Nintendo broke away from competition with Sony and, new arrival, Microsoft with what some call the “Blue Ocean” business strategy. The Blue Ocean strategy is the metaphor of leaving a “red ocean” (one dyed by the blood of competition) for unclaimed waters filled with the potential for creating new demand. From a business stand point this brave (or stupid) move has paid off and now Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are competing for second place.

Nintendo managed to succeed because they did something more than incrementally improve and repurpose old features. Yes, Gentle Reader, I’m talking about the “I” word, innovation. It’s debatable if the Wii controller is a true innovation as some gamers will still belittle it and mock it, but from a business standpoint it’s a successful change that’s brought in tremendous profit. Nintendo is as guilty as everyone else of giving us sequels by the truck load, most games in each series offer something new every one or two games. In truth, sequels are not really a bad thing as long as they are different enough that it stands on its own or adds to the previous experience.

This is the potential folly faced by Microsoft and Sony. If both companies continue to try and outdo the other, this means they have to rely on the other to show them where it is they are going. As mentioned before, it’s a tradition in the game industry to play copy cat with your opponents and then sell what they made for a lower price or with something more appealing attached. The game Sony and Microsoft are playing is the equivalent of trying to race someone you’re following to an unknown finish line.

If the two titans do not exercise some real creative muscle and insight, they run the risk of choking their audiences’ current interest. History has shown that strokes of genius like Katamari Damacy are not that common and while they may be risky or appear too weird, it’s that their quirkiness that aid to its success. The first GTA games offered sandbox gameplay, but GTA 3 took the top down world and made it more accessible by giving the player more dimensions to see everything. This reinvention (or innovation) has made the name Grand Theft Auto globally known.

Rehashed games, or those that don’t provide much of a new gaming experience, can poison a series or genre. If the games they make for the “core” gamer are not more than uninventive sequels the interest will dissolve and the audience will vanish or develop new preferences. The market has become swamped with First Person Shooters and while some may feel that’s not bad, it clearly demonstrates that developers are vying for the attention of a certain niche while alienating possibilities. As mentioned before, even if Nintendo did not stir up this casual boom, the publishers seemed to become more focused on producing games they KNOW will sell then those that can expand the market.

When we consider that the Xbox 360 has introduced its Mii-like “Avatars” and has begun promoting its “family friendly games” and that the Playstation 3 has its “six axis” controller and demonstrated a recent swelling of fresh but casual Playstation Store games their actions foreshadow that the duo are once again trying to outdo the other as they look for the path Nintendo made. Sony and Microsoft could just stick with the audience that has carried them to their current success, but like I proposed in part 1, only a fool (or altruistic gamer) would turn down the easy money casual games bring in.

I’d expect the next Microsoft console to utilize some sort of Wii remote like peripheral and the Playstation 3 to get it’s own version of the Wii remote. If Microsoft wishes to make the most money possible, their Wii remote copy will be a peripheral rather than a brand new system.

You might think “The End is Nigh” if you’re a core gamer that detests those happy, care free casual gamers. In the event that Sony and Microsoft act like a business and chase the money, a core gamer’s won’t be lost in a changing industry if the new audience leans how to discern between crap games and software worth its price tag. If all else fails there’s always indie games.

So as of now, these are the ominous black clouds that loom over the game industry. Nintendo is getting flogged with junk casual games and Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 run the risk of tiring their comparatively small (compared to the number of casuals) core audience with incremental improvements of current software.

During the Great Depression, American movie theaters saw steady business as the consumer hungered for an escape from the troubled economy. In today’s global economic recession, it seems that people still want that escape and video games are the medium that provide it even better than a mere 2 hour movie for 20 some dollars (if you get popcorn and a drink.) The road that lies before the game industry is not likely to disappear, no matter how cluttered it becomes with obstacles. That way ahead may be uncertain, but it is not lost when there are companies that will forge new paths and people that pine for the experience.

Sony boss Howard Stringer will be the bearer of bad news this Thursday, it seems. Japan’s Nikkei Daily has put out a report that the head honcho is slated to announce the company’s plans to cut 2,000 full-time jobs from the payroll as well as shut down two television manufacturing plants – quite the drastic economic downturn countermeasure, if you consider the fact that they’ll also be cutting managerial and executive bonuses. Ouch.

Of course, Sony may not be in such a dire situation as its plan might make it look like. The 2,000 position elimination thing? They’re going to do it by attrition – i.e. by leaving positions vacated by resignation or retirement unfilled. That means if someone in Sony either resigns or retires, he or she will not be replaced. Much better than simply laying off people left and right.

As for Sony’s Playstation division, there’s no word out yet if it’s going to be affected by the cuts. After all, that bit about 2,000 jobs being cut is only a fraction of the original 16,000 expected body count. We’ll update you as this situation develops.

More updates about Sony feeling the economic crunch: it seems the entertainment electronics giant is expected to post its first ever loss in 14 years, and the second ever since the company itself was established in 1958. Just how much money is Sony expected to report losing? Around ¥100 billion – or US$1.1 billion.

That, my friends, is a pretty high number, and one that might be even double that, if the guys at Nikkei are to be believed – the reasoning for this estimate coming from the massive job cuts (around 16,000) that Sony itself has deemed essential. Huge shame, then, since the company had originally predicted a 200 billion yen profit for the year of 2007-2008.

Meanwhile the magnificent bastards over at Nintendo were spotted to be celebrating still, bathing in the showers of their money-printing machines.

Sony, come on. Get your act together.

In LocoRoco you take the roll of an incredibly happy go lucky…well blob, for lack of a better term. Via some very innovative controls, (using the L an R keys on your PSP you ’tilt’ the screen to enable yourself to roll around, across and over obstacles.) By chowing down on food scattered through the levels you grow in size and accumulate a form of points.

It’s puzzle platforming done right, though I use the term platforming loosely.

The screaming often accompanied by the actions in the game are all voiced by children too, it’s a sort of wacky notion but works well with the theme of the game, to really lead you into a frivolous care free sort of… childishness. Now as simple as those controls sound, you will find yourself shouting and yelling in frustration as you don’t properly time your maneuvers.

Certain times the game will have you attempting to tilt quickly to bounce yourself into the air, splitting apart into smaller versions of yourself to get through narrow spaces, or to float on a strong gust of wind; it’s all very clever. However as clever as this is; it is also very difficult in parts, especially in bonus areas when attempting to gather extra food.

There are other characters in the game that you will interact with though that’s the key phrase, interact. You need to figure out how to make use of the other things you find in the game, which may help progress the plot along, or open up secret areas for you to explore and collect more friends.

In the first game; there were 6 of our giant LocoRoco friends to play as; the sequel brings a big purple friend along for the party. A couple new areas also come our way with new themes and layouts from the previous game and some new mini-games as well that are incredibly adorable.

LocoRoco 2 debuted in December over in Japan, where I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of it from a friend of mine. However for those of us who don’t have a friend in the Navy, it will be coming to our shores February 10th. Though if you’re itching to play it now, word is at your local Gamestop you can pre-order to get your hands on a demo of it, made available through Sony’s Playstation Network.

I still can’t get enough of those kids singing and screaming though.

-The Reverend Lei

During the previous months of this year, the PS3 finally appeared to be picking up that much-needed steam Sony promised. However the early results from the NPD seem to be showing quite the opposite. Sales in the US of the PS3 are down by 19% compared to last year, compared to Wii sales having doubled, and the 360’s sales rising by 8%. Analysts are in agreement with these figures stating they expect PS3 sales to be equal to or lower than last years and Sony might not meet it’s target of 10 million PS3’s being sold by March 2009.

Que fanboys pleading claims such as Market Saturation.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Let’s get down to content then shall we? Let’s start with what each can do briefly
(Not Included = Purchased Function)

So when someone looks at this they think “gee they seem similar”, well they are and they aren’t. The Nintendo DS is similar to the Wii in terms of games; there are good games there, most of which by Nintendo, but you have a library of kiddy shit. The Nintendo DS does feature some amazing titles such as Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, Elite Beat Agents, etc, but much like the Wii you’ll find that the games are cartoon-y and sometimes childish, not that it’s a bad thing.

The Sony PSP is a pirate ship. I kid you not, the PSP modding community has grown so widely and done so much that the PSP is now a pirate’s best friend, next to a PC of course. The fact is, while the PSP may have a smaller library of good games, and features some games that are PS2 ports; you can easily obtain games from other consoles to play.

The bottom line is: the PSP is a handheld made more for functionality; the Nintendo DS is a handheld made more for games. So if you’re looking for more a less expensive media center in your pocket, go for a PSP, if you’re looking more for portable gaming, go for a DS.

As a bonus, here’s a list of recommended games for each handheld.

DS Recommended Games

PSP Recommended Games

]]> http://giantenemyblog.com/handhelds-ds-and-psp/feed/ 0 http://giantenemyblog.com/the-xbox-360-was-built-around-the-cell-or-so-this-book-says/ http://giantenemyblog.com/the-xbox-360-was-built-around-the-cell-or-so-this-book-says/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:00:11 +0000 NovaSyx http://gamerblag.com/?p=2694 Yeah, you read right. The Xbox 360 relied upon the Sony and IBM lovechild, the Cell processor. The Race for a New Game Machine, written by David Shippy and Mickie Phipps tells the story of how Microsoft managed to use the IBM & Sony partnership against them, even going as far as to use Sony’s R&D money against them by having the engineers use techniques they may have only discovered hours beforehand. All culminating in Microsoft’s ability (with a touch of foresight) to be able to release their console a full year ahead of Sony.

The Wall Street Journal has a more complete synopsis of the book, but naturally, if you want to learn the drama fueled tales of IBM’s treachery, then you’ll have to buy the book yourself. Now if only Microsoft had stolen the PS3’s heatsink designs, we wouldn’t have that ongoing RROD debacle over our heads now would we..

Let’s face it, times are hard – and major companies from all over the world will either be massively downsizing or closing up entirely.  It’s no surprise that even Sony, being the entertainment technology juggernaut that it is, is rumored to follow suit sometime this month. No, it’s not going to close down entirely – but there’s talk of it closing down some major divisions in order to stay afloat. When you consider this with the fact that they’ve just announced plans to let go of 8000 employees, well, it’s just a bit distressing.

What’s more distressing, however, is when we take this rumor and think about it for a second: just how many “major” divisions does Sony have that it can close down? Well, there’s evidently that division that churns out all those cameras and widescreen TVs, and then there’s the PlayStation division. The thought of either one bowing out of the fray is…well, unthinkable. Are we seeing the death of one of the well-loved brands of videogaming ever to entertain us? Let’s hope not.

The developer and publisher combo are working ’round the clock it seems to make sure they fix the game according to your standards. They just released the latest update, 1.07, with the following features:

Play
New Search Modes: More ways to find interesting levels like Most Hearted, Highest Rated and Busiest!

In-game Store: Browse, buy and play downloadable content, such as the soon-to-be-released Metal Gear Solid packs, without needing to go to the PlayStation Store

Create
Save As: Save your level to a different slot on the moon while mid-edit.

Share
Keyboard text chat: Plug a standard USB keyboard into your PS3 and just start typing. Or, press Tab on your keyboard to go straight to the standard PS3 text entry screen.

Image export: save the photos you take in game to your hard drive.

General fixes, polishing and improvements, including:

• Fixed “Wheel of death” bug where Sackboy could get stuck endlessly respawning out of a checkpoint
• Better support for third party controllers
• Fixed stretch Sackboy arms
• General server improvements and optimization
• Improved the corner (vertex) editing tool
• Improvements to how Popit deals with complex shapes
• Improved Sackboy animation and made it harder to slap accidentally while acting
• Fixed lights so they don’t forget their colour
• If anything I can say this cab is rare
• Improved Online multiplayer level selection
• And I yelled to the cabbie ‘Yo homes smell ya later’
• I looked at my kingdom
• I was finally there
• To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air

That’s a pretty hefty update and nicely rounds out the game to what it probably should have been upon release. Better late than never, I suppose.

You probably noticed the mention of the upcoming ” Metal Gear Solid packs”, and if not here, then you’ve likely seen the video:

Aside from being hilarious, there’s a lot here that’s apt to improve the game. The inclusion of the paintball gun is sure to open up all new levels of run-and-gun creativity, although it’s bound to become overused. The health meter also looks to be an interesting inclusion, sure to add greater enemy variety.

It’s a step in the right direction. My only complaint is that I’ll have to pay for something that really should have been there in the first place.

Oh, well.

Phil Harrison’s a PR celebrity. Most notably, he worked for Sony during the unveiling and launch of the PS3, which, as we know, wasn’t a very pleasant time for Sony’s image. The electronics giant made several great errors and people swarmed to them like flies to steamy piles of ejectamenta. Phil Harrison–the PR mogul that he is–took it like a man. He did some interviews, spun some words, and kept it halfway honest.

Now he’s working for Atari and spinning some more word magic that’s actually touching on some of my ideals.

There’s no doubt that second hand games sales has a macro-economic impact on the industry and a lot of people get miserable about it.

But it’s no coincidence that the most valuable games, the one’s that have the most lifetime as a game experience, are the one’s that don’t get resold, that don’t get traded.

The games that have the embedded community, the embedded commerce, the extended, expandable experiences, are the one’s that you would never want to trade, the one’s you want to keep hold of. And that’s perfectly in line with our future strategy so we’re not that concerned about it.

It strums a chord in the cockles of my heart. Hopefully, he’s speaking the truth, but with his track record, it’s hard to tell. Adding more feculence to the pile, he is, above all else, a PR Guy.

Chances are low, but hey, Assault on Dark Athena looks like it’s gonna’ be pretty rad. So, yeah.