- So while on my way to work yesterday morning, I noticed about five folding chairs in front of Best Buy, each occupied by a tired, cold, and surly looking individual (actually, only four… maybe the fifth was on a coffee/pee break?) and I wondered what that might be about. Then it dawned on me… they were all waiting for PlayStation 3s.
Naturally, the launch that’s already happened in Japan, and the one that’s about to hit America, is still making all the game related headlines at the moment (as well as the European launch that isn’t going to happen anytime soon… Euro gamers were dicked over once again with news that they won’t be seeing the system till March 2007… which of course is further compounded by the fact that Sony has made it almost impossible for them to import, thanks in part of them going after Lik-Sang, which sent shock waves of possible legal action to all the other online game retailers like Play-Asia).
Reports regarding the success of the Japanese launch seems to be mixed. We’ve all seen pictures of the long lines of Chinese and homeless people waiting in to nab the system, all paid by hungry online sellers (primarily Yahoo Auctions Japan). Well here’s a Japanese new report showing that even soccer moms are getting in on the action, as well as the near riot that took place when the thing went on sale at the stroke of midnight. And someone at NeoGAF pointed out one dude who managed to grab a 100 systems.
But meanwhile, I’ve also read that, while the system did very well business-wise, it isn’t actually sold out across the board, and a few are still available at major electronic stories in Tokyo.
Though the best/worst/funniest/saddest part of all this is how virtually no games for the system were sold.
- Anyway, after work yesterday, I had some time to kill, so I went down to Brooklyn, the Fulton Street Mall area to be exact, to pick up Everblue 2. I guess the most obvious, and annoying thing about that area is that not a single game store is discernible. Also not helping is how every single store also sells pawned jewelry and cell phones, and that’s what usually takes place in the display window; you absolutely have to keep inside every store to see if there’s any video games, which is always deep inside, or to the back, and again, practically every store has the same layout. Another thing is how, even though its awesome that most have a huge selection of older, often harder to find titles. they’re all displayed in a way that its impossible to see what’s available. One place literally has 20 rows of games, and each is stacked in front of each other, so only about 10% of the front and the side is visible, so imagine a row of that, fifteen feet away from you, with also the glare of the store’s lights getting in the way. Plus I was already tired and dealing with a shitty day thus far, so my mind was all over the place, hence why I had a bitch of a time finding it. But I did! Though I forgot to get extra memory cards, so I can’t really play it at the moment…
Next I went back to the city, and with some extra time to spare, I decided to see if the store manager and/or press representative was there so I could introduce myself (since I’m going to be there all Saturday night, I figured it would be best if they knew who the hell I was). But it was past business hours, so I got the appropriate info and went to the game section. They had about six PS3 on display, and surprise, half of them were not working properly or were flat out dead. I tried playing that off road dirt racing game, which for the life of me I can’t remember the name of, perhaps because its so damn generic sounding (is it MotorStorm or Motor Heat?), and it played very slowly. At first, I was all “WTF?!?!?!” since it was 30 fps at first, then it would get less and less, plus I couldn’t do shit, but I believe the system had overheated or something, plus my controller was definitely busted. Two other systems were frozen with the same game, though one guy was playing the game with problems, so I was able to see firsthand that it doesn’t really run that slow.
Soon it was time, so I made my way to EA’s big holiday press event. Upon arriving there, I immediately made my way towards the Need For Speed Carbon set-up, since both the PS3 and Wii versions, not side by side, but behind each other, which meant you couldn’t see them running right next to each other, which was a good thing, because…
The PS3 version was similar to what I had experienced with the Xbox 360 version a few weeks back at DigitalLife. The Wii version on the other-hand… and I’ve long held to the “its not about the graphics, stupid, but the controls” philosophy behind the Wii, but man… it looked horrible. Maybe seeing the PS3 version immediately beforehand didn’t help, but yikes… And the thing is, and I’m not here to make any dumb Wii is GameCube 1.5 jokes, but I recall one guy at DL going on and on about how the Cube version this year is top-notch, “heads and tails above Most Wanted” which I guess was poor looking (I didn’t know, and if a EA rep was willing to bash it, it must have been pretty bad), so I really wanted to see what Carbon for that system, but now… not so much. As for how it played… not very well. Again, I’m giving every Wii game some leeway in the controls department, but then again, I recall Excite Truck having a similar set-up, and while I was no ace racer with that, I at least had some fun with it. I just couldn’t control shit; I could go in a straight line, but that’s about it. Every turn was damn near impossible, unless I slowed down dramatically, which meant not keeping up with the race. Hence why I grew pretty bored quickly, though my attention was immediately turned towards the bus ads that I kept running into; I thought they were for a PSP! But it turned out, it was only a SideKick.
Also played the new Tiger Woods game for the PS3, as well as its version of Fight Night Round 3. The rep who I played against was a really nice guy, but, like that one Sega rep from a few weeks back at DigitalLife, got on my nerves real quick with his trash talking. I don’t know… I can handle shit talking from a friend, that’s cool, but a PR rep going “Dude, what was that? I’m so gonna beat you!” is just irritating, I’m sorry.
I also brought up with another rep that, with the re-release of Mutant League Football for their classics compilation pack for the PSP, a next-gen update is LONG overdue, and the woman I spoke with totally agreed with me, and said that she’s been long asking for it, since the demand is definitely out there. And when I replied with “Really? It’s not just journalists in their late 20s asking for this?” she admitted that it only came up once in a focus test, but she’s really pushing for it. So at least that’s someone.
Next I went to the Upper East Side to have dinner with Mike (Simses) and talk Weekly World News business. Long story shot, I guess I’m going to be more involved with them in the coming weeks! Later this weekend I’m going to help shoot a vid based on a idea I came up with, and all I can say is that folks who know what I love to hate are gonna LOVE it (especially O’Connor). Stay tuned for details.
Shit, its already Wednesday and I’m already exhausted. Later this week, aside from the official Wii launch event, as well as the official PS3 launch event which I’m gonna check out as well (for the chance to rub shoulders with celebrities, such as TV’s Charlie Murphy… though its really to see if a riot breaks out at the Sony Store), and do some filming for the WWN, plus stuff for GameSetWatch and Nickelodeon Magazine, I’m also meeting up with the costume designer for my big “thing” in Japan next summer, which I’ll try and see if I can talk about next time. Also, movie night’s tonight, and I couldn’t possibly miss The Magnificent Seven in HD.
- Oh, and I may as well mention this now… so apparently all this week is “gamer’s week” on MTV. I haven’t had a chance to check it out since I don’t have cable these days, but apparently Stephen Totilo is featured prominently, which is a good thing! He’s definitely one of the best dudes in the business, and I’m not just saying that because I’m friends with the guy. Though I also heard that Empire Arcadia, which I gotta check out, if only for the sake of morbid curiosity. I wonder if the arcade scene’s equivalent of the trench-coat mafia will be indeed represented on national television, in particular their Power Gloved wearing leader. And if he is, I certainly hope he’ll enlighten the masses with his pontifications, such as his reasoning as to what’s wrong with the video industry today, which for him boiled down to how Sony and Microsoft are “playing dirty… they don’t act like true samuri warriors like Nintendo and Sega back in the day” (actual quote). God I fucking love gamers sometimes.
And on a related note, Major League Gaming’s television show premiered last weekend. Since I haven’t seen it, I really hope they don’t try and make the “pro gamers” look like real athletes and all, since… they are not. Once more, I don’t like baseball, but I have a helluva lot more respect for a pro-base baller who has to train properly, meaning exercise and eating properly among other things, to stay on top his game as opposed to some fat fuck who happens to be very good with the keyboard. But in all seriousness, I still can’t understand how watching people play video games, as well as watching video games being played on television, could be entertaining. Again, I may not like baseball, but its so easy to grasp and view… its so accessible to millions of people out there, even all the nuances. Not so with your average FPS to the average person, I’m sorry.
- Lastly, two random things, courtesy of IC: first, another nifty Game Over screen. And second, some cute slices of Silent Hill fan art:
