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16 Jul 07
Just a quick update tonight. I hope to catch up on a few things tomorrow. I'm still sorting through all the information coming out of E3. It turned out pretty well for trying something new. There was even less yelling overall from the video I saw. I approve of that. It will be interesting to read the break downs that are sure to follow.
I mentioned Dai Senryaku VII for the Xbox a while back. I just found out that a version of that game is coming out for the PS2 this month. With the huge PS2 installed base that might be of interest to a few people. In case you don't remember it's a turn based, hex map strategy war game with modern era units.
I haven't jumped on the World in Conflict beta as I mentioned, but I have heard some feedback. Mostly it's been along the lines that it's faster than any strategy game they've ever played. That's not what I usually look for, but I'm still optimistic. Perhaps I should start thinking of it as an action strategy game. If anyone else would like to report in, please drop me a line.
I've got my wife playing Carcassonne on Xbox Live Arcade with me. That's a good sign. I should have a review up soon.
Jason
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14 Jul 07
You have to admire the way Sony turned good news into a firestorm within the same week. Most companies would be able to string it out to two at least. If you haven't been following, Sony dropped the 20GB PS3 from production earlier this year. Then this week they dropped the price of the 60GB PS3 to the 20GB price ($499). They also announced a new 80GB unit that will ship with the Motorstorm pack in game at the original price ($599). Briefly, everyone cheered and I mentioned my temptation to grab a 60GB unit before Sony pulled the plug on hardware emulation.
Let me take a quick aside here. I've seen hardware emulation work perfectly in the PS2. I've seen software emulation work near perfectly. The problem for Sony and Microsoft is they don't have the massive amounts of spare graphical and computing power that seems to be required to get perfect software emulation. They can get close if they're willing to spend the time and effort. Microsoft's difficulties are compounded by having a different graphics chip company on board for the 360. If Nvidia was still on board, I'm sure they would be doing even better. Both companies run into the problem of diminishing returns. Once you get to the point that gamers stop complaining en masse, there's little incentive to push harder to fix all the little problems. Neither company makes money getting games you already have to work better. Since I like weird and low volume sellers, this concerns me. Most people will be satisfied with software emulation. I'm not sure I'm one of them. In fact, I just played a new emulation game on my 360. It was playable, but the little glitches annoyed me enough to seriously reduce my enjoyment of the game.
Back to Sony's firestorm. So Sony was in a good place. With price fears allayed at least for the moment, E3 could be about the games. Considering that's where they make their money, that's a good thing. Unfortunately, Sony Europe had to ruin things for the company. Yes, the people who brought goat slaughter to the gaming news, let out the word that the 60GB PS3's days are numbered in America. Then the rest of Sony had to respond quickly. Some tried to stay on the original talking points while others tried to spin the new information the best way possible. With all the confusion it started to look very deceptive.
Clearly Sony knew what their production looked like. They knew they needed to save money and get the emotion chip out of there. So clearly they had plans to end the production of the 60 GB model and replace it with 80 GB PS3. They chose not to announce those plans the same way they chose not to emphasize that the emotion chip was gone from the 80GB model.
Sony also had to deal with calls for multiple price cuts this year. Apparently they've determined that they can't afford to absorb two $100 price cuts. Logically that means that either they wouldn't drop the prices twice or they'd play around with prices. Since there's plenty of evidence that the market is not large enough at $600, it seems safe to assume they went with the latter option. Ideally they would have liked to have launched the new model riding on the wave of purchases from the price drop. Then as the 60GB model numbers were waning they could announce that people like the added value of the 80GB model, but the price point of the 60GB so they'll give you the best of both worlds by giving you 'another' price cut with the 80GB PS3 dropping to $500. They try to get credit for two price drops while avoiding the direct controversy of removing the emotion chip.
It wasn't a bad plan if they could have stuck with the agenda. I think Mr. Stringer needs to get his house in order. They really can't afford any more of these gaffes. They'll probably come out ok if they can keep their collective feet out of their mouths. The gamers will move on as the games arrive. As I recall, last summer there was much discontent among the 360 faithful then Dead Rising came out. They've ridden a wave of quality games from then on. Perhaps Lair will be such a game for Sony. The general public wasn't paying much attention beyond the price drop. They'll mostly care about having a less expensive unit available for the Holidays. Investors and analysts will only be happy when the company is making money.
There is a caveat. If Sony doesn't follow through and keeps only the 80GB and only at the $600 price point, they could end up burned beyond recognition. I hope it doesn't happen. I've mentioned before that good competition leads to better games.
Jason
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11 Jul 07
E3 is here. Well, sort of anyway. It seems like everyone is feeling out how this new event will work out. I've seen some of the press conferences. I'll catch up on things eventually. Despite the fact that seemingly very little new has been announced, there are a ton of videos I plan to watch. It does look like there is plenty of good gaming ahead. I'm still waiting for my surprise though.
One thing that has surprised me is how tempted I am with the $100 price drop on the PS3. What with Amazon throwing in a free Blu-Ray remote and a free movie combined with the five free Blu-Ray movie offer, the improvements to upscaling, the upcoming launch of home and a few key games creeping closer to release, I'm feeling the desire for a PS3 for the first time. I have to give Sony credit for that. Looking at the sales rank at Amazon, I'm not alone. I'll let you know if I give in.
I should pass on that the deadline to get in the Sins of a Solar Empire beta has been extended to the end of July. I'm still hearing positive feedback about the game. The full price preorder is a bit steep for the price of admission, but the developers are taking the feedback to heart so you might be helping shape the game you want. Speaking of betas, the World in Conflict beta is starting today. You can try it out (multiplayer) through the end of the month. You won't see me, but that's only because I'm such a fan of Massive that I don't want to spoil anything before I get the final version of the game in my hands. I'll check impressions and reviews first, but I expect to be playing the game shortly after release.
Finally, I would like to point out that I haven't forgotten about the Games Blog. In fact, I had a big three part update mostly written up when I experience one of the first blue screens of death from Vista in weeks. It almost made it to months. I've been a bit disheartened since then, but I'll get it back up soon.
Jason
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9 Jul 07
I know. Shocker. An actual update on time. Well, I'm trying. I think I've got the ad shuffling all sorted out. We're caught up on press releases before E3, so that's good. I'll go digging around the web tomorrow to make sure I didn't miss anything. I'll see what media I have and rack and stack them and start putting them up as well.
It's weird. The new form E3 is here. It already feels different. I suppose if I were going, I'd feel it even more. I'm not sure I even qualify under the new rules. I might be able to swing it, but I wouldn't place money on it. Perhaps we'll find out next year. Let's see how this one goes.
I'm wondering what I should be excited about this E3. All the consoles have launched. Starcraft 2 has already been announced. Crysis, Bioshock, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and World in Conflict are all around the corner. I guess this is one of the years I'm looking for the surprises. You know, those games that come out of nowhere and steal the show or at least the buzz for a moment.
Unfortunately, we know the surprises won't come from an unheard of developer showing off a diamond in the rough. This E3 is invitation only for developers. Of course, the big publisher will get all their AAA titles in, but indies won't be seen. In a way that's sad, then again, perhaps the newly announced E for All expo will meet that need. Regardless, I'm pretty hopeful some great new games will appear on the horizon this week.
Jason
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6 Jul 07
Well, as you may have noticed we're working around italics by underlining. The other work around's I came up with either were or looked stupid. Anyway, I still have a lot of backlog stuff to put up, but I'm making progress.
It's hard to ignore the big console news this week. In preparation for the scaled back E3, we see reports of price drops from Sony and an extended warranty from Microsoft. I'll be posting the Microsoft press release either later tonight or tomorrow. Both are good moves to stop the bleeding. Maybe we can get E3 focused on the games again.
My goal is to be caught up before E3 so I can keep on top of the gaming news. Usually there isn't too much shocking stuff breaking in the tactical/strategy arena, but there are often some small gems that need to be picked up out of the flood so we can keep an eye on them. I'll try to do that. I would appreciate any help you guys can give. If you see a game that might prove interesting, drop me a line.
One interesting thing I wanted to point out was the sudden buzz surrounding GRAW 2 for the PC. It's scheduled to come out around the 17th for this month. Early word is that Ubisoft didn't just port the game to the PC. They actually tried to make it a more tactical experience. I've even heard claims that it harkens back to the original Ghost Recon. That'd be great news if true. I don't know about anyone else, but I had mentally skipped over this one. Now it's back on the radar. There is a new single player demo out, but it weighs in at 1.77 GB so it's not for the faint of heart (or the limited of bandwidth).
Finally, there's one question I wanted to throw out there. Would small discounts, say 1-3% influence your decision in purchasing a game or where you purchase a game? Some of the affiliate sites have been asking for feedback for new programs. I was thinking about commission sharing. In short, if I got less in revenue from a sale but that reduction lowered your price, would you be more likely to use the shopping links here? I would imagine it would have to be only on featured items (say a game or two). If there's interest, I can pursue it with some of the companies. I'd like to know that the effort would be worthwhile (for someone) before tilting that windmill. Email me with comments, feedback or suggestions.
Jason
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2 Jul 07
Weird thing. It seems on Internet Explorer 7 and certain themes, italics that go to the end of the line cause the topic graphic to get cut off. I'm going to have to see if I can find a work around. Until I do, news stories may not have their subhead italicized. Perhaps I can just play around with the sizes to achieve the same effect without breaking the page. I realize that's kind of inside baseball and probably doesn't affect many of you, but it's things like that that I end up spending hours on while other work isn't getting done. I apologize.
I should be throwing some graphics out there for feedback shortly. If they're good, let me know, but whatever you do, yell at me if you hate them. If they're bad, you're probably not alone in your opinion. I certainly don't want to be driving people away with the site design.
You might have noticed the ads have shuffled around. Apple said goodbye to us. We pick up Target, Mwave and Blockbuster. I'm sure you're familiar with two of those. Mwave is up there with ZipZoomFly and NewEgg as the best places to pick up hardware. I've bought a lot from them and have no trouble recommending them.
We'll see what happens over the holiday. I hope to get some news and media up. We'll see if there's more.
Jason
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