I mainly use my PSP as a 24 viewing device, and I hate the screen. Yes, it's big and bright, but that's about it. The picture quality sucks. Everything that moves has a purple shadow following it, which is really, really distracting. In fact, at first I thought Ridge Racer had motion blur. Really impressive. Until I found out that it wasn't motion blur, it was just ghosting from the crappy screen.
Also, the thing reflects light like a mirror. Fortunately, I found a screen protector which has some kind of anti-reflection pattern on it, which makes the reflections more diffuse and thus more acceptable.
Anyway, my point is: Don't buy the PSP as a movie viewing solution.
Many will grow out of Wii Sports Bowling and buy some other Bowling or Golfing game eventually. Wii Sports is kind of an entry that takes away people's fear. I'm certain many of these people will buy other Wii games.
I guess Wii games tend to be somewhat simpler, and they're definitely less astonishing graphically, so you'd expect them to get lower ratings even if the games themselves are more fun.
And obviously, devs are still learning how to use the Wii remote. Additionally, many publishers didn't really take the Wii seriously until now.
Compare this to the DS vs. PSP results. I would guess that the PSP has more top-rated games than the DS, even though most people will probably agree that the DS has a much better games portfolio.
Apart from answering to an obvious joke, you're actually right. We've never had a playable 3D Sonic that felt like the old-style 2D Sonic games, until now. Metroid and Mario aren't out yet, but they look pretty fresh so far (especially Mario), and we've definitely never played an FPS with light-gun mechanics, or a party game which had you use your controller as Macaras. So yeah, you tried to be sarcastic, but it didn't work: These games are new and fresh, and many of them share nothing but the name and the characters with their previous installments.
I used turbo as much as possible (you seem to blow up if you use it too much). Dunno about the car, but none of the movies I've watched on youtube looked that much faster. If you think Motorstorm is extremely fast, you probably never played Excite Truck - or something really fast, like F-Zero GX:-)
Macs do not make you creative.... it's just a goddamn white-plasticky computer
My sister always ends up having to make the girl scout camp DVDs they hand out to parents. Why? She has an iBook, and all the others have Windows PCs. She's the only one who can figure out how to do it. Hell, my mom, who is a school teacher and was never able to figure out how to save a word document to a floppy (she's not stupid, she's just scared that she'll break something if she does something wrong) actually has figured out how to use iMovie and iDVD all on her own.
There's definitely a difference between a Windows PC and a Mac.
In what way is the media functionality of the ATV superior to that of the 360?
It's easy to use and works seamlessly?
People already have their movies and music and pictures on their PCs or Macs. Now they want to easily show them on the TV. AppleTV does that, 360 does not do that.
Yes, people will pay for simplicity. That is something many Slashdot commenters do not seem to understand. Why buy an AppleTV if the 360 does so much more? Because people aren't willing to invest time in getting their stuff to run. This may be hard to understand, but some people do not perceive setting up electronics as a valid hobby.
Apple definitely did not do anything to keep anyone from changing anything about the AppleTV. I'm not even entirely positive I would call that hacking - they added some components to the version of OS X running on the AppleTV. This is nothing at all like the PSP.
Let me start out by saying that I'm somewhat of a Nintendo fanboy. I like quirky, fun party games. I own a Cube as well as a Wii, and I play them both regularly. Having said that, I love arcade offroad racers.
I've spent the last few weeks unlocking everything in Excite Truck, which is a game I simply adore. The PS3 launched last week in Europe, so I played Motorstorm for the first time. It felt like playing in slow motion. Yes, I realize there's a turbo button. I realize the default level on the kiosks isn't the fastest level. Still, to me, after having played Excite Truck with its insane speed and huge jumps, it felt as if the whole game was playing insidea jar of honey.
I'm disappointed, especially after watching the target renders, which looke truly wicked.
While there are some games which simply trigger predefined movements using the Wiimote (the sword slash in Zelda, for example), many games accurately track your movements and turn them into in-game movements (Wii Bowling being the most obvious example). And yes, the stories about older people playing with the Wii are true.
You may recall that the 360's $400 was initially considered an awful lot of money, though people seem to be getting accustomed to it now
Actually, I would argue that the 360 shows perfecly well that people are not going to pay more than around 200 bucks for a console. The 360 still sells worse than the original Xbox, and even though I'm a hardcore gamer and know many hardcore gamers, I know exactly one person who owns a 360 - a friend of my brother. I don't even know his name, I just know he exists. The 360 is a failure, compared to other consoles.
The thing is, tech stuff in general has gone down in price. Computers cost less than a tenth of what they cost two decades ago. Everyone owns a cell phone that can do more than a computer from a few years ago, and he got the cell for free or next to nothing. Consoles have not gone down in price. People seem to accept that, but they don't accept increases in price.
In Switzerland, the PS3 costs 900 swiss francs. That's 740 US$. The difference to the Neo Geo suddenly isn't that big anymore.
All other consoles have pretty much remained at their price points. I bought my first black-and-white GB for 200 swiss francs. A DS lite costs 240 swiss francs, a GBA micro can be had for as little as 70 swiss francs.
(...) most people who don't have HDTVs aren't gamers at all (...) the Wii which is just a gussied-up GameCube with a new controller (...)
So, that's how you avoid cognitive dissonance now:-)
Looks like it's time to start facing facts, now that the PS3 has failed in Europe as well.
Most people who were willing to pay $600 for a PS3 either already have an HDTV or will be getting one very soon
So you're saying that the target audience of the PS3 is really small, which makes the PS3 a success because it has successfully targeted that small audience?
As for the 360, I'd say the vast majority of owners will get an HDTV to play it on in a couple of years at most
...which will be a good time for Nintendo to introduce Wii2, still at 250 US$, but with graphic capabilities rivalling the 360.
Actually Nintendo is looking long term, their strategy is dead on, consoles are commodities
That would mean that they are replacable, and that the brand doesn't matter. I'd argue the opposite: Brand matters, because of exclusive games. The Wii still comes out ahead: While the PS3 and 360 are kind of commodities in relation to each other (eventually, there will be almost no exclusive games on either console), the Wii isn't. It's unique. This is - in my opinion - the reason why the PS3 is failing: It costs a lot more than the 360, but doesn't really offer anything to justify the price.
One other argument: Consoles are toys. If you're buying a new gaming PC, you can easily justify the price: You need the faster computer for Vista, or maybe for the new Office, or for some other reason. But paying 900 bucks for a gaming rig (if you take into account additional controllers and one or two games)? Well... That's harder to justify.
Personally, I think the PS3 is a neat toy. I'm tempted. I could afford one. But it's still a huge amount of money just so I can play a bunch of games for a few hours every week! I could go to the movies every day for half a year for that kind of money.
Four to six years? You mean long after the other two consoles have already left it in the dust?
No, he means "just in time with most people moving to HDTVs." There's really no reason to think that the Wii would not still be a success in four year's time. Two letters: DS.
I thought Ou had lost all credibility by now. He's biased and stupid. I know that sounds harsh, but for heaven's sake, read his blog posts! He compared Apple to Nazi Germany, not even knowing how to spell Joseph Goebbels ("Joseph Gerbils", I'm not kidding!), and he called Fox using a number he got in a confidential mail from Maynor. I mean, geez!
The people he accuses have gone on the record saying that Fox had not contacted them. Chartier says:
What a riot: no, I have never been contacted by Fox or anyone else from Apple regarding any of this stuff. In fact, I'm not even receiving those post-support call surveys or notices that my Mac warranties are about to expire and that AppleCare is an affordable way to stay within Apple's graces.
This whole story only exists in Ou's head. Apple orchestrated nothing at all, the "researchers" discredited themselves all on their own, simply by claiming different, contradictory things at different times.
George Ou is nothing but a Troll. Can we please just ignore him?
Man, you're right. I went back to check this out, and even knowing that there was a next-button, it took me a few seconds to find it... I'm glad these games are playable. Makes me somewhat more likely to get a PS3.
I owned a Cube during the last generation. I never felt like I missed out on much by not owning a PS2, but there are a few games I would like to play, namely:
Okami (1 [] on Sony's Site)
God of War 1 & 2 (not listed)
Ico (3 [])
Shadow of the Colossus (not listed)
Katamari Damacy (own the PSP version, which sucks, the PS2 versions are supposed to be better - We Love Katamari got 3 [])
Psychonauts (not listed)
I'm sorry, but this is quite simply not good enough.
The currently available PS3 games are somewhat crappy (I'm not into FPS. I like offroad racers, but... I played Motorstorm two days ago. Feels like playing in slow motion after a few weeks of Excite Truck). I have a HD beamer, but as long as I can't copy Bluray disks, I'm not interested. I want to play PS2 games, but Sony screwed that up, too. I think instead of getting the PS3, I'll buy a PS2 as soon as I find one cheap.
There's simply no compelling reason to get a PS3, and all the non-compelling reasons don't (yet) add up to something compelling enough.
When I'm playing a traditional RPG, I usually set aside a long period of time (a couple hours) for me to play it. I do so on my couch, in front of a TV, all focused on the game. However, when I'm playing with my DS, that's usually not the case.
I'm usually playing DS while sitting in a hot bubble bath. Very immersive. I recommend it:-)
That's actually why I'm only 30 hourse into Twilight Princess: Can't play it while taking a bath:-)
Slashdot Mirror
I mainly use my PSP as a 24 viewing device, and I hate the screen. Yes, it's big and bright, but that's about it. The picture quality sucks. Everything that moves has a purple shadow following it, which is really, really distracting. In fact, at first I thought Ridge Racer had motion blur. Really impressive. Until I found out that it wasn't motion blur, it was just ghosting from the crappy screen.
Also, the thing reflects light like a mirror. Fortunately, I found a screen protector which has some kind of anti-reflection pattern on it, which makes the reflections more diffuse and thus more acceptable.
Anyway, my point is: Don't buy the PSP as a movie viewing solution.
Many will grow out of Wii Sports Bowling and buy some other Bowling or Golfing game eventually. Wii Sports is kind of an entry that takes away people's fear. I'm certain many of these people will buy other Wii games.
This title is currently in development by Nintendo (the name seems to be unclear, sometimes Miyamoto seems to call it "Wii Fit" or similar names).
I guess Wii games tend to be somewhat simpler, and they're definitely less astonishing graphically, so you'd expect them to get lower ratings even if the games themselves are more fun.
And obviously, devs are still learning how to use the Wii remote. Additionally, many publishers didn't really take the Wii seriously until now.
Compare this to the DS vs. PSP results. I would guess that the PSP has more top-rated games than the DS, even though most people will probably agree that the DS has a much better games portfolio.
Apart from answering to an obvious joke, you're actually right. We've never had a playable 3D Sonic that felt like the old-style 2D Sonic games, until now. Metroid and Mario aren't out yet, but they look pretty fresh so far (especially Mario), and we've definitely never played an FPS with light-gun mechanics, or a party game which had you use your controller as Macaras. So yeah, you tried to be sarcastic, but it didn't work: These games are new and fresh, and many of them share nothing but the name and the characters with their previous installments.
I was about to order one for Thomas Jefferson's grave. I bet he's a hoot at Wii Bowling Parties.
Yeah, I've used a 360. I've also seen movies of people using the AppleTV. My point remains.
I used turbo as much as possible (you seem to blow up if you use it too much). Dunno about the car, but none of the movies I've watched on youtube looked that much faster. If you think Motorstorm is extremely fast, you probably never played Excite Truck - or something really fast, like F-Zero GX :-)
My sister always ends up having to make the girl scout camp DVDs they hand out to parents. Why? She has an iBook, and all the others have Windows PCs. She's the only one who can figure out how to do it. Hell, my mom, who is a school teacher and was never able to figure out how to save a word document to a floppy (she's not stupid, she's just scared that she'll break something if she does something wrong) actually has figured out how to use iMovie and iDVD all on her own.
There's definitely a difference between a Windows PC and a Mac.
It's easy to use and works seamlessly?
People already have their movies and music and pictures on their PCs or Macs. Now they want to easily show them on the TV. AppleTV does that, 360 does not do that.
Yes, people will pay for simplicity. That is something many Slashdot commenters do not seem to understand. Why buy an AppleTV if the 360 does so much more? Because people aren't willing to invest time in getting their stuff to run. This may be hard to understand, but some people do not perceive setting up electronics as a valid hobby.
Apple definitely did not do anything to keep anyone from changing anything about the AppleTV. I'm not even entirely positive I would call that hacking - they added some components to the version of OS X running on the AppleTV. This is nothing at all like the PSP.
Let me start out by saying that I'm somewhat of a Nintendo fanboy. I like quirky, fun party games. I own a Cube as well as a Wii, and I play them both regularly. Having said that, I love arcade offroad racers.
I've spent the last few weeks unlocking everything in Excite Truck, which is a game I simply adore. The PS3 launched last week in Europe, so I played Motorstorm for the first time. It felt like playing in slow motion. Yes, I realize there's a turbo button. I realize the default level on the kiosks isn't the fastest level. Still, to me, after having played Excite Truck with its insane speed and huge jumps, it felt as if the whole game was playing insidea jar of honey.
I'm disappointed, especially after watching the target renders, which looke truly wicked.
While there are some games which simply trigger predefined movements using the Wiimote (the sword slash in Zelda, for example), many games accurately track your movements and turn them into in-game movements (Wii Bowling being the most obvious example). And yes, the stories about older people playing with the Wii are true.
Actually, I would argue that the 360 shows perfecly well that people are not going to pay more than around 200 bucks for a console. The 360 still sells worse than the original Xbox, and even though I'm a hardcore gamer and know many hardcore gamers, I know exactly one person who owns a 360 - a friend of my brother. I don't even know his name, I just know he exists. The 360 is a failure, compared to other consoles.
The thing is, tech stuff in general has gone down in price. Computers cost less than a tenth of what they cost two decades ago. Everyone owns a cell phone that can do more than a computer from a few years ago, and he got the cell for free or next to nothing. Consoles have not gone down in price. People seem to accept that, but they don't accept increases in price.
In Switzerland, the PS3 costs 900 swiss francs. That's 740 US$. The difference to the Neo Geo suddenly isn't that big anymore.
All other consoles have pretty much remained at their price points. I bought my first black-and-white GB for 200 swiss francs. A DS lite costs 240 swiss francs, a GBA micro can be had for as little as 70 swiss francs.
So, that's how you avoid cognitive dissonance now :-)
Looks like it's time to start facing facts, now that the PS3 has failed in Europe as well.
Most people who were willing to pay $600 for a PS3 either already have an HDTV or will be getting one very soonSo you're saying that the target audience of the PS3 is really small, which makes the PS3 a success because it has successfully targeted that small audience?
As for the 360, I'd say the vast majority of owners will get an HDTV to play it on in a couple of years at most...which will be a good time for Nintendo to introduce Wii2, still at 250 US$, but with graphic capabilities rivalling the 360.
That would mean that they are replacable, and that the brand doesn't matter. I'd argue the opposite: Brand matters, because of exclusive games. The Wii still comes out ahead: While the PS3 and 360 are kind of commodities in relation to each other (eventually, there will be almost no exclusive games on either console), the Wii isn't. It's unique. This is - in my opinion - the reason why the PS3 is failing: It costs a lot more than the 360, but doesn't really offer anything to justify the price.
One other argument: Consoles are toys. If you're buying a new gaming PC, you can easily justify the price: You need the faster computer for Vista, or maybe for the new Office, or for some other reason. But paying 900 bucks for a gaming rig (if you take into account additional controllers and one or two games)? Well... That's harder to justify.
Personally, I think the PS3 is a neat toy. I'm tempted. I could afford one. But it's still a huge amount of money just so I can play a bunch of games for a few hours every week! I could go to the movies every day for half a year for that kind of money.
No, he means "just in time with most people moving to HDTVs." There's really no reason to think that the Wii would not still be a success in four year's time. Two letters: DS.
I thought Ou had lost all credibility by now. He's biased and stupid. I know that sounds harsh, but for heaven's sake, read his blog posts! He compared Apple to Nazi Germany, not even knowing how to spell Joseph Goebbels ("Joseph Gerbils", I'm not kidding!), and he called Fox using a number he got in a confidential mail from Maynor. I mean, geez!
The people he accuses have gone on the record saying that Fox had not contacted them. Chartier says:
This whole story only exists in Ou's head. Apple orchestrated nothing at all, the "researchers" discredited themselves all on their own, simply by claiming different, contradictory things at different times.
George Ou is nothing but a Troll. Can we please just ignore him?
Switzerland, but I guess the problem is that I missed the "next"-button. Psychonauts also made the cut, by the way, which makes me happy.
Man, you're right. I went back to check this out, and even knowing that there was a next-button, it took me a few seconds to find it... I'm glad these games are playable. Makes me somewhat more likely to get a PS3.
You're right. Missed the next-button. That's looking better.
I'm guessing the Euro version will make its way to the US and Japan sooner or later...
The german translation is fucked up, too. It sounds like 1 square is better than 2 squares. The english one makes sense.
I owned a Cube during the last generation. I never felt like I missed out on much by not owning a PS2, but there are a few games I would like to play, namely:
I'm sorry, but this is quite simply not good enough.
The currently available PS3 games are somewhat crappy (I'm not into FPS. I like offroad racers, but... I played Motorstorm two days ago. Feels like playing in slow motion after a few weeks of Excite Truck). I have a HD beamer, but as long as I can't copy Bluray disks, I'm not interested. I want to play PS2 games, but Sony screwed that up, too. I think instead of getting the PS3, I'll buy a PS2 as soon as I find one cheap.
There's simply no compelling reason to get a PS3, and all the non-compelling reasons don't (yet) add up to something compelling enough.
I'm usually playing DS while sitting in a hot bubble bath. Very immersive. I recommend it :-)
That's actually why I'm only 30 hourse into Twilight Princess: Can't play it while taking a bath :-)