Comments on: Eight news stories 17.4

By: Evan

Evan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:17:21 +0000

Scott — Your reasoning sounds fine to me. I think there are plenty of good reasons why a person would choose a Wii or a PS3 or an Xbox 360 (or a PC). What still perplexes me about the gaming industry is how few people there are who seem to be able to provide reasonable pros/cons of the various console choices. You expect bias with fanboys, but it is also incredibly prevalent among industry pundits and experts as well. Maybe, I just have too analytical a mindset, but I still find such slanted viewpoints confusing — I wish I understood what motivates such perspectives.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:36:18 +0000

Evan- I’ve been waiting for GTA4 before buying a next-gen console to go alongside my Wii. There’s a huge difference between things like having a network like Xbox Live (that some of my friends are already on) and announcing services that nobody is actually using yet.

Maybe I’ll get a PS3 next year, when the price has come down and better software is out there, but in the here and now, as someone who wants to play games and maybe stream video and music from my PC, I can’t really see the advantage from spending the extra money on the PS3.

And sure, blu-ray sounds nice enough, but I’ve simply got no need for one- or to spend more money than I already do on DVDs. (Especially if I want to use it as a Linux media machine, and then find that all that wonderful HD technology that I’ve paid for isn’t actually available for me to use.)

Blu Ray might have “beaten” HDDVD, but I seem to recall a similar format war when I bought my minidisc, before MP3 turned out to be the real next-generation format of choice…

By: Evan

Evan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:34:28 +0000

Bruce, I enjoy your posts, but I must say that your attempts to position the Xbox 360 favorably against the PS3 are becoming more strained over time. For example, both Sony and Microsoft have predicted and supported the growth of downloadable content for at least a decade. Having a bundled Blu Ray player is simply a compelling feature that allows gamers to actually enjoy their console now until the several years pass when broadband access will be widespread and powerful enough to make large downloads practical. In the meantime, consumers have clearly demonstrated that they consider the Blu Ray player a compelling advantage of the PS3 over the 360.

And GTA IV sales in the U.S. will “decide” the HD console war? Something tells me that prediction will be as valid as the one that said that Halo 3 sales would decide the console wars. I would think that a 60/40 split in the U.S. would be quite favorable for the PS3 because it would be a greater game/console ratio for the PS3 in the U.S. Plus, doesn’t international sales count in this competition?

Look, I am a 360 owner, and I enjoy my console. But to pretend that Sony has not made impressive strides over the last several months with the PS3 makes no sense to me. In fact, as a 360 owner, I am a bit upset that Microsoft seems to have been so lethargic lately as Sony has announced one interesting new service after the other. Microsoft has certainly gained ground this generation, but my sense is that the PS3 will continue to close the gap quickly.

By: Andrew Armstrong

Andrew Armstrong — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:31:15 +0000

Staying out of the piracy argument, I did intend to complain about the program but only watched half of it before, Bruce, complaint registered. Ridiculous scaremongering through 95% of the entire show. Useless biased comments with no facts all the way through. Bah.

By: JC Barnett

JC Barnett — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:59:51 +0000

Heh, acually my Wii isn’t chipped – I use Freeloader. I guess I was being needlessly confrontational there, haha.

Though I agree piracy is hurting the industry, I wonder how the figures stack up against our loss of revenue due to to 2nd hand games…. just curious…

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:45:32 +0000

#8 rdkt42
Thanks for that, very interesting.

As a matter of note when I was involved most game piracy prosecutions in the UK were done on trademark offences, not copyright. We actually changed the introductions to our games to make these prosecutions easier.

By: rckt42

rckt42 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:36:52 +0000

Sorry, Bruce, the industry can call it what it wants, but it is copyright infringement.

Also, a couple of articles people in the industry should read and understand:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=93755

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/3794-Defending-the-Villain

I’m sooooooooo tired of hearing that piracy is the main problem of the PC industry.

By: Dudley

Dudley — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:36:50 +0000

That’s a link to a campaign group, it’s hardly going to be unbiased. It’s about as accurate as linking to Jack Thompson for an opinion on GTA.

It’s not theft under the law, it’s not even a criminal act, it’s a civil matter. It REALLY doesn’t help any arguments about it to use massive, inaccurate hyperbole because that clouds any valid points you have to make, just as when the government calls everything “terrorism”

By: rckt42

rckt42 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:23:57 +0000

I see we’re back to piracy again. When will the industry really look at itself?.

BTW, piracy or not, this:

“A Nintendo insider said: blablah [...] “Chip it and you brick it, as we say around the office. There is only one real Wii experience– and it doesn’t come chipped!”

This sounds utterly stupid, even for a press release. It’s even worse than the publimentary than CNN did for Wii Fit a couple of days ago.

By: Dudley

Dudley — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:09:57 +0000

Ah the piracy is theft argument again, despite the fact the law disagrees.

Why don’t you call them murderers if you want to be needlessly hyperbolic, it’d be more effective, maybe try terrorists.