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Most people will know the history of add ons. Sega's 32X and Mega CD were made to exploit their lucrative 16bit console even though the industry was screaming for 32bit, and Nintendo's 64DD would allow extras for games and the ability to surf the net. All of these failed horribly.
So why, oh why are Sony trying to make people buy a modem and Hard drive add on to the PS2?
What my above examples have proved is that if a feature doesn't come with a console then games won't support it. If games don't support it, then gamers won't buy it, and so the cycle continues. Basically, if it ain't in the box when you buy the console it won't take off.
However, has the industry changed enough to make sure that Sony's add ons don't flop? After all, both of these things are aimed at internet gaming, which is seen by many to be the way into the future.
Not only that, but already it appears that Sony have some big-name games coming out that will support the modem- Final Fantasy 11 being the biggest.
But what about the hard drive? What will it actually do? It could save upgrades for games- but if people don't buy it then there won't be any games supporting it. It could save things from the internet... but why would people want to buy a whole new unit to do this?
Personally, I am still in the mind that manufacturers have to either provide features in the console when you buy it, OR make upgrades cheap and necissary for people to buy them.
The N64 expansion pack was bundled with games, and even required for some big titles. It was cheap, no hassel, and took off very well. Likewise, I can see the Xbox's cheap upgrade to allow it to play DVDs taking off big time- after all, for £30 you erradicate the need for a DVD player.
However, with the PS2 upgrades, things are different. The hard drive really does have no appeal to any non-hardcore gamers- it's simply too costly to warrant buying. The modem will probably take off in limitted numbers, but how many games developers will really support it to make casual gamers buy what is a fairly pricey piece of kit?
Sonnic
So why, oh why are Sony trying to make people buy a modem and Hard drive add on to the PS2?
What my above examples have proved is that if a feature doesn't come with a console then games won't support it. If games don't support it, then gamers won't buy it, and so the cycle continues. Basically, if it ain't in the box when you buy the console it won't take off.
However, has the industry changed enough to make sure that Sony's add ons don't flop? After all, both of these things are aimed at internet gaming, which is seen by many to be the way into the future.
Not only that, but already it appears that Sony have some big-name games coming out that will support the modem- Final Fantasy 11 being the biggest.
But what about the hard drive? What will it actually do? It could save upgrades for games- but if people don't buy it then there won't be any games supporting it. It could save things from the internet... but why would people want to buy a whole new unit to do this?
Personally, I am still in the mind that manufacturers have to either provide features in the console when you buy it, OR make upgrades cheap and necissary for people to buy them.
The N64 expansion pack was bundled with games, and even required for some big titles. It was cheap, no hassel, and took off very well. Likewise, I can see the Xbox's cheap upgrade to allow it to play DVDs taking off big time- after all, for £30 you erradicate the need for a DVD player.
However, with the PS2 upgrades, things are different. The hard drive really does have no appeal to any non-hardcore gamers- it's simply too costly to warrant buying. The modem will probably take off in limitted numbers, but how many games developers will really support it to make casual gamers buy what is a fairly pricey piece of kit?
Sonnic
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Strafex, having reread your article I just realised that the box you suggest will not have a modem?
If this is the case, then all you are doing is giving people the software to make characters in games (which could just be part of the game anyway!), and a HDD to store the characters on- which could be done on a memory card!
Can you just explain how your idea is different from this?
Sonic
If this is the case, then all you are doing is giving people the software to make characters in games (which could just be part of the game anyway!), and a HDD to store the characters on- which could be done on a memory card!
Can you just explain how your idea is different from this?
Sonic
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
It's EXACTLY the same as the 64DD! It lets
> you create characters in games, go online, and make new levels! The only
> difference is that it won't need you to buy game upgrades like the 64DD carts-
> games will already support it.
Also, I'm suggesting half the price.
Wasn't the 64DD meant to be £100?
I think that £50 for a level/character designer as well as a game saver is a bargin and will get the Hardrive into homes giving the devellopers an audience to make hardrive exploiting games.
I'd pay up to £60.
I'm sure it's nothing that Nintendo can't do, but whether they choose to is another...
It's EXACTLY the same as the 64DD! It lets
> you create characters in games, go online, and make new levels! The only
> difference is that it won't need you to buy game upgrades like the 64DD carts-
> games will already support it.
Also, I'm suggesting half the price.
Wasn't the 64DD meant to be £100?
I think that £50 for a level/character designer as well as a game saver is a bargin and will get the Hardrive into homes giving the devellopers an audience to make hardrive exploiting games.
I'd pay up to £60.
I'm sure it's nothing that Nintendo can't do, but whether they choose to is another...
Alright I suppose giving away a small HDD could become costly for Sony. The HDD is designed to make them money, but if they dont do something to offer gamers the HDD cheap then they will fail.
Ok so if Sony dont offer a free HDD maybe they should consider selling different size HDD. I mean a casual gamer will probably have no need for a 40GB HDD. But if Sony make a 2GB HDD available at only £10 then many more gamers will buy that. They could also package a 2GB HDD with some games. So you could either buy the game for normal price or get the game and HDD for just £5 more saving money.
I think this would be better for Sony rather than giving a 2Gb HDD away. If the casual gamer could get there hands on a HDD with a game and could see the improvments it brought to gaming then this would be great. Sony need to offer a cheap HDD aswell as the more expensive HDD for the gamer who wants to store tons of levels e.t.c
Sony need to get the HDD right or it will fail, and could mean the end to the PS2.
Ok so if Sony dont offer a free HDD maybe they should consider selling different size HDD. I mean a casual gamer will probably have no need for a 40GB HDD. But if Sony make a 2GB HDD available at only £10 then many more gamers will buy that. They could also package a 2GB HDD with some games. So you could either buy the game for normal price or get the game and HDD for just £5 more saving money.
I think this would be better for Sony rather than giving a 2Gb HDD away. If the casual gamer could get there hands on a HDD with a game and could see the improvments it brought to gaming then this would be great. Sony need to offer a cheap HDD aswell as the more expensive HDD for the gamer who wants to store tons of levels e.t.c
Sony need to get the HDD right or it will fail, and could mean the end to the PS2.
Strafex wrote:
> Sonic, you didn't comment on my "Creation Station" idea.
Go down
> and read it (it's just before your reply to Slaveunit).
I've read it!
It's EXACTLY the same as the 64DD! It lets you create characters in games, go online, and make new levels! The only difference is that it won't need you to buy game upgrades like the 64DD carts- games will already support it.
Sonic
> Sonic, you didn't comment on my "Creation Station" idea.
Go down
> and read it (it's just before your reply to Slaveunit).
I've read it!
It's EXACTLY the same as the 64DD! It lets you create characters in games, go online, and make new levels! The only difference is that it won't need you to buy game upgrades like the 64DD carts- games will already support it.
Sonic
Sonic, you didn't comment on my "Creation Station" idea.
Go down and read it (it's just before your reply to Slaveunit).
Go down and read it (it's just before your reply to Slaveunit).
Adrian, I think you miss the point.
The SOLE point of selling the HDD is to make money. To sell the HDD Sony must get developers to get games to use it.
Now, under your scheme, Sony gives everyone a free HDD- fine I guess...
This allows them to play streames games with no loading times and less slowdown. All good.
But, if a HDD costs £10 to get to a PS2 owner, then Soy will lose about £100million from doing this. And how do they make this back??? They don't!
Like I said, the point of the HDD is to make money- not to let developers make better games- this is just a side effect of it!
Sonic
The SOLE point of selling the HDD is to make money. To sell the HDD Sony must get developers to get games to use it.
Now, under your scheme, Sony gives everyone a free HDD- fine I guess...
This allows them to play streames games with no loading times and less slowdown. All good.
But, if a HDD costs £10 to get to a PS2 owner, then Soy will lose about £100million from doing this. And how do they make this back??? They don't!
Like I said, the point of the HDD is to make money- not to let developers make better games- this is just a side effect of it!
Sonic
HelloHowAreYou wrote:
the XBox HDD has a real
> use the PS2 HDD is just a gimmik by sony to make some hard needed monay and to
> try and combat the XBox...
The PS2 HDD isnt a gimmik. It will perform the same role as the X-Box's HDD.
I think Sony really have to get there marketing right. I think that if Sony really want the HDD to be a success they need to give it away free. Iam not talking about giving a 40GB HDD away, but maybe only a 2GB HDD. The 2GB HDD would be very cheap for Sony to make, maybe each HDD costing £2 to make. I know that Sony would haveto spend alot to give every PS2 owner a HDD, but it needs to be done. If every PS2 owner at least had the 2GB HDD, all games could use the cacheing funtion like most X-Box games do. They also could support add-ons for games to be downloaded or copied from a DVD off a PS2 magazine.
Offering the 2GB HDD would mean that people who would never buy it, could still benefit from the cacheing e.t.c Sony could make sure every game uses the HDD.
Of course 2GB wouldnt be that much so Sony could sell different size HDD at different prices. This would offer a person a choice on whether to spend £100 on a 60GB, if they were a serious PS2 gamer. Or a casual gamer spending £20 on a 10GB HDD.
I think in the long run Sony would benefit from giving away a small HDD.
the XBox HDD has a real
> use the PS2 HDD is just a gimmik by sony to make some hard needed monay and to
> try and combat the XBox...
The PS2 HDD isnt a gimmik. It will perform the same role as the X-Box's HDD.
I think Sony really have to get there marketing right. I think that if Sony really want the HDD to be a success they need to give it away free. Iam not talking about giving a 40GB HDD away, but maybe only a 2GB HDD. The 2GB HDD would be very cheap for Sony to make, maybe each HDD costing £2 to make. I know that Sony would haveto spend alot to give every PS2 owner a HDD, but it needs to be done. If every PS2 owner at least had the 2GB HDD, all games could use the cacheing funtion like most X-Box games do. They also could support add-ons for games to be downloaded or copied from a DVD off a PS2 magazine.
Offering the 2GB HDD would mean that people who would never buy it, could still benefit from the cacheing e.t.c Sony could make sure every game uses the HDD.
Of course 2GB wouldnt be that much so Sony could sell different size HDD at different prices. This would offer a person a choice on whether to spend £100 on a 60GB, if they were a serious PS2 gamer. Or a casual gamer spending £20 on a 10GB HDD.
I think in the long run Sony would benefit from giving away a small HDD.
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
Ah, but what I meant was the Nintendo have not
> released their online strategy, plans, or prices for the modem.
Hell, the aint even released a price for the console!
Ah, but what I meant was the Nintendo have not
> released their online strategy, plans, or prices for the modem.
Hell, the aint even released a price for the console!
slaveunit wrote:
> ===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> Ali, the reason I do not mention the GC modem is
> simply because Ninty have not
> released plans for one. Oh, and I did mentio
> the 64DD as well!
They have, the pics in SR's latest mag show the broadband
> and the phone line modems plugging into a socket on the bottom.
Ah, but what I meant was the Nintendo have not released their online strategy, plans, or prices for the modem.
I think that ever since the Virtual Boy disaster, Nintendo are less likely to jump straight onto new technologies- the Internet is simply too unknown for them to "risk" pumping money into.
Saying that, once Ninty do work out their online strategy we should see some crackers.
Sonic
> ===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> Ali, the reason I do not mention the GC modem is
> simply because Ninty have not
> released plans for one. Oh, and I did mentio
> the 64DD as well!
They have, the pics in SR's latest mag show the broadband
> and the phone line modems plugging into a socket on the bottom.
Ah, but what I meant was the Nintendo have not released their online strategy, plans, or prices for the modem.
I think that ever since the Virtual Boy disaster, Nintendo are less likely to jump straight onto new technologies- the Internet is simply too unknown for them to "risk" pumping money into.
Saying that, once Ninty do work out their online strategy we should see some crackers.
Sonic
I'll be getting the Gamecube broadband modem (simply to blow Grix away on Perfect Dark! ;-D), but I'm not sure what the rest of the cube-owning population would do.
As for the hardrive, Nintendo sort of revealed a prototype idea for a hardrive (so it's not necessarily confirmed, but the option is open) a while back.
If it was released, the pro's would be:
No need for memory card.
Able to download files.
But (for possibly £50) would I want to pay for it?
There would have to be a special incentive.
How about instead of calling it a hardrive, calling it the "Nintendo Creation Station".
It would have inbuilt software for you to make characters and levels for your games (ofcourse, the games would have to be designed to support it before hand!).
You could save a character model for FFPS/wrestling games.
Create levels for Shooters and racers like F-Zero and Mario Kart.
Nintendo would need to decide quickly.
They would need to make it so all their top games supported this feature and allowed custom designed levels/characters to be acessable.
Then if they go ahead with the release, players will suddenly realise that for less than £50 (I don't think that anyone would ever pay more than that for any add-on), they can inject life into their new games and be able to download features or save games without a memory card as a bonus.
The player would create something via creation station and load up a game that supports it.
This game would have software to interpret this file as a level/character.
It's an idea, but, unfortunately, I doubt that it'll happen in the real world...
As for the hardrive, Nintendo sort of revealed a prototype idea for a hardrive (so it's not necessarily confirmed, but the option is open) a while back.
If it was released, the pro's would be:
No need for memory card.
Able to download files.
But (for possibly £50) would I want to pay for it?
There would have to be a special incentive.
How about instead of calling it a hardrive, calling it the "Nintendo Creation Station".
It would have inbuilt software for you to make characters and levels for your games (ofcourse, the games would have to be designed to support it before hand!).
You could save a character model for FFPS/wrestling games.
Create levels for Shooters and racers like F-Zero and Mario Kart.
Nintendo would need to decide quickly.
They would need to make it so all their top games supported this feature and allowed custom designed levels/characters to be acessable.
Then if they go ahead with the release, players will suddenly realise that for less than £50 (I don't think that anyone would ever pay more than that for any add-on), they can inject life into their new games and be able to download features or save games without a memory card as a bonus.
The player would create something via creation station and load up a game that supports it.
This game would have software to interpret this file as a level/character.
It's an idea, but, unfortunately, I doubt that it'll happen in the real world...
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