I'm still feeling the glow.
13 May 05

It's Friday the 13th. That's considered unlucky around some parts. Given that today is my Father's birthday and my first nephew was born today, I can't complain about the day. Happy Birthday Dad and Andrew.

There have been some complaints about Perfect Dark Zero not being impressive on the MTV special and some of the new screenies and videos. Personally, I'm not too worried. With rush demos on just finalized (maybe?) hardware, any bells and whistles that don't work fully are dumped to keep gameplay going. I'm sure the final version will be quite impressive when you see it in action in High Definition. I still don't know if any FPS will have the wow factor that Halo pulled off in its day.

There have been other complaints that the MTV special was a slap in the face of hardcore gamers. Some viewed it as Microsoft saying, "We know we've got you geeks with the hardware specs. We're trying to appeal to the big bucks in the mass market." I don't think that's what they meant at all.

I've mentioned before that being cool and popular is very new thing for Microsoft. They've been big and rich, but that doesn't buy cool and popular. The Xbox was the most powerful console of this generation. It had the most features. It had the best online service. Once they got the controller fiasco worked out, it surged to the top of the coolness meter. Like any geek that's tasted popularity, Microsoft doesn't want to let that go. Of course, in a more calculated way, they want to turn some of that Xbox chic into 360 hype and love. That was really more of what the MTV thing was about.

In other 360 buzz, rumors are that the price point will be ... wait for it ... $360. Kind of silly but not unreasonable. I'd prefer sticking with the $299, but I'd rather pay $360 for the console and still get $50 games instead of a cheaper console with $70 games. I still think that $70 price point will be unpalatable to the mass market. Incrementalism might work, but I still say the sweet spot is lower, not higher at least once the customer base has been established.

Another rumor to be cleared up is the matter of Xbox 360 backwards compatibility. Apparently, all questions will be answered at Monday's press conference. It's bad PR if it's not available in some form, but it's not really a system killer.

There have been reports confirming that the Nintendo Revolution controllers will all be wireless. Will Sony make that a trifecta?

Speaking of Sony, they let out a rumor today. It seems they want people to think the PS3 might come out this year. Boy this could get ugly. Remember Sony is only trying to put doubt in the heads of potential Xbox 360 customers. Should I wait for the new hotness? That's the question they want everyone asking. The new EGM's rumor column has a report that some Xbox 360 developers are shifting their projects over to the PS3. True or not, Sony is already building doubt.

E3 is next week. Please forgive any inane comments I make. In fact, let's just make that a standing request.

Jason