8 thoughts on “Benheck.com Podcast Episode 61”

  2. I don’t really mind keeping my PS2 around. I think what makes us late adopter moan is that they had backward compatibility up-scaling, which is pretty much exclusive to all those original model PS3s. Makes it feel like we really missed out on something.

    On the other hand, it’s perfectly reasonable for Sony to abandon it. They certainly can’t be expected to continue losing money, although I still kind of wish that it was something that could be implemented with software. Even if Sony isn’t interested in wasting their resources on it, there MUST be some hobbyist out there willing to pour his heart and soul into it. Put it on PSN, download it, and voila! Instant PS2 support.

    I do like the redesigned PS3, though. If I get one now, that’s the model I want. It’s still kinda big, but it’s not as bad as the George Foreman Grill model. And besides, head on, it kinda reminds me of a Genesis. More consoles should be matte black. Less shiny. Less white.

    Oh, and Ben. Didn’t you ACTUALLY say that you predicted that the Wii would come in dead last in this console war? I’ll have to go back and listen to get your exact words, but at this juncture, even if the Wii began a rapid decline, the install base kinda speaks for itself.

    On the other hand, I do still agree that motion control is a fad. Nintendo has NOT proven that it’s a revolution in gaming, no matter how many butt-kissing articles 1UP.com writes about it. What they’ve proven is that Nintendo can sell a gimmicky machine to people who wouldn’t normally buy games. Wii Sports was basically a Trojan horse that enabled Nintendo to put their Gamecube II system into family dens across the nation. What better machine can you ask for than the one you DON’T have to beg your parents to buy? Has any other software really capitalized on the motion controls, though? No, not really. Even those in Nintendo’s own library have yet to demonstrate the necessity of shaking and swinging a controller over simply pushing a button.

    If anything, the Wii remote technology looks more like something I should be using with a Power Point demonstration. That’s where the real application is.

    What really drives me nuts is that in 2009, we have some so-called games “journalists” still using the term “casual market”, as a marketing strategy to go after people who don’t normally buy games. Well, isn’t that an oxymoron, then? If the premise of the casual market is that these consumers don’t normally buy games, then it’s really odd to even refer to it as a market. These are people who buy Wii and Wii Sports (maybe even Wii Fit) and then never buy another game. That’s not a casual market for games.

    At best, the “casual market” refers to a hardware market. Not software.

  3. Yeah, we definitely said that the Wii would be in last and I think we kind of went back and forth on the 360/PS3. In the end, shortly after the PS3 came out, I do recall speculating that the PS3 could come out on top if Blu-ray won and because Sony builds their products for the long haul, whereas I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new Xbox in a couple years.

    As we talked about in the podcast, it seems that Sony’s time has arrived. They’ve managed to hang in the game up to this point with a system that was way pricier than it’s competitors. Now the playing field has virtually been leveled and I think Sony will see some brisk sales because of it. A co-worker of mine has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the Slim and the price drop for many months now. He was planning to go pick one up after work today. I think a lot of other people were in the same boat.

    These systems have all been out long enough now that the “second system” time has arrived for a lot of people. Many have either a 360 or a Wii for their current system. Why not add the PS3 at this point? Heck, even if you’re just looking for a Blu-ray player it would be the way to go given the price and feature set.

    I think the final few months of this year will be very telling for the “console war”. Should be fun to watch!

  6. I plan on giving Fallout 3 another go in a couple months when the Collector’s Edition comes out, but at this point I would have to say that I definitely prefer Oblivion. There’s just something about the whole post-apocalyptic setting that doesn’t really interest me for whatever reason.

    Currently the only new Fallout game I know of is the Vegas one that Bethesda isn’t involved in. Would be cool if they made another one, although I would prefer a new Elder Scrolls game or an entirely new property (which I’ve heard is what is coming next) instead.

  8. Xbox owner here (and I don’t own a PS3, or Wii). I can totally see the PS3 dominating from now on. The 360 still has some interesting things coming, but they’re mostly multiplatform stuff. The PS3 has lots of stuff still in the works that really make it sound like the PS3 will be going strong even 5 years down the line (like the PS2).

    Insofar as the Wii goes… unless something has changed since the last time I looked into it, the Wii has less software sell through then just about any console in history. Considering for NORMAL video game companies, hardware is a loss leader, and if you can sell even similar numbers of software units with a fraction of hardware sales that’s a GOOD thing. Much better to sell 10 PS3’s, and have each person buy ten games than it is to sell 30 Wii’s, and have each person buy 3 games.

    I’d love to pick up the newest Mario/Zelda adapter, but I don’t want to wave my hand around to make the character move. I’ve tried it. I don’t like it. It might be more intuitive to people who aren’t used to standard controllers, but I am used to them, and that’s what I like.

    It bothers me enough that the DS has a silly (pointless) touch screen… and if you notice… all the best games use the d-pad/button configuration as the primary interface.

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