Read a few interesting bits while out today…

One being a rumor in EGM that Guitar Hero II may have the Mega Man theme included, among other “classic” tracks. Would certainly be interesting.

In Play, they did a bunch of interviews, including Inafune. It was mostly about his new games, though a question came up, I forget the phrasing, something about a favorite game he’s worked on, perhaps one that didn’t pan out so well.

The answer?

MegaMan Legends.

Sounds like he’s into it, but doesn’t have the faith that it would do well enough in the marketplace.

Everyone’s doing their post-E3 stuff, and I keep seeing the same things about Sony’s new controller, that they’ve had this planned forever, it’s a natural evolution, look back at the first PS controller on PS1, etc.

To be fair about this, perhaps moreso than the gaming press, of which I’m pretty sure I saw at least one insinuate that Sony was flat-out lying, I’m going to give Sony the benefit of the doubt. With that, though, let me just say that the keeping hush of the whole thing until the last minute, and the timing of the reveal, was really poorly planned.

But, hey, whatever. Rip-off, long-term plan, either way, it doesn’t really take anything away from the PS3.

…well, except for the rumble, if Sony is to be believed.

Nonetheless, it may well be handy, if anyone decides to use it. Of course, I remember the PS2 had analog buttons, and read that only a small handfull of games(I think 2 or 3 was the number, I don’t know for sure, though. Journalistic license and all that, I guess.) actually used it.

Going back and looking at the controller, I see now what was mentioned before, in that it is a little more different; R2 and L2 are more DC/XBox-like triggers now, which is cool.

Reading over things, I think Sony might just do ok this generation. Maybe. They seem to be following a whole different strategy, though, and it sounds like it might work… though I remain skeptical.

Though, I was reading how evidently, a number of developers were unhappy with the price announcement, and starting to look 360’s way.

I don’t know, and it’s hard to say where things will go from here. But I think Sony is fighting a much harder battle this time than those they have in the past. They seem to be aiming for the really hardcore gamers and technophiles, the early adopters of new technology. So maybe the price and quantity will balance out demand in the early going.

To their credit, however, they’re still showing a pretty good support of the PS2, even going so far as to say that a new gamer ought to buy that instead at $129, and upgrade to PS3 when they’re ready.

They way they talk about the two-pricepoint setup makes more sense than the actual setup seems to indicate. The way they talk about it, it really does sound like a “built to order” sort of idea might be more practical. They way they talked about it, some sort of high-fallutin’ hookup for monitors or some sort of TV is in the higher model, but not the lower, and their take is that including it would be sort of like saying “you don’t have this sort of hookup, but let’s sell you the connection anyway.” Likewise, someone who just saves the occassional game data and doesn’t download and microtransaction all sorts of stuff may not need a 60GB hard drive.

Makes sense.

At the same time, though, for the difference in price, it still feels like the application of the term “tard pack” for the lesser model is still justified.

It reminds me of how, to use Kutaragi’s sort of metaphor here, at a restaurant(chiefly the fast-food types), you can buy a sandwich and a drink for one price, but for a few cents more, you can have the entire combo with fries and a bigger drink.

Admit it, even if you don’t need all that, it feels like you’re wasting it by not shelling out the few extra cents for the value.

The lack of memory card slots still kind of mystifies me to a degree.

I hope no one takes this as me going soft on Sony, I’m not, really. I’m just doing what I’ve always done, called it as I see it.

And I’m sticking with my idea of how this console war will turn out: I still think that Sony has the most to loseWeight Exercise, Nintendo has the most to gain, and Microsoft isn’t going to see a huge overturn in either direction. I think things may just be closer than they’ve been in at least a decade.

At the same time, it almost feels like there’s no competition at all. It’s like the difference in selling Smart Cars, Porches, and Jeeps. Entirely different demographics, though they all sort of compete in the same general arena.

And I think this might be one console war where everybody wins.

But, all the same, I have no interest in Sony’s product right now. I’ve had little doubt that the PS3 is going to be the overall most impressive of the three, or most powerful at least, but it’s just not for me. I’m sure it’ll be a great machine, or at least as great as Sony’s machines tend to be(which varies, from all accounts heard), and I’m sure it’ll appeal to someone, and do well for itself.

But I get the feeling it could very well be the dawn of the PS4 before I’m ready to lay down the cash.

I’ve seen it said that third-party exclusives are going to become a thing of the past, generally speaking(i.e. don’t bet on Red Steel being ported anytime soon), that could be a big hurting factor against Sony… especially if the talk that developers are dissatisfied with the price is true.

It becomes a bit of a cycle, though: the third parties will go where the gamers’ dollars are. They may still make games for PS3, but how many will be draws that they can’t find on XBox? The gamers may go where they can get the best value in the third-party software.

Which means, besides the occassional piece like Metal Gear Solid 4, Sony might have to fight this battle primarily with first-party titles. But will it be enough?

LBD “Nytetrayn”

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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