Archive for September, 2008
Kotaku reports that Blizzard’s Starcraft 2 release and Diablo 3 release dates are rumored to be tied together. This means Blizzard will not release Starcraft until Diablo is ready to ship.
This begs the question, why? If that’s the case then I don’t think we can expect Starcraft to be a stocking stuffer this holiday season.
The events reach full circle with NBC returning to the iTunes store. Consumers win, everybody wins!
It doesn’t make any sense for any owner of a product to limit the sale to just a few stores with not that many customers. It was only inevitable that they return to the Apple store.
Now everybody is happy.
I just love CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. I think that it’s an important experiment and I wish all the scientists there good luck. True it may not destroy the world despite my previous blog entries but I’m happy that something like this can still be made today.
It’s September folks and what does that mean? It’s time for the Doomsday machine to be turned on!
Of course it’s not a “real” doomsday machine. I have the utmost respect for the scientists who made it. I really admire people who do a lot of things compared to those who do nothing. And when you think, think big. Now we have before us the product of their incredible brilliance.
You can watch all the action happening this week here.
Since the Xbox is now priced lower than the Wii, this leaves Sony in a very expensive position. They are currently the most expensive next gen console on the market by failing to break the $300 mark. From their statement they still feel that they can generate enough sales to push forward.
Some people may say that this is not a good idea. No one will buy a more expensive console blah blah blah and so on. But on the other hand this shows a focus for the electronics giant. The Wii suceeded in a market which the Xbox and the Playstation didn’t fully serve, the casual market. Apparently there are that many casual gamers out there to warrant that it’s been almost 3 years since the Wii launched and there still isn’t enough to go around.
What the Xbox is now trying to do is get that casual market by lowering the prices of their console to make it more attractive and including “Mii” like avatars even though they’re not cute. Microsoft however is risking lowering their profits by going this route and possibly stretching their wings a little bit too far.
This strategy worked for the PS2 which still has a ton of games. Can the Xbox make this generation work? The failure rate of the Xbox is very disheartening. I know for a fact since I’ve gone through3 consoles myself in the past three years. This is not very encouraging.
Whatever happens, it’s the consumer who will profit. Despite earning warnings for practically every industry except for the oil, I think gaming will still have a very good year.
Epic Games, developer of Gears of War and Unreal Tournament has expressed that they may already reaching the limit of the console.
If that’s the case, the Xbox 360 reached its end pretty quickly with both the Wii and PS3 still have a lot in them. The tranformation of the Xbox into your home entertainment device with the addition of Netflix rentals this fall could be a way to increase the value of the console. Already priced lower than the Wii, I think we could expect at least a preview of the their next next gen console by E3 next year.
Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro creator/ director Hayao Miyazaki failed to win any major award at the Venice Film Festival last week. His latest film “Ponyo” features a goldfish who wants to be human. Catchy. I haven’t seen it yet but it looks interesting. Is it just me or does Ponyo look a bit creepy?
Ponyo Trailer 1
Kotaku posts the question whether or not Atlus’ Trauma Center franchise should be expanded to other consoles.
After having finished all the games with the exception of the first DS game where I’m stuck a little past half way, the Wii controllers and the DS stylus is the way to go. The way the game is controlled really gives that feeling that you’re a wannabe doctor trying to save fake lives.
Bottom line, I don’t see this game playable on any other console other than Nintendo’s.
An iPhone customer was unhappy about the performance of his iPhone and therefore sued Apple and AT&T. Not about the service, but about the possibility that they knowlingly sold “too many” iPhones which eventually led to the poor 3G reception.
Hmm… and? This is crazy! If that’s the case, we should’ve sued all those dial-up ISPs back when we couldn’t get connected because of the busy line. Sue every other service that experiences these “issues” for over selling. Now if these issues were rampant like across the entire country, that’s another issue. But if it’s just happening to one person, get a life and move on. Stand in line like everyone else.
The Tokyo Game Show is the next big gaming event on the calendar (WoW fans will argue that Bizzcon is the next gaming event) and it seems that Sqaure-Enix is busy trying to comfort die hard Sony fans that all is not lost with their favorite franchise.
Sure we’ve heard of Kingdom Hearts for the DS and the PSP. But get this on the PS3!! Not only that. It’s playable.
The unlikely marriage of Disney and Square in 2002 has proven to be one of the most lucrative team ups in gaming. I don’t see anything bad out of this but only good things. Another game to tide us over until Final Fantasy 13 is released.
Final Fantasy XIII Agito: Final Fantasy XIII For PSP Is Way, *Way* Off
Downside, FF13 Agito for the PSP will not be coming out until it’s console cousins FF13 and FF Versus 13 come out. They may change their minds. But I haven’t seen that happen. Well with the exception of FF13 going to the 360. It’s such a long way off. By that time a new PSP version might be out already and I would be playing my PS2 games on it and still FF13 isn’t out yet.
Sigh.
Procrastinating in the Heat 