Showing posts with label Game Time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game Time. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Game Time: The PS3 Saw The Pricing Backlash Coming

It started last year, but was temporarily abated by a brilliant price cut move: the PS3's value is starting to earn its high price. Since its release, everyone with an axe to grind felt the need to belittle the PS3 as a machine bundled with useless features nobody asked for or would want. However, as this recession continues to peel away the layers of excess, we're starting to see why the Playstation brand has been so successful in previous years. It excels at providing value to its partners.

Who would've guessed after all of the trumpeting at the year end [concerning the record revenues and sales] that analysts would be forecasting a drop in price of video game software? SONY did! Most of us laughed when they packaged the huge HDDs as a standard feature, promoted AAA value software through digital distribution, and created Playstation HOME. Although their arrogance is a little off-putting, it looks like SONY may be the ones getting the last laugh. They expected this shift in the consumer demand and are prepared to not only weather it but to provide developers with more, cheaper ways to market and increase value in their products. It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft intends to increase their position in light of this news.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Game Time: The "Battle Room" is here


I can't wait to get my hands on Starcraft II. The crafty developers at Blizzard have somehow managed to avoid announcing a release date for this game, even though it's been on everyone's must have list since it was announced in 2007.

You might be asking yourself, what could possibly be so great about a game that someone who spends 65+ hours a week testing games could still go cuckoo over? I didn't understand it either at first. I thought it was just a lot of great childhood memories coming back. However, the more I think about it the more I realize how I'm not thinking about how much fun Starcraft used to be. I'm not even thinking about how much fun Starcraft II is going to be. I'm literally foaming at the mouth thinking about another shot at going head to head with some of the brightest tacticians and strategists in the world.

That's right, I said it. For those that don't know, Starcraft is more than a game. In fact, it is more than a sport. It is the stage for anyone and everyone to prove they have the mental dexterity to command battalions and wipeout others without physical violence. The place where children, men, and women alike can anonymously see if they could've made it as a Leonidas, Maximus, George Washington, etc... It is Orson Scott Card's "Battle Room" incarnate. The one I had sought my entire adolescence.

Yea, so.... I can't wait.