so, i guess the xbox power cord recall was made up too? what about the failing thompson dvd drives? these are facts. google both.
i own both consoles, and i admit that they both have their issues. the xbox has had its fair share of defects, and so has the ps2. in my opinion, they are both on equal grounds. the xbox pr team does a much better job apparently though. i can freely admit that i have had issues with both consoles, but the xbox gives me way more errors than my ps2.
do i put them at fault? no. have i tried hocking my ps2 or xbox on ebay? no. i expect to find defects in my electronics from time to time. it took me months before errors and such started rearing their head. the problem here is that people are finding these huge bugs/ defects within the first 24 hours of owning the device.
the major difference about the ps2 drives is that they all didnt fail straight out of the box. usually the drives started failing after a few weeks or months of use. also keep in mind that many early adopters were using their ps2's as dvd drives which required more wear on the drives. the drives for both systems were cheap, and wear and tear made that fact apparent. here we have issues with the x360 that we can not attribute to any sort of wear and tear.
yes, but this is a console. consoles are supposed to work straight out of the box. no other console launch has had this type of issue within the first 24 hours of release. defects usually start to become apparent after a few weeks or months or over time.
a installation of linux or windows is one thing, but wouldnt you get upset if you went to start up your new car and it blew up or crashed itself every time you turned it on? what about your new tv? what if it went fuzzy every time you turned stations? certain items are just supposed to work. the supposed reason consoles exist in the first place is so that you dont experience this sort of problem. otherwise we would all be computer gamers only.
this is true, but if you read the internet you will find that first generation xbox dvd drives were even more sketchy. dont believe me? google: "xbox thompson drive".
MS finally broke down and replaced the drives with much better quality phillips and samsung drives. the reason the ps2 gets more bad publicity is the fact that most xbox users dont use their xboxes to play dvd movies [which require more effort from the faulty drives].
i have both consoles, and believe it or not my xbox gives me way more drive issues than the ps2. [and i have the "more stable" phillips drive in my xbox!!!]
well, TFA has the actual gathered facts. this reflects what we've been hearing about the x360 kiosks that were installed in walmarts as well. whereas those crashes were written off as the byproduct of improper ventilation in the kiosks and the models being alpha-development hardware, now we are starting to see those werent just early prototypes; those are the same models that are being sold now. remember the whole "the actual power supply wont actually be that big..." argument? well, guess what? IT IS... remember the whole "the final model wont be as noisy..." argument? well it is. what else is there to be said? the crashes arent isolated to one or two software titles; it must be in the hardware somewhere.
this sort of stuff happens with lots of rushed to market consumer electronics. no big deal to me; its what you would expect. all i can say is that ive had my fair share of consoles do weird stuff, but no playstation or nintendo product ive ever owned has repeatedly crashed on me within the first 24 hours of owning it.
the postings are on xbox-scene. if they are biased against microsoft, i cant tell. its an xbox modding/fan site! would multiple users go out and spend $400 plus games, peripherals, etc. on x360s just so they can post screenshots of self-inflicted crashes?
the ps2 does offer extra anti-aliasing for ps1 games. BUT you have to turn on the feature to do that first. its built into every ps2. i dont see why they couldnt do something similar with the ps3.
i am an xbox and playstation2 owner, so i happen to disagree with you on your second point as well. the xbox is nice, but i would truly feel burnt if i bought my xbox at the full release price. ive gotten my enjoyment out of it, but there are not nearly as many games available for it as i would like. i still want to love it, but MS made it that much more harder. sure they have a bunch of FPS, and the obligatory sports games, but outside of the halo2 and ninja gaiden [maybe halflife2] i havent found anything purely exclusive to the xbox that made the xbox really worth the money i would have dropped if i purchased one at full price four years ago. sure the graphics are nicer than the ps2, but ill take the graphical hit if it saves me $3-400, and i can still play most of the xbox games since the bulk of them are crossplatform. IMHO, the xbox needs more exclusives that dont suck. that plus live... and the playstation could be in some serious trouble.
i hate to point out the irony of your post, but sadly so... the psp is being heralded as one of the biggest assets of the emulation crowd right now. no need to drag a monitor, case, and gamepad... take your roms on the road with you. capcom probably is aware of this, and wants to cash in using some of their more obscure, and rare and/or unreleased [outside japan] titles.
personally, i havent had any problems with the psp controls myself. hey to each his own. i mean, some people prefer the original xbox hamburger controller over the s-controller.
personally the biggest thing i would appreciate from an offer like this is downloadable content. maybe an all time high score list available from the web. how cool would it be to see your rank in the all-time list of 1941? harkens back to the old arcade days, wishing i could beat the score of some guy that had way more time and quarters than me. how great would it be to download new levels of your favorite classics? throw in some new features, and it'd be a guaranteed platinum hit.
i would love to see an updated version of strider possibly for ps3 or x360. the only place you can see strider at on ps2 or xbox is in the capcom fighting games.
depends. hardware is hardware, but most titles will look almost the same on all three consoles; limited by whichever system is the lowest common denominator. i predict it will be a repeat of this generation.
with the industry budgeoning us with sequels, i can see most users going with the system or systems that will allow them to continue to follow the franchises that they have come to enjoy. bill likes final fantasy, so chances are that he will continue following the series on playstation hardware. john likes halo so he will probably continue to follow the xbox hardware. tim likes zelda and mario so hes going to follow the nintendo hardware.
where ground will be gained is from those that switch consoles. most FPS fans, and graphics whores flocked towards the xbox, if the ps3 or revolution can grab their attention, thats where they will gain sales from. the ps2 had the highest quantity of different successful franchises in many different genres, but if the revolution and x360 can come up with more novel genres and franchises, they might steal some of that thunder from sony. so far the x360 launch and announced games are 70% sequels of non-unique franchises.
due to the lack of options for early 360 buyers, kameo and perfect dark zero will probably be best sellers. if they can keep those franchises going, who knows? for every ps2 franchise that seems to have lost its luster due to overexposure [jak and dexter, ratchet and clank... etc] they are being replaced at a good clip by new franchises [ico, god of war... etc]. the revolution [read: mario, zelda, metroid games] arent going anywhere. the ps2 has enough franchises that they can afford to drop a couple bad iterations of a series. the console thats still under the gun is the x360. one mistake with say... halo3 and the ship is sunk.
great post, however given the way that sony has been pushing developers to include some form of online play with the psp. i can see sony pushing the ps3 similarly.
whether they go the route of using a centralized service is still up in the air, but for now, who cares? the system is still not even 100% designed yet... its hard to listen to passing judgement when all we have to go on is rumors.
sonys online plans have still not been officially announced as of yet. there are still only rumors. ive read a rumor from one developer that sony isnt going to go centralized, and another from a sony UK exec that they plan to go centralized. so what? we are all still in the dark until sony actually makes their big announcement. until it comes directly from sony, we have to take the rumors with a grain of salt [actually... even IF it comes from sony, we have to take the speculation with a grain of salt]
as for the revolution, its evident by the way that they are currently pushing the ds that they are trying to play catchup in the online arena. will they go centralized? who knows. the only thing we know is that the x360 is going to continue offering xbox live with more push on the bells and whistles that most of us live users have been taking for granted.
FUD #1 - sony has verified that blu-ray discs are not being specifically signed for each console. http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000213068073/ sometimes companies take out "defensive patents"; patents they dont intend to use, but to ensure that their competitors can't claim the technology and implement it into their industry. maybe they have other plans on how to use the technology described in the patent, [maybe cheap disposable one-time use movies] but the fact remains... its not intended for the ps3.
FUD #2 - sony has actually taken action to cease and to help remedy their whole rootkit deal. granted it doesnt instill alot of faith in me that their company would do something like that in the first place, the fact remains that they listened to the public outcries and fixed the problem. thats more than i can say for some companies. they have soundly learned their lesson. http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000530067666/
hold on... youre telling me that microsoft [the maker of the xbox360] said that HDMI [the spec that their competitor is using in their ps3] is no better than component connectors? sounds like FUD.
you are right that they did you a favor by not including more expensive cabling, AICBW but IIRC HDMI/is/ better than component connections.
there are actually quite a few articles out on the net that chronicle experiences like the one he has had. honestly from the way things sound its just that the x360 gets overheated easily and theres not enough ventilation in the demo kiosks.
not that im arguing with you here, but i wanted to offer a different viewpoint for a few of your statements here.
- yes the whole sony rootkit issue is appalling, but at least they are correcting their mistake. as much as people have complained about MS's activation policies [if you change your hardware too drastically you have to reactivate?!?!?] MS has only made their activation policies tighter.
- DRM'ed WMA and WMV files need to be authenticated and need license agreements. if for some reason you cant authenticate [internet outage by either party, using a standalone computer not connected to an ISP, company goes out of business or changes policy... etc], youre SOL.
- yes, xbox live is only an added feature, but it also an exclusive feature. exclusive meaning that it is one of the key reasons to purchase one item over the other. just like halo was exclusive; and therefore a reason you should buy the xbox instead of a ps2, so is live. these two exclusive features are usually at the top of the list of reasons why gamers prefer xbox over ps2. if you remove these two items, you are left with better graphics and custom soundtracks. not all xbox games support custom soundtracks, and ask any gamecube fan or hopeful revolution purchaser, and they will tell you that graphics are what makes a great game.
- DVD? yes, but i do believe that sony was one of the major backers responsible for the dvd standard.
- software subscriptions can be applied to game consoles and drm in the sense that if for some reason MS believes that you have violated your license agreements, or perhaps you were caught cheating on xbox live, they can revoke your subscription. with a subscription you could be caught in a situation where you dont own the game nor the media. also gone is the option to buy/ sell games secondhand, since you never "owned" the game in the first place
- managed copy is now a part of the blu-ray spec now as well. the revision that allowed managed copy was to my knowledge what brought HP over to the blu-ray camp.
- how is the psp crippled? its a video game system that they are trying to sell as a media player. if it were a dvd player, that would be fine. you would just accept that it plays dvds [or in this case UMDs] and that would be that. when the first dvd players came out, people didnt complain that it didnt play their homemade collections of clips without reencoding. but since they tried to be nice and include a way to play your own videos, people are getting upset that they cant just use any random compression scheme they please? lol. first of all, personal video playback wasnt truly a "feature". sure they let people know about it, but it wasnt officially supported. hence, no official software available to encode movies included. not a single mention in the manual IIRC. the psp does what its supposed to do, eventually they may release a new version of the firmware that provides more playback options [they have already done this once]
- you have to re-read the most current revision of the blu-ray spec. managed copy is allowed, just not required. this still gives you the power as a consumer to which studios you will support. just as you are exercizing your right not to purchase a sony product due to the company's mishandling of other aspects of their business practices, you will have the right to not support studios that do not allow you to use your "managed copy"-rights.
but the biggest point to make here, is that no one is talking about windows. no one is talking about sony music. we are talking about two game systems here. just because a company botches up in one division, does not necessarily mean that they will carry those same business practices over into all other divisions. however, given the two companies we are talking about here, i at least hope not.
very insightful. graphics are graphics. as long as they convey the game and its atmosphere, graphics are the same across the board. what we need is to truly separate the graphics category found almost everywhere into two categories: one for artistic merit and one for technical merit.
everyone has their bias. some reviewers dont like cel shading; a cartoon based game that is celshaded is more likely to take hits in the graphical department if its not super realistic, when compared to a game featuring something hyper realistic with an insane polygon count. lately ive heard all types of people gripe about the graphics of a game due to an uneven framerate or short draw distance, etc... thats a technical limitation, not indicative of the art design. sometimes if a game looks good you want to know that its worth sitting down and playing. i dont mind if the game plays only at 30 frames per second instead of 60 when im concerned with art.
basically we want to know whether the game looks good and artistic. but we also want to know if there are any technical issues that may mar an otherwise great game. not some lump score that could detract from the other. it should be our decision whether we want to ignore the technical issues, or accept them. part of what jaffe is describing could solve my issue with common game reporting.
for instance, when i play GTA:SA i want to know how it should be rated from the perspective of its art. does the game do a good job looking like los angeles? how is the stylizing? is it a straight rehash of GTA:VC? etc... but i also what to know whether it actually moves fluidly. whether theres clipping all over the place, whether it supports HD resolutions, if theres jaggies all over the place, etc.
graphics used to be used to describe the technical aspect of a game, but now games are more immersive and stylized than ever, there needs to be a differentation. i would like to be the one to make the final call when it comes time to purchase a game. too often a game will lose marks for not having as much bloom, or blur or particle effects as its counterpart on another console. sure that matters for gamers with several systems and need to decide which console to purchase for. but some gamers only have one console and need to know whether a game is good or not based upon other titles for that same system. not some overlying technical handicap based upon system limitations.
also, it makes sense for them to start their smear campaign now right before their launch. look at all the posters here that make up their minds to go after the x360 due to this lil bit of FUD.
also, it doesnt make sense because sonys online department has been swinging towards at least a partially centralized server system for a while now.
granted the article supposedly comes from the november OPM, and quotes phil harrison. something about the article is missing. something seems off. if you read the entire article, it is written prior to the TGS [pre-september]. how much earlier? who knows? i do however know that this is the FIRST time they have announced anything regarding their online plans. so if the media has known this for at least three months, why is this big news now? something seems odd.
do i doubt that sony wishes to go this route? nope; they most likely will, but still this article is fishy. if a sony exec opened his mouth regarding their lack of a centralized online solution, youd best believe all of the lil media outlets and blogs would have jumped all over it before now.
so you agree with me. the console is capable of HD output. the ps2 console was released well befor ethe xbox console. therefore the ps2 did support HD, however few titles lived up to take advantage of the fact.
personally, i recall that scene from ffvii. perhaps i wasnt/scared/ per se, but i remember that i was understandably nervous and on edge. here i am, low on health and items, following the trail of blood left by something, probably a boss that i was not prepared to fight. im walking through the building and its aftermath and its easily slaughtered tons of guys that i spent the last halfhour struggling to get past.
what amazed me about the game is that it was that it was relatively upbeat until that point overall. for them to throw in stuff like a trip to the arcade, a skiboarding minigame, a trip to the races, and then surprise you with flashbacks of sephiroth singlehandedly destroying entire villages, easily killing [read: skewering] the midgar zolom [who im sure anyone without a tipbook struggled with]. for them to go back and forth between emotions is something else i havent seen rivaled by very many other games.
sure its easy to get scared by a game that spends the first half building a tense atmosphere just so you can wind up with 2-3 scares by the end, but with ffvii you had to deal with the wide range of emotions that your characters experienced. fear, exhilaration, frustration, joy, sadness, loss, solitude... thats immersion! who cares if you can get scared once or twice, the fact that you felt so many of the same emotions that cloud felt made you feel closer to the game as a result. unless you played through the game as a speedrun, you felt those emotions. that is the reason why ffvii winds up very high on every greatest video games ever list.
sure you may not have been scared knowing that a bossfight with something inhumanly stronger than you was awaiting you at the end of shinra tower, but im sure those are the same people that didnt really care that they killed off aeris either.
well, according to sony. the ps3 will only have one drive. the ps3 will be able to play all forms of media. that includes, cds, dvds, ps2 dvds, and blu-ray... strong indication that the first drives made widely available will be combination drives.
Slashdot Mirror
so, i guess the xbox power cord recall was made up too? what about the failing thompson dvd drives? these are facts. google both.
i own both consoles, and i admit that they both have their issues. the xbox has had its fair share of defects, and so has the ps2. in my opinion, they are both on equal grounds. the xbox pr team does a much better job apparently though. i can freely admit that i have had issues with both consoles, but the xbox gives me way more errors than my ps2.
do i put them at fault? no. have i tried hocking my ps2 or xbox on ebay? no. i expect to find defects in my electronics from time to time. it took me months before errors and such started rearing their head. the problem here is that people are finding these huge bugs/ defects within the first 24 hours of owning the device.
youre right. i addressed this in this topic somewhere... http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=169149&cid=141 00045
both the ps2 and xbox had large problems with dvd drives in their early models.
the major difference about the ps2 drives is that they all didnt fail straight out of the box. usually the drives started failing after a few weeks or months of use. also keep in mind that many early adopters were using their ps2's as dvd drives which required more wear on the drives. the drives for both systems were cheap, and wear and tear made that fact apparent. here we have issues with the x360 that we can not attribute to any sort of wear and tear.
yes, but this is a console. consoles are supposed to work straight out of the box. no other console launch has had this type of issue within the first 24 hours of release. defects usually start to become apparent after a few weeks or months or over time.
a installation of linux or windows is one thing, but wouldnt you get upset if you went to start up your new car and it blew up or crashed itself every time you turned it on? what about your new tv? what if it went fuzzy every time you turned stations? certain items are just supposed to work. the supposed reason consoles exist in the first place is so that you dont experience this sort of problem. otherwise we would all be computer gamers only.
this is true, but if you read the internet you will find that first generation xbox dvd drives were even more sketchy. dont believe me? google: "xbox thompson drive".
MS finally broke down and replaced the drives with much better quality phillips and samsung drives. the reason the ps2 gets more bad publicity is the fact that most xbox users dont use their xboxes to play dvd movies [which require more effort from the faulty drives].
i have both consoles, and believe it or not my xbox gives me way more drive issues than the ps2. [and i have the "more stable" phillips drive in my xbox!!!]
well, TFA has the actual gathered facts. this reflects what we've been hearing about the x360 kiosks that were installed in walmarts as well. whereas those crashes were written off as the byproduct of improper ventilation in the kiosks and the models being alpha-development hardware, now we are starting to see those werent just early prototypes; those are the same models that are being sold now. remember the whole "the actual power supply wont actually be that big..." argument? well, guess what? IT IS... remember the whole "the final model wont be as noisy..." argument? well it is. what else is there to be said? the crashes arent isolated to one or two software titles; it must be in the hardware somewhere.
this sort of stuff happens with lots of rushed to market consumer electronics. no big deal to me; its what you would expect. all i can say is that ive had my fair share of consoles do weird stuff, but no playstation or nintendo product ive ever owned has repeatedly crashed on me within the first 24 hours of owning it.
the postings are on xbox-scene. if they are biased against microsoft, i cant tell. its an xbox modding/fan site! would multiple users go out and spend $400 plus games, peripherals, etc. on x360s just so they can post screenshots of self-inflicted crashes?
this rumer has been debunked. the ps3 will not tie one disc to one ps3. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2005/11 /15/sonys_clampdown_on_secondhand_games_updated.ht ml
read it yourself.
the ps2 does offer extra anti-aliasing for ps1 games. BUT you have to turn on the feature to do that first. its built into every ps2. i dont see why they couldnt do something similar with the ps3.
i am an xbox and playstation2 owner, so i happen to disagree with you on your second point as well. the xbox is nice, but i would truly feel burnt if i bought my xbox at the full release price. ive gotten my enjoyment out of it, but there are not nearly as many games available for it as i would like. i still want to love it, but MS made it that much more harder. sure they have a bunch of FPS, and the obligatory sports games, but outside of the halo2 and ninja gaiden [maybe halflife2] i havent found anything purely exclusive to the xbox that made the xbox really worth the money i would have dropped if i purchased one at full price four years ago. sure the graphics are nicer than the ps2, but ill take the graphical hit if it saves me $3-400, and i can still play most of the xbox games since the bulk of them are crossplatform. IMHO, the xbox needs more exclusives that dont suck. that plus live... and the playstation could be in some serious trouble.
i hate to point out the irony of your post, but sadly so... the psp is being heralded as one of the biggest assets of the emulation crowd right now. no need to drag a monitor, case, and gamepad... take your roms on the road with you. capcom probably is aware of this, and wants to cash in using some of their more obscure, and rare and/or unreleased [outside japan] titles.
personally, i havent had any problems with the psp controls myself. hey to each his own. i mean, some people prefer the original xbox hamburger controller over the s-controller.
personally the biggest thing i would appreciate from an offer like this is downloadable content. maybe an all time high score list available from the web. how cool would it be to see your rank in the all-time list of 1941? harkens back to the old arcade days, wishing i could beat the score of some guy that had way more time and quarters than me. how great would it be to download new levels of your favorite classics? throw in some new features, and it'd be a guaranteed platinum hit.
there was a sequel to the original strider on the genesis and on the original playstation http://www.gamespot.com/ps/action/strider2/index.h tml?q=strider
i would love to see an updated version of strider possibly for ps3 or x360. the only place you can see strider at on ps2 or xbox is in the capcom fighting games.
depends. hardware is hardware, but most titles will look almost the same on all three consoles; limited by whichever system is the lowest common denominator. i predict it will be a repeat of this generation.
with the industry budgeoning us with sequels, i can see most users going with the system or systems that will allow them to continue to follow the franchises that they have come to enjoy. bill likes final fantasy, so chances are that he will continue following the series on playstation hardware. john likes halo so he will probably continue to follow the xbox hardware. tim likes zelda and mario so hes going to follow the nintendo hardware.
where ground will be gained is from those that switch consoles. most FPS fans, and graphics whores flocked towards the xbox, if the ps3 or revolution can grab their attention, thats where they will gain sales from. the ps2 had the highest quantity of different successful franchises in many different genres, but if the revolution and x360 can come up with more novel genres and franchises, they might steal some of that thunder from sony. so far the x360 launch and announced games are 70% sequels of non-unique franchises.
due to the lack of options for early 360 buyers, kameo and perfect dark zero will probably be best sellers. if they can keep those franchises going, who knows? for every ps2 franchise that seems to have lost its luster due to overexposure [jak and dexter, ratchet and clank... etc] they are being replaced at a good clip by new franchises [ico, god of war... etc]. the revolution [read: mario, zelda, metroid games] arent going anywhere. the ps2 has enough franchises that they can afford to drop a couple bad iterations of a series. the console thats still under the gun is the x360. one mistake with say... halo3 and the ship is sunk.
great post, however given the way that sony has been pushing developers to include some form of online play with the psp. i can see sony pushing the ps3 similarly.
whether they go the route of using a centralized service is still up in the air, but for now, who cares? the system is still not even 100% designed yet... its hard to listen to passing judgement when all we have to go on is rumors.
sonys online plans have still not been officially announced as of yet. there are still only rumors. ive read a rumor from one developer that sony isnt going to go centralized, and another from a sony UK exec that they plan to go centralized. so what? we are all still in the dark until sony actually makes their big announcement. until it comes directly from sony, we have to take the rumors with a grain of salt [actually... even IF it comes from sony, we have to take the speculation with a grain of salt]
as for the revolution, its evident by the way that they are currently pushing the ds that they are trying to play catchup in the online arena. will they go centralized? who knows. the only thing we know is that the x360 is going to continue offering xbox live with more push on the bells and whistles that most of us live users have been taking for granted.
FUD #1 - sony has verified that blu-ray discs are not being specifically signed for each console.
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000213068073/
sometimes companies take out "defensive patents"; patents they dont intend to use, but to ensure that their competitors can't claim the technology and implement it into their industry. maybe they have other plans on how to use the technology described in the patent, [maybe cheap disposable one-time use movies] but the fact remains... its not intended for the ps3.
FUD #2 - sony has actually taken action to cease and to help remedy their whole rootkit deal. granted it doesnt instill alot of faith in me that their company would do something like that in the first place, the fact remains that they listened to the public outcries and fixed the problem. thats more than i can say for some companies. they have soundly learned their lesson.
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000530067666/
hold on... youre telling me that microsoft [the maker of the xbox360] said that HDMI [the spec that their competitor is using in their ps3] is no better than component connectors? sounds like FUD.
/is/ better than component connections.
you are right that they did you a favor by not including more expensive cabling, AICBW but IIRC HDMI
there are actually quite a few articles out on the net that chronicle experiences like the one he has had. honestly from the way things sound its just that the x360 gets overheated easily and theres not enough ventilation in the demo kiosks.
not that im arguing with you here, but i wanted to offer a different viewpoint for a few of your statements here.
- yes the whole sony rootkit issue is appalling, but at least they are correcting their mistake. as much as people have complained about MS's activation policies [if you change your hardware too drastically you have to reactivate?!?!?] MS has only made their activation policies tighter.
- DRM'ed WMA and WMV files need to be authenticated and need license agreements. if for some reason you cant authenticate [internet outage by either party, using a standalone computer not connected to an ISP, company goes out of business or changes policy... etc], youre SOL.
- yes, xbox live is only an added feature, but it also an exclusive feature. exclusive meaning that it is one of the key reasons to purchase one item over the other. just like halo was exclusive; and therefore a reason you should buy the xbox instead of a ps2, so is live. these two exclusive features are usually at the top of the list of reasons why gamers prefer xbox over ps2. if you remove these two items, you are left with better graphics and custom soundtracks. not all xbox games support custom soundtracks, and ask any gamecube fan or hopeful revolution purchaser, and they will tell you that graphics are what makes a great game.
- DVD? yes, but i do believe that sony was one of the major backers responsible for the dvd standard.
- software subscriptions can be applied to game consoles and drm in the sense that if for some reason MS believes that you have violated your license agreements, or perhaps you were caught cheating on xbox live, they can revoke your subscription. with a subscription you could be caught in a situation where you dont own the game nor the media. also gone is the option to buy/ sell games secondhand, since you never "owned" the game in the first place
- managed copy is now a part of the blu-ray spec now as well. the revision that allowed managed copy was to my knowledge what brought HP over to the blu-ray camp.
- how is the psp crippled? its a video game system that they are trying to sell as a media player. if it were a dvd player, that would be fine. you would just accept that it plays dvds [or in this case UMDs] and that would be that. when the first dvd players came out, people didnt complain that it didnt play their homemade collections of clips without reencoding. but since they tried to be nice and include a way to play your own videos, people are getting upset that they cant just use any random compression scheme they please? lol. first of all, personal video playback wasnt truly a "feature". sure they let people know about it, but it wasnt officially supported. hence, no official software available to encode movies included. not a single mention in the manual IIRC. the psp does what its supposed to do, eventually they may release a new version of the firmware that provides more playback options [they have already done this once]
- you have to re-read the most current revision of the blu-ray spec. managed copy is allowed, just not required. this still gives you the power as a consumer to which studios you will support. just as you are exercizing your right not to purchase a sony product due to the company's mishandling of other aspects of their business practices, you will have the right to not support studios that do not allow you to use your "managed copy"-rights.
but the biggest point to make here, is that no one is talking about windows. no one is talking about sony music. we are talking about two game systems here. just because a company botches up in one division, does not necessarily mean that they will carry those same business practices over into all other divisions. however, given the two companies we are talking about here, i at least hope not.
very insightful. graphics are graphics. as long as they convey the game and its atmosphere, graphics are the same across the board. what we need is to truly separate the graphics category found almost everywhere into two categories: one for artistic merit and one for technical merit.
everyone has their bias. some reviewers dont like cel shading; a cartoon based game that is celshaded is more likely to take hits in the graphical department if its not super realistic, when compared to a game featuring something hyper realistic with an insane polygon count. lately ive heard all types of people gripe about the graphics of a game due to an uneven framerate or short draw distance, etc... thats a technical limitation, not indicative of the art design. sometimes if a game looks good you want to know that its worth sitting down and playing. i dont mind if the game plays only at 30 frames per second instead of 60 when im concerned with art.
basically we want to know whether the game looks good and artistic. but we also want to know if there are any technical issues that may mar an otherwise great game. not some lump score that could detract from the other. it should be our decision whether we want to ignore the technical issues, or accept them. part of what jaffe is describing could solve my issue with common game reporting.
for instance, when i play GTA:SA i want to know how it should be rated from the perspective of its art. does the game do a good job looking like los angeles? how is the stylizing? is it a straight rehash of GTA:VC? etc... but i also what to know whether it actually moves fluidly. whether theres clipping all over the place, whether it supports HD resolutions, if theres jaggies all over the place, etc.
graphics used to be used to describe the technical aspect of a game, but now games are more immersive and stylized than ever, there needs to be a differentation. i would like to be the one to make the final call when it comes time to purchase a game. too often a game will lose marks for not having as much bloom, or blur or particle effects as its counterpart on another console. sure that matters for gamers with several systems and need to decide which console to purchase for. but some gamers only have one console and need to know whether a game is good or not based upon other titles for that same system. not some overlying technical handicap based upon system limitations.
used all my mod points this morning, and then i saw this gem.
okay... okay... okay...
but still, dont you think it odd that this gem of info would have been hidden away for months after TGS, if it was announced before then?
i dont know if the story is bogus, but the source seems questionable. thats all.
so this was submitted by a MS employee? interesting...
c id=13935377
kinda makes my earlier comment seem warranted.
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=167130&
also, it makes sense for them to start their smear campaign now right before their launch. look at all the posters here that make up their minds to go after the x360 due to this lil bit of FUD.
also, it doesnt make sense because sonys online department has been swinging towards at least a partially centralized server system for a while now.
granted the article supposedly comes from the november OPM, and quotes phil harrison. something about the article is missing. something seems off. if you read the entire article, it is written prior to the TGS [pre-september]. how much earlier? who knows? i do however know that this is the FIRST time they have announced anything regarding their online plans. so if the media has known this for at least three months, why is this big news now? something seems odd.
do i doubt that sony wishes to go this route? nope; they most likely will, but still this article is fishy. if a sony exec opened his mouth regarding their lack of a centralized online solution, youd best believe all of the lil media outlets and blogs would have jumped all over it before now.
ouch... do you have any advice for those here that have kids?
so you agree with me. the console is capable of HD output. the ps2 console was released well befor ethe xbox console. therefore the ps2 did support HD, however few titles lived up to take advantage of the fact.
personally, i recall that scene from ffvii. perhaps i wasnt /scared/ per se, but i remember that i was understandably nervous and on edge. here i am, low on health and items, following the trail of blood left by something, probably a boss that i was not prepared to fight. im walking through the building and its aftermath and its easily slaughtered tons of guys that i spent the last halfhour struggling to get past.
what amazed me about the game is that it was that it was relatively upbeat until that point overall. for them to throw in stuff like a trip to the arcade, a skiboarding minigame, a trip to the races, and then surprise you with flashbacks of sephiroth singlehandedly destroying entire villages, easily killing [read: skewering] the midgar zolom [who im sure anyone without a tipbook struggled with]. for them to go back and forth between emotions is something else i havent seen rivaled by very many other games.
sure its easy to get scared by a game that spends the first half building a tense atmosphere just so you can wind up with 2-3 scares by the end, but with ffvii you had to deal with the wide range of emotions that your characters experienced. fear, exhilaration, frustration, joy, sadness, loss, solitude... thats immersion! who cares if you can get scared once or twice, the fact that you felt so many of the same emotions that cloud felt made you feel closer to the game as a result. unless you played through the game as a speedrun, you felt those emotions. that is the reason why ffvii winds up very high on every greatest video games ever list.
sure you may not have been scared knowing that a bossfight with something inhumanly stronger than you was awaiting you at the end of shinra tower, but im sure those are the same people that didnt really care that they killed off aeris either.
well, according to sony. the ps3 will only have one drive. the ps3 will be able to play all forms of media. that includes, cds, dvds, ps2 dvds, and blu-ray... strong indication that the first drives made widely available will be combination drives.