• 2Nov 06

  Buckybuckster's B-A-R of Doom: Vol 7: Campin' Out/Selling Your Soul on Ebay

  The store where I make somewhat of a living at recently had it's Wii and PS3 reserves on sale which because of the lack of available units( 15 for Wii and a paltry 6 for PS3), lasted all of 5mins... if that. That I pretty much expected. What I wasn't expecting was the line that began forming outside our doors 26 hours before said reserves became available!

  Don't get me wrong, i'm as much of a dedicated gamer as the next guy or gal. And I intend on being a gamer until the day they have to tpy the controller out of my cold lifeless hands. But there is NO WAY i'm gonna wait in line for 26 hours for anything... much less a game system regardless of how hot and "must own now" it may be. Eh....i'd stand in line for a free million bucks but I doubt we'll see anyone offering that deal anytime soon ( If you hear of such...email me!!).

  In a way it's kinda sad what you have to go through to be an early adopter nowadays. You're either camping out in a part of town you clearly don't want to be in at 2a.m., or you're selling your soul to Satan on Ebay. He lives in Cleveland and is more than willing to sell you his reserved unit for around half the money your parents shelled out on your tuition last year.

  When you compare what I feel was the last "fun" console launch, that of the Dreamcast (where we received 80 units) to the PS3/Wii numbers, you can see why those of us who will be behind the counters come this Nov. 17-19, are looking forward to these dates with an impending sense of doom. There will be nothing fun about it at all. However yelling, fighting, cussing will be in abundance for nearly everyone on both sides of the counter.

  The industry really needs to challenge itself to do better by us by having more systems available at launch. This barely any systems at all mentality only promotes ill will. I doubt things will change in the end though..it's hard to teach an old dog better marketing practices. And one day 5 yrs. from now, there will be a line outside waiting for the chance to reserve the 1 PS4 we are being shipped for launch...Insane.

  • Posted Nov 2, 2006 11:41 am PT
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• 29Oct 06

  Buckybuckster's Blog-A-Rama of Doom: Vol. 6: The 360's First Real Test

  As the 360 heads towards it's 1st birthday, it will face it's latest and most critical test yet...the launches of the PS3 and Wii. As you know up until now, the 360 has been the only player on the next generation court, but now must face off against the two new, highly anticipated rookies.

  As far as the 360's first year performance (noting a few "over-heating" issues), if I were to assign it a grade, it would be a slightly less than solid B. While it doesn't look like MS will reach the 10 million installed units they wanted to have in place by time the PS3 released, they have sold around 6 mil worldwide last that i've heard which is still a pretty solid number nonetheless.

  Microsoft has also has built up a great base of third parties who've been providing sweet software like Oblivion and Dead Rising along with its own stellar in house efforts. And Xbox Live still reigns as the champ when it comes to the console internet gaming arena.

  Question is..will it be enough for the the 360 to maintain it's lead throughout the upcoming hardware war. Both the Wii and PS3 are worthy challengers to the 360 offering features which could redirect dollars once slated for Microsoft's baby. And to said consumer, what features will she or he deem the most important in determining if they should go with a 360 or pick up one of the others?

  As far as the answers to those questions...in all honesty I have no friggin' idea. No matter what anybody tells you, let's face it folks, we're gonna have to sit back, relax, and let this muther play itself out. And personally, I can't wait to see the bloodshed begin. As was once was so rightly said..."Let the bodies hit the floor".

  • Posted Oct 29, 2006 1:30 pm PT
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• 29Oct 06

  Buckybuckster's Blog-A-Rama of Doom: Vol.5: PS3 and Wii...PORTS AHOY!!

  As we approach the launches of the PS3 and Wii, i've noticed alot of griping about the number of ports being released within the PS3's launch window. Yep, there are quite a few reruns that are going to be sitting on store shelves come this Nov. 17 and soon afterwards.

  I can understand those negative vibes completely. After all, after shelling out the hard earned bucks for a nifty new system, I think we would all rather have that shiny disc we place in the machine give us a new experience instead of a been there done that kind of affair. What I CAN'T understand is how Wii launch software as managed to escape the same criticism that's so easily shunted the PS3's way. Taking a look at the launch titles for the Wii reveals a motley crew weighted with many of the usual played before suspects. Does a game rise above the level of a port just because you can shake a fancy motion detecting stick at it?? I don't think so.

  If you only fly the flag of one system, you've squarely fallen into the dark pit of bad grooming habits, Farscape convention attending, in high school was voted most likely never to touch a girl...EVER, armpit funk fanboyisim if you can only call out the faults of another system without recognizing that your own system shares many of the same problems.

  Look, with game systems getting more and more internally complex with each new generation, I suspect we will continue to see a hefty amount of ports released at system launches. I think they give developers a chance to get to know the ins and outs of a new system so that when they are prepared to give us that totally new experience that we are all looking forward to, they can go in with all guns ablazin' having mastered the beast within.

  So if you're going to go all postal on the PS3's ports, at least acknowledge that the Wii is also in the same predictable boat.

  • Posted Oct 29, 2006 11:27 am PT
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