Why does the 360 need a price drop? Halo3 will drive demand through Christmas. Then drop the price in the Spring.
There's not even a reason for the 360 to react to the PS3's price drop. At $500, the PS3 is still more expensive than even the 360 Elite, and does nothing to address the PS3's shortcomings in the games department. Yes, I know Lair! Warhawk! Heavenly Sword! But these titles will be coming out at the same time as Halo3, which is just going to overshadow everything this fall/holiday...assuming that those PS3 games can live up to the their hype as being system sellers.
Well, Sony is introducing HOME, which will bring some of those features to the PS3, but I agree that the Sony should have had HOME ready to go prior to the PS3's launch and by not making HOME mandatory, you're still going to have a relatively disjointed online experience with the PS3 - assuming the game even SUPPORTS online - which many of the PS3's versions do not.
What exactly would putting the HD-DVD drive into the 360 accomplish?
It's not used for games, and would only increase the price of the 360.
The vast majority of folks don't care about either HD-DVD OR Blu-Ray at this time. The reason being that they don't want to be bothered with being on the losing end of a format war. When there's a clear winner, or the dual-format players arrive, folks will start buying in meaningful numbers. Right now, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD combined make up less than 2% of the total video market.
Is it just me, or is the list HEAVILY slanted towards Nintendo games?
If this was really the case, then there wouldn't be a fight between Sony and Microsoft because Nintendo would have been crushing them since they first tried shoe-horning into the industry.
Not to mention the fact that hardly any of the games on the list are more than a few years old - Ocarina being about the oldest one there.
That's the problem with these lists - they're highly subjective to the participant's memory. If that person has only played 10 games, they're all "top 10 titles" in his mind.
Only Microsoft can make otherwise simple activities into tortorous affairs.
Why do the companies have to tell Microsoft everytime they "downgrade" a PC from Vista to XP? Does the company receive some sort of credit for being forced to buy an OS they don't want/need?
Why can't they just buy the PCs with XP already on them without having to uninstall Vista, then re-install XP, then beg for Microsoft's forgiveness, THEN apply all the hundreds of patches - each of which also requires a reboot, and then...
Um, actually PetSmart DOES sell defective fish in that many of them are sick or overly stressed to begin with. We've personally had better luck with fish from independent stores because they take better care of their tanks and fish even though their prices are higher thn PetSmart.
It's also a little unfair to compare the 360 to a fish anyways. What's PetSmart going to do with a dead fish? Say "we're sorry you had problems with your fish, here's a refurb!" and exchange your dead fish for another one? (hm, ok, maybe this is what Microsoft is doing...)
No I don't think all the problems the guy has encountered have been due to the heat sink. However, that would then indicate that either: 1: Microsoft is recycling known defective units as refurbs back to customers. 2: There are multiple issues with the 360 - or at least the batch that Microsoft keeps sending to customers as replacements - and the heatsink is just one of them.
Either way, it indicates that Microsoft has a problem.
My understanding was that only the newly shipping units have the additional heatsinks in them. It wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft was using old units as refurbs - not sending these newer units.
Moreoever, it seems that whatever fixes the refurb department is doing, isn't fully fixing the problem. So they're essentially sending defective units back to the customers. When these units inevitably fail, they send them back to Microsoft, and the cycle continues. This would help explain why people who HAVE had problems with their 360 seem to tend to go through multiple units with Microsoft.
At this point, it almost sounds like you'd be better off just junking your RROD'd 360 and buying an shiny new one from the store. Sure, you're eating $400, but considering all the time and hassle people have gone through, you might come out ahead.
BTW, what's Microsoft's warranty on refurb'd units? Does getting a refurb reset your warranty? Or, if your console is out of warranty, and you had to pay Microsoft to fix it, does your refurb come with its own warranty? I'd hate to shell out $150 to fix my 360, only to have problems a few weeks/months later and be faced with yet another $150 charge. At that rate, you really WOULD be better off buying a whole new console (or taking MS to small claims court...hehehehe.)
Under the DMCA you are legally not allowed modify or reverse engineer hardware, nor bypass copyright protection methods.
Note that this means if you use a region-free DVD player to play a legitimately purchased, non-region1 DVD, you've just violated the DMCA.
The DMCA is intentionally overly broad and vague - the best legislation money can buy. Check out the EFF about ways they're trying to not only fight the DMCA, but have it stricken from the books entirely.
Doesn't the MPAA rate trailers even if the final movie hasn't been rated yet? IE. "This trailer is approved for general audiences... This movie not yet rated."
I know I've seen a few "restricted" trailers (had a red background instead of a green one.)
Obviously you wouldn't expect to see a restricted trailer for a non-R movie, but anyways...
And again, all companies have to do is say "This trailer is rated RP by the ESRB for a game that is also RP by the ESRB"...
Actually, could you release a game with the official rating of "RP"? (especially since many games are released in an unfinished state, how can they be properly rated in the first place?!:-)
What do the release dates for the NES vs. Playstation have to do with anything? Both have always had a strict policy of "No porn or AO games!". Granted, Nintendo was MUCH more strict with the NES and the SNES - garnering their reputation for being a Kiddie Console that still sticks with them today despite their efforts to show otherwise. Sony didn't have such a reputation, so it was easier to accept the Playstation as a platform aimmed at older, adults gamers. Even then, its games never got the controversial coverage that some of the PC titles of the time did, like Postal.
The gaming market grew up, and the Playstation 1 addressed that market in ways that Nintendo couldn't/wouldn't. Even during the Playstation 1, Nintendo was desparetly trying to change their image. Why else would they do that other than acknowledging that the market had changed?
So, there's clearly a legitimate market for "AO" games - and not just ones filled with over-the-top violence and sex. Unfortunately, the ESRB linked their "AO" rating to porn - causing most retailers to vow never to carry those titles due to all the social and legal issues with carrying pornographic items.
Whether or not you think such games are "mature" or not, is another matter. Insert jokes about "M for mature because it features boobies" here.
"Unexplained abscences" - so, every student who skips a class due to oversleeping or another reason is now a terrorist.
"Odd hours" - what college student DIDN'T hold odd hours?
"Interaction with foreign nationals" - Um. I studied Japanese and Computer Science in college. The majority of my classmates, TAs and Professors weren't American. This doesn't even include all the extra-curricular work I did with various student organizations and my volunteer work as an English conversation partner.
All I need now is a LOLCat picture saying "I is terrurist?"
SAW and other horror movies seem popular to do the R->Unrated jump, while comedies like Epic Movie were PG-13 and jump to Unrated. Although, in Epic Movie's case, the only thing they changed was to have the girl formerly in bra/panties for the PG-13 version redo her 5 second scene completely in the nude. So, yes, I'd agree with your general statement that most PG-13 movies simply throw in some extra nudity to make themselves "unrated."
You are correct in that NC-17 was an attempt to create a movie rating that meant "This film is for adults but is not porn"
There is no such rating for the ESRB due to the fact that most Americans (and the ESRB itself!) associate "Adults Only" with "porn".
Both the MPAA's R and ESRB's M rating only apply to 17 year olds, really. After that, you're an adult and can see anything you want, younger than that, and you need your parents' permissions. Rather sill, if you ask me.
Although you can argue that NC-17 was a failure because you don't see many NC-17 films in theaters, the DVD industry has found a way to make it work by releasing "Unrated" versions of movies.
A good example I saw recently was Epic Movie. There's a few places in the film where a woman runs across the screen. In the theatrical version, she's wearing a bra and panties. In the Unrated DVD version, she's fully nude (with visible pubic hair). In one of the 'making of' extras, they mentioned they had the woman run across topless for an R version but later decided to go with PG-13.
When you say "Adults Only" to most Americans, they're going to assume "porn". Even the ESRB says that the "AO" rating is intended for games with nudity and sex in them. Most retailers will not carry porn, and by association, "Adult Only" games.
Personally, the ESRB's ratings are rather confusing. Consider the main ones: E, E+10, T, M, and AO.
E is everyone, no restrictions. Easy.
E+10 is for ages 10+. Ok.
T is for Teenager...which is 13-19 technically?
M is for 17+.
AO is for adults, and in the US, that means 18.
The difference between "M" and "AO" seems too narrow - especially when you consider the vast range that "T" covers.
Note that you can easily get movies that are technically rated "AO" from the video store. They're simply called "The Unrated Version". Why is it that the government has no problems with retailers selling or renting unrated versions of movies that were rated R in theaters to children, but gets its collective panties in a bunch about "M" games - many of which aren't nearly as bad as some "R" movies?
How can this topic even be discussed without bringing up the greatest "bad" game of all time - Battlecruiser 2000.
Granted, the most enjoyable aspect of this "game" was watching the programmer, and self-proclaimed PhD, make such an spectacle of himself on usenet. Highlights include the Coke Machine Incident, and threatening to track down one poster, and "bend back each rib until it snaps"
The threads went on for the better part of 10 years, from his early bragging about how awesome his game was going to be, coining the phrase "The last game you'll ever want", through his falling out with Take Two, and the continual thrashing he tried dishing out to his critics and customers.
I seem to recall that the game shipped with some key features missing (railgun and/or monorail come to mind.) These were described in the manual, but didn't (and never did) exist in the game or the patches.
This was also the game that caused many to just stop buying Sierra games outright....
As I recall, it sounds like you won the game. The higher Indy got raised on that last screen was supposed to be your score. There were supposed to be ways to achieve a higher score...but we never bothered once we beat it once.
*sigh* that's an AIRPORT TAX. Other places have them too. Even the locals/citizens have to pay it. It has nothing to do with your visa, your travelplans, you being a foreigner (or a citizen) or your privacy.
Now if you want something identical here, why not attack the "gaijin card" ID they make all longterm foreigners get, now with mandatory fingerprinting. Even then, you weren't required to tell the government that you wanted to go visit Kyoto over the weekend... Sheesh.
It mentions foreign travelers inbound to the US, not US citizens outbound elsewhere. US Citizens travelling abroad (or internally, or etc) are obviously not affected by this.
And so, you said nothing.
Also, it's not as if we'd be the first to implement such a plan in either case.
So OBVIOUSLY it's a good idea...
Martin Niemöller wrote about a similar program in his country.
I've been working on internationalization and localization projects for over a decade.
Again, that $100k per language I stated includes translating the manual, re-performing the spoken dialog (if necessary - sometimes just subtitles are acceptable), and even rewriting the jokes/puns or making other content changes. The majority of the difficulty and cost for handling different languages is built into the primary development of the product. Really, adding an additional languge just isn't that expensive.
Even at $200k per language, and the game company making $10-20 in profit on each copy sold, I'm pretty sure there'll be no problem selling enough copies to make back the money you spent on localization, and then some. Especially when you consider that French, Spanish and German are all used in other countries beyond their namesakes.
Singstar - even if it is popular in Europe, is it worth $700 ($600+$60+tax) in the US? How about $900 in Europe?
Warhawk - it's confusing because the format of the game has changed a lot. First it was a single player and multiplayer game, then it was multiplayer only. First it was BR only, then download only (and FREE) now it's both?? And no, XBLA games are not for sale in stores. You must buy them online with your 360.
Wii - just because it doesn't have the HD graphics of the 360 or PS3 doesn't make it a 'weaker' machine. The DS also has weaker graphics compared to the PSP. The DS is also outselling the PSP by a huge number. In fact, the DS is outselling every other game platform - including the so-called 'next gen' PS3 and 360. Not everyone cares about graphics as much as they do about gameplay. The DS and Wii are just the latest examples of this.
Halo3 - I didn't mention this game because it's a FPS. I mentioned it because people want this game, and will buy a 360 just to play it - if they haven't already purchased a 360.
It's like MGS2 was for the PS2. There was so much excitement around this title from the moment that demo movie was played at E3 all those years ago. This title sold untold 1000s of PS2s even though the game didn't hit the shelves over a year later.
The PS3 needs something like Halo3 or MGS2 or GT2 - something that is a going to be a surefire hit that everyone gets excited enough about to actually buy a console.
Right now, the PS3 has some good games coming for it, but nothing that seems to be EXCELLENT. Buying a $600 console for just a handful of ok or even good games just isn't going to happen. For $600, people are going to have much higher expectations, and so far, the PS3 hasn't delivered. This is also in part due to Sony's feverish assurances that the PS3 would be some sort of god-like piece of electronics...but so far hasn't outperformed its "older" and cheaper competitor.
Yes, the PS3 has other big titles lined up...but many of them aren't due until NEXT YEAR. In the meantime, neither the 360 nor the Wii are going to just stop and wait.
Slashdot Mirror
Why does the 360 need a price drop? Halo3 will drive demand through Christmas. Then drop the price in the Spring.
There's not even a reason for the 360 to react to the PS3's price drop. At $500, the PS3 is still more expensive than even the 360 Elite, and does nothing to address the PS3's shortcomings in the games department. Yes, I know Lair! Warhawk! Heavenly Sword! But these titles will be coming out at the same time as Halo3, which is just going to overshadow everything this fall/holiday...assuming that those PS3 games can live up to the their hype as being system sellers.
Well, Sony is introducing HOME, which will bring some of those features to the PS3, but I agree that the Sony should have had HOME ready to go prior to the PS3's launch and by not making HOME mandatory, you're still going to have a relatively disjointed online experience with the PS3 - assuming the game even SUPPORTS online - which many of the PS3's versions do not.
What exactly would putting the HD-DVD drive into the 360 accomplish?
It's not used for games, and would only increase the price of the 360.
The vast majority of folks don't care about either HD-DVD OR Blu-Ray at this time. The reason being that they don't want to be bothered with being on the losing end of a format war. When there's a clear winner, or the dual-format players arrive, folks will start buying in meaningful numbers. Right now, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD combined make up less than 2% of the total video market.
Is it just me, or is the list HEAVILY slanted towards Nintendo games?
If this was really the case, then there wouldn't be a fight between Sony and Microsoft because Nintendo would have been crushing them since they first tried shoe-horning into the industry.
Not to mention the fact that hardly any of the games on the list are more than a few years old - Ocarina being about the oldest one there.
That's the problem with these lists - they're highly subjective to the participant's memory. If that person has only played 10 games, they're all "top 10 titles" in his mind.
Only Microsoft can make otherwise simple activities into tortorous affairs.
Why do the companies have to tell Microsoft everytime they "downgrade" a PC from Vista to XP? Does the company receive some sort of credit for being forced to buy an OS they don't want/need?
Why can't they just buy the PCs with XP already on them without having to uninstall Vista, then re-install XP, then beg for Microsoft's forgiveness, THEN apply all the hundreds of patches - each of which also requires a reboot, and then...
Um, actually PetSmart DOES sell defective fish in that many of them are sick or overly stressed to begin with. We've personally had better luck with fish from independent stores because they take better care of their tanks and fish even though their prices are higher thn PetSmart.
It's also a little unfair to compare the 360 to a fish anyways. What's PetSmart going to do with a dead fish? Say "we're sorry you had problems with your fish, here's a refurb!" and exchange your dead fish for another one? (hm, ok, maybe this is what Microsoft is doing...)
No I don't think all the problems the guy has encountered have been due to the heat sink. However, that would then indicate that either:
1: Microsoft is recycling known defective units as refurbs back to customers.
2: There are multiple issues with the 360 - or at least the batch that Microsoft keeps sending to customers as replacements - and the heatsink is just one of them.
Either way, it indicates that Microsoft has a problem.
My understanding was that only the newly shipping units have the additional heatsinks in them. It wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft was using old units as refurbs - not sending these newer units.
Moreoever, it seems that whatever fixes the refurb department is doing, isn't fully fixing the problem. So they're essentially sending defective units back to the customers. When these units inevitably fail, they send them back to Microsoft, and the cycle continues. This would help explain why people who HAVE had problems with their 360 seem to tend to go through multiple units with Microsoft.
At this point, it almost sounds like you'd be better off just junking your RROD'd 360 and buying an shiny new one from the store. Sure, you're eating $400, but considering all the time and hassle people have gone through, you might come out ahead.
BTW, what's Microsoft's warranty on refurb'd units? Does getting a refurb reset your warranty? Or, if your console is out of warranty, and you had to pay Microsoft to fix it, does your refurb come with its own warranty? I'd hate to shell out $150 to fix my 360, only to have problems a few weeks/months later and be faced with yet another $150 charge. At that rate, you really WOULD be better off buying a whole new console (or taking MS to small claims court...hehehehe.)
Intent has nothing to do with it, unfortunately.
Under the DMCA you are legally not allowed modify or reverse engineer hardware, nor bypass copyright protection methods.
Note that this means if you use a region-free DVD player to play a legitimately purchased, non-region1 DVD, you've just violated the DMCA.
The DMCA is intentionally overly broad and vague - the best legislation money can buy. Check out the EFF about ways they're trying to not only fight the DMCA, but have it stricken from the books entirely.
Doesn't the MPAA rate trailers even if the final movie hasn't been rated yet? IE. "This trailer is approved for general audiences... This movie not yet rated."
:-)
I know I've seen a few "restricted" trailers (had a red background instead of a green one.)
Obviously you wouldn't expect to see a restricted trailer for a non-R movie, but anyways...
And again, all companies have to do is say "This trailer is rated RP by the ESRB for a game that is also RP by the ESRB"...
Actually, could you release a game with the official rating of "RP"? (especially since many games are released in an unfinished state, how can they be properly rated in the first place?!
What do the release dates for the NES vs. Playstation have to do with anything? Both have always had a strict policy of "No porn or AO games!". Granted, Nintendo was MUCH more strict with the NES and the SNES - garnering their reputation for being a Kiddie Console that still sticks with them today despite their efforts to show otherwise. Sony didn't have such a reputation, so it was easier to accept the Playstation as a platform aimmed at older, adults gamers. Even then, its games never got the controversial coverage that some of the PC titles of the time did, like Postal.
The gaming market grew up, and the Playstation 1 addressed that market in ways that Nintendo couldn't/wouldn't. Even during the Playstation 1, Nintendo was desparetly trying to change their image. Why else would they do that other than acknowledging that the market had changed?
So, there's clearly a legitimate market for "AO" games - and not just ones filled with over-the-top violence and sex. Unfortunately, the ESRB linked their "AO" rating to porn - causing most retailers to vow never to carry those titles due to all the social and legal issues with carrying pornographic items.
Whether or not you think such games are "mature" or not, is another matter. Insert jokes about "M for mature because it features boobies" here.
"Unexplained abscences" - so, every student who skips a class due to oversleeping or another reason is now a terrorist.
"Odd hours" - what college student DIDN'T hold odd hours?
"Interaction with foreign nationals" - Um. I studied Japanese and Computer Science in college. The majority of my classmates, TAs and Professors weren't American. This doesn't even include all the extra-curricular work I did with various student organizations and my volunteer work as an English conversation partner.
All I need now is a LOLCat picture saying "I is terrurist?"
SAW and other horror movies seem popular to do the R->Unrated jump, while comedies like Epic Movie were PG-13 and jump to Unrated. Although, in Epic Movie's case, the only thing they changed was to have the girl formerly in bra/panties for the PG-13 version redo her 5 second scene completely in the nude. So, yes, I'd agree with your general statement that most PG-13 movies simply throw in some extra nudity to make themselves "unrated."
I sort of like the idea of M+ or something.
"Super Mature"?
Or, just do what DVDs do: Unrated. Doesn't seem to hurt sales one bit, and retailers happily carry Unrated movies.
You are correct in that NC-17 was an attempt to create a movie rating that meant "This film is for adults but is not porn"
There is no such rating for the ESRB due to the fact that most Americans (and the ESRB itself!) associate "Adults Only" with "porn".
Both the MPAA's R and ESRB's M rating only apply to 17 year olds, really. After that, you're an adult and can see anything you want, younger than that, and you need your parents' permissions. Rather sill, if you ask me.
Although you can argue that NC-17 was a failure because you don't see many NC-17 films in theaters, the DVD industry has found a way to make it work by releasing "Unrated" versions of movies.
A good example I saw recently was Epic Movie. There's a few places in the film where a woman runs across the screen. In the theatrical version, she's wearing a bra and panties. In the Unrated DVD version, she's fully nude (with visible pubic hair). In one of the 'making of' extras, they mentioned they had the woman run across topless for an R version but later decided to go with PG-13.
That's not quite the problem...
When you say "Adults Only" to most Americans, they're going to assume "porn". Even the ESRB says that the "AO" rating is intended for games with nudity and sex in them. Most retailers will not carry porn, and by association, "Adult Only" games.
Personally, the ESRB's ratings are rather confusing. Consider the main ones: E, E+10, T, M, and AO.
E is everyone, no restrictions. Easy.
E+10 is for ages 10+. Ok.
T is for Teenager...which is 13-19 technically?
M is for 17+.
AO is for adults, and in the US, that means 18.
The difference between "M" and "AO" seems too narrow - especially when you consider the vast range that "T" covers.
Note that you can easily get movies that are technically rated "AO" from the video store. They're simply called "The Unrated Version". Why is it that the government has no problems with retailers selling or renting unrated versions of movies that were rated R in theaters to children, but gets its collective panties in a bunch about "M" games - many of which aren't nearly as bad as some "R" movies?
How can this topic even be discussed without bringing up the greatest "bad" game of all time - Battlecruiser 2000.
Granted, the most enjoyable aspect of this "game" was watching the programmer, and self-proclaimed PhD, make such an spectacle of himself on usenet. Highlights include the Coke Machine Incident, and threatening to track down one poster, and "bend back each rib until it snaps"
The threads went on for the better part of 10 years, from his early bragging about how awesome his game was going to be, coining the phrase "The last game you'll ever want", through his falling out with Take Two, and the continual thrashing he tried dishing out to his critics and customers.
Did they ever actually FINISH OutHouse?
I seem to recall that the game shipped with some key features missing (railgun and/or monorail come to mind.) These were described in the manual, but didn't (and never did) exist in the game or the patches.
This was also the game that caused many to just stop buying Sierra games outright....
As I recall, it sounds like you won the game. The higher Indy got raised on that last screen was supposed to be your score. There were supposed to be ways to achieve a higher score...but we never bothered once we beat it once.
I enjoyed Advent Children as well. Unfortunately, if you weren't familiar with FF7, the movie wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to you.
Heck, I've played the game, and parts of the movie STILL didn't make a lot of sense to me.
Like, what was with the heavy Christian baptism imagery/theme?
I could personally care less about the idiots on either side here.
Just keep the "hey hey, we sell you gold, good prices!" spam off the internet.
*sigh* that's an AIRPORT TAX. Other places have them too. Even the locals/citizens have to pay it. It has nothing to do with your visa, your travelplans, you being a foreigner (or a citizen) or your privacy.
Now if you want something identical here, why not attack the "gaijin card" ID they make all longterm foreigners get, now with mandatory fingerprinting. Even then, you weren't required to tell the government that you wanted to go visit Kyoto over the weekend... Sheesh.
It mentions foreign travelers inbound to the US, not US citizens outbound elsewhere. US Citizens travelling abroad (or internally, or etc) are obviously not affected by this.
And so, you said nothing.
Also, it's not as if we'd be the first to implement such a plan in either case.
So OBVIOUSLY it's a good idea...
Martin Niemöller wrote about a similar program in his country.
I've been working on internationalization and localization projects for over a decade.
Again, that $100k per language I stated includes translating the manual, re-performing the spoken dialog (if necessary - sometimes just subtitles are acceptable), and even rewriting the jokes/puns or making other content changes. The majority of the difficulty and cost for handling different languages is built into the primary development of the product. Really, adding an additional languge just isn't that expensive.
Even at $200k per language, and the game company making $10-20 in profit on each copy sold, I'm pretty sure there'll be no problem selling enough copies to make back the money you spent on localization, and then some. Especially when you consider that French, Spanish and German are all used in other countries beyond their namesakes.
Singstar - even if it is popular in Europe, is it worth $700 ($600+$60+tax) in the US? How about $900 in Europe?
Warhawk - it's confusing because the format of the game has changed a lot. First it was a single player and multiplayer game, then it was multiplayer only. First it was BR only, then download only (and FREE) now it's both?? And no, XBLA games are not for sale in stores. You must buy them online with your 360.
Wii - just because it doesn't have the HD graphics of the 360 or PS3 doesn't make it a 'weaker' machine. The DS also has weaker graphics compared to the PSP. The DS is also outselling the PSP by a huge number. In fact, the DS is outselling every other game platform - including the so-called 'next gen' PS3 and 360. Not everyone cares about graphics as much as they do about gameplay. The DS and Wii are just the latest examples of this.
Halo3 - I didn't mention this game because it's a FPS. I mentioned it because people want this game, and will buy a 360 just to play it - if they haven't already purchased a 360.
It's like MGS2 was for the PS2. There was so much excitement around this title from the moment that demo movie was played at E3 all those years ago. This title sold untold 1000s of PS2s even though the game didn't hit the shelves over a year later.
The PS3 needs something like Halo3 or MGS2 or GT2 - something that is a going to be a surefire hit that everyone gets excited enough about to actually buy a console.
Right now, the PS3 has some good games coming for it, but nothing that seems to be EXCELLENT. Buying a $600 console for just a handful of ok or even good games just isn't going to happen. For $600, people are going to have much higher expectations, and so far, the PS3 hasn't delivered. This is also in part due to Sony's feverish assurances that the PS3 would be some sort of god-like piece of electronics...but so far hasn't outperformed its "older" and cheaper competitor.
Yes, the PS3 has other big titles lined up...but many of them aren't due until NEXT YEAR. In the meantime, neither the 360 nor the Wii are going to just stop and wait.
With cheaper blu-ray players coming out (from Sony, no less) the "PS3 is a cheap blu-ray player!" days are over.