Well, that's the trick, 'eh? These add-ons will most certainly affect what games you can play. HD-DVD games? As companies realize they need to port 20 gb PS3 games? HDD? Already limits the field of 360s slightly.
This can be handled to some extent, because everyone can add-on these features, but it can intimidate buyers. Looking around the accesories, the hard drive add-on, the wifi addon, the hi capacity optical add-on, it's expensive, and you don't know if you need it.
IF the PS3 is $350 by the time these devices hit the shelves, there will be a much less confusing option: get the system that comes with all the cool stuff. It feels fully loaded, and it looks fully loaded. A Honda Civic can be upgraded to perform like a BMW, and it generally costs more by the time you're done. A BMW is a simpler choice, and though you have no choice but to buy all the expensive parts that come standard, this certainly about what you get lends a lot of prestige to the brand.
With 400$ consoles, being electronics with all those scary wires, a lot of folks will go for the system that always works with all it's platform's games, always plays the HD movies, always works with wi-fi and all the other stupid stuff.
The PS3 doesn't beat the 360 as things are now. 360's got the games, period. But if we see a bunch of disparate 360 systems that do not always work well together (this is microsoft, they can't even get their own machines to work reliably), the PS3 is going to look a lot more appealing.
I'm pulling this out of my ass, of course. I think if MS is smart they will keep all games on DVDs (the HDD disparity is pretty minimal), and this problem can be somewhat avoided. But MS loves differentiation. They love hitting every single price point they can, even to the detriment of consumer confidence. This new Vista, Office, etc, all share this attempt to gouge for little features that should be basic and in common. Has MS learned that's a bad move? Nope.
The main that is so bad about that is that the American dollar is weak right now, and frankly will get weaker as we fight this war and our government cleverly exploits the weak dollar to cheapen the US debt load and increase our leverage against China.
Every PS3 Sony sells in Europe of Japan means more profits relative to every PS3 sold in the US. Especially considering future game sales.
You and I both prefer the 360. That's not to say that Sony might not be losing to Microsoft quite as badly as sheer numbers indicate. And you have the right outlook: who cares who wins as long as you have what you want.
I like your idea about Sega coming back. Sounds really cool, though you're right it isn't possible in the near future. In fact, if MS does what I think they want to do, it may become even more difficult to compete in this market.
I honestly think it's absurd that Microsoft will exit the console arena. They more likely will try something very innovative: letting several companies make compatible living room media centers running Microsoft software and relying on a subscription based XBOX live. It actually makes some sense, because a lot of people will want to download movies and such, and this could be priced to compete with Netflix. Games too, that work based on your Direct X equivalent level, could be sold to those who want them. Microsoft has millions of XBOX owners out there, and a ton of excellent games, and even if they haven't recouped their investment, they would not want to destroy what they have built.
This was always about dominating the living room. Sony would never try to just put software on 100 different brands of playstation, but MS pioneers such a model. I don't want MS to win, I don't like subscription models, but MS could very well have the vision to make something very successful here.
Also, Sony made the PSX, which is a playstation 2+DVR media center. Had the first XMB system, too.
It was a huge flop, but this might not be. If I were to buy another XBOX, I would avoid a Microsoft built one if other manufacturers were known to make these in a more reliable form.
Thing is, Isn't the PS3 able to be a DVR with a minor upgrade? I think Sony is just waiting on that to keep the Media companies in bed with Blu Ray, but this might push Sony to get that DVR attachment out faster.
Also, if the XBOX is really getting cheaper to make, then Microsoft is again forfeiting a lot of profits by not making these on its own. They paid for all the loss leader models, and now Toshiba gets to sell all the profitable ones? Strange move. But I'm sure it makes sense from the HD DVD side of things. MS is, yet again, trying to screw with Sony.
I prefer my 360 a lot. In spite of RROD (more than half the 360 owners I know have had one or more), in spite of the online fees, in spite of MS being the very paradigm of an uncool corporation, the 360 offers more fun than any other game console. But I sure do not want to see MS win the console wars to the extent that they become the defacto system you must own to play the best games.
If they do, you can believe that MS will get every penny they spent killing Sony out of our pcokets. We will pay heftier subscriptions and have forced upgrades. Viable systems will be obsolete by plan. Just like Windows. Sometimes that seems impossible to ever occur, and sometimes it seems inevitable.
Of course, this isn't just MS's fault, they're a brainless profit machine and the chairmen have their fiduciary duties. But Sony could have fought a better battle and instead blew their chances with glorious arrogance. I hope 2008 proves that Sony can fight harder by giving me some real games.
It would have been much easier to just add in a little "This is a low security file format, are you sure it is safe?" window instead of turning off teh entire functionality.
That's huge. I might use an old computer with old file formats, but MS won't let my work transfer to my new computer now if I update. That's freaking unacceptable. Office is supposed to aid my productivity, not look extremely pretty and make life miserable. There's a reason I uninstalled office 2007 and went back to 2003. I need to be able to work on several different systems. I need commonality to be effective.
Same reason I didn't buy that BMW I test drove a year ago. It had an awesome idrive thing, but it's too unlike other cars, and I'm getting older and don't want to relearn all this BS. I like buttons (the dealer went on about how the idrive took 200 buttons and reduced it to one button). The best way isn't always strictly the best way. Gotta have some damn sense. BMWs are ugly now anyway.
Office beat Word Perfect and others because it simply was the best product out there. MS makes the very best, and when they dominate, they don't anymore. They fight so hard when they need to, but when they don't they actually take steps that make their products less useful.
Like you say, a lot of that is monolithic corporate confusion. But this isn't. MS just made me need to either upgrade my old shit or avoid this update. Some people, I guarantee you, will buy new software thanks to this inconvenience and MS's subtle attack on their security (mildly stated: if you open attachments from strangers, you require a different level of security than I).
MS just made probably 1 million dollars. They let me turn off my firewall, that's an option. They let me delete boot.ini, that's an option too. They do not let me use the compatibility with old software they already programmed in to my office suite. Not an option. For security. I call shenanigans.
Agreed. The PS3 could be marketed as a value, but it's marketed in too abstract a fashion. They try to tell you about all the things it can do, but fall on their face trying too look super cool.
That said, my 360 is on more often because it's got better games. I still like the PS3 more, band I have spent less on PS3 when you factor everything in.
The PS3 is very cool and full of neat little surprised you can play with. Themes, Ubuntu, remote play, streaming, it's all done very smoothly and I bet you're having a blast. I know few people who regret that PS3, and I hope you have fun with it. But I still think the 360 is the better system to purchase just because it's got better content. You pay more for the 360, a lot more probably, but it's got better games.
I don't know if that will be true after gt5, MGS4, and FF13 come out. But right now the 360 is better, and the market will always be close enough that every great third party game will probably be ported. Looking at the way Konami is talking, saying they must sell 1 million MGS4 discs on day one, sounds like they are inventing an excuse to port MGS4 in a year or so to the 360. IF MGS4 ports, then I really think that's an omen that all third party games will be ported in both directions. It's just too damn expensive to make these games (how long has the 300 person MGS4 team been working on this game? 3 years?).
Enjoy your slick system, man. A PS3 is a kick-ass christmas. I encourage you to get a PSP if you lack one, and definitely get the Eye. It's the little tech things that make this system cool, even in the absence of games I expected to be out by now.
Open Office opens all these files? I guess it does; I haven't used it for a long time.
IF so, this makes Open Office a lot more valuable to an MS Office user.
MS is doing this on purpose, to harm competitors. I guess I sound paranoid, but it's just the way MS fights. I am so inclined to favor a successful American business that has made a few nice innovations, but MS will fight with these judo moves that help them slightly and make life a bit more frustrating for their consumers. Dos and windows TOOK OFF because they worked with a zillion things. Anything you wanted there was a version made for an MS PC. Not any longer. Now media player, search functions, office applications are built in ways that incorporate too closely with the operating system.
MS is reaching too far. If they pulled back and made a great OS that was easy to make aps for, I think they'd do fine. The best solution is to break MS up into an OFfice suite company, an OS company, and a electronics company Zune, xbox, keyboards. I think all three would produce better products as a result.
DRM and Copy Protection Schemes are cancer. My opinion, but no DRM ain't cancer, at least a great deal of the time. Insofar as I'm not allowed to backup my own physical media and use it how I want, yeah, it's a violation of my property rights (in my opinion).
Insofar as they protect content that is 'rented' temporarily, streamed or downloaded, DRM is gold. Insofar as they protect my right to sell my art without assholes taking it and giving it away fro free (or charging money for it, though this is uncommon in the US), DRM is gold.
I like being able to watch shows and hear music for free on the internet, and without DRM, I'm not going to get the opportunity as much.
Hacking the wii is a cool thing to do, and I think just fiddling with electronics is a worthy opportunity in and of itself. Insofar as these guys are going to steal Gamecube games, etc etc, I hope Nintendo does as Sony does, and fights back. The richer Nintendo and Sony get, the more stuff my family gets to enjoy.
So I don't think DRM is cancer, it's a tool. If misused, it's bad. But that's not the DRM's fault. (guns don't kill people, etc).
none taken, pal. This is the internet, after all. But I swear I'm not kidding. I was shocked that the laptop had only cosmetic damage. I also left a pen on the keyboard and a friend slammed the screen shut. The hinged closed, but there was a bulge. I was so angry, but the little discoloration effect on the LCD went away after 15 minutes.
The CD drive doesn't stay locked in anymore, I think because of the fall I mentioned, and this machine does not look new, but it works, and it did drop that far and fall down some steps at a parking garage. I would have a hard time believing a laptop is that durable too, but this thing really is a magic combo durable and lightweight enough not to fall too hard.
There are many applications that are much faster on the PS3 in ubuntu than they are on my Pentium M 1.63 ghz. Number crunching stuff, mainly.
I should add that it's cool to surf the internet tubes from the couch, etc, though my laptop dock hooks to my TV and that's what I use. For some, I bet the idea of emulating thousands of old nintendo and mame games on the TV from a couch is attractive (I just use the PC for this too).
In short, there are a lot of reasons to run linux on the PS3, and I guarantee hundreds of thousands of people got their first taste of linux this way. It's just cool. Ever tinker with a ocmputer when you were little? I used to program in basic on a crappy TI99. I used to take apart VCRs. The PS3 is cool in that way: it does things that are interesting, though not specifically meant to be fun.
The 360 has the best games by far, and frankly I use ot more, but the PS3 is the system I like the most. It's just cool to be able to install an OS or watch it fold proteins or whatever. That bowling game is as good as wiisports (an opinion) and the camera games are pretty awesome.
My time usage says I prefer Gears, Portal, Halo, but I know If I had to choose I'd choose the PS3 anyway. Hard to explain why I guess.
You say the PSN blows chunks. You are correct, it's crap. I'm guessing Sony is holding, like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, for Home. It's frustrating (it was in the movie too). The PS3 has some amazing games coming out next year, we all know it. And the numbers are getting so close that we should also know that most games will be on both platforms eventually.
But games totally aside, I 100% understand why the PS3 is used for so many non gaming applications. It's fun to have unnecessary capabilities, and there aren't that many cool games out for it.
Fair enough. I know that there's no way a large screened machine will ever compete with a small screened one, but thinkpads can have large batteries. And getting a new battery isn't too expensive if it keeps you truckin'
This thing only lasts for 3 hours. My old thinkpad also lasts about that long on its new battery. I thought it was obvious I was aware that old laptops die fast by noting I'd get a new battery.
This thing is too small to have a large battery. I'm sure it's very efficient and makes the most of what it's got. My thinkpad, on the other hand, was dropped four feet onto concrete and tumbled down a few stairs and still works fine. And I spilled a coke in it a long time ago.
I do like this new machine, I just wonder, if you don't need the speed of a modern laptop, why not go for an old one? But in my opinion, the keyboard is the most important feature of a laptop, by far far far. So I'm a bit biased against this thing.
please show me these proclamations from the "neo-con movement".
I don't think you'll find many fundamentalists who are neo-cons. You're using a label instead of debating the merits. You're trying to stigmatize a term to use it in demagoguery.
We all should accept that Jack Thompson is a censor, and does not understand individual liberty. I imagine any neo-cons out there accept that. I believe it would be much better to just condemn the specific bullshit Thompson is proposing, whether proposed by a liberal, conservative, anarchist, satanist, botanist, or arsonist.
After all, the loudest mouth in censorship was Tipper Gore for a long time, and Hillary Clinton has been one of the most, if not the most prominent voice in that direction lately. Is the neo-con tent so big as to accept those two? If not, is there something about neo-cons that makes their deeds worse or is it something about Tipper Gore that makes hers better?
I think we're all being turned against each other. People are voting against the other political party like it's a contest for a trophy. People aren't listing or thinking about what candidates are proposing, they are checking to see what alliance the candidate belongs to.
Which is horrible for society. Surely, Jack Thompson really wants you and I to hate each other if our politics are a bit different so we have a harder time arguing against him. Moonbats will label Thompson a neo-con and neo-cons will justifiably ignore the attempted attack. And vice versa. I could easily call Thompson a Hillary follower.
Would make more sense to be a little more specific.
Neoconservatism is a hybrid of liberalism and conservatism. It's a pragmatic and moderate approach, by design. Neo-con != Zionist. And there are virtually no neo-cons working for the president anymore. Colin Powell was a neo-con. Jack Thompson is a populist gasbag plain-old conservative.
Precisely, if Lenovo came out with some sort of new thing the thinkpad brand would likely skyrocket for a little while too.
My real question is: what can I do with this that I cannot do with a $250 used thinkpad, a can of air, and a new battery? Thinkpad is cheaper, has a better everything, and I can actually type on it without shrinking my hands. I guess this eee is a lot smaller and doesn't smell like cabbage yet.
Love the idea of this computer, but the cheapskates have always had the refuge of obsolete computers.
Dude, nintendo is totally trying to do as I recommend., they're just doing it late. If they had built these plants years ago, things would be much better and cheaper for them now.
Your comment is just flamebait. I don't even think you understand what you are trying to say. Are you saying that unless I run a huge company, my ideas are wrong? If so, you're irrational. And a fanboy. Apparently you admit being a "huge" Sega and Sony fanboy and now are Nintendo fanboy-like, at the least. What kind of a weirdo is a fan of a console maker?
Tell me, how much money is nintendo making right now? Hint, less than Sony and MS are. the PS3 and 360 are merely part of larger strategies for those other companies. They both want to dominate the hugely lucrative potential living room download market. They are playing a much bigger game.
Nintendo is doing fine, sure. I know they are making money. But there is serious room for improvement.
To your kind, it's all about throwing personal insults and believing in your authority figures. Arguments from authority are flawed, though, and Nintendo has suffered so much for its stupidity in the past. I think the best proof that you're full of fanboy mentality is that you would not tell a Sony critic that he needs to "shut the fuck up" even though Sony is very successful and is selling more home consoles worldwide than any other company if you add the PS2 and PS3. You won't say "unless you are personally as successful as Sony, then shut up". But you'll say that about Nintendo. Typical stupid follower.
Why is there a playstation brand? Because Nintendo acted like it was too good to maintain its dealings with Sony and follow the advice of Square. Sony proceeded to make more money on the first two playstations than nintendo has made in all its operations combined. Nintendo abused its third party programmers, and you see the scars even today on the wii.
Sony has been the biggest dolt lately, but generally in the same way Nintendo was 5-10 years ago. Nintendo may be a lot nicer now that it got it's clocked cleaned by Sony for 15 years, but they are still waaaayyyyyyy too inflexible. They have enough wiis to satisfy the entire market, but most of them are sitting on shelves collecting dust in the wrong places like Denmark. Reason #1 is region coding. A dumb idea that Nintendo clings to.
Mark my words, Nintendo could have sold 50 - 100% more wiis by now. And this next year will see cheaper PS3s and finally some great PS3 games. PLaystation 2 owners are late adopters (their first DVD player was usually the PS2, 4 years after the DVD player was mass produced), and a very high proportion of XBOX 360 owners were XBOX 1.0 owners, so the vast majority of this generation's adoption rate has yet to occur. PS2 owners are more likely to get a wii than a 360, but a lot of them haven't been able to or are unwilling to pay the scalper tax. Nintendo is being cheered, and rightfully their product is excellent, but they've blown a large part of their opportunity. They just haven't gotten to market fast enough.
Is Sony going to pull through? Who knows, but they are grateful Nintendo was too stupid to suck up more PS2 owners. Sony will get millions of buyers they otherwise would not get.
I don't know why I bother trying to explain obvious stuff to crazies. Nintendo, Apple, Honda, etc, make nice stuff, but that doesn't mean there aren't weak links in those companies. If you critique those links, some moron will come out of the woodwork to show his loyalty to a mere company.
A two year old Jetta is less reliable than an eight year old Camry, according to Consumer Reports anyway. But my anecdotal observations among friends bear this out.
Jettas are sexier than Camrys, sure. Just get the extended warranty I suppose.
As far as the machine goes, there is nothing practical about buying a ready built desktop. It's trivially easy to assemble your own cheap box, and many parts can be used for decades.
Vista may be inferior to the Mac OS, but XP is better when you consider the software you can use with it. What does iLife do that there isn't a nice freeware app out there for?
wiifit is a great initiative. If the wii's demographic is truly different than traditional games, this thing could be very successful.
I use a playstation 2 game, Yourself Fitness, (that is also out on Xbox 1.0 and PC), and I've had great success. It accommodates weights, yoga ball, step, pulse monitor, basically crap I had in my closet, and varies the exercise and keeps track of progress. Instead of standing over a scale, it tracks how many push-ups I can do. But I have lost 30 pounds in about a year, and I'm thinner. I can't say enough about this software.
Apparently they got the shit sued out of them by a patent troll, but if you can get a copy, it's 100x times better than workout video.
I like all these ideas. Considering how well workout videos and junk do, I'm shocked that these programs aren't more prevalent out there. Should be bundled in with the system to placate worried parents and spouses. We're in the middle of a health crisis, and while games are much better than TV, they could be much better.
You're wrong. The distinction is actually quite important. When you lie about someone in voice, your body language, etc, can make the lie less powerful. You can see if the seaker is pissed, and often far fewer people hear the lie. The lie doesn't usually persist, but must be recalled. It's not as bad. Even on TV, it's less likely to be recorded and repeated (and if it isn, there are machinisms for calculating damages).
When you write something, you are making a permanent record. You're preserving a fact about someone that could be around for 100 years. It's harder to delete, it's harder to ignore, it's harder to forget. No indications of your tone to see if you're pissed or joking. Your statement will be taken at face value.
Thus, Libel is more serious, usually, than Slander. There are exceptions to that, but the distinction is valid.
It's not half as good. It's not quite as good, I agree, but so many people out there do not like multiplayer games. I'm not one, but there's a lot of folks out there who just aren't into that, or who lack decent internet. You make a very solid point about the lack of new songs, but perhaps they will release expansion discs.
And with 100 million playstation 2s out there, obviously this is probably a well made version (not that you argued otherwise).
The PS2 is still the best console to buy right now, if you don't have one. And it's still getting top notch new games. Truly shows that it's all about the games and not entirely about the graphics. Amazing to see which companies learned from the PS2 and which did not.
Still, if you've got a PS2, this is a great game to buy. Why invest $500 in a new console? Buy one in five years when the good games are cheap. I wish I had the willpower to do that.
Only reality is playing along with my theory. After all, look at the top of your web browser where the headline appears.
Stores are not happy with selling wiis just for 4$. It's worth the risk, at least to some, to sell them far away from the games.
That's reality.
You're the one relying on anecdotes. It's Christmas. People are grabbing all the crap they can right now, so yeah, the carts are often full. Sure, I realize most folks probably buy more games initially than I (though with the wii, I bet most folks so as I did). The 100s of millions of console owners out there buy dozens of games per system, most years after the initial purchase, so where you get your games means more than where you get your console in the grand scheme.
It is utterly impossible to assume otherwise. Especially in situations like this, where you do not go to your favorite store to find a wii, you go to wherever you think will have one (often your least favorite low traffic store).
Lastly, what is it about trolls and fisking? It's not hard to come up with your own argument structure.
I understand where you're coming from. In fact, I'm good friends with a lawyer who has some sort of involvement with some sort of litigation relating to that, and idle conversations have really got me ticked at Circuit City for being so cruel to those who built the chain...
but when I shopped at Circuit City a few years ago, it sucked. Inattentive salepeople who didn't know crap except that I need to buy crap I don't need. I went there a month ago, and same story.
I don't think the firings had a major effect on quality of the shopping experience.
And people out there: you cannot rely on loyalty. Make yourself more valuable with education or investing in your own ideas or something like that. If it's cheaper to fire you than to keep you, you may very well be fired, even if that's a violation of basic ethics. Shareholders are god to these corporations. Your happiness does not appear anywhere on quarterly profit reports. If you have 23 years experience in retail, unless you are some sort of amazing salesperson, that's not enough to protect your family's livelihood. Go to school or start a business. Or something. Have loyalty to yourself, and expect your employer to have the same.
First, Nintendo is not running their biz the way they want to. They're desperately trying to increase supply because the situation right now with scalpers is money Nintendo could have had. They are throwing tons of money into getting plants running fast because they recognize they miscalculated.
Second, the shortages are because demand is high and supply is not. Two reasons.
Your other points are not logically related to your conclusions. You say that you bought a wii, and therefore it's not true that scalpers are buying the vast majority of these systems to sell again. You're wrong. It's hard to decipher what you mean by "Too bad for anyone who's waited until Christmas to buy one really. Not Nintendo's market." You realize this means at least some people are buying more expensive competitors? Or PS2s? Or bicycles? Parents who have a tree to stuff presents under will buy something else if they cannot get a wii. That's simply a fact. You say it's too bad for them. Obviously it's also bad for nintendo. A lot of the people the wiis would have been bought for like video games. Is that surprising? What do you think a lot of them are going to get instead? PS2s PS3s, 360s. That means fewer wii games sold next year.
Nintendo could be making much more money if they had planned correctly. They've been struggling to build all these new plants, when many told them to build them a few years ago. They could be selling bundled wiis and normal wiis side by side, and they'd both sell out, but Nintendo would make far more money.
Sony is outselling the wii outside North America, when you consider their entire line. Plus Sony has survived a multibillion dollar blu-ray investment that is worth more than everything Nintendo does, all put together. Folks counted the PS3 out last year when Sony made dumb decision after dumb decision, but Sony's really starting to get their act together. They might have written off the US, partly due to the weak dollar and partly out of realism that they cannot win, but in the rest of the world, they will be making a hell of a lot of money.
The end of the line though is that Sony and Nintendo are only tangentially competing. Their products are similar, but not very similar. Like Minivans and Sports cars. Nintendo and Sony are both doing a pretty good job right now. You have to realize that Sony has to outclass Microsoft, so they had no choice but to make a bells and whistle media center. Idiots on the internet say otherwise, but it would have been suicide to come out with a system inferior to the 360. Microsoft already is being quite ruthless and won't stop. That's why the 360 is the best system to get right now.
Nintendo is desperately trying to get on the ball. They are certainly not on it right now. Demand should not be this much higher than supply for this long. It's a great product, but Nintendo is a team, and the wii's design only came from one part of it, and some parts of that team are not doing the best job. If nintendo had reacted quickly enough, there would be millions more wiis in living rooms right now. If Nintendo had initially priced the wii higher, the demand would still have been very high, and they could have funded more factories and sold far more, and lowered the price.
People who think the price is at the right place do not understand economics. The hype isn't worth this price (which is about a 1 billions $).
Really? I've got at least 200 PS2, PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii games sitting in this binder in front of me.
I bought four total with a console purchase. I got my PS3 at a Sony Style store and have never made another purchase there. The wii I found at Toys R Us and I've never been in the store again. The 360 and PS2 I bought at Fry's, and I probably got a game or two there over the years, but the store would have made the same profit had they not sold the systems (that are easy to get). Almost all my game purchases are online. And that's going to get more and more true int he next ten years. Why stock the next gen system if all content is downloaded? I wonder what will happen to Gamestop...
So yeah, most people are going to buy a wii and leave, or at least are going to buy a very limited amount of stuff and leave.
Oh, and wii sports is the sole reason for buying the wii for a great many people. You'd have to be pretty obtuse not to see that. Of course there are people who got a wii for that gamecube zelda game or for the new metroid, but most folks just wanted wiisports. Just like Mario and Duck Hunt were the real games people were thinking about playing when they got their NES. Are other wii games oging to sell? hell yeah they are, now that the wiis are getting out there, but you really get all you need with wiisports and one other game that happens to include the other controller. So some stores really aren't getting much out of stocking the wii. Nintendo is and has always been a ruthless company with terrific ideas. They do not care about the retailers out there, and perhaps they shouldn't.
These companies are stocking the wii because they have to, not because they want to. At least it's not wasting much shelf space!
I'm not criticizing nintendo. I'm just accepting that where I got my console had no impact on 99% of my game purchases.
No they are not doing everything they can. They are not playing by the rules of nature. They need to ration them out fairly, that means making them more expensive. Nintendo obviously ought to keep selling some wiis at the current price, and also sell a siginifiant majority of wiis at a much hgiher price, in a bundle of some kind. Throw a DS in there, throw in four nuncucks and wiimotes, throw in 150$ of nintendo credit on their online games, throw in several games.
It's better service to customers if they can choose to pay as much as they are willing to for the nintendo. Way things are now, the low priced ones are so radically below market that scalpers are grabbing them. That sucks for the consumer, because he's goign to have a harder time with warranties, service, availability, and even fraud from crappy scalpers.
nintendo really is hurting their customers quite a lot. All they have to do is throw in a light gun, ddr pad, several wiimotes, and three games. We all remember when they did this with the NES. That stuff sells too, but Nintendo can sell it for $500 today. It would help a lot.
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Well, that's the trick, 'eh? These add-ons will most certainly affect what games you can play. HD-DVD games? As companies realize they need to port 20 gb PS3 games? HDD? Already limits the field of 360s slightly.
This can be handled to some extent, because everyone can add-on these features, but it can intimidate buyers. Looking around the accesories, the hard drive add-on, the wifi addon, the hi capacity optical add-on, it's expensive, and you don't know if you need it.
IF the PS3 is $350 by the time these devices hit the shelves, there will be a much less confusing option: get the system that comes with all the cool stuff. It feels fully loaded, and it looks fully loaded. A Honda Civic can be upgraded to perform like a BMW, and it generally costs more by the time you're done. A BMW is a simpler choice, and though you have no choice but to buy all the expensive parts that come standard, this certainly about what you get lends a lot of prestige to the brand.
With 400$ consoles, being electronics with all those scary wires, a lot of folks will go for the system that always works with all it's platform's games, always plays the HD movies, always works with wi-fi and all the other stupid stuff.
The PS3 doesn't beat the 360 as things are now. 360's got the games, period. But if we see a bunch of disparate 360 systems that do not always work well together (this is microsoft, they can't even get their own machines to work reliably), the PS3 is going to look a lot more appealing.
I'm pulling this out of my ass, of course. I think if MS is smart they will keep all games on DVDs (the HDD disparity is pretty minimal), and this problem can be somewhat avoided. But MS loves differentiation. They love hitting every single price point they can, even to the detriment of consumer confidence. This new Vista, Office, etc, all share this attempt to gouge for little features that should be basic and in common. Has MS learned that's a bad move? Nope.
The main that is so bad about that is that the American dollar is weak right now, and frankly will get weaker as we fight this war and our government cleverly exploits the weak dollar to cheapen the US debt load and increase our leverage against China.
Every PS3 Sony sells in Europe of Japan means more profits relative to every PS3 sold in the US. Especially considering future game sales.
You and I both prefer the 360. That's not to say that Sony might not be losing to Microsoft quite as badly as sheer numbers indicate. And you have the right outlook: who cares who wins as long as you have what you want.
I like your idea about Sega coming back. Sounds really cool, though you're right it isn't possible in the near future. In fact, if MS does what I think they want to do, it may become even more difficult to compete in this market.
I honestly think it's absurd that Microsoft will exit the console arena. They more likely will try something very innovative: letting several companies make compatible living room media centers running Microsoft software and relying on a subscription based XBOX live. It actually makes some sense, because a lot of people will want to download movies and such, and this could be priced to compete with Netflix. Games too, that work based on your Direct X equivalent level, could be sold to those who want them. Microsoft has millions of XBOX owners out there, and a ton of excellent games, and even if they haven't recouped their investment, they would not want to destroy what they have built.
This was always about dominating the living room. Sony would never try to just put software on 100 different brands of playstation, but MS pioneers such a model. I don't want MS to win, I don't like subscription models, but MS could very well have the vision to make something very successful here.
Also, Sony made the PSX, which is a playstation 2+DVR media center. Had the first XMB system, too.
It was a huge flop, but this might not be. If I were to buy another XBOX, I would avoid a Microsoft built one if other manufacturers were known to make these in a more reliable form.
Thing is, Isn't the PS3 able to be a DVR with a minor upgrade? I think Sony is just waiting on that to keep the Media companies in bed with Blu Ray, but this might push Sony to get that DVR attachment out faster.
Also, if the XBOX is really getting cheaper to make, then Microsoft is again forfeiting a lot of profits by not making these on its own. They paid for all the loss leader models, and now Toshiba gets to sell all the profitable ones? Strange move. But I'm sure it makes sense from the HD DVD side of things. MS is, yet again, trying to screw with Sony.
I prefer my 360 a lot. In spite of RROD (more than half the 360 owners I know have had one or more), in spite of the online fees, in spite of MS being the very paradigm of an uncool corporation, the 360 offers more fun than any other game console. But I sure do not want to see MS win the console wars to the extent that they become the defacto system you must own to play the best games.
If they do, you can believe that MS will get every penny they spent killing Sony out of our pcokets. We will pay heftier subscriptions and have forced upgrades. Viable systems will be obsolete by plan. Just like Windows. Sometimes that seems impossible to ever occur, and sometimes it seems inevitable.
Of course, this isn't just MS's fault, they're a brainless profit machine and the chairmen have their fiduciary duties. But Sony could have fought a better battle and instead blew their chances with glorious arrogance. I hope 2008 proves that Sony can fight harder by giving me some real games.
I don't know about that.
It would have been much easier to just add in a little "This is a low security file format, are you sure it is safe?" window instead of turning off teh entire functionality.
That's huge. I might use an old computer with old file formats, but MS won't let my work transfer to my new computer now if I update. That's freaking unacceptable. Office is supposed to aid my productivity, not look extremely pretty and make life miserable. There's a reason I uninstalled office 2007 and went back to 2003. I need to be able to work on several different systems. I need commonality to be effective.
Same reason I didn't buy that BMW I test drove a year ago. It had an awesome idrive thing, but it's too unlike other cars, and I'm getting older and don't want to relearn all this BS. I like buttons (the dealer went on about how the idrive took 200 buttons and reduced it to one button). The best way isn't always strictly the best way. Gotta have some damn sense. BMWs are ugly now anyway.
Office beat Word Perfect and others because it simply was the best product out there. MS makes the very best, and when they dominate, they don't anymore. They fight so hard when they need to, but when they don't they actually take steps that make their products less useful.
Like you say, a lot of that is monolithic corporate confusion. But this isn't. MS just made me need to either upgrade my old shit or avoid this update. Some people, I guarantee you, will buy new software thanks to this inconvenience and MS's subtle attack on their security (mildly stated: if you open attachments from strangers, you require a different level of security than I).
MS just made probably 1 million dollars. They let me turn off my firewall, that's an option. They let me delete boot.ini, that's an option too. They do not let me use the compatibility with old software they already programmed in to my office suite. Not an option. For security. I call shenanigans.
Agreed. The PS3 could be marketed as a value, but it's marketed in too abstract a fashion. They try to tell you about all the things it can do, but fall on their face trying too look super cool.
That said, my 360 is on more often because it's got better games. I still like the PS3 more, band I have spent less on PS3 when you factor everything in.
The PS3 is very cool and full of neat little surprised you can play with. Themes, Ubuntu, remote play, streaming, it's all done very smoothly and I bet you're having a blast. I know few people who regret that PS3, and I hope you have fun with it. But I still think the 360 is the better system to purchase just because it's got better content. You pay more for the 360, a lot more probably, but it's got better games.
I don't know if that will be true after gt5, MGS4, and FF13 come out. But right now the 360 is better, and the market will always be close enough that every great third party game will probably be ported. Looking at the way Konami is talking, saying they must sell 1 million MGS4 discs on day one, sounds like they are inventing an excuse to port MGS4 in a year or so to the 360. IF MGS4 ports, then I really think that's an omen that all third party games will be ported in both directions. It's just too damn expensive to make these games (how long has the 300 person MGS4 team been working on this game? 3 years?).
Enjoy your slick system, man. A PS3 is a kick-ass christmas. I encourage you to get a PSP if you lack one, and definitely get the Eye. It's the little tech things that make this system cool, even in the absence of games I expected to be out by now.
Open Office opens all these files? I guess it does; I haven't used it for a long time.
IF so, this makes Open Office a lot more valuable to an MS Office user.
MS is doing this on purpose, to harm competitors. I guess I sound paranoid, but it's just the way MS fights. I am so inclined to favor a successful American business that has made a few nice innovations, but MS will fight with these judo moves that help them slightly and make life a bit more frustrating for their consumers. Dos and windows TOOK OFF because they worked with a zillion things. Anything you wanted there was a version made for an MS PC. Not any longer. Now media player, search functions, office applications are built in ways that incorporate too closely with the operating system.
MS is reaching too far. If they pulled back and made a great OS that was easy to make aps for, I think they'd do fine. The best solution is to break MS up into an OFfice suite company, an OS company, and a electronics company Zune, xbox, keyboards. I think all three would produce better products as a result.
Insofar as they protect content that is 'rented' temporarily, streamed or downloaded, DRM is gold. Insofar as they protect my right to sell my art without assholes taking it and giving it away fro free (or charging money for it, though this is uncommon in the US), DRM is gold.
I like being able to watch shows and hear music for free on the internet, and without DRM, I'm not going to get the opportunity as much.
Hacking the wii is a cool thing to do, and I think just fiddling with electronics is a worthy opportunity in and of itself. Insofar as these guys are going to steal Gamecube games, etc etc, I hope Nintendo does as Sony does, and fights back. The richer Nintendo and Sony get, the more stuff my family gets to enjoy.
So I don't think DRM is cancer, it's a tool. If misused, it's bad. But that's not the DRM's fault. (guns don't kill people, etc).
"no offense, but I don't believe you"
none taken, pal. This is the internet, after all. But I swear I'm not kidding. I was shocked that the laptop had only cosmetic damage. I also left a pen on the keyboard and a friend slammed the screen shut. The hinged closed, but there was a bulge. I was so angry, but the little discoloration effect on the LCD went away after 15 minutes.
The CD drive doesn't stay locked in anymore, I think because of the fall I mentioned, and this machine does not look new, but it works, and it did drop that far and fall down some steps at a parking garage. I would have a hard time believing a laptop is that durable too, but this thing really is a magic combo durable and lightweight enough not to fall too hard.
There are many applications that are much faster on the PS3 in ubuntu than they are on my Pentium M 1.63 ghz. Number crunching stuff, mainly.
I should add that it's cool to surf the internet tubes from the couch, etc, though my laptop dock hooks to my TV and that's what I use. For some, I bet the idea of emulating thousands of old nintendo and mame games on the TV from a couch is attractive (I just use the PC for this too).
In short, there are a lot of reasons to run linux on the PS3, and I guarantee hundreds of thousands of people got their first taste of linux this way. It's just cool. Ever tinker with a ocmputer when you were little? I used to program in basic on a crappy TI99. I used to take apart VCRs. The PS3 is cool in that way: it does things that are interesting, though not specifically meant to be fun.
The 360 has the best games by far, and frankly I use ot more, but the PS3 is the system I like the most. It's just cool to be able to install an OS or watch it fold proteins or whatever. That bowling game is as good as wiisports (an opinion) and the camera games are pretty awesome.
My time usage says I prefer Gears, Portal, Halo, but I know If I had to choose I'd choose the PS3 anyway. Hard to explain why I guess.
You say the PSN blows chunks. You are correct, it's crap. I'm guessing Sony is holding, like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, for Home. It's frustrating (it was in the movie too). The PS3 has some amazing games coming out next year, we all know it. And the numbers are getting so close that we should also know that most games will be on both platforms eventually.
But games totally aside, I 100% understand why the PS3 is used for so many non gaming applications. It's fun to have unnecessary capabilities, and there aren't that many cool games out for it.
Other commenter has a similar answer for me.
Fair enough. I know that there's no way a large screened machine will ever compete with a small screened one, but thinkpads can have large batteries. And getting a new battery isn't too expensive if it keeps you truckin'
x40s are great machines.
This thing only lasts for 3 hours. My old thinkpad also lasts about that long on its new battery. I thought it was obvious I was aware that old laptops die fast by noting I'd get a new battery.
This thing is too small to have a large battery. I'm sure it's very efficient and makes the most of what it's got. My thinkpad, on the other hand, was dropped four feet onto concrete and tumbled down a few stairs and still works fine. And I spilled a coke in it a long time ago.
I do like this new machine, I just wonder, if you don't need the speed of a modern laptop, why not go for an old one? But in my opinion, the keyboard is the most important feature of a laptop, by far far far. So I'm a bit biased against this thing.
please show me these proclamations from the "neo-con movement".
I don't think you'll find many fundamentalists who are neo-cons. You're using a label instead of debating the merits. You're trying to stigmatize a term to use it in demagoguery.
We all should accept that Jack Thompson is a censor, and does not understand individual liberty. I imagine any neo-cons out there accept that. I believe it would be much better to just condemn the specific bullshit Thompson is proposing, whether proposed by a liberal, conservative, anarchist, satanist, botanist, or arsonist.
After all, the loudest mouth in censorship was Tipper Gore for a long time, and Hillary Clinton has been one of the most, if not the most prominent voice in that direction lately. Is the neo-con tent so big as to accept those two? If not, is there something about neo-cons that makes their deeds worse or is it something about Tipper Gore that makes hers better?
I think we're all being turned against each other. People are voting against the other political party like it's a contest for a trophy. People aren't listing or thinking about what candidates are proposing, they are checking to see what alliance the candidate belongs to.
Which is horrible for society. Surely, Jack Thompson really wants you and I to hate each other if our politics are a bit different so we have a harder time arguing against him. Moonbats will label Thompson a neo-con and neo-cons will justifiably ignore the attempted attack. And vice versa. I could easily call Thompson a Hillary follower.
Would make more sense to be a little more specific.
Thompson is as far from a neo-con as Joe Stalin.
Neoconservatism is a hybrid of liberalism and conservatism. It's a pragmatic and moderate approach, by design. Neo-con != Zionist. And there are virtually no neo-cons working for the president anymore. Colin Powell was a neo-con. Jack Thompson is a populist gasbag plain-old conservative.
Dude, they totally did not have colecovision back then
Precisely, if Lenovo came out with some sort of new thing the thinkpad brand would likely skyrocket for a little while too.
My real question is: what can I do with this that I cannot do with a $250 used thinkpad, a can of air, and a new battery? Thinkpad is cheaper, has a better everything, and I can actually type on it without shrinking my hands. I guess this eee is a lot smaller and doesn't smell like cabbage yet.
Love the idea of this computer, but the cheapskates have always had the refuge of obsolete computers.
Dude, nintendo is totally trying to do as I recommend., they're just doing it late. If they had built these plants years ago, things would be much better and cheaper for them now.
Your comment is just flamebait. I don't even think you understand what you are trying to say. Are you saying that unless I run a huge company, my ideas are wrong? If so, you're irrational. And a fanboy. Apparently you admit being a "huge" Sega and Sony fanboy and now are Nintendo fanboy-like, at the least. What kind of a weirdo is a fan of a console maker?
Tell me, how much money is nintendo making right now? Hint, less than Sony and MS are. the PS3 and 360 are merely part of larger strategies for those other companies. They both want to dominate the hugely lucrative potential living room download market. They are playing a much bigger game.
Nintendo is doing fine, sure. I know they are making money. But there is serious room for improvement.
To your kind, it's all about throwing personal insults and believing in your authority figures. Arguments from authority are flawed, though, and Nintendo has suffered so much for its stupidity in the past. I think the best proof that you're full of fanboy mentality is that you would not tell a Sony critic that he needs to "shut the fuck up" even though Sony is very successful and is selling more home consoles worldwide than any other company if you add the PS2 and PS3. You won't say "unless you are personally as successful as Sony, then shut up". But you'll say that about Nintendo. Typical stupid follower.
Why is there a playstation brand? Because Nintendo acted like it was too good to maintain its dealings with Sony and follow the advice of Square. Sony proceeded to make more money on the first two playstations than nintendo has made in all its operations combined. Nintendo abused its third party programmers, and you see the scars even today on the wii.
Sony has been the biggest dolt lately, but generally in the same way Nintendo was 5-10 years ago. Nintendo may be a lot nicer now that it got it's clocked cleaned by Sony for 15 years, but they are still waaaayyyyyyy too inflexible. They have enough wiis to satisfy the entire market, but most of them are sitting on shelves collecting dust in the wrong places like Denmark. Reason #1 is region coding. A dumb idea that Nintendo clings to.
Mark my words, Nintendo could have sold 50 - 100% more wiis by now. And this next year will see cheaper PS3s and finally some great PS3 games. PLaystation 2 owners are late adopters (their first DVD player was usually the PS2, 4 years after the DVD player was mass produced), and a very high proportion of XBOX 360 owners were XBOX 1.0 owners, so the vast majority of this generation's adoption rate has yet to occur. PS2 owners are more likely to get a wii than a 360, but a lot of them haven't been able to or are unwilling to pay the scalper tax. Nintendo is being cheered, and rightfully their product is excellent, but they've blown a large part of their opportunity. They just haven't gotten to market fast enough.
Is Sony going to pull through? Who knows, but they are grateful Nintendo was too stupid to suck up more PS2 owners. Sony will get millions of buyers they otherwise would not get.
I don't know why I bother trying to explain obvious stuff to crazies. Nintendo, Apple, Honda, etc, make nice stuff, but that doesn't mean there aren't weak links in those companies. If you critique those links, some moron will come out of the woodwork to show his loyalty to a mere company.
A two year old Jetta is less reliable than an eight year old Camry, according to Consumer Reports anyway. But my anecdotal observations among friends bear this out.
Jettas are sexier than Camrys, sure. Just get the extended warranty I suppose.
As far as the machine goes, there is nothing practical about buying a ready built desktop. It's trivially easy to assemble your own cheap box, and many parts can be used for decades.
Vista may be inferior to the Mac OS, but XP is better when you consider the software you can use with it. What does iLife do that there isn't a nice freeware app out there for?
wiifit is a great initiative. If the wii's demographic is truly different than traditional games, this thing could be very successful.
I use a playstation 2 game, Yourself Fitness, (that is also out on Xbox 1.0 and PC), and I've had great success. It accommodates weights, yoga ball, step, pulse monitor, basically crap I had in my closet, and varies the exercise and keeps track of progress. Instead of standing over a scale, it tracks how many push-ups I can do. But I have lost 30 pounds in about a year, and I'm thinner. I can't say enough about this software.
Apparently they got the shit sued out of them by a patent troll, but if you can get a copy, it's 100x times better than workout video.
I like all these ideas. Considering how well workout videos and junk do, I'm shocked that these programs aren't more prevalent out there. Should be bundled in with the system to placate worried parents and spouses. We're in the middle of a health crisis, and while games are much better than TV, they could be much better.
You're wrong. The distinction is actually quite important. When you lie about someone in voice, your body language, etc, can make the lie less powerful. You can see if the seaker is pissed, and often far fewer people hear the lie. The lie doesn't usually persist, but must be recalled. It's not as bad. Even on TV, it's less likely to be recorded and repeated (and if it isn, there are machinisms for calculating damages).
When you write something, you are making a permanent record. You're preserving a fact about someone that could be around for 100 years. It's harder to delete, it's harder to ignore, it's harder to forget. No indications of your tone to see if you're pissed or joking. Your statement will be taken at face value.
Thus, Libel is more serious, usually, than Slander. There are exceptions to that, but the distinction is valid.
It's not half as good. It's not quite as good, I agree, but so many people out there do not like multiplayer games. I'm not one, but there's a lot of folks out there who just aren't into that, or who lack decent internet. You make a very solid point about the lack of new songs, but perhaps they will release expansion discs.
And with 100 million playstation 2s out there, obviously this is probably a well made version (not that you argued otherwise).
The PS2 is still the best console to buy right now, if you don't have one. And it's still getting top notch new games. Truly shows that it's all about the games and not entirely about the graphics. Amazing to see which companies learned from the PS2 and which did not.
Still, if you've got a PS2, this is a great game to buy. Why invest $500 in a new console? Buy one in five years when the good games are cheap. I wish I had the willpower to do that.
Only reality is playing along with my theory. After all, look at the top of your web browser where the headline appears.
Stores are not happy with selling wiis just for 4$. It's worth the risk, at least to some, to sell them far away from the games.
That's reality.
You're the one relying on anecdotes. It's Christmas. People are grabbing all the crap they can right now, so yeah, the carts are often full. Sure, I realize most folks probably buy more games initially than I (though with the wii, I bet most folks so as I did). The 100s of millions of console owners out there buy dozens of games per system, most years after the initial purchase, so where you get your games means more than where you get your console in the grand scheme.
It is utterly impossible to assume otherwise. Especially in situations like this, where you do not go to your favorite store to find a wii, you go to wherever you think will have one (often your least favorite low traffic store).
Lastly, what is it about trolls and fisking? It's not hard to come up with your own argument structure.
I understand where you're coming from. In fact, I'm good friends with a lawyer who has some sort of involvement with some sort of litigation relating to that, and idle conversations have really got me ticked at Circuit City for being so cruel to those who built the chain...
but when I shopped at Circuit City a few years ago, it sucked. Inattentive salepeople who didn't know crap except that I need to buy crap I don't need. I went there a month ago, and same story.
I don't think the firings had a major effect on quality of the shopping experience.
And people out there: you cannot rely on loyalty. Make yourself more valuable with education or investing in your own ideas or something like that. If it's cheaper to fire you than to keep you, you may very well be fired, even if that's a violation of basic ethics. Shareholders are god to these corporations. Your happiness does not appear anywhere on quarterly profit reports. If you have 23 years experience in retail, unless you are some sort of amazing salesperson, that's not enough to protect your family's livelihood. Go to school or start a business. Or something. Have loyalty to yourself, and expect your employer to have the same.
You're just being a fanboy, friend.
First, Nintendo is not running their biz the way they want to. They're desperately trying to increase supply because the situation right now with scalpers is money Nintendo could have had. They are throwing tons of money into getting plants running fast because they recognize they miscalculated.
Second, the shortages are because demand is high and supply is not. Two reasons.
Your other points are not logically related to your conclusions. You say that you bought a wii, and therefore it's not true that scalpers are buying the vast majority of these systems to sell again. You're wrong. It's hard to decipher what you mean by "Too bad for anyone who's waited until Christmas to buy one really. Not Nintendo's market." You realize this means at least some people are buying more expensive competitors? Or PS2s? Or bicycles? Parents who have a tree to stuff presents under will buy something else if they cannot get a wii. That's simply a fact. You say it's too bad for them. Obviously it's also bad for nintendo. A lot of the people the wiis would have been bought for like video games. Is that surprising? What do you think a lot of them are going to get instead? PS2s PS3s, 360s. That means fewer wii games sold next year.
Nintendo could be making much more money if they had planned correctly. They've been struggling to build all these new plants, when many told them to build them a few years ago. They could be selling bundled wiis and normal wiis side by side, and they'd both sell out, but Nintendo would make far more money.
Sony is outselling the wii outside North America, when you consider their entire line. Plus Sony has survived a multibillion dollar blu-ray investment that is worth more than everything Nintendo does, all put together. Folks counted the PS3 out last year when Sony made dumb decision after dumb decision, but Sony's really starting to get their act together. They might have written off the US, partly due to the weak dollar and partly out of realism that they cannot win, but in the rest of the world, they will be making a hell of a lot of money.
The end of the line though is that Sony and Nintendo are only tangentially competing. Their products are similar, but not very similar. Like Minivans and Sports cars. Nintendo and Sony are both doing a pretty good job right now. You have to realize that Sony has to outclass Microsoft, so they had no choice but to make a bells and whistle media center. Idiots on the internet say otherwise, but it would have been suicide to come out with a system inferior to the 360. Microsoft already is being quite ruthless and won't stop. That's why the 360 is the best system to get right now.
Nintendo is desperately trying to get on the ball. They are certainly not on it right now. Demand should not be this much higher than supply for this long. It's a great product, but Nintendo is a team, and the wii's design only came from one part of it, and some parts of that team are not doing the best job. If nintendo had reacted quickly enough, there would be millions more wiis in living rooms right now. If Nintendo had initially priced the wii higher, the demand would still have been very high, and they could have funded more factories and sold far more, and lowered the price.
People who think the price is at the right place do not understand economics. The hype isn't worth this price (which is about a 1 billions $).
Really? I've got at least 200 PS2, PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii games sitting in this binder in front of me.
I bought four total with a console purchase. I got my PS3 at a Sony Style store and have never made another purchase there. The wii I found at Toys R Us and I've never been in the store again. The 360 and PS2 I bought at Fry's, and I probably got a game or two there over the years, but the store would have made the same profit had they not sold the systems (that are easy to get). Almost all my game purchases are online. And that's going to get more and more true int he next ten years. Why stock the next gen system if all content is downloaded? I wonder what will happen to Gamestop...
So yeah, most people are going to buy a wii and leave, or at least are going to buy a very limited amount of stuff and leave.
Oh, and wii sports is the sole reason for buying the wii for a great many people. You'd have to be pretty obtuse not to see that. Of course there are people who got a wii for that gamecube zelda game or for the new metroid, but most folks just wanted wiisports. Just like Mario and Duck Hunt were the real games people were thinking about playing when they got their NES. Are other wii games oging to sell? hell yeah they are, now that the wiis are getting out there, but you really get all you need with wiisports and one other game that happens to include the other controller. So some stores really aren't getting much out of stocking the wii. Nintendo is and has always been a ruthless company with terrific ideas. They do not care about the retailers out there, and perhaps they shouldn't.
These companies are stocking the wii because they have to, not because they want to. At least it's not wasting much shelf space!
I'm not criticizing nintendo. I'm just accepting that where I got my console had no impact on 99% of my game purchases.
No they are not doing everything they can. They are not playing by the rules of nature. They need to ration them out fairly, that means making them more expensive. Nintendo obviously ought to keep selling some wiis at the current price, and also sell a siginifiant majority of wiis at a much hgiher price, in a bundle of some kind. Throw a DS in there, throw in four nuncucks and wiimotes, throw in 150$ of nintendo credit on their online games, throw in several games.
It's better service to customers if they can choose to pay as much as they are willing to for the nintendo. Way things are now, the low priced ones are so radically below market that scalpers are grabbing them. That sucks for the consumer, because he's goign to have a harder time with warranties, service, availability, and even fraud from crappy scalpers.
nintendo really is hurting their customers quite a lot. All they have to do is throw in a light gun, ddr pad, several wiimotes, and three games. We all remember when they did this with the NES. That stuff sells too, but Nintendo can sell it for $500 today. It would help a lot.