Video game industry thread: E3 2010 edition over

cloudeagle

Hi! Welcome to the sales thread. Here we talk about how games have sold, marketing, PR comments, analysis of analysts and all kinds of other business-related stuff. Occasionally we make poop jokes.

Now, we're still going to push EA to finally make Gunhead, one of the best ideas ever. But, after reflection, we've decided that there are ideas that are more marketable and have a better potential for sequels. So Gunhead's now on the back burner in favor of this:

Also, May's NPD data won't be released till July 1st this time around.

And now, April's info.

PlayStation 3 180.8K
PSP 65.5K
Xbox 360 185.4K
Wii 277.2K
Nintendo DS 440.8K
(PS2 info is no longer being reported)



Aaaaaand go.

cloudeagle

So, is Sony about to return to the realm of stupid ads?

Couscous wrote: »

UncleSporky wrote: »

Seriously, Sony - 3D games are a cool feature, don't get me wrong. It's all optional and I would love to play them, really. But please make this just a short sound byte at E3 and stick to showing off the games and Move. People don't want you pushing a $texas purchase.

http://kotaku.com/5559608/modern-warfare-2-going-3d-on-the-ps3
They are using stupid viral videos to market it as the PS4.

plufim

Quoting myself from previous thread:

plufim wrote: »

Couscous wrote: »

UncleSporky wrote: »

plufim wrote: »

I can see the E3 rhetoric right now.

"with 3D capabilities, incredibly accurate motion control and a revamped PSN, the playstation 3 is virtually a brand new console!"

"PS4" will be the new "4D gaming".

This is frightening because it's completely true. This is going to be their line.

Well, it is hopefully fake. Wouldn't be the first time for Kotaku.

They are still going to call it the next generation because that is the new thing to do like with Natal. Or that one update that added avatars and shit.

"At sony, we aren't happy to just add a new method of input and call it a day. We've bringing so much more to the playstation 3 experience that you could call it the playstation 4!"

At least, that's what I think the idea is. Since 360 and PS3 seem to be getting motion controls at the same time, perhaps Sony is going to throw so much more at the PS3 this year to try to differentiate it from the 360. "More than just a new controller!"

I'm certain "PS4" is going to be a big part of their marketing throughout and after E3, in that they're bringing so much new that "it is essentially a new console!".

cloudeagle

If they really do play the "it's a PS4!" card this soon, then the eventual reveal of the actual PS4 is going to seem a little silly.

lowlylowlycook

cloudeagle wrote: »

If they really do play the "it's a PS4!" card this soon, then the eventual reveal of the actual PS4 is going to seem a little silly.

As long as it isn't $600 it won't be as silly as the PS3 launch. The bar is set very low here.

The Ender

I remember back in my day, when all we had was was width + height, and let me tell you something, we made the most out of it!


Seriously, the 3D stuff is a bit much for me. I dig the look, but dammit, I don't want to wear those big mechanical shutter glasses. I'd feel like an asshole.

plufim

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

If they really do play the "it's a PS4!" card this soon, then the eventual reveal of the actual PS4 is going to seem a little silly.

As long as it isn't $600 it won't be as silly as the PS3 launch. The bar is set very low here.

Technically the full "PS4" experience would require a brand new 3D TV and a complete set of move controllers.

edit: I misread that. Whoops.

cooljammer00

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

If they really do play the "it's a PS4!" card this soon, then the eventual reveal of the actual PS4 is going to seem a little silly.

As long as it isn't $600 it won't be as silly as the PS3 launch. The bar is set very low here.

But they set a precedent. They HAVE to sell the PS4 at more than 599 US dollars.

It's silly, but then again so it naming your system the 360 to make sure people think it is higher than the PS2.

Kelor

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

If they really do play the "it's a PS4!" card this soon, then the eventual reveal of the actual PS4 is going to seem a little silly.

As long as it isn't $600 it won't be as silly as the PS3 launch. The bar is set very low here.

"And you can join right in with this new generation by buying one of our 3D Bravia screens for just $3499."

*Murmurs from crowd*

"You still have your second job from buying your PS3 right?"

Sheep

MS will probably crash and burn with Natal.

Sony's screw up through 3D will be epic.

Pureauthor

I don't understand this industry anymore.

Kelor

Sheep wrote: »

MS will probably crash and burn with Natal.

Sony's screw up through 3D will be epic.

The conferences are at about 2-4 in the morning here, but I am seriously considering staying up just to see some spectacular crashes and burns.

Are we doing IRC again? The forums collapse or are impossible to keep up with once things ramp up.

Pureauthor

I will be away that week.

The homecoming will be glorious.

Cameron_Talley

Can they name it SOMETHING other than PS4? How about Playstation NEXT or Playstation Evolved? I'm sick of linear numerically named consoles.

Sheep

Kelor wrote: »

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

cloudeagle wrote: »

If they really do play the "it's a PS4!" card this soon, then the eventual reveal of the actual PS4 is going to seem a little silly.

As long as it isn't $600 it won't be as silly as the PS3 launch. The bar is set very low here.

"And you can join right in with this new generation by buying one of our 3D Bravia screens for just $3499."

*Murmurs from crowd*

"You still have your second job from buying your PS3 right?"

First you have to get a 3D TV. That much is obvious and you’ll have a few options to choose from. Sears is already taking pre-orders for Samsung models and Best Buy is kicking off 3D TV with Panasonic this morning. At this point we really don’t know which brand or model is better, so let’s assume they are all nearly the same and go with the new Sony’s for the sake of moving forward.

So you have your new Sony 3D TV. Good for you. But you might have noticed that your brand new TV didn’t come with 3D glasses. Those cost extra — $140 in Japan. At least they will be available in gray, blue, and pink. But you’re still not done. You’ll need to buy the $60 3D “synchro transmitter” that ensures the glasses stay synced with the TV.

But you still can’t watch 3D content because there isn’t any right now. A few 3D Blu-ray movies are scheduled to come out this summer, but you’ll need a special Blu-ray player to watch them. Sony just started sell a few, but they can’t output the 3D content until they receive firmware that’s supposed to be out in a couple of months.

It’s true that ESPN and Discovery announced that they both plan on launching a 3D TV station. ESPN will start broadcasting only special events like the World Cup this summer. Discovery 3D should be on the air sometime in 2011. But it’s up to your cable or satellite provider to get you the station.

This is a hot mess, right? It gets worse, pal.

Let’s say you jump in and spend the cash on a nice Sony 3D setup, complete with the Blu-ray player and pink glasses. Those same 3D glasses will not work on your buddies Samsung 3D TV or with your NVIDIA 3D Vision computer setup. You’re stuck watching the World Cup alone because each brand of 3D TV requires its own 3D glasses.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/03/09/sony-reminds-us-of-the-high-cost-of-first-generation-3d-tv/

Sheep

I have Monday off. So... That's actually pretty cool that I can check out E3 with leisure.

The Ender

Can they name it SOMETHING other than PS4? How about Playstation NEXT or Playstation Evolved? I'm sick of linear numerically named consoles.

Maybe they can call it the Playstation 29XX.


That was a popular naming scheme back in the '90s, when 3D tried to make it's first comeback (resulting in much lolfail)

Algertman

I want Giant Enemy Crabs in 3D

Cameron_Talley

Gah, I wish I had that AC Adaptor tap for my Virtual Boy. (You can use the SNES AC Adaptor to power the unit, but you need the special piece of hardware shown above to do so. Otherwise you're stuck with 6 AA batteries).

-Loki-

Man, just when I'd been ranting that we never get good sales in Australia, we get a really impressive one. EB is doing a massive sale, and even new games are being marked down. FF XIII, for example, is 50% off, same with a lot of new PSP titles (LittleBigPlanet, Gran Turismo, the new Jak and Daxter). Every system has new games being sold off cheap. Not sure what to think with this one.

erraticrabbit

I have no desire at all to play things in 3d.

Wearing headphones is my absolute 'wearing shit' limit for media.

For reference, I also dislike 3d movies, so maybe I'm in the minority.

Gibbs

Ok, near the end of the last thread it was reported that 5% more of PS3 owners use an HDTV than 360 owners.

I say that probably has more to do with the HDTV + PS3 bundles that a handful of stores had than which owner-base cares more about HD. I can't remember where, but one store was practically giving you a PS3 with the TV.

The Ender

First you have to get a 3D TV. That much is obvious and you’ll have a few options to choose from. Sears is already taking pre-orders for Samsung models and Best Buy is kicking off 3D TV with Panasonic this morning. At this point we really don’t know which brand or model is better, so let’s assume they are all nearly the same and go with the new Sony’s for the sake of moving forward.

So you have your new Sony 3D TV. Good for you. But you might have noticed that your brand new TV didn’t come with 3D glasses. Those cost extra — $140 in Japan. At least they will be available in gray, blue, and pink. But you’re still not done. You’ll need to buy the $60 3D “synchro transmitter” that ensures the glasses stay synced with the TV.

But you still can’t watch 3D content because there isn’t any right now. A few 3D Blu-ray movies are scheduled to come out this summer, but you’ll need a special Blu-ray player to watch them. Sony just started sell a few, but they can’t output the 3D content until they receive firmware that’s supposed to be out in a couple of months.

It’s true that ESPN and Discovery announced that they both plan on launching a 3D TV station. ESPN will start broadcasting only special events like the World Cup this summer. Discovery 3D should be on the air sometime in 2011. But it’s up to your cable or satellite provider to get you the station.

This is a hot mess, right? It gets worse, pal.

Let’s say you jump in and spend the cash on a nice Sony 3D setup, complete with the Blu-ray player and pink glasses. Those same 3D glasses will not work on your buddies Samsung 3D TV or with your NVIDIA 3D Vision computer setup. You’re stuck watching the World Cup alone because each brand of 3D TV requires its own 3D glasses.

...See, I don't want to be a doomsayer, but I just don't know how this is supposed to be a win for anyone in terms of their business. It seems like people in the entertainment / gaming industry saw what Avatar grossed, decided that 3D is now a hot item, and are now trying to jump onto what they perceive to be a money train.

I mean, doesn't Sony (just to pick on them for a second) see the difference between expecting customers to pay 10-20 bucks for a movie ticket & wear sunglasses for a couple of hours vs expecting customers to pay several thousand dollars to renovate their whole entertainment system, plus wear these really silly things?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOEo-zx9FaU


Besides that, we already know from past experience with the Virtual Boy that the type of stereoscopic depth of field illusion being employed gives players massive fucking headaches after more than a couple of hours at best.

Spoit

But really, Nvidia's 3D is pretty cool, and something to actually make use of all that wasted GPU power because of low quality UE3 games. And the ability to even use it with just different colored lenses is pretty neat too. Much better than AMD's selling point of doing what triplehead has been doing for decades

The Ender

Spoit wrote: »

But really, Nvidia's 3D is pretty cool, and something to actually make use of all that wasted GPU power because of low quality UE3 games. And the ability to even use it with just different colored lenses is pretty neat too. Much better than AMD's selling point of doing what triplehead has been doing for decades

I agree it's totally cool looking - but, I mean, are you going to buy yourself an Nvidia 3D set-up? I know I'm not.

slash000

I still have my Virtual Boy. Have the AC adaptor too. In fact I fired it up a few weeks ago for the hell of it. Works like new still.

plufim

So, turns out those PS4 ads are fake.

Al de Leon, Sony's hardware PR representative, has confirmed to Game Informer that those PlayStation 4 virals are fake. Al simply told GI that he "can confirm that this video is not from SCE [Sony Computer Entertainment]."

Why on earth someone would go to such efforts to make the viral is beyond me.

Santa Claustrophobia

The only thing that can really be a positive about this push for 3D is the same thing that is a positive for HD. But pushing the tech now, it can become cheaper, faster. It happens in the PC field all the damn time. They're still going to have to come up with a 3D standard, however. Or somebody's going to need to make universal glasses.

fragglefart

I wear glasses, so those shutter things are not really a viable option for me to wear for long periods of time.

Plus, I suspect, just like a few million other half-blind screen-addicted gamers...

Santa Claustrophobia

plufim wrote: »

So, turns out those PS4 ads are fake.

Al de Leon, Sony's hardware PR representative, has confirmed to Game Informer that those PlayStation 4 virals are fake. Al simply told GI that he "can confirm that this video is not from SCE [Sony Computer Entertainment]."

Why on earth someone would go to such efforts to make the viral is beyond me.

Within two days this 'statement' will be proven false. World will lol.

plufim

Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »

plufim wrote: »

So, turns out those PS4 ads are fake.

Al de Leon, Sony's hardware PR representative, has confirmed to Game Informer that those PlayStation 4 virals are fake. Al simply told GI that he "can confirm that this video is not from SCE [Sony Computer Entertainment]."

Why on earth someone would go to such efforts to make the viral is beyond me.

Within two days this 'statement' will be proven false. World will lol.

Oh man. That would be deliscious. Sure, we'd get retarded "PS3 3D is the PS4" rhetoric, but the egg on that mans face would be enough to make an omlete big enough to feed everyone at E3.

Not really my best analogy.

plufim

So rock band 3 has been revealed to have a 25 key keyboard. Worst kept secret confirmed!

Also, they demo it using "bohemian rhapsoy"

http://www.destructoid.com/rock-band-3-revealed-along-with-new-keyboard-controller-175978.phtml

The old instruments are fully compatible, but they are putting out two new guitars (with strings - one is effectively a fully functional guitar) and a drum with an extra cymbol. Not sure how I feel about that.

But if all the old songs are fully compatible with keys, "Baba O'Reily" will finally have something for someone to do for the first minute.

Santa Claustrophobia

I don't think DLC that old will be compatible with the new keyboard peripheral.

plufim

Yeah, Rock Band thread general consensus is that older stuff will not have keys patched in.

Sad face.

Santa Claustrophobia

plufim wrote: »

Yeah, Rock Band thread general consensus is that older stuff will not have keys patched in.

Sad face.

That particular song, if authentically charted, would still be generally dull for the keyboards. Since it's all basically just pre-programed synth with little flourishes (and the occasional piano hit). At the time, it was criticised for having the potential of making music too rigidly structured.

cooljammer00

Now I just want some proper Van Halen.

AnteCantelope

plufim wrote: »

So rock band 3 has been revealed to have a 25 key keyboard. Worst kept secret confirmed!

Also, they demo it using "bohemian rhapsoy"

http://www.destructoid.com/rock-band-3-revealed-along-with-new-keyboard-controller-175978.phtml

The old instruments are fully compatible, but they are putting out two new guitars (with strings - one is effectively a fully functional guitar) and a drum with an extra cymbol. Not sure how I feel about that.

But if all the old songs are fully compatible with keys, "Baba O'Reily" will finally have something for someone to do for the first minute.

It seems odd that keyboards are so late to be included. The peripheral can be pretty much the same as a regular keyboard, with the same sort of output, and it will be really easy for the game to determine if the player's doing the right thing, unlike guitars which are sort of an abstraction, and singing which it seems pretty dodgy about scoring (and you don't need to sing the right words or anything).

DeathPrawn

AnteCantelope wrote: »

plufim wrote: »

So rock band 3 has been revealed to have a 25 key keyboard. Worst kept secret confirmed!

Also, they demo it using "bohemian rhapsoy"

http://www.destructoid.com/rock-band-3-revealed-along-with-new-keyboard-controller-175978.phtml

The old instruments are fully compatible, but they are putting out two new guitars (with strings - one is effectively a fully functional guitar) and a drum with an extra cymbol. Not sure how I feel about that.

But if all the old songs are fully compatible with keys, "Baba O'Reily" will finally have something for someone to do for the first minute.

It seems odd that keyboards are so late to be included. The peripheral can be pretty much the same as a regular keyboard, with the same sort of output, and it will be really easy for the game to determine if the player's doing the right thing, unlike guitars which are sort of an abstraction, and singing which it seems pretty dodgy about scoring (and you don't need to sing the right words or anything).

Konami made an arcade keyboard game, and there have been a few freeware PC clones. The traditional problem with keyboard music games is that a 25-button input is significantly more complex than the ~5 buttons a guitar or drum controller has, both from the standpoints of user interface design and difficulty curve.

UnbreakableVow

I'm in such a state of shock right now

The idea of a game actually getting me to play real guitar is amazing and scary in its own way

Technology kicks ass

Santa Claustrophobia

Whatever happens, I know I'm not buying one of their special guitars. Perhaps as Endaro suggests, the Pro Mode can be used as a kind of auto-tablature program (for supported songs, of course). But fuck if I'll spend another triple digits on a new guitar peripheral. I'm only willing to spend so much for the IONs just to have the general stability over the default drums.

I'd rather not learn at all than spend more money on another guitar.

UnbreakableVow

It's probably easier to swallow for someone like me who only sticks to the guitar anyways

I don't bother with/own drums or a mic