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[Mrbob]

Dcharlie needs a sony fanboy tag now after this podcast! I agree with him though that a most people will not buy a 360 when they can't find a PS3. They'll wait for a PS3. Especially when you consider that Resistance is going to go down as a better game than Gears of War (I see what I did there), and when Crackdown gets delayed to 2007 this leaves Resistance to get all the GOTY awards.

From all accounts Resistance has been finished, and Insomniac is pretty much just polishing it up at the moment. As far as a pedigree for single player games Insomniac has a much better track record than Epic.

The next Halo will be released in 2006, but it will be for Playstation 3.

I guess I need to see more Gears first. I'm really sick of the game being hyped as this awesome experience, but yet we don't get to see any of it. I think the way MS is hyping Gears is akin to the way Sony had their E3 2005 trailers which they pawned off as real content. When you hype something up, show us the damn goods.

 

[DCharlie]

From all accounts Resistance has been finished, and Insomniac is pretty much just polishing it up at the moment. As far as a pedigree for single player games Insomniac has a much better track record than Epic.

i'm starting to think that the delay is the best thing that happened to Sony - with the extra time, the launch titles are getting an extra 6 months of polish, i suspect the PS3 system software will be getting more functions, the general infra has more time to be set up and to be debugged.

And to cap it all, MS has failed to substantially put _big_ numbers on the board - although i'd argue that i think they are starting to win people over and that the X360 is a quality machine that just needs some more quality games.

This gen should be great thought - three machines, exciting PC developments, two hot handhelds = hot.

 

[Kobun Heat]

the delay is the best thing that happened to Sony

he says, as if it just "happened" to them!

 

[Mrbob]

Kobun with how expensive the 360 and PS3 currently are priced at, do you really think a person who doesn't get a PS3 will get a 360? I can understand if the 360 was 200 bucks (or 300), but the 360 is still a 400 dollar system. I just don't see a consumer who wants to spend 500-600 dollars on a PS3 go"Hey! Giive me one of those $400 360 premium systems instead!". When you are spending that kind of jack on a product you get what you want and don't spend that much money on a substitute.

 

[Kobun Heat]

I think that there are a lot of people out there who would buy a PS3 if there was stock available, but the fact that the PS3 shortage will be so prolonged (and its launch so bereft of exciting software cf. 360's holiday lineup) will cause many people to throw in with Microsoft. People get a lot of money during the holiday season and get a bit antsy just sitting on it.

I'm not sure why I'm getting such resistance to the idea that the casual market isn't really affected by brand loyalty -- if what you guys are proposing is true, then the Nintendo 64 beat the living shitbags out of the PlayStation a decade ago. I am reasonably sure, however, that it did not.

EDIT: Also, as I said to sp0rsk, I'm not talking about this situation:

Guy: I really want a PS3 and that is all I want and nothing will deter me from this.
Other guy: We're sold out.
Guy: Okay, a 360 then.

I am talking about this, which is far more common:

Guy: I have money and want to shoot things.
Other guy: Well, you could get a PS3 or a 360.
Guy: PS3 sounds cool, I'll take one.
Other guy: We will not have any of those until April.
Guy: That other one then.

 

[DCharlie]

he says, as if it just "happened" to them!

my reaction was also delayed, but it made my reaction more awesome and definitely worth the money... or maybe not.

but yeah, it didn't just "happen" of course

 

[Y2Kev]

Kobun, do you think there is any chance Sony could meet their shipment projections? What, was it 4 mil by the end of the year?

Have you heard anything regarding this?

 

[Kobun Heat]

It is my opinion that they will not hit what they said they would. This is based on a lifetime of experience wrapped up into a big, sticky, sugary wad of conjecture and should be taken as such.

 

[imastalker co.]

are these things up for subscription on itunes yet?

also, when can i be on the show ?

 

[sprsk]

Guy: I have money and want to shoot things.
Other guy: Well, you could get a PS3 or a 360.
Guy: PS3 sounds cool, I'll take one.
Other guy: We will not have any of those until April.
Guy: That other one then.

in my tenure at working for game stop this has never happened

 

[Kobun Heat]

in my tenure at working for game stop this has never happened

I'm simplifying things. As I said, I don't think it happens at all at point of purchase. Not to mention the fact that GameStop largely serves the hardcore crowd and makes up only a small fraction of hardware sales.

 

[Mrbob]

Well I worked for a big box retailer at the time of the PS2 launch (Wal Mart) paying my way through college, and your scenerio rarely played through. People waited for the PS2 to come back in stock. Perhaps things will be different with the 360, but I doubt it unless MS drops the price 100 dollars.

 

[Y2Kev]

He's saying it doesn't happen at the point of sale, though.

Consider this: everyone who wanted a PS2 knew that PS2 was sold out in October 2000. A lot of people changed their minds before walking into best buy. That's one potential way it could work.

I don't know if I buy it. People are gonna want the PS3. I wonder if they will wait....especially if they want PS franchises. If somebody wants Dante, they aren't changing to Ryu.

 

[drohne]

the nintendo 64 did initially look as if it was going to beat playstation, at least in the us, but then that whole "no games whatsoever" thing intruded. not that i think brand loyalty will save ps3's increasingly scorched bacon.

edit: here's my theory of brand loyalty that nobody asked to hear: it's powerful as long as consumers have no reason to think about it. if the market leader's new console is difficult to distinguish from competing consoles, loyal fans will complacently buy it. if the market leader's new console has absolutely no games, for example, or costs $600, then loyal fans will look hard at their brand loyalty, find it insubstantial, and cheerily transfer that equivocal loyalty to a more deserving object.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Well I worked for a big box retailer at the time of the PS2 launch (Wal Mart) paying my way through college, and your scenerio rarely played through.

...when there was no other next-gen system on the market...?

Look, we can argue this with anecdotal evidence until the cows come home. My position is simple: the lack of PS3s will cause holiday dollars that would have gone to a PS3 to go to other products, and a non-trivial amount of this will end up being spent on the Xbox 360 because it is the closest thing to. Microsoft's fortunes get slightly better with every PS3 that Sony doesn't ship.

 

[Amir0x]

i'm starting to think that the delay is the best thing that happened to Sony - with the extra time, the launch titles are getting an extra 6 months of polish, i suspect the PS3 system software will be getting more functions, the general infra has more time to be set up and to be debugged.

And to cap it all, MS has failed to substantially put _big_ numbers on the board - although i'd argue that i think they are starting to win people over and that the X360 is a quality machine that just needs some more quality games.

This gen should be great thought - three machines, exciting PC developments, two hot handhelds = hot.

What is that quote from, about Resistance being pretty much "finished"?

 

[Agent Dormer]

I'm working on the show agenda right now (among other things), so if any of you guys have a topic you think we might miss/HAVE TO DISCUSS on this week's episode, make sure to post in the thread!

Also, all the feedback to the question of the week is totally awesome, guys. Thanks a bunch for that!

 

[DCharlie]

good lord, i'm going to be so hungover for the next cast... i'm scaring myself :/

 

[kaching]

What is that quote from, about Resistance being pretty much "finished"?

MrBob said it, straight above DC's post. Ask Bob.

 

[Amir0x]

MrBob said it, straight above DC's post. Ask Bob.

ah. Word was, about 3 weeks ago, that Insomniac was just about the enter the beta phase which will be when Resistance gets all the polish that seemed to have been lacking up 'til now.

Quoting what the source said:

The reason you're not seeing a ton of media is because the majority of polish elements like final lighting, post fx, visual fx, ambient fx, sound fx and scoring doesn't happen until after the game hits beta (which Resistance is nearing.) Polish is almost completely off the radar until all of the major gameplay systems are in and functioning correctly, and it always looks like an entirely new game once these elements are added.

So, saying it was 'pretty much finished' seemed surprising, but it's just Mrbob

 

[Agent Dormer]

Just wanted to let you guys know we just got finished recording the podcast for this week -- and I think it's a solid episode. I'm going to start working on it after a little more quality Dead Rising time.

 

[Wollan]

Just wanted to let you guys know we just got finished recording the podcast for this week -- and I think it's a solid episode.

That bad huh?

Spoiler

Looking forward to it.

 

[Scotch]

Just listened to last week's episode and I enjoyed it. Little too Japan-centric for my taste, but hey, that's GAF for ya. One thing though, when you talk about a game could you just call it by its English title? It took me ten minutes to figure out you were talking about Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins. Not everyone around here lives in Japan you know.

 

[Agent Dormer]

Just listened to last week's episode and I enjoyed it. Little too Japan-centric for my taste, but hey, that's GAF for ya. One thing though, when you talk about a game could you just call it by its English title? It took me ten minutes to figure out you were talking about Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins. Not everyone around here lives in Japan you know.

This upcoming episode has some more 'MERICA in it, and yeah - I'll make sure we do that from here on in.

Status report: I've finished editing about 50% of the show. So that's another 50% of editing left, and then the compressing/converting/exporting/uploading and hey - the next episode will be ready!

 

[the year 20XX]

...when there was no other next-gen system on the market...?

Look, we can argue this with anecdotal evidence until the cows come home. My position is simple: the lack of PS3s will cause holiday dollars that would have gone to a PS3 to go to other products, and a non-trivial amount of this will end up being spent on the Xbox 360 because it is the closest thing to. Microsoft's fortunes get slightly better with every PS3 that Sony doesn't ship.

I'd like to throw in that I can see this happening (and have seen this happening, yay anecdotal evidence) with people who mainly enjoy EA sports games. If you just want to play next-gen Madden, you get the cheapest available next-gen system and a copy of Madden. It doesn't mean that every potential PS3 buyer that gets turned away will run crying into the 360's arms, but there are plenty of people out there who aren't brand-loyal.