Omni and Mr. Nash can be two very opinionated men, especially when it comes to games (and root beer served by an easily irritated waiting staff). So now they've put their heads together to dissect this past month's gaming going ons. It's been a surprisingly busy month for March, with a very busy Sony release schedule as they brought out Gran Turismo 4, God of War, and, of course, the PlayStation Portable (PSP). There was also plenty of lawsuits this month that started, ended, or just dragged on. There were even a few game announcements. Now, Omni, and Mr. Nash sit down, and discuss all of this...

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The Coffee Table:

March 2005 Month in Review

Omni says:

...My favorite new game announcement: Rise of the Imperfects.

Mr. Nash says:

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how well this game is received. I've mostly seen stuff on the sparkplug guy, but hopefully it'll turn out.

Omni says:

Nihilistic has the development duties on it. If I'm not mistaken they also worked on StarCraft Ghost at one point.

Mr. Nash says:

Hopefully it won't take as long for this game to see the light of day...

Omni says:

With EA's record of shipping stuff on time, I'm sure it'll hit the mark. I mean, they'll slam them with unpaid overtime aplenty to hit the ship date. A game of note that shipped this month is God of War (PS2). Most of the stuff I've read almost seems to good to be true.

Mr. Nash says:

Yeah, I'm curious how well that game has sold thus far. I've seen a few TV commercials for it, but overall, most of what I've seen on the game has come from the Internet. The game has been fawned over by just about everyone so far.

Omni says:

One event that I actually paid attention to this year is the GDC.

Mr. Nash says:

Well, with all of the Xbox 2 and Revolution hoopla that went on this year, GDC really stood out. I still think it's way too early for a new Xbox though.

Omni says:

A lot of "hypetails" for both. I think Microsoft is really pushing it with the thought their next console will ship before the year is out. Particularly because the Xbox is far from finished as it is right now.

Mr. Nash says:

What could make things even more troublesome for them is that last year was the Xbox's best year yet for system sales. Will all of these relatively new Xbox owners feel put out when Microsoft pretty much says, "Yeah, not much in the way of new Xbox games coming out, but buy our new system and get lots of great games there!"

Omni says:

Maybe it will be backwards compatible. But probably not.

Mr. Nash says:

Microsoft could go the way of Sega in terms of console sales if they establish a reputation of not adequately supporting their systems. And that's not good.

Omni says:

I kind of got that feeling as well. Hey, it's Peter Moore at the helm! He was with Sega right up until they stop making consoles. And I'm not so sure that having a couple of "star" Japanese developers on-board will completely render the system legit in Japan.

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Mr. Nash says:

It's funny, all of the Xbox fanboys are saying it's a good decision to lead the way, and bring out a new system first. However, Sega did this with the Dreamcast, and that console died. Ditto for the Saturn.

Omni says:

Let's hit the lawsuits...Most of Marvel's lawsuit against NCSoft was thrown out. It's good news! City of Heroes is one of my favorite games and I'd hate to see it get wiped out by such a frivolous bit of tripe.

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Mr. Nash says:

Yeah, the Marvel case sounds about as plausible as suing pencil and paper manufacturers.

because they provide the means for people to make things in the likeness of Marvel characters. Besides, only the exceptionally slow-witted would mistaken a City of Heroes character for a Marvel character. I thought imitation was the greatest form of flattery...

Omni says:

And I've seen the examples that were cited. They looked kinda like the Marvel characters...

Mr. Nash says:

This whole thing with Sony and the Dual Shock is also pretty interesting, though they can drag this thing through courts for years in the appeals.

Omni says:

The dual shock lawsuit is a good one. Microsoft ponied up but Sony is fighting it. You're right, that will drag on for a while.

Mr. Nash says:

By the time this whole Sony thing is done, PS3 will be out, and they'll likely have a totally different technology in use by then.

Omni says:

Possibly, but they used it for the PS1 and the PS2 so who knows? It's a known technology they're familiar with so it may be incorporated.... also read that a PS3 sneak-peek in Japan was cancelled so there wouldn't be any pressure on developers. Whatever that means.

Mr. Nash says:

Bah, they're probably still working on it is all. I'm sure we'll see something concrete no later than E3 for PS3.

Omni says:

Yeah, E3 will be a doozie this year in terms of consoles. And what about this EA stock deal? That could spin out into something interesting.

Mr. Nash says:

Yeah, the EA thing will be one to watch. I was looking over their 8-K form on CNN Money, and they said they would make a pretty penny, but now they're changing their tune. That press release was put out on January 25th, which happens to be the same day that executives were freed up to exercise their stock options. On January 28th major players at EA bought tons of stock in the morning for no more than $30, then sold it later the same day for over $60. I don't know if this is something they do every year, and just bad timing, but I'm sure it's something these lawsuits will look at.

Omni says:

I wish I could get that kind of deal.

Omni says:

(I'll add Soul Calibur III to games that were announced this month.)

Mr. Nash says:

I'm not sure why another Soul Calibur is coming out so soon. Visually, it doesn't look much better, and there are only a handful of new characters. More confusing is that it is only for PS2, especially given that the game did so well on Gamecube and Xbox. Sounds like a cash grab, but we'll see. I love the Soul Calibur series, but would much rather see part III on a next generation console.

Omni says:

Course the other big releases this month were Gran Turismo 4 and...The much-talked about PSP. Seems to have been an okay month for Sony. (Though I have to admit I'm fairly addicted to Yoshi's Touch & Go.)

Mr. Nash says:

The PSP seems to be doing well. It's funny how there are a lot of people saying that its sales are "disappointing". It still moved 500,000 units or so thus far, which isn't too shabby. It just seems like slow sales since Sony actually made sure that stores were well-stocked with the system.

Omni says:

Particularly at the retail price of those suckers. If Sony didn't bundle it with all that extra stuff the price might have been forced down a little.

Mr. Nash says:

Yeah, bundles are bad, bad, bad. At least let people choose which games they want. In Canada it was awful since so many stores tried to cram Gretzky Hockey down people's throats.

Omni says:

Hockey's not on TV and people are losing interest FAST. Even here.

Mr. Nash says:

Hockey may not be on TV, but you can do a lot better than Gretzky Hockey.

Omni says:

I'm reading about a lot of dead pixel problems, too. Even Penny Arcade had a comic about the problem.

Mr. Nash says:

Well, a few dead pixels is a pretty common thing in LCD screens.

Omni says:

And that seems to be the company line. But I'd still feel a might miffed if I shelled out that money and the screen had a couple or few dead pixels.

Mr. Nash says:

I think the early adopters won't care so much. Given the price of the handheld, and their willingness to part with money, they'll put up with a few dead pixels. Once the PSP price starts coming down, and isn't so prohibitively expensive for more casual gamers, the dead pixel thing may get more saber rattling from the general public.

Omni says:

And the technology will get better too. Redesigns, etc.

Mr. Nash says:

Really, though, I think the PSP and DS will take two totally different markets. DS is so much more of an experiment, while PSP sticks to more traditional gaming.

Omni says:

I have no doubt about that. And the DS has sold upward of 6 million units.

Mr. Nash says:

I figure if the PSP catches up, it won't happen for at least 18 months

Omni says:

... When the price comes down.

Mr. Nash says:

I wonder if Sony will do a decent sized price drop for Christmas, undermining Xbox 2 sales.

Omni says:

Is the gaming market becoming a little too fragmented?

Mr. Nash says:

I think everything is re-aligning right now. By Q4 2006, I think fragmentation will be a problem. Once all of the new systems are out someone is going to take a hit. It's just a question of who. Dividing people's money between PS3, Xbox 2, Revolution, DS, and PSP just isn't a good idea.

Omni says:

Or are more people becoming interested in games?

Mr. Nash says:

More people are interested in games, but they're interested in the SAME games for the most part. ie. Halo, GTA, Madden.

Omni says:

And I'm thinking the PS2, XB and GC might stretch out a little longer too. And don't forget Nintendo reportedly has the next evolution of GameBoy in the works.

Mr. Nash says:

Now is a great time for cheap gamers. Systems are getting cheaper, and lots of games are selling for around $20. I've been buying lots of used games lately because they're so cheap. This too could undermine next generation consoles.

Omni says:

So let's get this straight. More platforms, more games, bigger development teams to create these games, bigger budgets... the little developer is going to have a really tough time.

Mr. Nash says:

The middle developers will lose out. Places like Nippon Ichi are very good at making quirky games for small audiences, as their development costs are low. They don't need to sell tons to make money, and can just keep on trucking.

Omni says:

Even the big guys will find they have some problems if they hit a string of dud titles.

Mr. Nash says:

Big companies have plenty of money, and can fund the games, but I worry that they won't take risks since a failed game could make them lose a bundle.

Omni says:

It's all about the gamble, the risk involved.

Mr. Nash says:

It's the middle-ish guys that sort of do the status quo that will get into trouble I reckon. ..

Well, I think the next month will be pretty quiet unless Sony does a sneak peek of PS3 before E3. There will be some teasers like Heroes of Might and Magic V, but not much else.

Omni says:

That's okay I can take a quiet month. Two other moves in the industry that I thought were interesting: Sega teaming up with Silicon Knights. And, predictably, Vivendi buying Radical Entertainment.

Mr. Nash says:

Don't forget that Sega bought up Creative Assembly as well this month.

Omni says:

Always in motion is the games industry.

Mr. Nash says:

It looks like Sega is trying to tap into the Western market a little more. People aren't buying into their old franchises as much, so maybe they're looking to Silicon Knights, and the Creative Assembly to change that in this part of the world.

Omni says:

Sega really has embraced the whole "let's make games" philosophy.

Mr. Nash says:

Sammy appears to really be cracking the whip and getting Sega back on track, at least money-wise...

And with that we packed it in to go repair toilets, eat pizza, and get ready for another month of playing games, being boggled by press releases, and spending too much time on City of Heroes, and World of Warcraft...


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