PS3 review here. 360 review here.

Hopefully Sony is being more active in securing future exclusives as Kutaragi really dropped the ball; Assassin's Creed was supposed to be a timed PS3 exclusive. Microsoft, on the otherhand was actively seeking out deals for themselves. Or as one person in the article put it, "I do have to give Microsoft a lot of credit for going after titles and doing whatever they can to generate third-party support. They've been magnificent in this generation."

Lesson learned: Never stop being hungry. Kutaragi's actions, to me, speak of someone too overconfident in themselves, underestimating his competition. Being in first place too long will do that (especially the easy ride Sony had with the PS2); maybe that's why nobody seems to stay dominant on the home console market for more than two generations...

Story here.

So, obviously, it'll be the Elite O_o

1200 points (about $15)? If they eventually get all the old Xbox games on there, including my beloved 2d fighters, complete with Live support? Hmmm...

So - yet another reason to hate the Core 360 (like I needed more).

Fun fun fun.

One thing I've noticed is the sheer number of upscaling DVD players out now, and how cheap they are. Hell, my boss just got a HDTV and loves it. He wants a Blu-Ray player, but for the time being is so floored by how good his upscaled DVDs look its not even close to being important to him. I've heard the same story more than a few times here and there too - people very happy with upscaled DVDs, causing them to have less interest in spending a lot of money on a new HD movie player, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.

Of Netflix's 14 million monthly visitors, only 0.3% even bothered looking at their HD movie selection. Its interesting that HD-DVD is more popular than Blu-Ray on Netflix (24 to 1), yet Blockbuster is Blu-Ray only and Blu-Ray sales are higher than HD-DVD.

And while I'm sure things are a little better since this story, this is pretty telling. From Ars Technica (emphasis theirs):

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Compared to sales of movies on DVD-by far the most popular format-the numbers for the next-generation discs are a mere drop in the bucket. The top selling DVD for the week ending March 30 was Happy Feet, which moved over 4 million units that week alone. For the week ending March 11, Borat was the big winner, and the number two title, Peter Pan, sold 2.2 million discs.

If you do the math on Happy Feet and the Blu-ray version of Casino Royale, the latter title took three months to sell just under 1.5 percent of what Happy Feet was able to sell in its first week. Another dose of perspective: in the seven days after its release on DVD, Borat sold more discs than all HD DVD and Blu-ray titles combined since the launch of two formats last year.

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And of course, Howard Stringer's comments about the two formats being in a deadlock and that who wins was only a matter of prestige only seem to add to their irrelevance at this time. And if he's saying it, then no Blu-Ray fanboy can really argue the matter. Now, any HD-DVD fanboys who get uppity ("Yes! We're winning! He just can't admit it completely!") need to remember that analysts are saying its a deadlock too (until 2009 at least!). Even Toshiba's own market research shows a hair over 50% of consumers they surveyed don't know which they'd choose between the two formats (possibly not even caring!).

Its kind of interesting to sit back and watch this. While I might not have the horse-race I want for the PS3 vs 360 vs Wii, at least this one, Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD versus DVD, is entertaining.

Story here. The emphasis added below is MINE.

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Howard Stringer, Sony Corporation of America's CEO, told the AP news agency that he believes the two formats are now at a stalemate. "It's been a difficult fight. We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides." However, Stringer said that he believed it was mainly a matter of prestige, and that it would ultimately not matter which format won out in the end.

He also said that he wished he could travel back in time to before he was made CEO of the company, when he believes there was a chance to unite the camps into one format.

-------------------

Music to my ears. Like Stringer, I wish that the two camps could've agreed on a single format (there were several attempts), but oh well. On that note, hybrid BR/HD-DVD drives can take care of that issue pretty easily :)

Stalemate? That's potentially fertile ground for competition as companies in both groups attempt to break it - good for Joe and Jane Consumer.

Now if we could only get the market to *care* about HD enough to buy it...

Story here.

Nintendo DS-78,599
PSP-59,714
Wii-37,617
Xbox 360-17,673
PlayStation 3-17,434
PlayStation 2-10,209
Game Boy Advance SP-206
GameCube-155
Game Boy Micro-113

Did Halo 3 do it? Nope. Lost Odyssey? Not out yet.

What pushed the scales?

Ace Combat 6.

Yeah, I don't quite understand it either, but hey.

Its not a massive difference in sales: 17,673 Xbox 360's vs 17,434 PS3's, and before the 360 sold around 3,718 systems. I guess the Japanese *really* like Ace Combat. Unless shown a compelling reason otherwise, I'd expect the numbers to drop back down as sharply as they jumped.

I'm surprised the Gameboy Micro is on the chart at all, much less the Gamecube. And the portables are making fools out of everyone (never thought I'd say that). Anyhow, neat overall, even if its just for one week.

Story from Kotaku.

Now, this is not for the whole year, but for three months:

Xbox 360 - $218 million
PlayStation 2 - $73 million
Nintendo Wii - $59 million
Nintendo DS - $47 million
PlayStation Portable - $21 million
PlayStation 3 - $17 million

One place I read blamed the lack of titles from EA plus the fact certain games (like Madden) weren't as good on the PS3 as they were on the 360 - some of the PS2's sales might've been PS3 owners getting a cheaper/better version of Madden. Given the recent upsurge in PS3 sales and a the holiday lineup EA's numbers will look better in this last part of 2007 for the PS3.

Also keep in mind that there are fewer PS3s out there for EA to sell to compared to 360's, even if the selling percentage is the same (not saying they are or aren't, mind you). According to eMarketer's numbers, the 360 has 7 million+ units sold compared to the PS3's 2 million+ as of the end of September. Pity the price drops didn't hit before that - I'd like to see what kind of increase the $400 PS3 caused. Similarly, Halo caused a 251,100 jump in 360's sold, so I'd love to see how many units the PS3's "big guns" (MGS and FF) move in the US as well.

Holy holy holy smokes...

Interview with Bryan Clayton (head of the NorCal team?)

Also, they're going to be doing some "thank you" stuff... the best of which being:

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Full Access to City of Heroes and City of Villains®
All players with City of Heroes retail* accounts will now have access to City of Villains, and all City of Villains retail* accounts will now have access to City of Heroes. Players that didn't previously have access to "the other side" will find that they do now. Just log in to check it out!

------------------------------

I like NCSoft a lot, and I'm hoping that COH continues to be a success for them and for us; more like Guild Wars than Auto Assault.

You know'em.

You hate the ones you disagree with. You're sometimes embarassed by the ones who who have the same tastes as you. Sometimes you're one yourself.

I'm past the "I will obtain it no matter what the cost!" stage. I imported games during the 16-bit era, even scoured through Akihabara in 93 and 94. I got Ranma, Flying Warriors, Battle Blaze and Dead Dance for the Super Famicom. I picked up the Art of Fighting 2 and Samurai Shodown in all their Japanese glory for my Neo Geo. I bought the US versions of Samurai Showdown 2 and the King of Fighters 94 brand new for $180 each plus shipping and handling. I had a Neo Geo AES for crying out loud!

I have ascended past petty superiority complexes. I no long view Tekken as a "cheap VF knockoff." I do not view Capcom fighters as lacking in personality and presentation. I no longer deride Mortal Kombat games for their broken engines and imbalances. A game now is something to be enjoyed, both its highs and lows, recognizing that personal taste and your enjoyment of it far outweighs its "superiority" or "inferiority" in play.

Today, I reaffirmed myself as a Sega and a fighter fanboy. Today I bought Virtua Fighter 5, even though I do not have a console to play it on. I will be dropping it off at my friend's house this weekend where he will hold onto it until such time I do have the requisite console. As soon as I can locate a stick, I will have one. It might be a few months at the earliest befeore I can take VF5 home and enjoy it whenever I want to. I might start replaying VF4: Evolution in the mean time. I will be hanging out at the friend's house a little bit more. But that's fine.

This goes one step beyond a fighting "affecionado" like most of my friends know me to be. If I was smart, I would've waited until I got the system; picked up the game new or used, but cheap. But no; this could not wait. It was emotional, irrational, and lacked any real sense to it, but I did it anyhow.

Because for all my high-and-mighty attitude, I am a fanboy ;)

GS review here.

Take the review as you will, but this caught my attention:

It's also worth noting the online registration process, which locks your copy of the game to your Konami account for online play. This means that if you ever want to sell your copy of the game, the next person will be unable to play online unless he or she has your registration details. To our knowledge this is the first time this has happened in a PS3 title, and Konami's UK office declined to respond to enquiries over why the system was implemented.

As a PC gamer who enjoys MMO's, this isn't anything new, but I am surprised to hear this happening for a non-MMO console game. While it sound overall the neither the PS3 or 360 versions of the game are incredibly impressive, its odd they would do this to the PS3 version of the game and not the 360. Now, practically every MMO out there ties your account to the game; indeed, your registration key is more important than the installation disc. I can't think of a single game yet that allows you to sell your account, either. Unless Konami provides purchasable account keys later on for people who buy the game used (allowing them to make money off the used game market), I can't think of much benefit from it for players or them; its arguable that by doing this they're trying to encourage people to buy the game new and only new, but I think it'll generate more ill-will for them than anything else. While there are a lot games that do this, they're primarily on the PC (such as the superlative Guild Wars), not console, and the difference in expectations between the two platforms is considerable.

(originally posted by me on the ESaL Sony Union)

No need for links on this one.

Okay, since before the launch of the Wii and PS3, I was hoping, nay, aching for a good price war between the PS3, Wii and 360. Well, I didn't get it last year. This year?

Sony is introducing the 40g PS3 at $399, lowering the 80g to $499. Good. I like this. I don't think Sony does given the amount of loss the gaming division has been taking, but thems the breaks. They're running a marathon, so it should eventually work out, but they're still pretty deep in the red right now.

Microsoft lowered their prices a bit and made bundles: the $280 360 Arcade (Core, 256 memory card, wireless pad, etc), the $350 Pro Value Bundle (includes Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, $60 value), and the $450 Elite with the same pack-ins. I don't mind pack-ins and combined with the (underwhelming) price drops on the Core and Elite (the Pro's drop was okay, but still not impressive), they're good values. Not bad, but I'm not doing flips. Of course, they're finally in the black, so its understandable they don't want to change their pricing much.

And finally Nintendo. They started at $250 and they're staying there, thanks to the wonders of supply and demand. And the echo of good ol' Reggie stating they were making a profit on day 1? That's still ringing in my ears. Smart business dictates that they not lower their price, granted, but ol' Reg? That comment still smarts; even worse now to be honest.

Unless something dramatic happens before or during the holidays it looks like I'm not getting my price war this year either. Maybe the 2008 holiday season...