People always talk about dog years, or cat years, but what about video game console years?
It's hard to know what that math is, but one thing is certain: Sony's PlayStation 2 turned 9 years old Wednesday, and it sure feels like the best-selling video game console of all time has been around a whole lot longer than that.
Yet even though we're already more than three years into the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360/Wii console generation, the PS2 is still going strong. Routinely, month after month, its sales are in six figures--146,000 in September in the United States alone, according to The NPD Group--and there's no reason to think the 485 (and counting) developers who have made games for the platform are going to stop any time soon.
The PS2 turned 9 on Wednesday. What's that in video game years, if dog and cat years are equal to 7 human years?
(Credit: Sony)In large part, that's because there are millions of people for whom the world-beating processing power of the PS3 and the Xbox 360, and the graphics-so-good-you-can-see-beads-of-sweat-on-sports-players'-bodies aren't worth paying several hundred dollars for. For $100, they say, you can get one heck of a good video game playing experience with a PS2.
It "still holds a place in my heart--there's so many great games with huge amounts of replay value," said Michael Steavenson, a public relations professional who bought his PS2 around 2001. "I'm not so interested in blazingly fast processing speeds, graphics that make games look like a movie, or uber-cutting-edge hardware stats. If the game is well-designed, fun to play, and provides me with a good emotional connection, I'll play it forever."
According to Sony, one out of every three U.S. households owns a PS2, and, worldwide, almost 140 million people have one. To date, Americans have bought more than half a billion PS2 games, and all told, nearly 10,000 titles have been released for the platform. Not bad for a machine that has earned the right to be living out its golden years sitting on a porch somewhere, smoking a cigar and grumbling about kids these days.
... Read more
(Credit:
Blaze )
A Wii remote for PlayStation 3? That appears to be exactly what video game accessory maker Blaze had in mind when it conceived of the PS3 Motion Freedom 3D controller.
With a design most likely lifted from Nintendo's book, the new 3D motion-sensing device bears a striking resemblance to the Wii remote right down to its form factor. The key difference is the Motion Freedom 3D's suite of PS3-centric controls, ranging from the PlayStation's signature cross, square, triangle, and circle buttons to the analog stick.
According to Blaze, this hybrid concoction has been ergonomically designed and will give gamers complete control. The only problem is the lack of news on pricing and availability in the company's press release, so there's no telling when you can give it a go.
(Source: Crave Asia)
Could your PS3 also be your Dreamcast?
(Credit: CNET)A whopper of a leak shot across the Internet Tuesday, reporting of a Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) meeting that discussed the possibilities of rereleasing classic Sega games as compilation Blu-ray Discs and downloads of PS2 games on the PS3. While we discussed this trend--and even suggested a few great franchises to pursue--when the God of War Collection was announced, an even more surprising and exciting bomb was dropped in these purported meeting minutes:
From the wording of supposedly leaked August 6 SCEA meeting notes found on several forums including NeoGAF, it sounds like both PS2 and Dreamcast games will soon be available over PSN, much like PS1 games are already. That is big news. With PS2, PS1, and Dreamcast titles under their belts, it could be argued that the PS3 would have a Virtual Console that, while not as retro as Nintendo's, would be nearly unbeatable in offering the best of the late '90s and early '00s. After all, back then, the Dreamcast and PS2 were the biggest, bitterest rivals in town. It hasn't been confirmed that these notes are real, but they certainly seem too detailed and logical to not be. ... Read more
Sony, please make this your next PS3 re-release.
Sony's announcement this week of a PS3 edition of the first two PS2 God of War games, called God of War Collection, was exciting--unless you already own both games.
With 720p HD support added in, however, it raises a serious question: will backward-compatibility be a relic of video game days gone by? With the PS3 no longer able to play PS2 games, fans will be ever more reliant on re-releases and virtual console titles to resell them the greatest hits of the last generation.
As long as the old re-releases are lovingly upscaled to HD and given some extra bells and whistles, however, we could be a little more forgiving. There are plenty of other memorable franchises from the PS2 glory years that Sony would be wise to re-release and package with HD-compatible upgrades. Here's our short list. And we'll give you a hint: one of them involves giant rock formations.
Any we left off?
I won't spend $50 to $60 on a video game. Just can't do it. Even $40 feels like too much. But $20? That definitely satisfies my cheapskate tendencies. So imagine my delight at learning that Walmart currently has nearly 1,500 video games priced at $20 or less.
As you might expect, these aren't the latest and greatest titles, but they're not all bargain-bin rejects, either. For example, you can get the Wii versions of Lego Indiana Jones and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for $19.82 apiece.
Games that once sold for $40 to $50 are now available for under $20.
(Credit: Walmart)Xbox 360 owners can snap up Call of Duty 2: Game of the Year Edition for $16.82, Half-Life 2 Orange Box for $19.82, and Medal of Honor: Airborne for $14.74.
On the PlayStation 3 front there's Fracture for $19.82, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for $19.82, and Burnout Paradise for, you guessed it, $19.82.
The store also has less-than-$20 deals for Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, Sony PS2, and even the good old PC.
Most of the titles are available online and/or in-store, and in some cases you can get free site-to-store shipping (though you'll still have to pay sales tax).
Sorry if this comes across as a big fat plug for Walmart, a store I know many of you dislike. If you'd rather shop elsewhere, you can find many of the same deals at GameStop--or even get them cheaper by opting for used versions.
PS2 outsells more powerful consoles. This is not a repeat from 2002.
(Credit: Sony)I'm starting to feel bad for Sony and the PS3 camp. I really am. Sales figures from The NPD Group, a prominent business research firm, show the three top spots for April's console sales went, respectively, to Nintendo for the DS, Wii, and DSi.
Then came Microsoft with the Xbox 360. Finally, Sony rounds out the rest, with the PS3 coming in sixth--behind its predecessor, the PS2. Ouch.
Of course, this likely has much to do with the price drop we reported on more than a month ago that took the PS2 to the $99.99 mark, a significant price point.
Still, it's got to be hard on the PS3 team knowing it got beat for a month by its 9-year-old little brother. And this doesn't mention the PSP, which comes in seventh place behind even the PS3.
The PS3 remains the most impressive gaming console in terms of hardware, but if Sony can't find a way to gain some sales traction and stop the declines, it might not matter.
(Credit:
Sony)
No April Foolery here: Sony has announced that it's dropping the price of the PlayStation 2 from $129 to $100 as of April 1. The move confirms rumors that had surfaced in recent days.
Originally introduced in 2000, the current iteration of the PS2 is a superslim console that also doubles as a CD and DVD player. It has a library of around 1,900 games, including many classics that can be found in bargain bins at local stores and online. And unlike the PS3, the older model actually has an infrared port, so you can use a standard universal remote to control movie playback.
So what do you think: any interest in picking up a newly encheapened PS2? Or are you holding out hope that Sony will eventually drop the price of the PlayStation 3?
On Sale Now: $74.99 - $99.99
View the latest prices for Sony PlayStation 2 (slim form factor)
Price cut coming: maybe--maybe not.
(Credit: Sony)The rumors are flying about a possible big Sony PlayStation announcement for Tuesday. The only problem is no one is sure what the announcement involves, with speculation running from a PS3 price drop to a PS2 price drop to something about God of War 3.
Anyway, the original rumor came from an Australian publication, Smarthouse, but Kotaku says it's gotten word directly from Sony that an announcement is "imminent."
Furthermore, Kotaku thinks that we're looking at a PS2 price drop to $99.99, not the much-hoped-for PS3 price drop to $299.99. Joystiq concurs with a source at K-Mart saying the cut is coming April 5. How anticlimactic would that be?
So, what do you think Sony's announcing (if indeed, there really is an announcement forthcoming)?
Update: According to Joystiq, Sony is calling the rumors of a PS3 price drop totally false. However, it didn't deny rumors of a PS2 price chop (but who really cares, right?).
(Source: Smarthouse via 1up via Joystiq, Kotaku)
On Sale Now: $299.95
View the latest prices for Sony PlayStation 3 (80GB)
On Sale Now: $359.97 - $412.99
View the latest prices for Sony PlayStation 3 (160GB)
One of the the biggest selling points of Nintendo's Wii video game console since its launch nearly two years ago has been that it was the lowest-priced of the trio of next-generation machines, which also includes Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.
To date, the Wii costs $249, while the lowest-priced Xbox, the so-called "Arcade," retails currently for $279. An 80GB PS3 sells for $400.
But Microsoft said Wednesday that it will drop the price of the Arcade on Friday to $199, breaking through what some have said is the all-important psychological price level of $200. At that price, industry observers say, the market opens up to mass levels of consumers.
Microsoft will also drop the price of its 60GB Xbox to $299 and its "Xbox Elite," which has a 120GB hard drive, to $399.
"The fact that the Xbox 360 is now cheaper than the Wii is definitely a big shift in the market," said Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360.
The news has been rumored for some time and was first reported as fact Wednesday by BusinessWeek.
For Microsoft, this is a crucial step along its path toward winning the next-gen console wars. At E3 in July, the company said in no uncertain terms that it will win the battle, at least with Sony. It hedged its bets on out-selling the Wii, which has been dominant over the last several months, according to industry analyst NPD Group.
In fact, BusinessWeek reported that Don Mattrick, senior vice president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business unit (and the person who had been on-stage at E3 and committed to winning the generation), said that he doubted the Xbox could catch up to the Wii at this point.
... Read moreTwo of Electronic Arts' most popular sports franchises are Madden and NCAA Footballl; however, the Madden franchise has licensed permission from the NFL to use player names and likeness, whereas the NCAA prohibits this.
(Credit:
EA)
For anyone that wants to make the game experience as true to real life as possible, it would take a lot of time to input all your team's roster information by hand.
However, there is an alternative, a company called Gamerosters provides you three ways to import the real life players name into the game.
- A mail in service--where you send in your memory card and they add the rosters to it, for $20
- Purchase a new card from Gamerosters with the rosters. The prices are: PS3 (USB Memory Stick) $39.95, Xbox 360 Memory Card $44.95, and the PS2 Memory card $36.95
- Download the roster. Prices are: PS3 $11.95, Xbox 360, $13.95, and PS2 $11.95.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the company was founded by 25-year-old Brian Kaldenberg who launched Gamerosters from his dorm room at Iowa State University in 2004. It is expected to bring in about $200,000 in revenue this year against $70,000 in expenses simply by putting names to virtual faces.
