E3 2010: Pre-Conference Discussion & Predictions

[eastmen]

Windows 7 Phone was delayed why? Oh, and how many people own a 360 again? And how many of those use Live? And then how many of those are going to buy a certain phone because it supports Live integration?

I dunno why was it delayed ? There are 30m xbox owners , 20m or more have at least silver accounts which will work on windows phone. Throw in the small amount of live for windows users and th nubmer goes up.

How many mac users were there , how many iphone users are there ? MS will be able to tie all thier services together and unlike apple create stable software.

Let's just say that it won't be the factor that drives them towards a Windows 7 Phone in significant enough quantities to threaten iPhone, Android or BlackBerry platforms.

Its just another factor, What is the factor that spured rapid andriod growth ? What spured iphone use ?

And for what it's worth, I've yet to experience a single problem with iTunes in terms of buggy behaviour. Speaking of buggy, will be interesting to see if Microsoft can finally bring out a Phone OS that isn't extremely buggy. I have had a pretty bad experience with Windows mObile and family.

I have a zune . I've been using zune for a long time. My history with mp3 players go like this. First gen ipod (complete shit) 3rd gen ipod (software sucked but the device itself was solid aside from battery ) when my 3rd gen ipod died I looked for alternatives. So finally got a 30 gig zune and never looked back. However I have experiance still with ipods. My mother who knows nothing about computers has a original shuffle 1gig that i have to keep updated for her and thus I am used to dealing with the itunes on windows. Its complete shit. It allways crashes or freezes on me and worse it allways trys to get me to install other crappy apple software like safari and quick time.

My zune software on the otherhand is fast , takes advantage of multiple cores and is pretty powerful in what i want to do. I'm also able to link my zune pass to 3 zunes and so my sister and brother in law have jumped over from ipods to zune hd's in the last few months. Unlimited music downloads and 10 to keep each month for roughly $12 a month is to good to pass up. Even tho I'm more into podcasts than anything else.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for Android to support installing software on SD cards rather than the typically extremely limited quantity of internal memory. Before that happens, Android is not a serious platform for me and definitely not for games. But once that has happened, Android will definitely be able to make a big step forwards, and Apple can start worrying (even) more seriously. Next problem to solve though is the user interface customisations being so slow to roll-out for newer versions of Android.

Windows 7 phone supports sd cards . Also while internal memory on andriod phones is lower , you can export your music to an sd card and pictures and videos and save space. It also helps that the average andriod phone is around $100-$150 much cheaper than an iphone.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/05/comscore-android-market-share-continues-to-gain-on-the-iphone/

andriod dispite being late to the party is gr owing rapidly. Apple share is actualy decreasing. Until apple opens up its hardware to other carriers it will allways control to little of the market to not worry about other companys.

I'm not holding my breath, but I do definitely believe that Apple will have stiff competition. But it will be two more years before I can recommend the competition to my wife. Heck even here at work the iPhone ended up being the best choice after careful evaluation of several different phones.

I wouldn't touch an iphone , not only because of its poor windows software but also because of the poor network its on. I pay $30 a month for unlimited data , 500 minutes and unlimited text and I can download a file twice as fast onto my touch pro than my friend can on his iphone which monthly plan costs $100 for him . Even when windows 7 comes and i'm forced to upgrade my plan i will still be at $70 vs his $100 and on sprint I will have 4g speeds and he will still be enjoying his edge speeds

I don't expect too much attention to phones at E3 though, so I'll leave the topic for now.

Phones are quickly becoming big game busniess. MS launching a new phone os with intergrated live is sure to apear at e3.

 

[RobertR1]

Didn't we just have a phone discussion a little while ago?

 

[Billy Idol]

Maybe we finally see Starhawk at E3??

 

[Rolf N]

Windows 95 is the fastest, most stable Windows I've ever used. No matter what we threw at it during testing, it never slowed down and never crashed once.

 

[wco81]

Only announcement which would be interesting is next-gen. But they're going to try to buy time with this motion stuff, which hopefully flames out quickly enough for Sony and MS to snap to their senses.

Economy seemed to be set to recover, helping games and console sales (which were down this past year). But then the Greece crisis hit and PIIGS to follow.

Price cut would spur sales way more than motion at this point.

 

[TrungGap]

All this Windows7 talk, not enough awesome WebOS LOVE!!

Long live Palm-HP-ish.

I have recently switched over to IPhone from Palm Pre, because where I moved to Sprint (my old Palm Pre) wasn't available. And my brother-in-law donated my his old IPhone 3G. I must say, I missed my Palm Pre. I'm seriously forking out some cash to get an unlocked GSM version of Palm Pre; even though I won't be here for long...or at least that's the plan.

 

[patsu]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/25/rumor-sony-to-reveal-psnplus-subscription-service-at-e3-2010/

According to Joystiq's sources, Sony is set to reveal a premium tier of the PlayStation Network service, labeled PSN+, during its 2010 E3 media briefing.

Sources tell us that subscribers will have access to a rotating list of PSP Minis and PSone Classics, exclusive in-game DLC, discounts to the PlayStation Store and "first hour" demo access to full retail titles. Following the first hour of gameplay, players will have the ability to purchase the full title; however, demo access will only be available once the entire title has been downloaded.

As PSN+ subscribers, gamers will also receive protection for their consoles with the recently announced PlayStation Protection Plan, as well as exclusive access to the long-awaited cross-game voice chat.

...

More details and rumored price in the link.

This is the second premium package variation we have heard so far.

 

[wco81]

If all they're doing is offering free PSN downloads why bother?

There might be people willing to pay for faster downloads and VOIP that actually works. Not to mention usable matchmaking/friends list functionality.

 

[ShadowRunner]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/25/rumor-sony-to-reveal-psnplus-subscription-service-at-e3-2010/





More details and rumored price in the link.

This is the second premium package variation we have heard so far.

Hmmm, does this mean that all games are going to be made downloadable from PSN to HDD?

Are Sony going to have any announcements left for E3?

 

[JPT]

SCEE Presiden Andrew House answering a bunch of questions, including verifying premium PSN etc

http://uk.playstation.com/home/news/articles/detail/item281357/The-People-vs-Andrew-House/

 

[AzBat]

If all they're doing is offering free PSN downloads why bother?

There might be people willing to pay for faster downloads and VOIP that actually works. Not to mention usable matchmaking/friends list functionality.

My thoughts exactly, but I seriously doubt that's all that would be included in the theoretical premium service. Will be interesting to see how these rumors compare with the actual announcement. I'm hoping as a Xbox Live Gold member that they up the ante enough where Microsoft is forced to offer more goodies for us subscribers.

Tommy McClain

 

[eastmen]

With this i hear a million playstation die hard fans crying cause they can no longer throw xbox live in peoples faces.

Honestly tho , if it makes psn worth while for online gaming then i'm all for paying.

 

[AzBat]

With this i hear a million playstation die hard fans crying cause they can no longer throw xbox live in peoples faces.

They still will, but its warranted since it looks like the free to play model isn't going anywhere. Personally, I'd like to see Microsoft adopt something similar. But I don't mind paying for some the extra services. Except for Facebook, Twitter & Last.fm, those should be free too. Anyway, will be neat to see what Sony has in store.

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

IGN E3 2010 Predictions...

Xbox 360

PlayStation

Nintendo

PC

Tommy McClain

 

[djskribbles]

With this i hear a million playstation die hard fans crying cause they can no longer throw xbox live in peoples faces.

Honestly tho , if it makes psn worth while for online gaming then i'm all for paying.

This premium service just offers discounts etc... the ability to play online as well as demos etc., are still all free. They'll probably offer some exclusive demos here and there, but it's the free online play that appealed to most people (I think).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This premium service just offers discounts etc...

That's all just window dressing...

As PSN+ subscribers, gamers will also receive protection for their consoles with the recently announced PlayStation Protection Plan, as well as exclusive access to the long-awaited cross-game voice chat.

Basically they have this feature they know everyone who online games wants, and are going to charge for it such that they'll have to pay if they want communications that works and no more Warhawk gobbledegook or Borderlands drop-offs and breaks. $10 a month would also be laughable in the face of the competition. 'Free' games aren't worth paying for if you don't want them. Don't try and justify the price of an essential service at twice the competitior's with some pointers to all this 'added value' being good economy.

Umm, that's what I'll be ranting if these rumours pan out as they described.

 

[RudeCurve]

I'm hoping there is a PSP2 announcement with these features:

Swivel Touchscreen
Camera and microphone
Accelerometer
Integrated GPS receiver
b/g/n WiFi

And finally a software App for PSP owners to transfer UMD games onto removeable storage and playable from said storage.

 

[ShadowRunner]

That's all just window dressing...
Basically they have this feature they know everyone who online games wants, and are going to charge for it such that they'll have to pay if they want communications that works and no more Warhawk gobbledegook or Borderlands drop-offs and breaks. $10 a month would also be laughable in the face of the competition. 'Free' games aren't worth paying for if you don't want them. Don't try and justify the price of an essential service at twice the competitior's with some pointers to all this 'added value' being good economy.

Umm, that's what I'll be ranting if these rumours pan out as they described.

Didnt they already clearly state that if cross game chat became a feature it would be free to everyone? They said this very recently aswell, so i doubt they will be backtracking already...

 

[Rangers]

That's all just window dressing...
Basically they have this feature they know everyone who online games wants, and are going to charge for it such that they'll have to pay if they want communications that works and no more Warhawk gobbledegook or Borderlands drop-offs and breaks. $10 a month would also be laughable in the face of the competition. 'Free' games aren't worth paying for if you don't want them. Don't try and justify the price of an essential service at twice the competitior's with some pointers to all this 'added value' being good economy.

Umm, that's what I'll be ranting if these rumours pan out as they described.

As horrible as it sounds, I can see $10 a month as being some kind of major profit for Sony.

Think like this, most people pay 50-100 a month for cable, why not $10 a month for your "gaming network"? A lot of people probably spend way more time gaming than watching TV. Make it a "networK" with free games, chat, all that stuff.

I think it might fail but only because XBL is currently only 50 a year. I bet these companies would love to get their grubby hands into a monthly subscription model. Tremendous revenue potential.

 

[Arwin]

As horrible as it sounds, I can see $10 a month as being some kind of major profit for Sony.

Think like this, most people pay 50-100 a month for cable, why not $10 a month for your "gaming network"? A lot of people probably spend way more time gaming than watching TV. Make it a "networK" with free games, chat, all that stuff.

I think it might fail but only because XBL is currently only 50 a year. I bet these companies would love to get their grubby hands into a monthly subscription model. Tremendous revenue potential.

I am currently (stupidly, because I only wanted one or two months) paying 7 euro a month for Xbox Live. not long ago that translated to 10$. You can buy per month, per three months, or per year. Obviously paying for a year is comparatively cheap - over here a year costs 60 euro. That's a fair bit below the 84 euro it costs to pay that monthly.

However, there are more and more third parties where you can buy subscriptions. Interestingly, they offer 48 hours access as well, for 2,45 euro, and their yearly fee is 39 euros, BUT buying a month of live sets you back 10.95 euro!

I think it would be a bit early to cry foul.

Personally, if the only real benefit of PSN+ would be cross game chat, then no thanks - PSN is perfectly serviceable for me.

Anyway, good that this topic came up because I definitely should either drop Live Gold again or get that 39 euro deal.