Perrin Kaplan stated that if you delete VC games from your system you can redownload them free. Also if your Wii dies they have a record of what you downloaded, so you could re-download them to a new Wii. I'm hoping I never have to do such a thing, but it is possible and has been thought of before launch.
Not 100% of those will be tied to future purchases. Some just smash them on camera, mod them into Grills or whatever, but they are the minority of purchases. Sony is selling the machine mearly as a gateway for you to buy more of their products.
Whether that is investment on their part, or marketing (or if marketing is considered an investment), really is a matter of semantics.
I suspect part of the update issue is because people update all at once and hammer the system by doing it manually (qur the 'well duh'), but for future automated updates it should be more spaced out.
I got mine home on Sunday morning, and had it connect to the internet before noon. Downloaded the update, maybe 5 minutes or so, and bam it was done. contrast that to those who started later in the day, and it was 'teh sloooooow.' The reason I suspect this won't be an issue is that part of the setup involes your country, the actual date/time, and you can set it to 'never sleep/always connect'. The Wii also know what you've been playing and how long (check the Wii message board) I suspect it knows what times too. So it could 'check in' to the Nintendo servers, and pull down the updates over night in a predictable fashion, while you're asleep. They could set up a server que and prioritize the updates.
If I'm pulling the updates myself, I want my system done in 5 minutes so I can get back to playing. If it's automated to pull these updates automatically while it's idle (at night or while I'm at work) I don't care if it's sitting in que for 8 hours to get that 5 minute update, as I'm not waiting on the machine.
"For $304, I'd damn well better buy 15 games at $59.99 USD for them to break even, let alone for them to actually make back"
At launch that's crazy, but over 5-6 years over a console's life (or 10 as Sony hopes for the PS3) it is very conceivable. Don't forget about extra controllers, Hi-def cables, eye toys, etc...
If you own a PS2, count how many games you ever bought new . You could have traded them in or what not, but every one new sold gives them money; Any 1st party games they get more money, Every controller, every memory card, the network adapter for the original PS2, The Hard drive, and the most obvious 'should have been in the machine to begin with' Multi-tap. How many people bought PS1's and upgraded to the PS2? How many PS2 owners will upgrade to the PS3? You are also buying Brand Loyalty.
At launch they don't make money. They have high start up costs, R&D, advertising, etc... They are in it for 4+ years per console and over that time they can make money (provided they grow their userbase enough).
in my mind a customer is someone who I'm profiting from, not who is profiting from me.
Though they are not mutually exclusive, Sony IS profiting off you as a consumer by you buying their machine. This comes in the way of you buying the games, accessories, movies, etc... as previously stated. They are selling 'Mind share' "I had positive experiances with Sony Brand TV, so I'll check out their surround sound systems..."
Another thing you are buying with a PS3 (or any other console for that matter) is DRM. You're buying vendor lock-in. Virtually everything you buy to compliment that system puts money back into Sony's pockets. That to them is an investment.
When the competition copies... Oh wait they did...
on
NY Times Review of PS3
·
· Score: 1
I think a reasonable yardstick of how successful the wiimote controller will be, is when the competitors start to immitate the form and function of it...
You mean like how Sony bolted on a Tilt sensor to their controller?
I'm kind of amussed that people who won't get off their ass to go outside and play tennis with a friend (and get to see those hot girls in short tennis skirts) will sit at home with their little Wii virtual racket and play virtual tennis with cartoon characters. At some point if you really want realism I have to wonder why you don't just go do these things for real.
Part of it is the accessibility. My mom wants to try Tennis because she always loved tennis, and used to play. She however can't do the constant running stopping, and moving due to knee problems as she got older. Wii sports deals simply with the racket, and all the running is 'done for you'.
I honestly wished Wii sports was online enabled so I could play golf and play tennis with my parents or friends who moved cross country.
Ok that was the one game that everyone said turned out really good for launch. I was wondering. The back of the box says it requires at least 3 gigs free of hard disk space. Is that correct or a misprint that should read 3 megs (for save games)? If not, what are the 3 gigs used for? Are we actually installing console games to the HDD now?
I wish they did have a SKU that contained them both, but personally I'm glad they are sold seperately also. Zelda only uses the one. Excite truck doesn't use it at all. Wii Sports only has 1 game that uses it at all (Boxing) and there you can only play 2 players, so you only need 2, but for Tennis you can use 4 remotes. I had to do some running around just to get my extra 1 nunchuck here, but so far I'm doing good with 2 chucks, 4 remotes, and no classic controllers (since the Virtual Controller acceps the Gamecube controller).
As an added bonus, Circuit City has a deal this week where you get $5 off any Wii accessory that's $19.99 or greater. By Selling the Nunchuck and Remote seperate you get that $5 off each, which was happy.:)
the retailers don't want to commit shelf space to the PS3 until it's more readily available.
You anwsered your own question right there. Currently there aren't many games to begin with, but since the system is in such a limited quantity anyway they would be catering to such a smaller group. Black friday- Christmas that display space is too valuable to be empty. As units / games, etc... become more available you will see the PS3 getting better exposure.
Honestly, I'm not sure. To my knowlege there are fewer than 100 BlueRay titles released. So unless the OTHER 20,000 or so are all being resold (the ones who didn't buy at least 1 game), what are these people doing with them?
I think part of the issue is that the 360 is modular. Just like the PS2 was. If I wanted to buy a hard drive, or network adapter, or heaven forbid actually have 4 controller slots, you paid extra. If for some reason you didn't want any of that, you didn't buy it.
The PS3 has much of this built in, but the largest complaints come from people (like myself) who would be paying for extra functionality that we won't use. If I buy a 360, I could later choose to buy a HD-DVD drive if I changed my mind. It's all or nothing with the PS3.
Personally If I wanted HD-DVD or Blu-Ray I would buy a seperate player anyway. They play smoother, and typically have more features than what you get in a game system. Sony's been touting the PS3 as 'a cheap blu-Ray player'. Problem is, I believe them. I believe it will be 'Cheap' as in low quality, rather than 'cheap' as in 'inexpensive' when compared to stand-alone units.
In the first 2 days, it was reported that Sony sold 81,639 units in Japan, and a total of 66,684 games sold. Their
Tie ratio was 0.82 . So not everyone who bought a PS3 bought a game (even though it didn't come with one, not even a demo disk). I would be interested to know what the tie ratio is for the Wii, especially considering their's a game bundled.
Nintendo's premier games normally sell in the same quantity (or higher) than Sony and Microsoft's top games do. not sure how Mario Sunshine vs. Halo worked out...
I do. Super Mario Sunshine sold less copies than Halo, however... Nintendogs outsold Halo 2 and almost every entry of Pokemon outsold GTA.
Granted, the X-box 360 didn't have those features a year ago, but they weren't competing with the PS3 a year ago. Sony needs to AT LEAST MATCH if not beat the 360 in side-by-side comparisons today, especially since the PS3 is $200 more expensive.
As an added slap in the face how does sony plan to 'Usher in full 1080p gaming' with composite cables?
I'm surprised that nobody brought this up, but considering that Day 1 Nintendo sold more Wii's in the USA, than Sony has been able to sell worldwide (Which according to Sony is only Japan, and the US anyway) they are effectively in 3rd place in the next-gen 'race'.
Unless Nintendo has some massive manufacturing issues, I expect this to continue at least through holiday 2007 , even if FF XIII, and MGS4 are both released at that time.
I ahd the same issue, but with The Wii interface itself. Seems I messed up when I set the Sensor bar.
Check to make sure that your Sensor bar is at the edge of whatever surface you rested it on. My TV is in the middle of the TV stand, and I put the Sensor far down right in front of it. I found while sitting on the couch the angle was such that it didn't communicate properly with the pointer. (part of the TV stand was in the way from that angle). So I moved the pointer to the top of my tv, and put it at the edge. Everything works fine now.
Or they could just allow the Wii to play at 720p without intentionally crippling it. My Xbox (first one) plays some games in 720p. The Wii outclasses the original X-box in every spec (except disk space, they both uses DVD9 for media, and the Harddrive is larger than the onboard Wii (flash) memory). There is no technical reason why the Wii can't output in 720p, except that Nintendo didn't put an option in the settings.
I own an HDTV, and will be getting a Wii at launch. The only games that look exclusive & worth playing on the PS3 will be arriving second half of 2007 anyway, so why buy one now? The Wii has a strong launch lineup, and solid titles for all of next year. I don't expect it will be over shadowed anytime in 2007.
I hear ya. I personally have a rule of 5 (games) before buying a system. The Wii does that at launch surprisingly (I'm big on local multiplayer party games). The PS3 has only one Exclusive I really care about. 'Lair'. Factor 5 makes great games, and that looks awsome. I've been FF'ed out, and MGS just isn't as compelling as it used to be either. Assassins Creed was finally announced for the 360, so my list of compelling 360 games has hit 3. 2 more compelling titles, and a price drop I'm there.
DMC4 could end up on the 360 as Capcom has become very multi-console as of late. Personally can't come up with 1 compelling reason to buy a PS3 before holiday 2007.
I understand, we (as consumers) will only get what we put up with, so if I buy a game (I have all consoles)I at least buy the version of the game that has the least loading. This causes my collection to be skewed to Gamecube, then Xbox, and I have very few PS2 titles...
Personally I love the lack of load times in the Cube. For 1st/2nd party games they are practically non-existant. Why the 360 or the PS3 can't cut load times is beyond me, as a customer it's important.
Guitar Hero II improves on an already great game. One of the best additions is that you cna play co-op and each player can play at a different difficulty at the same time. Which makes it evan more party friendly than the original.
Slashdot Mirror
Perrin Kaplan stated that if you delete VC games from your system you can redownload them free. Also if your Wii dies they have a record of what you downloaded, so you could re-download them to a new Wii. I'm hoping I never have to do such a thing, but it is possible and has been thought of before launch.
Whether that is investment on their part, or marketing (or if marketing is considered an investment), really is a matter of semantics.
I got mine home on Sunday morning, and had it connect to the internet before noon. Downloaded the update, maybe 5 minutes or so, and bam it was done. contrast that to those who started later in the day, and it was 'teh sloooooow.' The reason I suspect this won't be an issue is that part of the setup involes your country, the actual date/time, and you can set it to 'never sleep/always connect'. The Wii also know what you've been playing and how long (check the Wii message board) I suspect it knows what times too. So it could 'check in' to the Nintendo servers, and pull down the updates over night in a predictable fashion, while you're asleep. They could set up a server que and prioritize the updates.
If I'm pulling the updates myself, I want my system done in 5 minutes so I can get back to playing. If it's automated to pull these updates automatically while it's idle (at night or while I'm at work) I don't care if it's sitting in que for 8 hours to get that 5 minute update, as I'm not waiting on the machine.
At launch that's crazy, but over 5-6 years over a console's life (or 10 as Sony hopes for the PS3) it is very conceivable. Don't forget about extra controllers, Hi-def cables, eye toys, etc...
If you own a PS2, count how many games you ever bought new . You could have traded them in or what not, but every one new sold gives them money; Any 1st party games they get more money, Every controller, every memory card, the network adapter for the original PS2, The Hard drive, and the most obvious 'should have been in the machine to begin with' Multi-tap. How many people bought PS1's and upgraded to the PS2? How many PS2 owners will upgrade to the PS3? You are also buying Brand Loyalty.
At launch they don't make money. They have high start up costs, R&D, advertising, etc... They are in it for 4+ years per console and over that time they can make money (provided they grow their userbase enough).
Though they are not mutually exclusive, Sony IS profiting off you as a consumer by you buying their machine. This comes in the way of you buying the games, accessories, movies, etc... as previously stated. They are selling 'Mind share' "I had positive experiances with Sony Brand TV, so I'll check out their surround sound systems..."
Another thing you are buying with a PS3 (or any other console for that matter) is DRM. You're buying vendor lock-in. Virtually everything you buy to compliment that system puts money back into Sony's pockets. That to them is an investment.
You mean like how Sony bolted on a Tilt sensor to their controller?
Part of it is the accessibility. My mom wants to try Tennis because she always loved tennis, and used to play. She however can't do the constant running stopping, and moving due to knee problems as she got older. Wii sports deals simply with the racket, and all the running is 'done for you'.
I honestly wished Wii sports was online enabled so I could play golf and play tennis with my parents or friends who moved cross country.
Ok that was the one game that everyone said turned out really good for launch. I was wondering. The back of the box says it requires at least 3 gigs free of hard disk space. Is that correct or a misprint that should read 3 megs (for save games)? If not, what are the 3 gigs used for? Are we actually installing console games to the HDD now?
As an added bonus, Circuit City has a deal this week where you get $5 off any Wii accessory that's $19.99 or greater. By Selling the Nunchuck and Remote seperate you get that $5 off each, which was happy. :)
You anwsered your own question right there. Currently there aren't many games to begin with, but since the system is in such a limited quantity anyway they would be catering to such a smaller group. Black friday- Christmas that display space is too valuable to be empty. As units / games, etc... become more available you will see the PS3 getting better exposure.
As with Sony. They said they want 10 years from the PS3... they also said that of the PS2...
Honestly, I'm not sure. To my knowlege there are fewer than 100 BlueRay titles released. So unless the OTHER 20,000 or so are all being resold (the ones who didn't buy at least 1 game), what are these people doing with them?
The PS3 has much of this built in, but the largest complaints come from people (like myself) who would be paying for extra functionality that we won't use. If I buy a 360, I could later choose to buy a HD-DVD drive if I changed my mind. It's all or nothing with the PS3.
Personally If I wanted HD-DVD or Blu-Ray I would buy a seperate player anyway. They play smoother, and typically have more features than what you get in a game system. Sony's been touting the PS3 as 'a cheap blu-Ray player'. Problem is, I believe them. I believe it will be 'Cheap' as in low quality, rather than 'cheap' as in 'inexpensive' when compared to stand-alone units.
In the first 2 days, it was reported that Sony sold 81,639 units in Japan, and a total of 66,684 games sold. Their Tie ratio was 0.82 . So not everyone who bought a PS3 bought a game (even though it didn't come with one, not even a demo disk). I would be interested to know what the tie ratio is for the Wii, especially considering their's a game bundled.
I do. Super Mario Sunshine sold less copies than Halo, however... Nintendogs outsold Halo 2 and almost every entry of Pokemon outsold GTA.
As an added slap in the face how does sony plan to 'Usher in full 1080p gaming' with composite cables?
Unless Nintendo has some massive manufacturing issues, I expect this to continue at least through holiday 2007 , even if FF XIII, and MGS4 are both released at that time.
Check to make sure that your Sensor bar is at the edge of whatever surface you rested it on. My TV is in the middle of the TV stand, and I put the Sensor far down right in front of it. I found while sitting on the couch the angle was such that it didn't communicate properly with the pointer. (part of the TV stand was in the way from that angle). So I moved the pointer to the top of my tv, and put it at the edge. Everything works fine now.
Or they could just allow the Wii to play at 720p without intentionally crippling it. My Xbox (first one) plays some games in 720p. The Wii outclasses the original X-box in every spec (except disk space, they both uses DVD9 for media, and the Harddrive is larger than the onboard Wii (flash) memory). There is no technical reason why the Wii can't output in 720p, except that Nintendo didn't put an option in the settings.
I own an HDTV, and will be getting a Wii at launch. The only games that look exclusive & worth playing on the PS3 will be arriving second half of 2007 anyway, so why buy one now? The Wii has a strong launch lineup, and solid titles for all of next year. I don't expect it will be over shadowed anytime in 2007.
DMC4 could end up on the 360 as Capcom has become very multi-console as of late. Personally can't come up with 1 compelling reason to buy a PS3 before holiday 2007.
I understand, we (as consumers) will only get what we put up with, so if I buy a game (I have all consoles)I at least buy the version of the game that has the least loading. This causes my collection to be skewed to Gamecube, then Xbox, and I have very few PS2 titles...
Personally I love the lack of load times in the Cube. For 1st/2nd party games they are practically non-existant. Why the 360 or the PS3 can't cut load times is beyond me, as a customer it's important.
Guitar Hero II improves on an already great game. One of the best additions is that you cna play co-op and each player can play at a different difficulty at the same time. Which makes it evan more party friendly than the original.
For exactly the same reason. Me, and the Ex played through it 'alternating'.