Except Apple came right out and said that iTV was not the final name when we first got our sneak peak of it. They've done no such thing wrt the iPhone.
Agreed. I guess for some reason they thought they'd get less 1080p native games? That might not have even been the reason. Whatever it was, unless it's worth all the negative PR, it seems like a pretty stupid decision.
Also, I just noticed that in your OP, you mentioned the PS3 controllers using RF. The controllers and the remote use Bluetooth. Just thought I'd clear that up.
Your taste in games is none of my business (although you sound like you're taking his assertion almost personally from the sounds of it) but might I ask why you think buying the "low-end" console is a mistake?
Unless you absolutely require WiFi and card readers I see no reason for it.
One insight I've heard on the scaling issue is that Sony is trying to stay away from scaling in general. They spent so long touting "True HD" gameplay in native 1080p, but should the system scale just like the 360, developers could easily develop for 720p native (or even lower) and then just have it scaled up. No doubt this would've happened, and then that would be one more thing to tick on the negative PR list.
Of course, the issue that people who bought into early non-720p HDTV's are getting screwed over isn't exactly helping their case either...seems like a lose/lose to me.
I think that because of my perspective in Canada the PS3 doesn't seem nearly as expensive. In the US, the PS2 launched at $300 while the PS3 launched at $500($600). In Canada, the PS2 launched at $449(!) while the PS3 launched at $549($659...now $699 I guess). The way the currencies have fluctuated doesn't make the launch price of the PS3 (or the 360 when it launched) that out there. Heck, the 360 Core launched cheaper than the PS2.
I guess this isn't really relevant to the conversation, but I thought I'd just point this out because it was interesting as I looked up the launch points of previous consoles.
At $600, the customer needs to be able to answer yes to the question, "Would I pay $660 to play X?"
Honestly I think that's one of the worst things that everyone always brings up. "Resistance isn't worth $660! Motorstorm isn't worth $660! VF5 isn't worth $660!" and so on. Fact: You're not going to be buying only one game for any system. If there is only one game that appeals to you right now, and you don't deem it worth $660, then it's not a good time for you to purchase the system, I agree. But how about when there are 3 games you're interested in? How about 5 or 6? 10? Where do you draw the line. At some point you need to stop asking yourself whether one game is worth $660 and look at what you'll get from the system as a whole.
Personally I picked one up just for Metal Gear Solid 4. But I enjoyed Resistance, I'm picking up VF5 on the 20th, and I'm definitely looking forward to Motorstorm. MGS4 was worth it for me, these great games are just icing on the cake.
I wouldn't really say is as big a problem as you think. I think it's to Sony's benefit that the PS2 continues to sell well until the PS3 is more established with more big name exclusives. They're netting a healthy profit from each PS2 sold, and of course since there are so many out there I'm sure they net even more profit from the software flying off the shelves.
Once the PS2 finally starts to die down the PS3 will suddenly be there with MGS4, DMC4, FF13, along with new franchises like Motorstorm, Lair, and Heavenly Sword. It will look much much much more appealing come holiday 2007 so I think that's likely when we're going to see the PS3 make some big sales.
Gears of War is UE3 based, so I would imagine that since Epic has UE3 running on the PC already (UT2k7) a Gears port would be trivial and capable of better-than-360 performance.
It's great that you got a good deal on eBay, but that's not what we're talking about here. The whole point of this article was price cuts and how old chips are a great deal. Getting used discounted gear on eBay is beside the point.
As for that cheap PC you put together, maybe you'd like to give me a compilation of your "fav sites". Firstly, he said he threw in a 6800GT, which is a big difference from a cheap vanilla 6600. Hence the card costing $150 alone. As far as I can tell the cheapest I've found a Sempron 3000+ is for $44, but whatever, even if it was $10 it would still be over $150 adding in the cost of the video card alone. I'm not saying that it isn't possible to build a cheap machine for under $150 that would serve some needs, just not with a 6800GT in it. Not to mention that $12 case you're getting with the powersupply is in no way going to provide you with sufficient power to drive the 6800GT even if you did get it for cheap on "eeeeee bay".
It's true that the industry is very risk averse. Besides the big names (Miyamoto and Wright), every once in a while a studio comes around and creates some very fun and very unique games. Clover Studios for instance, their most recent title of note being Okami.
Unfortunately it appears that making great games isn't enough for the industry, as Capcom shut them down just recently. At least TeamICO (the ones behind ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, arguably two of the best games ever made) is still going strong. I head they're working on a PS3 title now. Let's hope it lives up to the reputation they've created for themselves.
Remind us where you found a 6800GT for less than $150.00? The cheapest for that card on newegg IS $150.00. Unless the case, powersupply, ram, hardrives, optical drives, processor, and whatever all were free, then I call bullshit.
Blizzard's art direction is just so fantastic that they can afford to dial down the graphics while still making it look quite lush and truely like another world.
I remember the first time I walked through Ashenvale, for instance. The way the trees and everything are done, they takes your attention away from the low polygon count and manage to portray this lush new world that you've definitely never seen before.
That brings me to another point...every zone in WoW is fairly unique and full of content and things to do. In other MMO's I've always found there have been either zones that look alike, or zones that feel kind of barren and empty. However in WoW, even the barrens/desolace/take_your_pick feels alive. These things go a long way towards the feeling of the overall polish and impression the game gives you while playing, and it's that little attention to detail that I find most game companies overlook.
Agreed. Normally I don't mind when they take shots at systems, and I'll agree that right now the 360 is definitely a good buy. But they seem to have written off the possibility of a PS3 altogether. This combined with their continuing XBox Live Marketplace ads, it kind of turns me off reading their commentary. I always used to read it for some sometimes insightful looks into hot topics of the game industry, but since I'll be getting a PS3 (mainly for MGS4, but I don't consider the system as colossal a failure as the internet rumor mill has determined either) suddenly it's not as entertaining a read.
I would pick MP3 just because it's the universal format. I don't have to worry about whatever player I buy, be it an iPod or otherwise, it WILL play MP3s. Hard drive space is cheap these days, and honestly my MP3 collection takes up a small fraction compared to other things like game installs and downloaded video.
Honestly having played with the Wiimote, no, it's still inferior to the mouse. I have a feeling most will realize this when playing MP3. If you saw people playing around with the MP3 Demo kiosks earlier last year, you'll note that the system was hard to adapt to, and there wasn't really a good way to turn around fast that a mouse provides. Although the Wiimote gives us a cool new way to play FPS, I don't think it's the new #1 interface.
Right, this is exactly like UMD. I enjoy paying the same price as a DVD to play my Blu-ray discs on a single device that isn't useful anywhere else..
Oh wait.
(And as a side note, UMD may have failed for movies but it's not like they don't use it anymore...see PSP games)
I have a PS3, and I've noticed that all the titles I've played so far have all been using the relatively inferior MPEG2 codec. I think we'll see a marked improvement in quality once studios start using H.264 or VC-1
Well that's a specific scenario then. It's not so much that you'll lose interest in the game after a year, it's that you'll lose interest in spending time with games in general.
If I have interest in a game, I'll buy it when it comes out. It dosen't matter when it comes out, if I think it will be a fun game, I'll go and buy it. I think that's the majority view here.
I'd also like to mention that just because you're an adult and out of your mothers basement doesn't mean that all adults throw away their game playing time. Some actually, you know, make time for it. The internet is such that it's impossible to see whether someone is a hypocrite or whether they actually follow-through on their statements. I bet if Spore was released two years from now we'd see you walking into a store to check it out, even if you'd only play it very casually.
I don't know much about OpenAL, but Vista is about the worst thing that could happen to OpenGL. The Microsoft OpenGL emulation later provided in Vista is the worst thing ever, won't even run Defcon or Uplink at nice frame rates, and they're not very demanding games.
To top it off, ATI just finally added hardware accellerated OpenGL support in Vista for their drivers, except that it doesn't work. Great.
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Except Apple came right out and said that iTV was not the final name when we first got our sneak peak of it. They've done no such thing wrt the iPhone.
Agreed. I guess for some reason they thought they'd get less 1080p native games? That might not have even been the reason. Whatever it was, unless it's worth all the negative PR, it seems like a pretty stupid decision. Also, I just noticed that in your OP, you mentioned the PS3 controllers using RF. The controllers and the remote use Bluetooth. Just thought I'd clear that up.
Your taste in games is none of my business (although you sound like you're taking his assertion almost personally from the sounds of it) but might I ask why you think buying the "low-end" console is a mistake?
Unless you absolutely require WiFi and card readers I see no reason for it.
If you read the sentence before that you'd realize he's talking about the Sega Arcade controller.
One insight I've heard on the scaling issue is that Sony is trying to stay away from scaling in general. They spent so long touting "True HD" gameplay in native 1080p, but should the system scale just like the 360, developers could easily develop for 720p native (or even lower) and then just have it scaled up. No doubt this would've happened, and then that would be one more thing to tick on the negative PR list.
Of course, the issue that people who bought into early non-720p HDTV's are getting screwed over isn't exactly helping their case either...seems like a lose/lose to me.
I think that because of my perspective in Canada the PS3 doesn't seem nearly as expensive. In the US, the PS2 launched at $300 while the PS3 launched at $500($600). In Canada, the PS2 launched at $449(!) while the PS3 launched at $549($659...now $699 I guess). The way the currencies have fluctuated doesn't make the launch price of the PS3 (or the 360 when it launched) that out there. Heck, the 360 Core launched cheaper than the PS2.
I guess this isn't really relevant to the conversation, but I thought I'd just point this out because it was interesting as I looked up the launch points of previous consoles.
At $600, the customer needs to be able to answer yes to the question, "Would I pay $660 to play X?"
Honestly I think that's one of the worst things that everyone always brings up. "Resistance isn't worth $660! Motorstorm isn't worth $660! VF5 isn't worth $660!" and so on. Fact: You're not going to be buying only one game for any system. If there is only one game that appeals to you right now, and you don't deem it worth $660, then it's not a good time for you to purchase the system, I agree. But how about when there are 3 games you're interested in? How about 5 or 6? 10? Where do you draw the line. At some point you need to stop asking yourself whether one game is worth $660 and look at what you'll get from the system as a whole.
Personally I picked one up just for Metal Gear Solid 4. But I enjoyed Resistance, I'm picking up VF5 on the 20th, and I'm definitely looking forward to Motorstorm. MGS4 was worth it for me, these great games are just icing on the cake.
I wouldn't really say is as big a problem as you think. I think it's to Sony's benefit that the PS2 continues to sell well until the PS3 is more established with more big name exclusives. They're netting a healthy profit from each PS2 sold, and of course since there are so many out there I'm sure they net even more profit from the software flying off the shelves.
Once the PS2 finally starts to die down the PS3 will suddenly be there with MGS4, DMC4, FF13, along with new franchises like Motorstorm, Lair, and Heavenly Sword. It will look much much much more appealing come holiday 2007 so I think that's likely when we're going to see the PS3 make some big sales.
Gears of War is UE3 based, so I would imagine that since Epic has UE3 running on the PC already (UT2k7) a Gears port would be trivial and capable of better-than-360 performance.
It's great that you got a good deal on eBay, but that's not what we're talking about here. The whole point of this article was price cuts and how old chips are a great deal. Getting used discounted gear on eBay is beside the point.
As for that cheap PC you put together, maybe you'd like to give me a compilation of your "fav sites". Firstly, he said he threw in a 6800GT, which is a big difference from a cheap vanilla 6600. Hence the card costing $150 alone. As far as I can tell the cheapest I've found a Sempron 3000+ is for $44, but whatever, even if it was $10 it would still be over $150 adding in the cost of the video card alone. I'm not saying that it isn't possible to build a cheap machine for under $150 that would serve some needs, just not with a 6800GT in it. Not to mention that $12 case you're getting with the powersupply is in no way going to provide you with sufficient power to drive the 6800GT even if you did get it for cheap on "eeeeee bay".
It's true that the industry is very risk averse. Besides the big names (Miyamoto and Wright), every once in a while a studio comes around and creates some very fun and very unique games. Clover Studios for instance, their most recent title of note being Okami.
Unfortunately it appears that making great games isn't enough for the industry, as Capcom shut them down just recently. At least TeamICO (the ones behind ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, arguably two of the best games ever made) is still going strong. I head they're working on a PS3 title now. Let's hope it lives up to the reputation they've created for themselves.
Remind us where you found a 6800GT for less than $150.00? The cheapest for that card on newegg IS $150.00. Unless the case, powersupply, ram, hardrives, optical drives, processor, and whatever all were free, then I call bullshit.
How did we go from AMD/Intel price cuts, to Vista demand, to...
PS3 bashing? This must be one of the biggest stretches of topic I've seen lately.
Blizzard's art direction is just so fantastic that they can afford to dial down the graphics while still making it look quite lush and truely like another world.
I remember the first time I walked through Ashenvale, for instance. The way the trees and everything are done, they takes your attention away from the low polygon count and manage to portray this lush new world that you've definitely never seen before.
That brings me to another point...every zone in WoW is fairly unique and full of content and things to do. In other MMO's I've always found there have been either zones that look alike, or zones that feel kind of barren and empty. However in WoW, even the barrens/desolace/take_your_pick feels alive. These things go a long way towards the feeling of the overall polish and impression the game gives you while playing, and it's that little attention to detail that I find most game companies overlook.
Yeah and if I recall correctly it's budget was upwards of 50 million USD. That's definitely not an indie budget.
Agreed. Normally I don't mind when they take shots at systems, and I'll agree that right now the 360 is definitely a good buy. But they seem to have written off the possibility of a PS3 altogether. This combined with their continuing XBox Live Marketplace ads, it kind of turns me off reading their commentary. I always used to read it for some sometimes insightful looks into hot topics of the game industry, but since I'll be getting a PS3 (mainly for MGS4, but I don't consider the system as colossal a failure as the internet rumor mill has determined either) suddenly it's not as entertaining a read.
Even if this is true, it doesn't mean much when you've got a statement from Microsoft saying "We're happy with DRM as it is right now."
I would pick MP3 just because it's the universal format. I don't have to worry about whatever player I buy, be it an iPod or otherwise, it WILL play MP3s. Hard drive space is cheap these days, and honestly my MP3 collection takes up a small fraction compared to other things like game installs and downloaded video.
Honestly having played with the Wiimote, no, it's still inferior to the mouse. I have a feeling most will realize this when playing MP3. If you saw people playing around with the MP3 Demo kiosks earlier last year, you'll note that the system was hard to adapt to, and there wasn't really a good way to turn around fast that a mouse provides. Although the Wiimote gives us a cool new way to play FPS, I don't think it's the new #1 interface.
Right, this is exactly like UMD. I enjoy paying the same price as a DVD to play my Blu-ray discs on a single device that isn't useful anywhere else.. Oh wait. (And as a side note, UMD may have failed for movies but it's not like they don't use it anymore...see PSP games)
I have a PS3, and I've noticed that all the titles I've played so far have all been using the relatively inferior MPEG2 codec. I think we'll see a marked improvement in quality once studios start using H.264 or VC-1
He's refering to the fact that just recently, Apple changed from Apple Computer Inc. to just Apple Inc.
Well that's a specific scenario then. It's not so much that you'll lose interest in the game after a year, it's that you'll lose interest in spending time with games in general.
If I have interest in a game, I'll buy it when it comes out. It dosen't matter when it comes out, if I think it will be a fun game, I'll go and buy it. I think that's the majority view here.
I'd also like to mention that just because you're an adult and out of your mothers basement doesn't mean that all adults throw away their game playing time. Some actually, you know, make time for it. The internet is such that it's impossible to see whether someone is a hypocrite or whether they actually follow-through on their statements. I bet if Spore was released two years from now we'd see you walking into a store to check it out, even if you'd only play it very casually.
'Couple' usually equates to two. Would be weird if he said 'many' or something.
I don't know much about OpenAL, but Vista is about the worst thing that could happen to OpenGL. The Microsoft OpenGL emulation later provided in Vista is the worst thing ever, won't even run Defcon or Uplink at nice frame rates, and they're not very demanding games.
To top it off, ATI just finally added hardware accellerated OpenGL support in Vista for their drivers, except that it doesn't work. Great.