Topic: Sony getting hit Hard lately

[vudu]

Downloads don't really belong to you.  Hell I'm still a fair bit concerned about the status of VC games.  Will Nintendo support those indefinitely?  If I lack the space to store all of my VC games on the Wii itself and Nintendo decides to put the kibosh on the downloading service I'm f*cked out of games I paid for.

But to be fair (and realistic) how many of the games do you really plan on playing multiple times?  Most of my VC purchases have been games that I missed the first time around.  I paid $5 - $8 for most of them, played them, loved them, and now they sit idle on the second screen of my Wii main menu.  Most of these I won't play again.  I'm not going to have a hissy fit if I lose the ability to play these again in ten years.

[Mikintosh]

Yeah, I'm not relying on Nintendo's ability to keep the VC up indefinitely; I only delete the games I hardly play, tho if there's gonna be more games like Smash Bros. that need a lot of space, then I might have to rethink that.

[Nephilim]

Yeah, I'm not relying on Nintendo's ability to keep the VC up indefinitely; I only delete the games I hardly play, tho if there's gonna be more games like Smash Bros. that need a lot of space, then I might have to rethink that.

Brawl only reserves 128 blocks for saving stages, replays and pics, doubt many other games will do this

[Chozo Ghost]

I agree with Ian that I'd never pay to download something if I could get it in a physical media form for the same price. It is important to have a tangible copy so that you can't accidently delete it or lose it when your HD breaks down. There's one other issue with download formats as well: quality. The stuff you download off itunes has been ripped off a CD and compressed into an AAC track which sounds the same as the original to most human ears, but it really isn't the same. A dog or a skilled listener would know the difference between the two.

So that's another issue. Now, if games start to be available as downloads then we'll probably see more compression going on and more stripping of content in order to keep the size as small as possible. Optical media allows for the storage of massive amounts of data that can include music and full motion video. This extra content takes up lots of space, but it isn't necessary for the game per se. So that's probably one of the things we'd see disappear if games became download only.

I'd like to point out that even though HD-DVD is pretty much dead from a movie point of view, why does it necessarily have to be dead in other ways? They are still going to be selling HD-DVD writable discs for the foreseeable future, so why can't they do that indefinitely? Why can't MS use it as the storage media for their next xbox? That way they probably wouldn't have to pay licensing fees to Sony so that would work out well for them.

So what difference does it make to HD-DVD is blockbuster and the movie studios don't support it? That just means it can't be a movie format, but why does it have to be? The Gamecube and Wii discs aren't movie formats either and they serve their function well. So I do hope HD-DVD will hold on at least in some areas even if it lost the movie war.

[Mario]

Everyone keeps forgetting one big factor and that's downloadable-only content would be great for the environment.

[Maverick]

Goddamn hippy.

[MaryJane]

Everyone also seems to be forgetting that this is a process that's going to take awhile, and that compression technology will be beyond what it is today. Also, MP3's with a high bitrate and proper audio processing software (a.k.a not standard media players) give almost equal quality to Cd's. That's right now, 2-5 years from now you don't think Sony, MS, and Nintendo will be able to make sure that their compressed games when expanded offer the EXACT same quality as their physical media games do?

Beyond that, the only two WiiWare games I've seen (Lost Wind(s?) and FF:CC) look graphically superior to first gen first party Wii games (Zelda:TP for example) and close to games like Galaxy and Brawl, so I don't think it's going to be much of a problem. The game is created first and then compressed, so the only losses would take place in the (de)compression software, which considering that Nintendo is responsible for it, will likely produce great results, Nintendo's seal of quality still means something to me. Wii's don't break down or burn out (if they do it's at least not with a 16% fail rate like MS) and first party Nintendo games are always of a high quality (even Mario Party games).

I wonder if people were this scared when Cd's were introduced to replace vinyl's.

It is important to have a tangible copy so that you can't accidently delete it or lose it when your HD breaks down.

How does that compare to Cd's getting scratched? You can't bring it back to the store and get a refund because it was damaged. Contrary to that, if you accidentally delete or lose your digital copy when your HD breaks down (forget the fact that infinitely less volatile flash memory will likely be used in next gen consoles since a "relatively cheap" 64GB SSD will be more than most people need, right now one of those are pretty expensive upwards of $600 but mass production will drive those costs down) you can easily re-download the media, instead of having to re-buy a physical copy...

So let's see, I can either buy physical media and be completely screwed over when it gets damaged, OR, I can buy digital media and have lifetime (to be truly realistic I guess it's the lifetime of the company providing the media and not you) insurance on it.

Seems like a pretty easy choice to me. Perhaps I missed something though.

[Mario]

Goddamn hippy.

Better than the end of humanity.

[Smoke39]

What would be so terrible about the end of humanity?  It's not like our existence actually matters to anything.

[DAaaMan64]

Goddamn hippy.

Better than the end of humanity.

This is a prime example of my theory of balance.  The two powers working against each other protecting us from themselves.  IT'S GREAT

[Kairon]

Goddamn hippy.

Better than the end of humanity.

This is a prime example of my theory of balance.  The two powers working against each other protecting us from themselves.  IT'S GREAT

So you believe in a two-console future?

[KnowsNothing]

What would be so terrible about the end of humanity?  It's not like our existence actually matters to anything.

God damn existentialist.

[DAaaMan64]

Goddamn hippy.

Better than the end of humanity.

This is a prime example of my theory of balance.  The two powers working against each other protecting us from themselves.  IT'S GREAT

So you believe in a two-console future?

Well I actually put Nintendo vs everything else. But come one, I don't want to know what would happen if we had a Nintendo only market. I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty.

[Smoke39]

Well I actually put Nintendo vs everything else. But come one, I don't want to know what would happen if we had a Nintendo only market. I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty.

We'd still have the PC.  Not everyone may be able to get ahold of a console SDK, but anyone can write a computer game.

[DAaaMan64]

Well I actually put Nintendo vs everything else. But come one, I don't want to know what would happen if we had a Nintendo only market. I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty.

We'd still have the PC.  Not everyone may be able to get ahold of a console SDK, but anyone can write a computer game.

I rarely play PC games and hate them most of the time.  I am playing Team Fortress 2 right now though.

Install
Configure
Still doesn't run quite how I wanted
Load times are often worse
Patches upgrades
oh and the controls suck too.

[Smoke39]

Let's not turn this into a console v. PC argument.  My point was that even if one company dominates the console market the PC will always be open for people to experiment with new game concepts.

[MaryJane]

And Sony makes PC's and a console, as does Microsoft, where does that leave Nintendo?

just trying to bring this somewhat back on topic, read my post before this for a quick refresher lol

[Svevan]

What would be so terrible about the end of humanity?  It's not like our existence actually matters to anything.

lets debate this, internet friend, in a different thread

[ShyGuy]

Extra, extra! Phil Harrison has left Sony!

[Darkheart]

It was only a matter of time. . . poor poor man

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

=O

=D

[Chozo Ghost]

Goddamn hippy.

Better than the end of humanity.

This is a prime example of my theory of balance.  The two powers working against each other protecting us from themselves.  IT'S GREAT

So you believe in a two-console future?

Well I actually put Nintendo vs everything else. But come one, I don't want to know what would happen if we had a Nintendo only market. I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty.

We already know what would happen because for awhile it did happen. I'm talking about the NES era, of course. I don't think that era was that bad though, to be honest.

[Chozo Ghost]

Let's not turn this into a console v. PC argument.  My point was that even if one company dominates the console market the PC will always be open for people to experiment with new game concepts.

Actually, do you know who owns the PC market? That's right - Microsoft! So it would be a very serious thing if we had an MS monopoly in the console industry, because then they would have pretty much everything to do with video gaming locked up under their control. Except maybe handhelds. I could see Nintendo hanging on to that even if they lost in the console arena, but I personally think it is just a matter of time before MS comes out with their own video gaming handheld. Expect them to do just that in the next few years...

So anyways, yeah... MS is the one we should be the most worried about over the long term. Sony is still putting up a good fight and is still Nintendo's biggest threat right now, but Microsoft is the long term threat. MS and Nintendo are relatively friendly now, but this won't last. Expect MS to do to Nintendo what it has already did to companies like Netscape and Apple.

[Caliban]

Extra, extra! Phil Harrison has left Sony!

Wow.
For a moment I actually thought you were kidding, but then I decided to check, and holy bat-**** is it true.
I wonder if he's going to stick to the video-game or fly off into new endeavours.
I hope he stays. Maybe work for Microsoft, or even Nintendo.
Wait. Wait. If he comes to Nintendo it's going to be "Clash of the Two Giants". Nobody will be able to defeat them.

[Smoke39]

So it would be a very serious thing if we had an MS monopoly in the console industry, because then they would have pretty much everything to do with video gaming locked up under their control.

I was talking about the hypothetical situation of Nintendo dominating the console realm, but in any case...

Actually, do you know who owns the PC market? That's right - Microsoft!
No they don't.  Microsoft has no control over what software is made for Windows.  And even if they did, there are other OSs for game developers to use.