I wrote a whole lot about Final Fantasy yesterday. Most recently: a Final Fantasy III hands-on. You know, I could actually see them using the FFIII DS graphics engine for a Final Fantasy VII remake. After all, it’s not like there’s going to be an FFVII remake on PS3 or anything, because the guys who designed that real-time demo last year are off making FFXIII, see. But I’m sure they could pull together a team to turn it into a DS title, maybe give it a consistent graphical style all the way through, tone down the dopiness, that kind of thing. And the thought of so many shattered fanboy dreams warms my heart.
Speaking of dopiness, congratulations to Microsoft and Nintendo; Sony has just conceded the next-gen race. (Sorry, Nintendo. I meant “new gen.”) People certainly liked to rib MS for the 360 “tard pack,” but man, $300 for an underpowered machine looks like genius next to a $500 machine that manages not to incorporate any of the PS3’s actual selling points and may not in fact be upgradable. It’s not so much a tard pack as a limbless-baby-left-to-die-in-the-woods pack.
To get the full-featured system, you’ll have to shell out $600… which means retailer bundles this fall will start at $800 and probably average around $1100. Sony has just moved into what looks like a very exclusive gated community, but I think once they get settled they’ll notice their neighbors are the likes of 3DO and LaserActive. And that’s not a good neighborhood to be in at all. And let’s not even get into the pitiful, crippled Wii-remote rip-off. It’s like they’re not even trying anymore.
Anyway, remember when I said that PS3 is likely to be Sony’s N64? Yeah, pay up — you owe me twenty bucks. Not that we made a bet or anything, I just think I deserve some dough on general principle.
P.S., to everyone linking here as though I’ve somehow revealed god’s truth about Ouendan, remember that I was just commenting on rumors I’ve read online. The only new information I’ve provided here is that japanophile fanboys should be beaten with bamboo or rattan or other bludgeons of Asian origin.
ALSO: it appears something has happened to my wiki article database. Fortunately the articles are there — the site just doesn’t seem to know how to point to them. I’ll fix it all up post-E3.
26 thoughts on “I think I’m burnt out on Final Fantasy guys”
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Other than the odd name choice, am I the only one thinking that Nintendo has made the least mistakes in this new generation of hardware so far? Sony, although having killer games lined up, seems to be copying both Nintendo and Microsoft (motion sensor + “reduced price” package). Microsoft simply pissed their one year lead away with console shortages and lack of must-have releases (most exclusives can be played on PC instead). Nintendo, on the other hand, is giving us an original concept that will hopefully invigorate the market between the remote controller and virtual console. Bottom line- probably have a Wii at launch, then grab a PS3 once MGS4 comes out or they fix the inevitable hardware malfunctions, whichever comes first.
Nintendo also has been very modest throughout the whole race. They’ve been saying that they’re not in competition, trying to make an nice litte affordable mom-and-pop system, and not going around boasting about tech specs.
I like how Nintendo is trying to reach the non-gamer with the new controller and not by partnering with MOUNTAIN DEW LAUNCH PARTY HOOHAH and making hip looking Nintendo Wii clothing.
Wii! It’s Revolution baby! A-Wiiiiii!
You guysh are the BESHT. Sherioushly guysh
Hmmm. Maybe it’s a theory. Anytime a company has 2 successful runs with a console, the third is a complete and utter flop. Nintendo had the NES, SNES and then the N64. Sega had the Genesis, then the Saturn(It wasn’t a flop in Japan at least.) and then the Dreamcast. Granted PS3 isn’t a flop yet, but that massive price tag is kind of like covering yourself with honey before jumping into a pool of sharks. The likelyhood of survival is minimal.
Only the triumvirate of Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, and Grand Theft Auto is going to save Sony now (with Resident Evil pulling a nice little assist). The sad part is is that these are not even their own first-party franchises. There’s nothing keeping any of these franchises respective developers from jumping ship to another console, a process Square is already familar with as is. The same can’t happen with say… Mario or Zelda.
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It’s truly amazing how despite all the speculation against them and their so-called ‘poor’ performance this generation, Nintendo has come out and out quite possibly the favorite for next generation. Oh the irony, I love it.
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Microsoft on the other hand, has placed themselves in an extremely intellegent middle ground, particularly when compared to Sony. Halo notwithstanding, they don’t quite have the franchise power that Sony has attached to it, but they’ve still put themselves into a position that has more or less assured them of a decent run regardless of how things play out for Sony and Nintendo.
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In any case, nuts to you Sony. I’ll save my as much as four hundred dollars and pick up the Wii.
OK, now, here’s the thing. I’ve been playing since the Atari 2600, but I’ve never really followed the “industry” per se. Therefore, I don’t have much of a basis for the following opinion other than the (ahem) outspoken Internet community.
That said, does this announcement really spell doom for Sony’s PS3? The price tag, the strong competition, and Sony’s attitude towards its audience (such as the “get a second job” quip) make me think so, but if experience serves there will be quite a contingent of early adopters and must-have-it fans that will buy it regardless. I don’t know if their numbers will be enough to make the PS3 as much of a success as its predecessors, but Sony still has a good number of long-running, exclusive franchises and the means to keep them. While I’m closing the Final Fantasy chapter of my life with XII, and couldn’t care less about MGS4, there are many people willing to follow those series into the next console. Will they, as well as the Sony loyalists, somehow manage to keep the PS3 afloat despite issues of price and elitism?
I didn’t think sharks had an opinion on honey one way or another.
Eh. They probably don’t. But you get what I’m saying.
Pssst! Nintendo hates the word “blood”. Honey is much more appropiate, plus, I bet the sharks in the Mushroom Kingdom love honey and pancakes and play with children. Something which I truly love. Yeah, also, hey, Rockstar, why don´t you go fuck yourselves and stop making the same damn game over and over again?. People hate Nintendo’s censorship policy back in the day, but I think they knew it’s better for an industry to play it clean and FUN instead of shooting itself on the foot.
Rockstar is trying to get out of ‘Nam. You don’t know how tough it is out there.
Actually, I somehow thought that “Bully” was going to be a game about using your limited powers to protect those weaker than yourself. Or at least, that’s what I read into it. It seemed like it might not suck/have a new twist in the free-form sandbox concept.
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… Though, if Spore delivers on even 1/2 of its grand promises, it’s gonna be hard to build a bigger sandbox. Right?
The $600 package might just be the most generous product debut discount in console gaming history. I read that Merrill Lynch says each PS3 will cost Sony about $900 to make. Do you know if there is any truth to this, Wise and Venerable FrogManCreatureThingy?
The funn thing is that at Gamestop they don’t even have Warranties for systems over 400 bucks. I have no idea if we’ll even be able to SELL them. See, we finally have 360’s in stock and now when people come in and ask about them they go OH WOW YOU DO HAVE THEM AWESOME!! and then they’ll look at the price and go URRRGH UHH MAYBE NOT and walk out.
Oh sony, what the balls?
Holy crap. Sony has just committed a Hari-Kiri. They kicked the N64’s ass, and managed to maintain first place against the original X-Box. But this is just really pathetic. The controller and the price both suck. I love my MGS. But if I need to sell some of my internal organs to finance a purchase of the system and Snake’s last game, I think that I’ll draw a by.
Frankly, I actually think that this may be a sign from the heavens. God, Allah, Buddha, Sean Connery, whoever’s up there might be saying to us “Hey you lousy bastards! The videogame industry’s about to collapse in on itself! Go outside!”. And we might just have to listen.
It’s even more ridiculous from a European perspective. 599 Euros, that’s about $764. Right. No thanks. Oh well, there’s still Wii.
TheSL, I’d hardly say MS pissed away their year lead. System shortages and a lackluster first wave of titles? Welcome to every console launch. MS will be in the enviable position of having their more impressive titles available this Christmas against an impossible to find PS3 with its own weak launch titles. Heavenly Sword and MGS4 are the only PS3 titles I hear any buzz about (well, any positive buzz), and I don’t think anything’s been confirmed about when they’ll actually be available.
I still give the Wii the advantage, but at the same time acknowledge that it’s not that big of an advantage because it’s not that big of a competition. Nintendo’s not about to wrest the entire gaming populace from Sony and MS, nor do they need to. They’re after the money to be made from people who either aren’t interested in the next Grand Theft Auto (just for example) or who have the kind of income to afford two systems. The idea of the exclusive title or franchies dies a little more every year, unless you’re Nintendo. A Wii + a PS3 or 360 makes way more sense than a PS3 + 360, so there you go. Nintendo just needs a solid launch and it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a success all by itself, while the 360 looks to be in the best position for The Console War, which is pretty much just a two system affair.
It just hit me, if not MS and Nintendo themselves (ridiculous I know, but in a genius kind of way), some retailers at least should just bundle 360s and Wiis. They would most likely be cheaper combined than the PS3, and with their combined libraries, honestly, what couple of titles that you’d miss would even come close to warranting the price of a PS3 after that?
Wow. This is. Wow. And people thought the ‘Wii’ name change was a joke, this sounds like too much of a joke to take seriously. Like the redesigned rear of the PS3 with less inputs (read that as you will, dirty minded internets inhabitants). But who could be responsible for this? OMFG! *points at PSP* ITS SNEAKY!
Sony must be too busy trying to convince everyone that Blu-Ray is a good idea (unlike all of there other failed proprietary formats). Some people call Nintendo crazy, but they’re crazy like a fox while Sony seems to be the kind of crazy that should be locked away for its own good (and for the good of everyone else). Will Sony choke to death on its own hubris or will all the naysayers be eating crow? I guess only time will tell.
Sony is now what I’d like to call Sega’s spiritual successor.
My take on the PS3 price: well, maybe if I don’t bother buying one until FFXIII is actually released (in, what, 2008?) the price will have come down to a slightly saner level. And really, with enough interesting PS2 games on the horizon to last me well into 2007, why not? I plan to be sitting out this generation’s launch hysteria entirely.
(That is, assuming my decrepit first-revision PS2 hardware doesn’t crap out on me entirely.)
Doomsday: Except Sega used to make awesome games in the Dreamcast days. Awesome first party games, that is.
I don’t own a Play Station, so I wouldn’t know, but, does Sony make first party games anymore? At all? Also: I am SO selling my body to gorgeous ladies in order to buy a Wii.
On a lighter note: I shouldn’t read Something Awful anymore http://www.the666.com/fotos/Hillary.JPG
I was hoping to snag a PS3, even if it was just so I could cheaply get a lower-end Cell machine to play with, (Linux on PS3 and all that jazz) but, while $600 bucks is still pretty good for that, I’m just not sure right now–I don’t have free infinite money and, well, I’ve got other priorties.
Now, I won’t lie, I was really exited about the PS3–it’s impressive hardware–but this $600 price tag is somehow sapping that enthusiasm somewhat. Mia D’s wondering regarding the salability of such and unholy thing is probably something that maybe Sony should have considered a little harder. It’s looking more and more like they’re intending to appeal to people with more money than sense, and I just don’t see how that’ll win this generation for them. I, for one, may not have any sense in measurable quantities, but I am even more broke.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, I’d read about how much this was supposed to be costing them (from a third party source, of course) and they’re a business; last I’d checked, those business types aren’t too fond of throwing money around in “HERE HAVE SOME I DON’T WANT IT ANYMORE HRRBLBLRLBLRLBLRLBLR” fashion and I was figuring that, looking at quotes of the supposed price of the monstrosity and whatnot, the specs they’ve got are much too far into the ‘too good to be true range’ for them to do anything but eat it unless they price it at some unholy sum (like $600).
HURRRRRR huge block of text. I was going to say something else, but I’ve forgotten it–luckily for you folks.
From http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/video_games/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002501093
In the early 1990s, Electronic Arts Inc. founder Trip Hawkins created the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console. Though packed with state-of-the-art technology for the time like a CD-ROM drive, the unit’s $700 price was more than consumers were willing to swallow and it soon failed.
But some experts believe that’s unlikely to happen this time. With 2 million units available worldwide at launch and another 2 million units by year’s end, PS3 demand still will likely far outstrip supply.
Tom Russo, editorial director of games for the G4 cable TV network, said the higher costs won’t deter the hardcore faithful who will gobble up the PS3 — whatever the price.
“There’s going to be a demand, even at $600,” he said. “They’re going to sell out. You’re going to have to end up paying a grand on eBay.”