Playstation 3 Q/A from E3 (many questions answered or dodged)

What kind of games do you like? I just find it amazing that none of the PS3 games seem like notable exclusives to you. A lot of them are the same exclusives that made (or will make) the PS2 the best-selling console of all-time. Maybe they're not worth $500-$600, but I just find it amazing that you don't find any of them notable. I know a lot of people that are prepared to bend over just for FF XIII and MGS4.

Personally, I'm excited for just about every game there (except for Fatal Inertia and maybe RR7), as well as a few others (UT 2K7, Motorstorm, Naughty Dog's Jungle Game, and a few others). That said, I'm not sure if I want to pay $500 for them. I'd rather wait until a price cut. I'm not sure if I'll be able to hold out for one though, especially if those games turn out to be great. If there isn't a price cut by Fall 2007, I'm going to be screwed (MGS4, FF XIII, GTA, and a few other games might come out around then).

I think the last 4 PSP games I bought were $20 or less (two were ~$15 or less). 3 were about 85% or better at Gamerankings, and the other one was like 75%. I don't see many games worth $50, but luckily, a lot of the great games can be had for $30-$35 or less AFAIK.

Maybe if you tell me what kind of games you like, I can find some that might be worth checking out (probably for less than $40-$50).

That you won't like the PS3 or that the general consumer won't like the PS3? Some people think the Wii will fail because they could never get into the DS. Is the Wii doomed?

Which developers are angry? A PS3 game should cost roughly the same as a 360 game. If it does cost considerably more, then there's probably a reason for it (IOW, better quality games or something like that). Maybe if it cost more to make games of the same quality, but I don't see why they'd be mad if it cost more to make a higher-quality game. That seems like common sense to me. I guess they could develop for the PS2 or PSP if that is a problem though.

Even if that were the case, Sony has managed to obtain a rather large number of developers under their SCEWW brand. I think they're almost on the same level as Nintendo in certain aspects. So if Sony were to lose some 3rd party exclusives, perhaps their 1st party developers could make up for it (assuming the exclusives they lose aren't exclusive to another console; IOW, they go multiplatform, like say Resident Evil 5...assuming it is still PS3/360).

FWIW, I might be wrong, but it seems like the PS3 has way more exclusives announced for it than the PS2 did (during the same time period in its life). I guess we'll find out where developers stand on the PS3 later this month and at TGS.

Current-gen games went up to $70 or more. That won't change with the PS3/360. You should know when someone is protecting their butt in the case that some publisher wants to include a $30-$40 peripheral with their game, or if they want to release a 'collector's edition' of some game at some insane price. If regular games went up to $100, I wouldn't want to know what that same game would cost if it had more stuff included in the packaging.

They should have included them anyway since it shouldn't cost that much more, and it would have avoided a lot of confusion. That said, once I found out that HD movies weren't going to require HDMI until 2011 (or whenever), I didn't really care that much about it. Depending on the scenario, I might end up getting that version instead of the premium version.

 

Those genres are probably the weakest part of the PS3 lineup (or really any lineup except for maybe the Xbox/360 with Halo).

The big FPS for the PS3 at launch will probably be Resistance. It seems like fun, especially with Insomniac's imagination behind it, and AFAIK, I think the game supports 32 players in multiplayer (not a big deal for me since I don't play games online, but other people like it). I don't know if it will be that great though. Probably not a system seller, but a nice launch title to play online or something like that.

You'll then get Unreal Tournament 2007 shortly after that. I'm not sure why it isn't on that list of games (maybe they forgot about it? Or maybe because it isn't technically an exclusive?). That could be a system-seller, assuming people don't have the PC necessary to play the game the way it should be (like Oblivion). And unlike Oblivion, there might be M+KB support plus support for user-created mods.

Then you got maybe a few other FPS exclusives, like Coded Arms, which probably won't amount to much (although one of the Coded Arms trailers did look interesting). There are other shooters (not FPSs) that seem fun, but those are the only confirmed FPS games that I can think of that will come out in the first year or so.

Sports games rarely are exclusive to a console (maybe MLB 07 or something), and there aren't really many strategy (RTS type games?) on consoles anyway, so I guess I can see how that list doesn't seem like much to you in that regard.

Yeah, that makes sense. I still have a lot of games I want to play on my PSP, PS2, and PC, so I'm not really that interested in trying to get a PS3 on day one. But if I can get the PS3 for like $400-$450 and games like MGS4, FF XIII, Silent Hill 5, etc., are out, then I'll probably jump right in (hehe...stupid 360 ad). I don't know how everyone else feels about it, but the PS3 price it just barely out of the range I want it to be at. I will hold out, but probably not for a couple of years (hopefully less than a year if Sony can get in a price cut).

I usually shop online, so I'm not sure what prices and supply are like at stores. If you like tennis (or not), I'd recommend Virtua Tennis for sure. I think Sears sells it new for like $10, although I got it for slightly more at ebgames.com (think like $15 used + 15% discount code). I don't care for tennis at all, but I've found it to be a lot of fun.

You can get Field Commander (Advance Wars clone) for like $35 (or less with 'CAG15' code) used at ebgames.com:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935125
I think Amazon.com has it for $38 with free shipping.

You can get Metal Gear Acid for $18 used:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935009
MGA 2 is $35 used.

Gripshift is $17 New:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=SEARCH&product_code=51611746&pfp=srch1

Mercury is $20 New:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=190114

SSX On Tour is $20 New at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...6535-4000054?_encoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=468642

There's a Winning Eleven game for the PSP for $35 Used:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935083

THUG 2 Remix is $18 Used:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935013

Hot Shots Golf is $25 Used:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935002
(this one should be $20 New soon I think due to Greatest Hits)

The Tiger Woods games are like $20 and $25 used:
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935015
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935042 ($30 New)

NBA Live 06 is $25 Used (not quite a year old ):
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935047

Madden 06 is $20 Used (also not quite a year old ):
http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product_id=935039

And while I'm at it, here is a 1GB Pro Duo for ~$39 and a 2GB Ultra II Pro Duo for ~$77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820191419
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820191428
(don't ask me why I threw these in )

Um...you know what...why you don't you check out the best 50 or so PSP games at Gamerankings, read the reviews for the games that might be interesting, and then see how much they cost at Amazon.com or ebgames.com.

Out of those games, I've only personally played MGA, Gripshift, and Virtua Tennis. I'd definitely recommend those for the above prices, and the others I've heard good things about (not to mention their review scores are decent-to-good).

Note that I tried to keep these to sports games and strategy/puzzle games...like literally. I wouldn't have added something like SW: Battlefront or GTA (although I don't think they're cheap...their publishers are too greedy). There are some other games that are good, but didn't fit in the 3 genres you gave earlier (not exactly anyway). I can give some more recommendations from other genres, although some of the better ones are more like $35 used (not sure if you mind paying that much).

You said that they were angry due to higher costs in game development. Maybe I should have rephrased my question since I'm pretty sure most developers aren't exactly thrilled with the PS3's price. That said, I'm not sure if it makes that much of a difference to them. Most of the post-E3 reactions read something like this: "___ thinks the PS3's price is a little too much......____ thinks that the Wii might get boring after a while." Some of them even sound like Kutaragi and said it wasn't expensive for what it does. To be fair, most of those comments came from Japanese developers, who seem to comment more on this stuff than western developers. They can only really pick from the Wii and the PS3, so there isn't much of choice if they want to make a 'next-gen' game.

I do know one of the head Ubisoft guys really wants a PS3 price drop (or thinks that Sony needs it to compete with the 360...slightly different view depending on how you look at it). That definitely fits under the point you were making. That said, I can't even think of an Ubisoft game that was exclusive to the PS2. Not to discount the opinions of developers/publishers, but if someone like John Carmack, Gabe Newell, the guys are Starbreeze, the guys at Crytek, etc., won't make a PS3 game due to the price tag...well, I don't think they made PS2 games either, so I'm not sure how big of a deal it is. As long as they can keep Square-Enix, Capcom, Koei, Namco-Bandai, Epic, Tecmo, Pandemic, Konami, and Sega happy, then they might be OK. From what I can tell developers from those companies seem more than fine with the PS3's price for the most part.

I'm also assuming companies like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, THQ, Take Two/Rockstar, etc., will still offer the normal multiplatform support (Madden, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Brothers in Arms, Ghost Recon, X-Men/Spiderman games, WWE games, etc.). Obviously, if EA was pissed off enough to not offer a PS3 version of Madden, Sony would be in trouble much like Sega was with the Dreamcast.

Otherwise, Sony should get roughly the same support that they got with the PS2, maybe even with some slightly better support (maybe some Epic and Pandemic exclusives). And as I've said earlier, they still have the 1st and 2nd party developers to fall back on. Some of the best selling and highest rated PS2 games were from these developers (Gran Turismo, God of War, SOCOM, Jak and Daxter+Ratchet and Clank+ Sly Cooper, ATV games, Hot Shots, Ico/SOTC, Dark Cloud series, Twisted Metal). Sony won't be losing those exclusives, and they'll actually gain some more like Lair from Factor Five, Heavenly Sword from Ninja Theory, and some other studios that haven't even shown off their games yet. I know Sony has a 3-game exclusive contract with a new studio in Australia; the studio has a lot of talent I believe, and Sony gave them a HUGE budget. And then there's the Eyetoy team.

More of the same would be good considering the success the PS1 and PS2 had. Those games were pretty big on the PS1, were still big on the PS2, and look to be pretty big on the PS3 (except for maybe RR...it has kind of died down in popularity). I mean...I guess I could say "Its just Halo" or something like that. Something like Gran Turismo is about as popular as Halo in the US IIRC, and of course much bigger worldwide (people in Japan play GT but not Halo). You said that you didn't really play the PS2 exclusives, but I can assure you that you are in the minority (maybe even less than 1% of the PS2 userbase). And that is fine since everyone has their opinion. However, while you may say "it is just another MGS," I think about 3M people WW (~1M in the US) are saying "OMG!!! IT IS MGS4!!!" or something like that.

Getting GTAIV exclusive to the PS3 would have been huge. It may have ended any war between the PS3 and 360. Getting it as a timed exclusive, like the PS2, would have been nice, but probably not that big of a deal. Losing exclusivity altogether hurts a bit, but I don't think it will really make that big of a deal. If you like FF, MGS, Tekken, Gran Turismo, and GTA, you'll still need a PS3 to play those games. GTA seems kind of like Madden now.

I'd be surprised if most games aren't $60. There will be maybe some Eyetoy game that costs $100+ due to the inclusion of the camera. Guitar Hero 3 might cost $80. Maybe another Mech game with full controls will come on a next-gen console (think the old one for the Xbox was around $100...can't remember). Let's see:
GTA IV: $60
Madden 07 Collector's Edition: $70
Guitar Hero 3: $80
Random Eyetoy Game: $100

See how games could range from $60 to $100? That's how I interpreted that answer, especially since Kaz can't even seem to answer directly sometimes.

If I'm wrong and we get Gran Turismo 5 priced at $100 (without a wheel...and driving seat ), then things will indeed suck.


On a note semi-related to all this, has anyone ever thought about how the 360 and PS3 cost when you include online play? I know this is completely r****ded since MS can either make online play free, make it cheaper, or have promotions for it, but if you're a big online player, you might end up paying the difference between the two consoles (PS3 and 360) in online fees (say $400 360 + $100 for 4-5 years of online play = $500 PS3 + $0 for 4-5 years of online play). I saw someone bring this up and thought it was an interesting, albeit skewed, way of looking at things. I guess you might as well calculate the amount of electricity each console uses and see which one saves you money there.

OT: I'm going to be on a week-long vacation (possibly without internet access) with my family starting later today. If you (or someone else) reply to this post and I'm not able to reply before I leave, I might not reply until next week or so.

 

Yeah, I was kind of disappointed they didn't really touch on the online service much at all during E3. I think they touched more on it at GDC. Here are some of the slides from then:





Also a video from after GDC with answers from Phil:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3180167084886101633&q=Phil+Harrison+GDC
(IIRC, he notes that online play would be free here)

If those are to be trusted, it seems like all the things in the 3rd pic make up the 'basic service' and the 'basic service' is free of charge (plus online play). I think the online play that isn't free is subscriptions to MMO games (like WoW).

Sounds like the general service will be done through Sony, but the actual games can/will run through the servers of the publishers (which might also be Sony in some cases). Since I don't play games online, what is/are the big disadvantage(s) with this method compared to the way XBL does things? Are some of the PS2 servers not up to par or something (too much lag)? Or is it just a hassle to actually get a game started (go through 10 screens just to play a game online)? Is the difference enough to warrant paying for? I have little to no knowledge in this subject.

As for microtransactions, they'll probably be just as bad if not worse. Sony was talking about them 2-3 years ago IIRC, and they seem more excited about it that MS. It would depend on the game and publisher though I guess.

TGS should definitely be good for finding out more about the PS3. As you said, I think they'll be pretty much the only major presence there (Nintendo isn't listed AFAIK, although some Wii games will probably still be shown). It seems like it might be the 'largest ever' as well:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6153541.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6153541
Nintendo might have something to announce during that time period though. IIRC, they said they'd give the final details on the Wii (launch date, price, etc.) in September.

There is another PS meeting scheduled this month AFAIK (think near the end). They might give more details on some of these things, although I somehow doubt it. I'm expecting roughly the same infomation plus some new trailers from a few 1st and 2nd party games.

 

Theoretically, anything you can do in Linux you should be able to do on the PS3 (think you can even make a Linux OS for it...or something). If Adobe Photoshop is available on Linux, then it might be available on the PS3. I'm not sure if it would be compatible though. Maybe something more like GIMP or some other photo-editing software. That shouldn't be tough to do though, assuming there are actually any applications made for the PS3.

Computer games are probably extremely, extremely unlikely (borderline impossible). I don't even think HL2 runs on Linux, so I don't think it would work. I think only OpenGL games would work (games by Epic, iD, and a few others). That said, they would probably need the GPU, and I don't think Sony will provide access to the GPU (only to Cell). Even if they were available, I'm not sure if it would work due to the architectural differences. Someone might have to make some changes, or maybe make an 'emulator' of sorts. The only real possibility I see of PC games making their way to the PS3 via Linux would be maybe some of the older ones (original Doom, maybe original Quake, those sorts of games). Of course, I think there was a PS1 Doom, a PS2 Half-Life, and some other games that you might be able to download and play via backwards compatibility. Not really the same though, especially since I doubt you'd be able to use M+KB on those games (assuming you could on the PC games, if it were possible).