Podcast XX: Sony's Demise, NPD Domination, and Jake fights back

[BRUTAL1TY]

Jake

A Sony employee edits the wiki-page of a well known 360 title and causes further embarrassment for their employer.

Among such retardation, Heavenly Sword and Lair aren't doing much to help the PS3 to gain ground and 2007 improvements look bleak. We discussed whether the PS3 has already lost the console war or if it has any fight left in it. Does it? You tell us.

NPD reaffirms what we stated in a prior podcast and we basked in the joy of being right. Join us in partying!

Lastly, Sony resurfaces once again in the uncertainty department as rumors run rampant about yet another price drop. Does Sony know what it's doing? We both said no and we know you agree dammit.

Now crack open another brewsky and start discussing, you damn dirty postwhores!!

Joel:

Yes I know, we didn't run as long as we would have liked but what can you do? We are glad to be back and have appreciated the feedback and kind words we have received. Jake handled bizz but I was rusty on the Mic so forgive me. It was implied these threads were no longer created for certain reasons. Truth be told, we didn't have the time but now we do so **** what you heard and post away

[fortunzfavor]

Nice of you guys to stick up for Australia. Solidarity!

I think one of the reasons that I never hear mentioned that MS is beating Sony so badly is that MS really gets American consumers (where they're still beating the Wii by what, 2-1?) from a purely market-oriented perspective (in addition to everything else). Certainly you guys talked about how MS offers choices (you don't have to pay for features you don't want), different points of entry, and it's not leveraging their console to win a completely unrelated format war, but the other element is cost-spreading.

You're not really getting a bargain on MS equip (why should you?), and in reality, MS isn't really subsidizing hardware, they're simply giving the consumers the chance to pay for it over a longer period of time partly through xbox live fees (12 months x 50$ x 5 years = $300 + premium download income) and partly through upgrades (the idea being that a lot of users are guaranteed to want certain upgrades--having them separately gives them the chance not just to choose if they get them [that's the choice feature that you talked about], but when they get them, so the cost of the console as a whole gets spread over more than one year). All console makers take licensing into consideration when figuring prices/profits, so I'm not going to talk it. Live is the biggest difference, complemented a little by hardware choice.

Americans LOVE cost spreading. We get massive discounts on our cell phones in exchange for signing contracts. We love monthly payments on electronics, cars (through loans and leasing), housing, credit cards et al.

I know some people aren't going to see live fees that way--they'll say Live fees are for the feature of xbox live and are well worth it in their own right. I can't argue with the worth, other than the game library, the thing that makes the 360 most attractive to me is Live. Live is also optional--unlike a cell contract, and you get the console at the same price with or without it. But MS knows 1) how attractive Live is and that a certain percentage will sign up for Gold and 2) how to leverage Live by getting massive games that make it practically indispensable (for instance Halo 3--even in the campaign mode). So there's a guaranteed income point there that they can take into account when setting the console

Imagine if Nintendo (I know it better than Sony, so forgive the transition--some of the points are interchangeable) a) had a real online service b) had real games that used it (EA games are wisely using EA nation for connectivity) and c) charged a reasonable subscription price. It doesn't cost them much less to build the online infrastructure just because the execution sucks/is non-existant. Imagine what they could do to the Wii price point if they had the Live strategy (without losing a dime)... 150$ with room for price cuts if they want it. Instead, they take profits on their hardware and give away a featureless, gameless system.

Someone N fanboy might say Nintendo's strategy is working just fine. Sales are high (driven considerably by the Japanese market And by locking down the online Pokeman demographic), but then I'm a Wii owner who doesn't mind the slighted hardware, loves some of the game library (Zelda, Metroid), loves the control system, and I'm here at px360 just a couple of paychecks away from buying my first MS console. Now once I get it, do you think I'm going to spending as much (any?) money on Nintendo games? I already passed on Prime 3 (a nice looking game that doesn't butcher the wiimote) to save towards a 360, I'm betting that's going to become the rule once I have the two game libraries to compare.

Other countries aren't nearly as excited about price-spreading. There are a few pre-paid phone options in the US, but in when I was in SW China for a year, EVERYONE was prepaid. I never once saw a contract option (I don't know if this would be true on the coast). Everyone paid full price for their hardware, and picked up minutes on cards as needed. I had to pay my rent 12 months in advance, I never found an option that would allow me to pay month-by-month. I've always wondered where Japan falls on that scale, if anyone has been there, let me know what you think. If I had to guess, Europe has a little bit of both systems, and it won't be a decisive advantage/disadvantage there, but I welcome input on that too.

[Kona Palangi]

So in summation, you agree?

[fortunzfavor]

Originally Posted by MalohiTafataha

So in summation, you agree?

You know, once someone puts the cliff notes together, no one reads the original [strikethrough]anymore[/strikethrough]?

Malo: Leapfrogging entire tomes in a single bound.

[Nate2583]

Great podcast guys.

I also think the one last final hay maker blow to Sony's gaming jaw is the loss of the exclusivity of Metal Gear Solid 4.

Never playing any of them, I don't give a flying ****. But apparently it's one of Sony's great landmarks. Just an opinion.

[Kona Palangi]

Originally Posted by fortunzfavor

You know, once someone puts the cliff notes together, no one reads the original [strikethrough]anymore[/strikethrough]?

Malo: Leapfrogging entire tomes in a single bound.

An abridged version would have sufficed

[Sir Charles]

Good work. Very appropriate intro music. Look forward to the next one.

[Kona Palangi]

Originally Posted by wrutless

Good work. Very appropriate intro music. Look forward to the next one.

Ah thanks Charles! I thought the intro music was very fitting as well plus nobody can touch a Timbaland beat.

[Devise]

Nice podcast, I enjoyed it. Thanks for sticking up for the Australian Gamers.

[Boost King]

Hi Guys, excellent podcast, as always, if Boost is mentioned, even in passing, I am happy!

I really enjoyed the podcast, especially with the question about is the PS3 pretty much dead in this console race. I think you guys should post a poll, although I am expecting all Yes, so why not make some choices, ie 4 Yes answers, with differing statements, ie Yes, but I expect it to pick up over 2008, or Yes, and I expect 2008 to offer no signs of improvement etc. You get my drift.

Good music choice as well.

And yes us Aussies are always getting screwed, the VMP is a joke, apparantly our broadbands not fast enough. What a 1.5MB download isn't enough, I've heard XBL doesn't even transmit at more than 512kbps anyway.

So hence, why are we all getting downloads and demos fine then? One begs to differ.

But again, excellent podcast. So how many subcsribers on Itunes are we up to may I ask? I was listening to the first podcast with you guys (boy you sounded so serious) and you said you had like 6 or 7 subscribers.
Boost

[Kona Palangi]

Well thanks Boost. I would post a poll but being we are a Xbox 360 site I can't guarantee the most objective results. As far as the listeners, last I checked with Matt we had 50, possibly 51. We hope to break the 75 threshold sometime before 2008.

[remixFA]

correction: Tecmo is still part of NG2. On the opening menu in the demo video it says Tecmo right in the middle of the screen. they are still on board.

edit:
title is misleading. unless i missed it, jake only fought back against the listeners claiming hes a panzy when it comes to joel.. if i missed him fighting back to joel, point me to where!

[ElderScroller27]

it seems like Sony wants to compete they just havn't really learned how because until the Xbox/Xbox 360 came out they really had no competition so they are now very affraid of making a commitment of resources into the console war and having it be the wrong one. Currently they stand back making gestures and trying to put bandaids on thier problems like cutting half their employees jobs to save $$ but just losing ground because they don't even seem to know what they are fighting for.

[hollywood21639]

good podcast guys

[Kona Palangi]

Originally Posted by remixFA

correction: Tecmo is still part of NG2. On the opening menu in the demo video it says Tecmo right in the middle of the screen. they are still on board.

edit:
title is misleading. unless i missed it, jake only fought back against the listeners claiming hes a panzy when it comes to joel.. if i missed him fighting back to joel, point me to where!

Obviously it went right over your head as we were clowning you hahahaha

[remixFA]

oh geegolly.. wow.. willikers n stuff!!
shoulda known jake still couldnt grow a pair! ehehe
anyways, the pc was fine.

[BRUTAL1TY]

lol...

[remixFA]

and there was another moment of deep thought by jake!

[BRUTAL1TY]

God Remix, you're good!

[Kona Palangi]

Originally Posted by BRUTAL1TY

God Remix, you're good!

It's articulate statements such as that which will make him a ''permanent member'' on the PC hahahahahahahahahahahaha