General gaming news

[Falconblade]

SCIENCE!
http://kotaku.com/gaming/clips/super-ma ... oplay=true

[Falconblade]

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs. ... -the-press

Ars contacted the NPD Group to get the full story. "At this time last year, it was made very clear that NPD will provide media with [hardware] sales figures, but that it would only be temporary. As you may recall, we never provided these numbers until November 2006, the first month when all three new consoles were on the market," David Riley of the NPD Group told us. "It's been a year, so it's time to pull back. It's better to pull back and leave it up to our clients to release their numbers. Or, if manufacturers tell us it's okay to release their hardware sales numbers, then we'll go back to providing them, but that shouldn't be our call."

His comments make it sound as if this were the decision of one or more of the major console manufacturers, so we look forward to seeing which console makers decide to share their numbers—and which decide to keep their sales to themselves. This is a sad day for fans though—without the NPD providing a third-party look at the sales of each console, it will get much harder to put together an accurate look at the state of the market.

So, who wants to withhold sales numbers the most?
Microsoft for its poor hardware?
Nintendo for its poor software?
Sony for its poor...both?

[ertyu]

i'd be perfectly happy with a super mario 64-2

I hate Nintendo and will spew my ignorant crap no matter what anyone says, whether it makes me seem intelligent or not.

P.S Sony rules

[Pyro]

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/11/06/the-npd-group-to-drastically-reduce-sales-numbers-available-to-the-press

Ars contacted the NPD Group to get the full story. "At this time last year, it was made very clear that NPD will provide media with [hardware] sales figures, but that it would only be temporary. As you may recall, we never provided these numbers until November 2006, the first month when all three new consoles were on the market," David Riley of the NPD Group told us. "It's been a year, so it's time to pull back. It's better to pull back and leave it up to our clients to release their numbers. Or, if manufacturers tell us it's okay to release their hardware sales numbers, then we'll go back to providing them, but that shouldn't be our call."

His comments make it sound as if this were the decision of one or more of the major console manufacturers, so we look forward to seeing which console makers decide to share their numbers—and which decide to keep their sales to themselves. This is a sad day for fans though—without the NPD providing a third-party look at the sales of each console, it will get much harder to put together an accurate look at the state of the market.

So, who wants to withhold sales numbers the most?
Microsoft for its poor hardware?
Nintendo for its poor software?
Sony for its poor...both?

Since when does Sony have poor hardware?

[Semitry]

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/11/06/the-npd-group-to-drastically-reduce-sales-numbers-available-to-the-press

Ars contacted the NPD Group to get the full story. "At this time last year, it was made very clear that NPD will provide media with [hardware] sales figures, but that it would only be temporary. As you may recall, we never provided these numbers until November 2006, the first month when all three new consoles were on the market," David Riley of the NPD Group told us. "It's been a year, so it's time to pull back. It's better to pull back and leave it up to our clients to release their numbers. Or, if manufacturers tell us it's okay to release their hardware sales numbers, then we'll go back to providing them, but that shouldn't be our call."

His comments make it sound as if this were the decision of one or more of the major console manufacturers, so we look forward to seeing which console makers decide to share their numbers—and which decide to keep their sales to themselves. This is a sad day for fans though—without the NPD providing a third-party look at the sales of each console, it will get much harder to put together an accurate look at the state of the market.

So, who wants to withhold sales numbers the most?
Microsoft for its poor hardware?
Nintendo for its poor software?
Sony for its poor...both?

Since when does Sony have poor hardware?

One month after release. He is talking about the NPD therefore sales and not build quality. If referring to build quality then since the PS1 days with their crappy lasers!

[ertyu]

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/11/06/the-npd-group-to-drastically-reduce-sales-numbers-available-to-the-press

Ars contacted the NPD Group to get the full story. "At this time last year, it was made very clear that NPD will provide media with [hardware] sales figures, but that it would only be temporary. As you may recall, we never provided these numbers until November 2006, the first month when all three new consoles were on the market," David Riley of the NPD Group told us. "It's been a year, so it's time to pull back. It's better to pull back and leave it up to our clients to release their numbers. Or, if manufacturers tell us it's okay to release their hardware sales numbers, then we'll go back to providing them, but that shouldn't be our call."

His comments make it sound as if this were the decision of one or more of the major console manufacturers, so we look forward to seeing which console makers decide to share their numbers—and which decide to keep their sales to themselves. This is a sad day for fans though—without the NPD providing a third-party look at the sales of each console, it will get much harder to put together an accurate look at the state of the market.

So, who wants to withhold sales numbers the most?
Microsoft for its poor hardware?
Nintendo for its poor software?
Sony for its poor...both?

Since when does Sony have poor hardware?

Is this a joke post?
The ps1 had that problem where playing over time would cause the casing to melt and the playstation not being able to read any disc entirely.

The ps2 is probably the 2nd worst console ever to be built (reliability wise) the first being the 360. I've had so many problems with PS2's and so have everyone else, I don't think I've ever had one last for more than 2 years at the most, and I take really fucking good care of my stuff.

The ps3 well... lol. You don't remember all the problems they had with the diodes when they first came out? They're a million times better now but it was a disaster when they started.

[Norelco]

My brother-in-law's girlfriend is getting him a ps3 for Christmas (**I'm jealous**). Anyways, she's asking if we can chip in by buying a game for him. He has a PS2, and I've really never seen him play anything but Fifa soccer. Is there a Fifa game out yet for the PS3? Or should I get him R & C?

[Pyro]

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/11/06/the-npd-group-to-drastically-reduce-sales-numbers-available-to-the-press

Ars contacted the NPD Group to get the full story. "At this time last year, it was made very clear that NPD will provide media with [hardware] sales figures, but that it would only be temporary. As you may recall, we never provided these numbers until November 2006, the first month when all three new consoles were on the market," David Riley of the NPD Group told us. "It's been a year, so it's time to pull back. It's better to pull back and leave it up to our clients to release their numbers. Or, if manufacturers tell us it's okay to release their hardware sales numbers, then we'll go back to providing them, but that shouldn't be our call."

His comments make it sound as if this were the decision of one or more of the major console manufacturers, so we look forward to seeing which console makers decide to share their numbers—and which decide to keep their sales to themselves. This is a sad day for fans though—without the NPD providing a third-party look at the sales of each console, it will get much harder to put together an accurate look at the state of the market.

So, who wants to withhold sales numbers the most?
Microsoft for its poor hardware?
Nintendo for its poor software?
Sony for its poor...both?

Since when does Sony have poor hardware?

Is this a joke post?
The ps1 had that problem where playing over time would cause the casing to melt and the playstation not being able to read any disc entirely.

The ps2 is probably the 2nd worst console ever to be built (reliability wise) the first being the 360. I've had so many problems with PS2's and so have everyone else, I don't think I've ever had one last for more than 2 years at the most, and I take really fucking good care of my stuff.

The ps3 well... lol. You don't remember all the problems they had with the diodes when they first came out? They're a million times better now but it was a disaster when they started.

That wasn't a joke post, but this one is. Compared to the 360, the playstation brand is as reliable as a fuckin mac.

[XxSlusherxx]

well anyway they were referring to sales

[ertyu]

Microsoft works as well as a... well a microsoft.
Sony works somewhere in between a microsoft product and a mac.
Nintendo = mac

[Kaylia]

Microsoft works as well as a... well a microsoft.
Sony works somewhere in between a microsoft product and a mac.
Nintendo = mac

Mac product cost a lot and suck.

[Semitry]

Microsoft works as well as a... well a microsoft.
Sony works somewhere in between a microsoft product and a mac.
Nintendo = mac

Mac product cost a lot and suck.

Yeah, that was a low blow to Nintendo.

My brother-in-law's girlfriend is getting him a ps3 for Christmas (**I'm jealous**). Anyways, she's asking if we can chip in by buying a game for him. He has a PS2, and I've really never seen him play anything but Fifa soccer. Is there a Fifa game out yet for the PS3? Or should I get him R & C?

Could try Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. That's a big hit among Euros.

[Exoduso]

The new PES looks like fucking shit (last year's was horrible too tbh... and not just the way it looks, it's playing really bad too for some reason... they fucking killed the series.)

Get FIFA 08, it's out for the PS3.. I have it and I think it's fucking amazing (and actually worth it, whereas 06 and 07 were just horrible horrible versions of the game.. EA actually hit this one spot on.)

If he likes soccer he'll enjoy fifa way more than PES in my opinion... and this is coming from someone who plays a new soccer game every year heh, whether it's FIFA or PES/Winning Eleven..

I don't really recommend Ratchet, even though it can be a lot of fun, at times you just feel like the fighting is getting overly repetitive and boring to the point where you just want to shut the console off..

[Norelco]

The new PES looks like fucking shit (last year's was horrible too tbh... and not just the way it looks, it's playing really bad too for some reason... they fucking killed the series.)

Get FIFA 08, it's out for the PS3.. I have it and I think it's fucking amazing (and actually worth it, whereas 06 and 07 were just horrible horrible versions of the game.. EA actually hit this one spot on.)

If he likes soccer he'll enjoy fifa way more than PES in my opinion... and this is coming from someone who plays a new soccer game every year heh, whether it's FIFA or PES/Winning Eleven..

I don't really recommend Ratchet, even though it can be a lot of fun, at times you just feel like the fighting is getting overly repetitive and boring to the point where you just want to shut the console off..

Fantastic man. Thanks for the info. Are the graphics a huge step up from the ps2 versions? I know he'll appreciate this because he always plays season mode as he's a huge soccer nut.

[Exoduso]

FIFA looks amazing graphically, PES looks like crap to be perfectly honest lol.

But yeah he'll love how FIFA looks.

[Falconblade]

http://www.gamer.tm/news.asp?id=1700

Speaking to Dutch site Gamed.nl, Belgian games retailer Games Mania has said that while the new 40GB model is selling well, some 40 per cent of the new consoles sold so far have been returned due to hardware defects that result in the console being unable to read Blu-Ray and other discs.

[Norelco]

Mario & Sonic at the Olympics came out. I picked up my copy before even reading the reviews. Not surprisingly it got a 7.9 by IGN: http://wii.ign.com/articles/833/833014p2.html

I've only played for about 30 minutes but my arms are exhausted and it seems like there is lots to do. Yes, it's chock full of mini-games but nicely these games pretty much require skill and timing instead of the classic Nintendo allowing you to catch up via randomness a la Mario Party 8 or Strikers.

Noticed 1 or 2 instances so far of slow frame rate as well.

I'll give a more in-depth review once I dig into it a little deeper.

[Falconblade]

You can't dig very deep in a puddle...

Regardless, to keep the thread civil:
Super Mario Galaxy: 9.5 Gamespot 9.7 IGN

[Xavier]

Regardless, to keep the thread civil:
Super Mario Galaxy: 9.5 Gamespot 9.7 IGN

The IGN review doesn't mean very much to me (they seem to review awfully high, quite a lot), but the Gamespot review is huge.

- Some of the best level designs of any 3D platformer
- Beautiful, colorful graphics
- Controls work just about flawlessly in nearly every situation
- Soundtrack is a delight
- Lots of stages and tons of stars to find and collect.

[BRP]

Both IGN and Gamespot are pretty crappy. I can't really recall a website or magazine that you could rely on. Number/Point systems are stupid, especially if they go beyond 5 grades and essay/reason based.