PS3 600 dollars? Sony is on crack

[Arnwyn]

Also, I keep hearing that Sony has all these great exclusive franchises that will bury the 360, but oddly enough, I can't think of many.

FF & Metal Gear? Sure. They've also got God of War and Devil May Cry.... but then what?

C'mon. Are you kidding me? Maybe it is some weird objectivity problem some people have, but just off the top of my head in the second I'm typing this: in addition to those above - Star Ocean, Dragon Quest, Tales, Ace Combat, Suikoden. If we'll see more games in the Chrono Trigger and Xenogears/Saga series, it'll also be on the PS3.

But really - FF, MG, and DQ is enough (compared to what's out there in exclusives for the 360 so far). Like John Crichton says - MS is going to need some more, and a respectible variation of game types.

And as mentioned before, 2007 will be better for the 360 in terms of exclusive possible-franchise games: Halo 3, Mass Effect, Gears of War (maybe 2006!), Blue Dragon (maybe 2006!), Lost Odyssey... these are system seller games, no question.

As JC clearly points out, though - what is out there right now are not. It's the lack of competition that's doing anything good for the 360. That'll change in 2007, where we'll see some real competiton between all the systems. Good times!

 

[Arnwyn]

So... Sounds like the PS3's backwards compatibility may not be much more than what we see from the 360. And on top of that, the 360 allows for games to be made BC in the future, where the PS3 doesn't look like it will have that option.

"Estimates", hmmm? Again - we'll see when it comes out.

Regarding Barbie Horse Adventures....*sigh*... I get tired of explaining this...

Contrary to what you may believe, MS did not waste thousands of man hours and millions of dollors to focus on the BC of Barbie Horse Adventures...

Oh, I "believe" that, do I?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

C'mon. Are you kidding me? Maybe it is some weird objectivity problem some people have, but just off the top of my head in the second I'm typing this: in addition to those above - Star Ocean, Dragon Quest, Tales, Ace Combat. If we'll see more games in the Chrono Trigger and Xenogears/Saga series, it'll also be on the PS3.

But see, here's the problem. I've been a hardcore gamer for as long as I can remember. Out of the games you mentioned, Xenogears, Chronotrigger, and Dragon Quest are the only ones I've even heard of. They may be popular among some folks, but they aren't system sellers.

Mario
Zelda
Metroid
Halo
Metal Gear
Final Fantasy

These are the exclusive system sellers. And yes, the 360 currently only has one. But, you can see how imortant they are by the fact that Nintendo has three, and suffered terribly compared to Sony and Microsoft last gen.

"Estimates", hmmm? Again - we'll see when it comes out.

I thought we were debating with the info we have now. Saying "we'll see when it comes out" isn't doing much to convince me Sony will hold their own in the US this generation.

Oh, I "believe" that, do I?

Clearly, I was being sarcastic. But then why did you bring it up if your point wasn't that 360 BC had messed up priorities?

 

[drothgery]

C'mon. Are you kidding me? Maybe it is some weird objectivity problem some people have, but just off the top of my head in the second I'm typing this: in addition to those above - Star Ocean, Dragon Quest, Tales, Ace Combat. If we'll see more games in the Chrono Trigger and Xenogears/Saga series, it'll also be on the PS3.

Just as an FYI - Xenosaga III is supposed to be the end of the series, and it's a PS2 game (the last days of PS2 being pretty good to RPG fans, with FF XII as the biggest name). And if Tales in the next-gen is like the current-gen, you'll see a game or two on Wii.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Is Final Fantasy still that good? I fealt it started going down hill after 7, and lost touch with the series not long after.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Is Final Fantasy still that good? I fealt it started going down hill after 7, and lost touch with the series not long after.

...started going downhill at VI....

EDIT: However, it still sells insanely well from what I've seen.

 

[Mercule]

Is Final Fantasy still that good? I fealt it started going down hill after 7, and lost touch with the series not long after.

I only started with 7.

I got some enjoyment out of 8, 9, and 10, though. FF isn't really my favored schtick, but it's always provided enough entertainment value for the money -- especially considering I usually wait until the games are marked at $20.

 

[drothgery]

Is Final Fantasy still that good? I fealt it started going down hill after 7, and lost touch with the series not long after.

8 had awful magic mechanics (which was a shame, because the plot wasn't all that bad, and it was pretty visually impressive for its time). 9 put the fun back in FF (and is often considered the apology for FF8). People are divided on the plot for 10, but it was one of the first PS2 games that really looked good, and basically kept the PS2 from going down in flames (for many of the same reasons that we think the PS3 might). 10-2 was kind of cheesy (so I never played it), and 11's a multiplatform MMO (I've never played it; available on PS2, PC, and Xbox 360). 12 is a more conventional RPG, in the FF Tactics universe, but the English language version isn't out yet, and I don't trust Japanese reviewers (who loved the game, apparently) to be objective when it comes to FF.

 

[reanjr]

Sony has said nothing of the sort. You've read the interview with Hirai as much as I have, I'm sure, and this was never said at all. The 360 has already set the standard for higher game prices. Sony will follow lock-step.

Sorry, you are correct. I got the info from bundles that are being presold at that price.

Well, you didn't even bother to define "innovative", so your arguments aren't going to get you very far here.

A feature (not a tech spec) that no one else has.

And needless to say, the Wii's "Virtual Console" is hardly better than the PS3's back catalogue. Maybe comparible, if you like purchasing games that you already own again (or have never heard of - yes, illegal, but still existing - ROMs). The Virtual Console won't be a factor when considering backwards compatibility. It's a 'nice touch'.

And the 360 supporting backwards compatibility (compared to the others)? Funny. There have only been complaints about that "support". Barbie Horse Adventures, here we come!

Perhaps you are not familiar with the technical aspect of backwards compatibility. The reason PS2 could play all PS1 games is because they included a PS1 processor in the system. And some games ran slower on PS2 than PS1 anyway. Sony has strongly hinted that a PS2 processor will not be included in the PS3, so they're going to be playing the same game MS is. I have not heard Sony say that they will have 100% back catalogue on launch, so I don't expect them to.

The Barbie Adventure thing is due to the fact that MS emulates instructions, not games. When all of the instructions necessary for a game have been emulated, the game is emulated. Barbie likely does nothing fancy and so is automatically emulated when other games were. MS's catalogues of converted games is getting bigger all the time, each update providing more games than the previous. Who knows, by the time PS3 comes out, 360 might have full XBox support.

Incorrect. Konami tried twice (an old port of MGS2 for the Xbox, and then an attempt with another developer with MGS1 on the GCN), and failed on both accounts. They quit trying that with MGS3. MGS4 will be exclusive to the PS3, and it's been reported that Kojima will be sticking with the PS3 for the forseeable future.

Not quite sure of what failed in these ports. I know people who own both of them. GameSpot rates MGS1 for GCN an 8.2, MGS2 for XB and 8.7. In both cases, their only complaint is it's only slightly better than the PSx versions and that Konami is not too experienced developing for XBox. I have not heard Konami indicate that it WILL NOT come out on XBox. MGS3: Subsistance just came out in March, so I wouldn't discount an XBox version out of hand. If you have a link indicating that it is NOT coming, I'd like to read it.

As to exclusivity, nowadays that rarely means exclusivity in perpetuity. Just that the game will launch on one platform and can come to others later.

 

[reanjr]

Is Final Fantasy still that good? I fealt it started going down hill after 7, and lost touch with the series not long after.

Many feel the same way, but plenty still feel they must play FF because part VI was good. Also, FFXIII has the advantage that it's being done by a different set of people than most of the post-CD gaming era.

Nonetheless, I don't think FF is as much of a system seller as it was, but it's still very important. On the other hand, Square Enix is developing non-FF games for all the systems now, so it'shard to say how their involvement with Sony will pan out.