It's trivial to build a $1000 gaming computer that is significantly better than a PS3. Get an 8800GTS, a cheap Core Duo processor and mobo, 2GB of RAM, and a cheapo 160GB hard drive and you're in business.
not to turn this into a PC vs. Console debate, but even IF you put all that together, you will have a grand total of zero games designed to take advantage of the strength of your system. (and of course, zero ability to play blu-ray films, but let's not go there right now)
in contrast, every game released on the Ps3 is designed to take full advantage (or as much as possible) of it's CPU and processor. To dumb it down a bit, The Ps2 is pumping out games like God of War, FFXII, and Gran Turismo 4 on a system consisting of a 300mhz processor with 32 megs of ram. Think you could get those results on a PC with even double those hardware specs? Think again. PC vs. Console hardware is not a 1/1 comparison.
1 - the current hardware SUCKS. Buggy as hell and not what a Rich man with a home theatre would tolerate.
Launch hardware sucks? OH NOES! this has never happened before and will CERTAINLY not get better over time...
2 - The current movie linup for the formats SUCK. They butchered the ones that people wanted (5th element transfer is incredibly crappy) and released utter crap for the rest.
This makes as much sense as judging DVD based on the titles that were available in it's first year, or CD's that were available in the mid 80s, or games available for the PS2 in 2000... Jesus man, give it time.
3 - Most people do not own a HD capable set. This is a stone cold fact.
Been into a best buy lately? SDTV's are an endangered species. The majority of new sets sold these days are HDTV's and this will only increase. I recently snagged a GOOD 32 inch sharp Aquos for $850 before the holiday season- this is in line with what good SDTV's were selling for 6 or 7 years ago in that size. Give it another year and they'll be even cheaper. I agree that not everyone really cares about the improved picture quality but form factor alone has proven to be a HUGE selling point for HDTV. Not only are they flat enough to hang and mount on walls, but they're LIGHT enough that even a weak individual would have no problem at all moving a 36 inch tv anywhere they like, even up a flight of stairs by themselves.
4 - Those that own a HD set own a 480P set and will get a minor increase in "quality" a really good DVD player or a decent video processor between your crappy 480P set and your DVD player will give a FANTASTIC picture that makes everyone that sees it very happy with it. HDDVD or Blu Ray on those sets simply does not look that much better than a upconverted DVD with a good line doubler running on it. Therefore people wait.
480P is not HDTV and is never sold as such. at best they're labeled as EDTVs, and they're not all that common. 1080P on a blu-ray or HD-DVD is LEAGUES better than the 480p current DVD players allow. Have you seen any discs at all? It doesn't sound like it.
and this is before DRM and other issues that geeky owners care about...
DVD and even VHS was DRM'ed. Remember macrovision? didn't stop the adoption of either format..clearly "geeky" owners are in the minority.
Re:Just bought an LCD
on
Plasma or LCD?
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
You do realize that the backlight in yout LCD screen will fail sooner or later - it will certainly NOT last 20 years.
replacing the lamp is ridiculously easy and currently costs about $100-200 and only needs to be done once every 3-5 years or so. Compared to the $1200+ cost of replacing an entire TV, it's peanuts.
You've seen Plasmas fail becasue you;ve seen a first generation screen fail - we're at 10th generation plasmas and let me tell you, there is a world of difference - (Apollo vs. Space shuttle). LCD screens of plasma size have not been around as long.
"tenth generation" plasmas still don't overcome a lot of the issues present when the technology was introduced. Burn in is STILL a problem (where this is NOT the case with LCD's and DLP) and the current method to "prevent" it ends up decreasing brightness- given that brightness is often touted as an advantage over LCD, this is less than ideal. Plasmas are also for some bizarre reason STILL ridiculously expensive under 50 inches or so, despite being "tenth generation" and proven technology.
LCD's also burn in - yes - I've seen it computer monitors to 32" TV's. The LCD shutters get "lazy" when consitantly displaying the same image and do not turn "FULL" on leaving a strange "coffee spill" effect on the screen.
While it's possible (but difficult) to get a burn in image on an LCD, displaying an all white image on the set for a minute or so will correct this immediately. "burn in" as it exists on Plasmas and CRTs does not exist on LCD sets.
I've heard a similar plan also: they hit a ten year span with the PSX. This means a ten year span from introduction until the last unit rolls off the assembly line- active development stops long before this.
The PS1 was introduced in japan in 1994 and just went out of production in either late '05 or early '06 (can't remember which, exactly) but the majority of the titles released for it over the last 3 or 4 years have been almost all budget titles and kids shovelware...definitely significantly LESS complex than titles released in the system's prime like Vagrant Story or Gran Turismo 2. Higher end studios with the budget and talent to push the hardware to its limits had long since moved on to more powerful consoles.
yes, Gran Turismo 4 is a 1080i Game. It uses some rather unorthodox tactics to get there, but it pulls it off well and looks stunning.
I think this is the exception to Ps2 games rather than the rule, as no other game I'm aware of has tried it yet.
The Xbox has several 1080i games, and there's a good chance the Gamecube could have also if nintendo hadn't totally killed support for component output.
The PS2-PS3 generation was six years (Oct 2000 - Nov 2006). If you count the Dreamcast, the last-gen started in Sept 99 and ended in Nov 05 with the 360 - still six years.
I agree with all of your post except for this. Even though the "next" Gen is technically released and out the door, the PS2 still has some high profile games in the pipeline (God of War 2 comes to mind) and will likely be well supported for at least another year. saying the current gen is over because a new system is out isnt totally accurate.
Final Fantasy XII is the best that a game will ever look on the PS2. It could have been made to look better but the PS2 cant handle it. He is saying that this will never be a problem on the PS3.
I disagree with this 100%. Final Fantasy XII is one of the best looking games on the PS2 to date, but There's a good argument to be made that Gran Turismo 4 (which runs in 1080i in one way or another while FFXII is 480i only) surpasses it. But regardless- consoles arent like PC's. there will ALWAYS be an enterprising developer who comes up with some crazy coding method no one ever considered before and squeezes a little more performance out of the system.
Remember when Shadow of the Colossus was released, and everyone was saying things like "no one ever thought the PS2 was capable of things like this?" same principle. There's probably a lot of life left in the Ps2 that no one will ever get around to tapping, because with the existence of the PS3 it's no longer worth the effort to do so. By the time Developers REALLY know their way around the PS3 and are on the verge of squeezing every last ounce out of it, the Ps4 will be out and in the market and it simply won't make sense to bust one's ass trying to max out the PS3.
If some state decided to declare an official religion for that state, the supreme court would be legistlating from the bench to judge it unconstitutional, as the wording is quite clear.
not true. My understanding is that as a result of the Fourteenth Amendment the Bill of Rights no longer applies to the Federal government alone; it also means the unenumerated powers of the States and the people are limited as well. The Fourteenth Amendment fundamentally changed the nature of the Federal government, its scope and power, and it correspondingly diminished the powers of the States.
For example- States which had previously made it legal to discriminate on the basis of race were no longer able to do so. The same reason they still can't is the same reason that State's can't create or endorse an official state religion.
"A lot"? What else, other than online? Online is a fraction of actual console sales, so you can happily discard those as still have meaningful numbers. So what else is being omitted?
NPD figures do not include Walmart either, which does have meaningful numbers, but AFAIK no one console dramatically outsells the others there, so it's more or less a wash and the numbers are useful.
You didn't really miss anything in regards to ultimate TV. It was a set top box that combined the features of a TIVO (though the interface was not as good) with a Web TV. It was released around the time when common thinking was that set top boxes like web tv would eventually overtake the pc as the dominant platform for web browsing, etc.
nothing stellar...it sold terribly and microsoft dropped it once it became obvious this wasn't going to happen.
Surprising, huh? Of course, the ps2 sales may be cannibalizing possible ps3 sales.
No way in hell. The ps2 has been out for 6 years already and runs only $125. Anyone who HASNT already bought one by now isn't really in the market for a $499 Ps3. The people buying PS2's now are primarily late adopters, curious Xbox and Gamecube owners looking to check out the PS2 game library (guitar hero is making lots of converts), and those buying second consoles and/or replacements for old and broken units. Not exactly the market for cutting edge early adopter hardware.
The Wii and PS3 are hampered by availability. Although if I were Sony, the high volume of PS2 would scare me- all the PS3 brings to the table is more power.
At the risk of being labeled a fanboy, this is 100% false. Over the Ps2, the Ps3 brings multiplayer capability out of the box (at least 4 players vs. 2 on the Ps2), Wireless control standard on all gamepads, MUCH better online infrastructure, The Ability to play Blu-Ray movies (a BIG plus if you have a high def tv), Downloadable classic games for 6 bucks a pop (playable on the Ps3 with a firmware update in december, I believe) AND a fully operational Linux distro to play around with on the included 20 gig/60 gig hard drive- opening the system up to photo editing, word processing, web browsing, you name it. (yes, I'm aware of Ps2 linux, but its far more limited and the average user couldnt run that.) People have even gotten emulators running on it already playing classic games.
And that's ignoring the HUGE jump in power between the two consoles. In terms of features, Sony actually did do pretty much everything right in designing the Ps3 as a followup to the PS2- the only major screwups have been with the price (which will drop as all things do eventually) and availability.
When Sony introduced the Playstation, everyone thought that it would get stomped by Nintendo and Sega. Even though Microsoft has huge cash reserves, there were some who thought that Microsoft would get whipped by Nintendo and Sony. It wasn't the market leader, it sold a respectable number of consoles and proved that it was a player.
Are you mad? Microsoft DID get whipped by Sony. They sold less than 1/5 as many hardware units while losing 4 Billion dollars in the process. Nintendo at least was somewhat profitable with the Gamecube. Any other company NOT in a position to bleed cash like mad would have been in no position at all to offer a follow up console in those circumstances.
The only one of those products that wasn't successful was the Virtual Boy because it lost money. The N64 and Gamecube both made substantial money for Nintendo. The only way the N64 was a mistake was through poor marketing and not getting the developers the tools they needed in time, thus loosing developer support and marketshare.The CD vs. Cart issue is debatable, though it did loose them Square. The Gamecube was a success from every angle. It made money and maintained/gained market share.
Neither the N64 or Gamecube were successful platforms for nintendo. Both Platforms lost substantial market share and sold substantially less hardware and software than their predecessors. The SNES Sold 50 million, the N64 Sold 32 Million, and The GC struggled to hit 20 million sold while the total size of the market actually GREW. Losing over 50% of your base over two generations isn't exactly the mark of success.
Third party publishers abandoned both platforms in droves and the end of both console lifespans saw droughts of months between releases. The N64 in particular is notorious for having virtually NO high profile third party support- Nearly all of the high profile titles released for it were produced by Nintendo themselves, and some Genres (RPG's in particular) were completely absent.
The VAST majority of Nintendo's profitability came from the success of the Gameboy and Gameboy advance line during this time as they were outsold by a wide margin on Software and Hardware by their competitors in the console area.
The CD vs. Cart issue isn't really debatable, otherwise we'd all still be using carts. There's a reason everyone made the switch to optical media, you know.
To be fair, prior to the debut of the playstation Sony was a console game developer under the Sony Imagesoft Brand, Developed the VERY good sound chip used in the SNES, and collaborated with Nintendo on the never released SNES CD drive that eventually led to the playstation. Anyone who kept their ear to the ground re: the console industry could have seen a Sony console coming sooner or later.
Microsoft is less obvious, though with the way consoles have been gradually inching towards PC territory it was inevitable sooner or later. Microsoft had also been experimenting with set top boxes for quite some time prior to the debut of the Xbox as well for the same reasons. (Remember ultimate TV?)
considering microsoft is currently isn't selling in any substantial numbers in japan, Sony could make up the 330,000 difference in japan sales alone, even if the US numbers were dead even.
[blockquote]For $1050, you could get a custom-built box that would do a lot better then that unit.[/blockquote]
To be fair, the grandparent post DID say that Dell was purchased around 2 years ago. I don't think Core 2 Duo's were even around back then, much less at $200. Whatever Dell offered him today would likely be closer to the specs you quoted.
Twilight princess is a Gamecube Game that's been delayed repeatedly for over a year. It's not accurate to call it a launch title for the Wii, as it wasn't designed around the hardware.
And yeah, Suikoden (III, at least, I've only played it and IV, and IV was horrible) rocked. Excellent gameplay
I noticed you didn't mention suikoden V at all. In case you missed it, it's easily the best of the series since II (which is sadly really, REALLY hard to find) and very much worth your time. Don't expect a greatest-hits reissue of this one though! Grab it while you can before it's out of print.
You have got to be an absolute fucking moron to spend that much for a console. You could build a monster pc for those $$!! Dual/quad cores, 4 way SLI 8GB's RAM,etc, etc..
..and be able to play a grand total of ZERO Ps2 games and Blu-Ray movies.
Much as I'll agree that port was lame, the 32X was the first console to get that game ever. None of the other consoles from that generation had even a half-assed port.
I believe the Atari 2600 beat the 32x to the punch... (note to overzealous mods, I'm aware this is a hoax.)
In all seriousness, Doom had to be the most ported game ever. The Jaguar got a port in 1994, same as the 32x, the 3DO in 1995, The Playstation and Saturn in 1995 and even The SNES got a port of DOOM in 1996. All were arguably part of the same gen, though the 32x is tough to place in a specific "gen" as it was a stopgap add on rather than a true standalone console.
Lol. The 32x version of Doom most certainly DID have a last level. It would "fart you out to the C:> prompt" if you used any cheat codes. SO, if you didn't get to see the last level, you have only yourself to blame.;)
you have the wikipedia link up so I'm sure you read the entry, but the NEO was hardly a flop. It was designed primarily as arcade hardware, and only got a "home" console release due to consumer demand.
For arcade owners, the NEO platform was a dream. Getting a new arcade game (and thus, the cabinet) used to run arcade operators 3 to 4 thousand dollars! After the release of the Neo Geo, new games could be had simply by switching out the cart within the cabinet ($100-$200 per cart) and most cabinets could accomodate multiple games!
For home owners, yes the system and games were expensive but they were arcade PERFECT 32-bit games in an era where most gamers were still playing NES games. It came with TWO full sized arcade joysticks with 5(?) buttons when most gamers were still playing with vastly inferior gamepads. Some of the deluxe cabinets even gave gamers the option to save their games at the arcade and take them home to continue later!
Those who weren't gaming then might not remember, but this was an age when arcade fighters (like SFII) were HUGE and the NEO was a fighters dream come true. The EXTREMELY long running and highly regarded King of Fighters series got it's start on the NEO, as well as the well known Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and Samurai Showdown franchises. The system also had it's fair share of shooters, beat em ups, and puzzle games like Bust-A-Move and was admittedly short on games like say...RPGs, but again, the NEO was arcade hardware.
For a "flop" the NEO was extremely well supported. How long did the Dreamcast last? A year? How about the Xbox? 3 years then dropped? SNK continued to produce games for the NEO until 2004, 14 YEARS after the system launch. That kind of catering to your fanbase, no matter how small is definitely admirable. The NEO was never intended to be the kind of mass market system the NES and Genesis were. It's goal was to revolutionize the arcade scene (which it did well, for players and arcade owners) and give those gamers that really "got" the system and it's titles the option of bringing that experience home with them.
I'd say it's not so much a typo as a lack of understanding, as you repeated the misinformation not once, but twice.
You are aware the HDD's in the PS3 are SATA laptop style drives, which are substantially more
expensive than 20-40 cents a gig? A Quick Search of Newegg turns up a 60 gig fujitsu notebook drive at 92.99. Sony isn't "ripping you off" here as it's just a generic drive (re: not proprietary like the 360 drive) and can be easily upgraded with any size drive the user chooses, from wherever the user sees fit to buy it.
The flashcard reader is there to quickly transfer media to and from portable devices like digital cameras, PSP's, Music players, etc. It makes perfect sense considering Sony is selling music movies games, etc via the playstation Store. Download song/movie file/game onto card, pop card into walkman/psp/generic MP3 player and there you go. Don't see the need for it? Don't buy the premium.
The difference between the "core" Ps3 ($499) and the "premium" ($599) is $100. Not $200.
Microsoft is charging $100 for a 20 gig drive for the 360 alone. At that rate the 40 gig increase for the same price is definitely worth the investment in the long run.
Heh, of course the Wii has 2 out of those 3. A $250 system INCLUDES 2 out of 3 items that covers the difference between the $400 and a $600 verssions of another system, with the 3rd item rolling in around $20-40.
No, the Wii doesn't. the premium Ps3 includes support for CompactFlash, SD, AND Memorystick Formats. the Wii is SD-only. If I have compactflash/memorystick cards I want to use with the wii, I'm SOL. And again...there is no $400 version of the Ps3. As for WiFi, the Wii includes it but has no option for wired access, as the Ps3 premium and core do.
Slashdot Mirror
not to turn this into a PC vs. Console debate, but even IF you put all that together, you will have a grand total of zero games designed to take advantage of the strength of your system. (and of course, zero ability to play blu-ray films, but let's not go there right now)
in contrast, every game released on the Ps3 is designed to take full advantage (or as much as possible) of it's CPU and processor. To dumb it down a bit, The Ps2 is pumping out games like God of War, FFXII, and Gran Turismo 4 on a system consisting of a 300mhz processor with 32 megs of ram. Think you could get those results on a PC with even double those hardware specs? Think again. PC vs. Console hardware is not a 1/1 comparison.
Launch hardware sucks? OH NOES! this has never happened before and will CERTAINLY not get better over time...
This makes as much sense as judging DVD based on the titles that were available in it's first year, or CD's that were available in the mid 80s, or games available for the PS2 in 2000... Jesus man, give it time.
Been into a best buy lately? SDTV's are an endangered species. The majority of new sets sold these days are HDTV's and this will only increase. I recently snagged a GOOD 32 inch sharp Aquos for $850 before the holiday season- this is in line with what good SDTV's were selling for 6 or 7 years ago in that size. Give it another year and they'll be even cheaper. I agree that not everyone really cares about the improved picture quality but form factor alone has proven to be a HUGE selling point for HDTV. Not only are they flat enough to hang and mount on walls, but they're LIGHT enough that even a weak individual would have no problem at all moving a 36 inch tv anywhere they like, even up a flight of stairs by themselves.
480P is not HDTV and is never sold as such. at best they're labeled as EDTVs, and they're not all that common. 1080P on a blu-ray or HD-DVD is LEAGUES better than the 480p current DVD players allow. Have you seen any discs at all? It doesn't sound like it.
DVD and even VHS was DRM'ed. Remember macrovision? didn't stop the adoption of either format..clearly "geeky" owners are in the minority.
replacing the lamp is ridiculously easy and currently costs about $100-200 and only needs to be done once every 3-5 years or so. Compared to the $1200+ cost of replacing an entire TV, it's peanuts.
"tenth generation" plasmas still don't overcome a lot of the issues present when the technology was introduced. Burn in is STILL a problem (where this is NOT the case with LCD's and DLP) and the current method to "prevent" it ends up decreasing brightness- given that brightness is often touted as an advantage over LCD, this is less than ideal. Plasmas are also for some bizarre reason STILL ridiculously expensive under 50 inches or so, despite being "tenth generation" and proven technology.
While it's possible (but difficult) to get a burn in image on an LCD, displaying an all white image on the set for a minute or so will correct this immediately. "burn in" as it exists on Plasmas and CRTs does not exist on LCD sets.
I've heard a similar plan also: they hit a ten year span with the PSX. This means a ten year span from introduction until the last unit rolls off the assembly line- active development stops long before this.
The PS1 was introduced in japan in 1994 and just went out of production in either late '05 or early '06 (can't remember which, exactly) but the majority of the titles released for it over the last 3 or 4 years have been almost all budget titles and kids shovelware...definitely significantly LESS complex than titles released in the system's prime like Vagrant Story or Gran Turismo 2. Higher end studios with the budget and talent to push the hardware to its limits had long since moved on to more powerful consoles.
yes, Gran Turismo 4 is a 1080i Game. It uses some rather unorthodox tactics to get there, but it pulls it off well and looks stunning.
I think this is the exception to Ps2 games rather than the rule, as no other game I'm aware of has tried it yet.
The Xbox has several 1080i games, and there's a good chance the Gamecube could have also if nintendo hadn't totally killed support for component output.
I disagree with this 100%. Final Fantasy XII is one of the best looking games on the PS2 to date, but There's a good argument to be made that Gran Turismo 4 (which runs in 1080i in one way or another while FFXII is 480i only) surpasses it. But regardless- consoles arent like PC's. there will ALWAYS be an enterprising developer who comes up with some crazy coding method no one ever considered before and squeezes a little more performance out of the system.
Remember when Shadow of the Colossus was released, and everyone was saying things like "no one ever thought the PS2 was capable of things like this?" same principle. There's probably a lot of life left in the Ps2 that no one will ever get around to tapping, because with the existence of the PS3 it's no longer worth the effort to do so. By the time Developers REALLY know their way around the PS3 and are on the verge of squeezing every last ounce out of it, the Ps4 will be out and in the market and it simply won't make sense to bust one's ass trying to max out the PS3.
not true. My understanding is that as a result of the Fourteenth Amendment the Bill of Rights no longer applies to the Federal government alone; it also means the unenumerated powers of the States and the people are limited as well. The Fourteenth Amendment fundamentally changed the nature of the Federal government, its scope and power, and it correspondingly diminished the powers of the States.
For example- States which had previously made it legal to discriminate on the basis of race were no longer able to do so. The same reason they still can't is the same reason that State's can't create or endorse an official state religion.
You didn't really miss anything in regards to ultimate TV. It was a set top box that combined the features of a TIVO (though the interface was not as good) with a Web TV. It was released around the time when common thinking was that set top boxes like web tv would eventually overtake the pc as the dominant platform for web browsing, etc. nothing stellar...it sold terribly and microsoft dropped it once it became obvious this wasn't going to happen.
No way in hell. The ps2 has been out for 6 years already and runs only $125. Anyone who HASNT already bought one by now isn't really in the market for a $499 Ps3. The people buying PS2's now are primarily late adopters, curious Xbox and Gamecube owners looking to check out the PS2 game library (guitar hero is making lots of converts), and those buying second consoles and/or replacements for old and broken units. Not exactly the market for cutting edge early adopter hardware.
At the risk of being labeled a fanboy, this is 100% false. Over the Ps2, the Ps3 brings multiplayer capability out of the box (at least 4 players vs. 2 on the Ps2), Wireless control standard on all gamepads, MUCH better online infrastructure, The Ability to play Blu-Ray movies (a BIG plus if you have a high def tv), Downloadable classic games for 6 bucks a pop (playable on the Ps3 with a firmware update in december, I believe) AND a fully operational Linux distro to play around with on the included 20 gig/60 gig hard drive- opening the system up to photo editing, word processing, web browsing, you name it. (yes, I'm aware of Ps2 linux, but its far more limited and the average user couldnt run that.) People have even gotten emulators running on it already playing classic games.
And that's ignoring the HUGE jump in power between the two consoles. In terms of features, Sony actually did do pretty much everything right in designing the Ps3 as a followup to the PS2- the only major screwups have been with the price (which will drop as all things do eventually) and availability.
Neither the N64 or Gamecube were successful platforms for nintendo. Both Platforms lost substantial market share and sold substantially less hardware and software than their predecessors. The SNES Sold 50 million, the N64 Sold 32 Million, and The GC struggled to hit 20 million sold while the total size of the market actually GREW. Losing over 50% of your base over two generations isn't exactly the mark of success.
Third party publishers abandoned both platforms in droves and the end of both console lifespans saw droughts of months between releases. The N64 in particular is notorious for having virtually NO high profile third party support- Nearly all of the high profile titles released for it were produced by Nintendo themselves, and some Genres (RPG's in particular) were completely absent.
The VAST majority of Nintendo's profitability came from the success of the Gameboy and Gameboy advance line during this time as they were outsold by a wide margin on Software and Hardware by their competitors in the console area.
The CD vs. Cart issue isn't really debatable, otherwise we'd all still be using carts. There's a reason everyone made the switch to optical media, you know.
To be fair, prior to the debut of the playstation Sony was a console game developer under the Sony Imagesoft Brand, Developed the VERY good sound chip used in the SNES, and collaborated with Nintendo on the never released SNES CD drive that eventually led to the playstation. Anyone who kept their ear to the ground re: the console industry could have seen a Sony console coming sooner or later. Microsoft is less obvious, though with the way consoles have been gradually inching towards PC territory it was inevitable sooner or later. Microsoft had also been experimenting with set top boxes for quite some time prior to the debut of the Xbox as well for the same reasons. (Remember ultimate TV?)
considering microsoft is currently isn't selling in any substantial numbers in japan, Sony could make up the 330,000 difference in japan sales alone, even if the US numbers were dead even.
[blockquote]For $1050, you could get a custom-built box that would do a lot better then that unit.[/blockquote] To be fair, the grandparent post DID say that Dell was purchased around 2 years ago. I don't think Core 2 Duo's were even around back then, much less at $200. Whatever Dell offered him today would likely be closer to the specs you quoted.
Twilight princess is a Gamecube Game that's been delayed repeatedly for over a year. It's not accurate to call it a launch title for the Wii, as it wasn't designed around the hardware.
I believe the Atari 2600 beat the 32x to the punch... (note to overzealous mods, I'm aware this is a hoax.)
In all seriousness, Doom had to be the most ported game ever. The Jaguar got a port in 1994, same as the 32x, the 3DO in 1995, The Playstation and Saturn in 1995 and even The SNES got a port of DOOM in 1996. All were arguably part of the same gen, though the 32x is tough to place in a specific "gen" as it was a stopgap add on rather than a true standalone console.
Lol. The 32x version of Doom most certainly DID have a last level. It would "fart you out to the C:> prompt" if you used any cheat codes. SO, if you didn't get to see the last level, you have only yourself to blame. ;)
you have the wikipedia link up so I'm sure you read the entry, but the NEO was hardly a flop. It was designed primarily as arcade hardware, and only got a "home" console release due to consumer demand.
For arcade owners, the NEO platform was a dream. Getting a new arcade game (and thus, the cabinet) used to run arcade operators 3 to 4 thousand dollars! After the release of the Neo Geo, new games could be had simply by switching out the cart within the cabinet ($100-$200 per cart) and most cabinets could accomodate multiple games!
For home owners, yes the system and games were expensive but they were arcade PERFECT 32-bit games in an era where most gamers were still playing NES games. It came with TWO full sized arcade joysticks with 5(?) buttons when most gamers were still playing with vastly inferior gamepads. Some of the deluxe cabinets even gave gamers the option to save their games at the arcade and take them home to continue later!
Those who weren't gaming then might not remember, but this was an age when arcade fighters (like SFII) were HUGE and the NEO was a fighters dream come true. The EXTREMELY long running and highly regarded King of Fighters series got it's start on the NEO, as well as the well known Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and Samurai Showdown franchises. The system also had it's fair share of shooters, beat em ups, and puzzle games like Bust-A-Move and was admittedly short on games like say...RPGs, but again, the NEO was arcade hardware.
For a "flop" the NEO was extremely well supported. How long did the Dreamcast last? A year? How about the Xbox? 3 years then dropped? SNK continued to produce games for the NEO until 2004, 14 YEARS after the system launch. That kind of catering to your fanbase, no matter how small is definitely admirable. The NEO was never intended to be the kind of mass market system the NES and Genesis were. It's goal was to revolutionize the arcade scene (which it did well, for players and arcade owners) and give those gamers that really "got" the system and it's titles the option of bringing that experience home with them.
I'd say it's not so much a typo as a lack of understanding, as you repeated the misinformation not once, but twice.
You are aware the HDD's in the PS3 are SATA laptop style drives, which are substantially more expensive than 20-40 cents a gig? A Quick Search of Newegg turns up a 60 gig fujitsu notebook drive at 92.99. Sony isn't "ripping you off" here as it's just a generic drive (re: not proprietary like the 360 drive) and can be easily upgraded with any size drive the user chooses, from wherever the user sees fit to buy it.
The flashcard reader is there to quickly transfer media to and from portable devices like digital cameras, PSP's, Music players, etc. It makes perfect sense considering Sony is selling music movies games, etc via the playstation Store. Download song/movie file/game onto card, pop card into walkman/psp/generic MP3 player and there you go. Don't see the need for it? Don't buy the premium.
The difference between the "core" Ps3 ($499) and the "premium" ($599) is $100. Not $200. Microsoft is charging $100 for a 20 gig drive for the 360 alone. At that rate the 40 gig increase for the same price is definitely worth the investment in the long run.
No, the Wii doesn't. the premium Ps3 includes support for CompactFlash, SD, AND Memorystick Formats. the Wii is SD-only. If I have compactflash/memorystick cards I want to use with the wii, I'm SOL. And again...there is no $400 version of the Ps3. As for WiFi, the Wii includes it but has no option for wired access, as the Ps3 premium and core do.