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LittleBigPlanet Could 'Move Consoles' For PlayStation 3
The always popular Michael Pachter offered up the opinion last week that LittleBigPlanet may be the title the PlayStation 3 needs to have breakout success. In a report pointing out failings on Microsoft and Sony's part to appeal to 'family gamers', Pachter said: "After seeing LittleBigPlanet at TGS, I believe it could be a console mover. The game is really innovative, and I think it adds a family element that is so far missing from both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. If they can accompany that game's launch with a price cut (or a lower priced SKU), I think we'll see a spike in sales." The game is really innovative, and I'm looking forward to it a bunch ... but I think I agree with the folks at Ars when they say the pricetag is still too high to appeal to family gamers.
being both cheaper, and having plenty of family-friendly titles, I think it'll make it harder for the PS3 to have a one-title-wonder breakout in this sector, like the XBox had it's one-title-wonder breakout with the Halo series.
Simply put, hardcores (Halo) will spend more money than families (this game), and the Wii will certainly provide a lot of competition in that arena. Plus, the Wii has many games (even if you count all the [animal]z games as just one game) that seem to excel in this arena, rather than just one.
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My roommate bought a PS2 when GTA III came out. This is one of the best examples of a console mover that I can remember. Sure the game had tons of hype, but it seems like a lot of people agreed that it delivered... and it was also a bit different nearly every game released. The problem now is that with genres being flooded with clones of clones of clones, and multiplatform releases... there are fewer console movers. It's going to take an game that has takes a COMPLETE departure from games that exist now and will only ever be on one console, to be the kind of mover that GTA 3 for the PS2 was in my eyes.
Bury me in mashed potatoes.
Sort of like Final Fantasy 7 did for the PS one.
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
I had FF7 for PC (late adopter), so I missed it as a PS1 mover. But this is another perfect example. Now there are 4,000 FF games for 17 different systems, and an infinite number of very similar games on the remaining systems. I'm a Wii60DS person, and even if there is a Shadow of the Colossus (my personal favorite VG) game that comes out for PS3, I'm not likely to buy the system for it. If I feel too bad about not playing it, I'll just start another game of Oblivion (which is also SUPER cross platform).
Bury me in mashed potatoes.
I dunno. I mean, I already HAVE a PS3, and I don't see why I'd want this.
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Not really - there were dozens of RPGs before FF7, it was hardly a complete departure.
You had Final Fantasy 1-6 + Mystic Quest, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Warrior, Inindo, and quite a few others
And that's just the "pure" menu based RPGs.
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On the PS1? I remember FF7 being all the hype on the Play station 1.
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
I hate to be so vague about FF7, but it really had this kindPokemon wasn't a huge departure (save for being a highly simplified RPG) and it's definitely the biggest console mover ever by unit. I think FF7 had some sort of similar iconic difference that gave it similar status. of iconic difference that I felt
Bury me in mashed potatoes.
People might consider buying a PS3 if it came with a Wii bundled.
no, not on the PS1 (although I believe WildArms may have been pre-ff7)
Regardless, the OP suggested that the game should be unique in comparison to what is already out there, and not just what is already out there on that system only.
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DOES NOT COMPUTE:
I meant to write this: Pokemon wasn't a huge departure (save for being a highly simplified RPG) and it's definitely the biggest console mover ever by unit. I think FF7 had some sort of similar iconic difference that gave it similar status.
Bury me in mashed potatoes.
"Family gamers" don't spend $300 or more on a console.
I saw the demonstrations for Little Big Planet, and don't get me wrong, I would definitely like to get a crack at this game.
/great/ getting a lot of people to spend a small amount of money repeatedly, but it's not the sort of thing that clears the huge mental hurdle of 600 bucks.
But it's not the kind of play that I'd throw down 600 bucks for. It's a seriously cool casual play game, but I mean casual play as in playing it when I don't have anything else to do. That kind of appeal doesn't make people throw down big bucks in a huge payout. It works
This game is obviously on my must have list of games to buy. Don't get me wrong, Heavenly Sword was great, but thats come and gone.
What Sony really needs is more good games, not one blockbuster. My co-worker compares the PS3 to a sports car. Most of the time its sitting in the garage or somewhere collecting dust. Then every once in a while a fantastic game comes out and you get to take it out for a good drag-race.
To sell more PS3s Sony needs more than a killer game once every six months.
FFVII had 3D and Materia. If Wild Arms came first, than all FFVII had was Materia.
Oddly enough, I thought that was the one *REALLY* nice thing about the game. I wish Square had played with that one more.
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Final Fantasy 13 will be the next PS3 console mover. However, this will only happen IF the PS3 breaches the $199/console barrier.
Why do I choose that barrier? $249 and $199 seem to have been historically numbers to shoot for in the console market. The $249 barrier seems to be the barrier at which the console is perceived as accessible, and is purchased mostly by people with disposable income (usually, singles, married couples, college students, and some households with children.) The $199 barrier seems to be the barrier at which the console is percieved as affordable, and is purchase by all the above in addition to larger numbers of households with children.
The $249 barrier is usually hit about 6 months after the console is introduced. The $199 barrier is usually hit about 1-2 years after the console is introduced, and usually conincides with the holiday shopping season.
I would add $149 and $99 there. $149 is usually hit about 6 months to 1 year prior to a console's successor coming out, and $99 is usually hit right about when the successor is introduced.
None of these numbers are based on any official research, just my own observations of price points at gaming stores, big box stores, and the electronics dept of places such as Target, Wal-mart, and others. I'm basing this from what I've seen of each of the consoles since about Super Nintendo.
Right now, looking at Gamestop.com, the lowest priced barebones PS3 system (which appears to be a 20GB console with 1 wireless controller) is going for $449. This is about 1 year after release. At this point in time, they should have introduced the $249 price point for their least featured device.
I realize Sony is trying to push the PS3 to be a family entertainment center, focused around the BlueRay DVD player, but I believe that this is one of the biggest contributors to their current pricing issue.
Wild Arms was indeed pre-FFVII, and the first RPG I got on the PS1, purchased in advance pretty much FOR FFVII, but obtained enough in advance to play Wild Arms first. But Wild Arms, while good, certainly wasn't a system mover. (Xenogears came well after FFVII.)
Vandal Hearts also came before VII, but was more of a tactical RPG, so really the only other "classic JRPG" of consequence to hit the PS1 before VII was Suikoden.
It's not news and it's not even original, in the slightest bit. When Sony first showed LBP, many of the commentators said pretty much the same thing. Yada, yada, yada, shows the potential of the PS3, yada, yada, may be a reason to get a PS3, yada, yada, just about anything now is good news for Sony compared to how bad things are, yada, yada...
Quick, someone post a cost comparison showing how the PS3 is actually cheaper then a 360 and inline with the Wii, cause that will change the fact that Sony is losing this generation.
Sony doesn't care. They still think they skipped a generation with their cell and bluray. They don't realize that alot of the people who are buying Wiis right now are never going to be in the market for a PS3, but now they might buy the next Nintendo console that improves on the motion controls and concentrates on being fun. Even when the PS3 drops in price and the 360 is being replaced, the 360 customers aren't going to want a 3-5 year old console. They're going to want Halo V or whatever MS is shilling.
Sony made some big bets this round. If bluray loses, and I have no clue about who will ultimately win, then they will have lost big time. If bluray wins, the PS3 is just icing on a very large cake. Even if bluray wins, I don't think it will make that much of a difference for the PS3.
Suikoden kicked FFVII's ass up and down the street. An RPG with a real story! Hot damn!
But no. It wasn't THREE DEE, so it tanked.
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
The original NES was $200 or $250 (depending on the bundle) in 1985. If you add in inflation, that $200 becomes $375 in 2006 dollars, and the $250 is roughly $468. How many units of the NES did Nintendo sell at that price, anyway?
Price cut, 100 bucks across the board, and bundle LittleBigPlanet for free.
Especially one that uses an HD format for a TV that I would need to shell out $2000 for, to pay $60 a game for, and twice the normal DVD movie rate.
Oh, wait, this isn't Bizarro World?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Stop there. Electronics aren't subject to inflation when comparing old models to new models, they get continually de-valued as time moves on. Hell a 286 cost over $2,000 at retail in the 80's not even "Adjusting for inflation..." what's the value now?
The only thing adjusting for inflation gives you is "back then they saw the value of X product was worth Y to them." It does NOT serve as a gauge to tell you what people are willing to pay on product H now.
Ok. Playing Devil's advocate, if the PS3 were $249.99 right now what game(s) would you buy with it? (IE: on the shelf, right now not coming in 2008 ish)
but it won't make me buy a console for just that.
The PS3 is still priced out of my market. The PS3 isn't competing against the Wii and the 360, it's competing against *my computer*, and it's going to lose that argument every time.
Fanboys, nothing. It's important to keep developers and publishers aware of the fact that *I won't buy a PS3*. Not for this game, not for that game. Doesn't matter what. Not until they release a game more important to me *than all other games coming out for the PC that year, combined*.
Umm, Pokemon was actually quite a huge departure. Sure, there were certain vague similarities with some elements from other games, but the whole capture/build team/choose Pokemon fighting system was something new.
The Final Fantasy series has never rehashed the same ability system that I can recall -- I might be wrong. In any case, the Materia system was hampered by it's own flexibility, and I really hated it. It was too flexible and so far off balance that it wasn't even funny -- it made what was initially an easy game even easier. Killer materia combinations were found even by casual gamers, and the hardcore tweakers? Well, as a result we know that a level 7 Tifa can solo Emerald Weapon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4gVcNMlsto
Revisiting the Materia system might be interesting, but I'd rather not see it if it'll be that unbalancing.
The Wii lacks good games and no matter how cheap it is and how long Nintendo perpetuates their artifical shortage, lack of a killer games will drive gamers to other platforms. Now the PS3 likely isn't that platform with an equally weak game selection, and hi-def movie format war that shows no signs of subsiding and a high price tag (in many peoples eyes). With a killer line up for the next few months, a decent library, an outstanding content purchase system and the definitive online gaming experience the 360 is what even casual gamers will be drawn too.
It seems to be more gimmicky than innovative, to me. How many people are going to spend hours and hours building cardboard cutout tanks? -yawn-
Don't get me wrong, I think the game will be neat, and I look forward to the adventure, especially with a friend (it had BETTER have net play, damnit) and I've pre-ordered it... But it's not the 'killer app' of the PS3 by any means.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
You haven't looked back far enough. The Final Fantasy series' base "job class" model has been used quite a number of times. It was fairly inflexible in the first game, but FF3 pretty much hit the modern incarnation dead center. It was used again in FF5, and to very good effect in FF Tactics and FF Tactics Advance.
FF1 - D&D Style "pick it and you're stuck with it" job class system
FF2 - Story driven fixed abilities/classes
FF3 - Flexible job class system
FF4 - Story driven fixed abilities/classes
FF5 - Flexible job class system
FF6 - Esper system with fixed character abilities thrown in
FF7 - Materia system
FF8 - GF junction system
FF9 - Story driven fixed classes, "equip to learn" ability system
FF10 - That funky grid system
FF Tactics/Advance - Flexible job class system
FF Mystic Quest - That funky, simplified weapon switching system
I haven't played the rest yet.
Just wondering, why do people constantly use the term SKU? E.g. "Sony may release a new PS3 SKU"
/Rant
All it means is "Stock Keeping Unit". It's a term for one of the (sometimes) bar-coded number systems on boxes, and is used for tracking inventory and billing.
It does not have anything to do with different "models" of a product, other than that each different model would likely have different SKUs. BUT, This is up to the whim of the companies: they can and often do change a model and keep the same SKU.
Additionally, a different SKU doesn't necessarily imply that the product is different, e.g. a 2-pack would have a different SKU than a single or 3-pack of the same item. SKUs don't even have to be physical items. Warranties and delivery charges can have SKUs.
Stock KEEPING Unit, got it? It's for tracking inventory and sales.
Universal Product Code (UPC) is fairly similar as an item tracking system, but with the difference that different UPCs DEFINITIVELY indicate different products (i.e. different models or pack-ins).
For some reason, we don't see people saying "Microsoft released 3 Xbox360 UPCs", even though that would be a more correct way of saying MS released 3 different Xbox360 packages (core, premium, elite IIRC).
For your edification:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Product_Code
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_Keeping_Unit
"Cheeze it!" - Bender
Ah, yeah, thanks for the clarification. I wasn't including XI (MMORPG) and non-numbered games in my thinking, but I haven't played FF II or III, so wasn't completely certain. In any case, since VI, the system hasn't replicated, though some contained a lot of similarities.
And of course, Materia is still a broken system.
FFXII, since you haven't played it, utilizes a grid system that is somewhat reminiscent of FFX's sphere grid. It still has more differences than similarities though, IMO.
My eldest daughter is four. We play video games together. The games we play the most are:
This last one is interesting. It confirms that people play video games they can win. All it takes to get a woman to play a video game is to find a game she can beat her husband at :-)
I might buy one for it.
Actually #2 (JP) is battle-driven/use-driven abilities.
FFXII is again the funky grid system, but possibly worse than FF10...
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Megami Tensei / Shin Megami Tensei / Majin Tensei has (have) been doing that for years (nearly a decade) before Pokémon was, with the added ability to fuse them together. And it does it with demons.
Screw the rules, I have green hair!
Not directed at me, but, uh... Warhawk? That's about the only one, really.
Screw the rules, I have green hair!
They will move more units, but not to casuals. The PS2 hit traction when the price dropped to $200. "Casuals" aren't going to jump at a game system with "future potential" and a "maybe it takes off, maybe it doesn't movie format". Casuals don't buy $500 Game or Movie Players and Little Big Planet isn't going to change that any more than Microsoft's "Scene it?" will.
Have you noticed the PS2 (hardware) sales lately? They are still selling strong each month, and that's because of price and immediate value. Casuals buy a $130 system and $20 games, because that's what they feel it's worth. Make no mistake Sony's YEARS away from courting a casual audience, at present they need to focus on the hard core as they are the ones who will buy the PS3 now.
On a side note, I do have a PS3 and am looking forward to LBP immensely. It's the game I'm looking forward to most for 2008 (Metal Gear what?). If the community tools to create levels and upload them will are good, this game will have a lot of life to it and I can't wait to see what people come up with.
I agree with those who have pointed out that getting a $600 console just for this game (or any game for that matter) seems very unlikely as far as the family market is concerned but I agree with the overall point of that article that LittleBigPlanet may turn out to be a console pusher.
To start with, I am single, earning a decent pay check. I have never owned a console and am thinking about getting a Wii next month. Now that aside, ever since I have seen the trailers of LittleBigPlanet, I can't wait to get my hands on that game. I will buy PS3 (most probably after I am done with Wii) just to play that particular game because right now I can afford to blow money on the most ridiculous of stuff. I am sure I am not alone in that category and that is why I think this game could turn out to be the Halo for PS3.
Politicians and Pedophiles: Two groups of exploitive bastards who are most dangerous when they're thinking of children.
No. I already have a PS3, and I don't see why I'd want this.
Anyone that takes this guys seriously needs to reevaluate their standards for professional analysis. It only takes a few minutes of googling to see this guy has been about as accurate as the staff of Jo-Jo's Psychic Hotline. I think coin flipping actually might be more accurate than Pachter. He's just become a defacto resource lazy journalists turn to for a quote. About the same speed as Mark Saltzman.
Yes, but the Shin Megami games are still classical RPGs, in that you fight your way through a story and have boss battles, and you still control your main character in battle.
The nearest thing I heard of that came before Pokémon were capsule monsters in Lufia II.
In Pokemon, you were battling other trainers and Pokémon that you could own yourself, and there was no definitive ending. It was what the whole focus of the game, which I think is what makes it different from what came before. GameFreak made a whole game out of the idea.
I'm not saying that it took a tremendous amount of creativity to take a tried concept and develop it further, but it certainly was a very different game design.
This game will sell me a PS3. It's so "innocent" and creative - a game that anyone can play, build upon and share. I have a PS2 but have held off on upgrading. When LittleBigPlanet ships, I'm picking it (and a PS3) up.