Just days ago All Things D reported on the PS4's estimated worth, courtesy of info uncovered by the apparently quite destructive research firm IHS. This time around the expert dismantlers took a crack at the Xbox One, and though the results aren't terribly shocking, IHS did mine some interesting tidbits about the cost of Microsoft's newest box compared to Sony's.
If there’s one thing that gamers love to whine about, it’s a perceived overabundance of sequels. Now, there are undoubtedly many hundreds of other things people whine about, but that’s beside the point: what I’m saying is, sequels are a part of any mature artistic medium’s life, and the sooner we embrace them, the better. Ever hear people whining when a new intellectual property flops? Hardly. But when an established franchise has an interactive miscarriage, everyone gets up in arms. “Damn those creatively bankrupt sequels! Always poisoning our industry!”
Oh Kirby. I grew up with you, but no matter how hard I try I can't muster any nostalgia when looking at your recent 2.5D ways. Sigh. I'm sure opinions vary, though, and for those who dig Kirby's new look that began with Wii release Kirby's Return to Dreamland, I'm sure the newest 3DS screens for Kirby: Triple Deluxe will please in spades.
Doom was a little bit before my time. Well, I should rephrase - it wasn't before my time, but it was released far before I played games like Doom. Thus, today's news that the programmer behind the famed shooter of yore, John Carmack, is departing id Software, may be just a little bit lost on me. I tend to associate him more with Oculus these days anyways, a company he joined back in August.
In an occurrence that isn't entirely surprising but still mightily impressive, Nintendo has confirmed that the recently released Pokémon X and Y are indeed the fastest selling 3DS games of all time. According to Nintendo's handy infographic, the games reached 1 million copies sold in just a single day. That's a whole lot of Poké-dollars.
Keiji Inafune's Mighty No. 9 looks awesome, but that's old news. What we really want to know is, how is progress on the game coming? With its crowdfunding campaign long-since completed, using the Kicktsarter blog as the main way of releasing news made less and less sense with each passing day. Well, it appears that now the solution is here. The game has an official website, official forums, and official looking official-ness spread across its currently-few pages. At least things feel more real now on the tail end of a ridiculously successful Kickstarter blitz.
It's always interesting to find out whether new consoles are selling at a loss, or even making any money (games included) at all in their first year on the market. Though slim, All Things D is reporting that the PlayStation 4 does in fact squeak by with profit margins above zero, netting about $18 in the green per system sold. Of course, this doesn't include shipping and other costs involved with getting a system to market, but still - manufacturing cost falling below MSRP is generally a good thing for a company to achieve.
Who needs new consoles? Well, I do, but I'm currently too poor to get one so I like to comfort myself by saying that. Or at least, that's what I thought the situation was. If Nintendo has anything to say about it though, we may be forgetting about the competition's new offerings entirely come the Big N's ridiculously stacked launch day on November 22nd.
According to GameStop, about 43% of next-gen console pre-orders fall into this fully-paid category, with a sizable 20% having lightened that load with used game trade-ins in at least some capacity. In a talk with Polygon, GameStop senior vice president of merchandising Bob Puzon had the following to say.
It's nothing too major or catastrophic, but a small percentage of PlayStation 4 owners have indeed been experiencing issues with their shiny new console. Though certainly not as widespread or fatal as the Xbox 360's notorious "red ring of death" (un-affectionately known as the RRoD), Sony has provided the estimated .4% of users affected with some possible explanations and solutions.
