Yeah, its nice how DivX has finally gotten some love. The latest PS3 update also turned on DivX support (can stream it from a DLNA compliant server also:) ).
Microsoft HAS historically "got it right" (or at least sunk its competitors) with version 3 products
Yes, but how many people are going to wonder about purchasing the "NextBox" in one or two years, when the PS2 is still selling, let alone the PS3 still getting up to speed?
MS took a lot of flak when they came out with the 360 and killed support for the original XBox after only a very short amount of time, if they do the same thing again, trying to get people onto the "upgrade bandwagon", then they run into people looking at alternatives. In the case of OS, people didn't see they had a choice (until recently with the rise of OS X), but in the console arena, Nintendo is already dominating the low end market, and the PS3 makes a compelling alternative to "constant upgrades".
Sony has been saying since day one that they were bundling in the things they needed to make sure the console had a 10 year life. Yeah, the price started out higher than a lot of people would have liked, but the price has been steadily dropping.
From a movie-watcher's perspective, BluRay has absolutely 0 technical advantages.
Not entirely true. It had at least ONE major advantage, less market confusion with DVD.
I've seen at least two instances personally (not counting the numerous anecdotes mention here on slashdot:) ) where consumers were confused that they needed a new player to watch HD DVD discs, since they owned a DVD player and an HD TV.
With Blu-Ray, there was much more of an instinctual "This is a new format that needs a new player".
I'd also wonder if Blu-Ray's choice of using Blue for their media vs HD DVD's Red made a difference from a psychological point of view. Most people associate Red with Danger, while Blue is usually associated with Calmness.
So what if countless devices will no longer work, at a given point you just have to be able to say "upgrade or be left behind" or you will be forced to increasinly bend over backwards to accomadate out of date tech.
Sounds like a Marketing Slogan Intel and MicroSoft could really get behind.:)
Nah, nothing so covert. Its simply that, "as many as", sounds a lot better than, "three computers we know about, but we really have no clue" or "we found 5 million deposited in their bank accounts in the last month, but the accounts have been open for nine months, so who knows how much money they could have collected previously".
Alternatively they probably have a pretty good idea of the ranges involved, but hey, high numbers make a better press release.
or until it becomes possible and easy to rip movies from Blu-Ray and reauthor them minus the DRM.
Its already possible (no, I won't point you to any sources), but I want to know why you think this makes much of a difference to the average person?
There was a lot of talk about "Evil DRM" when DVDs came out, and yet, here we are, over 15 years later, and "Joe Sixpack" couldn't care less about the DRM, as long as he can pop in his DVD and watch it, and he can.
It really sticks in my craw too that Sony won this one but at least we have another excuse to buy a PS3. Once they reach a sane price that is.
Because $50 more than an XBox 360 Pro, when it includes a bigger hard drive, built in WiFi, Flash memory readers, and a future-proof Blu-Ray player, is insane?
Good points, although I'd start by pointing out that there are a number of games that are unique to each console.
- Saint's Row 2 is due out for both consoles at the same time. If you've loved the first one so much that you've "played it to death", the second might be enjoyable.
- I'd suggest getting Viva Pinata for Windows. You'll have no problems with this DRM download nonsense, and be ale to use your existing controllers if you have to send your 360 in for repairs, or decide to upgrade the model. I'd also suggest checking out Snakeball and PixelJunk Monsters on the PS3. I'm not offering these as "apples to apples" replacements for Viva Pinata. Both just seem like they might fit the bill for "fun, quirky, multiplayer" that you're looking for.
- Halo3 is a fun game. You're right, it is an MS exclusive. I'd look at Warhawk for fun "battlefield" type play, or Resistance:Fall of Man for more gritty multiplayer. Both support 32 players per match (with Resistance 2 announced to support 40). VideoChat, and Multiplayer gaming are also thrown in "free".
- The XBox 360 Pro retails for $350 and includes a free headset, a 20GB HardDrive and one month of Gold (VideoChat and Multiplayer Gameplay).
- The 40GB PlayStation 3 retails for $400 and includes a 40GB HardDrive, built-in WiFi, a "lifetime" of Gold features, and a Blu-Ray drive. So I'd hardly call the $50 bucks a huge difference.
- As for choosing sides in a "format war", according to an article from the Hollywood Reported even Toshiba is just about ready to admit HD-DVD is dead and Blu-Ray is the winner, so I don't see how getting a Blu-Ray drive, essentially for either $50, or "Free" with the console.
You're more than welcome to pass, and I appreciate that you spent the time to consider your options.
Absolutely true. You're right, they are not a perfect subset. However they are competing in the same marketplace, which makes it an alternative. Do PS3 players wish they had Mass Effect? Some probably do. Do 360 players wish they had Metal Gear 4? Again, some probably do.
There isn't really a 360 version of PixelJunk Monsters either (if we want to look at DLC). The PC has DeskTop Tower Defender, but thats not really the same experience.
I'm sure some of the gamers on each system would also sell their firstborn for Mario Galaxy.
As a competitor in the same general space (of video game consoles), and with a rather large amount of overlap (in multi-platform games, and game types for exclusives), the PS3 is MUCH more friendly in its DRM than the 360 is though.
BTW, If Lumines is your killer game though, I'd suggest getting a PSP (the platform it first came out on). The new PSPs connect nicely to a TV at home, and you can take it with you when you go out.
Considering out easy it is, I'm surprised that MS doesn't just give the user a button in the menus to "tie this console as my main GamerTag console".
Then anyone could do it themselves, and people would have no fear of losing their content.
It might also be a boon in support and sales, since more people might just replace the console themselves without bothering to go through the normal channels, or upgrade hardware they were afraid to replace.
XBox 360 didn't use to have DRM. It was introduced as a dashboard upgrade in October 2006, 11 months after the launch of the system.
Sounds like an MS Service Pack to me. Introduce things that people don't want, that add to the complexity of the system, change the way things work, and in general make a less desirable and more trouble-filled experience for the end user.
Every six months?! I know people who are on their 5th and 6th console! Simple math will tell you this can't be often enough;)
But a self-relicense method IS required. An automatic extension of the gold account would be nice, too..
You're kidding, the 360 doesn't have any way of Self-Relicensing?
How are people on their 2nd (let alone those few on their 5th or 6th) box handling this?
The PS3 came with this "feature" since day 1. Why the heck did MS drop the ball (for so long?) on such a critical part of DLC purchases?
I had also assumed that an automatic extension of a Gold account would have been included in the repair process.
If MS has the nerve to charge you (especially for things PC gamers, Wii gamers, and PS3 gamers are getting for free), they could at least make it work and compensate you for time lost.
It too bad there isn't an alternative out there that was more friendly to this sort of thing. You know...
... a console that would let you download your DLC as many times as you wanted to up to five 'registered' consoles, with the same rights on each download.
... a console where almost all of the DLC can be played by any Profile on the console as long as a Profile that purchased the content was on still loaded on the console.
... a console where you can upgrade the hard-drive yourself maybe, instead of requiring a costly, proprietary drive.
... a console where you can use a standard (cheap) USB drive you have to transfer save games, instead of expensive proprietary memory cards.
... How about a console that simply DOESN'T suffer from the RRoD hardware failure rates that the XBox 360 has seen?
When you have to swing your arms to swing a sword or tennis racket, you're engaging whole other parts of your brain that bring you into the experience. Working up a sweat playing tennis against my wife is something that's never happened to me before, and I played Pong and dumped buckets of quarters into Double Dragon like anyone else.
I'm glad that you and your wife enjoyed it. Me and Mine didn't. We found it to be too dissimilar to Tennis (the sport we both play). Likewise I find that swinging the wiimote to simulate a sword is a WAY overblown analogy. Its more like swinging the Wiimote to trigger some canned sword animation. After practicing with a lsword for three years, I find most of the "Oooo the Wiimote lets you swing a sword" hype to be way overblown. If they actually matched the onscreen animation to your movement then it would be interesting, otherwise its just a repetitive trigger that, for me at least, breaks the immersive nature of the game.
Maybe, like with computer graphics, there is a point at which you are matching things "too close" to what target knows, but not close enough?
You laugh now, but I hear "Zelda: The Legend of Social Security" is going to ROCK!
The preview I read mentioned some of the new and innovative ways Nintendo is using the Wiimote/Nunchuck to simulate rolling a wheelchair, balancing a checkbook, ordering new dentures, catching sounds for a hearing aid (unique new mini-game!), and moving in a queue.
I can't wait!
I also hear Nintendo is including a new "PillTime" Channel to remind those frequent players when its time for their meds.
I just hope enough of them/us realize that there is no reload option, so we better get cracking on cleaning up the mess our parents left us (Environmentally, Politically and Economically).
The day of the upgrade is waning, and for good reason: no real value, just a bit of eye candy and some cheap thrills..
Well... the day of the FORCED upgrade is waning.
This is great news though. Without the forced upgrade, it should be easier for other options like OS X and Linux (as well as BSD, and things like Haiku) to take hold in peoples minds as viable alternatives. Especially if upgrading means buying new hardware, versus getting "a few more years" out of what they have... perhaps a $500-$2000 savings, depending on the hardware. That alone might get people to give it a try if the alternatives are close enough.
Just because you CAN copy zeroes and ones, doesn't mean its legal, and doesn't mean you should.
Take a look at the television and movie studios for a glimpse on doing things better (not necessarily "right"). Somehow, even though lots of people move movies and TV around on BitTorrent, iTunes and Amazon/Unbox seem to be making a living.
Exclusive distributor is still a recognized concept. The movie studios are sussing this out much better than the music studios
For instance: NBC got into a tiff with iTunes. You can no longer download episodes for their shows from there, your CAN however still get episodes from Amazon/Unbox. iTunes lost their distribution rights, and (assuming were iTunes only competitor), Amazon/Unbox would have exclusive distribution rights one that video download.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, its nice how DivX has finally gotten some love. The latest PS3 update also turned on DivX support (can stream it from a DLNA compliant server also :) ).
Yes, but how many people are going to wonder about purchasing the "NextBox" in one or two years, when the PS2 is still selling, let alone the PS3 still getting up to speed?
MS took a lot of flak when they came out with the 360 and killed support for the original XBox after only a very short amount of time, if they do the same thing again, trying to get people onto the "upgrade bandwagon", then they run into people looking at alternatives. In the case of OS, people didn't see they had a choice (until recently with the rise of OS X), but in the console arena, Nintendo is already dominating the low end market, and the PS3 makes a compelling alternative to "constant upgrades".
Sony has been saying since day one that they were bundling in the things they needed to make sure the console had a 10 year life. Yeah, the price started out higher than a lot of people would have liked, but the price has been steadily dropping.
Umm
Some games, such as "Heavenly Sword" are using the space to handle lots of uncompressed audio.
Some of us get tired of waiting too long though.
Besides, you'd think by now, that the answer would be obvious.
Not entirely true. It had at least ONE major advantage, less market confusion with DVD.
I've seen at least two instances personally (not counting the numerous anecdotes mention here on slashdot
With Blu-Ray, there was much more of an instinctual "This is a new format that needs a new player".
I'd also wonder if Blu-Ray's choice of using Blue for their media vs HD DVD's Red made a difference from a psychological point of view. Most people associate Red with Danger, while Blue is usually associated with Calmness.
Actually, that makes it sound lots more appealing. :)
Sounds like a Marketing Slogan Intel and MicroSoft could really get behind.
Heck, it might even help Vista's adoption rate.
Nah, nothing so covert. Its simply that, "as many as", sounds a lot better than, "three computers we know about, but we really have no clue" or "we found 5 million deposited in their bank accounts in the last month, but the accounts have been open for nine months, so who knows how much money they could have collected previously".
Alternatively they probably have a pretty good idea of the ranges involved, but hey, high numbers make a better press release.
Blame Canada! ... eh?
Which is especially Ironic considering that Apple is part of the Blu-Ray consortium.
Its already possible (no, I won't point you to any sources), but I want to know why you think this makes much of a difference to the average person?
There was a lot of talk about "Evil DRM" when DVDs came out, and yet, here we are, over 15 years later, and "Joe Sixpack" couldn't care less about the DRM, as long as he can pop in his DVD and watch it, and he can.
He won't care about any DRM in Blu-Ray either.
Yup. Pr0n started coming out last March on Blu-Ray.
Because $50 more than an XBox 360 Pro, when it includes a bigger hard drive, built in WiFi, Flash memory readers, and a future-proof Blu-Ray player, is insane?
They will now!
Good points, although I'd start by pointing out that there are a number of games that are unique to each console.
- Saint's Row 2 is due out for both consoles at the same time. If you've loved the first one so much that you've "played it to death", the second might be enjoyable.
- I'd suggest getting Viva Pinata for Windows. You'll have no problems with this DRM download nonsense, and be ale to use your existing controllers if you have to send your 360 in for repairs, or decide to upgrade the model. I'd also suggest checking out Snakeball and PixelJunk Monsters on the PS3. I'm not offering these as "apples to apples" replacements for Viva Pinata. Both just seem like they might fit the bill for "fun, quirky, multiplayer" that you're looking for.
- Halo3 is a fun game. You're right, it is an MS exclusive. I'd look at Warhawk for fun "battlefield" type play, or Resistance:Fall of Man for more gritty multiplayer. Both support 32 players per match (with Resistance 2 announced to support 40). VideoChat, and Multiplayer gaming are also thrown in "free".
- The XBox 360 Pro retails for $350 and includes a free headset, a 20GB HardDrive and one month of Gold (VideoChat and Multiplayer Gameplay).
- The 40GB PlayStation 3 retails for $400 and includes a 40GB HardDrive, built-in WiFi, a "lifetime" of Gold features, and a Blu-Ray drive. So I'd hardly call the $50 bucks a huge difference.
- As for choosing sides in a "format war", according to an article from the Hollywood Reported even Toshiba is just about ready to admit HD-DVD is dead and Blu-Ray is the winner, so I don't see how getting a Blu-Ray drive, essentially for either $50, or "Free" with the console.
You're more than welcome to pass, and I appreciate that you spent the time to consider your options.
You certainly have the right to
Absolutely true. You're right, they are not a perfect subset. However they are competing in the same marketplace, which makes it an alternative. Do PS3 players wish they had Mass Effect? Some probably do. Do 360 players wish they had Metal Gear 4? Again, some probably do.
There isn't really a 360 version of PixelJunk Monsters either (if we want to look at DLC). The PC has DeskTop Tower Defender, but thats not really the same experience.
I'm sure some of the gamers on each system would also sell their firstborn for Mario Galaxy.
As a competitor in the same general space (of video game consoles), and with a rather large amount of overlap (in multi-platform games, and game types for exclusives), the PS3 is MUCH more friendly in its DRM than the 360 is though.
BTW, If Lumines is your killer game though, I'd suggest getting a PSP (the platform it first came out on). The new PSPs connect nicely to a TV at home, and you can take it with you when you go out.
Considering out easy it is, I'm surprised that MS doesn't just give the user a button in the menus to "tie this console as my main GamerTag console".
Then anyone could do it themselves, and people would have no fear of losing their content.
It might also be a boon in support and sales, since more people might just replace the console themselves without bothering to go through the normal channels, or upgrade hardware they were afraid to replace.
Sounds like an MS Service Pack to me. Introduce things that people don't want, that add to the complexity of the system, change the way things work, and in general make a less desirable and more trouble-filled experience for the end user.
Thank yo MicroSoft.
You're kidding, the 360 doesn't have any way of Self-Relicensing?
How are people on their 2nd (let alone those few on their 5th or 6th) box handling this?
The PS3 came with this "feature" since day 1. Why the heck did MS drop the ball (for so long?) on such a critical part of DLC purchases?
I had also assumed that an automatic extension of a Gold account would have been included in the repair process.
If MS has the nerve to charge you (especially for things PC gamers, Wii gamers, and PS3 gamers are getting for free), they could at least make it work and compensate you for time lost.
It really is too bad there isn't an alternative.
I'm glad that you and your wife enjoyed it. Me and Mine didn't. We found it to be too dissimilar to Tennis (the sport we both play). Likewise I find that swinging the wiimote to simulate a sword is a WAY overblown analogy. Its more like swinging the Wiimote to trigger some canned sword animation. After practicing with a lsword for three years, I find most of the "Oooo the Wiimote lets you swing a sword" hype to be way overblown. If they actually matched the onscreen animation to your movement then it would be interesting, otherwise its just a repetitive trigger that, for me at least, breaks the immersive nature of the game.
Maybe, like with computer graphics, there is a point at which you are matching things "too close" to what target knows, but not close enough?
You laugh now, but I hear "Zelda: The Legend of Social Security" is going to ROCK!
The preview I read mentioned some of the new and innovative ways Nintendo is using the Wiimote/Nunchuck to simulate rolling a wheelchair, balancing a checkbook, ordering new dentures, catching sounds for a hearing aid (unique new mini-game!), and moving in a queue.
I can't wait!
I also hear Nintendo is including a new "PillTime" Channel to remind those frequent players when its time for their meds.
I just hope enough of them/us realize that there is no reload option, so we better get cracking on cleaning up the mess our parents left us (Environmentally, Politically and Economically).
:)
Reality: The Ultimate "Hard Core" Ladder
Well
This is great news though. Without the forced upgrade, it should be easier for other options like OS X and Linux (as well as BSD, and things like Haiku) to take hold in peoples minds as viable alternatives.
Especially if upgrading means buying new hardware, versus getting "a few more years" out of what they have
Just because you CAN copy zeroes and ones, doesn't mean its legal, and doesn't mean you should.
Take a look at the television and movie studios for a glimpse on doing things better (not necessarily "right"). Somehow, even though lots of people move movies and TV around on BitTorrent, iTunes and Amazon/Unbox seem to be making a living.
Exclusive distributor is still a recognized concept. The movie studios are sussing this out much better than the music studios
For instance: NBC got into a tiff with iTunes. You can no longer download episodes for their shows from there, your CAN however still get episodes from Amazon/Unbox. iTunes lost their distribution rights, and (assuming were iTunes only competitor), Amazon/Unbox would have exclusive distribution rights one that video download.