New Slimmer Top Loading PS3 Annouced - Prices Suck

[njiska]

Nintendo can be pretty dumb.

I'm sure their accountant would disagree.

I'm not. They have been running at a loss lately.

[Skykid]

Nintendo can be pretty dumb.

I'm sure their accountant would disagree.

I'm not. They have been running at a loss lately.

They have no reserve worries, losses or otherwise. Far too many cash cows over the years coupled with successful cost cutting strategies.

Remember that Wii that sold a trillion units?

It was a Gamecube with a sensor bar.

[njiska]

I'm sure their accountant would disagree.

I'm not. They have been running at a loss lately.

They have no reserve worries, losses or otherwise.

What the hell are you talking about, no losses? They posted an annual operating loss the past Fiscal year and and an operating loss for the first quarter of this one. They are by no means desperate for cash and still have a huge amount of cash on hand, but to say they have had no losses is to be completely ignorant of the facts. They are still trending downwards at the moment.

[Skykid]

They have no reserve worries, losses or otherwise.

What the hell are you talking about, no losses?

Er, I didn't say that had no losses.

I said "They have no reserve worries, losses or otherwise."

Which is basically a summary of the sentence you wrote.

[Drum]

Read it again, he said they have no reserve worries, whether there are losses or not.
EDIT: Bah.
There isn't enough data to indicate a trend, so don't give me that 'tending downward' guff. It's enough to say they missed expectations and had a loss - that in itself is extraordinary for Nintendo.
Their gold rush is clearly over and they won't be reaching the heights of Wii/DS this time around - not even close.

[moh]

It was a Gamecube with a sensor bar.

LOL, you nailed it!

[Friendly]

It's the consumers who are dumb. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are just full of shit.

Yes, exactly. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything.

Every time you buy something even though you know it's bullshit you are voting with your wallet, encouraging companies to create more bullshit.

Prime examples: DLC, online passes, always-online DRM, online activation that prevents re-selling

[Marc]

Well thanks to Sony once again dropping the ball so magnificently, I just bought myself a Dark Souls player - a refurb fattie with full b/c. Now to pick up the other worthwhile exclusives. Both of them.

[Friendly]

Make sure to open it up and replace the thermal compound, if the seller hasn't done so already. That's the weak spot of the early models; it gets brittle after a few years of use which then leads to overheating and the so-called yellow light of death.

[Skykid]

Well thanks to Sony once again dropping the ball so magnificently, I just bought myself a Dark Souls player - a refurb fattie with full b/c. Now to pick up the other worthwhile exclusives. Both of them.

Wipeout and... Demon's Souls?

[Friendly]

I just bought myself a Dark Souls player

You don't seem to be very well versed as far as PS3 exclusives go; you could have played that one on your Halo Box.

[Marc]

Aah you know what I meant. Had a PS3 and sold it few years back, nothing much that interested me then and seen little in the meantime. WipeOut is a must (re)buy, and Demon's but beyond that... Hated Killzone, hated Infamous, Motorstorm was ok, LBP is a dogshit game with a brlliant level editor... But by all means I'm up for suggestions.

[Jonathan Ingram]

Hated Killzone, hated Infamous, Motorstorm was ok, LBP is a dogshit game with a brlliant level editor...

What`s all that shit? I have a large library of PS3 games, but none of that crap.

Here`s actual good games:

- Siren: Blood Curse
- Ryu ga Gotoku series(3-5 and Kenzan)
- Aquanaut`s Holiday(JP only)
- House of the Dead 4
- Time Crisis: Razing Storm(incl. Time Crisis 4, Razing Storm and Dead Pirates)
- Valkyria Chronicles
- Katamari Forever
- Legasista(a 2D roquelike from System Prism and NIS; retail in Japan, PSN only in US/EU)
- Disgaea 3-4
- Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1-2
- 3D Dot Game Heroes
- Metal Gear Solid 4
- Oddworld: Stranger`s Wrath HD
- Tokyo Jungle
- Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition/Academy Edition
- Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls

Also, unless you already own them on the 360, Afterburner Climax, King of Fighters XIII and Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown are absolutely worth getting too.

I just bought myself a Dark Souls player - a refurb fattie with full b/c.

Oh my. Gonna YLOD on you real soon. Why did you do that?

[Marc]

I'm trusting in my - apparently - charmed life with consoles; my original arcade non-HD Xbox still works perfectly, as does my eldest's original b/c fattie. As for your list... RPG's no. Metal Gear no. Tedious driving Sims no. Hate Ninja Gaiden (isn't that on Xbox anyway?). Forgot about HOTD 4 and just did a little sex wee. Tokyo Jungle looks intriguing.

[Friendly]

Marc, I wasn't kidding about the thermal paste. You should find out if the seller replaced it, and if he didn't, do it yourself asap.

EDIT: I agreed with Jonathan Ingram, you should have gone for a CECH-2500 or CECH-3000, which are the most reliable PS3s so far. Even if the heat paste has been replaced, who knows how worn out its blu ray drive is...

IMO, the best use for a launch model is playing PS2 (and PS1 and PSP) games via hdd using Cobra-USB, which requires firmware 3.55. It seems like a bit of a waste to update it to play newer PS3 games.

[Marc]

No that's cool thanks for the advice, appreciated. Actually, I forgot about GTi Club, had that last time and loved it. Shame PS1 & 2 look like crap, but its just a convenience thing, specially with a three year old that loves to fuck about with my machines.

[louisg]

GTi Club is great! I used to play that in the arcades. I thought I was the only one who liked it; I guess it holds up pretty well..?

[gct]

I remember the my first PS1 ever was actually the PSOne which I bought shortly after that hardware was released. This new PS3 IMO shapewise looks kind of like the PSTwo, which I also like. I didn't understand the doormat comments since I never had a doormat like that, but the more I look at it, I do in fact have some mats in my car that look like that Whatever... I'll put up with it for the top-loading functionality.

But anyway... I have never had a PS3. I'm not too excited about the price, but I am interested in buying it anyway. It's supposed to have been released yesterday in the US, but all I can find is pre-order on BestBuy USA. I'm in Canada but close enough to the border that I will probably get one from a USA Costco or Walmart. It's just a matter of when stock starts to show up...

edit: used a wrong word

[Ed Oscuro]

I remember the first PS1 ever was actually the PSOne which I bought shortly after that hardware was released.

Your first PSOne? Man, I remember seeing those things in stores and thinking "why would I get this ugly thing..." and probably not a great deal either (but my original 750X is still going strong).

The fact that many were (soon?) being bundled with LCD screens seemed really space-age at the time though, but I'm sure that if I tried one out now I'd have a very different opinion of its quality.

[Op Intensify]

Looks like you can already buy the new model as part of an Uncharted 3 bundle. They're not selling it separately yet for some dumb reason.

[gct]

Your first PSOne? Man, I remember seeing those things in stores and thinking "why would I get this ugly thing..." and probably not a great deal either (but my original 750X is still going strong).

The fact that many were (soon?) being bundled with LCD screens seemed really space-age at the time though, but I'm sure that if I tried one out now I'd have a very different opinion of its quality.

Whoops! I left out a word there, MY first Playstation was a PSOne. Yea, when that generation came around I got a N64 and it kind of completely put me off video gaming until the PSOne was released (and I bought Xenogears that same day). I don't use the LCD screen with it, but I just like how compact it is. Been pretty reliable, my original unit is still going well, and a few years back I picked up another one for $5 to leave at my family's vacation home. I think it's kind of cute, like a marshmallow or something. The lid's latching mechanism is a bit weak though. PSTwo is just as sweet, and Free McBoot is icing on the cake.

Looks like you can already buy the new model as part of an Uncharted 3 bundle. They're not selling it separately yet for some dumb reason.

I'm seeing that exact bundle still listed as a pre-order. I'm hoping to be the first chump to report back here with one. I'm only mildly interested in the game. I'll probably give it away to my brother-in-law.

[Ed Oscuro]

Funny thing, I bought a PSX first but the N64 took over for a long time. I love both systems greatly - they've got their relative strengths and weaknesses (although the N64 isn't so kind on me these days; lots of its low-FPS games seem to give me headaches).

[Friendly]

Same here. Had a PS1 first, N64 later. Was impressed by the 3D at the time (despite the blurry textures), but the system has aged terribly, mainly due to the terribad framerates. Its game library was nothing to write home about, either. Disregarding Virtua Boy, N64 was easily Nintendo's worst hardware.

[gct]

The 250GB Uncharted 3 bundle can now be reserved for pickup at my local (Canadian) Best Buy. The prices in CAD and USD are the same at $269.99, so I wonder if I should get it here and bite the 12.5% sales tax, or go to WA and pay their sales tax, and quite possibly get hit with duties crossing back into Canada :\ Unless I can hide it in with Costco groceries...

[Skykid]

Had a PS1 first, N64 later.

Ah the genesis of one's devotion (N64 ownership unconvincing.)

Its game library was nothing to write home about, either. Disregarding Virtua Boy, N64 was easily Nintendo's worst hardware.

With three of the best games of all time on it. So many people on this forum rag on N64 baselessly, like it was some sort of failure despite being in production for five years and selling 22 million more units than the Sega Saturn lol.

At the time the 3D coupled with its controller offered a bold new dimension in gaming. If you could see past the fog (literally in the case of something like Turok) the Nintendo first-party titles were so groundbreaking, some are still yet to be bettered.

I could sit here and run off a list of all the 3rd party titles too, but its been done too many times. Suffice to say when I used to work in London's largest import game store, we all agreed the PS1 shelf was 90% shovelware not worth wiping your ass with.

[Ed Oscuro]

I agree with that analysis. If you can get over the framerates - problematic on BOTH consoles - the N64 seems to have a higher ratio of hits. For that system, a game had to be almost assured of making money to be made - that did lead to some crap like the bad port (!) of Daikatana, but plenty of much better stuff. And the low-res textures aren't a problem - sure, stuff often looks a bit cartoony and underdeveloped but that only seemed to spur my imagination a bit. I never felt like I had to get into nooks and crannies to see interesting details in Super Mario or Banjo Tooie, but it didn't really feel like a loss over the PS1.

[Jonathan Ingram]

So many people on this forum rag on N64 baselessly, like it was some sort of failure despite being in production for five years and selling 22 million more units than the Sega Saturn lol.

I didn`t know Sega Saturn was what we compared other systems` sales performance to in order to determine whether they were successful or not. Was the Gamecube a success because it sold more than the Dreamcast? The N64 sold about 1/3 of what the PSX did and about 12 million less than the SNES(despite the videogame market becoming much bigger). That`s what matters as far as sales are concerned. On the videogame side, the N64 had weaker third-party support in Japan than the Saturn. lol indeed.

Suffice to say when I used to work in London's largest import game store, we all agreed the PS1 shelf was 90% shovelware not worth wiping your ass with.

And the remaining 10% still contained about a dozen times more games worth playing than the entirety of N64 library. Don`t start this, please. The PSX had both quality and quantity.

[Hagane]

With three of the best games of all time on it. So many people on this forum rag on N64 baselessly, like it was some sort of failure despite being in production for five years and selling 22 million more units than the Sega Saturn lol.

To me it was mostly a novelty console (and I think SM64 and the Zeldas, which I guess are the three best games you are thinking of, haven't aged well at all; not that I'd ever consider them best anything), with very very few actually good games compared to the PSX and Saturn.

[Skykid]

I didn`t know Sega Saturn was what we compared other systems` sales performance to in order to determine whether they were successful or not.

We don't. It was a three horse race, and neither the N64 or Saturn were anywhere near the PSX, so therefore it's logical to base their performances against each other. Simple.

That and the fact people don't tend to realise the N64 was a successful console relative to its predecessors. It's not like Nintendo went broke.

Super Nintendo: 43 million
N64: 33 million

And the remaining 10% still contained about a dozen times more games worth playing than the entirety of N64 library. Don`t start this, please. The PSX had both quality and quantity.

No, the PSX had a vast rubbish tip of complete garbage that far (far!) outweighed the total sum of its good games, especially in the west. Considering it had the highest developer support of any console prior, that's an enormous discrepancy where quality is concerned. I'd even go as far as to say the equilibrium of quality and quantity is superior on the 360 and PS3.

The N64 library was shallow and had its fair share of shit. Being unique architecture also completely cut it out of the ports game, which was a self-inflicted hazard (and a clear advantage the other console's offered to arcade gamers like us.)

I think (M64) and the Zeldas, which I guess are the three best games you are thinking of, haven't aged well at all; not that I'd ever consider them best anything.

You're a cool dude and I like your taste in fighting games. That comment is wrong on so many levels its impossible to have a reasonable conversation about, however.

[Hagane]

You know I'm mostly an arcade player. It shouldn't be so hard to find out why I don't really care about Nintendo post SNES in general and the N64 in particular.

As for Zelda, while I can appreciate its contributions to 3D, I don't see a point in playing it now when there's stuff like Dark Souls or Gothic (or even Vagrant Story, even if it isn't completely 3D), except for the nostalgia I guess. Since I didn't own an N64 at the time I don't even have that incentive.