PS3 launches with a bang
PS3 launched some hours ago in Japan and, surprise! Thousands of people queued up for it. If you follow any gaming blogs at all, you’d think that everyone in the world hates PS3 and can’t wait to fap (to) their Wii. But judging by the turnout today, I think we can safely say that the bad publicity Sony has been getting is not going to determine the success (or failure) of the PS3. The product is.
Sony screwed up quite a lot of things, such as the mass production of blue diodes needed for Blu-ray drives, leading to a massive shortage of PS3. Then again, it happened with PS2 too. Europe got shafted as usual.
Crazy Brits who paid £750 to queue up in Tokyo for a PS3. From Akiba-blog.
It also took quite long for Sony to finalize the PS3, delaying its release from spring to end of the year and giving 360 a one-year head start. Then again, it happened with PS2 too. How many of you own(ed) a Dreamcast? (I do, BTW.)
People are complaining that PS3 and 360 offer no innovation compared to Wii. Then again, there were plenty of innovative games for the PS2 without having to revamp the whole control scheme. It’s a console and what I want for a console is to be a able to lie down on a couch while playing it. If I wanted to play games that required cursor movement and targeting, I’d be playing it on my PC.
Japanese people love to queue, it’s in their blood. From Akiba-blog.
The graphics on PS3 and 360 look good. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Gears of War look like sex. Wii’s graphics are NOT good. “But graphics are not important! Gameplay is!” - Bullshit. Graphics are not as important, but that doesn’t mean they are unimportant. There is absolutely no reason why you have to sacrifice good graphics for gameplay. You can have them both!
Now, assuming that Wii, PS3 and 360 end up splitting the market three-way and they want to find ways to gain an edge over one another, will it be easier for Sony/Microsoft to copy Wii’s gameplay by releasing a remote control add-on, or will it be easier for Nintendo to magically upgrade Wii’s graphics? I think the answer is obvious.
Queues at Yodabashi-Akiba hit 1,400 people. From Akiba-blog.
Sony’s controller already has motion sensing. Clearly, Sony is hedging its bets. On the other hand, Nintendo is placing all its chips on one gimmicky feature alone. I’m not sure if third-party game developers can really utilize such a feature in the way Nintendo intended. Just look at Battalion Wars 2, it’s using the Wii-mote for nothing more than a mouse pointer.
It’s tempting to compare PS3 and Wii to PSP and NDS. Nintendo DS is outselling PSP by at least three to one, even though PSP has the better graphics. But there is a huge difference between the PSP and the PS3 that this comparison fails to account for. The reason why PSP failed (relatively speaking) was because of its lack of good games. PSP is a dumping ground for full-priced PS1 and PS2 ports that people have already played 100 times before. PS3 is not. It makes a huge difference.
Danny Choo, his PS3 preorder secured, terrorizes the queue.
Of course, the high price point of the PS3 can very well be its undoing. If Blu-ray manages to take off like DVD did, then PS3’s selling price will be justified. But I doubt it. DVD offered significant improvements over VHS while Blu-ray doesn’t look all that different without a HDTV. Most people do not own a HDTV. I’m sure either Blu-ray or HD-DVD will eventually replace DVD as the de facto format for movies, but whether that happens soon enough to make the Blu-ray drive in the PS3 worth the money remains to be seen.
If Blu-ray flops, then Sony would’ve done better to use dual-layered DVDs for PS3 games, especially if the supply bottleneck and the high cost price are really caused by the Blu-ray drive. Then again, if Sony did that, it would be the same as burying Blu-ray alive. Sony chose to take the risk with PS3, a risk that Microsoft avoided by choosing conventional DVD over HD-DVD for 360 games. Again, it’s still too early to say who was right.
Metal Gear Solid 4
No matter what the Digg and Joystiq crowds are saying, Sony still has plenty of fight left. Just ask those people who spent last night queuing.
November 12th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Check this out:
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=212
November 12th, 2006 at 9:33 am
LOL @ the Warai Otoko censoring in the 1st pic.
Some facts I’d like to say:
- The Wii’s main weapon is the Wiimote, true. It’s just one feature, true. But, sincerely speaking, it’s THE feature. Not useful for traditional bishoujo games, but put it in Half-Life 2, Unreal Tournament, MS Flight Simulator, guitar-playing games, Star Wars-based games, Silent Hill’s and others and you can think a LOT of things to add to the game that you just couldn’t before (of course, it all depends on how well defined are the Wii’s APIs).
The Wiimote bets for a playing interface that even my 80-yr old grandma and my 6-yr old nephew can get used to almost INMEDIATLY. It all depends on how the game designers think.
So, Nintendo is betting for a new, more natural way to play.
- The PS3’s main weapon is Cell. The almighty 25.6 GFLOPS processor should be able to handle physics, graphics, sound and a lot of other things smoothly. And that translates to (graphical and physics-modeling talk) better Splinter Cell’s, Half-Life 2 (again? :P), Resident Evils, FIFA’s and others. Heck, it even has Havok, PhysX and Unreal Engine inside!
So, Sony is betting for a stunning visual appearance.
I look closely and I think Nintendo’s bet weighs more than Sony’s, but not enough. So, as a programmer, what would you prefer? A system with barely the processing power needed, but a cool natural interface (and that opens a market of new people buying and playing cause the Wiimote makes you forget the “X,X,Y,right,left” tendonitis hell)? Or a boring, traditional playing machine that boasts a HUGE amount of processing power allowing you to simulate real physics even in a programmed ant?
Who knows. PS3 + Wiimote pwnz everything, that’s for sure. But that’s a dream.
BTW, I still can’t decide… bit personally, I’d try to buy both :P (of course, in case they reach Chile someday…)
November 12th, 2006 at 10:42 am
DarkMirage, it won’t be so easy for Sony or Microsoft to add a motion-sensing controller if the Wii ends up being a smash hit. Sure, they can develop an add-on like the Wiimote, but what games will use it?
Games would either have both a regular control scheme and a motion-sensing one, which would limit innovation and increase development costs; or they would be limited to those PS3/XBox 360 owners who bought the special controllers. And as we know, optional console peripherals that require significant effort from developers have not fared well hisorically, with the only exceptions I can think of being totally custom controllers like DDR pads and the Guitar Hero controller.
As for the Wii controller being “gimmicky,” we really won’t know that until we play the games for ourselves. Was the analog joystick a gimmick? Nintendo invented that. What about shoulder buttons? I’m sure some people thought they were gimmicks, too. And the DS, for crying out loud– I remember many people calling that system a gimmick, with its dual screens and stylus. On the other hand, the Virtual Boy turned out to be a real turd, so not everything Nintendo touches turns to gold. But my point is that it’s way too early to dismiss the Wiimote as a “gimmick” just yet.
Also, there’s more to the Wii than just the remote: Wii Channels are the other major feature. They seemed like a minor feature to me until I read “Iwata Asks” (http://wii.nintendo.com/iwata_asks_vol1_p1.html), which makes it clear that they are a major part of the Wii’s strategy. Again, it’s too early to judge how successful they will be, since the Wii hasn’t been released yet.
Finally, as for graphics vs. gameplay: of course they are not completely mutually exclusive, or else all games would be like D&D. But each does require a certain investment of resources, and it is certainly not the case that Nintendo could have made the Wii as powerful as the PS3 with no extra effort.
And it’s not only Nintendo that would have to pay the price, either: consumer expectations about graphical quality are making PS3 and XBox 360 games insanely expensive to produce, meaning only the largest publishers can do it. And large game publishers are generally risk-averse: they would rather polish an existing, proven formula than risk millions on something totally new. So better graphics do come with a price– one Nintendo has chosen not to pay. We’ll see in a year or so whether that gamble pays off.
November 12th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Graphics are sort of the height of many next-gen console conversations. When I see things like “Wii’s graphics are NOT good”, it makes me think of where the industry is going. I’ll admit that they aren’t near 360 or PS3 in an HD environment, but one has to think of something else: when did graphics start to matter all that much? Many gamers tend to think that the only thing they want is the next graphical upgrade - the closer to reality the better. But when you think 10 years ago, we still played even though the graphics looked like ass. What kept us playing? For sure not the mind boggling graphics. Sure, they were different and probably looked decent for their day, but that was never the main draw. It was “is this game fun”.
And unlike Nintendo, I’m not saying that a fun experience can be generated by a radical and innovative controller or control scheme. Gameplay is also just part of the mixture that makes a game. It’s the same with other production values such as music, sound effects, special effects, story, etc. They all have to come together to make a game fun.
The biggest draw for me, for any of the machines, is if I think any game will bring to the table a fun experience. I don’t mind if the graphics aren’t in 1080p with meticulously rendered textures and intense physics. I don’t really care if the game uses a wild control scheme where I have to do a flip or run around the room. All of these things are merely a plus when I can receive them with a fun game.
Where is the industry going if we can’t just stop to ask ourselves “why do we want this?” and honestly answer “because it’s fun.”
November 12th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
Erm……………..wat on Earth is Wii?!?!?!?!
I agree that PSP failed coz it has too little good games but maybe in the future it will be better then nintendo DS?? I previously owned an X box but now i only have a gameboy advance sp and a PSP……however PSP allows u to upload videos but i dun think that nintendo DS has that ability right??
hm………….i think i will stick with my PSP which i have uploaded most of my MOHS’s (melancholy of haruhi suzumiya) episodes =P
November 12th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
>>But judging by the turnout today, I think we can safely say that the bad publicity Sony has been getting is not going to determine the success (or failure) of the PS3. The product is.
well, I don’t think turnout on launch day is ever representative of how successful a console will be. No matter how good or bad any of the three major consoles are, people WILL line up for it. It’s pretty much a given that PS3 and Wii will sell out fast (PS3 especially since it’s got such short supply). However, these launch-day sellouts are just a drop in the bucket, and are relatively insignficant in the long run.
on the graphics vs. gameplay debate, graphics are getting to the point where these upgrades are becoming almost undiscernable to the human eye. Yes MGS4 looks like sex but you know what? so does FFXII. Nintendo realized this, and wanted to open up a new dimension of upgrading other than graphics acceleration.
>>It’s pretty obvious that the people on the internet are a vast MINORITY.
what year do you live in, 1999? is there anyone left who doesn’t go on the internet to look up information about videogame consoles? I think the internet at this point is a decently reliable gauge of public opinion. Your brother may be all for PS3, that’s fine, there are people in the internet like him too. They are called “minorities”.
November 12th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
I disagree. What he meant was that the people who visit gaming blogs and read up on the latest gaming news are in the minority.
I have a lot of friends who do not care about the latest gaming news, who aren’t even sure what new games are coming out for their PS2s, have never even heard of Revolution or Wii, but they know about the PS3.
For example, if you go to a tech blog and look at some comments on operating systems, how many Windows vs. Linux supporters will you find? My bet is on Linux, but that’s not how it woks in real-life. It’s too early to write PS3 off as a failure just because it has been getting bad press coverage on blogs. Gaming blog readers are the minority.
November 13th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
PS3 is basically overpriced right now…what was it, $1000 or close to that right?
November 16th, 2006 at 7:25 am
Are u retarded?
PS3 never costed 1000$
staring price was 63.000 Yen ~ 534 dollar
but they had to drop it bc of nintendo to 50000 yen ~ 424 dollar
yeah still expensive…
but i guess the auctions/street price will rly get to 1000+ ;)
December 4th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Sony or any 3rd party vendor can always make extra gadgets for PS3 so that it`ll add more gameplay depth. There was Eye Toy for PS2 though it was so underused. But there are always new possibilties. I`ve always wanted to play Konami`s Keisatsukan on a gaming console. Too bad I`ve stopped becoming a hardcore gamer, or even a gamer at that.
Trackback from
mgs4 game play video tokyoOctober 3rd, 2007 at 5:08 am
mgs4 game play video tokyo…
…