Well, the 62,790 yen PS3 now will cost 49,980 yen. I doubt that includes tax btw.
On a related note 50,000 yen is my current bugget for end-of-year console spending. So now it's either a PS3 + 1 controller or Wii + 2 Wii-motes, 1 nunchuck, 1 classic controller, 4 games and 5000 yen to spend on classics. Let's see... um... well, my choice is pretty obvious, but TGS opens to the public tomorrow, so Sony has 1 last chance to convince me (and others) to buy the PS3 over the Wii.
Ok, it's a small chance, but a chance none the less
360? Japan? New games? You have to goto the 2nd hand section in my local games shop to find 360 games there. The 360 demo box standing outside has been converted to a ps2 demo box. I doubt new games or even droping the 360's price below 10,000 will help MS in Japan now.
No, not really. Remember when the PSP was coming out how everyone was oo-ing and aah-ing the 'technologicaly impressive' PSP? I remember it well, mostly because I was one of the those posting replies to posts like yours, that stated Nintendo has had it and that those two screens, mic and touch screen were all gimics, especially when compared to the PSP which is 'more powerfull than the PS1'. Of course all I could say at the time was 'think of the possibilities!'. Now it's more or less a done deal and pretty much everyone accepts that the DS was a good idea. At least I haven't heard anyone call any of the DSs features a gimic in a while now.
The technology is not just unimpressive...
The controller is more impressive than two screen, a touch screen and a mic if you ask me.
...it's backwards and it doesn't have the price advantage...
Backwards? I doubt it. It's specs might not look as impressive as it's rivals, but numbers aren't what define technology. For instance, from what I hear, it's power consumption is pretty minimal. This means very little heat and smaller compact device. In those respects it's light-years ahead of it's rivals.
As for price, in Japan it's half-price of it's only rival. 250,000 compared to 600,000. I'd call that an advantage.
In the rest of the world it's cheaper than the cut-down version of the Xbox and includes a game. That is also what I'd call a price advantage. Don't forget those are release prices, I suspect the difference will grow further into the cycle.
...than the 'big boys'
Yes, the other consoles are a bit big aren't they...
The only real selling point the Wii has over the competition is Nintendo's stable of games, and look where that has got them since the N64
Looked at Nintendo's software sales recently? I'd say they've done pretty well for themselves. Considering they are one of histories most successful game makers ( and a lot of those games were post-snes), I say that thier catalog was worth quite a bit.
That's not exactly how it works. If Vista increased productivity (and that's a big 'if'), more work could be done at the same cost, thus increase overall profit. The more profit, the more room for expansion. Therefore, more productive software produces more jobs.
I think you mean Thanks Giving in the US. The important holiday in Europe is Christmas and in Japan it's New Year/Christmas. Thus US => mid nov. and Japan early dec. You can probably expect Europe launch early-mid dec.
Clever of them to launch after the PS3. Think of all those people unable to get one due to them being sold out and getting a Wii to keep the kids happy.
Jewelry is a bad example as it tends to lose most of it's value after you've purchased it. Diamonds for instance are probobly the worlds worst investment. You've better off burying those 100 dollar notes, than you are burying purchased diamonds.
The best thing to bury would be something that gains value over time, something like antiques... mind you antiques are a lot harder to bury than jewelry...
If you would like to actually demonstrate a scalable example where a market works on "honesty" instead of basic economic principles, please be my guest.
Simple. In most cases relying on the customers honesty is cheaper that not doing so.
I can think of a few examples, but instead I'll just go with the logic of the costs envolved. With DRM'd media you have the R&D cost, which is usually quite large and keeps on growing when someone cracks it. Without DRM you have the possibility of reduced sales due to piracy. If the cost of R&D is greater than the loss due to piracy, then it's cheaper not to have it.
In the case of AV media I suspect it would be cheaper not to have DRM. Do you really think people would stop using iTunes if they dropped fairplay? I know I'd spend more money on songs for my mobile if I could play them on my Linux PC as well as on the phone.
Media companies disagree with me of course, for various reasons, hence the DRM. They believe it will stop the copying and bring them more money. Even if it does succeeds, I doubt it'll be enough to offset the cost of keeping it successful. Because only a small fraction of those free downloads will turn into sales numbers. One of these days, maybe a few years down the line, the media companies CFO's are going to do a thorough cost analyses and drop the whole DRM idea. By then it'll probably of cost them quite a bit for little or no visible returns.
Why call it communism when it is clearly social-democracy?
Because calling themselves 'communist' generates more publicity? Just look at the number of extra posts under this topic that are due to the word 'communist' being in the description.:)
*blink* doh! I meant 'insert links here', not the browser. I forgot of the existance of a browser under that name even though I think I had an instance of it open at the time. Time to get my head examined... >_>
It's not so much having your fs memorised as Tap-Tap being faster than Click-Click. At least for me it is.
My home dir is a mess and I still find it easier to cd docs/[tab][tab]colour[tab]/[tab][tab]pi[tab]. Much faster and simpler than [click][scroll][click][scroll][click], even if it doesn't look it.
I can't remember from whom I heard that the true beauty of X was that it allowed multiple consoles to be on the screen at one time. Oh how right he was...:)
"You see, they won't see it as a developer trying to convince them to change browsers, they will just think IE is broken (which just happens to be true)."
Not quite - they'll see it as a website that is broken. I mean, c'mon, from the perspective of your average uninformed user, if a web page doesn't work when countless others appear to work, you'd assume the site is broken.
If all they see is a broken site, then yes, I'd agree that that is what they'd think, but if there is a message informing them it's the browsers fault, they'd probably believe it.
Ofcourse this all depends on the message. Something like "We don't support IE, use Firefox!" will make them think the site is broken, but on the other hand "You seem to be using an outdated browser and this site may not be displayed properly because of that. We suggest upgrading to a modern browser(links) to take full advantage of this site." would indicate it's the browser's fault for the site display problems.
That will be even more convincing than not serving the CSS to IE, because users can actually see that IE can't handle modern CSS.
They will be long gone before they even look at your picture. There's always another site just one click away that renders well in IE.
Actually no, they won't. Most users who see a well phrased warning message about browser incompatability will want a browser that works. You see, they won't see it as a developer trying to convince them to change browsers, they will just think IE is broken (which just happens to be true). Remember, these are the same people who paniced due to the "no bootsector found" error when they booted thier computer with a floppy in the drive.
1 - The intelligent machine built in the US is not censored
Correction: The intelligent machine built in th US would not be officially censored.
2 - Electric car would be highly efficient and not consume oil, therefore it is blocked by the lobbying power of oil companies which have recently benefitted from record profits given to them by high oil costs ($74/barrel.)
Just because the car would run on electicity would not make it more efficient.
As for being blocked by oil companies, it's more consumer economics than lobbying. Electic cars are available at the moment, they are just expencive and due to the lack of supporting refueling infrostructure, they are next to useless. The lack of refueling infrostructure is due to the lack of demand for it, basicly not enough electic cars to make it profitable enough. A nasty loop that won't be broken until someone with a lot of money decides to take the long term risk of building the infrostructure.
Now I'm not saying the Oil companies are angels or that they are not greedy bastards, they are, but they are also not stupid. The largest sponsors of renewable fuel research are Oil companies. They are not against you using them, since they make money on them aswell. And when the time is right (most profitable) they will invest that money in the infrostructure for renewable fuels. That I suspect will happen in the next few (5-10) years or so. And if history is anything to go by, when it does there will be a 'format war' with each company trying to make it's form of renewable fuel the dominant one. It'll be hell.;_;
Yep, a very clever move, because if you think about it, the non-hardcore gamers and current non-gamers are a larger part of the market. That and hardcore gamers will probably get more than one console or all of them, since they are avid followers of 'killer games':)
Sony messing up isn't the only way for them to lose poll position. The console that is considered market leader is the console that has the largest install base, so to speak. In the short term, I'd agree with you that Sony has very little to worry about, the PS3 will sell well on pure hype alone. But for the long term hype won't be sufficient. The only thing that can guarantee the largest install base is 'Killer Games'.
While it is not completely straight forward, the console that has the best 'killer games' wins. In other words, the console that has the best enviroment for games to be developed under has the advantage. Historicly, this is why the initial sales are so important. The larger your initial install base, the more likely companies are to develop games for your console and the more games that are developed, the higher that chance a 'killer game' will be developed.
This time around there are a few things that are different that make those initial sales a lot less important. To start with, the cost of game development for the different consoles differs quite a bit. The Revolution will be a lot cheaper to develop for than for the other two. This means that the smaller developers will prefer making games for it. Also it would be the prefered platform for risky brand new titles, since the loss would be lower if the game didn't sell well.
The other thing that improves the chances of 'killer games' on the Revolution and that is the controller. It's brand new and has huge untapped potential. It would not be suprising to see quite a few 'killer games' that it made possible.
Of course I'm ignoring things that I don't think matter, like graphics and networking. The Revolution's graphics should be good enough on an ordinary TV, that most of us have. Graphics also don't have much effect on gameplay, which is what most 'killer games' are known for. And since all consoles will have some form of centralised networking capability, from the developers point of view they are more or less equal.
All things taken into account, I recon the Revolution has a good chance of taking the lead from the PS this generation. Time shall tell.
As for me, I'm not made of money and even $500 is way too much for me, so I'll be buying a Revolution with a copy of Zelda at launch as my entries into the NextGen. I also doubt I'm alone in this.:)
You play the delay(with is more or less definite, if they were still aiming for a spring release, they'd of demonstrated a working proto-type by now) down too much. It will have an amazing affect on xbox 360 sales in Japan! They might even reach 3 figures!!!:)
Sony have admited to that the launch in Japan might be delayed due to the Blue-Ray specs not being finalised, so there is more than just the analysts word on it in this case.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, the 62,790 yen PS3 now will cost 49,980 yen. I doubt that includes tax btw.
On a related note 50,000 yen is my current bugget for end-of-year console spending. So now it's either a PS3 + 1 controller or Wii + 2 Wii-motes, 1 nunchuck, 1 classic controller, 4 games and 5000 yen to spend on classics. Let's see... um... well, my choice is pretty obvious, but TGS opens to the public tomorrow, so Sony has 1 last chance to convince me (and others) to buy the PS3 over the Wii.
Ok, it's a small chance, but a chance none the less
360? Japan? New games? You have to goto the 2nd hand section in my local games shop to find 360 games there. The 360 demo box standing outside has been converted to a ps2 demo box. I doubt new games or even droping the 360's price below 10,000 will help MS in Japan now.
They're a tad bit expensive for my taste though, those frikkin' laser beams on their heads make them a hard catch... :)
No, not really. Remember when the PSP was coming out how everyone was oo-ing and aah-ing the 'technologicaly impressive' PSP? I remember it well, mostly because I was one of the those posting replies to posts like yours, that stated Nintendo has had it and that those two screens, mic and touch screen were all gimics, especially when compared to the PSP which is 'more powerfull than the PS1'. Of course all I could say at the time was 'think of the possibilities!'. Now it's more or less a done deal and pretty much everyone accepts that the DS was a good idea. At least I haven't heard anyone call any of the DSs features a gimic in a while now.
The controller is more impressive than two screen, a touch screen and a mic if you ask me.
Backwards? I doubt it. It's specs might not look as impressive as it's rivals, but numbers aren't what define technology. For instance, from what I hear, it's power consumption is pretty minimal. This means very little heat and smaller compact device. In those respects it's light-years ahead of it's rivals.
As for price, in Japan it's half-price of it's only rival. 250,000 compared to 600,000. I'd call that an advantage.
In the rest of the world it's cheaper than the cut-down version of the Xbox and includes a game. That is also what I'd call a price advantage. Don't forget those are release prices, I suspect the difference will grow further into the cycle.
Yes, the other consoles are a bit big aren't they...
Looked at Nintendo's software sales recently? I'd say they've done pretty well for themselves. Considering they are one of histories most successful game makers ( and a lot of those games were post-snes), I say that thier catalog was worth quite a bit.
That's not exactly how it works. If Vista increased productivity (and that's a big 'if'), more work could be done at the same cost, thus increase overall profit. The more profit, the more room for expansion. Therefore, more productive software produces more jobs.
I think you mean Thanks Giving in the US. The important holiday in Europe is Christmas and in Japan it's New Year/Christmas. Thus US => mid nov. and Japan early dec. You can probably expect Europe launch early-mid dec.
Clever of them to launch after the PS3. Think of all those people unable to get one due to them being sold out and getting a Wii to keep the kids happy.
Real Programmers don't mix up array indexing and counting the length of an array.
And since the joke envolves the length of the array and not the index of it's last member, I guess the jokes on you.
Jewelry is a bad example as it tends to lose most of it's value after you've purchased it. Diamonds for instance are probobly the worlds worst investment. You've better off burying those 100 dollar notes, than you are burying purchased diamonds.
The best thing to bury would be something that gains value over time, something like antiques... mind you antiques are a lot harder to bury than jewelry...
IIRC 'blog' is short for 'weblog'. I must be tired or something, because I fail to grasp how a WebLog can predate the Web by aprox. 1970 years...
Simple. In most cases relying on the customers honesty is cheaper that not doing so.
I can think of a few examples, but instead I'll just go with the logic of the costs envolved. With DRM'd media you have the R&D cost, which is usually quite large and keeps on growing when someone cracks it. Without DRM you have the possibility of reduced sales due to piracy. If the cost of R&D is greater than the loss due to piracy, then it's cheaper not to have it.
In the case of AV media I suspect it would be cheaper not to have DRM. Do you really think people would stop using iTunes if they dropped fairplay? I know I'd spend more money on songs for my mobile if I could play them on my Linux PC as well as on the phone.
Media companies disagree with me of course, for various reasons, hence the DRM. They believe it will stop the copying and bring them more money. Even if it does succeeds, I doubt it'll be enough to offset the cost of keeping it successful. Because only a small fraction of those free downloads will turn into sales numbers. One of these days, maybe a few years down the line, the media companies CFO's are going to do a thorough cost analyses and drop the whole DRM idea. By then it'll probably of cost them quite a bit for little or no visible returns.
Because calling themselves 'communist' generates more publicity? Just look at the number of extra posts under this topic that are due to the word 'communist' being in the description. :)
surely you mean FirePluton do you not?
*blink* doh! I meant 'insert links here', not the browser. I forgot of the existance of a browser under that name even though I think I had an instance of it open at the time. Time to get my head examined... >_>
It's not so much having your fs memorised as Tap-Tap being faster than Click-Click. At least for me it is.
My home dir is a mess and I still find it easier to cd docs/[tab][tab]colour[tab]/[tab][tab]pi[tab]. Much faster and simpler than [click][scroll][click][scroll][click], even if it doesn't look it.
I can't remember from whom I heard that the true beauty of X was that it allowed multiple consoles to be on the screen at one time. Oh how right he was... :)
Just to clarify, by "Modern browser" I did not mean IE7... by the time that beast comes out I doubt you will be able to call it modern.
If all they see is a broken site, then yes, I'd agree that that is what they'd think, but if there is a message informing them it's the browsers fault, they'd probably believe it.
Ofcourse this all depends on the message. Something like "We don't support IE, use Firefox!" will make them think the site is broken, but on the other hand "You seem to be using an outdated browser and this site may not be displayed properly because of that. We suggest upgrading to a modern browser(links) to take full advantage of this site." would indicate it's the browser's fault for the site display problems.
Actually no, they won't. Most users who see a well phrased warning message about browser incompatability will want a browser that works. You see, they won't see it as a developer trying to convince them to change browsers, they will just think IE is broken (which just happens to be true). Remember, these are the same people who paniced due to the "no bootsector found" error when they booted thier computer with a floppy in the drive.
You mean:
!(a>b) != a < b
?
Correction: The intelligent machine built in th US would not be officially censored.
Just because the car would run on electicity would not make it more efficient.
As for being blocked by oil companies, it's more consumer economics than lobbying. Electic cars are available at the moment, they are just expencive and due to the lack of supporting refueling infrostructure, they are next to useless. The lack of refueling infrostructure is due to the lack of demand for it, basicly not enough electic cars to make it profitable enough. A nasty loop that won't be broken until someone with a lot of money decides to take the long term risk of building the infrostructure.
Now I'm not saying the Oil companies are angels or that they are not greedy bastards, they are, but they are also not stupid. The largest sponsors of renewable fuel research are Oil companies. They are not against you using them, since they make money on them aswell. And when the time is right (most profitable) they will invest that money in the infrostructure for renewable fuels. That I suspect will happen in the next few (5-10) years or so. And if history is anything to go by, when it does there will be a 'format war' with each company trying to make it's form of renewable fuel the dominant one. It'll be hell. ;_;
Ah, so it's not just me who found the blurb a bit strange then.
I mean, does this guy have any actual experience in the industry he's talking about? The blurb just mentioned he talks alot...
In Soviet Russia... people used to do just that...
Yep, a very clever move, because if you think about it, the non-hardcore gamers and current non-gamers are a larger part of the market. That and hardcore gamers will probably get more than one console or all of them, since they are avid followers of 'killer games' :)
Sony messing up isn't the only way for them to lose poll position. The console that is considered market leader is the console that has the largest install base, so to speak. In the short term, I'd agree with you that Sony has very little to worry about, the PS3 will sell well on pure hype alone. But for the long term hype won't be sufficient. The only thing that can guarantee the largest install base is 'Killer Games'.
While it is not completely straight forward, the console that has the best 'killer games' wins. In other words, the console that has the best enviroment for games to be developed under has the advantage. Historicly, this is why the initial sales are so important. The larger your initial install base, the more likely companies are to develop games for your console and the more games that are developed, the higher that chance a 'killer game' will be developed.
This time around there are a few things that are different that make those initial sales a lot less important. To start with, the cost of game development for the different consoles differs quite a bit. The Revolution will be a lot cheaper to develop for than for the other two. This means that the smaller developers will prefer making games for it. Also it would be the prefered platform for risky brand new titles, since the loss would be lower if the game didn't sell well.
The other thing that improves the chances of 'killer games' on the Revolution and that is the controller. It's brand new and has huge untapped potential. It would not be suprising to see quite a few 'killer games' that it made possible.
Of course I'm ignoring things that I don't think matter, like graphics and networking. The Revolution's graphics should be good enough on an ordinary TV, that most of us have. Graphics also don't have much effect on gameplay, which is what most 'killer games' are known for. And since all consoles will have some form of centralised networking capability, from the developers point of view they are more or less equal.
All things taken into account, I recon the Revolution has a good chance of taking the lead from the PS this generation. Time shall tell.
As for me, I'm not made of money and even $500 is way too much for me, so I'll be buying a Revolution with a copy of Zelda at launch as my entries into the NextGen. I also doubt I'm alone in this. :)
But don't forget to establish a second one at the other end of the Galaxy, just to make sure the other one doesn't go astray.
You play the delay(with is more or less definite, if they were still aiming for a spring release, they'd of demonstrated a working proto-type by now) down too much. It will have an amazing affect on xbox 360 sales in Japan! They might even reach 3 figures!!! :)
Sony have admited to that the launch in Japan might be delayed due to the Blue-Ray specs not being finalised, so there is more than just the analysts word on it in this case.