"In three to five years [the PS3] will become dominant on the market."

So speaketh outgoing Sony exec David Reeves.  Here's another tidbit:

"The legacy will be that people will see a tortoise and hare situation. In a way, in the end it will be a dead heat."

It would be an interesting thing if that would happen.  The PS3 is definitely heating up (and not in a RROD way either), but there's still the major problem that Sony doesn't seem to care about:  Price.

Regular readers of this site will note the poll on the side of the site that indicates that the PS3 should be my next system.  I would be okay with that, but for me to track down a PS3 that has PS2 BC and that WON'T cost me an arm and a leg isn't an exciting prospect.  In other words, I would really love a PS3 if I didn't have to pay so much for it.

Like all things in life, everything's better when you don't have to pay as much for it, but there has to be some balance between the cost of a system and how much fun it is.  Right now, I'm in the same boat as a lot of consumers:  My Wii is still fun, so why should I go out and spend upwards of $500 on something that's not going to appreciably improve my situation?  If I buy a used one, who knows what issues I'll have with it.  There's always that risk with anything used.  If I buy a new one, I don't get to play any of the PS2 games that I want.  How can I justify that purchase?

So, David, I appreciate the sentiment, and I do wish Sony the best.  I want them to be in a good position in the market because I loved my PS2.  But on your way out the door, can you just quickly drop the prices on the PS3?  I mean, what are they gonna do, fire you?

MLB Dugout Heroes Impressions

After playing two games in MLB Dugout Heroes, I have to say I'm mildly intrigued.  I was hoping it would be more like Cal Ripken's Real Baseball, where you'd make a player and have him run through his motions, but controlling a whole team is fun too.

So far, I'm finding out that people, especially lower-level ones, have difficulty learning how to control their pitches.  I had a game where I walked in several runs.  I won one game 11-0 when the computer evoked a mercy rule.  Now, I've been playing baseball games for a while so I have a half-way decent eye for pitches, but I have a tendency to swing at junk an awful lot.  So, the fact that I'm winning so well on lower levels bodes well for me.

However, I'm not going to be able to play anymore.  Why?  MY FREAKING COMPUTER DIED!  I don't know if it was my ethernet card or what, but first my processor overheated, and now the internet doesn't work.  I'm going to try an OS reinstall and see if that fixes the card, and if not I have to go out and get another card.  Fun.

Catching Up With Older Games

So, I've been playing catchup this past week with some other games that I hadn't played before.  I've already talked a little about Drawn To Life, which is a so-so platformer wrapped around a really cool concept that makes it play that much better.  I've also been digging into Meteos and Lunar Knights to see how they play.

Meteos is an interesting case.  I mean, we've played block matching games how many times before, right?  There shouldn't really be anything fresh with the concept, but it's surprisingly good.  It's frantic and fun in a way that most puzzlers aren't anymore.  I found myself gritting my teeth in concentration, which I haven't done in a while.

Lunar Knights I've only just started.  I'm interested to see where it goes, since the first dungeon is reasonably interesting.  It seems to play fairly solidly at first glance.

I'm also probably going to download MLB Dugout Heroes tomorrow.  I'll let you know how it is.

Drawn To Life Impressions

So, I went back into the vault to check out Drawn To Life.  This game was made by the people behind the excellent Lock's Quest, and they seem to have a very strong grasp on the kinds of games I like.  They quietly save in the background so you don't have to screw around with save screens, and they're chock full of great ideas that are simple to execute.

The idea in Drawn To Life is that YOU draw your character, YOU draw platforms, YOU draw your weapons.  Of course, my character is a smiling guy with bloody stumps for arms.  I had to draw a sled and I wrote INFIDELS across it, which was even more fun when I ran over about 20 enemies in a row with it.  So far so good.

Why I Love Fantasy Baseball

So, I've needed closers for a bit. There are a couple of teams that have several, and I have one who barely ever plays. I was hassling one of the teams to see if he's trade me a closer, and he was adamant that he wanted one of my best players for one of his closers. I thought, "Screw that noise."

There was a team with tons of closers who wasn't doing so hot. I made an offer and he wasn't really impressed with who I had to offer him. He made a counter-offer where he packaged TWO CLOSERS for Andre Ethier (a great young player, but playing way over his head right now) and Jarrod Washburn (who will also come down to earth soon as well). How could I pass that up?

I love fantasy baseball.

Conduit Dated...June 23, 2009

It's coming out on the 23rd of June!  You know what else?  I saw the box art!  It's rated T for Teen!  This makes me so happy!

Can't Touch This

First, I'm out of Hamels/MC Hammer jokes.  Second, what a great win for the Brewers, and third, a line drive off of Hamels' shoulder?  Yeouch!  That had to hurt.  Hope he'll be ok.  He's a good young pitcher.