July console sales numbers, Volume 2........

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

My guess is that it has to do with the fact that Folklore is going to be more of a niche game. I was incredibly impressed with what I played at E3...but the fact is that it's not a system seller. £15 makes it a must-buy, IMO, and will probably do good things for its overall sales numbers...but I think that kind of niche status is why Amazon would discount it.

It certainly hasn't got anything to do with its quality (IMO).

Lair, on the other hand...I'm a skeptic.

And I'd agree with that if the games were priced the same worldwide, but they're not at this point. Lair and Folklore are both full price everywhere else. Terribly confusing pricing, but it's great for UK gamers. I'm just praying that similar prices come to the U.S.

Lair is just a really interesting topic at this point. So far, we've got a couple of sites who played a previous build who say that the game has some issues. By the same token, there are some sites that have received what they claim is the latest retail build and they have much different impressions, saying that it's actually a very good game. Lair is going to be one of those games that ends up having its fate determined by the hands-on impressions by consumers just after retail launch. The reviews have been too much of a mixed bag at this point. Toss in that no one knows which build the various previewers/reviewers are playing and it's really hard to take anything from them.

[Deattribution]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Guess we have differing views. Amazon isn't some small, hole in the wall mom and pop. I can't see them lowering the price on a game before the release if there wasn't some bad indicators out there. If it were a surefire hit with a ton of positive buzz, they'd take the full price on the game and get as much as they could for it.

What it smells like to me is a bomb of a game and they are trying to get as many sales as they can as quickly as they can.

We'll see soon enough which one of us is right. If you are, I'll be the happy owner of the game and will be playing it most nights. If I am, we'll all have cheap coasters available to us within the next few weeks.

There is absolutely no precedent for this, Amazon sells hundreds of complete piece of shit games for full price. Given the fact it's in the market which isn't getting a price drop - I'd say it has more to do with boosting PS3 sales than game quality.

[Marc Vaughan]

Guess we have differing views. Amazon isn't some small, hole in the wall mom and pop. I can't see them lowering the price on a game before the release if there wasn't some bad indicators out there. If it were a surefire hit with a ton of positive buzz, they'd take the full price on the game and get as much as they could for it.

Actually online you often find the most popular games discounted heavily by sites for two reasons:

* Loss leaders, they know people shop around and so if they're 'cheap' they might get a new customer who comes back.
* They buy such games in bulk and so might get a lower deal price on them and then attempt to pass that onto customers who then feel they got a good deal and come back again.

(and yes I do have to admit I'm biased in this as FM is generally discounted online each year by the sellers and I'd prefer to think its because its popular rather than being a 'cheap coaster' )

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Actually online you often find the most popular games discounted heavily by sites for two reasons:

* Loss leaders, they know people shop around and so if they're 'cheap' they might get a new customer who comes back.
* They buy such games in bulk and so might get a lower deal price on them and then attempt to pass that onto customers who then feel they got a good deal and come back again.

(and yes I do have to admit I'm biased in this as FM is generally discounted online each year by the sellers and I'd prefer to think its because its popular rather than being a 'cheap coaster' )

Yep, it appears that TroyF wasn't correct in his assumption and that Marc Vaughan hit the nail on the head. Amazon completely sold out of both games last night. This morning, they have them back in stock and they are now listed at full price once again. It would appear that this was a 'you snooze, you lose' situation.

[spleen1015]

These last 2 weeks would have been hell on the wallet if I wasn't playing WoW with all of my time.

Bioshock
Metroid Prime 3
Blue Dragon

Stranglehold next week.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

More game articles and info.......

First, Gamestop has sent out e-mails to Lair preorders that their games will be shipped on August 30th. Interesting as the game was not supposed to come out this week. Not sure if that was in error or if it will actually be shipped.

Next is an interview with NC Soft's CEO. Most interesting part that I noticed is that they will be offering both subscription-based and free MMO's for the PS3. I honestly never play the subscription-based ones, but I'd definitely give the free ones a try.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=28059

Interview with Uncharted developer discussing many of the game's features..........

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/28/pa...out-uncharted/

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

These last 2 weeks would have been hell on the wallet if I wasn't playing WoW with all of my time.

Bioshock
Metroid Prime 3
Blue Dragon

Stranglehold next week.

This month is going to be excellent for both 360 and PS3 owners. Halo 3 should obviously be added to your 360 list. Warhawk (released today), Lair, and Heavenly Sword are all coming out in the next couple weeks for the PS3. Great time to be a gamer. Makes you wonder why they couldn't spread these releases out a bit more, but we all know the reason for that.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

FYI.......for those of you looking for a HD media player, there's two good offers through Amazon right now. You can purchase the 60 GB PS3 for $472 shipped with 8 Blu-ray movies. If you already own a 360, you can get the HD-DVD add-on player for $170 shipped with 8 HD-DVD movies.

The deal is a combo deal with has the standard 5 movie deal that has always been available. In addition, Amazon is tossing in 3 more HD movies from their stocks. The movies you can get through the Amazon deal include 300, Casino Royale, The Departed, and several other movies that are excellent on the HD formats.

You can find the info for both deals on http://www.slickdeals.org.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Video of Halo Wars demo now available:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24172.html

[Eaglesfan27]

An EA developer slamming the PS3's ease of development:

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/1767.html

"The truth is the PS3’s tools and the way it works just sucks. The truth is they are both virtually the same in terms of hardware when it comes to how powerful they are, maybe the PS3 has a few different things that makes it a bit more advance, and Sony has this idea that it is designed for optimal development but that’s a load of crap. In the last generation we would make the game for PS2 and then port it over to Xbox, but because Xbox was easier to develop for, we could actually enhance the title a little if we wanted to. The case with this generation is different, now we make the game for 360 first and then port it over to PS3, but we really don’t have the time to mess with how the PS3 works to really add to much more. It will change in the future, but for now it sucks.”

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Yep, it appears that TroyF wasn't correct in his assumption and that Marc Vaughan hit the nail on the head. Amazon completely sold out of both games last night. This morning, they have them back in stock and they are now listed at full price once again. It would appear that this was a 'you snooze, you lose' situation.

Appears is a key word here. Let's see how the game plays.

Heavenly Sword looks like a keeper. I'm not sold on Lair yet.

I'm going to hold off on Metroid til I beat Bioshock at least once (maybe twice)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

An EA developer slamming the PS3's ease of development:

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/1767.html

"The truth is the PS3’s tools and the way it works just sucks. The truth is they are both virtually the same in terms of hardware when it comes to how powerful they are, maybe the PS3 has a few different things that makes it a bit more advance, and Sony has this idea that it is designed for optimal development but that’s a load of crap. In the last generation we would make the game for PS2 and then port it over to Xbox, but because Xbox was easier to develop for, we could actually enhance the title a little if we wanted to. The case with this generation is different, now we make the game for 360 first and then port it over to PS3, but we really don’t have the time to mess with how the PS3 works to really add to much more. It will change in the future, but for now it sucks.”

Yeah, several publications have noted that his comments show just how little effort EA has put into PS3 development. It's really not too shocking that other developers are raking EA over the coals concerning their sub-par releases on the PS3. Those developers correctly smell blood in the water and a huge door of opportunity. They openly admit that they're more concerned about ease of conversion as opposed to maximizing the potential of a game on each system.

Sales figures for EA indicate a drop in sales again this year. It seems like everyone except EA seems to understand that they need to change the way they're doing business. The only thing they've ever done right is marketing, and even that isn't having nearly the effect it has had in past years. Few businesses would tell you it's a good idea to put out negative press on any console that you publish products for. It's incredibly interesting that a console they slammed sold over 500,000 units while a console they openly supported that has 3x the user base sold 50,000 units. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that EA is making some blatently stupid moves.

Also, the fact that it's an anonymous comment from a Tiburon developer speaks volumes. I'm guessing that EA execs would have some harsh words for this developer if they ever found out who it was. Making comments like these is borderline stupidity.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Appears is a key word here. Let's see how the game plays.

No, it was incorrect. If Lair ends up being a bad game, that doesn't mean that your assertion that the price drop was because it was a bad game was correct. It just means that Lair is a bad game.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

No, it was incorrect. If Lair ends up being a bad game, that doesn't mean that your assertion that the price drop was because it was a bad game was correct. It just means that Lair is a bad game.

Unless you have suddenly become an executive for Amazon.com and know why the price drop was put in place, you have NO F'n idea as to why they made the move they made. Nor do I. Nor does Marc Vaughan. Nor does President Bush. All of us are making guesses. My guess is as good as anyone elses. I don't pretend to have all the answers. I have opinions and state them.

You could be right. Or you might not. Your assertion that I'm incorrect is based soley on guesswork and suppositions.

[KWhit]

Does anybody have any idea where you can find a 360 premium version with HDMI at a retail store? I'm considering buying one, but haven't seen the new HDMI versions anywhere.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Does anybody have any idea where you can find a 360 premium version with HDMI at a retail store? I'm considering buying one, but haven't seen the new HDMI versions anywhere.

It's hit and miss. You'll have to go to the retail location and physically check the package to see if it's HDMI.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Unless you have suddenly become an executive for Amazon.com and know why the price drop was put in place, you have NO F'n idea as to why they made the move they made. Nor do I. Nor does Marc Vaughan. Nor does President Bush. All of us are making guesses. My guess is as good as anyone elses. I don't pretend to have all the answers. I have opinions and state them.

You could be right. Or you might not. Your assertion that I'm incorrect is based soley on guesswork and suppositions.

I'm going to guess that Marc Vaughan has a pretty good idea how these things work. It certainly made a lot of sense. I'm going to go with his version over your version of 'no one knows why retail outlets drop prices on products'.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I'm going to guess that Marc Vaughan has a pretty good idea how these things work. It certainly made a lot of sense. I'm going to go with his version over your version of 'no one knows why retail outlets drop prices on products'.

That sounds like a fine plan to me. I have no problems with you siding with Marc's version. He's a smart guy. In this case, he's a smart guy with an opinion.

See how simple that is? We agree to disagree. I don't need to pretend I have all of the facts and you don't need to pretend you have all of the facts because neither of us do.

Aint life grand.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Does anybody have any idea where you can find a 360 premium version with HDMI at a retail store? I'm considering buying one, but haven't seen the new HDMI versions anywhere.

I know that amazon and dell both have that specific sku, of course it's not "retail."

Like i was saying in the other thread, if you want to export hdmi into your tv, and then run audio via optical into your receiver, your best bet is going to be the elite instead of the HDMI premium.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by stevew

I know that amazon and dell both have that specific sku, of course it's not "retail."

Like i was saying in the other thread, if you want to export hdmi into your tv, and then run audio via optical into your receiver, your best bet is going to be the elite instead of the HDMI premium.

Can you do that and still get audio out of the TV? I don't always want to have to turn my receiver on, especially since it is one hot mo-fo.

[KWhit]

And I don't really want to have to buy the Elite. 450 plus 100 for a wireless connection is outrageous. $550 before you even get your first game? And then $50 for a gold Live account. And I'd buy two games, so we're looking at a cost of $720 right off the bat.

That's incrediby steep. I had a very profitable trip to Vegas last weekend, so I'm considering it, but it's probably still too pricey for me.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Can you do that and still get audio out of the TV? I don't always want to have to turn my receiver on, especially since it is one hot mo-fo.

I may be totally off here, but isn't HDMI both a video and audio input? I know that DVI is video alone. I thought the difference was that the HDMI included audio. If that's the case, then you shouldn't need a receiver. Otherwise, I'm totally off.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I may be totally off here, but isn't HDMI both a video and audio input? I know that DVI is video alone. I thought the difference was that the HDMI included audio. If that's the case, then you shouldn't need a receiver. Otherwise, I'm totally off.

I don't have an HDMI input on my receiver, so I would hook my 360 to the TV using HDMI, but would still want to send my audio to my receiver using the adapter. What sometimes happens with doing that though is the TV isn't able to play the sound through HDMI. The audio signal is usually sent through one or the other but not both.

My DVD player works like that, and you have to change a setting on the DVD player's menu to tell it which signal to send. Which sucks, because I'd like to be able to have just the TV on playing sound when my son is watching one of his kiddie movies, but when I want to have true surround sound, I'd have to change some settings to get it to go through my receiver.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by KWhit

I don't have an HDMI input on my receiver, so I would hook my 360 to the TV using HDMI, but would still want to send my audio to my receiver using the adapter. What sometimes happens with doing that though is the TV isn't able to play the sound through HDMI. The audio signal is usually sent through one or the other but not both.

My DVD player works like that, and you have to change a setting on the DVD player's menu to tell it which signal to send. Which sucks, because I'd like to be able to have just the TV on playing sound when my son is watching one of his kiddie movies, but when I want to have true surround sound, I'd have to change some settings to get it to go through my receiver.

Ah, makes sense. I had mine hooked directly into the TV until I recently got a HDMI receiver.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Preview for PES 2008. This one is going to be a must-buy for me. Can't wait for it to come out.

http://ps3.gamespy.com/playstation-3.../816313p1.html

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Another great game on the way........Silent Hill 5. Always have enjoyed this series. Good article about some of the game's features.........

http://silenthill5.net/2007/08/27/si...m-article.html

[SirFozzie]

Apparently, even with the price cut and all the X360 problems, the PS3 is still behind the XBox360 in monthly sales.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3162365

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Apparently, even with the price cut and all the X360 problems, the PS3 is still behind the XBox360 in monthly sales.

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3162365

Actually, the piece of news in there that caught my eye was this:

Software wise, things are as expected, with the Guitar Hero franchise continuing to prove its heavyweight status in the music space. Despite the hype behind Rock Band, the Guitar Hero name is more powerful than ever. At E3, Electronic Arts announced a PlayStation 2 version of Rock Band is headed to Europe in early 2008, so even EA is catching onto the fact that a PS3 and Xbox 360 exclusive focus isn't necessarily a sure bet.

Anyone hear more of this? I'd much rather buy this for the PS2 than buy a 360 or PS3 just for the game. But is it only coming out for the PS2 in Europe? And it's not guaranteed that PS2 users have a HDD... I would guess that most don't. So how does downloadable content fit in (as compared to the Wii)?

[CraigSca]

I heard a rumor that the European-only version of Rockband has a much smaller music library to choose from, with the majority of songs coming from "Best of Falco" Vols. 1 & 2.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

I heard a rumor that the European-only version of Rockband has a much smaller music library to choose from, with the majority of songs coming from "Best of Falco" Vols. 1 & 2.

Please tell me you're joking.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Please tell me you're joking.

Why would anyone joke about something as majestic as Falco: Vol. 1 and 2??????

[Synovia]

You could always buy a reciever that can handle HDMI

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Actually, the piece of news in there that caught my eye was this:



Anyone hear more of this? I'd much rather buy this for the PS2 than buy a 360 or PS3 just for the game. But is it only coming out for the PS2 in Europe? And it's not guaranteed that PS2 users have a HDD... I would guess that most don't. So how does downloadable content fit in (as compared to the Wii)?

PS2 was huge in Europe, and the PS3 and Xbox 360 are more expensive over there thanks to the exchange rate.

I think it's more like EA's hedging their bets from a financial perspective than really worrying about Guitar Hero.

[Deattribution]

Originally Posted by TroyF

That sounds like a fine plan to me. I have no problems with you siding with Marc's version. He's a smart guy. In this case, he's a smart guy with an opinion.

See how simple that is? We agree to disagree. I don't need to pretend I have all of the facts and you don't need to pretend you have all of the facts because neither of us do.

Aint life grand.

Could you be anymore blatantly ignorant and unwilling to admit you're wrong on this subject?

Everything says this isn't the case (precedent, other stores, the fact that the games are back to full price, and a guy who has video game sales knowledge to name a few) and you're still trying to sugar coat it your way.

Stuff like this is what makes these threads embarrassing.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Synovia

You could always buy a reciever that can handle HDMI

One of my big frustrations right now with consumer electronics is that I have a DVD player, an Xbox 360, and an HD cable box, all of which could potentially use HDMI output (my 360 doesn't 'cause it is older, but would if I rebought it now). And yet most TVs or receivers handle 2 HDMI inputs. The TVs I can live with, but I have yet to find a sub-$1000 receiver with 3 or more HDMI inputs.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by KWhit

I don't have an HDMI input on my receiver, so I would hook my 360 to the TV using HDMI, but would still want to send my audio to my receiver using the adapter. What sometimes happens with doing that though is the TV isn't able to play the sound through HDMI. The audio signal is usually sent through one or the other but not both.

My DVD player works like that, and you have to change a setting on the DVD player's menu to tell it which signal to send. Which sucks, because I'd like to be able to have just the TV on playing sound when my son is watching one of his kiddie movies, but when I want to have true surround sound, I'd have to change some settings to get it to go through my receiver.

Basically you get sound from both sources, the TV and the receiver. I mean, you can buy the optical output thing, but it's 50 bucks separately(comes with hdmi cord). If your TV does optical out, well then I think you'd be okay as well.

It's not a big big deal to me, as the component looks okay, although i'd like to be able to upscale dvd's via hdmi.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

One of my big frustrations right now with consumer electronics is that I have a DVD player, an Xbox 360, and an HD cable box, all of which could potentially use HDMI output (my 360 doesn't 'cause it is older, but would if I rebought it now). And yet most TVs or receivers handle 2 HDMI inputs. The TVs I can live with, but I have yet to find a sub-$1000 receiver with 3 or more HDMI inputs.

I'm really hopeful that the number of HDMI inputs will increase on receivers and prices will go down as more HDTV's, next-gen consoles and HD media players get into the homes. I'd like to add a home theater to my home in a year or two. I really don't want to give up an arm and a leg to get that done completely with HDMI.

[stevew]

I just bought a cheaper Onkyo home theatre for now with 3 component ins, and hopefully in 4-5 years the HDMI version will be affordable. For the room i use it in, it's more than loud enough and it sounds pretty good.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Preview for PES 2008. This one is going to be a must-buy for me. Can't wait for it to come out.

http://ps3.gamespy.com/playstation-3.../816313p1.html

Do you know if Europe and Japan will be getting the games months ahead of the US like in prior releases? If not I would be tempted to import.

On the PS3 I know you can play Japan games in a US/Europe console, US/Europe games on a Japanese console, does the PAL format or anything like that prevent a US PS3 playing a European version game or do games from all three regions work in all three regions?

I would rather import from Europe due to language concerns but would have no problem getting the Japanese version if it came out months earlier...

[SackAttack]

Got a 60 GB PS3 from Sony in the mail today.

Guess it's time to start adding upcoming PS3 games to my GameFly account. The only two I know for sure I want to play this fall are Ratchet and Folklore, though.

[Neuqua]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Got a 60 GB PS3 from Sony in the mail today.

Tough life you live..

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Deattribution

Could you be anymore blatantly ignorant and unwilling to admit you're wrong on this subject?

Everything says this isn't the case (precedent, other stores, the fact that the games are back to full price, and a guy who has video game sales knowledge to name a few) and you're still trying to sugar coat it your way.

Stuff like this is what makes these threads embarrassing.

Last I checked, I was allowed to have my own opinions. I didn't try to "spin" anything my way. I've stated my opinion. You think it's idiotic. Fine. I can live with that. If you can't, I have 4 words of advice for you: Put me on ignore.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

Tough life you live..

It's a struggle.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

Tough life you live..

Well, they did have a whole bunch lying around that they were trying to push through the channel but weren't moving all that fast even after a major price cut

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Well, they did have a whole bunch lying around that they were trying to push through the channel but weren't moving all that fast even after a major price cut

I just opened it up.

It's a debug unit they sent me.

[terpkristin]

I'm actually contemplating breaking down and buying a PS3 this week. My PS2 being fritzy all of a sudden (go figure, I had to say how bomber it's been and it starts going funny), and I'm hoping to get one while they maintain the hardware backwards compatability.

I am such a sucker.

/tk

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Deattribution

Could you be anymore blatantly ignorant and unwilling to admit you're wrong on this subject?

Everything says this isn't the case (precedent, other stores, the fact that the games are back to full price, and a guy who has video game sales knowledge to name a few) and you're still trying to sugar coat it your way.

Stuff like this is what makes these threads embarrassing.

Just another few points on this to close my end out:

1) With apologies to Marc, I cannot remember a single time an FM game has been slashed over 50% off before it was released. I've seen slight cuts, but never that drastic.

2) I'm not sure how I'm making this thread embarrassing because of my opinion on this. I haven't said "Don't buy this game, it's gonna suck" I haven't said "this is a PS3 game, so it certainly sucks" It's been the opposite. I don't like what I'm seeing from the game (a late scratch on the release date, a major distributor slashing the prices by over half, horrible PR on the web sites I've read) But I'm hoping all of that is wrong. I WANT the game. I WANT to fly around on a freakin dragon and set things on fire. I can't think of a better idea for a video game.

It's not like I own 1 console and spend my time commenting on the other two. It's not like I refuse to play games on one console or that I wish any of them fail. I'm one of the only people commenting in this thread that owns all three systems. The more good games released, the happier I'll be.

Even if you think my opinion on this makes me nuttier than a Snickers bar, I think it's a rare thing for me in these threads. If you disagree with that, I STRONGLY urge you to throw me on ignore, cause we just won't get along.

[Deattribution]

Originally Posted by TroyF

If you disagree with that, I STRONGLY urge you to throw me on ignore, cause we just won't get along.

This is always the argument used online, 'it's just my opinion, throw me on ignore if you don't like it'. Okay, I didn't see that one coming... And fyi, I wasn't saying your opinion was embarrassing, just the total unwillingness to admit you were wrong when there is nothing other than your 'opinion' backing it up and everything else pointing to opposite (and you're not the first to do it in these threads).

Anyway. Has anyone found the new 360's readily available yet?

I'm tempted to sell my 360 and a few games and pick up the newer model a week or two later if it would help curve the lock up issues I have basically with all the EA games (Madden and NCCA are virtually unplayable) and the occassional freeze with the rest of the bunch.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Deattribution

Anyway. Has anyone found the new 360's readily available yet?

I'm tempted to sell my 360 and a few games and pick up the newer model a week or two later if it would help curve the lock up issues I have basically with all the EA games (Madden and NCCA are virtually unplayable) and the occassional freeze with the rest of the bunch.

New as in the ones with the new chip? I don't think they've started selling/distributing those yet. The ones with the HDMI are hit or miss if you walk into stores...

/tk

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

It's a struggle.

SI