I got bored this morning... so I decided to resurrect my old NationStates country "Lupantis". I let it go into archival mode a very long time ago, and, apparently, they let you reactivate old accounts. Some things reverted to default, like my flag (which I found the image of on my harddrive, which was good) and the region I'm a part of, but everything else is exactly how it was when I left... that's pretty cool, y0. Don't know if anyone else plays anymore, but I felt like experimenting with governments.

...what post of mine these days would be complete without some dirt on Sony? Heeheehee. First, it seems Sony's messed up on taxes (Digg) related to the Playstation, in general. Apparently, they owe 243 million US dollars, and Sony's going to attempt to fight it. I just find it ironic that Sony's being plagued by such things after all the craziness in the recent past. (PS3 contradictions, competition accusations, rootkit fiasco, etc...)

Remember when people were making fun of the first Xbox when it was released? How absolutely gargantuan it was? Well, people are starting to notice the same thing with the Playstation 3. Of course, Sony fanboys are now saying that it's big because it does so much. Oh well, they can think that if they want. All the smart people are starting to compare the Nintendo Wii to the Sony Playstation 3 (Digg) in a different way... size. (They're asking how something so small and so cheap can be so fun, and why nobody else can do that, too.)

On a completely different note, Blizzard has finally unveiled Paid Character Transfers (Digg) for World of Warcraft. At first I was overjoyed. Finally, I could move my character from a boring Normal realm to an RP-PVP realm! No more wasted max level character, right? WRONG! You can't move from non-PVP realms to PVP realms... I don't know why I couldn't have figured this out for myself. They don't want people leveling up on easy realms and then just copying over to a PVP realm to kick everyone's butt. I'm disappointed, but it's my own fault. I guess I'll just have to keep leveling up my PVP character.

If you don't know who Buzz Aldrin is, you're crazy. That said, if you're one of those crazies who think the moon landings never occurred? You're... well... crazy. That said, here's a video of someone who confronted Aldrin in some public area, blabbing on incessantly about how he was a coward and a liar and how he really didn't land on the moon. I would have done the same thing in Aldrin's situation, and I think the rest of the world agrees with me!

Here are some great comments from people on the Digg listing:
Rule #1: Never pick a fight with someone named 'Buzz'.
Rule #2: Never pick a fight with an older man.
Rule #3: Never pick a fight with an Air Force colonel.
Rule #4: Never pick a fight with someone who actually went to the moon.

Also, while reading the Wikipedia entry on Aldrin, I discovered an article detailing the reading of some of the Book of Genesis on the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve broadcast. I was overjoyed when I found it! But, sadly, my joy was instantly crushed when I read that NASA was actually sued over it by stupid athiest Madalyn Murray O'Hair. Tolerance at it's best. (Of course, after reading about O'Hair, it doesn't surprise me in the least bit that she was being a moron.)

There's an article on the internet that gives a quick interview with Sony Computer Entertainment America's (what a mouthful... try saying this out loud compared to Nintendo of America) Kaz Hirai talking about Playstation 3 software prices... Can you see where this is headed? Putting games on brand new, untested-in-the-field Blu Ray discs will cost you a lot. Maybe a whole lot. He starts off saying that, over the past twelve years or so, there has been a consumer expectation that games are maybe $59 on the high end to $39 on the low end. I can agree with that. He then says that "it would be a bit of a stretch" to suddenly sell PS3 games for $100.

He then goes on to say that customers won't be expecting or wanting a sudden double in the price of games, and drops a quick line that they want to make this as cheap and affordable as possible. (Too late for that.) He closes by saying, "if the price is over $59, don't ding me, but I don't expect it to be $100." (Emphasis mine.)

What he's said here basically says that PS3 games WILL be more expensive than any other console game out there, but it'll still be less than double the price, so you don't need to worry. At least, that's what I get out of it. Anyone else thinking 89.99 dollar PS3 games? Right in the foot, Sony... right in the foot. Do you have much of one left by now?

Then, of course, we have a hilarious article (Sony, naturally) with good ol' Kaz Hirai, once again. In this article, he takes to slamming Microsoft, and accusing them of copying everything that Sony does. Just listen:

Every time we go down a path, we look behind and they're right there - we just can't shake these guys. I wish that they would come up with some strategies of their own, but they seem to be going down the path of everything we do. If you look at their strategy in other business areas as well, they tend to do that.

...the other thing is, you take a look at, for example, the fact that we incorporate the Blu-ray drive from day one. You're not going to be asking me, 'So, talk to me about this Blu-ray add-on that you have. Does it work for games? Is it just for movies?' That's exactly the kind of pitfall you fall into if you launch something that's too early, too premature.

(Quick note, the last paragraph? He's talking about Microsoft's optional HD-DVD add-on and how it's a pitfall if you launch something like that too early. (Apparently, he thinks people will start asking if it's for games or just movies, as if people aren't asking that about the PS3, hahaha!) He's NOT saying the Blu-Ray drive they built into the PS3 is premature. Oh, no, not Sony.)

I think he's trying to make a point here, but, as you can see, I've highlighted the points of interest. Namely, the things that Sony themselves are guilty of doing. Everyone (who's not a fanboy) knows that Sony copies everything in the console department. "Revolutionary" motion-senstive controller that's actually over 5 years old, Sony's version of Xbox Live (complete with similar looking "Dashboard"), just to name the recent, pivotal ones. I think Hirai was trying to chew out Microsoft for including HD-DVD, saying it was premature... that's arrogance beyond the console area, my friend. Blu-Ray isn't exactly widely accepted, yet, either... and you made it REQUIRED to play games.

Oh, but there's more! (There always is!) Joystiq is reporting about an article that says a small company named Track7Games has cancelled production for a PS3 game due to the high costs of producing on the PS3 platform. After which, Track7Games posted on their site that the article was inaccurate:

PS3land.com wrote an erroneous article on June 29, 2006 regarding track7games and our upcoming game, "Theseis". track7games would like to clarify that we never cancelled something that did not exist in the first place. We plan to develop "Theseis" for PC and Xbox360 in the near future. As for the PS3, we simply made a strategic decision to not move ahead because we deemed it not probable at this time.

So, I don't know about you, but they didn't deny that the PS3 was too expensive to develop for, but that the game was never even started for the PS3. So it wasn't cancelled, it just never started. Sounds like the same principal to me. There are some comments blabbing about how Track7Games is a small company with barely any games in their portfolio, and are probably a group of 4 people, and to pretty much just ignore the fact that they can't make things for Sony since they're so small. I'm sure of those comments are overreactions, but they're still just sealing the deal.

If small companies can't develop for the PS3, then third party games are going to plummet. Just think about if Cyan had to develop Myst the first time for the PS3? That's what the point of the article is... Sony seems to be locking out the little guys in preference for the big developers, who, I might add, have also complained about how difficult it is to code for the PS3. Of course, Sony has said they don't need third party games, so what do we know, huh?

In closing, might I direct you to a site that tells of a hardware coded Easter Egg for the Nintendo Gamecube. As the page suggests, it seems that Nintendo "laughed in the face of all who call it a kiddie system before it was even released". I love Nintendo. This reminded me of an article that talked about the DS Lite press box. Be sure to click the video link at the end, it's so cool!

One last Sony smear before bed! This article says that most major retailers will only get about 20 PS3s on launch day. Now, 20 consoles around my part of the world is an awful lot... but it's really a horrific number per store, worldwide release not withstanding.

Let's put this into perspective... and, in the process, uncover the Sony bash! The Xbox 360 had 50 to 100 consoles per store... and they ran out. Fast. Sony and their fanboys were laughing up a storm at how ill prepared Microsoft was, and that they should have waited to launch the 360 until they had more to ship.

So in addition to criticising Microsoft, Sony's going to take it a step further and ship less PS3s! Who has the last laugh now?

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With summer and warm weather rolling around, in addition to a major American holiday, people are looking to get out and do things like camping and going on vacation. People start milling around the internet, nearby stores and garage sales looking for the best deals. However, there's one thing the majority of people have in common. They're impatient. They want the best deals, and they want the best deals NOW.

Being a power seller on eBay, I see these people on a daily basis. People are constantly asking how fast things will ship, and if I'll be willing to let them buy the item before the auction is over, and if I'll be willing to ship things faster than normal. These people need to realize that not everyone on eBay is a retail outlet with armies of people in the packing and shipping departments waiting to fulfill every order the instant they come in.

So from an eBay seller to you, I will share something from an old shop sign I once saw at my uncle's house: "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." Please remember that next time you buy a tent from me one night that you need the very next day.

Okay, enough capitalizing on Sony's smart mouth.

Nintendo has an interesting announcement. Granted it's from last week, but I really didn't notice until recently. N-Sider is running an article with some developer highlights from the Nintendo Corporate interview with Iwata and Miyamoto.

The Wii Development Kit will cost as low as $1,732. That's cheap enough for "bedroom programmers" to buy and start building Wii games. Heck, that's cheap enough for me to save up for and start building Wii games. I'm not sure how much the other kits cost, so I can't compare... but everyone I see is in awe at the low cost. (Someone on Digg said they thought dev kits usually got for about $20,000... and an old article about the 360 said it's dev kit might sell for $100... but, remember, the 360 is essentially a Windows system in the first place. However, I'm sure it won't be only $100.)

Needless to say, third party support is high priority for Nintendo.

Hey, look! It's TW! Well, actually, it's John Carmack, from id Software. They make Doom. (...and lots of awesome old DOS games away back in the day. Commander Keen, anyone?)

He talked about game developing.
He said the Playstation 3 is really hard to make games for.
He said it's almost twice as hard!
He's one of many developers who's said this.
He says the Xbox360 is a lot easier to code for.

Lots of developers are saying the PS3 might be uber-powerful, but it's uber-hard to write games for. The Xbox has been criticized by players for being too much like a computer. However, you must realize that because of that, the Xbox is one of the easiest consoles to make games for, because it's essentially a Windows computer.

Sony is sacrificing their developers to make a super strong console. That's not smart.