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Industry Vets Talking Crazy
IGN has a piece today looking at ten completely outrageous claims made by games industry veterans. My personal favorite: "Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi may be retired (and frozen in a cryogenic coffin), but he would be proud of new company head Satoru Iwata for his May, 2004 assertion that, 'Customers do not want online games.' The Big N has long made bold claims about the marketplace based solely about what is - or, as it happens, isn't - happening in Japan, but this one definitely earns Iwata a spot on our list. Two years later, we're quite confident that two million Xbox Live subscribers, more than five million World of Warcraft subscribers and, ironically, more than a million DS Wi-Fi Connection users would disagree with Iwata's statement."
New and original gaming content that challenges the player without being a cheap knock-off copy of a successful game from the 1990s (or even the 1970s).
"I'm going to only say that it'll be expensive. I'm aware that with all these technologies, the PS3 can't be offered at a price that's targeted towards households." - Sony's Ken Kutaragi
There you have it. Sony isn't targeting households with the PS3. I'm not sure **what** he's targeting, but it's not the "masses" so I guess the PS3 is not intended for the mass market or to be produced in any real numbers. It seems to be intended for the same people that drop 50 grand on a home theater system.
I really can't say who will be buying these things, but clearly, Sony is thinking on an entirely different track for the rest of the human race. Maybe there's a market for PS3 on Altaris VI, or in the Alternate Dimension of Lemmu - yeah, that's the ticket, they'll buy these things like hotcakes, and not even know they are being taken.
"[People who play RPGs are] depressed gamers who like to sit alone in their dark rooms and play slow games" - Hiroshi Yamauchi
Damn, he owes me a new keyboard.
>10 Million DS sold = < 10% online
>16 Million XBox sold = < 13% online
Two years later, we're quite confident that two million Xbox Live subscribers, more than five million World of Warcraft subscribers and, ironically, more than a million DS Wi-Fi Connection users would disagree with Iwata's statement.
100 million+ PS2 sales.
30m? XBox1 sales.
Several million XBox360 sales.
Who knows how many tens of millions of PCs that games are played on.
Quoting eight million users against roughly 200 million gives maybe 4%.
That's the kind of figure people call statistical error when figuring out say how many people like or dislike a president.
Sure, there are plenty of other games with online components. But to quote 2m plus 5m plus an additional million and claim that makes a mockery of a quote regarding ~200m systems is kind of stretching things.
Even on the XBox - 2m Live subscribers across 30m? sales implies the statement is true: the majority of users do not want an online experience under the terms it's currently offered? 1 in 15? 6.7%? Curiously, 6.7% of the population is also the same percentage that has a sub 80 IQ which puts them in the Borderline Deficiency to Definite Feeble-Mindedness range.
Now I'm all for online gaming. I met my wife on a mud. But "the percentage of the population that are significantly mentally subnormal is also the same percentage as XBox owners who subscribe to XBox Live" is not really a compelling argument that "clearly customers want online gaming."
I don't think IGN gets it. FTA:
"The single-player game is a strange mutant monster which has only existed for 21 years and is about to go away because it is unnatural and abnormal." Thanks, Raph. Memo to Capcom and Sony: Resident Evil 4 and God of War - incidentally the two most critically acclaimed titles of 2005 -- are apparently unnatural and abnormal.
Raph was making a very valid point here, though, if you read the quote in context. He was saying that throughout human history, we've played games with each other. From throwing rocks at Ogg and Ug to Snakes and Ladders, there hasn't really been a "single player" game before. Games are all about playing with others. It's only computer games that are single-player. (And solitare, I guess...)
His point may not mean much, but it's a lot better thought out and more thought-provoking than the article gave him credit for.
I yearn for you tragically. A. T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.
"Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi may be retired (and frozen in a cryogenic coffin), but he would be proud of new company head Satoru Iwata for his May, 2004 assertion that, 'Customers do not want online games.' "
Oh brother. I love how these out-of-context quotes keep coming up again and again despite how laughable they are. I mean, seriously, he said this in 2004 AFTER Wifi was announced for the DS.
Anyway, here's the rest of that quote:
"most customers do not wish to pay the extra money for connection to the Internet, and for some customers, connection procedures to the Internet are still not easy."
He wasn't talking about people playing on-line, he was talking about the subscription model that Sony and Microsoft were using. He also backed that up with numbers that showed a small percentage of PS2 and/or XBOX owners were actually playing their consoles on line.
Shame on IGN and Slashdot for perpetuating this quote.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
There are many non-computer, single-player games, and there have been for a long time. The game where you catch the ball in the cup (where the ball and cup are attached by a string) is at least several hundred years old. Games where you move a single piece to eliminate others on a board are also old.
His "point" is nonsensical to the point of idiocy,
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From throwing rocks at Ogg and Ug to Snakes and Ladders, there hasn't really been a "single player" game before.
Since the first cave teenager yelled, "Mom! Knock before coming in to my cave!" I think you'll find there has always been at least one "single player" game that's stayed remarkably popular.
And, cheap joke aside, to say there haven't been single player games ignores every kid that's kicked a ball against a wall, driven toy cars or flown toy planes around, flown a kite, used a hulahoop, jumped rope, played with a yo-yo, had a dolls tea party, built a cardboard and tinfoil spaceship for a trip to the moon, or kept a hoop rolling with a stick.
If you're supposed to examine 1000 cow carcasses a day, you MUST go crazy and as result you will go crazy. Industrial veterinarian is one of the worst jobs you can get.
Just wtf it gets into the games section?
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
I was thinking mad cow disease also... who comes up with these titles, perhaps "games industry vets..." would make it clearer!
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