2005's Console Hardware In Review 31
Next Generation is running an examination of the 2005 hardware announcements from the big three console companies. They look at details and benchmarks released so far for the next-gen consoles. From the article: "The wraps were taken off the PlayStation 3 at Sony's pre-E3 press conference. Non-playable demos and canned footage games in development (over which arguments still rage over what was 'real' and what were renders made to be 'representative') wowed the media and stole a good bit of thunder from the somewhat underwhelming Microsoft presentation that followed."
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:5, Interesting)
And what exactly are you doing by buying an Xbox? Oh, that's right, Microsoft is the 'happiest place on earth' and doesn't do anything evil...
For the most part, big corporations are evil. You can't get that big, and stay that big, without doing something wrong once in a while.
So, I pick my evil. And that evil is Sony. They were here before Microsoft, and they were my first gaming system I owned. So I'll stick with them.
And, I just don't like Microsoft as a gaming console. They have enough already with basically running 90% of the PC's out there (mine included). They don't deserve to get my living room too.
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:3, Insightful)
I know I'm off-topic here... (Score:2, Offtopic)
(Though I do wish they would've made a Proline-style controller for the NES.).
If you're still an NES gamer, then try to hunt down an Epyx 500XJ joystick. (I think the NES version was marketed by Konix.) It was an excellent controller that was similair to Atari's ProLine, but MUCH more comfortable to hold. I still own a pair of the Atari/Commodore version of the stick, and they are the best of the classic controllers, period.
Re:I know I'm off-topic here... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:4, Insightful)
Hell, even if they put a game system out there that has a decent supply of must-play games. Or one history-setting game. I got a PSX for FF7. (I ended up with a lot more titles of course, but that was the seller for me.) I got a Cube, not because it had better graphics, or had a funky controller... it had Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and some others. Enough to make it worth owning.
Microsoft doesn't get a place in my livingroom because, their being Microsoft aside, they don't have any games. That's all it's about. Halo was---maybe---an A title, maybe a B+ title. It's a FPS, and it didn't do anything special, other than being the only top exclusive title on its system. You don't buy a system for a single A/B+ title. You may buy it for a AAA title, or if it has a lot of B-A titles. But the XBOX had neither. Nor, as of yet, does the 360.
This is, perhaps---probably---why people give Sony the benefit of the doubt and bank on their systems. The PS1 had tons of good games. The PS2 had tons of good games. The PS3 already has a ton of good games. (And contrary to popular slashdot opinion, the PSP also has tons of good games.) So they're safe to bank on.
This is also why people give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt: there's always going to be Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Kart, and a legion of other Nintendo franchises. And even if there aren't a ton of them, they'll all be AAA titles.
So in the end, if your definition of "the best" means "the best library of games," then I think you're spot on.
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:1)
That is the reason I stick with playstation (I recently gave up on Nintendo, but I will probably buy the Revolution when the next Metroid comes out for it).
I am in fatuated with Gran Turismo. I've been playing it for what, 6 years now? So when I need to play Gran Turismo 5, and I need to buy a PS3 to do it, I will.
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:1)
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh god, I am going to defend microsoft (Score:4, Insightful)
No sony is just still a padawan, MS is the true dark lord of the sith.
What would be real scary if the two join up.
Re:FIST SPORT! (Score:1)
Directly: No.
It's oversimplification that gets people to stick their fingers in their ears and ignore anything potentially insightful that might be said.
A corporation as large as Sony has diversified its interests such that if it doesn't get your money from you buying a Sony product, it will get your money through another, less direct channel. That's capitalism for you.
Choices (Score:1)
Nintendo puts out a new system not much more powerful than the last but has the most innovative controller. (Remember kids don't point it at your eye)
Sony. They know consoles. They've proven it, to me at least. Their new system is supposed to dominate. I just hope it is more like the
Re:Choices (Score:1)
Xbox 360 sales in Japan (Score:2)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4517362.stm [bbc.co.uk]
Interesting... (Score:1, Interesting)
who writes this crap? (Score:4, Informative)
1) The Playstation3 footage was not created by PS3 hardware. This has been confirmed dozens of times, there is no 'argument'. 2) The Microsoft presentation had actual playable software. I was there, and people cared about the Microsoft presentation a ton more.
Re:who writes this crap? (Score:3, Insightful)
Wrong. It is possible that some of the footage was not realtime; at least some of it was (unless you'd like to claim the various realtime demos were scripted as well). However I challenge you to find any reputable (that means not some fanboy posting on a forum, or Tim Sweeney) evidence that it wasn't created on PS3 hardware. In fact, some of the 3D demos were created using only
Re:who writes this crap? (Score:1)
Re:who writes this crap? (Score:2)
Re:who writes this crap? (Score:1, Informative)
Kojima never said that.
The only source for that is a video on 1up that has the editor saying he knows someone who claims to have heard Kojima say it. The only thing Kojima has said is that if he made an MGS game for
Re:who writes this crap? (Score:1)
Re:who writes this crap? (Score:1)
Do you somehow not notice that the 360 footage (and demos) were not created by 360 hardware?
It is still undecided on multiple fronts. (Score:3, Interesting)
Secondly both the 360 and PS3 are far less impressive if you play them on your old fashioned tv. Real HD tv's aren't selling yet.
This bit comes from the struggle between those who wish to cancel analog tv broadcasts and go digital completly (saves cost and avoids dragging the conversion on for decades) vs those who do not with to burden every household with the costs of a new expensive hd tv.
What if the public (no not people who post here) decided to buy neither of these consoles? What if they remain with the current hardware and instead of buying a 360 and next christmas a PS3 instead give their kids a nice bundle of games? Games that can be played on the old console and the old tv in the kids room (so dad can watch soccer on the living room tv in peace).
360 sales have been limited to say the least. Of course there is a shortage but with the numbers mentioned in the article it would have to have been very bad for the 360 if there hadn't been a shortage.
Could the big number, the number of customers that made the PS2 stand so far ahead in sales stay away? Hardcore gamers will buy anything and they can be significant but not enough to make a profit. When you read that a 1:2 ratio for handhelds:games is not bad it explains those gamers I know that got a GBA in every color.
What if the x-box and nintendo sales were the core dedicated gamer market, who also own a PS2 and the difference between those and the PS2 sales was the rest of the market that is currently in the stores deciding what goes under the christmas tree? For how many x-box/gamecube owners was that their only console?
Not having the actuall 360 on the shelves makes it easy to decide not to buy that one this year. Next time for such a purchase in normal households would be a kids birthday. Only those kids lucky enough not to be born near the holiday season however. Then the PS3 will be coming closer and closer making it easier to postpone a 360 purchase to see what the PS3 will do. And then it will be time for the 360 to make a price cut so lets wait till then.
Is this likely? Well no perhaps not but I find it intruguing. It has happened with other replacement techs were the consumer just did not pick it up. Granted the 360 is not to the x-box what the mini-disc was to the cd but still. Wouldn't it be fun if all the consoles bombed.
Re:It is still undecided on multiple fronts. (Score:3, Informative)
Repeat after me, digital TV doesn't mean HDTV. The transition to ATSC is mandated. The transition to HDTV is not.
No one is going to be "burdened" to buy a new TV - your NTSC tv will continue to work just fine, along with a low-cost converter box
Failure (Score:1)