DVD Talk Forum - Interesting tidbits from around the gaming world

Things seemed a little bit dull around here so I figured I'd troll through the newswires to see if there's been any interesting news.

The post price drop sales picture is starting to shape up.

From AustralianIT:

Quote:

Independent figures from market research firm Inform show retailers sold 5948 PS2 consoles last week, compared with 4000-4500 for GameCube and 3736 for Xbox."

http://australianit.news.com.au/arti...D15321,00.html

Insofar as the Australian market reacts similarly to Europe, it's probably safe to say that after a volatile couple weeks that saw the debut of the GC in Europe and drastic pricing moves here in NA, the market is settling back down to a picture not too different from what was going on before. The PS2 leads both the GC and the XBox, though it appears the latter two have both gained a little ground.

Ken Kutaragi made some intriguing if cryptic comments at E3 regarding open collaboration in the future of online gaming.

From The Guardian

Quote:

Kutaragi does not accept that the more powerful Xbox will rush Sony into unveiling the PlayStation 3 earlier than planned, but he does hint that Sony's next console will be more of a general entertainment device and, intriguingly, speaks of collaboration: "If other consoles wanted to communicate and collaborate, it would be impossible. But in future, it will be like the internet is now: all types of information will be transferred and exchanged through the network. Our main target is the living room."

But to whom would this collaboration extend? "At Nintendo, Miyama-san is a good friend, and we have already collaborated with Sega." But not, it would appear, Microsoft.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/computerga...724203,00.html

If anyone knows where I can find a more complete transcript of Kutaragi's comments, I'd love to get a look at it.

It appears that MS has been doing some market research about a possible XBox-PC connection product.

From ZDNet

Quote:

An online survey conducted recently by a Microsoft partner indicates that the software giant is considering producing a kit that would let people use an Xbox video game console and a TV to access entertainment files stored on their PC.

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-927681.html

We may never see this thing on the market, but I think we can put to rest any notion that MS is sincere when they claim the XBox is intended as "just a game console." I understand why they do it and I expect them to stick to that story for a while yet, but it should be crystal clear by now that both MS and Sony have far greater aspirations for their game consoles than merely playing games.