The PS2 had a launch shortage, yet this didn't cause tons of gamers to jump ship.
The difference being that the X-Box and GameCube were not available for another full year. The PS2 was competing with the Dreamcast, and the N64 and it had DVD playbeack, which was a differentiating (and popular) feature at the time.
This time the Nintendo Wii will be out (by most accounts) at least for a few weeks, the X-box 360 (for a full year) and on the 2nd or 3rd wave of games, and Blu-Ray is still a niche market and not nearly as compelling as DVD was in 2000.
The Xbox wasn't nearly as successfull as the original Playstation, yet its sequel still managed to sell out on launch day.
Agreed, but due to supply issues that wasn't difficult. Nintendo sold more Gamecubes from the day the 360 launched through the end of the year than Microsoft sold 360s.
PSP Shortages? What territory was that? In the US you could find them on the shelves a few weeks after launch.
Sony announced they would hit NA with 1 million PSP's at launch. Within 7 days they sold about 600,000 which meant you could be casual about picking it up, as there were plenty on the shelves. Actually, I have yet to see a local shop be sold out of PSP's.
Right now if they think they can get 2 million units out the door by December 31st, 2006 and launch in all 3 territories, that means there will be no reason for them to not sell out. However it will be much more damaging if the Wii launches strong with twice as many units and sells more / sells out faster than the PS3.
If Sony Doesn't sell out in every territory by Christmas they will have to do massive damage control.
Ok, The DS System / Game combo (that hashes together) isn't Truely anonymous. It needs to be that way so you can have anything other than strictly random multiplayer. You can get connection info like ip address, which DS, and times played.
However there isn't anything that ties a specific person to that DS. So from an end user concerned with privacy it is Anonymous.
Sure, but even though MGS4 hasn't been announced for any other platform (though I suspect it will be) Konami is supporting the Wii, (in fact Konami supports all the consoles) so I guess it's just a matter of semantics. To Me Konami is much more than MGS.
Wii - also has 'Free online multiplayer' as a Pro,
as Well as 'Konami Support' lest we forget about Snake being in Smash Bros.
I would also put 'Strong Launch line up' in that category too, and
Hardware based B/C for Gamecube games (including full controller and memory card support without additional purchase).
X-Box 360 - It does graphics 'as well as' the PS3, but you can buy it now, for less money.
If you buy the Core system you can upgrade any components you want that are missing.
You can buy an HD-DVD add on, but not be forced into buying one you don't want.
PS3 -
Cons - Weak launch line up. Yes, I'm interested in Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4. Unfortunately those games are coming out in 2007, so there is no incentive for me to be an early adopter.
$499 version is not upgradeable.
Blue-Ray is a neutral one. It is not a value added feature to me, but I would have to buy it anyway, To you it may be.
"Exclusive" PS3 titles showing up on 360 as higher development costs nesessitate.
Reliability. I know you put the 360 down for breaking easy, but I expect the Sony PS3 to have a similarly high failure rate for the first 2 generations of their shipments as their PS1, and PS2 history has shown.
Lack of Rumble.
Backwords compatibility? - Remains to be seen. The rumor of them including the PS2 chip in each unit was proven false, so they are likely doing emulation, just like the 360 so we'll see how that turns out.
I hear that. Bomberman would rock. Also, since Ubisoft is huge on the Wii I wouldn't be surprised to see Rayman (he would fit more naturally than Snake) or the Prince of Persia. (Sam Fisher with Snake would seem redundant though).
Megaman characters would be a great addition to the game as well, although I'm not sure how much they count as Sega..."
Just for the Record Megaman is a Capcom character; not Sega. I'd like to see him though, along with Leon Kennedy or Ada Wong from the Resident Evil series. But If I had to pick one new character not already announced it would definately be
Professor Ryta Kawashima.
If I were to base this on life experiance, I've had the 'high end' that took all my money. Now I just want the 'peppy one' that is sexy, cheap and a lot of fun.
Now that I think about it, you can apply that to the consoles too.
However Sony said they pulled the Rumble since it would 'Obviously interfer' with the tilt sensor. If that is true, Sony needs to hire some Nintendo engineers.
I like this video very much, but to paint the PS3 as "not sexy" seems kinda flawed.
Actually, I don't. Remember how people joked at the size of the original X-box? The PS3 is bigger. The Wii has a sleek, technical/industrial design. Sony should have "slapped another coat of Pretty" on the PSX and called it a day.
Yeah, Sony's got a long road ahead. Both MGS4, and FF: XIII will be out later in the PS3's life (IE: post Christmas 2006) and from what I can see They don't have any compelling exclusives in their launch line up, and the Wii does. Consider that with the price differential... I think it will be less dificult to buy a PS3 (if you are so inclined) than a Wii.
It can, depending on what is going on. I think the GC game doesn't have enough power to present full 16:9 Zelda: TP (but it can for other games such as F-Zero GX, and StarFox Adventures).
Probably the closest console launch I've seen to date was between the GameCube and the XBox which were, what, 6 months apart?
In North America they launched 3 Days apart.
I agree about the launch line-up though. They did not have a 'bankable killer app' at launch. Halo turned out to be that app, but it wasn't prior established. The best GameCube had on launch day was Luigi's Mansion (and Smash brothers a few weeks later) but these were still no where near as bankable as Final Fantasy, or Zelda.
Zelda Wii will support 16:9 widescreen, since the hardware will be able to render more of the playing area without crippling the framrate. That and the controller swap are the only confirmed differences, I've read about so far.
It was also confirmed the Wii Version will run in 480p, but I'd be amazed if TP didn't run in 480p on the GameCube.
I had similar issues on my Phat with stylus games (except brain age) where you have to support the game one handed. Metroid needed to be played 'Dual digital' or whatever it was called, or it was unplayable. The DS-Lite is smaller, and lighter, and helps in this reguard.
"any game that has the "Progressive Scan" icon on it looks quite a bit better on my TV"
I've noticed that every one of my Nintendo 1st/2nd party games prompt for Progressive scan when I boot up, even if it doesn't have it listed on the box. It's a shame though, more games don't support Widescreen. If F-Zero GX can maintain all that at 480p widescreen and stay locked at 60 fps... There's no reason why most games can't.
Slashdot Mirror
The difference being that the X-Box and GameCube were not available for another full year. The PS2 was competing with the Dreamcast, and the N64 and it had DVD playbeack, which was a differentiating (and popular) feature at the time.
This time the Nintendo Wii will be out (by most accounts) at least for a few weeks, the X-box 360 (for a full year) and on the 2nd or 3rd wave of games, and Blu-Ray is still a niche market and not nearly as compelling as DVD was in 2000.
The Xbox wasn't nearly as successfull as the original Playstation, yet its sequel still managed to sell out on launch day.
Agreed, but due to supply issues that wasn't difficult. Nintendo sold more Gamecubes from the day the 360 launched through the end of the year than Microsoft sold 360s.
There will be (Sony's using it as a tax dodge), and you can bet it will be just as significant as Linux was for the PS2!
PSP Shortages? What territory was that? In the US you could find them on the shelves a few weeks after launch. Sony announced they would hit NA with 1 million PSP's at launch. Within 7 days they sold about 600,000 which meant you could be casual about picking it up, as there were plenty on the shelves. Actually, I have yet to see a local shop be sold out of PSP's.
If Sony Doesn't sell out in every territory by Christmas they will have to do massive damage control.
Or a common Emeny. See Peter Moore and the Wii60 remarks.
However there isn't anything that ties a specific person to that DS. So from an end user concerned with privacy it is Anonymous.
Yeah, for me there is a 'rule of 5'. I need to have at least 5 games I want to buy for me to consider a system.
Sure, but even though MGS4 hasn't been announced for any other platform (though I suspect it will be) Konami is supporting the Wii, (in fact Konami supports all the consoles) so I guess it's just a matter of semantics. To Me Konami is much more than MGS.
Strong Bad (Alt for of 'Stinko-Man'), and Trogdor the Burninator would make Great additions.
I don't understand what you are stating as a Con.
Wii - also has 'Free online multiplayer' as a Pro,
as Well as 'Konami Support' lest we forget about Snake being in Smash Bros.
I would also put 'Strong Launch line up' in that category too, and
Hardware based B/C for Gamecube games (including full controller and memory card support without additional purchase).
X-Box 360 - It does graphics 'as well as' the PS3, but you can buy it now, for less money.
If you buy the Core system you can upgrade any components you want that are missing.
You can buy an HD-DVD add on, but not be forced into buying one you don't want.
PS3 - Cons - Weak launch line up. Yes, I'm interested in Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4. Unfortunately those games are coming out in 2007, so there is no incentive for me to be an early adopter.
$499 version is not upgradeable.
Blue-Ray is a neutral one. It is not a value added feature to me, but I would have to buy it anyway, To you it may be.
"Exclusive" PS3 titles showing up on 360 as higher development costs nesessitate.
Reliability. I know you put the 360 down for breaking easy, but I expect the Sony PS3 to have a similarly high failure rate for the first 2 generations of their shipments as their PS1, and PS2 history has shown.
Lack of Rumble.
Backwords compatibility? - Remains to be seen. The rumor of them including the PS2 chip in each unit was proven false, so they are likely doing emulation, just like the 360 so we'll see how that turns out.
I hear that. Bomberman would rock. Also, since Ubisoft is huge on the Wii I wouldn't be surprised to see Rayman (he would fit more naturally than Snake) or the Prince of Persia. (Sam Fisher with Snake would seem redundant though).
Just for the Record Megaman is a Capcom character; not Sega. I'd like to see him though, along with Leon Kennedy or Ada Wong from the Resident Evil series. But If I had to pick one new character not already announced it would definately be Professor Ryta Kawashima.
It was a start, and needed "another coat of pretty" then it would be fine.
Now that I think about it, you can apply that to the consoles too.
However Sony said they pulled the Rumble since it would 'Obviously interfer' with the tilt sensor. If that is true, Sony needs to hire some Nintendo engineers.
Actually, I don't. Remember how people joked at the size of the original X-box? The PS3 is bigger. The Wii has a sleek, technical/industrial design. Sony should have "slapped another coat of Pretty" on the PSX and called it a day.
Ikaruga and F-Zero GX are 'For Closers' only.
I suggest you play F-Zero GX on 'Master Difficulty'.
Yeah, Sony's got a long road ahead. Both MGS4, and FF: XIII will be out later in the PS3's life (IE: post Christmas 2006) and from what I can see They don't have any compelling exclusives in their launch line up, and the Wii does. Consider that with the price differential... I think it will be less dificult to buy a PS3 (if you are so inclined) than a Wii.
It can, depending on what is going on. I think the GC game doesn't have enough power to present full 16:9 Zelda: TP (but it can for other games such as F-Zero GX, and StarFox Adventures).
In North America they launched 3 Days apart.
I agree about the launch line-up though. They did not have a 'bankable killer app' at launch. Halo turned out to be that app, but it wasn't prior established. The best GameCube had on launch day was Luigi's Mansion (and Smash brothers a few weeks later) but these were still no where near as bankable as Final Fantasy, or Zelda.
It was also confirmed the Wii Version will run in 480p, but I'd be amazed if TP didn't run in 480p on the GameCube.
I had similar issues on my Phat with stylus games (except brain age) where you have to support the game one handed. Metroid needed to be played 'Dual digital' or whatever it was called, or it was unplayable. The DS-Lite is smaller, and lighter, and helps in this reguard.
I've noticed that every one of my Nintendo 1st/2nd party games prompt for Progressive scan when I boot up, even if it doesn't have it listed on the box. It's a shame though, more games don't support Widescreen. If F-Zero GX can maintain all that at 480p widescreen and stay locked at 60 fps... There's no reason why most games can't.
We wouldn't need to 're-learn' old technologies, but I suppose someone in the tribe with Metallurgy skills would be useful.