Better than VGA, probably not...
Funny thing about HDMI: most people forget that except for Sharp and Toshiba, all other TV vendors *overscan* HDMI ports. Ditto for the component ports. Whatever advantage an all-digital data path might give you over analog data paths goes out the toilet the moment you overscan/scale the image.
VGA ports (and the occasional DVI port) are not overscanned because they are intended by the set builder for PC use where overscan ruins clarity.
...
2008-9 will probably see the Wii HD hit the market.
And 360 will be running $149 by then.
Traditionally, the end of early adopter sales is considered to come with the price hitting $199. This generation may be different (staring prices being beigher for PS3) so a good guess might be the early adopter phase ends with the first price cut. For now, anybody buying these consoles is paying a premium to be the first (or second) kid on the block with one. Most buyers don't care to pay a premium and prefer to wait for the price cut.
Automakers routinely track the inventory of unsold product on dealer lots to adjust their production rates because, of course, dealers won't order more product until they move enough of what they have on hand.
The same applies to consoles; it is a good thing to have have some unsold product floating in the pipeline because you don't want empty shelves and potential customers walking away. But neither do you want tons of anybody's money tied up in inventory because unsold inventory cost...
Which explains *why* MS has been allowed to provide HD video downloads by the Studios: The Box has a lot of layers of built-in security before you even get to the DRM-ed content itself. Keeping the 360 secure is key to getting more media content onto it so I'm thinking MS will do whatever it takes to keep the black hats away. Ultimately, that CPU-specific Key combined with Live means MS has the upper hand and is likely to keep it indefinitely.
Frankly, anybody wanting a high-po...
Otogi for xbox had its fans and there is hope a similar game will hit the 360.
As soon as they clear the two million or so launch boxes still in the pipeline they'll be introducing the EE-less PS3 to the NTSC territories, too. Of course, that will be later in the year, when they cut prices and move to the 65nm chips. (Nothing like announcing a feature degradation to get folks to buy stuff that isn't moving... Sort-of like a reverse-Osbourne...)
So the real question for PS3 lovers is buy now and get 100% BC or wait and see how much of a price cut you get for waiti...
MS has between $40 and $60 billion in cash lying around and they take in $10-12 billion *after-tax* every year.
If they wanted to buy all five of those studios, plus BioWare, Capcom, and Bethesda, they could do it with six months worth of profits.
In fact, MS considered buying Nintendo back in 99.
The reason they didn't is the reason why they won't be buying any of the above-listed studios: the true assets of those outfits are the people, not the code they own.
It ...
Odds are MS has in fact dropped prices at the wholesale level but not at the MSRP level.
The question now is, when do they make the price cut official?
March 22nd?
XBOX sales are going fine.
After all, nobody expects the japanese to buy an american console.
And MS can survive and prosper without Japan, unlike their biggest opponent, who absolutely positively *needs* japanese sales and is not getting them.
MS is known to be very conservative; they do not hype themselves to the hilt like some of their competitors. Instead, they report modest expectations so they can then report *exceeding* the expectations.
A bit differ...
A while back there was a report by the UT3 team lead at Epic that stated that developing for multicore PC cpus and consoles was three times more expensive than for single core platforms (last-gen) and then he added that PS3 was 5 times more expensive.
This from a PS3 supporter.
Do the math; its 80% more expensive.
That assymetric CPU architecture with dual resident OSes is not a friendly place for developers. Not with current SDKs and tools and not with Sony offloading co...
Sony's cash reserves were been reported at 2 Billion dollars just before the launch of PS3. If the rest of their business were breaking even, that would be enough to subsidize the first 10 million PS3s. At current sales rates, that would take until april 08. Add in $100 million profit from Spiderman 3 and Sony can stay in the PS3 business until June 08. If they're lucky.
Of course, that assumes they reduce production rates to match the reduced demand and aren't stockipiling uns...
Very good summation of the danger ahead for Sony.
(And for now its just a danger, allright, fanboys?)
Its a warning, not a prediction.
Worth noting:
1- PS3 is not three times more expensive to develop for than 360; according to the PS3 lead at EPIC, it is more like 80%(five times last-gen costs vs 3 times). Bad but not quite double. The key point being that Sony needs to beat 360 just to survive. Matching them (or staying close) doesn't hack it. PS3 exclusi...
1- To cut the suggested retail price along with the wholesale price and force all retailers to toe the line
2- To cut the wholesale price but keep the suggested retail price at the old level, giving retailers a chance to create their own sales, bundles, or packages. Or simply charge what the market might bear.
Guess which approach retailers prefer?
Might MS cut wholesale prices earlier than the suggested retail price to curry favor with retailers?
...
...didn't the last wave of rumors about a black 360 originate in Australia? :-D
Now we know how the rumors of Gears of War/Mass Effect on PS3 got started. :-)
Bwah-hah-hah!
Gotta say the PS3 is the most laughter-inducing console this generation. Thanks Sony!
When are you buying?
Now? Summer? Xmas?
If now, then, unless you really, really want to play Resistance or your primary interest is in a BD player, then your best bet is a 360; a lot more *good* games, great online, and the best graphics in the biz today.
If summer, ditto, plus a likely price cut.
If XMAS, then maybe (just maybe) the PS3 will be back in the game by then. Sony is doing the best they can to patch the system flaws and while some of them are u...
PCs and consoles are not terribly likely to converge, even 5 years down the road because the business models are too different. PCs are open systems, evolving continually, with new hardware specs every 3-6 months; consoles are closed systems with hardware advancing by discrete generational steps and remaining locked down in between to provide as stable a platform as possible.
So while the two markets will continue to borrow from each other, they won't merge.
Howe...
Published reports are companies clear $15 per copy of a $60 game. MS gets about $10 in licensing fees. And there is more overhead than just packaging and shipment.
Gaming is a volume sales business, not a big profit margin play. Nobody is ripping off anybody in this business.
So what?
In software development quality matters more than quantity.
Check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
Both MS and Sony operate on a different model than Sony.
Fortunately.