Here's an interesting little piece from a New Zealand news site that paints a picture of the current HD movie format war. Basically reinforces the view that there is still no clear winner in sight and perhaps that both may co-exist.
Certainly raises the question of how popular hybrid players might become...
As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.
And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.
Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.
tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.
They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -
Gary Green said: We have a juxtaposition of 2D and 3D visuals, flashy turn-based combat, quirky anime characters with cheeky dialogue with plenty of partial nudity; Yes, this is a Compile Heart JRPG. Whilst the engine is borrowed from Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, Mugen Souls is more of a Disgaea spin-off. It’s not a strategy RPG as such, it merely sits within Disgaea’s ever-expanding universe (Multiverse? Netherverse? Your guess is as good as mine). You won’t find cameos though, since Mugen Souls is a franchise which aims to stand on its own two feet.
Huzaifa from eXputer: "2008 was home to the likes of Call of Duty: World at War, Dead Space, GTA 4, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, and many other hits, which is outright remarkable."
Here here
Those that were around before 2000's i am sure are like me that think we entered a world of non readers or those that follow without question.
I can not wait to see fallout 3 a goty game even though it was about water with non content until you add the dlc/updates then you got the performance/crashing
1998 - the best year in gaming! Metal gear solid, crash bandicoot 3, medievil, half life, ocarina of time, thief, tenchu, resident evil 2, Spyro, tomb raider 3, oddworld abes exodus, banjo kazooie.
It was a different breed of a gaming era. You’ll never understand what it was like back then. The aura of gaming, it was different!
I second this. Gaming was a lot more varied and fun than it is today. I'm 35 so getting on compared to some here but I got to see all the changes from NES up to now but I've never felt so disappointed in any generation than I have this current gen. I was expecting more from this generation rather than prettier versions of games that came before it. Game mechanics have become so refined that alot of games feel the same and has done for a while now.
Maybe it's time to have a break for a while. I love gaming but I don't feel I get much fun in the traditional sense out of it anymore.
Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Abe’s Exodus, and Ocarina of Time are the only things from that list that I liked.
Here’s the 2023 game releases that I personally liked… and big releases that I didn’t care for:
- Dead Space Remake
- Wo Long Dynatsy
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Diablo 4
- Fire Emblem Engage
- Hogwarts Legcay
- Street Fighter 6
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Like a Dragon: Ishin
- Octopath Traveler 2
- Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters
- Final Fanatsy XVI (actually ended up not liking this, but it was still a big deal release)
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Lies of P
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Starfield (Ended up hating this one, but big release)
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (I’m an old-school Zelda fan, but didn’t really enjoy this game)
- Alan Wake 2
I mean, honestly I’ve never seen a year of major IP releases like that, ever.
Isn't it just a generational thing realistically.
I've been gaming since way back and I some of my favourite games go as far back as the late 80s for me each generation has a year or two of game changing releases one after another before an inevitable dry spell.
I kind of agree gaming had a different feel games hit different because we didn't have the internet nothing got spoiled and you really had to put in the effort to beat a puzzle which could set entire groups of people looking for a solution. But most importantly games were experimental and not as cookie cutter as today even basics like controls were not universal today r2 is shoot l2 is ads garunteed you can't deviate from that in a shooter back then it could of been square, R1 or R1 and circle nothing was standard.
But as time moves on a new generation picks up their controller they are going to be interested in different things that PS1 demo disc with the t Rex blew our primitive 16 bit brains back on launch but to kids today it's laughable.
The new gen of kids coming into to hobby seem to value different things to us there seems to be a huge focus on online play, streamers, gaming personalities, and social experiences, convience of digital downloads. To me I value none of that but that's ok like my parents not liking the band's I would listen to its just the natural cycle.
Just about every year in the 7th generation was great and something we most likely won't experience again.
2009 for example had Assassin's Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Killzone 2, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and Demon's Souls to name a few.
It still amazes me we got over 7 rockstar games ps2/ps3 but 3 for the ps3/ps4/ps5
Dragon age 1-3 and mass effect 1-3 in 7ish years what a generation.
A."The decision not to build the HD DVD player into the Xbox console means it does not work as a Trojan horse as the PS3 does for Blu-ray. But those who choose to buy an HD DVD attachment for the Xbox are definitely motivated by a desire to buy and play discs in the new HD format."
-TRUE
B."On the retail side, the battle is also taking some interesting twists. In a recent blog on the website Digital Trends, Rob Enderle said that US retail giant Wal-Mart plans to bring in "a massive number of low cost HD DVD players for Christmas". Such a move, although unconfirmed by Wal-Mart, could be decisive. Wal-Mart uses DVD sales as a loss leader to attract shoppers and accounts for between 40 per cent and 45 per cent of all DVD sales in the US."
-TRUE
C."In Europe, the HD DVD Promotion Group has also been busy signing up smaller European studios to the Toshiba format, hoping to "build a local ecosystem" for HD DVD software. The group is able to leverage the fact that replicating HD DVD discs is cheaper - the equipment is an upgrade from DVD replicators and there are no regional code controls. "
-TRUE
D."But perhaps the biggest problem is that even the cheapest standalone players cost more than $US300 each, which is too high to spur mass consumer adoption.
Given the high stakes for both hardware makers and content companies, neither side is likely to stand down easily. In fact, this format war might not have a clear winner and loser. "
-TRUE..
This for everybody that thinks BLUE-RAY has already won. I don't think this will be over any time soon.
This is really bad for the consumer when these two companies continue to go at it.
The only reason I picked blu-ray wasn't because of the PS3 but because of the disk protection.
Blu-ray uses a special coding thats really good compare to hd-dvd.
How can HD-DVD's use the same protection as dvd's when they can store 6x more data? The same scratch on a dvd will be unplayable on an HD-DVD.
With PS3 sales not as big they had hope. Blue ray cannot win completely without also gaining the retail market. The real batle will be at the retail market. So far as of today if you count Blue ray retail players vs HD dvd retail players. HD Dvd has the lead. Although being beaten by total players (counting the PS3), its still selling movies. The cheaper they get the more they will sell. I saw in my nearby Costco in L.A, Ca HD dvd player for 349.00 last week or 379.00 I forgot which one was it. Today I went to get more stuff and they where gone. As to how many where sold I dont know. But I would say last week I saw about no more than 10. This battle is way from over but I think both formats will still be here for a long time. All in all the consumer suffers.
i don't beleive either will make it mass market like dvd/vhs. by the time they start to get a grip on the market cd disk media will be on its way out.
Look what happened to cd's. i don't ever use them anymore. hell dvd's are a rarity (for me). currently all my movies are either mp4/wmv (would have been avi's but i watch them on my 360) and are stored on either my portable hd or my usb pen.
i don't think either will surpas dvd, as the techie people interested in this kind of stuff are migratting away from disk media and the non techie people are gonna just stick with dvd's till digital media becomes the norm.
i don't know what the price of b/r ot hddvd is in the us but here in scotland they are like £25 ($50) each which i will NOT be paying when i can get them of torrents or sky for free.(about £12 is acceptable imo)
i prefer things like what the video marketplace is,
when internet connections (generally) speed up to like 15mbs+ streaming and downloading (renting or buying) is going to pick up steam and blow away all of these arguements
its all down to money and a global market in everyones home will drive down the price
VHS might still win this fight.