Thursday, January 04, 2007
Back to School Post
Back to school for the last time, woot.
Thus begins the end.
Classes are just kind of there right now, currently in the "meh" stage and I don't much care for the lectures yet.
Well actually, I do plan on it being more of a "meh" term than a "let's go to school!" term.
So far that's been off to a good start, both days in 'loo people have come over to Wii Sports, I started Phantasy Star 3 on Sega Genesis Collection as well as the TotA 2nd playthrough with Wen, Duy, and Jason. Likely due to a lack of sleep and moving past few days I had to cop-out of the session relatively early last night (~11:00 pm). Also I think I'm playing this more for battles and less for plot, so the first chunk of the game (where you only have like, 2 guys) I wasn't too interested in.
I moved most of my things in, but missing a chunk of clothes (brought about 4 days worth) and a chunk of my kitchen stuff (spices, cutting board, cleavers), which I intend to bring in upcoming weekend. So this week I'm eating like a student should be, plaza eateries, microwave and canned foodstuffs.
Trying to keep up with the video game news, it seems that for the 2 new console launches (Wii and PS3), the experience has been the reverse of what was expected:
At the beginning of 2006, everyone was expecting the PS3 to be a huge hit and that shortages will continue much into 2007. If it happened for the 360, it kinda had to happen for the PS3. The Wii was thought of as a gimmicky console attempt after the "gimmicky success" of the DS. And then the price point hits, and so some faith has been swayed in the Sony camp, people begin to wonder if Sony can push a $600 video game console onto the masses. Nintendo's price, although seemed quite reasonable to me, was still contested as being too high for a "Gamecube 1.5". So the Wii will probably be soaked up by its fanboys at launch, and then quickly lose steam.
And now, 4 days into 2007, it seems that the PS3 is readily available in major retailers both in North America and Japan, while the Wii is still constantly sold out. Now, I'm not sure how many of those available PS3's are being sold in bundle form, but I'm pretty sure Best Buy doesn't bundle the PS3 and there are stories of "walls" of PS3s in BB at various North American cities. I myself saw a PS3 in the Square One Wal-Mart on December 27, the day after boxing day. Granted, I didn't ask whether it was a bundle or not (actually, I can't guarantee that it wasn't a display box, but it was behind the glass and under the PS3 games and all, so I just assumed it was the real deal). I have yet to see a Wii console in stores after the launch, without having to line up for it. I have seen the PS3 "dualshock" controller (named "Sixaxis") in various stores (Wal-Mart, Zellers, Superstore), I have seen Wiimotes in stores twice and Nunchuks once since the launch (and I did quite a bit of browsing during the Christmas period).
So what is the deal here?
Is Sony being the better supplier by having the PS3 constantly in stock? Or is the PS3 at its current state not attractive enough to warrant the $550/$660 Cdn price tag?
You'll probably find both types of arguments on various gaming discussion forums. However, it should be a little bit disconcerting that Sony's PS3, regardless of how well they are being supplied, can be a walk-in purchase 6 weeks after launch and selling somewhere between 1-1.5 million units worldwide. This is coming off of a console that has a 100 million user base. Without attracting new consumers, Sony's new console has only grabbed 1% of the PS2's numbers, so even with the "fanboy" and "brand loyalty" purchase, the PS3 isn't exactly "flying off the shelves".
Looking at one websites numbers (vgcharts.org, but I'm not sure about it's accuracy), the PS2 sold some 1.5 million units in Japan alone in the first 6 weeks of its launch. The North American launch, some 6 months after, sold another 700k units in 6 weeks. So it does seem that the PS3 is not using it's predecessor's momentum nearly as well as the PS2.
Now, some speculation is that the PS3 will indeed fly off the shelves once it gets some good games out, namely MGS 4 and FF 13. But I think there is some validity in the point of view that Sony will lose 3rd party support and perhaps some exclusivity due to the lacklustre PS3 launch sales. I was thinking about why I did get the PS2 and it was primarily because I knew that FF 10 was going to be there. Now it worked out in my favour that PS2 was the RPG-god of the past generation of consoles, but who's to say that PS3 will continue that trend? DQ 9 has already been announced for the DS, and more games are being released multi-platform. So would I buy a PS3 if it lost its RPG genre dominance? I may not, definitely not at the current price.
Personally I think I'll get a PS3 if it were priced around $350-$400 Cdn. The PS2 saw that magnitude of a price drop some 1 and a half years after the launch. With poorer than expected sales perhaps the PS3's drop will come sooner, but with all the new "next gen" technology (cell processor, Blu-ray drive) Sony may not be able to afford such a large price drop (they are already supposedly losing some $200-$400 per console). If that is the case the price, with lack of supporting games, could kill the PS3.
Now, I'm all-up-ons for the Wii since they announced the remote, mainly because I like the idea and for 2 generations of console, Nintendo's console still had a bunch of solid 1st party titles, so there's always something to look forward to. Not to mention Smash Brawl is for the Wii, and the Smash series has been the party game of choice since grade 9 (for the most part). So if the Wii's success leads to more awesome 3rd party titles then that's all gravy to me, I lined up for it for Smash, Mario and Zelda.
If anything I'd be much more tempted to get a 360 than a PS3 right now. The price is much lower, and there are actually games that I'm interested in getting for it (Dead Rising, Enchanted Arms, Oblivion, Gears of War). Also it seems a junk load of 360 stuff was on sale this holiday. However I don't have an HDTV, and not big on paying subscription fees for online play (which is the big draw for 360), so for now I'll just stick with the Wii.
Actually I'm probably going to buy a DS lite very soon, I already have 2 games coming in from Amazon.
Back to school post = 60% rant on console war, I like it.
Thus begins the end.
Classes are just kind of there right now, currently in the "meh" stage and I don't much care for the lectures yet.
Well actually, I do plan on it being more of a "meh" term than a "let's go to school!" term.
So far that's been off to a good start, both days in 'loo people have come over to Wii Sports, I started Phantasy Star 3 on Sega Genesis Collection as well as the TotA 2nd playthrough with Wen, Duy, and Jason. Likely due to a lack of sleep and moving past few days I had to cop-out of the session relatively early last night (~11:00 pm). Also I think I'm playing this more for battles and less for plot, so the first chunk of the game (where you only have like, 2 guys) I wasn't too interested in.
I moved most of my things in, but missing a chunk of clothes (brought about 4 days worth) and a chunk of my kitchen stuff (spices, cutting board, cleavers), which I intend to bring in upcoming weekend. So this week I'm eating like a student should be, plaza eateries, microwave and canned foodstuffs.
Trying to keep up with the video game news, it seems that for the 2 new console launches (Wii and PS3), the experience has been the reverse of what was expected:
At the beginning of 2006, everyone was expecting the PS3 to be a huge hit and that shortages will continue much into 2007. If it happened for the 360, it kinda had to happen for the PS3. The Wii was thought of as a gimmicky console attempt after the "gimmicky success" of the DS. And then the price point hits, and so some faith has been swayed in the Sony camp, people begin to wonder if Sony can push a $600 video game console onto the masses. Nintendo's price, although seemed quite reasonable to me, was still contested as being too high for a "Gamecube 1.5". So the Wii will probably be soaked up by its fanboys at launch, and then quickly lose steam.
And now, 4 days into 2007, it seems that the PS3 is readily available in major retailers both in North America and Japan, while the Wii is still constantly sold out. Now, I'm not sure how many of those available PS3's are being sold in bundle form, but I'm pretty sure Best Buy doesn't bundle the PS3 and there are stories of "walls" of PS3s in BB at various North American cities. I myself saw a PS3 in the Square One Wal-Mart on December 27, the day after boxing day. Granted, I didn't ask whether it was a bundle or not (actually, I can't guarantee that it wasn't a display box, but it was behind the glass and under the PS3 games and all, so I just assumed it was the real deal). I have yet to see a Wii console in stores after the launch, without having to line up for it. I have seen the PS3 "dualshock" controller (named "Sixaxis") in various stores (Wal-Mart, Zellers, Superstore), I have seen Wiimotes in stores twice and Nunchuks once since the launch (and I did quite a bit of browsing during the Christmas period).
So what is the deal here?
Is Sony being the better supplier by having the PS3 constantly in stock? Or is the PS3 at its current state not attractive enough to warrant the $550/$660 Cdn price tag?
You'll probably find both types of arguments on various gaming discussion forums. However, it should be a little bit disconcerting that Sony's PS3, regardless of how well they are being supplied, can be a walk-in purchase 6 weeks after launch and selling somewhere between 1-1.5 million units worldwide. This is coming off of a console that has a 100 million user base. Without attracting new consumers, Sony's new console has only grabbed 1% of the PS2's numbers, so even with the "fanboy" and "brand loyalty" purchase, the PS3 isn't exactly "flying off the shelves".
Looking at one websites numbers (vgcharts.org, but I'm not sure about it's accuracy), the PS2 sold some 1.5 million units in Japan alone in the first 6 weeks of its launch. The North American launch, some 6 months after, sold another 700k units in 6 weeks. So it does seem that the PS3 is not using it's predecessor's momentum nearly as well as the PS2.
Now, some speculation is that the PS3 will indeed fly off the shelves once it gets some good games out, namely MGS 4 and FF 13. But I think there is some validity in the point of view that Sony will lose 3rd party support and perhaps some exclusivity due to the lacklustre PS3 launch sales. I was thinking about why I did get the PS2 and it was primarily because I knew that FF 10 was going to be there. Now it worked out in my favour that PS2 was the RPG-god of the past generation of consoles, but who's to say that PS3 will continue that trend? DQ 9 has already been announced for the DS, and more games are being released multi-platform. So would I buy a PS3 if it lost its RPG genre dominance? I may not, definitely not at the current price.
Personally I think I'll get a PS3 if it were priced around $350-$400 Cdn. The PS2 saw that magnitude of a price drop some 1 and a half years after the launch. With poorer than expected sales perhaps the PS3's drop will come sooner, but with all the new "next gen" technology (cell processor, Blu-ray drive) Sony may not be able to afford such a large price drop (they are already supposedly losing some $200-$400 per console). If that is the case the price, with lack of supporting games, could kill the PS3.
Now, I'm all-up-ons for the Wii since they announced the remote, mainly because I like the idea and for 2 generations of console, Nintendo's console still had a bunch of solid 1st party titles, so there's always something to look forward to. Not to mention Smash Brawl is for the Wii, and the Smash series has been the party game of choice since grade 9 (for the most part). So if the Wii's success leads to more awesome 3rd party titles then that's all gravy to me, I lined up for it for Smash, Mario and Zelda.
If anything I'd be much more tempted to get a 360 than a PS3 right now. The price is much lower, and there are actually games that I'm interested in getting for it (Dead Rising, Enchanted Arms, Oblivion, Gears of War). Also it seems a junk load of 360 stuff was on sale this holiday. However I don't have an HDTV, and not big on paying subscription fees for online play (which is the big draw for 360), so for now I'll just stick with the Wii.
Actually I'm probably going to buy a DS lite very soon, I already have 2 games coming in from Amazon.
Back to school post = 60% rant on console war, I like it.
