Yes, it is low, but Nintendo as a company is very conservative and always releases lowball projections. Internally, they may expect to have 10 million consoles shipped by March 2007, but they will never publicly admit to such a number. Also, 6 million by March means after the initial launch, production will be steady through the rest of the fiscal year, in case they are unable to ramp up production beyond their current capabilities.
Well, if the Wii is anything like the Gamecube (which I suspect is highly likely) then it will spin discs backwards (backwards being the opposite of the standard way DVDs are read). If this is the case, it very well may be a hardware limitation where they only have it spinning that one way, it would a different rotor? (not sure of the right word here) with the capability to spin either way, and it'd also need the ability to detect when it needed to spin 'the other way'.
You do realize that when making a model, if you want really good cloth physics, it is easier to create a nude model, and then skin the clothing over the existing nude model. Most MMOs do this, so that it is easier to change the clothing on the model for new armor and equipment. That means that, even though you may never see a nude model in the game, they are all nude under their armor, and if you were to pull the base model from the game engine with the right program, you would be able to see that. You will never see this nude (and usually nippleless) model during gameplay, but that does not mean it's not there, in the code. Is your thrust that everyone who uses the most efficient modelling techniques must get an A/O rating because there are nude models in the game that no one will ever see?
Two things: You can compare this to the revival of Aeris in FF7. It was fully complete, and available in the Japanese version, but was broken in the US version for time reasons on localization. Other games have fully complete features in them that are unlinked for various reasons, including Mario Kart DS which has completed tracks that are only lacking textures on the cart.
Second thing: The content was not actually accessible. It existed, but that is not the same thing as accessible. A really good lawyer, who understood what was going one, would point out that the content, while there, was not accessible. It was made accessible not by Take-Two, not by Rockstar, not even by the ESRB, but by a totally uninvolved 3rd party. Assuming such modification is illegal according to the DMCA (I'm not entirely certain of that), said really good lawyer would emphasize that 1) Everyone who actually saw the hot coffee content had to illegally alter their game to do so and therefore Take-Two could prosecute them all for crimianl charges and 2) the content was made accessible by an unrelated 3rd party, and that unrelated third party should be the actual focus of the lawsuit, since it is only through the actions of that 3rd party that the content was ever accessible. Had a 3rd party not attempted to modify the code, everyone could have played the game 100% through and never seen anything.
Another thing to consider is that you hold a tv remote, like a Wii remote, in one hand. The standards for lightness are very different for a one-handed device over a device meant to be held with two hands. A device held in one hand will feel heavier than a device of the same weight held two-handed.
According to Microsoft's latest reports, they reduced their loss by 44.5% this year, going from a loss of $173 million last year, to a loss of only $96 million this year.
Compare to Sony games division which went from a $96 thousand profit, to a $366.6 million loss. That's an increase in loss of 38,287.5%.
Unless that's a typo, and it was a $96 million profit last year, in which case it's only a 481.9% increase in loss.
This, is, of course, only a comparison to the previous year, and should not be taken as saying that Microsoft's gaming division is doing better than Sony's gaming division overall.
Okay, see, they keep using that number, 10 million by the end of 2006. 10 months on the market so far, and they've only reached 6 billion units sold. They have 3 months left to sell 4 million units worldwide. Now, certainly, they are present in a lot of markets where they will remain uncontested this year, and that's 3 months during the largest sales season worldwide, but I'm still not seeing it. Aside from the fact they'll actually be facing competition in their 3 largest markets this year, and the PS2 is still outselling the 360 pretty much everywhere, and it's a $300-$400 console, all those sales will have to come from the US & Europe essentially. Their sales are dismal in Japan (despite some recent gains) and insignificant elsewhere, simply due to a lack of population/disposable income. Even if the rest of the world total buys a million units, that still leaves 1.5 million units each for the US & Europe from October 1st to December 31st.
The fact that they've reduced their losses by over $77 million does bode well for their expected profitability come 2008. At this rate, they'll be making a profit on the Xbox 3600 in early 2008.
That's easy. The DS is breaking sales records in nearly every region. At it's current rate, not only will it outsell the GBA in hardware units, but it has very nearly double the attach rate of the GBA, and this is with shortages on consoles and cartridges. Were it not for the totally unexpected success of the DS, Nintendo would be showing a loss this quarter as well, but as they say, 'It prints money'.
Well, to be fair, our American 'forefathers' were educated, financially well off people who wrote the Constitution themselves because they knew what people needed better than the people themselves did.
I liked Zelda 2. It's not my favorite Zelda, I mean, Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past are hard to beat, but it's the next best after those 2. I don't understand why people have a problem with Zelda 2, it's a good game, it's just nothing like any other Zelda game.
It may be possible for them to do so, but they're not actually doing so.
They're taking a box, and shipping it directly to their customers unopened. They haven't changed anything about the box or its contents, except to put them in another box with a shipping label.
I very well could be driving up to your house, kicking the door down, and stabbing you repeatedly. Now should I be arrested for this offence I might be committing, or do you think it's better to wait until I commit an actual crime to arrest me?
The rules were enforced when I was in school. I can't speak for other schools or for now, as I am not an educator, but I do know that often the rules are not properly enforced, or are even ignored. However, to say the rules are unenforceable seems a bit of a stretch. Educators and coaches may be unwilling to enforce the rules for various reasons (wanting to win, internal politics, fear), but that doesn't mean it's not possible.
Either way, the entire argument is more complex than it is being presented. To simply pare it down to 'everyone should play fair' or 'since people get hurt they shouldn't play at all' ignores the actual problems. Neither fixes anything.
That's a pretty disingenuous arguement. There is a significant difference between a sport or game and bullying. The difference being, the former has rules and/or limitations. The latter is only limited by what you can get away with. In dodgeball, for instance, intentionally wounding another player is punishable, and even if it wasn't, trick shots work better than power shots, because a power shot is straight and easier to catch.
The rules exist for a reason, as long as everyone plays within the rules, it all comes down to talent, skill, ability and ingenuity. If you break the rules, you no longer deserve to play the game. This model also holds for adults. You break the rules, we put you in jail, so you no longer get to play the game. As long as you act within the rules, if you have the skill and ingenuity to succeed, we encourage you to do it.
Actually, that's likely true. There are a lot of DS games available in Japan that have never been localised for other markets. Most notably the Simple Series of games by...umm, D3 I think. They put out cheap, fun little games like Bowling (literally, that was the name of the game) at budget prices. If I had to estimate, I'd say there are probably about 33% more DS games available in Japan than there are in the US, which may explain why the DS sells 120k units a week minimum.
"It isn't. Untitled projects cannot be counted because they don't exist."
Wrong.
Those titles are straight from the publishers themselves. Many of those games like the Naughty Dog title we already have released media from.
Would you like a list of titles that have names, video footage, even gameplay footage that never saw the light of day? Do I need even mention Duke Nukem Forever? A game can cease to exist at any point, and the fact remains that until it has a name, the chances of it being vaporware are much higher. To be honest, a name is no more proof of existence than video footage is, but we have to draw the line somewhere.
"Also, that list is every single announced game for the PS3, not just games scheduled between release and March 2007. "
Wrong.
All the non-exclusive PS3 titles were trimmed.
...okay, let me rephrase that. That is every single announced exclusive game for the PS3. Although, there is no way to verify that each of the untitled games is exclusive, since several of those companies have announced untitled games for the 360 & Wii as well, in the same genre's. What proof do we have those aren't the same games?
Regardless, the fact remains the scope of the article was for a specific time period, and that list exceeds that time period. If you're going to go with that list, even including the untitled games, then you have to reasonably do the same for the other 2 ssytems, so you can't really compare that list to the list given by TFA, because you're not utilizing the same restrictions under which the article was operating.
That's completely not right. Sony originally claimed 4 million worldwide by year end, and 6 million worldwide by March 2007.
Nintendo originally claimed 2 million worldwide at launch and 6 million worldwide by March 2007.
Nintendo has never given any numbers other than those. Sony has delayed the European release to March 2007, reduced their allotment to 2 million worldwide this year, but still claims they can have 6 million worldwide by the end of March 2007. The 1 million in this article is for North America alone.
Reports say Nintendo will have more than 4 million units available this year, but there has been no official word from Nintendo other than what was announced back in May around E3. So while you can expect however many units you want from them, they've only commmitted to 2 million units so far.
Normally I would agree with you. I remember looking for games to rent for the n64 and PS1 at the same time, and having to trawl through hordes of dreck to find one decent PS1 game, and looking for a few seconds to find something to play on n64. PS2 has a much better signal to noise ratio than PS1 ever did, but it's still pretty bad, the sheer amount of crap that exists for the console. Over 1000 games, and less than 100 are safe to touch.
However, this doesn't prove out, as there are actually more PSP games than their are DS games currently. The differnce is only like, 20 games, so that may have something to do with it, but there are more PSP games than DS games. On the other hand, there are more DS games planned for release this year than PSP games, so shortly they will reach equilibrium, and likely the DS will surpass the PSP, all because it is 'perceived' as the better system.
I'll give you that Mario games don't have a story. In fact, they intentionally don't have a story, as that detracts from the focus on gameplay. Well, with the exception of Mario RPG, Paper Mario, Paper Mario: TYD, Mario & Luigi and Mario & Luigi: PiT. Those all had actual story, but we'll ignore that for now.
But Zelda and Metroid in fact have a lot of story. The 1000 or so internet sites dedicated to nothing else than determining the timeline of the universe and discussing the minutia of every single character prove that, while the flow of storytelling isn't novelisation quality, the stories themselves are both interesting and fairly complex, with excellent characterisation, and imaginative and original setting. The last being something GTA does not have.
Also, Metroid, Zelda & Mario are 3 completely different genre's. Metroid is Action (or FPA in the case of Metroid Prime), Zelda is Adventure and Mario is Platformer (except the kart/sport/rpg/dancing games).
It isn't. Untitled projects cannot be counted because they don't exist. Until it has a title, the chances of it ever existing are stil pretty small, unless it's already been determined to be a franchise game. Even after it has a title, it still doesn't exist.
Secondly, how can you count Bomberman or any Sudoku game as being exclusive? Go ahead, name one system since the release of the PS1 that has not had Bomberman on it? The Ngage maybe? Or wait, didn't it have a copy of Bomberman?
Also, that list is every single announced game for the PS3, not just games scheduled between release and March 2007. If you extend the list for the 360 and Wii to every game announced for them, without regard for release date, you find that Wii & PS3 have about the same number of titles, and 360 is ahead by about 35 titles, which is what an extra year will get you.
There is a distinct difference between a double-quote (") and a single-quote ('). When something is placed in single-quotes, it is not a direct quotation, or should not be. That is improper punctuation, and punishable by being lambasted by your fellow man.
In this case, I assume he used single-quotes to point out that he believes the word 'Happy' was an implication by the speaker, even if it's not specifically what he said.
I don't normally do shows, but I'm willing to discuss the possibilty for a modest fee.
Although, just for my future benefit, would you mind explaining exactly what was wrong with my statement? Do you think that you, as a developer, could better speak for the PS3? Are you really that talented & personable that you could reverse the PR trainwreck Sony has conjured up? And are those qualities specifically because you're a developer and not merely a company executive?
And what about the PS4, Xbox 720 & Wii Too? We've got motion sensing, a speaker in the controller, and rumble. You don't think Nintendo, the masters of remodeling controllers, are just going to stop at that, do you? The next addition to controllers is most likely to be true haptic feedback, which is about 100x better than simple force feedback. And Immersion owns 90% of the patents to that technology. Perhaps Sony should be worrying about what it's going to cost them to get back into Immersion's good graces so they can add that one extra bullet point to their box come next generation.
It's especially important since Immersion licenses rumble & haptic feedback technology to a number of companies (including Logitech & Microsoft), and their implementation is technically more advanced than what Nintendo uses.
Peter Moore and Reggie Fils-Aime serve in much the same capacity as Kutaragi and Hirai. They have just as much ability to change the future of the console as anyone who speaks for either of the other companies. Having a game designer as a spokesman wouldn't necessarily help the PS3 image. It more depends on who the person is rather than what they do.
Peter Moore is good because he's enthusiastic about what he does and he's a great speaker. That enthusiasm carries to his audience. Major Nelson is great because, whatever else he may be, he feels like a real gamer, and is osmeone we can all relate to, because he's just as fanboyish as we are. Miyamoto is great because, aside from his proven history, he is really dedicated to games beyond all else. He'll comment on other things, but whenever you approach him, it's all games, all the time. Reggie is great because he's an excellent marketer. He knows how to sell things, he knows his target market, and he knows how to talk to them. Nothing else.
Sony fails not because of the position of the people who speak for it, but because of their lack of skill in speaking for their company. They just need a spokesman who A) can relate to the customer and B) can keep their foot out of their mouth, even as the ship is sinking. Nintendo had the same problem with Yamauchi, but even then Miyamoto was still a figurehead that anyone could rally around. Ever notice that a bit into the GC lifespan Yamauchi stopped speaking for the company, even before Iwata was promoted to president? There's a reason for that.
Slower hardware is a good thing only when it comes to cost. Cost is always a concern in everything everyone ever does. EVER.
But you're really complaining about the wrong system. The Xenon & Cell CPUs were made to be incredibly fast with high clock cycles. They were also designed to be monsters at graphics processing. However, to do this, they chose an chip architecture that is particularly bad at Physics and even worse at AI. In an effort to maximize graphics, they sacrificed everything else. Luckily, the processors are so fast that they still manage to pull off fairly decent simulations, and they have killer graphics.
Currently, not much is known about the actual architecture of the Wii CPU, but if it is designed as similarly to the GC CPU as everyone expects, then even being slower, it will be able to produce better Physics & AI than either the 360 or PS3, because it offers a more balanced approach to processing, rather than being focused on graphics. Especially if it has the following: Out-of-Order Execution (both the 360 & PS3 feature only in-order execution) and massive CPU cache (a feature the GC had as well). The 360 actually has a fairly large CPU cache, whereas the PS3 has a standard CPU cache.
High speed isn't everything. Sometimes, to get those amazing speeds, you have to sacrifice something (as Microsoft did with Xenon. Part of the instruction set had to be removed from the CPU cores in order to allow it to run at 3.2 GHz, they wanted to advertise the speed as a bullet point, and were willing to give up on versatility to do so. Sony had to do something similar with Cell in order to get it to run as fast as it does).
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, it is low, but Nintendo as a company is very conservative and always releases lowball projections. Internally, they may expect to have 10 million consoles shipped by March 2007, but they will never publicly admit to such a number. Also, 6 million by March means after the initial launch, production will be steady through the rest of the fiscal year, in case they are unable to ramp up production beyond their current capabilities.
Well, if the Wii is anything like the Gamecube (which I suspect is highly likely) then it will spin discs backwards (backwards being the opposite of the standard way DVDs are read). If this is the case, it very well may be a hardware limitation where they only have it spinning that one way, it would a different rotor? (not sure of the right word here) with the capability to spin either way, and it'd also need the ability to detect when it needed to spin 'the other way'.
You do realize that when making a model, if you want really good cloth physics, it is easier to create a nude model, and then skin the clothing over the existing nude model. Most MMOs do this, so that it is easier to change the clothing on the model for new armor and equipment. That means that, even though you may never see a nude model in the game, they are all nude under their armor, and if you were to pull the base model from the game engine with the right program, you would be able to see that. You will never see this nude (and usually nippleless) model during gameplay, but that does not mean it's not there, in the code. Is your thrust that everyone who uses the most efficient modelling techniques must get an A/O rating because there are nude models in the game that no one will ever see?
Two things: You can compare this to the revival of Aeris in FF7. It was fully complete, and available in the Japanese version, but was broken in the US version for time reasons on localization. Other games have fully complete features in them that are unlinked for various reasons, including Mario Kart DS which has completed tracks that are only lacking textures on the cart.
Second thing: The content was not actually accessible. It existed, but that is not the same thing as accessible. A really good lawyer, who understood what was going one, would point out that the content, while there, was not accessible. It was made accessible not by Take-Two, not by Rockstar, not even by the ESRB, but by a totally uninvolved 3rd party. Assuming such modification is illegal according to the DMCA (I'm not entirely certain of that), said really good lawyer would emphasize that 1) Everyone who actually saw the hot coffee content had to illegally alter their game to do so and therefore Take-Two could prosecute them all for crimianl charges and 2) the content was made accessible by an unrelated 3rd party, and that unrelated third party should be the actual focus of the lawsuit, since it is only through the actions of that 3rd party that the content was ever accessible. Had a 3rd party not attempted to modify the code, everyone could have played the game 100% through and never seen anything.
Another thing to consider is that you hold a tv remote, like a Wii remote, in one hand. The standards for lightness are very different for a one-handed device over a device meant to be held with two hands. A device held in one hand will feel heavier than a device of the same weight held two-handed.
Compare to Sony games division which went from a $96 thousand profit, to a $366.6 million loss. That's an increase in loss of 38,287.5%.
Unless that's a typo, and it was a $96 million profit last year, in which case it's only a 481.9% increase in loss.
This, is, of course, only a comparison to the previous year, and should not be taken as saying that Microsoft's gaming division is doing better than Sony's gaming division overall.
The fact that they've reduced their losses by over $77 million does bode well for their expected profitability come 2008. At this rate, they'll be making a profit on the Xbox 3600 in early 2008.
That's easy. The DS is breaking sales records in nearly every region. At it's current rate, not only will it outsell the GBA in hardware units, but it has very nearly double the attach rate of the GBA, and this is with shortages on consoles and cartridges. Were it not for the totally unexpected success of the DS, Nintendo would be showing a loss this quarter as well, but as they say, 'It prints money'.
Well, to be fair, our American 'forefathers' were educated, financially well off people who wrote the Constitution themselves because they knew what people needed better than the people themselves did.
I liked Zelda 2. It's not my favorite Zelda, I mean, Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past are hard to beat, but it's the next best after those 2. I don't understand why people have a problem with Zelda 2, it's a good game, it's just nothing like any other Zelda game.
"I am Error."
They're taking a box, and shipping it directly to their customers unopened. They haven't changed anything about the box or its contents, except to put them in another box with a shipping label.
I very well could be driving up to your house, kicking the door down, and stabbing you repeatedly. Now should I be arrested for this offence I might be committing, or do you think it's better to wait until I commit an actual crime to arrest me?
Either way, the entire argument is more complex than it is being presented. To simply pare it down to 'everyone should play fair' or 'since people get hurt they shouldn't play at all' ignores the actual problems. Neither fixes anything.
The rules exist for a reason, as long as everyone plays within the rules, it all comes down to talent, skill, ability and ingenuity. If you break the rules, you no longer deserve to play the game. This model also holds for adults. You break the rules, we put you in jail, so you no longer get to play the game. As long as you act within the rules, if you have the skill and ingenuity to succeed, we encourage you to do it.
Actually, that's likely true. There are a lot of DS games available in Japan that have never been localised for other markets. Most notably the Simple Series of games by...umm, D3 I think. They put out cheap, fun little games like Bowling (literally, that was the name of the game) at budget prices. If I had to estimate, I'd say there are probably about 33% more DS games available in Japan than there are in the US, which may explain why the DS sells 120k units a week minimum.
Wrong.
Those titles are straight from the publishers themselves. Many of those games like the Naughty Dog title we already have released media from.
Would you like a list of titles that have names, video footage, even gameplay footage that never saw the light of day? Do I need even mention Duke Nukem Forever? A game can cease to exist at any point, and the fact remains that until it has a name, the chances of it being vaporware are much higher. To be honest, a name is no more proof of existence than video footage is, but we have to draw the line somewhere. "Also, that list is every single announced game for the PS3, not just games scheduled between release and March 2007. "
Wrong.
All the non-exclusive PS3 titles were trimmed.
Regardless, the fact remains the scope of the article was for a specific time period, and that list exceeds that time period. If you're going to go with that list, even including the untitled games, then you have to reasonably do the same for the other 2 ssytems, so you can't really compare that list to the list given by TFA, because you're not utilizing the same restrictions under which the article was operating.
Nintendo originally claimed 2 million worldwide at launch and 6 million worldwide by March 2007.
Nintendo has never given any numbers other than those. Sony has delayed the European release to March 2007, reduced their allotment to 2 million worldwide this year, but still claims they can have 6 million worldwide by the end of March 2007. The 1 million in this article is for North America alone.
Reports say Nintendo will have more than 4 million units available this year, but there has been no official word from Nintendo other than what was announced back in May around E3. So while you can expect however many units you want from them, they've only commmitted to 2 million units so far.
However, this doesn't prove out, as there are actually more PSP games than their are DS games currently. The differnce is only like, 20 games, so that may have something to do with it, but there are more PSP games than DS games. On the other hand, there are more DS games planned for release this year than PSP games, so shortly they will reach equilibrium, and likely the DS will surpass the PSP, all because it is 'perceived' as the better system.
But Zelda and Metroid in fact have a lot of story. The 1000 or so internet sites dedicated to nothing else than determining the timeline of the universe and discussing the minutia of every single character prove that, while the flow of storytelling isn't novelisation quality, the stories themselves are both interesting and fairly complex, with excellent characterisation, and imaginative and original setting. The last being something GTA does not have.
Also, Metroid, Zelda & Mario are 3 completely different genre's. Metroid is Action (or FPA in the case of Metroid Prime), Zelda is Adventure and Mario is Platformer (except the kart/sport/rpg/dancing games).
Secondly, how can you count Bomberman or any Sudoku game as being exclusive? Go ahead, name one system since the release of the PS1 that has not had Bomberman on it? The Ngage maybe? Or wait, didn't it have a copy of Bomberman?
Also, that list is every single announced game for the PS3, not just games scheduled between release and March 2007. If you extend the list for the 360 and Wii to every game announced for them, without regard for release date, you find that Wii & PS3 have about the same number of titles, and 360 is ahead by about 35 titles, which is what an extra year will get you.
In this case, I assume he used single-quotes to point out that he believes the word 'Happy' was an implication by the speaker, even if it's not specifically what he said.
Although, just for my future benefit, would you mind explaining exactly what was wrong with my statement? Do you think that you, as a developer, could better speak for the PS3? Are you really that talented & personable that you could reverse the PR trainwreck Sony has conjured up? And are those qualities specifically because you're a developer and not merely a company executive?
And what about the PS4, Xbox 720 & Wii Too? We've got motion sensing, a speaker in the controller, and rumble. You don't think Nintendo, the masters of remodeling controllers, are just going to stop at that, do you? The next addition to controllers is most likely to be true haptic feedback, which is about 100x better than simple force feedback. And Immersion owns 90% of the patents to that technology. Perhaps Sony should be worrying about what it's going to cost them to get back into Immersion's good graces so they can add that one extra bullet point to their box come next generation.
It's especially important since Immersion licenses rumble & haptic feedback technology to a number of companies (including Logitech & Microsoft), and their implementation is technically more advanced than what Nintendo uses.
Peter Moore is good because he's enthusiastic about what he does and he's a great speaker. That enthusiasm carries to his audience. Major Nelson is great because, whatever else he may be, he feels like a real gamer, and is osmeone we can all relate to, because he's just as fanboyish as we are. Miyamoto is great because, aside from his proven history, he is really dedicated to games beyond all else. He'll comment on other things, but whenever you approach him, it's all games, all the time. Reggie is great because he's an excellent marketer. He knows how to sell things, he knows his target market, and he knows how to talk to them. Nothing else.
Sony fails not because of the position of the people who speak for it, but because of their lack of skill in speaking for their company. They just need a spokesman who A) can relate to the customer and B) can keep their foot out of their mouth, even as the ship is sinking. Nintendo had the same problem with Yamauchi, but even then Miyamoto was still a figurehead that anyone could rally around. Ever notice that a bit into the GC lifespan Yamauchi stopped speaking for the company, even before Iwata was promoted to president? There's a reason for that.
But you're really complaining about the wrong system. The Xenon & Cell CPUs were made to be incredibly fast with high clock cycles. They were also designed to be monsters at graphics processing. However, to do this, they chose an chip architecture that is particularly bad at Physics and even worse at AI. In an effort to maximize graphics, they sacrificed everything else. Luckily, the processors are so fast that they still manage to pull off fairly decent simulations, and they have killer graphics.
Currently, not much is known about the actual architecture of the Wii CPU, but if it is designed as similarly to the GC CPU as everyone expects, then even being slower, it will be able to produce better Physics & AI than either the 360 or PS3, because it offers a more balanced approach to processing, rather than being focused on graphics. Especially if it has the following: Out-of-Order Execution (both the 360 & PS3 feature only in-order execution) and massive CPU cache (a feature the GC had as well). The 360 actually has a fairly large CPU cache, whereas the PS3 has a standard CPU cache.
High speed isn't everything. Sometimes, to get those amazing speeds, you have to sacrifice something (as Microsoft did with Xenon. Part of the instruction set had to be removed from the CPU cores in order to allow it to run at 3.2 GHz, they wanted to advertise the speed as a bullet point, and were willing to give up on versatility to do so. Sony had to do something similar with Cell in order to get it to run as fast as it does).