PlayStation LifeStyle is claiming that a Wii-like PS3 controller was the subject of a secret PSU focus test. An e-mail sent back in January invited a few members of Sony's invite-only group to join them for a paid focus test in ****** ****, California. (We're assuming it's Foster City, home of SCEA.)
The PS3 controllers were motion-sensitive and required use of a "mini-tripod that stood about 12 inches high." Mini-games, such as fencing, paintball and tennis were supposedly demonstrated. The devices were said to be "incredibly responsive and accurate."
While Sony does regularly conduct paid focus tests throughout the country, there simply isn't enough tangible evidence to verify the authenticity of this rumor. If true, we wonder if PS3 fans really want more motion control in their lives ... or does the SIXAXIS suffice?
With help of review aggregate site GameRankings.com, website Gamefunk decided to see how many "good" games were on each of the three home consoles ("good" being defined as anything over 80%, "bad" being games below 60%). Of the three, PS3 rose to the top, with the least percentage of "bad" games, and the highest percentage of "good" games. Take a look:
Xbox 360: 374 games: 26% good, 24% bad
PS3: 122 games: 33% good, 17% bad
Wii: 189 games: 11% good, 37% bad
While the software library of the PS3 is rather small, in comparison to the other two, it's more likely that a shopper buying a completely random game from the PS3 shelves will fare better than when shopping for the other consoles. While we have to endure through a bit of shovelware on our system, we feel bad for the uneducated Wii shopper, where "bad" games are seemingly the norm.
iSuppli (makers of iAnalyze) has determined PS3 to be the victor of the current "console war." There are millions of Wii owners right now, and many will likely want to upgrade to a new system in a few years time. 2008 is already being hailed as the PS3's big turnaround; Wii owners will look to it as their second console of choice.
This is in part due to their assumption that Sony will slash the price of the PS3 again this year to entice the Wii audience. Blu-ray dominance also plays a part in this, they say. Mix in some AAA titles as well as the variety of pick up and play titles on the PSN, we'd say that there will be a big jump in PS3 sales, too. But whether or not it's due to the Wii audience seeking a more powerful console is anyone's guess. We'll just say it's because the PS3 will rock this entire year.
Sega's German division wants you to think that playing Ghost Squad on Wii will be like the PS3 award-winning shooter, Resistance: Fall of Man. With Wii Zapper in hand, you'll take down hordes of criminals and terrorists in this rail shooter. Sure, it's not a FPS, nor is it about a sci-fi flavored WWII, nor does it even have aliens. But trust Sega. It's just as good as Resistance. They swear.
We love Sony - you know we do - but sometimes the company's figureheads will come out with the most ridiculous things when a microphone is pressed against their faces. We're not going to reel off a list of previous atrocities, in order to prevent some peoples' blushes (Phil Harrison and Ken Kutaragi, we're looking at you). Instead, we'll look at the latest batch of hilarious sound-bytes-in-text-form, this time from Sony CEO Howard Stringer. He suggests that PS3 games are infinitely more fun than than the Wii's.
We're perfectly happy to believe Stringer when he says this, but without clear proof (preferably on lined paper, worked out with a 2B pencil with the answer underlined) we're not going to be satisfied. PS3 and Wii games are very different, yes - but is one system more fun than the other? That's down to personal taste, surely. It's a shame, really, because everything else Stringer said in the article we've linked to below makes a decent amount of sense. Let's stay away from the "I" word from now on and we'll all be much happier.
The Nintendo DS and Wii continue to print money, and the stock prices have demonstrated Nintendo's incredible success. Both systems continue to be top-sellers this holiday season, so why has the stock stagnated? The PS3, according to some financial analysts. "People's perception of the PS3 is improving from an underdog to something better, and part of the money that used to flow into Nintendo shares is now going to the Sony stock," said Yoshihisa Okamoto, fund manager at Mizuho Asset Management.
"The PS3 has been doing better recently. But that's partly because there are not enough Wii machines to go around in the United States and Europe," noted Rakuten Securities analyst Yasuo Imanaka in a report by Reuters.
It's interesting to see analysts finally turn around in their assessment of the PS3, no longer thinking it the underdog it appeared to be at the beginning of the year. With a strong lineup of games coming in 2008, PS3 has a strong chance to start chipping away at the lead that Microsoft and Nintendo have earned. Fanboy flame wars are going to get a lot more interesting next year.
Posted Oct 10th 2007 1:15PM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
One of Nintendo's many bombshells last night had to be the announcement of Monster Hunter 3 for the Wii platform. However, it was unclear at the time whether or not the previously announced PS3 version would be affected.
According to Forbes, it appears that Capcom is abandoning the PS3 version altogether, making Wii the only platform for Monster Hunter 3. "Due to high development cost of titles for PS3, we have decided to switch the platform to which we release our Monster Hunter 3 title," Capcom managing corporate officer Katsuhiko Ichii said. This statement comes just weeks after Capcom pledged increase support for Sony's next generation platform.
While the Monster Hunter franchise has a relatively small following in the States, it is a powerhouse franchise in Japan. The last iteration of the franchise, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd, sold over a million copies when it launched on PSP.
Read the title again, then think about Blu-ray. The small fraction of people taking advantage of a console's video playback function? We're almost certain most of that market is centered on the PS3 crowd. We're driving the Blu-ray format home. The Diffusion Group, however, isn't looking at the PS3 alone, but the three next-gen consoles together. How much do people use video playback on those? Apparently, "80 percent of console owners have the option, only 30 percent realized it was part of its feature set, and only 13 percent actually utilize it." Chances are we are the bulk of that 13 percent.
We know that many parents who may buy game systems for their children are largely uneducated to the video game industry and all the functions available not only to their kids, but to themselves as well. Thus why people still have parts of their homes dubbed "dens" or "game rooms". The PS3 deserves front-and-center attention to a family's media center and these results reflect that many are not even aware of the awesomeness of Blu-ray movies. Or nobody watches DVDs on the 360 or the Wii ... well, the 360. Wii owners don't exactly have a choice.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Sega Sammy VP of Marketing Scott Steinberg spoke about the Wii and his hypothesis that the PS3 will emerge victorious. He admitted to being "a little concerned about the creative depth of the Wii pool ... The Wii will start to look really dated in a couple years when developers get more value from the 360 and learn more and more about the PlayStation 3." It is a good question -- how much more will developers get out of the Wiimote in five years that isn't derivative of something else that's already been done?
The same could be said of the Sixaxis. However, Steinberg insists that "We know the PS3 pool is pretty deep. There's a lot to exploit there." Which is also rooted in truth. As Factor 5 said, the potential is limitless. It will just take some exploratory surgery time, so to speak. Steinberg also predicts the PlayStation 3 growing into the ultimate winner this console generation due not only to graphical prowess and hidden potential, but the inclusion of Blu-ray will be a great addition in the coming years. Time to sound off your own thoughts to his words. Can the PS3 really last the 10 years claimed by Sony?
This is another incredibly interesting read thanks to avid gamers over at the PS3Forums, specifically Doc Evils. Screen Digest has opened up their hearts and minds to the state of the gaming industry and released some fairly entertaining and truthful observations about all of the next-gen consoles. This is in no way meant to fan any flames -- it's meant to show all of us how our beloved consoles are stacking up around the world. Are you curious to read on?
"For Xbox 360, European hardware sales seem to have hit a wall." Screen Digest says Microsoft's console focuses too narrowly on the young male demographic, inundating the market with shooters and other testosterone-ridden titles. The lack of diversity in genre is crippling its sales worldwide, questioning the validity of the console on a worldwide basis. SD says "without year on year sales improving across the rest of the region, the platform could be in jeopardy on a global basis." Of course, most people's anticipated titles for this year are 360 games, so don't worry Xbox loyalists, your system should be fine.
"The Wii's target market could be saturated more quickly than its competitors as the technology looks increasingly tired by comparison." Caught on the collar of many other analysts and hardcore gamers, Screen Digest feels the Wii will reach as many consumers as it possibly can in a short time, then putter away just as rapidly. With a historical 3rd party abandonment policy, it's up to Nintendo's 1st party devs to keep the system alive. Japanese publishers have even said they don't plan to try very hard on Wii games, planning only to make whatever profit is possible with mediocre ports.
Regarding the PS3, "the education of consumers as to what is in the box and what its benefits are has not been forthcoming from Sony." Basically, Sony's marketing has really taken a toll on what could've been showcased as the greatest piece of home entertainment ever created (we say this while we stream Arrested Development from our computer to our PS3 and onto our PSP while visiting a friend's house). Aside from that, European developers feel the PS3 will win out due to the strong brand image in the PAL territories. Also, a lineup unparalleled this Fall should bolster sales. SD goes so far to say that Sony "could reveal some unrivaled games which are exclusive to PS3, not least because competing platforms would be technically incapable of offering them."
Wow! Regardless of where you stand in the console "war" you've got to take all this information in as objectively as possible. It is true about the PS3's marketing -- it's been a joke. Nobody knows what makes it so unique. It is true about the Wii -- most third party companies aren't going to try very hard to make standout titles. It's also true about the 360 -- outside of America, it's suffering. It's choking on a narrow genre that can only get so many fans. What do you guys think of the state of the consoles? Let's be nice about it. Will there be any dynamic shifts by the end of this year?
Are you sick of actually playing those pesky video games? Do you miss the ol' point-and-click days like Myst and other such insanely difficult puzzle adventures? Well, how would you like it if you could get back into those games with a ton of friends online? Enter The Half Broken Crown: The Broken Kingdom, an MMO Adventure for the PC, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, and Macs where every platform can play and communicate with one another.
Instead of playing the game and solving puzzles alone, you can pick up and play with a large community of people from many different platforms. We're not exactly sure how this would work, especially when the point-and-click genre has all but faded out of existence. The browser-based game deserves a look, though, just because it's stringing so many different consoles together. But if that's all it has going for it, we've got nothing more to say.
Popular retailer HMV reports that every console is selling as expected. Nope, no flamebait here. This is an opportunity for all of us to pat one another on the back. Let's break down how the store reports each console is performing. We'll start with our namesake, of course.
The PlayStation 3 is meeting sales expectations, sometimes exceeding them! When games start dropping, sales are anticipated to improve. If the price drops, they expect an even larger sales boost.
The Wii is, as always, in high demand. However, Nintendo has upped the ante and supplies are reportedly starting to stabilize.
Microsoft's Xbox 360, despite being on the market for a lot longer than the competition, is still performing well. Like with the PS3, sales boosts are expected should the pricing for the console change.
Hats off, all around. We're all doing well (some more than others) and we all deserve praise for actually having a gaming market where three consoles are all doing relatively well. It's impressive. Perhaps the HMV spokesperson Tim Ellis put it best: "From a retail and customer perspective it's great to have three games heavyweights relatively matched and vying for market domination. This creative tension is leading to fantastic innovative technology and brilliant games."
PlayStation 2 is one of the most successful consoles of all time. Last generation, it devastated its competition, with Xbox claiming a very distant second, and Nintendo's Gamecube trailing behind at third. Interestingly, the first six months of sales for these consoles show a similar pattern: PS2, followed by Xbox, followed by Gamecube. While correlation does not imply causality, these figures certainly show that the interest a product garners within its first six months can be quite important.
Fast-forward to today. PS3 has suffered a crucial blow last month, and with fewer than a dozen games coming out in the next month, the immediate future does not look much brighter. Infendo (a Nintendo fan site) has constructed a graph, pointing out PS3's lackluster momentum in its first six months. Comparatively, it has been outpaced by last generation's "failures."
What can we garner from this data? Firstly, Sony is going to have to try much harder. Secondly, the PS3 isn't that much farther behind the Xbox 360. Finally, the most startling revelation: people aren't as interested in this new generation of console technology as they were previous year's. A look at Wii's phenomenal success is indicative of the industry moving in a direction that many could not have predicted. As distressing as this information may be to Sony fanboys, we have to remember that the battle is far from over.
Sony revolutionizes the games industry yet again by introducing a sports game that detects your motion through the controller! Instead of pressing buttons, one can hold the controller and move it as if it were a real bowling ball. We love the idea!
But in all honesty, we think that the SIXAXIS may not be as well-suited for this type of gameplay as other consoles. Joystiq's Kevin Kelly tried the game, and as we suspected, didn't have the easiest time with the game: "You literally flip the controller on its side, hold it with your thumb between the analog sticks, and then sweep your arm gracefully along an arc while holding and releasing one of the buttons to send your ball down the alley. Sound simple? Well, it is and it isn't. Holding the SIXAXIS like that feels really, really weird. It's like we're wired or programmed to hold that controller with both hands, and doing something like that makes our gamer genes cry out in pain. Although, in all honesty, once we got the hang of it, it wasn't all that bad."
So while not truly revolutionary, High Velocity Bowling should offer some motion-sensing fun for the Wii-less. Because it's coming through the PLAYSTATION Network, this experiment in copycat design should, at the very least, be affordable.
The Los Angeles Times has posted a quote from Kyoshi Shin of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association) regarding developer interest in the PlayStation 3. It isn't good. While it isn't good, that doesn't mean it isn't true. In fact, the quote pretty much explains exactly what I'm thinking in food terms. Shin said: "When people talk about the PS3 on chat forums they say it's like going to a very expensive restaurant and not getting anything to eat." This is an obvious play on Kutaragi's previous quote about the PlayStation 3 being a fine restaurant.
The context of Shin's quote relates to developer interest -- namely, they're leaving the Sony restaurant and taking some drive-thru from Nintendo's Wii window (so to speak). If devs focus on the Wii, we've got a problem. Games will reverse engineer themselves to lesser graphics and scale. More minigames isn't the only issue to arise -- porting from the Wii would be nearly impossible due to the control scheme.
It's a waste of the PS3's power, too, as Kojima's quote from a long time ago will explain: "The PS3 is like the theatre, it's a little bit high-priced but it has to be high quality as well. The 360 is a DVD, it still needs to be high quality but you need more variations, while the Wii is almost like a TV channel, because every game you have it with your family." We need games that will take advantage of the PS3's power and Wii titles simply may not do that. If devs leave, there's no reason to buy a $600 console when most games are on a $250 one.
PlayStation LifeStyle is claiming that a Wii-like PS3 controller was the subject of a secret PSU focus test. An e-mail sent back in January invited a few members of Sony's invite-only group to join them for a paid focus test in ****** ****, California. (We're assuming it's Foster City, home of SCEA.)
We love Sony - you know we do - but sometimes the company's figureheads will come out with the most ridiculous things when a microphone is pressed against their faces. We're not going to reel off a list of previous atrocities, in order to prevent some peoples' blushes (Phil Harrison and Ken Kutaragi, we're looking at you). Instead, we'll look at the latest batch of hilarious sound-bytes-in-text-form, this time from Sony CEO Howard Stringer. He suggests that PS3 games are infinitely more fun than than the Wii's. 
