*gasps* Some people don't care for FF!? Heh, yea we know, but in Japan that series is a religion. Seriously. I don't play FF either, anyway.
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Contrary to popular opinion, there are people who do not care to play Final Fantasy titles. I don't think FFXIII is going to make or break the PS3. o_o
Which is exactly why it's the third best-selling franchise worldwide.
To the contrary, there are two very popular franchises that can indeed make or break the PS3. Final Fantasy XIII is one title from such a franchise. The other'd be Metal Gear Solid 4. Neither, as far as I know, are leaving the PS3 anytime soon, however.
Although important, Metal Gear Solid's sales are a long way from the level of Final Fantasy's.
Didn't the PS2 have relatively few buy-a-console-for-this!-titles at first? In fact, didn't a lot of consoles?
Well sure in the early days before series were established and whatnot, but now we're pretty much in a time where systems are bought based on the games you assume will come out for them.
Not only that, the PS2 didn't have much competition at the time with only the Dreamcast to contend with, and since the PS1 had such a huge amount of fans already, it wasn't too difficult task to sell the system with Tekken Tag, or at least that's what I gathered from all the people I knew who baught it, which was pretty much my whole school except me.
There were plenty of series people anticipated for PS2. And GC.
From the Financial Times.com
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5918188e-f416-11db-88aa-000b5df10621.html
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Sony PlayStation creator retires
By Mariko Sanchanta in Tokyo
Published: April 26 2007 17:59 | Last updated: April 26 2007 17:59
Ken Kutaragi, the maverick engineer behind all three generations of Sony PlayStation consoles, announced his retirement on Thursday in a move likely to be seen as a reaction to the lacklustre sales of the PS3.
Mr Kutaragi, who will leave his post in June, was sidelined from the day-to-day management of Sony Computer Entertainment in December when he was appointed chairman and chief executive.
At that time, Kazuo Hirai was named global president and chief operating officer. On Thursday he was promoted to group chief executive of SCEI.
Sonys PlayStation 3 has struggled to gain a foothold in global markets despite a record launch in Europe last month, while Nintendos Wii games console continues to go from strength to strength.
On Thursday, Nintendo said brisk sales of Wii consoles helped more than double the groups operating profit to a record Y226bn ($1.91bn) in the year ended March.
The Japanese games maker forecast a record operating profit of Y270bn in the current year and aims to double global sales of the Wii to14m units this year.
Meanwhile, analysts expect Sonys games division to report an operating loss of Y70bn in the current fiscal year ending March 2008.
Due to the high costs of producing the PS3, Sony is still incurring a loss on every console sold and Goldman Sachs estimates it will not make money on the console until next year, at the earliest.
Mr Hirai, who worked for years in the US with SCEI, is understood to have stronger working relationships with US, European and Japanese games makers and is seen as better-suited to repair strained relations with games companies, which were adversely affected by repeated delays of the PS3 launch.
He is also understood to have a better working relationship with Sir Howard Stringer, Sonys chief executive.
Mr Kutaragi will remain honorary chairman of SCEI. I am happy to graduate from SCEI after introducing four platforms to the PlayStation family, said Mr Kutaragi on Thursday.
Sony said that Mr Kutaragi has decided to pursue his dreams beyond PlayStation and accelerate his network vision.
Mr Kutaragis retirement could be the sign of a critical shift in management thinking, with Sony changing its emphasis so that the current generation of games console will be its last as a hardware manufacturer.
Haven't seen it pop up on any other sites yet. Take from it what you will.
EDIT: Also, figured this was most relavent here. Feel free to slap me if you think it should have have it's own topic.
It's fine.
I'm still saying a considerable price cut will aid the PS3 and I'm not changing my mind until:
a) Sony cuts the price.
b) I win the lotto. 
To the contrary, there are two very popular franchises that can indeed make or break the PS3. Final Fantasy XIII is one title from such a franchise. The other'd be Metal Gear Solid 4. Neither, as far as I know, are leaving the PS3 anytime soon, however.
EGM's rumor mill thing said that MGS4 was going to get on the 360 as well. And despite it being a "rumor" mill, most everything they say in there does eventually come true.
Kojima has once denied rumours to that effect, but to be fair I recall Nintendo denying that they would release a redesigned DS a day before they announced the Lite.
I considre MGS4 an X360 game too. o.o However, I can't find any official word that says such.
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EGM's rumor mill thing said that MGS4 was going to get on the 360 as well. And despite it being a "rumor" mill, most everything they say in there does eventually come true.
They once said that there would be another Panzer Dragoon game, post-Orta, in the vein of PD Saga. Still waiting.
Rumors are rumors... it wouldn't surprise me if MGS4 came to the 360, but not because it was in EGM (rather because every other game is doing it; it's, like, the "in" thing to do or something >_>).
Kojima's not going to do MGS4 for the 360. Why? Because he hates ports. He's justified, too, after the Metal Gear 1, 2 and MGS2: Substance debacle.
Kojima will probably make a game for the 360. It just won't be MGS4. More likely it'll be another Zone Of The Enders or maybe an all-new original property.
Or Snatcher.
That image of MGS4 on DVDs instead of BDDVDs comes to mind.
I think Cindy linked it in this thread.
If this site is accurate, it pretty much shoots down any chance of MSG4 for 360:
I'm probably going to sound a bit naive here, but what MG1/2/Substance debacle? o.o
Would you guys mind changing the news in the parentheses? FFXIII and FF Versus XIII are still exclusive to the PS3. Other consoles will be getting spinoffs, not the main games.
They're so eager to post whatever the latest bad news (And ONLY bad news) that factual accuracy is less important.
Notice how they'll post things that aren't past rumour yet there, but when the PS3 launch in Europe set records, noone seemed to care after three or so posts?
I like the generalisation there. Any clarification on just who 'they' are?
To be fair, only Ultra and staff can change the front page title, and I for one have better things to do with my time than ensure that the news is up to date and, since the topic has been brought up, balanced between good and bad.
'They' would mean Ultra in this case, THS.
If not him, then whoever's editing the title every time there's a bad rumour about the PS3.
For the Metal Gear 1 and 2 ports... (from www.mgsaga.net/Archive-Scripts-MGSV1-MG.htm and www.mgsaga.net/Archive-Sc...-MG2SS.htm respectively)
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Konami decided to develop a NES version of Metal Gear, but I had absolutly nothing to do with this game.
The game launched worldwide and became a huge hit, selling one million copies in the U.S.
It really was a blockbuster success.
Surprisingly, the boss "Metal Gear" wasn't even in the NES version!
There's just some computer moniter at the end...
That game was complete garbage!
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Konami came up with the idea of making a sequal to the NES version of Metal Gear.
Naturally, I had nothing to do with it.
This sequal, Snake's Revenge, was released in North America.
One evening, the staff of Snake's Revenge and I found ourselves on the same train heading home from work.
They had worked with me on the original MSX2 Metal Gear.
Like Metal Gear fans, the old crew knew that Snake's Revenge wasn't a true sequel.
As for Substance, here's a snippet from the IGN review of the Xbox version.
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Even though the framerate stays buttery smooth throughout most of the game, there are some instances of extreme slowdown, most noticeable during the outside raining scenes on the tanker level. It doesn't occur very often, and almost never affects gameplay, but it is there. Oddly, it seemed to happen most when there wasn't anything really happening onscreen. Just the rain. In fact, the rain is exactly what is causing the slowdown. When Kojima and company created the tanker level, they first created the entire scene, then added filters, like the rain and mist, on top of it to create the impressive weather effects. Because the game was originally made and optimized for the PS2, which has a very unique hardware configuration, the game ran at 60 fps with no hiccups. Unfortunately, the algorithm used to create the weather effects did not translate too well when trying to implement it on the Xbox hardware, hence the slowdown. It probably would have been too much work to come up with and implement a new algorithm, and since it really doesn't affect gameplay, Konami may have felt it was good enough as is. So, practicality and not sloppy programming is responsible for the slowdown. Slowdown occurs in a few other places too, namely the boss fights, but it doesn't really make a difference.
Keep in mind that all the places where the Xbox version had slowdown played without issue in the PS2 version. This is because, as mentioned above, Kojima doesn't make multi-console games. He takes the game he's making and optimizes it for the console he's making it for.
Doesn't exactly show Konami in a good light, does it?
On the average, most developers hate having to create multiple versions of the same game on different consoles. It just increases the workload while lowering the overall quality of the game.
But publishers expect/demand maximum return for their product. They don't seem too keen on the trials and tribulations associated with putting together something remotely playable, so long as they can get it out the door.
I liked that nice PW nod, Psx.
Not entirely PS3 related, but in referance to the article:
THS (8:17 pm): I wonder if such a gap does occur, whether Microsoft will begin making games for the HDDVD drive addon
I thought they intended to do that anyway. o.o
I dunno, I've not been keeping up with the news that well. I wouldn't be surprised if they were, mind.
Oh well, PS3 thread gogogo.
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I thought they intended to do that anyway. o.o
Don't know about that. Sounds a bit Mega CD-y, and they have denied it. But then they also said you wouldn't need a Hard Drive to play any games and that was reversed quickly.
[url= http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13253 ]Microsoft man says maybe to Blu Ray Drive
lolz, how surprising, Microsoft'll jump on the bandwagon a bit too late.
Yeah, see, this really ISN'T anything new. Microsoft has always said that if Blu-Ray was being the clear winner, they'd make Blu-Ray drives instead of HD-DVD ones. Either way, it'd still be an optional thing (not mandatory as per PS3), which gives its own ups and downs (e.g.: inability to make games via Blu-Ray discs due to no guarantee that everyone owns one).
...no guarantee that people own it stops Microsoft?
Huh. I wouldn't have guessed.
Last weeks Japanese software sales: 360 outdid PS3 in Japan.
Even I'm surprised.
Source, out of curiosity?
Not hardware sales?
I'm sorry, but that's just hilarious and awesome all rolled into one. 
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Last weeks Japanese software sales: 360 outdid PS3 in Japan.
Even I'm surprised.
Well that's what happens when you don't release anything new for a console. And this week the only new game for the PS3 there is Madden 2K7. Around 500 copies have been sold. 
DS training of the adult who is poor English it is to obtain more, soaking
Engrish will never get old. @ Xag's link
Does that include sales from Marketplace/PSStore?
And yeah, the Xbox 360 has a lot more out for it than the PS3. o.o
Probably not, SX, I don't think VC or Live Arcade games get listed in these things either.
Still, this isn't really a surprise due to the point Ashide made, it's pretty surprising that the PS3 is selling more systems without games than the 360 with them.
Blu Ray player.
Blu Ray is outsellig HDDVD 2/3-1.
Why is this ot bigger news?
Because nobody cares about either format, yet?
I think investors care more about it than consumers, right now.
And yeah. I live with an amatuer investor. u.u
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Blu Ray is outsellig HDDVD 2/3-1.
But is it the inexpensive player doing that, or the fact that HD-DVD has no exclusives worth mentioning in the same breath as Pirates Of The Caribbean and Spider-man?
Yea really, totally things that investors care about at the moment. Not quite taking the same approach as the DvD in 2000-2001. Eventually though.
HDDVD players are an expensive way to play Universal movies in HD.
Forgot who said that, some Sony exec.
