SoE Station Launcher

[Utnayan]

All I know is they better have something major up their sleeve at this point.

1> $599.99 for a console that will support what everyone wants it to support. Buying the PS3 at $499.99 would be idiotic.

2> A limited library of games.

3> One of their flagship titles, previously at least a time limited exclusive, now being launched simutaneously with the competing console. But either way, a year after the launch of the PS3.

4> At the point in time in which the PS3 releases, Xbox 360 will have over 100+ titles to choose from and will most likely drop down to $349.99 for a premium, possibly $299.99, and $199.99 for a core; Nintendo Wii will launch at a much lower price point (I am going to guess $149.99 to $199.99) with downloadable games for NES, SNES, Genesis, Turbo Graphix 16, Nin 64 and backward compatibility with Gamecube -- as well as shipping with what will most likely be over 25 titles including Zelda and Mario at launch.

5> From everything I have heard, the PS3 is harder than shit to develop for.

My prediction is Sony is going to lose their ass this time around. Unless they can somehow get MGS4 out the door as a launch title, I do not see anyone paying $599.99 to play a very limited amount of games, in which the Xbox 360 will most likely drop it's price for the holidays in direct competition with PS3.

There comes a point in time where a console is just too damn much money. It didn't work with 3D0, and it isn't going to work with the PS3.

[Soriak]

Originally Posted by Utnayan

All I know is they better have something major up their sleeve at this point.

1> $599.99 for a console that will support what everyone wants it to support. Buying the PS3 at $499.99 would be idiotic.

$599 for the xbox360? (not sure what it costs)
I think the difference between those two consoles will be rather big - personally the big thing for me is HDMI (don't think the xbox360 has that?) and most importantly a bluray player. Saves me $1,000 right there. With the previous announcement of 600 euro (~$800) I thought it was rather reasonable, especially considering the DVD player and the amount of raw power the thing contains.

Personally I'd rather pay $1,500 and have a console that is going to blow the shit out of everything else and make me "wow" for the next 5 years, than pay $600 for a console with games that look worse than what I can get on my laptop. (namely the need for speed xbox360 edition... what a pos, they had it in a store here and with quite a few teenagers in the store not one person was even looking at it)

2> A limited library of games.

I don't mind if they only had 5 games, as long as they're 5 exceptional ones. We don't need 200 disappointments... I'm sure Sony is going to have quite a few games ready. Plus it's backwards compatible, so you can play PS1 and PS2 games too.

3> One of their flagship titles, previously at least a time limited exclusive, now being launched simutaneously with the competing console. But either way, a year after the launch of the PS3.

Final Fantasy 13? Not sure what you're referring to here, but again I bet they'll have one or two RPGs out very soon. After all, this is what the Playstation fanbase lives for.

4> At the point in time in which the PS3 releases, Xbox 360 will have over 100+ titles to choose from and will most likely drop down to $349.99 for a premium, possibly $299.99, and $199.99 for a core; Nintendo Wii will launch at a much lower price point (I am going to guess $149.99 to $199.99) with downloadable games for NES, SNES, Genesis, Turbo Graphix 16, Nin 64 and backward compatibility with Gamecube -- as well as shipping with what will most likely be over 25 titles including Zelda and Mario at launch.

The Wii is a budget console - it doesn't have nearly the power of the xbox360 and ps3. It may have fun games, but it's pretty much a different market. And the price difference between the 360 and ps3 is meaningless, considering you get a bluray player with the ps3. I say it again, a standalone player is over $1,000 - personally, I want to watch bluray movies now, not in 3 years when the players drop to acceptable prices.

I think that bluray player will lure in a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be playing games. It's a great way to make it "acceptable" in a home entertainment system for adults.

[Vaclav]

Originally Posted by Skars

Whoever said 2007? It's been 2006 as long as I can remember.

The quotes of Brad wanting to get more time for Vanguard beta has been rumored to be the result of MS saying "bump it up to Summer of '06" - not that he bumped Winter '06 back. (although it from the same rumors, it didn't sound like he was opposed to possibly delaying it longer if needed - and SOE is giving him full reign on release date from what has been said)

[Vaclav]

Originally Posted by Soriak

The Wii is a budget console - it doesn't have nearly the power of the xbox360 and ps3. It may have fun games, but it's pretty much a different market. And the price difference between the 360 and ps3 is meaningless, considering you get a bluray player with the ps3. I say it again, a standalone player is over $1,000 - personally, I want to watch bluray movies now, not in 3 years when the players drop to acceptable prices.

I think that bluray player will lure in a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be playing games. It's a great way to make it "acceptable" in a home entertainment system for adults.

You'd better hope they learned their lesson from PS2 era then - the PS2 was a mighty reasonable DVD player back when it first released (about $50 less than the standard at the time IIRC)... but for the people that used them as DVD players frequently tended to have a life expentancy measured in WEEKS, occasionally months until the first revision about 6 months after US release.

[leane]

Originally Posted by Soriak

$599 for the xbox360? (not sure what it costs)
I think the difference between those two consoles will be rather big - personally the big thing for me is HDMI (don't think the xbox360 has that?) and most importantly a bluray player. Saves me $1,000 right there. With the previous announcement of 600 euro (~$800) I thought it was rather reasonable, especially considering the DVD player and the amount of raw power the thing contains.

Personally I'd rather pay $1,500 and have a console that is going to blow the shit out of everything else and make me "wow" for the next 5 years, than pay $600 for a console with games that look worse than what I can get on my laptop. (namely the need for speed xbox360 edition... what a pos, they had it in a store here and with quite a few teenagers in the store not one person was even looking at it)


I don't mind if they only had 5 games, as long as they're 5 exceptional ones. We don't need 200 disappointments... I'm sure Sony is going to have quite a few games ready. Plus it's backwards compatible, so you can play PS1 and PS2 games too.


Final Fantasy 13? Not sure what you're referring to here, but again I bet they'll have one or two RPGs out very soon. After all, this is what the Playstation fanbase lives for.



The Wii is a budget console - it doesn't have nearly the power of the xbox360 and ps3. It may have fun games, but it's pretty much a different market. And the price difference between the 360 and ps3 is meaningless, considering you get a bluray player with the ps3. I say it again, a standalone player is over $1,000 - personally, I want to watch bluray movies now, not in 3 years when the players drop to acceptable prices.

I think that bluray player will lure in a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be playing games. It's a great way to make it "acceptable" in a home entertainment system for adults.

Why not just put together a kick ass computer system and run the games at twice the resolution of any of the consoles which are limited to a TV reso, have far more utility and a hell of a lot more power for the next 5 years.

Blue-ray may be nice but gonna be a hard sell even at that price, DVD players were originally in the 1k range and the big thing that helped them take off was the VASTLY cheaper PS2, but now your looking at a console that is a hell of a lot more expensive, it might be a big savings but its still a lot of money.

I'm a bit of a nintendo fanboi so I'm more looking forward to slapping down that $800 dollars and walking out with a console, extra controller, and ten games plus the ability to get at the old classic games on the old consoles plus slap in my game cube collection... Sure it may not be as impressive graphically but if I want flash my computer is more than capable of delivering that, I want to relax and kick some ass in a fun game.

[Soygen]

Why not just put together a kick ass computer system and run the games at twice the resolution of any of the consoles which are limited to a TV reso, have far more utility and a hell of a lot more power for the next 5 years.

Because I want to play MGS4 on my HD widescreen.

[Kaxmax]

Originally Posted by Iannis

Did Xbox Live just claim credit for inventing MySpace?

He's going to claim he invented the internet next.

By "they" I think the article meant PC Gamers, not Xbox Live. It wouldn't make sense otherwise, as Ebay was popular long before the xbox came out.

[Utnayan]

Originally Posted by leane

I'm a bit of a nintendo fanboi so I'm more looking forward to slapping down that $800 dollars and walking out with a console, extra controller, and ten games plus the ability to get at the old classic games on the old consoles plus slap in my game cube collection... Sure it may not be as impressive graphically but if I want flash my computer is more than capable of delivering that, I want to relax and kick some ass in a fun game.

This is exactly my reasoning. Coupled with the fact that Vaclav is right.

Just how high quality do you think that Blu Ray player will be on the PS3 when regular Blu Ray standalones are selling for double the price. Not to mention there still isn't a set standard, of which, traditionally anyway, there becomes one. Sony lost with Beta in the late 70's. They may lose again with Blu Ray. They may not. But why spend $599.99 with two competitors with much better title selection for a cheaper cost. One with a new style of gameplay, another with the same graphical presentation minus 1080p which most people do not have sets for anyway. (Most people at home right now are still wtuck with Rear projection, CRT (I actually love my CRT though) and LCD's. Rear Projection hitting 1080i native, LCD's hopefully at 720p if they didn't go sheap and get some whacked out resolution.

Right now is not a good time to be banking on higher end technology when no one knows what is going to grab the market's mainstream.

[Soygen]

with much better title selection

Xbox 360 has better title selection? Or did you mean bigger?

[Zefah]

Considering there isn't a single game that interests me on the 360, I vote for "bigger". However, the typical American loves their Nascar and Football as well as their big fucking gun game so there are plenty of games for the 360s target audience. The only game I was really looking forward to (N3) turned out to be a pretty terrible game.

Other than Gears of War (that game just looks fucking unreal), the stuff on the PS3 looks graphically better, to me, than the 360.

Regardless, the 360 definitely has the upper hand with its price tag. However, considering the HD-DVD player will be around 100-150 USD, and tiny harddrive (of actually usuable space) on the 360, the price difference isn't all that huge. Its just that the PS3 forces you to pay for the new format.

[Utnayan]

Originally Posted by Soygen

Xbox 360 has better title selection? Or did you mean bigger?

Bigger. Sorry. In that regard though, the quality of titles will also be higher at that point in my opinion. Also, having a lot of shitty titles never stopped people from buying a PS2. It's the library of titles that matters coupled with a system's price point. In the mass market's eyes anyway.

[Iannis]

Bleh. If ps2 games are compatible with the ps3 i'm almost tempted to fork out 500 bucks for it. They can argue they're the better deal than buying a 360 for a bunch of homotastic EA sports games and a Wii for nostalgic titles.

[Designz]

Hello PlayOnline #2

[leane]

Oh there is no doubt that the PS3 will be the top dog graphically and it needs the blueray for the amount of detailed textures that will natrually be required for that graphics. Problem is the hardcore gamer market is much, much smaller, compare most MMPOG to WoW, that casual market is the king. Sony is betting on the shear power of their system (their show before E3 was mostly numbers, they didn't really show anything) Microsoft is betting on Sony dropping the ball and will probably price drop just before the launch to tap out people plus their better setup for online play. Nintendo is aiming for the casuals with cheap hardware and lot of games

[Szlia]

Why not just put together a kick ass computer system and run the games at twice the resolution of any of the consoles which are limited to a TV reso, have far more utility and a hell of a lot more power for the next 5 years.

If you are not into fps, strategy/wargames/rts, mmorpg or the occasional occidental style rpg, there really is very little point to own a PC for gaming.

I am hoping the best for the Wii, even though my optimism is more than a little eroded by what has been shown in E3, I am curious to check the Mistwalker games on Xbox 360 (Edit: and some Capcom too), but I know the kind of game that interest me will be found mainly on the PS3 unless Sony somehow does not manage to sell the system. My mantra is simple: the console with the biggest user base is the one on which developping bizarre titles is the less risky.

That said this whole generation of machine seems less prone to risk taking than the previous one, but we'll see how it goes...


To come back to the original topic: SoE never felt to me to be the kings of the user friendly and well thought out interface... hopefully for something as critical as this Sony hired some specialist of the question to avoid something as ridiculous as Square-Enix's PlayOnline or as lame as the PSP UI.