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Nintendo Wii: the wee-little things
As much as we would have loved to devote the entire day to Wii-related goings-on, we also had some other important business to attend to; and besides, there are several blogs out there that are much better at covering gaming minutiae than ourselves. Still, amongst all the hustle and bustle of product announcements, press conferences, and rumor mongering, there were a few tidbits of info that seemed to fall by the wayside, so we thought it was only right to wrap those up into one tidy, bite-size post. Perhaps the biggest "non-news" of the day, so to speak, is that Wii has lost the DVD playback functionality that had been promised in earlier-speced versions of the console -- and the reasoning behind it kind of makes sense, as one less feature supposedly brought down the price of the console, and everyone already has a DVD player to begin with. On a more positive note, we also learned that at least Nintendo-produced discs -- and perhaps third party titles as well -- will be region-free, meaning that if you live in the US but have a hankering for one of those crazy, nonsensical Japanese cooking / weight loss / "thinking" games, all ya gotta do is import. Wanna learn more? Keep on reading...
Wii packaging revealed: Wii Sports bundled
Had enough Wii yet? Yeah, we thought not. So now that you know how much it's gonna cost you ($250, $280 Canadian for our friends up north) and when you have to gather your loot up by (November 19th, December 2nd in Japan), you're probably wondering what the game store clerk will be dropping into your sweating, anticipatory paws. USA Today got the scoop on the consoles retail packaging (as seen above), and in good news for gamers and sports fanatics alike, big bold letters on the box indicate the Wii Sports WILL be shipping as part of and parcel of the system. Wanna know more? The news just keeps on comin' -- we're liveblogging the New York-based Nintendo press event at this very moment. Ok, enough, already; head over to the liveblog post and warm up your F5 key -- we got our best blogging sharpshooter in the audience.
PSP to see $50 price cut, sez analyst
With Nintendo's DS and DS Lite clearly showing the most momentum in the portable gaming space (who knew that a dedicated product could trump one with more bells and whistles?), word on the the street is that Sony is expected to drop the PSP's retail price down to $150. American Technology Research's P.J. McNealy feels that a slew of popular games such as Brain Age and New Super Mario Brothers have given the DS a much-needed boost in popularity, while the multimedia-centric PSP hasn't had a real hit since the last Grand Theft Auto title. Combined with the fact that the UMD is all but dead, McNealy believes that Sony's gotta do something to reinvigorate interest in its portable device, and a price cut seems like the best way to woo potential DS purchasers away. At $150, the newly-priced PSP wouldn't be that much more expensive than Nintendo's offering, and the company's recent push to offer movies on MemorySticks might be just the differentiating factor that would convince consumers to choose feature sets over games. Still, with its innovative input system and non-traditional titles, the DS would seem to appeal to a larger potential audience than the PSP, so even a price drop might not be enough to turn things around for Sony.[Thanks, Scott]
Xbox exec sez "surprises" in store for Q4
For the purposes of this post, we've going to ignore Microsoft exec Richard Teversham's recent dismissals of the Wii as a glorified GameCube and the PS3 as overpriced, and instead concentrate on his area of expertise: future plans for the Xbox 360. In an interview with entertainment site MCV, Teversham revealed that Redmond has "a number of surprises up our sleeve" in regards to the Xbox division's Q4 strategies, and that they involve "having a variety of pricing on games [and] a variety of pricing on console offers." Since the marketing manager reiterated previous denials of an impending 360 price cut, we have to wonder what exactly he was referring to by that statement on console pricing. The one possibility that springs immediately to mind? Why, bundled HD DVD drives, of course. If Redmond is in fact able to offer 360 bundles with HD optical drives at the same or slightly higher prices than current packages go for, it would certainly take some of the focus off Nintendo and Sony during their respective console launches. On the other hand, he could simply mean that the current bundles will receive an extra game or accessory or something -- which, combined with his slams on the competition, wouldn't really make for an effective marketing strategy at all.[Via Joystiq]
Microsoft planning Xbox 360 price cuts?
As the PlayStation 3 launch approaches, rumors of an Xbox 360 price cut are once again making the rounds -- but as usual, Team Microsoft is telling us not to get our hopes up. DigiTimes recently reported that a source at an unnamed Taiwanese OEM manufacturer is claiming Redmond has successfully negotiated lower production cost of between 15% and 20% on the 360, thanks to a combination of ramped-up production volume, falling component costs, and decreasing defect rates. While it's likely that Microsoft is aggressively seeking a lower per-unit cost on the consoles -- after all, it's supposedly losing over $100 on each box -- it's completely unclear as the whether these savings will be passed along to the consumer or kept in-house in an attempt to shore up losses on the hardware side of the equation. Since the PS3 will already be pricier than the 360 at launch, it seems that Microsoft certainly doesn't need to implement price cuts to stay competitive -- making the denials all that more plausible -- but then again, announcing price changes too early might hurt short-term sales, making the denials somewhat suspect. In the end, it seems like this could go either way, so if you're looking to save a few bucks, there's still only one surefire way to do so.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
More Wiimote details revealed
Although we know quite a bit more about the Wiimote now than we did before E3, many of the specifics about this controller have remained a closely-guarded secret, so we were pretty stoked to learn that the folks over at IGN were able to get their hands on a big fat developer documentation kit chock full of juicy details. For starters, we now know that this wireless input device will be powered by a pair of regular AA alkalines, giving the unit 30 hours of battery life with the precision aim function activated, or up to 60 hours if only the accelerometer is being used. It's also being reported that remaining battery life will be indicated at startup by those four LEDs on the front of the controller, which will serve double duty to show which player is communicating with the console at a given moment. Other tidbits here include deets on synchronization (yes, the Wiimote definitely uses Bluetooth), some more specifics about the built-in rumble motor, and speculation about the controller's use of 6KB of internal memory and possible use as a digital camera. For the sake of brevity, we've glossed over most of the revelations here, so make sure to follow the Read link for all sorts of info that Nintendo doesn't want you to know yet.[Via Joystiq]
DIY camera for the Nintendo DS
We're all aware that a digital camera/webcam for the Sony PSP is right around the corner, but how many of you knew that you could also snap photos with your Nintendo DS? Don't feel bad; we didn't know it was possible either until we spotted modder Kako's handiwork on YouTube -- apparently he's taken a Treva CMOS chipset, done a bit of rewiring, and written software that allows the unit to output images directly to his DS Lite. We can't vouch for the picture quality, and the frame rates are positively sluggish, but at least this mod gives Nintendo fanboys one less missing feature to defend when the PSP crowd goes into one of those regular, tiresome diatribes listing the many reasons why their product totally "pwns" the little dual screen console -- in fact, you'll probably catch a few examples of said diatribes right here in the comments section of this very post.[Via DS Fanboy]
Sony's Stringer reveals "obsession" over Xbox 360
Making it perfectly clear that even the mightiest CEOs sit up at night fretting over their competitors' products, his highness Sir Howard Stringer recently confessed to having an "obsession" with Microsoft's Xbox 360 after inadvertently mentioning the PS3-rival in an interview with the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg. Stringer's admission followed what can only be described as a classic Freudian slip, in which he substituted the words "Xbox 360" for "X-Men III" when bragging about the success of Sony Pictures' The Da Vinci Code. After some prodding from Mossberg, Stringer even went on to pay Microsoft founder Bill Gates something of a backhanded compliment, admiring Gates' ability to put a positive spin on setbacks like the constantly-slipping Vista release date while still managing to take shots at the PS3 for its own delayed arrival. So, the obvious question that now presents itself is: who would win in a fight, Gates or Stringer? Comments are on and awaiting your thoughtful analysis.
Lower-end PS3 to ship with wired controllers, non-upgradeable HDD?
Besides the disheartening news that the cheaper version of the PlayStation 3 will lack WiFi, a memory card reader, and most significantly, an HDMI port, we've now learned that the $500 PS3 may also be shipping with wired, and not wireless, versions of that rumble-less, Wii-like controller. While adding separate Bluetooth controllers would only set you back a few bucks -- if, in fact, the lower-end model actually ends up shipping with BT functionality -- boosting your console's storage capacity in the future may be a non-starter, as Sony reps supposedly told Games Radar that the 20GB hard drive isn't upgradeable. With so many significant differences between the two configurations (and let's not forget the snazzy metallic lettering you get on the $600 models), it's not clear how many consumers are going to agree with Sony's Kaz Hirai that the "crippled" version of the console is a "good value" for them.Update: If it wasn't entirely clear, please bear in mind that until confirmed by Sony, the information contained herein concerning the controllers and hard drive falls squarely into the rumor camp.[Thanks, J and Ameya T.]
Kutaragi on PS3: it's too cheap
Lest you thought Sony had managed to put the issue of Playstation 3 pricing behind them with defenses earlier this week by Kaz Hirai and Phil Harrison, Sony Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi has now weighed in with his verdict. Kutaragi has reportedly stated that the pricing of the PS3 is "probably too cheap," and he likens the console to a fine dining experience, saying that it's nonsense "to compare the charge for dinner at the company cafeteria with dinner at a fine restaurant." Based on what he calls the PS3's "amazing experience," he says "we believe price is not a problem." Meanwhile, Microsoft has responded to the PS3's pricing with a suggestion that you can eat at both the cafeteria and the fine restaurant by picking up both an Xbox 360 and a Wii. As Xbox head Peter Moore told Reuters, it makes good economic sense to "buy an Xbox and ... buy a Wii ... for the price of one PS3." Of course, if you're really hardcore and well-heeled, you'll pick up both of those, and grab a PS3 for dessert. Read: KutaragiRead: Moore
