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Sony Playstation 2 North America Launch
trazom28 writes: "According to ZDNet, Sony has announced the release of the Playstation 2 in North America on Oct. 26. MSRP is $299 with an 8 meg memory card, controller and multiport for $34 extra. Predicted software prices will be $49. Can you say drool? :-) " [Updated 18:20 GMT by timothy] According to dairypope, the price of $299 will not include the 8-meg card, but rather "only an AV cable, power cable, and one Dual Shock controller, as reported by DailyRadar."
Although it looks like Sony has the upper hand when it comes to hardware and there are some other powerful systems due out this time next year, I think this round of the console wars might just go to the Dreamcast. Starting on June 4th and ending on August 31st, all Dreamcast purchasers will be eligible for a $50 rebate. This drops the price down to $150. Also, if you sign up for Sega's online gaming service you get a $200 rebate. Sega's basically giving their hardware away to build a strong customer base. Even though it's not quite as powerful as some of the yet unrealesed systems (PS2, X-box, and Dolphin) it's here now, it's cheap, and it has a fairly good software library with more on the way. I'll probably pick up a PS2, but I think when the dust settles this round is going to go to Sega.
To date 1.8 million units have been sold in Japan
I don't understand this, if they are (rumored to)having hardware problems why are they selling them in Japan?
Second if 2 mill sold in Japan already, don't you think 1 mil for USA is going to be pushing it? Right around Christmas time too.
The company said the new system also supports the existing PlayStation software catalog of more than 800 titles now on the market.
That is extremely cool, I hadn't heard that before. That is a good idea, remeber Ninetdo, Super Ninetdo, N64, game boy? All there games where incompatiable. i remeber back to the days of the Turbo GX 16, which used flash cards for the console, and the cards where so small they even worked in it's portable device, it was amazing to me at the time.
"`Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.'" -THHGTTG
I found this article about the difficulties PS2 developers have had with the system. Given
No console has ever been easy to develop for. They all require you to read big, thick manuals of arcana and warp your game to fit the strengths of the hardware. The difference this time around is that lots of people who have only done desktop OS programming (mostly Windows, but similarly Linux and MacOS) are jumping into the PS2 with stars in their eyes and discovering that it's a different world. They just want to be able to use Direct3D and OpenGL and Windows API calls and rely on a bottomless virtual memory system, and instead they have to deal with the hardware on its own level, as typical embedded systems programmers do.
The bottom line is that you can't listen to these people. Of course they're going to whine.
The PS2 is architecturally MUCH more difficult than the original PSX (which really could be modeled as a simple von neumann architecture, with a seperate single graphics accelerator module).
The PS2 has much more explicit and obvious paralelism, which is never as easy to code for.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
Part I'm sure is development. With the DVD probs and all I'm sure it's easier to focus on one place and release there. Then if tech probs come up (like they did) it's easier if you got several thousands of disappointed customers, rather than Millions.
If Sony waited and stocked up so they could release to the world (I wonder how long that would take alone) then had a major malfunction, even a huge company like Sony would be hit hard in the bottom line, let alone consumer confidence.
Now even having said that. I think it sucks you guys get shafted as much as you do. Movies, other stuff too.
Napster Vs Lars: mp3 Warz First act: Take control of an elite team and spend hours tapping away at a keyboard until you have a large list of names. Then print out this list (in the game only, of course), while the Metallica mp3s you've found blast away from your computer. Essentially a C&C style endeavour, you must manage your team as they try to do as little work as possible to achieve their goal. Second act: With your new found list of names, play as Lars and battle thru the suits of Legaldom to reach the gates of the Evil Napster. Weapons include 'MusoSpeak' and the terrible 'Black Album'. Later levels of difficulty also burden you with the difficult-to-deal-with 'Orb of HeadUpAss-ness'. Third act: Having arrived at the gates of the Evil Napster, battle with your credibility as you present the list of names and everyone sighs in disbelief.
I'm trying not to be biased. I've loved gaming on computers and consoles since the C64, Apple ][ and NES. Like many people, I've played most of the great hits that came out on such systems ever since Wizball and Paradroid were released.
When the Playstation 1 came out, I was a Saturn owner, and naturally felt threatened by the huge company called Sony entering the games market. But after a while I got used to the new player and saw the Saturn face certain death, despite all the great and innovative titles available for the system. Sony crushed Sega. First through huge price drops, then by seducing all sorts of highly acclaimed developers to develop for the PSX. I bought a PlayStation and watched it catch dust. There were NO good games. Nothing innovative. Sure, Metal Gear Solid was nice and seeing all the transparency effects in Wipeout had something cool to it, but the games lacked substance. They were geared towards a new crowd: the "Casual Gamer".
That was the day when I started analyzing the new games. What makes a game good or bad etc. I discovered that lots of my friends, who weren't gamers before, suddenly bought PlayStations and loved games that I'd never touch (Parappa The Rapper anyone?). These games had nothing in common with what I was used to. They lacked quality and tried hiding that behind glitzy graphics. Look at Tekken. Some would argue that it's the best fighting game ever created, but in the end it's a very primitive button basher. Even Super Street Fighter II had more depth.
Since history repeats itself, I expect to see something similar on the PlayStation 2. More games for casual gamers, and less games for hardcore gamers. And slowly, without anyone noticing, you'll see the PS2 turn into a private little marketing machine for Sony. Keep in mind that Sony is not a games company. They also offer music and movies, for example. If the PS2 catches on, they'll be like the Microsoft of entertainment. They could potentially control what you view and listen to on your PS2, and they'd automatically control what you're playing.
The Dreamcast, on the other hand, is one of my favorite consoles ever created. It has style, it's innovative, and with Bleemcast you might even be able to play PlayStation games on it. The two or three of them that are interesting, at least. There have been quite a few games on it that are novel and old-school (as in: for hardcore gamers) at the same time. That's something that seems to be very hard to accomplish in this new "casual gamer" market Sony created with the PSX.
So, before you buy your PS2, take a look at the $149 Dreamcast. You might get much more entertainment from it, and you'd know that there's a games company behind it, not a media and electronics giant.
2. The hardware is NEVER used to its potential until YEARS after a console is released. People are JUST starting to get the original PSX's potential, and it looks as good as any Dreamcast game! All my DC owner friends are still pulling their PSX's out to play the newer games because they look just as good, just lower resolution!
3. Monopolies in the entertainment industry.. If this is true, then why do YOU think Dreamcast will win? You're being a bit two-faced, no? Sounds to me you're rebelling just for the sake of rebelling.. You know, dye your hair purple because everyone will theink you're "weird" .. Etc..
4. They dont give a crap about the quality of games because they let companies have the FREEDOM of doing what they want. I have seen MANY stinkers for the Dreamcast. Again, you are being rather two-faced.
5. The PSX library is HUGE, and yes, not nearly all of them were hits. The same goes for the Atari 2600, NES, Sega, Dreamcast, TG-16, and Gameboy, or ANY OTHER library. It's fact that not every company can make great games. What IS fact is that the PSX library DOES have the highest amount of winning titles than losing titles of ANY of those platforms I listed, right next to the original NES.
As far as you liking the DC more, thats fine. But saying they have the more 'hardcore' games is a bit lame, because it simply isn't true. PSX was not the 'casual' gamer machine, it was more of the RPG machine, and the whacky Japanese import game machine. Parapper the Rapper was VERY innovative, and FUN. Not to mention god damn WEIRD.
The reason I wont buy the Dreamcast is simply because it doesn't have Dolby Digital 5.1 audio out. I want to play all these new great games in full and total digital surround. Oh, that and because I *love* my PSX to death, and I have a HUGE library i'd like to play on the new PS2 with added effects and better rendering engine.
I eat the flesh off the living, and I vote!
By placing the drivers in hardware they also make it a lot harder for people to bypass the regioning on the player. This is I imagine quite important to Sony as they were not best loved of the MPAA when it was discovered you could bypass the regioning on a Japanese PS2 by pressing buttons on the handset.
I imagine as people learn to program PS2's and reverse engineer the DVD drivers it would be possible to write your own region switchable drivers. By placing the drivers in the hardware this is more difficult if not impossible.
Gamma Testing - Where testing is extended to the full user community (AKA Shipping the Program)
Even if you didn't like the current crop of games, there are going to be a lot of game announcements at E3 - I think until E3 is over it's really too early to say the lineup will not look good!
Another factor is that games that may not be that appealing now may be further beefed up, though that does seem a bit of a long shot to me.
Some of the recently announced games that sound pretty interesting to me are (I'm using DailyRadar as my source):
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
This is getting amazing reviews, though sadly release is Fall 2001! If only I get get through to the FTP server to get the in-game movies they have up...
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Squad based Aliens game, not too many details right now.
The Bouncer
A great fighting game with lots of enemies at once.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I wonder if anyone else has been like me and been waiting for the PSX2 and not getting a DVD player since the PSX2 does both?
It seems an economical idea. Anyone see any possible problems with that plan?
£300!?!?
WOW. I remember when I was in the UK that CDs were terribly over priced compared to home (US), I even sold some to some people I met because I felt sorry for them. £300, that's terrible.
According to an article in The Register, this'll also be the date for the European launch. And according to the Register, they're only shipping a million to each territory, and will have sorted out the DVD `issues'.
Matthew @ Bytemark Hosting
sorry, link doesn't lead to the actual item, you'll have to click around. ^_^
I think many of you remember on September 9, 1999 with the crazy "midnight madness" of the unveiling of Dreamcast in the USA. I was there at Electronics Boutique right next to the Barnes & Noble store in Santa Clara, CA and believe me, it bordered on insane, to say the least. :-/
I wonder will Sony do the same for PlayStation2 when that is released on Thursday, October 26, 2000? Given the even bigger hype for PlayStation2 than Dreamcast, I _know_ it'll be even more crazy than what I mentioned above if Sony does this. And I won't be surprised that Sony does this--after all, Sony Computer Entertainment America's main offices are in Foster City, CA.
Raymond in Mountain View, CA
difficulties PS2 developers have had with the system
Guess Sony didn't learn anything from the failure of the Sega Saturn. New design (not the standard von-neumann CPU with coprocessors), very hard to program for, few good titles... Console makers make their money on title sales (through trademark and patent licensing).
Will I retire or break 10K?
That's subjective. I actually DISLIKED mario64 when it came out, this was supposed to be n64's flagship game that made the system worth buying. I was turned by Zelda and some other other titles. Just cause there's nothing out now that interests you doesn't mean it's not worth buying.
"Hardware's potential is not being used in current games library"
Sorry to be this blunt, but are a moron or something? Name one first-gen console game that has really used the full potential of the hardware. Go ahead, I'm waiting. If you were a console developer instead of a PC developer, you might understand why I'm so pissed off here. Developing for a console is basically re-inventing the wheel everytime something new comes out. It doesn't help that the way the PS2 is set up makes it drastically different efficiency-wise than what's out there right now.
"Sony aims to create an "entertainment monopoly", and the PS2 is one of the cornerstones "
.. OK you're actually right here. Really right. I'm worried about this myself, but fact is, PS2 is nice. If it ends up winning market share, it'll be cause of its own merits.
"Sony is a consumer electronics company, not a games company. They don't give a shit about the quality of the games"
I'm sorry what? History has clearly proven if the games aren't there to back the system up, away it goes. Sony - The Business - would probably like money, and to get that they need market share, and to get that... hey! whaddya know! they need good games. You wanna bitch, you don't bitch to sony, you bitch to the developers.
"The PlayStation has a games library of over 500 titles. Roughly 20 - 30 of those were huge hits, and some of them only in niche genres (music/dance games etc.) The rest just.. Umm.. Sucked"
How is this different from any console? Seriously, perhaps you're thinking back in the days of the NES, when everything was golden and good. Here's a wake up call.. the NES is the PSX. It was the major marketshare, so it had the most games. A lot of them, incidentally, were shit. You may remember the good ones, but how about the 10-20 other mediocre ones that were alongside it on the store shelf? This is no different. Nil.
Personally, I say.. wait. Wait to buy, wait to pass judgement, wait to flame, wait to defend. Don't take a look at one system and the ghost of another, and try to make comparisons, ok?
Isn't that game (field is six by about twelve units; red bomb destroys contiguous groups of red blocks it touches) also available for Sega Saturn and PC, as Baku Baku Animal? Seeing as I have already cloned Puyo Puyo aka Kirby's Avalanche aka Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, it should be no problem for me to do a baku clone.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I found this article about the difficulties PS2 developers have had with the system. Given how unconventional the PS2's design is, I'm going to wait and see until some games arrive before plunking down cash on it. Call me skeptical, but I don't see what all the drooling is about at present. Let's see how the launch titles shape up first.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
That has to be a Japanese import model, then, since there are no US (or European) PS2:s out yet. Here in Sweden, some cool stores have Japanese import machines, but I don't know if they actually sell them... I think they do, though. Of course, since (AFAIK) noone has yet cracked the PS2's regional lock-out crap, you'll need Japanese games for these machines, too. A (Japanese) PS2 machine imported from Hong Kong's Lik Sang goes for $609...
main(O){10<putchar(4^--O?77-(15&5128 >>4*O):10)&&main(2+O);}
$299 isn't too bad a deal, but I wonder how it'll play against Dreamcast's $199 price. Not to mention that N64 and PSX1 are both $99 (though I wanted to pick up a PSX1 yesterday, and everywhere I stopped in was sold out). The big question is what will the competition do? If Sega responds with a price cut to, say, $149, it may slow Sony down.
After all, each of these companies has had, and squandered, the market lead at some point - except Sony so far. Is it their turn? I don't think the average console gamer is concerned about the gory details that we may care about ("Gee - the PSX2 processes an extra megatexel per second compared to the Dreamcast - of _course_ everyone will buy the PSX2!") so much as they care about the important stuff, like:
How much are the games?
How cool are the games?
How many cool games are there?
Are there lots of good accessories?
If Sony slips on any of these, they lose - and selling the box for $299 makes the margin for error even thinner.
- -Josh Turiel
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
One of the games that are in development/done are fantavision a fireworks display 'puzzler' that has hundreds on invidual explosion objects/pieces flying around at the same time.
If you build it, they will come...
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess.
but what about those of us after world domination?
how much does it cost to use one as a missle defence/attack system?
i'm thinking of upgrading from my commodore 64, just doesnt cut it in the world of tactical warfare these days...
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
Man, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but ever since they finally deactivate Selective Availability on the global positioning system, I've been chomping at the bit to get my hands on a couple of those weapons grade ps2's to finish off this cruise missle.
I take it that sony has all of the export paperwork done, since they actually announced a date. I personally cannot wait for one of these.
Now, who is going to take it apon themselves to write a patch that lets me play dvd's from other regions?
Just to add a little bit of information. Look for Square to continue the FF franchise up to part 15.
;)
Registrant:
Square Soft Inc (FF66-DOM)
949 South Coast Drive Suite 200
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
US
Domain Name: FF15.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact, Billing Contact:
I wouldn't be suprised if it goes past there, but it looks as if ff16.com & ff17.com have already been taken by some 'fans'. But with the release schedule of the Final Fantasy series, I wouldn't expect those registrations to last by the time anything past FF15 is released.