Everything you just lauded is bad news for publishers seeking to make a profit off PSP games. Why should third parties pump resources into PSP development if their title has to compete against UMD movies, mp3s, uploaded MPGs and (to a lesser but still decent extent) homebrew apps for a PSP owner's attention? Lots of talk has been made about system sales, but the bigger story is software sales; with this in mind, the DS is much more publisher-friendly, and that, more than anything, will tell the tale of which gaming system succeeds more. Sure, Sony is selling a slick piece of hardware, but if they're gonna recoup from a loss-per-unit-sold, that'll come from UMD movie profits, not game licensing.
Odd placement on/. aside, this article is also odd because it doesn't pay any mind to the target D&B audience. This place is specifically targeted as an entertainment destination for adults--kids can't even get in without a guardian. Gambling-style games, poker tables, shuffleboard, etc. populate much of the restaurant's real estate. These are not the kinds of patrons who hop around on dance pads or whip up 40-hit combos in hardcore fighting games; they want to shoot stuff, race in cars and play games that require as little learning curve as possible.
Not quite. From an IGN report that quotes Famitsu:
"The biggest game of the year, according the tracking service provided by Famitsu's parent company Enterbrain, was the DS installment of Animal Crossing, which sold 1,169,757 units. Gran Turismo 4 for the PS2 placed second with 1,066,749 units sold. Nintendo took the next two slots, with Train Your Brain for the DS selling 1,011,341 units and Nintendogs, also for the DS, pushing 965,665 units across its three versions."
Bang for the buck, blah blah, but the mainstream target audience will never flock to this price point. What's worse is that the technology inside the PS3 ensures that the common competitive strategy of frequent price drops will be that much harder for Sony to stomach--are those Blu-Ray drives REALLY going to drop significantly enough to make MS's likely price cuts easy enough to match? Certainly, gaming hardware drops in price over time. That's a given. But this generation, Sony might not get to wait long enough before having its financial hand forced.
"Were it not for my Oldest who uses it for what it was supposed to be, chatting and sharing vid's of his motorcyle movies and stunts"
I don't mean to take this offtopic, but seriously, his motorcycle stunt movies? You're concerned about one kid doing pot but the other one is zipping around on death machines and that's what he's "supposed to be" doing? Maybe MySpace is the devil after all.
What's funny is how the reps from Yahoo and Hotmail ribbed Google for its "beta" status, but when you think about it... that's truly one of GMail's best features.
Think about it, GMail users--how much trouble was it to get a username you LIKED? In fact, even to this day, there are still a lot of usernames that aren't duped or that require adding a stupid numeral suffix like 666. All because spammers and hordes of username thieves didn't jump on board--hell, they couldn't. I say, stay in "invite-only" beta as long as you want. It's not hard at all to get an invite if you want one, and it keeps the riffraff out.
Each *5 year for the past three decades of gaming has been known for being relatively slow and stale. Also, each *6 year has been big stuff; coincidentally, Nintendo has had a hand in the last two *6 years. It wasn't until '86 that Super Mario Brothers revitalized gaming in the USA; in '96, Super Mario 64 set the 3D gaming generation on fire. Both of those games changed the way people played games for the next decade--d-pad in the '80s, analog control in the '90s.
Interestingly enough, 2006 is the launch year for the Revolution...
Don't forget, male characters in video games are rarely pesky, brains-before-brawn characters, either. And the ones that do feature such lead 'men' (Earthbound, Katamari Damacy, Ico), while beloved by hardcore gamers, aren't exactly nailing the kind of acclaim and sales that musclebound games like God of War do.
The element of fantasy and excess in video games, let alone popular culture, is nottttthin' new. If anything, there's more respect and gender appreciation paid to women now than there ever has been in popular culture. Leave It To Beaver, anyone? If given the option, I think most would choose busty, gun-toting dynamos over subservient housewives, at the very least, as a "lesser of the evils" stereotype.
I was at the gym tonight and this was on one of the TVs. I caught bits and pieces, and it was mostly overwrought, stupid crap, but there was one chunk in particular that I believe will infuriate the world of gamers more than anything--when David Caruso interrogates one of the GAME DESIGNERS.
designer (snarky voice) - "Our official line is that any similarity between this crime spree and our product is purely coincidental." caruso (stupid, semi-Duke Nukem voice) - "Yeah, well, try telling that to the parents of Cynthia So-and-so." designer - [pauses, stares into camera uncomfortably] "Well, there's a board I answer to--stockholders. I can't be held responsible for any of this. If you want to know more about the game... you'll just have to play the game." caruso - "Fine, we'll play your game. In the meantime, book this guy for failing to assist a police officer."
WHAT? Why are they turning game designers into Satan here? With this douchey caricature, no less? I think this is the scene that'll touch a nerve with sheltered, middle America. Which, quite frankly, sucks. You find me a police squad that sincerely seeks out movie/TV show/game makers for criminal intent and I'll find you a copy of "Police Academy 9: Larvell Gone Wild!"
If they're looking at an utter sellout this holiday, then why did Microsoft even bother with the "core system" / normal dichotomy? Seems like the move, which was designed to get the attention of mainstream/cost-conscious consumers in addition to the hardcore gaming crowd, is all but moot now that only the hardest of the hardcore, the ones willing to shell out for super-sized GAMES+ACCESSORIES+CABLES packages, will be able to purchase an XBox 360 this Christmas season. Smooth move, idiots.
Lollapalooza suffered a similar fate in the summer of 2004, when a huge, countrywide tour had to be cancelled for lack of sales. Spreading these arena-sized tours across the country doesn't work anymore unless the act is a recognized, national draw, because it simply costs too much to book, promote and accomodate the shows to pull them off unless the venue reaches near-capacity. If it were a club tour, this would be totally different... but then again, this kind of show would be impossible to do at crappy local clubs. If they try this again in 2006, I'm sure they'll limit the shows to a few super-huge, guaranteed markets and the show will go on as planned.
Sure, HL3 is reason enough to grab a system........ whenever HL3 comes out, anyway. (2 years? 5 years?)
I mean, imagine if Super Mario 64 didn't come out for the N64 until a few years into the system's life, and you basically have the same opening launch lineup that the XBox 360 is looking at right now.
November fast approaches, Microsoft... where's your killer app?
1) the day Nintendo matches the schedule of their hardware supplier for a release date will be a cold day in hell. Not to say that this isn't necessarily true, but this estimate has to be based on the timeframe Nintendo has issued for the RAM. Who's to say that such a date isn't only for Japan, or only for the USA, or perhaps an extra-early due date for MoSys to make sure they get their goods ready in time for the REAL Revolution release date? not the best timeframe to rely on.
2) recent reports have pointed at an "earlier" release date for the PS3 as well; is this to say that XBox 360 is actually forcing the hands of Sony and Nintendo? years ago, nobody would've ever predicted that, but perhaps people are finally beginning to fear MS's momentum in the console industry. now THAT is the point of this article. very interesting and exciting to see MS keeping everyone on their toes.
..a vapid, annoying, extreme-poseur version of an MTV-style games entity, complete with useless "reality" programming that has nothing to do with the product in question, existed already as G4?
The Nintendo DS is already a hassle to control with two hands while on the ground - how the heck did these guys keep their styluses steady mid-descent?
This could be pretty bad for EB Games employees, because, at least in my hometown, there's never a GameStop shop that doesn't have a competing EB Games shop nearby. In fact, GS and EB are only two blocks away from each other in my neighborhood. I guess this means a lot of annoying, "I totally know more about the PSP than you do" people are gonna be broke and living with their parents soon. If they weren't already, anyway.
"...this agreement with CLC allows EA to continue to deliver to fans the best, most innovative college football experience now and for years to come."
Why the outright lie, EA? The people who read these press releases aren't the ones who'll fall for that dummy logic. We already know that these agreements only "allow" EA to monopolize the authenticity of the respective sports involved.
What's interesting about this, though, is that NCAA games have always had restrictions - player names have been forbidden for years, and yet gamers haven't balked and been upset. This'll cripple competitors' use of official songs, logos, team names and mascots, but this is the one category of sports game "monopolies" that might actually work out for competitors.
Not to mention, this all will wind up creating backdoor, Internet-assisted "player editing" capabilities in competitors' games. PS2 and XBox Internet users will certainly be able to sneakily insert all the "official" information into the games. At least, I hope.
When the PSP first hit, I was inches away from buying one. The launch lineup was pretty damn nice, and I felt like this thing had some serious developer support. Then I looked at the list of upcoming releases and gasped - what a barren wasteland! I didn't see a single upcoming game with any buzz around it that didn't have the word "PORT" written all over its face. Grand Theft Auto and Gran Turismo are probably the only interesting titles, and they're basic ports, and they aren't coming out for monnnnnths. I see no reason to pay $350 for only two exciting games right now (WipeOut and Lumines). I figure, if I'm gonna pay that kind of cash for two games with no guarantee for future quality, I'll buy a fricking DDR setup for the house. For now, I'm waiting to see if other quality titles come out of the woodwork, and judging by sales, enough other hardcore gamers are in agreement.
Does this mean you feel guilty when you hear a song on the radio? The whole point of "indie artists support P2P" is to find better promotional distribution now that the musical community has outgrown the limits of clamped-down radio. Major labels have always had a stranglehold on radio distribution, but now we're in a world where smaller artists and labels have the power, technology and distribution to receive just as much attention as the artist who suckles at ClearChannel or MTV's teat. P2P is a way to get people to hear imperfect copies of songs - much like radio, but with more control. Does this create freeloaders? Sure, just as cassette tapes did in the 80's, but even if it's to a grander scale, the tape-to-purchase ratio of the 80's is nowhere near the mp3-to-purchase ratio of today - you can make some serious money from downloaders, oftentimes through ticket and merch sales even more so than album sales. "Most artists have not given their permission" - that's not the case, because if someone releases a CD, they want it promoted. They want to be heard so they can make some goddamn money. Consider P2P distribution a "marketing expense" and it makes complete sense. It costs less to seed a torrent and give away a few free copies of an album than it does to whip up a huge batch of flyers, for crying out loud!
In similar fashion, a new episode of Cinematech on G4TechTV (the "watch other people play games with bad techno music in the background" show) focused on old game commercials from the 2600/Intellivision days. their source was a terrible VHS but it was still amusing to watch.
http://www.g4techtv.com/cinematech/episodes/3838 /T he_Power_of_Advertising.html - check this link for rerun dates.
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Everything you just lauded is bad news for publishers seeking to make a profit off PSP games. Why should third parties pump resources into PSP development if their title has to compete against UMD movies, mp3s, uploaded MPGs and (to a lesser but still decent extent) homebrew apps for a PSP owner's attention? Lots of talk has been made about system sales, but the bigger story is software sales; with this in mind, the DS is much more publisher-friendly, and that, more than anything, will tell the tale of which gaming system succeeds more. Sure, Sony is selling a slick piece of hardware, but if they're gonna recoup from a loss-per-unit-sold, that'll come from UMD movie profits, not game licensing.
Odd placement on /. aside, this article is also odd because it doesn't pay any mind to the target D&B audience. This place is specifically targeted as an entertainment destination for adults--kids can't even get in without a guardian. Gambling-style games, poker tables, shuffleboard, etc. populate much of the restaurant's real estate. These are not the kinds of patrons who hop around on dance pads or whip up 40-hit combos in hardcore fighting games; they want to shoot stuff, race in cars and play games that require as little learning curve as possible.
Not quite. From an IGN report that quotes Famitsu:
"The biggest game of the year, according the tracking service provided by Famitsu's parent company Enterbrain, was the DS installment of Animal Crossing, which sold 1,169,757 units. Gran Turismo 4 for the PS2 placed second with 1,066,749 units sold. Nintendo took the next two slots, with Train Your Brain for the DS selling 1,011,341 units and Nintendogs, also for the DS, pushing 965,665 units across its three versions."
Bang for the buck, blah blah, but the mainstream target audience will never flock to this price point. What's worse is that the technology inside the PS3 ensures that the common competitive strategy of frequent price drops will be that much harder for Sony to stomach--are those Blu-Ray drives REALLY going to drop significantly enough to make MS's likely price cuts easy enough to match? Certainly, gaming hardware drops in price over time. That's a given. But this generation, Sony might not get to wait long enough before having its financial hand forced.
"Were it not for my Oldest who uses it for what it was supposed to be, chatting and sharing vid's of his motorcyle movies and stunts"
I don't mean to take this offtopic, but seriously, his motorcycle stunt movies? You're concerned about one kid doing pot but the other one is zipping around on death machines and that's what he's "supposed to be" doing? Maybe MySpace is the devil after all.
What's funny is how the reps from Yahoo and Hotmail ribbed Google for its "beta" status, but when you think about it... that's truly one of GMail's best features.
Think about it, GMail users--how much trouble was it to get a username you LIKED? In fact, even to this day, there are still a lot of usernames that aren't duped or that require adding a stupid numeral suffix like 666. All because spammers and hordes of username thieves didn't jump on board--hell, they couldn't. I say, stay in "invite-only" beta as long as you want. It's not hard at all to get an invite if you want one, and it keeps the riffraff out.
Each *5 year for the past three decades of gaming has been known for being relatively slow and stale. Also, each *6 year has been big stuff; coincidentally, Nintendo has had a hand in the last two *6 years. It wasn't until '86 that Super Mario Brothers revitalized gaming in the USA; in '96, Super Mario 64 set the 3D gaming generation on fire. Both of those games changed the way people played games for the next decade--d-pad in the '80s, analog control in the '90s.
Interestingly enough, 2006 is the launch year for the Revolution...
Don't forget, male characters in video games are rarely pesky, brains-before-brawn characters, either. And the ones that do feature such lead 'men' (Earthbound, Katamari Damacy, Ico), while beloved by hardcore gamers, aren't exactly nailing the kind of acclaim and sales that musclebound games like God of War do.
The element of fantasy and excess in video games, let alone popular culture, is nottttthin' new. If anything, there's more respect and gender appreciation paid to women now than there ever has been in popular culture. Leave It To Beaver, anyone? If given the option, I think most would choose busty, gun-toting dynamos over subservient housewives, at the very least, as a "lesser of the evils" stereotype.
I was at the gym tonight and this was on one of the TVs. I caught bits and pieces, and it was mostly overwrought, stupid crap, but there was one chunk in particular that I believe will infuriate the world of gamers more than anything--when David Caruso interrogates one of the GAME DESIGNERS.
designer (snarky voice) - "Our official line is that any similarity between this crime spree and our product is purely coincidental."
caruso (stupid, semi-Duke Nukem voice) - "Yeah, well, try telling that to the parents of Cynthia So-and-so."
designer - [pauses, stares into camera uncomfortably] "Well, there's a board I answer to--stockholders. I can't be held responsible for any of this. If you want to know more about the game... you'll just have to play the game."
caruso - "Fine, we'll play your game. In the meantime, book this guy for failing to assist a police officer."
WHAT? Why are they turning game designers into Satan here? With this douchey caricature, no less? I think this is the scene that'll touch a nerve with sheltered, middle America. Which, quite frankly, sucks. You find me a police squad that sincerely seeks out movie/TV show/game makers for criminal intent and I'll find you a copy of "Police Academy 9: Larvell Gone Wild!"
If they're looking at an utter sellout this holiday, then why did Microsoft even bother with the "core system" / normal dichotomy? Seems like the move, which was designed to get the attention of mainstream/cost-conscious consumers in addition to the hardcore gaming crowd, is all but moot now that only the hardest of the hardcore, the ones willing to shell out for super-sized GAMES+ACCESSORIES+CABLES packages, will be able to purchase an XBox 360 this Christmas season. Smooth move, idiots.
Lollapalooza suffered a similar fate in the summer of 2004, when a huge, countrywide tour had to be cancelled for lack of sales. Spreading these arena-sized tours across the country doesn't work anymore unless the act is a recognized, national draw, because it simply costs too much to book, promote and accomodate the shows to pull them off unless the venue reaches near-capacity. If it were a club tour, this would be totally different... but then again, this kind of show would be impossible to do at crappy local clubs. If they try this again in 2006, I'm sure they'll limit the shows to a few super-huge, guaranteed markets and the show will go on as planned.
Sure, HL3 is reason enough to grab a system........ whenever HL3 comes out, anyway. (2 years? 5 years?)
I mean, imagine if Super Mario 64 didn't come out for the N64 until a few years into the system's life, and you basically have the same opening launch lineup that the XBox 360 is looking at right now.
November fast approaches, Microsoft... where's your killer app?
..and it will include a pack-in girlfriend!
OH MY GOD!
1) the day Nintendo matches the schedule of their hardware supplier for a release date will be a cold day in hell. Not to say that this isn't necessarily true, but this estimate has to be based on the timeframe Nintendo has issued for the RAM. Who's to say that such a date isn't only for Japan, or only for the USA, or perhaps an extra-early due date for MoSys to make sure they get their goods ready in time for the REAL Revolution release date? not the best timeframe to rely on.
2) recent reports have pointed at an "earlier" release date for the PS3 as well; is this to say that XBox 360 is actually forcing the hands of Sony and Nintendo? years ago, nobody would've ever predicted that, but perhaps people are finally beginning to fear MS's momentum in the console industry. now THAT is the point of this article. very interesting and exciting to see MS keeping everyone on their toes.
Does this put the rumors of "multiple versions of XBox 360" to rest? This spec sheet says the hard drive is "removable," not "optional"......
..a vapid, annoying, extreme-poseur version of an MTV-style games entity, complete with useless "reality" programming that has nothing to do with the product in question, existed already as G4?
The Nintendo DS is already a hassle to control with two hands while on the ground - how the heck did these guys keep their styluses steady mid-descent?
..those EB Games pre-orders.
This could be pretty bad for EB Games employees, because, at least in my hometown, there's never a GameStop shop that doesn't have a competing EB Games shop nearby. In fact, GS and EB are only two blocks away from each other in my neighborhood. I guess this means a lot of annoying, "I totally know more about the PSP than you do" people are gonna be broke and living with their parents soon. If they weren't already, anyway.
"...this agreement with CLC allows EA to continue to deliver to fans the best, most innovative college football experience now and for years to come."
Why the outright lie, EA? The people who read these press releases aren't the ones who'll fall for that dummy logic. We already know that these agreements only "allow" EA to monopolize the authenticity of the respective sports involved.
What's interesting about this, though, is that NCAA games have always had restrictions - player names have been forbidden for years, and yet gamers haven't balked and been upset. This'll cripple competitors' use of official songs, logos, team names and mascots, but this is the one category of sports game "monopolies" that might actually work out for competitors.
Not to mention, this all will wind up creating backdoor, Internet-assisted "player editing" capabilities in competitors' games. PS2 and XBox Internet users will certainly be able to sneakily insert all the "official" information into the games. At least, I hope.
http://www.ymca.org
When the PSP first hit, I was inches away from buying one. The launch lineup was pretty damn nice, and I felt like this thing had some serious developer support. Then I looked at the list of upcoming releases and gasped - what a barren wasteland! I didn't see a single upcoming game with any buzz around it that didn't have the word "PORT" written all over its face. Grand Theft Auto and Gran Turismo are probably the only interesting titles, and they're basic ports, and they aren't coming out for monnnnnths. I see no reason to pay $350 for only two exciting games right now (WipeOut and Lumines). I figure, if I'm gonna pay that kind of cash for two games with no guarantee for future quality, I'll buy a fricking DDR setup for the house. For now, I'm waiting to see if other quality titles come out of the woodwork, and judging by sales, enough other hardcore gamers are in agreement.
Does this mean you feel guilty when you hear a song on the radio? The whole point of "indie artists support P2P" is to find better promotional distribution now that the musical community has outgrown the limits of clamped-down radio. Major labels have always had a stranglehold on radio distribution, but now we're in a world where smaller artists and labels have the power, technology and distribution to receive just as much attention as the artist who suckles at ClearChannel or MTV's teat. P2P is a way to get people to hear imperfect copies of songs - much like radio, but with more control. Does this create freeloaders? Sure, just as cassette tapes did in the 80's, but even if it's to a grander scale, the tape-to-purchase ratio of the 80's is nowhere near the mp3-to-purchase ratio of today - you can make some serious money from downloaders, oftentimes through ticket and merch sales even more so than album sales. "Most artists have not given their permission" - that's not the case, because if someone releases a CD, they want it promoted. They want to be heard so they can make some goddamn money. Consider P2P distribution a "marketing expense" and it makes complete sense. It costs less to seed a torrent and give away a few free copies of an album than it does to whip up a huge batch of flyers, for crying out loud!
"Nintendo has been doing it right for a decade and half, why should we think the PSP can just waltz onto the scene and take over?"
Maybe I'm crazy, but it looks to me like Sony already has experience in the whole "beating someone after over a decade of dominance" thing.
In similar fashion, a new episode of Cinematech on G4TechTV (the "watch other people play games with bad techno music in the background" show) focused on old game commercials from the 2600/Intellivision days. their source was a terrible VHS but it was still amusing to watch.
8 /T he_Power_of_Advertising.html - check this link for rerun dates.
http://www.g4techtv.com/cinematech/episodes/383