Show Me Your Bundle Face Baby: 360 Bundles Are Coming Soon!

If there is one thing that I irrationally love in life, it is free games bundled in with a console. No matter how mediocre those games actually are, I will love them with all my heart forever and ever.

Several months ago Kotaku posted the anomalous images above as proof of an upcoming holiday bundle for the 360 which included Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Now Ars Technica is getting in on the action claiming they have mole who has substantiated these claims and even gone so far as to set street dates: October 9th for the Premium and October 23rd for the Elite. Bestbuy.com even had the new models briefly posted on their website before they were pulled. It looks pretty definite that these bundles are coming soon! Those of us who have waited until this year to buy a 360 will be rewarded greatly for our patience.

XBOX 360 Indian Ad

For your pleasure, I present to you an XBOX 360 ad from India that is quite a bit more awesome than any i have ever seen over here.

New EGM Scores for the Masses

And as usual, monkblog has obtained the latest EGM scores ahead of time. Nothing too shocking this month. A great month of games though, just looking at the games that I would be at least somewhat interested in owning is staggering, and the holiday season has just begun! Metroid Prime 3 (which I already own, thanks Brett!), Stranglehold, Skate, Phantom Hourglass, Castlevania PSP, FF Tactics....argh, the mind boggles!

I plan on posting more in depth thoughts on Metroid Prime 3 but I will only say that it's control scheme is the best FPS control scheme ever, even better than the 360's Dual Analogs or a traditional Mouse/Keyboard. The game of the month award is well deserved.

Metroid Prime 3 (Wii): 9 (Mark), 8.5 (Shane), 8.5 (Jeremy)-Game of the Month (Tie)
Mercury Revolution Meltdown(Wii)- 8 (Nick), 6 (A. Fitch), 7.5 (Jenn Frank)
NBA Live 08(Ps3/360): 6.5 (Bryan), 6.5 (Todd), 7.5 (Garnett)
Stranglehold(360 reviewed)- 7.5 (Joe), 8 (Matt), 7.5 (G. Ford)
NHL 2k8 (Also reviewed on 360):4 (Bryan), 5 (Demian), 6 (G. Sewart)
Fifa 08(PS3/360): 9 (Todd), 9 (John), 8 (Andrew P.)-Game of the Month (Tie)
Skate (PS3/360): 9 (Nick), 8 (Jennifer), 6.5 (Todd)
Flatout: Ultimate Carnage (360): 9 (Greg Sewart), 8 (John), 7.5 (Gord)
Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck (DS): 8 (Michael), 6 (Nick), 8 (John)
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS): 8 (Milky), 9 (Jeremy), 9 (Shane)-Game of the Month (Tie)
FF Tactics: The Lion War (PSP): 8.5 (Jeremy), 8.5 (Milky), 8 (Shoe)
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (PSP): 8 (A. Fitch), 8 (Brooks), 6.5 (Nick)
Castlevania: The dracula X Chronicles (PSP): 8 (Jeremy), 9 (Shane), 8 (Mark)
Star Wars Battlefront-Renegade Squadron(PSP)- 6 (Shoe), 7 (Skip), 6 (Michael)
Hot PXL (PSP)- 5.5 (Nick), 5.5 (Shane), 6 (Jennifer)

Retro Game Friday: Atari 2600 Mario Bros

I am going to try to start a new semi-regular feature here at monk-blog where every friday I take a look back at some classic title from the distant past. Today I am going to look at the game that has the coveted status of being the first game I ever actually purchased full price new.

Think back to the summer of 88. I was in first grade, the NES was reinvigorating a videogame market that had been on the brink of oblivion, and kids on playgrounds everywhere were talking about some amazing game called Super Mario Brothers. The fanciful tales these children spun was enough to blow the mind of someone who had only played Atari games up to that point. Imagine! Secret warp worlds? A side scrolling adventure with different screens and backgrounds? A game that actually had an end instead of just continuing infinitely? It could scarely be believed at the time. After playing an arcade version of it at Alco, I knew I had to own this game. The only difficult part would be obtaining an NES, so what was an Atari-only owner to do? Perusing through the Sears catalog that year revealed the next best thing, Atari 2600 Mario Bros!

Ah yes, Mario Brothers! I remembered playing it once at the Kansas State Fair's arcade area. I didn't really like it at the time truth be told, but I was willing to give it another shot. So for my birthday that year, I received a brand spanking new copy of Mario Brothers. I had never owned a new game before so it was quite a big deal. After actually firing up the game, it didn't quite measure up to the big game Mario game on NES, but it was quite addicting and went on to be one of my two or three favorite games on the Atari.

Now a days it doesn't seem to get the love that it deserves, being overshadowed by other games from the era like Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-man. But it truly is one of the best Pre-NES games out there and the Atari version was one of the best arcade ports on the system. Basically the gameplay consisted of trying to kill an endless stream of monsters coming out of some pipes. They can only be killed by jumping and hitting the platform they are on from below to knock them over, and then jumping up and touching them to deliver the finishing blow. But beware! if you don't' kill them in time the monsters enter a "beserker mode" where they turn color and are twice as fast, basically the precursor to Resident Evil's crimson heads. Enemies included koopas, giant flies, crabs, and the dreaded Mr. Icicle which can turn the entire floor that he is on to ice.

Mario Bros true claim to fame was being perhaps the best coop game on the 2600. Instead of taking turns, you played with a second player simultaneously. You could either cooperate, or try to screw over your partner by hitting an flipped over enemy just as your partner was about to touch it to bring it back to life. Probably my best memories of the game were the wars that would result with Rob when one of us "accidentially" flipped over an enemy.

Anyway, if you have never played Mario Brothers, check it out.. You can find a version of it on any of the Mario Advance games and the 2600 ROM is readily available all over the web.

Retro Review Score: A

Oh, and one last thing. I leave you with the greatest videogame commercial ever.

Sony at TGS: "We Are Sending PS3 to Die This Holiday!"

Sony really had a lot riding on their Tokyo gameshow press conference this year, definitely much more than any other year in their history. If Sony wanted to have a legitimate shot of stemming the tide of the massive Wii/360 onslaught this year they needed to really knock TGS out of the park. Their track record this year gave some reason for optimism with strong "Gamer's Day" and E3 performances. Sadly however, for Sony fans, TGS proved to be a complete debacle.

Most pundits believed that if Sony could have delivered on a some kind of big game announcement like FF VII remake or unveiled the rumored 40 gig system, they could have easily claimed a decisive victory. Sony did neither of those things. In fact, they didn't announce any new games period. But let's look at the big bombs Sony dropped this year (which were actually more comparable to small firecrackers).

-New footage of Afrika (which is impressive, but they still haven't shown anything in-game, leaving one to speculate on how far along in development this game really is).
-A new rumble-added controller, the Dual Shock 3, which, as cool as it may be, should have been available at launch. Having it debut months after launch is shameful. Not only does it screw over some games that could have really benefited from it like Resistance and Motorstorm, but it splits the userbase which could lead third parties to consider whether they will invest resources to support this device that only a small percentage of the userbase owns.
-They announced Home would be delayed until March 2008(which isn't really the kind of bad news you usually want to put in your press conference).
-No 40 gig model or even a price drop for the 80 gig was announced.
-Again, no new games were announced whatsoever.

Sony will have to rely on third parties to come through for them with some big announcements if they want to have any hope of salvaging this TGS. But the fact remains, this was the last big event for Sony to build up some hype for their system before the holidays and they dropped the ball in a big way. The same day Sony had their press conference, Microsoft turned up the heat on Sony even further by dropping the Viva Pinata Party Animals demo on XBOX Live. Sony really needed to shock and awe us here, and instead they got exactly the opposite.

So the situation Sony is going to be in this holiday is a $500-$600 system with a major software gap against it's competitors. Barring something highly unexpected, it is this blogger's opinion that the PS3 is going to wither on the vine this holiday. 2008 looks brighter, but by then will the dye have already been cast?

This blog has mentioned the console "death spiral" in the past, where lack of sales leads to less third party support, which leads to even less sales, which leads to even less third party support, etc. While some would argue that Sony has already entered this death spiral, I don't think things have reached that point yet, but a catastrophic holiday season could easily put them there. Sony has to find some way to hold the line this year until they can launch their all out offensive in early 2008. Can they do it? Time will tell.

Afrika TGS Trailer

Here is some more good news for PS3 fans. Sony is set for a game of the show bid with Afrika, one of the most intriguing games to be announced for the system. Apparently the game is a Pokemon Snap knockoff of sorts where you get to roam around a stunning HD version of the African Safari and explore. The trailer is now up, right click and save this baby.
LINK

57 Things We Know Because of Games

This was pretty amusing, our gamers out there should get most of the items on the list.

LINK

Mario Galaxy Pre-Order Bonus!

Pre-ordering Mario Galaxy just got a whole lot sweeter with the revelation of this special coin that the first 400,000 pre-orders will get. Looks like Nintendo is really going to try to push Mario Galaxy to be the number one seller this holiday.

New FF VII Game and Kingdom Hearts III Coming to PS3? Rumors Gain Strength

Thanks to some info I have gathered from Japanese messageboard "ni chan" (2chan.net), the rumors around a new FF VII game coming to PS3 have just gathered some new strength. 2chan has notoriously leaked info about games several times in the past so it is a source to not dismiss out of hand. But in any event, it is rumored that the following games are going to be announced at the upcoming Tokyo Gameshow.

- Endless Crisis: Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation 3)
- Kingdom Hearts III [temporary title] (PlayStation 3)
- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories 2 (Nintendo DS)
- Kingdom Hearts 0 (PSP)

This would definitely be a huge coup for Sony if they landed exclusive rights to not only a new FF VII game and a new Kingdom Hearts game. Shortly after, a scan of an unknown new Kingdom Hearts game featuring last-gen level graphics appeared on German site gamefront.de.
LINK

Whether this is proof of a supposed PSP Kingdom Hearts game (which by extension would lend creedence to the other games rumored) or proof of a Wii Kingdom Hearts game (which I have heard rumored from other sources) remains to be seen. But this could be the biggest positive news for PS3 ever if it's true.

One things for sure, monk-blog will continue to follow this rumor to the ends of the earth if necessary and will keep bringing you the hot gossip you won't find on any of the mainstream gaming sites.

August NPDs: Attack of the Analysts

As promised, here is some exclusive commentary from the industry's top analyst, Jason "Snowbot" R. I have had to pay through the nose to secure exclusive rights to this interview, but monkblog will go to any lengths to deliver the highest quality content of any blog out there.

"Monkspider has struck some key points in his analysis this month, so I'll try to focus on a couple minor points. First is the oddity of Two Worlds appearing in the top 20. This "poor mans Oblivion" has gotten abysmal to mediocre scores awarding it an avg of 54% on gamerankings.com. The fact that so many people are clamoring for any non-shooter hardcore game indicates to me that Microsoft is succeeding in moving beyond the user base of the original XBOX, while still staying true to its promise of being the hardcore gamer's console. Its also an encouraging sign for the upcomming sci-fi WRPG Mass Effect.

I also find the Wii Madden sales numbers intriguing. I would consider the Madden series to have enough mass appeal to be considered a casual game. A lot of casual gamers only play sports games, and probably most play Madden. Now, while these could be considered casual gamers, they probably still make up that same young male demographic that Nintendo is not targeting anyway. But what I'm getting at is, have we seen solid evidence that the casual gamers Nintendo is targeting actually buy games? Many I know have been happy with Wii Sports for months on end. Perhaps a good test will be with the release of Guitar Hero 3, which will sell by the truckload. Assuming that the hardcore gamers who gave strong sales to Metroid this month will opt for the 360/PS3 version of GH3 for its better online features and graphics, Wii's guitar hero sales would then be only supported by those more casual gamers who only own a Wii. This is merely conjecture, but if true would make for an interesting figure.

Finally a couple predictions: The 360 will further close the gap on the Wii as Halo 3 boosts console sales even more and Wii declines slightly from no major releases. PS3 will suffer further as the effects of the price drop continue to fade."

In this blogger's opinion, Jason makes some great points. Two Worlds could be proof of a vast untapped demand for WRPGs, and Guitar Hero 3 will be an interesting litmus test for all the consoles this holiday season.

August NPDs: Bioshocked!

It's what you have been waiting for, and I personally think these are the most interesting numbers this blog has had the privilege to cover.

Hardware Unit Sales
Wii 403.6 K
Nintendo DS 383.3K
Xbox 360 276.7K
PlayStation 2 202K
PlayStation Portable 151.2 K
PlayStation 3 130.6K
GBA 69.5K

Top 20 SKU's
360 MADDEN NFL 08 896.6K
PS2 MADDEN NFL 08 643.6K
360 BIOSHOCK 490.9K
PS3 MADDEN NFL 08 336.2K
WII PLAY W/ REMOTE 256.8K
WII METROID PRIME 3: CORRUPTION 218.1K
WII MARIO STRIKERS: CHARGED 147.4K
PS2 GUITAR HERO 2 W/GUITAR 145.4K
WII MARIO PARTY 8 138.3K
PS2 GUITAR HERO ENCORE: ROCKS THE 80S 127.1K
XBX MADDEN NFL 08
WII MADDEN NFL 08
NDS BRAIN AGE 2: MORE TRAINING IN MINUTES A
360 TWO WORLDS
NDS POKEMON DIAMOND VERSION
NDS HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: MAKIN THE CUT
360 GUITAR HERO 2 W/ GUITAR
PSP MADDEN NFL 08
NDS POKEMON PEARL VERSION
360 TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 08

PS3 Lair = 46.5K
Warhawk w/headset= 58.6K
Blue Dragon = 53.6K


Maaaan, so much to extrapolate here. Let's start with the Wii. Clearly another month of ho-hum Nintendo domination. The Wii beat the DS again for the second month in a row. Mario Strikers shows some decent legs, sticking around in the top ten for another month, as well as the more casual friendly Mario Party and Wii Play. Metroid Prime 3 was only out for a week but it posted the kind of sales totals that prove that hardcore games will sell on the Wii.

But, and here is the most interesting statistic of the month in my opinion, Madden wii was not only outsold by the 360 as most expected, but outsold by PS3 Madden and even effing XBOX 1 Madden? What on earth is going on here? I honestly don't even know where to begin speculating on the meaning of this. Is this more proof that Wii is creating an all new audience that doesn't share the same tastes as traditional gamers? Does it mean that sports fans don't want waggle? Does it mean that third parties just aren't going to sell on the Wii, full stop? It really is a head scratcher that I think will prove to be a very interesting figure to keep in mind in the future months when trying to decipher the future of the console war. Another unexpected Wii bomb was Boogie. This one had mainstream appeal written all over it, but it didn't even crack the top twenty. Are third parties really DOA on Wii? This could prove significant in the future given the insane third party sales on 360.

Even though it was outsold by the Wii, the 360's performance gets my award for "most improved" this month. First of all, it's sales increased dramatically thanks to the recent price drop, allowing it to nearly cross the 300k threshold. If these sales keep up, it is quite possible the 360 is going to be able to challenge the Wii every month. Software sales have been great too, with software sales on 360 outselling wii and PS3 *combined* and there are two very significant software titles this month I want to draw extra attention too.

First of all, Bioshock. Here was a game that John Davisson on 1up Yours said in his most optimistic of scenarios would sell 400k lifetime worldwide. After only being out two weeks, it has already sold 500k in North America alone. Considering the subject matter of the game, it is very inspiring to see these kinds of sales results, and it definitely should give any gamer a lot of hope for the future. The other really big one is 360 Madden which outsold PS2 Madden for the first time ever. This fact combined with the bomb that is Madden wii points to a scenario that the traditional PS2 audience may be migrating in bigger numbers to the 360 than the wii. The only bad news for the 360 is that freaking Two Worlds outsold Blue Dragon, granted Blue Dragon was released pretty late in the month, it is still a shame to see. One last note, the 360 outsold the PS2 for only the second time ever, can this continue?

Finally, the most disappointing console this month was the PS3. After seeing a one month "goose" in sales thanks to the pseudo price drop, the PS3 fell precipitously this month, nearly to the same levels we were seeing back in the $599 days. This is definitely *not* what you want to see happen so quickly after a price drop. The real killer though for the PS3 has always been utterly abysmal software sales. Luckily, the system got a little bit of help this month. Warhawk has posted some decent early numbers. It was only released for four days of the period NPD tracked and it sold a respectable 58k. We will have to wait until next month to get more info, but it is shaping up to be a solid seller. I was ready for it to bomb being a full-priced multiplayer only game, but it appears to have some strong word of mouth in the game community, with some going so far as to term it "WOWhawk". In other positive news, Madden PS3 beat expectations and ended up selling to nearly 25% of the userbase in North America.

But despite this, the PS3 is still a very tough spot. NPD official Anita Frazier is apparently starting to lose faith in the system. ""There is no doubt that the window that Sony has to turn this around and bolster their position in the marketplace is narrowing," she said. "With only 4 months left in this calendar year, November and December will be absolutely critical to them to gain more solid ground with the PS3. That said, the story is still not fully written, but it's coming much closer to being so." It is clear Sony's strategy isn't working and it really needs to try something different if it wants to avoid becoming the next Saturn/Gamecube. The rumored $400 40 gig model we keep hearing about might be just what they need to finally get on the right track.

Well, that's it for this month. I hope to have some exclusive interviews with senior industry analysts up on the blog with the week, so stay tuned.

In other news, I am going to the State Fair tomorrow, wish me luck at finding a fake Pikachu or something to win for Aeris.

Bioshock: Is it the G.O.A.T?

That's "greatest of all time" for you newbies out there. Let's take a look at some of the reviews Bioshock has received. Game Informer? 10. Official Xbox Magazine UK? 10. 1up.com? 10. EGM? 10, 10, 10. Clearly Bioshock is the highest reviewed game in recent memory. There has been some speculation that it might even be the highest reviewed game of all time. A lot of games try to hype themselves up to be the G.O.A.T, but Bioshock may be the first game since Super Mario Brothers 3 to legitimately aspire to the title. To try to settle this debate I have brought in two of the most respected analysts in the gaming industry: Brett "Mad-Gasser" K. and Jason "Snowbot" R.

Brett K

"Bioshock can be called a great game because one could easily argue for it being the greatest game of all time, and one could also argue for it not being the greatest game of all time. For me the story gets high marks along with the amazing environment, and tension that the game brings. While I would put Bioshock in my top ten all time greatest game experiences; playing Bioshock at night with the sound turned up is very disturbing, I'm not sure if I would put it at number one. For me number one would be a game that had both action and humor, and an amazing story that made you zone out in class just thinking about going home and diving right back into it. For me the number one choice for gaming experience is Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. While I did only beat Bioshock on medium, I never found myself wanting to throw the controller at the screen unlike certain missions in GTA Vice City that would make a person want to kill just to beat the mission. It all comes down to personal taste, but for me it's wearing a nice 80's tee driving around listening to Wildstyle and getting ready to enter a mall with a chainsaw."

Jason R.

I dont know if there will ever be a game that a majority will agree is the best game of all time, because so many personal factors play a role in such a decision, such as taste and experience. And then do you do keep the game marked as it compared to other games in its time, or do you directly compare a game 10 years old to one of the current generation? Instead I will take a different approach and proclaim that Bioshock is thus far the most important game of this generation.

But first, my impressions of the game as a whole. The first thing most will notice about Bioshock is the beautiful world that Rapture is. The graphics are slick and the water effects are amazing. But more than that, its the incredible art direction and unique atmosphere that sets it apart. Amongst the plethora of WWII and Sci-Fi shooters, its refreshing to see such a new concept. Rapture is an underwater utopia inhabited by societies most gifted and productive, only to be ravaged and twisted into a nightmarish world by the inhabitants' greed and ambition. And no resource was spared in the detail of the environments. Everywhere you go there are posters, statues, and music that keep your immersed in this incredible world.

Much of the environment is interactive, whether it be knocking over chairs, opening air duct vents, or melting ice. In addition to that there are boundless weapons at your disposal. You have the typical assortment of melee and ballistic weapons which can all be upgraded and fit with custom ammo. You also pick up new powers called plasmids along the way, which let you move objects with telekinesis, set things on fire, or electrocute with "force lightning". And your options for destruction don't end there. Another level of interactivity with the environment is your hacking abillity. You can hack security cameras and gun turrets to fire on the local inhabitants of Rapture. Nothing is more satisfying to me than setting the game world against its own creations.There are even plasmids that allow you to set the enemies against each other!

The game has no multiplayer but the single player is of good length, and to get the full experience you really have to complete it twice, because the game takes a different direction based on your decisions in game for a different ending. Also there are plenty of upgrades and plasmids to experiment with to make two play-throughs pretty different experiences.

So all of this exemplifies what makes Bioshock so great. But what makes it so important to gaming? This game provides the ultimate argument that games are art. And not just in the visuals. Its difficult to discuss without disclosing spoilers, but the story of Rapture is not just good but perhaps the most ambitious ever put in a video game. Andrew Ryan is one of the most fascinating characters ever and the philosophical undertones of the story creates an amazing depth that can be missed, but is so good if you really get whats going on. So what we have is a game thats ambitious in concept, design and story with high production values and geared for adults, and it has been a critical and commercial success. That in my mind is what makes it the most important game of this generation, and a beacon of hope for gaming's future."

There you have it folks, exclusive thoughts from two of the industry's senior analysts, and well, it looks like this debate is not going to be settled tonight. Is Bioshock truly the G.O.A.T? It appears that only time will tell. But one thing is certain, anyone who calls themselves a gamer needs to experience it firsthand as soon as possible.

Just to close, here are some interesting thoughts from an article called "The Cultural Contradictions of Libertarianism" that seemed eerily echo many of the themes from Bioshock's Randian dystopia.




"...On the one hand, libertarians make a fetish of freedom; it is their totalizing goal. On the other hand, libertarians depend on the family--an institution that, in crucial respects, is unfree--to produce the sort of people best suited to life in a free-market system (not to mention future members of their own movement). The complex, dynamic economy that libertarians have done so much to expand needs highly advanced human capital--that is, individuals of great moral, cognitive and emotional sophistication. Reams of social-science research prove that these qualities are best produced in traditional families with married parents.

Family breakdown, by contrast, limits the accumulation of such human capital. Worse, divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing leave the door wide open for big government. Dysfunctional families create an increased demand for state-funded food, housing and medical subsidies, which libertarians reject on principle. And in courts all over the country, judges who preside over the manifold disputes occasioned by broken families are forced to be more intrusive than the worst mother-in-law: They decide who should have primary custody, who gets a child on Christmas or summer holidays, whether a child should take piano lessons, go to Hebrew school, move to California, or speak to her grandmother on the phone. It is a libertarian's worst nightmare....

Libertarianism did not have to take this unfortunate turn. Ludwig von Mises himself warned that the attempt (of socialists) to undermine the family was a ploy to strengthen the state. Hayek, too, grasped the family's role in upholding the free market. Coming of age in Europe around the time of World War I, he stressed the state's inefficiency but also warned, more generally, of the limits of human reason. "Hayek's economics was rooted in man's ignorance," Mr. Doherty writes; so were his political views, which included both an enthusiasm for freedom and a Burkean respect for customs and institutions.

It is difficult to say why this aspect of libertarianism has faded away, but the sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset once provided a partial answer. In Europe and elsewhere, he observed, modern radicals have tended to be of a Marxist, collectivist bent; in America, with its peculiar Lockean legacy and Jeffersonian ideals, radicals have gone to the other extreme, searching for absolute freedom. It is a quest that has left little room for the confining demands of family and other unchosen social bonds.

Libertarians come in many flavors, of course, but they share certain enthusiasms beyond free-market economics. They are often great consumers of science fiction, with an avid interest in space travel. And they have an almost unlimited enthusiasm for biotechnology, especially for advances that might allow us to manipulate our natures and extend our lives. Taken together, these elements constitute what might be called the libertarian dream--the dream of shaping your own meaning, liberated from family, from the past, from tradition, from biology, and perhaps even from the earth itself."

Fear Not Sony Fans!

I found this gem on the Neogaf forums.



This cut-and-run defeatism is disrespectful to Sony's hardworking engineers. The industry needs to stay the course!

Sony's supply surge needs to be given time to succeed before anyone can pass judgment. Don't let the obstructionist congress of third-party developers backstab Chief Operating Officer Kaz. It is still more than possible to achieve a reasonable outcome such as equal market partition.

Look at all the progress Sony is making on the supply side of things. While Nintendo's manufacturing is strained and overwhelmed, and Microsoft's failure rate is unprecedented, Sony's world-class hardware engineers are working overtime for great results. For example, since launch, the difficulty of obtaining a PS3 has steadily declined. There has also been notable success containing the competition in locations such as New Zealand. Although other measurements may not show as much success, these are still very important benchmarks that give reason for optimism.

In fact you could even say that the trends are such that, given persistent effort over the long haul, Sony is almost guaranteed to succeed -- provided the developers don't cut their PS3 game budgets, dooming a winnable console war to failure. (Just like they backstabbed the Betamax even though, with its technological prowess, it was going to succeed.)

True, supply does not on its own win a console war -- consumer reconciliation is also required. But the supply-side successes provide valuable breathing room to consumers for them to change their minds about the PS3. And after initial PR failures, Sony has learned their lesson -- the role of General PR Officer has been given to Dave Karraker, a highly competent public relations professional who rose up the ranks by his own merits, and in fact wrote the book on countering bad press. Before deciding whether the surge has worked or not, we should wait until the next GDC where he will give a keynote to developers. It would be disrespectful to him and intellectually dishonest not to give his opinions a hearing.

Giving up on the PS3 now means a vicious rout to the PS3's competitors, depriving millions of innocent people from impressive HD graphics and creating a threat even to Sony's headquarters. Would you have all of the engineers' sacrifices be in vain?

Monk-Blog Special Feature: Yesterday's Tomorrow

One topic I have always found fascinating is what the society of yesteryear believed the future of today would most likely resemble. I am happy to announce I have a couple really interesting articles for you today. One is an article from a December 1900 issue of Ladies Home Journal that discusses what may happen in the next hundred years. In some respects, we have failed to meet their expectations (we are not purchasing groceries by pneumatic tube, sadly). But their highest expectation of music reproduction was perfect quality grand opera being telephoned to private homes. It is definitely a fascinating read, check it out.

Another cool article is this one, it is a series of French postcards from 1900 showing what life would be like in 2000. The combination of 19th century fashion and architecture merged with fanciful steampunkish technology make these especially delightful.
A similar collection of German postcards can be found here

Retro Flashback: Nintendo Power Donkey Kong Country Promotional Video

I know that a lot of my readers are big fans of the classic Starfox Nintendo Power tape. Check out this awesome video from 1994 for the original Donkey Kong Country. The 90's were so rad, man.

Breaking News: Microsoft to Have Home-Like Service Called "CoolRoom"!

Breaking News!

Will this give Microsoft the edge it needs to once again pull ahead in the console war? Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery for Sony?