When I was younger (back in about 1995 or so) my brother used to have friends who made some money on the side doing "market research" for movies. Essentially there were a couple dozen people in my city who would be mailed pre-released movies every week and would be expected to watch them and give feedback in order for places like blockbuster/rodgers video to know how many movies to order; they weren't expected to return the movies but (being that they were pre-release) they were not allowed to throw away the movies for awhile. This worked out great for me because it meant that I was able to borrow movies rather than rent them and the only drawback was the occasional "If you bought this movie contact the FBI" message (or whatever it was) scrolling across the screen.
I'm sure the ESRB could probably find thousands of trustworthy (sorry most slashdotters) people who would be happy to recieve free games and systems in exchange for a content review.
I have also been a console/PC gamer for a very long time and I would say that I already see the end of the constant upgrade cycle for PCs...
I'm not saying it is going to happen tomorow, but I suspect that if you bought a top of the line system that it would take several years before you could no longer meet the minimum requirements of new games. Another thing I noticed is that there are Millions of people who are playing World of Warcraft, which is a 2 year old game that wasn't that (graphically) impressive when it was new, and no one complains about how ugly it is.
As long as it doesn't break compatibility why would it matter?
I suspect Nintendo will be changing the system dramatically to lower-cost (65nm process in 2007, 45nm process in 2008), minor upgrades (2/4 GB built in flash), and make it more pleasant looking.
I suspect that any performance improvements in Vista were soon eaten up by added overhead elsewhere. Something I've noticed with Windows (since Windows 95) is that with every 'upgrade' Microsoft decides to run more stuff in the background for no real gain and I imagine that vista is no different.
Well, it depends on what people mean when they say the Wii will become the "Market Leader"...
Some people mean "Worldwide Market Leader" which (if you consider the Wii is outselling the XBox 360 by about 250,000-350,000 systems per month in Japan) could happen by the end of the year. From a development perspective, publishers who have interests in every region (Square-Enix, Namco, Sega, etc.) will show strong support for the "Worldwide Market Leader" because it maximized their total potential sales.
Other people mean "Regional Market Leader" where the Wii is currently the market leader in Japan, the XBox 360 is the market leader in North America (with an approximate 4 Million system lead) and in the rest of the world (with an approximate 2 Million system lead). This will be far more difficult for the Wii to surpass the XBox 360 but with strong non-holiday season sales and impressive holiday season sales a 4 Million unit lead in North America could disapear in less than 18 months; consider the Nintendo DS sold about 1 Million more units in Q4 of 2006 than the XBox 360 did (just pointing out how many units can be sold, not directly comparing the sales).
By "My History" do you mean that I don't like Sony?
I don't hide it... After having my Sony Wega TV, Sony DVD player, Sony Reciever and 3 PS2 systems die in a given year I really started to dislike them... When I had to fix my sister's computer (the only person I know who buys music) after Sony installed a rootkit on her system I started to hate them... Then I watched them release exploding batteries, sell an overpriced gaming system and use questionable legal tactics to run a legal company out of buisness (lik-sang)...
I understand what you're saying, and I will say that it is quite possible that Blu-Ray will become the dominant format, but I think people need to consider how the UMD format was seen initially
August 8, 2005
Despite a less-than-promising start for Sony's UMD movie format, Americans have now purchased over half a million of the half-dollar-sized discs since its April release, according to one industry estimate. In comparison, the ubiquitous DVD took a year to reach the 500,000 mark back in 1997. There are no formal statistics to show what tops UMD sales charts, but going by Amazon's figures, Sin City leads all other releases by a comfortable margin.
At the Entertainment Media Expo in Hollywood, Sony executives touted the success of their UMD format. The company said it has already sold 9 million games on UMD and 8.2 million movies. Sony is currently producing 200,000 UMDs a day and future capacity is expected to be 500,000 per day. Sony expects videos to account for more than 60 percent of all UMD sales in the a few years, with an expected 130 million UMDs being sold in 2008.
The fact is that gamers bought a handful of UMD movies after they bought their PSP because of the novelty... this didn't stop the format from dying a short period of time later.
Personally, I don't expect either format to die but (at this point in time) I think it is premature to say that the PS3 will lead to the success of the Blu-Ray format.
I'm reasonably doubtful that the PS3 can actually make a format successful on its own... As was demonstrated with the PSP (which, at this point in its life, sold better than the PS3) is that people buy gaming systems to play videogames and movie-playback is a secondary feature. What I am trying to say is that someone who buys a stand alone HD-DVD player or Blu-Ray player is far more likely to buy movies, and will probably buy far more movies, than someone who buys a PS3.
Personally, I am holding off buying a HD-DVD player until christmas because I believe they will be far more reliable and much cheaper. I do not worry about supporting the wrong format because I suspect that in 2009 most HD players will support both formats.
The reason you see exclusive games (beyond the console manufacturer paying for them) is that an exclusive game gets dramatically more press and fan support than a multi-platform game. Every time a (small) piece of information comes out for Metal Gear Solid every major gaming site will have a news story about it; from now until the game becomes multi-platform there will be endless debates on which XBox 360 game is the MGS-Killer.
Basically, you will hit 75%-90% of potential sales of a game on one platform without the added development/testing costs of porting it to another system.
In 2001 you could have made the same argument for the PS2 being "eventually" outsold by the XBox and Gamecube...
The fact is that there is a well knowna cycle for the dominant console "The dominant console sells more units because it has the best games, the best games are only available for the dominant console because it sells more units." There is no talk of graphics, sound, HD or physics because they have (nearly) no impact on the purchasing habits of the general public. The PS3/XBox 360 will have some amazing and pretty games, but (if things continue) the average consumer will ask "why should I spend (PS3 price) on a system for 1/2 games, when the 20 games I want are available for a system that only costs (Wii Price)?"
Remember that Pre-orders for the Wii and XBox 360 were very limited in Europe... if Sony promised to deliver every pre-ordered system they could (easily) have more pre-orders and still sell less units at launch.
I'm not saying this is what is happening, it is just a possibility.
Once the good games start rolling out for the PS3, and people realise that immersive graphics can only improve gaming, then the PS3 will come into its own, and the Wii will look like what it actually is: a great system for kids and people who want the console equivalent of party games. It's an honourable niche to fill.
I must say that "immersive graphics can only improve gaming" is 100% false...
I remember in 2001 and 2002 the XBox fanboys always were showing screenshots of their games claiming that all of these games were AAA+ and were going to crush anything the PS2 had... They were wrong, and most of the games were shit. The fact is that there are very few developers who are successful at producing games that both look good and play well.
Something that a lot of Sony fans miss is that publishers hold the purse strings (and determine what games get made) and the only performance they care about is sales performance. Certainly, the outcome can not be determined after 3 months but (unless something changes soon) things will snowball out of controll and the PS3 will be in serious trouble.
The fact is that (if the Wii continues to sell like it has been) the Wii will be the best selling platform in the World by Christmas 2007, and probably will be the best selling platform in every region by Christmas 2008; if this happens every publisher who has worldwide interests (think every major publisher) will focus on the Wii by Christmas 2007, and every publisher will be focusing on the Wii by Christmas 2008.
You'd be amazed at what can be solved with a minor dust up every once in awhile. Zero tolerance just creates a pressure cooker. In stead of a scuffle and stare down, one side decides to "make it worth it", generally the victim.
And you'd be amazed how one high-status person (read "popular") can completely destroy bullying...
In Elementary/Junior High School I wasn't too popular, but in high-school I became reasonably popular for various reasons. One of my friends (who was more popular than I was) disliked bullying and whenever he saw someone put another person down said "That's not cool"... It took about 1 month before (pretty much) no one in the school would make fun of other people based on what they wore or how they looked...
So I take it when your boss says "Mmmm Yeah, with all the Layoffs we're going to need you to work this weekend to prevent further downsizing" you punch them for attempting to intimidate you?
The fact is that there are appropriate reactions to every encounter, and rarely is the appropriate reaction to use violence (or intimidation) to get your way. Whether you like it or not Zero Tolerance exists because school's are trying to reduce the number of children who are hurt (or killed) because of violent encounters at school; it may sound all great and noble to teach your child to fight back against a bully but remember you're child will (probably) be suspended or expelled because of the action you encouraged.
I remember as a child having to fight back against bullies through most of my education, sometimes I was successful (breaking a nose/jaw) sometimes I wasn't; this was necessary because most schools were of the opinion that "bullies were normal in school"...
Welcome to Zero Tolerance, where even if you're defending yourself you will get into (serious) trouble for a violent encounter...
The fact is whether you realize it or not you will be dealing with bullies for the rest of your life; they may be a co-worker, your boss or even a relative. Rarely (as an adult) is a confrontation an appropriate way to deal with bullies so why should you start to teach your child to deal with it that way; imagine your child being "bullied" by their boss and responding with "Hey bitch, wana go?"...
I'm not saying that it isn't appropriate to teach your children to defend themselves, but fighting is an inappropriate behavior which should be discouraged.
I make factual comments about the stupid Wii and my karma gets bumped down to terrible. WTF! The system is a pathetic excuse for a game console. All the games suck that are out for it. If you took away the crappy tacked on controls they would barely score over a 40/100. If any of those games were on any other systems they would get shot down. "Don't you dare talk about nintendo in a bad way or you will go to hell!" -quote from idiotic nintendo fans.
Please note, your opinion does not count as fact so the statements you're making are not factual comments... Had you said "In my opinion, the system is a pathetic excuse for a game console." people probably would have been a little bit nicer to you...
The only thing I can say that is really fact is that there are lots of people who would disagree with you because the Wii is exactly what they are looking for in a game console; many people are not looking for uber-realism and are just looking for an fun way to spend some time.
Honestly, as much as I'm looking forward to Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl I expect the game that will really define the Wii in 2007 is a game we do not know about and can probably not guess...
If you look at the DS, Nintendo is really good at producing unexpected highly successful franchises; Brain Training, Nintendogs, The New Super Mario Bros and Animal Crossing are all games that (seemed to) came out of no where and have become remarkably large hits on the DS because they appealed to gamers and non-gamers alike.
I wouldn't be too surprised if after E3 (or TGS) there is a game which we couldn't imagine which suddenly becomes remarkably popular...
nobody is going to want to spend years waving around a semi-accurate remote to play games that look like they were written 5 years ago.
and then follow it up with
I keep playing my PS2 because it's a good platform, there are good games, and it looks and sounds better with each new game.
Without considering that (in graphical performance) the Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2 and the Wii is more powerful than the Gamecube. Thus, if you're happy with the graphics of the PS2 currently the Wii should be fine with you.
Now, I realize that this is going to go over some people's head but most people do not play videogames because they have pretty graphics; they play videogames because there is some compelling gameplay dynamic that interests them. The Wii will live or die on Nintendo (and third party developers) ability to create compelling gameplay elements which take advantage of the Wii's unique input device...
Not that I disagree with you about sales not being equal to quality...
Historically, when people have talked about "[Videogame] Killers" the videogame they choose is both highly popular (represented in sales) and critically acclaimed (represented in review scores); games like Halo, Grand Turismo and The Legend of Zelda are typically games where you would use as reference games... that is "Resistance is a Halo Killer", "Ico is a Zelda Killer" or "Project Gothem Racing is a Grand Turismo Killer".
Don't forget that there is also the typical launch problem that all game consoles have...
Most game consoles launch in Q3 or Q4 of a given year and end up with a decent supply of games (for being new systems) because there is value in being the only game of a certain type on a system; its a great opportunity to create a new franchise because far more people will pay attention to 'Red Steel' when it launches with the system as compared to it launching at some arbitrary later date.
Q1-Q2 of the following year launch systems have a great deal of difficulty getting a decent supply of games; it is the typical slow part of a year and there are too few systems released (being that it is a new system) for most developers to release a game.
I would (personally) wait until E3 before I determined whether the Wii was having any problems... I suspect that Nintendo will have some amazing properties and many third party developers will be producing things we wouldn't have expected.
Well... technically speaking you wouldn't need a "Resistance Killer" because Resistance has neither sold well enough (less than a million units) nor reviewed well enough (88% on gamerankings) to be considered the dominant game...
Beyond that, the rest of your post is just a very uneducated troll
Slashdot Mirror
VAGiNA?
When I was younger (back in about 1995 or so) my brother used to have friends who made some money on the side doing "market research" for movies. Essentially there were a couple dozen people in my city who would be mailed pre-released movies every week and would be expected to watch them and give feedback in order for places like blockbuster/rodgers video to know how many movies to order; they weren't expected to return the movies but (being that they were pre-release) they were not allowed to throw away the movies for awhile. This worked out great for me because it meant that I was able to borrow movies rather than rent them and the only drawback was the occasional "If you bought this movie contact the FBI" message (or whatever it was) scrolling across the screen.
I'm sure the ESRB could probably find thousands of trustworthy (sorry most slashdotters) people who would be happy to recieve free games and systems in exchange for a content review.
I have also been a console/PC gamer for a very long time and I would say that I already see the end of the constant upgrade cycle for PCs ...
I'm not saying it is going to happen tomorow, but I suspect that if you bought a top of the line system that it would take several years before you could no longer meet the minimum requirements of new games. Another thing I noticed is that there are Millions of people who are playing World of Warcraft, which is a 2 year old game that wasn't that (graphically) impressive when it was new, and no one complains about how ugly it is.
As long as it doesn't break compatibility why would it matter?
I suspect Nintendo will be changing the system dramatically to lower-cost (65nm process in 2007, 45nm process in 2008), minor upgrades (2/4 GB built in flash), and make it more pleasant looking.
I don't run vista so I really don't know, but ...
I suspect that any performance improvements in Vista were soon eaten up by added overhead elsewhere. Something I've noticed with Windows (since Windows 95) is that with every 'upgrade' Microsoft decides to run more stuff in the background for no real gain and I imagine that vista is no different.
Well, it depends on what people mean when they say the Wii will become the "Market Leader" ...
Some people mean "Worldwide Market Leader" which (if you consider the Wii is outselling the XBox 360 by about 250,000-350,000 systems per month in Japan) could happen by the end of the year. From a development perspective, publishers who have interests in every region (Square-Enix, Namco, Sega, etc.) will show strong support for the "Worldwide Market Leader" because it maximized their total potential sales.
Other people mean "Regional Market Leader" where the Wii is currently the market leader in Japan, the XBox 360 is the market leader in North America (with an approximate 4 Million system lead) and in the rest of the world (with an approximate 2 Million system lead). This will be far more difficult for the Wii to surpass the XBox 360 but with strong non-holiday season sales and impressive holiday season sales a 4 Million unit lead in North America could disapear in less than 18 months; consider the Nintendo DS sold about 1 Million more units in Q4 of 2006 than the XBox 360 did (just pointing out how many units can be sold, not directly comparing the sales).
I meant, in less than a year rather than in a given year
By "My History" do you mean that I don't like Sony?
... ... ... ...
I don't hide it
After having my Sony Wega TV, Sony DVD player, Sony Reciever and 3 PS2 systems die in a given year I really started to dislike them
When I had to fix my sister's computer (the only person I know who buys music) after Sony installed a rootkit on her system I started to hate them
Then I watched them release exploding batteries, sell an overpriced gaming system and use questionable legal tactics to run a legal company out of buisness (lik-sang)
August 8, 2005
link
Aug 31, 2005
link
The fact is that gamers bought a handful of UMD movies after they bought their PSP because of the novelty
Personally, I don't expect either format to die but (at this point in time) I think it is premature to say that the PS3 will lead to the success of the Blu-Ray format.
I'm reasonably doubtful that the PS3 can actually make a format successful on its own ... As was demonstrated with the PSP (which, at this point in its life, sold better than the PS3) is that people buy gaming systems to play videogames and movie-playback is a secondary feature. What I am trying to say is that someone who buys a stand alone HD-DVD player or Blu-Ray player is far more likely to buy movies, and will probably buy far more movies, than someone who buys a PS3.
Personally, I am holding off buying a HD-DVD player until christmas because I believe they will be far more reliable and much cheaper. I do not worry about supporting the wrong format because I suspect that in 2009 most HD players will support both formats.
The reason you see exclusive games (beyond the console manufacturer paying for them) is that an exclusive game gets dramatically more press and fan support than a multi-platform game. Every time a (small) piece of information comes out for Metal Gear Solid every major gaming site will have a news story about it; from now until the game becomes multi-platform there will be endless debates on which XBox 360 game is the MGS-Killer.
Basically, you will hit 75%-90% of potential sales of a game on one platform without the added development/testing costs of porting it to another system.
In 2001 you could have made the same argument for the PS2 being "eventually" outsold by the XBox and Gamecube ...
The fact is that there is a well knowna cycle for the dominant console "The dominant console sells more units because it has the best games, the best games are only available for the dominant console because it sells more units." There is no talk of graphics, sound, HD or physics because they have (nearly) no impact on the purchasing habits of the general public. The PS3/XBox 360 will have some amazing and pretty games, but (if things continue) the average consumer will ask "why should I spend (PS3 price) on a system for 1/2 games, when the 20 games I want are available for a system that only costs (Wii Price)?"
Remember that Pre-orders for the Wii and XBox 360 were very limited in Europe ... if Sony promised to deliver every pre-ordered system they could (easily) have more pre-orders and still sell less units at launch.
I'm not saying this is what is happening, it is just a possibility.
I must say that "immersive graphics can only improve gaming" is 100% false
I remember in 2001 and 2002 the XBox fanboys always were showing screenshots of their games claiming that all of these games were AAA+ and were going to crush anything the PS2 had
Something that a lot of Sony fans miss is that publishers hold the purse strings (and determine what games get made) and the only performance they care about is sales performance. Certainly, the outcome can not be determined after 3 months but (unless something changes soon) things will snowball out of controll and the PS3 will be in serious trouble.
The fact is that (if the Wii continues to sell like it has been) the Wii will be the best selling platform in the World by Christmas 2007, and probably will be the best selling platform in every region by Christmas 2008; if this happens every publisher who has worldwide interests (think every major publisher) will focus on the Wii by Christmas 2007, and every publisher will be focusing on the Wii by Christmas 2008.
And you'd be amazed how one high-status person (read "popular") can completely destroy bullying
In Elementary/Junior High School I wasn't too popular, but in high-school I became reasonably popular for various reasons. One of my friends (who was more popular than I was) disliked bullying and whenever he saw someone put another person down said "That's not cool"
So I take it when your boss says "Mmmm Yeah, with all the Layoffs we're going to need you to work this weekend to prevent further downsizing" you punch them for attempting to intimidate you?
...
The fact is that there are appropriate reactions to every encounter, and rarely is the appropriate reaction to use violence (or intimidation) to get your way. Whether you like it or not Zero Tolerance exists because school's are trying to reduce the number of children who are hurt (or killed) because of violent encounters at school; it may sound all great and noble to teach your child to fight back against a bully but remember you're child will (probably) be suspended or expelled because of the action you encouraged.
I remember as a child having to fight back against bullies through most of my education, sometimes I was successful (breaking a nose/jaw) sometimes I wasn't; this was necessary because most schools were of the opinion that "bullies were normal in school"
Welcome to Zero Tolerance, where even if you're defending yourself you will get into (serious) trouble for a violent encounter ...
...
The fact is whether you realize it or not you will be dealing with bullies for the rest of your life; they may be a co-worker, your boss or even a relative. Rarely (as an adult) is a confrontation an appropriate way to deal with bullies so why should you start to teach your child to deal with it that way; imagine your child being "bullied" by their boss and responding with "Hey bitch, wana go?"
I'm not saying that it isn't appropriate to teach your children to defend themselves, but fighting is an inappropriate behavior which should be discouraged.
Please note, your opinion does not count as fact so the statements you're making are not factual comments
The only thing I can say that is really fact is that there are lots of people who would disagree with you because the Wii is exactly what they are looking for in a game console; many people are not looking for uber-realism and are just looking for an fun way to spend some time.
Come to Calgary ... We have all the French-hating English people
Honestly, as much as I'm looking forward to Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl I expect the game that will really define the Wii in 2007 is a game we do not know about and can probably not guess ...
...
If you look at the DS, Nintendo is really good at producing unexpected highly successful franchises; Brain Training, Nintendogs, The New Super Mario Bros and Animal Crossing are all games that (seemed to) came out of no where and have become remarkably large hits on the DS because they appealed to gamers and non-gamers alike.
I wouldn't be too surprised if after E3 (or TGS) there is a game which we couldn't imagine which suddenly becomes remarkably popular
and then follow it up with
Without considering that (in graphical performance) the Gamecube was more powerful than the PS2 and the Wii is more powerful than the Gamecube. Thus, if you're happy with the graphics of the PS2 currently the Wii should be fine with you.
Now, I realize that this is going to go over some people's head but most people do not play videogames because they have pretty graphics; they play videogames because there is some compelling gameplay dynamic that interests them. The Wii will live or die on Nintendo (and third party developers) ability to create compelling gameplay elements which take advantage of the Wii's unique input device
Not that I disagree with you about sales not being equal to quality ...
... that is "Resistance is a Halo Killer", "Ico is a Zelda Killer" or "Project Gothem Racing is a Grand Turismo Killer".
Historically, when people have talked about "[Videogame] Killers" the videogame they choose is both highly popular (represented in sales) and critically acclaimed (represented in review scores); games like Halo, Grand Turismo and The Legend of Zelda are typically games where you would use as reference games
Don't forget that there is also the typical launch problem that all game consoles have ...
... I suspect that Nintendo will have some amazing properties and many third party developers will be producing things we wouldn't have expected.
Most game consoles launch in Q3 or Q4 of a given year and end up with a decent supply of games (for being new systems) because there is value in being the only game of a certain type on a system; its a great opportunity to create a new franchise because far more people will pay attention to 'Red Steel' when it launches with the system as compared to it launching at some arbitrary later date.
Q1-Q2 of the following year launch systems have a great deal of difficulty getting a decent supply of games; it is the typical slow part of a year and there are too few systems released (being that it is a new system) for most developers to release a game.
I would (personally) wait until E3 before I determined whether the Wii was having any problems
Well ... technically speaking you wouldn't need a "Resistance Killer" because Resistance has neither sold well enough (less than a million units) nor reviewed well enough (88% on gamerankings) to be considered the dominant game ...
Beyond that, the rest of your post is just a very uneducated troll