So, it was only a matter of time for the DBZ franchise to make its way to the next gen systems and I for one am super stoked about this. Granted, DBZ is a franchise that’s been fairly mediocre as a fighting game franchise overall, it was fun to play for a while on the PS2. Not incredible, but solid. Here’s to hoping Atari doesn’t screw this up.

[tags]Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Dragon Ball Z[/tags]

In case you don’t know or have been living in a cave for some reason, the PS3 is the hot item this holiday season. I have an opinion on this and here it is: Let’s Get Ready To Rumble. it seems there are many, many, many reports of fights breaking out in lines across the country (ok, mainly New York and San Francisco because they have Sony Stores, who each have about 800 PS3’s I might add) The fighting seems to be stemming from the fact that when the lines grow to a certain size the security guards move the line and people try to cut in line. So then fights break out, as soon as I find a YouTube video of a PS3 fight I will post it here, until then good luck to all the PS3 warriors out there and Godspeed!

Oh, one more thing, the entire country of Taiwan is getting only 500 PS3’s, can you really call that a launch? Good Luck to them as well.

This year was a hugely disappointing showing from Sony for one reason and one reason only. There was no Final Fantasy VII demo present. After the stunning showing last year I have been wondering what Square’s real plans are. No company would go that far to make an amazing demo just for fun. So what’s Square’s plan? (more…)

Ok, normally I don’t really spend time complaining about other blogs or how video game news in general is being covered, but I think that something needs to be said. Here’s the problem: I am tired of seeing the graph of the PS3 as compared with other systems via inflation numbers, time value of money, etc… All I can say is this - BOGUS.

If you put things into basic human logic perspective it goes something like this - well prices for other things have risen over time so video game consoles should do the same right? WRONG. That doesn’t make any logical sense. Products don’t NEED to increase in price unless they somehow increase in value. Then again, think about this, the iPod hasn’t really increased in price even though it’s improved many times. Instead Apple increases the value and maintains the same price. It’s the biggest consumer product right now.

Ok, so has the PS3 increased the value proposition? No. You can play video games, music, and watch movies on the PS3. How is that different than the Xbox 360, Xbox, or PS2? It isn’t. It’s going to give pretty graphics, but no prettier than the 360. From a price to value ratio the PS3 doesn’t even come close to the PS2. Is the PS3 worth more than 4 PS2s? For the price of the base PS3(with no games) you could buy a PS2, a second controller, and 20+ classic PS2 games. I’m not talking about lame games either. I’m talking Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, FFX, GTA3-San Andraes, Ratchet and Clank, Jax, Grand Tourismo 3 and 4, God of War. Some seriously awesome games. The PS3 for the same amount of money offers you a box. What a joke.

To anybody that tries to say that the PS3 is a good value needs to look at the PS2 and then see a good value. Even the Xbox 360 is a better value than the PS3. Value schmalue, the PS3 is a hose job.

Well, my suspicions about the craptacular nature of the cheapo PS3 have been confirmed. In an article on GamesIndustry.biz Sony confirms that the HDMI on the cheaper PS3 is not upgradable. This confirms what I figured would happen all along: Sony is going to screw consumers one way or another. It was bound to happen I suppose.

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention to the hype Sony’s machine will do 1080p(sometimes), but you need to spend thousands on a tv that supports it and it needs HDMI. Ok, so how are consumers getting screwed? Well standard HD resolutions are either 720p or 1080i. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray DVD have this nasty problem of using HDCP-HDMI content protection to “stop piracy”. The way it works is that if the consumer doesn’t have HDCP-enabled HDMI, then movie won’t be shown in high definition. It will be shown in 540p. That’s right, if you don’t have HDMI on your HDTV, then the $30 Blu-ray or HD-DVD movies you are buying might not actually display in HD.

Now, there are two problems with this. One, this method of content protection doesn’t stop piracy. Real HD-DVD and Blu-ray pirates will just use specialized equipment to get the HD signal. The equipment can already be bought on the internet. Two, most HDTV’s don’t have HDMI. Even many newer and cheaper HDTV’s don’t have HDMI. So, the sweet HDTV that you bought on Black Friday at BestBuy last year or the year before probably doesn’t have it. Mine doesn’t. In fact, of the millions of HDTV’s that have been sold in the last decade, most don’t have HDMI.

So, in short the $499 PS3 is not going to support HDMI and thus, in a few years when everything downrez’s consumers will be out of luck. Sorry charlie, the Blu-ray thing is a bit of a scam and in a few years when the cheap PS3’s are disappointing customers, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Well, E3 is over and from the sounds of it Wii clearly came out as the system that stole the show. The Playstation 3 had a very mediocre showing. Well, let me rephrase that, nothing on the PS3 was extremely outstanding or as head and shoulders above the Xbox 360. Luckily for Microsoft, nobody is buying into the whole 1080p garbage that Sony is spewing. Ironically, most developers aren’t even shooting for 1080p, since 720p/1080i looks great and there is no great visual difference. Also, I found it very amusing that Grand Tourismo: HD’s demo ran in 1080p, but nobody was too impressed by it. It didn’t look as good or any better than Project Gotham 3. It just looked like a highres version of GT4 with better lighting. (more…)

While the real version of the PS3 is going to cost $599 in America, there is no set pricing for that model in Japan. Instead Sony is opting for “open” pricing in Japan. As I understand it, that means that Sony is going to sell the machines to retailers at one price, and they can charge whatever the market will allow them to charge. This means the PS3 is probably going to launch for $1,000 or more in Japan. Japanese consumers are screwed. (more…)

Sony, is now more than ever seriously out of its collective mind. Not only is the PS3 the most expensive console ever, it’s also even more handicapped by the 2 pricing scheme than the Xbox 360 was. Sure the cheap 360 had no hard drive, but you could buy the hard drive for $100, so it wasn’t a huge deal. On the other hand the “cheap” model of the PS3 is missing WiFi, MemoryStick/SD/CompactFlash reader functionality, and HDMI. Esentially, the PS3 is an overpriced machine that in reality doesn’t look or play any better than the Xbox 360. But wait, there’s more! (more…)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably have heard that E3, the biggest game expo of the year is happening this week. It’s going to be an exciting week of news. Today is Sony’s pre-E3 news confrence. Expect a new PS3 controller and maybe even a new console case. Hopefully some PS3 games will be closer to playable, but I expect a lot of video footage again this year from Sony. Also, don’t be surprised if Final Fantasy VII is announced for the PS3. It’d be a license to print money for both Sony and Square. That alone could steal all the thunder from the Nintendo/Microsoft events before they even happen. (more…)