Console Wars - the revenge

[MJW]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
I know. You fail.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
More storage, more game content. I remember critics saying this when the 360 came out.

Problem with this theory:

More storage tradeoff --> drastically lower transfer speeds. This is impacting games far more than the capacity advantage of Bluray discs. Can you point to a single PS3 game -- now or in the future -- impossible to do on the 360 due to Bluray? On the other hand, the number of games requiring painful HDD installs to match 360 performance is growing (like DMC4). Others just exhibit painful loading times (like Motorstorm).

More game content --> more money --> more time. In reality, PS3 games take a lot longer to develop than comparable 360 games for a variety of reasons. This means increased time and cost on its own. The limitation to content in games is not disc size (you can always add more), it's budgets of the money and time variety. In this area, the PS3 is at another notable disadvantage.

The only advantage Bluray is providing the PS3 is larger install base of people who buy the PS3 primarily as a Bluray player and may buy the odd game. The people who portray it as a gameplay advantage have been soundly spanked for this stupidity in the 1.5 years since it's been out. Compare the quality and quantity of games between the 360 and PS3, and it's clear that deciding to use Bluray has a very obvious negative effect on the PS3.

Besides, the tipping point is upon us. All the PS3 had to do was keep pace in sales from launch date, and it has done that.

If it keeps pace in sales from launch date with the 360, it'll still be behind the 360. I don't know if you realize this, but outside of Japan and Germany/France/Italy, the PS3 has lost ground to the 360 since its release in terms of # of consoles.

The PS3 will be a successful game console in non-English native countries, the 360 will be the most successful console in English-native countries. And based purely on which one has the best games, the 360 is the clear winner. The only reason the PS3 does well in countries like Germany and Japan has more to do with cultural opposition to American companies than anything else, since there's no reason to buy the PS3 as a games player over a 360.

[Asher]

In other news, MS is rumoured to be purchasing Epic for $1B USD:

http://www.dbtechno.com/gaming/2008/02/18/microsoft-to-buy-gears-of-war-dev-epic-games/

Microsoft To Buy “Gears of War” Dev Epic Games

February 18, 2008

Washington (dbTechno) - According to reports, Microsoft is planning to buy the developer of the hit Xbox 360 game Gears of War, Epic Games, for the price of $1 billion. This all comes as an announcement is expected for Gears of War 2.

The report comes from the latest issue of GamePro magazine which stated that by this summer, Microsoft plans to finish a deal to buy Epic Games.

It is expected that Epic Games will reveal the sequel to Gears of War at the Game Developers’ Conference 2008 this week (GDC 2008).

They have their booth set up right next to Microsoft at the show.

If Microsoft does acquire Epic Games, it would also mean that they would own the rights to the Unreal game engine, which is used on every single platform, including the rival PS3, for developers to use to make next-gen games.

This would basically allow Microsoft to make money off of the Unreal engine rights used to sell games on the PC and PS3.

A pretty strategic move. The Unreal engine is far and away the most popular engine these days. If third party devs complained about PS3 development issues, can't wait to see what they think about the lack of Unreal on PS3.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Asher
. The only reason the PS3 does well in countries like Germany and Japan has more to do with cultural opposition to American companies than anything else, since there's no reason to buy the PS3 as a games player over a 360.

In Japan sure.

Are you really saying the PS3 is doing better in Europe out of aversion to American companies?

I mean it couldn't be that they just have different tastes in games, as witness their greater appetite for PC games, which is a platform based on a US OS, indeed the very same company that makes the 360?

[Asher]

[QUOTE] Originally posted by lord of the mark
In Japan sure.

Are you really saying the PS3 is doing better in Europe out of aversion to American companies?

I mean it couldn't be that they just have different tastes in games, as witness their greater appetite for PC games, which is a platform based on a US OS, indeed the very same company that makes the 360?

No, because the best selling PS3 games stay the same across the US and Germany. Eg, Call of Duty 4 is the #1 game in Germany. Such games are the bread and butter of the 360, yet they don't sell as well.

And I don't think clumping "Europe" together is accurate -- it's a bunch of smaller, diverse markets. The 360 continually outsells the PS3 in the UK, it's Germany that the PS3 outsells the 360.

I think there's a definite correlation. As I see it, the countries more US-friendly (eg, the UK) have the 360 doing well while countries less US-friendly (eg, Germany) have the PS3 doing well. The game sales in each country shoot down the idea that their taste in games are fundamentally different.

[MJW]

Hardrives have made disk-storage-space not matter. All you need is to spend a small amount of time (20 minutes) 'loading' it. And then have a special disk you boot off of. Hardrive space is cheap.

[Asher]

Yes, that's another aspect of it.

Sony is using the HDD to make loading speeds match the 360 by preloading gigabytes of data to it. MS could employ the same technique if needed to expand the data accessible by a single disc.

Bluray is not a real-world game advantage.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Asher
A pretty strategic move. The Unreal engine is far and away the most popular engine these days. If third party devs complained about PS3 development issues, can't wait to see what they think about the lack of Unreal on PS3.

I don't see why they'd forbid its use on PS3 games... it's not like people wouldn't find something else to use (or make something else), so it would only somewhat hurt the PS3, and the way things are now they can just continue raking in coin from those who do use it (as the article states).

I see a world coming, soon, where we have three game publishers... or two ...

[Asher]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I don't see why they'd forbid its use on PS3 games... it's not like people wouldn't find something else to use (or make something else)

Oh? Do you know of ANY other engine accessible to 3rd party developers that isn't absolute **** on the PS3?

UE3 is far and away the #1 engine because it has an unmatched set of tools and environments that were the result of many years of development. It's basically the only choice for modern games to use a licensed engine, id's engines are pathetic in comparison and would prolong already lengthy PS3 development time.

If MS bought Epic and only licensed UE3 to PC/360 developers, it'd be a major strategic coup. They could even simply include it in the Xbox 360 Development Kit, which is also a massive deal to promote Xbox 360 development. This is not unprecedented, the #1 engine last gen was Renderware. EA then bought up Renderware and didn't license it out to any other development houses as well.

I see a world coming, soon, where we have three game publishers... or two ...

Epic isn't a really big publisher. Gears of War, for instance, wasn't published by Epic.

[Asher]

Speaking of MS acquisition, the other rumour going around GDC is MS is to buy Netflix.

[flash9286]

Originally posted by Asher
Speaking of MS acquisition, the other rumour going around GDC is MS is to buy Netflix.

I heard that they were going to strike a deal with netflix to allow 360 owners to access to the netfilx library. No subscription necessary just a one time purchase of a special disc. Either way Netfilix would be a awesome addition to the 360.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Asher
Yes, that's another aspect of it.

Sony is using the HDD to make loading speeds match the 360 by preloading gigabytes of data to it. MS could employ the same technique if needed to expand the data accessible by a single disc.

Except the 360 doesn't have a guaranteed HD. So you're limited to what can be done with swapped discs.

[MJW]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

Originally posted by Asher
Yes, that's another aspect of it.

Sony is using the HDD to make loading speeds match the 360 by preloading gigabytes of data to it. MS could employ the same technique if needed to expand the data accessible by a single disc.

Except the 360 doesn't have a guaranteed HD. So you're limited to what can be done with swapped discs.

Ah, that explains why mircosoft does not do that. I got a ps3 because I guessed it would win the format war (because blu-ray would crusie to victory due to sheep thinking it would win because it had more sales) and, due to the fact that Sony (like all mircosoft) sells them at a loss, it was the cheapest. It can also play next-gen games for free.

Mircosoft should just man-up and screw over people who do not have a hardrive.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Except the 360 doesn't have a guaranteed HD. So you're limited to what can be done with swapped discs.

I think HD-less 360s are rarer than most people would think. The Pro/Premium, Elite, and Halo SKUs all outsold the Arcade/Core by a big margin.

And the people who have HD-less 360s tend not to be people who buy $50-60 videogames. If it becomes an issue I can see this "restriction" being lifted. There are already games with components requiring HDDs (like Burnout multiplayer).

The people who do not have HD consoles also are not "screwed", since all 360s are capable of HDs and the HDDs are sold separately.

[MJW]

Okay, 'lightly annoy' would be a better term.