Apart from the Belgian language thing, Nintendo don't seem to translate DS games into Dutch either, they claim to be "5 in 1" for languages[1], the DS doesn't even have Dutch as a language option (the Gamecube does).
As most of my Gamecube games come in UK / English-specific packaging, they don't say what languages they have (ie: Do they bother with Dutch?), and I'm in no hurry to check.
Well your figures do show that Europe at least is the 3rd biggest games market. Considering that Nintendo doesn't have any other forms of revenue other than games, they'd surely want to perform as well as possible in as many markets as possible...
(BTW, do your figures refer to the entirity of Sony, or just Sony Computer Entertainment?)
...at least from a UK perspective - practically nowhere sells Gamecube stuff anymore. It's been evaporating from retail for over a year, by now it's pretty much specialist games shops (and even some of them appear to be dropping it, the Game in Redditch no longer sells new games[1]). Frankly, I think it's too far gone here for Nintendo to pull the Gamecube out of it's death-dive. Although The Twilight Princess will probably sell well to the people who have bought the Gamecube, but with such a small retail precence, I can't really see Nintendo shifting many more consoles.
(Isn't the UK on it's own the 3rd biggest market for videogames? )
Then again Nintendo are good with this money side of things, and they do have the handhelds as a cash-cow. They also have sensible management (who about two years ago had a revaltion that European gamers do tend to notice if a big game is released in the US months / years before a European release, strangley coinciding with the Xbox beginning to get an upper hand in the console race). I'd say they have a fair chance with their weird Revolution thingy, which seems to either be a valiant failure, or the single greatest change in gaming since [Pong / Atari2600 / NES / Megadrive / PlayStation] (or both of course).
[1] The Game in Redditch is tiny though, I guess bigger stores still sell it.
Nope, this season the colour for fatal errors is black (it's also a multilingual message of doom like the Mac OS X kernel panic). So luckily it'll still be a BSOD, Microsoft have to keep up some traditions.
All the specs I find for a quick Google (and on Wikipedia) give the Nintendo DS a rather more pedestrial speed of 67Mhz for the ARM9 and 33Mhz for the ARM7. I have no idea how ARM9 and SH4 cores compare MHz for MHz, but I think the DS is probably behind the 200MHz SH4 in the Dreamcast.
Although it does seem I may be wrong about the DS not having hardware 3D (although you just said 3D code, which implys software 3D), but if it does, it isn't at Dreamcast level, for one thing it doesn't have texture filtering (even the N64 had (slightly odd) texture filtering).
So I think the DS is quite a bit begind the Dreamcast, and I'd say it's probably far nearer the N64 in power levels - probably a bit better in most respects, but it isn't that near the current (DC/PS2/GC/XBX) generation of consoles. The PSP, IMO, if far nearer a "Dreamcast in your pocket"
Yeah, the PSP is nearer a portable Dreamcast I'd guess.
I suppose the DS could be near to one, if Nintendo had included some sort of 3D chip. As it is, it can so PlayStation / N64 / etc. level graphics in software.
Apart from the fact that Half-Life 2 was nominated and won the best PC Game award... last year.
Half-Life 2 was released in 2004, it would be odd for it to be turning up in a 2005 awards show. (Although this entire award show does seem to be a load of crap).
That's the theory these consoles are made by, but the Xbox apparently runs at a loss (well, look at the Microsoft accounts, the Xbox division's deep in the red), as the subsidy is just too large, due to factors like the retail cost having to be dropped to compete with the PS2, but the actual hardware cost hasn't dropped as radically, due to their use of "off the shelf" components, as well as some stuff with what are basically fixed costs like the hard drive.
Of course the Xbox 360 seems to be designed so it will turn a profit, (well, they hope), as the hard drive is now optional, Microsoft own the rights to the chips so they can be simplified over time etc.
Although, as someone in the UK, I think a near simulataneous launch across Europe, Japan and North America is great, I can definatley see it causing a load of problems in the "getting enough machines ready in time" factor, compared to the usual technique of spreading the releases out by months between areas. I really don't think it's any holding back on their part, the reported undersupply seems way to bad to be any planned shortage, I really do believe they may just not have enough consoles ready. of course, as this is Microsoft, so everyone assumes they must doing it all for evil...
Of course, it is Microsoft's fault though for trying something really over ambitious, I think they mave have learning why other manufacturers never tried it before.
But he was talking about ownership, not the TV Licence. Although the BBC is the only (directly) TV Licence funded broadcaster, the Government owns the Channel 4 Television Corporation(funded by advertising, subscriptions etc.) and it's Welsh counterpart S4C (funded by the Treasury, as well as advertising, and gets some free programming from the BBC).
I'd imagine it's more to do with the rush to get as many games as possible out at launch, the big hitters like Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham 3 effectivley had a hard deadline that they pretty much had to hit. I'd imagine it'll be situation normal for other games.
I'd imagine being owned (and the game being published) by Microsoft might help them bend the rules and get the code signed and manufactured on the assumption that the code will pass certification.
I'd probably guess Microsoft probably signed the code themselves, having the keys floating around (even to 2nd parties) would increase the chance of a code leak quite a lot, as you say.
This isn't Sony though is it? It's the company who provided Sony with the DRM stuff. Although Sony did shoot themselves in the foot by buying the software in the first place...
Well, you're still a bit wrong, you don't need the original disc with Steam (according to the Steam support site Half-Life 2 at one point did need the disc in the play, but it got patched out). The only thing the DVD[1] disc of Half-Life 2 is good for is that you don't have to download the game over the Internet (the CD Key is the important bit really). You just need to be signed into your Steam account on the computer and you can play (assuming it's been installed, otherwise you'll be in for a wait while it downloads).
But you're right, you can't be playing two Steam games at the same time. I think Steam is based around the idea that one person has his account, and it's his only.
I should note the boxed CD version of Darwinia (at least the one that's been out in the UK for months) doesn't have any DRM that I'm aware of (at least I haven't noticed anything), nor is it bound to Steam, so if you really don't want to use Steam, get that one.
[1] I gather the US got a CD-ROM version, which must be rather impractical considering the size of the game...
Steam games aren't bound to the machine, they're bound to the Steam account. You can use an account on any machine, assumming that only one machine is connected at a time - if you try to log into the same Steam account on two machines, the first gets kicked off. Steam games can only be used on one account though. (I also found info about moving retail games between Steam accounts, but it isn't that freindly from the looks of things)
Do you have any evidence that all the Steam account that Valve banned were for valid purchases, or for people trying to (innocently) register used CD Keys? I seem to remember that they did have a problem with people getting stuff for free from Steam, and they got kicked off, but I haven't heard of people getting kicked off otherwise. (Why do people making such fairly inflamatory statements on Slashdot never provide a source? It would really help their case if they provided some sort of source...)
Anyway, I am rather unwilling to pay for big purchases through these DRM systems I suppose. I do have Half Life 2 (bought the retail version for £13 in an offer on Amazon.co.uk), but otherwise I've only bought a few single songs from iTunes, if I buy an album or something, I'd prefer to have the real CD.
(I already have Darwinia anyway, I don't need to worry about buying it through Steam anyway).
Good lord! That is an impressively large power brick.
That is from a debug kit though... has anyone actually seen a final retail unit, and can they say if that has an internal or external PSU? I seem to remember hearing the actual retail consoles were supposed to have internal PSUs, even though the various debug units etc. have external ones.
I'm kinda a bit dubious by the way it seems you have to pay to get different avatars, I was kinda hoping they'd be some kind of bonus for actually buying the game or something. The same goes for the system skins. I kinda doubt I'll be actually buying any of these (if / when I get an Xbox 360). I just don't see myself shelling out for an image file.
Anyway, the Xbox Live Arcade thing sounds interesting - hopefully we should see some interesting new smaller games come out on it. (I personally don't mind these Steam like things, assuming I'm not paying a full retail price). The ability to download demoes from Live is nice as well. I doubt you could exactly have a large number of games (at least the demo variety) on the titchy 20GB HD though, you can tell Microsoft are trying to keep production costs down (and also to sell you a New! Bigger! drive at some point in the future).
From what I've heard about how it works, the fact that Xbox Live now remembers what you've purchase, so you don't have to pay to download again, which is better than the old "if you lose it / your Xbox blows up, you buy it again" system.
I do hope this points system they've implemented still allows you to take the direct approach and just take the money from my debit card. I'm kinda worried they'll make you buy arbitary amounts of points even if you're using a debit / credit card and could easily purchase the exact amount needed.
Anyway, it's really just an evolution of what existed already on Xbox Live, Microsoft really have got a good online service with the Xbox 360, although in places it does seem a little too orientated to extracting as much money from my wallet for it's own good.
When has an RPG been a launch title for a console though? Their's usually some in the first year, but it's pretty rare for any to actually be ready for the launch itself.
In the UK we've got it worse. The current RRP for games is £40 (~$70), although if you exclude the 17.5% VAT then it's about £35 (~$60). Now if the US game prices appear to have risen so the sans-tax prices would be about the same if the US payed $60 for a game.
So therefore, the Xbox 360 games RRPs appear to be £45 (~$80) for Microsoft games, and £50 (~$90) for 3rd party games.
I should point out, if I imported a $60 US game bought for $60, and it got charged by customs (and therefore charged VAT, and a £4 fee to the Royal Mail) it would come to about £45.
Erm, Halo WAS an Xbox launch title. And Super Mario 64 is often praised to high heavens (but it was the last console of it's generation to launch).
But I agree, it's pretty rare for a truely original game to appear at launch. I kinda doubt many of the games are really destined to become long lasting classics. I'm kinda "meh" on most of them, but I do think Project Gotham 3 is certainley going to be solid (I loved PGR2), and Kameo sounds interesting. But I'm not that sure about say, Yet Another FPS, or Sports Game 2006 are going to appeal to me personally. But I'm mostly going by the titles, I don't really know enough about the games to make much of a judgement.
Not that I can afford an Xbox 360 at launch anyway, by the time I can afford it there will probably be a better selection of games. (If I choose the get an Xbox 360 of course).
I don't get most of this Zonk-hate either. Hell, unlike most of the editors he seems to actually do stuff like post news he found himself (rather than rely on the submissions queue all the time), and actually write games reviews.
Sure he posts lots of drivel, but this is Slashdot. That's Situation Normal.
I'm probably going to wait as well - there's no way I'm spenging £280 (plus £20 for the best video cable for my TV, plus £50[1] for each game, plus however much the rechargable battery for the controller is, plus...) anyway, it's all way too expensive at the moment, I'll wait for a price drop (or two). Plus, I'd rather wait and see what the games look like, and what the competition has to offer. I don't doubt Microsoft has some trump cards, like Xbox Live, but I'm not going to jump on their ship immediatley, even though the Xbox is my machine of choice at the moment.
As a child of the 16 bit era, it's quite clear that the Sega Megadrive (Genesis) was the biggest step forward in gaming.:-) I'm sure people youger than me will name the Sony PlayStation, I think the answer to any "greatest era in gaming" sort of question is usually the one you grew up with.
Now for a rant after I saw the prices of games:
[1] Quite a few stores appear to say that the Recommended Retail Price[2] is £50 for Xbox 360 games, a £10 hike of the current gen RRP of £40. Jesus Christ! IIRC the US RRP for Xbox 360 games is $60 - which is ~£40, including the 17.5% VAT that would have to be added (It's ~£35 without VAT). So rather than allowing US prices to equalise with what Europe (and Japan AFAIK) pay, they fucking raise the European prices as well? By 25%? The game industry are a load of fucking money grabbing bastards!
[2] I know that you would have to be stupid to pay the RRP on things like games, DVDs etc., becuase of online retailers, supermarkets etc. but they are the baseline.
Slashdot Mirror
Apart from the Belgian language thing, Nintendo don't seem to translate DS games into Dutch either, they claim to be "5 in 1" for languages[1], the DS doesn't even have Dutch as a language option (the Gamecube does).
As most of my Gamecube games come in UK / English-specific packaging, they don't say what languages they have (ie: Do they bother with Dutch?), and I'm in no hurry to check.
[1] English, Deutsch, Francais, Espanol, Italiano
Well your figures do show that Europe at least is the 3rd biggest games market. Considering that Nintendo doesn't have any other forms of revenue other than games, they'd surely want to perform as well as possible in as many markets as possible...
(BTW, do your figures refer to the entirity of Sony, or just Sony Computer Entertainment?)
...at least from a UK perspective - practically nowhere sells Gamecube stuff anymore. It's been evaporating from retail for over a year, by now it's pretty much specialist games shops (and even some of them appear to be dropping it, the Game in Redditch no longer sells new games[1]). Frankly, I think it's too far gone here for Nintendo to pull the Gamecube out of it's death-dive. Although The Twilight Princess will probably sell well to the people who have bought the Gamecube, but with such a small retail precence, I can't really see Nintendo shifting many more consoles.
(Isn't the UK on it's own the 3rd biggest market for videogames? )
Then again Nintendo are good with this money side of things, and they do have the handhelds as a cash-cow. They also have sensible management (who about two years ago had a revaltion that European gamers do tend to notice if a big game is released in the US months / years before a European release, strangley coinciding with the Xbox beginning to get an upper hand in the console race). I'd say they have a fair chance with their weird Revolution thingy, which seems to either be a valiant failure, or the single greatest change in gaming since [Pong / Atari2600 / NES / Megadrive / PlayStation] (or both of course).
[1] The Game in Redditch is tiny though, I guess bigger stores still sell it.
Nope, this season the colour for fatal errors is black (it's also a multilingual message of doom like the Mac OS X kernel panic). So luckily it'll still be a BSOD, Microsoft have to keep up some traditions.
All the specs I find for a quick Google (and on Wikipedia) give the Nintendo DS a rather more pedestrial speed of 67Mhz for the ARM9 and 33Mhz for the ARM7. I have no idea how ARM9 and SH4 cores compare MHz for MHz, but I think the DS is probably behind the 200MHz SH4 in the Dreamcast.
Although it does seem I may be wrong about the DS not having hardware 3D (although you just said 3D code, which implys software 3D), but if it does, it isn't at Dreamcast level, for one thing it doesn't have texture filtering (even the N64 had (slightly odd) texture filtering).
So I think the DS is quite a bit begind the Dreamcast, and I'd say it's probably far nearer the N64 in power levels - probably a bit better in most respects, but it isn't that near the current (DC/PS2/GC/XBX) generation of consoles. The PSP, IMO, if far nearer a "Dreamcast in your pocket"
Yeah, the PSP is nearer a portable Dreamcast I'd guess.
I suppose the DS could be near to one, if Nintendo had included some sort of 3D chip. As it is, it can so PlayStation / N64 / etc. level graphics in software.
Apart from the fact that Half-Life 2 was nominated and won the best PC Game award... last year.
Half-Life 2 was released in 2004, it would be odd for it to be turning up in a 2005 awards show. (Although this entire award show does seem to be a load of crap).
That's the theory these consoles are made by, but the Xbox apparently runs at a loss (well, look at the Microsoft accounts, the Xbox division's deep in the red), as the subsidy is just too large, due to factors like the retail cost having to be dropped to compete with the PS2, but the actual hardware cost hasn't dropped as radically, due to their use of "off the shelf" components, as well as some stuff with what are basically fixed costs like the hard drive.
Of course the Xbox 360 seems to be designed so it will turn a profit, (well, they hope), as the hard drive is now optional, Microsoft own the rights to the chips so they can be simplified over time etc.
Although, as someone in the UK, I think a near simulataneous launch across Europe, Japan and North America is great, I can definatley see it causing a load of problems in the "getting enough machines ready in time" factor, compared to the usual technique of spreading the releases out by months between areas. I really don't think it's any holding back on their part, the reported undersupply seems way to bad to be any planned shortage, I really do believe they may just not have enough consoles ready. of course, as this is Microsoft, so everyone assumes they must doing it all for evil...
Of course, it is Microsoft's fault though for trying something really over ambitious, I think they mave have learning why other manufacturers never tried it before.
But he was talking about ownership, not the TV Licence. Although the BBC is the only (directly) TV Licence funded broadcaster, the Government owns the Channel 4 Television Corporation(funded by advertising, subscriptions etc.) and it's Welsh counterpart S4C (funded by the Treasury, as well as advertising, and gets some free programming from the BBC).
I'd imagine it's more to do with the rush to get as many games as possible out at launch, the big hitters like Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham 3 effectivley had a hard deadline that they pretty much had to hit. I'd imagine it'll be situation normal for other games.
I'd imagine being owned (and the game being published) by Microsoft might help them bend the rules and get the code signed and manufactured on the assumption that the code will pass certification.
I'd probably guess Microsoft probably signed the code themselves, having the keys floating around (even to 2nd parties) would increase the chance of a code leak quite a lot, as you say.
Kameo is going to be out on Day 1, it's finished.
This isn't Sony though is it? It's the company who provided Sony with the DRM stuff. Although Sony did shoot themselves in the foot by buying the software in the first place...
How dare you suggest I'm anything other than 100% correct! I am a genius, and I'm never wrong! :-)
(Didn't really think it through I guess, not that I've any experience of using Steam on multiple machines or anything).
Well, you're still a bit wrong, you don't need the original disc with Steam (according to the Steam support site Half-Life 2 at one point did need the disc in the play, but it got patched out). The only thing the DVD[1] disc of Half-Life 2 is good for is that you don't have to download the game over the Internet (the CD Key is the important bit really). You just need to be signed into your Steam account on the computer and you can play (assuming it's been installed, otherwise you'll be in for a wait while it downloads).
But you're right, you can't be playing two Steam games at the same time. I think Steam is based around the idea that one person has his account, and it's his only.
I should note the boxed CD version of Darwinia (at least the one that's been out in the UK for months) doesn't have any DRM that I'm aware of (at least I haven't noticed anything), nor is it bound to Steam, so if you really don't want to use Steam, get that one.
[1] I gather the US got a CD-ROM version, which must be rather impractical considering the size of the game...
Steam games aren't bound to the machine, they're bound to the Steam account. You can use an account on any machine, assumming that only one machine is connected at a time - if you try to log into the same Steam account on two machines, the first gets kicked off. Steam games can only be used on one account though. (I also found info about moving retail games between Steam accounts, but it isn't that freindly from the looks of things)
Do you have any evidence that all the Steam account that Valve banned were for valid purchases, or for people trying to (innocently) register used CD Keys? I seem to remember that they did have a problem with people getting stuff for free from Steam, and they got kicked off, but I haven't heard of people getting kicked off otherwise. (Why do people making such fairly inflamatory statements on Slashdot never provide a source? It would really help their case if they provided some sort of source...)
Anyway, I am rather unwilling to pay for big purchases through these DRM systems I suppose. I do have Half Life 2 (bought the retail version for £13 in an offer on Amazon.co.uk), but otherwise I've only bought a few single songs from iTunes, if I buy an album or something, I'd prefer to have the real CD.
(I already have Darwinia anyway, I don't need to worry about buying it through Steam anyway).
Good lord! That is an impressively large power brick.
That is from a debug kit though... has anyone actually seen a final retail unit, and can they say if that has an internal or external PSU? I seem to remember hearing the actual retail consoles were supposed to have internal PSUs, even though the various debug units etc. have external ones.
I'm kinda a bit dubious by the way it seems you have to pay to get different avatars, I was kinda hoping they'd be some kind of bonus for actually buying the game or something. The same goes for the system skins. I kinda doubt I'll be actually buying any of these (if / when I get an Xbox 360). I just don't see myself shelling out for an image file.
Anyway, the Xbox Live Arcade thing sounds interesting - hopefully we should see some interesting new smaller games come out on it. (I personally don't mind these Steam like things, assuming I'm not paying a full retail price). The ability to download demoes from Live is nice as well. I doubt you could exactly have a large number of games (at least the demo variety) on the titchy 20GB HD though, you can tell Microsoft are trying to keep production costs down (and also to sell you a New! Bigger! drive at some point in the future).
From what I've heard about how it works, the fact that Xbox Live now remembers what you've purchase, so you don't have to pay to download again, which is better than the old "if you lose it / your Xbox blows up, you buy it again" system.
I do hope this points system they've implemented still allows you to take the direct approach and just take the money from my debit card. I'm kinda worried they'll make you buy arbitary amounts of points even if you're using a debit / credit card and could easily purchase the exact amount needed.
Anyway, it's really just an evolution of what existed already on Xbox Live, Microsoft really have got a good online service with the Xbox 360, although in places it does seem a little too orientated to extracting as much money from my wallet for it's own good.
Yes, but surely the US shops will also have similar discounts. From a baseline price that's way lower than ours...
When has an RPG been a launch title for a console though? Their's usually some in the first year, but it's pretty rare for any to actually be ready for the launch itself.
In the UK we've got it worse. The current RRP for games is £40 (~$70), although if you exclude the 17.5% VAT then it's about £35 (~$60). Now if the US game prices appear to have risen so the sans-tax prices would be about the same if the US payed $60 for a game.
So therefore, the Xbox 360 games RRPs appear to be £45 (~$80) for Microsoft games, and £50 (~$90) for 3rd party games.
I should point out, if I imported a $60 US game bought for $60, and it got charged by customs (and therefore charged VAT, and a £4 fee to the Royal Mail) it would come to about £45.
Sometimes living in Europe is one big ripoff.
Erm, Halo WAS an Xbox launch title. And Super Mario 64 is often praised to high heavens (but it was the last console of it's generation to launch).
But I agree, it's pretty rare for a truely original game to appear at launch. I kinda doubt many of the games are really destined to become long lasting classics. I'm kinda "meh" on most of them, but I do think Project Gotham 3 is certainley going to be solid (I loved PGR2), and Kameo sounds interesting. But I'm not that sure about say, Yet Another FPS, or Sports Game 2006 are going to appeal to me personally. But I'm mostly going by the titles, I don't really know enough about the games to make much of a judgement.
Not that I can afford an Xbox 360 at launch anyway, by the time I can afford it there will probably be a better selection of games. (If I choose the get an Xbox 360 of course).
I don't get most of this Zonk-hate either. Hell, unlike most of the editors he seems to actually do stuff like post news he found himself (rather than rely on the submissions queue all the time), and actually write games reviews.
Sure he posts lots of drivel, but this is Slashdot. That's Situation Normal.
I'm probably going to wait as well - there's no way I'm spenging £280 (plus £20 for the best video cable for my TV, plus £50[1] for each game, plus however much the rechargable battery for the controller is, plus...) anyway, it's all way too expensive at the moment, I'll wait for a price drop (or two). Plus, I'd rather wait and see what the games look like, and what the competition has to offer. I don't doubt Microsoft has some trump cards, like Xbox Live, but I'm not going to jump on their ship immediatley, even though the Xbox is my machine of choice at the moment.
:-) I'm sure people youger than me will name the Sony PlayStation, I think the answer to any "greatest era in gaming" sort of question is usually the one you grew up with.
As a child of the 16 bit era, it's quite clear that the Sega Megadrive (Genesis) was the biggest step forward in gaming.
Now for a rant after I saw the prices of games:
[1] Quite a few stores appear to say that the Recommended Retail Price[2] is £50 for Xbox 360 games, a £10 hike of the current gen RRP of £40. Jesus Christ! IIRC the US RRP for Xbox 360 games is $60 - which is ~£40, including the 17.5% VAT that would have to be added (It's ~£35 without VAT). So rather than allowing US prices to equalise with what Europe (and Japan AFAIK) pay, they fucking raise the European prices as well? By 25%? The game industry are a load of fucking money grabbing bastards!
[2] I know that you would have to be stupid to pay the RRP on things like games, DVDs etc., becuase of online retailers, supermarkets etc. but they are the baseline.