Playstation 3 price drop officially starts tomorrow

Wish I could have a FREE game every time SONY lied. Anyway, even with $100 less, it’s still an expensive gaming machine. I’m sure if they could go back in time, they would leave the BlueRay out of the PS3 and stick with DVDs.

Wow, going back to a 2nd PS3 SKU…retailers are going to love that….And “$60″ game and $40 more for 20 GB bigger hard drive…that is making MS’s add on 120 GB hard drive seem like a bargain on per GB basis. What an excellent way to make sure there absolutely no pressure on MS for them to lower the 360 price.

As for the mishandling about the price drop, I wonder who made the mistake?…While retailers might get a heads up about this, it is very well known in the industry that any price info in a preprint will leak out on the internet 2-3 weeks prior to its scheduled start date (due to the time involved in printing, trucking, and then inserting preprints into newspapers). So the question is, did Circuit City screw up by putting the price drop in a preprint when they shouldn’t have or did Sony screw up by not being ready for the info to leak out? If the price drop hadn’t been in printed in a preprint, Sony could still be issuing non-denial denials about a price drop and seem at least competent (who announces a price drop prior to it actually happening?)…as it is, they now just look deceptive or stupid…but that’s nothing new for Sony as of late…ATTACK THE WEAK POINT FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE!

If they could go back in time, I’ve got a feeling that the Blu-ray wouldn’t go…

With Blockbuster putting most of their stores as Blu-ray only, as well as the larger storage capacity and virtually all the features that HD-DVD presents, I don’t see the format war lasting too much longer.

Also, the standard dvd is becoming limiting for video games… I remember hearing that Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 filled nearly the entire disc, which means that unless the 360 can magically read a new tri-layer or such DVD, or compression/modelling technology becomes better (or people stop trying to make games look better), there’s a fast approaching limit to what the DVD can do for games.

With Blockbuster putting most of their stores as Blu-ray only, as well as the larger storage capacity and virtually all the features that HD-DVD presents, I don’t see the format war lasting too much longer.

Is this something that you’ve seen with your own eyes? My Blockbuster has a little HDDVD and BlueRay section way in the back. I don’t know if what you’re saying is true, but with the current small penetration of HDDVD and BlueRay, it would be foolish for any video store to do such a move, even big ones like Blockbuster. Also, please note that disk capacity is not that very useful for movies. Disk may have more capacity, but movies aren’t going to be any longer. Sure it would be useful for the movie exceptions that require 2 DVDs, but this is not a persuasive reason to invest in one of those new players, especially since people without an HD TV will not see the difference.

Hell, I rented an HD DVD last month, plugged it in my HDMI port (where my regular DVD player is) and I could honestly say that I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between this and my regular player. I haven’t tried BlueRay, but I get the feeling that it would be the same results. I think this is the same scenario as with top of the line sound systems. Some people can hear the difference between and $300 and $2000 sound system while some can’t. Making the jump from Regular DVD to HD DVD or BlueRay is not the same as jumping from VHS to DVD.

Also, the standard dvd is becoming limiting for video games… I remember hearing that Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 filled nearly the entire disc, which means that unless the 360 can magically read a new tri-layer or such DVD, or compression/modelling technology becomes better (or people stop trying to make games look better), there’s a fast approaching limit to what the DVD can do for games.

If Team Ninja or any company for that matter, wishes to put more high resolution movie content then before in their game, yes they will run out of space. Do you think Final Fantasy VII, VIII or IX would have required that many CDs if it weren’t for the movie sequences?

Finally, yes movies in games is good a thing, but it’s a major complaint these days that it takes to long to get to the point of these. It’s fun to have a story told to you in the form of a movie, but you don’t want to wait 10 minutes each time in-between gameplay just so that you will know how the story progresses. No offense to the people that don’t mind watching a 2 hours worth of movie length when playing their games, but if I wanted to watch a movie, I’d watch a God damn movie with a 7-Up and a bag of Doritos in my hands instead of a controller.

Blockbuster doing just Blu-Ray: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=257

Also, as far as I know, nearly every video in DOAX2 is rendered in real time, since your character’s appearance is altered for each swimsuit/accessory you’re wearing. With the exception of the opening video and ending video (which I don’t see as taking that much space), it seems most of that space must be going elsewhere.

Sony’s format choice now isn’t any different than their last two systems, where they pioneered (successfully, anyways, stupid Sega CD…) CD games, and later, DVD games while people were saying that those were pointless.

Don’t really care to get into the whole watching a game instead of playing it, ’cause that’s all opinion based… but I’d much rather have a game with lots of story rather than going back to the early Mario days…

Man, I want to play MotorStorm too. Not a must have but very fun nonetheless.. at least the increased capacity is not as big as the 360’s, 20 –> 120Gb.

Well, graphics will inevitably take up more space as graphics keep on improving (FF8–>FF10–>FF13/Folklore), even though the FMVs are the killers. Eventually even realtime graphics would be photorealistic and DVD is definitely too small.

By no means I’m a videophile, but I think the difference is clear as day btwn 480i and 1080p in HD even to the untrained eye, especially if you watch CG cartoons like Happy Feet. If you’ve watched TV programs broadcast in HD, the clarity and details are simply amazing, eg, Conan O’Brien’s freckles, lol. The jump might not be as big as VHS to DVD, but it’s inevitable as technology improves.

I’m holding off buying some movies until I know which standard is adopted, but I have a feeling Blu-ray would win eventually. I don’t really mind either way, if HD DVD wins, then I’ll need to get the 360 add on DVD player.

Blockbuster doing just Blu-Ray: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=257

I just called the head office of BlockBuster Canada. The article you’ve read is a bit misleading. It’s not that BlockBuster will only carry Blue-Ray Disks, but rather it will only carry Blue-Ray in most of their stores as the High Definitions format, they’re not giving up on standard DVD, that would be just foolish. That 70% of high definition rentals is probably just 5% or less of their entire rentals, DVD is still the dominant format and by the looks of it, it will remain for a while.

Also, as far as I know, nearly every video in DOAX2 is rendered in real time, since your character’s appearance is altered for each swimsuit/accessory you’re wearing. With the exception of the opening video and ending video (which I don’t see as taking that much space), it seems most of that space must be going elsewhere.

Not gonna argue much since I never played the second one. Who knows, maybe there’s hidden mini games in there just waiting for the next Hot Coffee patch. The point is, these are still 9 Gig disks and for gameplay alone, it should be more than enough. PS2 RPGs have proven that you can have a lot of gameplay hours on standard DVDs, so higher disk capacity does not justify the purchase of a $500 US game console, especially since games can be on multiple DVDs.

Sony’s format choice now isn’t any different than their last two systems, where they pioneered (successfully, anyways, stupid Sega CD…) CD games, and later, DVD games while people were saying that those were pointless.

SEGA Saturn, NEO-GEO CD, Turbo Duo and 3DO were all released before the PSX. Also, let’s not forget that CD-ROMs were already the media of choice for computers. The success of the PSX is not because of the CD format, it’s because of the games which were better than all of the previous games on the other CD game consoles put together. I’m not saying that SEGA Saturn and the others didn’t have their hits, but let’s face it, they go killed for a reason. With CD-ROMs replacing floppies and Music CDs replacing cassettes, people were already converted to the CD format, they just needed a console that would put out good games to justify the purchase.

As for the DVD format, it’s debatable. I was working in a computer gaming store when the PS2 came out, so yes I know that a lot of people were waiting for the PS2 in order to make it their first DVD player. In Japan, the PS2 was the cheapest DVD player on the market and in North America, in was roughly the same price back in 2000 for a PS2 or a regular DVD player, but the PS2 also played games. This was good timing more than anything else. I mean if the XBOX would have came out first or if the Dreamcast had a DVD player out of the box, who knows what would have happened. Today, we look at a DVD player like we would look at an NES, been there done that. Back in 2000, you had a DVD player, you were someone.

People were ready for the DVD format, they just needed a jump start and SONY was there at the right time. DVD owns the movie market right now, to dethrone this would be like trying knock down a giant tree with your head. SONY’s soul purpose of creating the Blue-Ray is the same as it always been, which is to own a dominating media format. If SONY invents a media format and succeeds in making it the standard, they’ll be rich beyond their wildest dreams because they get to sale that format to everyone else. Fortunately for us, these greedy bastards failed over and over:

Round 1: BETA Vs. VHS
Winner is: VHS
Round 2: Portable CD Player Vs. Mini Disk
Winner is: Portable CD Player
Round 3: SVHS Vs. 8MM
Winner is: SVHS
Round 4: Compact Flash Vs. Smart Media Vs. Memory Stick
Winner is: None of these, the new entry, Secure Digital (SD)
Round 5: Portable DVD Player Vs. PSP (for playing UMD movies)
Winner is: Portable DVD Player
Round 6: DVD Vs. HD DVD Vs. Blue-Ray
Winner is: _________

Don’t really care to get into the whole watching a game instead of playing it, ’cause that’s all opinion based… but I’d much rather have a game with lots of story rather than going back to the early Mario days…

True, it is an opinion, but the complaints have been there since the days of the SEGA CD and 3DO. I wouldn’t want to play an action or adventure game without any movie sequences these days, but too much is like not enough.

Well, graphics will inevitably take up more space as graphics keep on improving (FF8–>FF10–>FF13/Folklore), even though the FMVs are the killers. Eventually even realtime graphics would be photorealistic and DVD is definitely too small.

Eventually, yes, but I don’t think we’ll need this during the current console generation. I see the PS3 right now like saw the SEGA CD back then, headed of it’s time. There’s going to be something that will replace the DVD format some day. might be HD DVD, might be Blue-Ray or might be something else, but it won’t be in the next 4 years.

You and I, we live in the world of technology, so we want better and faster, but we’re a minority. The average consumer, the one that bought a DVD player in 2004, won’t give a rat’s ass about Blue-Ray and HD DVD. He got rid of his VHS and and Tapes and got a DVD player with all of his favorite movies on DVDs 3 years ago, the new thing on the market can wait of go f#@ itself for all he cares.

By no means I’m a videophile, but I think the difference is clear as day btwn 480i and 1080p in HD even to the untrained eye, especially if you watch CG cartoons like Happy Feet. If you’ve watched TV programs broadcast in HD, the clarity and details are simply amazing, eg, Conan O’Brien’s freckles, lol. The jump might not be as big as VHS to DVD, but it’s inevitable as technology improves.

From 480i to 1080p, of course there’s a difference. But my DVD player, which costs like $150, is plugged on my TV’s HDMI port which outputs in 1080i. Spending $500 US just to go from 1080i to 1080p is a luxury that won’t give you much of a difference. Also, let’s not forget that in order to benefit from an HD DVD or Blue-Ray, you also need an HD TV which allows a 1080p resolution. Before these TVs even become close to be the standard, PS3 will cost $199 US

I’m holding off buying some movies until I know which standard is adopted, but I have a feeling Blu-ray would win eventually. I don’t really mind either way, if HD DVD wins, then I’ll need to get the 360 add on DVD player.

Not that I really care about which HD format wins, but from what I heard in a news segment, the porn industry went with HD DVD. Apparently, the porn industry makes or brakes a video format.

Actually I don’t just buy a new system right away because I need to have everything first, I’ve always been a late adopter w/ CD/DVD burners and everthing. I simply buy a system if there’s a killer app I must play on it. I didn’t get my PS2 until FF10 came out a year after is launch, and didn’t get my 360 until Blue Dragon came out last December also a year after its launch. If there’s no games on a system, there’s no reason to buy it.

W/ PS3, it’s an exception for me. I guess I’ve sorta jumped the gun, I bought it on literally last 12/31, thinking that I would treat myself something nice w/ my year-end bonus and all. Actually Wii is the only system that I bought on a launch day because of its realtively cheap price tag and innovative control, Zelda and Wii sports were fun.

I would never comtemplate buying a standalone Blu-ray player for $900, but I thought for a system that can play both HD movies and games $600 was okay, even though it’s not cheap. I guess I’m a little loose w/ money w/ a higher discretionary income.

It all depends if you think you’re getting your money’s worth. Like if you can’t wait to play Persona 3 in Eng. or another new RPG, you get it on its release date at full price $50, otherwise you could wait till it drops to 19.99 eventually after 1 year or 2.

The price drop Sony is doing now is a good move, w/ so many good games that came out recently, MotorStorm and Hot Shot Golf 5 are all nice bundles. I want to try my Summer Vacation 3 next after Folklore.

Man, I want to get my 5 free movies… they didn’t give me Talledega nights w/ mine, not that it’s a movie I would watch more than once…

Actually I don’t just buy a new system right away because I need to have everything first, I’ve always been a late adopter w/ CD/DVD burners and everthing. I simply buy a system if there’s a killer app I must play on it. I didn’t get my PS2 until FF10 came out a year after is launch, and didn’t get my 360 until Blue Dragon came out last December also a year after its launch. If there’s no games on a system, there’s no reason to buy it.

That’s always been my policy. I owned pretty much every game home console before this generation, but it’s always been after a price drop or by getting the system used. By the time I was done with the old games which sold cheaply, newer games became cheaper.

W/ PS3, it’s an exception for me. I guess I’ve sorta jumped the gun, I bought it on literally last 12/31, thinking that I would treat myself something nice w/ my year-end bonus and all. Actually Wii is the only system that I bought on a launch day because of its realtively cheap price tag and innovative control, Zelda and Wii sports were fun.

Same here with Wii, this was the first console I ever bought at launch, hell I reserved it the first day EB took down reservations.

I would never comtemplate buying a standalone Blu-ray player for $900, but I thought for a system that can play both HD movies and games $600 was okay, even though it’s not cheap. I guess I’m a little loose w/ money w/ a higher discretionary income.

Well I guess as long as your TV supports 1080p, it’s not a total lost, at lease you get the full potential.

It all depends if you think you’re getting your money’s worth. Like if you can’t wait to play Persona 3 in Eng. or another new RPG, you get it on its release date at full price $50, otherwise you could wait till it drops to 19.99 eventually after 1 year or 2.

Unless I find a game used or at a re-release price, I normally wait a week or two for someone to finish it and sale it on eBay for like half price.

The price drop Sony is doing now is a good move, w/ so many good games that came out recently, MotorStorm and Hot Shot Golf 5 are all nice bundles. I want to try my Summer Vacation 3 next after Folklore.

Well it’s not like they had much of a choice, E3 is coming and they had to reach their predicted quota that they told us last year.

Also, it’s not just the price, it’s the arrogance they had ever since last E3. They really treated gamers as if we were movie or music consumers, telling us bullshit thinking that we would believe them. As if they know more than us when it comes to gaming, please, most people at E3 played games before Nintendo approached them with the PSX project. They are still children in this industry and they don’t get that their last two success was simply good timing, luck if you will. They can’t expect the same strategy to work every time and now they’ve witnessed this first hand with both the PSP and the PS3.

I don’t plan to buy a 360 anymore than I plan to buy a PS3, but at least Microsoft as played it cool. If it weren’t for the fact that their damn consoles keep breaking and that they have TECH support in third world countries, they’d be pretty cool players in my book. I mean we’ve seen American companies trying to get back into the gaming market before and failed miserably. M$ on the other hand managed to established themselves in the console gaming market and delivered a hardcore online service. You got to admire that even if you’re not a big fan of the games released on their systems.