godslabrat

This is nothing against Sony in particular, but someone needs to tell these phone makers that for every iPhone, there's an N-Gage. The competition in the cell phone market is nasty, and if you don't get it right, it's easy for customers to pass you by on the way to the Next Cool Phone. And, to be quite honest, Sony hasn't exactly been firing on all thrusters lately. I wouldn't write the project off just yet, but I can't help but wonder if their resources would be better spent elsewhere.

Dragon Quest VII on PS2, Super C on Wii, and plenty of NES games to break up the monotony (Angry Video Game Nerd compelled me to try TMNT again). Oh, and I do have some Genesis and XBox games I bought and haven't gotten around to playing, this would be a good time. I've got to do more than play video games this 4-day weekend, though. I do hear my Star Trek DVDs calling, and with that much time, it seems like I should sit down and watch some damned good movies.

I AM SO GETTING THIS GAME!!! Yeah, this is exactly the kind of thing I've been wanting for ages! Now, since I have neither a 360 nor a PS3, I'll have to decide which system to buy in order to play the game. Oh, and there's also going to be a "Cartoon-ish" Ghostbusters game for the PS2 and Wii... so no matter what, I'm getting TWO Ghostbusters games next October!!!

Who is "everyone"? I've talked to a lot of game-loving friends, and out of dozens, I only know one who prefers the PS3 over the 360. If the one offered by Amazon was the Elite model, you can bet I'd be wanting that! The ONLY reason I voted the way I did was because I could deal with having a low-end starter PS3. For the 360, I'm gonna want the top-tier model.

I went ahead and voted for the PS3 on account of the fact that I already have a Wii and the if I were getting a 360, I'd want the elite. If I did happen to win, it might be a nice intro PS3... and eventually, I could get a better PS3 and retire the 40 Gigger to the bedroom. Of course, I won't win, this is all speculation.

Ugh... if that isn't the truth, I don't know what is. I loved 2D fighters, but I lost interest as soon as they got into that "Combo" crap. What? I have to memorize not only a four-button move, but I have to string fifteen of them in a row in order to have a shot at winning? Screw that. GH was an awesome idea, but due to the nature of the game, it's inevitable that later versions will be weaker. Of course they're going to put as many good songs as possible in the first few games, and the later games contain much filler. Plus, NONE of the current-gen consoles support all the games, so if you're a real GH fanatic and you want all the games, you end up re-buying a lot of guitars, which gets expensive. Personally, I think GH would be better for fans and more profitable for the company if they took a lower-scale approach. Instead of one big game a year with 15-20 songs, release smaller genre-specific compilations, even if they only have 5 or 6 songs. Charge $30 instead of $50. Have a Guitar Hero: Eric Clapton, Guitar Hero: Jimi Hendrix, Guitar Hero: George Harrison, Country Guitar Hero, Punk Guitar Hero... you get the idea. GH is a hell of an awesome game, but the current approach is just too limiting. By the time we get to Guitar Hero V, it'll be 99% filler.

I still see those old coupler modems at airports on occasion. If I ever actually see someone using one, I am gonna piss myself.

Nintendo should have just given Lou Albano a lifetime contract.

I dunno about that... I really like having a physical disk. There have been too many services that depended entirely on the parent company maintaining their system indefinitely, and once they failed to do so, the customer loses out on everything. Plus, a disc is ultimately more portable, more durable, and is easier to adapt to other mediums should you need to do so. Lord Helmet, send me your boxes, your discs, your huddled cartridges yearning to be free....

This isn't an argument for digital distribution, IMO. It's an argument for online shopping. My favorite store is Amazon.com, and has been for a number of years now. Why hunt down help and worry about price comparisons, when I can google all the pricing info I need, and then let someone else expend the time and gas money to get my product to me. When I want a new movie or game, all I have to do is come home from work, and it's there waiting for me. THAT is sweet.

I don't expect it right away, but it seems like they're really trying to keep the prices from going down. That, and the fact that the current MS and Sony systems started out at $400+ makes it a pretty long way to go to get to budget range. And, remember, the original Xbox never got below $149, whereas the GameCube and PS2 did. I just wonder if the powers that be are trying to cut the lower end out of the console market.

I'm something of a purist. While I like the graphical enhancements, I like seeing the game in its original ass form. Maybe I'd be more interested in seeing them upconverted if I wasn't interested in playing so many games that are notoriously incompatible with the PS2.

Ever since video games were a viable industry, part of a successful console's lifespan was to eventually become a cheap low-end system for budget gamers and young kids. This goes from the PSOne back to the Genesis3 and NES 2, all the way back to the Atari 2600Jr. Every big system eventually gets repackaged into a sub-$100 unit as a last-ditch effort to make money off of the cheap bastards. But now, it looks like the PS3 and 360 are trying to do away with this model, being very stingy with price cuts and opting to add features to the current price point rather than let the overall cost of the unit go down. This is kinda nice in that the console gradually gets more features over time, but it's not a lot of fun for the guy who paid more cash at launch and now has a lower-specced system. Given this logic, is it possible we may never see a $99 PS3 or a $150 Xbox 360? The reason I wonder this is that I do like keeping a game console in the bedroom, for double-duty as a game machine and movie player... but I'm really not happy with how the PSTwo has been performing. Down the road, I'd consider a cheapie "PSThree", but it looks like that's a beast Sony is determined to not make.

Looks like they're already working on a new 007 game in anticipation of the next movie. Since Sony holds the rights to the 007 franchise, do you think they might lean on the developers to make the PS3 version the best?

Ohhh... I'd love to hear that. I'd pull up a chair and wait for the cops to show up. In any case... I'm amazed that GS hasn't been taken to court over this. Isn't there SOME kind of consumer action pending against it? I do venture into GameStop on rare occasions, but it always means the exact same thing: I have no other options.

Sorry, I didn't see the rarities in there, my mistake. You're right, this would be a good deal for $200, were it true.

Take this however you will, but when I was a kld, I put a sticker on my SNES mouse (Same plastic). Last year, I pulled the sticker off, and found that the area under the sticker was still pristine, while the area around it had yellowed. *shrug* Shame the SNES ages so badly. I think it's the best-looking system Nintendo ever designed.

I still contend that there isn't really any "problem" in the first place. Companies should produce games for as many or as few systems as is profitable. If EA finds the current market too difficult to compete in, they should adjust their sails. Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Acclaim, Capcom, etc. are all capable of doing it... why is EA crying for this 3DO-ish "gaming standard"? Having said that, there have been some really neat ideas in this thread, I like the way you guys think! Still, everything we've discussed ultimately boils down to making yet another console-- albeit one designed to make development easy. That's exactly what EA is claiming they don't want, though I doubt they'd complain much if the new box had their logo on the front. The video game industry has been around for 30 years, and in that time, we've seen that there are some advantages to open platforms (the PC) and closed platforms (consoles). You pick your set of options, but you can't have it all in one box. On a tangent, I wish I could count how many times a company tried to make a buck on competing standards by inventing a new "Universal Standard", and had their standard become yet one more competing standard.

Yeah, if it's not legit that's really odd. Especially since he offers to let you try it out. I'd be interested in setting up an appointment to come see his bundle, just to see what the reaction would be. I agree with some others here, though. It's a very nice setup, but $200 seems a bit steep. A lot of those games are $1-or-less titles.

I have a Genny, and I do actively collect for it. However, I don't know if I'd say I was "hardcore". I have about 16 games now, and am really only looking for the titles I consider interesting. My ideal collection will probably not exceed 50 games. That's significantly less than a complete collection. Speaking of completeness, though, I do like to have the box and docs for my Genesis games, whereas I don't care about that with my NES and Atari collections. It kind of annoys me, though, that the Genesis seems to be the HARDEST system to get complete games for. Come on, the company GAVE you a plastic case to keep everything in. How could you lose this stuff?

I agree. The Wii audience is definately more split than the other consoles. Mark your calendars, this may be the first time all three of us have agreed on something! :-) Yes, the Wii does have the dubious strength of having a very diverse userbase, so there will need to be not just a lot of games, but a great variety within those games. There needs to be something for everyone. IMO, we're starting to see that, but more is needed.

I'm not an EA-hater, but... ... if they think we need to revamp the entire console industry because they find it inconvenient to develop for so many platforms, maybe EA should stop developing for those platforms. If they didn't spread themselves so thin, maybe their Quality:Garbage ratio would go up by a notch. The console industry works. While I wouldn't object to trimming some of its fat, there's no reason to kill it off or radically overhaul it. Hell, it's even starting to outperform the hollywood movie industry. If EA doesn't like it, I'd suggest they should change their own business model.

FWIW, I've worked retail for the last four Christmases. Thankfully, I have a much better job now. But one thing I can attest to is that as of December 15th, maybe 20th, ALL video game consoles are sold out. Every last one. It's been that way for (at least) two years now. Consoles are really popular gifts, probably third behind digital cameras and mp3 players. Toward the end of the holiday, I would have people who came in for a GameCube and left with a PS2, or came in for a PS3 and left with an X-Box. Yes, some people have a specific console in mind, because the person on their list really, really wants a ______. But often, I'd say somewhere just under 20% of the time, the gift-buyer doesn't feel obligated to pick up the console they walked in for. So I'm predicting that who sells the most will be largely a factor of who produces the most. Everything WILL sell, it's just a matter of how much we start out with. That said, I think the Wii will again be the big winner, with a very respectable showing by the 360. PS3 sales will be decent, but that will be the last console to disappear from the shelf. PS2s will be a great impulse buy item. Handhelds will continue to pull in megacash. DS will beat PSP. No one will care.

Because pirates generally don't care what court orders say. They don't make their living by following the letter of the law, y'know. also, the packaging on the superjoys is usually discrete enough to slip under the radar of the authorities.

I don't do much mixing... the game soundtracks are usually enough for me. Sometimes, if I'm playing a game based on a movie, I'll patch in the movie soundtrack.. that's often pretty cool. For this reason, I wish there was a Bond game that supported custom soundtracks.