@Lou

Quote:

A 360 external Blu-Ray drive is ready for release...

This would indeed be an interesting change of events. The price cut on the 360 has had large positive effects in the US, Japan, and Europe. Sony claimed no price cuts, as such they might well come in 3rd place this Christmas. Part of the problem, IMO is the bad economic situation. Santa goes with Wii or 360 due to cut backs. Since the economy is bad if a family can buy the game machine this year and add the Blu-Ray player next year then well it's a bit easier on the pocket book. Again bad world economy may well be in favor of this strategy.

@BrianK

Quote:

BrianK wrote: @Lou Quote: A 360 external Blu-Ray drive is ready for release... This would indeed be an interesting change of events. The price cut on the 360 has had large positive effects in the US, Japan, and Europe. Sony claimed no price cuts, as such they might well come in 3rd place this Christmas. Part of the problem, IMO is the bad economic situation. Santa goes with Wii or 360 due to cut backs. Since the economy is bad if a family can buy the game machine this year and add the Blu-Ray player next year then well it's a bit easier on the pocket book. Again bad world economy may well be in favor of this strategy.

Someone remind Nintendo that the economy is bad!

Yeah, a 360 core @ $200 and a BRD player @ $150 would under-cut the PS3...hard drive option can be purchased later...when the economy is good...lol!

No Unreal 3 engine on the Wii you say?

Quote:

The still untitled multiplatform horror game by renowned developers Suda51 (´Killer7´, ´No More Heroes´) and Shinji Mikami (´Resident Evil´) is the one bringing Unreal 3 technology to Wii, Epic Games announced today. The game will be developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and will be published by Electronic Arts.

I'd like to extend my middle finger to Mark Rein of Epic Games. You sir are a hipocrit and a lyer.

Quote:

The new game is directed by innovative game designer Suda51 and produced by legendary Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. “Unreal Engine 3 is a powerful, easy-to-implement game engine that is helping the creative team at Grasshopper quickly bring our vision to life,” said Goichi Suda, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture. “The innovative tools and technology in Unreal Engine 3 help developers create games faster, easier and with less risk.” “It’s an honor to work with Mikami-san and Suda-san on their next project,” said Jay Wilbur, vice president, Epic Games. “Grasshopper Manufacture is one of the most daring and innovative studios in the world, and we can’t wait to see what they’re able to do with Unreal Engine 3.

http://www.epicgames.com/press_releases/grasshopper.html

Monster Hunter 3 (tri-) coming exclusively to Wii
Quote:

It looks pretty far beyond what is expected from a Wii game.

http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/10/09/tgs08-monster-hunter-3-features-classic-controller-support-spl/

This video looks impressive. Infact, as predicted, Wii games are looking better...alot better... You can look at the second (or early in the third) console thread where I predicted this...

Monster Hunter 2 for the PSP sold 2.5 mi(i)lli(i)on copies in Japan. It's still awaiting localization for other territiories...

Let me re-iterate the trend of alot more hardcore games showing up on the Wii.
See:
-Madworld
-House of the Dead: Overkill
-Cursed Mountain
-Sadness
-Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
-Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop
-Obscure: The Aftermath
-Red Steel 2
-No More Heroes 2

I could go on about existing hardcore titles such as Alone in the Dark, Manhunt 2, RE4, RE0, RE:UC, House of the Dead 2&3, 2 Medal of Honor games, 2 Call of Duty games, Red Steel, Scarface, Godfather (best version of the game), Bully, Splinter Cell:DA, No More Heroes ... but I won't...

@Lou

Quote:

Yeah, a 360 core @ $200 and a BRD player @ $150 would under-cut the PS3...hard drive option can be purchased later...when the economy is good...lol!

Yup too true. Harddrive is nice but not a requirement to enjoy games. Dell recently had 360 w/ 60GB HD for $250 and free shipping. So that'd be equal to the PS3.

Who knows if the Blu-Ray rumor is true. $150 seems like a fair price. Though if they get a few out this year they likely could go higher as certainly they will sell them all. The existing market is large enough to use that demand. Then use 09 for manufacturing ramp up and cut the price to something more reasonable like $100. And/or do bundling at or below the PS3 price in 09.

Monster Hunter 3 gets a good review. Visuals are called "exceptional".
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/09/tgs-08-monster-hunter-3-hands-on/

Hopefully when it releases next year, the controls will have improved.
Online co-op is there as well with "friends".

The review was 'un-nerved' by the death animations of the monsters. That's a good thing.

Actual Wii screenshot:

Last edited by Lou on 10-Oct-2008 at 12:03 PM.

@Lou & BrianK

It looks like the rumors of a Blu-Ray drive for XBox360 were false:

No XBox Blu-Ray drive

Greenburgs lays into Blu-Ray

Last edited by Amiboy on 12-Oct-2008 at 12:33 PM.

_________________
Live Long and keep Amigaing!

A1200, Power Tower, TF1260 128MB RAM, 68060 Rev 6, OS3.9 BB2, HD-Floppy, Mediator TX+ PCI, Voodoo 3 3000, Soundblaster 4.1, TV Card, Spider USB, 100MBit Ethernet, 16GB CF HD, 52xCDRom.

@Amiboy

Thanks for this. I ran across things like that today.

The MS executative describes not knowning if Blu-Ray is the next DVD or UMD is interesting. I'm along the same lines. Considering the growth in communication, streaming HD content to the average home is something we'll see in the next 4-6 years. Heck the higher tier homes are getting 10Mbps around here certainly enough to stream HD content. It makes sense that atoms should be atoms and bits should stay bits. Carrying bits on atoms is nearing it's end.

The first 30 reviews of LittleBigPlanet are in. 17 perfect scores so far, lowest score so far 90%.

I guess this call for a celebration!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuzI0ySlcT4

LittleBigPlanet user generated content:

Marriage proposal, cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf2iGG9uTZY

"How I asked my GF to marry me in Little Big Planet. My (now) Fiancee was playing the level. She was so shocked she kept playing and knew i was filming. Afterwords we hugged, she cried, and I gave her an engagement ring."

@MikeB

Quote:

MikeB wrote: LittleBigPlanet user generated content: Marriage proposal, cute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf2iGG9uTZY "How I asked my GF to marry me in Little Big Planet. My (now) Fiancee was playing the level. She was so shocked she kept playing and knew i was filming. Afterwords we hugged, she cried, and I gave her an engagement ring."

Congratulations!
However, I would have hoped she stopped playing at that point to give you a more traditional acceptance, lol.

I hope this isn't already posted. And no, I'm not going to read all PS3 threads...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20QBe43tyVM

@Mr_Capehill

LOL! Thats quite funny

_________________
Live Long and keep Amigaing!

A1200, Power Tower, TF1260 128MB RAM, 68060 Rev 6, OS3.9 BB2, HD-Floppy, Mediator TX+ PCI, Voodoo 3 3000, Soundblaster 4.1, TV Card, Spider USB, 100MBit Ethernet, 16GB CF HD, 52xCDRom.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/konami-actively-looking-into-mgs4-release-for-xbox-360-report

Perhpas they will replace the PSP with a Zune in the game...

@Lou

RE: Blu-Ray...
""Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace." " -- Steve Jobs.

No HDD for your 360? -- Microsoft is seeking to fix that: the company has launched a promotion giving Arcade users the choice of a free 512MB memory card or a $20 refurbished 20GB hard drive. Gamers need only to go an official Microsoft page and enter their serial number and console ID to see if they qualify; it appears that only Core or Arcade units can take advantage of this promotion

Firmware 2.5 for the PS3 (and an important PSP update) is now available for download. Some speedups and nice new features and functionality:

http://www.slashgear.com/sony-ps3-firmware-250-psp-firmware-50-released-1519265/

@MikeB

Both updates are a great boost to the PS3 & PSP.

I especially love having the PSN store and PSN access on my PSP (something I have wanted for along time). Now I dont need to go through the hassle of buying stuff on the PC or PS3 store and download them to the PSP, now I can just buy direct

Although Sony have updated the PS3's Flash player (its now Flash 9) I wish they would update the PSP's Flash too, as I would like to be able to view Youtube vids on it.

Ohwell maybe next update!

_________________
Live Long and keep Amigaing!

A1200, Power Tower, TF1260 128MB RAM, 68060 Rev 6, OS3.9 BB2, HD-Floppy, Mediator TX+ PCI, Voodoo 3 3000, Soundblaster 4.1, TV Card, Spider USB, 100MBit Ethernet, 16GB CF HD, 52xCDRom.

360 outsells the PS3 This is worldwide for the 6th consectutive week. WOW!

I figured the price drop would give the 360 a bit of life for a week or two.. But wow.

Of course the Wii still outsells the 360+PS3 combined.

@BrianK

I thought you didn't trust VGChartz data?

Anyway, compared to NPD's figures VGChartz undertracked the PS3 and overtracked the 360 for September for the United States and this may be the case for Europe as well, so maybe you are coming to premature conclusions.

IMO it's striking how little the 360 pricedrop had effect on sales in most regions (now selling at half the price of a PS3 and cheaper than a Wii), for the US the 360 is now even lagging behind the original XBox taking equal timeframes, this by about 100K based on NPD figures.

The PS3 is still performing very well for mainland Europe, for instance for Zwitserland it was just announced the PS3 has hit 100K in sales for this small country and despite the 360's 16 months headstart the 360 still hasn't reached a 50K install base.

The Wii had a really great month of sales for the states, accounting for roughly 47% of home console sales that month.

@MikeB

Quote:

I thought you didn't trust VGChartz data?

I have noted where they are off and the problems of their data collection compared to other sources. But, as others in these continual threads have continued to use them then let's at least make the same errors consistently.

Quote:

IMO it's striking how little the 360 pricedrop had effect on sales in most regions

HUH? I guess you were expecting it to overtake the Wii or something. In Japan the 360 has beat the PS3 for those 6 weeks. No one was expecting the 360 on Japan charts. In Europe the 360 has beat the PS3 again. In USA the 360 is beating the PS3 by a wider margin then it was 6 weeks ago.

Quote:

US the 360 is now even lagging behind the original XBox taking equal timeframes

Strange VG Charts US show 360 @ 12.8M USA vs Xbox 10.6M USA. So what still 10% better? 6 weeks ago the # are 360@12.3 vs Xbox 10.3M. That's a gain of 500K vs 300K or a rate of growth that's 60% faster for the same period of time. What do you mean here? Still more 360s and selling at a faster rate then the Xbox in the USA.