Kutaragi...You're The Reason Sony Sucks!

I don't have much to talk about except for ranting about Kutaragi and how back he sucks.

I'm about one step away from not buying a PS3...ever.

Just rip that stinking bd-rom out of there, drop the price $200, and then push it as a video game console and not some low quality blu-ray player.

Sony...you suck.

Have a good weekend!

Stan Beer Stoned By Nintendo Fans!

Well not really but I was reading over at CR.com and Stan Beer over at iTWire tries to hold his own against the onslaught that he has received by flamboyant Nintendo fans from his blog post earlier.

PS3 will continue to rule was the blog post that put the target on Stan's back. Nintendo fans say Wii will rule despite the facts is the post that where he tries to justify his kid convincing him to drop $600+ USD on a PS3.

Ignorance is truly bliss here.

"Meanwhile, over in Microsoft and Sony land, the real family consoles will do battle. I say real family consoles because PS3 and Xbox 360, like their predecessors, really will be used by the whole family...

...Wii, which will appeal to low-end gamers."

So Wii isn't for serious gamers and will only appeal to "low-end" gamers. I'm sorry Stan but you are an idiot of idiots and beyond. If you are a gamer, which you are not, you might understand what the Wii is offering that has the core gamers drooling.

Stan, stop trying to be your "kids friend". Your kid did a great job on selling you on a $600+ USD system for that I give him props but to spend 15 minutes doing research on google and your kids persuasion just made you sound like another ignorant fanboy.

Why $250 Wii might be good for '07

Considering that the Wii & PS3 will sell out regardless this holiday, just like every other console launch, and given the fact that it will be the holiday season of '07 that will give us a clearer picture of where the big three will be standing in the future.

With that in mind I concluded that the $250 launch price for the Wii sets it up very nicely for the holiday season of '07. Given that it will be making a profit right out of the gate Nintendo would be able to cut $50+ of the price tag by the holiday season of '07.

Sure by then the Xbox 360 could have a good price cut but the PS3 will definitely not be able to pull it off. Besides the focus in '07 will be to attract the non-gamers and with a decent price tag cut on the Nintendo Wii it could very well have the '07 holiday seasons already in the bag.

Do Wii Need Tech Specs?

That is the question. Since the announcement of the $250 price tag it seems that the gaming community has divided on whether the Wii is worth it. As for me, it’s well worth it but does the innovation with the Wiimote merit its worth to others? Considering the screams booming across the internet from angry gamers of every type it's apparent that answer is no for some.

So that leads me to the questions "Do Wii need tech specs more then ever now?" Would that maybe convince or reassure some of those that don't think the Wii is worth it? Chances are it just might reconfirm that the $250 price tag is not worth it.

Granted I've shown a lot of distain towards Sony & the PS3 but in the end what merits the worth to me for all 3 next/new-gen consoles are the games I will be playing on them. Sure I would have loved a cheaper Wii to help dampen the blow on the wallet but in the end it's the games that decide it for me. Even if it does end up being an over clocked Cube under the Wii's hood.

Wii More Powerful Then Wii Thought?

Well ever since IGN had posted their inside source specs on the Wii some have come to terms that the 729 MHz CPU & 243 GPU was what we were going to be getting in the Wii. Now I don't expect some insane power in that little box like the PS3 but I've always thought it to be between the 1ghz-2ghz range.

In no way will I be disappointed if it happens to be true about the specs on IGN but something I've read today (yeah I'm slow) has fired up my worseless thoughts again.

I read the follow article here Apple's Switch and this part jumped out at me;

"At the time of The Switch, Apple was entertaining a plethora of very attractive but unreleased and completely unproven PPC options. IBM had offered them Cell on the desktop and Broadway (the Wii processor) in their laptop line. Similarly, P.A. Semi was trying to lure the company with their forthcoming PWRficient line. Neither company apparently saw the switch coming. I've been told that the final decision to make the switch was done at the very last minute before WWDC. "

If the above is true that made me think why in the world would IBM trying to be offering Apple the Broadway CPU if it's only a beefed up G3 CPU running at 729mhz. Then I read another article by the same person that reinforced my own thoughts;

A closer look at the "leaked" Wii specs

"Personally, I have a hard time imagining that IBM, ATI, and Nintendo have invested all this time and money into a product that's basically a speedbump of an existing product.

If Wii were just a GameCube with a DVD player and a funky controller, you'd think it would be out already. And here's another clue: I know and have reported before that Apple was offered Broadway as a possible laptop chip, but I just can't see IBM offering them the above single-issue design with a straight face. What's outlined above isn't even a G4. It's a heavily tweaked G3, and it would be a big step backwards from the G4. "

Well all in all I won't be disappointed if my hunch or speculation is incorrecte and it is indeed 729mhz. But for fun I will put money on 1.2ghz CPU...

Wii Want More!

Well since finding out about the price tag & launch date of the Wii Nintendo has started a snowball of excitement that leaves me only wanting more. From region free in the US & Japan, the Wiichannels, and the very nice list of games coming to the Wii at launch through '07 has just left me wanting more.

Considering all the info and new game trailers that we have been flooded with I'm still left with wanting more. What I'm left wanting is to know what is in that little box that could. I know Nintendo's approach isn't about raw horse power or technical specs but that's one thing that I've always been interesting in and dang I want to know what it's pushing.

Sure we have our speculations on what's in the box and the "inside" info from Matt at IGN and tons of other speculations. But I won't be fully satisfied until something has been confirmed and my craving for the technical know how has been feed.

Well now back to downloading more trailers and drooling over the games I plan to play in the coming months. I just hope the PS3 is on track so there are no delays to feed that hunger for gaming.

The Wii Coming, Keyboard/Mouse Dated?

Back when the Wii was codenamed Revolution and they first announced their goofy controller I was pumped. Just the thought of it made me excited. Also considering I'm a huge FP/S fan I couldn't stop dreaming of the possibility of being able to experience a FPS on a console like I do on the PC. Now I know back when the Dreamcast first launched and I picked up Quake 3 I did use the Dreamcast's keyboard & mouse because I've really never have felt comfortable playing a FPS on a console. Finally the Wii is nearing release and the boys at IGN have reported more on the controls for Metroid Prime: Corruption and they are pumped and this is what they had to say "We're happy to report that it simulates the accuracy of PC first-person shooters almost perfectly". Source - IGN

This could be the beginning of the end for the love I have for the keyboard & mouse when it comes to playing FPS games. I think my FPS cravings have found a new home.

Wii News and All Things Great!

Finally we receive the release date of Nov. 19 & the cost of $250 for the Wii in the US. It will come with one Wiimote, one nunchuck attachment, an AC adapter, an audio/video cable, a sensor bar, sensor bard stand, a Wii console stand, two batteries and a copy of Wii Sports.

There will be 30 titles released with in the launch window with about half of them available at launch along with 30 some classic titles available for download via the Virtual Console.

One thing I've come across that I'm not surprise about when it came to this news is all the damn crying by fan boys. Here are some examples of the babies off of the Insider forums.

"It is forty dollars for the controller and an additional $20.00 bones for the nunchuck.THAT IS $60.00.THIS IS HUGELY DISAPPOINTING! THAT MEANS BEFORE I GET A GAME I AM SPENDING 310.00 ON THIS SUPED UP GAMECUBE SYSTEM. " - SG007

"I am really beginning to think Nintendo lied to us. This is not cheap nor is it affordable. I will keep on playing my Xbox 360 which has far superior graphics and hold out on a Wii until the price drops...
Must I remind everyone this is just a redesigned gamecube????" - SG007

That is a pure example of a crybaby at its best. Whining about the cost but yet this person owns a 360. To top it off the ignorance of claiming it's just a redesigned GameCube.

Well hats of to you SG007 you've won the bitch award for the day.

Disc to Unleash The Fury of The Wii!

According to Spong.com the Wii will ship with a system updated disc when it launches in the coming months.

My guess is that it Wii update disc will unlock it's fury to pummel anything that gets in its way.

Game Reviewers Try To "Keep it Simple, Stupid"

That's right, just K.I.S.S. it. I've said I wouldn't offer any ways to try and help game reviews but I've since changed my mind.

The one advice I offer is to apply the K.I.S.S method to your reviews. This method is to be as simple and straightforward as possible, Can you handle it? Heck, game developers even use this method when making games so why shouldn't you apply it when writing up a review?

If it is taking someone 10 minutes to read your review you should take a long look at it to try and figure out why. Chances are you've bloated it with useless information that just complicates the review beyond belief.

You can also apply the method to your rating systems. Rate the game overall...no need to try and complicate it by breaking it down into five categories because do you think a game like Brain Age needs superior graphics to make the game fun? No, they work awesome for the way the game was designed thus making the graphics a perfect 10.

So why are you still sitting here? Go K.I.S.S some reviews and then come back to thank me.

Remember to Keep It Simple Stupid!

Wii's CPU significantly more powerful than the Gamecube's

I read this over on neogaf.com. Which wouldn't supprise me if the Wii pushes a lot more than what has been said in the past throughout the "rumor mill". Very interesting to say the least.

_bla_ wrote:
Someone on IGN boards found a video of Broadway being manufactured by IBM.

Link to the thread
Link to the video on IBM servers

On 0:10 we can see a wafer. It looks like it has 8 blocks with 7 CPUs each, so that would be 56 CPUs in one line. The CPUs look square. If we assume this is an 300mm wafer (anything else seems unlikely), then Broadways die is about 5mm x 5mm = 25 mm^2. (300mm/56 = 5.36mm)

The Gekko die is 43 mm^2 but manufactured with a 180nm process. If you would manufacture that design at 90nm like the Broadway it should be about 11mm^2. So if the Broadway is really 25mm^2 it should offer quite a bit of additional power over Gekko, not just a higher clockspeed. 512kb L2 cache instead of 256kb cache in the Gecko is pretty much a given imho. IIRC the L2 cache uses under 50% of the Gekko die, so even with 512kb cache we would still be around 15mm^2. So there is still room for stuff that adds more performance like additional execution units or splitting the Gekko pipeline into more steps to reach a even higher clockspeed than would you would be able to get from the shrink alone.

After looking at this evidence it seems pretty likely that Broadway is quite a bit more than just a overclocked Gekko.

To Hardcore For This

What is a "Hardcore Gamer"?

Amongst the gaming community the term "hardcore" is a mystery in its own right. The very meaning of hardcore varies greatly from one gamer to another and more often then not it ends up making someone sound ignorant.

What truly defines a hardcore gamer?

Is it how many hours a week you play?

How many games/consoles you own?

What genre of game you own?

Is it playing only M rated games?

Which console you own?

Depending on your view to say one is hardcore is a very broad statement.

Would you consider someone who spends 40 hours a week playing the same MMORPG for the last year hardcore?

Would you consider someone who only played platformers on the GameCube for 40 hours a week hardcore?

Would you consider someone who owned 200 games and all of them were rated E to be hardcore?

Do you see my point?

Now if you said a game was hardcore that would simply mean it's extremely explicit. On the other hand if a gamer is said to be hard core that simply means they are intensely loyal.

Just because a game doesn't allow you to behead someone, splatter blood all over the wall, or have nudity doesn't mean that game isn't for a hardcore gamer.

hard-core: intensely loyal

hard-core: extremely explicit

IGN Playstation Editor Says Wii Ignores Hardcore Gamers

I over looked this the other day and just found out about it over at CR.com

Juan Castro from IGN comments on the Wii in an IGN Insider article.

“How is the Wii the only right choice for gamers? Contrary to what you believe, Wii games for the most part ignore “hardcore” gamers. Just look at its lineup. It’s filled with games like Elebits, Super Monkey Ball, Duck Hunt and Excite Truck. It has a handful of promising games, take Super Mario Galaxy and Wario Ware, but the rest hardly qualify as harcore, if that’s the point you want to make. Hell, even its best games, like Mario, Zelda and Metroid, wouldn’t really qualify as hardcore.”

“The Wii may outsell it (PS3) at launch, but no one cares about those numbers…With the Wii, on the other hand, developers hesitate calling it a next-gen system now, which isn’t so hot…and this is something both hardcore and casual gamers will definitely notice.”

First off, I will come straight out and say it. Juan, you truly are ignorant.

Juan apparently has no clue what games are in production for the Wii. I know I can't compete with Juan Castro because he is "to Hardcore for this". He also must have been sleeping under a rock for the last year because Nintendo themselves have never called the Wii next-gen. Does new-gen ring a bell for you Juan?

I do agree with Jaun on one thing though and that's the launch numbers really meaning nothing but I'm going to be laughing my arse off all the way back to my Wii & 360 when the holiday season of '07 rolls around and he is stuck sitting there by himself while all his "hardcore" buddies left him for better things.

Uwe Boll Boxes With Critic

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/5832

If you don't remember Uwe Boll is that crappy director that was responsible for that horrific video game movie BloodRayne, I loved the game/s hated the movie. After receiving bad reviews he made a challenge to anyone that had wrote a bad review.

Enjoy!

Major League Gaming

So you want to be a professional gamer, huh? Well MLG offers just that and the great thing is that "anyone and everyone can participate in MLG competitions. There are no special requirements; there is no waiting list. All you have to do is register, show up, and compete."

Major League Gaming features two competitive games which are Halo 2 & Super Smash Bros. Melee.

For the different game types head over to MLG and check in their events section they have Halo 2 1v1, 4v4, & FFA along with SSBM singles & doubles.

The next event to be held are the Playoffs in New York from October 13-15, 2006 at the Digital Life Expo at the Jacob K Javits Convention Center. They note that the Playoffs are open to the public, both for competitors and spectators. The competition filters into an invite-only Championship Playoff competition, but the first leg of the tournament has open registration.

I've been following MLG for some time now and every year it continues to grow. Also, for your entertainment I suggest checking out their Video On Demand section. I find it fun to watch with all the trash talking that goes on durning the games.

Enjoy!

What's wrong with game reviews these days?

Well for starters game reviews have turned into short stories that contain 90% BS then actual info about the game being reviewed. Okay, maybe not 90% but it tends to feel that way after reading a review that takes 5-10mins to go through.

No wonder non-gamers remain non-gamers. Sure Nintendo is doing there part by pumping out some games that are attracting non-gamers but what do you think goes through a mind of someone that doesn't game when they go to IGN, Gamespot or just about any review site to find a review on Brain Age and get this drawn out story that indirectly relates to the game which bloats the heck out of a review.

Seriously, I'm an avid gamer and I can't stand game reviews anymore. Even though I still read them because it's kind of like a car wreck for me, I just can't stop looking. When you are taking 2 minutes + to read a review it is getting boooring. Then you take a look at the bloated scores which everything from whale crap to the biggest gem seem to be with in 3 points to 10. I'm one that feels that most scoring systems blow hard. Take Brain Age for example one. It scored an 8 on IGN when the game deserved a 10 all the way. You might think that 8 is great! But it's the most common score given out on IGN. Just check out http://www.metafuture.com/ for the data.

I think people have forgot that reviews and merely opinions in which I don't understand the need for a "point system" to tell me whether a game I played was a 10 or 1. There's no way I would have ever given that 50 cent game anything higher then a 2 but I guess I don't write reviews so I'm no expert. However, I do read them and most of them are crap.

Valve goes Viral with Portal

Here's the site http://www.aperturescience.com/ and it's like a DOS prompt that you can play around with. All I've done so far is "dir" which gave me the apply.exe and I excuted to come up with this screen.

I'm farther along into the "application" I think that's what it is so back to it. Enjoy. :)

EDIT: I finished it and even though I entered my UIN correctly it said I was wrong...unless I was suppose to add L to the end of it I dunno know but it went to a screen that was panning a room. I don't have a shoot of it because I accedently closed the window.

I don't think I did enter it correctly after going back through, it appears that the numbers change every so often in your UIN number. bah. :p

DS lite & Metroid Prime: Hunters

Well I finally picked up a DS Lite along with a copy of Metroid Prime: Hunters and I must say I'm really impressed with both.

First off, Metroid Prime: Hunters is a 10 all the way, hands down. I also don't know why there were so many complaints about the controls and it having a high learning curve. It took me nothing at all to pick up on the controls and found it almost comparable to a mouse (being able to pick up the stylus to center). If my 6-year-old can pick up Hunters and play it with no problems after a couple of minutes of play time that must mean some of you that have complained about the stylus controls must be brain dead or something.

I don't do reviews but I suggest you go sift through all BS on all the review sites to find that valued info on Hunters if you don't know what I'm talking about. It uses the DS to its fullest and the game is beautiful all over so it's a must have for a DS owner regardless if you are a Metroid fan or FPS fan. Also, you don't have to be a bloody "hardcore FPS fan" to enjoy the game either. Whoever says that is smoking crack.

As for the DS lite, if you have a DS or not the lite should be on your wish list somewhere.

Next - My thoughts on game reviews and yes it's not good.

Wii Accessories List Leaked?

Over at wii.qj.net they have put up a list of Wii accessories that was found on Gamestop

Wii Controller Glove - $9.99
Wii G-Pak Travel Case - $29.99
Wii Game Wallet - $9.99
Wii HD Premium Component Cable - $59.99
Wii Memory SD 1.0GB - $59.99
Wii Memory SD 512MB - $39.99
Wii S-Video Premium AV Cable - $39.99
Wii Sling Bag - $29.99
Wii Storage & Protection 1.0GB Kit - $69.99

What's interesting is the 11/1 pre-release date, which in the end, is most likely just a holding date.

PS3 - "HDMI cable not included", Delayed In Europe, & Shipments Cut In Half

So, back from vacation and to no surprise more PS3 failings. From the updated specs sheet on the US Playstation 3 site that states the following;
"HDMI cable not included. Additional equipment may be required to use the HDMI connector."

They should just yank HDMI out of the PS3 along with Blu-ray. How many games are going to support 1080p at launch? I thought so.

Then I find out that the release of the Playstation 3 in PAL territories has been pushed back until March 2007. This isn’t surprising considering all the rumors that have been going around about shortages of diodes for the Blu-ray player.

Finally, Sony announced they will only be shipping two million PS3's to the US & Japan by the end of 2006. Just last month Sony was saying they would indeed reach four million by the end of the year. According to Ken Kutaragi, only 400,000 consoles will be available at day one in the US, with around 100,000 units for the Japanese launch.

Figures.

DOOM BFG Gun Prop Replica

I must be really slooow!!! I wish I didn't miss out on this at wickedcoolstuff.com

I mean come on who wouldn't want a BFG from Doom!

Famitsu Publisher Made Some Predictions...

These following predictions come from Hirokazu Hamamura who is the president of the Enterbrain publishing house which publishes the popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu.

Apparently he has come up with his own predictions for the Wii and the PlayStation3 in Japan. He calculates that the Nintendo Wii will sell in millions within the next five years because of its attractive price of, at most, 20,000 Yen (euro 133/USD 170). But according to him the Sony PS3 will only sell 500,000 consoles rapidly after the initial release and then slowing down the Dreamcast way afterwards. He predicts in the next ten years that the PS3 will only sell around 15 million even with the addition of the Blu-ray feature to the console.

This is pretty much the way I see things going down. I've been saying for awhile that the PS3's sales will fall in-between the Dreamcast's & GameCube's. Even though the Xbox 360 has pretty much lost in Japan it will come in 2nd after the Wii.

Sony has become too cocky and tends to forget how quick things can turn. Take a look right before the N64 days when everyone thought Nintendo was unbeatable. Even take peak at the Sega Dreamcast which had an awesome launch with one of the best line-up for games I've seen. The Dreamcast was very successful at the start but Sony was very successful with the push of the PS2 and its DVD capabilities which brought the Sega Empire to a screeching halt.

Keep in mind I don't hate the PS3. I just don't care for Sony's blatant disregard for their fan base. Sony is going to be their own downfall and the only ones that can prevent it is Sony.

Assassin's Creed for the PC & Xbox 360

Since the "list" was leaked from Ubisoft back in March there has been a lot of speculation on whether Assassin's Creed is truly exclusive for the PS3.

After the announcement earlier this week that it was indeed coming to the PC and now there will be an official announcement in the near future confirming it will indeed be coming to the Xbox 306.

Considering that Assassin's Creed was one of the very few games I was excited about on the PS3 it will just give me another reason why the PS3 could well be a pass. Exclusives will be one of the main defining factors in justifying the PS3s worth and right now it's not looking good.

Leaked list back in March:

Tom Clancy's Firehawk (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Tom
Clancy's Rainbow Six 5 (PS3, Xbox 360, Rev, PC, PSP)
Tom Clancy's Ghost
Recon 4 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Xbox, PS2)
Assassin (PS3, Xbox 360, Rev,
PC, PSP)
Lumines 2 (PS2, PSP)
Game 5 Haze (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Alive (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
Naruto (Xbox 360)
Rayman 4 (PS3, Xbox 360,
Rev, PC, PS2, handheld)
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (PC, PS3, Xbox
360)