I went to Borders yesterday and browsed through the movie section where I checked on a few blu-ray DVDs. Then I went next door to Best Buy, and perused the blu-ray DVD players. I only saw one, and it was well over $300. I glanced at the HD one, but found myself quickly over by the video games and ended up with a... wii.
There were only about three of them on the table and some guy had his sons there, playing baseball with him. He had a big smile on his face like he was 10 years old without a care in the world. He grabbed one of the consoles and held it, saying... "I'm getting it!" So, I went and checked on what games were available, came back a few minutes later, noticing somebody sort of followed me over there doing the same thing. The guy then set his down and told his son "better check with your mother, first." That's when I grabbed one of the last three, and the sales associate told the guy, "Sir, if you're 'thinking' about getting one, you better hold onto to because these are the last we have". On the way to checkout, another sales associate looked surprised, saying "I didn't even know we got more in", to which I replied "and there's only one left!" For note, I have never seen these at Target--always sold out.
So, I picked up the Zelda game and Madden '08. The interactive style, I think, makes up for a lot of the shortcomings in comparison to other system's graphics. They're not bad, but I wouldn't say they were much better than a P2. Maybe a bit, but not a lot. In the end, I knew the Zelda game would be something fun to play, having sat up in that bedroom of my youth back home and playing that thing for hours and hours. I've already raked up 3+ hours last night playing it, and woke up sore this morning.
Ultimately, while I think the p3 has the advantage of better graphics, the blue-ray should be optional. Is nice if one is looking for both, because then they can get a system and the dvd player for a reasonable price combined--otherwise, $500 out the door for just the console alone is a chunk of change for most people. One of the things that have bothered me over the last 10 years or so is, the better the graphics get, the less fun the games sort of become. I get sick of 'watching' 5 minute cartoon intros to games, wondering why they didn't spend that money making the game itself more fun to pay. I think this is the main reason why I went with the wii, though the $250 price-tag didn't hurt. It just seems like something I'm going to become less bored with over time.
The only real concern I have with it is what appears to be a lack of mature games. I could be wrong--there is Scarface, the Godfather, etc. But Nintendo seems to be centered on family-friendly titles such as Mario Brothers, Zelda, Sonic, etc. Sure, there's Mortal Kombat, but I don't see a mature "flagship" type of game such as Halo. There is, however, Zelda--and I can attest to it being one of the best games out there in terms of using your brain to figure out puzzles.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The Tribe has spoken....
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2 comments:
As the cost of the Playstation 3 come down (and/or storage capacity goes up) you'll find it will sell more.
Hard core gamers with a tighter wallet might opt for the X Box but for true HD experience the PS3 is a bargain at its current price.
why?
Blu Ray discs are outselling HD DVD 2-1.
http://www.highdefdigest.com/tags/show/Disc_Sales
in part:
"In its first week out of the gate, consumers preferred the Blu-ray edition of '300' nearly twice as much as its HD DVD counterpart."
Although I haven't looked up specific figures if they exist but I would guess that they majority of people who bought PS3 did so because it offered the blu ray player.
Nintendo Wii you can get for $340 then add to that a separate HD DVD player for about $300 and now you are already paying over the price of the 60gb version of the PS3 @ $499.
Of course if a person is not thinking of HD movies in the near to midterm future then the PS3 isn't a good buy.
You betcha I was one of those who purchased the blu ray version of 300. It was awesome. Nothing like watching the arterial spray from a sword cut or spear thrust in high definition.
Another of the deciding factors was looking at the catalog of either HD or Blue-Ray discs. The majority consist of newer releases, which, unfortunately, doesn't cut the mustard for me. 300, in my opinion, wasn't worth the 9 and change to see it in a theater, so why would I want to shelve out $30 to watch it at home? Sadly, that's the case with most newer releases: there's just not that much which interests me, and until they expand their catalogs to include movies I may be interested in, I would feel all the less inclined to make the purchase. Rush Hour 3, Transformers, Spider-Man 3, etc., may all be "cinematic" eye candy that looks good on the screen, especially an HD with all the right components--but at the end of the day, as movies, they suck. ;)
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