My favorite thing about the new tagging beta is that the entire frontpage is always filled with like a constant glut of tags that say "Stupid" "lame" "advertisement" etc.
Slashdot's quality has been on a pretty steady decline, and with sites like Digg.com actually utilizing systems that work and bring solid stories for the most part, the last thing you would expect is to have a ever-present reminder of how shitty the "news" stories here really are.
I'm not sure of your level of knowledge of the entertainment industry, but routinely licensed titles have such short development times it is astounding. I have seen games be rushed to completion in less than 3 months from beginning to end to make a deadline of a movie premier.
The gamble is not so great as you make it seem, and neither are the time investments. Many "pop" CD's get thrown together in a month or so with pre-written songs, and pre-laid tracks. Sure there are some games/movies/CD's that are still crafted properly, but they are the minority rather than the norm and that is my gripe and the real shame. So much is sacrificed to meet bottom lines and please shareholders, entertainment wasn't always purely about the numbers and this cycle needs to be broken. Millionaire rappers/pop stars, actors, etc. Someone needs to hit the "reset" button on a number of these industries and get things back to reality. I would welcome a second depression if it would do just that.
To some degree this is true, but there is a difference between derivative and innovative. There is a huge lack of innovation in Games, music, and film these days in favor of quick cash-ins. To deny this is lunacy.
So by your reasoning, because Microsoft was able to offer an online system, that makes the entire system a success? Sure, Xbox Live was innovative... but very little that has been done with it is that innovative. If anything Xbox Live has succeeded DESPITE the Xbox and Microsoft. Due to the lack of games for the 360, people have jumped onto shit like Geometry wars and UNO for God's sake. The player interaction, however, is great. Now they just need a few top games to take advantage of it.
If you look at your reply to me that is the only counterpoint. So, I wouldn't jump to false reasoning and feel that one point somehow eclipses the rest. And I'm not sure how you were trying to state that the Xbox is not such a narrowly defined market. Males 18-mid/late 20's. The PS2 had games from educational titles, sesame street, spongebob, E, T, M, AO... the entire gamut. Xbox does not. That is a fact.
Hell, even the GC had a more diverse and wide audience with the limited library it had than the Xbox and 360 put together.
What you stated were not FACTS, they were your opinions. I worked as an analyst and reviewer in the industry for over 4 years... if you would like to talk facts I'll be happy to break down the numbers to back everything I said up. What you stated was that: "yeah, everything you said was true, but hey you forgot about Xbox Live."
Do you seriously believe that? Honestly. Microsoft's foray into gaming was a quick attempt to capitalize on the relatively large number of dollars spent on gaming. Their approach was shameful, a hastily thrown together stripped down PC and a very small library of games which included very few AAA titles. It had a very narrow target market and was by all acounts a failure on many levels.
They have made it quite clear that they have no real interests in innovation and moving gaming forward in any way but through HD graphics and same-old same-old titles. Regardless of your loyalty to MS, how can you support this? No other company could get away with this in any other industry but in gaming it is possible.
Take automobiles, say I'm Procter and Gamble and I have tons of money and I just throw tons of it into making a new car. It is a big honkin' car that is hastily thrown together from off the shelf parts, it goes really fast but does nothing else particularly well. I undercut myself on pricing and manage to move a few. Then I go on to a new revision which has a bit more refinement and some actual thought and research, but is still big, loud, expensive, and offers nothing new or different. This would be a massive failure and people would laugh at it, because it is so transparent that P&G is just throwing money at a car to try to gain some market share but that they could care less about actually giving customers something that makes _them_ feel good or fits their exact needs.
Backwards compatibility is not about directly increasing sales numbers. It is very indirect. Some consoles will be sold to those who never owned an Xbox but want to play 2-3 original games as well as 2-3 new ones. Some will be sold to those who otherwise would not have bought one due to their massive Xbox 1 collection. And a lot of backwards compatability really does not affect the bottom line, it is piece of mind and a loyalty issue.
Microsoft does not do piece of mind and loyalty, they like to forgo customer service, loyalty, and goodwill to their customers at every chance they get. THIS is what I do not support, and do not support in any industry. It has nothing to do with brand loyalty to a competitor, and everything to do with good business.
Well, even though you are AC you still have managed to make a straight ass of yourself.
DSL 135,614 PSP 24,595 PS2 18,513 GBASP 4,364
Even conservative numbers as these above have the DSL (and this is not counting regular DS sales, just DS Lite) at over 5:1 so when you add in regular DS sales the number is pretty damn close to a 10:1 ass-handing.
Also see how the PS2 is selling as well as the PSP, a 5 year old console. Christ the GBA SP still manages ~5k/month to the ~20k/month average of the PSP. *cue taps*
...to backpedal that often and that quickly? Microsoft in gaming is like the fat kid trying to make friends in school, he'll tell you anything to gain your friendship.
Fat Kid: "Yeah! I love the Xbox 360." You: "Eh, I'm more of a Sony fan." Fat Kid: "Oh, Yeah! I love Sony waaay more than Microsoft."
MS: We will make every Xbox game compatible on our horribly kludged backwards compatibility. Fans: Woo hoo! I'm buying an Xbox 360 then instead of an Xbox since I get the best of both worlds. MS: Um, screw this, it's hard and we don't make much money from the time investment... let's not push this anymore. MS: The next gen games are sooo great you don't need those old, crusty original titles after all. Fans: uhh, WTF? We actually remember you promising the moon and stars, what happened? MS: Oh, yeah, we were just kidding... I mean our comments got misconstrued, yeah that's it. Fans: *Holding their sore asses* Something makes us believe you really don't care about anything but our wallets...
How can people not see through this crap? Yet people keep going back to get anal raped over and over by them and somehow it never sinks in. Amazing.
My perfect setup doesn't involve an HDTV or an Xbox 360, but instead consists of a full audio cabinet that includes every system from an original Pong, Atari 2600, SMS, NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, Dreamcast, PS1, PS2, GC, and a few others like Neo Geo, 3D0, etc. all hooked up and playable.
The sheer fun factor blows any HDTV/Xbox 360 setup away. There isn't a human alive (including grandparents with Pong) that can resist playing something. It's kinda like a large scale Nintendo Wii.
They all see a fair bit of play, except the PS1, it has aged the worst of all of the systems which has been surprising.
Oh, my mistake... I thought the large number of press releases stating the companies who will no longer be producing UMD versions of their films, the total lack of quality games and the glacially slow release schedule, as well as the NPD retail sales numbers showing it lagging and slowing monthly were good indicators. I'm actually not a huge Nintendo fan, and regardless of what the OP was stating, my statement stands: I'm tired of people thinking that MS can win at anything by simply throwing enough money at the problem.
That is NOT how things work, and it is that mentaility and the large number of morons who gladly accept it that cause the problem in the first place.
Actually much more capable handhelds have tried and have never got the formula right. This market has nothing to do with masive amounts of money being thrown at it, in fact, that is precisely what Sony tried to do with the PSP and has been slowly fading since.
The Korean GP32 and the Wonderswan were the two handhelds that had some potential, but didn't make it.
Microsoft has no chance IMO, simply because they rely on DirectX and their API's for everything. Nintendo is able to fall back on a whole other platform with their handhelds and have a long history to pull knowledge and design from. To me, 3D is NOT what a handheld is about and for the most part the DS proves this. The majority of AAA titles are 2D and a few utilize some 3D but in basic and intuitive ways.
I actually believe the DS would be better if it were only 1 slightly larger screen with the touchscreen functionality. Basics are what sells in handhelds: plain/simple/fun/quick. Microsoft can't do basics.
At the EB near my house, they have already gone through 3 DS Lites replacing broken ones. On was a D-Pad that was DOA, and the other two were cracked casings... so apparently they are fragile. The manager said that both of their in-store demo units had been cracked within hours too, which was the first I had heard of this.
I don't really like the mushy buttons and smaller size, but I LOVE the screens, the new stylus, the layout, and a few other bonuses.
So now I am torn, after hearing of some issues, and my few complaints, I'm probably going to hold out for a bit longer just to see.
Maybe you and I are the only ones that remember hardware hacking articles that actually insired you to try them or got you to think about a new solution... but these days, we get a fan. Plugged into a PC power supply. That it is meant to run off of anyhow. To "cool" a room. Umm. All I can say is the biggest WTF ever.
This site has all but become completely useless beyond maybe 1-2 minutes of time a day. It is so shallow and lame that I've basically given up. Between Zonk's "reviews" making frontpage news that are the lowest quality pieces of writing I have ever seen, the number of stories tagged "stupid" "dupe" and "oldnews" over the past week, and this kind of crap... count me out of/.'s great unwashed horde until shit makes a major improvement.
Oh, I almost forgot. oooh, weeee they got a reader to design a new skin for the site because their talentless asses couldn't do it... that was supposed to buy them some time I guess.
Peace out/., call me when you get your heads surgically removed from your goatse.
Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. I also have been saying this for years. Some MMO's lend themselves to soloing but none get it quite right. The knee-jerk reaction is that "STFU noob, this is a MMO" but that is precisely the problem, I don't want to rely on some lame smart-allec 13 yr. old in my group just to advance in the game. I don't have friends that play MMO's, so I do not have the luxury of a built in guild or team to get started. So let me solo around until I meet up with some like-minded players that I can really enjoy questing with. And when they are not on, let me still play solo. That's all, it is actually simple and would KILL WoW and the other big players. Guild wars almost had it right.
If the game MUST require grouping I believe it should have some sort of intelligent grouping system instead of my running about saying "LFG - to kill uber beast!!!" or shouting "just need a healer to go..." or whatever. This is just stupid and should have been over and done with after EQ 1. Have it go by your in game stats and level and possibly even your initial sign-up info like age/location as well. This way I don't get grouped with the kid that has 400 deaths by level 4.
Solo content in MMO's is always a HUGE draw, so now we just need someone to actually capitalize on it. Warhammer Online may get around this and is the only MMO I have my eye on right now, until something comes out that can fit my want list.
It really isn't "gouging" or some crime to re-release old titles. I gladly paid $19.99 for the original Zelda on GBA to finally beat it, and as a result I got the ability to save which was a nice addition.
The downloaded content is basically pure profit for Nintendo, a GBA cart and packaging and distribution still costs the same for a re-release as it does for a new title. Sure they could have probably sold them for $9.99 which would have been more fair, and my personal belief of what they were worth. At $9.99 I would have bought a few more classics for the GBA.
I still believe that NES/SNES titles are worth $2.50-$5 and newer titles for $5-10. I'm one of the few I guess that still has all of the systems hooked up and working with most of the top tiles, so this is one feature of the Wii that hasn't really got me too excited yet. Once info starts coming out about new additions like graphics/multiplayer/etc. on older titles or new control schemes I may be all over it and finally retire my older Ninty consoles.
Negative reinforcement and artificialy extending gameplay.
Negative reinforcement has been proven time and time again to attract and hold humans, slot machines are the prime example here. And everyone can easily see the artificial expansion of gameplay time.
The thing is that almost all of the best games of all time do not employ these tactics, or if they do they are ansilary. In Katamari Damacy you have the same game in the beginning as at the end, just different scale. In God of War you are slicing enemies from the first second and the first boss battle is just as badass as the last. The entire game is rewarding, regardless of your level in the game and it doesn't need to be extendedby limiting power to the player and slowly allowing the player to gain more powerful weapons to fight more powerful enemies which just results in the same gameplay throughout the entire game.
There is nothing more annoying than to fight the entire game with a pickle fork only to get the flaming onyx sword of awesomeness at the very end of the game so that you get to use it for 12 seconds and then the game is over.
This is where the Wii should be able to finally end a lot of this horse shit. When developers don't have to pad their games to 20 hours of gameplay to make them "worth" $40-60, and instead make the entire game fun at maybe 5-10 hours for $10-25. I know what I would pick.
The sad fact was that they didn't really need to even open it up, just use some common sense and not let their greed and desire for DRM that borgs us all win out over a usable product.
My initial thought when the PSP was still a baby was to include the UMD version in each and every Sony released DVD for free. Also to give out UMD's as promotional items at fast food restaurants, etc. Quickly every Tom, Dick, and Hairy has at least a few UMD's that are utterly worthless to them, yet just bothersome enough to either buy a PSP or borrow a friends to check them out and then the sales begin.
Not being able to utilize surround sound output and video out for movies from the PSP is lunacy, a portable full-featured DVD-like player that also plays games is a killer app... oh, but wait then they would need to actually have a few good games to make that work...
Fully understood and agreed. I know that we are both above base level flame-fests, and we are talking about the same things. PS2 Linux is very limited, which was what I was getting at, if it wasn't... two years after it's release or so we would have a lot more than some very basic demos and an Open GL demo.
The Net Yaroze allowed actual game creation, still limited but nowhere near the PS2 and most certainly the PS3. Sony was holding the ace with PS2 Linux if they had just opened up the documentation and actually allowed real game creation. But it comes down to licensing and money. I honestly think Sony was afraid that indie developers would really put some pressure on paying developers and they were scared.. and mostly I know that to be true. It will be the same for PS3, but even worse due to the complexity of the cell and the even more closed hardware that make it up. At the very least the PS2 Linux software should have allowed PS1 level game creation, and PS3 Linux should allow PS1 & PS2 level creation... but you and I both know that will never happen. Which is the real shame.
That is why I was so upset by the "Sony is the most open" comment. To me nothing could be further from the truth. Like I said I'm holding out hope that Nintendo will really come through with the Wii and their indie/single dev comments. Even if it is SNES/N64 level tools and quality, it would be one of the biggest boons for gaming ever. There are so many talented indie developers out ther (Gish, Project Offset, etc.) that would kill to have even that and make a name for themselves. Nintendo seems to be in a place to work this out and not be as threatened as Sony and MS would from successful ventures that may come from it.
I really am hopeful that some company will just take the plunge and let the many truly talented individuals and small teams that get broken up and forced to work on junk or licensed games under pressure to turn out some amazing side projects on their own and possibly break away from big conglomerate sweat-shops that are really holding back innovation and artistry and go out on their own. The industry needs more project offsets and less EA's.
I'm glad we could come to an actual understanding of each other and elevate it above the usual drivel that goes nowhere on/. these days.
No offense, but the 3DO was not a "miserable failure" in fact it sold very well and had some great titles. The 3DO was also not "open" it was a _franchise_ where manufacturers could use the design specs and pay a royalty for each system sold as well as no game licensing restrictions and a royalty of $3 per game.
Street Fighter 2, NFS, Road Rash, Dragon's Lair, EA Boxing, Gex, and more.
It was expensive, but offered a high quality arcade-like experience. The lack of licensing also led to a very large library which was good, but a lot of the games were crap which was bad. It was in stark contrast to Nintendo at the time, and a good idea and a good way to get lots of games out there quickly for their system.
I owned a net Yaroze, I also own a copy of Devil Dice. A game made by a user on a Net Yaroze that is full 3D and actually a decent game... nothing like that can be made with PS2/PS3 Linux. Sorry.
The Wii is not open, but we also do not know the tools that will be made available yet either. Nintendo has pledged a number of times that tools will be made available, so lets wait until then before bashing it. I'd rather have closed tools that let me do something meaningful than severely crippled free/semi-open tools.
I know where you are coming from and what you are saying, you know the same for me. Let's agree to disagree and move on, I really don't have time to argue abuot stupid stuff like this online.
If you like Sony and want to stand by them, go for it. It was my personal decision to leave Sony, and I did. You don't need to convince me, I lived it, I don't need to convince you either. I ain't mad atcha, just speaking MHO.
I'm not interested in getting into flame wars, but I will try to correct a few things. I am not an Xbox fanboy, in fact I don't own nor have ever owned an Xbox 1 or Xbox 360. I worked for Sony, so if anything I was a _SONY_ fanboy.
It was actually the PS2 that was claimed to be able to render Toy Story in realtime, also banned in Iraq due to weapons guidance concerns... which was all B.S. Your quote is wrong:
"The new microprocessor will allow users to handle nearly 50 times more 3-D image data compared with Sega Enterprises Ltd.'s (7964) Dreamcast game console. It will also let users produce game characters comparable in image quality to Walt Disney's Toy Story." - ken kutaguri
The emotion engine comment I made was speaking of the "open-ness" of Sony and the PS2/PS3. It was one of the most closed hardware specs ever.
No one said that BluRay had to be a failure to be closed. Sony is the king of DRM and proprietary shit, check out the news story from just today here on/. if you want to keep arguing about it.
You are still TOTALLY wrong about Linux for both the PS2 and PS3. Please actually look into what you are speaking about. It isn't just crippled but you have no access to the actual console's capabilities. So basically you can create NES quality 2D "games" if that. It is a joke.
Nintendo has arguably the most open of the next consoles. A stable mature and well documented platform, they've stated that they will make it possible for small/indie/even 1-man dev teams to develop for the Wii, no region encoding, and no real DRM bullshit beyond the basics.
If you would like to continue to believe that Sony is or has ever been "open" then best of luck with that. And yest I was wrong on AAC I meant ATRAC... my bad, you knew what I meant.
I used to work as an analyst covering retail game sales, the Barbie numbers are not mine but from a meeting I was in and are correct. I believe the exact chart is based on retail console game sales vs. retail Barbie sales and Barbie does win.
Like I said the point is the same regardless, and that was the point the guy was making that had given the information initially... which I fully agree with. When you start seeing things like that educational Leapfrog game "console" and other similar items, that screams that there is a hole in the current market. Sony and MS have painted themselves into a corner, and both of those systems will have very little chance of offering games outside their core demographic which is narrow. The PS1 was the only system outside of Nintendo to do this ever, and it was due to the sheer market penetration and the fact that it had been a viable console for over 10 years. The PS2, even with the great sales it achieved, still was not able to match it although it has the widest group of titles of the current gen.
Markets like this always work themselves out even with artificial demand and force-fed content. Look to the music industry, the current state of Hollywood, pro-sports, and gaming...
I understand what the article was talkign about, and that wasn't my point. 16MB/sec or 16BG/sec it still wouldn't matter. The point is that the hardware has a lot of areas that leave quite a bit to be desired, the media is unproven and expensive while offering the average consumer little to nothing, the controller was rushed (regardless of what Sony says I PERSONALLY had still been seeing the boomerang shaped controllers up until pretty recent before E3), and the features are not that maningful or impressive to the average consumer.
If you are going to try to convince me that SONY of all companies is open, and the PS3 along with them you are insane. A proprietary Linux distro with severely crippled libraries IS NOT OPEN! Lemme guess you never owned Linux for the PS2. Right? AAC, Minidisc, Beta, memory sticks, UMD's, Emotion Engine, BluRay, etc... I'll stop there.
No matter your stance, we shall see how it shakes out soon enough. I worked for them, and my confidence is at an all time low in the company as a whole and for the PS3. Ask the thousands who have been losing jobs left and right at Sony plants all over the world. Sony refuses to budge or alter it's plans even in the face of certain failure, they are bloated, glacial moving, and out of touch. You may believe that your beloved company is anything you want, but I'm here to tell you that you may want to peak behind the curtain a bit farther and really research what you are saying. Your view will change dramatically.
I didn't go into the details to better flesh out my comparison, and your is a bit too inclusive to really be very meaningful. You are taking all of EA, not just console game sales. I was speaking of console game sales, not PC and not other revenue. Rather than break it all down and get into charts and graphs, let me 'splain it this way:
Barbie has seen a slowdown in sales, mainly due to Bratz and other competitors. But even by your numbers, you can see that Barbie sales were almost double that of EA. I will dig through my 2005 files and if I can find the data I will be glad to reply with the real facts. There are many more makers of dolls and I gurantee that all doll sales would easily eclipse game sales. And for the most part dolls are sold to very young females, only 50% of that age range. Sure, action figures hit the other 50%... but not what I'm getting at.
The thing is videogames have the ability to hit ALL demographics, which is unique. A single console can have children, teens, adults, and seniors titles. Educational, online/multiplayer, handheld, standard genre's, and new titles. Most consoles cater to only one or two of those areas, and then only subsets of those. They target a very small audience comparatively and there is so much lost market share it is staggering. Gaming has changed. No longer can games be marketed to the 15-28 male demographic, no longer can they be exclusionary, require complex controls, or cost a fortune.
There are only two options. Games become homogenized to the point that they are like hollywood movies (not too far removed from where they are), or they widen their appeal and selection while beginning to change those above listed issues. Sony and MS are going the Hollywood direction, Nintendo is going the other. Regardless of your love/hatred for Nintendo... which way would you rather see it go?
I know my personal answer, and it is the best for all gamers... whether they are capable of understanding it or not. The PS3 and Xbox 360 will most certainly be the last narrowly targeted game consoles to release, and they may even be very popular and hold up for 2-3 years, but that old way of thinking and marketing will fall through. The numbers already are showing a large decrease in the interest and number of young-to-teen gamers. There are too many other diversions to compete with.
Sorry for being lazy with my initial comparison and not having the stats right with me when I was citing them, I will honestly try to get the numbers on here because it does illustrate my point. And my point is that games need to become mainstream and not just seen as a kids toy or for angry, unsociable teen males to blow heads off and spatter blood everywhere. That's getting old now anyhow, even the most dedicated hoe slapping gangsta simulator or yet-another-FPS wears thin eventually.
It is because I believe in what they are trying to do. I support that, just like I continue to support Linux even though it is a jumbled mess that no one can seem to get on track. Sometimes you have to support what you believe in, and what is right, so that a warning shot is fired and other companies hear it loud and clear.
I was 100% truthful about the Nintendo games I am not fond of, such as Zelda. I will most likely play Wii sports more than any "major" 1st party releases like Donkey Kong/Zelda/Super Smash Bros./etc. I will most likely play the new Mario, but it doesn't have me all that jazzed. I grew up loving tons of Nintendo games, they just were not the blockbusters everyone else was clamoring over. I like unique, innovative, fun games. Regardless of system, regardless of franchise.
Oh, and my slashdot ID has been mine for a couple years now, I'm 26, and it was mistyped but I kept it anyhow. The capital letters were supposed to spell out RANT. Instead I got ANT0, which has become an inside joke amongst my friends.
Slashdot Mirror
My favorite thing about the new tagging beta is that the entire frontpage is always filled with like a constant glut of tags that say "Stupid" "lame" "advertisement" etc.
Slashdot's quality has been on a pretty steady decline, and with sites like Digg.com actually utilizing systems that work and bring solid stories for the most part, the last thing you would expect is to have a ever-present reminder of how shitty the "news" stories here really are.
I'm not sure of your level of knowledge of the entertainment industry, but routinely licensed titles have such short development times it is astounding. I have seen games be rushed to completion in less than 3 months from beginning to end to make a deadline of a movie premier.
The gamble is not so great as you make it seem, and neither are the time investments. Many "pop" CD's get thrown together in a month or so with pre-written songs, and pre-laid tracks. Sure there are some games/movies/CD's that are still crafted properly, but they are the minority rather than the norm and that is my gripe and the real shame. So much is sacrificed to meet bottom lines and please shareholders, entertainment wasn't always purely about the numbers and this cycle needs to be broken. Millionaire rappers/pop stars, actors, etc. Someone needs to hit the "reset" button on a number of these industries and get things back to reality. I would welcome a second depression if it would do just that.
Don't. Plain and simple.
To some degree this is true, but there is a difference between derivative and innovative. There is a huge lack of innovation in Games, music, and film these days in favor of quick cash-ins. To deny this is lunacy.
So by your reasoning, because Microsoft was able to offer an online system, that makes the entire system a success? Sure, Xbox Live was innovative... but very little that has been done with it is that innovative. If anything Xbox Live has succeeded DESPITE the Xbox and Microsoft. Due to the lack of games for the 360, people have jumped onto shit like Geometry wars and UNO for God's sake. The player interaction, however, is great. Now they just need a few top games to take advantage of it.
If you look at your reply to me that is the only counterpoint. So, I wouldn't jump to false reasoning and feel that one point somehow eclipses the rest. And I'm not sure how you were trying to state that the Xbox is not such a narrowly defined market. Males 18-mid/late 20's. The PS2 had games from educational titles, sesame street, spongebob, E, T, M, AO... the entire gamut. Xbox does not. That is a fact.
Hell, even the GC had a more diverse and wide audience with the limited library it had than the Xbox and 360 put together.
What you stated were not FACTS, they were your opinions. I worked as an analyst and reviewer in the industry for over 4 years... if you would like to talk facts I'll be happy to break down the numbers to back everything I said up. What you stated was that: "yeah, everything you said was true, but hey you forgot about Xbox Live."
G'day/
Do you seriously believe that? Honestly. Microsoft's foray into gaming was a quick attempt to capitalize on the relatively large number of dollars spent on gaming. Their approach was shameful, a hastily thrown together stripped down PC and a very small library of games which included very few AAA titles. It had a very narrow target market and was by all acounts a failure on many levels.
They have made it quite clear that they have no real interests in innovation and moving gaming forward in any way but through HD graphics and same-old same-old titles. Regardless of your loyalty to MS, how can you support this? No other company could get away with this in any other industry but in gaming it is possible.
Take automobiles, say I'm Procter and Gamble and I have tons of money and I just throw tons of it into making a new car. It is a big honkin' car that is hastily thrown together from off the shelf parts, it goes really fast but does nothing else particularly well. I undercut myself on pricing and manage to move a few. Then I go on to a new revision which has a bit more refinement and some actual thought and research, but is still big, loud, expensive, and offers nothing new or different. This would be a massive failure and people would laugh at it, because it is so transparent that P&G is just throwing money at a car to try to gain some market share but that they could care less about actually giving customers something that makes _them_ feel good or fits their exact needs.
Backwards compatibility is not about directly increasing sales numbers. It is very indirect. Some consoles will be sold to those who never owned an Xbox but want to play 2-3 original games as well as 2-3 new ones. Some will be sold to those who otherwise would not have bought one due to their massive Xbox 1 collection. And a lot of backwards compatability really does not affect the bottom line, it is piece of mind and a loyalty issue.
Microsoft does not do piece of mind and loyalty, they like to forgo customer service, loyalty, and goodwill to their customers at every chance they get. THIS is what I do not support, and do not support in any industry. It has nothing to do with brand loyalty to a competitor, and everything to do with good business.
Well, even though you are AC you still have managed to make a straight ass of yourself.
DSL 135,614
PSP 24,595
PS2 18,513
GBASP 4,364
Even conservative numbers as these above have the DSL (and this is not counting regular DS sales, just DS Lite) at over 5:1 so when you add in regular DS sales the number is pretty damn close to a 10:1 ass-handing.
Also see how the PS2 is selling as well as the PSP, a 5 year old console. Christ the GBA SP still manages ~5k/month to the ~20k/month average of the PSP. *cue taps*
...to backpedal that often and that quickly? Microsoft in gaming is like the fat kid trying to make friends in school, he'll tell you anything to gain your friendship.
Fat Kid: "Yeah! I love the Xbox 360."
You: "Eh, I'm more of a Sony fan."
Fat Kid: "Oh, Yeah! I love Sony waaay more than Microsoft."
MS: We will make every Xbox game compatible on our horribly kludged backwards compatibility.
Fans: Woo hoo! I'm buying an Xbox 360 then instead of an Xbox since I get the best of both worlds.
MS: Um, screw this, it's hard and we don't make much money from the time investment... let's not push this anymore.
MS: The next gen games are sooo great you don't need those old, crusty original titles after all.
Fans: uhh, WTF? We actually remember you promising the moon and stars, what happened?
MS: Oh, yeah, we were just kidding... I mean our comments got misconstrued, yeah that's it.
Fans: *Holding their sore asses* Something makes us believe you really don't care about anything but our wallets...
How can people not see through this crap? Yet people keep going back to get anal raped over and over by them and somehow it never sinks in. Amazing.
My perfect setup doesn't involve an HDTV or an Xbox 360, but instead consists of a full audio cabinet that includes every system from an original Pong, Atari 2600, SMS, NES, Genesis, SNES, N64, Dreamcast, PS1, PS2, GC, and a few others like Neo Geo, 3D0, etc. all hooked up and playable.
The sheer fun factor blows any HDTV/Xbox 360 setup away. There isn't a human alive (including grandparents with Pong) that can resist playing something. It's kinda like a large scale Nintendo Wii.
They all see a fair bit of play, except the PS1, it has aged the worst of all of the systems which has been surprising.
Oh, my mistake... I thought the large number of press releases stating the companies who will no longer be producing UMD versions of their films, the total lack of quality games and the glacially slow release schedule, as well as the NPD retail sales numbers showing it lagging and slowing monthly were good indicators. I'm actually not a huge Nintendo fan, and regardless of what the OP was stating, my statement stands: I'm tired of people thinking that MS can win at anything by simply throwing enough money at the problem.
That is NOT how things work, and it is that mentaility and the large number of morons who gladly accept it that cause the problem in the first place.
Actually much more capable handhelds have tried and have never got the formula right. This market has nothing to do with masive amounts of money being thrown at it, in fact, that is precisely what Sony tried to do with the PSP and has been slowly fading since.
The Korean GP32 and the Wonderswan were the two handhelds that had some potential, but didn't make it.
Microsoft has no chance IMO, simply because they rely on DirectX and their API's for everything. Nintendo is able to fall back on a whole other platform with their handhelds and have a long history to pull knowledge and design from. To me, 3D is NOT what a handheld is about and for the most part the DS proves this. The majority of AAA titles are 2D and a few utilize some 3D but in basic and intuitive ways.
I actually believe the DS would be better if it were only 1 slightly larger screen with the touchscreen functionality. Basics are what sells in handhelds: plain/simple/fun/quick. Microsoft can't do basics.
At the EB near my house, they have already gone through 3 DS Lites replacing broken ones. On was a D-Pad that was DOA, and the other two were cracked casings... so apparently they are fragile. The manager said that both of their in-store demo units had been cracked within hours too, which was the first I had heard of this.
I don't really like the mushy buttons and smaller size, but I LOVE the screens, the new stylus, the layout, and a few other bonuses.
So now I am torn, after hearing of some issues, and my few complaints, I'm probably going to hold out for a bit longer just to see.
Maybe you and I are the only ones that remember hardware hacking articles that actually insired you to try them or got you to think about a new solution... but these days, we get a fan. Plugged into a PC power supply. That it is meant to run off of anyhow. To "cool" a room. Umm. All I can say is the biggest WTF ever.
/.'s great unwashed horde until shit makes a major improvement.
/., call me when you get your heads surgically removed from your goatse.
This site has all but become completely useless beyond maybe 1-2 minutes of time a day. It is so shallow and lame that I've basically given up. Between Zonk's "reviews" making frontpage news that are the lowest quality pieces of writing I have ever seen, the number of stories tagged "stupid" "dupe" and "oldnews" over the past week, and this kind of crap... count me out of
Oh, I almost forgot. oooh, weeee they got a reader to design a new skin for the site because their talentless asses couldn't do it... that was supposed to buy them some time I guess.
Peace out
Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. I also have been saying this for years. Some MMO's lend themselves to soloing but none get it quite right. The knee-jerk reaction is that "STFU noob, this is a MMO" but that is precisely the problem, I don't want to rely on some lame smart-allec 13 yr. old in my group just to advance in the game. I don't have friends that play MMO's, so I do not have the luxury of a built in guild or team to get started. So let me solo around until I meet up with some like-minded players that I can really enjoy questing with. And when they are not on, let me still play solo. That's all, it is actually simple and would KILL WoW and the other big players. Guild wars almost had it right.
If the game MUST require grouping I believe it should have some sort of intelligent grouping system instead of my running about saying "LFG - to kill uber beast!!!" or shouting "just need a healer to go..." or whatever. This is just stupid and should have been over and done with after EQ 1. Have it go by your in game stats and level and possibly even your initial sign-up info like age/location as well. This way I don't get grouped with the kid that has 400 deaths by level 4.
Solo content in MMO's is always a HUGE draw, so now we just need someone to actually capitalize on it. Warhammer Online may get around this and is the only MMO I have my eye on right now, until something comes out that can fit my want list.
It really isn't "gouging" or some crime to re-release old titles. I gladly paid $19.99 for the original Zelda on GBA to finally beat it, and as a result I got the ability to save which was a nice addition.
The downloaded content is basically pure profit for Nintendo, a GBA cart and packaging and distribution still costs the same for a re-release as it does for a new title. Sure they could have probably sold them for $9.99 which would have been more fair, and my personal belief of what they were worth. At $9.99 I would have bought a few more classics for the GBA.
I still believe that NES/SNES titles are worth $2.50-$5 and newer titles for $5-10. I'm one of the few I guess that still has all of the systems hooked up and working with most of the top tiles, so this is one feature of the Wii that hasn't really got me too excited yet. Once info starts coming out about new additions like graphics/multiplayer/etc. on older titles or new control schemes I may be all over it and finally retire my older Ninty consoles.
Negative reinforcement and artificialy extending gameplay.
Negative reinforcement has been proven time and time again to attract and hold humans, slot machines are the prime example here. And everyone can easily see the artificial expansion of gameplay time.
The thing is that almost all of the best games of all time do not employ these tactics, or if they do they are ansilary. In Katamari Damacy you have the same game in the beginning as at the end, just different scale. In God of War you are slicing enemies from the first second and the first boss battle is just as badass as the last. The entire game is rewarding, regardless of your level in the game and it doesn't need to be extendedby limiting power to the player and slowly allowing the player to gain more powerful weapons to fight more powerful enemies which just results in the same gameplay throughout the entire game.
There is nothing more annoying than to fight the entire game with a pickle fork only to get the flaming onyx sword of awesomeness at the very end of the game so that you get to use it for 12 seconds and then the game is over.
This is where the Wii should be able to finally end a lot of this horse shit. When developers don't have to pad their games to 20 hours of gameplay to make them "worth" $40-60, and instead make the entire game fun at maybe 5-10 hours for $10-25. I know what I would pick.
The sad fact was that they didn't really need to even open it up, just use some common sense and not let their greed and desire for DRM that borgs us all win out over a usable product.
My initial thought when the PSP was still a baby was to include the UMD version in each and every Sony released DVD for free. Also to give out UMD's as promotional items at fast food restaurants, etc. Quickly every Tom, Dick, and Hairy has at least a few UMD's that are utterly worthless to them, yet just bothersome enough to either buy a PSP or borrow a friends to check them out and then the sales begin.
Not being able to utilize surround sound output and video out for movies from the PSP is lunacy, a portable full-featured DVD-like player that also plays games is a killer app... oh, but wait then they would need to actually have a few good games to make that work...
Fully understood and agreed. I know that we are both above base level flame-fests, and we are talking about the same things. PS2 Linux is very limited, which was what I was getting at, if it wasn't... two years after it's release or so we would have a lot more than some very basic demos and an Open GL demo.
/. these days.
The Net Yaroze allowed actual game creation, still limited but nowhere near the PS2 and most certainly the PS3. Sony was holding the ace with PS2 Linux if they had just opened up the documentation and actually allowed real game creation. But it comes down to licensing and money. I honestly think Sony was afraid that indie developers would really put some pressure on paying developers and they were scared.. and mostly I know that to be true. It will be the same for PS3, but even worse due to the complexity of the cell and the even more closed hardware that make it up. At the very least the PS2 Linux software should have allowed PS1 level game creation, and PS3 Linux should allow PS1 & PS2 level creation... but you and I both know that will never happen. Which is the real shame.
That is why I was so upset by the "Sony is the most open" comment. To me nothing could be further from the truth. Like I said I'm holding out hope that Nintendo will really come through with the Wii and their indie/single dev comments. Even if it is SNES/N64 level tools and quality, it would be one of the biggest boons for gaming ever. There are so many talented indie developers out ther (Gish, Project Offset, etc.) that would kill to have even that and make a name for themselves. Nintendo seems to be in a place to work this out and not be as threatened as Sony and MS would from successful ventures that may come from it.
I really am hopeful that some company will just take the plunge and let the many truly talented individuals and small teams that get broken up and forced to work on junk or licensed games under pressure to turn out some amazing side projects on their own and possibly break away from big conglomerate sweat-shops that are really holding back innovation and artistry and go out on their own. The industry needs more project offsets and less EA's.
I'm glad we could come to an actual understanding of each other and elevate it above the usual drivel that goes nowhere on
No offense, but the 3DO was not a "miserable failure" in fact it sold very well and had some great titles. The 3DO was also not "open" it was a _franchise_ where manufacturers could use the design specs and pay a royalty for each system sold as well as no game licensing restrictions and a royalty of $3 per game.
Street Fighter 2, NFS, Road Rash, Dragon's Lair, EA Boxing, Gex, and more.
It was expensive, but offered a high quality arcade-like experience. The lack of licensing also led to a very large library which was good, but a lot of the games were crap which was bad. It was in stark contrast to Nintendo at the time, and a good idea and a good way to get lots of games out there quickly for their system.
I owned a net Yaroze, I also own a copy of Devil Dice. A game made by a user on a Net Yaroze that is full 3D and actually a decent game... nothing like that can be made with PS2/PS3 Linux. Sorry.
The Wii is not open, but we also do not know the tools that will be made available yet either. Nintendo has pledged a number of times that tools will be made available, so lets wait until then before bashing it. I'd rather have closed tools that let me do something meaningful than severely crippled free/semi-open tools.
I know where you are coming from and what you are saying, you know the same for me. Let's agree to disagree and move on, I really don't have time to argue abuot stupid stuff like this online.
If you like Sony and want to stand by them, go for it. It was my personal decision to leave Sony, and I did. You don't need to convince me, I lived it, I don't need to convince you either. I ain't mad atcha, just speaking MHO.
I'm not interested in getting into flame wars, but I will try to correct a few things. I am not an Xbox fanboy, in fact I don't own nor have ever owned an Xbox 1 or Xbox 360. I worked for Sony, so if anything I was a _SONY_ fanboy.
/. if you want to keep arguing about it.
It was actually the PS2 that was claimed to be able to render Toy Story in realtime, also banned in Iraq due to weapons guidance concerns... which was all B.S. Your quote is wrong:
"The new microprocessor will allow users to handle nearly 50
times more 3-D image data compared with Sega Enterprises Ltd.'s (7964)
Dreamcast game console. It will also let users produce game characters
comparable in image quality to Walt Disney's Toy Story." - ken kutaguri
The emotion engine comment I made was speaking of the "open-ness" of Sony and the PS2/PS3. It was one of the most closed hardware specs ever.
No one said that BluRay had to be a failure to be closed. Sony is the king of DRM and proprietary shit, check out the news story from just today here on
You are still TOTALLY wrong about Linux for both the PS2 and PS3. Please actually look into what you are speaking about. It isn't just crippled but you have no access to the actual console's capabilities. So basically you can create NES quality 2D "games" if that. It is a joke.
Nintendo has arguably the most open of the next consoles. A stable mature and well documented platform, they've stated that they will make it possible for small/indie/even 1-man dev teams to develop for the Wii, no region encoding, and no real DRM bullshit beyond the basics.
If you would like to continue to believe that Sony is or has ever been "open" then best of luck with that. And yest I was wrong on AAC I meant ATRAC... my bad, you knew what I meant.
I used to work as an analyst covering retail game sales, the Barbie numbers are not mine but from a meeting I was in and are correct. I believe the exact chart is based on retail console game sales vs. retail Barbie sales and Barbie does win.
Like I said the point is the same regardless, and that was the point the guy was making that had given the information initially... which I fully agree with. When you start seeing things like that educational Leapfrog game "console" and other similar items, that screams that there is a hole in the current market. Sony and MS have painted themselves into a corner, and both of those systems will have very little chance of offering games outside their core demographic which is narrow. The PS1 was the only system outside of Nintendo to do this ever, and it was due to the sheer market penetration and the fact that it had been a viable console for over 10 years. The PS2, even with the great sales it achieved, still was not able to match it although it has the widest group of titles of the current gen.
Markets like this always work themselves out even with artificial demand and force-fed content. Look to the music industry, the current state of Hollywood, pro-sports, and gaming...
I understand what the article was talkign about, and that wasn't my point. 16MB/sec or 16BG/sec it still wouldn't matter. The point is that the hardware has a lot of areas that leave quite a bit to be desired, the media is unproven and expensive while offering the average consumer little to nothing, the controller was rushed (regardless of what Sony says I PERSONALLY had still been seeing the boomerang shaped controllers up until pretty recent before E3), and the features are not that maningful or impressive to the average consumer.
If you are going to try to convince me that SONY of all companies is open, and the PS3 along with them you are insane. A proprietary Linux distro with severely crippled libraries IS NOT OPEN! Lemme guess you never owned Linux for the PS2. Right? AAC, Minidisc, Beta, memory sticks, UMD's, Emotion Engine, BluRay, etc... I'll stop there.
No matter your stance, we shall see how it shakes out soon enough. I worked for them, and my confidence is at an all time low in the company as a whole and for the PS3. Ask the thousands who have been losing jobs left and right at Sony plants all over the world. Sony refuses to budge or alter it's plans even in the face of certain failure, they are bloated, glacial moving, and out of touch. You may believe that your beloved company is anything you want, but I'm here to tell you that you may want to peak behind the curtain a bit farther and really research what you are saying. Your view will change dramatically.
I didn't go into the details to better flesh out my comparison, and your is a bit too inclusive to really be very meaningful. You are taking all of EA, not just console game sales. I was speaking of console game sales, not PC and not other revenue. Rather than break it all down and get into charts and graphs, let me 'splain it this way:
Barbie has seen a slowdown in sales, mainly due to Bratz and other competitors. But even by your numbers, you can see that Barbie sales were almost double that of EA. I will dig through my 2005 files and if I can find the data I will be glad to reply with the real facts. There are many more makers of dolls and I gurantee that all doll sales would easily eclipse game sales. And for the most part dolls are sold to very young females, only 50% of that age range. Sure, action figures hit the other 50%... but not what I'm getting at.
The thing is videogames have the ability to hit ALL demographics, which is unique. A single console can have children, teens, adults, and seniors titles. Educational, online/multiplayer, handheld, standard genre's, and new titles. Most consoles cater to only one or two of those areas, and then only subsets of those. They target a very small audience comparatively and there is so much lost market share it is staggering. Gaming has changed. No longer can games be marketed to the 15-28 male demographic, no longer can they be exclusionary, require complex controls, or cost a fortune.
There are only two options. Games become homogenized to the point that they are like hollywood movies (not too far removed from where they are), or they widen their appeal and selection while beginning to change those above listed issues. Sony and MS are going the Hollywood direction, Nintendo is going the other. Regardless of your love/hatred for Nintendo... which way would you rather see it go?
I know my personal answer, and it is the best for all gamers... whether they are capable of understanding it or not. The PS3 and Xbox 360 will most certainly be the last narrowly targeted game consoles to release, and they may even be very popular and hold up for 2-3 years, but that old way of thinking and marketing will fall through. The numbers already are showing a large decrease in the interest and number of young-to-teen gamers. There are too many other diversions to compete with.
Sorry for being lazy with my initial comparison and not having the stats right with me when I was citing them, I will honestly try to get the numbers on here because it does illustrate my point. And my point is that games need to become mainstream and not just seen as a kids toy or for angry, unsociable teen males to blow heads off and spatter blood everywhere. That's getting old now anyhow, even the most dedicated hoe slapping gangsta simulator or yet-another-FPS wears thin eventually.
It is because I believe in what they are trying to do. I support that, just like I continue to support Linux even though it is a jumbled mess that no one can seem to get on track. Sometimes you have to support what you believe in, and what is right, so that a warning shot is fired and other companies hear it loud and clear.
I was 100% truthful about the Nintendo games I am not fond of, such as Zelda. I will most likely play Wii sports more than any "major" 1st party releases like Donkey Kong/Zelda/Super Smash Bros./etc. I will most likely play the new Mario, but it doesn't have me all that jazzed. I grew up loving tons of Nintendo games, they just were not the blockbusters everyone else was clamoring over. I like unique, innovative, fun games. Regardless of system, regardless of franchise.
Oh, and my slashdot ID has been mine for a couple years now, I'm 26, and it was mistyped but I kept it anyhow. The capital letters were supposed to spell out RANT. Instead I got ANT0, which has become an inside joke amongst my friends.