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Fallout From the November Console Wars
All three 'next generation' consoles are out, and we can finally stop using that term. The NPD numbers for last month have been released, and there's plenty of information there to discuss. Analysts have already made some observations, with brandintel specifically pointing out the Xbox 360's 'surprising' role in last month's fight. For some more well-reasoned thought, Dean Takahashi's take is the place to turn: "At this rate, Microsoft isn't going to hit its goal of 10 million units by year end ... Sony's number is consistent with its warnings, but 197,000 is worse than what many expected ... the fair fight is really going to be what happens in the year 2007, when all three console makers should be able to ship as many consoles as consumers want. To me, this looks like consumers are hit with a case of sticker shock. The mass market is paying for cheap PS2s, DS Lites, and GBAs." Despite the Wii's success last month, it should be noted that Nintendo is no longer bragging of 1 Million units in the U.S. by the end of the year. So, essentially, it looks like all three companies will fail to hit their console goals for the year.
I saw Fallout, but no 3. Frankly, I don't care what happens with those consoles, just give me my Fallout 3!
I rather expected a large turnout for the Wii.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
All three 'next generation' consoles are out and we can finally stop using that term.
*Cough* Europe.
Despite the Wii's success last month, it should be noted that Nintendo is no longer bragging of 1 Million units in the U.S. by the end of the year. So, essentially, it looks like all three companies will fail to hit their console goals for the year.
That was for 'The Americas'.
When it comes down to it, I believe I can have the same amount of fun (if not more) with the $130 Nintendo DS than I could with the $300+ current-gen consoles. My fun wouldn't increase five-fold if I bought a PS3, I don't think.
But what if I want to talk about the Infinium Labs Phantom? can I still use the term "next generation?" A friend of mine was really confused about the console sale figures, as was I. And then we both realized we're playing the PS2 I bought just a month ago :-) (for FFXII).
With so many folks being excited for the Wii/PS3 releases, I'd say not only sticker shock but also a determination to have at least something to play is what sold the other consoles. That and black friday making Game Boys cheap-as-free. I wonder just how many sold on that day...
I like basketball!!1!
Okay. Let's assume for a moment that I announce to the press that I'm going to sell 1 million units or Product A by year end. There's much hype and fanfare, then I'm only able to actually produce 500,000 units. The Sales numbers at this point no longer mean anything. You can only have a valid comparison if there is a steady supply of all three models. Come on folks THINK.
-ac
-Parent should have never made slashdot...there nothing to read here move on..
I've no plans to buy an Xbox or a PS3 for only reasons of price. $500 as the minimum cost of entry for a system and one game is just nuts. I can't afford it, and I won't bother with it. There's nothing inherent that I will get out of either of those systems over the Xbox and PS2 that I own now, other than the derision of my friends, that I spent a pile of money I could've spent on food or rent on those. I'm sure the games are great, and I wouldn't mind owning one, but they're not worth that, no matter how many fools are willing to overpay for it.
I'd like to get a Wii, and I have a reasonable chance of both affording and getting my hands on one at some point soon. However, right now, I'm actually considering getting a new GBA SP, because I have a lot of games I like for GBA, and an SP is a lot easier to carry around than even the new DS Lite (and a lot easier than my original recipe DS). And a second PS2 to backup my current box, so I can play all the good PS2 games that are now showing up in bargain bins before they become collectors items. Once the price comes down to something resembling reasonable, I'll get a PS3, and maybe even an Xbox 360, but it's got a LONG way to fall before it gets there.
No, not when you think about it. Consider the typical big-box electronics store customer:
"Excuse me, do you have any PS3's?"
"No."
"Nintendo Wii's?"
"No."
"Well, what do you have in stock?"
"The xBox 360."
"We'll take it."
Having product on the shelves covers a multitude of sins.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Who'd thought that the Wii would suck the life out of the PS3 launch?
The Wii gets all kinds of free press and publicity, if not for Sports, then for idiots destroying their plasma screens and blaming the Wii-mote strap for being too weak.
In the mean time, Microsoft has the best game out in Gears of War for the 360, while the only thing I hear about the PS3 is that it is so hard to program that most games will suck on it for another year.
Oh, and thanks for the root kit, Sony. Karma is a bitch, eh?
...but expensive PS1s! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&view item=&item=300050305788
Haida Manga
Consumers aren't entirely stupid. If you don't already own one, you can snag a PS2 dirt cheap. And there's a huge library of games - many going for $10-30, even cheaper used. PS2 even has some awesome games coming out in 2007, like Rogue Galaxy. If you're itching for party games (sans Wii Remote of course), you can't go wrong with Gamecube's library. The last gen (funny saying that) still has plenty of life.
The point is the current lineup for Wii and PS3 isn't that great, especially considering the high asking price.
That, and the technical jump to Wii/PS3 from GC/PS2 is less than the jump from N64/PSX to GC/PS2.
I think things actually look pretty damn good for Microsoft's console considering it has been out for over a year. How many consoles do you think Nintendo and Sony will be selling next holiday season? For reference, Microsoft moved about 900,000 units in 2005 when they launched and due to supply issues it was almost impossible to find one until mid february according to wikipedia.
h _America [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_launch#Nort
From those numbers it really seems like nintendo has screwed the pooch with this launch or that they are artificially restricting supply to give the illusion that greater demand exists. They should have had many more units available for sale given they are using essentially the same hardware that was found in the gamecube. To be fair I do believe Microsoft's advertising budget absolutely dwarfed what Nintendo has spent on launch advertising. But from where we are standing right now it seems Microsoft has positioned itself well and stands a good chance of taking the lion's share of the 'next generation.'
They are still to be referred to as "next generation" until you can actually get one. Just because Nintendo shipped its only Wii to Zonk does not mean that we are suddenly in a new generation.
The PS3 and Wii are vaporware at MSRP. I await proof to the contrary.
P.S. Oh, and when you get proof, pick one up and ship it to me. I'll reimburse via Paypal. Thanks in advance!
How in the hell did I turn into one of those Tickle-Me-Elmo parents???
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
The technology is so expensive that they almost have no choice but to give away the consoles. By give away I'm referring to dropping the prices below $200. They need to sell games and a lot of them to pay off the machines. If you're already loosing a few hundred on a machine you have no choice but to depend on game sales. Prices have to drop like a rock next year or they'll never sell enough games to break even let alone show a profit. They are taking advantage of early adopters now but there will be price drops once the manufacturing volume chatches up. If you have a million machines out there and you are loosing a couple of hundred on a system and after buying the expensive box people can only aford three games you are loosing a fortune. Better to sell 5+ games to ten million customers. Xbox can better aford to loose the money on sales than Sony can with P3. They have far more units on the streets. Sony needs to drop to at least $250 ASAP to promote game sales. Sony dropped the ball on this release and may never catch up again. Microsoft is now positioned to release their next generation consoles a full year before Sony and they already have a commanding lead in sales. Sony may be forced to accept the Apple position of a perminate second place. They may be more innovative in the future but it's doubtful they'll ever catch up. The company is not positioned well to take risks where as Microsoft is cash rich and can take risks. Wii is kind of the small nimble hare in this race. They'll eventually have to drop their prices but for now they are the cheap fun alternative to the bloated big boy systems. They can't compete with Microsoft but they can blow Sony out of the water. Both Microsoft and Sony are likely to come out with competing controllers for their next generation systems but the Wii will have several years jump on either and will have a huge backlog of games based on the controller. The strategic win has to go to Nintendo even if they can't win overall sales.
Do you think those companies want to miss their sales forecasts, and get punished in the stock market for doing so? Of course not. All three companies have run into supply problems because, well, releasing a console worldwide is pretty damn difficult. (Consider that in the past, hardware releases were generally not global either) Should MS, Sony, and Nintendo be chastised for their errors? Certainly.
But this whole "oh, they're just artificially restricting supply to make the illusion of demand" is just nonesense. It's usually spouted off by fanbois who can't imagine that there are actually consumers that want the "other" system.
-- jchenx
OK. After bitching over how my first 360 died within an hour, instead of returning it I exchanged it for a new unit and a 2 year warranty. I'm pretty sure the second unit will croak, but I'm am totally sucked in by Gears of War and Dead Rising. Shit. I want to hate this thing, but the games are freak'n great.
Oh! The blood!!!
Nintendo's game plan is surely influenced by the fact that Sony hasn't launched PS3 other than North America. They have the European and Asian market buzz to themselves - the news channels here in GB are full of stories about Wii, while there has been nothing about PS3 because it doesn't launch until March.
If I were Nintendo I'd want to be getting units into the European markets pronto before people start holding back their purchases for the PS3 launch. For the unlucky ones there is a waiting list for Wiis to be delivered in the new year - there is no waiting list for PS3.
Whatever, I've got a Wii safely tucked away for my children's Christmas present (just had to make sure it worked properly - took a while coz i needed to check all the games in Wii sports). No way I'd have bought them a PS3 at launch prices.
The last scintilla of doubt just rode out of town
I bought a 360 and a couple of games, about two months ago. Mostly because I wanted to check it out. Today my live account is downgraded to silver after the free trial ended, and I haven't upgraded it again since I don't play much online.
:) I looked into buying a 100gb drive and replacing the original one, but it seems like it can't be done.
But the games are to damn expensive, I paid around 90$(local currency converted to $) for GoW at the local ebgames and even though I didn't rush through it. I finished it in a couple of days. Even if I liked playing online, I believe the multi player part would get boring soon.
It seems to me that most of the games that sells the capabilities of the 360 are still in development. It is all fine to see Halo 3 trailers but the game is still a year away.
Why are the games so expensive when they are full of bugs. With these new consoles, you get patches for the games via the internet. New console games are more complicated than the old generations so of course there are bigger chances of bugs. But when the games costs as much as they do, I'd say that they should have found by the time it went in the press. As far as I can see from my 2 months of ownership, 360 game developers rely heavily on the possibility of online updates, something you could expect with lower priced games that are copied a lot, not from expensive console games.
I want my Bomberman.
A of course, the 360 lacks a good party game(as in play with you friends while drinking) like bomberman, yes they have "Bomberman: act zero" or something like that, but it seems like a step back making it 3D. Having the screen split into four does not look like a step forward. I haven't tried it, because I don't want to pay 90$ for it. Release something closer to the original on live arcade, please.
Noise.
Then there is the irony of the noise you have to put up with when playing the games. Forget about fan noise. Imagine the cheapest DVD drive you can find, running at full speed all the time when playing a game. The irony part is that after you have downloaded a 1GB demo via Live, you get to play the demo in relative silence(only fan noise). But when you get the game, you are treated with the full experience of the glorious 30$ DVD drive warp speed sound.
20gb enough for everybody?
Please give me the option of buying a 100gb drive. I love all the demo's and video's you can download from live. But I filled up the 14gb available in 3 days. So I started deleting and re-downloading stuff when I wanted to show it to friends. 65GB of traffic on my internet connection the first month I owned it. I used about 10-15gb before that. I have "unlimited" usage so I won't complain about that, still it can't make the ISPs happy with a lot of console customers.
I just got one on black friday for cheap. it's tiny! I love it! only thing is the screen is pretty small.
Do you think those companies want to miss their sales forecasts, and get punished in the stock market for doing so? Of course not.
Spot on with the stock market comment. Plus we all saw pictures of the lines for the PS3 release. If Sony could have sold a PS3 at $600 to every one of those people instead of the first half dozen, do you think they wouldn't have? PS3 is a strategic tool for Sony for pushing Blu Ray, and the strength of that push is dependent entirely on the number of PS3 sold. So they would limit the number they sold, keeping it unclear whether their strategy would pay off or backfire? It makes no sense. Some nonsensical "perceived demand" is irrelevent compared to actual consoles in the market as far as directing the future of the market. Which does a better job of encouraging sales via word of mouth: "I wanted a PS3 but there wasn't one to buy", or "I got a PS3, check out how cool it is, you can get one too".
Same goes for Nintendo. If you're trying to expand beyond the traditional gamer demographic, then you damn well better be able to sell to people who aren't willing to wait in line for it!
The enemies of Democracy are
Its financial year end, somewhere around March if i'm not mistaken. I don't see them missing there goal.
NPD doesn't count online sales. Those numbers are a LOT higher.
I was in Best Buy today and noticed the console displays. One guy in his mid-40's playing the PS-3, nobody watching. There was nobody near the Wii. I didn't look at the 360 (forgot about it, actually), but there were about 10 people standing around watching a kid play Guitar hero on a PS-2.
Looks like the last gen is winning the next gen war.
I'm not so sure on Wii Sports. I got a chance to try out two games recently, Tennis and Boxing. Both were interesting, but really seemed gimmicky. It disturbed me that in Tennis, you didn't control player movement and all you could do was swing. As for boxing, my character didn't really do what I always wanted it to do. You know how people "button mash" to win certain games? For Wii games, it's all about the "violent shaking". That said, I've heard that Tennis and Boxing may be the worst of the Wii titles, so I am hoping that the other sports are better.
That said, I agree completely with your statement that Wii Sports will expand beyond the existing gaming crowd. As a free pack-in game, it does a great job introducing the console to non-gamers. I just don't know how long its going to last. Anyone who thinks that the Wii is going to suddenly take the middle-age non-gamer public by storm, is going to be mightly depressed. It's not going to make a gamer out of your parents, but it might be something they pull out every so often, when they have friends over.
Then again, that might be good enough for Nintendo, since they make money off console sales and don't need a high attach rate like Sony and MS do.
-- jchenx
-- jchenx
Bah, console displays suck. Store employees often don't set them up right (composite cables on a HDTV!?) or take care of them. Many of the displays I see are "demoing" error or blank screens.
Additionally, I believe you can only demo ESRB-rated "E" (everyone) games, which means no Resistance for the PS3 or Gears of War for the 360. Nintendo is actually fortunate here, since they don't rely on M-rated titles to be some of the best games for their systems.
That said, I am excited for Guitar Hero II, although I'll be waiting for it on the 360.
-- jchenx
We are aware of you Europeans. But we're not talking about you. Not everything is about you guys, don't you know? Not everything is about the US either, but this article is
Anyway, It always helps to read the FAQ.
Especially the Slashdot version.
I quote:
Slashdot seems to be very U.S.-centric. Do you have any plans to be more international in your scope?
Slashdot is U.S.-centric. We readily admit this, and really don't see it as a problem. Slashdot is run by Americans, after all, and the vast majority of our readership is in the U.S. We're certainly not opposed to doing more international stories, but we don't have any formal plans for making that happen. All we can really tell you is that if you're outside the U.S. and you have news, submit it, and if it looks interesting, we'll post it.
It is worth noting that there is a Japanese Slashdot run by VA Japan. While we helped them a little in their early days, they essentially run their own content without any real involvement from us... none of us can read Kanji! There are currently no plans to do other language or nation specific Slashdot sites.
Do europeans want a pity mention every time a discussion of the North American market comes up?
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
The base X360 is $299. With game, that's $350. Use the Overstock 12% off coupon and it's ~$308 for the base console plus one game. That's a big difference from your $500 claim (even without the coupon). Don't confuse the 360 price with the PS3 price.
Perhaps you've heard of Tyco or Enron or Worldcom?
See, there are plenty of corperations who have had way worse years. Even with teh Rootkit stuff Sony isn't even on the same level as those guys.
What Sony has had is manufacturing problems, and some bad press. But they have actually had not a bad year when it comes to the gaming segment - sure the PS3 supply is lower than they had hoped but it is still selling out of stores instantly - some people seemed to feel Sony wouldn't sell ten units. Nolan Bushnel doubted they could sell a million in a year, but Sony still says they can sell taht many by the end of this year! And while many think the PSP is a dismal flop, what people don't realize is that it's actually selling OK - it just looks like a flop next to the supernova that is the DS Lite. But one companies success does not autmatically mean anothers doom, and so the PSP continues on in the market. The only real gaming failure I've seen from Sony this year is UMD, now that was the most awful idea ever.
And of course, what you seem to have forgotten is that eclipsing all the sales of NextGen consoles was the PS2, just as it has done almost every month this year. So was this even the year of NextGen consoles at all? And don't you think Sony might have made just a tiny bit of money on all the PS2's that sell month after month in greater numbers even than the Wii?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And while many think the PSP is a dismal flop, what people don't realize is that it's actually selling OK - it just looks like a flop next to the supernova that is the DS Lite.
I just thought I should provide supporting evidence for that assertion - From the NPD report:
Units:
DS, 918k.
PSP, 412k
See? A little under half of what the DS sold. Not nearly as many as the DS but also not an unmitigated disaster either - I'll bet you wish you made something that 412,000 people wanted enough to pay $200 for. That's enough units being sold that Sony does not have to think of cancling the PSP, just as Gamecube's third place standing in the last round of consoles did not mean Nintendo had to fold either.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You're assuming everyone wants or needs HD-DVD, which simply is not the case. Not everyone who buys the PS3 will play Bluray movies just like not everyone who buys a PSP plays UMD movies. The HD-DVD add-on is simply an optional accessory that has no impact on gaming.
Nitpick: Microsoft's *fiscal* year-end (fiscal, not financial) is June 30. But that doesn't preclude them from having goals for any period, up to and including December 31... in fact, it's a fairly good bet that they do have projections in place for Christmas sales.
As the articles don't seem to actually mention specific Xbox360 goals, I don't think we really have any way of knowing if they'll meet them or not, but they probably do exist.
.... at DOUBLE the retail price of a 100gig SATA drive, because you know
that plastic casing and special format costs SOOOO much and not to mention the retail margins at the shop.
When Mr Microsoft could get a damn CLUE, and sell a $19 DISK to reformat ANY replaced HD. This would make them
an instant $18.99 profit. Or let people go to 120/150 when the get released.
Curse the evil Business Analyst , not the programmers, because im sure the coders at microsoft have 100gig + versions in the lab and AT HOME.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
I already said that Nintendo's success was like a supernova. Adding in GBA figures does nothing to address the point I was making.
Just because Nintendo is doing amazingly well, does not mean the PSP is not also doing OK. From the press and general comments in forums I had though the PSP was selling more like 20k units a month - and was startled that so many were being sold. At 412k units a month, nothing can be considered a "failure" even if the success is not as great as Nintendo has seen. And looking back, PSP figures have been more in the hundreds of thousands each month - not the tens of thousands trash talk had led me to believe.
I don't even own any handheld units; I just don't have places in my life where they would be of use often enough to justify one. But many people out there seem to be buying both the DS, and PSP.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
>When will people realize that this whole "artificially restricting supply" theory is just wrong. First there were claims that MS was doing this with the 360, then next with Sony, and finally with Nintendo. The theory is just absurd.
Absurd but true. Even after the launch date, Nintendo still dictated when stores could sell their Wiis they have in stock. One store here (Futureshop) sold some wiis on the wednesday before black friday (no black friday in canada but during that week) and they got bitched at by nintendo hq.
Also Nintendo has always been known to artificially push back release dates (even if they are finished) for games, to spread them out during the year. One such example is earthbound on nes. The game was completely finished/translated and they didn t relaase it so as not to interfear with the sales of other games.
Micros are a little too small, unless your a little kid. The DS lite is awsome. I have a wii, but i beat zelda already and red steel sucks, so untill i get more games (christmas) i've been back to playing New Super Mario Brothers and FFIII on my DS lite. Plus theres Meteos which is like upsidedown tetris on meth, which is awsome. Get a DS lite and New Super Mario, you will not regret it.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Absurd but true. Even after the launch date, Nintendo still dictated when stores could sell their Wiis they have in stock. One store here (Futureshop) sold some wiis on the wednesday before black friday (no black friday in canada but during that week) and they got bitched at by nintendo hq.
Coordinated release != lack of supply problems.
re:"Nintendo's game plan is surely influenced by the fact that Sony hasn't launched PS3 other than North America"
Japan is in North America? Holy FUCK - continental drift is really moving FAST these days. No wait - you're just a fucking retard. Never mind.
At the store displays here in Los Angeles, they have displays with a Wii in an acrylic case,
and some video playing extolling the benifits of the Wii. No playable units here yet (sigh). I tried one of the PS3s, which had Motorstorm running on it. The visuals were gorgeous, but the game seemed to be not much more than your average racer, even if it did have destructable landscapes and what not. Plus, there were many artificial restrictions, and the car came apart way to easily (I know they were trying to aim for realism, but damn!) I had much more fun with UnWheel. Lately, they seemed to switch the display game to NBA, and I don't even like sports games. (and the f&^&ing game menu is locked so you can't exit. grrrrrr.). This year, it seems to bve a shitload of hype, but little delivery. Hopefuly next year things will be much better.
If they ever get off their asses and actually get some units I that I don't have to camp out for. I know they have already lost a couple of my friends to Xbox just because they got so pissed off at how the store are handling things.
Why in the world are they doing an international launch when they can't supply one country with enough units? Its making people, myself included, bitter. I'd rather they staggered things by a few months so they could get enough of the product to market.
One should not theorize before one has data. -Sherlock Holmes-
I got a Wii in downtown Vancouver. Just walked into EB Pacific Centre right after opening, asked, and bought one. Same deal later on when I wanted an extra controller.
They had seven Wiis when I bought mine, but when people called while I was checking out, the clerk said they didn't have them. The staff knew by the time anybody on the phone got down there the systems would already be gone. Then EB would have to deal with several dozen pissed-off Wii fans who'd been "promised" a Wii.
They also know that if they tell people the day before that the systems are coming in, they'll have to deal with that line-up mess. Best Buy doesn't mind that because they got a huge store full of other consumer crap. Disappointed customers are, for them, people who might buy a DS and a whole bunch of games "just in case" they can't get a Wii for Johnny. Places like EB and Zeller's don't want to put up with the shit, so they just bring 'em in and sell them to walk-ins.
While waiting for the PS3 I was sure I'd buy one. It's a no-brainer, like a free Blu-Ray player. And with PS3 pushing Blu-Ray it had to be the winner.
But that has totally changed now. It seems we'll be stuck with 2 formats forever and like most normal people I'm limited by video inputs on my tv.
So I'm not buying a next gen dvd player until they are dual format, my upscaling dvd player works very well, and they are releasing ridiculous movies in Blu-Ray. Ballad of Ricky Bobby? How about something beautiful, that you'd want in a higher quality format like Life Aquatic?
It's clear to me now that a single format next-gen dvd player is a liability to my entertainment center. I'll wait for the dual format players and play a nice small cheap stable PS2 in the meantime.
Hence, "fanbois". It's my way of making reference to them in a derogatory fashion.
-- jchenx
I have been waiting 2 years for the PS3. I loved the PS2 but was ready to use the potential of my HDTV because I'm a hard core Gran Turismo player. Well the new PS3 has been a total disappointment for me. My TV only does 1080i HD, no 720p. The PS3 doesn't upconvert its 720p games to 1080i, but instead down converts them to 480p! So much for next generation. Solution? $1500 external scaler, $2000 new HDTV, or go to the XBOX 360. Next up, I love rumble in racing games, guess what, SONY dropped the ball on that one too. XBOX 360 wins again. Now, there won't be any Gran Turismo on the XBOX, but wait, Forza 2 is coming out, and judging by the track list and car list, GT isn't the only game in town. http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/permalink /23209/21658/ShowThread.aspx#21658
Then there is all the claims the PS3 is more powerful, so the graphics should be better. We all know game publishers are multi-platform these days, so they are going to develop for the lowest common denominator, so that may be the XBOX 360, Madden looks identical on both, Need for Speed Carbon is virtually the same. At least I won't have to deal with 480p in my games on the PS3.
Then the best part, its $200 cheaper AND it comes with HDTV component cables, unlike the PS3.
The only downsides I can see are you have to play for multiplayer XBOX LIVE, but from what I hear its a better experience.
At home the game system is for my kids, 4 and 5. I have little to no time to play a console system, other than playing with them a little bit. I got them a used GameCube (w/box) with one official wired controller and official memory card for $54. I've gotten them a used (complete) copy of Super Mario Sunshine for $12, a used (complete) copy of MX Superfly for $8 and a new copy of Donkey Konga w/bongos for $20. I purchased one extra official wired controller for $20 and then another from amazon for $18, both new. I also got a pair of extension cables for $6. I just ordered a copy of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat w/bongos and a free 2nd set of bongos from gamestop for $21 shipped. Those are all new. I actually intend to sell Jungle Beat w/bongos on ebay and believe I'll net about $21 for it, effectively getting me the extra set of bongos for free. Total price for the GC w/3 nintendo-brand controllers (one used, two new), memory card, Super Mario Sunshine (used, complete), MX Superfly (used, complete) and Donkey Konga w/ 2 sets of bongos (all new) was around $140. More than $100 less than a Wii system alone (albeit with Wii sports). Or, if multiplayer Donkey Konga is all it's cracked up to be, I could keep Donkey Kong Jungle beat w/bongos and have a 3rd bongo controller (as well as DKJB) for an extra $21. The used games were purchased on ebay. I tested them and they work fine. Every price noted includes shipping.
For myself I'm getting a (new) DS Lite which I'll be able to play on the train every day. Unlike the Wii, no accessories are necessary, so the $117 I paid for it (shipped) from buy.com is all I have to pay for it other than games. Lots of great games are available for it for little money, including a thriving used market. Indeed, even new games are only $30 to $35, compared to $50 for Wii/360/PS3. Before long new titles drop to $20. I picked up used/complete copies of Meteos and Madden '05 for about $19 total (including shipping). I'm also getting Gunpei DS (new) for $20. So all told it sets us back about $156 for the DS Lite (new) and 3 good games (2 used/complete, one new.)
Total for both the complete GameCube setup and the complete DS setup was about $296. That's less than the price of core-version Xbox 360 alone and less than a Wii with one extra set of controllers (pretty much a necessity.) The Wii is no doubt a ton of fun and better than the GameCube, and unlike the 360 and PS3 seems to offer new/fun gameplay, but I'd rather have a nice system for my kids and a nice portable system for myself that I can actually use, not to mention lots of games to play on both of them. Some day I will get a Wii, in part because it will be able to play the GameCube games we'll have, but there's no hurry. At the earliest it will be next Christmas, when the price will have dropped, there will be a used games market, and new games will better utilize the system.
--- What?
I want to rip your heart out of your chest, your head on a plate and throw the rest to the jaguars.
Chiste, ni que chiste.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Honestly, since when children dictate the rules of the house?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
It's pretty disingenuous of you to not mention all that players get for their $50 (only $6/month mind you, cheap bastard). A unified friends list, common UI's for online games, and anti-cheating (one of the biggest advantages) measures. You are correct that Sony will be offering their "online service" for free but can you really call it a service when it doesn't do anything for you? If you and I know each other and we are playing different games, Microsoft's service will allow me to send you an invite or better yet we can start our own chat session across games. What does Sony have? Nothing. No video chat, no voice chat...only text messages but only if you know the person's tag for that particular game because of course every single online game you play with the PS3 is out there by itself. These features may not seem like much but they add a lot to the experience. Is not really fair to make a comparison between a feature rich service like what Live offers and some half-assed implementation that was shipped out the door just so they can say "ME TOO".
Perhaps, but Rayman, and Wii Sports are both Crazy fun. Wii Sports is more multiplayer centric, but still gets played the most out of all my Wii games (including Zelda). Rayman's sence of humor is great, and you will lol many times during the game. It really should be played, and it shines on the Wii.
So far, after 4 weeks of availability, the PS3 has sold ~187,000 units in Japan. That's less than the total number of units they sold at launch in the US. More importantly, each week since launch, they have sold increasingly fewer units. Assuming that they are still selling every unit they produce, I think the gp can be forgiven for not realizing the PS3 has launched in Japan.
just some guy