Jonah finally finishes the strange puzzle platformer Inside and discusses it with the crew during the post-podcast discussion. Otherwise, there’s news galore, as well as a Gaming Flashback of the notorious flop Sonic the Hedgehog from 2006.
It includes:
Let us know what you think.
This week’s episode takes a look at the excitement caused by Devil May Cry 5, as well as some more discussion about upcoming games.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
A lot of people have purchased the Xbox 360 and a growing number have had new interests in the PlayStation 3. The summer time is winding to an end and fall will bring us a new host of video games and reasons to keep playing our current generation consoles. Many analysts and industry leaders believe the 360 and PlayStation 3 will undergo a USD $50.00 price cut before the Holidays begin.
With holiday madness comes momentum and sales, a USD $50.00 price cut would help bring new momentum to both consoles, especially with Nintendo lapping them in sales. Nobody has considered the direction of the Wii as it doesn’t need to be priced competitively given this is going to be the third year it’s impossible to find in stores.
Do the consoles really need a price cut? It’s hard to argue the PlayStation 3‘s dire need for cutting in price given its already outrageous costs for a console with the least amount of desired titles. The Xbox 360, for most, has the best lineup of titles with a strong fall series of games. The Wii… well, titles don’t really matter just yet because people still buy the console upon sight. The PlayStation 3 is showing off some impressive graphics for this fall and early next year, it may almost be time to invest in the product.
The fall games will keep hardcore gamers buying titles but it will do little to inspire new console sales. If GTA IV, Halo 3, Gears of War and Metal Gear Solid 4 couldn’t drag a gamer to buy, what fall titles will do so this year? Probably very few.
It’s time for the big console vendors to broaden their audience by opening the console to a demographic of gamers that just can’t afford the higher graphic consoles. No, USD $50.00 won’t bring in everyone but it may inspire those on the fringe of consideration to change their minds. With their new consoles in hand they can use their USD $50.00 savings to purchase a new holiday release title.
The patience of PlayStation 3 owners is wearing thin as retailers are reporting a 200% increase in PlayStation 3 trade-ins, usually for Xbox 360 consoles, as well as sales slumps for PSN points cards and fewer multiplatform game sales for PS3.
“In the first week of downtime we did not really see any major change in sales or trades,” says one source, a store manager at a major UK retailer speaking on condition of anonymity. “However from the second week onwards we have seen an increase of over 200 per cent on PS3 consoles being traded in, split almost 50/50 between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 instead.”
Another UK source has reported that the independent retailer had seen a “massive increase” in the volume of PS3s traded in in recent weeks, and has pegged the biggest trade-in demographic as “the hardcore online shooter crowd”, who are logically the group most likely to defect when their online gaming is wiped.
