PS Triple: $400 by Christmas? Believe!

Here is some hot original content for you folks. I have done a bit of investigative journalism for the monk-blog project, and I believe that I now have enough evidence to say that the Triple is going to be dropped in price to 400 or 450 by this holiday season. Here is my proof:

1. A greatly reduced-price blue laser diode is going to roll out by June. This key component is estimated to have cost around 80 bucks at the PS3's launch. The new models are going to be a dirt cheap 900 yen/$7.59.
2. Removing the emotion engine chip to provide software-based instead of hardware-based backwards compatability should cut costs by about $30
3. Sony will start using a smaller 65nm instead of 90nm Cell chip that will drive down costs also, though the exact amount I have been unable to ascertain.
4. The Euro PS3 uses a much simpler, more streamlined motherboard. We can expect this to be used here too when the officially dump the Emotion Engine.
5. The HD Format war is just about over , and Blu Ray has won, finally avenging beta-max's earlier defeat. I have to wonder if Blu Ray will force HD-DVD to sign it's surrender papers in the same train car that beta max/VHS armistice was signed in. Sony earns licensing fees on every Blu Ray disc sold, and this gives them a more free hand in subsidizing the PS3 down to a mass-market price.
6. I'm sure there have been other reduced costs, improved efficiencies and all sorts of economies of scale factors that I haven't take in to account that have made the PS3 cheaper to produce than it was at launch.

There have been a lot of economists and marketing firms, and even some Sony reps predicting a price cut this year, so my research isn't anything too revolutionary. Sony of course denies any sort of price cut talk, but naturally you don't announce a price cut until it is about to happen.

The PS Triple has really been experiencing some lukewarm sales, and if Sony wants to execute it's Blu Ray strategy, it needs to move more units. So a price cut isn't just an option this holiday, it is necessary for PS3 to keep up in this console war. Sony has a lot of big guns coming out this fall: Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Devil May Cry 4, GTA IV, LittleBigPlanet, Home, a price drop around October could give Sony a huge shot in the arm. Of course, Microsoft should be expected to fire back with a price drop it's own, but arguably there are more people waiting on a price drop for the Triple than there is for the Circle.

Monk-Blog is bullish on the PS3's prospects this holiday season. $400 PS Triple by Christmas? BELIEVE. And just remember the blog where you heard it first.

Unbelieveable! Someone Beats Super Mario 1 in Five Minutes Sharp!

An truly legendary speed run. I am ashamed to admit that I still have never beat Super Mario 1. Super Mario 2 and 3, sure, but never the first one. In fact, I don't think I ever beat world 8-3 even.

One More Soda Update for You

Coca Cola is changing it's look once again. The new can is on the left. It has decided to go for a more retro-chic look, and I have to admit, I like it!

Insider News from the Soda Industry

Okay, you guys begged for it, but I didn't want to relaunch the soda section of the blog until I had some stuff that could really blow your socks off. I have managed to dig up some interesting information on the soda industry from certain insiders. This is top secret news should not go beyond this blog.

Before, I get to the really interesting stuff, one of snowbot's trademark drinks has seen it's sales increase dramatically: Coca Cola Zero. Good to see it didn't suffer the same fate as C2.

Okay, my source within Coca Cola has given me some info on their strategy this summer. First of all, they are going to bring back Vanilla Coke. They discontinued it when they launched the god-awful Black Cherry-Vanilla. But apparently consumer demand has led them to bring it back in a manner that is not unlike their legendary New Coke/Coca-Cola Classic debacle.

Also, Coke's big new product they are betting on this summer? Coca Cola with Orange. That's right, you heard it here first folks. Stay tuned as details develop on this one.



As for the Pepsi camp, there are some whispers coming my way about some new products this summer, but the details are a bit more vague. One thing I know for certain, they are going to be pumping billons of marketing dollars into a new product called Pepsi Summer Mix. It sounds like an intriguing mix of Pepsi and various "tropical flavors. Monk-Blog have managed to obtain a leaked image of the proposed packaging.


Some of you might remember back in Monk-Blog's original incarnation, a new Mountain Dew line extension called Electrocution that was supposed to be berry-based was rumored to be coming out in Spring 2006. That obviously never happened, but it looks like they haven't given up on the berry flavor and it may be closer than we realize. I have a beta-tester who has provided the following images of Mountain Dew Clash which he described as very berry-based and even reminiscent of Pepsi Blue!




More vague are some products called "Pepsi Diet Max", "Sierra Mist Citrus Blast", and something described only as "Orange Amp". I'm not sure if this is intended to be a challenge to Coca Cola's new Orange product, or not. The "amp" makes it sound like some sort of energy drink. In any event, this should be an exciting summer to be a soda connoisseur and stay TUNED to monk-blog for exclusive content that you can't get anywhere else.

Interesting New Cryptozoological Discovery: The Godfish!

Check It Out

Basically, this image was found on an old 1911 post card, and here is the thing, no one has any clue what kind of fish it is. Obviously, it's huge. It looks like it is about 8 feet long. Is it prehistoric species of some sort that we have believed to be long extinct?

The unfortunate thing is that since it hasn't been seen since 1911, it could actually be extinct, but here's to hoping it is still waiting for us in some unknown watery depth...

NPDs for March

NPD has posted it's sales totals for March. The Nintendo consoles did very well, as did the PS2. The poor PSTriple had something of a rough month, being outsold by even the Gameboy Advance. Here's to hoping Chad Warden's new video can jumpstart sales for April.

HW Sales
Nintendo DS 508K
PlayStation 2 280K
Wii 259K
Xbox 360 199K
PlayStation Portable 180K
Game Boy Advance 148K
PlayStation 3 130K
GameCube 22K
Xbox n/a


Top 10 SW

PS2 GOD OF WAR II 833K
360 TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON: ADVANCED WARFI 394K
360 GUITAR HERO 2 W/ GUITAR 291K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE 273K
PS3 MOTORSTORM 199K
NDS DIDDY KONG RACING 189K
NDS SPECTROBES 165K
360 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 2K7 165K
PS2 MLB '07: THE SHOW 164K
360 DEF JAM ICON 148K

New Chad Warden Video

Yep, the notorious C.H.A.D finally composed a new video, while it is not quite as good as the first, I would still consider it truly ABAP.

Nintendo Ascends to Heaven

The stock market tells Nintendo "I'll buy it at a high price!"
From Bloomberg
"Shares of Nintendo Co. surged to a record as JPMorgan Securities Japan Co. started coverage of the company with an ''overweight'' rating on its earnings prospects from the Wii game console.

The stock climbed 3.2 percent to 37,450 yen at the close on the Osaka Securities Exchange, the highest since the Kyoto-based company was listed in January 1962. The broader Topix index gained 1.2 percent after the yen fell to a record low against the euro, boosting the value of exports to Europe.

...

Nintendo this month raised its annual earnings estimate for the fourth time for the fiscal year, helped by sales of the DS portable player and the Wii console, whose sales outpace Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 machine by two to one in Japan and the U.S. JPMorgan analysts Eiji Maeda and Yuko Sekine cited ``strong'' sales of the DS and Wii for the rating, its highest ranking.

``We expect operating profit growth to remain strong over the medium term'' on the continued success of the DS and Wii players, the analysts wrote in a report dated April 13. The analysts forecast Nintendo's shares to rise 15 percent from the current price to 42,500 yen by April 2008.

My Review of Ghost Rider

Probably the most unfortunate thing that ever happened to Ghost Rider was that it found itself number one on the top of the box office sales charts. Now, no one can simply enjoy the film. Everyone feels compelled to scrutinize it and make a decision about its greatness. Asking whether `Ghost Rider' is the best film of the century is like asking if Marilyn Monroe was the most beautiful woman. It depends on whom you ask.

`Ghost Rider' is not the most entertaining film I've ever seen, but it is certainly one of the most important. It is a vanguard motion picture and a gargantuan achievement for Marvel Comics and comic book-based movies in general. If you consider the fact that Ghost Rider was a third string character who has not had any kind of mainstream success since the early 90's you begin to appreciate what a big deal it is. This was made during a time when a few studios control every film that is made. How many actor/directors did you imagine lining up to make a Ghost Rider flick, even in the smaller independent studios?

The story is based on the life of Johnny Blaze, billionaire newspaper tycoon. Writer Herman Mankiewicz had an up-close look at Blaze as he had been an occasional house guest at the Blaze mansion. The similarities were striking, right down to the paramour whose career Blaze promoted, and the urban legend that Blaze loved to douse himself in flames and perform daredevilish feats on his motorcycle . The fact that this film was released at all is a *marvel* in itself (pun perfectly intended). Blaze has gone on a personal campaign to crush the film and hae enlisted every powerful friend he has to stop it. Rupert Murdoch offered Crystal Sky Films $800,000 to destroy the print and upon refusal ordered the Radio City premier canceled. All of Blaze's newspapers were forbidden to mention the film.

Hollywood was uniformly against it and Ghost Rider was branded an insolent maverick among films. The film was snubbed by the Academy. It was nominated for 9 Oscars and won only best screenplay. With all the forces stacked against it, we are lucky to be having this best film debate at all.

The story has a simple moral; that money and power can't buy happiness. We see Ghost Rider's progress from an ordinary human, to a flaming skulled vigilante of justice, and finally to a bitter and angry motorcyclist whose innocence has slipped from him. One of the most effective scenes that illustrated this was the two minute overlay of battle scenes with his arch enemy Blackheart. It starts with cooing lovers and progresses through increasing levels of discord. It ends in silence with the two reading separate newspapers, his disdain for him subtly indicated by her choice of the hated Chronicle as his newspaper.

What is so remarkable about this film is the filmmaking. Director after director has pointed to some aspect of this film as having influenced them. The use of CGI skulls and various perspective shots was not unprecedented, but never before had they been used with so much dramatic impact. What was unprecedented was that `Ghost Rider' was the first film ever to depart from the strict narrative format, which moves forward chronologically. The film starts at the end and jumps around in time based upon the perspective of the person who is telling his or her story about Johhny Blaze and his eventual transformation into Ghost Rider. So the next time you see a flashback, remember it started here.

The makeup was revolutionary. Nick Cage often went through four hours or more of gasoline dousing to be properly conflagarant for each scene. The film also reinvigorated a number of brilliant careers. Besides Cage, Eva Mendes and Brett Cullen will go on to long and prominent film careers as a sole result of this film.

If `Ghost Rider' is not the best film of the century it is certainly one of them. Its influence on a generation of filmmakers cannot be ignored in the equation. People who watch this film and ask, "What's the big deal?" are comparing it with older films that have borrowed from this film's techniques. It's like going back to Kitty Hawk and saying, "What's the big deal, the flight only lasted a few seconds." Ghost Rider will prove to be mankind's first flight of fancy into the world of Johnny Blaze and hopefully not the last.

Random Blogspam of the Day

My first link I will share with you is the most hardcore version of Super Mario 1 ever. If you thought the Lost Levels was tough, you haven't seen anything. This one might even rival Devil May Cry on normal.
link

This next one represents the usually fairly lame Garfield comic strip at the apex of it's creative genius.
link

I also have for you probably the most clever bumper sticker ever.


Let's see, what else do I have?
The first images from Iron-Man leaked, and it looks surprisingly good. I can't say I have any high expectations for this one, but it might end up being better than the upcoming Namor movie.


Probably the big news today gaming-wise was that Sony is going to drop the 20 gig model of the PS3 and rely solely on the 60 gig. While I lament this move on some level because the 20 gig was really my first choice, I don't need wi-fi, on the other hand I do like that they are simplifying things down to just one SKU and to me this represents a tell-tale sign that they are moving toward a price drop sooner rather than later.
Here is Joystiq's Report on the Situation.

Link to the Past: Devil May Cry

Well, I finally beat the original Devil May Cry over the weekend. Fun historical fact about this game, I originally bought it not long after it came out during Newton Kmart's grand going out of business sale. I think I also bought Tony Hawk 3 and maybe something else I am not remembering. I owned the game for a long time but never got very far. I refused to play the game on easy, and on normal the damn spider boss was impossible to beat. Over the years, I sold the game somewhere and I thought that was probably the last I would see of it.

And it was, at least until a couple of weeks ago when I found it for ten bucks in a Gamestop bargain bin. It was a non-greatest hit copy in great condition. The instruction manual even still had that new instruction manual smell somehow. I figured I had to get it as part of some recent efforts to "rebuild the empire" of lost PS2 games I have sold over the years.

I tried to buckle down and beat it, again, on normal. After dying about fifty times and two hours of trying, I beat the spider boss! I figured I was in the clear! Sadly, there are still a lot of other impossible bosses in the game. Snowbot persuaded me to just play on easy. I swallowed my pride, and took him up on this. Although the game was really a bit *too* easy on this level, I did finally beat it.

Overall, I was quite impressed with the game, despite it being of 2001 vintage. The core gameplay holds up remarkably well. The sheer variety of moves and weapons that you have at your disposal makes fighting unbelievebaly fun and satisfying. The graphics look a bit dated, but my only major gripe with the game was the crappy camera angles. There are a lot of angles that are just plain bad, and put you in a huge disadvantage especially during boss battles. This kind of reflects the old school sensibilities of always having crappy camera angles in these games using pre-rendered backgrounds. Certainly, no competent game would consider using this kind of a camera system these days.

Even though it is really not that old in the grand scheme of things, it does still conjure a certain sense of nostalgia. Maybe it is just it's association with Kmart's final days or it's old school camera angles, but at it's best it reminds one of the dash and daring of the PS2's early days. Released during the PS2's 2nd Christmas along with other notable titles like FF X, GTA III, and MGS2. It was a really magical time to have a PS2 and Devil May Cry will always crystallize a part of that feeling.

So, if you haven't played it, check it out. And by god, I swear that one day I'm going to beat this damn game on normal.

A Couple of Videos from Monkblog to You

I have a couple of videos for you today:

Retronauts has a great video up looking at the genius that was Mega Man 2.

This is an inspiring video chronicling one man's struggle to break free of WOW addiction. Check it Out

New Unreleased Atari 2600 Game Uncovered

Here is some footage of an unfinished Atari prototype for a game called "Good Luck Charlie Brown". The only copy in existence was found at some trashy flea market in Wisconsin.


There is a similar story to another unreleased Atari game called Star Wars: The Ewok Adventure which was discovered in a Salvation Army. This one was pretty much completely finished but for unknown reasons, never released. Another fateful story is that of California Raisins: The Grape Escape for NES. Some lady brought in a box of NES games to sell apparently in hopes of applying the money toward a new XBOX game for her son. They all had weird labels on them like "Prototype Copy: Return to Vendor". This was just a small mom and pop videogame store and I guess they refused to buy the games. Some guy that was in there, just on a lark offered to buy one that said Capcom on the label, I guess he was a big fan of Capcom. He took it home and played it a bit, not knowing what it was. It was not until months later that he found out it was an unreleased NES game of which *no* copies were known to exist. He was gracious enough to dump it and gamers everywhere can today enjoy it. It amazes me how close these games were to being nearly completely lost to history! It is also sad to think how many one of a kind prototypes were thrown in the garbage, never to be recovered.

There are a lot of games that had screen shots appear in various magazines and other proof of their existence turn up, but are never seen. This has happened a lot even just this past generation with games like Dead Phoenix . One of my ultimate dreams in life (along with going on a dinosaur hunt to bring back evidence of the Mokele M'bembe) is to find some kind of prototype "in the wild". This is why I always tell snowbot to keep an eye out for prototypes when we are hitting the pawnshops and flea markets. You never know when you might find a Donkey Kong's Music Play or a Police Academy