Just a heads up, since it seems from your post that you haven't heard. FF13s exclusivity has already been called into question, with the president of Squeenix's European division stating that the title's exclusivity is not assured. Although, if I were S-E, I'd probably be more interested in talking with Nintendo than with Microsoft, due to the much higher sales of Wiis in Japan. Sure the graphics might take a hit, but the game would still be about 10x prittier than FF12, if it were on the Wii. Both systems would be about equally as difficult to port to (ie: much easier than porting to the PS3). Then again, if exclusivity is openned up, why not just port to all 3? Coding is only a very small part of the process of making an RPG, anyway. Once you have all the models, writing, and design completed, you may as well shoot them over to all systems.
Square made Sony what it is (with FF7)... and they can break them just as easily.
Actually, the full name of the game is "Super Mario 64 DS". It's not so much a remake as a port with a few additional features. I think it's perfectly reasonable to point out that Mairo 64 runs on the DS. I don't know why you would get so angry with the poster for mentioning anything like this, for one thing, it's perfectly true. Furthermore, questioning the +1 insightful in that manner is simply childish, he had a perfectly ligitimate reason for marking it in that way.
Furthermore, WHY run Mario 64 on the PSP? If you're into Nintendo's games, buy a DS, it's cheeper, and the games are catered directly to the system. It's going to be a very long time before Ocarina of Time is able to run on a PSP, and by that time, we'll have Phantom Hourglass, a NEW game. Playing old games is great, but it's stupid to be playing them at the expense of good new games.
This news is both good and bad. For one, firstly, it spells the end of DRM. Unfortunately, it may also spell the end of the "one price fits all" policy that has made Apple so popular. This sets a new precident, that at least in some form or another, Apple is willing to negotiate price for material. Also, if this is eventually kills DRM, then Apple's entire music library will inevitably be priced at $1.29, which is not nearly as convenient, in people's minds, as the $0.99 price of yesteryear.
This could be, eventually, very bad for Apple. I'm actually sorta amaized to see them go through with this, since it also means that other music players (like the Zune) will now have access to iTMS, which is not Apple's main money maker. Maybe this is a huge part of the price bump, which may help cover for the lost iPod sales that will result from this.
Of course, you're stupid if you think you can insite a boycott by just simply not buying a product. It's just a personal thing, I'll feel icky about myself if I support them. Sure, it's not going to make a dent for them, but it'll make a difference to me.
Actually, Microsoft is just as bad, you're right. I never said otherwise... I could have picked many many more companies out, those were just the first 3 that came to mind.
Hopefully, we'll stop having to hear these assholes talk about how the Wii is "kiddy". People will come to their senses and realize that by "kiddy" they simply mean, "not between the ages of 12 and 18", which makes the other consoles look a mite immature by comparison.
While I'd agree with the mouse being a great aiming system, the keyboard is a bit of a detriment. Keyboards were never built to be used for gaming, they're not ergonomically set up for how they're being used, and the keys have no physical relationship to eachother to allow for the best possible access. Gamepads, on the other hand, are created with gaming specifically in mind. They've never been designed for pin-point accuracy like a mouse was (A-Pads are designed for moving a character in one direction or the other at a precise speed, but they're no good at hitting a target quickly), but the button layouts are a lot better. There are less buttons, and their positioning has been researched to maximize memory recall of different functions (especially on things like the GameCube controller, where each button gives a different tactile reference point for the brain to interpret).
Keyboard customization is another huge problem. The fact is, people guess at what is the best possible setup for their individual needs, but in actuality, unless you have an advanced degree in psychology and have done intensive research into tactile and spacial perception, they're not going to be the most knowledgable person about interface design. This is why I despise the idea of keyboard and gamepad reconfiguration. I find that a lot more thought goes into default gamepad interface configuration than default keyboard interface configuration, because PC game developers realize that gamers are just gonna fuck with it anyway.
That's why I think, eventually, when developers get their head out of their asses (and abandon the bounding box technique used today) the Wiimote will eventually be the best device for FPSs, because it has almost the precision of a mouse, but does away with the clunkiness of a keyboard.
Ya know, like how the iPod was going to destroy the prestine image of Apple back in 2001? What a fucking idiot this guy always seems to be. Sure the iPhone isn't going to break any records out of the gate, but its something to grow on. It's the way things have to work: the first adopters are always going to be techies, who want the most features possible... this subsidizes the marketing of lower-end models which target the mainstream consumer. It's a good business strategy when trying to bring out a new type of gadget.
The Zune failed because it tried to copy something that was already on the market, but started with the high end. The opposite would have been better, here, they should have started with really low-end models and worked their way up, because Microsoft wasn't really aiming to establish a new kind of device. The iPhone, on the other hand, is really pushing to try and bring a fairly unique kind of device into the mainstream market place, so they have to start at the top.
There's a reason Dvorak never gets hired for consulting work, he has no idea what goes into a good business strategy. I don't know why we even post his fluff on here any more. I say slashdot just ignore him from now on, and he'll eventually go away.
Everyone's got the same problem: General Motors, George Bush, and now Sony. The populis screems to have less of something, and what do they do? Put out MORE and BIGGER things! It's like how GM saw a fall-off in sales of low-gas-milage vehicles, and in their struggle to keep alive, how do they respond? They put out a brand new line of HUGE SUVs! Similarly, the voters asked Bush to start pulling troups out of Iraq, and what does he do? He sends even more in! Now Sony's facing platauing sales of the PS3, consumers are saying that the unit is too expensive, and what do they do? They make an even more powerful (and most likely, more expensive) one!
What is this new trend? People are screaming for businesses and politicians to CALM THE FUCK DOWN, and they respond by throwing it in our face. This strikes me as bad business. GMs facing possible bankrupcy, Bush's polls are lower than ever... why is Sony so eager to join them?
Steve Jobs (MadTV): "No, what the iRaq needs, precisely, is MORE THINGS!"
Maybe this was slightly different, but I knew two guys back in high school who were genetically half-identical twins. I guess the condition was caused by the polar body (which normally disentigrates) containing enough cytoplasm to sustain itself, and thus allowing it to be fertilized by a sperm other than its pair. They refered to this as "Polar Body Twins". It is extremely rare, but not unheard of. Furthermore, they really looked the part, being much closer in appearance than fraternal twins, but being subtley different from identical twins.
There seems to be a hot debate over the possibility of this happening. Some scientists fully support the notion that this happens, while some have rejected the notion altogether, citing that polar body's don't "normally" contain enough cytoplasm to sustain themselves. But this sounds like a rediculous arguement, to me, since the exact amount of cytoplasm that is both required for fertilization, and the exact amount that a polar body usually contain, very wildly.
Unfortunately, it's very difficult to confirm whether or not this occurs, since percentage of difference in genetics between both fraternal twins and polar body twins is not exact. Polar Body twins will always contain between 50% to 100% of the same genentics (averaging at 75%0, where-as fraternal twins could be anywhere between 0% to 100% similarity. So, my friends will never actually know whether they developed from identical zygotes, but their genetic makeup was similar enough, that many doctors speculated that this was the case.
Being 2007 doesn't have anything to do with it. Solitary entertainment has been around for millenia; it isn't going anywhere. It's not just old hat, it's extremely old, tried and true, old hat. The "everyone else is doing it" attitude doens't inspire any great new content. Nintendo's taking their own route, "single player fun", and I'd rather they do that as best they can, than dillute their resources by jumping onboard the online multiplayer fad.
However, whether creative marketing can be bought... is up for grabs. The more marketing teams you pay, the greater chance that one of them will come up with a truly creative idea that will make your product print money. Unfortunately, you also run the risk of diluting tallent, and following safer routes, instead of more creative and more spontaneous routes. Its all about management and your ability to give your marketing personel the freedom to try new things.
Case in point, Apple is no fluke. Every marketting campaign they do is a winner, at least for the last decade. From the "Think Different" campaign, to the "I'm a Mac" commercials, you bet they've bought "cool". When people start surfing YouTube and your website, simply to watch your commercials, as entertainment, you know you've got something special. This is no accident, the fact is that Apple, and their marketting partners, do a damn good job at inspiring their creative minds to be as open as possible. THAT'S how you buy "cool". This costs money, yes, but it takes a lot more than that.
Yes it is, and for good reason. Online multiplayer is the last psychographic Nintendo wants to hit, there are many consiquences for doing so. Blinding going into the online multiplayer market before establishing a good, solid, lineup of single-player and offline multiplayer games could have dier consiquences. It's quite possibly the single biggest reason why the DS and the Wii are doing so well, by heavily concentrating on offline gaming. Many many people are annoyed, intimidated with, and turned off by online multiplayer gaming. Currently, they're getting their fix (and thus fairly silent), but with the current trend toward strongarming developers into putting their games online, that could change very quickly.
The other consoles are taking over the huge gaping hole left behind by PC gaming, Nintendo has an opportunity to remain the bastion of traditional console gaming, and the followers that that genre has produced. I think its very wise of them to stay as far away from online games as long as they possibly can, in order to build up a pretty substantial library of single-player and offline multiplayer games.
Personally, my favorite version of multiplayer is sitting around, discussing games with my buds over a beer at the bar.
But I'm not sure this makes a lot of sense. "Making goal" for the quarter isn't exactly the most important issue in the world, in comparison to the livelyhood of an entire console generation. I'm not saying that they didn't intentionally short the supply, but I doubt that it was for this reason alone, it's just too risky. I doubt it was to make the launch look incredible either, because they still did incredibly well, and would have sold out even if they had put twice the number of units into circulation.
Probably a more practical reason is to short the supply of units during the innitial games draught, a game release slump which is simply unavoidable for any console. If 5 million people get their Wii off the bat, and then have to wait 6 months for good games to start coming out, you're going to have a lot of angry people. Currently, most people are still focused on getting the damn system itself, and don't have time to bitch about the lack of games. Now that some big titles, such as Super Paper Mario, and possibly MP3 are on the horizon, they can satisfy more customers, with less public backlash.
...but not in the near future. I think we can be guarenteed that 10 years down the road, we'll probably be carrying single-unit devices that pretty much do all our portable computer-oriented needs. But until the iPhone can begin to match the iPod in cost and sport a reasonable amount of flash drive space, the iPod will still dominate.
This is just the first generation of iPhones. Apple usually starts at the top of the market, and works its way down. A year out, we'll have the equivelent of an iPhone Nano—reduced features, smaller, and cheaper—and that's when the line will really first begin to take off. Meanwhile, the Pro line will expand in functionality, space, and the UI will get better.
But we're not looking at an overnight revolution, here. But yeah, the iPhone may eventually replace the iPod, but not for years.
So, Sony has a counter weapon. They can threaten not to release FF on PS3, and Squeenix either loses Japanese sales or goes to Wii or even DS (like Dragon Quest).
Why the hell would Sony want to lose one of the best selling series in the world? What reason do they have for being mad at S-E? If anything, the threat would be the other way around. S-E is doing Sony a huge favor if they stick with remaining PS3 exlusive (for the main series), and I'm sure Sony is offering to pay handly for it. But it's such a huge favor, however, that one wonders whether, in Sony's fairly skimpy pockets, they have enough to really cover the exclusivity licenses. S-E also has to consider its future. If they truly see the PS3 as sinking ship, they will jump off it. Each game is so immense, and there is so much riding on it, that one title released on a failing console could be disasterous to them. If the shareholders become too freaked out, they will probably have to jump off the PS3 exclusivity license no matter how much Sony offers them for it.
Which is more important? For me, I've usually got a bag on me... so I'd MUCH rather take ergonomics over size, any day.
I just don't think it's possible to design something that's small enough to fit in your pocket, yet still be ergonomic enough to hold and operate for long periods of time.
I'd rather see a slightly larger handheld with enough plastic to get my fingers around in a comfortable fashion, yet be about the same weight (or possibly slightly more) than your average console controller. This isn't just a question of hand size either, it's a question of shape, a perfect rectangle is just awkward.
I don't think pockets should really be any sort of measure, anyway. Almost everyone has some kind of bag if they've got enough forsite to bring their handheld game console with them. Where do you put the games? Where do you put all the other things that you're going to be needing, if you're out long enough to have any need to play a game?
iPods get away with it because: a) you don't hold and operate them for long periods of time at a stretch. b) they need to be even more "pick up" and "put down" friendly than a game system, since many people simply go jogging with them, without carrying anything else. I can't remember the last time I was out with a game system without anything else to carry.
I think you're onto something with there being a powerplay here. Remember the whole Wii region coding outburst? Reggie Fils-Aime "confirmed" that Wii discs would be region free, and had no disagreement from Japan. A few days later, however, the the CEO of Nintendo of France made a public outbust as to the fact that Reggie was full of it, and that there would be region encoding. If I remember correctly, the mothership put it to rest by saying he was incorrect, and that there would be no region coding, to his disgust.
Now, that was a situation in which this was obviously something that was directingly going to effect one country's division in particular, and thus he was in on the process, and had a dissagreement with how he was being treated. In this case I doubt Sony's French division has any direct dealings with Square-Enix, but I'm sure they're privilage to anything regarding the state of their talks.
But there deffinitely is a lot of hostility from the European game industry toward the US and Japan, probably especially so with Sony, who has almost insured the PS3s demise in Europe, by acting completely apathetic to the wishes of the european game community. The US and Japan get all the attention, get the first version (even though most european games are simply the English translation). With the gradual decline of NTSC/PAL, it SHOULD be easier to make hardware and software for all regions. Unfortunately, it appears that things are just getting worse.
Believe it. Actually, their first album really isn't all that original, it was just the most radio friendly. It's by far the most "status quo" of their albums. All the tracks are actual "songs", they're tonal, and use fairly standard instruments. Now, they're doing basically electro-acoustic art music mixed with some rock and jazz influences. Their albums are almost completely instrumental now, with a few songs here and there. They take a lot of harmonic influences from early 20th century neo-classical music (especially Bartok), but also dive into atonality on occation. Their instrumentation is just as funky. Their drummer has a completely melded together arrangement of accoustic and electronic drums, with racks of synths dedicated to tweeking the electronic stuff. They no longer have a normal bass player, all their bass players since the 80s have played the Chapman Stick (a 10-stringed instrument that is played by fretting with both hands, thus allowing for complex counterpoint). They're big into heavy processing and are never afraid to dive into new technlogies, and always find extremely creative ways to use them.
I highly recommend "The Power to Believe" (I know, terrible title), which illustrates a lot of these things.
On other things, Robert Fripp is now in charge of all the sound engineering for Microsoft. All of the sound effects for Vista were created by him. Don't know if this is exactly a possitive thing in my book, but it is interesting.
Yeah, but top execs, no matter what country they're from, are all privilage to all the pertinant information surrounding the company. This isn't just speculation, it's someone who we KNOW is "in the know", making a statement... that he probably wasn't supposed to make. Ooops. Still, this isn't like a rumor like, "someone who will remain annonymous but is supposedly a reputable source told someone else who then told a web magazine that FF13's exclusivity is in question". Seeing this guy's status in the company, it might as well have been from the CEO himself.
They already have a great all-purpose pad... the Virtual Console Controller. Simply make a plug for that, and allow games to recieve data from the device.
But this won't happen, for a number of reasons. First off, the plug for the VCC is HUGE, so there'd have to be an adaptor, which gets more complicated than Nintendo is comfortable with. Secondly, it'd kill the whole purpose behind the DS: the touch screen. Before you know it, game manufacturer's would be slipping back into old habits and have analog control as the primary input. In a perfect world, we'd see both input styles, used side by side, but Nintendo is trying to wein game developers off their old habits by not providing them with the old input devices, and so far, it's worked like a charm.
I think by next generation, however, developers will be comfortable enough with the touch screen interface, that Nintendo can bring back analog sticks, and I expect to see a pair of them on the next handheld (Nintendo is insistant about being equally attentive to the needs of left-handed people, especially since some of their primary developers are left handed). It's not impossible to imagine the inclusion a fairly standard, though small, analog stick with indentations in the clamshell to house them when closed.
But I think it would be best if, for a handheld, they started with a simple controller, like the VCC, and then designed the screen into that form so that the basic feel is similar to that of a normal game controller. Obviously, they'd have to make it wider to accomidate for the screen(s). As it is, the buttons are just too damn close to the edge of the moulding, so that you have to balance the unit on your fingers. I have fairly small hands, but even it's uncomfortable for me. The Lite is slightly better, for some reason, and my left hand doesn't end up falling asleep after 5 minutes like it did with the Phat.
I have yet to play a handheld that was anywhere as ergonomic as a console controller. The Logitech PS2 controller I have is amazing, so are the GCN controllers and the 360 controllers. Even the Wiimote/nunchuck, which I (although very excited) was worried was going to be hard to hold, I don't have any problem playing with for hours on end. But handhelds are still in the stone age, as far as ergonomics are concerned. They're slightly better than an NES controller... but wow, that's not saying much.
It's a tough one, how do you make a handheld that's ergonomic enough to play for hours on end, while at the same time being regularly enough shaped to be able to fit in a small space.
Also, remember that FFVII and FFVIII were released on PC. I played both of them for the first time in that format, and aside from a few minor complaints, both worked great (the translation was, in fact, slightly improved in the PC version of FFVII).
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Just a heads up, since it seems from your post that you haven't heard. FF13s exclusivity has already been called into question, with the president of Squeenix's European division stating that the title's exclusivity is not assured. Although, if I were S-E, I'd probably be more interested in talking with Nintendo than with Microsoft, due to the much higher sales of Wiis in Japan. Sure the graphics might take a hit, but the game would still be about 10x prittier than FF12, if it were on the Wii. Both systems would be about equally as difficult to port to (ie: much easier than porting to the PS3). Then again, if exclusivity is openned up, why not just port to all 3? Coding is only a very small part of the process of making an RPG, anyway. Once you have all the models, writing, and design completed, you may as well shoot them over to all systems.
Square made Sony what it is (with FF7)... and they can break them just as easily.
Actually, the full name of the game is "Super Mario 64 DS". It's not so much a remake as a port with a few additional features. I think it's perfectly reasonable to point out that Mairo 64 runs on the DS. I don't know why you would get so angry with the poster for mentioning anything like this, for one thing, it's perfectly true. Furthermore, questioning the +1 insightful in that manner is simply childish, he had a perfectly ligitimate reason for marking it in that way.
Furthermore, WHY run Mario 64 on the PSP? If you're into Nintendo's games, buy a DS, it's cheeper, and the games are catered directly to the system. It's going to be a very long time before Ocarina of Time is able to run on a PSP, and by that time, we'll have Phantom Hourglass, a NEW game. Playing old games is great, but it's stupid to be playing them at the expense of good new games.
This news is both good and bad. For one, firstly, it spells the end of DRM. Unfortunately, it may also spell the end of the "one price fits all" policy that has made Apple so popular. This sets a new precident, that at least in some form or another, Apple is willing to negotiate price for material. Also, if this is eventually kills DRM, then Apple's entire music library will inevitably be priced at $1.29, which is not nearly as convenient, in people's minds, as the $0.99 price of yesteryear.
This could be, eventually, very bad for Apple. I'm actually sorta amaized to see them go through with this, since it also means that other music players (like the Zune) will now have access to iTMS, which is not Apple's main money maker. Maybe this is a huge part of the price bump, which may help cover for the lost iPod sales that will result from this.
Of course, you're stupid if you think you can insite a boycott by just simply not buying a product. It's just a personal thing, I'll feel icky about myself if I support them. Sure, it's not going to make a dent for them, but it'll make a difference to me.
Well, only if you're using the anime definition of "old people"... that being anyone over the age of 18.
Actually, Microsoft is just as bad, you're right. I never said otherwise... I could have picked many many more companies out, those were just the first 3 that came to mind.
Hopefully, we'll stop having to hear these assholes talk about how the Wii is "kiddy". People will come to their senses and realize that by "kiddy" they simply mean, "not between the ages of 12 and 18", which makes the other consoles look a mite immature by comparison.
While I'd agree with the mouse being a great aiming system, the keyboard is a bit of a detriment. Keyboards were never built to be used for gaming, they're not ergonomically set up for how they're being used, and the keys have no physical relationship to eachother to allow for the best possible access. Gamepads, on the other hand, are created with gaming specifically in mind. They've never been designed for pin-point accuracy like a mouse was (A-Pads are designed for moving a character in one direction or the other at a precise speed, but they're no good at hitting a target quickly), but the button layouts are a lot better. There are less buttons, and their positioning has been researched to maximize memory recall of different functions (especially on things like the GameCube controller, where each button gives a different tactile reference point for the brain to interpret).
Keyboard customization is another huge problem. The fact is, people guess at what is the best possible setup for their individual needs, but in actuality, unless you have an advanced degree in psychology and have done intensive research into tactile and spacial perception, they're not going to be the most knowledgable person about interface design. This is why I despise the idea of keyboard and gamepad reconfiguration. I find that a lot more thought goes into default gamepad interface configuration than default keyboard interface configuration, because PC game developers realize that gamers are just gonna fuck with it anyway.
That's why I think, eventually, when developers get their head out of their asses (and abandon the bounding box technique used today) the Wiimote will eventually be the best device for FPSs, because it has almost the precision of a mouse, but does away with the clunkiness of a keyboard.
Ya know, like how the iPod was going to destroy the prestine image of Apple back in 2001? What a fucking idiot this guy always seems to be. Sure the iPhone isn't going to break any records out of the gate, but its something to grow on. It's the way things have to work: the first adopters are always going to be techies, who want the most features possible... this subsidizes the marketing of lower-end models which target the mainstream consumer. It's a good business strategy when trying to bring out a new type of gadget.
The Zune failed because it tried to copy something that was already on the market, but started with the high end. The opposite would have been better, here, they should have started with really low-end models and worked their way up, because Microsoft wasn't really aiming to establish a new kind of device. The iPhone, on the other hand, is really pushing to try and bring a fairly unique kind of device into the mainstream market place, so they have to start at the top.
There's a reason Dvorak never gets hired for consulting work, he has no idea what goes into a good business strategy. I don't know why we even post his fluff on here any more. I say slashdot just ignore him from now on, and he'll eventually go away.
Jesus...
Everyone's got the same problem: General Motors, George Bush, and now Sony. The populis screems to have less of something, and what do they do? Put out MORE and BIGGER things! It's like how GM saw a fall-off in sales of low-gas-milage vehicles, and in their struggle to keep alive, how do they respond? They put out a brand new line of HUGE SUVs! Similarly, the voters asked Bush to start pulling troups out of Iraq, and what does he do? He sends even more in! Now Sony's facing platauing sales of the PS3, consumers are saying that the unit is too expensive, and what do they do? They make an even more powerful (and most likely, more expensive) one!
What is this new trend? People are screaming for businesses and politicians to CALM THE FUCK DOWN, and they respond by throwing it in our face. This strikes me as bad business. GMs facing possible bankrupcy, Bush's polls are lower than ever... why is Sony so eager to join them?
Steve Jobs (MadTV): "No, what the iRaq needs, precisely, is MORE THINGS!"
Maybe this was slightly different, but I knew two guys back in high school who were genetically half-identical twins. I guess the condition was caused by the polar body (which normally disentigrates) containing enough cytoplasm to sustain itself, and thus allowing it to be fertilized by a sperm other than its pair. They refered to this as "Polar Body Twins". It is extremely rare, but not unheard of. Furthermore, they really looked the part, being much closer in appearance than fraternal twins, but being subtley different from identical twins.
There seems to be a hot debate over the possibility of this happening. Some scientists fully support the notion that this happens, while some have rejected the notion altogether, citing that polar body's don't "normally" contain enough cytoplasm to sustain themselves. But this sounds like a rediculous arguement, to me, since the exact amount of cytoplasm that is both required for fertilization, and the exact amount that a polar body usually contain, very wildly.
Unfortunately, it's very difficult to confirm whether or not this occurs, since percentage of difference in genetics between both fraternal twins and polar body twins is not exact. Polar Body twins will always contain between 50% to 100% of the same genentics (averaging at 75%0, where-as fraternal twins could be anywhere between 0% to 100% similarity. So, my friends will never actually know whether they developed from identical zygotes, but their genetic makeup was similar enough, that many doctors speculated that this was the case.
Being 2007 doesn't have anything to do with it. Solitary entertainment has been around for millenia; it isn't going anywhere. It's not just old hat, it's extremely old, tried and true, old hat. The "everyone else is doing it" attitude doens't inspire any great new content. Nintendo's taking their own route, "single player fun", and I'd rather they do that as best they can, than dillute their resources by jumping onboard the online multiplayer fad.
However, whether creative marketing can be bought... is up for grabs. The more marketing teams you pay, the greater chance that one of them will come up with a truly creative idea that will make your product print money. Unfortunately, you also run the risk of diluting tallent, and following safer routes, instead of more creative and more spontaneous routes. Its all about management and your ability to give your marketing personel the freedom to try new things.
Case in point, Apple is no fluke. Every marketting campaign they do is a winner, at least for the last decade. From the "Think Different" campaign, to the "I'm a Mac" commercials, you bet they've bought "cool". When people start surfing YouTube and your website, simply to watch your commercials, as entertainment, you know you've got something special. This is no accident, the fact is that Apple, and their marketting partners, do a damn good job at inspiring their creative minds to be as open as possible. THAT'S how you buy "cool". This costs money, yes, but it takes a lot more than that.
Yes it is, and for good reason. Online multiplayer is the last psychographic Nintendo wants to hit, there are many consiquences for doing so. Blinding going into the online multiplayer market before establishing a good, solid, lineup of single-player and offline multiplayer games could have dier consiquences. It's quite possibly the single biggest reason why the DS and the Wii are doing so well, by heavily concentrating on offline gaming. Many many people are annoyed, intimidated with, and turned off by online multiplayer gaming. Currently, they're getting their fix (and thus fairly silent), but with the current trend toward strongarming developers into putting their games online, that could change very quickly.
The other consoles are taking over the huge gaping hole left behind by PC gaming, Nintendo has an opportunity to remain the bastion of traditional console gaming, and the followers that that genre has produced. I think its very wise of them to stay as far away from online games as long as they possibly can, in order to build up a pretty substantial library of single-player and offline multiplayer games.
Personally, my favorite version of multiplayer is sitting around, discussing games with my buds over a beer at the bar.
But I'm not sure this makes a lot of sense. "Making goal" for the quarter isn't exactly the most important issue in the world, in comparison to the livelyhood of an entire console generation. I'm not saying that they didn't intentionally short the supply, but I doubt that it was for this reason alone, it's just too risky. I doubt it was to make the launch look incredible either, because they still did incredibly well, and would have sold out even if they had put twice the number of units into circulation.
Probably a more practical reason is to short the supply of units during the innitial games draught, a game release slump which is simply unavoidable for any console. If 5 million people get their Wii off the bat, and then have to wait 6 months for good games to start coming out, you're going to have a lot of angry people. Currently, most people are still focused on getting the damn system itself, and don't have time to bitch about the lack of games. Now that some big titles, such as Super Paper Mario, and possibly MP3 are on the horizon, they can satisfy more customers, with less public backlash.
...by installing linux, you're supporting terrorism.
...but not in the near future. I think we can be guarenteed that 10 years down the road, we'll probably be carrying single-unit devices that pretty much do all our portable computer-oriented needs. But until the iPhone can begin to match the iPod in cost and sport a reasonable amount of flash drive space, the iPod will still dominate.
This is just the first generation of iPhones. Apple usually starts at the top of the market, and works its way down. A year out, we'll have the equivelent of an iPhone Nano—reduced features, smaller, and cheaper—and that's when the line will really first begin to take off. Meanwhile, the Pro line will expand in functionality, space, and the UI will get better.
But we're not looking at an overnight revolution, here. But yeah, the iPhone may eventually replace the iPod, but not for years.
Why the hell would Sony want to lose one of the best selling series in the world? What reason do they have for being mad at S-E? If anything, the threat would be the other way around. S-E is doing Sony a huge favor if they stick with remaining PS3 exlusive (for the main series), and I'm sure Sony is offering to pay handly for it. But it's such a huge favor, however, that one wonders whether, in Sony's fairly skimpy pockets, they have enough to really cover the exclusivity licenses. S-E also has to consider its future. If they truly see the PS3 as sinking ship, they will jump off it. Each game is so immense, and there is so much riding on it, that one title released on a failing console could be disasterous to them. If the shareholders become too freaked out, they will probably have to jump off the PS3 exclusivity license no matter how much Sony offers them for it.
Which is more important? For me, I've usually got a bag on me... so I'd MUCH rather take ergonomics over size, any day.
I just don't think it's possible to design something that's small enough to fit in your pocket, yet still be ergonomic enough to hold and operate for long periods of time.
I'd rather see a slightly larger handheld with enough plastic to get my fingers around in a comfortable fashion, yet be about the same weight (or possibly slightly more) than your average console controller. This isn't just a question of hand size either, it's a question of shape, a perfect rectangle is just awkward.
I don't think pockets should really be any sort of measure, anyway. Almost everyone has some kind of bag if they've got enough forsite to bring their handheld game console with them. Where do you put the games? Where do you put all the other things that you're going to be needing, if you're out long enough to have any need to play a game?
iPods get away with it because:
a) you don't hold and operate them for long periods of time at a stretch.
b) they need to be even more "pick up" and "put down" friendly than a game system, since many people simply go jogging with them, without carrying anything else. I can't remember the last time I was out with a game system without anything else to carry.
I think you're onto something with there being a powerplay here. Remember the whole Wii region coding outburst? Reggie Fils-Aime "confirmed" that Wii discs would be region free, and had no disagreement from Japan. A few days later, however, the the CEO of Nintendo of France made a public outbust as to the fact that Reggie was full of it, and that there would be region encoding. If I remember correctly, the mothership put it to rest by saying he was incorrect, and that there would be no region coding, to his disgust.
Now, that was a situation in which this was obviously something that was directingly going to effect one country's division in particular, and thus he was in on the process, and had a dissagreement with how he was being treated. In this case I doubt Sony's French division has any direct dealings with Square-Enix, but I'm sure they're privilage to anything regarding the state of their talks.
But there deffinitely is a lot of hostility from the European game industry toward the US and Japan, probably especially so with Sony, who has almost insured the PS3s demise in Europe, by acting completely apathetic to the wishes of the european game community. The US and Japan get all the attention, get the first version (even though most european games are simply the English translation). With the gradual decline of NTSC/PAL, it SHOULD be easier to make hardware and software for all regions. Unfortunately, it appears that things are just getting worse.
Believe it. Actually, their first album really isn't all that original, it was just the most radio friendly. It's by far the most "status quo" of their albums. All the tracks are actual "songs", they're tonal, and use fairly standard instruments. Now, they're doing basically electro-acoustic art music mixed with some rock and jazz influences. Their albums are almost completely instrumental now, with a few songs here and there. They take a lot of harmonic influences from early 20th century neo-classical music (especially Bartok), but also dive into atonality on occation. Their instrumentation is just as funky. Their drummer has a completely melded together arrangement of accoustic and electronic drums, with racks of synths dedicated to tweeking the electronic stuff. They no longer have a normal bass player, all their bass players since the 80s have played the Chapman Stick (a 10-stringed instrument that is played by fretting with both hands, thus allowing for complex counterpoint). They're big into heavy processing and are never afraid to dive into new technlogies, and always find extremely creative ways to use them.
I highly recommend "The Power to Believe" (I know, terrible title), which illustrates a lot of these things.
On other things, Robert Fripp is now in charge of all the sound engineering for Microsoft. All of the sound effects for Vista were created by him. Don't know if this is exactly a possitive thing in my book, but it is interesting.
Yeah, but top execs, no matter what country they're from, are all privilage to all the pertinant information surrounding the company. This isn't just speculation, it's someone who we KNOW is "in the know", making a statement... that he probably wasn't supposed to make. Ooops. Still, this isn't like a rumor like, "someone who will remain annonymous but is supposedly a reputable source told someone else who then told a web magazine that FF13's exclusivity is in question". Seeing this guy's status in the company, it might as well have been from the CEO himself.
They already have a great all-purpose pad... the Virtual Console Controller. Simply make a plug for that, and allow games to recieve data from the device.
But this won't happen, for a number of reasons. First off, the plug for the VCC is HUGE, so there'd have to be an adaptor, which gets more complicated than Nintendo is comfortable with. Secondly, it'd kill the whole purpose behind the DS: the touch screen. Before you know it, game manufacturer's would be slipping back into old habits and have analog control as the primary input. In a perfect world, we'd see both input styles, used side by side, but Nintendo is trying to wein game developers off their old habits by not providing them with the old input devices, and so far, it's worked like a charm.
I think by next generation, however, developers will be comfortable enough with the touch screen interface, that Nintendo can bring back analog sticks, and I expect to see a pair of them on the next handheld (Nintendo is insistant about being equally attentive to the needs of left-handed people, especially since some of their primary developers are left handed). It's not impossible to imagine the inclusion a fairly standard, though small, analog stick with indentations in the clamshell to house them when closed.
But I think it would be best if, for a handheld, they started with a simple controller, like the VCC, and then designed the screen into that form so that the basic feel is similar to that of a normal game controller. Obviously, they'd have to make it wider to accomidate for the screen(s). As it is, the buttons are just too damn close to the edge of the moulding, so that you have to balance the unit on your fingers. I have fairly small hands, but even it's uncomfortable for me. The Lite is slightly better, for some reason, and my left hand doesn't end up falling asleep after 5 minutes like it did with the Phat.
I have yet to play a handheld that was anywhere as ergonomic as a console controller. The Logitech PS2 controller I have is amazing, so are the GCN controllers and the 360 controllers. Even the Wiimote/nunchuck, which I (although very excited) was worried was going to be hard to hold, I don't have any problem playing with for hours on end. But handhelds are still in the stone age, as far as ergonomics are concerned. They're slightly better than an NES controller... but wow, that's not saying much.
It's a tough one, how do you make a handheld that's ergonomic enough to play for hours on end, while at the same time being regularly enough shaped to be able to fit in a small space.
Also, remember that FFVII and FFVIII were released on PC. I played both of them for the first time in that format, and aside from a few minor complaints, both worked great (the translation was, in fact, slightly improved in the PC version of FFVII).