NES 1990 WORLD CHAMP CART NOW A STEAL AT $15,000!

Earlier today, we reported on a recent Ebay auction for a gold colored 1990 NES World Championships cartridge that someone put up with a starting bid of $20,000. Well, since it didn’t sell at the original price, it’s been relisted at the amazing bargain price of only $15,000 – and it’s a “buy it now” auction, which means you won’t even have to worry about being outbid!

At prices this low, you could easily buy two if they were available! Click here for the updated auction page and ask yourself what it is exactly that this guy is smoking.

GOT $20,000 BUCKS? WHY NOT BUY A PIECE OF GAMING HISTORY?

Look, I’m a classic game collector and even I think this guy is off his damn rocker. Someone has put a 1990 gold NES Nintendo World Championships cartridge up for auction on Ebay with a starting bid price of $20,000. Now don’t get me wrong, I realize the cart lands a 10 on the rarity scale and I certainly could see someone paying a few thousand dollars for it (not me, but I could see someone out there doing it), but twenty grand is just insane.

Click here if you want to check out the auction and if you’re bidding and have that kind of money to burn, why not send your local gaming news site a taste of it while you’re at it? (hint hint)

WORLD OF WARCRAFT PAID TRANSFER ELIGIBILITY LIST

The official World of Warcraft website has posted a list of which servers will eventually be allowed to use the paid transfer service as well as a schedule for when some of those server transfers will begin.

Check out the official World of Warcraft website here, the full list of servers eligible for transfers here and a brief schedule of some transfers here. While you’re at it, you may as well click a few other links somewhere because at $25 per character, you should at least try and feel like you’re getting some kind of value for your buck.

PLAYSTATION 3 GAMES TO COST MORE THAN $60?

You know, even I’m getting sick of reporting negative news about the Playstation 3. While surfing over at Kotaku, I came across a link to this article from NexTechNews in which SCE President Kaz Hirai talked game prices with the folks over at PSM.

Now I’m not sure if this is from the same issue interview and issue of PSM that we mentioned in a story below, but this time around the question was whether or not Playstation 3 games would follow the same pricing scheme as Xbox 360 games. The answer Hirai gave was a bit disturbing to say the least;

“Generally Speaking, over the past twelve years or so, there has been a consumer expectation that disc-based games are maybe $59 on the high end to $39 on the low end. So, what I can say now is, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that we could suddenly turn around and say “PS3 Games now $99.99.” I don’t think consumers expect software pricing to suddenly double. So, the quick answer is that we want to make it as affordable as possible, knowing that there is a set consumer expectation for what software has cost for the past twelve years. That’s kind of the best answer I can give you. So, if it becomes a bit higher than $59, don’t ding me, but, again, I don’t expect it to be $100.“ – Kaz Hirai

Now maybe I’m taking this the wrong way because of all the insane things Sony executives have said recently, but to me that answer just screams “Yes, our games are going to be priced higher than $59.99”.

More importantly, ask yourself if I essentially pawned a days worth of news off on you by just reading the current issue of PSM Magazine. (-ed: I didn’t, but even I’d wonder with 3 stories referencing them in one day)

Check out the NexTechNews article here for more details and the August issue of PSM for the full interview. (-ed: also for the record, I’m not getting advertising bucks by pushing the print editions of PSM either, so get that thought right out of your suspicious little minds right now! =) )

WORLD OF WARCRAFT PAID TRANSFER SERVICE LIVE

Blizzard has announced that their long anticipated Paid Character Transfer Service for World of Warcraft is now active. In short, those players wishing to move their characters from one server to another can now do so at a coast of $25 per character.

Currently, the service is only available on the most crowded servers, and transfers are limited to servers with lower populations, but the program should expand the number of eligible servers once the initial transfers are completed;

“The initial launch of the Paid Character Transfer service will only allow transfers between a limited set of realms. You can now transfer characters off of these realms:

• Altar of Storms
• Argent Dawn
• Demon Soul
• Illidan
• Warsong

We’ll gradually scale up the list of realms to accommodate more players as quickly as possible. To start transferring your characters, just log in to the account-management section and click the Paid Character Transfer button. Good luck in your continued adventures in Azeroth, and have fun on your new realm!” -World of Warcraft Official Website

A full FAQ on the service can be found at this link. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that making your customers pay $25 because your servers are overcrowded is a bit much.

SONY CEO STRINGER DEFENDS PS3 PRICING

Because it just wouldn’t be a complete week without some executive at Sony attempting to justify the pricing of the Playstation 3, Forbes.com is reporting that Sony CEO Howard Stringer stated that while the higher price point is certainly a risk, but that it’s one he feels will pay off in the long run;

“Obviously, it’s a higher-risk strategy–as all new inventions are–but if the PS3 lives up to its total potential, then I don’t think anyone will be worried about Nintendo or Xbox’s cheaper price.” -Howard Stringer

Unlike his fellow Sony executives, Stringer refrained from redefining what the Playstation 3 is supposed to be and simply focuses on the PS3’s competition;

“Do you go for a cheaper transitional [product], or do you take a chance on future-proof, higher technology which will keep you going for many, many years?” -Howard Stringer

While I certainly wouldn’t call the Playstation 3 future proof, especially not until the HD format wars are over, it is somewhat refreshing to hear a report of someone at Sony not talking like they’ve been hitting the happy juice a little too hard. Maybe they should let Stringer talk to the press exclusively from now on. Check out the Forbes.com article here and feel all business like.

PS3 COULD FAIL OVER BAD PR?

5:00am… Before my blanket leaps up, grabs me and drags me off to my waiting pillow, I want to mention this interesting article over at Curmudgeon Gamer where an excellent point is made about the way gamers get their information now as compared to the last console generation launch cycle and the overall affect it’s having on the industry.

“I think more importantly we have all changed and Sony’s playing catch-up. Six years ago most of us probably got our information and opinion from the big videogame media sites. Magazines were more important for breaking news stories. And as a result, I think people were a little too caught up in the Emotion Engine hype.

Now I almost never see news stories through GameSpot or IGN. Rather, I see them linked to by a blog, and along with that link comes some nugget of commentary. Actually, not just one blog, but dozens of blogs. The result of this filter is that I’m less likely to get the company line first and more likely to hear news with an instant shot of opinion.” -Curmudgeon Gamer

You know, I’ve got to agree with the guy. Back when the 4th generation started, I remember checking sites like IGN, Gamespy and Gamespot religiously, as well as relying on print gaming magazines for all my news. Over time, there’s been that subtle shift to where I find myself reading more and more of the news from the outskirts, where there isn’t as much apparent corporate interference and writers can feel free to give you their own, fully biased opinion just the same as your buddy next to you can. Hell, it’s part of the whole concept behind this site. Either way, the Curmudgeon article is a pretty good read, and if what I said sounds interesting to you, you can check it out here. As for me, I’m going to bed.

SONY PREPARING FOR THE WORST?

Kikizio Games is reporting on an interview trade magazine MCV had with Sony Europe’s David Reeves in which Reeves not only claims that Sony had been working on the tilt technology they premiered at E3 for “around two and a half years” but quite interestingly stated that Sony is not concerned with market share with the upcoming Playstation 3;

“The name of the game is not market share, it’s how fast we can grow the industry – our ambition is to grow 15 percent a year on hardware and software if we can, we want to try and double digital entertainment in the next five to six years. Whether we have 40, 50, or 60 per cent market share is not that important.” -David Reeves

This is a pretty surprising admission coming from the industry market share leader for the last two console generations. It makes you wonder if Sony is preparing for the possibility that they could lose the top slot this time around. The interesting part of the quote however is that with Sony’s current dominance in the industry, you would assume that the only way they could grow 15 percent a year would be by retaining that lead or expanding it.

One is left to wonder if Sony expects the video game market to increase in terms of installed base, software sales and advertising sales to such an extent that it would be possible for them to expand their earnings while losing the battle for the top slot or if they’re simply blowing smoke to try and cover the possibility of losing to either Microsoft or Nintendo.

No matter how you look at the statement, it would at the very least seem that Sony is preparing for the possibility of losing some dominance this time around, and with the current missteps with the Playstation 3 and how it’s being perceived, that’s not overly surprising. As for the question of how long Sony had been working on that tilt technology, no matter what they may say about wanting to hide it for fear it would have been stopped by some patent maneuvering by the competition, you would think two and a half years of work would have looked a bit better in action. Click here to check out the Kikizo Games article.

YOU WILL WORK MORE HOURS TO AFFORD PLAYSTATION 3

Or at least Ken Kutaragi thinks you will. In a Fortune magazine article up at CNN Money about how Sony may be betting the farm on the Playstation 3‘s success, Kutaragi is quoted as having told a Japanese website the following;

” Conceding that the PS3 is “very expensive,” Ken Kutaragi, head of Sony’s games business, told a Japanese Web site earlier this year that he expects “consumers to think to themselves, ‘I will work more hours to buy one.’ We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else.” -Fortune magazine article

You may be asking yourself why Sony feels people may want it at any cost? That’s because it’s not just a game machine, but a bona fide supercomputer. Just ask Mr. Kutaragi, he’ll tell you the deal…

“He has also said the PS3 is “not a game machine.” Rather, he says, it is a “machine with supercomputer calculation capabilities for home entertainment.” -Fortune magazine article again

Wow, now I feel much better about the Playstation 3 price. Not only am I getting a steal on a Blu-Ray player, but a machine capable of performing supercomputer calculations. Just amazing. You know, if they make the thing able to play games, I could start getting really excited about it.

I wonder, if I combine it with the “so powerful, it could be used as a guidance system for missiles”, Emotion Engine chip in my Playstation 2 if I could build my own robotic AI… or maybe play Metal Gear Solid 4 or something. You may now begin pointing and laughing at Mr Kutaragi. Click here to read it for yourself.

SHOULD THE PS3 BLU-RAY DRIVE HAVE BEEN OPTIONAL?

ArsTechinca has an interesting article up that explores the question of whether or not Sony should have made the Playstation 3‘s Blu-Ray drive an optional feature, much the same way Microsoft is handling the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive. While the article basically doesn’t cover anything that we haven’t heard before, it brings together all the arguments regarding the decision to market the Playstation 3 with a Blu-Ray player in one cohesive article. The most interesting point in the article comes towards the end when disc space issues are discussed, and the following data is given;

“There’s no doubt that BD-ROM has more space than DVD9. There’s also no doubt that several games that were once thought to be impossible to fit on DVD9 nonetheless fit (Oblivion being a good example). To get a sense of the real situation, consider existing game sizes. Original Xbox 360 titles, for example, used an average of 3.2GB per disc in 2005, up some 77 percent from 2001. Meanwhile, existing games on the Xbox 360 use slightly more space, with NBA Live 06 taking up 4.5GB, and Condemned: Criminal Origins taking 3.9GB. That is, they’re roughly at half capacity. Furthermore, the argument that x times the resolution equals x times the data is without merit as an objective rule. There’s an excellent article at GamesFirst dealing with this very topic.” -ArsTechnica article

The author also makes the interesting point that with games being developed for both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously, developers may limit game size to the lowest common denominator – the 360’s DVD9 format.

Check out the full ArsTechnica article here and the referenced GamesFirst article here

AND YOU THOUGHT THE U.S. PLAYSTATION 3 PRICE SUCKED

First there were the rumors that only the 60 gigabyte Playstation 3 model was going to be available in the U.K., now Eurogamer is reporting that in an interview with Ray Maguire, Sony Computer Entertainment UK’s managing director, he stated that the UK price for the PS3 would be £425. For those unfamiliar with exchange rates, that comes out to about $802. That $600 tag for the US 60 gig model isn’t looking so bad now, is it? Click here for the Eurogamer article

KAZ HIRAI DEFENDS PLAYSTATION 3 PRICE

CNN Money has an interview with Sony Computer Entertainment America president Kaz Hirai. The article focuses on the high price of the Playstation 3 and the two different versions of the system, The view Hirai took of the PS3 and what the big picture is was this;

“I think when you look at what we put into the box – Cell, Blu-Ray, backwards compatibility, the ability to go online – I think it’s a very compelling package for consumers, the totality of what we bring to the table makes it a good value for consumers.” – Kaz Hirai

“What we’re presenting to consumers is future-proofed. It’s not going to fall by the wayside.” – Kaz Hirai

The most disturbing part of the article came when Hirai had no answer for the most serious concern regarding the lack of HDMI output on the lower end Playstation 3.

“The lack of an HDMI output could have future ramifications on the system, though. Some observers have questioned whether Blu-Ray movies will be playable on the PS3 once motion picture companies enable copy protection on the discs.

Hirai said it was “too early to speculate at this point” about such problems.” – CNN Money Article

Too early to speculate? they ship in roughly six months, they’re pushing the fact that the system plays Blu-Ray movies as a major selling point, and yet they can’t guarantee the lower-end model will even be able to play Blu-Ray movies sometime after release?!

That’s a serious oversight and one hell of a ballsy statement to make. How exactly is something “future proofed” if you can’t even speak about the viability of a major function of the console which is based on a technology you control?

Read the CNN Money article here and shake your head along with me.

MORE MAPS COMING TO THE OUTFIT

Gamespot reports that THQ has announced that they will have another map pack for The Outfit available later this month. The download, available via the Xbox Live Marketplace, will contain 3 new multiplayer maps and sell for 500 points ot less ($6.25). While I personally didn’t like The Outfit at all, it is good to see developers taking advantage of the marketplace concept. I just wonder what happened to the concept of the micro-transaction – $6.25 for 3 maps isn’t really my idea of a “bargain”