Well, here's my first-hand experience with a next-gen controller.

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Hi everybody.  This is Domo.  You've probably seen him before.  Domo is about 7" tall.

He found this remarkably rare (especially in CA) Xbox 360 Controller for Windows after biting some jerk's head of at Best Buy.

He turned the package around to read the back, but because he's Japanese, he didn't understand any of it.

Fortunately for Domo, even though he can't read English he still knew it was a controller and just happened to have an XBox S-Controller lying around the office.

After unpacking the controller, Domo measured it... 6" across.

Then he checked how tall it was... 4.5" tall.

He put the two controllers side by side, and saw that they were in fact pretty close, but there wasn't as much tilt in the wired 360 controller (The S is 6"W x 5"T).

Domo has always been a fan of the S Controller, with Sony's Dual Shock 2 running a distant second.

But he felt right at home with the 360.  Summed up in one word, "WOW"

I had to threaten to beat his face in before he let me try it.  I was quite satisfied too.

This came from the X05 conference closing Q&A session, as found on http://www.gamespot.com/news/6135302.html

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Q: How do you think the competition is reacting to the 360 launch?

JA: I hope that Sony's nervous right now, honestly, because the launch lineup looks great. They've shown two really good movies and a picture of a console that doesn't have any ventilation holes in it yet. I mean, if [you look at] their list of claims versus their list of proof, there's a big, big gap there to close between now and spring of 2006. So, if I was in Sony's shoes, I'm a little nervous now because our lineup looks great. Our hardware's the same. We got to kick ass on that and service--it just got better. Our media support is really, really good and we got the design right. If I'm [Sony Computer Entertainment president] Mr. [Ken] Kutaragi, I've got a lot of work to do between now and spring, but hopefully attending the worldwide launch thing is another thing I'd be thinking about. Hopefully, that's all goodness. Hopefully, it's spurring the Sony team and they're saying, "We've got to get serious about online. No more rhetoric. Let's go about our service. Let's go buy somebody. Let's go buy somebody else. Let's go get serious about it." And when they bought SM Systems, God bless them. If my GDC keynote contributed to Sony having better tools on PlayStation so developers could be better on PlayStation, [so they] could focus more on games, God bless them. That's a good thing, you know. If they're embarrassed by their controller design as a result of having played with our wireless gamepad and they make a better toy, God bless them. It's good for the industry. I hope that it's healthy competition.

And if they are a little nervous and that they're looking at what we've done and said, "Hey, for the things we're not quite finished with, we're going to do them better. You know, we inspire to do more as a result of Microsoft being in the market." That's what I hope they're doing and I hope they're not being complacent and saying, "Hey, we got a great brand. We got a great couple of franchises. We're unstoppable because we've had two rounds." I hope they're not doing that. I hope they're going to put up a real good fight for position number one because if they do, consumers benefit and it will grow that market. That's what I really want.
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Everything I've been wanting to say said by somebody who matters more than I.  Perfect.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/09/28/news_6134592.html

[size=24]PlayStation 3 price still being debated[/size]

Sony Computer Entertainment executive says next-gen price point still undetermined; explains dearth of playable PS3 games at TGS 2005.

With Microsoft announcing its worldwide pricing scheme for the Xbox 360, the onus is now on Sony Computer Entertainment to decide how much its PlayStation 3 will cost consumers.

However, SCE also needs to assure third-party publishers that its next-gen console will be affordable for a wide enough audience to ensure PS3 games will be profitable to make. Recently, Koei CEO Keiko Erikawa commented that her company would consider shifting to another platform if PS3 development proves too expensive. This is despite the fact the company is currently a big supporter of the PS3, announcing two new games at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show alone.

In an interview published in the latest issue of Famitsu, SCE executive Masatsuka Saeki emphasized that the pricing of the PS3 remains a vital--and difficult--issue for Sony. He confirmed that the company has not yet decided on a price, saying that it will be the subject of debate until the last possible minute.

When asked why there were no playable PS3 games at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show, as previously promised by SCE president Ken Kutaragi, Saeki revealed that there was a long discussion inside Sony before the show opened. While many executives argued that it would be good for the public to play demos, eventually the decision was made to only show E3-style trailers, as it was the first time the PS3 was being shown publicly in Japan.

When asked if there would be any changes to the February PS3 event where playable demos will be on hand, Saeki did not respond directly. However, he did say that SCE is planning something for the event that is sure to be a "major" surprise.

By Staff -- GameSpot
POSTED: 09/28/05 03:14 PM PST Gamestop.com

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[size=24]Is the PlayStation 3 losing development support?[/size]
Posted Sep 29, 2005, 1:00 PM ET by James Ransom-Wiley

Rumors are flying high, spreading across a network of Japanese, Dutch, and German websites, that developers are wary of creating content for the PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, the article in question is difficult to decipher, but perhaps someone with knowledge of Japanese can give us the clear scoop. There’s also a Dutch article that has a quote in (broken) English: “In the (Japanese) game industry, many people are losing trust in Kutaragi’s non-stop pursue of this evolution, people are leaving PS3 at a rate worse than Nintendo’s GameCube era” (source unknown).

Several developers, like John Carmack, have publicly announced a preference for the Xbox 360. But could that number be growing? The recent cancellation of Condemned for the PS3 seems to suggest as much…

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/adventure/condemned/

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So the bottom line is Sony knows how much it costs to make a P$3. Back in July at the P$3 conference, Ken Kutaragi said "We are not going to discuss the price today. It will be expensive." He didn't know the price it would be sold for then anymore than he does now.

The trick is that if Kutaragi jacks the price up too high (say... $500?), game developers won't make any games for the P$3 because of the limited audience that will buy it. Sony takes a hit on the price to entice developers to produce more expensive games up front, and the already financially-ailing company could be making their last "computer entertainment device."

They find themselves in quite the pickle. :twisted:

I understand your concerns, but I don't believe that things will be affected too much by this.

If Microsoft only shipped the one "premium" SKU with HDD included, game manufacturers could take for granted that it would always be there... after all, everybody's got one.

But making a game that is dependent on the HDD is a double-edged sword; sure, you get to do cool things like caching information to the HDD and saving files to it (indeed, to save ANY game progress, you'll need a HDD or a memory card). But since they are removable... what would happen if they aren't attached to the system? What would happen if you take your HDD to your buddy's house and come back home with his? What would happen if, heaven forbid, the damn thing crashes?

J Allard's words to manufacturers: "Don't expect the HDD to always be there." Not only the attachment issues, but also hinting at a possible move to *network storage* in the future. Imagine that? Saving games online, without a HDD. Manufacturers being able to make games for *both* SKUs that stream data to and from the Interweb. When you think about it, the choice to make the HDD "optional" is really a decent way to make publishers think "outside the box" so to speak.

And for the record, upon checking around this past weekend, NOT A SINGLE PERSON at ANY of the stores I went to wants the Core system. None. So how many Core systems will be shipped here? None.

Sure, I'm certain that some publishers frown upon it, and others (read: Square Enix) say on their game that it DOES require a HDD, and if you are silly enough to buy a Core system, you'll need to ante up for the HDD to play FFXI. Tough luck. Could other companies follow suit, and just say "hell, let's make our game require a HDD too, so we have more bells and whistles?" Of course they can, and in the process of doing so disenfranchise the new gamers that Microsoft is trying to draw by offering the more "cost-effective" system in the first place.

Thus, rest assured that some manufacturers will use the lack of a guaranteed HDD as an excuse to piss and moan that "well if we knew there was going to be a HDD then we'd be able to cache and stream." Or, they could learn that caching to memory is faster. They could look at the specs and see that there's 8 times as much memory on the 360. They could *gasp* learn to adapt.

Or they could say "Phucket. You need the HDD to play our games."

Saying Microsoft is at fault for not "standardizing" the HDD is copping out, IMO.

Secondly, the choice to go (at least for right now) with the 12x DVD instead of the new emerging Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. When new optical drives come out (think back to CD-ROMs and then CD-Rs and then CD-RWs and then DVDs and so on), because the media is changing, the reader needs to adjust rotational speeds to interpret and correct any errors in the data rate. DVD has been out for years now, and since those first drives (which transferred data at a rate of 1.25MB / sec), we're now at 15MB / sec on the 360. Keep in mind that ROM data is usually compresed, so by the time that hits the processor and it unravels it all, there could be much more than 15MB of data in one second.

What about the size limitations? Some say that a sual-layer single-sided DVD (9.4GB size) isn't enough... "we need our Blu-Ray with 50GB of space for HD cinematics." But do you want the transfer rate of a 1x Blu-Ray or a 12x DVD? Statistically, 95% of the first generation XBox games all fit onto a single layer. Compression for the 360 is even better, so this shouldn't be a problem for right now.

My question is what will happen if Microsoft standardizes on HD-DVD in a year or two?

I'm hoping for either a) 360 recall, they install the drive and send it back b) trade in policy (bring us your old 360 and get a new one free or for low cost) c) separately purchased HD-DVD drives that could be front-loaded and installed when the faceplate is removed.

What will the future really hold? I can't say. I can say that up to today, neither Sony nor Nintendo is planning on putting an HDD on their console "standard," so whatever companies decide to do with their 360 games is likely to establish an industry precedent for the late arrivals to the HD-generation.

[QUOTE="PaleGringo"][QUOTE="RoyCampbell"][QUOTE="PaleGringo"]

388x216. Show me a freaking 1280x720 feed. Let us download it instead of hording it. Let us examine it without pressing ALT+Enter.

MGS4 is hype until Sony can give us a download... or a "real time" version that we can interact with. Until then, it's pre-rendered. Until then, it's just another pretty trailer.

RoyCampbell

Sure... that's what cows said about Killzone. Look what happened. I'd just watch out for hailing this as the second coming of the Messiah if I were a cow. I mean really... you're less than 6 months from your projected Japanese launch date and your dev kit still looks like a x286? Why can't people feel the console, or the controller. Why doesn't Sony finalize something instead of monkeying about with the feature set and the pre-rendered trailers looping at their booth.

I seriously don't know why cows get their panties in a bunch over a trailer. Lemmings are playing games, and getting new footage every day. What do the cows have? A 388x216 pixel allegedly "real-time" trailer that nobody can interact with. That nobody can download. That novobdy can watch because so many people are slamming www.konami.co.jp that it takes 2284ms to get there across the Pacific.

My advice to the cows? Don't hype a trailer. Look at what you guys say about Halo 2 ;)

You ever tried to argue with a cow? Not a SW Cow, an actual bovine. Look it in those big glossy brown eyes and try to convince it of a point. Ever do it?

I have. It doesn't work. It regurgitates its cud and just keeps :| at whatever point you're trying to make.

I'm alarmed at how accurate the comparison is. Alright... here's a big, bold point for the cows:

If you are happy with "rotating the camera" makes it real-time so this passes as a game, get a P$3. You will not be disappointed. :roll:

Well, here I am. Time to go make a Union!

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Damn. Why doesn't Gamestop make it more accessible to see what's required for a union?

I need four other people to be "charter members" of this thing. Where do I find them?

I'm trying to get up to a Level 6, so that I can create my own gaming "union" for Ghost Recon 3. I think there's sufficient interest for it and it would be great to start administering a place where people can be serious.

System Wars is the best place for me to get there faster, and as of this posting, I'm 75% of level 5 from being there.

Oh, the things I go through to get things done!

FROM: GameSpot

SENT: 2005-07-06 9:18:28 AM

Thank you for helping to make GameSpot forums a better place. Your abuse report has been verified, and appropriate action has been taken. You have been awarded points toward your GameSpot user level!

In this particular instance, I believe that it was posting of copyrighted magazine scans. I've got a few more of these out, inclulding somebody who said Kutaragi was a "female anatomy"-haver and just being outrightly dumb and offensive. No good deed goes unpunished, friend.

But the thought of getting a user level upgrade for it, now that's enticing!

FROM: GameSpot

SENT: 2005-07-07 1:51:26 PM

Thank you for helping to make GameSpot forums a better place. Your abuse report has been verified, and appropriate action has been taken. You have been awarded points toward your GameSpot user level!

Ditto. This one was about a Family Guy v. American Dad post in System Wars.

FROM: GameSpot

SENT: 2005-07-14 10:32:48 AM

Thank you for helping to make GameSpot forums a better place. Your abuse report has been verified, and appropriate action has been taken. You have been awarded points toward your GameSpot user level!

"Xbox 360 users have small willys"

June 29, 2005

There's many things I don't understand in this world. How is a "1337" post disruptive? How do I get revoked for that while other people that write things like "the forum owner got RAPED" get by without?

It frustrates me.

Monday the 27th, I was banned for "Disruptive posting" for a day and lost about 50% of my way to being a level 4. I was going to post that in here, but didn't. In retrospect, should a similar event happen again, I'll keep the message from GameSpot and put it on here.

So much for speaking your mind, I suppose.

Mental note: you don't need to be signed in to read the forums, only to post in them.