On a more serious side, they're not on par with VS2005 C++ IDE, either. The only other editor that I know of which can properly parse moderately complicated C++ templates (i.e. Boost) is SlickEdit, but nothing in the Linux land comes close to VS2005 for C++ debugging This is nonsense. VS2005 C++ IDE is left behind by these IDE as soon as you try to compile code for a GNU platform, with gcc for example. You're right, nothing in the Linux land comes close to VS2005 for standard C++ debugging, as VS2005 it's just left far behind. Your statement wouldn't be true, even if C++ debugging was reduced to graphical step by step C++ debugging.
The only case in which any Visual Studio is better than a FOSS IDE is when you're programming only for a Windows platform.
Sub HD graphics - 640p resolution That's just flat out wrong, it's 2x 640p resolution, or 1280p equivalent scaled down to 1080i. You're flat out wrong, how could you get caught in such a bad spin? What they did is sure enough NOT equivalent to 1280p. Rendering a 640p frame twice in two different color space never was equivalent to 1280p frame. It's far from being the same even in computational power needed. So no sorry, 640p is sub HD graphics, and will never be equivalent to 1080p any way you look at it. You should have realized that as Xbox 360 already struggles to display true 1080p (with 16:9 ratio, meaning 1920x1080 frames) , it could never render a 1280p frame. So you should have realized that rendering a 1280p frame is not the same at all as rendering two exactly identical 640p frames where the only difference is the color space.
You're wrong, there are more than 4 versions. There's at least one more that USA won't see, but still exists, which is: 60 GB - 4 USB, card slots, hybrid hardware/software BC, 599 (later or today, 499 ) This is the european version.
So the number of versions are on par with the XB360. Actually, no, they're not, XB360 has more versions than 5, because of the ones without and with HDMI.
But your teardown is complete BS, as it is 1 year old, and is based on hot air for the most part, as most PS3 component are custom Sony parts. Besides, it doesn't apply to the partial software emulation PS3, as this one includes only the GS, so they already removed the EE in it. The 40 GB PS3 won't have the GS either.
That's the thing. Consumers don't want BC. Or at least, they don't care. You mean Sony was wrong from the start on this thing? Besides, the Wii VC proves you wrong any way you look at it.
You get a skewed view of the world when you read nothing but gaming forums online. As opposed to reading mainstream papers where Sony's lies are repeated?
This crowd (for some reason) thinks BC is really important. I can tell you the reason: Sony said it was so. So I see 3 possible cases: - Sony was saying BS before - Sony are saying BS now - Sony never ceased to spout BS
Which is it?
But the "unwashed masses" don't buy a new console to play old games. In Europe, some big profile games were released after the PS3, and there are more to come. What is an "old game" to you? Some bought the Wii to play old NES games. How do you explain that? To be honest, some were never released outside Japan.
They just don't. They don't care. Hell, many of them probably don't even realize there IS BC on there PS2 or PS3. You're wrong. Even on the last part. Clueless people go to the clerk and just ask if it will play the old PS2 games.
Microsoft realized this when they went for pure software emulation of the Xbox, and then essentially gave up on it 6 months later (updates have stopped). BC is a red-herring. Perhaps for MS, as their XBox is not manufactured anymore. But the PS2 is still selling high numbers even this year. So for the PS3 case, you're wrong.
I agree with most of what you said, only the last part I have problems with.
It's worth pointing out that when they released the software BC revision in Europe, the savings from removing the EE ($27 if memory serves?) was not passed on to the consumer, in fact in a straight translation from my currency to dollars, my 60GB (non-nerfed) PS3 cost $850. I'm assuming it was manufactured in the same country/s as the US version, but they doubled the price here regardless. Our price include VAT though, while the US price doesn't. So you can't compare the prices directly. So no, they didn't double anything, though we sure enough were shafted in the process. Like always you could say. Europe always get screwed anyway. I could never enjoy most of the best games in Europe without modding my console, before the PS3. Because a lot were not released. Of the "recent" ones, Tales of the Abyss was never released in Europe for example. And for the trouble of paying higher prices for games, we get no localisation, except text translated or subtitles. And not even the original japanese voices in case of japanese games, but the crappy american dubs. Now, there is no region-lock on the PS3, but instead, Sony region-lock the online stores. Most won't export anything to the EU. One more blunder for Sony (SCEE actually, as I don't think SCEI, SCEA or SCEJ are the cause of that). Now, your heart sink when you see that the 40 GB japanese PS3 will be sold for 242 including VAT, and that's a new white color model. We in Europe get the old black color model only, for 400 . In that, I agree with you, it's even worse when you see that. If it wasn't for the guaranty and support, I would have imported the PS3 a long time ago.
All the components they've cut out - the BC stuff (I'll take your word for it that they left some in), the USB ports, the card readers... they're probably saving $20 tops. No, they're saving more than $20 for the GS and all the circuitry necessary to plug it to the PS3 output engine. Lots of people talk like they make money with this price cut. I say that's nonsense. They probably squeezed every dollar they could to put the price at that level, and surely are still losing money. The money they lose on PS3 sold in Japan must be insane, but they have no choice to have a chance to be relevant in that market. Because despite what fanboys wanted to believe, Japan is still the most important market for consoles, because of japanese devs. Think that most of Nintendo handhelds, most of Nintendo consoles, the PS1 and PS2 were brought to success thanks mainly to japanese devs.
Backwards compatibility is important, but mainly in the first six months to a year after a console launches The Wii VC just proved wrong in so many ways, that your head will spin till the end of this generation of consoles. This is even worse, as this gives more incentive for people to buy a PS2 instead of a PS3, to play their PS2 games. The problem is even worse in Europe, where games are released sometimes 2 years after the japanese release, like Valkyrie Profile or Rogue Galaxy that were just released. FFXII was released in Q1 of this year in Europe, slightly before the PS3 release. And we still have several big games to be released on the PS2 in Europe. So in the case of the PS3, you're even more wrong on the importance of BC. What's the worst, is that in the specific region where BC would be the most needed (Europe), we didn't get the full BC PS3 model. That's pure nonsense!
You have to get people to buy in and them not having to keep around another console to play older games is one of the ways to do that In Europe, both Rogue Galaxy and Valkyrie Profile are newer than the PS3... It's even worse for me, as I'm a big RPG fan, so you bet BC is a huge feature for me. I didn't have a PS2 either, so I'll have several RPG I want to play on the PS3 if I get one. Now, living in Europe, I'm forced to buy one of the bundles before they are sold out. I wasn't planning to get the PS3 so soon, but now I'll have no choice.
However, the longer the console is around the less important it becomes. People typically play less older games as time goes on. Obviously there are going to be a handful of, "classic" games that people love and will continue to play for years, but the vast PS2 library is largely relegated to history as more new games are released. Again, the Wii VC proves you massively wrong. It includes games going back to the NES !!! And people buy them !!!
Frankly Sony's biggest single problem with the PS3 is its cost. No matter what you get for the money, it's more money than many people are willing to pay and that keeps PS3s out of homes. Anything they can do to reduce costs is going to help them at this point, and removing some of the components that they are removing is doing just that. I agree.
Yes they already have software emulation of the Emotion Engine, but supposedly there were still some other hardware components that were used solely for PS2 emulation. That's no supposition, that's true. The current PS3 all have the GS (Graphics Synthesizer) which is the GPU of the PS2, very hard to emulate by software. I can understand if they don't make emulation for that. The 40 GB won't have it.
In fact, the whole PSP fiasco pisses me off quite a lot. I know they are worried about piracy or whatever, but seriously...if they allowed the device to be as open as it was with firmware version 1.0, they would likely have a much stronger hold on the portable market. I'm not saying they necessarily would have outsold the DS, but they would certainly have a much larger piece of the pie. No, they wouldn't, AT ALL! Or rather, they already got some of that market, but what they were after was the handheld console market. And an open firmware will do nothing for them in that area.
The PSP could have been a SICK little piece of equipment. I can put e-books on there using a couple programs that format a document (pdf, doc, whatever) to fit on the screen and then another one to turn them into pictures so that I am essentially reading e-books. They should streamline that process to make things easier. Nonsense! You would put Sony in the ground. They want the market for handheld console games, not e-books, pictures or whatever other nonsense. Game publishers don't care about you buying e-books and whatnot, they want you to buy their games, or they'll bail out, even if reluctantly.
Also, not supporting things like DiVX/Xvid/etc was a bit foolish, methinks...their argument would likely be "those are primarily used for piracy", but think about it....they could sell software that would allow you to rip the video and reformat it to play on the PSP while using a codec that isn't quite as shitty as what we are stuck with now. All of that is causing their death. Marketing their handheld console as sth else was a mistake, as for their PS3 business. People buy the PSP mostly for other things than playing games. So even the most stubborn devs are forced to realize that they have to develop for the DS instead. Because despite having sold a bit less than half of DS consoles, the PSP games are nowhere to be seen in charts, except the rare huge blockbusters. Meanwhile, you see DS games eveywhere on the charts. This is really bad business for a handheld console.
If they put their corporate bullshit aside and spent a little more money up front, they would probably have many more PSP's in the hands of the people. You know, the ones that actually keep them in buisness. They're called customers. Unfortunately, for a console, putting them in the hands of people is not enough. They must buy games too! Especially with loss leader strategy like Sony uses.
You're wrong! The US 80 GB and Europe 60 GB only emulate the EE (Emotion Engine, the CPU) by software, but still include the GS (Graphics Synthesizer, the GPU) in hardware. The US 60 GB includes both the EE and GS in hardware. Finally, the 40 GB (from Japan to Europe) doesn't include either the EE or GS, so can't play PS2 games.
The only full software emulation on the PS3 is for PS1 games, so they can still be played on every PS3 models.
While I share your opinion that their currently bundled games themselves aren't very compelling, but I doubt we'll see a Halo 3 pack-in because I suspect Microsoft isn't terribly worried about moving systems this Christmas season. In the USA, their biggest and only relevant market, perhaps that's true. But they must be really desperate in Europe, as some of the FIGS (France, Italy, Germany, Spain, aka 4 of the big 5) countries have an official Halo 3 bundle already. And yes, it retails for less than the console + Halo 3 bought separately. I don't know about UK, which doesn't seem to need it as their behaviour mimics the USA.
And Halo 3 (and Mass Effect and other soon-to-be-released titles) will move plenty of systems even being sold separately. The system is starting to move under its own momentum. We'll see, but I doubt that. Already, in UK, it seems like what I believe was true : most people wanting Halo 3 already had a XB360, as the bump in sales accounted for less than 2 % of the installed base in the week of release, while the game sold to 1/3rd of the installed base the same week. Also, I don't understand the price cut right before the release of your flagship title. That's very stupid to do, unless you think your flagship title is not enough to send sales upward. So now, instead of 2 big momentum, they are left with one.
By NOT packing in Halo 3, they'll still sell lots of units and they'll additionally rake in tons of cash by selling Halo 3 separately. And making loads of cash and perhaps finally showing that Microsoft's game division is profitable sounds like a pretty good strategy. So Europe is lost for that strategy then. Let's see how they fare in NPD of September. If most people that bought Halo 3 didn't have a XB360 already, that means a lot of the Halo 3 fans have bought a XB360 now. So to say most of the Halo 3 fans didn't have a XBox 360, I think we can say at least 10 % of the current install base must show up. That would mean 90 % of Halo 3 fans already had a XB360. Well, that would mean last month's 280k XB360 + at least 650k XBox 360 sold in September ( IIRC XB360 has more than 6.5M installed base in the USA alone). So the XB360 should sell nearly 1 M console in September. Somehow, I doubt it did.
So, is it just that the dev packs make this style of characters unusually easy, is it that about 75% (number based on your sample) of the authors of nintendo games like that style, or is there some other reason... not a troll, a question I told you already: you have poor image culture. You see exactly the same thing (cartoon like characters) where there are actually many different styles. That's like me saying I don't like all the games that have grotesque characters that try to mimic reality (uncanny valley). Final Fantasy Spirits Within showed that people don't like "realistic" looking characters (uncanny valley again). So perhaps that's just a matter of the devs seeing what people prefer to se, to, you know, sell more games.
the fan/player ratings are pretty much all within a few points of the other, which suggests that they're at least roughly accurate No, that's not true at all. That supposes that most buyers go to Internet review sites and rate the games they bought. That's just not true at all, especially for the DS, which has lots of casual gamers that don't even know what these sites. There are countless examples of a huge difference between the score these sites give to games, and their popularity. The DS training or mini games are the perfect examples of that.
it still suffers from the fact that it took considerably longer to reach that point than the GBA Which can be explained by the fact that the DS dominates in game sales far more than the GBA, with a far more diverse library, meaning fiercer competition and allowing the RPG devs to make new genres. Like Capcom remaking their Gyakuten Saiban games for the DS, which had far more success on the DS than on the GBA.
Listwars... Your list separates the different versions of Pokemon while mine doesn't, which is on purpose I'm sure. Besides, I didn't count any Harvest Moon, because if I had, that would make at least 2 more games. You're adding ports to, while I didn't. You're counting games like Mario & Luigi, while I didn't do the same for the DS. This just shows that if this is true or not is a matter of opinion, which will not be anymore in 6 months. I don't understand what your point is, but if it is that RPG fans are starved more than on the GBA at the same relative time after launch, I could agree one year ago, but can't now. And it will be clearly wrong in the next 3 months of time.
OK, so it's entirely subjective, right. I can't argue against that then.
But then came this:
It sold well, sure, but doesn't appear to have been received all that well by gamers Which is nonsense of course. If it sold well, that's because it has been well received by gamers. Reviews are no indication of how well a title has been received by gamers. If you want to talk popularity of RPG between GBA and DS, like I said, you can refuting it now is a matter of opinion, but after this huge DS RPG winter and after DQ IX is released, there just won't be any wondering as to which of the DS or the GBA had more of the good RPG.
You're wrong of course, all of these games I cited have been released. Read again what I wrote, the clearly separated end of the list are the games released in Japan only for now. And again, you may not like these games, but they are still RPG that some people may like. Comparing a 6+ years old console library to a less than 3 years one is stupid anyway, especially when one is from a previous generation, and this stupid argument which already doesn't hold (because of various Pokemon, FF III, Tales of, FFXII, etc.), won't hold at all in 2008, when the rest of the blockbuster RPG are out.
The key phrase was "in comparison." Compared to the GBA, there are considerably fewer RPGs for the DS. Plus, if you're counting the Mana games, you're not really excluding action/RPGs.:-) So you're comparing the library of a not yet 3 years old console with one which is more like 6+? Is that a joke? The mana games I'm counting are not action/RPG. One is tactical RPG, and the other have several elements of traditional RPG. These are not the old mana games. These I didn't include.
More to the point, there are a fewer great RPGs for the DS. Yeah, this is subjective, but few of the games you've listed have gotten the kind of positive critical reviews of games like Golden Sun, Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, to say nothing of the Final Fantasy remakes. Which is why I specifically said that you may not like them, but they are still RPG. I see you are in the "game X don't count because..." clan. Sorry, but actually, the DS already has more critically acclaimed games, like the Pokemon RPG and FF III remake. The sheer number of the ones to come next year will finish to settle this matter, DQ IX and all.
The Lunar DS, Narnia, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games were pretty roundly trashed, and Magical Starsign got rather mediocre scores. Even Final Fantasy III, which did better than any of the above, seems to rank below the GBA FF remakes It's even worse now: they don't count because their rank is lower? What nonsense is that? And you got to be kidding, as FF III destroyed the sales of any of the GBA ones. It's a million seller in Japan alone!
So, my idea of communication is pretty spot on Compared to your broad definition it is, but reality is different from utopia, and Nintendo has to deal with reality. The only demographic annoyed by their online friend's code, is the hardcore one coming from PC, which for the most part don't even want or own a DS and a Wii (that's my opinion, not a fact), but love to bitch about their online.
With the friend code lock in, you can't really even say 'Good game' to random people. Unless I've missed something. You missed that you can. The friend's code is there especially for that: make sure that both parties actually want to be friends, before allowing higher relationship.
Now, as to your claims that Nintendo doesn't know how to make an MMO? That's a rather moot point. Just because they haven't done something doesn't mean they can't. Nintendo has a long history of inventing or reinventing genres. Perhaps, but there are some type of games which are very western centric, that they don't know how to do. It's not a moot point at all, it's the plain truth. FPS like games are not something that appeal to eastern devs, and Nintendo doesn't know how to make good ones. That's why they had a western studio to make games like Metroid Prime. I think giving Mario Strikers to a western studio was a mistake, but that's my opinion. I have tastes more in line with japanese ones, and I don't like Mario Strikers at all.
If they wanted to, they certainly have the people and the power to make something amazing. If not, they know who to talk to, and could get the ball rolling mighty quick. Yes, like I said, they would hire a western or a korean studio, which is just what they did, or try to do...
Uh... Guess you are a troll then, I should have seen you coming from a mile away.
Just say you don't like the neo-whatever Nintendo style, or go all the way out saying you don't like the look of anything Nintendo does, and we'll understand. That's your right after all, and then I can answer your question: there's no reason apart from your tastes and poor image culture.
So you're not the target of this backslash and all is well. The targets are the very XB360 apologists that were bitching about other games not being HD, or bitching about resolution as you like to put it. These people were proven wrong, that's all there is to it: resolution does not matter to make a good game. I hope they learn.
I agree...not beating the DS does not mean you're a failure. In fact, PSP could conceivably sell the second most hardware among the five next-gen platforms, and seems near-guaranteed to be at least third There lies your problem. You're putting handheld in competition with home consoles, which is nonsense. In most cases, you have one console for a home, not several. While you can have one handheld by PERSON in the house, which is also the common case. Don't compare handheld marketshare with home consoles, that's ridiculous. It's even more ridiculous, when you know that Nintendo or Sony wouldn't release two different consoles of their own that would compete against each other on the same market. That would be beyond stupid, but it seems you believe that. You're alone, fortunately.
And well...nobody's calling the Wii a failure.... Because nobody's making the mistake of comparing a handheld console to a home console, not even those that make them, which is why there is the Wii and the DS on the market. If you want to compare the PSP, that's with its only competitor: Nintendo DS! And Nintendo DS is crushing it, which must be why you try your red herring. And the PSP is a failure, because most people in the game industry said it would crush the DS. Then they tried to deny it, saying that everybody said the DS was great at launch, which is not true of course. Now that the slim is released, you see that these people didn't disappear, and have come back to say the PSP Slim will destroy the DS Lite. Which is unlikely, but they will realize that in a few weeks, not before.
I dont think its a bad idea at all, people will be more likely to take a $30 chance with a console they already own than a $360 chance on one they dont. If they like Mistwalkers games they will be more likely to take the big plunge later. I say they won't. Bear with me, but this Blue Dragon game on DS is nothing. Nothing compared to the Dragon Quest IX juggernaut that is coming. People won't buy a XB360 just because they liked a game with the same name on DS. If one thing, this will validate that Mistwalker can make RPG for consoles less powerful than the XB360. So naturally, people will wait for these games on the Wii, not on XB360. All the flaws of the XB360 in Japan won't go away for one game. That's assuming the game will be good, be noticed, and sell well. The DS has so many RPG and other games already, that going to the poor XB360 for one RPG in Japan would be nonsense, except for the most hardcore players.
It's not suprising to me therefore that Rare is possibly intending to port Viva Pinata to the Wii, after all MS clearly isn't opposed to letting it's studios work with Nintendo, Rare's roots are with Nintendo and it's something the staff seem happy to do. They mostly do that to help leave the PSP behind. It's completely useless, as the DS don't need them. But if they can make money in the process...
Likewise with Mistwalker, whilst they may be a primarily Microsoft dev studio I'd imagine their situation is pretty similar to that of Rare's. No it's not, Mistwalker is an independant studio, and is not owned by MS AT ALL. They are bound by contract maybe for their first games, but that's all.
I think it all reinforces the view that Microsoft doesn't actually see the Wii as a particularly direct threat to the 360 as they have sometimes mentioned in the past because of the different target audiences of the two consoles and because for those willing to pay the price of a PS3 they can instead get both a Wii and a 360 in the process neither harming the sales of one or the other. Huge pile of nonsense and delusion, added to flawed logic. The Wii is a direct competitor to the XBox 360, which is exactly why these games are not developed for the Wii, but for the DS, which is the one not in direct competition with the XBox 360. The Wii already passed the XBox 360 in worldwide sales in less than 10 months, with the XB360 having 1 year headstart, and no devs ready to support the Wii! Another flawed logic is that people buy consoles just to buy consoles. People buy consoles for games, so if someone wants a game exclusive to PS3, the fact that they can have the Wii + XB360 for the same price as a PS3 just won't change anything. And I didn't get into the fact that it isn't even true.
Furthmore, MS can reap the benefits of Wii/DS game sales without worrying about the associated R&D costs of developing the hardware of that platform when they let their game studios develop for Nintendo platforms making the whole thing a win/win situation. BS! MS doesn't develop any game for the Wii, so your sentence is completely wrong. As for DS, MS has no say on which console Mistwalker can develop, unless they want to use their IP. And that's not a win/win at all, unless they have no XB360 project for their internal studio to work on, which would be a very bad situation. Because if they develop for DS, they don't develop for XB360 meanwhile. So it's clearly not a win/win situation, unless they don't care about their console, and just want to stop Sony.
I think MS' stance is that if it pulls in money without risking 360 sales their game dev. studios are welcome to do what they want, that seems a pretty sensible attitude to have. In business I imagine profit comes above fanboyism with regards to whoever's console is best. Except that your premises are all wrong. Fanboyism in stopping Sony is what pushes MS. Your "pulling in money" doesn't make sense in MS case, when they have a hole of $6.5 billions loss already in their console business. Clearly they're fanboys then.
Is there a reason that nearly all of Nintendo's games have such silly looking characters? Apart from the fact that you don't know what you're talking about? No. Except if your "nearly all" doesn't include Metroid, Fire Emblem or Zelda (even Wii Sports). Which would be stupid.
There are a lot of really good RPGs for the GBA. There are a couple for the DS, don't get me wrong, but the selection is much more limited in comparison. WHAT?! I may not like all of them, you may not like all of them, but even discounting the numerous huge RPG that are coming to the DS, and only counting those already out, there are far more than a couple of them. Of course, not all of them are released outside of Japan yet (I've tried to put them on end of the list). That's because the devs support for the DS comes mainly from eastern devs. And I won't even count Action/RPG, which I do not consider as RPG.
Let's go into list wars:
Narnia Children of Mana Heroes of Mana Lunar Dragon Song Lunar Knights Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Pokemon Diamond/Perl (how could you even forget these ones?! Even if you don't like them like me) Rune Factory Magical Starsign FF III FF XII Revenant Wings
Naruto: Saikyou Ninja Daikesshu 3 Naruto RPG 2: Chidori VS Rasengan Naruto RPG 3: Reijuu VS Konoha Shoutai Tales of the Tempest Iron Feather Xenosaga I & II FFCC Ring of Fates
Nintendo is a Japanese word meaning "wasted potential" Nope! Or was it a joke? My joke detector is broken then.
Consider that, with a pointing device, internet support, and a seperate screen per player, the DS is ideal for almost every smash PC hit for the past decade or so. It's why I bought one - I saw Metroid Hunters demo and thought "PC gaming on handheld!". Seems like the western developers still didn't understood that.
But instead, we get more micro-game collections, and confused platformers bewildered how to handle a stylus. We get much more than that actually.
I want Civ. I want Starcraft. Diablo. Master of Magic. Battlefield. X-Com. Populous. Battlezone. Your small list is a perfect example of what happens: western devs have very BAD support for the DS. The DS is mainly supported by japanese games. Isn't that amazing? Most of the hits on the DS are eastern devs games, the western devs still don't support this handheld console properly. They support the PSP way more, which is dragging them down, but I won't complain, that's their fault. It seems like western devs are unable to develop for a console which isn't a powerhouse. This is why Japan is still the most relevant market for videogames. Imagine that the DS sold more than twice the number of the more powerful PSP thanks to eastern devs only. Amazing!
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Your statement wouldn't be true, even if C++ debugging was reduced to graphical step by step C++ debugging.
The only case in which any Visual Studio is better than a FOSS IDE is when you're programming only for a Windows platform.
That's just flat out wrong, it's 2x 640p resolution, or 1280p equivalent scaled down to 1080i. You're flat out wrong, how could you get caught in such a bad spin?
What they did is sure enough NOT equivalent to 1280p. Rendering a 640p frame twice in two different color space never was equivalent to 1280p frame. It's far from being the same even in computational power needed.
So no sorry, 640p is sub HD graphics, and will never be equivalent to 1080p any way you look at it.
You should have realized that as Xbox 360 already struggles to display true 1080p (with 16:9 ratio, meaning 1920x1080 frames)
, it could never render a 1280p frame. So you should have realized that rendering a 1280p frame is not the same at all as rendering two exactly identical 640p frames where the only difference is the color space.
You're wrong, there are more than 4 versions. There's at least one more that USA won't see, but still exists, which is:
60 GB - 4 USB, card slots, hybrid hardware/software BC, 599 (later or today, 499 )
This is the european version.
So the number of versions are on par with the XB360. Actually, no, they're not, XB360 has more versions than 5, because of the ones without and with HDMI.
But your teardown is complete BS, as it is 1 year old, and is based on hot air for the most part, as most PS3 component are custom Sony parts.
Besides, it doesn't apply to the partial software emulation PS3, as this one includes only the GS, so they already removed the EE in it. The 40 GB PS3 won't have the GS either.
Besides, the Wii VC proves you wrong any way you look at it. You get a skewed view of the world when you read nothing but gaming forums online. As opposed to reading mainstream papers where Sony's lies are repeated? This crowd (for some reason) thinks BC is really important. I can tell you the reason: Sony said it was so. So I see 3 possible cases:
- Sony was saying BS before
- Sony are saying BS now
- Sony never ceased to spout BS
Which is it? But the "unwashed masses" don't buy a new console to play old games. In Europe, some big profile games were released after the PS3, and there are more to come. What is an "old game" to you?
Some bought the Wii to play old NES games. How do you explain that?
To be honest, some were never released outside Japan. They just don't. They don't care. Hell, many of them probably don't even realize there IS BC on there PS2 or PS3. You're wrong. Even on the last part. Clueless people go to the clerk and just ask if it will play the old PS2 games. Microsoft realized this when they went for pure software emulation of the Xbox, and then essentially gave up on it 6 months later (updates have stopped). BC is a red-herring. Perhaps for MS, as their XBox is not manufactured anymore. But the PS2 is still selling high numbers even this year. So for the PS3 case, you're wrong.
I could never enjoy most of the best games in Europe without modding my console, before the PS3.
Because a lot were not released. Of the "recent" ones, Tales of the Abyss was never released in Europe for example.
And for the trouble of paying higher prices for games, we get no localisation, except text translated or subtitles. And not even the original japanese voices in case of japanese games, but the crappy american dubs.
Now, there is no region-lock on the PS3, but instead, Sony region-lock the online stores. Most won't export anything to the EU. One more blunder for Sony (SCEE actually, as I don't think SCEI, SCEA or SCEJ are the cause of that).
Now, your heart sink when you see that the 40 GB japanese PS3 will be sold for 242 including VAT, and that's a new white color model.
We in Europe get the old black color model only, for 400 .
In that, I agree with you, it's even worse when you see that. If it wasn't for the guaranty and support, I would have imported the PS3 a long time ago. All the components they've cut out - the BC stuff (I'll take your word for it that they left some in), the USB ports, the card readers... they're probably saving $20 tops. No, they're saving more than $20 for the GS and all the circuitry necessary to plug it to the PS3 output engine.
Lots of people talk like they make money with this price cut. I say that's nonsense. They probably squeezed every dollar they could to put the price at that level, and surely are still losing money.
The money they lose on PS3 sold in Japan must be insane, but they have no choice to have a chance to be relevant in that market.
Because despite what fanboys wanted to believe, Japan is still the most important market for consoles, because of japanese devs.
Think that most of Nintendo handhelds, most of Nintendo consoles, the PS1 and PS2 were brought to success thanks mainly to japanese devs.
This is even worse, as this gives more incentive for people to buy a PS2 instead of a PS3, to play their PS2 games.
The problem is even worse in Europe, where games are released sometimes 2 years after the japanese release, like Valkyrie Profile or Rogue Galaxy that were just released. FFXII was released in Q1 of this year in Europe, slightly before the PS3 release. And we still have several big games to be released on the PS2 in Europe. So in the case of the PS3, you're even more wrong on the importance of BC.
What's the worst, is that in the specific region where BC would be the most needed (Europe), we didn't get the full BC PS3 model. That's pure nonsense! You have to get people to buy in and them not having to keep around another console to play older games is one of the ways to do that In Europe, both Rogue Galaxy and Valkyrie Profile are newer than the PS3...
It's even worse for me, as I'm a big RPG fan, so you bet BC is a huge feature for me.
I didn't have a PS2 either, so I'll have several RPG I want to play on the PS3 if I get one. Now, living in Europe, I'm forced to buy one of the bundles before they are sold out. I wasn't planning to get the PS3 so soon, but now I'll have no choice. However, the longer the console is around the less important it becomes. People typically play less older games as time goes on. Obviously there are going to be a handful of, "classic" games that people love and will continue to play for years, but the vast PS2 library is largely relegated to history as more new games are released. Again, the Wii VC proves you massively wrong. It includes games going back to the NES !!! And people buy them !!! Frankly Sony's biggest single problem with the PS3 is its cost. No matter what you get for the money, it's more money than many people are willing to pay and that keeps PS3s out of homes. Anything they can do to reduce costs is going to help them at this point, and removing some of the components that they are removing is doing just that. I agree. Yes they already have software emulation of the Emotion Engine, but supposedly there were still some other hardware components that were used solely for PS2 emulation. That's no supposition, that's true. The current PS3 all have the GS (Graphics Synthesizer) which is the GPU of the PS2, very hard to emulate by software.
I can understand if they don't make emulation for that.
The 40 GB won't have it.
Or rather, they already got some of that market, but what they were after was the handheld console market. And an open firmware will do nothing for them in that area. The PSP could have been a SICK little piece of equipment. I can put e-books on there using a couple programs that format a document (pdf, doc, whatever) to fit on the screen and then another one to turn them into pictures so that I am essentially reading e-books. They should streamline that process to make things easier. Nonsense!
You would put Sony in the ground. They want the market for handheld console games, not e-books, pictures or whatever other nonsense.
Game publishers don't care about you buying e-books and whatnot, they want you to buy their games, or they'll bail out, even if reluctantly. Also, not supporting things like DiVX/Xvid/etc was a bit foolish, methinks...their argument would likely be "those are primarily used for piracy", but think about it....they could sell software that would allow you to rip the video and reformat it to play on the PSP while using a codec that isn't quite as shitty as what we are stuck with now. All of that is causing their death. Marketing their handheld console as sth else was a mistake, as for their PS3 business.
People buy the PSP mostly for other things than playing games. So even the most stubborn devs are forced to realize that they have to develop for the DS instead.
Because despite having sold a bit less than half of DS consoles, the PSP games are nowhere to be seen in charts, except the rare huge blockbusters. Meanwhile, you see DS games eveywhere on the charts.
This is really bad business for a handheld console. If they put their corporate bullshit aside and spent a little more money up front, they would probably have many more PSP's in the hands of the people. You know, the ones that actually keep them in buisness. They're called customers. Unfortunately, for a console, putting them in the hands of people is not enough. They must buy games too! Especially with loss leader strategy like Sony uses.
You're wrong!
The US 80 GB and Europe 60 GB only emulate the EE (Emotion Engine, the CPU) by software, but still include the GS (Graphics Synthesizer, the GPU) in hardware.
The US 60 GB includes both the EE and GS in hardware.
Finally, the 40 GB (from Japan to Europe) doesn't include either the EE or GS, so can't play PS2 games.
The only full software emulation on the PS3 is for PS1 games, so they can still be played on every PS3 models.
I don't know about UK, which doesn't seem to need it as their behaviour mimics the USA. And Halo 3 (and Mass Effect and other soon-to-be-released titles) will move plenty of systems even being sold separately. The system is starting to move under its own momentum. We'll see, but I doubt that. Already, in UK, it seems like what I believe was true : most people wanting Halo 3 already had a XB360, as the bump in sales accounted for less than 2 % of the installed base in the week of release, while the game sold to 1/3rd of the installed base the same week.
Also, I don't understand the price cut right before the release of your flagship title. That's very stupid to do, unless you think your flagship title is not enough to send sales upward. So now, instead of 2 big momentum, they are left with one. By NOT packing in Halo 3, they'll still sell lots of units and they'll additionally rake in tons of cash by selling Halo 3 separately. And making loads of cash and perhaps finally showing that Microsoft's game division is profitable sounds like a pretty good strategy. So Europe is lost for that strategy then. Let's see how they fare in NPD of September.
If most people that bought Halo 3 didn't have a XB360 already, that means a lot of the Halo 3 fans have bought a XB360 now. So to say most of the Halo 3 fans didn't have a XBox 360, I think we can say at least 10 % of the current install base must show up. That would mean 90 % of Halo 3 fans already had a XB360.
Well, that would mean last month's 280k XB360 + at least 650k XBox 360 sold in September ( IIRC XB360 has more than 6.5M installed base in the USA alone).
So the XB360 should sell nearly 1 M console in September. Somehow, I doubt it did.
That's like me saying I don't like all the games that have grotesque characters that try to mimic reality (uncanny valley).
Final Fantasy Spirits Within showed that people don't like "realistic" looking characters (uncanny valley again). So perhaps that's just a matter of the devs seeing what people prefer to se, to, you know, sell more games.
There are countless examples of a huge difference between the score these sites give to games, and their popularity. The DS training or mini games are the perfect examples of that. it still suffers from the fact that it took considerably longer to reach that point than the GBA Which can be explained by the fact that the DS dominates in game sales far more than the GBA, with a far more diverse library, meaning fiercer competition and allowing the RPG devs to make new genres.
Like Capcom remaking their Gyakuten Saiban games for the DS, which had far more success on the DS than on the GBA.
Listwars ...
Your list separates the different versions of Pokemon while mine doesn't, which is on purpose I'm sure.
Besides, I didn't count any Harvest Moon, because if I had, that would make at least 2 more games.
You're adding ports to, while I didn't. You're counting games like Mario & Luigi, while I didn't do the same for the DS.
This just shows that if this is true or not is a matter of opinion, which will not be anymore in 6 months.
I don't understand what your point is, but if it is that RPG fans are starved more than on the GBA at the same relative time after launch, I could agree one year ago, but can't now. And it will be clearly wrong in the next 3 months of time.
But then came this: It sold well, sure, but doesn't appear to have been received all that well by gamers Which is nonsense of course. If it sold well, that's because it has been well received by gamers.
Reviews are no indication of how well a title has been received by gamers.
If you want to talk popularity of RPG between GBA and DS, like I said, you can refuting it now is a matter of opinion, but after this huge DS RPG winter and after DQ IX is released, there just won't be any wondering as to which of the DS or the GBA had more of the good RPG.
You're wrong of course, all of these games I cited have been released. Read again what I wrote, the clearly separated end of the list are the games released in Japan only for now.
And again, you may not like these games, but they are still RPG that some people may like.
Comparing a 6+ years old console library to a less than 3 years one is stupid anyway, especially when one is from a previous generation, and this stupid argument which already doesn't hold (because of various Pokemon, FF III, Tales of, FFXII, etc.), won't hold at all in 2008, when the rest of the blockbuster RPG are out.
Is that a joke?
The mana games I'm counting are not action/RPG. One is tactical RPG, and the other have several elements of traditional RPG. These are not the old mana games. These I didn't include. More to the point, there are a fewer great RPGs for the DS. Yeah, this is subjective, but few of the games you've listed have gotten the kind of positive critical reviews of games like Golden Sun, Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, to say nothing of the Final Fantasy remakes. Which is why I specifically said that you may not like them, but they are still RPG.
I see you are in the "game X don't count because
Sorry, but actually, the DS already has more critically acclaimed games, like the Pokemon RPG and FF III remake. The sheer number of the ones to come next year will finish to settle this matter, DQ IX and all. The Lunar DS, Narnia, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games were pretty roundly trashed, and Magical Starsign got rather mediocre scores. Even Final Fantasy III, which did better than any of the above, seems to rank below the GBA FF remakes It's even worse now: they don't count because their rank is lower? What nonsense is that?
And you got to be kidding, as FF III destroyed the sales of any of the GBA ones. It's a million seller in Japan alone!
FPS like games are not something that appeal to eastern devs, and Nintendo doesn't know how to make good ones. That's why they had a western studio to make games like Metroid Prime.
I think giving Mario Strikers to a western studio was a mistake, but that's my opinion.
I have tastes more in line with japanese ones, and I don't like Mario Strikers at all. If they wanted to, they certainly have the people and the power to make something amazing. If not, they know who to talk to, and could get the ball rolling mighty quick. Yes, like I said, they would hire a western or a korean studio, which is just what they did, or try to do...
Uh ...
Guess you are a troll then, I should have seen you coming from a mile away.
Just say you don't like the neo-whatever Nintendo style, or go all the way out saying you don't like the look of anything Nintendo does, and we'll understand. That's your right after all, and then I can answer your question: there's no reason apart from your tastes and poor image culture.
So you're not the target of this backslash and all is well.
The targets are the very XB360 apologists that were bitching about other games not being HD, or bitching about resolution as you like to put it.
These people were proven wrong, that's all there is to it: resolution does not matter to make a good game.
I hope they learn.
In most cases, you have one console for a home, not several. While you can have one handheld by PERSON in the house, which is also the common case.
Don't compare handheld marketshare with home consoles, that's ridiculous.
It's even more ridiculous, when you know that Nintendo or Sony wouldn't release two different consoles of their own that would compete against each other on the same market. That would be beyond stupid, but it seems you believe that. You're alone, fortunately. And well...nobody's calling the Wii a failure.... Because nobody's making the mistake of comparing a handheld console to a home console, not even those that make them, which is why there is the Wii and the DS on the market.
If you want to compare the PSP, that's with its only competitor: Nintendo DS!
And Nintendo DS is crushing it, which must be why you try your red herring.
And the PSP is a failure, because most people in the game industry said it would crush the DS. Then they tried to deny it, saying that everybody said the DS was great at launch, which is not true of course. Now that the slim is released, you see that these people didn't disappear, and have come back to say the PSP Slim will destroy the DS Lite. Which is unlikely, but they will realize that in a few weeks, not before.
Bear with me, but this Blue Dragon game on DS is nothing. Nothing compared to the Dragon Quest IX juggernaut that is coming.
People won't buy a XB360 just because they liked a game with the same name on DS. If one thing, this will validate that Mistwalker can make RPG for consoles less powerful than the XB360. So naturally, people will wait for these games on the Wii, not on XB360.
All the flaws of the XB360 in Japan won't go away for one game. That's assuming the game will be good, be noticed, and sell well.
The DS has so many RPG and other games already, that going to the poor XB360 for one RPG in Japan would be nonsense, except for the most hardcore players.
The Wii is a direct competitor to the XBox 360, which is exactly why these games are not developed for the Wii, but for the DS, which is the one not in direct competition with the XBox 360. The Wii already passed the XBox 360 in worldwide sales in less than 10 months, with the XB360 having 1 year headstart, and no devs ready to support the Wii!
Another flawed logic is that people buy consoles just to buy consoles. People buy consoles for games, so if someone wants a game exclusive to PS3, the fact that they can have the Wii + XB360 for the same price as a PS3 just won't change anything. And I didn't get into the fact that it isn't even true. Furthmore, MS can reap the benefits of Wii/DS game sales without worrying about the associated R&D costs of developing the hardware of that platform when they let their game studios develop for Nintendo platforms making the whole thing a win/win situation. BS! MS doesn't develop any game for the Wii, so your sentence is completely wrong. As for DS, MS has no say on which console Mistwalker can develop, unless they want to use their IP. And that's not a win/win at all, unless they have no XB360 project for their internal studio to work on, which would be a very bad situation. Because if they develop for DS, they don't develop for XB360 meanwhile. So it's clearly not a win/win situation, unless they don't care about their console, and just want to stop Sony. I think MS' stance is that if it pulls in money without risking 360 sales their game dev. studios are welcome to do what they want, that seems a pretty sensible attitude to have. In business I imagine profit comes above fanboyism with regards to whoever's console is best. Except that your premises are all wrong. Fanboyism in stopping Sony is what pushes MS.
Your "pulling in money" doesn't make sense in MS case, when they have a hole of $6.5 billions loss already in their console business.
Clearly they're fanboys then.
Except if your "nearly all" doesn't include Metroid, Fire Emblem or Zelda (even Wii Sports). Which would be stupid.
I may not like all of them, you may not like all of them, but even discounting the numerous huge RPG that are coming to the DS, and only counting those already out, there are far more than a couple of them. Of course, not all of them are released outside of Japan yet (I've tried to put them on end of the list). That's because the devs support for the DS comes mainly from eastern devs.
And I won't even count Action/RPG, which I do not consider as RPG.
Let's go into list wars:
Narnia
Children of Mana
Heroes of Mana
Lunar Dragon Song
Lunar Knights
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Pokemon Diamond/Perl (how could you even forget these ones?! Even if you don't like them like me)
Rune Factory
Magical Starsign
FF III
FF XII Revenant Wings
Naruto: Saikyou Ninja Daikesshu 3
Naruto RPG 2: Chidori VS Rasengan
Naruto RPG 3: Reijuu VS Konoha Shoutai
Tales of the Tempest
Iron Feather
Xenosaga I & II
FFCC Ring of Fates
I would not call such a list, "a couple" RPG.
Isn't that amazing? Most of the hits on the DS are eastern devs games, the western devs still don't support this handheld console properly.
They support the PSP way more, which is dragging them down, but I won't complain, that's their fault.
It seems like western devs are unable to develop for a console which isn't a powerhouse.
This is why Japan is still the most relevant market for videogames.
Imagine that the DS sold more than twice the number of the more powerful PSP thanks to eastern devs only. Amazing!