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Sony's Meeting Reveals Brand Futures
1up.com has coverage of the meeting held yesterday in which Sony let more details slip on the future of the PSP, plans for the PS3, and the state of the Playstation 2. From the PS3 update: "One big piece of news is that Sony will be including both Havoc Complete and AEGIA, two physics modeling solutions, with the PlayStation 3 SDK. Even more importantly, Sony themselves will be providing 'frontline support' for Japanese developers. This should be a big boon to next generation development, as a lack of Japanese language documentation and support has been one of the major hurdles for Japanese developers to adopt middleware solutions."
Let's face it, all three of the developers are playing the hype machine for all it's worth.
I admit that Microsoft deserve slightly more credit than their competitors for actually releasing some snippets of what actually might, possibly, if you're perhaps a bit too trusting, be actual footage of the 360 in action. We've seen this kind of hype before though. Personally, I'll definitely be getting a 360 as soon as they're available in the UK, which will hopefully be by Christmas. On the other hand, I tend to buy pretty much any new console, so don't read too much into that. Whether the mass-market will go in the same direction is another question entirely.
The PS3 has been hidden behind a lot of smoke and mirrors so far. We've heard so much speculation about what it might or might not do that I've just given up tracking it. It's impossible to imagine the Gran Turismo, "main" Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid games jumping to another platform though, so I'd guess that the PS3's success is pretty much assured. The only question is whether it will manage to repeat the sales-dominance that the PS2 achieved.
I think Nintendo have been the most manipulative and disingenuous in terms of their marketing. As usual, they trot out the "it's all about the games, not the machines", "we don't do hype" and "innovation is king" arguments, which, despite continuing lack of evidence to support any of those lines, the fanboys and a good part of the gaming press swallow hook, line and sinker yet again. The "we don't do hype" line has, by now, become the centre-piece of the Nintendo hype machine. Funny, really. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the Revolution will please the hardcore, but won't do much to reverse Nintendo's long-term mass-market decline.
WiFi wasnt axed, the router functions were but they were apparently never announced. It will however serve as a gigabit switch
"Nintendo have been the most manipulative and disingenuous in terms of their marketing. As usual, they trot out the "it's all about the games, not the machines", "we don't do hype" and "innovation is king" arguments, which, despite continuing lack of evidence to support any of those lines,"
You really are kidding right?
"We don't do hype" --What evidence do you need? The Gamecube delivered as promised. The DS has all the features included that Nintendo said it would, from the very earliest rumors. What hype is there on the revolution? There is like 4 screenshots, Nintendo has made some details available, and I have seen nothing that promises me the moon. Find one Nintendo sponsored hype and prove me wrong.
"Innovation is king" -- Um, a dual-screened touch enabled handheld device with a microphone and wi-fi? Yeah, there's a ton of those on the market, and if weren't for Nintendo, someone else would have done it. Yeah, ok. Bongo-based games? (DK:Jungle Beat is a fantastic showcase of why more buttons != more fun). 4 player fighting games that actually work? A golf based RPG? How about a game where 4 people hook up handhelds to play a quest on-screen, giving freedom of movement to all? What about a game that is really several hundred little games, which you only play for 5 seconds at a time? Are these all super-successes and wonderful ideas? Not really, but don't say Nintendo doesn't innovate. Without Nintendo, our last game innovation would be the EyeToy, a unique, wonderfully executed idea, but a grain of sand on the beach.
As for alluding that they use "we don't hype" as the hype itself is just a logical fallacy.
Sony gave us a great machine, with a untold amount of support, and backwards compatibility. Microsoft gave us a superior console online experience. Nintendo did everything else. Every one has their place, but leave Nintendo out of your "mainstream" talk, as they have never been the sheep of the industry.
-- I have fans? Wow.
What hype is there on the revolution?
There are those of us who would argue that Nintendo's continuous and very public proclamations that "it's about the games, stupid" is its own form of hype. It's them saying "we know what's important, these other guys don't, and we're going to bring you the console that does what game consoles are supposed to do, unlike our competitors." That is hype, by both the dictionary and the colloquial definition. If they didn't want to hype, they would say nothing. After all, they have shown nothing of the Revolution, they have published no specs, they have not released the final design of the console, so why would they be talking about it besides hype? They have shown an empty box and said they're focusing on the games. That's their form of hype.
"Innovation is king"
Bongo-based games?
Are you serious? Even Shigeru Miyamoto himself has said this is basically ripped right off from Sega. I guess to you there is some massive difference between "bongo-based games" and "maraca-based games" - I personally don't see it.
4 player fighting games that actually work?
Capcom's been doing this at least as long as Nintendo has and probably longer.
A golf based RPG?
Huh?
What about a game that is really several hundred little games, which you only play for 5 seconds at a time?
I have dozens of these by different companies. They go by titles like "Intellivision Classics", "Namco Museum", etc.
Not to say WarioWare is not a good idea or that it's not a good game, but by your own criteria it is not innovative. All Nintendo did was look at these classic game compilations (including their own Game & Watch Gallery series compilations) and wonder if they could tweak the idea and come up with something new. The result was good, but it wasn't what I'd call a real invention.
Nintendo has done a lot of good things for the industry but they have also had their share of real cockups, and in general they seem to get a lot of credit for things they aren't really responsible for. It's really no different than how some people claim Apple is responsible for the GUI, when even Apple themselves acknowledge that they are not.
The DS, for example, is a nice device, but your claim that it is the first "dual-screened touch enabled handheld device with a microphone and wi-fi" is a little spurious. I mean I could say my HP laptop was the "first laptop with a black top and a silver bottom with two USB ports on one side and one on the other" - that doesn't mean anything whatsoever. All of those features have appeared on other devices individually - it didn't take a genius to put them together in one particular configuration. (I agree that the fact is nobody else did, but I'd argue it's because nobody else felt there was any great need to, not because it took a huge leap of imagination to invent anything special.)
Every one has their place, but leave Nintendo out of your "mainstream" talk, as they have never been the sheep of the industry.
I'm not sure what this means - Nintendo has never been mainstream? I don't think you can seriously be saying that. Nintendo used to define the mainstream. Nowadays they continue to try to but without nearly as much success. Just because they haven't been as successful as they used to does not mean they are not doing their best - they're not trying to be niche, which seems to be what you're suggesting. They're trying to sell as many systems and games as possible, as they always have. They would love nothing more to be mainstream; if you're saying they're not, then you're basically admitting their recent failures.
Here's the problem with the PSP in a nutshell:
Price and features.
You can get a GBA, Portable DVD Player, Cell Phone, and an iPod Shuffle for less than a PSP + memory stick. It will play music better and longer. Play your entire home DVD collection at a lower price per movie for a longer period of time without having to rebuy titles. You can browse the web just as well and also make phone calls. You have access to a huge homebrew community if you want to get a flash cart. You can play 3 generations of portable games each priced lower than a PSP game.
The only thing that could put the PSP above a combination of better, cheaper sole-purpose devices would be exclusive games. And they aren't here yet and don't really look like they're coming.
The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."