Category: Games and Sports

I don’t have a Wii yet, but I plan do before the year is out! Kotaku reports that the N64 classic, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, will be available for download via the Wii Virtual console on Monday in North America. I’ve always wanted to play that one, but didn’t get my hands on it back in the day. Indeed, I’ve missed out on a number of Nintendo classics over the years, but with the Virtual console in play, I feel like I’ve got a second shot at it! This combination of easy , and cheap, to get to classics, plus innovative new titles makes the Wii a strong contender for the top spot in this round of the game console wars. I like Xbox Live Arcade on the 360 too, but overall, Nintendo has a stronger catalog of downloadable games because of their long history as a 1st party developer.

I just watched one of the most exciting Daytona 500 finishes I’ve ever seen, and after a week of scandals, one that will only add fuel to the NASCAR rules fire. I like the winner Kevin Harvick and I like runner up Mark Martin too. But why, oh why didn’t NASCAR throw the caution flag as soon as cars started wrecking behind the leaders on the final lap? Normally, in the name of safety, NASCAR is all too eager to throw out the yellow, but not this time. If the yellow had come out as it normally would, we’d have Mark Martin in the winner’s circle instead of Harvick. While one can argue that the yellow may have been held to avoid essentially deciding the outcome of the race in a noncompetitive fashion, NASCAR has made such a big noise about their commitment to the safety of the drivers that an argument like that in the face of such developing auto carnage doesn’t hold any water. So again, why oh NASCAR, why?

Gamesindustry.biz reports that despite losses associated with the Playstation 3 launch, Sony profits not only beat estimates, but Sony was also able to raise its annual forecast. This all comes on the unexpected strength of sales of Sony Bravia HDTVs and Cybershot digital cameras. Did all of the media attention associated with the PS3 launch create a spike in sales of HDTVs? And did Sony rival, Microsoft, which recently did a head to head comparison of their Xbox 360 to the Playstation 3 using a 46″ Bravia HDTV, also help spark sales of the high definition flatscreens? Both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 tout enhanced graphics capabilities that are only realized when the consoles are connected to high definition televisions. The Sony brand still carries a lot of weight in the home electronics market, so anything that increases the likelihood of HDTV sales will likely benefit Sony ahead of many others.

It is estimated that Sony loses about $200 USD on every PS3 they sell, but if the Playstation 3 really is helping sell Bravia’s which may sell for as much as $4000 and are certainly being sold at a profit, then there may be some method to the madness after all. Normally, a console maker may take losses on the console to be made up in royalties paid to them on each game sold for that console. So far that hasn’t really kicked in for Sony which is seeing slow PS3 sales. But if PS3s can help HDTV sales in the short term while the game pipeline fills up, then Sony may not take as bad a hit on the high priced PS3 as some have feared. If any of this is true, then look for Sony to create some PS3-Bravia bundles in the near future, perhaps just in time for the Super Bowl.

I’m not sure if it is just a coincidence or not, but since the World of Warcraft expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, came out, my Final Fantasy XI server, Shiva has been very quiet. The last couple of nights, during what is usually a fairly busy period of the night (after 9:30pm US Central Time), there have been well under a hundred players in the areas I’ve been in. Bastok, the Valkurm Dunes, and the Khonschtat Highlands have all been very quiet. The near desertion of these areas has made getting a party impossible. So I’ve been quietly soloing in the Highlands, completing some long overdue quests, and taking care of my Chocobo chick.

I can’t help but wonder if the WoW expansion has pulled away big chunk of FFXI’s population. I’m certainly tempted to give WoW another try just to see if it’s gotten any better than the last time I tried it out. In fairness though, last time I quit out of the frustration of never being able to get on a server without a long wait. It’s too early to count FFXI out, but in a game that demands party formation in order to advance, a sparsely populated server is not a good thing. Admittedly, I was in lowbie areas, perhaps it’s time for another trip to Jueno.

There’s a nice article on Kotaku today that details The Decline of the PS3 Grey Market. Long story short, there’s now a glut of Playstation 3s for sale on eBay going for just slightly over retail. Some who had hoped to profiteer from the PS3 are now returning them to the stores where they were bought. And PS3s seem to be staying on the shelf at retail a relatively long time. So what happened? Is the Playstation 3 dead?

There was a great outcry when the final price for the Playstation 3 was initially announced. For many, $600 is just too much to pay for a games console. Some argued, perhaps correctly, that $600 is a good value for what you get in the PS3. Still it appears that many consumers have decided they cannot afford that much value. Not only that, many decided that Nintendo’s Wii console at $250 was a much better deal and to date have bought over 3 million of them.

While I’m sure that the Xbox 360 probably benefited a bit from the scarcity of PS3’s and their high price, clearly the winner of the holidays console contest was the Wii. The geek in me wants to say that the Wii won because of innovative game play, fresh ideas, yadda, yadda, yadda. But the moms and dads buying Wiis don’t care about that geek stuff. To them, the Wii represented an exceptional value from a company that still has a lot of kid friendly cred. And the armies of so called casual gamers who cut their Nintendo teeth on the DS, probably didn’t hurt sales either. The choice was pretty simple, buy the $600 console that’s hard (or even dangerous) to get and comes with no packed in game, or buy the much less expensive $250 console that’s a lot easier to get without risking health or life, and comes with a nifty packed in game.

So what is Sony to do now? If it is true that Playstation 3 sales have plateaued this early, then clearly they will not be able to continue selling them for such a high price. And how long will 3rd parties wait before they abandon the platform for greener pastures? Will Sony wait until after the European launch in the spring before dropping the price? If things are really so bad, I don’t see how they can wait that long. There’s already news that Microsoft is preparing to move CPU production for the Xbox 360 to 65nm which ultimately means a less costly to manufacture console which would allow them to drop the price to compete better with the Wii. Lucky for Sony, the new Xbox 360 CPU has been delayed until mid 2007, but it is coming and could mean cheaper Xbox 360s in time for next Christmas. Can Sony really wait that long to drop the PS3 price?

The Escapist has a new article on crossdressing in MMORPGs, that is, playing as a character whose gender is opposite one’s own. It’s an interesting read, but doesn’t really have anything that hasn’t already been said in previous articles on the matter. Still, it is fun to get another person’s perspective and personal anecdotes or war stories.

As for me, I’ve been running around Vana’diel delivering virtual presents to virtual children while dressed as a virtual Santa, albeit a short, sexy, blonde Santa! Why bother? Well, for one thing, during the Starlight Festival, as it is called, these virtual Santa’s, the Smile Bringers, are allowed to freely teleport to and from any of the three starter cities in the game. The virtual world of Vana’diel is huge, so if you haven’t already seen the other starting cities, this is a great chance to do some virtual tourism while bringing smiles to the children of Vana’diel!

Soon I’ll return to the Lost Chocobo quest which has meant several long trips between San d’Oria and Jeuno. After that it’ll be time to find a good party for some serious leveling up on Qufim Island.

Oh boy, you just gotta love the irony of a violent Christian-themed video game coming out in time for Christmas. Left Behind: Eternal Forces has been roundly criticized for its “convert the heathens or kill them” gameplay. Despite this, it will likely have pretty good sales, presumably snapped up by many of the 63 million or so people who have bought the Left Behind series of books. Many of these are the same people so quick to condemn games like Grand Theft Auto and Bully for in game violence. Well, I won’t condemn such a game without seeing it, but I can say now that I don’t agree with its theology. I cannot ever conceive of Jesus commanding His followers to convert or kill non-Christians or approving of such action. That’s just plain wrong.

Like a thief in the night, the PS3 has launched in Japan! Over the last few days, I’ve been so distracted by family matters (which culminated in the loss of my office/playroom to my eldest daughter, waaah) that the PS3 had completely fallen off of my radar screen. Now that I have a little time, I’ll be very interested in finding whatever news there is of the quality of the games and the console hardware. Right now the thing I find hardest to believe is a PS3 Japanese launch with a paltry 100K units. That’s like a NASCAR race that begins under the green and yellow flags, usually to beat the rain. The lap counter has started, but it’s not very exciting. Of course don’t say that to rabid fanboys like these, plenty of people are out hoping and praying that they will be lucky enough to score a PS3.

Over the last 3 weekends, I’ve totally missed the NASCAR Nextel Cup races for a variety of reasons. So today began with the intention of first, having some fun (since last Sunday was definitely not fun), and secondly catching the race. Then Final Fantasy XII entered the mix and so far, NASCAR has had to share screen time a bit. FFXII is absolutely gorgeous, especially if you are into bishonen! This game is the closest thing to come to playing a movie epic that I’ve seen. The cinematic scenes are, well, very cinematic and beautiful. And the in game graphics must be pushing the venerable PS2 to its limits. My only complaints so far are the long load times spent looking at a blank screen, albeit with some great music, and some controller glitchiness, which may just be a dying controller. The game is pretty easy to just pick up and play with save crystals about 45 minutes of play apart so far, for me at least, which with a house full of kids is important.

Turns out that the race started with a rain delay, so I’ve only missed 15 laps, sweet! So off to the races now, but I’ll be back to FFXII soon enough, especially if there’s any more rain.

I just read that Brian Vickers had been locked out of Hendricks team meetings since announcing his move to Toyota at the end of the season. Way to go Hendricks, stirring up all of that bad karma! I don’t know all of the internal details obviously, but I’d hardly call that a classy way to behave. So essentially, Vickers hasn’t really been on the team for some time. I don’t think the contact that took out Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. today was intentional, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Vickers did not have the warmest feelings for so-called teammate Johnson. It wouldn’t be any surprise at this point to see someone else driving the 25 car next week. I just hope that Vickers kicks some serious ass when he moves to Toyota next season. I wasn’t a Vickers fan before today, but it just boils my blood when I hear about people being shunned like that!

After 107 starts, Brian Vickers finally got his first Nextel Cup victory at Talledega today. This victory came at the cost of wrecking teammate Jimmy Johnson and race leader, and fan favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr.. Needless to say, Brian isn’t going to be very popular with a lot of people, loud boos were plainly heard in the winner’s circle once the winner was announced.

It doesn’t look like Brian intentionally wrecked anyone, but probably could have been a little more careful. Still, I’d like to say thank you Brian for turning what was shaping up to be a rather boring Talledega finish into one that people will be talking about for a long time. I’ve never seen so many drivers being so cautious so close to the end of a Talledega race. Generally there will be two line of cars going for the win at this restrictor plate race, but the last laps of this race consisted of a single line of cars tucked in behind Jr.! NO ONE was brave enough to duck down to the bottom and challenge. Unbelievable! This is just points racing at its worst when the race is over before it’s over because no one wants to risk points, or worse, wreck a championship contender.

So thanks again Brian for giving us all an exciting finish. I don’t watch NASCAR races to see people get hurt, but I do want to see a good race from beginning to end. If I wanted to watch a parade, I’d turn on F1.