Slashdot Mirror
Playstation 3 In the Works
Kredal writes "The Independent is running a story about Sony's work on a new console, being built around online games, such as Everquest Adventures and Final Fantasy 11. No word on backwards compatability, but expect it to be the X-Box killer if it is."
FF11 already has me lusting.
Gee, and Sony fans have already been saying that the PS2 was an Xbox killer. Sony must really be feeling the pressure if they're planning on coming out with the PS3 anytime soon.
Only 6 more versions 'till the PS9 with inhalable spores that make you hallucinate the game!
Tim
Oh yeah, Red Hat GNU with the HURD! Gnome 5.4 and Internet 2! YEAH
I remember the dialup modems that were supposed to revolutionize mutliplayer console gaming for the 16-bit super nintendo and sega genesis. Maybe this time it will actually succeed? What I would like to see is a gaming console with a built in Cable/DSL gateway router.
-- Adam
Wasn't there a slashdot story recently about how Sony said the PS3 will be waaaay more than this, and not be in production until at least 2010?
Roadkill is yummy.
I have a playstation 4, it plays games
Looking at all these new shinny console's and neverending online RPG's makes me wonder why the hell I should care.
The problem as I see it is that I have no personality of my own.
See title.
why can't people play on the systems that are out already and get on with their gaming lives.
... yeah, in about 2 years! What are you going to do until then, keep playing your N64?
Speculation like this killed the Dreamcast. Oh.. the PS2's gonna be sooo good.
Then you get lame kiddies saying stuff like "I don't want an Xbox. I'm getting a PS3, it will wipe the floor with the Xshite"
Eventually people nned to buy a current system. The best time to do so is now. Once a console has been released and then discounted (to rip off the earlier adopters) it's worth buying.
I rate the Xbox as better than the PS2, but not enough software is out there yet. People are still going nuts for MGS2 on the PS2, but it takes like a day to finish it on your first time out.
Buy an Xbox/PS2 and be done with it.
The news of the PS3 is cool, but christ, don't wait for it!
PS2 is hardly a new console, and I doubt anybody is surprised that, to quote, they're in "advanced stages of developing PlayStation 3". MS briedly talked about Xbox2, what, a month after the Xbox was out?
Anway, the article is really quite boring, nothing yet unknown is revealed, and of course there is not even a vague release date for the PS3.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
As much as I love the Final Fantasy series, (Own all 10 games, and the respective console they run on, along with the other misc's such as Tactics, and the gameboy games) FF11 doesn't spark much interest for me. I am kind of curious about multiplayer FF. I think the idea is great, but I think between my job, the old lady, the kids, school... I'm just not giving myself any time for online games like I used to. I've seen EQ, thought it looked cool, but realized it took way too much time to be good at it, so I never started in the first place. And I'm sure FF11 will be the same way for me, not enough time, so I'll never get to play it.
Can all fish swim?
It darn well better be backwards compatible, or they'll piss off a lot of developers. And the majority of the world that doesn't have broadband . . .
Not really much of an article, but does this mean that the supposed development of online games for the PS2 is going to come to a halt as developers jump on the PS3 bandwagon?
I was really hoping for an online verison of GTA in the near future, now it seems I'll have to buy a PS3 to get it.
Rob
NEOS
Hey Taco - FFX will be coming out for the PS2. In fact their is a PS2 version already available in Japan. The PS2 is here to stay for awhile. I would estimate that it will be here for at least another 3 years. As for the online gaming - guess what? The XBOX already has that capability now and the PS2 still doesnt have it. Thats not to say that the PS2 wont have it (which it obviously will since FFX is coming out for it) but they are a bit late to the game, dontcha think?
:-)
Also please refrain from drooling so much over FFX. Its just a game. Strike that. Its just a game thats going to suck the majority of your life away because it will require an even larger time investment than the single player FF games.
I would your wife soon to be approves of you pissing away oh so much time in such a wasteful fashion - otherwise you may be having a few problems
Cheers,
J
I love idealists not because I am one, but because they make life bearable for pragmatists such as myself.
...companies around the world work on new products, and many focused on the same market as previous products. More news on this odd occurance as we get more.
But seriosuly, if noone expected Sony to do anything to move to the PS3 some day, they don't understand buisness much. And online is the future by what everyone is saying, so makes sense.
With more and more gamers playing consoles, expect some expectations of faster upgrades and such to start occuring.
as far as i'm concerned... Hell, it was D.O.A.... any games out for it yet? Of course, I'm still waiting for a reason to buy a PS2 but I guess I'll have to make due with my Gamecube.
Nosce te Ipsum
do you know what I had to go through to get my Wife to let be buy a PS2?
I told her that the console market is not like the PC market. Consoles stay around for a few years. I then pointed to the fact that the PS1 had been around since the early 90's.
now what the hell am I going to say to get this sucker!!!!
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
When did X-Box become the console to beat? PS2 and Gamecube have outsold the X-Box & have much better games.
PS3 looks to be awesome. Didn't we read earlier that the PS3 prototype was something like 50 PS2s running in parallel??
Absolutely. Even with the good games the PS2 has, I'm turned off by the amount of crap that's out there for it too.
Of course here I am with my GameCube waiting for Mario.... and Zelda.... and Metroid....
I'll have something intelligent to add one of these days...
I sure hope that Sony continues to make systems that are backwards compatable. I think that really gave Sony a major edge over the Nintendo Game Cube. Games are really expensive and it's nice to be able to continue playing the games on newer systems. Otherwise you either don't play the older games anymore or you have several systems connected in a giant mess to your TV. It might prevent Sony from using media that has more data on it, but I think they would be more successful keeping with a backwards compatable system.
FoonDog
So this means I have to shell out another $300 for the console but prolly $40 for a network adapter plus $50 per game plus online fees. I have to get another job, maybe sony is hiring beta testers?
http://www.freepokerchipset.info
"Plans for the third installment in the PlayStation saga were rapidly stepped up when Sony saw the capabilities of Microsoft's Xbox..."
And then Microsoft steppted up their plans...
And then Nintendo stepped up their plans...
Looking at which Sony again stepped up....
ditto...
ditto...
On behalf of the Communist Party, I want to
wish a Happy May Day to everyone at
Slashdot.
Impeach The Cheney-Rumsfeld Administration !
Thank you.
I hope it works better than the PS/2 Linux kit I just got and have to RMA back to Sony. ;-)
My tongue-in-cheek experiences are available her for your reading enjoyment.
does the xbox really need any help with that?
Then you get lame kiddies saying stuff like "I don't want an Xbox. I'm getting a PS3, it will wipe the floor with the Xshite" ... yeah, in about 2 years! What are you going to do until then, keep playing your N64?
This is much like an old urban legend, made popular through Scott Adams' Dilbert books. Once upon the time there was a company trying to sell some hideously expensive piece of hardware. Prospective clients were wary, so the salesteam tells them "Hey, Every single concern you have will be fixed by Version 2 of this hardware!" The clients then do not buy version 1, and bide their time.
Just about the time Version 2 comes out, the clients come back, and the salesteam says "Here's Version 2! ..but man, Version 3 is *really* gonna rock!" Clients then hold off to wait till Version 3 is ready because of the raw cost of the hardware and the legacy nature of the product.
Meanwhile, the company goes bankrupt because everybody's locked in a holding pattern.
This tired old legend doesn't really fit in right with the console market, as these toys are tools for entertainment -- not legacy hardware that you're expected to keep and maintain for five or ten years, such as cars and houses. Sure, some of us gamers do, but it's not the expectation.
They key to competing with Microsoft will be to continue concentrating on the game performance while allowing enough expandability for the user to add on features to make the PS3 compete with full fledged home computers. I'm sure the final design of the PS3 is going to have a hard drive, a decent amount of RAM, and an Ethernet port. However, it doesn't need to compete with the latest and greatest offering from Intel as long as it plays games great. All the other stuff an average computer user needs to do (word processing, surf the Internet, etc.) can be handled easily by the PS3's hardware. Just give the "hackers" a way to beef it up if the need arises (and it will). FireWire ports, standard HD interface, empty ram slots... In short, embrace the hacker, don't shun him/her away by making the BIOS run only Sony approved applications. Just as long as Sony can make a profit on the hardware (and get good apps on Linux), they can beat MS.
Don't they understand? all we want is specs. give us the juicey specs! - you can even make them up if you want, i just want some numbers.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
I've played them all and I still think the PS2 is the best, with the N64 a close second. I realize that better graphics and sound enhance game-play, but it's really about playability. I still think Mario Kart 64 is one of the best games out, I love GT3 for the graphics, but Mario Kart 64 is still a killer game.
Same could be said for many of the N64 games.
I've heard people say that, "not many people have broadband." However, the people buying these systems most often do. I suspect that the percentage of Xbox owners with broadband is much higher than average.
Also, the issue of backward compatability? It's cool, but if you're going to make a new gaming system, don't worry about the old stuff. If the gaming world has taught people anything it's, "don't worry, I'll buy anything just to play that." How many people have bought new graphics cards because of ONE game?
Sure, a developer would love to see their PS2 games run on the PS?, but would they rather do more with their new titles? You betcha. Game developers love their work, and seeing it fully realized is a better feeling than knowing that it is more compatable, but you had to sacrifice the vision of the game. Remember, we're not making a word processor here.
Cheers.
- Sighuh?
I personally stayed away from Everquest due to its addictive nature; I've played MUDs before (though non-graphical)and know that they have a tendency to consume my free time. I really don't mind re-clearing areas over and over again while chatting with friends; I find it very catharthic after a long day at work.
Final Fantasy 11 is going to finish me.
I say this because I am, unashamedly, Squaresoft's Bitch. Anything they sell, I purchase. Chocobo Dungeon? Got that. Vagrant Story? Yup. 3D World Runner? Sure, child's play.
I can't pass up a Final Fantasy title, not after the first ten have given me such endless hours of fun and happiness. Turning it into an MMORPG just adds an addictive edge that may well be the end of me.
I hope it kills the X-Box. Game systems should not crash!
- The Individualist Anarchist
hmm... insightful 3 to flamebait 2 in 5 seconds. :-p
amazing how nice you moderators are
How much will MS have to spend to develop the XBox2? Well, let's see... Get a faster mobo, fast gpu, and faster cpu. Done! And it is backwards compatible with the old one already! And the development tools won't require learning some fancy new architecture. MS has stumbled out of the gate, but long term who really has the advantage here?
Lasers Controlled Games!
The original poster noted that the PS3 was being geared for online gaming along the lines of Everquest and Final Fantasy 11 .. but FFXI is most assuredly coming out on the Playstation 2. One would like to think that Sony has plans even more fascinating in mind for its next generation hardware.
:)
As for the backwards compatibility being bandied about in the thread - mm, kind of depends on what format the games come in, doesn't it? DVDs would make a good standard, but they've already *got* those, and may consider moving on as DVD writers become more prevalent in user's homes.
Ah, well. Rampant speculation is what it is. We've still got several years of the PS2 to enjoy at the very least.
....but I still want one.........
sorry, lost my mind for a second there......we are from the government - we are here to help...
I'll stick with my super nintendo.
Hacking the Network
Er, didn't the X-Box do a pretty good job of that all by itself?
(Wouldn't the PS2 be one, too?)
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
During the release of the Playstation 2, Sony badass Ken Kutaragi announced that the Playstation 3 would be released in 2005. If you want to get the details, check out these google results.
I have been caught completely off guard by similar reports on slashdot in the past. Apparently, Apple is planning a G5 processor (as if the G4 weren't fast enough!), Microsoft is supposedly working on an operating system to replace XP, and the 2.5 branch will not be the last iteration of the Linux kernel.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Also maybe Sony should take their time and develope a quality console that will meet the needs of the gaming public, even if it takes a few extra months to a year. They have already demonstrated their market dominence over the superior (hardware wise) machines of their competition. Points to consider, make it easier to program, anti-aliasing (!!!), ditch the 2 controller model (multi taps suck, four controller ports on board is great), for that matter peripherals on a console suck.
I look forward to the PS3, but please, take you time and give me something remotely worth the ammount money I am going to have to drop on this thing (and the ammount of time I am going to have to spend in line to get the damn thing on launch day)...
Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.
"Speculation like this killed the Dreamcast"
No, being a shitty third-rate PC with already out of date PC hardware killed the DC.
More interesting is the news today that Sony and Real have announced a tie-up. They'd already announced an alliance to use Real software in the PS2 - this is a further development, with Sony buying a stake in Real with the aim of using its software in other consumer devices.
Real has put out a press release here, which says: "Sony plans to adopt these combined digital distribution solutions in a variety of networked CE products such as Sony's networked audio products and Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation2 computer entertainment system."
The Wall Street Journal notes that the deal brings together two Microsoft rivals - the WSJ story requires $$$+registration, but the basics are:
The companies didn't announce specific product agreements, but said their research and development groups will regularly collaborate on developing new technologies. Sony said it would adopt RealNetworks' media technologies broadly in a variety of consumer electronics devices with network connections to personal computers and the Internet, and RealNetworks will consider using a Sony antipiracy format in its software.
While the financial side of the deal is small and RealNetworks is in no immediate need of cash, the investment gives Sony at least a symbolic stake in the future of RealNetworks. RealNetworks competes fiercely with Microsoft in the market for Internet audio and video software, and it has joined other companies in accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive practices that threaten their businesses. Sony and Microsoft, meanwhile, became archcompetitors in the videogame market with Microsoft's introduction late last year of the Xbox, a heavily promoted rival to Sony's market-leading PlayStation 2.
Dave Fester, a Microsoft general manager, said the alliance with Sony wouldn't affect the appeal of Microsoft's own media software to electronics companies, but adding that it could "drive a wedge between Real and other consumer electronics manufacturers."
No word on backwards compatability, but expect it to be the Playstation 3 killer if it is.
(Of course it will be compatible - the Xbox is basically a PC.)
Remember how ridiculously overhyped PS2 was?
I expect the same with PS3. But why does it have to start now??
As for me, I don't own a console. The only reason I'd get one would be the games, not the technical superiority of a particular console when compared to another or when compared to PCs (which is simply not happenning anyway).
For example, there are no fighting games on the PC (Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur etc.).
But that's about it - I couldn't care less for the RPGs and the racing sims are comparable to what I get on the PC.
The FPS genre is pretty much nonexistent on the consoles (it may be starting to change).
Maybe I just don't get the console culture.
-jfedor
The games industry is now being driven by hardware, not ideas. The consoles just get faster so the games just get prettier. No real innovation at all.
What I'm looking for are a few slightly different genres. Stop with the FPS, RPG and RTS games for the moment. How about multi-player internet sports games where each player plays an actual team member (*gasp!*), or even more open ended "sims-online" type games.
The above examples also have the advantage of being less aggressive than the typical nazi-zombie-bloodfests , thus tapping into the other half of the potential games market.
I am a Karma Library.
there's always pressure until your prey is cold and dead.
sony had to make compromises in the processor in order to meet a schedule. they were already way behind, and had to hit the holidays. shareholder value! the ps3 is to be what ps2 was supposed to be. who had that sig "i thought i thought, therefore i thought i was," nice! we'll see what's up with the ibm/sony/... partnership in a few years. a simple linux distribution with nice clean apps on such boxes will likely be the home computer in the furture...
UB
We need an x-box killer... looking at Microsoft strategy for the last decade, if the X-box gains any kind of market dominance there won't be any other gaming platforms anymore.
--Bennett Prescott
Former Lord Of Packets
here are acouple links with respect to the CELL processor. the ps2 processor is capable of 6.2 billion flops, while the ps3 will be capable of 1 trillion. yum.
. ht ml2 0.ht ml
http://www.sonyweb.com/news/0402/003.html?f=003
http://www.sonyweb.com/news/0102/120.html?f=1
one thing that other people seem to forget is how much longer and longer the development cycle is getting on these consoles. sure, the ps3 might have the power of 200 ps2's, and it might take 10 years to develop, but then all the darn games are going to take longer than DNF to 'perfect'.
i mean, 3 years of development, 2 of marketing, pretty soon i'm going to have living my gaming vicariously through my children.
your jesus is another mans xebu. chew on that hypocrites.
I don't think you can say that there are no successful upgrades anymore. I think the 4MB RAM expansion for the N64 was pretty much a wide success.
The PlayStation sucks ass,
The XBOX should be named XCrack
The NinendBlow64
The PlaySuck3
All you fudgepackers will blow the guy at security to even smell the room it used to be in
Just a few upgrades and my XCrack Will kick the shit out of anything you'll make
fucking winy losers
-5Troll
I wish you would waste your karma marking this shit as flaimbait
Aside from generalizations that pretty much anyone could guess (they're working on PS3! it will be more powerful than its competitors! etc.) the article makes one claim: It's in the "advanced development stages". Riiiiiight. That's why no developers have a hold of it, right? Because Sony doesn't want anyone to have the two-year run-up with the hardware that'd be necessary to have games on the market in time to launch the console? Suuuuure.
Folks, games are exciting, but they're a business. Sony is selling the living shit out of PS2. They are stomping all over their competition without breaking a sweat. They own the market, and the market is still growing at a huge pace. Tell me: why the hell would they release a new console when there is obviously plenty of money to be made from their "old" one? Why confuse consumers? Why dilute their retail channel? Why start hyping something that doesn't exist when they're making all the money they need to finance its development by hyping the console they've already got? It wouldn't make sense, and I can pretty much guarantee you this article is 90% fanboy and 10% speculation.
I've jokingly said for a while now that buy the time I can afford a PS2, I should just wait for the PS3. Would it be advisable to wait for the PS3 now or would the PS2 still be a wothwhile buy?
Isn't making noise about the PS3 going to dry up demand for the PS2? I hope they do drop the price though -- if it hits $199 I'll finally replace my N64 so I can plan World Rally Championship!
I am not a number! I am a man! And don't you
Here I thought the x-box was already dead
I may sound old now, but I remember when it used to be any number of years between consoles by the same company. I mean, the NES was the king for sooooo long, and then just a long time afterwards, only then did they announce the SNES. Then a long time after that.. like, I don't know 7 years after that did they come out with the N64... then 4 years the Gamecube.
Is it goign to come down to where we have a console every year? That's a great buisness plan to make your consumer stop buying them.
Anyone remember those commercials during the PS2 hype with the theoretical "PS9" console with the neural interface? Who else thinks that Sony actually aspires to do it now, and that, it will, in fact, be some iterations of the Playstation line? Scary...
"Our new machine will go in your head, take your old thoughts out, and put new ones in... it'll be the greatest video game experience ever, and you'll never buy anything but Sony again!"
Brilliant.
The Internet, one place where if you're not right, someone else will set you straight... maybe.
FFX was the initial reason I bought a PS2. And after playing it I'm glad I did. Zelda and Metroid have that pull for Nintendo, for me personally, not as great as FFn, but enough to get me to buy one. As soon as both of these are out I'll be grabbing a Cube. Though, the import store down the street is selling pre-modded Cubes so I may not wait, import games tend to be so much cooler than what we get on average.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
WHAT?!?!? Sony's going to make a PS3 and it's *more* powerful than the XBOX?!?!?
But, of course, NINTENDO knows this... and their ready with their "GAMEPENTAGON", which *supposedly* will have even better specs as the PS3 (as soon as they find out what those specs are).
BUT WAIT, as unbelievable as it sounds, MICROSOFT is just *WAITING* for this move so that they can release the XBOX-II. Now, you're gonna call me a liar, but: IT HAS HIGHER SPECS THAN THE GAMEPENTAGON!!!!!
Now, I'm sure you Sony insiders know that the PS3 is just a farce, meant to draw out the competition, so that they can then release the *PS4*!!!!!
BUT...
aww, screw it... it's just too far to go for a joke.
I just got this one not that long ago and it doesn't seem like all that many games have come out for it. Sure it was backwards compatible but really, a two year life cycle on consoles is pretty ridiculous. And why is it cool to be all that powerful if all of the games are crappy due to the learning curve of developement? For anyone who hasn't been staring at their hand for the past three years straight, the game is much more important than the platform they play it on.
Get a Life Sony
There are a few cool things Sony could do with their Playstation 3 console.
Make the controllers all USB based, with a chunkier connector, of course.
And instead of custom memory cards, why not amortize the development on Sony memory sticks and use them instead? Put the memory stick slot on the gamepad.
Let people stick in memory sticks with pictures on them and view the images on the TV (just imagine the boost in sony digital camera sales!).
Let people stick in memory sticks with music on them, and play the music through the TV or Hi-Fi (just imagine the boost in sony network walkman players!).
Let people stick in memory sticks with homebrew software on them, and allow them to execute (just imagine appeasing a community of hackers whilst tightening optical drive security! and just imagine the general popularity surge in memory stick technology!).
Let people use USB cable/ADSL modems as well as ethernet ones -- no need to put the user through the extra expense (over here in Aus, most ethernet ADSL modems are more expensive than PS2's).
Simon
Computers are useless: they can only give you answers. -- Pablo Picasso
The nightmare continues just like
Jason X...
when will it end...when will it end...
I mean DAMN, how many times can a dude die?!?!
"Just Smile and Nod." --Huck
On other news Rico the local drug dealer is planning on making Cocaine more accessible to a younger demographic. When asked what spurred the decision to break into a new business model he said "If Sony can find a way to bring EverCrack to the kids I think I oughta get a share of that too"
I can't believe the Sony Hype Machine is getting started already. The similar hype surrounding the PlayStation 2, which was still more than a YEAR away from release, DESTROYED the Dreamcast, probably the best, yet most unappreciated game system to be released. I for one couldn't give 2 S#its about the ps3. Sony hasn't really done ANYTHING for console gamers, simply fragmented the console market, accomplished with huge amounts of dollars spent on advertising and wooing game companies to develop. Has anyone really played any 1st party sony games?? They suck balls. While companies like Nintendo and Sega exist solely for video games, Sony sees them as just another revenue stream to keep the megacorp afloat.
"To lead the people, you must walk behind them"
about the ps3 can be found here.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
(And yes, I own the cartridges. heh.)
Nintendo's consoles, I will continue to stay away from Sony and MS in the gaming world.
MS truly proved with the XBox that hardware is secondary to software. The most powerful console,true. The best graphics, arguably true. But the games are uninspired recycled garbage.
And Final Fantasy 11? Give me a break. Square hasn't done anything interesting with a game since the Mana series.
I will continue to follow Nintendo for one reason: Miyamoto. This guy is the greatest game designed in the world hands-down. He continues to innovate with every single game he touches. Long Live Nintendo!
You did read this article that states " the PlayStation 6 or 7 will be based on biotechnology".
It also states "research efforts for PlayStation 3 are focusing on distributed computing"....
-- wow a beowulf cluster of PS3's.....
This has been blown out of proportion. For the facts, please have a look at: http://www.sonyweb.com/features/insidethecell.html
Has it occured to any of you that maybee you should wait untill a respectable, not to mention trustworthy(although i guess i just did) news agency reports something a little more solid? I mean really, a uk magazine is ok for finding out what space ship the queen mother is on, but i think ill stick to gamespot, ign, or even cnet for console "news".
Whodathunkit?
The / in
So they want to focus on online gaming? That means someone has to shell out 300-400 for the console itself, 50 per game, 10 for the mem card, and THEN pay 10-20 a MONTH for the access to the servers...yikes (per game im sure)! I hope this doesnt come out anytime soon because I know for a fact that I will have to buy it. I mean...its sony. They MAKE you buy this stuff or they come to your house with big goons who break your legs, right? I mean...I HAVE to buy it.
"...but expect it to be the X-Box killer if it is."
Thats like saying the playstation 2 was a supernintendo killer. Of course its going to be better then the xbox. What, do you think its going to come out in a few months? This thing is atleast 2 years away. I am sure by the time the playstation 3 comes out microsoft will be right there with a new console too.
This is as bad as those people who say the xbox killed the dreamcast. Of course it did, it came out 2 years later!
Part of why the PS2 is backwards compatible is that it wasn't hard to impliment. The PS2 has a chip that the PSX used, so it isn't all software based emulation.
Moreover, in a previous slashdot article it was stated that the PS3 is basically 4 PS2 units smashed into one case. Again, backwards compatability will be trivial to impliment.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
hey, I've got some karma left, lets follow this little off-topic-ish meander a moment.
Yes. There is a lot of junk available for the PS2 right now. There is also the X-Box's catalogue, which is 90% shite (Kabuki Warriors holds the record for the worst score ever in Edge magazine, for instance). Even your Gamecube has tosh like Simpsons Road Rage. As long as you do your research, the important thing is how many good titles there are, and PS2 does have some excellent games. On the other hand, I want to play Super Monkey Ball, so I'm not going to diss the idea of supplementing that with a Gamecube, and the X-Box also has Halo.
Join us in multiple console owning land, its fun (but expensive!)
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
I don't want to sound like my grandpa (I'm only 23!), but back in the day, when I was gaming on a daily basis, the games were just so much more fun to play. With Nintendo you had the mega man, final fantasy, zelda, mario, and metroid, and on sega you had all the sports games. These games could be picked up and learned in a few minutes, but took hours and hours to master. And were fun all the way along. There are of course some exceptions, but games and systems today seem to be all about tech. bragging points and cinema scenes. The push to be the most high tech. and have the most titles has cause the gaming industry to accept quantity over quality. This brings me on topic...Playstation has to be the worst offender in these areas and seems to be dead set on continuing that trend. Thrid party licensees crank out sh*t games and Sony braggs about having so many titles. 50% of those games are basically racing games featuring different vehicles/settings. Ex. XXS snowboarding, it's fun to play for 20 minutes and looks pretty, but really, how much can you look at scenery when you're in the middle of a game! Meanwhile game developers are stumbling over themselves to make 'adult themed' games that may look pretty or gross sometimes but are an absolute bore to play. And last but not least, Nintendo all but turns it's back on older gamers when they sent the Gamecube controllers back to the drawing board to make them smaller b/c kids in their testing groups said they were too big...
Thank you Dave Raggett
I started playing the Ultima series way back when, because it gave me the opportunity to leave behind my mundane life and become a hero in another realm. Along the way, I've played most of the RPGs on the C64, PC, and game consoles, as well as others like Monkey Island and The Longest Journey. I played the hero. I directed the action (well, as far as you can in the storyline).
I've put my time in a couple of MMORPGs, at one point putting in a good 10 hours a day for several months. For what? So I can be just another semi-powerful warrior among thousands of others all trying to accomplish the same quests? Running into the same people, who just like me are trying to escape our "real" lives for a few moments... why do I really want to talk to them? If I wanted to talk to them I could do so on ICQ for free, or head down to the local pub and meet with my friends.
As much as I didn't like the story driven nature of FFX, it was fantastic. The conversations between Tidus and Yuna, Auron's mysterious demeanor, poor Lulu... that's why I bought and played FFX. Why I bought every other FF game. Why I play RPGs. Why I no longer play MMORPGs. I don't want to meet a group of heros and listen to how they had a miserable day at work, how the dog shit on the rug, how the car needs an overhaul. How there's a group of campers by the mystical sword each one of us needs for a quest and how we're going to have to get 6mil gold apiece to buy from the campers. I want to meet characters who were brought together by some epic destiny, not those who happen to live in the same time zone. I want to hear scripted conversations that took months of thought and use professional voiceovers, not the half-hearted attempts at role playing and old English phrases lifted from "Robin Hood".
FF 11 online? No thanks.
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
Unless they have Mario, Metroid, and Zelda etc.. Just no way it'll compete. It's all about the games. Online or not.
Halo??? OMGOMGOMGOMG. No offense, but Halo *sucks*. Not only does it play like shite on a console (No mouse/keyboard combo), but its a REHASH of a REALLY OLD GAME called TERMINATOR: FUTURE SHOCK. Killer exclusive.. bahaha... Yah.. Yer ONE good exclusive game.. Jet Grind Radio is already on PS2, and the "exclusive" version you have (Like Tony Hawk 2x hahaHAHAH) is 1 step behind the Gamecube version coming out.. Where is your MARIO? Your ZELDA? Your METROID? hah.
PS2 haws been the grandaddy for soo long, the PS3 does sound intriguing--but online gaming? I dont know about that--unless they can garauntee broadband for EVERYONE somehow there could be problems-this could be more of a problem than they realize.
The GameCube uses a variant of the PowerPC processor, named "Gekko", and IBM was responsible for R&D on that as well.
IBM -- mercenaries of the gaming world?
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Never mind the PS3, when are we going to see an emulation of the X-box on the PC ?
Hopefully the PS3 has as much innovation as it will technology... This shortened console lifespan trend is beginning to worry me. You could blame it on technology and you'd be partially right, but systems like the Gameboy, SNES and PS1 went kicking and screaming into the night even as better/more powerful technology eclipsed it. These platforms were innovative and lately, it seems the industry is geared more towards "updating" instead of looking to the long term. "Oh shucks, the X-Box came out. Time to make a PS3." Wasn't your box built for the long haul? Guess not... I hope the PS3 isn't simply another update...
(I like the PS2. It's a decent system. Comments thinking that I'm flaming Sony will be severely laughed at.)
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Or emulation of all the other consoles on an XBox? The dang thing is a PC after all. It's my secret wish for the console, as unlikely as it may be...
You need a FREE iPod Nano
They do absolutely nothing for us (the consumer). Instead we should encourage all the console makers to keep putting money into their consoles. In the end, we will benefit and they'll fight it out.
GameGear was one of the coolest handhelds I've ever seen. Way ahead of its time, IMHO. It was a portable, full-colour handheld gaming system with a backlit LCD. You could play the thing in full colour in a pitch dark room, out of the box. What systems, even today, can make such a claim?
It's drawbacks were lack of games, pretty pricey, and it ate batteries like Oprah goes through Twinkies.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
This game console market is starting to really piss me off.
One would think that a damn game console could last more than 2 years. These days who knows. You (or I) spend about 800 dollars buying a console, games and all of the neccessary addon crap so that they can make it worthless in a year or 2.
Goodluck to all of you ps2 owning folks who are gonna have to go and shell out probably 400 dollars to upgrade your worthless consoles.
I think the console market is going to shit the bed if this is the way of the future. We already have computers that we have accepted the fact that they will be outdated by the time we set them up in our houses. Console games are not important enough for that. I think sony might want to go and make some more tv's or walkmans while us consumers have the chance to use the stuff that they already have on the market.
I'll grant you that including it with DK64 helped get it out. But many other upgrades have had games that required the upgrade. (segaCD for example-- try playing one of those without the upgrade!)
Make it cheap. Make it provide a tangible benefit. (The powerbase converter was a bad idea. Who were they selling to? Most of the loyal sega fans already had an SMS.) Sell a bundle with it and a good game.
There's no reason they can't succeed, but so far, almost every upgrade has been ill-conceived. (N64DD anyone? A 100Mb disk that was delayed so long cartridges got that big!)
Let's face it, so far the Xbox has been a disaster and Sony want to make sure it stays that way even with the recent price cuts. What better way to make sure of that than cut their own prices and drop heavy hints that a PS3 might be just around the corner?
Of course realistically no PS3 is going to appear before Christmas 2003 unless its a revamped PS2 with a harddrive, but anyone thinking of getting an XBox is likely to think again.
The XBox has a serious problem on its hands now. It's still the most expensive of the games consoles, and the games are expensive and boring. It's rapidly becoming the next Dreamcast.
But I'm a little more optimistic about the future. Game consoles are quickly reaching a tecnological apex. Once consoles are consistently putting out HDTV or better video and Dolby 5.1 audio or better, they're going to have very little else to improve upon.
It'll happen more quickly than you think. I can't wait until it does as then game makers will have to concentrate on playability as much as they do now on FX.
In the meantime, vendors like Sony really *need* to provide backwards compatibility for all games. That's been the primary fly in my ointment over the years. Sure, I want the shiny new console with the new games. But I also want my old games. Those, after all, represent most of the investment we all make as gamers. The console is just a delivery mechanism.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
That's the common wisdom, like "consoles are always sold at a loss," but it's really not true.
Some examples of successful add-ons:
With the exception of the analog pads, which were eventually made the new standard, it's more accurate to say that add-ons tend to be at least an order of magnitude less successful than the parent console. So you need a big enough consumer base to support your niche markets. The current playstation 2 has a big enough market to support an online adapter as long as the hardware works. It's been proven by the Dreamcast that enough gamers will sign up for good online games to make it profitable, and the Dreamcast market was much smaller than PS2's.
I agree with the rest of your post, though. Especially that it's really all about the games.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
There are downsides to using computer parts instead of a custom design.
One is that the total size of the console is significantly larger than its competitors, which makes it a pain to fit into an already crowded entertainment center.
Also, the custom-designed PS2s and Gamecubes are apparently much cheaper to manufacture in bulk, because they have fewer parts.
Lastly, I don't see how designing a new mobo, gpu and cpu is necessarily simpler than designing a new console-style console.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Real is the single worst company making a media player today. EVERY single time I log into my offic laptop, I am reminded of this by the nagging update messages and spam that Real thrusts upon me. You think WMP is the only alternative? Quicktime works great, and is 1000% less offensive than RealOne. Plus, you don't have to pay Apple to stream content. Get a clue.
Supposedly we'll see a significant price drop in the US PS2 after E3 at the end of May. This is still just a rumor, but it seems plausible. I would wait to see.
PS2 has enough good games out now to justify buying one, and more are on the way. Plus there are many games available used. That makes it a wise buy.
Wait for PS3? Why not wait for PS4 while you're at it? IMHO, it's better to wait until after the first price cut for a console, then jump on board.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
It would cost too much. Gamepads should be cheap, so you can buy 4 of them and play party games.
What I want to know is, why have a memory card slot for each controller? I've never used the ones on the multi-tap, ever.
Just put 2 memory stick slots in the console (for trading saves), and you're good.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
...Like nintendo, like sega, like sony itself? Is that what you meant? It's not just the MS who's getting "a taste of it's own medicine". Common, face the fact and realize that every one of these companies want to be a monopoly and stab one another in the back on a regular basis. MS isn't the only whipping boy here.
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There's definitely quite a few great games for PS2, it's just the amount of junk that turns me off.
:) And I know that there's crap out for PC, and you just have to stear clear of the masses to find the good stuff (which really isn't hard to find).
And yeah, there's some garbage for Gamecube too, I just think the ratio is a little lower (which has a lot to do with the sheer number of titles available for PS2 which I think most people find is a good thing).
This reminds me of the later days of the original NES;..... I rented quite a few crappy games before I'd come across a gem like Little Ninja Brothers. On the other hand, there was no internet to get reader reviews from and stuff, which definitely helps in picking out the good PS2 games.
I find the Nintendo vs. Sony battle reminds me of Mac vs. PC. Nintendo lovers are *very* faithful to their brand, even if they have to wait a few months for their new console to have some decent software. Mac guys are the same way with their mac, they find the good points in Apple and deny the bad points.
Of course, I'm a PC guy
I'll have something intelligent to add one of these days...
Lastly, I don't see how designing a new mobo, gpu and cpu is necessarily simpler than designing a new console-style console.
It's about the R&D dollars, son. Sony is apparently throwing what, a billion, 2 billion dollars into the PS3's development?
Microsoft on the other hand can cimply take advantage of Nvidia's huge R&D budget, and buy chips (at a bulk rate). No manufacturing processes to build, no R&D work and hiring. So much easier! At the same time, they get a product guaranteed to be competetive and successful in today's graphics market.
Same with a CPU and Motherboard - Microsoft again worked with NVidia, AMD, and Intel, and simply had those companies assemble a board with an AMD bus, an Intel processor, and an Nvidia chipset.
At the same time there is a decent budget at Microsoft to make sure the board is 100% stable. Because it's a PC, it had a semblance of an operating system on it, in the form of stripped-down Windows 2000 with DirectX.
All of the technologies come from other companies or parts of Microsoft, which means in the end R&D dollars are kept at a minimum.
The hardware can then be sold at a loss, while Microsoft still makes enough money on game sales to keep up with Sony, who is $$$ in the hole until they sell enough PS2's.
This strategy would work perfectly, of course, if all the good games actually came out for Xbox.... where is my Unreal Championship god damn it!
Wait, a console producer like Sony working on the next console???? Really??? Is this even news? It wins my nomination for "Most obvious bit of news ever posted on Slashdot".
As for a MMORPG with the FF title, well, why ruin one of the best RPG series of all time with some really lame attempt to milk the cash cow? It ruined Phantasy Star, it will ruin FF.
...give it to someone that does. You brought up WMP, not me. RealOne steals file extensions, too, EVEN if you explicitly tell it not to. I'm not here to defend M$, but Real makes Microsoft look good. As far as getting a media player for your platform, the WORST way to do that is to support scumbags like Real by using their content. Ban Real from your machine, complain to websites that offer content in Real format. Do the same for M$, and stick with the best of the three currently available mainstream options -- Quicktime. You're running O.S., dude! Do you expect the mainstream computing world to bend over backwards so you can watch thumbnail-sized video? Where is the all-holy O.S. community when you need them? Their hands are bound by the evil lawyers that protect codecs?! Oh, right...Apple did all the work for you, but they want you to buy their kickass machines in return. Funny how the old adage remains true -- "there's no such thing as a free lunch."
Most companies announce an impending new product to spread FUD about current competing products. But when you are already #1 in your market then the FUD will mostly impact your own product. So the only way this move makes any sense is if Sony cuts the price on their current console and guarantees that the PS3 will be backward compatible with PS2 games.
Then people will buy the PS2 because it's cheaper than it was before and rest assured that their investment in games will carry through to the next generation platform.
PS3? Digitiser on Teletext talked with some Sony guys about this a few weeks just before the launch of the PS2. Original ideas by Sony was that the PS3 was not going to replace the PS2 as the PS3 would be more of an "entertainment centre" and that the PS2 was going to be a more heavily games based unit. Really this allows bother items to existed well on the market covering more than one set of audiences.
They may have changed there ideas on whether or how the PS3 should cover in terms of entertainment but, sheesh Sony probably been dreaming this since the days of developing there own VHS standard (whatever it was called) that failed. Its not something we should be too shocked about.... except them announcing it before the PS2 was released.
There are all these links to this Sony stuff here. I mean comeon, get the facts straight.
Spilled.net
May 1st is a day of special significance. Its a day of worldwide solidarity. But why Mayday? What is its history?
Over a century ago the American Federation of Labour adopted a historic resolution which asserted that? eight hours shall constitute a legal days labour from and after May 1st, 1886?.All across America in the months prior to this resolution, workers in their
thousands were starting to struggle for a shorter
week. Skilled and unskilled, men and women, black and
white, immigrant and native were all fighting
together. Chicago was the main centre of agitation.
Over 300,000 workers came out on May 1st, and here
Mayday was born.
The Chicago anarchists considered that struggles for
reforms, like the eight hour day, were not enough in
themselves. They considered them as only one battle in
an ongoing class war that would only end by social
revolution. On May 1st, in Chicago, one half of the
McCormick Harvester Company came out on strike. Two
days later the police opened fire on the pickets,
killing one and wounding several more. Outraged, the
anarchists called a protest meeting at the Haymarket
for the next day.
Although the meeting was peaceful, a police column of
180 men moved in and ordered the meeting to disperse.
At that moment a bomb was thrown into the ranks of the
police, killing one and wounding about seventy others.
The police opened fire on the spectators, killing and
wounding many.
A reign of terror swept over Chicago. Eight men, all
anarchists and active union organisers, were blamed
and stood trial for murder. No proof was offered by
the state that any of the eight had anything to do
with the bomb.
In spite of world wide protest, four of the Haymarket
Martyrs were hanged. Half a million people lined the
funeral cortege and 20 000 crowded into the cemetery.
In 1893, the new Governor of Illinois made official
what the working class in Chicago and across the world
knew all along and pardoned the Martyrs because of
their obvious innocence and because ?the trial was not
fair?.
In 1889, the American delegation attending the
International Socialist congress in Paris proposed
that May 1st be adopted as a workers? holiday. This
was to commemorate working class struggle and the
?Martyrdom of the Chicago Eight?. Since then Mayday
has became a day for international solidarity, but has
also been used as a day of celebration by reformist
trade unions and authoritarian communist groups alike.
It is not surprising that the real history and meaning
of Mayday are hidden. If the anarchist ideas of the
Chicago Martyrs became better known and put back into
practice, the trade union bureaucrats and labour
politicians who run the labour movement would be out
of a job! The ?Chicago Idea? of the Martyrs shows that
there is a real, practical alternative to both the
present labour movement and the present system. That
idea is revolutionary anarchism.
Mayday, like the Labour movement itself, must be
rescued from all those with a vested interest in the
present system. Mayday must again be a day to remember
the past struggles of working class people and a day
to show solidarity with present struggles.
>From the pages of Resistance#11, regular monthly
bulletin of the Anarchist Federation Ireland. To read,
or download in PDF format, go to:
http://www.afireland.cjb.net
I am into the copy and paste.
The XBox is not a PC. I get so fucking tired of seeing this same idiotic crap posted over and over. Sure, it uses some of the same technologies as a PC, but it's no more a PC than the PS2 is.
Hell, you can't even boot Linux on an XBox, but you can get Linux for the PS2.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
A pentagon implies a 2 dimensional shape.
It is a GameCube, not a GameSquare, thus GamePentagon would not be the natural progression.
Honestly, my vote would be for GameSphere. Boxy shapes are so 2001... or so 2002 for you Europeans who are always a year behind the times.
-gerbik
And I wouldn't hold my breathe for the new Mario (Mario walks around with a water cannon trying to remove graffiti (??))
Is that what it is? Then I want a multiplayer version with Mario against the gang from Jet Grind Radio (Dreamcast) or Jet Set Radio Future (xbox). For the uninitiated, it's a Sega game that lets you control a gang of graffiti-sprayin', cop-avoiding' inline skaters. Think of the possibilities!
This was more of a thing with the psone. Memory card fills up and you have to get of your ass and walk to the psone and put in a new card. Pain in the butt.
It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
The XBox also had an R&D budget in the billions of dollars.
Except that everything I've read on the subject says that it's Sony who's making money on their hardware from day one, and Microsoft who is losing money on each XBox and hoping to make it up in volume. What are your sources?
Furthermore, from the worldwide sales numbers, Microsoft isn't even keeping up with Nintendo, much less Sony.
From what I have read, both the Sony and Nintendo systems are much simpler to manufacture than the XBox, because they have fewer chips and fewer boards and fewer moving parts.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Right, there are only 5 of these regular polyhedra (i.e. Platonic Solids); They are (by the number of faces):
4 tetrahedron
6 cube
8 octahedron
12 dodecahedron
20 icosahedron
The Euler characteristic "chi" is always 2 for these polyhedra homeomorphic to the sphere --
chi = faces + vertices - edges
I guess you guys dont have any friends with a xbox.
We play halo every night with 6-16 people in the dorms. Its fucking awesome, beats things like counterstrike hands down.
Xbox will win simply because of multiplayer.
Sony just want people considering doing the BIG investment in a XBox uncertain on how long this generation of consoles will last and make them go for
the cheaper alternative to be on the safe side.
Does anyone know if Java will run on Play Station 3?
that because you posted the link I was about to post, you should buy me a delorean.
Yes buy a neogeo, 12 years old and getting new games still. No need to change consoles every 2 years... Plus, since the emphasis is not on making the most realistic 3d graphics ever seen, the developers concentrate more on the gameplay... check out www.neo-geo.com for more info...
Well I am an avid Sega fan, and I have to say my Dreamcast holds up to a PS2, XBox, or gamecube. The only thing DC won't do is play a DVD. Show me another game system that can run Windows CE. Can you burn games without a mod chip on your system? I can. How about price? You spent $300, $400, lowest $250? I paid $50. New.
That's all I've ever spent. Too bad Sega is out of the console business.
Stucco
I said there was no text here, move along now.
the video card in the xbox is removable? Since when?
Every time a new console is rumored to be in development, someone of high position always claims it will be a "(N) killer," where N is whatever the dominant (or unpopular) console system is.
I know this post won't make a dent in tradition, but it had to be said...
What's this Submit thingy do?