Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news From: Mark Green Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.freetalk.english Subject: Re: Gamers are sheep. We are the shepherds. Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 14:23:07 +0000 Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE) Lines: 72 Message-ID: <36F25DCB.23C1CED1@reading.ac.uk> References: <01be6f35$d91f2780$0a3ddec2@sonia> <7ckb4r$fu96@chuka.playstation.co.uk> <01be6ff8$6ec48ce0$0a3ddec2@sonia> <36EF8EF0.D4CF5BF0@reading.ac.uk> <7con71$fu911@chuka.playstation.co.uk> <36F0195A.3B7D@antelope.demon.co.uk> <7cphn4$fu913@chuka.playstation.co.uk> <36F108B2.95EDF900@reading.ac.uk> <7cr2tq$fu916@chuka.playstation.co.uk> <36F12710.29B27D8C@reading.ac.uk> <7crmr0$1vd1@chuka.playstation.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: ssfmse3.rdg.ac.uk Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en Nick Ferguson wrote: > I think that your ideas are clever, but the simple fact is that a > significant (90%+) percentage of the PAL market don't know about the whole > PAL / NTSC thing (or at least, how it relates to console games). Hardware > add-ons to make games 'run better'? Imagine the hellish job games companies > would have explaining why people needed that! They might not need to, though. Many companies seem to do fairly well selling SCART cables and similar knowing that they make games run in higher resolution. Just say it's an "add-on to allow the console to exploit the advanced compatibility features of your television" or something. :) > Consumers are "dumb", and > complicating the beautiful simplicity of a true plug 'n play system is NOT > going to happen. I think it was a pretty brave move on Sony's part making > the new machine backwards-compatible. You can guarantee a significant number > of "uninformed consumers" are going to have trouble understanding that... It still will be plug'n'play, since the PAL versions will still work on UK TVs. It's just that I'd like the opportunity to have a plug-extra'n'play-better. :) But then, I agree that there's going to be all kinds of problems and I'm just looking at this from the point of view of an old-time PC user who's used to ripping their machine apart to switch boards around. Oh for a happy medium architecture.. (which then wouldn't sell because it wouldn't appeal enough to either margin.. :( ) > look at the misperceptions people have surrounding Minidisc and DVD. Even > the people selling it don't have a clue. I only heard a few "errors" about the Minidisc and DVD stuff, and most of the DVD ones were about DIVX? > Dual PAL / NTSC switching is not going to happen in the consumer > marketplace. It's only people like us that really care, no matter how wrong > that might be. I mean, look at the reprobates lurking in EB and @Jakarta for > God's sake! That is your buying public - the misinformed, gullible, ignorant > swine looking at (and seriously considering) PS Fantastic Four, > pontificating "Oddworld - that's 2D, it's crap" and "N64 is shit because the > games are all full of cute things". Yes, I know, it's people like us, but also the other clueful people who don't use their knowledge in such an acceptable way. Whenever I see somebody selling chips, they always use the "speed increase" as an advantage to the customer - and that applies whether they're a proper importer selling non-pirate chips or a dodgy geeza in a boot sale with a bunch of HKs on the stand next to them. And if these "clueless" people see an advantage like that, they're liable to take it. I agree about some of the junk you see on the ngs, but what is more worrying and interesting is so many of these people seem to regard Sony as their enemy, even though they've developed this excellent console they're using. Pirates can obviously go and jump (off a bridge onto concrete).. but why spark all this rage amoung legal folk who just want to run their games full speed (or even play imports)? I honestly can't see where Sony loses from allowing people either of them. If we are the shepherds, we should know that we need to keep the sheep happy following us, instead of getting them to go and follow the dodgy one in the corner, even if he is going straight to the slaughterhouse. And if that other shepherd manages to point out any of these, he might not need to explain anything technical, he can just tap into that old classic large-companies-must-be-evil-and-bad wrath which is so prevalant. > there must be, eh? I mean, I know people who hate Goldeneye and Mario 64 but > L-O-V-E Tomb Raider 3 - part of me wants to love and accept their flaws, but > the other half just wants to smash the unworthy li'l bastards' N64 into > itty-bitty pieces. Buy a Spectrum and learn some goold old-fashioned 8-bit > respect, you spoilt brat! Well, can I shyly put my hand up and admit that I like Mario 64 but not Tomb Raider or Goldeneye? Mind you, I did not play Goldeneye very much, and when I did it was multiplayer against a bunch of deadeyes who revelled in hitting each other in the back with the Golden Gun, so..