[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by goMac

As for the Wii's DVD player, that actually does really annoy me. Here's to hoping for a software update.

Don't bet on that. Unless the Wii bombs and they think it is because of the DVD player it isn't going to happen. People want a DVD player in the unit as since they are targeting the low/mid end casual gamer their TV's won't have enough ports for TV programming, Wii AND a DVD player so 2 in one would have helped.

I am guessing it is not a software issue either as they could easily have included it at launch if so.
The only reason must be they don't want to pay $10 a unit in licensing, the first Xbox also did this by selling a DVD add on which included an IR remote and the license fee hidden in the cost.

The ironic part is you seem to hold in such high regard that Nintendo is making money from day one... unfortunately they are making money because they cut features like the DVD player (better $10 for them then you getting more) and high def graphics. Nintendo could make more powerful hardware if they wanted and the Wii would have rocked if it was 360 hardware with the Wiimote. But they don't want to lose money for a year and have the customer happy. They want to make money immediately and if that means you lose in terms of features or value.. so be it.

Another example is how they are charging for the browser after 6 months of including it. Again, why pay opera and not make as much money when they can make you do it.

So gloat away when Nintendo announced profits. For one I am much happier when I find out Microsoft and Sony lose money selling me killer hardware that I bought for less then it cost to make. To some Nintendo fans they are actually are happier knowing the CEO got a new ivory back scratcher because they didn't include High def cables or a DVD player.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by torsoboy

Agreed. They jacked up the price and put it at the highest price possible according to analysts beforehand, didn't use any hardware worth anything, charge too much for old games, make it not play DVDs, charge $40-60 for an "extra" paddle, charge $50-60 for games, and basically just blew it (for me at least).

The Wii's shipping announcement was a bit odd.

Again, it is all about Nintendo wanting to make money from day one. No risk to them, the consumer loses.

You'd have to wonder if they would sell 10 million more units if it was priced at the physiological lower price of $199. Sure Nintendo might lose $10 a unit for the first year (or still make money but not as much) but in the end they would get it back and have more market share to sell games to.

I also can't understand why they didn't launch even a day before the PS3 and instead waited till TWO days after?

The games cost is also troubling. Some games are ridiculously simple such as touch generation/ Wario games. To charge the same as most Xbox games which offer more in terms of graphics/sound and longevity but are the same cost doesn't sit well with people. If Red Steel is $60 and Halo is $60 it doesn't look good.

[ort888]

I think all Wii games are $50. I've never heard $60 from anywhere.

It's still too much.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by ort888

I think all Wii games are $50. I've never heard $60 from anywhere.

It's still too much.

$49 first party $59 (or up) 3rd party is the official word from Nintendo.

[ort888]

IGN: IGN's Nintendo Wii FAQ

"Nintendo will be pricing its Wii games at $49.99 and is recommending that its third party contributors do the same. This is $10 cheaper than many games for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."

I've never heard $60 anywhere. 3rd party developers could charge $60, but I've never heard anything other then the $50 price thrown around.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by ort888

IGN: IGN's Nintendo Wii FAQ

"Nintendo will be pricing its Wii games at $49.99 and is recommending that its third party contributors do the same. This is $10 cheaper than many games for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."

I've never heard $60 anywhere. 3rd party developers could charge $60, but I've never heard anything other then the $50 price thrown around.

Trust me, they can recommend what they want but you can already pre-order and most games are more.

This is strange though. $50 US is $54 Canadian but for some reason the Wii games are listed at an astounding $69 EACH! I didn't pay that much for Halo 2!!!

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/cla...gon=&langid=EN

[ort888]

I think raising the price of games is actually going to end up costing the game companies more in the long run. All it will do is drive more people toward rental services.

[Dakar]

All I know is it will make me more finicky than before. Or I'll just wait for Greatest Hits more often.

Speaking of which I wonder what they will cost in this new era.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

Trust me, they can recommend what they want but you can already pre-order and most games are more.

This is strange though. $50 US is $54 Canadian but for some reason the Wii games are listed at an astounding $69 EACH! I didn't pay that much for Halo 2!!!

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/cla...gon=&langid=EN

Often times the prices drop when the stuff is actually close to shipping.

But then again, it could just be wonky pricing for Canada again. It definitely wouldn't be the first time.

[ort888]

The first wave of 360 Platinum hits are $29.99 each. Too high.

$20 games is what put the Playstation ahead in the first place. I would buy a lot more games at $30 each then I do at $60. More then twice as many.

At $30 bucks, I would take a chance on anything. At $60, I rent 90% of my games.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug

It looks like that despite their hype about it, they're really going ghetto with this machine.

See that is my major concern.

As the fanboys seem to LOVE to point out as if it is a good thing.. Nintendo will make money from day ONE.

That is not good for us at all and only good for the people who profit from working at Nintendo.

Here is why....

If I go buy a Wii day one or 5 years from now.. Nintendo already made money from me so technically if they never need to hear from me again and they still win.

If they like they can come out with ONE or TWO games themselves a year to make another $30 off you. This is exactly how the N64 and Gamecube went. Sloooow trickle of games and the only really good ones were from Nintendo themselves. No more games come out and Nintendo won't be that concerned because they already made their money off you and 1 hyped title a year might be enough to spur more hardware sales.

On the other side of the fence both MS and Sony lose money selling your the hardware so YOU win from day one not the company.

After that Sony and MS have to do their darndest pushing out good games so they can make back the money they lost selling you the hardware. That means they make some killer games themselves or encourage 3rd parties to do the same. Since the games for this generation are about the same as the Wii (sometimes $10-20 more) there isn't a compelling to go Wii in terms of value or dollars.

I am so scared the same thing that happened with the N64 and Cube will happen with the Wii. Nintendo hooks us to buy the hardware they make money from right away with a couple alluring games.. this time Zelda and Metroid (seriously, what else is must have?) and after that 2 good games a year such as Mario whenever it ships.

After that they will try to sell you the same hardware again with a small change or just in a new colour to make some more bucks where MS and Sony don't want to do that.

[starman]

Well said.

[Dark Helmet]

Here is a wii price calculator. Unfortunately it doesn't take into account SD cards or component cables.

N-Sider.com: Wii Calculator (USA)

[ajprice]

I now have half a Wii360 . Bought the 360 (hard drive model) and PGR3 bundle today with Oblivion. Great so far, not online yet though. I've tried the XBox to Mac connection settings from here, but it fails on the DNS address , Not sure if i want to turn my Mac on just to get online with the 360 (I've been using the network cable that comes with the 360). Oh and its looking good on the Dell 24" too !!

As this is a new one, I'm just wondering what version of the software it comes with, I don't know if its up to date because I haven't been online yet to update it (The system Info in the System pane says its Dashboard 2.0.2258.0 if thats any use.

[goMac]

Apparently the PS3 runs a wee bit hot:

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ridge-r...tgs-202609.php

[ajprice]

Will every PS3 come with a free office fan now??

[zro]

Yes, all praise Sony and microsoft. ALWAYS thinking of the little guy, never themselves. Makes me wanna... cry!! :_|

Generic haters. So pathetic yet so funny..

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by goMac

Apparently the PS3 runs a wee bit hot:

TGS06: Ridge Racer 7 = Too Hot For TGS - Kotaku

Riiiiiiiiiiidge- bzzzt

[itai195]

Originally Posted by zro

Yes, all praise Sony and microsoft. ALWAYS thinking of the little guy, never themselves. Makes me wanna... cry!! :_|

How dare a company want to make money on their product, the nerve!

[goMac]

First Sony claims the PS3 will run OS X... now they claim it will run Genesis games.

Unfortunetly Sega says otherwise:

http://www.worthplaying.com/article....rder=0&thold=0

[starman]

No, Sega says "at this time".

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by goMac

Apparently the PS3 runs a wee bit hot:

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ridge-r...tgs-202609.php

Cute, also mention it ran for 8 hours in a cabinet.

Then I'll point out how other kiosks ran all day with no problem and my gamecube crashed more than all my game stations combined.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

Cute, also mention it ran for 8 hours in a cabinet.

Then I'll point out how other kiosks ran all day with no problem

According to that article, a lot of them went down.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

Cute, also mention it ran for 8 hours in a cabinet.

Then I'll point out how other kiosks ran all day with no problem and my gamecube crashed more than all my game stations combined.

Now I don't care one way or the other about this console war (other than I would have liked the Wii to not suck so much), but I have never (not even once) had my gamecube crash on me in the three years I have had it. I did buy a later model, so maybe they had that fixed by the time I got it, but it amazes me that you say yours crashes a lot (or at least suggested it). Did you N64 and Super Nintendo also do that? I have never had a console overheat... ever.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by torsoboy

Now I don't care one way or the other about this console war (other than I would have liked the Wii to not suck so much), but I have never (not even once) had my gamecube crash on me in the three years I have had it. I did buy a later model, so maybe they had that fixed by the time I got it, but it amazes me that you say yours crashes a lot (or at least suggested it). Did you N64 and Super Nintendo also do that? I have never had a console overheat... ever.

The only systems that have ever locked up on me as far as I can remember are the NES, Genesis and (less often) the original Playstation.

[TETENAL]

heise online - Sony nennt Details f�r PS3-Start in Japan

According to this heise.de-article Gran Turismo for the Playstation 3 will initially only have two tracks. That's lame.

[Adam Betts]

Starfox Adventures for Gamecube crashes all the time for me but it has nothing to do with hardware, it was a rushed game from Rare.

I'd say Gamecube is a solid, stable machine. In my experience, PS2/XBOX1 crashes far more due to overheating and cd reading problems.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Adam Betts

Starfox Adventures for Gamecube crashes all the time for me but it has nothing to do with hardware, it was a rushed game from Rare.

I'd say Gamecube is a solid, stable machine. In my experience, PS2/XBOX1 crashes far more due to overheating and cd reading problems.

On my xbox 1 my system NEVER once crashed, neither did my PS2. My PS2 acted a bit weird by not wanting to play some disks at one point but i just opened it and adjusted the laser as the instructions you can find on the net and it was fine after that.

My gamecube crashed on Metroid 1 and quite a few other games from time to time.

People had widely reported problems of the N64's crashing like mad when they added that video RAM upgrade so they left the cover off so it didn't overheat.

my 360 crashed when I first got it but I exchanged it a week later and the new one has never even stuttered in a year.

[itai195]

Hmm, I've never had crashing problems with Nintendo hardware. My PS1 used to crash all the time and my Xbox crashes pretty frequently.

[goMac]

I don't think my Gamecube has ever crashed. Especially on Metroid 1.

Sounds like SWG has a borked Gamecube.

[Adam Betts]

I remember about N64 and 8MB RAM crashness. It's true, especially for Turok 2.

First cd print of Metroid 1 has severe bug at first elevator, it'll crash the game but it is a software bug, not hardware. I haven't encountered any hardware bugs in GC so far.

[im_noahselby]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

I also can't understand why they didn't launch even a day before the PS3 and instead waited till TWO days after?

It doesn't really matter all that much. PS3's are going to sell out instantly. The type of people who are going to be buying a PS3 already know who they are.

"Impulse buyers" and parents wont be swayed to spend an additional $350, when all they have to do is wait a couple days.

I have a feeling that the PS3's are going to sell out instantly. On the other hand, I have a feeling that there will be plenty of Wii's to go around this holiday season.

Noah

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Adam Betts

I remember about N64 and 8MB RAM crashness. It's true, especially for Turok 2.

Actually almost any game that used the card was known to overheat and crash soon enough.

But don't tell goMac cuz only me and you had that problem with our defective units.

On another note, not that people are playing the PS3 games they seem excited:

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/lair/tg...ess-202856.php

[ort888]

Here's my grades for the durability (amount of crashes and glitches) for every console I have owned.

NES: C- (Good during it's prime, but currently suffers from a ton of problems)
SNES: A
Genesis: A
N64: A
PS1: F-
Dreamcast: A
PS2: D (Technically not mine, but my roommate and I had a lot of problems)
Xbox: B+
GameCube: C-
Xbox 360: A (so far, not one problem)

My N64 was rock solid, and I had the RAM chip in from the first day it was available. My Gamecube has always been buggy and suffers from a lot of freezes and disc errors. I would say one about every 10 hours or so (depending on the game)

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

Actually almost any game that used the card was known to overheat and crash soon enough.

But don't tell goMac cuz only me and you had that problem with our defective units.

It never happened to me, and I used to play Perfect Dark and Turok 24/7. (Not saying it didn't happen to you; just that it really wasn't a universal thing.)

[starman]

PS1 F-? I still have my original one and a PSOne with the built-in screen. Never had a problem.

My PS2 is a Day One unit and has issues with Ridge Racer V, but that's it.

[Dakar]

I think I've crashed everything I own except my GameBoy Advance.

Actually, I probably didn't crash my Virtual Boy either.

[starman]

AH! I crashed my GBA. The Monopoly game would lock up on me at certain points.

[Dakar]

I'm not surprised, I just under utilize mine.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by starman

PS1 F-? I still have my original one and a PSOne with the built-in screen. Never had a problem.

I went through, like, three. It didn't crash as often as the Genesis, but when it did, whoa nelly. Apparently it had air circulation issues.

[ort888]

Originally Posted by starman

PS1 F-? I still have my original one and a PSOne with the built-in screen. Never had a problem.

My PS2 is a Day One unit and has issues with Ridge Racer V, but that's it.

I bought a PS1 a few weeks after launch and it gave me constant problems. Stuttering, freezes, lock-ups, etc. I got it replaced (after a ton of hassle) and my replacement was just as bad. After a few months it stopped working and Sony refused to fix it. I haven't spent a dime on another sony product since.

[Dark Helmet]

Never had a PS1 but with CD-ROMs back in the day I am not surprised they had problems. Many people say just about every NES went dead because of corroding contacts but I never had a prob with mine. If I can find it I am sure it would still work.

So far the only game systems that haven't crashed on my are the handhelds and Xbox 1.

On another note I am still addicted to Loco Roco on PSP, it is just about the best example of a handheld game you can get as it only uses 3 buttons (L, R and sometimes the O button) is a quick play for 2-15 minutes levels, 3 second load times and just a bunch of harmless, pretty, original fun. If you got a PSP, get it!

[ort888]

It wasn't just me. All of my gamer friends also bought launch PS1s and they ALL broke. every single one.

I think the NES's problem is the springs lose their springyness and the cartridges can't make a solid contact with the console. That and dirt.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by ort888

It wasn't just me. All of my gamer friends also bought launch PS1s and they ALL broke. every single one.

Hey like I said I am not disputing that as I don't have any personal experience.

To be fair to ALL systems though I have never seen an advanced computer system not crash once or have some sort of hardware error.

I mean every mac I have had ended up with some sort of flaw and every app has crashed at least once. My PVR crashes, my cellphone, iPod, heck even my microwave.

I guess we don't like to think of our game systems as being computers in disguise and have moving parts.

Back in the day once a game went to press that was it, it had to be perfect or it could mean big money trouble. I remember the widespread Metroid (GC) elevator crash and the turok (n64) problems but never heard of the companies making well known public recalls.

With net access and hard drives computer games were always updated after the fact either because they knew they could fix it in the future if need be so they were lazy or only did it because it was easy to do without recalling disks.

When the Xbox came out with a hard drive and net access I was absolutely trilled because many games came out with bug fixes months down the road or even better new features.

With the 360 some launch titles like Call of duty had a well known bug because the disk went to press and then MS made a change to Xbox live which caused a problem. Luckily a free software patch posted fixed that problem.

I wish that would have been possible with the Cube and PS2.

Question about the Wii. Is the ROM upgradable or is the built in 512 storage going to be used for system patches or new features? On the PSP all new features like web browsing, RSS etc was all added through ROM not to take up any memory card space.

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

My PVR crashes, my cellphone, iPod, heck even my microwave.

Microwave?? It's not really comforting to hear about kitchen appliances that emit microwave radiation crashing.

There will always be bugs. But, I believe in this new, online enabled console arena that developers are getting lazy - thinking that things can just be patched after release. For instance, Saints Row for the 360 has horrible online, multiplayer problems. It HAD to be completely noticeable during the company's internal testing, it's THAT apparent. They are working on an update but they released the game knowing full well that it wasn't ready for retail.

And, what if you don't have internet access for your console? Are you supposed to drag it and TV to a local hotspot to download fixes for your game? Contact the developer and have them burn you a copy?

It's not just game developers getting lazy - it's absolutely every developer regardless of platform nowadays. The sell it now, fix it later mentality is getting tiresome. Very, very tiresome.

[ajprice]

Originally Posted by screamingFit

Microwave?? It's not really comforting to hear about kitchen appliances that emit microwave radiation crashing.

There will always be bugs. But, I believe in this new, online enabled console arena that developers are getting lazy - thinking that things can just be patched after release. For instance, Saints Row for the 360 has horrible online, multiplayer problems. It HAD to be completely noticeable during the company's internal testing, it's THAT apparent. They are working on an update but they released the game knowing full well that it wasn't ready for retail.

And, what if you don't have internet access for your console? Are you supposed to drag it and TV to a local hotspot to download fixes for your game? Contact the developer and have them burn you a copy?

It's not just game developers getting lazy - it's absolutely every developer regardless of platform nowadays. The sell it now, fix it later mentality is getting tiresome. Very, very tiresome.

Absolutely, a small update to fix an odd glitch when a certain thing happens is forgivable, but releasing software with known bugs that take away the enjoyment of a game is stupid and lazy, but it seems like its allowed now because the next gen consoles are online, so the games are going the way of PC games with little fixes along the way after its released instead of getting the game right in the first place!

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by screamingFit

There will always be bugs. But, I believe in this new, online enabled console arena that developers are getting lazy.

I agree but at least they can do something about it now.

My metroid crashed at a certain point, it was an obvious bug that tons of people had. I got no fix of any sort for it.

[ort888]

X06 conference.. I'll sum up....

HD-DVD = $199 in Novemebr (comes with Kong & remote), Halo Real-time Strategy coming, Banjo Kazooie coming, Biosjock is 360 exclusive now, next Splinter Cell is 360 exclusive now, GTA has exclusive 360 content, RE5 confirmed, classic Doom now available on Live, uh... Assassin's Creed looks cool and is coming to 360. Peter Jackson is working on 360 games and Halo content. Forza 2 in 2007






Here's the details in reverse order... (start at the bottom and read up!)

8:10 p.m. Ensemble Studios logo appears. I know what this is. I hear a warthog. It's driving through the snow and a Scottish version of the Halo-theme is dancing in th ebackground. A soldier falls to a plasma bolt, an elite unstealths and kills another. War breaks out and there's a handful of Spartans on the horizong overlooking the battle: "if they want war, we'll give them war." Halo Wars logo appears. The lights are up and Microsoft is done for the night.

8:09 p.m. Jackson's studio will be called Wingnut Interactive. Peter Moore confirmed that Bungie was working on content beyond Halo 3, hopefully it is the brand, new IP they are supposed to be mucking around with -- those guys need a break from the Halo-verse. Give 'em one, Microsoft. Wingnut Interactive will co-develop and co-produce a brand new Halo series.

8:07 p.m. Peter Jackson is on stage talking about filmic game experiences. Yeah, the guy who made Lord of the Rings has snuggled up with Microsoft to make story-driven games that may or may not be able to be made into games. He looks at games as a new way on how to tell stories. Remember when Bill Gates introduced Halo 3? You think Peter Jackson is here to introduce something in the Halo universe? He is.

8:05 p.m. A well-known developer with a universe super heroes? Well we published the story earlier, so there's no reason to play coy. Marvel Universe Online is being developed by Cryptic (the City of Heroes guys) and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Marvel and Cryptic kissed and made up, with MGS's blessing.

8:03 p.m. It's a Windows Vista montage, led by Halo 2 and Company of Heroes, then some Alan Wake and Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Existing Crysis footage is followed by Age of Conan and Rail Simulator. Along with some Hellgate London and Shadowrun footage.

8:00 p.m. $199.00 for the HD-DVD drive in the U.S. It comes with the universal remote and a copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong on HD-DVD. Hmm, part of the Halo deal or something else?

7:58 p.m. After slipping in that Forza Motorsport 2 would ship in 2007 (no Megaton, here), Moore makes a joke about how many cars will ship on Forza's disc (get it, Gran Turismo makes you buy the cars, get it!)

7:57 p.m. Some new Double Agent screens for this fall's Splinter Cell fans. Ubisoft got one of those guys from the movie trailers to do the voice over! Now, the next version of Splinter Cell -- (tentatively titled Splinter Cell: Conviction) is coming to Xbox 360 and PC, exclusively.

7:54 p.m. Apparently the sound wasn't totally working during the beginning of the demo -- I didn't notice, I was too busy muttering under my breath at this friggin' Internet. Now, Moore is talking about Lost Planet, Capcom's next big Resident Evil 5 -- which Moore says is on the way, but doesn't mention any exclusivity (that would've been a Barcelona-ton, right Peetah?).

(Internet fluttered again, thankfully it's during this old footage, right?)
7:48 p.m. Time paradox! It's Lost Odyssey, the same footage from Tokyo Game Show last week. See, Europe always gets stuff late. Sorry, Europe.

7:45 p.m. After announcing that Microsoft sewed up an exclusive with Irrational and 2k Games for Bioshock (take that PS3?), Peter Moore runs the trailer of the game. It's grisly, grim and beautiful. How much of it is actual gameplay? Judging from the videos we've seen, it looks pretty close.

(Sorry for the delay, Microsoft's Internet died)
7:41 p.m. Squeeee! Jade Raymond is here to demo Assassin's Creed, live, running on the Xbox 360. "It's the first time we're showing the game running on the Xbox 360." This actually pretty much looks like the E3 demo of the game, except its running in front of a hojillion people here at the X06 event. The Assassin sneaks and slinks through the crowd like a serpent, before climbing up a building -- this is the E3 demo, pretty much, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.

7:39 p.m. Peter Moore is rolling out Grand Theft Auto IV again, re-mentioning the title's date and now has detailed two "epic episodes" that will be added to the game. In terms of semantics -- Moore hasn't said that the content will be exclusive. Oh, wait -- he just did, each episode will be exclusive to the Xbox 360. You know what this means though? Exclusive content for both versions of the game. Better buy both systems, kids.

7:36 p.m. After the Blue Dragon presentation, Peter Moore confirmed that this is the game that would help them breakthrough in Japan. He then cites Mass Effect, Alan Wake, Halo 3 (expect something new by the end of the year) and that the Bizarre Creations team is working on Project Gotham Racing 4. In the trailer there's an eclipse, like an eclipse of awesome before a supremely rendered, no gameplay in sight race car transforms the world from a bleary mishmash of grey into the full color PGR4 logo.


7:32 p.m. Suddenly the room just got happier -- wait, that's Viva Pinata, one of Microsoft's two major first party titles this fall. We're eign welcomed to the Pinata party, boy, I hope people show up to this -- for Microsoft's sake. The TV show is coming to Europe next year, in case you cared. (Don't say I don't offer you information!)

7:27 p.m. What's coming soon to Xbox 360? Well the Strokes apparently, because they are the backdrop for this montage. Hey it's Forza Motorsport 2 and Lost Planet! Look guys, it's Lego Star Wars II ... wait a second. More Gears footage, followed by FIFA 07 and first video of Crossfire from Eidos (a Resistance esque FPS), The Darkness and Viva Pinata madke appearances, and Alan Wake shows up looking excellent. A new area from Shadowrun gets shown and some rehashed Fable 2 footage blows through the montage, too. Quick shots of Fusion Frenzy and Double Agent, with NBA 2k7 and some recycled Halo 3 footage. It's girls with big boobs jet skiing! Is that Benny Hill? No, it's Itagaki's next game. God, Mass Effect still looks incredible.

7:26 p.m. Peter Moore just said that Gears of War will launch in Europe 5 days after it launches in the U.S. -- take that, Sony! Oh, Peetah -- you so krazy!

7:22 p.m. CliffyB has tanken the stage to show Gears of War -- he just told us that today was our emergence day, as we'd be playing a bunch of the modes, co-op drop-in, drop-out, versus and single player. Cliffy is in an empty fountain ripping Locust horde goes apart the new grenade tossing part of the HuD is much slicker than the janky Splinter-Cell-style bottle toss we've seen previously.

7:20 p.m. Peter Moore just said "Barcelonaton." Peter Moore loves NeoGAF, apparently.

7:19 p.m. Just finished an XBLA montage which included Doom, Defender and Contra among others. Peter Moore is on stage -- I love you Peetah!

7:16 p.m. Coming to Xbox Live Arcade is Codemasters' Sensible World of Soccer.

7:14 p.m. -- Kane & Lynch trailer will make its debut exclusively on Xbox 360 and Games for Windows -- that trailer will be up on the Xbox Live Marketplace tonight. Additionally, a new title from Eidos is en route -- Crossfire.

7:12 p.m. -- Not to be an isolationist, and I know we're in Europe, but I hope the Xbox 360 coming to Slovakia isn't the megaton we're waiting for.

7:10 p.m. -- Chris Lewis is taking us on a not quite brief enough tour of X06 mentioning the mess that was the first X01 event. He just described 1.3M consoles in europe as "Millions in sales." Microsoft is a bit worse with numbers than I am. That's one million and change, Chris. Sheesh.


7:09 p.m. -- This opening sequence reminds me of something you'd see before a toy story preview, but instead it finishes with Banjo is Back, heralding the return of the popular Rare franchise. Chris Lewis has taken the stage and welcomed us all back to Barcelona. Banjo and Kazooie will be coming to Xbox 360 in an all new adventure.

7:07 p.m. -- Is this Nancy Sinatra or Gwen Stefani? Pardon my lack of sonic culture -- oh, it just got techno. Somewhere Nancy Sinatra is rolling over.

7:05 p.m. -- If the event had started ontime, I'd be screwed since the WiFi in Spain isn't quite as cultured as the women, here. Needless to say, Microsoft is running late and the collective hive is growing restless (and sweaty). In the meantime, check 1UP News, because Microsoft has sprung a leak -- and we're reporting on it.

[itai195]

Originally Posted by ort888

It wasn't just me. All of my gamer friends also bought launch PS1s and they ALL broke. every single one.

PS1 had a widespread problem with its CD-ROM drive that Sony vehemently denied but gamers, journalists, and developers all knew quite well. I worked in the game industry for a short time and even our development and testing units had these issues. It wasn't uncommon in those days to see PS1 units turned upside-down while playing a game, because the CD-ROM drive issue didn't occur as often that way. I had to pay Sony $75 to repair my PS1, and it was a launch unit I'd originally paid $300 for.

[itai195]

Originally Posted by screamingFit

There will always be bugs. But, I believe in this new, online enabled console arena that developers are getting lazy - thinking that things can just be patched after release. For instance, Saints Row for the 360 has horrible online, multiplayer problems. It HAD to be completely noticeable during the company's internal testing, it's THAT apparent. They are working on an update but they released the game knowing full well that it wasn't ready for retail.

Not to rant, but I'd like to clear up a misconception. It's not necessarily the developers themselves or even the development companies that are getting lazy. It's much more likely the publishers and product managers who are willing to rush out a lower quality product these days because they can get away with it. Similarly, when a buggy game ships, it's rarely ever the fault of the QA team. QA teams are wonderful at finding bugs, but whatever they find does not necessarily get repaired prior to shipping for a variety of reasons.

For Exhibit A, look at how Microsoft mass produced thousands of copies of Perfect Dark Zero before the game had completed their QA process. That kind of practice speaks volumes about how much MS, as a publisher, cares about QA.

The Metroid Prime bug always surprised me, because Nintendo is notoriously heavy-handed in their QA process. I have wondered how that one slipped through...