Slashdot Mirror
Where the PS3 Stands Now
Phil Harrison and 1up's Luke Smith had a chat about the current positioning of the PlayStation 3, and it makes for some interesting reading. A quietly confident Harrison discusses the future of game distribution online, their attitude towards competition in the console market, and clarifies a few things about the potential for PS3 price cuts. The previous discussion about price cuts was apparently a big misunderstanding. "PH: Well, do you know what [Takao Yuhara] said was, cost reduction, not price drop, and there's a big difference between cost reduction and price drop. So, that I believe is where the confusion came from. Obviously, we are investing our money in making PlayStation 3s cheaper to manufacture -- that's part of our business plan. 1UP: You're not going to pass the savings along? PH: When we can, when there are savings to pass along to the consumer, we would obviously choose to do that. That's the business model. 1UP: Wait? You guys are doing this to make money? Really? PH: That's videogame hardware 101."
In the display cases of your local department stores.
PH: That's videogame hardware 101."
I guess Nintendo was the only one to actually pass that class.
zzz...Is it under $100 yet? No? Wake me up in a couple years, then...zzz
Damn, Sony sure had me fooled...
... lack of killer system selling game or games. It has to be said if the games were there even the high price would not be such a barrier of there really was a killer app that made people throw their financial reason to the wind.
"We have a hard drive, we have a commerce engine, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we will have that on the network very shortly."
Define "very shortly". The PSP was supposed to have this functionality for music over a *year* ago. It's been delayed so many times that I think people have largely forgotten about it. Sony was always talking about being able to use Sony Connect to purchase music and possibly videos on/for the PSP (in order to posture the PSP as a competitor to the iPod), but that clearly has not yet taken place. Why should the PS3 be any different?
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
I have to ask, is there really a such thing as "rock solid" engineering in the consumer electronics world?
After all, the words "defect free" are often proven to be foolish ones, given the history of... well, anything.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Playstation platform, and I agree that the Wii is going to have big problems once the novelty is gone. It just that your comment sounds an awful lot like marketing, rather than true commentary. (The fact that it's anonymous makes it even more suspect.)
I hope the land around you yields, a crop like all the other fields, and then your waiting might make sense...
Sony is selling the PS/3 at a loss. I've seen estimates as high as $300 (loss) per unit. Clearly their strategy is to get the manufacturing cost down ASAP and recover some of the loss via higher game royalty payments. They MAY even be limiting production - at least till they can further lower manufacturing costs.
A risky strategy, when you consider the deep pockets of Microsoft (also selling their console at a loss), and that Nintendo is actually making a profit on their consoles. But it's still early in the cycle for this generation of consoles. Personally, I'm cheering for Nintendo. But it's MUCH to early to count Sony out of the game.
[Insert pithy quote here]
The guy is doing a brilliant impression of an over-the-top fanboy.
I mean, I thought he was serious until the last line, and then he kinda gives it away "no wonder the PS3 is nowhere to be found".
I mean, other than every BJ's, Target, BestBuy, Circuit City, and Walmart, he's right. I mean, like dead-on right.
The problem is 50% perception, and 50% targeted market. Here's what I mean:
"Perception": People see 600 - 800 dollars and no games. They see a huge Sony ego and laughable selling numbers. No one's buying it, no one wants one.
Reality: It can be bought here in the US for as little as 499 if you want the 20GB model, and if you're patient by summer we'll have a healthy injection of new games on the PS3. They even have more demos and movie trailers available in the PS3 network for free. Games are coming, and patience is key. I'm not an apologist. This is just how new consoles tend to work.
As for the ego, it's there. But it's not contempt for consumers, as most detractors would have you believe. It's confidence. They're saying, "we're number 1". Sony needs to be seen as confident in this console outing. You want them to say "Yeah it sucks, get an Xbox?"
The price is out of necessity, not arrogance. They're definitely losing more per console than Microsoft. Blu-ray was a risk, but not a totally harmful one. Prices will come down and the complaining will slowly go away
"Target market" is the other aspect that's hurting the PS3.
Not only do people not want to drop 500-600-800 dollars on a game system, they certainly don't want to pay more for the same games. That's the problem most 360 owners see with the PS3. They can't envy it any. Pay tons more for some future exclusives? Laughable.
The PS3 is for people who want blu-ray, PS3, PS2, and don't have a 360 already, and are willing to spend at least 500 bucks for it, probably more. That's not a great subset of people.
With all of that, it's a testimony to the power of Sony and its future exclusives that so many people are buying the thing.
| - | - |
It's a really good time to be Nintendo, with the only "affordable" (everyone has a different definition of that word, I'm looking at it from a casual persons concept of "what I'd pay for a video game console") system out there. 360 is a little more tenable, but still sort of in the "hardcore" price range.
With no HDTV, there's no compelling reason at this point to own either PS3 or 360. Eventually they'll have some more (and some *subjective word* good) exclusive titles, but as it is, almost everything is available for regular Xbox or PS2. So far I've yet to be blown away by any next-gen games, and here I sit with a Wii, and a 360, and really no games out there asking me to buy them. I have twilight princess and dead rising, respectively.
It'll be a slower growth this time around. People aren't all that stupid, they know that despite all the techno-specs, they see the PS2/Xbox doing pretty much the same thing with pretty much the same controller. Developers don't necessarily want to jump onto 360/PS3, because the installed base of Xbox/PS2s is so large, there's much less room for profit.
Also, interviews with MSFT and Sony reps are boring. They don't make video games, they just sell hardware.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
$1200 Per unit! Atleast according to Jack Tretton.
How long do you think it will take for the Wii novelty to wear off? Most of my friends and family that have a Wii have had it for 2 months or more and still play Wii sports at least a couple times a week. I've seen the same story from numerous people online. What I will agree is that there will be less "gimmick" games as we progress. Just like happened with the DS. It takes a few tries for most developers to really understand what the Wii is really about.
I used to think we had an insane Sony fanboy posting here... now I'm certain it has to be someone being paid by Sony. Nobody is that completely out of touch with reality.
...they might want to, I dunno, put it in a commercial or something? And, c'mon mods... flamebait? Seriously, there needs to be an IQ test before someone gets mod points.
Rock solid defect free hardware - compared to the nightmare failure rate Microsoft still has going on with the 360.Really? I've seen a pair of them at a UPS Store being shipped back to Sony. I've also read reports from people back in December being told not to expect replacements for two months. Of course, I would assume that this estimate has since been revised, what with supply and all...
Absolutely silent operation - bravo Sony engineering!
Ah, yes...Sony engineering, which also gave us the Square button on the PSP and told us that we were wrong for not liking it. Also, the analog nub on the PSP freaking sucks. I'm glad there's only one, because the one that's there isn't very sensitive at all. You try making a circular motion with it sometime - it doesn't work. There are two speeds possible with it (all the way out and part of the way out), and the angular refinement is pretty shoddy. It's very hard to go from, for example, W to WNW to NW. You'll generally skip straight over WNW. Ever try web-browsing on the thing?
BluRay has won the format war with only a couple months after the PS3 release BluRay already outselling the dying HD-DVD format 3-1. And one of the remaining HD-DVD studios just jumped ship to BluRay today. Pretty much all that remains is for Universal to throw in the towel.
Nice for you not to provide a link here where you did everywhere else. Also, describing this as a format war is like calling the Falkland Islands War a war. The remaining 99.99% of the world didn't even notice it was happening. Also, Sony dumping its crappy back-catalog of movies into Blu-Ray, causing a large chunk of new titles to be made available, is not what I call winning - it's what I call "stacking the deck". Despite it's apparent capacity advantage, Blu-Ray is getting lower marks in the picture quality department, which, if you weren't keeping track, is kind of important to the people willing to drop $2000+ on a TV and $500+ on a high-def DVD player.
PS3 has the top selling game in Japan now - Japan will be a fierce battle between Sony and Nintendo. Nintendo really needs to work on their release schedule. Wii owners are getting restless as the novelty of games like Wii Sports is wearing off.
"Top-selling" is hardly the way to put it. With over double the install base of the 360, it hasn't managed to come close to outselling Blue Dragon. Watch next week, as Virtua Fighter 5 drops back to the mid-20's, while Wii Sports and Wii Play continues to sell the same amount each week (which proves that the novelty isn't exactly wearing off).
Early previews are going gaga over Motorstorm with another online win for Sony with another completely lagfree game.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1103341 [hardforum.com]
No...RECENT previews are saying "Hey, this doesn't suck anymore". Early previews said it was complete and utter shit. Oh, and hey - that's the one the Japanese got! I'm sure they love the PS3!
The Playstation Network is cranking out all sorts of very cool indy games like Flow and GripShift and we are only a couple months into adding content.
No...the PlayStation Network is releasing a port of a Flash game that's been out for over a year, and another not-so-great Sony-first-party junker. Oh yeah - and the rubber ducky game.
The one issue with HD tvs and PS2/PS1 games has been fixed and PS3 owners have rock solid 99 percent backwards compatibility with the giant library of PS2 and PS1 games.
It's not 99%. Closer to 90%. Music games are still broken. Also, the "one issue" is actually two issues, one of which has been fixed. Ask a 720p-set owner if they're happy that they can't play in 1080i anymore.
Virtua Fighter just about to hit the shelves.
It did hit the shelves in Japan. It landed with a thud. See above.
GDC sounds like Sony is going to have some pretty big announcements with even more
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
I agree that the Wii is going to have big problems once the novelty is gone.
I've never seen or used a Wii, but I've got to wonder if the novelty isn't gone for most users of it, already. A $200 device isn't going to have anywhere near the precision (or graphics) necessary to make it a good, long term platform that people will enjoy for years like the PS2 has been. It seems like a gimmick, to me, that will wear off a few days after Christmas.
I don't respond to AC's.
Is this all sarcasm that's lost over the interweb? A few things.
1) Everytime I try the PS3 in a department store, it freezes or is already froze due to overheating.
2) Silent operation? Not sure about that. But, have you seen the insides of a PS3? It's 50% heatsink. Sure, it might run quiet, but even with the massive heatsink, it still overheats...and the trade off is the size of the system. It's absolutely massive.
3) Last I checked, my local target had 5 PS3's, the EB across the street actually has a unit they've had since the first of the year, most stores I go to have "PS3 now in stock" signs (coincidentally right next to the "Wii currently unavailable signs"). Face, it, the PS3 is in stock everywhere. People who say otherwise live in an area that's having a spike in sales/popularity or an area that's getting below average allocations. FUD.
4) BlueRay has far from won the format war. HD DVD was winning the war by a long shot until recently. It's yet to be seen whether the current spike in BlueRay sales has anything to do with the free movie Sony was giving away with PS3's or any of the current buy one get one free BlueRay DVD incentives that have been going on (most definitely Sony throwing fuel on the fire to hype their format...they're dead in the water if it fails).
5) Virtua Fight 5 is already out in Japan. While it did top the charts with 48,346 in sales, It was only 3000 units ahead of Wii Sports, a game that's been on the market for over 2 months. Opening week big sellers typically always go to the 100k sales range the first week.
6) Europe is not going crazy with preorders. This is FUD. If you want a UK news site's opinion on this, try this article: http://news.spong.com/article/11800
7) You say "PS3 has the top selling game in Japan now " and then you say "Virtua Fighter is almost out." Are you just making things up, because Virtua Fighter IS out and IS the top selling game in Japan. Again, however, only by 3k units, being trailed closely by a game that's been out for months.
FUD FUD FUD
The PS3 will have it's heyday in the future when the price comes down and there's compelling titles. Until then, I suggest that you don't fall for Sony marketing FUD and live up to the reality that it's underperforming in the marketplace right now, even by it's skeptics predictions.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
What're you talking about? His post was rock solid.
VF5 is out in JAPAN already and is the top selling game there.
VF5 is ABOUT to come out in the US.
Clear or does it need to made simpler for you?
I won't bother with the rest of your fanboy tantrum.
Christmas was more than a few days ago.
*please mod informative, please mod informative*
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
The PS3 60GB model has an amazing sales rank of 58
Why is that amazing? Because Amazon does not carry the PS3 (except in short bursts where it sells out in minutes). The only ones you can buy are from third party sellers through Amazon for $720 or more (that's over $100 above list).
So while you can find them in some stores, the PS3 must be doing something right if people are willing to pay $100 above retail to get them through Amazon.
If Sony can raise production to the point where Amazon can list them for 24 hour shipping, then I think we'll see sales rise - also the release of Motorstorm should be another notch up in sales.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
http://www.worldinhd.com/movabletype/archives/2007 /02/studio_canal_la.html
Studio Canal was one of the last HD-DVD exclusive studios. Now it is pretty much just Universal keeping HD-DVD on life-support. Universal isn't going to be able to hold out much longer.
The Nielsen numbers show BluRay anywhere from 2:1 to 3:1 sales advantage and the gap is growing. And this is all before the PS3 has even launched in Europe. Like someone in the avs forums recently posted, all that's left for HD-DVD supporters is the screaming.
I don't think the novelty will wear out, as long as developers keep coming up with creative ways to use the wiimote.
Half of writing history is hiding the truth.
Sony Execs say some hilarious things sometimes.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/02/10
Virtual Fighter was #1 in japan last week. Landing with a thud?
r e-sales-week-ending-02-11-07/
You should research a little before making patently FALSE statements.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/15/japanese-softwa
One wonders why you care so much about all the consoles doing OK?
I consider myself to be a hardcore gamer and for me the Wii novelty wore off after about 2 weeks.
The problem for me is games like Wii sports are just lacking the depth to really hold my attention, and for games like Zelda the use of the Wii remote is just rather "meh". IMO it didn't add anything to Zelda and I would not have enjoyed the game any less using a Wavebird.
so about a month past buying the Wii it's started collecting dust and I've gone back to playing Xbox 360 games. IMO if the Wii wants to get past being a gimmick they need games that have the compelling depth of Zelda combined with the unique and value added controller usage of Wii Sports. So far the only title that really delivers that is Trauma Center, but I've already played that title... on the DS (widescreen support would have been nice too), Red Steel was close but the buggy game mechanics killed what uniqueness the Wii Remote added to it. I'm sure they'll come but as of right now I don't consider the Wii to be much more compelling then the PS3 is right now, if anything it serves as a nice show piece and entertainer when friends and family visit, and I'm sure there will be better games down the road... right now though, and I think the same holds true for many other hardcore gamers, there just isn't enough substance.
Collector's Edition
"It's not 99%. Closer to 90%. Music games are still broken. Also, the "one issue" is actually two issues, one of which has been fixed. Ask a 720p-set owner if they're happy that they can't play in 1080i anymore."
Uh, the exact number of PS2/PS games with issues is known. Sony has a amazing database of every single PS2/PS game made with any issues the game has running on the PS3. No matter how small and trivial those issues are. The number of perfect games is up near 97-98 percent. And of the remaing games with issues many of the issues are thing like one pixel is off when running on the PS3. Yes that is one of actual issues for one of the games that 'don't work' on the PS3. The only major issue for PS2 games are the Guitar Hero controller and harddrive games.
Sorry, but no one is falling for your '90 percent' BS.
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/12/ 2016222&threshold=1
I think he was referring to the above slashdot article, basically in the last couple of months more blue-ray films have been released compared to HD-DVD, meaning there are now more Blue-ray films, which surprisingly means that more people bought Blue_ray disks over a month. To be honest I do think Blue_ray is going to win the format war since HD-DVD has had such a head start but doesn't seem to have much if any lead on Blue Ray.
Still hedging my bets tho
How long do you think it will take for the Wii novelty to wear off?
It took a few days for me... now it gathers dust because I'm bored of minigames, Zelda doesn't interest me, and everything else on the Wii is either a port (in which case, why play on the Wii?) or a crappy licensed game of some random kiddie movie/tv show.
I know some people like Wii sports, but c'mon, it's a tech demo.
Hopefully Sonic will be good... but only if Sonic Team doesn't get a chance to screw it up.
I managed to get one of the first Wiis, so I'm about as far along on the 'novelty' scale as anyone. The Wii needs more good games, just like the PS3 does. The major difference is that it DOES have some already.
The biggest problem with the Wii is indeed insensitivity, as you suggest. But only with the pointing aspect. Using it like a laser pointer is horrid. There is NO adjustment to make it fit your TV. The end result is that almost nobody can position the sensor bar so that the area the 'mote reads is actually the area of your TV. It makes ANY gun-type game pointless and frustrating. It makes most games in the new WiiPlay play like crap.
There's only been 3 games that I really enjoy playing.
RPGs suck on it. Yes, I'm including Zelda in that. The WiiMote interface does nothing to improve the game and only makes your arm sore from shaking the 'mote. Avatar was so bad I still have nightmares about it. Can they fix this? Well, they've already claimed they can't do proper sword-waving... Maybe a third-party dev will prove them wrong.
As with any new toy, the novelty is indeed wearing off. I need good games now.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
So while you can find them in some stores, the PS3 must be doing something right if people are willing to pay $100 above retail to get them through Amazon.
...
Of course, Amazon ships to countries where they won't let you buy a PS3 at retail yet
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I'm not sure where the PS3 stands but my Wii stands right beside my TV...
Bite my shiny metal ass.
What's really an ominous sign for Nintendo is your exact same story is being mentioned by people all over the internet. The only difference is the amount of time it takes someone to go from hype to disillusionment. Some people it takes a few minutes, some a few days, and some a few weeks. What's worse is Nintendo appears to have completely botched online support for the console. Friend codes and developers are just getting online support info this month. Not good.
I can't think of one third party game coming out for the Wii that I am excited about. That sounds a lot like the GameCube all over again.
When it comes to console games very few have ever had any substance or depth compared to what I play on the computer. Just curious what you are playing on the xbox360 that has depth to hold your attention. Keep in mind I've only played GoW on the xbox360 and other than I was playing it on my friends HD projector it just seemed like another FPS...
Patently false? People thought the sales numbers would be easily double that. There are 360 titles *besides* Blue Dragon which sold better. Blockbuster games in Japan usually land with at least 200K in sales in the first work. To fail to break 50K is very telling. And again - it barely edged out Wii Sports, which has been available for over two months.
Until last week I couldn't order a PS3 anywhere in my city centre, it wasn't until last thursday that the game shops put up signs letting you know you could pre-order a PS3. That means just over a month of possible pre-orders, a comparision would be my PSP that was available for pre-order for 4 months before its release where I lived.
That pre-order time makes all the difference when I pre-ordered my PSP I started putting money away each month so come release day I had all of the cash, I have a month to save up for a PS3 (yes I know its been scheduled for March for a while but without a specific date I was very skeptical that it would make it.)
The Wii is sadly still suffering stock problems and isn't making it onto the floor due to a back log of people asking for them, however I would like to make a point. Secondary sales (more Wii games, Wii joystick thing etc....) aren't selling in the store where I work. People buy a Wii and have Wii Sports but don't seem to be buying anything else which is odd I think. Thats purely ancedotal but I'd be curious if others see the same pattern.
Will I be pre-ordering a PS3? I'm still not sure £464.97 for a PS3 and One game is alot of money.
God of War 2? The PS2 title? It's pretty, but it's not even close to 360 standards, never mind better.
Why? Because it has less to do with being a fanboy (pot calling kettle black, eh Sony fanboy?) and more to do with reality?
Seriously, how can you honestly keep saying that they're sold out when theres tons of evidence going around that they aren't? I can walk into my Gamestop right now and buy one. Its hard to take you seriously when you don the fanboy goggles and sound like you're about to cream yourself whenever you talk about the PS3.
Seriously.
GoW2 is a PS2 game and looks about as such. It's one of the better looking PS2 games but it looks about on level with gc/xbox/wii games. Not even close to a lot of 360 games....
So, I really don't want to buy a PS3, and I'm not impressed with the system really at all. I'm really happy whenever something bad happens to Sony because, They Are Dicks. This is fact.
But, I have no delusions that the PS3 will not be amazingly successful. Because the PS3 has two franchises that the 360, currently, does not (So, I'll put in my disclaimer that if exclusivity is broken, my post is moot): Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy. It doesn't matter if we hate Sony. It doesn't matter if its over priced. It doesn't matter that they are dicks, which they are by the way. And it doesn't matter if we all want them to fail. When those franchises come out with their latest version, and people see that those latest versions are amazing and awesome and stupendous and the greatest of the series blah blah blah, they will buy. I wish they wouldn't, but they will. If the 360 has 20 million and the Wii has 20 million in households, people will still buy.
And you know what the -worst- part of it all is?
So will you. So will I.
A bit of context:
I'm a long term Sega fan, and when I first moved to Tokyo 12 years ago spent up to 3 hours a night in my local arcade playing Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers, and Virtua On Oratorio Tangram, and played all three in competition.
The release of the Dreamcast meant that I got to get the "arcade experience" at home, Soul Calibur with the official Sega arcade controller, and Virtua On with the Twin Stick controller was the best an arcade gamer could could buy.
Until now:)
----
Yesterday the first of the games I bought my PS3 for turned up, Virtua Fighter 5 and the Sega arcade controller.
The controller is simply amazing, cost a fortune but an hour after unpacking it I was online ordering a second! It's currently sitting next to my Dreamcast official arcade controller which , well, looks a little tired.
The game is purely for fight game fans, nothing here for the mass market, but for anyone who spent hours in an arcade playing the various Virtua Fighters it is an absolute must have.
I don't want to even think about much a HDTV, PS3, and controller cost but I'm happy so it was money well spent:)
Forget the console wars, if you are a arcade fight game fan, you need this game, the Tekken download, two Sega controllers, and a PS3. Sell blood if you have to, but get it.
VF5 is out in Japan and is only the top selling game by 3k units, it's opening week. Can I make it any clearer for you? How about by posting some hard figures on 1st week sales of the VF series (blatently ripped from user dohhyulittle at www.gamesarefun.com):
Virtua Fighter series First Week Sales: (Famitsu)
11/21/1994: SAT Virtua Fighter - 64,718 (Saturn Launch title)
11/27/1995: SAT Virtua Fighter 2 - 540,539
11/23/1998: DC Virtua Fighter 3tb - 97,659
(DreamCast Launch title)
1/28/2002: PS2 Virtua Fighter 4 - 356,897
2/5/2007: PS3 Virtua Fighter 5 - 48,346
It's clearly the slowest selling VF game ever. Read into this as you will. As far as the rest of my "fanboy" tantrum? All I did was respond point to point to your Sony "fanboy" tantrum. When you make blanket statements with no substance to back it up, expect someone to shoot you down.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
The Playstation 2 is still available for sale, costs about $130 brand new, and if titles like Guitar Hero II are any indication, the console is far from dead yet.
Actually, my son picked up one on sale this past summer for $100 brand new. And Guitar Hero III is coming out for the Wii.
He's dead, Jim.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The "Thud" comment is (reasonably) justified ... According to VGCharts.org Virtual Fiter 5 sold 49,500 in it's first week
... ... ...
... Another way to look at it is that Virtual Fighter 4 sold 367,500 in its first week. At this pace Sega will be lucky if Virtual Fighter 5 sells 100,000 to 200,000 copies in it's lifetime.
Last week Lets Make a J-League Pro Soccer Club 5 sold 108,250 and Harvest Moon: The Island I Grew Up On sold 81,000 in their first week
The week before Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sold 220,750 and Romance of the Three Kingdoms Wars DS sold 81,750 in their first week
And the week before that hack G.U. Vol. 3 sold 132,750 and Wario: Master of Disguise sold 94,000 in their first week
These are very 'average' games in Japan selling 2 to 4 times as much as Virtual Fighter 5 did
While you're busy pulling out your bullet points, you might double-check the fact that Sony has fixed the hard-disk games issue. In the mean time, music games (there's more than just Guitar Hero, you know) are still unplayable. We're talking Beatmania, DDR, Guitar Freaks/Drummania, and Pop'n Music, all of which are big, *big* in Japan.
I'm really kind of annoyed at the number of "Collection of minigames" games that are comming out for the Wii. Wii sports was fun, dunno about long term staying power though. Thats not a dig on the game, its just my tastes.
But then you get recommendations like Wario Ware and Raving Rabbids. More games of minigames. Theres Elebits and Zelda, and Trauma Center, but what else? Red Steel blows. I'm looking forward to Metroid Prime 3 and Smash Brothers.
I hate to say it, but the one thing Sony Fanboy has been right about is that the lineup of Wii games have been a rather dismal succession of PS2/GC ports and minigames so far.
I know when the Wii came out the attach rate was significantly higher than the PS3. Something between 2 and 3 if I remember correctly. Also, Wii controllers were in very short supply around Illinois for a very long time. I'm not sure what the current situation is to be honest.
It doesn't fit. Paid astroturfers are paid to build up a reputation on the board, rather than post anonymously. And his posting style is so frothing-at-the-mouth-fanboy, and his facts so easy to dispute, that its unlikely he's actually helping Sony's position. One would think that marketers would be a little better at this thing.
I'm guessing we just have a regular old fanboy who is so emotionally invested in his game system choice that he has to wear it as his one and only badge of pride.
Are you an idiot or something? Every point the OP tried to make is misleading or just wrong. This has already been clearly explained in a few replies to the OP...
Unfortunately, I haven't seen much of that going on. Mostly just ports and "hey lets throw a bunch of nifty minigames together!" sort of games. I'm hoping this is a repeat of the DS situation, where developers took a while to get up to speed and really start making good use of the new features.
Also, it should be pointed out that the issues affecting these games are not peripheral-based - you can't play them even with the SIXAXIS (which all of them support).
Having followed the Japanese sales charts for the last 7-8 months(via http://www.m-create.com/jpn/s_ranking.html - tracking units sold, not units shipped), Nintendo has Absolutely Dominated the charts. Outside of maybe 2-3 titles, no Sony or XBox system game has sat in the top ten beyond its initial launch week, and only getting that far if its a highly anticipated title such as a Final Fantasy or Gundam or one of the number of non-USfootball/basketball sports titles that they seem to enjoy. By and large this has been thanks to the DS, with Wii getting in on the action now too. for fun, here's the system sales for 1/29-2/4: DSL 146,073 Wii 65,740 PSP 31,216 PS3 18,727 PS2 17,540 Xbox360 6,130 GBM 1,050 GBASP 724 GC 306 DS 119 GBA 28 Clearly Sony's better off than MS and the DS Lite eats everything, but we all knew that already. Worth noting though is that the Wii sold almost as much as all three Sony platforms combined, and the week prior it sold slightly more, with limited availablity seeming to be the only thing keeping it even close. On the software side, the only PS3 title on the list is Enchanted Arms @ 47th
Next you'll be extolling the virtues of K-Mart.
The problem with the PS3 is that after all this time it still doesn't really seem to be quite finished. Currently, games do not automatically support both of the major HD resolutions, 1080i and 720p (never mind 1080p). Most games will output only in 720p, relying upon the 1080i/p TVs to do a decent job of scaling. Some HDTVs have poor scalers, whereas others (primarily CRT-based monitors) will only accept a 1080i signal and are incapable of displaying a 720p signal at all, in which case they are limited to playing PS3 games in 480p (ED rather than HD). Early expectations that Sony would be able to correct this problem with a software update have not been realized. A recent software update seems to offer the potential for games to support a kind of kluged version of 1080i with reduced horizontal resolution, but this would have to be supported by additional coding in the games themselves, and does not help existing games. PS3 Blu-Ray movies, on the other hand, output only at 1080i/p, requiring 720p HDTVs (the vast majority of flat panel HDTVs) to do their own scaling. Again, not all do a good job of this. In contrast, the XBox360 seamlessly handles any standard output resolution from 480i to 1080p (although it has only component output, and most 1080p TVs will accept that resolution only over DVI).
This is an amazing deficiency. For example, there are a variety of scaling DVD players that are capable of scaling conventional DVDs to any output resolution, including 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i (and even one or two that will go to 1080p). Essentially all HD capable set-top cable and satellite adaptors and PVRs have this capability. So do stand-alone HDDVD and Blu-Ray players. The XBox 360-associated HDDVD player will output at either 720p, 1080i, or 1080p, although it does not upconvert standard DVDs.
Another surprising omission is the lack of an infrared port. Sure, the PS3 uses RF for its controller (and its optional DVD remote). But at least Microsoft uses RF control as well, but they saw fit to provide the XBox 360 with an infrared port, making it compatible with widely used universal IR remotes.
Gears of War is a horrible example of depth, it's fun but IMO isn't worth more then one or two plays through the main campaign. I've actually written at length about the lack of a decent online portion as well.
Condemned: Criminal Origins was available at launch and continues to be my favorite Xbox 360 title so far, single player only but the story was compelling enough that I'd love to see a feature length film from it. Dead Rising and Saints Row as sandbox games also offer plenty of interest holding depth and the kind of substance where it takes you a while to play through them, and then you can do it over again a few times and still not see everything. Dead Rising has the unique distinction of being the only sandbox game/adventure horror set in a Zombie Infested mall (at least that I know of) not to mention the story line is pretty interesting. Saints Row is a bit of a GTA rip-off but it builds on that forumula quite well and offers some unique multiplayer modes on top of it which I haven't seen before in any other GTA style games. And while their depth is arguable I'm a fan of fighting and racing games as well and I find Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3, Burnout Revenge and Test Drive Unlimited quite compelling for a gamer of my tastes not just for the off line play but the online play as well. Not to mention the availability of classic fighters like Mortal Kombat 3 and Street Fighter 2 put online where I can find endless amounts of worthy human opponents who still enjoy those games is quite nice too. And while I haven't played much of them I've heard from friend who spoke highly of Enchanted Arms, Phantasy Star Universe, Viva Pinata, Lost Planet and a few others as being quite compelling.
I don't have anything against PC gaming, it's still quite a relevant platform IMO and a lot of the games I like on the 360 are PC ports: Oblivion, COD2/3, FEAR, Hitman, Splinter Cell etc. And while the benefits of these games on the PC over the 360 are definitely there I just don't play PC games anymore, I grew tired of the constant upgrades and tweaking required to get games to play and look how I wanted them to, but my reasons for no longer gaming on my PC are something for another discussion.
I see the Wii as a decent party game platform, with the exception of a few key titles I saw the Gamecube in pretty much the same light. But party games IMO are just cheap fun for when you have a group of friends and are looking for some mindless entertainment. I typically play games in lieu of watching TV as my daily entertainment, so while it's nice to have some good family fun when you occasionally find yourself entertaining guests the Wii doesn't have anything for me as a console I can play on a daily basis.
Collector's Edition
There used to be a video on the internet where some boys tired of their Gamecube and decided to destroy it. They dragged it behind a truck, while someone else followed and filmed. The purple bugger took a good beating.
Afterwards they brought it home and put Smash Bros in. The thing still worked. They later took a baseball bat to it, and it "almost" started up.
I'm not sure if that qualifies as rock solid or not, but certainly durable.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
"FUD FUD FUD"
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Considering the attitude dohhyulittle has, it's rather ironic that you can take his numbers and throw them back into his face as a sign that the PS3 is off to a rocky start.
Yes, I would say Nintendo has figured out "rock solid" engineering with the Wii remote. I mean, what other consumer electronic can you hurl through objects (i.e. tv screens, windows, walls, people's head) and it's still functional?
Even from gamestop, it takes up to 72 hours processing time to get a PS3 - so if you want one in 24, Amazon is your only choice. The fact that processing time from Gamestop (which normally ships the same day) is yet another indication that my basic point holds true - the PS3 is more popular than people seem to think.
I am not passing judgment on the wisdom of people paying more than they could be for a product. I am pointing out that it happens, it appears to happen pretty often, and that is a measure of popularity. The Amazon salesrank of the 360 is meaningless to compare with the PS3 salesrank until BOTH systems whip within 24 hours (or are even carried at all by Amazon itself).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The hidden contradiction here is that the top selling game in Japan this past week was Virtua Fighter, it's not just about to hit the shelves.
More importantly, it only sold ~3000 more copies than Wii Sports. Wii Sports has been on the market for 11 weeks now, and on its release week sold slighly most than three times as many copies as Virtua Fighter did. If the novelty of Wii Sports is dying, we can only assume that the novelty of the first four incarnations of Virtua Fighter is as well.
I will grant you the point that Nintendo does need to work hard to keep their release schedule flowing smoothly, but this is true of any system with or without a special controller.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Hmm lets check this "PS3 takeoff". Lets look at the top 30 selling games in japan
5 4)
last week. There was 1 PS3 game, 0 Xbox games, and 3 Wii games. Meanwhile there
were tons of DS games in the top 30.
It is sad when a "console's big name title" can barely take the top spot from a
game that has been out for 2 months.
PS2 - 2
PSP - 1
PS3 - 1
NDS - 23
WII - 3
Top 10:
01. (PS3, Sega) Virtua Fighter 5 - 48,346 / NEW
02. (WII, Nintendo) Wii Sports - 45,897 / 1,004,555
03. (WII, Nintendo) Wii Play - 36,090 / 879,432
04. (NDS, Nintendo) More Brain Age - 32,800 / 3,963,712
05. (NDS, Nintendo) New Super Mario Bros. - 29,026 / 4,118,078
06. (PS2, Capcom) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 27,519 / 304,113
07. (NDS, Nintendo) Wario: Master of Disguise - 26,815 / 185,695
08. (NDS, Marvelous Interactive) Harvest Moon: The Island I Grew Up On - 26,804 / 106,212
09. (NDS, Marvelous Interactive) Luminous Arc - 25,676 / NEW
10. (PS2, Sega) J-League Pro Soccer 5 - 24,468 / 131,541
Next 20:
11. (NDS, Nintendo) Animal Crossing Wild World
12. (NDS, Nintendo) Picross DS
13. (NDS, Nintendo) Common Knowledge Training
14. (NDS, Nintendo) Mario Kart DS
15. (NDS, Nintendo) Brain Age
16. (NDS, Pokemon) Pokémon Diamond
17. (NDS, Nintendo) English Training
18. (NDS, IE Institute) Kanji Brain Test 2M
19. (NDS, Pokemon) Pokémon Pearl
20. (NDS, Sega) Sangokushi Taisen DS
21. (NDS, Sega) Love+Berry
22. (PSP, Capcom) Monster Hunter Portable
23. (NDS, Square-Enix) Dragon Quest Monsters Joker
24. (NDS, Nintendo) Hotel Dusk: Room 215
25. (NDS, Rocket Co.) Kanji Test
26. (NDS, Bandai-Namco) Heisei Board of Education DS
27. (WII, Nintendo) Wario Ware Smooth Moves
28. (NDS, Nintendo) 1000 Recipes
29. (NDS, Nintendo) Kirby Squeek Squad
30. (NDS, Sega) Puyo-Puyo!
(borrowed from http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1425
original sources include http://www.m-create.com/jpn/s_ranking.html and http://eg.nttpub.co.jp/ranking.html)
I have played the PS3 and I am not impressed. I wanted to like it... But after
trying it I am more likely to get an Xbox360 for my HD needs. Resistance Fall of Man
was a huge disappointment. Decent graphics, awful plot... I preferred Red Steel (Wii)
which is not even a great shooter. Heck I was playing Wii sports non-stop for a week.
So far I would have to say Wii has won first round hands down. Microsoft has a chance
to do well with the 360 if they keep the games coming, and Sony is in a world of hurt
unless they somehow get everyone and their mother to buy their $600 clunker. Even a
couple of really stellar games would have trouble selling the platform to me now.
I never wanted to get a Xbox but Sony really didn't give me much of a choice.
Yesterday evening my brother and I saw four PS3 boxes behind the glass at the electronics section of Target in Duarte, CA.
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
If you think about it, it really isn't all that surprising.
At any console launch, at least to date, there has never been what could be considered a truly fleshed out, solely of good quality set of launch titles. Each console has had its focal points and weaknesses that were only compensated for later, whether it was sports and FPSs, RPGs and sandboxes, or Platformers and war games. One or two genres have always tended to get clustered around, leaving most of the rest sidelined or represented by lackluster titles.
This is true of the current generation as well. The Xbox 360, the PS3 and the Wii all suffer from this malady. Each in its own fashion of course.
For the 360 and the PS3, the developers have tried and true control systems and standards they can adhere to in order to be certain their games do not fail. As such, we see very familiar genres, and mostly ones that will appeal to the hardcore crowd. Those are the people who will be buying the early systems, so why make games aimed at a different demographic?
For the Wii, the developers are understandably cautious. If their control schemes such royally, the game will flop. The safest bet is therefore to make a game with many control schemes. If one or two fail, it doesn't ruin the entire game. Hence, lots of mini-game collections. These serve to showcase much of what the remote can do.
The result in both cases is an overly focused launch that is entertaining, but is little more than an appetizer. It wasn't until the second wave of games that the Xbox 360 really began to show its worth (Dead Rising, Gears of War). This will be true for the Wii and PS3.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Maybe you should re-examine your setup if you're having pointing issues. I haven't had any noticeable pointing problems since I got my sensor bar properly centered and calibrated the sensitivity. The only time I have real issues is if there's any other significant IR source nearby or I don't move my glass coffee table out of the way (the sensor bar reflects off of it and the Wii remote gets confused by other IR sources fairly easily).
Hi. I think you are trolling, but I'm responding anyway.
I own a PSP, and think the analog stick/nub works just fine. I'm not convinced that you've used the PSP first-hand - I don't have a problem moving the nub from, as you say, W to WNW to NW. The analog nub gives me enough fine control in 'GTA: Liberty City Stories' to weave my car through traffic jams at speed. Likewise, I can make distant headshots in 'Star Wars: Battlefront II', which isn't exactly easy. Platforming in 'Daxter' works great.
Sure, you need to get used to the analog nub, but it's basically a new controller so you would expect that. At least, I did.
And yeah, I do use the PSP for web browsing. I do it every day. I have bookmarks to visit my local weather, view the mobile version of slashdot, read the news, keep up with my favorite project, etc. I also visit graphics-heavy sites on the PSP, but tend to avoid it because the screen size makes sites that use lots of graphics difficult to read. But IMDB, Wikipedia, and other "average" sites work just fine. When I'm not playing games on the PSP, I'll usually keep it near the TV so my wife & I can look up things in IMDB ("Who is that actor/actress? Looks familiar."), So, what's wrong with the PSP browser?
Really? Target in West Hollywood had two of the 60gb models when I was there last night. Probably still there today if you're lucky.
*whooosh* You might want to have your sarcasm detector fixed, it seems to be malfunctioning.
Look back at your eProductWars link. Look at the primary system graph lower on the page.
You can see there what happens to the PS3 sales rank when they actually get units in stock to sell, as they had for a day or so around 1/28.
Further reinforcing the point I am making about demand.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Pretty much all the third party sellers on Amazon seem to ship only to US states or protectorates.
Forgive me if I am skeptical that the population of Puerto Rico is snapping up enough $700 PS3's to keep the sales rank around 58.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The third party sellers all ship to US and protectorates only. You forget that Amazon shipment policies are not the same as those of third party sellers who work through them.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yes it is. But if you know the history of consoles, who isn't? Nintendo was for a long time, despite their current good guy image. Microsoft still is; if anything, their record is worse than Sony's. Sega perhaps was not (if you give them a pass for "blast processing" and abandoning the 32X), but look what happened to them.
I own a PSP, and think the analog stick/nub works just fine. I'm not convinced that you've used the PSP first-hand - I don't have a problem moving the nub from, as you say, W to WNW to NW. The analog nub gives me enough fine control in 'GTA: Liberty City Stories' to weave my car through traffic jams at speed. Likewise, I can make distant headshots in 'Star Wars: Battlefront II', which isn't exactly easy. Platforming in 'Daxter' works great.
;) It's pretty convenient for that sort of thing.
Sure, you need to get used to the analog nub, but it's basically a new controller so you would expect that. At least, I did.
And yeah, I do use the PSP for web browsing. I do it every day. I have bookmarks to visit my local weather, view the mobile version of slashdot [slashdot.org], read the news [bbc.co.uk], keep up with my favorite project [freedos.org], etc. I also visit graphics-heavy sites on the PSP, but tend to avoid it because the screen size makes sites that use lots of graphics difficult to read. But IMDB, Wikipedia, and other "average" sites work just fine. When I'm not playing games on the PSP, I'll usually keep it near the TV so my wife & I can look up things in IMDB ("Who is that actor/actress? Looks familiar."), So, what's wrong with the PSP browser?
Aside from memory/speed issues in the PSP browser, nothing is inherently wrong with it. I've used it quite a bit at night while lying in bed, and once or twice on IMDB as well.
What I'm referring to is that I've had a frustrating time trying to use the nub to move the cursor around. Try to make a smooth circular motion with it - it's rather difficult. And it's not just my PSP - I actually own two of them, and it works like this on both.
The reason you wouldn't see this behavior in GTA is because you don't use up and down very much on GTA when you're driving - you only do when you're walking. I literally get chills when I'm walking on a dock in Portland Docks because one slight mistake with the nub and I'm sleepin' with the fishes. When I'm driving and just having to make left/right motions, you're right, it works pretty fine.
It's possible that the control itself provides more granular control than the web browser is willing to admit. The cursor only has two speeds in the web browser, but I don't recall only having two speeds of walking in GTA. I have had some times when I've been trying to drive and I've put the wheel to the stops because I *just* passed the middle-region where it seems like it goes from "small movement" to "large movement".
And I'll be honest - I traded in Battlefront II without playing it because I had read the reviews beforehand, and the game was given to me as a gift.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
I paid $560 (CND) for my first run PS2 (still working) with summoner. It was a terrible game but the system paid off for me. The 60g PS3 is ~$650 CND here now so the differential is just inflation for me. For the 20 gig version it's no difference. Remember the Ps2 was expensive at first too. 2 years later it was $300 CND. 6 year slater it's $170 CND. It's not that far from the PS2 price point after inflation and the 20g model is at the exact same price point. Most of the "price" backlash is MS fanbois finding fault. You can find more fault with the RSX and lack of universal shaders and little edge over the 360's Xenos or the split memory architecture or the cell's ridicoulous learning curve and lack of good devleopers tools but the price isn't a huge issue. It's price is close to the ps2 release price.
As for the graphics and power arguements, they are fairly close to each other. The cell might offer awe inspiring vector and floating point but the universal shaders will ensure the 360 can mostly keep up graphically with the same or better frame rate. The tripple core will keep the 360 in the game as multi processor technique develope and the unifired memory of the 360 may make more sense and flexibility then the split "fast" ram and "normal" ram of the ps3. But time will tell. I can see some situations where the Ps3 set up makes more sense but I'm not a game programmer. But in the end, it all come down to the games. No matter what the 360 has on the ps3 the letters FF, MGS, GTA, GT, GOW will mean more then RSX, XENOS, GDDR3.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
...6-month old XBox 360s.
The problem is the size of the virtual window compared to my TV. And there's no way to change that.
If I put the sensor bar RIGHT up against the lcd portion of my screen, it's almost perfectly centered. But it's still way too far from the edges of the screen and you end up pointing it a few inches in from the edge to point at the edge. This reduces the range. If I put it where the manual says, on the stand at the front edge, the lower edge of the virtual window is below the screen and the upper edge is WAY below the top of the screen. It also has issues depending on whether your tv is higher or lower than the wiimote because it only has 2 LEDs to work with. If you are above the TV and it's pointing down (you're standing) then the virtual area is tilted backwards. If you're below the TV (sitting) then the virtual area is tilted forwards.
There's a lot of bloody issues.
I know it's not a calibration issue because I've done all that. I can turn the sensitivity all the way up and it still only sees 2 dots, and sees them clearly.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
It makes sense... Microsoft had a head start so they've sold the most units, and therefore has the biggest fan base so far. Since it has the most users, they've got the most fanboys. Also, since Microsoft is considered somewhat of an underdog, these fanboys are more furious in their defense of Microsoft because they are concerned about their investment.
Nintendo fanboys are too busy playing with their Wiis, while the PS3 hasn't garnered it's share of user yet.
First the Microsoft fanboys attacked the PS3, but the trend is shifting towards attacking the Wii as well. Notice that an anti-Wii, anti-Sony post got modded up Insightful, even though it was biased towards the XBox 360. Nintendo fanboys should be wary - the real threat to Nintendo is Microsoft's fanboys - they're an important part of Microsoft's marketing arsenal.
If you play online, if you use WiFi, or if you watch HD, the PS3 is cheaper than the XBox 360. If you include all three, it's vastly cheaper.
WiFi - $100
online - $200 over 4 years
HD drive - $200
Add $500 to the XBox 360 price if you're using all these features.
Most people that have an XBox 360 use online, so the price of a premium XBox 360 is greater than a premium PS3 but without the HD drive.
You fool, you try that plan and you won't wake up until the we are at war with those pesky athiest otters.
Hey, sony marketing droids, wasn't that flog enough?
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
*please mod informative, please mod informative*
Do you need karma this bad?
(I would mod you "Insightful" if I had mod points, anyways...)
So say we all
i always wandered why PS3 which allow you to run linux on it, and in that sense is amazing piece of hardware for the money (Small media center linux running pc, with blue ray and running old ps2 games and downloaded games for ps3?).
This is not that expensive for the price they asking.
Yes in the end the problem is getting this amount of money is hard. Might need to spent time saving. But i like the fact that i don't need to pay for live service on it. That something no one ever take into account as the price part (except one poster here). Sony do have a lot of problems, but actually i would be disapointed if PS3 fail because that thing in my opinion has amazing potential with more games coming out on it.
I am not a fan of the system or sony.
At this point i don't have money to buy any of the consoles, but one reason for me to buy ps3 might be using it as a media center, with linux on it.
Fear, uncertainty, doubt...exactly what the post I replied to was full of. I can't help that someone is afraid that their console of choice is off to a rocky start and feels the need to try and convince the rest of the world in hopes that it changes peoples opinions. Either that or the person is blind to reality.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
I don't care about his attitude, just as I don't care about yours. The numbers speak for themselves.
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
"Wii sports are just lacking the depth to really hold my attention"
Wii sports was a demonstration disc thrown into the box for free. It was intended to show consumers and developers the proper way to use and develop for the Wii.
Of course it lacks depth. There is no depth. But you get what you pay for. In this case, you get a whole lot more.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
This was true for the PS2 also, at least when it first came out. My PS2 has a heat sink over the entire area not covered by the DVD drive. I can't speak for overheating as I've never played a PS3.
Oh yeah, YHBT.
While thie price is high, you are getting a lot for that money and it would be more expensive to put the equivalent 360 together (I don't mention the Wii because it doesn't compete with hi-def solutions). The hardware performance can't be argued, HDMI is a plus, the hard drive is of decent size, built in WiFi seems a no brainer these days and while including Blu-Ray may have delayed the unit and cost a little more it will benefit PS3 owners down the line. The games line up looks more promising all the time and once Sony starts unleashing those franchise exclusives and originals (and devs get the hang of the hardware and provide better ports) it will be tough to spin the PS3 as a bad choice.
For people who have already gone with the 360 it's only natural some will be constantly negative as they will want to have bought into the dominant platform. But outside of a Playstation Network that is feature anemic but appears set to improve with the next couple firmware upgrades, the gap isn't as wide as they would like to pretend.
And finally... Motor Storm, LAIR, Drake's Fortune, Tekken, Warhawk, new game from ICO team, Devil May Cry 4, Ratchet and Clank, etc...
Step 1: Drop the stupid Blu-ray drive.
Step 2: Manufacturing costs plummet.
Step 3: Profit!
Sorry, just had to get that off my chest . . .
I think he was mocking the OP's excessive use of the term "rock solid"...
I'm wondering whether that will be enough. It took the PSP quite a while to come out with some decent games, and it seems to be too late. The console war is more of a sprint than a marathon. Your console needs to achieve critical mass quickly in order to get good third-party support. If that doesn't happen, a few good games a year later won't move enough boxes to change the course.
It seems that third-party devs are already moving support from the PS3 to the Wii, even after only a few months of sales. That could spell disaster for Sony.
What could help the PS3, though, is Bluray. If (and that's a big if) people want to move away from DVDs, the PS3 may yet reach a market. Even then, however, it's unclear whether that market would also be interested in games.
Yeah. Nobody wanting to buy your product is a good thing, and not being able to manufacture stuff fast enough is a bad thing. In your bizarro parallel universe. Nintendo clearly underestimated the demand for the Wii, but look at the sales numbers. It's not as if there were no Wiis available because Nintendo didn't make any. They're clearly not making enough, but they are making a ton of them.
There are no Wiis available because everyone and his mother and his grandmother (quite literally, too) are trying to buy them.
Living in Europe, I can tell you that lots of my friends were able to get Wiis. Wiis are still generally sold out. I know one person who will definitely get a PS3 (for Gran Turismo). Furthermore, Amazon UK took quite a bit of time selling out the PS3 preorders (over 9 hours, last time I checked). Wii preorders were sold out in 2 minutes. It's all anecdotal evidence, but I think people are wising up to the PS3. It won't do as well as in the US.
That's a different question from the one which was asked. Obviously, you can't get back your investment instantly. The question is: Does each sold console add to your gains or to your losses?
Wii Sports is viral. That's really all I can say. Zelda may have a huge attach rate, and it definitely shifted a few consoles, but Wii Sports, as simple as it may be, is the Wii's true system seller.
Probably at least as effective as Super Mario World.
Yeah, just like the NES had huge problems once the novelty of the D-Pad wore off. Joysticks FTW!
Yeah, because the PS2 has such great graphics (and precision, whatever that means) compared to the Wii. And we've all seen how spectacularly the DS has failed. I mean, the DS has all those ugly games, some even 2D, believe it or not, it's not like anyone would want to play these.
While I love both Wii Sports and Zelda (I hated using the hook in the Wind Waker since I could never get it to hit the targets using the Wavebird - the Wii controls are so much better), one of them is a pack-in originally intended to be a tech demo, and the other is a port of a Gamecube game. It's hardly fair to judge the Wii based on these two games.
Either way, I consider myself a hardcore gamer, I got a Wii on launch day, and I still play Wii almost every day.
Actually, that is kind of wrong. There are two ways to fix this issue:
Ah, just to add to my previous answer, there's a third way to fix the problem: Move the sensor bar to be closer to you. That way, the Wii remote will more closely match your larger TV (although even back when I did not do that, I never noticed an issue. I have a beamer which projects a picture about 6 meters in diameter. People who came to my place actually asked me how the Wii knew how big my screen was - they never noticed that they only moved the pointer and didn't directly point at it).
Agreed. It's kind of amazing. My brother hit the ceiling with his remote. Three times. My dad smashed it into a cabinet. I hit the wall twice. Some of my pals who came over to play hit the walls. No, I don't have such a small living room, it's just that with four players playing tennis and trying to avoid hitting each other, the wall kind of becomes a natural target. Anyway, all remotes still work perfectly fine.
This generation - and I'm including the 360 because it's only now hitting it's software stride - has had probably the worst rollout of any generation I can remember. The PS2 had at least 4 compelling titles at (or nearly at) launch, as did the Dreamcast. I think the only fumble titlewise was the N64 for the first 5 months. This time it's across the board. In the rush for 4th quarter revenue - the developers must have been utterly screwed.
I'd love to hear some concrete numbers from the dev-crowd on how many months in advance ANY dev-kit (regarless of how sucky they were) actually appeared in advance of launch because all I've heard to date is "oh crap this" and "the libraries that" but no idea how long they've even had the things.
I suspect the answer would scare the crap out of any early-adopter.
Sorry, but if "BluRay has won the format war" because it spent two weeks (weeks in which Best Buy was doing a buy one get one free offer, at that) outselling HD-DVD 3-1, then Sony should be shutting the PS3 factory down right now, given that Wii and 360 do that to it all the time.
This war is far from over. Wait until June, when only one of the two formats gets The Matrix, then come back to me.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Actually, FUD usually refers to what is being spewed by (for instance) Microsoft as to why you *shouldn't* buy someone else's product. They try to say things that make the competition look undesirable.
What the original poster was saying was mindless optimism, which isn't really FUD. He's trying to encourage people to buy a product. He certainly might be feeling fear, uncertainty, and doubt, but he's not spreading it.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
Hey, I remember that post of yours! I also remember I would mod it up if I had mod points at that point. Anyway, I had no idea I would be modded down for asking you if you needed karma that bad, I was trying to be funny, but, you know, "I must be new here" and I still don't get the sense of humour of Slashdot's universe. Well, I could also be modded "troll" for praising your post (saying I would mod it "insightful"), who knows? But that's Slashdot, "where you are modded troll or flamebait if you don't love Linux and/or Google!"(R)
So say we all
"for games like Zelda the use of the Wii remote is just rather "meh". IMO it didn't add anything to Zelda and I would not have enjoyed the game any less using a Wavebird. "
Go back and play ocarina of time or windwaker (as I have recently done) and then make that comment again - you will find that it is largely untrue. Yes the sword fighting by waggling the wiimote is a touch contrived but the pointing abilites of the wiimote (for the hookshot, ball & chain, boomerang, bow & arrow etc.) makes using these weapons *fun*. And for me felt like I was more skillfull - riding epona whilst taking down flying beasts with my bow and arrow and using the boomerang the extinguish the burning cart. Doing that with a wavebird would be *much* harder and certainly less enjoyable...
Yes, it does. It says "if you create a game for that console, you can sell it to that many people."
1) Everytime I try the PS3 in a department store, it freezes or is already froze due to overheating.
Of course, that has nothing to do with it being in a sealed display?
2) Silent operation? Not sure about that. But, have you seen the insides of a PS3? It's 50% heatsink. Sure, it might run quiet, but even with the massive heatsink, it still overheats...and the trade off is the size of the system. It's absolutely massive.
I haven't seen a properly placed PS3 overheat yet. I hear more complaints about the need for and size of the xbox 360 external power supply than I do about the size of the PS3.
3) Last I checked, my local target had 5 PS3's, the EB across the street actually has a unit they've had since the first of the year, most stores I go to have "PS3 now in stock" signs (coincidentally right next to the "Wii currently unavailable signs"). Face, it, the PS3 is in stock everywhere. People who say otherwise live in an area that's having a spike in sales/popularity or an area that's getting below average allocations. FUD.
I find it very interesting how you say "people who say otherwise live in an area that's having a spike..." yet your proof is based on stores in your area that you've seen. It couldn't be that PS3 is just having a lull in popularity in your area?
Besides, there are no Atari 2600 on the shelves either. Does that mean it sells as well as Wii? No, that's not a dig at the Wii. Nintendo is either intentionally or unintentionally keeping stock scarce. But using lack of availability as the sole indicator of popularity is misguided.
4) BlueRay has far from won the format war. It's yet to be seen whether the current spike in BlueRay sales has anything to do with the free movie Sony was giving away with PS3's or any of the current buy one get one free BlueRay DVD incentives that have been going on (most definitely Sony throwing fuel on the fire to hype their format...they're dead in the water if it fails).
a) How does a disc that was given away for free a while ago affect SALES in recent times. b) Sony isn't the sole stakeholder in Blu-Ray, nor are they the sole inventor or backer. c) They weren't dead in the water when (Minidisc|Beta|Memory Stick) "failed." Nice Counter-FUD though.;)
Gotcha, I've seen Dead Rising commercials before and it looked like a cool game. Maybe one day I'll own a 360 and pick it up :)
As far as the Wii goes maybe it just works for me b/c I only play games with friends nowadays. Once grad school is done, maybe that will change and I'll be able to pick up a 360 and/or ps3 on the cheap...
Oh, and you mentioned Mortal Kombat. If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out the vid that's floating around showing how they are adapting it to the Wii. Looks pretty interesting.
... Sonic for Europe, Excite Truck, soon Fire Emblem for Japan, Dragonball Z. 6 games, 6 different genres. ... fast !
Seems like good to me, less than 3 months after launch, with developers that weren't even ready to develop for the Wii less than one year before.
Of course there are lots of mini games and ports, as the devs were caught with their pants down, when they saw the popularity of the Wii at the last E3.
I'm sure some of them waited the launch to be sure, and felt stupid for missing the opportunity to sell 200k+ poor games and make lots of money easily.
"Devs going on easy" time will end soon, if it hasn't already.
When Nintendo start launching the quality titles, devs will have a harder time justifying poor quality games or ports. Seems like Sega knows it, and Capcom knows it too, but notice these are japanese game companies. Notice that most of the poor ports come from western companies. One of the reasons having the japanese market is such a good thing.
They better get familiar with the wiimote
I tried out Excite Truck and it wasn't my thing, but thanks for the other suggestions. I'll check them out whenever I am able to find a Wii (they still line up outside Best Buy before opening here....).
Please, everyone, stop using VG Charts as a source for 'information'. The site uses other people's data and performs its own 'adjustments'. This would not be bad if VGCharts would tell us what these 'adjustments' were. Don't trust any sales information that doesn't reveal how it obtained its data. The maker of VG Charts is using other charts' data (such as Media Create, Famitsu, and NPD) and applying his own 'adjustments' to claim it his own. See all the advertising on that site? Yeah.
VGcharts is NOT reliable.
I suppose we can add Wii Sports to the list of horrible gimmick and novelty games along with...
-Nintendogs (sold around 9 million by now I believe)
-Sims (best selling PC game)
-Myst (second best selling PC game)
-Brain Age (sold millions but not sure how much)
I remember when I first played the NES. The light gun was cool but the Duck Hunt game lost its appeal quick. That Super Mario Brothers game? Get big by eating mushrooms? Gimmick. And what was with that new controller with its 'D-pad'? I went back to the REAL controller of the joystick with my hardcore games on the Commodore 64 thinking exactly on the line of 'novelty' and 'gimmick'.
Twenty years later, I am a little wiser. I know hardcore gamers would be more accurately labeled as 'addicted' gamers. And watch the young kids as the younger generation breaks for the Wii. They will grow up with the Wii-mote and consider it standard while the 'omg hardcore' players become seen as old cranks touting how awesome the classic controller and 'epic games' are.
I know this because I am currently seen as an 'old crank'. I still think the joystick is awesome and that my 'epic games' went downhill to these awful JRPGs. The "hardcore" gamers believe they have a 'future'. They never did in previous generations.
Thankfully you put the dates with the numbers.
The comparable virtua fighers are the first one, and 3tb.
The reason is because the other virtua fighters were sold when the hardware userbase was much larger.
You are right. It is the slowest selling Virtua Fighter.
I think the numbers are reasonable, considering November/December video game sales are typically four times the sales of other months. (Can't find any links to back this up)
I'm not sure I would call it's sales a failure yet.