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No. No, we didn't screw up in our design or our developer tools. We meant to do it that way!

A Sony spokesman has said something similar before about the PSP's sticky buttons.

Is this something about Sony's culture or maybe Japanese culture in general?

How's that for timing? PALGN just interviewed Eric Kaltman, cataloger at the Stanford University library about his role in cataloging game-related material and the challenges that DRM and MMOs present. Stanford's part of the "preserving virtual worlds" project, along with the University of Illinois mentioned in the article. He's also the guy who writes on the How They Got Game blog, where he documents his findings.

It's an interesting field. Far more challenging than I would have thought.

Is it still written in a Lisp dialect?

Nope, it's not in Lisp anymore. They didn't want to spend the time porting all their Lisp stuff to the PS3 and they wanted to be able to use Sony's libraries easily (as well as share some of their code with others who aren't into Lisp) so they did this one in C++.

It's mentioned in this interview

Officeworks had a standard retail offer of $580 for the Premium with Forza 2 during their recent sale. However, they also offer 5% off to shareholders and it's fairly easy to get a 10% off for family and friends voucher if you have a look around online and keep your eyes open. I'll admit I got a potentially atypical deal because of the voucher, but most places definitely aren't selling the Premium at retail - they're well under, especially when they bundle a game. But, on the same note, it's not like I'm unique - it's fairly easy to get one at around $530 - $550 if you really want to. I can't think of any competitive retail outlet that's selling it without a game for $650 - a five minute shop-around will get you a 360 with a game for around $590 with minimal effort.

Have a look through here for current deals. The pick of the litter at the moment is probably JB, with the 360 + DoA4 / PGR3 / Forza 2 for $639. Or, you can buy the Pro on its own for $537, equivalent to US$414 after subtracting GST (only US$14 higher than US RRP). Personally, I just think most people aren't aware of the level of discounting available at market prices in Australia - they think RRP is normal.

Sony doesn't stand a chance against the Xbox or Wii(which is still regularly sold out) in Australia any time soon.

Against this background, the Board's carefully considered view is that to issue a certificate to Manhunt 2, on either platform, would involve a range of unjustifiable harm risks, to both adults and minors, within the terms of the Video Recordings Act, and accordingly that its availability, even if statutorily confined to adults, would be unacceptable to the public.

I own a Wii, you insensitive clod! :P

This means that in 6 weeks Sony managed to outsell the XBox360 in its first few months of sales. Despite the massively higher price tag. Despite HD not being as new and shiny.

The NPD figures are USA only too. The Wii would have sold more but Nintendo shuffled some half a million into Europe for a launch there.

The figures on nexgenwars.com are clearly pulled from thin air though.

It basically just takes time and research to estimate the numbers as closely as possible.

Now for the new consoles it is a little harder since there is no previous sales data to go off of. What I do for these is research how many they are expecting to have on launch and by the end of the year. For the launch counter I get it to around the number expected, and then I slow it down to pace it so that it will reach a good estimate for the end of the year, and as usual I will adjust anything if any official word comes in.

Actually, it's more ironic than that, because Sony (well, Ken Kutaragi, head of the division that makes the PS3) has in the past said they're planning on upgrading the PS3 throughout its lifecycle. See, since it's really a computer, apparently he thinks they can get away with announcing "upgraded" versions. So by 2016, the PS4 might finally replace the PS3-OSR2-SP5 or something.

The actual quote is:

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.

From this article.

So, yeah, maybe a "10-year lifecycle" isn't out of the question, if they keep on churning out new consoles and call 'em PS3s anyway.

Plus, by continuously upgrading specs, they can ensure that the PS3 will continue to cost $600 for years! ($500 for the previous iteration.)

I'm an idiot. The article I linked in the above post was way too old.

Try this article, which makes it look more promising.

Of xourse the media used makes for better graphics. If the media can store more data, then it can have more textures, models, levels without repetition. Not only that but they can use more levels of textures for mipmapping.

As for Nintendo, don't cry for them as they were the only one of the 3 that actually made a profit on consoles this quarter!
http://palgn.com.au/article.php?id=2754

I'm confident it's going to be a success is due to our use of 3rd party libraries to aid in development but how long it takes depends on how much help we recieve.

I hate to break it to you, but games don't succeed because of 3rd party library use. In the case of a driving simulator, success is two-fold:

1. The gameplay is good. This depends on your physics engine, and the type of driving game you're building. If the driving mechanics aren't there, or don't "feel right", you're screwed. ("feel" depends on the type of racer -- an arcade title will have a completely different feel than a hardcore sim, and your audience will be able to tell the difference)
2. Licensing. A few games have succeeded without licenses, but those typically have another draw. For example, the Burnout series was successful enough to have two sequels, without car licenses, but that's because the game is not a driver but a crasher. It doesn't matter that you can't crash a Ferrari, because what you're crashing doesn't matter. It's how you do it. Also, while you're a small little startup, it doesn't matter that you're using car licenses without authorization, because it's likely you're not going to go anywhere. If you do succeed, you'll need to re-evaluate that decision. If you don't have the bucks (or a major publisher backing you) to buy all of the licenses, you're going to have to go back to the drawing board and design your own set of cars. If you don't think that far enough ahead, you're likely to get Foxed.

If you or anybody you know are C++ gurus and have a love for driving and/or Open Source Software please consider lending a hand.

Relatively speaking, developing the engine is easy. As you said yourself, the use of third-party libraries lets you concentrate on the important parts. What you really should be looking for are artists that are willing to work pro-bono (good luck finding anyone good!), or finding a way to pay an artist to work for you. From your screenshots, it's obvious that you need major help with models and textures. While you might think it simple to model a car (lots of reference material), you'd be surprised at how difficult it can be. And if you miss a detail here or there, expect to have raving fanboys breathing down your neck about why you put the trim piece from a 2003 Caragon on a 1999 version, or why you have a BBS wheel that's only made in 18" sizes on a car that can only handle 15" wheels.

All of that said, good luck to you. You're entering a market with very stiff competition, and if you can pull it off then more power to you.