Next gen favors Nintendo...

[Eclipse 0]

Well, why do I say that the next gen favors Nintendo? Here are some reasons....

 

 

-Recent reports around the net are saying that Sony plans to have the PS3 with an UNBELIEVABLE starting price of $500! Uh, BIG mistake Sony. BIG MISTAKE. All PS3 is gonna be is a better system, with better graphics. What in the system will make Sony charge that much?

 

-One of the most useful things XBOX had, the Hard Drive to save games, WILL NOT be in the XBOX 2. So, back to the world of memory card for XBOX gamers. To make things even worse, NO BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY for XBOX 2. So far, at least PS3 will play PS2 games, and the new Nintendo console will play GCN games.

 

 

What I have just typed are 2 MAJOR faults in Sony and XBOX's planning. Nintendo could set a better price for their console, and even better, they could get ahead of the game, since I DOUBT many ppl are going to fork over 500 bucks immediately for a system. Can these faults help Nintendo get ahead?

[the max 0]

I doubt that, since I doubt the PS3 will remain at 500 bones for very long.

 

However, if it means that the PS2 finally goes down even more in price, maybe I can finally get one.

[The Buzz 0]

PS3 is that high because it contains a TIVO like feature, dvd burner, playback for ps2 and ps. My friend John in Indiana sent an article about it a few days back, and when I talk to him tonight I'll get the site he found it on so you can read for yourself.

 

Peace

[razazteca 0]

With all of those new features I bet the PS3 will breakdown in 8 months.

[Eclipse 0]

That's what I hate about systems coming out later. They load it up with all this crap. So many components will probably make the system more prone to damage.

 

The casual gamer, and even the younger crowd, will not be picking up the system to use all that extra crap. Imagine a younger person, maybe 13 or 14, asking parents for this. They would probably laugh in their face. All that extra stuff should be taken out...

 

XBOX 2 did already make the big mistake of taking out the HDD. And, no backwards compatibility? That sucks..

[KK Rage 0]

Don't know if this is true or not, but I heard that if you already own a PS2 then the PS3 will come as an add on and only cost like 100 or so dollars. If this is true, then I would have to say Sony would be the marketing geniuses.

[razazteca 0]

I'm surprised the PS3 does not have a tv tuner in it yet or some feature where you can use it as a hub to connect every Sony product possible.

 

Did'nt the PS2 breakdown because people tried using it as a stand alone dvd player?

[Guest CronoT]

That's what I hate about systems coming out later. They load it up with all this crap. So many components will probably make the system more prone to damage.

 

The casual gamer, and even the younger crowd, will not be picking up the system to use all that extra crap. Imagine a younger person, maybe 13 or 14, asking parents for this. They would probably laugh in their face. All that extra stuff should be taken out...

 

XBOX 2 did already make the big mistake of taking out the HDD. And, no backwards compatibility? That sucks..

As of right now, the non-backwards compatibility for the X-Box 2 console was dismissed as a rumor by an official statement by the company.

 

http://www.cmgsccc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3802

 

However, we all remember the Rare/Perfect Dark scandal from 2001. Both Nintendo and Microsoft knew of the very likely possibility of the sale, and both sides denied it up and down when the questions were put to them.

 

So, take the rumor with a grain of salt, either to disregard it, or to believe it. Until Microsoft officially announces the system specs for the X-Box 2, all it is is rumors.

[AndrewTS 0]

X-Box not compatible with X-Box is stupid as hell. Except for a few rare peeps who hold out until the console generation, most of the people I know who play PS1 games play it on the PS2. I know a lot of people traded in PS1s for PS2s as well, but still play their PS1 games on it.

 

Glad to hear the Cube successor will play GC games.

 

However, I don't think it matters if PS3 is 500 bucks. The PS2 had almost nothing to offer as far as games when it came out and it cost 400 bucks, and it sold out completely and took months for Sony to produce more to meet the demand. The PS1 and PS2 success alone will make the PS3 almost a certain winner.

 

"Can these faults help Nintendo get ahead?"

 

I think that depends on what Nintendo's console costs and what it has to offer.

 

Did'nt the PS2 breakdown because people tried using it as a stand alone dvd player?

 

No, it was because the early PS2s were hastily-assembed pieces of crap that were gonna anyway because Sony cut corners with it. I've had friends with earlier PS2s that crapped out on them, and they only occasionally played DVDs in it.

 

Now, my PS2 that I have had since 2001 works perfectly and I use it to play DVDs all the time.

[Guest Big_Jay101]

My PS2 plays very few dvd's now.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

My launch PS2 gets used at least 2 hours a day, on both dvds and games, and still works perfectly fine after a few falls. In fact, the newer one I picked up in '02 makes more noise than the old.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

If the XBOX 2 doesn't have a Hard Drive, but it DOES have backwards compatability...then how will you use custom soundtracks when playing XBOX 1 games on XBOX 2?

 

I guess you won't, but that sucks.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Bold Prediction: Sony will rush out a system that is not quite as good as Microsoft's... however the 3 month advantage will give them a large lead in the console wars.

[Guest CronoT]

Bold Prediction: Sony will rush out a system that is not quite as good as Microsoft's... however the 3 month advantage will give them a large lead in the console wars.

Another Bold Prediction: Hardcore gamers will look at the system specs for the rushed out system, and will poo poo all over it, and pass it over for a better built system.

[Guest MikeSC]

Until Nintendo gets GAMES and THIRD-PARTY developers --- they'll always be #3. GC hasn't been throttled because it's crap hardware --- it's been throttled because there are so few good games for it.

 

And, if Sony's PSP takes even a third of Nintendo's handheld market share, Nintendo is in DEEP trouble as handhelds have been their top cash cow for years.

-=Mike

[Guest CronoT]

Until Nintendo gets GAMES and THIRD-PARTY developers --- they'll always be #3. GC hasn't been throttled because it's crap hardware --- it's been throttled because there are so few good games for it.

 

And, if Sony's PSP takes even a third of Nintendo's handheld market share, Nintendo is in DEEP trouble as handhelds have been their top cash cow for years.

-=Mike

That's what they said about the Wonder Swan, and the Sega Nomad, and the Neo Geo Lynx, and on and on.

 

The Game Boy has been out for 15 years. If another company could have taken over the majority of the market, they would have done it by now.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Until Nintendo gets GAMES and THIRD-PARTY developers --- they'll always be #3. GC hasn't been throttled because it's crap hardware --- it's been throttled because there are so few good games for it.

 

And, if Sony's PSP takes even a third of Nintendo's handheld market share, Nintendo is in DEEP trouble as handhelds have been their top cash cow for years.

        -=Mike

That's what they said about the Wonder Swan, and the Sega Nomad, and the Neo Geo Lynx, and on and on.

 

The Game Boy has been out for 15 years. If another company could have taken over the majority of the market, they would have done it by now.

Sony has Nintendo's number.

[Special K 0]

Where Squeenix goes, so go I. However, $500 is ridiculous, especially since I, and many gamers I know, barely watch TV, and have absolutely NO use for a Tivo. What use is a DVD burner on a PS2 anyway? Just a big memory card? I'm sure we're not going to be copying games and movies willy-nilly.

 

Oh, while I love my PS2, it is the worst DVD player I've ever seen.

 

I sincerely hope after the initial release fizzles, they release a scaled-down model for cheaper.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Don't know if this is true or not, but I heard that if you already own a PS2 then the PS3 will come as an add on and only cost like 100 or so dollars. If this is true, then I would have to say Sony would be the marketing geniuses.

Because that strategy worked SO well for the Sega Saturn...

[Special K 0]

Whoa, whoa whoa. I believe you are referring to the masturful pieces of hardware known as the 32X !!!!! and the Sega CD !!!! Sewer shark motherfuck!

Don't compare the Saturn to those wonderful systems, truly Sega's last triumph.

[Anya 0]

People were freaking out about a 500 dollar price for PS2 before Sony annouced it was 300.

 

We're a long ways off from the annoucement of the PS3 price point, anything rumored or "reported" at this point should be taken with a grain of salt.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Stuff from IGN:

Q: How will Revolution be unique?

 

A: That is the big question. The console is codenamed Revolution for a reason: Nintendo expects it to be revolutionary. The system will, according to Nintendo, fundamentally change how games are played -- literally. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said in recent interviews that the dual-screened Nintendo DS offers a hint of what to expect from Revolution. DS players can use a stylus pen to input control data into the portable device. It's very possible that Revolution may feature similar functionality.

 

Nintendo believes that technology alone cannot advance videogames, which is why it plans to take Revolution into a dramatic new direction.

 

Iwata in June 2004 described Revolution as a videogame machine "of a different nature that does not follow the conventional path of new game systems that increase speed and visual quality for making elaborate games." He added: "The rule of satisfying customers by increasing specifications worked once, but no longer applies now."

 

Q: What are Revolution's technical specs?

 

A: Currently unknown. Rumors abound indicated that Nintendo could separately be working on two systems and that ultimately one would be chosen for retail. System 1 allegedly featured a 2.7GHz PowerPC G5 processor, 512MBs of RAM, and a 600MHz graphics chip. System 2 allegedly featured dual 1.8GHz PowerPC G5 processors. 256MBS of DDR Main Memory RAM, 128MBS of GDDR3 Video RAM and a 500MHz graphics chip. Both systems allegedly featured a built in 15GB hard drive. As of this time, these rumors cannot be validated.

 

Q: Will Revolution go online?

 

A: Currently unknown. Nintendo continues to stress that it does not yet believe in an online gaming model from a business standpoint. However, the company at E3 2004 announced that its portable device Nintendo DS would be able to go online using 802.11b and 802.11g Wi-Fi wireless capabilities. The company may seek to offer a similar option for Revolution owners.

 

 

Q: When will Revolution be released?

 

A: "If you're asking for a specific date for our next system -- we don't have one. Nintendo is going to remain competitive and will launch around the same time as competitors… not later than," said Nintendo of America's vice president of corporate affairs in a May 2004 interview. This is the same line other Nintendo executives, including company president Satoru Iwata, have said for months.

 

Nintendo feels that its inability to bring GameCube to market before PlayStation 2 gave Sony an advantage that it could never overcome. For that reason, Nintendo will not launch Revolution after PlayStation 3.

 

Revolution will launch sometime in 2006.

 

Q: How much will Revolution cost?

 

A:: Currently unknown. But we feel confident that Nintendo will aim for a mass-market friendly price on the lower side of the spectrum.

 

---

 

I'll believe that they will launch the new console before or at the same time as Sony/Microsoft when it happens, since they've never launched a console on schedule. If they do manage to do that and put it out at a lower cost with that new Zelda title as a launch game (as much as I'd love to see it on the GC, it would be a system seller for the new console at launch) they might have something for Sony and Microsoft. I do have a sort of bad feeling about the whole "change the way video games are played" spiel, I got a vivid picture of some sort of Virtual Boy 2 thing when I first read that.

 

 

PS3 is that high because it contains a TIVO like feature, dvd burner, playback for ps2 and ps. My friend John in Indiana sent an article about it a few days back, and when I talk to him tonight I'll get the site he found it on so you can read for yourself.

 

Id like to know how they can combine a video game system, a DVR and a DVD burner in the same box for $300. $499 would sound about right given current prices for those DVRs and DVD burners. Granted prices will come down on both technologies, but I cant see it being enough to get the price down to $299.

 

As for combining all of those features into one box, it just adds more things that can break or not work to cause the whole thing to not work. Plus, by 2006 there will be HD DVRs and Dual Layer DVD burners which will blow away whatever Sony puts into the PS3. And you know my stance on Video Game systems, I still don't understand why you would want a video game system to do anything more than play games, which includes function as a DVD player. If the price for the system can be kept down by not including such frivilous features then Im all for it (and I think thats Nintendo's thinking too).

[Guest Vitamin X]

Whoa, whoa whoa. I believe you are referring to the masturful pieces of hardware known as the 32X !!!!! and the Sega CD !!!! Sewer shark motherfuck!

Don't compare the Saturn to those wonderful systems, truly Sega's last triumph.

That's what I meant.

 

And no, Sega's last great triumph was the Dreamcast, considered by many the best system there ever was. Not by me, though, that honor would go to the SNES.

[Guest MikeSC]

Until Nintendo gets GAMES and THIRD-PARTY developers --- they'll always be #3. GC hasn't been throttled because it's crap hardware --- it's been throttled because there are so few good games for it.

 

And, if Sony's PSP takes even a third of Nintendo's handheld market share, Nintendo is in DEEP trouble as handhelds have been their top cash cow for years.

        -=Mike

That's what they said about the Wonder Swan, and the Sega Nomad, and the Neo Geo Lynx, and on and on.

 

The Game Boy has been out for 15 years. If another company could have taken over the majority of the market, they would have done it by now.

In case you've not noticed, Sony has their stuff together better than the others did.

-=Mike

[Art Sandusky 0]

Nintendo is like an insanely wealthy actor suddenly going into it for the art of it and doing all sorts of different things that are either shat upon or beloved. Doing all this stuff for the perceived art of it can be extremely polarizing.

[BUTT 0]

Until Nintendo gets GAMES and THIRD-PARTY developers --- they'll always be #3. GC hasn't been throttled because it's crap hardware --- it's been throttled because there are so few good games for it.

 

And, if Sony's PSP takes even a third of Nintendo's handheld market share, Nintendo is in DEEP trouble as handhelds have been their top cash cow for years.

         -=Mike

That's what they said about the Wonder Swan, and the Sega Nomad, and the Neo Geo Lynx, and on and on.

 

The Game Boy has been out for 15 years. If another company could have taken over the majority of the market, they would have done it by now.

In case you've not noticed, Sony has their stuff together better than the others did.

-=Mike

Yes, but Sony has to realize that the handheld market is very different from the home console market. Right now it seems they're trying to cram a lot of technology into a very small device and not doing a very effective job of it. With the moving disc media, this thing is going to eat batteries faster than Michael Moore in front of a 20-piece KFC bucket. Plus, Sony doesn't exactly have a reputation for designing durable products. That might fly when you've got a stationary device which sits under the TV set all the time, but not with something which you can take with you. However, that might not be a problem, considering people from Sony have said that the PSP is going to be played mostly at home (?). Not only that, but all that technology is going to cost a lot. With Sony's recent financial troubles, they really aren't going to want to sell a new product at a big loss, especially when it comes from practically their only division which makes money. Not only that, but the idea of watching movies on it is pretty stupid, in my opinion. Arepeople going to want to buy a separate "UMD" version of a movie just so they can watch it on the go? Do people even want to watch movies on the go? Plus, the PSP is leaving a lot of people unimpressed, especially since VERY little is known about it:

 

Los Angeles is not the first place you'd expect a Japanese electronics giant to unveil its newest product, but with generally friendly journalists already in town for the annual Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3) show, Sony couldn't have picked a more receptive audience. And, in fact, it did pick its audience, restricting invitations to its downtown pre-E3 press conference, selectively denying advance requests from journalists to attend the event, and posting security screeners at its gates to turn away unwelcome attendees.

 

There was good reason for Sony to be concerned; skeptical journalists would have seen through the artifice it had planned. The debut of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) was to be a carefully stage-managed event, starting with the presentation of a supposedly working prototype of the device that appeared to be physically larger than the product Sony promised to deliver. Compounding the intrigue, Sony would never actually show the prototype playing a game; instead, it would only be used to show six or seven minutes worth of pre-recorded music video and movie trailer content. Finally, key developer Electronic Arts would present upcoming software on a large video screen - rather than on the prototype - and precede its showing with an unusually legalistic disclaimer: the audience would be watching a video capture from a PC emulating "early specifications that Sony released in their public statements about the PlayStation Portable."

 

The quote seemed to confirm what developers had been whispering for days if not weeks before the event: as of May 2004, Sony hadn't finished the device they were supposed to be manufacturing for a huge fourth-quarter 2004 Japanese launch, and no games were really ready, either. Only days earlier, The Wall Street Journal had reported that key game developer Square Enix - minority-owned by Sony - was "still not sure what Sony wants to do with [the PSP] - that's a problem[,]" and didn't know whether PSP would "be a game machine or a Video Walkman[.]" Consequently, Square Enix's contribution to the PSP press conference was merely footage from a straight-to-video movie it planned to release. As the United States release date of the PSP had already slipped to 2005, even members of Sony's hand-picked friendly audience began to wonder when and how the company actually intended to sell its new device. If PSP was to be the "Walkman of the Future," some began to suspect that the future wasn't about to start any time soon.

 

Many observers hoped that Sony would leak additional details on one of the three official days of the E3 show, but it didn't. A small, roped-off section of Sony's booth allowed people to stand in line to photograph or touch actual-sized prototype PSP shells, which were wired to display Evanescence music videos, the Spiderman 2 movie trailer, and pre-recorded game footage. Three kiosks, rumored to be PSP casings wired to PC emulation hardware, displayed modestly interactive game demonstrations. The Sony representative on the floor would not confirm whether the prototype PSPs were actually running the games they were showing, or whether they had working UMD discs inside. After extended probing, two noted journalists claimed that the only "real" prototype at the show was a larger-sized unit being carried in the jacket pocket of Sony COO and PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi, a claim we could not independently verify.

 

More importantly, Sony refused to disclose at E3 two critical facts regarding the new platform: its price and actual battery life. Though developers have been led to believe the PSP will launch at a price point between $249 and $299, one Sony executive previously went on record with a 48,000 yen price estimate - translating to approximately $420 U.S. or 350 Euros. Sony representatives at E3 would only say that the company was waiting to see what component prices looked like closer to the unit's release, and that the PSP's battery might range in performance "comparable to portable DVD players" at "two and a half hours," and music players at "approximately eight hours."

 

Finally, as we discovered at the show, the weakest link in the PSP's chain of Walkman appeal is its utility as a music player: you can't record on its discs, only on Memory Stick Duo Pro flash cards, which are sold separately. As of today, it's a foregone conclusion that any device based on pre-recorded discs or flash cards doesn't have a prayer of beating the iPod, and this is especially true if either medium is a proprietary new Sony format. (Recall Betamax, MiniDisc, and any number of other Sony format flops.) But those are the only media the PSP uses, so unless your favorite artist releases music on UMDs or you want to shell out for the expensive newest-generation Memory Sticks (512 Megabytes = $250 and up), the only music you'll hear on a PSP will be in the background of a game.

 

In sum, even if Sony's PlayStation Portable turns out to be a popular portable game console - which would itself be a historical anomaly given Nintendo's dominance with sub-$100 portable game hardware - we think that the chances of the device becoming the "Walkman of the Future" are close to zero. Unless there is a dramatic breakthrough in flash memory prices, the immediate future of portable audio entertainment is in hard disk-based solutions.

 

http://www.ipodlounge.com/articles_more.php?id=3924_0_8_0_C

[Scroby 0]

The Xbox 2 having no HD was a rumor months ago. Nothing about the Xbox 2 has even been annouced yet other than what chips might be in it, but they all have been rumors.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

So essentially the PSP is the GameGear all over again. GREAT

[teke184 0]

Until Nintendo gets GAMES and THIRD-PARTY developers --- they'll always be #3. GC hasn't been throttled because it's crap hardware --- it's been throttled because there are so few good games for it.

 

And, if Sony's PSP takes even a third of Nintendo's handheld market share, Nintendo is in DEEP trouble as handhelds have been their top cash cow for years.

         -=Mike

That's what they said about the Wonder Swan, and the Sega Nomad, and the Neo Geo Lynx, and on and on.

 

The Game Boy has been out for 15 years. If another company could have taken over the majority of the market, they would have done it by now.

In case you've not noticed, Sony has their stuff together better than the others did.

-=Mike

The reasons that the Gameboy has been THE hand-held of choice for so long:

 

 

1. Battery life- No other handheld had the kind of battery life that the Gameboy had, but that was because no officially released Gameboy before the SP had a backlight. The Lynx had a backlight and a VERY good screen on it, but it ate batteries like a sonofabitch.

 

 

2. Software base- Gameboy has always gotten EXCELLENT first-party and third-party support, which you can't really say for any other handheld.

 

Lynx had several good first-party games (APB, Zarlor Mercinary, Gates of Zendocon) but very few third-party games.

 

The TurboExpress was DOA because the TurboGraphics 16 got its ass handed to it by the Genesis to start with and the SNES finished it off.

 

Neo Geo Pocket had absolutely NO third-party support at all.

 

Game Gear had some third-party support but not a lot because it was a portable version of the Master System, a platform that few third-party developers had a lot of experience with due to the NES's stringent licensing rules. It didn't help that Sega got multiple-personality disorder in the mid-90s and couldn't figure out which platforms to keep supporting.

 

The Nomad was in the same boat as the TurboExpress. By the time it came out, the Genesis was near death and a lot of the newer games were for peripherals that couldn't be used with it, such as the Sega CD and the 32X. I love mine, but that's because I already had a large set of Genesis games and wanted the ability to play King's Bounty wherever I went. (It also helped that I cleared out Blockbuster's selection of $0.99-$2.99 Genesis games around this time)

 

 

 

If the PSP uses a rechargable-battery like the Gameboy SP and gets a decent amount of third-party support, it could certainly carve out a niche.

 

Considering Sony's resources and its history of success with the Playstation line of game systems, it'll be interesting to watch what they do and how Nintendo responds.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

I think it is retarded and pointless for me, a PS2 owner with a library of really great games that I love to play, to buy anything else other than a PS3 when the next generation console wars kick into gear. While I could always go back to my PS2 to play the games, I'd rather have another system there that gives me the opportunity to play my games, even if my PS2 breaks down or something happens to it.

 

Sony already has my money.

 

UYI