The Official Console Talk Thread

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:35 pm

Many of you have probably read this story. This is just another example of how Sony is killing their image, repeated lies and outlandish claims can be laughed off.

But strong arming a very unbiased site is in a whole other league. Yes Sony did the right thing, but only after many sites and readers blasted them for their crappy tactics.

I know we have a few resident members of the Sony Defence Force running around these forums and they will spin this to make Sony look the innocent party here.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/sony-black ... 240860.php

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:42 pm

From what I've seen Kotaku isn't that unbiased.

And all they did was cancel some GDC interviews.

So Kotaku will just give them more bad press.

BTW, the rumor they reported, if it turns out to be true, gets a big "meh" from me.

You go into your virtual, 3D apartment or home to show off your virtual trophies or achievements.

Isn't that what NFL2K did, where you could show your in-game accomplishments?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:03 pm

As a PR professional, I think that is a VERY lame move by Sony. Sure, you express your displeasure with the reporting of the rumor, but cutting off Kotaku only will increase their negative coverage of Sony.

If we didn't work with or credential any reporter who had a bad thing to say about the IRL or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway management at one time or another, our media center would have a lot more empty spaces during the Indy 500.

Stupid PR move by Sony.

Take care,
PK

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:12 pm

The link at the end of the story says they kissed and made up:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/sony/sony-and- ... 240922.php

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:56 pm

vader29 wrote:The link at the end of the story says they kissed and made up:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/sony/sony-and- ... 240922.php

Kick save and a beauty by Sony PR. Further proof that corporate or governmental bans of the media hardly ever work.

Take care,
PK

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:34 pm

Sony is the target of an evil conspiracy....afterall is this not the end of days?

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:25 am

Another bad month ofr the PS3 in sales. Can't wait to see how they spin this one.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3158048

EDIT: Bill harris has some interesting notes on it too.

http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2007 ... aisle.html

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:13 am

Danimal wrote:Another bad month ofr the PS3 in sales. Can't wait to see how they spin this one.

The time for the price drop and my purchase of a PS3 is getting closer and closer.

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:19 am

With the PS3 finally getting some games now (think they have at least 3 coming out early next week), I would expect that their console sales will increase quite a bit. I don't think comparing the Wii against 360 and PS3 is fair. The wii is only $250, and is also more "family friendly." Have to hand it to the PS2, still going strong!

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:37 am

One thing that can't be helping is games are coming out later for the PS3, like NBA Street and GRAW2.

Then 3rd-party publishers see greater sales numbers for the X360 versions.

Of course, that didn't make the big publishers drop support when there was the same situation with the PS2 and Xbox.

VF5 and Motorstorm are good games but they're not big sellers (VF5) or well-known (Motorstorm).

$600 is a hard sell without enough good games.

On the other hand, Blu-Ray movie sales are doing well, the Blu-Ray version of Casino Royal cracked the top 10 on Amazon, the first high-def movie of either format to do so.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:55 am

grtwhtsk wrote:With the PS3 finally getting some games now (think they have at least 3 coming out early next week), I would expect that their console sales will increase quite a bit. I don't think comparing the Wii against 360 and PS3 is fair. The wii is only $250, and is also more "family friendly." Have to hand it to the PS2, still going strong!

Whether it's fair or not, the Wi is destroying the big guns. Of course I imagine the Wi's attach rate is pure crap. the fact no one ever talks about it make me wonder if they are hiding it. I mean who wants to be the guy talking bad about the Wi?

If I were Sony I'd be more concerned with the 360 sales. As wco points out, games are coming out earlier on the 360, does the PS3 even have RSV yet? Where is Oblivion? I also think looking at the lineups for the rest of the year the 360 has a better one for my tatses anyway.

I was hoping for better sales, because I don't think poor sales is going to lead to a price cut from Sony and I want to buy one of these for the Blue Ray player.

I only hope the continued lackluster sales may get us some trade in deals from places like GameStop and EB. Right now a Trade in a PS2 for $100 off would seal the deal for me. I could unload that and a crap load of games and make the price reasonable.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:17 pm

I still think the Wii is a novelty at this point. They're still not readily available, so people assume it's the "hot" system, and right now it is. People just want to try it out, so when they see it in stores, they buy it.

But, I'm curious what the overall impression of the Wii will be a year from now. I think Nintendo did a huge disservice not making their games in HD. Additionally, many of the games I rented seemed rather meh in terms of use of the Wiimote. I almost think I'd rather enjoy the games without it.

In regards to the PS3, I've toyed with the idea of scrounging up the money to buy one. However, there's absolutely nothing that really grabs me about the system. It's still overpriced IMO, and the online still seems extremely watered down compared to the 360. Perhaps if I was a huge electronics geek, and had to have a Blu-Ray player, then I'd most likely purchase one. But at this point, Sony has done nothing IMO to switch people from the 360 to the PS3. I do think I eventually will own one, but I'm still perfectly happy with the 360.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:48 pm

wco81 wrote: On the other hand, Blu-Ray movie sales are doing well, the Blu-Ray version of Casino Royal cracked the top 10 on Amazon, the first high-def movie of either format to do so.

Indeed. I am sure it has a lot to do with people owning the PS3, but when I went to get my copy they were out of the Blue-ray format while they had a bunch in the HD-DVD format which I ended up getting. Is there a slight edge so far for the Blue-ray format? Local flyers seem to adverstise movies in that format only instead of both Blu and HD.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:58 pm

For all the runaway sales of Wii, it is losing some luster for me. Early FPS games have been weak, and it seems games that you might expect to thrive on Wii like TW are still only mediocre. We all knew there would be a post-launch lull of titles, but the release schedule looks pretty barren at this point. No doubt with these sales numbers devs will jump on eventually though.

The real kick in the balls for me though is the new Wii online buzz. I've heard things that 3rd parties still don't have access to online development tools, and now news has broke that there will be no friends lists. It will be following the DS online system, where users must exchange pin numbers for each individual game. In other words, it sucks.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:04 pm

sportdan30 wrote:I still think the Wii is a novelty at this point. They're still not readily available, so people assume it's the "hot" system, and right now it is. People just want to try it out, so when they see it in stores, they buy it.

But, I'm curious what the overall impression of the Wii will be a year from now. I think Nintendo did a huge disservice not making their games in HD. Additionally, many of the games I rented seemed rather meh in terms of use of the Wiimote. I almost think I'd rather enjoy the games without it.

I agree that the staying power of the Wii is yet to be determined, but I think you have the first part backwards. People aren't 'buying to try' with the Wii, they are buying because they HAVE tried. Wii Sports is like a soon to be drug addict's first hit. A quick blasting jolt of (temporary?) fun. I've seen lots of evidence of this online and in person.

Now again, you may be right about its future...are there more good drugs like the Wii Sports kick on the way? Reply hazy..ask again later.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:05 pm

Casino Royal is only available on DVD and HD-DVD AFAIK.

Blu-Ray's content advantage is starting. In the next couple of months Cars and Pirates should be big sellers as well as Spiderman 3 later in the year.

As for technical advantages, Blu-Ray does have greater capacity (more and more 50-GB discs are being released) and higher maximum bitrates.

So far though, that advantage hasn't shown on picture quality. HD-DVD has done a good job with showcase titles like King Kong. Meanwhile, "neutral" studios like Warners is using the same video encodes on both formats.

Where there is a difference is on the audio side. On "The Departed" the HD-DVD version has Dolby True HD, I believe, which is lossless, while the Blu-Ray version has PCM, which is uncompressed audio. Some claim PCM is a little better.

But to really take advantage, you need new receivers which decode TruHD and DTS-MA as well as deal with HDMI flawlessly. Those are suppose to start coming out this year.

HD-DVD does have better interactivity at the moment though, so you can turn on extras features on the fly while watching movies.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:53 pm

System seller is a term of the past...ITS DEAD....I know some crazies will( I bought a 3rd PS2 to play GTAVC and MLB but it was doable @$200,)....but How many people spend $600 to play one game?

A: NOT MILIIONS.

The Wii success thus far is due to the actual system itself...Call it a novelty. Call it anything you like....The Wii IS the system seller.

As for this Blu Ray/HD battle......The vast majority of people dont even have HD TVs.... That battle wont be decided for a VERY long time.

Sony needs to cut their price or go by way of the Saturn...

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:05 pm

XXXIV wrote:As for this Blu Ray/HD battle......The vast majority of people dont even have HD TVs.... That battle wont be decided for a VERY long time.

That battle will be decided as soon as HD-DVD drives and burners are standard in every PC courtesy of Microsoft.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:18 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:
XXXIV wrote:As for this Blu Ray/HD battle......The vast majority of people dont even have HD TVs.... That battle wont be decided for a VERY long time.
That battle will be decided as soon as HD-DVD drives and burners are standard in every PC courtesy of Microsoft.

LOL...which is why HD just HAS to win right? That's what I'm putting my money on at least.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:45 pm

Microsoft doesn't build PCs or source hardware components for them.

What they will do is make the OS support HD-DVD without additional software.

But that's a moot point, as PC companies which ship one of these drives will include software needed to play back the discs. Same thing with after-market drives people buy and install themselves. Those will come with software.

In computers though, besides movies, there's going to be consideration about writeability. In that realm, Blu-Ray is ahead, with HD-DVD struggling to make multi-layer writeable drives and media work.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 10:56 pm

Blue ray is, according to your silly ramblings, far and away the tallest midget in this non existent battle.

There aint no battle. People dont own the TVs!...hello!

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:29 pm

Question isn't whether there are or will be enough HDTVs.

There are tens of millions sold already and each year, at least millions more are sold.

Question is whether people with HDTVs will buy these formats to play on those HDTVs or stay with DVD.

But for computers, it's only a matter of time until the drives and the blank media are cheap enough. When the drives are the same price as DVD burners are right now, they'll go on every computer because people are accumulating tens of gigs of pictures, videos, music.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:58 pm

wco81 wrote:Question isn't whether there are or will be enough HDTVs.

There are tens of millions sold already and each year, at least millions more are sold.

.

I didnt say people wouldnt buy HDTVs...I said most people dont have them.

I, Like the vast majority of humans on planet earth do not own either a PS3 or HDTV.
Which one do I buy first? A useless blu ray player due to my lack of HDTV? or Do I get HDTV and wait another year for the PS3 to actually have games.

If blu ray is what is going to save the PS3...Sony has a serious problem.

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:33 am

Well call me crazy, but I would like a PS3 but it will take a price drop for me to bite. I was in Walmart last night and saw 10.....count em' 10! There were 5 360's. I only check this thread to see what others are experiencing with their Wii's and Ps3's. Now that I have the HD-DVD add on I am craving for my HD movies and the blu-ray player of the Ps3 is a selling point for me. Yet at the same time I am wishing that HDDVD wins out and that the only console I currently own wins out overall. I know this is almost a farce because I do feel there is room for more then one player.

On a side note, my father purchased a 360 a few weeks ago. He is not too much older than some of you here (almost 50) but still, he bought a 360 and he is loving it! He is always messaging me and will call to tell me what demo he DL'd or what arcade game he is playing. Its great!

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 11:36 am

wco81 wrote:Casino Royal is only available on DVD and HD-DVD AFAIK.

No...it's out on Blu-Ray. I have it.