So far, Move looks like the product I'll buy. MS has not shown me anything that makes me think Kinect is worth a damn. They still have time to fix it and market it better, but right now, I'd buy Move and laugh at Kinect.
Most the hubbub here seems to be about Kinect, seems easy to overlook Move but tbh I think it looks pretty cool.
They've taken some of the good bits from both Wii and Kinect concepts, and the price is decent.
Could do with some more compelling software though.
Speaking of the price, it doesn't seem like they're offering the camera/eye/game bundle over here, just a camera/eye bundle. The price is NZ$110, which is pretty much the same price as games over here, while the Nav controller is $60. Might actually tempt me to pick it up when it has a few games I want supporting it.
Echochrome 2 is so far the only Move exclusive that's really got my interest, though I'll keep an eye on Ape Escape 4 and Heroes on the Move (the Sly/Ratchet/Jak crossover platformer). Otherwise I guess I'd just use it for games I either already own (Flower and Heavy Rain) or intend to buy (Sly Collection, Dead Space Extraction, Killzone 3 and LBP2).
Pity Capcom are assholes and aren't going to patch the original version of RE5 with Move controls, just the Gold Edition. Can't believe I bought that game, let alone the DLC.
It's Blu-Ray powered, which means those extra pixels beyond 480p actually receive their power directly from Blu-Ray technology. This reduces energy requirements and the console's carbon footprint!
It's Blu-Ray powered, which means those extra pixels beyond 480p actually receive their power directly from Blu-Ray technology. This reduces energy requirements and the console's carbon footprint!
What? They have a color changing sphere? I must buy one!
Man, apparently in RUSE the ball while turn red while your cursor's over an enemy unit, then turn green when over your own units. I've no real interest in the game and I'm not sure if that'll be terribly helpful but that sort of stuff is bizarrely intriguing.
Capt Howdy: That's one of the two games I really hope gets some support added in (as well as Portal 2, which'd force me to buy both the PC and PS3 versions of it...).
WARNING: SONY EXEC ATTEMPTING TO DEFEND HOME. MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR BRAIN CELLS.
(Jack Buser, Director of PlayStation Home, via IGN)
IGN: So what's new with PlayStation Home? What are the new features and games you're showing here?
Jack Buser: We've got two announcements, the first of which is our relationship with Codename. It's a new company founded by some of the same folks who started IndieCade, which is the Sundance of the games industry, if you will. Think about an independent record label or independent movie studio—this idea that they're going to incubate talent and find commercial opportunities for revolutionary, really cool ideas from independent developers. We announced at GDC that we're positioning Home as a social games platform. Our partnership with IndideCade is just the next step in that evolution.
So Home is mutating into Facebook now. Because imitating Facebook has worked sooooo well for so many companies.
IGN: So what will that space look like? Will it be a progressively increasing library, or just like a few rotating spots that are updated every month or so?
Jack Buser: I'll get to your question through this: there are a couple of reasons why Home is really cool for developers. It is a managed platform, you're not just throwing your game out there and hoping someone notices. It's a 3D user interface. We're able to guide traffic in ways that 2D interfaces just can't. A lot of developers say if they're not in the Top 10 or Top 20 they won't get noticed unless they get lucky or find some money to spend on marketing. That's not a problem on Home. When we released Sodium in December—an unknown developer, an unknown IP—we had 1.3 million engagements go through Sodium in 6 weeks. That shows the power of our platform. We have 14 million users worldwide. We can say to them, "Hey guys, check that game out," and we see a tremendous amount of traffic go through to it. We tell developers we know how to get people to your game, your job is to build a good game and keep them.
Um, people have to physically navigate to certain spaces to play the games. Of course crap is going to get lost in the shuffle.
Have you been to the Midway yet?
IGN: Nope, not at all.
Jack Buser: Midway is the first pay-to-play game space on a console. You go into the Midway, it's like a country carnival, and play different games, each with 10 levels of difficulty. To play a game you need to buy a book of tickets. 99 cents gets you 50 tickets, and you use one ticket each time you play a game. Sometimes a game will be made free and if you don't want to pay you can wait for a particular game to become free. This is a really cool model because people are paying pennies at a time to play these games, unlocking all these rewards.
Whee, microtransactions. Anyway, here's a pic of Midway, spoiler'd for disturbing:
Another model we use is freemium, something that's very, very common in social games on the web. The core gameplay is free and then you can upgrade your experience by buying virtual items that make it easier to play or somehow upgrade your experience in the game. A good example of that is Sodium. You can mine for resources, earn rewards, bartend, and do all that sorts of stuff for free. If you want, you can purchase the pilot's jacket and unlock 45 of the 50 levels in the core shooter experience. We now have games that can be sold as things you can put in your personal space. We have a pool table, dart board, arcade games. You can build games in the context of a personal space as well, it's very flexible.
Man, Sony's really working hard to wring cash out of us.
IGN: So how big is Home now? How many people use the service and who are they?
Jack Buser: We have 14 million worldwide users. 85% of the people who use Home have been there before. It's a very sticky platform. Another stat that's very important to us is the average session duration, which is 70 minutes. That's up from 60 minutes just a few months ago. And that's an average session, some people are spending a tremendous amount of time in Home. Calendar first quarter revenues are up 3 times from the same period last year, so revenue growth is fantastic.
Are people who aren't us actually using this thing?
IGN: How much money does that actually account for?
Jack Buser: We don't say estimates. One thing we do say is that our business model is made up of two aspects, advertising and virtual items. The bulk of our business comes from virtual items, and it's an extremely high margin business for us, it's wonderfully profitable. It has a fixed cost of development, you make a virtual item one time and you can sell a tremendous number of times without scaling your costs. It's one of the highest margin models in the games industry. I think Home was one first platforms in North America to come out and really break open that business model.
Yay for them, but somehow admitting this publicly doesn't make me want to rush out and grab me some microtransactions.
IGN: How are you able to bring people into Home? It's always sitting there in the cross media bar, but it seems like there's a lot of content there that could appeal to people who don't already have a PS3, maybe someone playing games on Facebook or somewhere else.
Jack Buser: The PlayStation Home user is the most engaged, most hardcore PlayStation 3 user. They play more games, they buy more games, they watch more movies, and listen to more music than the average PS3 user, who is already an extremely engaged consumer. I think a lot of people might assume Home users are "casual," but they're actually the most engaged consumers we have.
I'm calling bullshit on that one.
IGN: I think there's an interesting paradox in the way Home is perceived. In the media, we've more or less lost interest in it. It's become a kind of anachronistic joke from where Sony was at GDC in 2007, fighting to catch up and stand apart. But it's always been a successful service. Consumers seem to have responded significantly, but the media has stopped caring.
Jack Buser: With a user base of 14 million, Home is a force to be reckoned with from a consumer standpoint. One of the things we're doing now is really reaching out to the press and encouraging them to come in again and check it out. It's an extremely streamlined experience, 5,000 plus virtual items, fifty spaces, a hundred games to play, tons of content—come in and check it out again. Sometimes we'll see an article that has an inaccuracy in it and then you see the comments section. You'll see the users really rush to defend it, they're really passionate about it. From the beginning Home has been an evolving platform and it's changed a lot.
In addition to that, the more something sucks, the more early adapters have a chance to mutate into a super-fan whose attempts to convince others that the thing they're fanboying about is awesome is more an attempt to convince themselves that it's awesome.
There's X, then there's Y, then Z. Did I miss something? As far as I'm aware I live in a THREE dimensional world.
Not to mention they say XY support via IR, but IR detects XYZ. That's been there since launch where you would move the wiimote closer to zoom in with Red Steel because the sensor can interpret the dots distance expanding or contracting.
There's X, then there's Y, then Z. Did I miss something? As far as I'm aware I live in a THREE dimensional world.
Not to mention they say XY support via IR, but IR detects XYZ. That's been there since launch where you would move the wiimote closer to zoom in with Red Steel because the sensor can interpret the dots distance expanding or contracting.
All I could ever think of was that they're counting each direction of an axis from the origin but still went with SIXAXIS because SIXVECTOR just doesn't look right.
jclast on
0
Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
WARNING: SONY EXEC ATTEMPTING TO DEFEND HOME. MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR BRAIN CELLS.
(Jack Buser, Director of PlayStation Home, via IGN)
What exactly did you expect him to say? Guy's gotta justify his job somehow. And does 'Director of PS Home' even count as an executive job?
At this point, I doubt Sony's gonna get rid of Home since there's already people that've spent time/money on it and it'd create bad publicity if they did so. They'll keep it going till the end of the generation and then quietly kill it off, never speaking of it again.
There's X, then there's Y, then Z. Did I miss something? As far as I'm aware I live in a THREE dimensional world.
Not to mention they say XY support via IR, but IR detects XYZ. That's been there since launch where you would move the wiimote closer to zoom in with Red Steel because the sensor can interpret the dots distance expanding or contracting.
All I could ever think of was that they're counting each direction of an axis from the origin but still went with SIXAXIS because SIXVECTOR just doesn't look right.
WARNING: SONY EXEC ATTEMPTING TO DEFEND HOME. MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR BRAIN CELLS.
(Jack Buser, Director of PlayStation Home, via IGN)
What exactly did you expect him to say? Guy's gotta justify his job somehow. And does 'Director of PS Home' even count as an executive job?
At this point, I doubt Sony's gonna get rid of Home since there's already people that've spent time/money on it and it'd create bad publicity if they did so. They'll keep it going till the end of the generation and then quietly kill it off, never speaking of it again.
That and by the time next gen rolls around they may be able to actually implement it, at launch, with significant incentives to get people to actually use it and developers to take advantage of it.
IGN: I think there's an interesting paradox in the way Home is perceived. In the media, we've more or less lost interest in it. It's become a kind of anachronistic joke from where Sony was at GDC in 2007, fighting to catch up and stand apart. But it's always been a successful service. Consumers seem to have responded significantly, but the media has stopped caring.
Jack Buser: With a user base of 14 million, Home is a force to be reckoned with from a consumer standpoint. One of the things we're doing now is really reaching out to the press and encouraging them to come in again and check it out. It's an extremely streamlined experience, 5,000 plus virtual items, fifty spaces, a hundred games to play, tons of content—come in and check it out again. Sometimes we'll see an article that has an inaccuracy in it and then you see the comments section. You'll see the users really rush to defend it, they're really passionate about it. From the beginning Home has been an evolving platform and it's changed a lot.
IGN: I think there's an interesting paradox in the way Home is perceived. In the media, we've more or less lost interest in it. It's become a kind of anachronistic joke from where Sony was at GDC in 2007, fighting to catch up and stand apart. But it's always been a successful service. Consumers seem to have responded significantly, but the media has stopped caring.
Jack Buser: With a user base of 14 million, Home is a force to be reckoned with from a consumer standpoint. One of the things we're doing now is really reaching out to the press and encouraging them to come in again and check it out. It's an extremely streamlined experience, 5,000 plus virtual items, fifty spaces, a hundred games to play, tons of content—come in and check it out again. Sometimes we'll see an article that has an inaccuracy in it and then you see the comments section. You'll see the users really rush to defend it, they're really passionate about it. From the beginning Home has been an evolving platform and it's changed a lot.
Home has violent defenders?
Home has articles on it?
I think he's talking about online articles bashing Home.
Cameron_Talley on
Switch Friend Code: SW-4598-4278-8875
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
There's X, then there's Y, then Z. Did I miss something? As far as I'm aware I live in a THREE dimensional world.
Not to mention they say XY support via IR, but IR detects XYZ. That's been there since launch where you would move the wiimote closer to zoom in with Red Steel because the sensor can interpret the dots distance expanding or contracting.
All I could ever think of was that they're counting each direction of an axis from the origin but still went with SIXAXIS because SIXVECTOR just doesn't look right.
There's X, then there's Y, then Z. Did I miss something? As far as I'm aware I live in a THREE dimensional world.
Not to mention they say XY support via IR, but IR detects XYZ. That's been there since launch where you would move the wiimote closer to zoom in with Red Steel because the sensor can interpret the dots distance expanding or contracting.
All I could ever think of was that they're counting each direction of an axis from the origin but still went with SIXAXIS because SIXVECTOR just doesn't look right.
SIXAXIS spelled backwards is SIXAXIS.
And SIXVECTOR spelled backwards is ROTCEVXIS. Clearly, my name is superior.
There's X, then there's Y, then Z. Did I miss something? As far as I'm aware I live in a THREE dimensional world.
Not to mention they say XY support via IR, but IR detects XYZ. That's been there since launch where you would move the wiimote closer to zoom in with Red Steel because the sensor can interpret the dots distance expanding or contracting.
All I could ever think of was that they're counting each direction of an axis from the origin but still went with SIXAXIS because SIXVECTOR just doesn't look right.
SIXAXIS spelled backwards is SIXAXIS.
It never dawned on me that Sixaxis is a palindrome.
Cameron_Talley on
Switch Friend Code: SW-4598-4278-8875
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
There's X, then there's Y, then Z. Did I miss something? As far as I'm aware I live in a THREE dimensional world.
Not to mention they say XY support via IR, but IR detects XYZ. That's been there since launch where you would move the wiimote closer to zoom in with Red Steel because the sensor can interpret the dots distance expanding or contracting.
All I could ever think of was that they're counting each direction of an axis from the origin but still went with SIXAXIS because SIXVECTOR just doesn't look right.
SIXAXIS spelled backwards is SIXAXIS.
It never dawned on me that Sixaxis is a palindrome.
Did you guys link to that Namco article where they were pinning their hopes and dreams on Enslaved becoming GTA4 like in sales?
I mean, Enslaved looks okay and all, but Namco is dreaming. Or crazy. One of the two.
Namco has really screwed the pooch this gen.
Slaughterhouse should fix everything for sure!
I wonder how they're merger with Bandai is paying off? Not sure how well anime property sell nowadays.
DBZ DBZ Naruto DBZ DBZ Naruto DBZ Naruto Some other properties in Japan
I think One Piece is in there somewhere. But yeah, that's about it. The merger allowed them to have Activision-style exploitables between Tekken, Soul Calibur, and Pac-Man re-releases.
Posts
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
PS3: KayleSolo
Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
They've taken some of the good bits from both Wii and Kinect concepts, and the price is decent.
Could do with some more compelling software though.
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
PS3: KayleSolo
Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
3DS FC: 0817-3759-2788
Speaking of the price, it doesn't seem like they're offering the camera/eye/game bundle over here, just a camera/eye bundle. The price is NZ$110, which is pretty much the same price as games over here, while the Nav controller is $60. Might actually tempt me to pick it up when it has a few games I want supporting it.
Echochrome 2 is so far the only Move exclusive that's really got my interest, though I'll keep an eye on Ape Escape 4 and Heroes on the Move (the Sly/Ratchet/Jak crossover platformer). Otherwise I guess I'd just use it for games I either already own (Flower and Heavy Rain) or intend to buy (Sly Collection, Dead Space Extraction, Killzone 3 and LBP2).
Pity Capcom are assholes and aren't going to patch the original version of RE5 with Move controls, just the Gold Edition. Can't believe I bought that game, let alone the DLC.
What's the difference between Blu-Ray HD at 1080p and regular HD at 1080p? Slower load times?
Sony has gone green! Or blu, whatever!
... but seriously.
3DS: 1521-4165-5907
PS3: KayleSolo
Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
Man, apparently in RUSE the ball while turn red while your cursor's over an enemy unit, then turn green when over your own units. I've no real interest in the game and I'm not sure if that'll be terribly helpful but that sort of stuff is bizarrely intriguing.
Capt Howdy: That's one of the two games I really hope gets some support added in (as well as Portal 2, which'd force me to buy both the PC and PS3 versions of it...).
(Jack Buser, Director of PlayStation Home, via IGN)
So Home is mutating into Facebook now. Because imitating Facebook has worked sooooo well for so many companies.
Um, people have to physically navigate to certain spaces to play the games. Of course crap is going to get lost in the shuffle.
Whee, microtransactions. Anyway, here's a pic of Midway, spoiler'd for disturbing:
Man, Sony's really working hard to wring cash out of us.
Are people who aren't us actually using this thing?
Yay for them, but somehow admitting this publicly doesn't make me want to rush out and grab me some microtransactions.
I'm calling bullshit on that one.
Home has violent defenders?
Anything, no matter how terrible, will have someone prepared to waste hours and hours in the comments section on news blogs in its defense.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
There's X, then there's Y, then Z. Did I miss something? As far as I'm aware I live in a THREE dimensional world.
Not to mention they say XY support via IR, but IR detects XYZ. That's been there since launch where you would move the wiimote closer to zoom in with Red Steel because the sensor can interpret the dots distance expanding or contracting.
All I could ever think of was that they're counting each direction of an axis from the origin but still went with SIXAXIS because SIXVECTOR just doesn't look right.
Sony Defense Force: Activate!
Fanboys will defend anything on "their system", no matter how stupid it is.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1107575p1.html
What exactly did you expect him to say? Guy's gotta justify his job somehow. And does 'Director of PS Home' even count as an executive job?
At this point, I doubt Sony's gonna get rid of Home since there's already people that've spent time/money on it and it'd create bad publicity if they did so. They'll keep it going till the end of the generation and then quietly kill it off, never speaking of it again.
And 6DOF is just silly
That and by the time next gen rolls around they may be able to actually implement it, at launch, with significant incentives to get people to actually use it and developers to take advantage of it.
I think he's talking about online articles bashing Home.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
Bought. That is an excellent excuse to play through my favorite series from the PS2 again.
SIXAXIS spelled backwards is SIXAXIS.
And SIXVECTOR spelled backwards is ROTCEVXIS. Clearly, my name is superior.
I mean, Enslaved looks okay and all, but Namco is dreaming. Or crazy. One of the two.
Namco has really screwed the pooch this gen.
Slaughterhouse should fix everything for sure!
It never dawned on me that Sixaxis is a palindrome.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
I wonder how they're merger with Bandai is paying off? Not sure how well anime property sell nowadays.
Edit: Or is that Konami?
It is?
I just thought it was a crappy motion gimmick.
I think One Piece is in there somewhere. But yeah, that's about it. The merger allowed them to have Activision-style exploitables between Tekken, Soul Calibur, and Pac-Man re-releases.
The Gundam games were 'special' cases. Not strictly speaking Namco's.
Super Robot Taisen continues to be a huge deal for them.
So... there's that.
EDIT
I want to say that I recall reading something along the lines of Tales Studio being in financial trouble as well.