Two games (Gears and RFOM) have actually managed to live up to the huge hype placed on them, that can only be a good thing.
As for RFOM itself, it does look pretty sweet, and the depth of multiplayer sounds a lot like Halo. Pity the hardware isn't coming out now where I live (UK), or a good few hundred pounds cheaper ;)
If you've just put down $600 (plus $X00 for games and accessories) for a PS3, you ain't gonna be worried about $30 more per year on your power bill!!
And apparantly, I was the only one who thought "Oh dear, the poor environment" when I saw this. As opposed to "Great, a chance to bash the opposing console!!" which is what appears to be more important to many others here. Ah well, what's a few more rainforests eh?
Non-biased analysis, good points and some pretty solid conclusions. I would agree with most of it, especially the brand trust. I live in the UK where I regularly see people completely oblivious to any other consoles out there but PlayStation. Don't underestimate the power of brand trust.
Isn't posting scans from copyrighted material (such as newly released mags) illegal?
And were I not attempting to isolate myself from every single bit of Halo 3 spolier info in an attempt to make my first play of the game infinitely more awesome, I'm sure I would say that that all looks amazing.
Major Nelson does know his gaming terminology :)
Your distinction between "in-game" and "in-engine" is semi-correct, but remember that "engine" can mean more than one thing (e.g. a separate graphics engine like those which they use for CG cinematics). "In-game engine", which is what Major Nelson said, merely means that the engine used in the game was the one that was used to produce the footage. This in no way means that the footage is taken ...
If there's one thing guaranteed to get everyone on this site agreeing, it's Jack Thompson.
'Nuff said.
I did spot one interesting point. Amongst the reasons why the PS2 succeeded, the writer cites "kids' products, karaoke, the EyeToy camera" as well as a "very consumer-friendly $200 price range". Currently, I would argue that the PS3 has none of these (please correct me if I'm wrong on the camera front, wasn't sure on that one).
It seems to me that what will decide the next console war will be the time it takes Sony to GET these things (i.e. games for everyon...
I selected "Buy full version" and paid my money, so why haven't I got the full version?
I was looking forward to this game and I do really enjoy it (apart from that damned annoying music which there appears to be no way to turn off), but the number of times I have tried to do something only for it to tell me to "Purchase the 'X' pack" is really frustrating.
Get it together on this one, Microsoft!!
Achievements are a great feature, both for gamers and Microsoft. A good developer will use the acievements to get you to play the game in different ways, or to play different parts of the game which you may not have tried. I can think of several times when I've got a lot more out of a game by going for an achievement.
Overall, although it is a great feature, I think this was smart on Sony's part. "Entitlements" was such a blatant copy (even if it wasn't, it would look...
Microsoft really have been pulling out all the stops on the marketing front, and this looks to be another shrewd move.
Most gamers in the UK (believe me, I know a fair few!) will buy a PS3 just because it has the word Playstation written on the box. If Microsoft are to overturn this sort of brand trust then they need to do it with quality, good games and a good console. They do have some great looking games, and this is probably one of the best ways of getting that across.
India is a huge market, and the gaming company that cracks it first will get some big rewards.
Looks like Microsoft are being fairly smart about their approach, not assuming that what worked in America will work elsewhere (because very often, it doesn't) and doing things like bringing in "brand ambassadors", plus marketing games that will appeal to the Indian market (I imagine "Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007" will have the same sort of appeal in Ind...
The first Xbox was really about establishing a brand, now that Microsoft have succeeded in doing so they want everyone to go next-gen and buy the games to match. They certainly woouldn't have drawn a profit from the Xbox 1, so while it kinda sucks that they don't support it any more, it makes sense since they have more of a chance of drawing a profit from the 360.
Oh and XGamer, I don't really think you can call this "false news" when it's from a Wedbush Morgan analys...
Perhaps Microsoft could include in each new Xbox a stick of TNT. When you open it up.... BOOM!!
Seriously though, Microsoft have been pretty good with this sort of thing so far (better than they were with the Xbox 1, at any rate), so I'm sure that some combination of measures people have been discussing - such as the next Live auto-update or new types of DVD drive in the new consoles - will help to combat this type of thing.
The people who put this out there for ...
Great article.
Problem is that it takes time to become a figure like Major Nelson, Sony can't just "select" someone overnight, and anyway in many ways it's the fans who do the selecting.
One of the other problems I see is that it seems that at Sony, the left hand doesn't always know what the right hand is doing. This isn't good for a Sony community figure who may say one thing (whether they believe it to be true or not is irrelevant) only to have the PR...
"“[We’d be] doing the consumer a huge disservice by coming up with a controller that is not very affordable,” Hirai said."
What he's saying is that they don't want to put too much technology into the controller because it'll be too expensive. Yet for some reason, when talking about the high price point of the PS3, Sony are very quick to point out that the reason it's so expensive is because it's crammed so full of top notch technology!
Come on Sony, atl...
Anyone who is a big enough fan of Halo (such as myself) to actually care about this will almost certainly get it directly from bungie.net or halo.bungie.org
It seems that whatever comes out on Bungie's Weekly Update automatically gets posted here, which it really shouldn't unless it contains real solid Halo 3 info. The Bungie podcast was probably of more note than this :)
Looks to me like an obvious attempt to get some hits on the site. Aside from the fact that they can't count (there aren't "thirty titles" listed at all), I think everyone here is in agreement that the list is neither up to date nor accurate in any way, shape or form. Did the submitter actually check the story over before submitting?!
As soon as I read "practically all of Europe has been decimated", I thought "Oh great, another game where America is all that's left and saves the day". Much like the PS3 launch strategy, I guess ;)
Anyway, I was really glad to then read "With the Chimera on the verge of making its way into Great Britain, England mounts up its forces in preparation for the onslaught". Makes a really nice change to have a game set somewhere other than the US (or spa...
Many people seem to be comparing this to Gears of War, I would actually compare it more to Halo 1. The similarities were startling (to me atleast). Humans fighting for survival against a mysterious yet vastly superior alien race, ability to use human and alien weapons, great vehicles and general physics, co-op campaign (not online, of course!) and a first overlooked but actually very enjoyable multiplayer, not to mention the fact that it's an immersive universe that looks like it'll go on for...
I remember watching the concept video for the show, which was on YouTube around 6 to 12 months ago and thinking "Oh man, this is going to SUCK". Actually, I was pleasantly surprised. The gameplay was well commentated on (neither patronisingly simple nor overly hardcore) and the "We're trying to make these guys look more badass" back alley shots were (thank goodness) limited. The replay style footage they had was also very impressive.
And just to let everyone...