The sad thing is you are just as biased as the OP. Except your bias is popular here and reinforced by the editors therefor you get modded up.
Some of what you say is accurate. Sony has too few consoles at launch. Many people wait in line for the consoles just to ebay them to people who will pay a premium. Of course, the people paying a premium are going to buy them to play games on them, so they are going to play games...you just didn't see as many sold at launch date. Some criminals rob people in line because they potentially have a lot of cash on them (there is no scam, no one is being tricked). Ebay sales were crazy at first, people wanting 10k for the console. Many sold for 2k. But with anything that is being constantly produced, of course the price is going to drop because unless you hit that initial rush, more consoles are going to be coming every week. There is plenty of interest in the console. You are a damn fool if you think there isn't. Only a moron would ignore or discount the winner of the previous generation in the first month.
The opinions stated overwhelmingly and loudly by the fanboys on Slashdot != what people everywhere think. That's the harsh reality.
Can you people read? That is what he is saying. We have no idea how much they can produce. We will have a better idea after a few months and a really solid one after a year.
Uh, it's simple. Do what the guy said. Wait a year after the console is out and then make a decision. I really think consumers all must be raving morons running out and buying these consoles when they have the most bugs and are at their most expensive.
I am not 100% sure why but the previous issue of GI may have had the reason for this. It has a top 10 list of top 10 reason why they didn't have reviews of the Wii. The #1 reason stated that Nintendo didn't let them review it. GI does not ignore the Wii at all...it has been viewed with a lot of excitement. I think they very fairly review the PS3 in everything I have read.
Slashdot is very very heavily biased against the PS3 and Zonk is no exception. It is slightly ironic that Slashdot allows such biased editors when the community is so against media bias. But Sony has done enough that the majority of vocal people on Slashdot will trash Sony any chance they get. So I guess as long as your bias is popular, it's ok.
I don't think it was trying to be a system that would act like how you would act all of the time. It just has general rules for your typical random encounters. On more difficult encounters it expects you to take control. Unless you are fighting in an area that typically knocks off 90% of your health, I really don't see the problem. And if you WERE in an area like that, you could tweak the gambits to cover that. But I view gambits as what you should do in general and for the exceptions I need to take control.
You would get that impression here, wouldn't you? I really don't understand the constant stream of second life stories that get put up here. Is Zonk getting paid to advertise for them? Is second life somehow involved in a plot to destroy the PS3 launch? There are games vastly more popular (let us use WoW as an example) that don't get nearly the press time (and they get more than enough coverage). Personally, I am sick of Second Life articles which are not news (or even note) worthy. I'd like to make a movement here on Slashdot that refuses to play Second Life until we stop seeing all the useless articles. Of course, none of us would play it anyways...but would just like to see a little sanity in the editing.
30 minutes on the Wii != 30 minutes of real activity. Some incredibly out of shape people are sore the next day because they are using muscles they have never used before. That doesn't mean it can be considered phyiscal activity. If someone used a mouse on a computer for the first time in their whole lives for an extended period of time, they would be sore the next day as well. Claiming that you can get a work out from the controller is false advertising. You will burn more calories than you would if you were sitting there and watching tv...but the difference would be minimal. Try really playing tennis and you could probably burn as many calories in 5 minutes as a half hour session of Wii Sports. I am not anti-Wii by any means, but stop trying to make this more than it is. It won't solve child obesity or get anyone in shape. DDR has a much better chance of doing that than any Wii game.
The 360 is just looking better and better to me. The rough part is I have promised myself to play all the great games of the previous gen before I move on! God of War, FFXII, RE4 just to name a few. Ah well, maybe I can wait until the next price drop but still...I am pretty excited to see this news. It seems that all 3 consoles will have something great to offer...though it seems like the greatness might be slipping away from the PS3. They better hold on tight to Square Enix.
It is an easy mistake to make. For some reason network speed is always measured in Gb while anything to do with disk is in GB. When the only difference is a capital letter...it is easy to gloss over.
Not really. I agree with the part about the 7.5 Gb/s (as long as you are using PCI-e 10 Gb NICs as opposed to PCI-X). You can very easily get about 8.2 Gb/s running from memory to memory single stream...over 9 with multiple streams. What is difficult is getting it from disk that quickly. While it is interesting, it really is a toy experiment when compared to a super computer. Running parallel file transfers on thousands of nodes is where the real challenge lies and parallel file systems just don't work as well at that scale.
Or you could just wait a week after that and not blow $120 on something that is constantly being produced. I seriously don't understand people who will wait in line or pay above the retail price for what will most likely be the most problem/bug prone verson of the unit. You are also legitimizing the whole buy it/ebay it which is bad enough on its own.
If Bill Maher/Michael Moore/Robert Greenwald come out for/against video games, should that make news on here?
Yes, it would make news on here and it should. These are people that shape public perception. While this is extremely unfortunate, I personally am glad to see this on here and talk about it. Clearly he is wrong and maybe a little insane. But we need to be able to counter these views and having a discussion about it is a good way to understand why he is wrong. On the positive side, as the older generation gets older and less relevant, the newer generation that does understand technology will be able to shape perception. Unfortunately, we are doomed to repeat this and condemn the next generation. I really hope to put an effort when I am older to keep up with whatever new things appear in the future and not become obsolete like Bill.
No, I have to disagree, he really doesn't have a point. We are more connected to other people than we ever have been thanks to technology. Yes, we have services like Netflix that allow us to skip going to the video store. But this is not significant social interaction. This is grabbing a video, paying the cashier, and going home.
People who play MMOs don't do it for the games. These games are shallow and repetitive. They do it for the social interaction. No longer are we burdened to have to be in the same location as other people to get to know them. We can connect with people around the world.
How is meeting people online a bad thing? So I am not picking up some girl in a bar who I know nothing about other then the fact that she likes drinking and going home with guys at the end of the night. I can actually get to know a person a little bit and see if they have similar interests and goals.
How is partying on weekends a good thing? I do throw parties now and then because I enjoy seeing my friends and co-workers drunk, but really, there are plenty of social interactions you can have with people that doesn't involve alcohol. Just because our society glorifies killing brain cells as the ultimate social activity doesn't mean that that is in reality the most meaningful experience we can have with others.
News media is now instant access. I am able to know exactly what is going on in the world much faster than in any time in history. I am not buried in my own reality. I am more connected than ever.
People with addictive personalities are going to get addicted to something. Whether it be an MMO, alcohol, adreniline junkies...they are people outside the norm. Using them as examples is pointless because there will always be people who escape from reality in one form or another. These are deviations, not the norm.
So I am sorry, but seeing your post being modded +5 insightful really bothers me because it is just flat out wrong. The older generation will always condemn the younger generation because they don't understand. They don't have an Ipod, they don't play games, they don't have a MySpace accout, they have no way of judging what is going on because the world as they know it is changing and they are not. So I call BS. People are much more connected than they have ever been in any time in history. It is just they are connecting in different ways.
This isn't a problem with inept users having trouble getting it set up...this is some sore of bug in the code. If it was just people having problems, they wouldn't be sending out replacement Wiis as that doesn't change the ineptness of the end user.
You don't use any logic. Their competitor, Nintendo, is launching at the same time. Now Nintendo can say they are selling more units. More units in more homes means more interest from game developers. More games means that more people will buy Nintendo products. Yes, I know some companies have used the trick of limiting supply to increase demand. But that just doesn't work in this competitive environment. You are arguing that Sony is using a strategy that is actually detrimental to thier company's ability to make profit. That and the article linked above talking about the issues. The problem is Sony is doing something cutting edge here. It is a lot more difficult to produce cutting edge components than producing something that is already in high supply (like what Nintendo is doing). Yes, they are being more innovative, but the components used to make them are common and easily produced/purchased along with their almost previous gen hardware specs.
We aren't arguing about previous times. We are arguing about the PS3. So when you say "EVEN if we accept this time it was blue ray" you are admiting that you are wrong about the specific thing we are arguing about.
This does seem to be the best thing that could happen for Nintendo. When a developer see the numbers of Wii sold, they will want to develop for them. More (quality) games will mean more "must-have" titles thus encouraging more sales. I'm still in wait-and-see mode to determine how well the new controller will work (I never buy first rev consumer electronics). But this is a bright start for Nintendo.
With the Xbox 360 already having 7 million units sold worldwide, the Wii approximately 500,000 units, and the PS3 only having sold 200,000 units in North America and 80,000 units in Japan and none in Europe it is hard to see Sony succeeding with the PS3.
Did you hack Zonk's computer and steal all his bookmarks?
Seriously though, your statement is jumping the gun here. And mostly comes off as fanboy garbage. Yeah, Sony hasn't sold as many units but it has sold out all of the units it has produced. Ultimately (or obviously), it is the (exclusive) games that matter. It will be a bit of time before the big games hit the PS3. If a release of FFXIII is a flop, then I think you can admit a Sony defeat.
Most of your complaints are things that can be improved with time. All of the issues are mostly overstated by fanboys of other consoles. From all the opinions I have read from unbiased sources (like GI), they seem to be fairly impressed with the system. But it really just comes down to exclusives.
I would like to commend you. I am pretty sure this is a troll/flamebait due to your last comment, but you did link your sources!
Look at your life and think about how much of it could be automated by bots. Your expectations are unrealistic if you think a game could be so dynamic that people can not come up with a bot for certain aspects of the game.
I don't understand you. You state that it is a great RPG and then you say you want it to be the Final game in the series. If they are still making great games...then let them make great games. As far as it being the great game ever...who really listens to hype except morons? I don't think hype is even generate by the company...just hordes of rampant fanboys infecting the net. I am sure it isn't a perfect game and there are flaws...I just don't get this whole "it doesn't meet my personal standards for an FF and therefore they should stop making them". Really, you aren't the center of the gaming universe.
No offense, but if you want the MOST games, you go with the Xbox 360 which has by far more (obviously, since it has been out for awhile now). The answer to everything isn't Nintendo. I'm not saying it won't be great. Just don't let the fanboyism blind you so much that you start making stuff up.
That's all great, but you have no idea what you are talkng about. The 360 has an HD-DVD add on that has nothing to do with gaming. It is just if you want to play HD-DVD disks. No forcing there. Nintendo was not always the odd one out. You either are very young or have a short memory. Nintendo was THE console. It was due to their reluctance to ditch cartridges and treating third party game makers like garbage that they allowed others to come out on top. The positive thing you can say about Nintendo is it looks like they are playing a lot better with third parties this go around which actually gives them some hope for this gen. Right now the Wii's advantage is its price point and its controller. The controller isn't that complicated and can be copied to a certain extent by other consoles if that takes off (I am not sure about patent issues, but the PS3 came up with sixaxis in no time...inferior yes, but they really pulled that out of nowhere). Nintendo will do very well initially...this is where if they can get enough penetration, they will get more people developing games there. But later in the lifecycle, the shortcomings of the console will become more apparant compared to the other two. If Nintendo has a strong enough start, they can come out on top. If they don't, they have less of a chance due to having less powerful hardware.
How does hyping a product make them responsible for this? If they had more, or could produce more, don't you think they would do that. Demand right now is high. When demand is high you get your product out there and sell it as quickly as technically feasable.
For this particular launch, there was a real problem of having enough blue lasers. This slowed production causing the numbers we have today.
Who gives a crap what your background is...you clearly have no common sense. If an article here is posted about how some kid shot someone after playing GTA, we are all up in arms about personal responsibility. It is the kids fault for commiting the crime. It is the parents faults for not watching after their children and allowing them access to weapons. But when Sony launches a console, suddenly it is all their fault for causing violence. Give me a break. The violence is caused by very stupid people and the blame should be squarely placed on their shoulders. Just because you have some personal hatred towards Sony doesn't mean you can shift what is right and wrong. There are plenty of legitimate issues with Sony that you can go after. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM. People need to take freaking responsibility for their actions. Sony is just selling a console. They are not forcing you to commit crimes. Got it?
Slashdot Mirror
The sad thing is you are just as biased as the OP. Except your bias is popular here and reinforced by the editors therefor you get modded up.
Some of what you say is accurate. Sony has too few consoles at launch. Many people wait in line for the consoles just to ebay them to people who will pay a premium. Of course, the people paying a premium are going to buy them to play games on them, so they are going to play games...you just didn't see as many sold at launch date. Some criminals rob people in line because they potentially have a lot of cash on them (there is no scam, no one is being tricked). Ebay sales were crazy at first, people wanting 10k for the console. Many sold for 2k. But with anything that is being constantly produced, of course the price is going to drop because unless you hit that initial rush, more consoles are going to be coming every week. There is plenty of interest in the console. You are a damn fool if you think there isn't. Only a moron would ignore or discount the winner of the previous generation in the first month.
The opinions stated overwhelmingly and loudly by the fanboys on Slashdot != what people everywhere think. That's the harsh reality.
Can you people read? That is what he is saying. We have no idea how much they can produce. We will have a better idea after a few months and a really solid one after a year.
Uh, it's simple. Do what the guy said. Wait a year after the console is out and then make a decision. I really think consumers all must be raving morons running out and buying these consoles when they have the most bugs and are at their most expensive.
I am not 100% sure why but the previous issue of GI may have had the reason for this. It has a top 10 list of top 10 reason why they didn't have reviews of the Wii. The #1 reason stated that Nintendo didn't let them review it. GI does not ignore the Wii at all...it has been viewed with a lot of excitement. I think they very fairly review the PS3 in everything I have read.
Slashdot is very very heavily biased against the PS3 and Zonk is no exception. It is slightly ironic that Slashdot allows such biased editors when the community is so against media bias. But Sony has done enough that the majority of vocal people on Slashdot will trash Sony any chance they get. So I guess as long as your bias is popular, it's ok.
What if there agenda is to provide the public with unbiased news?
I don't think it was trying to be a system that would act like how you would act all of the time. It just has general rules for your typical random encounters. On more difficult encounters it expects you to take control. Unless you are fighting in an area that typically knocks off 90% of your health, I really don't see the problem. And if you WERE in an area like that, you could tweak the gambits to cover that. But I view gambits as what you should do in general and for the exceptions I need to take control.
You would get that impression here, wouldn't you? I really don't understand the constant stream of second life stories that get put up here. Is Zonk getting paid to advertise for them? Is second life somehow involved in a plot to destroy the PS3 launch? There are games vastly more popular (let us use WoW as an example) that don't get nearly the press time (and they get more than enough coverage). Personally, I am sick of Second Life articles which are not news (or even note) worthy. I'd like to make a movement here on Slashdot that refuses to play Second Life until we stop seeing all the useless articles. Of course, none of us would play it anyways...but would just like to see a little sanity in the editing.
30 minutes on the Wii != 30 minutes of real activity. Some incredibly out of shape people are sore the next day because they are using muscles they have never used before. That doesn't mean it can be considered phyiscal activity. If someone used a mouse on a computer for the first time in their whole lives for an extended period of time, they would be sore the next day as well. Claiming that you can get a work out from the controller is false advertising. You will burn more calories than you would if you were sitting there and watching tv...but the difference would be minimal. Try really playing tennis and you could probably burn as many calories in 5 minutes as a half hour session of Wii Sports. I am not anti-Wii by any means, but stop trying to make this more than it is. It won't solve child obesity or get anyone in shape. DDR has a much better chance of doing that than any Wii game.
You have to be kidding. Using a wiimote will not get you in to shape. If you want kids to get in shape, tell them to go outside or put them in sports.
The 360 is just looking better and better to me. The rough part is I have promised myself to play all the great games of the previous gen before I move on! God of War, FFXII, RE4 just to name a few. Ah well, maybe I can wait until the next price drop but still...I am pretty excited to see this news. It seems that all 3 consoles will have something great to offer...though it seems like the greatness might be slipping away from the PS3. They better hold on tight to Square Enix.
I find it hard to believe all the people waiting in line are waiting there for homebrew.
It is an easy mistake to make. For some reason network speed is always measured in Gb while anything to do with disk is in GB. When the only difference is a capital letter...it is easy to gloss over.
Not really. I agree with the part about the 7.5 Gb/s (as long as you are using PCI-e 10 Gb NICs as opposed to PCI-X). You can very easily get about 8.2 Gb/s running from memory to memory single stream...over 9 with multiple streams. What is difficult is getting it from disk that quickly. While it is interesting, it really is a toy experiment when compared to a super computer. Running parallel file transfers on thousands of nodes is where the real challenge lies and parallel file systems just don't work as well at that scale.
Or you could just wait a week after that and not blow $120 on something that is constantly being produced. I seriously don't understand people who will wait in line or pay above the retail price for what will most likely be the most problem/bug prone verson of the unit. You are also legitimizing the whole buy it/ebay it which is bad enough on its own.
If Bill Maher/Michael Moore/Robert Greenwald come out for/against video games, should that make news on here?
Yes, it would make news on here and it should. These are people that shape public perception. While this is extremely unfortunate, I personally am glad to see this on here and talk about it. Clearly he is wrong and maybe a little insane. But we need to be able to counter these views and having a discussion about it is a good way to understand why he is wrong. On the positive side, as the older generation gets older and less relevant, the newer generation that does understand technology will be able to shape perception. Unfortunately, we are doomed to repeat this and condemn the next generation. I really hope to put an effort when I am older to keep up with whatever new things appear in the future and not become obsolete like Bill.
No, I have to disagree, he really doesn't have a point. We are more connected to other people than we ever have been thanks to technology. Yes, we have services like Netflix that allow us to skip going to the video store. But this is not significant social interaction. This is grabbing a video, paying the cashier, and going home.
People who play MMOs don't do it for the games. These games are shallow and repetitive. They do it for the social interaction. No longer are we burdened to have to be in the same location as other people to get to know them. We can connect with people around the world.
How is meeting people online a bad thing? So I am not picking up some girl in a bar who I know nothing about other then the fact that she likes drinking and going home with guys at the end of the night. I can actually get to know a person a little bit and see if they have similar interests and goals.
How is partying on weekends a good thing? I do throw parties now and then because I enjoy seeing my friends and co-workers drunk, but really, there are plenty of social interactions you can have with people that doesn't involve alcohol. Just because our society glorifies killing brain cells as the ultimate social activity doesn't mean that that is in reality the most meaningful experience we can have with others.
News media is now instant access. I am able to know exactly what is going on in the world much faster than in any time in history. I am not buried in my own reality. I am more connected than ever.
People with addictive personalities are going to get addicted to something. Whether it be an MMO, alcohol, adreniline junkies...they are people outside the norm. Using them as examples is pointless because there will always be people who escape from reality in one form or another. These are deviations, not the norm.
So I am sorry, but seeing your post being modded +5 insightful really bothers me because it is just flat out wrong. The older generation will always condemn the younger generation because they don't understand. They don't have an Ipod, they don't play games, they don't have a MySpace accout, they have no way of judging what is going on because the world as they know it is changing and they are not. So I call BS. People are much more connected than they have ever been in any time in history. It is just they are connecting in different ways.
This isn't a problem with inept users having trouble getting it set up...this is some sore of bug in the code. If it was just people having problems, they wouldn't be sending out replacement Wiis as that doesn't change the ineptness of the end user.
You don't use any logic. Their competitor, Nintendo, is launching at the same time. Now Nintendo can say they are selling more units. More units in more homes means more interest from game developers. More games means that more people will buy Nintendo products. Yes, I know some companies have used the trick of limiting supply to increase demand. But that just doesn't work in this competitive environment. You are arguing that Sony is using a strategy that is actually detrimental to thier company's ability to make profit. That and the article linked above talking about the issues. The problem is Sony is doing something cutting edge here. It is a lot more difficult to produce cutting edge components than producing something that is already in high supply (like what Nintendo is doing). Yes, they are being more innovative, but the components used to make them are common and easily produced/purchased along with their almost previous gen hardware specs.
We aren't arguing about previous times. We are arguing about the PS3. So when you say "EVEN if we accept this time it was blue ray" you are admiting that you are wrong about the specific thing we are arguing about.
This does seem to be the best thing that could happen for Nintendo. When a developer see the numbers of Wii sold, they will want to develop for them. More (quality) games will mean more "must-have" titles thus encouraging more sales. I'm still in wait-and-see mode to determine how well the new controller will work (I never buy first rev consumer electronics). But this is a bright start for Nintendo.
With the Xbox 360 already having 7 million units sold worldwide, the Wii approximately 500,000 units, and the PS3 only having sold 200,000 units in North America and 80,000 units in Japan and none in Europe it is hard to see Sony succeeding with the PS3.
Did you hack Zonk's computer and steal all his bookmarks?
Seriously though, your statement is jumping the gun here. And mostly comes off as fanboy garbage. Yeah, Sony hasn't sold as many units but it has sold out all of the units it has produced. Ultimately (or obviously), it is the (exclusive) games that matter. It will be a bit of time before the big games hit the PS3. If a release of FFXIII is a flop, then I think you can admit a Sony defeat.
Most of your complaints are things that can be improved with time. All of the issues are mostly overstated by fanboys of other consoles. From all the opinions I have read from unbiased sources (like GI), they seem to be fairly impressed with the system. But it really just comes down to exclusives.
I would like to commend you. I am pretty sure this is a troll/flamebait due to your last comment, but you did link your sources!
Look at your life and think about how much of it could be automated by bots. Your expectations are unrealistic if you think a game could be so dynamic that people can not come up with a bot for certain aspects of the game.
I don't understand you. You state that it is a great RPG and then you say you want it to be the Final game in the series. If they are still making great games...then let them make great games. As far as it being the great game ever...who really listens to hype except morons? I don't think hype is even generate by the company...just hordes of rampant fanboys infecting the net. I am sure it isn't a perfect game and there are flaws...I just don't get this whole "it doesn't meet my personal standards for an FF and therefore they should stop making them". Really, you aren't the center of the gaming universe.
No offense, but if you want the MOST games, you go with the Xbox 360 which has by far more (obviously, since it has been out for awhile now). The answer to everything isn't Nintendo. I'm not saying it won't be great. Just don't let the fanboyism blind you so much that you start making stuff up.
That's all great, but you have no idea what you are talkng about. The 360 has an HD-DVD add on that has nothing to do with gaming. It is just if you want to play HD-DVD disks. No forcing there. Nintendo was not always the odd one out. You either are very young or have a short memory. Nintendo was THE console. It was due to their reluctance to ditch cartridges and treating third party game makers like garbage that they allowed others to come out on top. The positive thing you can say about Nintendo is it looks like they are playing a lot better with third parties this go around which actually gives them some hope for this gen. Right now the Wii's advantage is its price point and its controller. The controller isn't that complicated and can be copied to a certain extent by other consoles if that takes off (I am not sure about patent issues, but the PS3 came up with sixaxis in no time...inferior yes, but they really pulled that out of nowhere). Nintendo will do very well initially...this is where if they can get enough penetration, they will get more people developing games there. But later in the lifecycle, the shortcomings of the console will become more apparant compared to the other two. If Nintendo has a strong enough start, they can come out on top. If they don't, they have less of a chance due to having less powerful hardware.
How does hyping a product make them responsible for this? If they had more, or could produce more, don't you think they would do that. Demand right now is high. When demand is high you get your product out there and sell it as quickly as technically feasable.
For this particular launch, there was a real problem of having enough blue lasers. This slowed production causing the numbers we have today.
Who gives a crap what your background is...you clearly have no common sense. If an article here is posted about how some kid shot someone after playing GTA, we are all up in arms about personal responsibility. It is the kids fault for commiting the crime. It is the parents faults for not watching after their children and allowing them access to weapons. But when Sony launches a console, suddenly it is all their fault for causing violence. Give me a break. The violence is caused by very stupid people and the blame should be squarely placed on their shoulders. Just because you have some personal hatred towards Sony doesn't mean you can shift what is right and wrong. There are plenty of legitimate issues with Sony that you can go after. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM. People need to take freaking responsibility for their actions. Sony is just selling a console. They are not forcing you to commit crimes. Got it?