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| Viral Speak 07-04-2003 I was originally planning to release this Viral Speak on Friday The 13th, June 2003. However, I'm not sure what the frack all happened. But here it is at long fracking last! Wooo! Happy Independence Day, America! The Viral Speak so big that it is not all here! In fact, some of it is being saved for a later date! Philip is listening to: I currently just have FLCL V.1 playing in the background in English. Why English? Because the DUB is perfect, that's why. Oh, the RIAA can lick my ass if they think I'm going to pay them $700 or so for downloading anime music. In other words, I would say that if they show up on my doorstep, I'm sueing for harrassment. If anyone gets the US version of Shonen Jump (it's actually a great deal if you subscribe, plus it has Naruto and One Piece), there's a contest to enter the 'Yu-gi-oh Worldwide Championship' where 2 Japanese, 2 European, and 4 (randomly drawn) US players will battle via the GBA game 'YGO Worldwide Edition'. I registered for the hell of it, because a free weekend in New York is always cool. BUT, if I won, do you think they'd be pissed since I've never played the game, and have only seen the anime on occasion (the manga's cool, but nothing really on the card game yet)? That'd be really funny...Philip: Yeah, that would be pretty funny.. Oh. One Piece.. I hear Funimation has the rights to the anime. I hope so, they did a good job with Fruits Basket and their owning the show gives it more of a chance of showing up on Toonami or Adult Swim. Why is it to be a "true gamer" you evidentally have to buy X-Box games at Wal-Mart because they have prices that are $2, if that, lower than EB or Best Buy?Philip: What's a true gamer doing with an X-Box anyways? All the "true gamers" are still somewhere making out with Dreamcast controllers. As for the Lupin question? Hmmm. Manga. He's less nasal in their dub. The reason Nintendo didn't need to make that big of a leap with the GBA was because they had a monopoly. Of course, they can't charge 400 dollars. Obviously, there is a market demand that they have to adhere to. Above a certain price, people just won't buy a portable system at all. But, the reason they're able to charge about a hundred bucks for it is because at this point, they do have a monopoly. Secondly, I doubt we'll have to worry about the PSP getting games. The system's just been announced. Yes, GBA has great games, but we can also expect the PSP to do wih the PSX that the GBA does with the SNES. Give one good reason Square would not want to release a PSP version of FFVII. I'd expect ports of Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo 2, etc. Of course, I'm not expecting it. It has the potential to flop. But don't bash it before it gets started. - MEPhilip: The idea that Nintendo has a monopoly over the portable video game market is a lie that we've all believed at one time. Truth of the matter is that Nintendo has always had two or three competitors at any given time. And they die for reasons of their own doing. Now, Sony is looking to compete by making a "game system" that doesn't play games. The word right now is that they want to include PDA functions to the PSP as well. That's all well and good; but who's MAKING GAMES for the system? People (IGN) complain about SNES ports on the GBA, they complain about PSX remakes on the GBA, PS2, and Game Cube. I'm sure they'll be tickled pink to get straight ports of Clock Tower, Battle Arena Toshinden, and maybe even Gex! As for GT2? I'm betting that the PSP will get a NEW GT game. Read next letter. Honestly, that responce to my VS was just silly. Sure, at this time, the PSP is just a list of specs. But y'know, I saw you go ape shit over the annoucement of the GBA based on the same thing. Specs. Seems a bit hypocritical to me. And y'know, why would they have games available for something they just announced? They announced it early in order to pique developer and consumer interest in the thing, and they were succesful! I'm sure we'll see product as soon as it's ready. Just calm down. It makes you look like a fanboy when you rant like that. - CyberxionPhilip: The difference between the GBA and the PSP is that Sony only announced specs when news broke. No word on games or game developers. The original press release from Nintendo -found here - did not list games as well; but was accompanied by news from Japan confirming 15 games currently being worked on. Here's the list as it appeared then. Capcom = 3 games. Nintendo = 5 games. Rare = 1 game. Hudson = 2 games. Konami = 3 games. Namco = 1 game. And while we all stopped in awe at the thing when it was announced, the later news articles on it ranged from how older games would look on it, to -after seeing preliminary shots of Alone in the Dark for GBC- stating that it did not need to come out as soon as it was because the GBC was doing just fine. Articles after that, there was gushing about it in Viral Speak; but for the most part, articles focused solely on GBC stuff. So, no. It didn't become some glompfest in the newsity. Lots of rumors of games came flooding though. Some of the rumors I printed -like Phantasy Star for GBA- and some I did not because they seemed too stupid to be true. (And a large majority of them were too stupid to be true.) Nintendo didn't start showing off the tech demos of it at first; but at least they announced GAMES were in development for it. A bit later, Nintendo of Japan allied with Cygnus Solutions to provide GNU programming tools for Game Boy Advanced. So, while earlier titles were using more of a set coding, Nintendo made efforts toward making the GBA more accessible to developers. Which Sony should do. So far, they have only mentioned that they will have PSP units into developers hands by Christmas; but nothing on the language it uses for the games other than that it uses a security protocol that was used on Ugly Mini-Discs. Which is what a UMD is; despite Sony insisting that it stands forUniversial Media Disc. One thing I thought was kind of funny is how much -aside from the main core and a larger screen-, the GBA and the PSP aren't too far apart. Both are using 32 bit chips. Although one is using a 32 bit chip that is both faster and incomplete at the same time. Both can do Nurbs. However, the PSP can do it from the hardware alone, the GBA does it in software. So yes, the PSP is faster and has a better processor. Now, in the last Viral Speak I said that Gran Turismo didn't sell over 4 million units combined. Since Sony hates me, they *finally* put out revised sales data on the Gran Turismo series. Originally, I was going on data from NPD TRSTS that was only for the United States.. and.. *sighs* was as old as GT3. The Gran Turismo series has sold over 29 million units in seven years world wide. To bring it back to the Pokemon comparison and using newer information *so I wasn't up to date on how many units it sold, oh well* Red and green (Our Blue) sold in their lifespan, over 18 million units in Japan. Oh, wait. That's just Japan and not counting the many sequels that sold just as good or better -as was the case with Yellow. But the proof is there that Sony does have some ammunition; but has yet to announce working on ANYTHING for the system other than movie UMDs and a GPS. They haven't even announced outside developer support. (Watches Sony announce outside developer support a little after their robots read this Viral Speak.) Sony does have a few hot franchise cards. Here they are. Gran Turismo (Always exclusive. Always worth putting your fist against the ground really hard to avoid throwing the PSP over the liscense tests.) Everquest (Hey, was Online Adventures really that bad?) 989 Studios Sports Titles (I think 989 Sports can suck my Donkey Kong. Although, some people like them. I can't really imagine why. I'm firmly entrenched into the EA Camp. Sooo I am a little biased.) Fanta Vision (I'm only kidding here.. don't get so excited.. and please don't do that. That's not healthy..) The price points were -thankfully- announced by Sony of Europe. They are in Euros. The Euro is strong against the Dollar, so for you people who use REAL money, I translated the prices. For those who use Euros, bring your GNP and a few beers to cry in. We'll talk exports. These are only software prices though and I rounded down. Software 20 to 30 euros or $25 to $35 USD Some "special" titles *cough* Gran Turismo *cough* would cost 50 euros or $55 USD. Videos and movies would cost less than 10 euro or about $15 USD. Given DVD prices though, expect Sony to lower or raise this last price at their own fancy. That said, I expect the PSP to launch at $150 to $200 USD. Not gonna bother guessing the price in euros. Please note that I resisted the urge to make fun of Canada and it has nothing to do with their Weapons of Mass Destruction. I will note that Nintendo of Europe announced that they will show off a new chip for GBA software that allows better 3-D capabilities. So, it's not like Nintendo is going to do nothing. Remember when the 32X and Sega CD showed up? Then Nintendo and Rare unleashed Donkey Kong Country to a stunned market that thought graphics of its calibur were only available on 32-Bit systems or CDs? Well, ECTS is coming, and I think that the new "mystery game" will be enough to stave off any talk of the GBA being obsolete for a while. Well, enjoys! But, Philip! The PSP will be the walkman of the 21st century! Sony told me so and why would they lie to me? WHY?!Philip: I have bought a Game Boy system. I have also bought a Sony Walkman. I still own a Game Boy system. Ah, well. I'm just still a little upset over Sony's lovefest with the RIAA since the days of Napster. If they hadn't of killed Napster.. file sharing would still be SMALL. So, the people in charge of the RIAA, Sony, and all the other companies pressing charges on poor college students need to realize that it is all their fault and shoot themselves in the head for me. Oh, Sony is only really announcing the PSP as an attempt to convince the Japanese public that they are worth something still. I lost my witty remark. Can I have yours? - PhantomPhilip: I'll just need your credit card number... Is the 'W' on Wario's hat Mario's 'M' rotated 180° or just simply flipped vertically? Hmm... - George the GerbilPhilip: Actually, I think Mario's "M" may be Wario's "W" flipped upside down because Mario is a THIEF!! What would you say to a flat-out raid of DMGicers AT your doorstep? What if a bunch of us one afternoon rang your doorbell and asked if Philip could come out and play? Would you be more afraid of us all finding something out about you that you've been hiding all these years, scared shitless(shirtless?), or bringing on the kegs?Philip: Having met some of the people from the site, I think if a ton of readers showed up on my doorstep, I'd probably just be like "Hello." The Matrix is telling me that this Shantae is yummy and delicious. And you know what? Shantae IS yummy and delicious. (Buy her game or suffer greatly!)  |