upgradeable) with Linux preinstalled."

It would appear then that things aren't all that bleak. Maybe IBM had an influence this time around, as they would love to see the Cell succeed, and perhaps forced Sony to open up a bit.

Kojima likes the Wii, but says probably not:

Beyond MGS4, Kojima says the Nintendo Wii is the most interesting. "As a game designer, it really is the game hardware that I want to work most on," he admits. However, don't expect Solid Snake to be making his rounds on the Wii.

"The way I look at the Metal Gear Solid series is that it's made for the PlayStation platform, and through the years, people have expressed how much they love the series on the PlayStation platform, so if I was going to do a game on Wii or on Xbox 360, I would do a completely different game, not Metal Gear Solid."

A number of years ago, when the company I founded released Daggerfall, (the second chapter of the Elder Scrolls series from which the latest chapter, Oblivion, has recently sprung), we learned that Senator Joseph Lieberman had identified Daggerfall by name--along with games such as Mortal Kombat--in a televised press conference as one of the year's "10 Worst Games". Not worst games to play, mind you, but most socially unredeeming and therefore deserving of censure by "good people".

I was incensed. Not only because I believed that Lieberman was using his elected office as a platform for his personal (read political) agenda, but because I knew he could not possibly have played Daggerfall to have come out with such an evaluation.

As anyone who knows both the RPG genre and especially the Elder Scrolls series can tell you, the series stresses the importance of relationships and enforces many social rules. To put it in the same category as Mortal Kombat simply meant that someone, or some group with an agenda, had provided Lieberman his Worst Games list.

So, I did what any red blooded president of an American gaming company would do -- I sued him. In doing so we discovered the people who had the agenda and supplied the fateful list to Senator Lieberman. It was the National Institute on Media and the Family. So I sued them too.

Violated by ignorance

I was not going to let my rights be violated by ignorance. What came to pass is that Lieberman had to resort to using the Justice Department to shield himself from our suit. Nevertheless, the good news is that ever since that time, Senator Lieberman stopped the absurd practice of an uninvestigated Worst 10 games list. So, I would like to think that my decision to put money behind principle had a result that was vindication for my company and a larger victory for the games industry.

So, when I tell you that I believe we as an industry need to be aware of our perception by the public and government, I tell you with personal investment in protecting your freedom to be creative and not kowtow to everyone with an opinion. -- The Folly of 'Office Massacre'

Oh, hey everyone, you can see Kasumi's boobs in the Dreamcast version of Dead or Alive by downloading a modified save file that lets you view the Japanese intro that was left on the disk, somebody call the ESRB, it's still being sold used some places!!! (It's not as thrilling as it sounds, if I were you I'd just watch this (not work safe) instead.)

Mario Revolution (Mario 128) Expect Nintendo to showcase their new controller's abilities with this much-anticipated title.

The Legend of Zelda It's no surprise that a Zelda game has already been confirmed for the Revolution.

Super Smash Bros. Revolution Hitting Nintendo mascots with nonsensical objects is made new again.

Animal Crossing Revolution Spend hours and hours looking for furniture on a next-gen console.

Donkey Kong Revolution The big ape will be making his way to the Revolution in some form or another.

Metroid Prime Revolution It's a lock - the galaxy of Samus will be there in the next generation.

Unnamed RPG Few details are known about this next-gen RPG from the creators of Golden Sun.

So we have a few titles, but most are sequels, and nothing has been said about how they'll be different, controller-related or not. Donkey Kong and Mario are forecasted for 2006, and that's all we get. Keep on guessing.

John Carmack was recently interviewed regarding the new multicore game consoles. One of the more memorable quotes:

"...Anything that makes the game development process more difficult is not a terribly good thing."

Originally posted on my blog http://pspexperience.blogspot.com/

I wrote an email to Next-Generation Magazine in regards to this article http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=2626&Itemid=2. Please check it out, and read my email to them that I sent as a reaction to the article:


In regards to your article "Wal-Mart Quiting UMD Movies", I wanted to say that I
have given quite some thought to the UMD movie problem that the movie
industry is having. The problem is not that the PSP is not movie
machine and only a gaming machine. Those are statements that people
say who haven't used the device consistently every day for the last
year. The PSP is most aptly a gaming AND movie device, lesser a music
device (iPod still beats it hands down). The problem isn't that
consumers don't want to watch movies on the PSP. The problem is that
UMD movies are priced so high that a PSP owner will look at a game vs.
a movie and rather blow $40US on a game that they would probably play a
lot, rather than spend $20US on a movie they may only watch a couple of
times.

The problem I see with this is that UMD movies do not provide enough
value for consumers to purchase at the pricepoint retailers are asking
for. Granted there was market analysis done on the kinds of UMD movies
people were watching, and mostly it was comedies and action, two known
generes that have HIGH replayability factor. When you start selling
movies like "Rent" on UMD, who the heck is going to watch it more than
once? You're not going to buy a boring drama that you might only watch
once every 6 months. Granted there are collectors of UMD movies, but
they represent the minority. Comedies and action movies have higher
value than other genres, and consumers want the best bang for their
buck. UMD games currently offer this proposition.

If Sony and the other movie studios were to reduce their pricing for
UMDs to something more reasonable like $8-10US per UMD, I think
consumers would feel better about parting with their money for a UMD
movie, and probably feel inclined to buy a movie they might not
otherwise at $20US. I know when I saw a sale on for UMD movies at
Blockbuster where selected titles were $8US each if I bought 2, I
snatched 2 titles up IMMEDIATELY. Granted I wanted stuff I could watch
again and again, but you get the picture.

I write this to you because you guys get this industry. It seems that
the industry is not getting the consumer in this particular case.
Before we close the door completely on the UMD movie business, lets
look at how we can price the UMD movie back into the entertainment
market, not out of it. It might be valuable to discuss this further
from the consumer standpoint.

Regards,

Cory Koski


As you can read, its very similar to my other UMD movie blog post. The industry HAS to reduce the price of this format, or it's doomed to obscurity, just like MiniDisc and BetaMax.

Here Is The Article

This is completely false. Microsoft created the trimmed down version of Win2k for the Xbox exclusively. They never made any such offer to Nintendo or Sony.

Sony, in their Kutaragi "Ten Points" announcement, hopes to manufacture and sell 6 million units by the end of fiscal year 2006 (about five months). I have no doubt they will be able to sell all the units they manufacture, if they don't face any delays or shortages. However, that somewhat compares to Microsoft's boast of reaching about 5 million by June of 2006 (about six-and-a-half months).

This to me indicates near neck-and-neck sales figures out of the gate, assuming these predictions are all accurate. (They are not).

Just what I thought - also mentioned here (which is one of the "offsite" links above).