411 Games Fact or Fiction 01.06.09: A New Year in Gaming
Posted by Jacob Lopez on 01.06.2009
In this New Year's edition of Fact or Fiction talk about NCSoft getting sued, iPhone as a serious gaming platform and more. Pop on in to check out the discussion!
Happy New Year! Welcome 2009!
Welcome to this edition of Fact or Fiction. Things have been pretty slow in the industry these past two weeks. Most of these game biz people are one vacation and all that great stuff. It's ok though, because here at 411mania, we never rest. Always on the prowl for news, we try to keep up with the industry. Sadly, the industry just didn't keep up the pace this week.
This week Drew Robbins (who we at 411 Games suspect is really Dereck Robbins too) and Adam Larck discuss lawsuits, cheaper PS3 parts and iPhone gaming. Read on, friends.
1) On Christmas Eve NCSoft was sued for patent infringement by a company called Worlds.com. The infringement was on a "System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space." If they do not decide to settle, and the courts rule in Worlds.com's favor, this can have some major effects on the way we play online.
Adam Larck: Fiction: I actually had to look this lawsuit up because I didn't know what exactly they were suing on. After reading the patent and what Worlds.com is looking for, I don't see this effecting the way we play online. Instead, I think this will more effect the companies using the system. I can see companies having to pay royalties, which, while it may not effect bigger companies like Activision-Blizzard, could have an effect on smaller companies that may be trying to start an MMO, or to the online games that don't charge a monthly fee.
Drew Robbins: Fiction - I agree with Adam, the only thing this absurd patent will manage to do is serve as a filter for developers interested in creating an MMO. Now with this patent looming over head, smaller companies won't be as willing to jump into the fray, and Blizzard can dominate the wallets of the masses even more than they already do
Score: 1 for 1!
2) With hits like Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid making their way to the iPhone we can now call the iPhone a serious gaming platform.
Adam Larck: Fiction: I confess I don't own any Apple products besides an old iPod Video, but I can't see the iPhone becoming a serious gaming platform. Most of the games are short games that can be played on the go, not longer, in-depth games that can be played on the current gen systems.
While bigger names might be trying to use the iPhone right now to give gamers a different way to play big name titles, I don't think full experiences will ever be offered like they are on Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. The sizes of the games would be too large, and the iPhone still can't handle some of the visual effects bigger consoles can.
Drew Robbins: Fiction - The iPhone may be more technologically sound, but at the end of the day, its still just a glorified cell phone. And when do people play games on their cell phones? At work, waiting for local transit, or other small portions of time where you have nothing better to do. A vast portion of games on offer on the iPhone are small and optimized for the afformentioned situations, so you won't be seeing any games with actual depth.
Score: 2 for 2.
3) PS3 production costs have dropped considerably. They are now losing somewhere around $50 a console say the analysts. This may be a sign of a rumored (yet denied) future price drop.
Adam Larck: Fact: On the condition that it doesn't happen until late in 2009. I would love to see the price drop, as I could finally get the last current gen system I'm missing. But, Sony still has to try and close the gap on its losses with the PS3 from the past few years. I think once its overall loss averages out to be closer to what they're losing now, we may finally see a price drop to keep competing with Microsoft and Nintendo.
Drew Robbins:Fact - Sony's main problem coming into this generation of hardware was the production price for the monolith, and dropping their price just seemed ridiculous. But now down to $50? Add that to the fact that Microsoft's system can now be bought for a whole $200 less than the PS3, and there is no reason Sony shouldn't drop the price, even just $100 lower should be enough fuel to slingshot them back into the race for second place
Score: 3 for 3. Man, this may end up being a fairly one-sided FoF for the week. Let‘s see how things shape up after the switch!
4) Dan Butler, Vice President of the National Retail Federation believes that the Wii's perceived rarity was a major factor in its high holiday sales, saying, "If people think it's going to be rare and in short supply, they're more apt to make it more of a priority." We all know that the Wii has been the hot item for 3 Christmas seasons in a row, but do you agree with Butler's statements?
Drew Robbins: Fiction - He is making the answer to "Why the Wii is selling so much" a lot harder than it actually is. Imagine, if you will, a young child putting together a Christmas list, this little boy really wants a Nintendo Wii. Thus, he places it at the highest point on his list, making it the gift his parents are most obligated to buy. If anything, the system's rarity should be a reason for buying the system before the holiday season begins, beating out the treacherous Black Friday shoppers.
Adam Larck: Fiction - I have to agree with Drew here. Parents don't buy a Wii for their kids because they think it will be in short supply, they buy it because their kids want it. If their kinds wanted another system, that system would then become the priority for the parents to get.
Score: 4 for 4... I wanna see a fight!
5) At CES 2009 Microsoft will finally introduce the long-rumored Zune Phone now that we have seen some major teams creating apps for the iPhone.
Drew Robbins: Fact - We all know that Microsoft loves money, so this answer just seems kind of obvious. The iPhone is an extremely popular and overpriced item, now you add popular to overpriced and what is your result? Tons of money! Now we have already established that Microsoft loves money, and if fancy/unecessary multimedia devices are extremely popular, then I can't see anything stopping Microsoft from making a Zune phone.
Adam Larck: Fiction - I debated over this question a lot. I wanted to immediately say Fact to this just because Microsoft always tries to compete with whoever it can compete with for money, but then I started to consider other factors, mainly the economy. With people not buying as much as usual. I don't see Microsoft taking a big gamble this year with a new product.
I see Microsoft trying to focus more on products it already has and expanding them out, but I would not be suprised if the Zune phone does pop up at CES.
Score: 4 for 5. Now we‘re talkin‘!
6) Some gaming websites tend to poke fun at Home, and make little jabs saying that no one is using it. According to some of those sites, PlayStation Home was an overhyped a failure. Is this true?
Drew Robbins: (Somewhat) Fiction - Let me start off by saying that I absolutely abhor Home. Never before has a "game" managed to make me shrug this much, shrugging because I don't see what the big deal is. So you can go around and talk to strange people, wait in lines, and decorate your own virtual hotel? Unfortunately, Home has succeeded somewhat in terms of business, as the virtual items Sony has put on sale have been selling rather well. You may hate Home as much as you like, but that hate isn't stopping Sony from making money, the only thing that really matters in the industry.
Adam Larck: Fact - The way I understand the question, it's just asking about the failure part, not the fact that people aren't using it. People are using Home, I know this much, but from a standpoint of Home doing what people expected, then it is a failure. People wanted to be able to voice chat, to not stand in long lines to play the little games included in there. What players got, however, was a Home that actually got stripped down after release and, from the sounds of it, a permanent Beta version of Home. While Sony is still making money off of the features people can buy in Home, I don't think it is near the level they (or the gaming industry) thought they would be making after the release.
Final Score: 4 for 6.
Man. I will have to find some questions that will spark a little more debate next time. These guys seemed to agree on most of what we asked them. Let's just hope for a bit more action in the game industry this week. Oh well, catch ya next time!
