That's funny there was a drop in price here....499 for 60 gb now....that's about what you paid for 360...minus hd dvd add on wireless add on...live subscription....2 plus years for gt5? I don't know where your getting your info but latest I heard was early 08...which is only half a year away....and besides gt5 prologue in October...thats what 3 months away...well have fun with fm2...I'll wait for prologue...and gthd while I wait for that....Nothing out new for ps perhaps....but my console can stay on for over 90 min....redlight of what? Have fun buying another console....wouldn't you have saved more just buying the right one to start out with?
I like you. You're funny. You should come around here more often...
-The "Price Drop": Believe what you want, but the price drop was only created to move shelved units out of stores. Its quite funny when you realize that while Sony is pushing out what they had of the 60 GB models with that, they have completely canceled the unit, as well as the 20 GB one, and leave US consumers with the $600 80 GB unit, ONLY. It helps to read what people say on the internet.
- 360 "Add-ons": Why exactly do these factor in at all? I know very few people who actually use Wi-Fi to play online, so thats a complete write-off for me... As for the HD-DVD player, they've sold better than I'd expected, so its a start, but it isn't a necessity to use the 360. And as for the XBL subscriptions, I'm not sure why anyone is really complaining. A little more than $4 a month won't kill anyone, so I'm not seeing the point you're making unless you're yet another PS-fanboy who wants to make the same point that everyone makes, PSN is free. Whoopdy freakin' doo!
-GT5 Release Dates: Like everyone has said, we're going to be lucky if the game comes in anywhere around the
END of 2008. Much of this depends on how much the team at Polyphony can actually deliver, much less on time, or at least on Sony's time frame. I seem to recall GT4 showing up at several E3 and TGS' long before it ever hit the streets, delay after delay, after delay.
And what came of it?
A highly-polished GT3 with a few extra cars and tracks, a new soundtrack, and thats about it. No online play, no customizable paint or decals, no Ferraris or Lamborghinis, AI that wasn't much better than its predecessor, and an overall title that became "been there, done that" in less than a year.
- This whole "Prologue" thing: Why are you so excited to what amounts to a game demo? Sure, its a hold-over until the actual game is released, but there are (if I'm not mistaken) fewer than 20 cars, and handful of tracks, whats the point? To show that they're working on something, and that we should be happy that we may, or may not, see something within two years?
They did the same thing last time, dishing out several "preview" games before GT4 actually hit the streets. "Whoa! Thats awesome! Its the same thing that I saw before!!!!"
- The "Red Rings of Death": Not every console has suffered this fate, so please get your facts straight. I believe semi-official counts have put failures into 30% of consoles, mostly early-build models, many of which have been replaced
FREE OF CHARGE by Microsoft, and every console is now backed by a three-year warranty. The good news is that Microsoft acknowledges there is a problem, they are fixing it, and thusly will fix consoles (as a matter of fact, ALL of the 360s to date) that suffer these issues. I'm quite certain that Sony would "pull a Toyota" and try to cover-up quality issues on the PS3, cover a few of the repair costs, and then maybe consider a recall at some point.
...Either way, I know I had more issues with my PS2 than I have had with my 360 thus far, and I have a fairly early build model (November 2005).
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Other notable points:
- The "Wack" Forza 2 Damage Models: Funny thing about the damage modeling in Gran Turismo...
THERE ISN'T ANY...
I look at it this way, Turn 10 made the effort to give it to us, so thats a start. While complaints about being rear-ended are a bit "off" I'd say, there are some funky ways of damaging a car, but that being said, how can you be so certain that being in even a "minor" accident wouldn't do serious damage to a brake, further complicate issues with the engine, or damage a strut? Do you race on Sebring regularly and have your Chevrolet Corvette rear-ended just to find out?
- Format Pros and Cons on the 360: Is this really the place to debate the features of Blu-Ray and DVD? Quite honestly, nobody really cares anymore, and yet again, you are resorting to the same points that Sony-times drone on, and on, and on, and on about. We know it has a higher capacity, and we understand what it means. Does it matter right now? No not really, as even the folks at Sony don't quite understand how to use the format to the best of their ability, much less how to use the hardware to the best of its ability... Thusly, it explains why a LARGE number of developers and even entire games themselves have jumped to the 360. Will the whole thing matter in the long run? Probably, but it is hard to say for certain. The tables turn very easily these days...
- Re-playability of GT4 versus that of Forza 2 While I am quite happy that some of you have been able to max out the $50 you spent on GT4 several years ago, your experience is by no means the standard experience shared by every racing fan out there. Overall criticisms of GT4 placed it as something that was no more than a GT3.75, and thusly, many folks were bored in less than a year. I've pretty much stopped playing it altogether, despite the fact that I still have a bit to go. I don't feel like playing the same stuff over and over again, particularly when so much of it is exactly the same as what I did way back in 2001 or 2002.
The "rushed" job of Forza 2, as you have so eloquently put it, may or may not be a valid point, but the fact of the matter is that Turn 10 did a fairly good job of getting it on the shelves as promised. Sure, there was a short delay, but it was nothing on the same level as what had pushed GT4 back, back, back, back into the outfield. What makes Forza 2 a re-playable title, simply put, is the online play... Something that GT4 lacked, and
SHOULD have had from the beginning. Having friends over or not, it doesn't matter, as they can't be over all the time, and furthermore, who actually wants to play split-screen all the time? I know I don't...
Calling Forza 2 out, IMO, really is just an admission that it is a
serious threat to the Gran Turismo franchise. Quite clearly, Polyphony has a lot to learn from the Turn 10 guys, but on that same exact token, Turn 10 could learn a lot from Polyphony as well. Both games, while excelent, have their own significant flaws.
Automatically comparing Forza 2 to GT5, a game that doesn't actually exist, and probably won't exist for many people for another two years, is just plain silly. Sure, we can speak in hypotheticals, and thats the best we can do, but being ever so certain that it will be this earth-shaking giant in the industry is a bit short-sighted. As I have said numerous times before on these forums, as well as others, GT5 is the
ONLY game thus far that interests me in a PS3, and I am not in a minority here. It will be a great game, and I'm certain of it, but like many others, GT4 came about as a disappointment, and thusly our expectations for what GT5 is has been lowered.
. And while Forza 2 has some great flaws in verious fields, it remains very nice game which can occupy you some time until GT5 Prologue is out, for example.
