I own it. It's probably a good game, but I'm more an F-Zero person, myself. Wipeout Pure simply feels slow and sluggish. F-Zero cars are fast, accelerate fast and turn quickly, and it's kind of hard for me to adjust to Wipeout Pure. I'll probably give it another chance, though.
Wipeout is slow? There is a steady speed increase in the game. Some of the later levels are so fast you kinda have to develop a sixth sense for the track. Try playing zone if you need more speed. the turning is just how the game was meant to play, so you have to take drag and drift into the equation for each turn. It's an outrageously excellent game to be a launch title.
it's a bit telling that people are still naming mostly launch or near-launch titles when talking about good PSP games.
True, but there are alot of recent titles that are pretty good. 2nd gen titles are amongst the best of the PSP library. Socom, GTA, Daxter, Syphon Filter.. etc. Current and future titles are keeping that tradition going: Tekken:DR, Valkyrie Profile, Metal Gear Portable Ops, Killzone Liberation... If you want short quick games, look towards stuff like Every Extend Extra. If you really want to play some good PSP games, they are out there and aren't that hard to find. Better still, renting is your friend.
I feel your pain. It's hard to always sort the good from the bad and the ugly when you make impulse game purchases. The same holds true for both handhelds, and even moreso for home consoles though.
I love my PSP, and I still plan to eventually get a DS too. I say hold on to both for a while. The PSP has some good games coming down the tubes, and Nintendo will always have its core franchises. You have the best of both worlds. They are both solid consoles; light years better than any portable thusfar.
Since you were in blockbuster, I'm assuming you are a member and you can always rent before you buy; that's what I would do. looking at your UID, if you have the time to check slashdot and I'm sure you have the time to read reviews from gamespot and ign/ various independent games blogs. They both have roughly an equal number of games that score 8 and up, so take a look at those titles first.
Was there any demand for the UMD format? I mean, you get a new media format when either the old one no longer suffices in quality or there is a gaping hole in what the public needs...
UMD gets the job done. It's a portable media format smaller and more durable than miniDVD that can store data and music for games. DS games aren't exactly printed on an 'open' format either... If you don't like the idea of UMD movies or they are too expensive for your likes, then simply don't buy any. Problem solved. It's nice to have options of how I can use my portable. Options are good! I can buy a new movie, or they at least let me encode my own. No one is forcing you to buy anything. The GBA/DS had its own movie player that didn't quite take off mainstream either. I like the PSP better for that.
The DS Lite is rumored to be compatible with the Wii... wirelessly. What have you got?
The PSP is wirelessly compatible with the PS3. The PSP is already compatible with the PS2 [Metal Gear Subsistence/ Socom...] It's not rumored, it has actually been done on the current generation PS2, and demonstrated on the PS3. I don't doubt it will happen, but the Wii compatiblity and function has still yet to be seen. So whats your point?
Once again, the PSP heavy portfolio pays off! Everyone invest in the PSP because it's the first one out!
Huh? The PSP was and still is the underdog in the handheld market. Nintendo had a backcatalog of thousands of GBA games that were playable on the DS the day it was released. The PSP was released months after the DS in most territories I can think of. Even in Japan, it followed the DS release by a week or two IIRC. The PSP came from nowhere and ate up somewhere between ~30-40% marketshare from Nintendo. Not bad.
Sony providing solid competition for Nintendo is bringing out the best from both companies. There were alot of good games for GBA, but most of them were short and horrible, the other half were just mediocre. Many of the 'top' GBA games were games that would get crucified if they were released on PSP today. Both companies are bringing out their major franchises. In one year the DS put out more 'original' Mario games than the GBA has to this day. If left to nintendo, there would never be a portable version of a 'proper' GTA, fighting game, or Metal Gear title, so I say own both portables and be happy.
Out of the games you decided to buy, Lumines and GTA are the only really solid games you have there. Most of the games you bought/are/ near direct ports of ps1/2 games.
Untold Legends has its set of fans, as does Metal Gear Acid. Ridge Racers is a pretty good title, but it's limited in its replayability b/c it was rushed. There are lots of good titles available and alot more on the way. It's hard to tell your gaming preferences, but based on what youve already bought you should check out Daxter, Burnout Legends, Field Commander, LocoRoco, Street Fighter Alpha3, Syphon Filter, Tekken:DR, Socom and the upcoming Killzone Liberation and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops.
Depending on how you felt about Metal Gear Acid, Metal Gear Acid 2 fixed a large majority of my problems with the first. I like MGA2 alot better, but the card slant still isn't everyone's cup o' tea.
You bought Silent Hill? That's interesting considering that it hasn't come out. If you are talking about Silent Hill experience, than that shouldn't be listed as a game. Silent Hill Origins isn't going to be released for a few more months.
Sony demostrated no loyality to it's Playstation 2 consumers resulting in a class action lawsuit.
This is different from nintendo denying there being a problem with the DS lite cracking and it affects.02%? Which they actually DO not officially offer to repair for free; the "press release" was faked by DS fans http://www.gwn.com/news/story.php/id/10036/ [to their credit they have offered to fix many, but not all cracked DS's] Or how about MS initially saying that there were no problems with the xbox360 overheating? and that it only affected 4%? [even though people still complain about crashes, overheating and other glitchiness in games: chromehounds for example] Sony is definitely guilty, but no more guilty than any other big corporations in any industry.
Sony demostrated no loyality to being able to install a hard drive in future iterations of the Playstation 2. If a consumer's PS2 breaks down and they get the latest version of the PS2 then Final Fantasy XI unusable and ensuring that companies would not port other classically computer style games to the PS2.
How about blaming Square Enix for not rereleasing a FFXI client that supports external harddrives?
Sony demostrated no loyality to it's audio CD consumers resulting in a class action lawsuit.
I thought we were talking about video games here? How many class action lawsuits have Microsoft and Nintendo been involved in? No one is innocent, don't forget that.
Current reviews of HD-DVD's than Blu-Ray disks indicate that HD-DVD is preferable.
the review is comparing a bad transfer to a good transfer. They both use the same codecs. Both formats can hold a HD quality movie using the exact same transfer, I am more concerned about using the media for storage
There is currently more HD-DVD titles available than Blu-Ray.
I would hope so considering that Blu-Ray only recently came out. More studios support blu-ray, so in the long term your point is moot.
Sony's first priority for the design of Blu-Ray seems to be the triple copy-protection instead of any consumer friendly priorities.
Both next generation movie formats employ the same form of content protection. The DVDs you own currently have copy protection, do you cry about those too? If/ when AACS is cracked, this will become a moot point. [note: AACS has already been "cracked" at least two different ways]
If you don't learn from history then you are doomed to suffer when Sony again pulls an anti-consumer move.
So I assume you complain as loudly when Microsoft and Nintendo pull similar anti-consumer moves too?
Nintendo and Microsoft seem more interested in this latest round of consoles of delivering features to the consumer than pulling a fast one over on them and then excusing themselves from responsiblity.
Again, I say all of the consoles are still on even footing until this fall's launches.
Not quite. Sony is a partial owner of Squaresoft. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games technically can appear on other consoles, but not main titles; only the spinoff series like Crystal Chronicles and Final Fantasy Tactics. The game you are thinking of is Dragon Quest Swords, not Dragon Quest IX. If you read the article, you will see that the game barely even resembles an RPG.
Yes, but just like with DVD, Sony has partial ownership of the technology. They can give themselves a much larger discount and don't have to deal with licensing fees. As the manufacturing process gets more streamlined and factories become more efficient, manufacturing prices will drop significantly. If the PS3 starts taking a hit in sales, they will have the liberty to drop the price for the consumer. Prices do drop pretty quickly; they just aren't always reflected in drops in the retail price.
Major titles for ps1 were released for 9 years; At least until 2003 [I recall waiting to buy Final Fantasy Origins]. Sony so far is the only company that's been dedicated to the support of their older consoles well past the release of a next generation successor. Every title doesn't have to be AAA, but there's enough software out there that is enjoyable to keep you searching through bargain bins for ten years. By the time you get tired of that, I'm sure the ps3 will be cheap enough for most people to buy it if they want.
The ps3 doesnt use memory cards. As a matter of fact they just announced a device you can use to convert your old memory cards to work on the PS3's harddrive if you don't want to lose your progress on ps2 games.
No one is forcing a new format on you. If you dont want to buy any blu-ray movies... then don't. If you're complaining about the price, wait a year or two and the prices will drop. By then you might be caught up to date with your stack of games to play.
The $500 model PS3 doesn't have a memory card reader, so no one is "gouging" you for one. Memory cards/ sticks will not be required to store save games.
The rootkit FUD doesn't apply because the PS3 won't connect to your computer unless you explicitly do so.
The way people have already passed judgement on the PS3 and the Wii before even seeing a single finished game tells me one thing; the whole "it's the games that matter" philosophy doesn't count when its time to pick on the market leader.
As for the PS2 being over $250 for two years, it has always had an equal or lesser pricetag than the xbox.
No, but you are a prime example of what I was saying. You still have your old mac in good working condition. However, you ALSO bought a new MacBook. I never said that you would trash your old mac; just that you would replace/ upgrade to a newer model [for your main computer].
a) i was referring to/my own personal experience/ with the ipod phenomenon. it only pertained to ipods. i have a 4g ipod. they are becoming an increasingly rare sight as people are upgrading their ipods. My 4g is under 2 years old! the 1-4g ipod owners haven't disappeared, they've just upgraded to the newer models. when you add in the new ipod users, you wind up with very nice sales figures for apple. thats very good for apple.
b) all i was stating is that a PC is usually cheaper than a comparable apple counterpart. there is a larger percentage of apple users that like to be bleeding edge than there are in the pc world. they account for a large majority of sales. like you said, you have alot of users that are finally upgrading after having a mac after a few years, or need to use new programs that are specifically written for OSX+, and pretty soon will need to use programs only available for the intel macs. add to that fact, people are switching to macs in droves, but VERY few switch back. thats where you get those kinds of numbers.
That's kinda sorta the point I was trying to make. Apple comes along every so often and changes their hardware/ software philosophy so drastically that in order to use the latest software, you need to purchase a new computer and vice versa. Legacy support has always been there, but when many users wish to upgrade their software/hardware, but in order to use the new software/hardware you also need new hardware/ software.
In the last five-six years apple has undergone DRASTIC changes that require wholely new software/ hardware. OSX required new software to be written and for legacy programs to run on OS 9. Now you have to contend with the intel switch. Some programs require not much new work/ patching if at all, but most do.
Jobs' keynote can totally change the mac landscape in a matter of months. There have been how many apple hardware and software revisions since the windows XP debut?
When MS announces that 90% of all programs that have worked under windows since forever will not work in their next operating system without patching or a wholely new purchase, the computer world will be at thier throats. The PC world for the most part has been so stagnant [dont get me wrong here; this isn't a good thing], that with some notable exceptions you can "run" nearly every program ever written since DOS on the most cutting edge windows gaming box out there. If you upgrade the family PC, grandma is normally okay since her old version of solitaire still works.
a) apple is in a different boat than your average consumer electronic giant.
ipod sales dont/ wont dry up, because the majority of apple fans buy the latest apple product with less thought than they would from a different company. when apple announces a new ipod, those who own the previous model upgrade. this is only the case when dealing with apple. if sony announces a new model of walkman, those who bought one last year don't immediately upgrade. if treo or blackberry comes out with a new model those with last years' model don't immediately upgrade. plus there is always an influx of those consumers that have been on the fence; they want to buy their first ipod, but they know there will be a new model debuting soon and are waiting for that one.
b) of course macs are overpriced. this is apple afterall. when have apple products EVER been cheaply priced? the mac mini was close, but even that was expensive compared to a comparable PC. you forget how rabid apple fans are. within the next year, i guarantee that apple will release their next model of mac equipped with a new style, an incremental processor speed increase, a blu-ray player/ burner, and whatever new mac tech theyve been r&d'ing for the last year. the hardcore mac fans will look to upgrade to this new bleeding edge/ must have tech and you will see a new flow of sales. apple "newness" never goes away for the hardcore.
what happens is that people preorder the consoles and dont have the money to pay for them all at once. they put down the measly $5 deposits for their xbox360s and on day one they post an ad on ebay for an outrageous amount of money. they wait until the paypal money comes through before they go pickup their pre-order console. at this point they/already/ have the profit. anyone with $5 can perform this type of grift.
the plan doesnt prevent the outrageous ebay markups. what this plan does is prevent people from ordering as many ahead of time. i remember people were ordering up to 10 xbox360s for ebay @ $5-$50 a deposit. if you have to make an ~50% deposit, unless you have a couple thousand dollars to invest in the scheme you will have to limit the number of consoles you preorder ahead of time.
i had a similar experience with my old xbox1 live account.
my bank was bought out and i needed to update my card number for all of my accounts. of course i forgot to update my xbox live account, so i had to go through the same arduous task of reassigning a new card to my live account. i tried to do it via the live interface on the xbox, but eventually had to call in.
you can play a ps1, ps2, psp and presumably a ps3 fine without ever needing to connect it to anything outside of the occassional wall outlet and tv. "phone home"? either you're being sarcastic or you have one hell of a tin foil hat collection at home.
brand loyalty is a pretty strong thing. i am not necessarily speaking about the playstation brand, but with the majority of games that are synonymous with the playstation name. there are alot of games that are cross platform, but the major games that defined the ps2 are still exclusive up until this point. [metal gear, tekken, devil may cry, final fantasy, gran turismo, ratchet and clank, etc] You are right that most gamers aren't loyal to any particular system, but gamers are definitely loyal to the games they like. with statements coming directly from hideo kojima stating that "metal gear solid is made for playstation", that carries alot of weight with gamers that follow series like that. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?i d=139826
a simultaneous release of GTA IV could be a major blow, since that is a huge franchise that they are losing exclusivity with.
im just using this example from the reception of the gamecube. non-gamers prefer their consoles to blend in with the rest of their electronics, thats true. demographics and what people want from consoles are vastly different from what people want from handhelds.
when the ps2 was released, i personally thought it was expensive. the ps3 looks like it will elicit the same response from me. its real expensive. people will desire it, and eventually purchase it when it drops to their price range.
the reason the industry grew so much this past generation is undoubtedly due to the ps2. numbers are in sony's favor. even if they alienated 50% of their established fanbase this generation [which they have not...] but speaking hypothetically there is another 50 million sony loyalists that are willing to buy the ps3 once the price fits into their range.
Of the 50 million hypothetical sony deserters, lets split them evenly amongst the two other parties. that would bring both other consoles to around 45mil sales; still less marketshare than sony. that also is under the assumption that every xbox and gamecube owner will buy the next iteration of their console, and that there are NO ps2 users that own a ps2 and/or an xbox or gamecube. given that many users own several consoles, that only diminishes the numbers in the MS and nintendo columns. not sonys'.
what it comes down to is: "how many people have sony pissed off?"
according to the internet, it/may/ be alot of people. 50%? im not so sure. according to the streets and the average consumer, maybe not so much. interest in purchasing a ps3 is STILL through the roof in the US, Europe and Japan. we will just have to wait and see...
where i think that nintendo may be onto something is the fact that they are trying to pull in non gamers. the sony and MS fans have pretty much already made their decisions. each time they can pull in a brand new gamer for the first time, that works in their benefit.
my opinion is that it works in theory. but bringing [console] gaming to your mother isnt going to happen. sure plenty of gameboys and ds's were sold to older people so they could play tetris, or brain age on the go. but its a wholely different beast when it comes to playing a home console. not many non-gamers [specifically older people] will go out and buy a console to connect to their tv sets. whereas the gameboy or ds can be tucked away when company comes by. a console is too complicated to just connect and disconnect all the time, and no matter how aesthetically pleasing it is; most non-gamers will cringe at the thought of explaining to nongaming visitors that the lil box and the strip under their tv belongs to a "children's" video game called a "wii". theres a reason why the ps2 and ps3 look similar to stereo components.
That chart only has japan numbers up through May 2006 I believe. It definitely doesn't have the new numbers for the ds lite. its certainly feasible for the DS lite to have sold a million or more in the last two months, extrapolating from how well its been selling lately. That would put the numbers around the same area give or take as that report.
As for where their numbers come from: "Most numbers are [cited] from NPD, Media Create, Famitsu, or Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft press releases/financial reports."
Given the actual sales numbers before the DS lite became available, are you still/certain/ that the PSP is failing? behind? yes, but failing? I'm not so sure about that.
Amongst those of us on the internet the DS is perfect, the PSP is dying and everyone is anticipating the wii, but we don't always echo the sentiments of the mainstream public whose spending dollars far exceed ours.
Personally I think that the homebrew scene on the PSP is seen as much more easier to tap into than the DS from the perspective of someone not familiar with technology. It's sorta like how "power users" had been downloading mp3s for years via IRC, ftps and the internet, but as soon as napster came along and allowed the average layperson to download music, internet piracy became a huge, huge deal.
piracy on the PSP used to be as simple as: 1) download these two precompiled files to this folder on your PSP. 2) add your iso to a folder here... and lil johnny is an instant pirate!
You just have to keep checking the internet [not ebay]. I bought a 1gb ms duo last october/november last year for $60. i held off buying them until I could grab one for under $99. I saw a link to one a few weeks ago selling for $35. the 2gb was on sale for ~$65. I remember thinking that I should have waiting a bit longer and gotten more for my money.
The deals are out there, but from your post I'm assuming you don't own a PSP. If you don't own a PSP or a sony camera, I can understand why you wouldn't have an eye out for the deals.
What are you smoking? The psp is selling very well. In the US the PSP was outselling the original DS [not the DS lite] for the greater part of the year. In fact, if the DS didn't have a lead on launch the two systems would be selling evenly with the PSP in the lead.
In japan, the PSP was only a million or so units behind. Now that the DS lite is available, the DS is taking a much larger lead, but the two systems are still fighting neck and neck. The DS lite is outselling the PSP by a factor of four, but the PSP is still the #2 selling video game system in Japan.
Given how many PSP gamers have decided to not play any new games, its interesting that PSP software sales is #2 in japanese marketshare. http://www.m-create.com/eng/e_ranking.html
When will people on the internet stop assuming that because the ds is doing well, that automatically means that the PSP is failing? Stop listening to the blind fans on both sides and check the facts every so often.
beat me to it. theres a very clear warning that the icon that you are about to view may contain offensive imagery. anyone offended needs to take it up with themselves and that individual; not the law.
next thing you know they are gonna sue aol for giving people the ability to create icons that depict certain acts. whats next? no more "subversive" icons.
Re:Ok, I was interested before but now....
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Wii-mote In Action
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· Score: 1
They are going back and reworking Metroid Prime 3 and in Red Steel. People loved the higher sensitivity over time because even though its not perfect... it was alot closer to using a mouse. They have gone back to the drawing board to revamp the turning and aiming mechanisms for them both.
They both still rely on the console auto-aim crutch and have to adopt whats being called invisible box movement. Basically movement is normal and works how you would expect so long as you keep the pointer directed within an invisible box within the screen. If you move outside that box, the screen turns. The analog attachment simply controls forwards, backwards, and strafing movement.
I hope it works out, but looking at the description that this is probably going to be the de facto form of movement and navigation in first person affairs slightly bothers me. Has anyone tried to use a PC or a laptop where you set the resolution higher than the display can handle. It "works", but its highly bothersome to have to scroll all over and then recenter yourself quickly if you overshot your intended destination.
as of e3, MS only had 3 million x360s in the market... total. 3 million "shipped" in the first seven months; shipped, not sold...
north america is their biggest sales region, but sales are only ~1.7 million here. [these were MS' own numbers from e3] the x360 "shortage" is over, but the consoles still arent flying off the shelves. it is still being outsold by a "weak" six year old console. x360 sales are far below sales of the original xbox. to put things in perspective; in its first couple of weeks, the ps2 sold almost as many consoles as the x360 has sold in what? seven months... http://videogamecharts.com/page2.html
needless to say, i hope the x360 does well. i plan to add to their sales numbers myself, some software that they have is actually worth the prize of the console, but to say that they are going to have 10 million units in the market [basically 210% more units in the next four months...] thats crazy talk.
Slashdot Mirror
Wipeout is slow? There is a steady speed increase in the game. Some of the later levels are so fast you kinda have to develop a sixth sense for the track. Try playing zone if you need more speed. the turning is just how the game was meant to play, so you have to take drag and drift into the equation for each turn. It's an outrageously excellent game to be a launch title.
True, but there are alot of recent titles that are pretty good. 2nd gen titles are amongst the best of the PSP library. Socom, GTA, Daxter, Syphon Filter.. etc. Current and future titles are keeping that tradition going: Tekken:DR, Valkyrie Profile, Metal Gear Portable Ops, Killzone Liberation... If you want short quick games, look towards stuff like Every Extend Extra. If you really want to play some good PSP games, they are out there and aren't that hard to find. Better still, renting is your friend.
I feel your pain. It's hard to always sort the good from the bad and the ugly when you make impulse game purchases. The same holds true for both handhelds, and even moreso for home consoles though.
I love my PSP, and I still plan to eventually get a DS too. I say hold on to both for a while. The PSP has some good games coming down the tubes, and Nintendo will always have its core franchises. You have the best of both worlds. They are both solid consoles; light years better than any portable thusfar.
Since you were in blockbuster, I'm assuming you are a member and you can always rent before you buy; that's what I would do. looking at your UID, if you have the time to check slashdot and I'm sure you have the time to read reviews from gamespot and ign/ various independent games blogs. They both have roughly an equal number of games that score 8 and up, so take a look at those titles first.
The PSP is wirelessly compatible with the PS3. The PSP is already compatible with the PS2 [Metal Gear Subsistence/ Socom...] It's not rumored, it has actually been done on the current generation PS2, and demonstrated on the PS3. I don't doubt it will happen, but the Wii compatiblity and function has still yet to be seen. So whats your point?
Huh? The PSP was and still is the underdog in the handheld market. Nintendo had a backcatalog of thousands of GBA games that were playable on the DS the day it was released. The PSP was released months after the DS in most territories I can think of. Even in Japan, it followed the DS release by a week or two IIRC. The PSP came from nowhere and ate up somewhere between ~30-40% marketshare from Nintendo. Not bad.
Sony providing solid competition for Nintendo is bringing out the best from both companies. There were alot of good games for GBA, but most of them were short and horrible, the other half were just mediocre. Many of the 'top' GBA games were games that would get crucified if they were released on PSP today. Both companies are bringing out their major franchises. In one year the DS put out more 'original' Mario games than the GBA has to this day. If left to nintendo, there would never be a portable version of a 'proper' GTA, fighting game, or Metal Gear title, so I say own both portables and be happy.
Out of the games you decided to buy, Lumines and GTA are the only really solid games you have there. Most of the games you bought /are/ near direct ports of ps1/2 games.
Untold Legends has its set of fans, as does Metal Gear Acid. Ridge Racers is a pretty good title, but it's limited in its replayability b/c it was rushed. There are lots of good titles available and alot more on the way. It's hard to tell your gaming preferences, but based on what youve already bought you should check out Daxter, Burnout Legends, Field Commander, LocoRoco, Street Fighter Alpha3, Syphon Filter, Tekken:DR, Socom and the upcoming Killzone Liberation and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops.
Depending on how you felt about Metal Gear Acid, Metal Gear Acid 2 fixed a large majority of my problems with the first. I like MGA2 alot better, but the card slant still isn't everyone's cup o' tea.
You bought Silent Hill? That's interesting considering that it hasn't come out. If you are talking about Silent Hill experience, than that shouldn't be listed as a game. Silent Hill Origins isn't going to be released for a few more months.
Sony demostrated no loyality to it's Playstation 2 consumers resulting in a class action lawsuit.
.02%? Which they actually DO not officially offer to repair for free; the "press release" was faked by DS fans http://www.gwn.com/news/story.php/id/10036/ [to their credit they have offered to fix many, but not all cracked DS's] Or how about MS initially saying that there were no problems with the xbox360 overheating? and that it only affected 4%? [even though people still complain about crashes, overheating and other glitchiness in games: chromehounds for example] Sony is definitely guilty, but no more guilty than any other big corporations in any industry.
This is different from nintendo denying there being a problem with the DS lite cracking and it affects
Sony demostrated no loyality to being able to install a hard drive in future iterations of the Playstation 2. If a consumer's PS2 breaks down and they get the latest version of the PS2 then Final Fantasy XI unusable and ensuring that companies would not port other classically computer style games to the PS2.
How about blaming Square Enix for not rereleasing a FFXI client that supports external harddrives?
Sony demostrated no loyality to it's audio CD consumers resulting in a class action lawsuit.
I thought we were talking about video games here? How many class action lawsuits have Microsoft and Nintendo been involved in? No one is innocent, don't forget that.
Current reviews of HD-DVD's than Blu-Ray disks indicate that HD-DVD is preferable.
the review is comparing a bad transfer to a good transfer. They both use the same codecs. Both formats can hold a HD quality movie using the exact same transfer, I am more concerned about using the media for storage
There is currently more HD-DVD titles available than Blu-Ray.
I would hope so considering that Blu-Ray only recently came out. More studios support blu-ray, so in the long term your point is moot.
Sony's first priority for the design of Blu-Ray seems to be the triple copy-protection instead of any consumer friendly priorities.
Both next generation movie formats employ the same form of content protection. The DVDs you own currently have copy protection, do you cry about those too? If/ when AACS is cracked, this will become a moot point. [note: AACS has already been "cracked" at least two different ways]
If you don't learn from history then you are doomed to suffer when Sony again pulls an anti-consumer move.
So I assume you complain as loudly when Microsoft and Nintendo pull similar anti-consumer moves too?
Nintendo and Microsoft seem more interested in this latest round of consoles of delivering features to the consumer than pulling a fast one over on them and then excusing themselves from responsiblity.
Again, I say all of the consoles are still on even footing until this fall's launches.
Not quite. Sony is a partial owner of Squaresoft. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games technically can appear on other consoles, but not main titles; only the spinoff series like Crystal Chronicles and Final Fantasy Tactics. The game you are thinking of is Dragon Quest Swords, not Dragon Quest IX. If you read the article, you will see that the game barely even resembles an RPG.
Yes, but just like with DVD, Sony has partial ownership of the technology. They can give themselves a much larger discount and don't have to deal with licensing fees. As the manufacturing process gets more streamlined and factories become more efficient, manufacturing prices will drop significantly. If the PS3 starts taking a hit in sales, they will have the liberty to drop the price for the consumer. Prices do drop pretty quickly; they just aren't always reflected in drops in the retail price.
Major titles for ps1 were released for 9 years; At least until 2003 [I recall waiting to buy Final Fantasy Origins]. Sony so far is the only company that's been dedicated to the support of their older consoles well past the release of a next generation successor. Every title doesn't have to be AAA, but there's enough software out there that is enjoyable to keep you searching through bargain bins for ten years. By the time you get tired of that, I'm sure the ps3 will be cheap enough for most people to buy it if they want.
The ps3 doesnt use memory cards. As a matter of fact they just announced a device you can use to convert your old memory cards to work on the PS3's harddrive if you don't want to lose your progress on ps2 games.
No one is forcing a new format on you. If you dont want to buy any blu-ray movies... then don't. If you're complaining about the price, wait a year or two and the prices will drop. By then you might be caught up to date with your stack of games to play.
The $500 model PS3 doesn't have a memory card reader, so no one is "gouging" you for one. Memory cards/ sticks will not be required to store save games.
The rootkit FUD doesn't apply because the PS3 won't connect to your computer unless you explicitly do so.
The way people have already passed judgement on the PS3 and the Wii before even seeing a single finished game tells me one thing; the whole "it's the games that matter" philosophy doesn't count when its time to pick on the market leader.
As for the PS2 being over $250 for two years, it has always had an equal or lesser pricetag than the xbox.
No, but you are a prime example of what I was saying. You still have your old mac in good working condition. However, you ALSO bought a new MacBook. I never said that you would trash your old mac; just that you would replace/ upgrade to a newer model [for your main computer].
a) i was referring to /my own personal experience/ with the ipod phenomenon. it only pertained to ipods. i have a 4g ipod. they are becoming an increasingly rare sight as people are upgrading their ipods. My 4g is under 2 years old! the 1-4g ipod owners haven't disappeared, they've just upgraded to the newer models. when you add in the new ipod users, you wind up with very nice sales figures for apple. thats very good for apple.
b) all i was stating is that a PC is usually cheaper than a comparable apple counterpart. there is a larger percentage of apple users that like to be bleeding edge than there are in the pc world. they account for a large majority of sales. like you said, you have alot of users that are finally upgrading after having a mac after a few years, or need to use new programs that are specifically written for OSX+, and pretty soon will need to use programs only available for the intel macs. add to that fact, people are switching to macs in droves, but VERY few switch back. thats where you get those kinds of numbers.
That's kinda sorta the point I was trying to make. Apple comes along every so often and changes their hardware/ software philosophy so drastically that in order to use the latest software, you need to purchase a new computer and vice versa. Legacy support has always been there, but when many users wish to upgrade their software/hardware, but in order to use the new software/hardware you also need new hardware/ software.
In the last five-six years apple has undergone DRASTIC changes that require wholely new software/ hardware. OSX required new software to be written and for legacy programs to run on OS 9. Now you have to contend with the intel switch. Some programs require not much new work/ patching if at all, but most do.
Jobs' keynote can totally change the mac landscape in a matter of months. There have been how many apple hardware and software revisions since the windows XP debut?
When MS announces that 90% of all programs that have worked under windows since forever will not work in their next operating system without patching or a wholely new purchase, the computer world will be at thier throats. The PC world for the most part has been so stagnant [dont get me wrong here; this isn't a good thing], that with some notable exceptions you can "run" nearly every program ever written since DOS on the most cutting edge windows gaming box out there. If you upgrade the family PC, grandma is normally okay since her old version of solitaire still works.
a) apple is in a different boat than your average consumer electronic giant.
ipod sales dont/ wont dry up, because the majority of apple fans buy the latest apple product with less thought than they would from a different company. when apple announces a new ipod, those who own the previous model upgrade. this is only the case when dealing with apple. if sony announces a new model of walkman, those who bought one last year don't immediately upgrade. if treo or blackberry comes out with a new model those with last years' model don't immediately upgrade. plus there is always an influx of those consumers that have been on the fence; they want to buy their first ipod, but they know there will be a new model debuting soon and are waiting for that one.
b) of course macs are overpriced. this is apple afterall. when have apple products EVER been cheaply priced? the mac mini was close, but even that was expensive compared to a comparable PC. you forget how rabid apple fans are. within the next year, i guarantee that apple will release their next model of mac equipped with a new style, an incremental processor speed increase, a blu-ray player/ burner, and whatever new mac tech theyve been r&d'ing for the last year. the hardcore mac fans will look to upgrade to this new bleeding edge/ must have tech and you will see a new flow of sales. apple "newness" never goes away for the hardcore.
what happens is that people preorder the consoles and dont have the money to pay for them all at once. they put down the measly $5 deposits for their xbox360s and on day one they post an ad on ebay for an outrageous amount of money. they wait until the paypal money comes through before they go pickup their pre-order console. at this point they /already/ have the profit. anyone with $5 can perform this type of grift.
the plan doesnt prevent the outrageous ebay markups. what this plan does is prevent people from ordering as many ahead of time. i remember people were ordering up to 10 xbox360s for ebay @ $5-$50 a deposit. if you have to make an ~50% deposit, unless you have a couple thousand dollars to invest in the scheme you will have to limit the number of consoles you preorder ahead of time.
i had a similar experience with my old xbox1 live account.
my bank was bought out and i needed to update my card number for all of my accounts. of course i forgot to update my xbox live account, so i had to go through the same arduous task of reassigning a new card to my live account. i tried to do it via the live interface on the xbox, but eventually had to call in.
you can play a ps1, ps2, psp and presumably a ps3 fine without ever needing to connect it to anything outside of the occassional wall outlet and tv. "phone home"? either you're being sarcastic or you have one hell of a tin foil hat collection at home.
brand loyalty is a pretty strong thing. i am not necessarily speaking about the playstation brand, but with the majority of games that are synonymous with the playstation name. there are alot of games that are cross platform, but the major games that defined the ps2 are still exclusive up until this point. [metal gear, tekken, devil may cry, final fantasy, gran turismo, ratchet and clank, etc] You are right that most gamers aren't loyal to any particular system, but gamers are definitely loyal to the games they like. with statements coming directly from hideo kojima stating that "metal gear solid is made for playstation", that carries alot of weight with gamers that follow series like that. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?i d=139826
a simultaneous release of GTA IV could be a major blow, since that is a huge franchise that they are losing exclusivity with.
im just using this example from the reception of the gamecube. non-gamers prefer their consoles to blend in with the rest of their electronics, thats true. demographics and what people want from consoles are vastly different from what people want from handhelds.
when the ps2 was released, i personally thought it was expensive. the ps3 looks like it will elicit the same response from me. its real expensive. people will desire it, and eventually purchase it when it drops to their price range.
/may/ be alot of people. 50%? im not so sure. according to the streets and the average consumer, maybe not so much. interest in purchasing a ps3 is STILL through the roof in the US, Europe and Japan. we will just have to wait and see...
the reason the industry grew so much this past generation is undoubtedly due to the ps2. numbers are in sony's favor. even if they alienated 50% of their established fanbase this generation [which they have not...] but speaking hypothetically there is another 50 million sony loyalists that are willing to buy the ps3 once the price fits into their range.
Of the 50 million hypothetical sony deserters, lets split them evenly amongst the two other parties. that would bring both other consoles to around 45mil sales; still less marketshare than sony. that also is under the assumption that every xbox and gamecube owner will buy the next iteration of their console, and that there are NO ps2 users that own a ps2 and/or an xbox or gamecube. given that many users own several consoles, that only diminishes the numbers in the MS and nintendo columns. not sonys'.
what it comes down to is: "how many people have sony pissed off?"
according to the internet, it
where i think that nintendo may be onto something is the fact that they are trying to pull in non gamers. the sony and MS fans have pretty much already made their decisions. each time they can pull in a brand new gamer for the first time, that works in their benefit.
my opinion is that it works in theory. but bringing [console] gaming to your mother isnt going to happen. sure plenty of gameboys and ds's were sold to older people so they could play tetris, or brain age on the go. but its a wholely different beast when it comes to playing a home console. not many non-gamers [specifically older people] will go out and buy a console to connect to their tv sets. whereas the gameboy or ds can be tucked away when company comes by. a console is too complicated to just connect and disconnect all the time, and no matter how aesthetically pleasing it is; most non-gamers will cringe at the thought of explaining to nongaming visitors that the lil box and the strip under their tv belongs to a "children's" video game called a "wii". theres a reason why the ps2 and ps3 look similar to stereo components.
That chart only has japan numbers up through May 2006 I believe. It definitely doesn't have the new numbers for the ds lite. its certainly feasible for the DS lite to have sold a million or more in the last two months, extrapolating from how well its been selling lately. That would put the numbers around the same area give or take as that report.
As for where their numbers come from: "Most numbers are [cited] from NPD, Media Create, Famitsu, or Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft press releases/financial reports."
http://www.videogamecharts.com/page3.html
/certain/ that the PSP is failing? behind? yes, but failing? I'm not so sure about that.
http://www.videogamecharts.com/page5.html
Given the actual sales numbers before the DS lite became available, are you still
Amongst those of us on the internet the DS is perfect, the PSP is dying and everyone is anticipating the wii, but we don't always echo the sentiments of the mainstream public whose spending dollars far exceed ours.
Personally I think that the homebrew scene on the PSP is seen as much more easier to tap into than the DS from the perspective of someone not familiar with technology. It's sorta like how "power users" had been downloading mp3s for years via IRC, ftps and the internet, but as soon as napster came along and allowed the average layperson to download music, internet piracy became a huge, huge deal.
piracy on the PSP used to be as simple as: 1) download these two precompiled files to this folder on your PSP. 2) add your iso to a folder here... and lil johnny is an instant pirate!
You just have to keep checking the internet [not ebay]. I bought a 1gb ms duo last october/november last year for $60. i held off buying them until I could grab one for under $99. I saw a link to one a few weeks ago selling for $35. the 2gb was on sale for ~$65. I remember thinking that I should have waiting a bit longer and gotten more for my money.
The deals are out there, but from your post I'm assuming you don't own a PSP. If you don't own a PSP or a sony camera, I can understand why you wouldn't have an eye out for the deals.
What are you smoking? The psp is selling very well. In the US the PSP was outselling the original DS [not the DS lite] for the greater part of the year. In fact, if the DS didn't have a lead on launch the two systems would be selling evenly with the PSP in the lead.
http://www.videogamecharts.com/page3.html
In japan, the PSP was only a million or so units behind. Now that the DS lite is available, the DS is taking a much larger lead, but the two systems are still fighting neck and neck. The DS lite is outselling the PSP by a factor of four, but the PSP is still the #2 selling video game system in Japan.
http://www.videogamecharts.com/page5.html
These are actual sales numbers, and not shipped.
Given how many PSP gamers have decided to not play any new games, its interesting that PSP software sales is #2 in japanese marketshare.
http://www.m-create.com/eng/e_ranking.html
When will people on the internet stop assuming that because the ds is doing well, that automatically means that the PSP is failing? Stop listening to the blind fans on both sides and check the facts every so often.
beat me to it. theres a very clear warning that the icon that you are about to view may contain offensive imagery. anyone offended needs to take it up with themselves and that individual; not the law.
next thing you know they are gonna sue aol for giving people the ability to create icons that depict certain acts. whats next? no more "subversive" icons.
They are going back and reworking Metroid Prime 3 and in Red Steel. People loved the higher sensitivity over time because even though its not perfect... it was alot closer to using a mouse. They have gone back to the drawing board to revamp the turning and aiming mechanisms for them both.
They both still rely on the console auto-aim crutch and have to adopt whats being called invisible box movement. Basically movement is normal and works how you would expect so long as you keep the pointer directed within an invisible box within the screen. If you move outside that box, the screen turns. The analog attachment simply controls forwards, backwards, and strafing movement.
I hope it works out, but looking at the description that this is probably going to be the de facto form of movement and navigation in first person affairs slightly bothers me. Has anyone tried to use a PC or a laptop where you set the resolution higher than the display can handle. It "works", but its highly bothersome to have to scroll all over and then recenter yourself quickly if you overshot your intended destination.
as of e3, MS only had 3 million x360s in the market... total. 3 million "shipped" in the first seven months; shipped, not sold...
north america is their biggest sales region, but sales are only ~1.7 million here. [these were MS' own numbers from e3] the x360 "shortage" is over, but the consoles still arent flying off the shelves. it is still being outsold by a "weak" six year old console. x360 sales are far below sales of the original xbox. to put things in perspective; in its first couple of weeks, the ps2 sold almost as many consoles as the x360 has sold in what? seven months... http://videogamecharts.com/page2.html
needless to say, i hope the x360 does well. i plan to add to their sales numbers myself, some software that they have is actually worth the prize of the console, but to say that they are going to have 10 million units in the market [basically 210% more units in the next four months...] thats crazy talk.