Topic: Episode 202: Cruelcumber Sandwich

[Shaymin]

Did Greg say that Jam With The Band has Final Countdown done with a pipe organ?

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SOLD

[jrlibrarian]

Did Greg say that Jam With The Band has Final Countdown done with a pipe organ?

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SOLD

I really hope that someone at PAX has a copy of this, since I really want to try it, even though I might not be able to purchase a copy of it for a while.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Regarding Jam with the Band: I loved the original and its expansion pack, which I imported and played like crazy. I purchased the Japanese sequel and barely touched it--probably because I wasn't able to successfully navigate the online music selection. Also, my used copy came with a bunch of terrible renditions of the same J-pop song.

Anyway, at this point I have no interest in purchasing the European version, but I'm glad to hear others are enjoying it. Using the composer is pretty fun--hopefully you don't have to unlock that in the European game.... Also, reading the note chart makes sense if you're used to reading music on printed paper

[MegaByte]

Did Greg say that Jam With The Band has Final Countdown done with a pipe organ?

The new version lets you set different musical styles to any piece you have... so you can have orchestral, rock, 8-bit, horror, etc. renditions of any song.  It works really well.

[NWR_Lindy]

$300 is and will always be the console sweet spot.  Any company that goes higher than that does so at their own peril.  Look at this generation: the PS3 sold very poorly at a $600 launch price, the 360 sold well at a $400 launch price, and the Wii sold like crack at a crackhead convention at $250.  Here's the console launch price/units sold scale:

$250 or less - will sell like crack at a crackhead convention
$300 - will sell very well
$400 - will sell well
$500 - will sell in limited quantities
$600 - will sell poorly/are you effing crazy
$650 or more - Neo Geo

Of course this is assuming that there's actually a decent game library (meaning that price is the only barrier to purchase).  For example, the PS3 only started really selling in September 2009, when its price dropped to $300 and Uncharted 2 dropped in October 2009.

[Crimm]

PS2 - $299
PS3 - $599 ("US dollars")
PS4 - $899?

Would that be the ultimate act of trolling? I'm pretty sure it would be.

[NWR_Lindy]

My guess is that the PS4 will be bleeding-edge more in terms of online connectivity than anything else (maybe the first "cloud" console?).  Graphics are at the point of diminishing returns nowadays, outside of 3D (which they're already doing).

[Halbred]

WTF does "cloud" mean?

[broodwars]

WTF does "cloud" mean?

That you pay money for the license to play a game completely off someone else's server using their computational power and your internet connection.  In other words, it's complete digital distribution, and I hope it's a long time before that becomes the standard.  The day that becomes standard will be a sad day for people who actually like to own their games.

[Crimm]

Yep. Think of it this way:

Super powerful servers do all the high-end computing bits for lots of users and the users, instead of having to buy lots of high end machines, can use what are actually just cheap input and display devices.

Of course, cloud computing for consoles means you simply cannot play without a fast network connection AND uptime/cycle time/bandwidth availability at both ends of the line. 

IT outlets like cloud computing because buying a super-powerful mainframe and a bunch of simple terminals is cheaper than a lot of moderately powerful computers.

[MegaByte]

IT outlets like cloud computing because buying a super-powerful mainframe and a bunch of simple terminals is cheaper than a lot of moderately powerful computers.

No, cloud computing is handled by lots of moderately powerful computers since they are cheaper than buying a super-powerful mainframe.  It's just that these computers are not local -- they're in the cloud, i.e. connected to the internet somewhere.

[NWR_Lindy]

As an aside, the term "cloud" is derived from the fact that network topology diagrams of computer networks always have "The Internet" (i.e. networks outside the local network, or more specifically outside the firewall at the perimeter of your network) represented by a fluffy cloud symbol.

Example:

http://www.ripe.net/rs/ipv4/pics/topology-map.gif

[Kytim89]

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that if Sony pulls another PS3 situation where they charge a large sum of money for their fourth console, they might as well forfeight their standing in the console market.
 
Look at this way, if Sony had made the PS3 cheaper and released it for $300 back in 2005, the console would have sold out so quickly and they would not have suffered financially for this blunder. The established brand of the Playstation would have been enough for people, and loyalist, to buy the PS3 and make them lots of money. Instead, they pulled the **** they did and lost a lot of customers to both Nintendo and Microsoft. Although these customers eventually came back to Sony in a about 2009. They are still laging behind because they are currently where they should have been two to three years ago.
 
I am just curious to see what Nintendo has in store for their next console. It will most like be $300 even and will be on par with atleast the xbox 360 in graphics. One could argue that the 3DS is simutaneously the DS successor, but in some way, the wii 2 at the same time. I do feel as if Nintendo is going to emplement some kind of cloud computing for the wii 2 when it releases, which I am wagering that it will be 2012.

[Sarail]

Oh, I sure hope not.  I want "cloud" computing to stay far far FAR away from my console/handheld gaming. FAR AWAY.

[NWR_insanolord]

It's certainly going to be part of things next generation, at least for Sony and Microsoft. It's not going to be the only way to go for a long time, though, if ever.

[NWR_Lindy]

I think the market rejection of the PSPgo showed Sony that people still really like physical media.  Heck, Sony has even said as much.

There's no way that Sony will pull the $600 launch price shenanigans again.  That was a one-time poison pill that they had to swallow to introduce Blu-Ray and win the HD format war of the mid-2000's.  The Blu-Ray drive effectively added $200 to the launch price (IIRC), and even at that price it was selling at a huge loss.  In retrospect, they viewed the inclusion of Blu-Ray as more important than maintaining their stranglehold over the console business in the long-term.

I wouldn't say they were TOTALLY wrong, either.  After all, it's not like they're getting killed by Microsoft nowadays...they're pretty much neck-and-neck in worldwide sales, with both commanding around 25% of the console market.  I think the PSP has been a far bigger failure than the PS3, overall.  Heck, you could even look at Sony winning the HD war and still being tied with Microsoft in console sales as a victory of sorts.

[Kytim89]

What has Nintendo won this generation?

[Shaymin]

Everything.

Except for the Dudebro genre.

[KDR_11k]

The 3DS may have impressed people but I don't think the components are actually very expensive so I could see a price below 150.

[KDR_11k]

The reason I didn't beat Megaman ZX shortly after it came out (in the US) was that the final boss was too hard for me, not that I couldn't navigate the game. ZX Advent is structured better.


The discussion about old school games is pretty lengthy considering it could be answered with "those games are good". It doesn't require nostalgic indoctrination, the games are just fun on their own merits.

[Yoshidious]

The discussion about old school games is pretty lengthy considering it could be answered with "those games are good". It doesn't require nostalgic indoctrination, the games are just fun on their own merits.

Not only could it be answered that way, it was answered that way; in fact, I used similar phraseology myself when addressing that question. Yes there was additional discussion around that fundamental point, but the point was made very deliberately - do you object to there being further discussion or are you under the impression that this point wasn't made? As both the podcast editor and a regular participant, it is important to me how the discussion comes across to our listeners, and I would like to better understand your feedback.

[KDR_11k]

I heard the point later on but I thought it was kinda unnecessary how much back and forth there was over nostalgia and whether it could be a factor or not.