Thursday, September 28, 2006

Blam it on the Game: The Terrell Owens Story.

As you might have heard, Terrel Ownens may or may not have tried to kill himself by overdoseing on pain killers.

Since everyone else seems to think that Video games are training people to do abnormal actions, then T.O. might have been playing WAY to much Dr. Mario.

I can see the headline
TO's Family to sue Nintendo, makers of that drug pushing game 'Dr. Mario' for TO's possible suicide.

You read it here first!!!

Monday, September 25, 2006

"We'll Own The Earth Like We Own The DS." - Sony

Jack Tretton On The PSP: "We'll Own The Earth Like We Own The DS."

This amazing quote is from Jack Tretton, Sony's VP:

"[Nintendo and their DS] are appealing to the same audience that Game Boy has always appealed to. And if you look at the adoption rate of the DS over the first 17 months, not only does it trail the PSP but it also trails their other platforms ... They're potentially losing some of their core audience and they're not really expanding beyond that, and we think we're expanding into a completely new audience as we did with PlayStation ... we'll dip down to the younger consumer eventually, and we'll ultimately appeal to that vastly Earth wide audience we carved out with the original PlayStation."

Now personally I would like to know what this guy is smoking and where can I get some? it's must be some good stuff!! *sigh* Jack, I'm sorry man, but your really must be a mushroom.. kept in the dark and feed some really good shit. The DS is appealing to a hell of a lot more people then just those that liked the orginal gameboy. There's so many GOOD games for people that are into games, and those that arn't. MUCH more so then the PSP, which so far, has had crap and/or mediocre games. Over the last 17 months the adoption rate of the DS has tripled. PSP sales have fallen. Even though the adoption of the DS has been kinda slow in comparison to the gameboy, it still blows the walls of the PSP.

as for the playstation.. you've got to give credit where credit is due, jackass. It's NOT the hardware that push's a platform into the hands of everyone on earth, it's the GAMES. The PS1 was in everyone's home for ONE game that you didn't even make!!! (FF7)

Friday, September 15, 2006

Wii Launched!!!

Wii Launched!
Well we didn't launch, but the Wii will November 19th. 2 days AFTER the PS3 is slated to be released [I'll believe it when I see it] with a $250 price tag [which is about $50 more then I expected] I specs aren't too shabby, will they beat a 360/PS3? oh no, plenty of power to run good game? yep.

I might add the specs here, but honestly, there's about 50 billion gaming sites with the specs already posted no need to waste your time here.

The interesting question is will Nintendo hurt themselves by releasing the Wii 2 days after the PS3 launch? And what about the no DVD playback?

Pricing:
===========================================
I don't think the $250 really is a bad price point, and it's more marketing then anything. If the Wii was released for $199.99, people would think it's a toy and the perceived value of the console would drop in favor to the 360 or the PS3. If the price was too high, then people would think that it's not worth the money. Nintendo REALLY could have hurt themselves by pricing the Wii to low.

However, here comes another marketing trend that's getting annoying as hell for the consumer. Spending ~$300 on a game machine, and then needing to turn around and spend another ~$300 on add-on's and Accessories. Nintendo is a perfect example of this marketing scheme. (I use Scheme, because that's what it is. strategy just sounds better to most people) You buy a Wii for $250. Which includes one controller.. and no one wants to sit at home and play with their Wii by themselves. SO you need an extra controller. great! that's going to set you back another ~$60 bucks and that's JUST for the 'nunchuck' controller, nothing about the other standard Wii controller. OUCH! Hell the Wireless adapter for the Xbox 360 is $100. for a SMALL little wireless controller.

Launch Date:
=====================================
SOMEONE at Nintendo was a genius for picking this date. think about it, with Sony 1/2ing the starting shipments of the PS3, causing limited quantities and will start a 'panic' attack in the Sony FanBoys. Because of this I predict the ~400,000 units will be sold almost instantanicly. So what's a person to do, walking into a store looking to pick up the PS3, and there are none, but plenty of $250 Wii's? You're going to get a Wii.. and extra controllers, and more games for the same price as the PS3.

Marketing:
=====================================
Another 'problem' that has been floating about is the whole 'Innovation' thing between Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. First off, There is NOTHING Innovative about the 360 or the PS3. They are the same tried and true more power console system. Whoopie-shit. the Graphics get better, the audio gets better, the processors get more powerful, the memory tacked on in the megabytes.. and the games are still shit.

The Wii really is the only thing that is 'innovative' this time around in the game wars and that gives Nintendo an edge in the market. Look at the E3 2006 coverage, granted Sony showed the same show two years in a row, but the Nintendo booth was hopping the whole week. There seems to be more talk and excitement about the Wii then with any of the other systems. Will the 'Wiimote' be weird to work with at first? yep, but then again, that's why there's the backwards compatibility with the gamecube controllers, and the new Wii console controllers.

DVD Playback:
===============================
I'm tossed on this one, some specs say the Wii DOES have DVD support whileothers state it doesn't. I'm going to argue the point that it doesn't have DVDplayback support. Why should it? You've got a PS1, PS2, Xbox, Xbox360, a computer AND most likely a DVD player, why in the hell would you needanother one, and why should Nintendo jack up the price on a feature yourlikely never to use?

I'm sure there will be more to come, remember I told you back in March, that you needed to watch out for Nintendo this round of combat. ;)

Until then, keep you head out of your ass
-- The PogoWolf

Friday, September 01, 2006

PS3 shipping without HDMI cable

Confirmed: PS3 shipping without HDMI cable
by Zhao Jingyu

Sony has been touting the benefits of HDMI ever since the announcement of the PlayStation 3 at last year's E3, and the inclusion of an HDMI cable with every unit has been something which fans of both the console and HDMI have been hoping for. Fans often claimed that the inclusion of an HDMI cable would further acceptance of the standard while critics argued that it would be too expensive and would be better as an option.Now, it has been revealed via the PlayStation 3's official site that the console will not be shipping with an HDMI cable. “HDMI cable not included”, reads the site when answering the What is HDMI question.However, the site is only the official site for the American region and the cables included in other regions may differ. At the moment, it is still unclear what cable the console will be shipping with, although the component cable seems like a likely choice.

The PlayStation 3 will be launching this November 11th in Japan and November 17th in other regions.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

PS3 Slogan Revealed

PS3 Slogan Revealed

"This is Living".. [PogoWolf: No I'm not joking] The marketing slogan for PlayStation 3 has been revealed, yet nobody seems to have noticed! [PogoWolf: or Cared.] Therefore, Kikizo "reveals" the tagline with a fetching video to prove it.

View & Post comments on this article
The official slogan for PlayStation 3 in Europe: "This is Living".
The seductive, ludicrously shiny black casing of PS3, marked with the iconic lettering of the PS3 logo, disintegrates into a thousand pieces before re-forming into a bold, bubbly font spelling the words This is Living, a logo in itself which beats like a heart twice 'up-close' and then twice 'distant' (repeat)...

The sequence, which you can see in its entirety below, was revealed in Germany last week at the Leipzig Games Convention, in between a line-up of updated trailers (see them in HD here) at Sony's public booth. Yet, despite some 150,000 consumers and 2,000 journalists being present at the event, the first evidence of the slick branding seems to be on this very page.

A SCE European representative today confirmed to Kikizo that the slogan is the final European PS3 slogan to be used for launch marketing. This presumably includes the UK but SCE UK could not confirm this for sure at the time of press. The SCEE spokesperson added that he could not confirm whether North America and Japan would use their own slogans (which seems likely).

UPDATE: A SCE UK representative has indicated to us that further territory-specific details will be available soon.
===============================
Like, OMG! WTF, Mate?
'This is living'? Who was the asshat that thought that one up?!
and WHY?

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Biggest scam in EVE Online history

Posted Aug 22, 2006 at 01:42PM by Timo K.

Most EVE Online players probably heard about the GHSC infiltration incident, when a group of agents worked for one of the most successful corporations in the game, spending over a year undercover to gain the trust of the members, who eventually granted them access to the corp hangars.

What followed was one of the most incredible heists in MMORPG history, as the group stole over 30 billion ISK from the corporation as well as destroying the leader's ships and escape pods.

The community uproar was big and sparked one of the most interesting debates in regard to MMOs: In a fully open-ended game, with a player-driven economy and politics, should the developers step in and intervene when extreme things like this happen?

Make no mistake, as cool as it sounds for outsiders and while the victims weren't innocents either, the work of GHSC ruined the efforts of many gamers who spent hundreds and thousands of hours in EVE trying to build up wealth and technology.

Now the community has barely had time to calm down and here it is, the next incident that easily surpasses the numbers GHSC achieved with their heist.

It's the story of a guy named "cally", who ran a corporation, a player-operated bank called "Eve Intergalactic Bank". Over the course of four months, hundreds of players deposited money in his bank, which offered interest, loans and insurance like every other ordinary bank. Except for the fact that one day, cally decided to grab all the money that was deposited and fly off to space with an alleged total sum of 790 billion Isk.

In real life, this would translate to \$170,000 - quite possibly the biggest MMO scam ever conducted.Not only that, he also took the time to record a video in which he confesses his crimes, makes fun of the community, and reveals that he is a pirate, who once held the highest bounty in the game.

No doubt this event will once again make the rounds on mainstream gaming sites as well, and it's time for your opinion on this. Do you think scams like this one make the game more compelling and more realistic? Or is it just a punch in the face for all the gamers just wanting to have fun, an unnecessary display of ego by someone who perhaps isn't successful in real life? We're very interested in your comments.

Download: [Cally's EVE Online Confession Video]
Thanks to Shinnen & Emma for sending this in!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Mega-Man slaughters the living dead


-you get 300 shots
-it respawns when you finish, (right where you got it)
-kill about 60,000 zombies

ps.
you need to beat the game to get it

Thursday, August 24, 2006


Sony has released some 'new' hardware photos of the PS3. I say 'new' in quotes because these really look like darn near the same photos from before.
I believe Shamblett (from Digg) said it best:
"Notice its nice aerodynamic design now allows you to throw it farther than any other gaming console before! "

Sunday, August 20, 2006

PS3's? Nope.. not yet.

Sony Computer Entertainment of America president Kaz Hirai reveals that Sony has yet to begin manufacturing the PS3. The two million unit launch target is still expected [Me: Hmm. HOW?!], but shortages anticipated. [Me: Duh. Worked with the Xbox now didn't it.]

In an extensive interview with consumer site GameSpot, Hirai stated, "We haven't started manufacturing [the PS3] yet. Some of our ops guys were actually just in China, and also in Japan just reviewing the [production] lines and everything else. But they are, again, preparing as we speak to get the manufacturing going.

We've not announced and we haven't set really a specific date to say, 'As of this day we're going to start manufacturing.'"Some analysts predicted that Sony would begin producing its next generation console in late July or early August. [Me: They needed to start it back in January.. Two million units my ass.]

The company is aiming to have two million consoles ready for its worldwide launch in November. Hirai also said that he expects hardware shortages, due to the anticipated high demand for the console. "Since we're going with three territories, we haven't really come up with an allocation just yet," he said."But even if you do the simple math you're talking about less than 700,000 units per territory, per major territory between launch and the end of the year.
So even if there was some fluctuation--you give Japan more, you give the US more, what have you--you're going to end up with some shortages. [Me: and screw Europe]

"Many industry watchers, including executives from US retailer GameStop, have assumed the US would receive around 1 million PS3 units at launch." So I think that if we've done our jobs right and if we've been able to really have the consumers become interested in this product, [Me: Well there's the Fanboys, and then there are normal people. Right now sounds like you starting the hype of 'Oh Shit!! I better run out and get one opening day or I might need to wait.] then, unfortunately, I think it's going to be very much of a challenge to be able to meet every single unit demand that's out there in the market.
[Me: Just like it was planned. Come on, we've been though this shit before.. HOW stupid to you think we are? Ok.. some of us are?]
That's just a logistical impossibility. Unless we suddenly say, 'Well we want to wait until June of next year to launch because we want to stockpile product,' I don't think that's the approach we want to take." [Me: No because you've already delayed the PS3, AND watered it down in the process.. not even to state that the CELL chips don't work correctly]

In response to Yankee Group's prediction that the PS3 will come out as the top console by 2011, [Me: HA!] Hirai was pleased with the report, but did comment on the forecasted drop in PlayStation market share. The research firm said that the PS3 would capture 44 percent of the market, down from the PS2's estimated 60 percent, as the Xbox 360 is predicted to eat up a larger piece of the pie in the next generation. [Me: Again, they forgot about Nintendo. *sigh* THEY are the ones to watch this holiday]

"I'd like to think that our market share will be as good--if not better--than what we've accomplished with the PS2 in the same kind of time frame since launch, [Me: We all like to think our children will grow up to be Doctors.. Yet, quit a few, grow to be whores, crack heads, serial murders, and politicians. You just keep on thinking.]

"Hirai replied. He also confirmed that Sony is planning to have its online platform [Me: Platform? I think this was a miss print. Don't you mean RIPOFF?!] ready to go at launch. "The plan is to take the console online on November 17th as we launch and I also assume as we launch in Japan on November 11th.

"Commenting on the recent flurry of PSP holiday price drop rumors, he said, "...We have no plans to revisit the price at this point in time." [Me: Meaning, most likely. The PSP is ripe for a price drop.. as is the Xbox 360]

Friday, August 18, 2006

Sony PlayStation 3 predicted to win console war

Analyst believes flying start enjoyed by Xbox 360 not enough to beat PS3
Clement James, vnunet.com 18 Aug 2006

Industry analysts believe that Sony's long-delayed PlayStation 3 will still lead sales in North America, despite rivals Microsoft and Nintendo stealing a march on the market.

=====================================
Sounds like the Yankee group doesn't know their ass from a C:\ Prompt.
Here's the highlights from the post:
* Microsoft offers the most competition by launching its Xbox 360 nearly 12 months before the PlayStation 3

* Estimates that the PlayStation 3 will have sold about 30 million units by 2011

* Third-generation consoles reach market maturity in 2011
*sigh* I really hate it when bean counters try to sound like they know what the hell they are talking about.
Ok, First off with Microsoft:
I've stated it before, and I'll state it again, MS needs to push the hell of Xbox Live to be able to corner Sony in that market. Before Sony has a chance to get it out of the gate. However, in the last YEAR, there has been 5 million Xbox 360's shipped. IF that tend stays (which it won't) MS would have shipped 25 million units by 2011.
and these guys expect to see the PS3 (which is LESS powerful, and MORE expensive) to sell 30 million units in 7 years? We aren't all oil barons you morons.
and, hmm, tell me when has it ever taken 7 years for a gaming market to mature? Like never.
By 2011 will see the NEXT version of the Xbox, and most liky of the Wii.
and 16% to the Wii?? LOL!! Wow, these guys REALLY haven't been watching the market. #rd party developers are jumping ship from the PS3 to the Wii, and the 360. and E3 2006 video showed more and more people interested in the Wii then in the PS3.

"With a growing installed base of connected consoles, content owners are beginning to recognise the potential video game consoles offer as a distribution channel. "
Hmm.. Duh? Ever heard of Steam? Or even about the Xbox LIVE? LOL CONSOLE owners have known for a LONG time of the potential of Internet connection consoles.. and PC owners are like.. what's the big deal? we've been doing it for years.

"Additionally, these platforms will serve as a strong medium for advertising, validating the growing market for in-game and around-game advertising."
THIS, my friends, is the whole reason they state that the PS3 will win this battle.
because its all about Advertising.
GAMES run the market. Not ads. people don't CARE about the game tie-ins. Except for that we might be able to play a game (or more) for fee because we need to watch a ad, or see a can of coke in a game. whoopie-poopie
"Yankee Group also believes that fewer consoles will be sold this generation, primarily due to higher per-unit prices. "
Then HOW in the hell do you think the PS3 will sell 30 million units? LOL
*sigh*
Am I then only one that can see the trends?