TFA mentions that women are attracted to different features (testosterone or fatherlyness) depending on where they are in their reproductive cycle. The divorce rate can easily be explained by either women deciding to marry their favorite fuck in the hopes that he will or can be changed when needed, or by women marrying the paternal types and missing their single sex life.
"And As for a long time the PS3 will represent the majority of players, why would any studio release a movie that a vast majority of consumers will not be able to play at full res?"
If the $600 model wins they'd have nothing to lose by leaving the $500 purchasers in the cold.
"The other reason they all backed off the HDMI requirements of course is the realization of just how many millions of consumers they would be shutting out that have older HD units with "only" DHCP."
If that were going to stop anybody, nobody would have developed HDMI to begin with.
"You seemed to think that could do quite well; I remember some example about the DualShock..."
The difference is that everybody knows exactly what interface the DualShock/EyeToy/etc. connected to. You're proposing a PC-esque system where the game could either look towards an internal interface or towards the USB ports.
And with both the DualShock and EyeToy examples, the burden was placed upon the publishers to communicate with the new features, which means the publishers had to know about it. Unless these new USB expansions for the $500 model are announced now or unless these USB expansions come with device drivers, you will have games that will be able to take advantage of the interfaces on the $600 model but not know to try the USB interface on the $500 for the same function.
"allowing scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs to vie for a grand prize of $10 million, and smaller prizes."
Considering this is Congress, does anybody believe they'll actually be able to give this "prize" money to somebody that isn't Ford or GM? I wouldn't be surprised if the rules were tailor made for Detroit.
It enjoyed brisk sales in its first season and was one of Sega's most successful hardware units. In the United States alone, a record 300,000 units (citation Maclean's September 24th, 1999) had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks (including 225,000 sold on the first 24 hours which became a video game record until the PlayStation 2 launched a year later). In fact, due to brisk sales and hardware shortages, Sega was unable to fulfill all of the advance orders.
"that's the reason Sony announced that blu-ray titles would be able to play at full resolution over analog connections"
Aside from the fact that Sony isn't the only movie studio out there, they're not implementing forced downsampling on their disks for the time being. If BluRay happens to catch on, Sony will go back to downsampling non-DRM interfaces, leaving the $500 PS3 owners up a creek.
"Sure it is - it's called "USB"."
Will it be the game or some sort of OS that has the burden of having to figure out what kind of hardware is on what interface? Will it randomly guess what's plugged in where or will there be device drivers invovled?
"Although the new console is very expensive, I think there are a lot more people willing to snap up the first few million consoles at almsot any price. Just look at eBay proces for the 360 for the first few months."
Perhaps, but initial hype sales need not give momentum to more long-term sales. The Dreamcast was also very popular at launch, but sales launched momentum over the next year. Then, the Dreamcast had to compete with the promised PS2 of the future; will the PS3 be able to compete with the promised price-dropped PS3 of the future?
"That's a pretty unfair comparison"
Perhaps, but it's the only bit of video game history that's comparable. You're still asking your customers to make a rather permanent choice at the check-out counter, since you can't change your mind and upgrade the weaker model later on. Some may be comfortable making that kind of decision at launch, others may be more comfortable with waiting either for a price drop and/or to see whether or not the extra features of the $600 model end up being useful (it depends on the games published). In other words, there are some customers that would wait for the dust in the PS3 vs. PS3 competition to settle.
"If I can do 1080i with or without HDMI, then who acres if it's not there"
Depends on whether or not you want BluRay movie playback.
"But we all know how widespread adoption of console acessories like that are, people aren't going to be willing to do the work of a prt without a huge install base."
I've made similar points, but others have pointed out to me the example of the original DualShock, a PlayStation accessory that had a very high adoption rate and eventually became a console pack-in.
And besides, you at least have the option of upgrading the Xbox hardware if it comes to that, but that isn't possible with the $500 PS3.
"Before the DS and the PSP, there was only the GameBoy, which wasn't hugely popular with adults, but did rather well with both men and women."
Got numbers?
"It seems to me that the thing that makes DS games so popular with women is: No hand-held game is small enough for your back jeans pocket, but the DS fits in a purse."
Nevermind, you've just identified yourself as a troll.
I mean, really, "beacuse it fits in a purse?" You're either a troll or straight from the 1950's.
"They hold it out in front of them, at arms' length."
What you're watching is an advertisement that is intended to showcase the controller. They're holding the controller straight out not to play the game, but so the viewer can see it.
I admit I'll probably end up getting a PS3 myself, if for no other reason so that I can play FFXIII (unless S-E finally sees the light and ports the game to the Wii), but I simply will not be getting it until late 2008 at the earliest, what with the price point they're announcing (I'm not that big of a Final Fantasy fanboy). I doubt I'm alone here, and both Sony and S-E could be hurting as everybody waits until the PS3 goes through a price drop and FFXIII ends up in the $20 bargain bin in the meantime.
The video game industry has always relied heavily on addicts having more money than brains, but I think $500-$600 hits that magical "critical density" where even the fanboys will be hesitating to buy it. Even fanboys have to pay $3 a gallon, and it's been pointed out that you can get a tricked-out Xbox 360 and a Wii for the same price as the fully-fledged PS3.
Did Sony forget how they beat out the Sega Saturn that they're now making some of the same mistakes Sega did?
Seriously
Both entered the generation as a strong contender (if not outright winner) of the previous generation
Both are entering this new generation with ridiculously high price points
Both managed to divide their fanbase with two competing visions for the new generation (Saturn vs. 32-X? $500 vs $600?)
Both got their E3 presentations blindsided from a competitor everybody initially discounted
All we need now is an unannounced early release of the hardware.
"Wii and PS3 included motion detection that there were going to be a lot of games ported only to those two platforms, leaving the 360 out in the cold."
First off, comparing the PS3 controller to the Wiimote is like night and day. Aside from the shell not being designed for motion detection (possible motion detection was never taken into account in the design of the PS1 controller), the Wiimote has several other functions that Sony can't or won't implement in the PS3 controller.
Secondly, the Xbox 360 controller (at least the wireless one) has ports on it. If they're capable of doing more than just connecting a headset and recharge cable, Microsoft could conceivably release a Wii-esque dongle and imitate Nintendo's control scheme even better than Sony. The only problem will be that it will have to be a separate accessory.
(My God, after years of defending the GameCube against Xbox fanboys, I'm siding with them against Sony. Screw politics, video games makes strange bedfellows.)
"If I want a cheap console with lots of third-party support and no HD support, I can buy an old PS2."
Except it won't be long before you stop seeing first party PS2 games published, unless the PS3 bombs so badly that SCEA hangs on to the PS2 to stay afloat.
"What's so wonderful about a new-generation console with previous-generation performance?"
Well, considering it's been described as "better than the GameCube," and the GameCube is better than the PS2 as far as performace is concerned, why are you holding on to your PS2 again?
"Why buy a new console that doesn't offer any new performance boost?"
Because the only other option is to buy a new console that offers nothing but a performance boost?
"but those who don't have the need for ultra-smooth HD graphics already have three perfectly good consoles to choose from, each with a 5-year library of fun games already developed for them and being sold for about $20 a pop in many cases."
Games get old. You can only play one game for so long before you want to try something new, otherwise we'd all still be playing Pong.
"Unless you're filthy rich, there's no way you already own and have played every single available PS2 game."
No, but I own all the PS2 games that I might actually want.
"In other words, the Wii doesn't seem to fill any niche that isn't already served."
If the other niches are "being served," why are video game purchases still dominated by 20-something guys?
It would probably also be used for cross-platform titles that expect a more "normal" controller, but what worries me is that it doesn't seem to have as many buttons as the N64 controller. Using the GameCube's C-stick as the N64's C-buttons may work for some games, but not all.
It's... just a country... with some fake tits. Granted, there's a lot to appreciate about American culture, but there's a lot to appreciate about most cultures.
"Do you perhaps mean the 40GB drive that came with the PS2 Linux development kit? I don't think that really counts."
Actually, I was thinking of the 40 GB drive that came with Final Fantasy XI. There were also a few other titles that used the hard drive as an option accessory.
"I would hardly call something a mere 0.5 increment if the full 1.0 increment has a couple of features that nobody would use."
Aside from the fact that those features "nobody would use" are currently being used, I'd say it's a little too soon to say whether or not they will be missed. But at any rate, what would you prefer I call the system? It lacks some of the features that were promised for the PS3 before this tiered get-up was announced, and calling it the "core system" implies that it can be upgraded to the "deluxe" system in some way, and it can't. Would you prefer PS2.9?
"Does anyone actually care that the barebones PS3 isn't going to have a card reader?"
The people that want to use their old saved games from PS2 and PS1 games.
"Well, the XBox 2 has that, but you have to pay an extra $100 for the privilege."
But the price of a full Xbox 360 plus the price of a wireless adapter is the price of the bare-bones PS3.
"I suspect that the vibration had to be taken out due to a patent troll."
Justification doesn't matter to the consumer. It's a feature not only in both of Sony's competitors, but both of Sony's preceding consoles, with which the PS3 is supposed to be backwards compatable with.
"Sony offers a 20GB HDD or a 60GB one with the premium version. Well, the XBox 2 has no hard drive unless you 'upgrade' to the premium system and then you get 20GB. Wii has nothing."
The hard drive wasn't one of my bullet points, but do recall that the 20GB hard drive in the... um... PS2.5 cannot be upgraded. Once you buy the small drive, you've got the small drive until you buy the fully-fledged PS3.
And the PS2.5 has a smaller hard drive than the PS2.
"So what's the problem with the low-end PS3 again?"
The fact that you have to spend $600 if you want to "upgrade" it. At least with the Xbox 360 you have the option of upgrading the core set piecemeal.
"I'm a PC gamer (flame on)."
Then imagine a gaming PC with the case welded shut.
"Perhaps it becomes a bit less black and white than you'd like to think?"
It still looks decidedly bad removing a feature that your two major competitors are still including in their latest.
"they may be likely to re-introduce it in the future."
It would still be a step backwards, making everybody buy yet another controller to get functionality that came bundled with the others guys' consoles. It also means that publishers can't assume that the lowest common denominator of PS3 users has vibration in their controllers.
But Immersion is a red herring here: Sony has already said they removed vibration because it was causing problems with Tilt-n-Tumble.
Slashdot Mirror
"Isn't the NSA prohibited, by its charter, from doing this?"
Congress' "authorization for the use of force" repeals all sorts of things. Haven't you been paying attention to the news?
TFA mentions that women are attracted to different features (testosterone or fatherlyness) depending on where they are in their reproductive cycle. The divorce rate can easily be explained by either women deciding to marry their favorite fuck in the hopes that he will or can be changed when needed, or by women marrying the paternal types and missing their single sex life.
"And As for a long time the PS3 will represent the majority of players, why would any studio release a movie that a vast majority of consumers will not be able to play at full res?"
If the $600 model wins they'd have nothing to lose by leaving the $500 purchasers in the cold.
"The other reason they all backed off the HDMI requirements of course is the realization of just how many millions of consumers they would be shutting out that have older HD units with "only" DHCP."
If that were going to stop anybody, nobody would have developed HDMI to begin with.
"You seemed to think that could do quite well; I remember some example about the DualShock..."
The difference is that everybody knows exactly what interface the DualShock/EyeToy/etc. connected to. You're proposing a PC-esque system where the game could either look towards an internal interface or towards the USB ports.
And with both the DualShock and EyeToy examples, the burden was placed upon the publishers to communicate with the new features, which means the publishers had to know about it. Unless these new USB expansions for the $500 model are announced now or unless these USB expansions come with device drivers, you will have games that will be able to take advantage of the interfaces on the $600 model but not know to try the USB interface on the $500 for the same function.
"allowing scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs to vie for a grand prize of $10 million, and smaller prizes."
Considering this is Congress, does anybody believe they'll actually be able to give this "prize" money to somebody that isn't Ford or GM? I wouldn't be surprised if the rules were tailor made for Detroit.
Anecdotal evidence. From the Wikipedia article:
"that's the reason Sony announced that blu-ray titles would be able to play at full resolution over analog connections"
Aside from the fact that Sony isn't the only movie studio out there, they're not implementing forced downsampling on their disks for the time being. If BluRay happens to catch on, Sony will go back to downsampling non-DRM interfaces, leaving the $500 PS3 owners up a creek.
"Sure it is - it's called "USB"."
Will it be the game or some sort of OS that has the burden of having to figure out what kind of hardware is on what interface? Will it randomly guess what's plugged in where or will there be device drivers invovled?
Sega released the Saturn about four months early, without telling the stores or the publishers.
"Although the new console is very expensive, I think there are a lot more people willing to snap up the first few million consoles at almsot any price. Just look at eBay proces for the 360 for the first few months."
Perhaps, but initial hype sales need not give momentum to more long-term sales. The Dreamcast was also very popular at launch, but sales launched momentum over the next year. Then, the Dreamcast had to compete with the promised PS2 of the future; will the PS3 be able to compete with the promised price-dropped PS3 of the future?
"That's a pretty unfair comparison"
Perhaps, but it's the only bit of video game history that's comparable. You're still asking your customers to make a rather permanent choice at the check-out counter, since you can't change your mind and upgrade the weaker model later on. Some may be comfortable making that kind of decision at launch, others may be more comfortable with waiting either for a price drop and/or to see whether or not the extra features of the $600 model end up being useful (it depends on the games published). In other words, there are some customers that would wait for the dust in the PS3 vs. PS3 competition to settle.
"If I can do 1080i with or without HDMI, then who acres if it's not there"
Depends on whether or not you want BluRay movie playback.
"But we all know how widespread adoption of console acessories like that are, people aren't going to be willing to do the work of a prt without a huge install base."
I've made similar points, but others have pointed out to me the example of the original DualShock, a PlayStation accessory that had a very high adoption rate and eventually became a console pack-in.
And besides, you at least have the option of upgrading the Xbox hardware if it comes to that, but that isn't possible with the $500 PS3.
Can it play Mario Clash?
"Before the DS and the PSP, there was only the GameBoy, which wasn't hugely popular with adults, but did rather well with both men and women."
Got numbers?
"It seems to me that the thing that makes DS games so popular with women is: No hand-held game is small enough for your back jeans pocket, but the DS fits in a purse."
Nevermind, you've just identified yourself as a troll.
I mean, really, "beacuse it fits in a purse?" You're either a troll or straight from the 1950's.
"They hold it out in front of them, at arms' length."
What you're watching is an advertisement that is intended to showcase the controller. They're holding the controller straight out not to play the game, but so the viewer can see it.
"If they didn't give a shit about Mario before, a new controller and an improved networking solution won't change that."
It's worked for the DS, with girls buying Nintendogs and the elderly buying Brain Age.
The video game industry has always relied heavily on addicts having more money than brains, but I think $500-$600 hits that magical "critical density" where even the fanboys will be hesitating to buy it. Even fanboys have to pay $3 a gallon, and it's been pointed out that you can get a tricked-out Xbox 360 and a Wii for the same price as the fully-fledged PS3.
Did Sony forget how they beat out the Sega Saturn that they're now making some of the same mistakes Sega did?
Seriously
All we need now is an unannounced early release of the hardware.
"Wii and PS3 included motion detection that there were going to be a lot of games ported only to those two platforms, leaving the 360 out in the cold."
First off, comparing the PS3 controller to the Wiimote is like night and day. Aside from the shell not being designed for motion detection (possible motion detection was never taken into account in the design of the PS1 controller), the Wiimote has several other functions that Sony can't or won't implement in the PS3 controller.
Secondly, the Xbox 360 controller (at least the wireless one) has ports on it. If they're capable of doing more than just connecting a headset and recharge cable, Microsoft could conceivably release a Wii-esque dongle and imitate Nintendo's control scheme even better than Sony. The only problem will be that it will have to be a separate accessory.
(My God, after years of defending the GameCube against Xbox fanboys, I'm siding with them against Sony. Screw politics, video games makes strange bedfellows.)
"A few weeks ago, I turned on the Super NES and all the games displayed in B&W."
Reseat your S-video cable or break out the composite.
"If I want a cheap console with lots of third-party support and no HD support, I can buy an old PS2."
Except it won't be long before you stop seeing first party PS2 games published, unless the PS3 bombs so badly that SCEA hangs on to the PS2 to stay afloat.
"What's so wonderful about a new-generation console with previous-generation performance?"
Well, considering it's been described as "better than the GameCube," and the GameCube is better than the PS2 as far as performace is concerned, why are you holding on to your PS2 again?
"Why buy a new console that doesn't offer any new performance boost?"
Because the only other option is to buy a new console that offers nothing but a performance boost?
"but those who don't have the need for ultra-smooth HD graphics already have three perfectly good consoles to choose from, each with a 5-year library of fun games already developed for them and being sold for about $20 a pop in many cases."
Games get old. You can only play one game for so long before you want to try something new, otherwise we'd all still be playing Pong.
"Unless you're filthy rich, there's no way you already own and have played every single available PS2 game."
No, but I own all the PS2 games that I might actually want.
"In other words, the Wii doesn't seem to fill any niche that isn't already served."
If the other niches are "being served," why are video game purchases still dominated by 20-something guys?
It would probably also be used for cross-platform titles that expect a more "normal" controller, but what worries me is that it doesn't seem to have as many buttons as the N64 controller. Using the GameCube's C-stick as the N64's C-buttons may work for some games, but not all.
The RIAA would like to know if you payed the royalties to perform that song.
"How long does it take to proofread a ~30 word post?"
He has to do it twice.
"build a "massively multiplayer" game for Live that allows thousands of people to play each other over the Internet,"
In other news, the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XI has been on store shelves for several weeks now...
... America is overrated.
It's... just a country... with some fake tits. Granted, there's a lot to appreciate about American culture, but there's a lot to appreciate about most cultures.
"Do you perhaps mean the 40GB drive that came with the PS2 Linux development kit? I don't think that really counts."
Actually, I was thinking of the 40 GB drive that came with Final Fantasy XI. There were also a few other titles that used the hard drive as an option accessory.
"I would hardly call something a mere 0.5 increment if the full 1.0 increment has a couple of features that nobody would use."
Aside from the fact that those features "nobody would use" are currently being used, I'd say it's a little too soon to say whether or not they will be missed. But at any rate, what would you prefer I call the system? It lacks some of the features that were promised for the PS3 before this tiered get-up was announced, and calling it the "core system" implies that it can be upgraded to the "deluxe" system in some way, and it can't. Would you prefer PS2.9?
"haven't seen any mention of Sony omitting the slots for their own proprietary PlayStation memory cards."
Here you go.
"Does anyone actually care that the barebones PS3 isn't going to have a card reader?"
The people that want to use their old saved games from PS2 and PS1 games.
"Well, the XBox 2 has that, but you have to pay an extra $100 for the privilege."
But the price of a full Xbox 360 plus the price of a wireless adapter is the price of the bare-bones PS3.
"I suspect that the vibration had to be taken out due to a patent troll."
Justification doesn't matter to the consumer. It's a feature not only in both of Sony's competitors, but both of Sony's preceding consoles, with which the PS3 is supposed to be backwards compatable with.
"Sony offers a 20GB HDD or a 60GB one with the premium version. Well, the XBox 2 has no hard drive unless you 'upgrade' to the premium system and then you get 20GB. Wii has nothing."
The hard drive wasn't one of my bullet points, but do recall that the 20GB hard drive in the... um... PS2.5 cannot be upgraded. Once you buy the small drive, you've got the small drive until you buy the fully-fledged PS3.
And the PS2.5 has a smaller hard drive than the PS2.
"So what's the problem with the low-end PS3 again?"
The fact that you have to spend $600 if you want to "upgrade" it. At least with the Xbox 360 you have the option of upgrading the core set piecemeal.
"I'm a PC gamer (flame on)."
Then imagine a gaming PC with the case welded shut.
"Perhaps it becomes a bit less black and white than you'd like to think?"
It still looks decidedly bad removing a feature that your two major competitors are still including in their latest.
"they may be likely to re-introduce it in the future."
It would still be a step backwards, making everybody buy yet another controller to get functionality that came bundled with the others guys' consoles. It also means that publishers can't assume that the lowest common denominator of PS3 users has vibration in their controllers.
But Immersion is a red herring here: Sony has already said they removed vibration because it was causing problems with Tilt-n-Tumble.
"The cancer resistance trait so far has been passed to more than 2,000 descendants in 14 generations"
If you cure cancer, you get laid.
Before yesterday they were saying simultaneous worldwide launch. Now "simultaneous" has been changed to mean "within the same week or so."
Unless the November 17 everybody-outside-Japan launch is written in stone and signed in blood, I wouldn't put much stock in it.