General

Joined: A long time ago...

I don't hate sony... I have some sony products in my house just as most people do... I just find the ps3 to be one of the worst thought out products they've ever put out.... No one at sony was thinking, "you know.... all those other super expensive ahead of their time consoles got off the ground.... maybe we should think this over".... instead they just tried to make the most powerfull turd ever created.... But over built and ahead of its time has never worked in the console market.... turbo graphics 16, sega cd, neo geo, jaguar, and now the ps3.... affordable and gets the job done is what keeps you in the game...  Sony was too focused on making the system more powerfull than the competitors and not thinking about making a historic mistake that could have been avoided... I guarantee if the ps3's launch price were $200 cheaper and ditched the whole blue ray crap, the sales would be phenominal.... come next holiday season, they will have lost all their customers to 360 and wii.....
The ps3 is too ahead of its time.... The markets not ready for blue ray all hd crap, it's not ready for $700 price tag, and its been obvious to many that the ps3 would fail even before its launch.... They completly shit the bed with this one, and none of the fan boys are with reality that the systems not gonna do so good... They've completly alienated the bulk of their customer base with the ps3 as a whole.... forcing people into blue ray, and the price tag that comes with it really alienated a lot of people.... Blue ray and hd dvd are doomed to fail because the markets not ready to change yet... and the ps3 will be doomed to fail along with it because people will associate the ps3 with the blue ray(can't buy a ps3 with out paying blue ray prices)... The fan boys still believe its gonna be number 1 for some reason... The fan boys think the sales are doing fine despite the so called  "shortage".... And my girl friend needs more post material for her psychology paper on "internet fanboyism"..... so I'll keep this going for her sake... We have been scouring the internet looking at what all the sony fan boys have to say about the current situation, and everyone seems to be in denial that the mighty sony could fuck up like this... One developer from valve actually thinks sony should publicly appologize and withdrawl it from the market.
http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=13911
I actually think thats the smartest thing I've read about the ps3 thus far.... The whole thing was a big mistake... If they could go back to the drawing board and ditch the blue ray format, drop the price a few hundred bucks, make the hard drive system swappable, and recreate the online service a little differently.... they would be golden... but they aren't going to do that....
Go ahead, and post some good news articles about the ps3.... Id be intested in seeing more of the state of denial sony's pr has to offer....
My article wasn't biased however(the ps3's really aren't moving off the shelves anywhere).... but its funny to see some that are.... My personal favorite was the one that you posted about the ps3 coming out number 1 by 2010..... but didn't factor in any of the competitions sales.....

Joined: A long time ago...

So your gf is reading this stuff for her "research" paper? Okay, great! She's got a good source sitting right in front of her...YOU!!! It is obvious that there's no way to hold a conversation with someone who refuses to look at things at a different angle. It's still way too early to tell if the PS3 is doomed or not. Reading your post is like dejavu from reading all the other blogs out there. Fanboism at it's finest! Whether you're for Sony or not. So, what about the Wii? What makes you convinced that the wiimote is something that will last the test of time? What makes you think the novelty of it won't fade? Innovation with input devices aren't aways a free ticket to a AAA title that will unlock new doors to gameplay. There's a point where the motions you do will be irrelevant to what you're seeing on screen. Simple gestures are great to demo the motion sensing system. But what happens when you get the "been there, done that" syndrome with the motions? What happens when you tire of the graphics?

Okay, here's some interesting numbers. Go to www.gamerankings.com. Do a search for all Wii games, and all PS3 games. Check out the ratings for both consoles. Both have 1 high ranking game, Zelda(Wii) and Resistance(PS3). But that was to be expected. Now, compare all the other games. Interesting huh? The same title released on both scores higher on the PS3. Okay, you can argue that those games weren't taking advantage of the Wiimote. Fine. But let's take a look at the other games that aren't on the PS3 that's on the Wii. Those games don't fair any better than an average game. Hrmmmm.

Aside from the Wii outselling both the PS3 and 360, sales numbers alone cannot dictate the quality of software titles out for the system. You say it's still early for the Wii? Wow...guess what...same with the PS3! Sure, Nintendo might be able to capture a larger market share much faster than Sony. It might even surpass MS at the rate it's going. But it all comes down to the games. You've mentioned before that with the larger user base of the Wii, developers will flock to it. So many people bash those who support Sony for keeping faithful to their system on "potential." They say it should weigh its value on the games released now. But why is it when a Wii fan says the same thing, hoping that more developers jump onto the bandwagon, eventually leading to more games, why is that okay to hope for "potential?" If you ask me, that sounds kinda hyprocritical doesn't it?

I have another point to make. In the last generation, I owned the Xbox, PS2, and GC. If a title was released on all platforms, more than likely, I would have picked up the Xbox version. Why? Because it looked and ran better on that system. Not to mention online features that might not be available to the other two consoles. The same goes for this new gen. I will play a similar title on the system that looks and plays the best...more than likely, it'll be between the 360 and PS3 for me. I will eventually buy a Wii to play some of the first party exclusives but that's about it. I don't really care for the party games that seems to make the Wii so popular right now. To repeat myself, Zelda is the only game worth owning the Wii for. As for my PS3, I've already enjoyed plenty of games on it. Same with my 360. Unless Nintendo does something really drastic, this scenario won't change for me.

Nintendo scored big with the DS. It was so different and had a lot of quirky little games for it that it was perfect for on the go gaming. That's where the PSP failed. Most of the games released were ports of PS2 games which were too complicated, and "too epic" for on the go gaming. In a focus test done by my company, people told us that they don't want to use a handheld gaming console for more involved games. That's what the home consoles are good for. So the quirkiness of the DS and it's game might have worked for Nintendo, but can the same thing be said for the Wii in the long run? Again, will people eventually crave deeper, more involving games on their Wii? I bet you that answer will be a yes. But can another developer, other than Nintendo, deliver on such titles that can be on the same level as Zelda? Only time can tell.

I know I've gone off on different topics, but you can see where I'm heading. Sony isn't the only one that has a lot to prove. So does Nintendo. Can Nintendo release games that can match the momentum its having right now? Or will you rely heavily on Wii sports and Zelda to keep it alive? As for Sony, people have stated that they are waiting for the games to come out before buying it. March and beyond will be an interesting period for Sony. But rest assured, if those games can capture or justify it's hefty price tag, it will sell.

Joined: A long time ago...

Yea, so I finally got my wii. It is simply amazing. I haven't played anything but wii sports yet, but even that is just great. Wii bowling is so much fun. Thank you Brian for giving me that website or else it would of been Juneish before I would of been able to get one. Thanks again. Best purchase i've made in a long time.

Joined: A long time ago...

I am far from being a fanboy. How can I be if I already own 2 of the 3 systems and plan on buying the 3rd one in the coming months? I might sound like I'm defending the PS3 to the death, but really, I'm not. MS has had its share of negative press when the 360 came out. But that has passed and they've managed to pick up the pieces and improve on things. I'm not the one trying to tear Sony a new hole and I've given Nintendo props for some of the things they've done for their brand.

My enthusiasm for Sony is very similar to your enthusiasm for the Wii. Just because you don't technically "own" a system doesn't exclude you from the crowd. As for the website I posted, I doubt they are being paid by anyone to post various scores. It's a website that collects ratings from other sites as well as tally up user ratings. If a consumer can't use that to base their decision to buy a game, then what would you recommend?

Like I said before, we have a Wii at work and we've sat down to play a few games on it. I'm not the only one on the design team that feels this way. Even when we're asked to come up with Sixaxis features for the PS3 games we're developing, we cringe because we feel it's a gimmick too. So it's not like I'm putting one down and praising the other when we all know that Sony's Sixaxis was an afterthought to play down the hype of the Wii's controller. I guess the type of games I enjoy playing doesn't improve its gameplay with the addition of motion sensing. In fact, the motion sensing stuff is less precise and have hindered controllability for some games.

How come it's okay for you to post information to help in your argument but when someone else does, it doesn't count, or you twist it around? For example, my point with the PS3 being the fastest selling amongst the PS consoles was to dispel some of the misconceptions that it's not selling, or it's doomed. Look at how the PS1 and PS2 did. How can you call that fanboism? You say you like to look at numbers but yet you ignore numbers that are shown back to you? Come on...isn't that a little closed minded? It almost seems like you thrive on the negative press targetted at Sony. You call me a fanboy for defending the PS3 but yet here you are, determined to make a point that it sucks? You haven't really answered my question to you before...how does that benefit you? I'll tell you my answer to how it benefits me. For one, as a consumer, you know that competition is good. If Sony were to drop off the games race(which is like saying MS will stop making OSs because it failed to sell an operating system...CE anyone?), do you really think the industry is better with just MS and Nintendo? I would hate to think that if that were to happen, you'd see the days of the Atari all over again where one company shoved whatever came out of their production lines whether it was good or not, simply because they knew it would sell. It almost killed the industry! Fortunately, Nintendo was there to revolutionize the industry.

So I'm not ignorant to what Nintendo has done for the industry, nor what it's trying to do with the Wii. However, I do question the lasting affect it may have with a system that's solely based on the motion controlled system. Sure, they have a gamepad you can use if all goes stale, but really, is that what you bought your Wii for? If Nintendo can keep on releasing Zelda quality games that take advantage of the Wii's controls..GREAT!! It means that it ups the value of the Wii for me when I do get it. But just like you have your dislike for the PS3, I have mine for the Wii...and that's lack of games I would like to play on it. Now how is that fanboism?

You posted articles about Valve and how that developer felt about the PS3. Yet, they are still developing games for it...HL2 along with Eps 1 and 2. Just recently, John Carmack of iD said similar things but his dislike of the PS3 deals with the multi-cores, however, iD is still supporting the PS3. Lots of people may criticize Carmack for his comment about multi-cores but he is a well known graphics programmer who was on top of his game. He's been in the gaming biz longer than most. He's put in his time and if you've worked in the industry long enough, you'd find out how fast people burn out. You'll know that not everyone wants to work 12-16 hours, 7 days a week for months. When you're young in the industry, you've got momentum, but after going through it so many years, I'm sure there was a bit of burn out speaking through his words. Many programmers have stated that multi-core processing is here to stay. However, the proper tools and SDKs have yet to be designed to make it easier for the developers.

Honestly, I love retro games too...but I would hate to buy a new system just so I can play the older games. Especially when you can play those games through emulation for FREE! No, I didn't say Wii...I said FREE! =P (Now, I'm talking about old arcade games and not emulated current gen/next gen games.)

Oh, since you're so good at twisting words...let me answer your question as to what the Wii selling faster means to me. Great, it's selling fast and in record numbers. So you like to bring up the ill-fated Dreamcast too? Cool...the Dreamcast, before the PS2's release, was also a record holder for the fastest console being sold. Hrmmmm. Need I say more? I'm sure you don't want to hear it cause you know where I'll go with it. Wait...did that argument just go "POOF?!" ;)

A fanboy of Sony, MS, or Nintendo, I am not....but I am a fanboy of games.

Joined: A long time ago...

No system is really perfect with the first batch.... I never claimed that.... Im not really throwing out the shitpile of complaints towards either systems manufacturing defects.... I know that stuff goes away and will be irrelivant sooner or later.... But there are design issues I will pick at that can't be fixed.... Like the ps3's lack of proper ventilation.... You can't fix that with a patch or with out a recall which would be fairly devestating to the profit margins of a company for replacing that many systems... The 360 is guilty of this too... which is why ms is releasing v2 of the 360.... but it really sucks for those that have an og... ms fucked me like that with the og xbox.... Im more or less neutral in the console war asside from some things I see as big issues... Im not taking any sides by any means... the wii has faults too... yes there is a lack of 3rd party games, but its not like that can't/wont change....
My point about that web site is, its users who rate that stuff... every web site has a different variety of user bases... some web sites may get more sony people, as many get more ms people... and thus..... Those ratings are vulnerable to being attacked by people that don't like one or the other... Most people with common sense know that you can't trust someone elses opinion on a game.... There were many games that video game magazines and sites claimed were awesome, that weren't... and just the opposite.... there were games they said were bad, that I found to be a lot of fun... Ratings are worthless! Most people that have been playing video games a decent amount of time have learned this from reading those positive reviews of a game, only to get it and not like it...
As for motion controllers.... The types of games you play will have an impact on the fun factor... some games may not be fun with that... but on the contrary, it does make some other games a lot more enjoyable.... The big thing I think nintendo is onto here with the controller is that games are pretty much the same old crap with prettier graphics... and people need more than just prettier graphics to draw them into a game... a game has to be designed from the ground up with the controller in mind... first person shooters are by and far the type of game that will benefit most from it because of all the shit you can do with it... but theres still a lot of potential for other game types to harness... I really don't think the controller is a gimmick that will just wear off... I really do think this may be the next stepping stone in video games...
Previous console sales are pretty much for the most part irrelivant in determining who fails and who sails... thats why I shot that down... Population grows, more people get into gaming every year than the last... so, your newer consoles had better be selling more than the last or the companies gonna be in some deep shit... I don't find that to be the least bit relevant to the ps3's success.... Its not closed minded, its just seeing it how it is, and not sugar coating it... The sega cd sold faster than the genesis did at launch too... but that didn't make it #1.... I had a sega cd, and I remember standing in line only to find it out it was sold out on launch day...
The guys at valve are still making games for the ps3... they aren't just going to up and ditch all that work they've done so far... they have to finish what they started so they wont be out... but the thing is... if things don't improve, its likely they wont make plans for future titles.... But the guy does have a very valid point... theres too much bs with the ps3, and sony should do the right thing and just recall the damn thing... they could have a cheaper non-blue ray version on the market in less than a year and still make up their losses... Theres just too many things about the ps3 that weren't very well thought out... whats the point of adding that online service when your limited by hard drive space? Ms thought that one out for sure... gotta have changable hard drives for something like that to be worthwhile... 60gb doesn't do much as far as downloading HD movies.... once you buy the ps3, your just stuck with whatever hard drive size you got when you bought it... No real world options at all... no ifs, and's, or butts on the matter.... your just stuck with what you get....
I do think things would be better with just 2 major consoles.... Im thinking of the days of snes and genesis.... The game market had a lot less bullshit back then... companies either made games for one or the other... if not both.... now, when you throw 3 or more systems in the mix... it adds complexity and time to game development... as you said, companies have to develop for the lowest common denominator.... which in the end, makes most of the more expensive features in the other consoles worthless... its just added cost thrown down to the consumer... where as if there were only 2 major companies.. game development quality will go back up to what it used to be... You honestly can't tell me the games weren't more fun on those older systems.... New games these days... you buy it... you beat it... and it just sits... They have no replay value what so ever.... I would accredit this to an over saturated console market.... over saturation is worse if you ask me... Is there really a need for 3 systems? no... which is why most companies these days have stuck to developing for 2 consoles... look at the large variety of games that were on xbox and ps2, but never on lamecube.... its because companies need more time and man power to concentrate on making the games better instead of trying to figure out how they are going to make their game work on all the systems.... Think about how crappy the game market would be if there were more consoles available! 10 systems to choose from... some games on 1 but not the other... if you wanted to play some of those games that weren't on your system of choice, you'd have to buy the others... and then you'd have a cluster fuck of an octopus of wires and electrical hazzards behind and next to your tv..... and thats just not very practical at all.. Its better for gamers, the games themselves, and game makers for there to be only 2 major contenders... Sony and MS owned the last round... and I really do think the ps3 was all hype....
Sony sucking does not benefit me at all.... and it doesn't benefit them either.... I really do feel that they should fire all of the people involved in the design of that console... Blue ray will not go anywhere... hd-dvd will not go anywhere.... Keep in mind that there were a lot of attempts to steer people off of vhs... many of which were sony monstrosities.... The benefits of switching to hd-dvd or blue ray are not worth the cost... most consumers see that... the image quality improvement can only be seen in newer movies being played on hd tv's....

Don't get me wrong about the ps3.. I don't totally hate it.... and its not totally worthless.... As I stated a while ago(year maybe 2 ago?)... the ps3 is by and far the console with the most mod potential... and with the extra cores not being used and the right dev team... There is extremely high potential for emulators running other systems games.... I might even know of a guy who works on such a project.... I wouldn't be the least bit suprised to see the ps3 playing xbox360 games and wii games in a few years... A good programmer with enough time on their hands could easily harness one of those unused cores as a dedicated emulation processor..... the ps3 is by and far the most powerfull of the systems I'll give it that... and it has potential for a lot of things... I mean, the 3 new systems out are so close in hardware that emulation wont be so bad as it was in the past... they all have pretty much the same ibm architecture and similar gpu's... its an emulator fiends dream machine.... but the average consumer isn't going to buy into the system just for that.... I know guys that ran all kinds of shit on a dreamcast because of how easily modded it was, as well as an og xbox... but the thing here is... the ps3 has extra processing cores that aren't being used by anything that SHOULD be taken advantage of... I mean... after all.. the end users are paying for them...
As for people and emulators.... Thats a bit of rough ground... I myself am pretty fed up with pc based emulators in general... Some of the games don't play right, if at all... some of the emulator programs themselves have been known to have rootkits, trojans, and spyware OH MY!.... and I've even seen a few emulator programs hose the operating system on more than a dozen computers... (kiame, which was the killer instinct front end for mame, for some reason worked on some computers and hosed others).. Don't even get me started on the places you have to download the roms and emulators from... No one likes giant cock and balls pounding a cornhole popping up on the screen at them while they are trying to find a game... Emulation sites are in general kinda iffy.... A lot of people that don't want the hassles involved with pc emulators and getting them to work right now have an option to play all those games from all those systems on 1 box.... and thats the appeal I seem to be picking up from all the people that have been really into my gf's nintendo...

There are so many things wrong with the ps3 that just can't be fixed, which is why I feel the system is just a disaster.... You can't fix the heat issues, you can't fix the hard drive size issue, you can't fix how the games play online(360 like integration), you can't fix the blue ray cost issue any time soon... They claimed that the ps3 was going to be more of a computer than a game system... but I found that to be a total lie.. If it were more like a computer, they would have made it more modular(changeable hard drive or ability to add a second one, expansion slot for whatever hardware, ability to open it up with out voiding the warranty, ect).... I really don't see how you can act like the system isn't an over hyped waste... All that crap they put in there was just to jack the price and has no real world functionality... That doesn't bother you at all? See the problem with that not bothering the die hard sony fans, is this.... Sony got by jacking the customer this time... and because YOU, the consumer, let sony rip you off like that... They will do it again, come the next gen consoles... and they'll rape you even harder...

Yes, the dreamcast was indeed a fast seller, and it did indeed fail.... but the nintendo and xbox 360 are both still selling faster than the ps3... as well as selling more games...

as far as what im planning on buying... Im going to buy a 360 when the v2 comes out.... but I'll mostly be buying it for its pc like online gaming which the ps3 and wii both lack....