The Long Road

Archives: May 2006

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

The most expensive of the new systems will be the 600$ ps3. While 600$ isn’t unheard of in the gaming industry, it certainly has never been attached to any successful console. However, it has never been attached to the successor of the two most successful consoles in history either. Sony is hoping that the strength of the PlayStation brand name as well as its more advanced hardware will make the price tag more palatable to gamers.

Even if there were zero games available at launch, the PS3 would likely sell extremely well due to its BlueRay player. Although some enthusiasts would swear up and down that they would rather a stand alone movie player, the truth of the matter is that a PS3 will be able to play HD movies and PS3 games, a two-for-one deal that is not easily looked over.

Thankfully for Sony, they have more to rely on than only HD movies. Their library of upcoming games is as strong as the previous 2 generations and they still hold the biggest list of third party exclusives including Final Fantasy, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and Onimusha. Fans following their favourite series will eventually pay the high entry fee of the PS3.

The high price is the PlayStation’s only drawback. Casual gamers and movie watchers are unlikely to purchase a PS3 until its first or second price drop which will happen after its first full year on the market, but even then it will remain the most expensive of the three systems but also the most high-tech. By then, the visual quality between it and the Xbox’s games will become obvious and consistent to the point where it will be apparent that the technology behind the machine are “worth more”.

Posted by Rayne @ 03:53 AM EST [Link] [5 comments]

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Let’s pull this out in five years and see how my armchair analysis of the video game industry will match up to real life!

The incoming 7th generation console race will be the tightest since the 16 bit era. Unlike the outgoing generation’s 80 million unit gap between first place PS2 and third place GameCube, I predict that we are going to have far less of a runaway winner. Advanced models that I’ve cooked up suggest a maximum of a 20 million unit gap between first and 3rd place.

This smaller gap will exist because for the first time ever, all the competing video game consoles will have something markedly different to offer. Previous generations had consoles which differed, more than anything, in the games they offered, this time, we have clear segmentation in terms of price, features, and functionality.

[more to come]

Posted by Rayne @ 04:07 AM EST [Link] [2 comments]

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

So picture me grocery shopping in not-great clothing, unshaven, with hair undone and wearing a replica of The One Ring on my middle finger. Figures that this would be the very day that I run into 3 of my parents’ regulars ((with whom I’m familiar(1 of which is a very attractive late 30s woman)), 3 girls from high school to which I ended up having varying lengths of conversations with and, worse of all, dAN’s mother. That’ll teach me to go out dressed like a retard.

AND

One of my newest pet peeves is people who pay for gas at the attendant! Surely they have plastic that they could easily charge it to. Never is this worse than on those 11pm gas runs that occur here regularly during the somewhat-regular late night price drops. When cars are WRAPPED AROUND THE BLOCK lined up for gas, it’s ridiculous that there’re a huge succession of people who decide that they’d rather pay in person and thus delay the next car by at least 5 minutes. The desire for screaming is strong, also, the desire for drenching of fools in gas and having them wait in line to wash themselves with a leaky faucet and square of toilet paper. I mean...there should be a new level of hell for these people! It's not like they don't realize the length of the line and didn't have to suffer through the same amount of waiting as everyone else, YET THEY CHOOSE TO PERPETUATE THE CYCLE!!! They all deserve nipples twistings. Of the severe and epic variety. Yessss....

Posted by Rayne @ 12:51 AM EST [Link] [12 comments]

Friday, May 19, 2006

Adapting a book trilogy into 10 hours of film is not easy. You’re bound to drop someone’s favourite character, subplot, or scene. How much more difficult it would be to condense a book trilogy into a 3 hour stage production.

As you can imagine, there is a lot left out; particularly of the second and third books. In fact, the first half of the play is made up entirely of Fellowship of the Ring. The effect being that the play is much more heavily focused on Sam and Frodo (than the movie). We lose out on pretty much all of the politics of middle earth and 2nd tier characters get no development at all. This is all about the hobbits, Aragorn, and Gandalf. In the end, there’s really a disconnect between the audience and the play – for example, Thoeden’s death is made out to be a huge deal (music, lighting, levitation) but he did not get nearly enough stage time to merit such an end.

The acting was alright all around, except for the glaringly miscast part of Gandalf. It’s possible that it wasn’t the actor’s fault since no one can ever portray Gandalf in any kind of satisfying manner after Ian McKellen completely owned the role. However, a worse choice could not have been made than the high-pitched, squeaky-voiced actor who delivered his lines as if the Mouth of Sauron had just bit his balls off. Also, Boromir was black! Didn’t these guys READ LotR? Black = bad guys, white = good guys.

The very best part of the show was the technical aspects of it. I was hugely impressed by the stage which was built and how versatile it is and creatively it was used to portray everything from Mt. Doom to a bedroom chamber in Rivendell. The best use of it was during the battle of Helm’s Deep where it seems like the dozen pieces of the stage are all moving at once creating a huge sense of chaos and disarray.

Overall, it felt like the play used the books and movies as crutches. If you’re not familiar with other – more complete – versions of the story, then Lord of the Rings On Stage makes no sense and just sits there in front of you going through the motions. It’s sort of like getting head from a 300 lb woman – only somewhat satisfying.

Posted by Rayne @ 02:50 AM EST [Link] [10 comments]

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