My SKU Rant

[rant]

You have been warned.

I haven' t had a really decent gaming-related rant in a while, maybe because nothing in the industry is freshly-annoying to me. This however, does.

PS3 - 20GB HDD - No Bluetooth - No Card Readers
PS3 - 60GB HDD - Bluetooth - Card Readers
PS3 - 80GB HDD - Bluetooth - Card Readers
PS3 - 80GB HDD Bundle Pack - Bluetooth - Card Readers (Unconfirmed longevity)

Xbox 360 Core - No HDD - No HDMI
Xbox 360 Core - No HDD - Unconfirmed HDMI support
Xbox 360 Premium - 20GB HDD - No HDMI
Xbox 360 Premium - 20GB HDD - HDMI - No HDMI cable
Xbox 360 Elite - Black - 120GB HDD - HDMI - HDMI cable
Xbox 360 Halo 3 LE - 20GB HDD- Unconfirmed (likely) HDMI support - No HDMI cable

Now, just look at the list. Let' s look back at where we were last generation at this point.

PS2
PS2 - PSO Online Adapter
Xbox

You could buy these same SKUs from the time they were released to the time they were discontinued. And if there was a revision to be made in internal hardware, it was made. If there was a revision they wanted in terms of ports, storage or color, it was put on the list for the next console, or released as a perhipheral.

It seems like every 3 months or so, we' re getting a new package, a new designation of what your " ultimate" gaming experience should be. For christ' s sake, we have 4 separate groups of people suffering from early-adoption blues in the SAME GENERATION!

A)Those who couldn' t get a Premium Xbox 360 at launch, and settled for a Core.
B)Those who bought a 60GB PS3 in Europe, only to find out that there was an 80.
C)Those who bought a 20GB PS3... nuff freaking said.
D)Those who got " the best" with an Xbox 360 Premium, only to find out there was still a " bestest" version in the works from all of those complaints at Xbox HQ

I' m getting really sick of Sony and Microsoft changing around their ideas of what their ultimate gaming machine should be. Game consoles aren' t like PCs, they' re nigh impossible to update on a year to year basis. Those who didn' t get HDMI in 2005 and 2006 can' t just head up to Best-Buy and pick up a new HDMI ready card.

Not only is this irritating to me, but it' s a real hinderance to the industry. A developer wants to specifically implement the HDD for something. Guess what? Too bad. One out of 6 models of the Xbox 360 doesn' t have it. Let' s just blow out a cool feature because Microsoft wasn' t bright enough to give us all HDDs in the first place.

I use Microsoft as a primary example, because while the PS3' s SKUs are irritating, they' re nowhere near as problematic as the 360' s. I mean, really, how many developers are going to want to use memory sticks as an integral part of their game?

I' m just amazed at how nearsighted both companies were this generation. I' m sure most of you will agree with me that we all thought the Core 360 wasn' t the brightest idea to come out of Redmond.

There' s more to this, but I should probably get ready for work now.

[/rant]

Eddie Oblivion took advantage of the HDD for those who had it.

And the new sticker " HDD req" is probably just for the future of MMORPGS.

Anyway if someone still has a core and no memory stick or hdd then he is retarded.

Even if you break 2 legs from a crab it still runs!
What you gotta do is find its weak spot and do massive damage at it.

Eddie Oblivion took advantage of the HDD for those who had it.

And the new sticker " HDD req" is probably just for the future of MMORPGS.

Anyway if someone still has a core and no memory stick or hdd then he is retarded.

Thats true, but it would no doubt be better if HDD was standard. It opens up a lot of new possibilities, and the developer wouldn' t worry one bit about making a game require it. As of right now, that isn' t the case as far as I' ve read in dev interviews.

I agree that Sony' s 80gb model is a bit of a pain, but really, 20gb isn' t gonna bother anyone but the cheapest of people. I could care less personally, a 120gb HD is $65 and 30 minutes of time away. As for the 20gb model, I think it should stay around, unless it would only cost Sony $25 less to make it, then they may as well offer the best to everyone. So yah, I don' t like them taking it away completely.

It really does surprise me how MS has decided to add HDMI to all 360' s. On the one hand, its the smart move, as it is the new industry standard for HD connections. On the other, it is a bit of a slap in the face to people who bought their consoles a few months ago and have a nice HDTV with HDMI inputs.

Eddie Oblivion took advantage of the HDD for those who had it.

I' m aware of that, and it was a smart move on their part to be sure. However, not making it standard means that developers can' t make HDD specific stuff standard.

And the new sticker " HDD req" is probably just for the future of MMORPGS.

That sticker is still up in the air right now. Until " we do not comment on rumor or speculation" Microsoft comes out and says something definite about it, I' m considering it filler on the Modern Warfare box art.

Anyway if someone still has a core and no memory stick or hdd then he is retarded.

Thats true, but it would no doubt be better if HDD was standard. It opens up a lot of new possibilities, and the developer wouldn' t worry one bit about making a game require it. As of right now, that isn' t the case as far as I' ve read in dev interviews.

Yeah... what he said.

I agree that Sony' s 80gb model is a bit of a pain, but really, 20gb isn' t gonna bother anyone but the cheapest of people. I could care less personally, a 120gb HD is $65 and 30 minutes of time away. As for the 20gb model, I think it should stay around, unless it would only cost Sony $25 less to make it, then they may as well offer the best to everyone. So yah, I don' t like them taking it away completely.

Sony' s methods are irritating, but nowhere near as bad as Microsoft' s.

I' m just wondering why they bothered making such a fuss over an extra 20 gigs. I mean, wouldn' t it just make more sense to release a Sony branded PS3 HDD as an accessory & pick up an insane amount of profit from the stupid people willing to buy one?

ORIGINAL: QuezcatoL

And the new sticker " HDD req"

So is that shit official now??? then why the hell are they still producing the core system, it just makes no sense at all.

Card readers, blutetooth, and HDMI are worthless.

And actually, the old PS2 models didn' t have optical sound outputs, and that actually makes more of a difference than HDMI on the new 360s.

They might req that sticker when mmorgp games get released.-

I doubt core owners play mmorpg anyway.

Even if you break 2 legs from a crab it still runs!
What you gotta do is find its weak spot and do massive damage at it.

THe whole advantage of consoles over PCs was they were supposed to have 1 universal SKU so developers knew exactly what they were developing for and customers new they have everything they need to play the games on the system (360 the main culprit with the core).

IMO these multiple SKU situation the 360 & ps3 are putting them closer to PC territory (well the 360 moreso then the ps3). To many options. PCs were for options & consoles should be all about standardization (?). Not a good direction IMO. Besides the ps1 & ps2 before it never had different SKUs and they were and still are (ps2) a huge success, so why decide that now was a good time to start with multiple SKU' s?

In my opinion this multiple SKU approach is okay, as long as there is one standard SKU every developer can build on and the differences between each SKU are only extras and so on. Like for example, I dont need a HDMI port and I doubt I' ll need one in the next few years. Therefore if I had the choice, I' d always take the one without HDMI if it' s cheaper.

I also don' t really see what all this bitching is about. I mean, look at the PS1/PS2, there have been a lot of changes over time. Removing ports, adding ports and so on, but nobody cared. The difference this time is, that you are actually given a choice. THe only flaw I see with SKUs is that they sometimes limit the people, i.e. you can only play a game on a certain version of a console (See PS2 and 360). This really sucks. But other than that I am all for multiple choice (as long as the internal architecture is not changed in a way that the devs have to develop with actually 2 plattforms in mind)

ORIGINAL: Terrak

THe whole advantage of consoles over PCs was they were supposed to have 1 universal SKU so developers knew exactly what they were developing for and customers new they have everything they need to play the games on the system (360 the main culprit with the core).

Well, thats still the case in every console and will still be until the " HDD required" 360 games start to come up

The only fucked up thing with SKUs is the xbox360 core, other than that there is no problem.

Developers dont have to design games for HDMI or Component, or for Card Readers, all of that is just extra connectivity options.

" THe whole advantage of consoles over PCs was they were supposed to have 1 universal SKU so developers knew exactly what they were developing for and customers new they have everything they need to play the games on the system (360 the main culprit with the core)."

You' re overstating the importance of a few minor features. Game development won' t change because one SKU has a memory card reader and another one does not. Even the fact that the 360 Core model is without a HDD won' t make jack all of a difference. If developers wanted to add support they can without the HDD being mandatory. Oblivion for example will see faster and less frequent load times if you have the HDD. Faster load times is pretty much the only feature that a game can offer for a console with a HDD in the first place. I don' t know what kind of magical game mechanics you think a HDD could provide for a game other than how the game loads.

The real advantage of a console is that the CPU, RAM and GPU are standard. Nothing else matters.

ORIGINAL: Agent Ghost
I don' t know what kind of magical game mechanics you think a HDD could provide for a game other than how the game loads.

Well, to be fair a HDD means a lot to a developer because with it you can maximize the efficient use of memory and present a load free, seamless experience during your hole game if thats the kind of approach you want, without the hard drive then you will have to make some sacrifices like loading times using some tricks to cover them up -like a huge door your team has to bring down, or very linear levels- it changes the way you approach game development because you are able to find/stream data faster, the importance of a mandatory hard drive becomes grater when a developer is creating a multiplatform game and when such game is very data driven -high poly counts, lots of animations, lots of navigation routines, physics routines, lots of AI routines high res textures etc.-, in such cases they have to make decisions that would affect all the versions of the game like less enemy' s on screen, smaller levels, less interactive environments, enemy' s that simply " dissapear" so they wont have to stream so much data.

And actually, the old PS2 models didn' t have optical sound outputs, and that actually makes more of a difference than HDMI on the new 360s.

Agreed.

The only ***ed up thing with SKUs is the xbox360 core, other than that there is no problem.

I think the biggest problem with the different SKUs is the 360 core, yeah. But if I wanted multiple gaming machines under the same brand & make, I' d buy Alienware.

Edit:

Okay...

So maybe I wouldn' t buy Alienware, not now.