Microsoft is in a unique situation. This E3 and the next 6 months critical.

[Tigawoods]

Fei-Hung said:

1) absolutely desagree with that statement.... the XB could be on old school CD that it wouldn't be a problem (yeah i'm exagerating but)... BR format is like a new bone you throw to a dog... it's his new favorite but after 2 days you don't see the difference with the old one... I'll say it again 40gb or 9 on an optical disc is a joke for a storage solution.... the difference so ridiculous that it's a non issue.... the only thing good about it is... you'll see games with tones of cutscenes... a sound track in 7.1 in 40 languages.... and in loss less format.... it almost won't change a thing in term of game.... the future is episodic content and new technics of compression... for several reason, for devs it allows to cut the cost over a year... and release content on a regular basis generating some revenue at different moment of the year.... it allows gamers to have something new more often to play with..... you rarely will see any games using that.... the time and cost to develop using a full BR would be so important that you will see it happen on extreme rare occasions.... I'd rather have a 10 hour game on which I get new major content every 3 or 6 month... than wait 3 years to get an entire new and gigantic game.... I still don't believe in the BR format... 

 

dude you are forgetting one major point in your argument above. You have forgotten the reason why these new formats were introduced. A very long time ago there was no need for a dvd. We had vhs and we had laser discs. Especially for the video games industry it was again no big deal. In the end it proved costly for the dreamcast when the inevitable happened and DVD took over. The time has come again to prepare us for the future and in this future they are saying we will be slowly cutting dvd out and replacing it with a superior format ( just how previously vhs and cd has been made history).

These techies aint dumb, they know the new generation of hardware in these machines is capable of a hell of lot more then the predecessors and to make full use of it more storage will be required. If the xbox or a ps2 could make full use of a dvd with its inferior graphics and sound, to make full use of current gen machines they will require more space. More space will give the techies more freedom of movement. Fortunately for the 360 and as long as the 360 has a lead over the ps3, i dont think games designers will start pushing these systems to their full capabilities. However, once sony take their thumbs out of their backsides and produce some hardcore games that step it up a gear, 360 owners will only be able to sit back and watch and wonder why their console cant build on something similar (if only it wasnt for the lack of space) .

As for the cutscenes you mentioned, I kind of agree with you there. The 7 processors the ps3 has are barely being utilized at the moment. One thing they kept showing prior to the ps3's release is the rendering capabilities the ps3 has due to its powerhouse processor. I wouldn't be surprised if they start making better use of the cell chip with powerful in game rendering. that will take up plenty of storage and even more so add a big boost to what the ps3 is capable of graphically.

As for games taking longer to make, well history shows, what took a game developer to create in a year 10 years ago can now be made in probably a day or so. As you said yourself ( the future is episodic content and new technics of compression), if they can manage to compress 40gig worth of info down to 9 gig, i am sure they can produce new technology that can bring down 3yrs of creating a game to 1yr. However, i still agree with the fact that many developers will be opting to only make one odd game every so often that will make full use of the space provided. From what i have seen with the ps2 and xbox, a lot of developers make small games but in the back room they work on a larger project that is funded through continues success of smaller projects. These projects are usually what makes a small developer a big time developer. Where they unveil a grand project to blow the competitors away and show off what they are capable of doing. So yes, you are right, and depending on which system is doing well at the time, this system will prosper from this developers brain child. If it is the 360, then the content will be pushed as far as the 360 can take it. if it is the ps3, then the content will be pushed as far as the ps3 can take it.  

To make sure i am not going off topic here, the point i'm making is, if MS wants continued success, it has to offer the customer more value for their money then it's rivals. At the moment, other then a few games, it offers nothing! Now with the release of PS 2.40, they have even less to go on (considering the xbox live experience was probably the the 360's best selling point). IGN, the people who slated the PS online experience are praising the ps3 for what it now being able to offer its users. It seems as if the 360 is slowly but surely falling apart and it looks as if MS are not doing anything about it apart from praying the ps3 sales do not succeed the 360 sales. 

 

Considering that the large update that is rumored to come out I think the 2.4 update won't make a huge difference. Tho as user of PSN and XBL im eager for both updates.  The people that wrote the article on PSN have been known to lean heavily on the PS3 side. SOmeone in that thread linked a blog from one of the users that clearly showed he despises the 360. And lets be honest IGN wants to get into bed with every big franchise and update which is why I don't trust them on many of their articles regardless of the topic.

It's kind of silly to think that MS is falling apart. Hell I bought my PS3 for 600$ near the release because I wanted to support Sony and see them succeed. At that time many people including Sony fans had written the system off. But what a difference a year can make. Im not saying that MS is going to start blowing the PS3 and Wii (lawl) out of the water but to insinuate that they are falling apart is ridiculous. Time will tell and soon we will see what MS has to offer. E3 will be critical to MS and even tho they have turned a profit the last few quarters (and despite a less than powerful lineup the first half of this year) people envision them being backed in to a corner. And for that reason I think a lot of people will be surprised when, instead of laying down, they come out swinging.