I've always taken issue with this belief that the people who buy a PS3 at launch is the 'hardcore' crowd, because it is untrue. Some of those folks will be that, yes, but I think just as large a percentage, if not larger, are either 1)your AV enthusiast who is only really buying at launch for Blu-Ray or 2)the mainstream crowd who has brand loyalty and wants what they think will be the 'big' thing this holiday. Most 'hardcore' know the game and know how system launches go and know the precedent for launch prices in the past....and will probably hold off before getting the PS3.
I just purchased the xbox 360 premium package for $430 $20 for the coolent fans $35 for nba live 06 next on my list is Wii
i think its almost about time to start a madden 07 thread... in it we can give out our live accounts name so we can play each other and maybe even have a tourny. that would be fun to have a clutchfans xbox live tournament.
Even though Sony is heavily promoting Blu-ray movies and the PS3, I think implementing Blu-ray into the PS3 was a great move regardless of its ability to play movies. I don't think DVD is going to cut it during the next 5-6 years (let alone the next ~10); BR is way to increase disc capacity and it is probably going to be cheaper than any other option due to its use in other devices. Putting out 2 versions would mean that games would have to fit on DVD, which wouldn't be ideal IMO. FWIW, the DVD drive in the PS2 is almost as proprietary/useless as the BR drive in the PS3. The PS2 probably could have retailed for $200 or less (which I believe is the price most people ended up buying the PS2). That worked out well for them. 2-3 years down the line is when BR/HD-DVD will start to matter (don't think I ever said otherwise). Cheaper players, cheaper HDTVs, cheaper movies (though they're already pretty cheap as is), and more features (better implementation of BD-J and iHD). I'm guessing more people will be interested in this tech by then, although it will take even longer for them to go "mainstream." FWIW, it isn't like you need a 1080p TV to actually benefit from these technologies. Movies is 720p look way better than movies in 480i/p (although it helps if the studio does the transfer right). 1080p is nice, but not a requirement. I'm optimistic about the Wii, but I don't know about that (at least at this point). I think it would have to launch at $150 or less to come close to that. It is the wildcard though. I feel uneasy making any predictions on how it will do since it is taking a much different approach than other consoles. If the controller works, then it will be a huge hit; if not...well...yeah. Not sure how you meant this, but if they can turn a profit on the PS3 is 3 years, that probably wouldn't be too bad of a thing. I forget when the PS2 started pulling in a profit, but I don't think it was much sooner than that (maybe year 2). If they can turn in a profit in year 3, then they can rake in a lot of money in years 4-6 and beyond (which would help for lauching the PS4). Plus any royalties they get on BR, microtransactions, etc., if you weren't including them in you original statement. This is difficult to debate since there's really nothing to support it either way. I'm of the thought that the hardcore gamer that subscribes to EGM/PSM/Gameinformer/etc., checks out IGN/GS/1UP/NeoGAF (where the "hardest of hardcore" go ), etc., is probably pretty excited about some of the PS3 games that will be coming out at launch or later. When they see that Resistance has like 40-player multiplayer battles or something like that, they'll want to get a PS3 to join in on the action (like they have for every other launch of a system). This would be opposed to casual gamers who would only care about something like Madden (which would be on the PS2 and 360), which I'm not sure they've seen enough to pay $500+ for (as opposed to someone who’d be willing to pay that price for a number of games exclusive to the PS3 and are truly “next-gen”). Maybe we have different images of the hardcore gamer though; I'm picturing someone who bought every console at launch and probably gets like 10 games a month (or something like that). Well...whatever the breakdown is, a strong lineup of games will help sales a bit as Sony tries to widen their userbase to get more gamers. Whether the transition is from hardcore gamer to casual gamer, casual gamer to hardcore gamer, or gamer "A" to gamer "B" doesn't really matter I guess.
I'd consider you fairly hardcore (in terms of Sony's offerings at the very least), and I think you are waiting, correct? I consider myself fairly hardcore and I won't buy at launch. Sony would like people to believe that the ones who will buy their PS3 at launch are the 'hardcore'. I don't consider that the truth.
Not sure about you, but I'm not quite as hardcore as others when it comes to playing games. Let's put it this way, I've yet to play DQ8, KH2, SOTC, and a couple of other amazing games that have come out on the PS2. That right there keeps me from calling myself hardcore. Hardcore gamers (with PS2s) had those games on preorder days (if not months) before their release. I'm waiting for them to reach $20 (which DQ8 and SOTC just did, so yea for me). Then you throw in the fact that I don't own a Xbox or GC (let alone the fact that I didn't get them at launch), and I don't really consider myself a hardcore gamer (although I'm not really a casual gamer either). Hardcore gamers that didn't bat an eyelash when buying a PS2/GC/XBX/360 at launch, and have no problems buying 4-5 games a month shouldn't have a problem buying a PS3. I am hardcore when it comes to following the industry, but that's a little different.
Lots of people who 'wouldn't bat an eyelash' at dropping money on a launch system wouldn't know what half of the acronyms you just wrote even meant. I agree that you need to expand your horizons a little more ( ), but you have played a lot of games, know a lot about them, follow VG sites pretty regularly, post A LOT of video game topics, etc. I'd say that's fairly hardcore. My definition of hardcore is people who 1)know alot about the games and games industry, 2)know about it's history and appreciate past classics, 3)play games regularly and 4)stay up to date on recent trends/news. And I don't think those people make up the brunt of folks that are going to buy a PS3 at launch. Spending a lot of money doesn't make you 'hardcore', IMO.
I think I'm more of a CAG (cheap ass gamer) than a hardcore gamer. Things might change if I get most disposable income in the future, but I think the PSP will be the last system I buy at launch (and even though I had a PS2 at launch, I wasn't really a hardcore gamer then). I probably wouldn't have gotten a PSP at launch either if it didn't have a nice launch lineup as well as some features that I was interested in (MP3 player mostly, which I hadn't owned at the time...although since I've stuck to the 32MB MS, that hasn't quite worked out as well as I would have liked, even though the ATRAC compression helped). The fact that it was cheaper than I expected didn't hurt either. PS3 ended up more expensive that I thought it would be (although I didn't expect a HDD), and none of the features are something I really want to have by the end of the year (although I'll want to mess with them eventually). The games are the only thing that are still making me think about it (though not seriously), but I have a bunch of games to play on other systems that aren't $50+ a piece. I might be a hybrid CAG/hardcore gamer. I don't know. I think if I had no problems spending $50 for great games like KH2, SOTC, DQ8, etc., I'd probably have no problem spending $500 on a PS3. At this point, I think the only console games I'll pay full price for must have "Final Fantasy ##", "The Elder Scrolls #: ___", or "Metal Gear Solid #:____" in their titles (although I never bought a MGS game at full price, but I might for MGS4). There might be some exceptions, but that's the only must-buy-at-launch games for me. I play a ton of games, but usually by renting them or buying them used 6+ months after they've been released. I appreciate games, but I think there are others who appreciate them much more so than I do. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I always felt that the usual hardcore gamer would have a bigger list than the game list I have. And if they're more open to buying games at full price, they're probably more open to buying systems at full price than I am. I could actually do 3 out of 4 things in your list without even owning a video game console (1,2,4); I actually had no problems doing 1,2, and 4 even though I didn't touch games for a while during final exams or stuff like that (weeks without playing a game). A video game analyst or writer could do that stuff. That's why I said I was hardcore about the industry, but not a hardcore gamer earlier. Playing games a lot is important though, but it just seems like there should be a little more to it (CAGs, pirates, renters, etc., can play games regularly). I think hardcore gamers are people who really appreciate a number of games (both past and present), and they show their appreciation by buying those games on day one (or close to it)...mostly because they enjoy the games so much, they'd rather not rent it or wait 6+ months for a price drop. There are only 2-3 games I'd do that for (one of which is not a console game...well, not for me anyway). Now as for whether they're going to make up a large portion of the PS3 crowd, I don't know for sure (and probably won't ever know). I think that if the games are good enough (which some appear to be shaping up that way), there will be people who won't want to wait a year or so for a price drop to play those games. A casual gamer who only plays GTA or Madden won't really want a PS3, nor would a CAG like myself. Someone who doesn't care about price and just wants to play some awesome games might.
Ninety-Nine Nights (360) http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/act...=6155689&part=rss&tag=gs_reviews&subj=6155689 5.9 from Gamespot, ~69% at Gamerankings. Super Monkey Ball Adventure (GC,PS2,PSP) http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/action/supermonkeyballadventure/review.html?sid=6155467 5.7 from Gamespot, 52%-54% at Gamerankings. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PS2) http://ps2.ign.com/articles/724/724990p1.html 7.0 from IGN, ~45% at Gamerankings (all reviews of the Japanese version I believe, which had a lot of issues...more so than the US one anyway). It is a sad day when a 7.0 is the highest score by far.
Ninety Nine Nights sucks, (IMO). I didn't think it would be possible to dumb down dynasty warriors and make it less fun. But from the demo, they apparently did. And I actually like Dynasty Warriors.
What surprises me is that 99 Nights has some great things going for it. The game designer is Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Rez, Lumines, Meteos, etc); his team (Q Entertainment) and Phantagram (Kingdom Under Fire) developed the game (not to mention they had Microsoft funding the project). The fact that it turned out as bad as it did is a bit surprising (IMO) when you consider all that.
True. Kingdom Under Fire (and it's sequel) had some things going for it but was flawed. I would have thought they could put it together on the stronger hardware. Miz is a genius when it comes to puzzle games (IMO), but I guess he should just stick to that...
Sorry about the long wait, but there hasn't really been any noteworthy games to come out lately and get good reviews. Should be a lot more this next week though. DarkStar One (PC) http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/darkstarone/review.html?sid=6155759 8.1 from Gamespot, ~71% at Gamerankings. Star Fox Command (DS) http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/starfox/review.html?sid=6156604 7.5 from Gamespot, ~80% at Gamerankings Def Jam: Fight for NY: The Takeover (PSP) http://psp.ign.com/articles/728/728408p1.html 8.1 from IGN, ~75% at Gamerankings. For some reason, IGN has reviews of 2 PSP games that won't be coming out for a long time. I'll need to remember to bring these back when they come out (well...for Gitaroo Man anyway...it would be best to just forget about Gangs of London). Gangs of London (PSP) [10/3/06] http://psp.ign.com/articles/725/725646p1.html 5.2 from IGN, ~56% at Gamerankings. Gitaroo Man Lives! (PSP) [February 2007] http://psp.ign.com/articles/726/726769p1.html 8.8 from IGN, ~80% from Gamerankings. BTW, I think Saints Row got an 8 out of 10 from Gametrailer.com, but GT had to take down the review (they put it up too early).
IGN has reviews up for 2 great games coming out today: Saints Row (360) http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/728/728829p1.html 8.5 from IGN, ~89% at Gamerankings. Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins (PSP) [8/29/06] http://psp.ign.com/articles/728/728597p1.html 8.6 from IGN, ~77% at Gamerankings.
I've spent some time with it now. Good stuff. Very much a GTA clone, but one that was actually done right, unlike most of them. Imagine GTA with better graphics, physics (stuff blowing up correctly, ragdoll on bodies) and gun control and you have an idea. Big area to play in, lots of side missions...definitely well made in that regard. Writing is not as strong as GTA; missions don't feel quite as involved as a GTA game does; humor not near as good as GTA. To be fair, it does have top-notch voice acting a a good variety. Also much better customization: you can totally customize your main character, cars, clothes, etc. Technically I think the graphics are solid. But there are issues like screen tearing and pop in; if you are a 'graphics w****' that stuff will probably drive you crazy. And then there is the online multiplayer. Servers had a problem last night but are working better today. There are several different modes (not just regular deathmatch) and the ability to have online gangs, earn money to further customize your online character, etc. I've done two modes; regular deathmatch, which is always fun. And a 'Pimp My Ride' type mode. In that one, the two gangs start out in an area with their own crappy car. You run around killing to earn money. When you get enough money, you can take your car from your garage to the 'chop shop', get it upgraded to the next level, then return it to your garage. You have to do this four times to win. All the while you are trying to kill the other gang members for more money and trying to stop them from leveling up their car. (Yes, you can destroy the car, sending them back a level). It was a good time. Overall, it's definitely a fun game.
Enchanted Arms (360) http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/emenchantarm/review.html?sid=6156915 7.1 from Gamespot, ~70% from Gamerankings. Xenosaga Episode III (PS2) 8 from Gamespot, ~79% from Gamerankings. I gave up on this series once I heard all the bad stuff about XS2, but I might try to hunt down a copy of it and XS3 sometime in the future (actually liked XS1 too...good thing I kept my copy). Disgaea 2 (PS2) 8.5 from IGN, ~84% from Gamerankings.
