The UMD streaming issues are basically the result of human error -- bad programming (and lack of proper testing tools back in the day).
Curiously, some titles actually have the opposite problem -- a couple off the top of my head are the Ubisoft Prince of Persia games on the PSP. Their sound/music skips in UMD form (because it's streamed from the UMD, and apparently it wasn't tested well), but in digital form they're totally pristine.
Streaming is...
He's not talking about the consoles directly. He's talking about the combined concept of console gaming.
(A) Consoles are supposed to be cheap alternatives to gaming PCs... but...
A $500 Console today wouldn't outperform the PS3 or 360 enough to warrant buying one over the now large-library PS3 and 360. It'd be like adding an XBox to the scene 4 years after the PS2 came out. Only the hottest hardware of the day is worthy of making a new con...
If it's not published by Sony, its not up to Sony, as to whether or not the game does digital.
Also, not all games can go digital, due to streaming race conditions with UMD reading in some games. I'll bet Ridge Racer streams its track data (like most racers), and might not play correctly with the UMD "emulation" of a digital title. Similarly, Lumines may stream its music or somesuch, via some awful technique.
Sony is in it for the $$. The...
For what it does, MAG looks hot. Context is key here.
It's not like Tetris where they had a lot of horsepower to spare and just didn't try.
It's not DICE. It's EA Los Angeles making the game. All DICE did was supply some code, and probably some modest support.
Devs shouldn't put out public betas anymore.
After the polished "demo" betas of MAG, Halo: Reach, and BFBC2, people expect waaaay too much. Seriously, those games were in late-stage of beta when they went public, at least. Those teams are also basically legendary when it comes to network game-making prowess. SOCOM, Halo, and Battlefield? That's like the modern Triforce of the past 10 years of network gaming.
"Beta" is not "...
Its not blown out of proportion. If you intend to stand it vertical and your entertainment center isn't totally stable, or you have kids, don't get one would be my recommendation.
Or figure out a way to set it horizontal.
Horizontal is almost always better.
The PS3 is one of the few systems with the best heatflow when vertical, but I don't personally think its so much better that it trumps the optical disc issues. The Wii... it doesn't matter, so vertical is good. 360.. definately horizontal.
3D support is just a bullet-point on the box of the PS3, and will be for years.
Sony knows that. They're just looking down the road a stretch, and paving the road down that way with Sony-branded stones, so that when everyone gets there, they can point at them, and jingle the coins in their pocket.
Blu-ray... same thing. Far-sighted financial outlook.
I think the whole idea of 3D is silly. It basically cuts the power of the GPU in half for an effect that is only noticable in certain scene setups.
So.. its a gimmick. A cool one, but a gimmick nonetheless. The best part about the 3DS might be the 3D video chat... maybe. Although I think network image compression will hose any chance that has of looking decent.
I'll take more GPU muscle instead... anyday. For the record, I also think AA is lame unles...
3D would be a cool gimmick, but... not really necessary.
I'll take a super-powered PSP2 with dual analogs, touchscreen instead.
Oh. So *that's* why they haven't added 3D support to the 360 yet, even though they claim its possible.
HDMI, Blu-Ray, Motion Controllers, now 3D. I gotta hand it to MS for being consistent. And funny. Good humor, these statements are.
I hope they turn up the level design knob a few notches on this one... because the last one was pretty meh, for me as a PS3/360 gamer.
I thought Metroid Prime Trilogy was *amazing*, so I know it wasn't the SD graphics which turned me off to The Conduit... it was the levels and general gameplay design. They were kinda awful.
Actually, I'd say the 3DS is basically a PSP with a 3D screen, and some cameras.
I've actually laid hands on both the RE "interactive movie" and the MGS "demo" -- neither were full games. They were basically non-interactive cutscenes where you could change the camera angle, and appreciate the 3D-ness. Smoke and mirrors. Not games.
There's a LOT more resources devoted to a full game engine. I have to say that both the RE and MGS demos are not representative of real games on the system. They were tech demos, and looked bette...
The PSP just got itself a crossplat brother, in the form of the 3DS.
Who, besides Nintendo, is going to make 3DS-exclusive games during the 3DS' first year, when the PSP is a damn near-identical performance sibling, and already has 60 million in consumer hands?
Even Iwata stated that 3DS games would cost a lot more to make than DS games. That's been the PSP's problem all along. What 3rd party publisher is going to throw money away by excluding c...
Umm. Dedicated graphics hardware exists because its faster than doing things in software on a fully programmable CPU.
GPUs are bound to be faster at certain tasks (like... rastering triangles, or doing 3D transformations) than any modern CPU even remotely close to their level of tech. That's their entire reason for existance.
Since when is this news?
Consider this -- food for thought, not necessarily "the future".
(1) The 3DS, in having approximately the same muscle as the PSP, makes for an excellent crossplat target (or the PSP does, for 3DS titles).
(2) Iwata already stated that 3DS games were going to cost a ton more than DS games to make.
(3) 3rd parties like money.
3DS/PSP just became the "handheld twins", as far as most major publishers are conce...
Pretty sure they are talking about the upcoming Dead Space 2 and Medal of Honor, both of which come with an additional, remastered HD game on the PS3, but not on the 360.
Yep. Used retailers == killing gaming, by making games more difficult to make, financially. Games cost too much to make to only profit from people who are willing to buy new. Used retailers should be paying a % of their used sales back to publishers as royalties.
The consumer should be able to buy used. Its just that retail shouldn't be allowed to keep all the profits from used sales for themselves.