gozirah

LT,

I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers from. I know Apple's profit margin for iTunes purchases are slim, but there are a lot people with iPods, so economies of scale then become profitable. Even considering people like you who apparently have enough patience for breaking through DRM. Good for you and your hobby, but most people like the streamlined vertical business model. Even if they donit make money on this particular deal, the mindshare they now enjoy means they could sell Apple bake pie and people would eat it up.

But the analogy doesn't quite work between music and games saves. Game developers presumably sign up for a console and its proprietary formats. Your Metallica albums seem like they should just be music and work on any device you own. For the analogy to work, games and their related data would have to be written on universal code so that they work on all consoles. They would then be not optimized to work on any. Of course we know that DRM for music on the other hand, is not for any optimality concerns, it just for the BMG farms to keep their hens in the house.

Sony has made some weird choices from our point of view. But what I think is really odd is the huge emotional reaction and sense of entitlement (snicker) people seem to have. They are after all a business, and its up to the consumer to vote with dollars in this system.

I think it's odd that people would say they were being forced into Blu-ray. You wouldn't be if you are not interested in what as touted as a "multimedia" or entertainment computer. Don't buy it then right?

I think it's odd that people would say they were being lied to. If technology or marketplace factors changed, I would be surprised if a company did not react and adapt to make a better business decision. If a politician had a good reason for supposedly flip-flopping I would be able to respect that.

The "living... in abject poverty" joke sums of the psychology, I think. Some gamers had an idealization of what could be with the Sony line, and they feel that their loyalty has been disrespected. As a result, gamers either have to make up excuses about how it's worth the money or paint a picture about how lame Sony is as a whole, so they are not tempted.

But part of you is tempted, yes? In an ideal gamer's world, you'd have each of the big three. They do occupy somewhat different niches. Just don't buy anything or buy into anything until you are ready. That way you won't feel lied to.

What? You no have asian fetish? Good because she probably wouldn't be interested in your dorkwankage. Go look in the mirror now and see if your above average.

Or just keep on making degrading commments about women to make yourself feel like a big man.

Back on topic, why does she get to play the psp on a tv and we don't?

As a videogamer you should not blindly dismiss someones views because they are inconvenient to your lifestyle. This researcher is not trying to force her views upon you either. She actually is *suggesting* that you read her work and decide for yourself. (As a videogamer, I know I have a short attention span, so I wish someone would summarize for me.) Many of you have a reactionary tone to the mere suggestion that there may be something negative about some games. This is precisely the problematuc attitude of the general public about games that you should be concerned about changing. Okay, so we don't have to take her findings and interpretations as necessarily truth, but standard blog flaming may have little effect a researcher who as at least trying to be objective (unlike he who must not be named).

I do not buy the argument that because the PS3 is new and complex, it should have a new and "creative" interface. Does such a UI increase usability? It takes hard work to develop UI's and test them with focus groups. It's not about adding more bells and whistles so your brain explodes.

Can I get to different tasks faster, or am I lost all the time in menus upon menus? Are kids and grandparent going to be able to pick up and use this thing? Pick up an ipod and then some other player, for example, and try to figure out which one is actually more usable, where someone thought about how the design works rather than whether its fancy.

I believe they are going to initially include ps2 hardware and try emulation later. So I don't think there is as much uncertainty.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/sony/sony-ships-ps2-hardware-in-ps3-for-backward-compatibility-178558.php

This legislation may sound like a good compromise, but there are two slippery slopes:

1) *Laws* regarding content are tricky, since there is a lot of subjectivity in gauging what constitutes lewd, or overly violent depictions. ESRB is self-imposed by the industry. Self censoring doesn't infringe on freedom of expression. Using ESRB or equivalent content assessment cannot infringe on freedom of expression, unless harmful influence on kids or other people is scientifically proven. I'm not saying that kids should immerse themselves in violent games. I am just saying that if you let the guvment restrict content, then it's V for Vendetta for future generations.

2) Reviewing every single minute is not only impractical, it may be impossible. Law makers would ask that the industry cry a river for complaining about costs of review. But if you consider procedural programming in contrast to cutscenes, you'll realize that future games can create new content ad infinitum. Sure, Spore is unlikely to create something more violent or more sexy in hour 3000 than in a first sample hour of gaming, but you simply cannot review content that has not been made yet.

Sugar coating? Appeasement? You guys are tipsy. The news item refers to a brief statement by Harrison, and then tongue and cheeks it with the "nothing to see here", indicating the blogger's incredulity. Drinky drinky too muchy.

"That's it, thanks"

No other pressing interview questions-- other than the one and half about arrogance? Even with baiting questions about arrogance, it sounds like you could have gotten more information out of him.

You don't need to be sunshine and daisies but you might have had some semblance of balance, so you could have written about something we didn't already know.

bloggers aren't journalists.. fine.

Is all technology and economics frozen in time?

Capacities will continue to rise, performance increase, and prices drop. Look at digital cameras. Did you think you would be able to afford a decent digital camera 3 years ago? Look at hard drives. I never thought I would need a hard drive bigger than 42 MB.

Can't think of a reason or way to take advantage of all that space? Well, maybe the next business that can will be pushing the envelope and making a new market.