scott

and kingofwale, please stop acting like your beloved ps3 is selling well in japan in comparison to 360. 6000 more units a month is not even worth gloating about, both systems are selling terribly. Don't act like ps3 has won japan, it's selling just as badly.

Love how ever since the ps3 came out, people talk about how they refuse to pay for live, and how ps3 is a much better value since you don't have to pay for the online etc. You realize Sony made it free because it sucks so badly? They couldn't charge for such an abysmal service. Nobody really complained much before ps3 came out, but ever since people act like you can ever compare ps3's online with xbox live. You just can't. One is thousands times better then the other.

@sheppy

"360's strongest region is NOT Japan. In fact, 360 is a flopping fish in Japan. Despite Blue Dragon, it still remains largely ignored. Meanwhile, SquareEnix has to look at this because PS3 is selling steadily in Japan and the traditional fanbase for these games stick to Playstation consoles. So you have to ask yourself. With each JRPG released so far on 360 getting mehish sales, why would SquareEnix invest the money to port the White Engine to a fanbase that, in all likelyhood, will ignore the endeavor anyway?"


Selling steadily in Japan? Is that a joke? Are we reading the same monthly numbers? 9000 systems compared to 2000? You can that selling steadily? 9000 is almost as bad as the 2000 MS is selling. North America's 175k vs 85k last month more then makes up for Japan's sales numbers for the next year. And how many JRPG's have been even been brought to US so far? Love to hear which ones you're talking about when you claim "with each of the JRPGs getting mehish sales".

When I first got my 360, I could have cared less about achievements or my gamerscore. Then I had a buddy who was into them, so I started going for achievements. I now believe they are an incredible addition to every game, and can add possibly hundreds of hours of gameplay to a single game if done correctly. I think the best example of how to do them is how Gears of War did them.

A nice slew (300-400) of single player achievements, gotten through just playing through the game.

A nice slew of multiplayer achievements (300-400)

A nice mixture of random achievements that just took a bit of time to get.

Think about how much achievements can add to a game. I beat gears of war coop with a buddy on all 3 difficulties. After that, we mighta played the online together for a month or two.

But after seeing the achievements, they were somewhat difficult, but definitely attainable. Those are the best achievements, the one where the user can look at them, say "oh i can do that" but know it will take some time.

Gears had great multiplayer achievements to get 100 headshots, 100 pistol kills, 100 head stomps etc. Even hosting 50 games. All of these weren't difficult to do, just took some time to do them. Having a nice mixture of achievements can add hours of gameplay to a single game. What more can you ask?

I'm not one of those nuts who will buy games just for achievements. But I will look at all the achievements in a game, and spend extra time if I know I can get it.

Well said, #11

I could see ALOT of people doing this. It's basically a 2 dollar lottery ticket, just with better odds. You don't even have to eat the frost. Hell, I'm sure people out there will pay the 1.99 and tell Wendy's they just want the cups. But, I'm sure a big majority of the winners will coincidentally be Wendy's employees.

Loved this game on sega! Can't wait for this one!

@Rob

It's also all beta videos right now...5 months from release. Pretty sure they're aware that the graphics aren't groundbreaking right now. Halo 1 and 2 both looked amazing for their time, I'm sure they'll beef up the Halo 3 graphics.

This is like reading the WoW forums on a patch day

Pretty good article, but kinda assumes MS just has unlimited amounts of money, and isn't out to make any profit. I realize they DO have oodles of money, but even companies with tons of funds don't like to just blow it endlessly.