I still disagree. Companies will always focus on their home terriory first just out of loyalty if nothing else. Looks bad to the domestic stock holders if your performance sucks at home as well.

Doing a little research...

"Sony's second generation console, the PlayStation 2 or PS2 was released in Japan on March 4, 2000 and later in North America on October 26, 2000"

So that's what, about 7 months or so? I suppose the estimates for the PS3 are about the same, however I like with Microsoft is doing with releases pretty close together in other countries.

What are you actually disagreeing with? The fact is the US market is the most important, followed by Europe. Emerging markets in asia (china / korea) have to be considered as well these days (still significant issues in china to be worked through).

I'm not saying that they ignore Japan or something :P. A 3 month gap between release is reasonable, which I think was what Nintendo did with the GC. 9 months just seems to be handing an opportunity to your competitor.

Microsoft has the right idea with their worldwide release strategy and it should help them push some decent numbers early.

I was disagreeing that they are treating the US like a second class citizen and that it's a bad move.

It's the norm. They know most gamers (especially casual gamers) will wait for the PS3. The X-box didn't seriously challenge them, and the 360 doesn't look to change that right away as the 360 games that have been shown have underwhelmed most people, and the type of games they haven't aren't going to get many (if any) new people on the X-box bandwagon.

Plus, people aren't going to get pissed when there is usually a 6 month or so window, like with the PSX and PS2 launches. It's not like this is something new.

Now, if they push to spring 2007, you have a point. But I don't see that happening. They won't miss the US 2006 holiday season.

Well it's the 2007 that I was referring to, which seems to have been picked up as a possibility. That's getting dangerously close to a year difference. Even 6 months is probably not ideal. What might have been the norm 1-3 generations ago is no longer necessarily the case, and Japan is no longer the economic powerhouse that it once was.

I know that the PSP interest has suffered around here due to the huge wait between the local and the US release. Everyone I know either imported, bought a DS, or just lost interest (lack of decent games and software doesn't really help). It does have an effect.

PSP interest has suffered because the game library sucks balls (as you pointed out). It had little to nothing to do with the wait.

People were hyped during the wait and excited as hell when the got one and now it's died down and owners are bitching about having nothing to play.

Will the PS3 play Blu-Ray movies, have they said yet?

I don't know why but I really like the fact that they have included an SD and CF mem slot. I wonder if it will have the same media center features as the XBox 360.

I'm talking about the australian market josh. It only came out here in September.

The PSP was released in Japan in December. 3.5 months later, it was released in the US. The European launch was delayed because of the piracy issues and wanting to ship all with v2.0 firmware. Expect that the PS3 will launch in all territories by winter 2006.

The PS3 will play Blu-Ray movies.

The PS3 media center capabilities are a little different than the 360. With the 360, it is meant to connect to a Windows Media Center. You will be able to stream media from your Windows Media Center PC to your 360.

The PS3 will be the center in Sony's setup. You can play all types of media on your PS3, or you can use your PSP to stream media off the PS3.

Microsoft has designed it so your Windows Media Center PC is the center of your entertainment center. Sony has designed it so the PS3 is the center. Microsoft has allowed the 360 to access the media on your Windows Media Center, while Sony has allowed the PSP to access the media on your PS3.

I myself don't mind the wait as I can line up all 3 systems better. I know I'm picking up one of the new systems but am still undecided. Since I was burned by the very first Playstation (heating problems, disc reading problems, etc) and if they take the time to make sure things work when released or to have something better/cheaper all the better.

Granted I'm in a different situation than most as I'm just picking up one for my son. I don't have the free time I used to have :( The only things I can play are a PSP or a DS on my subway ride to work.

Oh, well you were talking about the US and European markets being the two most important so I got confused.

Of course the Japanese game companies don't give a shit about you guys. ;)

Nah, nor MS (360 not till some unspecified time 2006).

I just dont really understand the logic of this. Right now, I have my PC hooked up to my HDTV. Is this unusual? Why would I want to transfer anything to my xbox360 or ps3 for viewing. The exception being the PS3 for watching blu ray movies on. I might not even do that if its going to be cheaper to install a bluray drive on my pc. Are we just supposed to cut our PC out of the loop and use our consoles for everything? Why?

Yes.

1. The idea of these "set top box" consoles is to eventually control the hometheater marketshare, or a large portion of it.

2. Most people have no knowledge of how to, or no interest in, hooking up their PC to their HT set up in the living room.

Yes. The majority of people in do not connect their computers to their TVs.

For the 360, as long as you are running Media Center, you won't have to transfer anything. For the PS3, it won't be a matter of transfering to your PS3, you will use your PS3 to obtain the material instead of your PC.

Yes, because that is the goal of what Sony is trying to do. They are offering a hard drive with a full operating system on it so you can do all those things you use your computer for on your PS3, at a much discounted price. Sony wanted to make the console the center of your home, while Microsoft wants to make the computer the center of the home. Its two different philosophies.

Monday News

The possible muse for the new Playstation controller:

http://www.vidgames.com/ps/hardware/alpspad.jpg

You can also read the review where it is called "the best feel of any controller out there". I remember seeing this before, but for some reason I don't remember posting it in here.

- Carmack expressed interest in developing a "Super Doom" for PS3. It was also mentioned that he prefers developing for the Xbox360, which isn't surprising considering how similar the 360 processor is to PC processors.

- Itagaki (Team Ninja) has expressed, similar to PS2, that the PS3 is too difficult to program for. Its a tired excuse/double speak for "Microsoft bought us!", but they still haven't announced their prized Ninja Gaiden series as a 360 exclusive.

Or it's true :p

Developers will soon have their hands on the dev tools promised to them back in July at the PlayStation Meeting, including some additional tools.

As of September 27th, the following companies have been given official status as PlayStation 3 tools and middleware licensees, according to SCE:

Alias Systems Corp.
Autodesk Inc.
Avid Technology Inc.
CRI Middleware Co., Ltd.
Emergent Game Technologies Inc. (merged with Numerical Design, Ltd.)
Epic Games Inc.
Firelight Technologies Pty Ltd.
Havok (Telekinesys Research Ltd.)
Interactive Data Visualization Inc.
Metrowerks Games Team
Pixelux Entertainment Inc.
RAD Game Tools Inc.
Silicon Studio Corp.
Web Technology Corp.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/654/654059p1.html

As impressed as I've been with the MGS4 screenshots (and of other games shown here), I really have to question this one. Is that really in-game? If so, I'm at a loss for words.

Also, is the first game any good?

Yes, that is in-game. Though, you must remember things like AI and environment aren't running, so the overall image is probably a little bit more smoothed than the final version will look.

The original for PS2 got:

IGN 7.0

Gamespot 7.1

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/654/654390p1.html

- Sony says they didn't have any playable games because they wanted attendees to get the same experience with the videos that US gamers had at E3 (IMHO, that is bullshit).

- MGS4 trailer was a late addition

- Originally, February was going to be the first time gamers would get their hands on the games, that event has now been slotted with a "surpise announcement".

Coming from someone whom at times I've considered "biased", I can really respect that quote.

So is this like how in Xenosaga: Epissode II, although the cinemas are in-game, some of the cinemas look way better than the gameplay graphics (but with a smaller margin of difference, I assume)?

Those reviews aren't spectacular but I may just pick it up anyway. I consider Rise To Honor to be a shallow game (and ugly looking/sounding to boot) and yet it's one of the most entertaining games I've purchased. Hopefully this will fall into the same category for me (but with better presentation).

http://www.physorg.com/news7028.html

Panasonic plans to release 2X BD-ROM drives this spring, meaning that it should be available for the PS3 as well.

New fatal inertia trailer (new to me at least). Can't tell if it's CG or in game. Either way it's not super impressive compared to some other stuff I've seen. What's up with the finish line fairies at the end?

ftp://ftp.futurenet.co.uk/pub/cvg/Fa...a_PS3_KOEI.wmv