ESA > The TV Networks > MPAA > RIAA in terms of who's getting the clue the fastest. At least in my book. At least the TV Networks are readily flirting with putting shows up on the web for viewing by consumers at no cost (as long as you don't mind and ad every 15 minutes... snack break anyone?). On the other hand, we get the RIAA attempting to shut down Internet Radio as we know it. At least the TV networks are trying to match the pirates with near equiavalent (in terms of cost to the consumer and accessibility) services.
In terms of CD sales.... Well let's see. I can get a DVD for a new movie for ~$20 which is 2 hours long (more with extra features) and will play in my laptop, game machine or DVD player. Or I can get a CD for $16 which is about an hour long, and if I'm lucky I don't get a rootkit or can't rip it to put on my MP3 player or to use as part of a custom playlist in my games. You tell me why CD sales aren't hot.
What worries me most is that if I get something for the 360, I'd be afraid of it coming out for PC later on. I prefer PC games over the console ports due to the fact that the PC can get higher resolution and texture quality than the console versions. Maybe this is less the case now with the beefier consoles this generation. It's more a consumer perspective than a developer one. Of course developers are gonna like having the ability to port things from the 360 to the PC without as much work as a PS3 to PC port.
Oh ok. Wasn't paying close attention. But don't forget the low cost of the Gamecube didn't make it the winner either. Price helps the adoption rate, but content will make or break the system.
I bought a Wii back in early December, and right now I'm waiting for XBox 360 to come down in price a little bit and seeing how the HD-DVD / Blu-Ray turns out before picking it up. Blue Dragon and Gears of War really have caught my eye, and the stuff that's been coming out on Live looks pretty sweet as well. But in the mean time, I'm planning on upgrading my PC mainly for Unreal Tournament 3 and hopefully I can get by with what I have if Spore is released first.
The thing that worries me most about XBox360 is that a lot of their best games eventually get released on PC a while later. So if you have a good rig or are willing to upgrade and are patient, you don't really need a MS product. Bioware already has a precedent for this, and there's pretty strong rumors suggesting Gears of War is going to hit PC at some point as well.
Except Gamecube couldn't get the 3rd party support that Sony heavily relies on these days. Sony's facing a similar problem that Nintendo faced in the SNES->N64 transition. Already Sony has lost a bunch of former exclusives to Microsoft. With E3 nearing, who knows if this is going to continue or turn around?
3 to 1 outselling HD-DVD is like what? An extra 20 units over the 10 HD-DVD units being sold? The problem with statments like that is two-fold: 1) I don't believe any movie is on both formats. None of the studios is producing for both formats. Therefore, is the ratio due to the better technology or the better content? This is something the critics and consumers have to decide. 2) Saying you're selling 3x as many as your competitor with formats that are still in the early adopter stages is asinine. Especially for formats that require hi-def tvs to notice a difference, which aren't even remotely near a 10% install base yet.
What they basically did was taking a mid-range Ford (PS2) and creating a new model (PS3) and asking for Mercedes prices from their standard customers (the average joe). And they're surprised by this how?
I just remember when the first analysis of the potential PS3 price came out prior to E3 and asking one of my roomates at the time if he was willing to pay $600 for it. He was completely shocked and was like "that'll never happen." Sony should've realized the price point was a mistake after the reaction they got at E3 last year. It's 10 months later and they're finally waking up and smelling the coffee. Granted they seem to be trying to turn things around, but someone should've seen this coming.
True. They're already undercutting the other two by a large enough margin that they can still keep their price the same even if MS or Sony drop their price by $100, which is usually the most anyone has cut their price by initially. The DS will probably see a price cut before the Wii anyways.
I expect Nintendo to gut Wii Sports from the Wii package as soon as Sony starts rattling the price cut sabre. Gets the system down to $200 and people can choose the game they want instead of Wii Sports. Either that or Nintendo starts bundling in a second remote + nunchuk to the existing console SKU and you have exactly the same effect. Could throw Wii Play in just for the hell of it. Value added software is always a good consumer enticement.
Sure looks like they made MTV clean house and broadcast only the purest of music videos that your grandmother would endorse. I'm sure this will work wonders for violence.
I don't see how they're going to have an easy time with taking on violence on shows that are aired at 9 pm. That's the time reserved for most "adult" shows. If these were airing opposite Blue's Clues or The Wiggles, I'd be more worried.
Regardless, this only proves how worthless the V-Chip was. They should spend more time and effort trying to edumacate parents about the tools at their disposal than asking for a government agency to step in.
I seem to recall a similar event around 2001 when they were looking to start charging royalties for internet radio stations. If I remember right they wanted royalties proportional to the number of listeners * each song played. A book keeping nightmare if I remember correctly.
You must be new to gaming I take it? EA letting Maxis take their time with this is the best thing they can do. I'd rather have a good solid game to start of with before it gets EAified and they start churning out yearly iterations or an expansion pack or content pack every quarter. This also suggests that EA is putting a lot of money behind this project in order to let them keep working on this as long as they have. Although it's pretty well known that EA will let Will Wright/Maxis do whatever the hell they please, as long as it brings in the cash by the truckload.
If users don't know how to properly use the security features provided to them, is that a system failure or a user failure? That's like blaming Linksys for someone hijacking your router because you didn't change the default router password nor did you setup any form of encryption on your 802.11.
This reminds me of a training day for my workstudy job where one of the higher ups in the IT department talked about a survey done where they offered people a cookie for their password. At least 50% of the people in that study were willing to give up their password for a cookie.
This sounds like one of those great on paper ideas. How much bandwidth is this going to require of the person playing story mode? This is essentially going to require them to be a listen server so that's something that raises a red flag immediately in my mind. No one is going to want to drop in on someone's game which is being played on a standard DSL or Cable line and have 5 other people playing as well.
The idea sounds good to some degree. It sounds like they're trying to implement something like a DM mode from NWN in a FPS.
This cross-play idea isn't new really. Spore brought the idea forward when it was announced almost two years ago. Sure players aren't actively controlling the creatures in your world, but everyone else playing the game does have an impact on your world. Everyone is in their own private sandbox because Wright and the rest of the designers didn't want to have griefers causing pain for people.
Some games like Kingdom of Loathing use a similar idea. It's massively multiplayer in the sense that there's about 1000+ people logged in, but player interaction is limited to buffing, trading, and very limited PVP.
I haven't gotten very far through KH2 yet. Which reminds me of another complaint that I've had with the game ever since I found out what changed in the localization. What the hell is the adversion to guns in this game? I don't get it, they have alcohol references and stuff (according to the ratings descriptor) but you can't have guns... especially for Pirates of the Carribean? I understood perfectly well why Cid was missing his trademark cigarette in KH1, but apparently booze in games is fine (we've come a long way from the good old "coffee is alcohol (in America)" SNES days), yet Disney balks at guns for something that is contextually relevant in a world. I guess booze makes pirates more pirate-like than guns?
Expansion packs sell very well for the popular games. I've got $5 that says Burning Crusade will be near WoW on the list this year. I don't think I've seen an expansion for a Blizzard game that isn't "Must own this with the original game" since Beyond the Dark Portal or (if you count it an official expansion) Hellfire.
I think Nintendo is finally realizing that they might sell more games if the rest of the family (read: not the kiddies) had something to play too. They might be adopting something that Disney has started doing recently and that's attaching it's name to stuff other than "G or PG" material (Pirate of the Carribean and Kingdom Hearts).
There was an interview with Suda 51 (head of Grasshopper) basically stating they were making No More Heroes for the Wii because it'd stand out more from the usual "kiddish" games and might be something an older crowd would enjoy. http://wii.ign.com/articles/749/749899p2.html
Agreed. There's enough little changes in the DS version to make it worth taking a second romp through the game. The four characters behave differently enough that there is some interesting choices to make in terms of who you use for a given level (although there are hats in the levels that allow you to temporarily change to a different character). The minigames are fun, but unlocking all of them can take some time if you don't know where to look.
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ESA > The TV Networks > MPAA > RIAA in terms of who's getting the clue the fastest. At least in my book. At least the TV Networks are readily flirting with putting shows up on the web for viewing by consumers at no cost (as long as you don't mind and ad every 15 minutes... snack break anyone?). On the other hand, we get the RIAA attempting to shut down Internet Radio as we know it. At least the TV networks are trying to match the pirates with near equiavalent (in terms of cost to the consumer and accessibility) services.
In terms of CD sales.... Well let's see. I can get a DVD for a new movie for ~$20 which is 2 hours long (more with extra features) and will play in my laptop, game machine or DVD player. Or I can get a CD for $16 which is about an hour long, and if I'm lucky I don't get a rootkit or can't rip it to put on my MP3 player or to use as part of a custom playlist in my games. You tell me why CD sales aren't hot.
Anyways, lousy week for the RIAA it sounds.
Bah. Should've gone with something less tricky like a 2 pair... Or a higher high card. Let's say high 7.
In other words, someone called their bluff and the best that they have is a high 6?
What worries me most is that if I get something for the 360, I'd be afraid of it coming out for PC later on. I prefer PC games over the console ports due to the fact that the PC can get higher resolution and texture quality than the console versions. Maybe this is less the case now with the beefier consoles this generation. It's more a consumer perspective than a developer one. Of course developers are gonna like having the ability to port things from the 360 to the PC without as much work as a PS3 to PC port.
Oh ok. Wasn't paying close attention. But don't forget the low cost of the Gamecube didn't make it the winner either. Price helps the adoption rate, but content will make or break the system.
I bought a Wii back in early December, and right now I'm waiting for XBox 360 to come down in price a little bit and seeing how the HD-DVD / Blu-Ray turns out before picking it up. Blue Dragon and Gears of War really have caught my eye, and the stuff that's been coming out on Live looks pretty sweet as well. But in the mean time, I'm planning on upgrading my PC mainly for Unreal Tournament 3 and hopefully I can get by with what I have if Spore is released first.
The thing that worries me most about XBox360 is that a lot of their best games eventually get released on PC a while later. So if you have a good rig or are willing to upgrade and are patient, you don't really need a MS product. Bioware already has a precedent for this, and there's pretty strong rumors suggesting Gears of War is going to hit PC at some point as well.
Except Gamecube couldn't get the 3rd party support that Sony heavily relies on these days. Sony's facing a similar problem that Nintendo faced in the SNES->N64 transition. Already Sony has lost a bunch of former exclusives to Microsoft. With E3 nearing, who knows if this is going to continue or turn around?
3 to 1 outselling HD-DVD is like what? An extra 20 units over the 10 HD-DVD units being sold? The problem with statments like that is two-fold: 1) I don't believe any movie is on both formats. None of the studios is producing for both formats. Therefore, is the ratio due to the better technology or the better content? This is something the critics and consumers have to decide. 2) Saying you're selling 3x as many as your competitor with formats that are still in the early adopter stages is asinine. Especially for formats that require hi-def tvs to notice a difference, which aren't even remotely near a 10% install base yet.
What they basically did was taking a mid-range Ford (PS2) and creating a new model (PS3) and asking for Mercedes prices from their standard customers (the average joe). And they're surprised by this how?
I just remember when the first analysis of the potential PS3 price came out prior to E3 and asking one of my roomates at the time if he was willing to pay $600 for it. He was completely shocked and was like "that'll never happen." Sony should've realized the price point was a mistake after the reaction they got at E3 last year. It's 10 months later and they're finally waking up and smelling the coffee. Granted they seem to be trying to turn things around, but someone should've seen this coming.
True. They're already undercutting the other two by a large enough margin that they can still keep their price the same even if MS or Sony drop their price by $100, which is usually the most anyone has cut their price by initially. The DS will probably see a price cut before the Wii anyways.
I expect Nintendo to gut Wii Sports from the Wii package as soon as Sony starts rattling the price cut sabre. Gets the system down to $200 and people can choose the game they want instead of Wii Sports. Either that or Nintendo starts bundling in a second remote + nunchuk to the existing console SKU and you have exactly the same effect. Could throw Wii Play in just for the hell of it. Value added software is always a good consumer enticement.
Sure looks like they made MTV clean house and broadcast only the purest of music videos that your grandmother would endorse. I'm sure this will work wonders for violence.
I don't see how they're going to have an easy time with taking on violence on shows that are aired at 9 pm. That's the time reserved for most "adult" shows. If these were airing opposite Blue's Clues or The Wiggles, I'd be more worried.
Regardless, this only proves how worthless the V-Chip was. They should spend more time and effort trying to edumacate parents about the tools at their disposal than asking for a government agency to step in.
Ummm... ok? Metroid Prime Hunters had VOIP as well. Which was last year. I'm confused as to how this is noteworthy.
I seem to recall a similar event around 2001 when they were looking to start charging royalties for internet radio stations. If I remember right they wanted royalties proportional to the number of listeners * each song played. A book keeping nightmare if I remember correctly.
You must be new to gaming I take it? EA letting Maxis take their time with this is the best thing they can do. I'd rather have a good solid game to start of with before it gets EAified and they start churning out yearly iterations or an expansion pack or content pack every quarter. This also suggests that EA is putting a lot of money behind this project in order to let them keep working on this as long as they have. Although it's pretty well known that EA will let Will Wright/Maxis do whatever the hell they please, as long as it brings in the cash by the truckload.
The bus theme from Earthbound. 'nuff said.
Even with admin privs? That's bizarre.
So DOSBox works fine? Awesome. Have you tried using it with the D-Fend frontend?
If users don't know how to properly use the security features provided to them, is that a system failure or a user failure? That's like blaming Linksys for someone hijacking your router because you didn't change the default router password nor did you setup any form of encryption on your 802.11.
This reminds me of a training day for my workstudy job where one of the higher ups in the IT department talked about a survey done where they offered people a cookie for their password. At least 50% of the people in that study were willing to give up their password for a cookie.
This sounds like one of those great on paper ideas. How much bandwidth is this going to require of the person playing story mode? This is essentially going to require them to be a listen server so that's something that raises a red flag immediately in my mind. No one is going to want to drop in on someone's game which is being played on a standard DSL or Cable line and have 5 other people playing as well.
The idea sounds good to some degree. It sounds like they're trying to implement something like a DM mode from NWN in a FPS.
This cross-play idea isn't new really. Spore brought the idea forward when it was announced almost two years ago. Sure players aren't actively controlling the creatures in your world, but everyone else playing the game does have an impact on your world. Everyone is in their own private sandbox because Wright and the rest of the designers didn't want to have griefers causing pain for people.
Some games like Kingdom of Loathing use a similar idea. It's massively multiplayer in the sense that there's about 1000+ people logged in, but player interaction is limited to buffing, trading, and very limited PVP.
Wow. That's incredibly pathetic. Is "Three plays or three days" not good enough for them?
The day the label companies start actually doing good for their customers and artists is the day hell freezes over.
I haven't gotten very far through KH2 yet. Which reminds me of another complaint that I've had with the game ever since I found out what changed in the localization. What the hell is the adversion to guns in this game? I don't get it, they have alcohol references and stuff (according to the ratings descriptor) but you can't have guns... especially for Pirates of the Carribean? I understood perfectly well why Cid was missing his trademark cigarette in KH1, but apparently booze in games is fine (we've come a long way from the good old "coffee is alcohol (in America)" SNES days), yet Disney balks at guns for something that is contextually relevant in a world. I guess booze makes pirates more pirate-like than guns?
Expansion packs sell very well for the popular games. I've got $5 that says Burning Crusade will be near WoW on the list this year. I don't think I've seen an expansion for a Blizzard game that isn't "Must own this with the original game" since Beyond the Dark Portal or (if you count it an official expansion) Hellfire.
I think Nintendo is finally realizing that they might sell more games if the rest of the family (read: not the kiddies) had something to play too. They might be adopting something that Disney has started doing recently and that's attaching it's name to stuff other than "G or PG" material (Pirate of the Carribean and Kingdom Hearts).
There was an interview with Suda 51 (head of Grasshopper) basically stating they were making No More Heroes for the Wii because it'd stand out more from the usual "kiddish" games and might be something an older crowd would enjoy. http://wii.ign.com/articles/749/749899p2.html
Agreed. There's enough little changes in the DS version to make it worth taking a second romp through the game. The four characters behave differently enough that there is some interesting choices to make in terms of who you use for a given level (although there are hats in the levels that allow you to temporarily change to a different character). The minigames are fun, but unlocking all of them can take some time if you don't know where to look.