The Games News

Warren Spector, a game industry veteran and the President of Junction Point Studios, had said “You have a zero percent chance of success.” when he was taking about the independent developers. He also added that “You can’t go make Bejeweled-a puzzle game and then tell EA you want to make Madden”. These quotes of Mr. Spector simply lighten the present scenario of indie or small scale gamers. Today’s gaming industry is preaching its pawns on newer era of big budget games and graphics. Industry has big production houses like Electronic Arts, Sony and Activision which give no space for indies.

In this era of gaming evolution indie companies may find it difficult to compete with big bosses of gaming, but still they have opportunity with online market places like Xbox LIVE and Nintendo’s Virtual Console for smaller games. But the reality is quite different, the era of geniuses like Richard Garriott and John Carmark of Ultima and Id Software respectively are over. (more…)

“The first five million people are going to buy it, whatever it is, even if it didn’t have games.” These interesting words were spoken by Sony Euro CEO David Reeves during a recent interview. The question, though, seems fit to ask: Would you still buy the PS3 even if it didn’t have games to go with it? I find it a hard question to answer.

Looming in the shadows, the PS3 could lure in some of those 5 million initial buyers with its (somewhat) cheap price considering it has the new Blu-Ray technology. Considering what Blu-Ray could do for the next generation of video games could be another way to grab systems off the shelf. Without games, though, what else is left to imagine for the PS3? If Sony is looking to manufacture for the “social” gamer, then they may lose more than they will gain. If they take the “hardcore” gamers out of the equation, then they are ignoring over 50% of gamers. Gamers don’t buy games because it’s “the cool thing to do,” or because it will increase the appraised value of your home. Gamers buy games because they love video games and the sensation they get when they play video games, whether it is to relieve stress from everyday work, playing together with friends, or just playing in your free time. This, oddly enough, seems to be a fact that some companies seem to be forgetting.

Planning on purchasing a Sony PlayStation3? Do you already have an Microsoft Xbox 360 or plan on buying one? Well, Sony and Microsoft also think that you should buy the Nintendo Wii while you’re at it. While both Sony and Microsoft continually take small jabs at each other over various issues (pricing being the most reoccurring issue), they both agree that everyone should buy the Nintendo Wii after they buy their respective consoles.

The biggest issue that is being discussed between all 3 companies is the price of their individual systems. With the Xbox 360 between $399-$499, the PS3 between $499-$599, and the Wii hopefully below $300 (maybe even $200), you theoretically could purchase both the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft Xbox 360 for the same price you would pay for the Sony PlayStation 3. Since Sony and Microsoft are having a price war right now, Nintendo can just sit back and watch the Wii climb to the top of the video game mountain.

$600, too expensive or too cheap? It all depends on how you look at it, whether the glass is half full or the glass is half empty. Sony Computer Entertainment executive Ken Kutaragi seems to be look at the glass half empty. Kutaragi said at a recent press conference, “The PlayStation price, it was said to be expensive…same for the PlayStation 2. However, when released, both had sales that were unthinkable for previous game machines. This is because both offered experiences that could not be had on previous game machines.” With the Microsoft Xbox 360 at a price of $399 for its premium system and the Nintendo Wii possibly at a slim $199, the PS3s $599 60 GB premium system is already $200 more than its closest competitor’s price, not to mention the PS3’s 20 GB core system is $499 (still $100 over the price of the 360). However, with the PS3’s Blu-Ray capabilities and its ability to process graphics at an astonishing 1.8 Tera flops, the PlayStation 3 could be easily over $1000. Now, looking at $599 again, it doesn’t seem that bad.

While the functionality opens the door for new gaming experiences, some things still remain the same. Sony ruined the new controller for PlayStation 3 with handles and geometric symbols. 6-way sensitivity on top of traditional game pad movement is nowhere near a copy of full sensitivity with analog commands added on. The controller has very limited capacity in this sense, also, there are limited applications to how they implemented motion sensing, meaning very few games will use it. The PlayStation 1 controller was just a SNES controller with two additional buttons and the second version of the PlayStation 1 controller was just the same with an additional 3D stick, like the one on the Nintendo 64 controller. For the new PlayStation 3 controller things are not positive. So many tiny buttons will be uncomfortable to hold, and the gamers will be certainly disappointed. They should make a new controller with unique new features necessary to push the gaming experience to another superior level.