Games Generation 8 consoles

[DaGaffer]

One last thing Chodax, I'll make it extra fucking simple for your retarded mind.

Blu-ray v's HD-DVD.

BD won that format war, yes? Then shut the fuck up.

Not really a war worth fighting though was it?

And G, an 80" telly? Where do you live? Blenheim Palace?

 

[Ch3tan]

Err why was this moved?

 

[old.user4556]

In retrospect, it was a bag of LOL.

A palace surrounded by drink driving Poles.

 

[MYstIC G]

I see. Pray tell, when was the last one?

PSP Go. Next?

 

[Raven]

Odd. I thought the front room was for general chat, gaming related or not. While the thread is titled generation 8 consoles it was a general discussion regarding media formats too.

Have the mods not got anything better to do than dick about with thread locations? It makes as much sense as moving the photography posts to the tech section... Please can you move any post relating to a game to the relevant sections too. Console or PC, wouldn't want it to get confusing.

 

[cHodAX]

Obviously not, what a farce.

 

[Scouse]

I feel I have to weigh in on this one too. I don't own a console (well, a Wii, but that doesn't count). I don't bother coming into the console forum threads either.

I do, however, have a passing interest in the up and coming consoles and general was the place for that discussion.

If there was a load of threads about specific console games in the front room then yep, there'd be some candidates for moves. But even if it was a single thread about a specific big console game I wouldn't move it...


Ch3t was right, but tbh I wouldn't have started a thread to complain about it. I'd have gone direct to the mods with my argument first. But he was still right.

 

[soze]

Blu Ray vs HD, then Sony is the clear winner as whatever money Sony may have lost is equalled by what MS lost backing and developing HD DVD. Yes the format might not be in every home yet but geese what neither is DVD my Nan still rocks a VHS in her living room. And yes i bet streaming will hurt the future sales of Blu Rays but no one saw that coming. There really does seem to be some pointless Sony bashing whenever these threads pop up.

 

[cHodAX]

Blu Ray vs HD, then Sony is the clear winner as whatever money Sony may have lost is equalled by what MS lost backing and developing HD DVD. Yes the format might not be in every home yet but geese what neither is DVD my Nan still rocks a VHS in her living room. And yes i bet streaming will hurt the future sales of Blu Rays but no one saw that coming. There really does seem to be some pointless Sony bashing whenever these threads pop up.

Incorrect, MS backed HD-DVD for little over 2 years and made a significant amount of money off the external drive itself because it was manufactured and sold to them at just above cost price as a way of rapidly gaining some traction in the market. MS was also in profit with 360 very quickly, just over 2 years and mainly because XBL started to grow at a rapid rate, any losses they incurred backing the HD-DVD format were quickly recovered through sales and subscriptions. Microsoft's annual financials reflect this and they have posted consistent growth plus profit for the last 5 years in a row.

Soze, please realise mate, this is not Sony bashing so much as stating that they made some big mistakes and it has had a massive impact on thier business. Revenue has been stagnant, regular annual losses and a range of products all underperforming on Sony's own expectations. Where is the bashing in that? It is just stating the truth that has already been widely reported.

 

[soze]

Because it is bashing without giving it a chance. If Blu Ray does not turn a profit this year it still has years left on its shelf life. The same with the PS3 it might be a loss now but as there are still games coming out on the PS2 so i don't think the PS3 needs to turn a profit before the end of the year or the company is a write off. Everything posted about Sony seems so over negative like bashing Windows or Apple. The huge Market Share Sony have lost that came from someone else Sony took it and now Nintendo and MS have taken a huge chunk until we see what the future holds there is no point in being negative IMO. Rather than saying Sony fucked up I just think in this generation they came up against two great console.

 

[Scouse]

Pointing out obvious faults with a company isn't bashing. It's telling the truth.

Or should we not point out stupid mistakes?

 

[ECA]

So by comparison, Vista was a total fuckup, I don't see how 720 is going to work.

derpa derpa. i'm a sherpa.

Zune too, man, 720 is doomed after that product.

The only reason we're discussing this shit is a result of pointless bashing.

 

[cHodAX]

Because it is bashing without giving it a chance. If Blu Ray does not turn a profit this year it still has years left on its shelf life. The same with the PS3 it might be a loss now but as there are still games coming out on the PS2 so i don't think the PS3 needs to turn a profit before the end of the year or the company is a write off. Everything posted about Sony seems so over negative like bashing Windows or Apple. The huge Market Share Sony have lost that came from someone else Sony took it and now Nintendo and MS have taken a huge chunk until we see what the future holds there is no point in being negative IMO. Rather than saying Sony fucked up I just think in this generation they came up against two great console.

Ok, Blu-Ray has already had 5-6 years and has yet to surpass DVD sales, infact digital streaming is actually eating away at BD sales, Netflix and thier ilk are growing at a staggering rate with their 1080p versions are considered 'good enough' by most people. So can we agree that BD is being squeezed? Now you think we need to give them more time to grow even though HD-DVD died off 4 years ago, fair enough but will the market give them time? We are already seeing a big transition to digital content delivery which is being taken up by the tech saavy en masse. The bottom end of market are still buying DVD and are perfectly happy with it, where does that leave BD in the long term? With half the market share it was expected to have, the dominant HD format but not the dominant format. That is the problem for Sony, they hedged all thier bets on BD and the financials are quite clear, it is not delivering the revenue.

No Sony bashing, just honest opinions. If you want me to bash Apple I can do that all day!

 

[cHodAX]

So by comparison, Vista was a total fuckup, I don't see how 720 is going to work.

derpa derpa. i'm a sherpa.

Zune too, man, 720 is doomed after that product.

The only reason we're discussing this shit is a result of pointless bashing.

Microsoft brings in more revenue in 3 months than Sony does in 12 months, they consistently turn a profit every quarter. They can afford mistakes.

Sony are consistently turning in losses, going to the banks for money, culling entire divisions and trying to drastically reduce thier pension burden by forced redundancies. They cannot afford many more mistakes.

 

[Aada]

So by comparison, Vista was a total fuckup, I don't see how 720 is going to work.

derpa derpa. i'm a sherpa.

Zune too, man, 720 is doomed after that product.

The only reason we're discussing this shit is a result of pointless bashing.

ECA your a blatant Sony fanboi, you do nothing but bash the Xbox anytime it's mentioned and before you use that popular internet word irony, yes i'm a fanboi.

You're just a twat about it though.

If there's one thing i can say i absolutely hate about my PS3 is everytime you buy a new game you can't just put it in and play.

You have to go through an OBSCENE install time and downloading patch time, it's a fucking console ffs not a PC where you have to go through a 20min install time.

 

[MYstIC G]

In my opinion Sony's problem is whilst they can produce quality hardware it comes with a fucking awful user experience.

Cannot remember the last title that I could just "play" on my PS3.

Before the counter argument chimes in, the XBOX does indeed do the same thing but the patches take under two minutes in my experience.

I also think that if Sony were smart they'd come up with a pad that let you have the thumbstick the same way as the XBOX one as imho it's much more comfortable but I guess that's what third party hardware is for.

 

[ECA]

ECA your a blatant Sony fanboi, you do nothing but bash the Xbox anytime it's mentioned and before you use that popular internet word irony, yes i'm a fanboi.

You're just a twat about it though.

Nope, I'm pretty objective it just seems you and others want to shit on "the other side" from your own hardware purchases.
I swap brands of everything regularly without emotional attachment, I don't really care.

I bought a PS3 a little while back, but I own consoles from nintendo, sega, microsoft ( including a 360 ), whatever.
I buy both amd and nvidea graphics cards depending on price/performance when I buy.

The sum tldr of my posts in this thread is basically denying vita/ps3 are flops based on unit sales, and thinking people are being a bit fucking retarded.

 

[cHodAX]

Very few people have said it was/is a flop, certainly not me but some want to read it that way sadly when it just isn't the case.

 

[Aada]

PS3 ain't a flop, apart from the blu ray the console just seems very complicated to make games for it seems every game that is multiformat the PS3 usually gets a pretty poor port.

 

[Job]

Seriously though, Bluray is an over engineered, locked down joke, if I'd wanted to let the hardware manufacturer have a guy in my room operating the remote for me , I'd have bought an Apple.
Streaming will kill it, it so obvious that Sony must have written it off allready.

 

[JBP|]

I'd like to wade in on the Blu ray v HD-DVD thingy if i may ( this isn't PS3/ sony bashing cos i havn't got a PS3 )
I've got a stand alone br player and still have the hd-dvd thingy for the 360, the one thing i have noticed above anything else is that hd-dvd pretty much starts up straight away, where as with br i have to wait for it to load.
I don't know if that's just my br player or not but it is the only real significant difference i can find (other than the amount of storage)

 

[old.user4556]

Stand alone BD players are slow compared to games consoles; everyone complains about it, except PS3 owners.

 

[Yaka]

im prolly dumb enough to to buy both of what ever shit sony and ms spit out for the "next gen" consoles. just hope to each consoles has decent number of "exclusives" to make it worth while, aside from perhaps gow,forza and prolly halo on 360 and gt5, gow, mgs,lpb and uncharterd on ps3 theres really been very little to seprate both consoles. aside from ps3 getting the shitter of the multi format titles if you wana be picky.

tho sony seems to have shot them shelves in the foot already with team ico and that game company who seems liek they are heading towards realeasing games on pc

 

[MYstIC G]

I'll not be impressed with either offering if it doesn't have a physical media format. Given the death (finally) of my aged original manufacturing run XBOX a while ago and that there are no simplistic tools for backup.

 

[Yaka]

if the 360 is dead then you can use the hdd or transfer it to the hdd on a new one. just be be sure to properly wipe the hdd before selling it on or better still use it in alappy/htpc/leechbox or somat

 

[MYstIC G]

if the 360 is dead then you can use the hdd or transfer it to the hdd on a new one. just be be sure to properly wipe the hdd before selling it on or better still use it in alappy/htpc/leechbox or somat

With a pay for transfer cable.

 

[Yaka]

meh we have to pay for the cable now? feh even sony aint that lame

 

[cHodAX]

Wii U could be in for a rough ride?

An analyst in Japan with Macquarie Capital Securities does not see a bright future for Wii U
Wii U will launch later this year (one rumored date points to November 18) and Nintendo is hoping to make a big splash with the system this year at E3 in June. Many questions about the console's capabilities still linger, however, and one analyst in Japan is not too optimistic about Wii U's long-term prospects. David Gibson at Macquarie Capital Securities (Japan) Limited has downgraded Nintendo stock to "underperform" and remarked that there are "increasingly problematic structural problems for the company." Gibson assigned a target price of ¥10,000 and noted that "if Nintendo went iOS/Android with games we think the stock could be worth ¥20,000+, but in our view that's not going to happen."
Ultimately, Gibson said the "competitive position of the WiiU has deteriorated" and he advises avoiding Nintendo stock until E3.



Gibson outlined three potentially big problems for Nintendo:

1. Wii U GPU is less powerful than Xbox360/PS3 according to developers, which means it has no edge besides the tablet interface to attract core users. Initial third-party titles are likely to be only ports from Xbox360/PS3 titles. A bundled WiiSports/Mario title may help initial sales beat Wii launch, but Wii was severely production-constrained and the surprise factor from Wii U is less.
2. iPad with its retina display shows where Apple is taking its 4 screen infrastructure, leaving Wii U less connected and less relevant. The GPU processing power for handsets is reaching consoles such that we think core gamers have no interest in buying into the Wii U. Apple might add in a controller to its line-up to be more attractive to core users. MocoSpace survey shows that 96% of gamers like to play their games at home, and with a better infrastructure we think iOS will be able to deliver a single game experience across four screens that Nintendo cannot.
3. Wii U will have 1-year window to gain installed base before PS4 (Orbis) and then Xbox Durango launch in late 2013. At that point, the core gamer that Nintendo is after for the first time will have no interest in Wii U. We understand that Activision has no plans to support Wii U, which means the biggest selling title of Call of Duty will be missing; Konami is also planning minimal support.

 

[soze]

I though the Wii U was a April Fools Joke at first it seems like a terrible concept. With a Nintendo Badge though i bet it still sells OK.

 

[cHodAX]

Sony announce a $6 billion dollar loss! 10,000 job losses.

For his first public outing as Sony president and CEO, Kaz Hirai had a rather inauspicious backdrop. Just a few days before he made his presentation on the company's future, it had announced that a write-off of tax credits in the USA was adding ¥300 billion to its losses for FY2012 - bringing total annual losses to around $6.4 billion (£4 billion), the deepest ever experienced by the company.

After the brutal hammer-blow of the firm's new financial forecasts, Hirai might have had an opportunity to do that. Plenty of those anticipating his statements had one thing they wanted to hear him say: "we're getting out of televisions". The consensus among market watchers regarding Sony's TV business is simple: it's a multi-billion dollar albatross, a millstone which will drag Sony to the bottom of the Pacific if it can't disentangle itself. Nobody denies that Sony makes good TVs, but the market has become completely commoditised. Sony simply can't compete with Samsung on manufacturing costs, for a variety of economic and political reasons, and Samsung itself is looking nervously over its shoulder at potential rivals in developing Asian and South American nations.

The simple problem is this: making TVs used to be hard, and now it's not. Building flat-panel TVs, even very good flat-panel TVs, is a task that used to be restricted to a small group of superbly technically proficient companies, of whom Sony was the unquestioned leader. Samsung took the lead, matching Sony's specifications but undercutting their costs. Now, the technical skills needed to build a good HDTV are increasingly widespread. There's no serious money to be made here, barring a few high-margin corners of the business, like the "Bang & Olufsen" more-money-than-sense high-end. 3DTV might have sustained the business for companies like Sony for a while, but it's been a flop so far (and more worryingly for them, it's also turned out to be technically simple for low-end rivals to implement). There's talk of 4k technology, the "next level" of HDTV, but if Sony's going to pin its hopes on that gaining major consumer traction then its shareholders ought to run for the hills.

In the end, though, Hirai didn't say that Sony is getting out of TVs. Commentators in the media were understandably disappointed, but everyone understands why Sony remains wedded to this expensive vanity business. It's been the heart of Sony's strategy for decades, just as it's been the heart of living room entertainment for decades. Sony is famous for many things - transistor radios, the Walkman, the PlayStation - but it's in televisions that it truly broke through to become the world's leading electronics firm. Like most large Japanese companies it has an immense amount of inertia, not least because Japanese companies are remarkably bad at getting elderly managers to retire and give up their influence - which can be good when you need the benefit of their experience, and bloody terrible when you need to retrench a struggling company that's bleeding hundreds of billions of Yen into nostalgic but utterly misguided business ventures.