Hello From Oz

So not much video game playing in Australia that I’ve been able to see myself, although obviously the industry is pretty big here.  Of course, with so much to do, I’m not all that surprised.

In any case, thought I’d just drop a quick comment here then on this article.  The WSJ notes that hope appears to be fading for the PS3 as a “comeback player,” to which I would say, obviously.  I can’t think of a console that was lagging substantively several years into a generation that would be able to make the leap back into the lead.  That’s the nature of a console generation: support initially leads to additional developer and consumer support, and it becomes a self-sustaining cycle.  There’s definitely room in the early days for changes to occur, but it’s been over two years - when you consider that the average productive time for most consoles is around 5-7 years, the cycle makes it difficult to come back in a major way. 

That said, the fact that the PS3 isn’t as big a success as the PS2 is to be expected… the PS2 was an outlier in the landscape of most consumer electronics devices (in terms of overall success), and as such, you can’t expect blockbusters every time.  A modest success - or disappointment - now will at least set Sony up for a strong effort next time round.

Original Value

A lot of people have been complaining about the emulation of Xbox Originals, but it seems to me like pricing is by far the more egregious issue.  This IGN summary puts the issue in stark relief - the authors have actually gone out and compared the $15 asking price with what you might find the game for on eBay or at your local game shop.  Only one of the games  - Indigo Prophecy - is likely to be in short enough supply that you can’t find a copy for less than $15. 

This is confusing me to no end.  If two guys with some free time can work out that your games can be purchased (without poor emulation) for less money from any number of obvious sources, why would Microsoft expect that people are going to buy these?  It’s not like $15 is reaching the point of an impulse buy, and the games don’t have the name brand or nostalgia value that Nintendo’s Virtual Console can command.  I ask this out of genuine curiosity.

I Got 100%

Although I probably only played about 50% of the games.  You?

Prime Powers

Despite the fact that the preceding chat has almost nothing to do with the title (mostly, it seems like an outlet for N’Gai Croal to complain about backtracking in 3D games), I’m going to suggest that you take a look at this discussion, if for no other reason than the fact that Croal is still a better writer and thinker than almost anyone else in the game journalism industry.

Who wins?  So far, Croal.  Stephen Totilo makes a number of assertions, then appears to contradict them (a handful of great game openings doesn’t mean that they’re not rare; and of course, going on to criticize others just undermines his basic point).  At the same time, there are a few key points that he makes that are worth thinking about… namely, how much should developers give away in terms of powers up front?  I like the Empowerment theory here - that gamers are best rewarded through increasing capabilities. 

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So why do we exist? What purpose could another gaming blog possibly serve? Well, the obvious reason is that we like to talk about games as well as the industry itself. But there’s a bit more to it then that.

We realize that there are tons of sites that have pages and pages of previews with screensheets, movies, and impressions galore, but we’re not about that. We don’t typically have early access to any games, and in fact, the only thing we have to go by is what everyone else has access to online. But what we often see is a lack of relevant commentary and analysis. And that’s what we hope to provide here.