Controversy

Ramsey Digital Designs the Best Videos!

I live in a blight-filled area of Michigan called Cottrellville Township. Over the last five years, Cottrellville Township has turned into an extremely ugly place to live in throughout quite a few areas. No matter where you live in Cottrellville Township, you don't need to look far to find blight. This is why I -- Michael Zoran -- have decided to run for Trustee and also Precinct Delegate in the upcoming Cottrellville Township election on August 7, 2012. (By the way, my political signs are going to cost over $750. If anyone would like to make a donation using PayPal, please look on the right side of your screen to do so.)

Morris of Ramsey Digital is a close friend of mine. As soon as Morris found out how I was doing things such as signing contracts with Comcast to bring township meetings into the homes of residents on public access TV channel 12 and also on YouTube channel michaelzoran, Morris decided to help me out.

This new video is dedicated to my Fight Against Blight. The high-quality video clearly shows the talent and skill Morris and his staff at Ramsey Digital possess. When people saw the impressive video, I started getting emails asking me how to contact Ramsey Digital.

Ramsey Digital can be contacted here: http://www.theaskeweffect.com/KRUZ8ER/

Ramsey Digital is also a great place to visit if you are a videogame fan and enjoy chatting online with other gamers in online forums.

You can contact Morris Ramsey at morris.ramsey@gmail.com

The prices are very reasonable for these videos. All you need to do is send Morris some pictures and/or videos. You also need to tell him what the theme of your video needs to be. Morris will take over from there, and for the low price of $50 to $200, Morris will have a Hollywood style video for you in just a few days.

Videogame News - A New Blog Devoted to Daily News Coverage

Videogame News is a new blog I've created in order to focus on the daily coverage of the videogame industry.

Just click here or enter the following URL: http://controversy.typepad.com/videogamenews/

Make sure you become a TypePad Follower of this blog. Also, make sure you Subscribe to this blog and add it to your Favorites list. May the force be with you!

Kinect Adds Simplicity to Games - Females and Kids LOVE it!

I used to wonder how certain games could possibly be played with Kinect rather than a controller. But now that I've seen the way several games are played, I can confidently tell you Kinect is going to make games far more popular with females, kids, and even older people, just like the Wii did. There is one reason for this: Simplicity.

Games become so much easier and better to play with Kinect. When you play Forza Motorsport 4 with Kinect, your only responsibility is using your hands as the steering wheel...and that's it. The game does the braking and acceleration for you. This type of simplicity is exactly what females and kids desire, because it brings back an arcade style of fun!

Hardcore gamers will probably want to stick with the complex motions of control pads and force-feedback race wheels. But most people really will love the added simplicity Kinect brings to the table. With Kinect, you won't need to spend hours mastering the complex techniques of every game. In Forza 4, you won't need to learn exact moments when you should brake, accelerate, and when you should start slowing down. Just use your hands to drive in a fun way and you will do just that -- have fun!

The same concept applies to games like Ghost Recon and Gears of War. When using Kinect, you won't be responsible for handling complex responsibilities such as running and dodging. You will control those parts of the game if you choose to use a control pad, but while using Kinect the game will do a lot of that stuff for you. When playing with Kinect, you will just need to do basic things like fire, reload, and switch weapons. This form of simplicity makes complex games fun for inexperienced gamers!

Kinect is currently in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest-selling electronic item in history. I have no doubt the success of Kinect will continue in 2011. Kinect turns very deep games such as Forza Motorsport 4 and Ghost Recon into simple games anyone can start having fun with at any time, just like at an arcade.

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Sega Rally HD Online is Released Exclusively for Xbox Live Arcade

Sega Rally is now available on the Xbox Live Arcade marketplace. Sega has released this high-definition online version of Sega Rally exclusively for the Xbox 360. This excellent racing game includes all of the modes you could ask for – Time Trial, Championship Events, Offline Multiplayer, and even a six-player online racing mode! Sega Rally also includes powerful 5.1 surround sound and a variety of cool cars such as the Ford Focus RS, Lancia Delta Integrale, and the Bowler Nemesis. Sega Rally Online Arcade costs 800 Points and is fully compatible with all controllers and racing wheels available for Xbox 360.

Soul Calibur 5 Coming to Xbox 360 and PS3 - And Possibly the Wii 2?

Namco has officially announced that Soul Calibur 5 will be released for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 in 2012. The game takes place 17 years after Soul Calibur 4. Namco – a company that recently returned to profitability – has said that more information about Soul Calibur 5 will be revealed at this years Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Up to this point, the best version of Soul Calibur ever released is the Xbox 360 version of Soul Calibur 4. The Xbox 360 version runs at a resolution of 1365x960p, which is 40% higher than the resolution of 1280x720p used in the PS3 version. This is because the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) of the Xbox 360 is so much more powerful than the PS3 GPU. The Xbox 360 GPU can display up to 500,000,000 polygons per second, compared to only 275,000,000 polygons per second for the PS3 GPU.

My controversial question has to do with the release date of Soul Calibur 5 and if it will be released for the Wii 2. If the Soul Calibur 5 game is scheduled to be released in 2012, will it also be released for the Wii 2 – which is supposedly going to be released in 2012? The Wii 2 version may be able to run at a resolution of 1920x1080p, since its GPU is slightly more powerful than the Xbox 360 GPU.

This also seems to suggest that Soul Calibur will not be available on a next-generation console such as the third Xbox or the PS4 for quite a while. You would tend to think that the soonest Soul Calibur 6 would be available is for the third Xbox at least two years after the release of Soul Calibur 5. But in all probability, we would not see a next-generation Soul Calibur game until three years after the release of Soul Calibur 5. This means the earliest we would see Soul Calibur 6 on a next-gen console would be 2014, but probably 2015.

Share your thoughts on Soul Calibur 5 and the Wii 2. Do you think Soul Calibur 5 will also be released for the Wii 2? How about Soul Calibur 6 and the clues it offers regarding when next-generation consoles will be here?

Microsoft Acquires Skype for $8.5 Billion! - How Will This Help Xbox 360?

Microsoft has acquired Skype for $8.5 billion, outbidding both Google and Facebook. Reports say that Google and Facebook were bidding between $3 billion to $4 billion. This shows that Microsoft was definitely willing to pay a premium price in order to keep those competitors at bay. Some financial investors have questioned why Microsoft would be willing to pay $8.5 billion for a company that was recently valued at less than $3 billion. This is where the element of controversy starts to reveal itself.

I believe Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype is a perfect match for technology currently used in areas of software and communication. Skype has done an excellent job making sure that products such as TV sets, PSP portable game devices, PCs, and cell phones can use their technology for Internet calls and video conferencing. Windows Live Messenger and Outlook are perfect technological matches for Skype. The same can be said for the Xbox 360 game console and the Xbox Live online gaming service.

Of all the products available in the world, Microsoft’s Kinect may be the one that matches with Skype best of all. The Kinect motion-control accessory for the Xbox 360 has sold over 10 million units in a record time period – appearing in the Guinness Book of World Records for its amazing sales success. This means there are over 10 million Microsoft video cameras staring people in the face. This is the perfect environment for Skype to exist.

Microsoft may have overpaid for Skype, according to financial analysts on Wall Street, but the acquisition of Skype has helped Microsoft achieve all of its goals. Microsoft would have needed to bid at least $4.5 billion for Skype in order to acquire them. This means that for an additional $4 billion, which isn’t much to cash-rich Microsoft, they get to stop Google and Facebook from dominating this industry. Thanks to this acquisition, Microsoft now has significantly greater access to all of Skype’s 145 million subscribers in an industry that is growing across a world that is trying to lower communication costs, particularly in the area of business.

Two weeks from now we know that Xbox Live will be briefly shutting down for an update. We know that when Xbox Live receives this upgrade it will be fully compatible with PayPal in order to increase security and prevent hackers from having access to bank information. This is especially worth noting since Sony and their PSN has experienced such awful online hacking over the last month. But it’s worth noting that Skype already uses PayPal. Perhaps the reason why Xbox Live is going to gain this form of access is because we will see compatibility with Skype sooner rather than later!

Gears of War 3 beta - Update - Week 3

Previously, I wrote a very detailed five-page article about my impressions of the Gears of War 3 beta. You can read that article by clicking here.

Now I’m going to give a further update on the Gears of War 3 beta. It appears several things have changed and/or been modified by Epic in some way. Based on my observations, I will explain everything in detail one subject at a time.

* Independent Online Servers: One of the things Epic promised from the beginning was independent servers online. Gears of War 3 is scheduled to be the first Xbox 360 game to offer this feature. During the first week the Gears of War 3 beta was available to everyone who preordered the game from Gamestop, I saw for myself that independent servers have the ability to work fine in a way that puts everyone on equal ground. Everybody is playing fairly in an environment where there is no form of host advantage. When independent servers are being used by Epic, I rate Gears of War 3 a 10 out of 10.

Unfortunately, news reports surfaced a couple weeks ago that the independent servers had gone down. From that point on, Gears of War 3 has used the same form of server setup used by other games. This is very disappointing and very frustrating because of host-server advantages. Games just aren’t as fun as they used to be with the Gears of War 3 beta, simply because all of the gamers are no longer competing on equal ground.

The best example of what I’m referring to can be described very easily by telling you about something I personally experienced. My teammates and I had filled an enemy with enough bullets to put that enemy down. But the enemy was behind an area where the bullets of my teammates could no longer reach the enemy. This meant the kill was going to be mind, since I was the only person on the team that had the ability to hit the fallen foe.

While this fallen enemy was crawling around on the floor, I had my Gnasher Shotgun armed. I used the Left Trigger to target the enemy and I used the Right Trigger to shoot the gun. I expected the enemy to die from that one shot at close range. I was surprised when the enemy did not die, so I targeted the enemy again and shot again. Once again, the enemy did not die! I repeated this process two more times, and yet the enemy would NOT die!

By the time I had hit the fallen enemy four times, he was able to tap the A-button enough times to stand up again. When the enemy got up, he just turned around and killed me with one close-range shot of his own Gnasher Shotgun. Can you say, “Not Fair?” This was the most unfair situation I have ever been involved with in any Gears of War game, and I instantly started telling people that if the final version of Gears of War 3 was going to be like that, I would be sticking with Call of Duty games. Unfair host advantages like that are why I stopped playing multiplayer in Gears of War 2.

The bottom line is that Epic needs to make sure Gears of War 3 uses independent servers. The host-advantage has too much of a negative affect on Gears of War game play. Please, Epic, make sure Gears of War 3 keeps your promise of independent servers.

* Glitches: Since the end of the first week, I have only encountered one glitch. This glitch was on May 8, 2011. Two friends and I simultaneously joined a match in progress. My two friends joined and I was watching them without any problem. But I was never able to join. I’m not even sure if my character joined at all. If my character did join, he was just standing there doing nothing. The only thing I could see was the Ghost Camera viewpoint. Epic, this needs to be fixed. The map it occurred on was The Trenches.

This was similar, but worse, than a glitch I experienced during the first week. During that week, I was in the Thrashball stadium. I was able to join the game and I could see the point of view of my character. But my character was stuck in the same spot. The only reason the match ended was because my teammate killed me with a grenade. Epic needs to fix this type of glitch.

* Grenades: In my last article, I promised that I would talk about grenades in my next article. I have kept my promise, and my analysis can be very simple. I think Epic got the grenades just right. The smoke grenades don’t do any damage; however they play a very important role in strategy. You can also use smoke grenades in the Capture the Leader mode, since a smoke grenade will cause the captured leader to be set free.

Frag grenades are just as powerful as ever. You can use them to kill multiple enemies at a time by throwing them or by tagging them to a wall or an enemy. The cool thing in Gears of War 3 is that if you are tagged by an enemy you can actually try and take that enemy out so that at least both of you die. This means if you tag an enemy with a grenade, you need to get away fast.

Ink grenades emit a very powerful gas of poisonous smoke. This can kill multiple people, including your own teammates. In fact, you can even potentially kill yourself with the ink grenade. The use of the Ink grenade is excellent and I think Epic has it right. It seems like the strength of the Ink grenade has been slightly lowered from the first week of the beta up to this point. This is probably a good thing because the ink grenade is supposed to cause people to evacuate, not necessarily die.

Incendiary grenades are a very powerful form of flame grenade. I feel very confident that these grenades have lost a lot of power from the first week compared to right now. During the first week of the beta, I lost count of the number of times I saw people dying from the incendiary grenade explosions that caused people to burn to death. Now, you need to stay in the lava flame for quite a while before you are in danger of dying; I never see people die from this anymore. Epic might want to make it so the strength is slightly increased, or possibly so the lava stays in the same spot for a long time. This would add a strategy element that makes it so you take away part of a map, since lava is there for a while.

* Gorgon Pistol: During the first week, it seemed like the Gorgon needed to be a lot more powerful. The reason for this is because the Gorgon needed to be a lot more powerful! It seems like Epic may have added some power to the Gorgon since the first week. Now it is actually possible to put an enemy down with the Gorgon, if you put an entire clip of ammo into him. But it is very common to have kills stolen from you while firing the Gorgon. You need to use a whole clip just to put an enemy down, regardless of range. By the time you reload your Gorgon pistol, someone else has already killed the enemy.

In my opinion there is absolutely no reason to waste time picking up a Gorgon pistol in Gears of War 3. Epic needs to increase the power of this pistol and make sure it has more ammunition in each clip. The simple fact is, if there is no reason to pick up a weapon, why bother picking it up? With that in mind, you need to ask the question if the Gorgon pistol really belongs in the game. It is a very cool weapon with a lot of potential, but it simply needs more ammo and more power.

* Boltok Pistol: During the first week I thought it was awful the way the Boltok was so week. I once got two headshots and a third shot to the chest on an enemy and the enemy did not die! Epic appears to have increased the power of the Boltok, but not enough. This week I fired a perfect headshot on an enemy, and it still did not kill the enemy. Although, I was once killed with a single shot to the head. This makes me wonder if the reason why that headshot did not kill the enemy is because of the host-server advantage.

My advice to Epic would be to make it so the Boltok is more powerful. It doesn’t shoot very fast, and it takes relatively long to reload. With that in mind, it is alright if the Boltok pistol is a powerful weapon, especially at close range. C’mon Epic, make it so this pistol is powerful the way it should be! If the Boltok pistol were more powerful, more people would pick up the weapon and be motivated to use shields.

* Boomshot: This weapon works exactly as it is supposed to. If you get hit with it, you die! It normally comes with only two or three rounds, so make sure you use it carefully. Epic should keep things exactly as they are with the Boomshot.

* Torque Bow: This weapon is a powerful weapon that takes a bit of practice firing. Anyone familiar with this weapon already will be fine with Gears of War 3. It takes a second or two to aim, and then if you hit the enemy they are blasted with a powerful shot. I think Epic has things just right with this weapon.

* Longshot Sniper: This weapon functions exactly as it did in previous Gears of Wars games. If you use the scope and get a headshot the enemy always dies. If you hit them in the chest it usually requires two shots to get a kill. If you miss the head, you feel guilty and accept responsibility. The Longshot sniper weapon makes it so headshots become particularly important, and it allows the graphics to look fantastic. You can literally see the teeth of the enemy with that scope! Epic should keep things exactly as they are with the Longshot sniper rifle.

* Oneshot Sniper: This new weapon has an incredibly long range – far longer than the Longshot. The other big difference is the power of the weapon. The Oneshot usually has only three rounds of ammo, but they are powerful! The Oneshot sends out a beam of light, similar to the Torque Bow so that an aware enemy knows they are being targeted. But if you can shoot someone with the Oneshot, they will be killed in one shot! In my opinion, Epic should keep things exactly as they are with the Oneshot.

* Digger Launcher: This new weapon adds a lot of new strategy to the game. The Digger Launcher usually has about three rounds of ammunition when you pick it up. But each of these three rounds is capable of killing multiple opponents with one shot – similar to a grenade. In fact, the aiming of this weapon is virtually identical to a grenade, even though you hold it as a gun.

When you shoot the Digger Launcher weapon, it sends out a big tunnel being ripped through the ground. If you are near that explosive tunnel being sent in your direction, you will die if you don’t get out of the way. You can see it coming, so you need to hop to the side in order to get away. I believe Epic has done a great job with the Digger Launcher and should keep everything as it is.

* Flame Scorcher: This weapon desperately needs more power! Of all the weapons in Gears of War 3, the one that is the least useful is this flame thrower weapon. Regardless of where this flame thrower is available for people to pick up, I never see people take the time to pick it up. I presume the reason I don’t see other people pick this weapon up is the same reason I don’t pick it up – it is absolutely worthless as a weapon!

Epic needs to make some huge changes with this particular weapon and the flames it throws. When you shoot someone with flames for three seconds while they are running at you through the flames, and then they kill you with one close-range Sawed-Off Shotgun blast, it means the game loses one full point in my book! In other words, Gears of War 3 goes from a 10 to a 9 in my book, simply because of that one huge problem! Epic, I am telling you on behalf of gamers everywhere: Make the Flame Scorcher weapon more powerful!

* Hammerburst: Last time I wrote a detailed report about how the Hammerburst rifle needs more power. I still want to make it 100% clear that the Hammerburst rifle needs more power. It is very common for people to unload an entire clip of Hammerburst ammo at enemies, and yet the enemy will not even fall! Epic, this needs to be changed for obvious reasons.

The simple fact of life in videogames is that if you shoot someone to the point where you need to reload a weapon, you expect that enemy to die! For goodness sake, if you unload an entire clip in an enemy, you at least expect the enemy to fall down! But when you unload an entire clip in an enemy while he is running directly at you, only to get blown into pieces with a single shot from his shotgun, it means gamers are motivated to play a different game. Epic, make it so the Hammerburst and Flame Scorcher weapons are more powerful!

* Conclusion: Overall, I believe Gears of War 3 has the potential to be the best game released in 2011. However, there are still some fundamental flaws that prevent this from happening. Several weapons such as the Hammerburst and Flame Scorcher desperately need more power. If the Flame Scorcher isn’t given that power, Epic should remove it from the game to avoid embarrassing themselves. Why bother picking up a weapon if it has no use or puts you at an obvious disadvantage.

I really hope Epic takes the time to read this four-page article, along with my previous five-page article. I really did take an incredible amount of time to try and help Epic. I hope my blog Followers enjoyed reading this. Please feel free to share your thoughts on my blog.

Also, if you have suggestions for Epic regarding the Gears of War 3 beta, visit this website in order to let them know what you’d like to see in the final version of Gears of War 3 or what problems you have found in the beta version: http://forums.epicgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=400

Finally, I'd like to mention a couple really cool things Epic did with the beta of Gears of War 3. On the weekend of Easter, the characters had heads with bunnies! And last weekend the characters had oversized heads with very high-pitched voices similar to what a person sounds like if they breath helium! This was very funny!

Take a look for yourself here:

Xbox 360 Games - E3 2011 - Gears of War 3

 

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Guardian Heroes Coming Exclusively to Xbox Live Arcade!

One of the best games ever released by Sega for the Saturn game console in the 1990's was a game called Guardian Heroes. On May 5, 2011 Sega announced Guardian Heroes would be released exclusively for Xbox Live Arcade this fall. Sega says Guardian Heroes will feature enhanced high-definition graphics and online co-op when it is released for Xbox Live Arcade!

Guardian Heroes is a multiplayer 2D side-scrolling game. Enemies fill the screen, battle after battle, similar to a Golden Axe type of game. However, Guardian Heroes has moves far more complex -- with motion controls similar to Street Fighter and Virtua Fighter. The RPG elements of the game are excellent, particularly the way experience points are earned throughout the game. The plot in Guardian Heroes is very detailed and it helps you get to know the characters very well.

In addition to the side-scrolling co-op mode, there is also a battle mode where up to six players can participate simultaneously. Characters that you met throughout the story mode of the game are available to play as in this battle mode. One of my favorite parts of the battle mode is that absolutely nothing is left out.

For example, in the story mode there is a character named Randy that has a tiny pet rabbit named Nando. In the story mode, Nando is actually a part of several of Randy's moves and makes very funny karate-style noises and movements. In the battle mode, you can actually play as Nando!

Guardian Heroes is considered one of the best games ever released for the Sega Saturn by game critics and fans. Everything from the 2D graphics to the music with catchy tunes is praised by gamers. I really hope Sega releases Guardian Heroes sooner rather than later, and at an affordable price -- preferably 800 points or less. By the way, I've got dibs on Nando!

The Third Xbox - Developers Now Have Development Kits! - When Will It Launch?

Electronic Arts has told reliable sources in the videogame industry something very interesting. Apparently EA is now in possession of alpha development kids for the third Xbox console from Microsoft. This development kit is apparently in some form of PC casing structure, similar to the alpha development kit released for the original Xbox. Job postings from Microsoft confirm a next-generation console is being designed; however, these job postings seem to indicate the console is quite a ways away.

This next-generation console from Microsoft will definitely be released, but we do not know exactly when this console will be released or what its name will be. Some rumors have suggested the third Xbox will be released as early as 2012 in order to compete with Nintendo’s next console, currently called the Wii 2. While other rumors have suggested that Microsoft’s next console may not see a release until 2015.

Here are my thoughts where I focus on facts in order to generate a fact-based theory.

1. We know for a fact that the Nintendo Wii 2 will be released in 2012.

2. We know for a fact that the Wii 2 will be a direct competitor of the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The hardware specifications of the Wii 2 are nearly identical to the Xbox 360 and PS3. For example, the Wii 2 has 512MB of RAM just like Xbox 360 and PS3. We also know the GPU of the Wii 2 is from ATI and nearly identical to the Xbox 360 GPU from ATI. We also know the CPU of the Wii 2 is tri-core, just like the Xbox 360 CPU.

3. We know for a fact that the Wii 2 will not be competing directly with the third Xbox and PS4 (if there is a PS4, since Sony has literally lost billions of dollars on PS3).

4. We know for a fact that NPD sales show Xbox 360 was the #1 selling console in 2010. We also know for a fact that NPD sales show Xbox 360 has been the #1 selling console every month of 2011.

5. We know for a fact that Kinect is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being such a high-selling item. Over ten million units of Kinect have been sold in a record time period.

6. We know for a fact that Xbox 360 continues to see annual sales growth. We also know that the Wii and PS3 have seen annual sales decline in 2011.

Based on these six fact-based elements, I can form a fact-based theory that says Microsoft has no motive to put an early end to the life of Xbox 360.

Now let's look at my hypothesis based on estimations of what Microsoft has done in the past. While I do not have facts to support this hypothesis, I do believe my experience in the game industry has merit to support my thoughts.

A. We know that games like Halo and Gears of War tend to be released every other year. But we also know that Gears of War 3 took three years to be developed because Microsoft and Epic wanted to develop everything correctly. This is the same type of precision and accuracy that Microsoft and Epic would want to apply when a new console is released. This is particularly true with a game like Gears of War that is known for setting new standards in graphics technology.

B. This means that if Gears of War were a launch game for the third Xbox, the soonest it would happen would be 2013—two years from 2011. But it seems like Epic and Microsoft would want to spend extra time developing graphics engines and making use of superior hardware. I think a new Gears of War game (probably a prequel named Gears of War: The Pendulum Wars) would be released in 2014. In my opinion, if Gears of War is the launch game for the next Xbox, the soonest the console would be available is 2014.

C. If Microsoft wanted to launch the third Xbox in 2013, I believe the launch game they would need to do it with is Halo. I say this because Halo: Reach was released in 2010. The developers would have the three years of development they probably would need to release a new Halo game on new hardware. Plus, Halo is a killer-app game that would guarantee all of the consoles sell out!

Based on these three thoughts, I can guarantee that the third Xbox will be released by the end of 2014. But I believe 2013 may be too soon. The third Xbox will not be meant to compete with the Wii 2. The third Xbox will be meant to compete with high-end PC technology and the PS4 (if there is a PS4). In all probability the PS3 will not be able to generate an overall profit by 2014 or 2015. PS3 will have cost Sony literally billions of dollars, which is why rumors have circulated for quite a while saying that the PS3 will be Sony's last videogame console.

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Xbox 360 Sales Ranked #1 in 2011

Throughout 2011 and 2010 the Xbox 360 has been the industry leader of the videogame market. Every month of 2011, and the majority of 2010, has seen the Xbox 360 dominate the English-speaking parts of the world – even setting sales records that now appear in the Guinness Book of World Records! All throughout 2010 we saw the Xbox 360 continue to rise in popularity.

This demand for Xbox 360 products continues to accelerate each month according to sales provided by NPD and other sales groups throughout the world. For the month of March, 2011, the Xbox 360 sold an incredibly impressive 433,000 units. This new sales information was recently released, but it was not reported by several websites due to the fact that the Gears of War 3 beta is getting all of the attention from the videogame world right now. The Gears of War 3 beta is available to everyone for free, if you place a preorder at Gamestop.

Microsoft recently announced that from January to March 2011, the Xbox 360 sold an additional 2.7 million units of Xbox 360 hardware. This is over one-million more units than Microsoft sold during the previous quarter! This puts the number of Xbox 360 units sold at over 53 million units around the world. Microsoft can be proud to say that the Xbox 360 took the Xbox brand in the right direction this hardware generation. There is no doubt that Microsoft leaves this generation better off with a much larger percentage of the market than when they started – all thanks to great games and great online services.

This fiscal quarter, Microsoft saw revenue of $16.43 billion. This was an increase of 13% over the previous fiscal quarter from 2010. Microsoft’s fiscal third-quarter profits were $5.23 billion – which results in a profitable earning of $0.61 per share. In a recent statement, Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said “We delivered strong financial results despite a mixed PC environment, which demonstrates the strength and breadth of our business. Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox, and Kinect at tremendous rates, and businesses of all sizes are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications.”

With all the excellent first-party and third-party games being released for Xbox 360 in 2011, it looks like 2011 will be the best year ever for Xbox 360. The same can be said about Xbox Live Arcade games and the hundreds of exclusive Indie games we will see online. Kinect will also be seeing the release of games that people have been looking forward to ever since Kinect was first shown.

For example, Star Wars is a game I’ve been looking forward to ever since I first saw that game on display at a trade show. Gamers will use their Kinect to simulate a Jedi duel with a light saber, which is very exciting! And then gamers will get to use the motions of their hands to simulate using the force to throw an entire group of androids against the wall!

With all of this in mind, it appears sales of Kinect and Xbox 360 are going to remain very strong throughout 2011.

Update 5/12/2011: The NPD sales results for April were just released for the month of April. Once again, the Xbox 360 is the top-selling console. The Xbox 360 sold a very impressive 297,000 units. This means that for 10 of the last 11 months, the Xbox 360 has been the top-selling console according to NPD sales figures.

Gears of War 3 Beta - Detailed Thoughts & Impressions Epic Needs to Review

Gears of War 3 is a beta that I really enjoy playing a lot, especially with my excellent home theater setup that actually influences game play. You often know when someone is coming up behind you because of which surround or stereo speaker you hear the sound of footsteps coming from. The graphics are absolutely amazing – far better than any other Gears of War game. The color palette has been enhanced, there are far more customized items, and the draw-distance allows you to see further than in previous Gears of War games. Even the weather has an impact on both graphics and game play in Gears of War 3.

At this point I’d like to share my thoughts with Epic. During the course of a beta, the developers of a game are supposed to be listening to what gamers have to say in order to fix problems that exist. I am now going to explain some of the situations I have experienced with both glitches and game play. I will also be pointing out some issues that I am impressed with that Epic needs to keep in Gears of War 3.

* The first thing I noticed about Gears of War 3 is the fact that you now need to hold down the X button for a half second in order to pick up a new weapon or extra ammunition. This is a wonderful addition to game play because it completely solves the problem of accidentally picking up the wrong item unless you are in the perfect spot. Now, a visual X shows up on the screen and a white arrow moves around it in a clockwise rotation so that you see exactly what it is you are picking up. If you don’t want it, just let go of the X button. This is a great addition to game play!

* Spots! The ability to pull the Left Trigger and then press in on the Left Thumbstick in order to put a "Spot" on an enemy that you have seen adds a tremendous amount of teamwork to Gears of War 3! This type of ability to put a mark on an enemy that is hiding out makes it so your entire team can work together to track down an enemy that is hiding. This is a form of game play that did not exist in previous Gears of War games.

Previously, if an enemy was hiding out at the end of a match, it was annoying that your team could not work together to find the enemy and isolate the enemy. If there was one enemy left and three people on your team, you just needed to grab your shotgun and hope that one of you would be able to kill the enemy since the odds favored your team. Thankfully, Gears of War 3 adds teamwork!

Now, if you or one of your team members spots the enemy, you can put a mark on the enemy. This will allow each of you to go after the enemy from a different direction. Or you can use machine guns to pin him down from a greater distance than the shotguns would allow. This is a great part of Gears of War 3 that truly does add awesome team-based game play! Epic did a great job adding this feature!

* The next thing I should mention is that I once experienced a glitch with respawning. My character spawned in the traditional spot, but I was not able to move. I was frozen in the same spot and I could see all around me, but I was unable to fire weapons or move. Apparently the only way this was able to come to an end was when someone killed my character. And the strange thing is that I believe it was one of my teammates that needed to come in and shoot me with a shotgun. This only happened once, but I sure hope Epic makes sure this doesn’t happen again.

* I’m not sure if it was a glitch, but it is very annoying the way the Gears of War 3 beta sometimes works when you try to shoot an enemy while using a heavy weapon near a ledge. Several times, I was using a heavy weapon while balancing it on a ledge when I saw someone trying to sneak up behind me. Instead of letting me shoot in the direction I wanted, the ledge behaved like a magnet and forced my heavy weapon onto it. This was not fair and it caused my character to die.

For example, when I saw someone trying to get behind me,  I pulled the large weapon off of the wall and faced the enemy that had gotten close to me. I tried shooting the enemy that was close to me (now with my back to the wall that I was previously using as a type of tripod rest for the heavy weapon). But rather than letting me shoot in front of me like I wanted, the Gears of War 3 beta instead forced my weapon back onto the ledge so that I was literally shooting 180 degrees in the wrong direction. The enemy just walked up to me and shot me in the back because there was nothing I could do. This problem definitely needs to be fixed by Epic.

* There are several close spots on a couple of maps. These close spots can cause problems because the Gears of War 3 beta currently does not always recognize what it is you want to do. In the old town and on the map where there is a loud horn, I was trying to take cover. I wanted to run forward by holding A. Instead, the game made me move over to the next side of the wall, as if I tapped the A button in order to try and seek cover there. I think Epic might want to make it so there are very few “tight spots” like that in Gears of War 3.

Whenever a map gives gamers the “opportunity” for something to go wrong, it significantly increases the odds that gamers will be complaining that something went wrong – especially when millions of matches will be played. The solution is to get rid of that part of the environment.

* Hammerburst is a weapon I enjoyed using in Gears of War 2. The Hammerburst is a weapon that I absolutely HATE using in Gears of War 3. In Gears of War 3, the Hammerburst is the weakest weapon I have ever seen in a videogame. I have literally lost count of the number of full clips I unloaded into enemies running right at me, and it didn’t kill them!

What is worse is that after I started shooting the Hammerburst, hitting the enemy the whole time, they just start running directly at me! The people being hit with the Hammerburst have the intention of taking all those shots until they get close enough to fire off ONE round with the Sawed-Off Shotgun, Gnasher Shotgun, Chainsawing you with the Lancer, or stabbing you with the Retro-Lancer. The single round from the very powerful Sawed-Off Shotgun instantly kills. I’m not saying the strength of the Sawed-Off Shotgun is a bad thing, since that weapon has a very long reload time and is risky to use. What I am saying is that when you spend five seconds unloading a full clip into someone, they should easily die! … Epic, please take the time to fix the Hammerburst weapon by making it more powerful.

To be honest, Epic really should have spotted this problem already. When you choose your default weapons, you are allowed to choose the Lancer, the Retro Lancer, or the Hammerburst in one arm. And you can place the Sawed-Off Shotgun or the Gnasher Shotgun on your back. The two shotguns make a great choice – you can’t go wrong either way. Some people will like the extra close-range power of the Sawed-Off Shotgun, while other people will like the extra range of the Gnasher Shotgun.

But the Hammerburst is a weapon that is immediately identified as an inferior weapon. The Lancer and the Retro Lancer vary in power and range, so some people might like one and other people might like the other. But the way Epic currently has the Gears of War 3 beta, only an idiot would want the Hammerburst. The menu shows a range and power rating that visually makes it 100% clear the Hammerburst is inferior to the Lancer weapons. Epic should have noticed this and done something to make it so the Hammerburst is mower powerful. Seriously, it is a shame that the Hammerburst is so weak that you can unload a whole clip into a character and they will still live!

* Sawed-Off Shotgun is a weapon that I really like. It is incredibly powerful – it easily kills in one shot at close range. In fact, there have been two times when I witnessed the Sawed-Off Shotgun simultaneously kill two characters! If someone is hiding around a corner and waiting for you, it means the instant you turn that corner you are going to get blown to pieces by that powerful weapon! I’ve found it helps to run around corners the long way in order to get a better point of view of what might be hiding, sort of like taking the outside track in a racing game.

The Sawed-Off Shotgun has awful range, though; it is not the sort of weapon that you can use in an open environment against people with long-range weapons. The Sawed-Off Shotgun takes a very long time to reload, too. But in all honesty I think this is a good thing for game play in order to make things fair. The Sawed-Off Shotgun is so powerful that if it reloaded quickly it would mean someone using it would be invincible. The way things are now, if you risk using the Sawed-Off Shotgun but miss, you better start running away immediately in order to have some time to reload the thing. Epic has things very close to perfect with the Sawed-Off Shotgun, so I recommend keeping things as they are.

* Mortar is a heavy weapon that seems to function perfectly right now. The range, power, and reload time are excellent. I recommend Epic keep things exactly as they are with this heavy duty weapon. It can take out an entire group of enemies, but you need to aim it perfectly and it usually has only about three rounds of ammo. You are also 100% vulnerable while using the Mortar, which is fair, since the Mortar is so powerful. This adds strategy to the game, too. Don’t use the Mortar to fire those heavy-duty shells unless you have someone there to cover your back.

* Retro Lancer is a weapon that adds a new element of team game play to Gears of War. The accuracy and precision is not as good as the traditional Lancer, but the Retro Lancer has extra power and kickback. You can literally feel the controller of the Xbox 360 vibrating BIGTIME with the Retro Lancer, which is awesome! Epic has done a nice job in this area and should keep things the way they are.

The Retro Lancer has a very unique form of Melee Attack, which Epic should keep the same. In the same way that holding the A button causes you to run, holding the B button will cause you to run while holding the Retro Lancer. This does a great job of simulating what it would be like to Charge against the enemy. The part of game play that is interesting is the way you need to hold down the B button for a long enough time period in order for the bar in the upper-right side of the screen to turn red. Once this happens, it means you will slaughter the enemy.

This Retro Lancer is also a great form of team combat. I’ve seen several intelligent groups of online gamers stick together while each of them held the Retro Lancer. Each of them would start holding the B button at the same time, while charging at the same enemy. This meant there wasn’t much the person being charged at could do, since three people were simultaneously charging right at him! One of the three Charging Retro Lancers almost always got him.

I like what Epic has done a lot with the Retro Lancer. The one and only area Epic might want to change is making the Retro Lancer be a little bit more mobile. If you are running with the Retro Lancer, it is common to accidentally charge into a wall. But, if Epic did make the Retro Lancer more flexible it might make the Retro Lancer too powerful. Epic needs to take this one into consideration and evaluate what people say – maybe I just needed some more practice.

* Lancer is the traditional chainsaw-equipped automatic weapon we all know and love in Gears of War. In Gears of War 3, the Lancer still has excellent range. The strength of the Lancer seems to have been slightly toned down, though. The Lancer is one of the weapons where it is not entirely uncommon to empty an entire clip into an enemy running at you, with a reward of being killed in one shot with some form of Shotgun. I believe if you empty a full clip into someone, they should die. With that in mind, I am asking Epic to please increase the power of the Lancer.

The chainsaw element of the Lancer still kills the enemy effortlessly. The chainsaw duels also have the same type of game play we saw before. The one part of the chainsaw that seems to be different is that if you decide to use the chainsaw by pressing the B button, it takes a very slight amount of time longer to start it. This means that if you are holding a Lancer waiting to peak around the corner and use the chainsaw, but your enemy is holding a pistol, you will lose the battle more often because it takes longer to start the chainsaw. This seems fair to me because the chainsaw always results in a death when you use it.

* Digger Launcher is a new weapon that many people believe is their favorite new weapon. The Digger Launcher is incredibly powerful; it can kill off an entire group of enemies at the same time. The Digger Launcher is fired in a direction where it causes what appears to be a type of earthquake that you can see coming at you. The first time you see this, you will be saying “What is that?” and then you will die. But, once you realize what the Digger Launcher attack looks like, you will realize the way to counter it is by tapping the A button to roll out of the way. Just make sure you get the heck out of the way of someone using the Digger Launcher and you should be alright. I really like what Epic has done with the Digger Launcher.

* Boltok is a pistol that definitely needs to be modified by Epic. This weapon is incredibly weak and it takes too long to reload. If a weapon like this is going to take that long to reload, it should at least be powerful enough to take out an enemy with a headshot at relatively close range. It was very disappointing the way I would hit enemies three times with the Boltok, including two headshots, and the enemies would just keep running at me. Epic, please change some things with the Boltok; it needs a faster reload time and/or more powerful ammunition.

* Gorgon is a pistol that fires multiple eight-shot rounds. This weapon can be very powerful if you fire it at close range. In Gears of War 2 this weapon seemed like if you hit the enemy with all, or at least the majority, of the rounds, you would put the enemy down or set him up to be taken out with the next shot. In Gears of War 3 it doesn’t seem to be like that. The Gorgon appears to have lost some strength, which is annoying.

The simple fact is that most gamers come from the camp of “If you empty an entire clip of ammo into an enemy while he is running at you, it means that enemy should die.” The Gorgon no longer functions in that way. You can keep shooting an enemy repeatedly while he runs at you, but the enemy will not die! Most of those rounds will miss. As soon as the enemy is close enough to you (after running at you while you were shooting them with the Gorgon), it means they will shoot you and kill you with one shot of the Sawed-Off Shotgun or the Gnasher Shotgun. This is simply NOT FAIR!

Epic, make some changes in terms of power with the Gorgon. Nobody has a problem with dying when they are hit that much! If an entire clip of ammo is emptied into your character, people expect to die! Even people that live say things like “Man that wasn’t fair to the guy shooting me all that time.”

I’d like to make something clear to Epic that they really need to focus on. On one map I grabbed the Gorgon, and then I ran behind an enemy that was scoping enemies and firing. I walked directly behind the enemy at close range – the point that I was almost touching the enemy. I shot the Gorgon, and all of the shots hit the enemy. I then shot again, and all shots appeared to hit. But the enemy did not die! Instead, the enemy switched weapons and hit me one time – killing me instantly! This is NOT FAIR! Epic, please upgrade the power to the Gorgon!

* Epic Forums: If you have suggestions that you want to make for improvements, visit the Epic website here: http://forums.epicgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=400 

* If you don’t feel like taking the time to create a screen name for the Epic website, you can post your comments here and I will gladly share your thoughts on the Epic forum.

I will be writing an update within the next several days about the Grenades and some of the other weapons in the Gears of War 3 beta. It is difficult to find out what using the new grenades is like because people are always in such a rush to grab them on the maps. I will write an update within the next few days so that we can share thoughts with each other.

Note: I am currently unemployed and seeking work. If Epic or anyone else would like to hire me as a writer, business manager or in areas of marketing, I possess the qualifications to be hired in these areas of work.

The Third Xbox is in Development!

Microsoft has recently started posting job offers to engineers. The way the job descriptions describe the situation, it appears obvious the jobs will be focused on the design of the successor to the Xbox 360. But several analysts have pointed out that since Microsoft hasn’t even determined which parts will be used in the third Xbox, it means the Xbox 360 has a lot of life ahead of it.

This seems particularly true when you consider Nintendo will be releasing the Wii 2 console in 2012 to be a direct competitor of the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. Obviously, Nintendo would not want to release a Wii 2 console that would see vastly superior competition just a short time after its release. Let’s assemble the facts so that we can try and come up with a fact-based theory.

Here is a list of facts we know so far:

* Nintendo recently announced the Wii 2 will be released in 2012. The Wii 2 will not be a direct competitor of the PS4 or the third Xbox. The Wii 2 will be the direct competitor of the Xbox 360 and PS3. I wrote an article about this here, and another article with additional information here.

* The hardware specifications of the Wii 2 show it will offer performance similar to what is used by the Xbox 360, PS3, and PCs of today. Wii 2 uses 512MB of RAM, just like Xbox 360 and PS3. Wii 2 uses a GPU that is nearly identical to the one in the Xbox 360. The same can be said about the 3.0Ghz tri-core CPU used by the Wii 2 compared to the 3.2Ghz tri-core CPU used by the Xbox 360.

* The third Xbox currently rumored to be in the very early stages of development will obviously not be competing directly against the Wii 2, since that would mean it is competing directly against the Xbox 360.

* Nintendo feels confident enough to release the Wii 2 in 2012 because they believe the eighth generation of videogames represented by the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and Wii 2 still has a lot of life in it.

* Sony said the PS3 will have a 10-year life expectancy. If this is true, the PS3 is on schedule to be released in 2016 – ten years after the release of the PS3.

Now that these facts have been gathered, we can try to form some theories and hypotheses. If the PS3 had a 10-year life expectancy, it seems reasonable that the Xbox 360 would also have a life expectancy of 10 years. In this scenario, the third Xbox would be released worldwide in late 2015 – 10 years after the release of the Xbox 360. This seems like a logical theory based on the facts available and the success that Microsoft has enjoyed by beating Sony to market by one year.

From this point of view, it isn't a surprise or a concern that Microsoft is waiting on assembling engineers for development of the next Xbox. Even PCs at their highest and most expensive points right now do not offer a significant improvement over what is seen in the graphics offered by Xbox 360 and PS3. This is important because history has always shown that whenever a new generation of consoles has been released, there is a brief period where the consoles have the hardware advantage over PCs.

For example, when Xbox 360 launched in late 2005, it did so with a revolutionary ATI GPU based on Unified Shader technology, which PC graphics cards didn't see until 2007. The same thing can be said about the eDRAM technology used in the Xbox 360. And in 2005 when Xbox 360 launched with a tri-core CPU, PCs were only using dual-core CPU processors.

We haven't seen technology evolve enough for a new generation of consoles to replace Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii 2. Remember, based on the specifications known so far, the Wii 2 is evolutionary – intended to compete directly with the Xbox 360 and PS3 in a high-definition online environment. This is an online environment where the Wii 2 is at a big disadvantage compared to Xbox Live.

The third Xbox will be revolutionary due to the fact that it will be made up of customized technology that PCs eventually become based on in order to make multiplatform programming easier for developers. Over the course of time, PCs will eventually catch up and overtake the consoles again. This is a cycle that has continuously repeated itself throughout videogame history. PC technology is the one form of technology that we can look at and use as a constant measuring stick to estimate when we might see new consoles overtake high-end computers.

I believe consoles will not be able to make a significant improvement over PCs until at least 2014 or 2015. This is when rumors indicate new forms of technology will be available for use at a price the public would see as reasonable. But just because technology is available doesn’t necessarily mean companies will want to rush something to market.

From a business perspective, the Xbox 360 and PS3 are only now starting to reach their peak. Xbox 360 is now the top-selling console every month in North America and other English-speaking parts of the world. And only recently has the PS3 started consistently earning net profits each financial quarter.

With that in mind, Microsoft and Sony probably aren’t in any rush to kill off the Xbox 360 and PS3, even if the technology was available. Microsoft recently released the Kinect, which immediately became the fastest-selling electronic item in history. By selling ten million units within a 60-day time period, Kinect is now in the Guiness Book of World Records. It would be foolish to put an end to the life of an Xbox 360 performing that well!

Sony’s initial investments in the launch of the PS3 caused a net loss of nearly $4 billion. After the disappointing launch of the PS3, Sony continuously saw net losses of hundreds-of-millions of dollars each financial quarter afterwards. From a financial point of view, it seems reasonable to presume that Sony wants the PS3 to last until 2016, if possible. This would be the only way for the PS3 to have any chance of earning an overall net profit during the course of its life on the market.

At this point in time I really doubt we will see a new Xbox console by 2014. But, we do know that Microsoft wants to expand the Halo series and Gears of War series. One hypothesis of mine is that a new series known as Pendulum Wars (a prequel to Gears of War) would be released with the third Xbox. If Epic spent three years developing this game, it would be ready by the end of 2014.

The question is if the technology available by 2014 would offer revolutionary advancements that a competitor like Sony would not be able to eclipse two years later. To be honest, I think Microsoft probably could have a big game from Epic, such as The Pendulum Wars, released by late 2014. But, it might be better for Microsoft to take their time getting everything right and putting all the icing on the cake. This would probably make 2015 a better release date, especially since Microsoft would continue earning money from the Xbox 360 the whole time.

Who is Your Favorite Gears of War Character?

Who is your favorite Gears of War charater?

This is the question many people have been asking recently. What I would like to know is who your favorite Gears of War character is and why.

Just write a brief statement like the one I write here:

Clayton Carmine once told his two younger brothers something they remembered for the rest of their lives: "Failure is a Badge of Honor."

Clayton Carmine used to live his life as a successful businessman. Clayton told his younger brothers that one of the classes they needed to take at the academy was called “Every Business is Built to Fail,” because you learn a lot from making mistakes in life. But the locusts killed his younger brothers, so now it’s personal!

In Gears of War 3, Clayton Carmine becomes an entrepreneur as a Locust Headhunter – a market he will dominate at the expense of the Locusts!

As long as the Locusts have manpower, Clayton Carmine Exterimation will remain in business with one very enthusiastic boss!

UPDATE: Wii 2 - Additional Info

UPDATE to my previous article here.

Over the course of the day, several new pieces of information have been revealed about the Wii 2.

First, it appears Nintendo will not be concentrating on 3D HDTV sets with the Wii 2. This is not a surprise, considering less than 1% of HDTV sets offer compatibility with 3D technology. Nintendo didn’t focus on HDTV sets with the Wii and they are not focusing on 3D HDTV sets with the Wii 2. Plus, using 3D technology has a negative impact on graphics, since it requires additional processing.

Second, the controller of the Wii 2 will apparently be some form of tablet technology. In other words, it will be similar to an iPad, but it will have buttons on it. This is going to be one of the big surprises that will be unveiled at E3. I know I'm already looking forward to seeing this!

Finally, the Wii 2 appears to offer hardware performance very similar to what is currently seen in the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 uses a 3.2Ghz triple-core CPU along with a custom GPU from ATI. The Xbox 360 GPU shares many similarities with the R500 and R600 series of PC graphics cards from ATI. The R600 series assimilated many of the custom Xbox 360 technologies such as eDRAM technology and the Unified Shader architecture. This shows how far ahead of its time the Xbox 360 GPU was, since PC graphics cards didn’t see those features until 2007. The Xbox 360 hardware includes 512MB of Unified RAM and 10MB of eDRAM.

According to reliable sources, the Wii 2 will be based on a custom triple-core PowerPC processor from IBM. The Wii 2 will also probably be using an AMD graphics processor offering performance similar to an ATI 700 series graphics card. The Wii 2 will also include 512MB of RAM. This means the Wii 2 hardware will be virtually identical to the Xbox 360, which will make ports to and from the PC and Xbox 360 very easy and very inexpensive. It appears the Wii 2 will probably have the hardware edge over the Xbox 360, but it seems as though the high-end PC will remain king of graphics.

Compared to the PS3, the Wii 2 is very different. The PS3 uses 512MB of Non-Unified RAM, and is based on an outdated Non-Unified architecture. The overall design of the PS3 shares nothing in common with the Wii 2. The PS3 hardware has a reputation for being difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to program, since it is not based on standard PC technology that developers are familiar with. Ports to and from PC and Xbox 360 games often result in the PS3 version having graphics that aren’t as good as their counterparts. The same can be said about multiplatform games released simultaneously for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

This trend looks to continue for the PS3. In fact, it appears there is a risk that the situation will become even worse for the PS3, since the balance beam will be tipping even further away from the PS3. The Wii 2 will carry a lot of weight with third-party publishers looking to reduce development costs. Multiplatform games will be virtually identical on the PC, Wii 2, and Xbox 360, while the PS3 versions will probably offer a lower level of performance than ever. Developers aren’t going to want to hold themselves back from doing the best things possible on PC, Xbox 360, and Wii 2, just to keep the PS3 happy. The main areas that will be affected in multiplatform releases are resolution and frame rate.

Nintendo appears to have done an excellent job in the design and concept of the Wii 2. The hardware and features included in the Wii 2 have already generated a lot of hype due to the fact that they will be optimized to work with HDTV sets and home theater surround sound. This year’s E3 really will be one of the most exciting in a long time. I believe it will be particularly interesting to see how Microsoft and Sony respond to this announcement from Nintendo. Personally, I predict a price drop of at least $50 from both of them.

Wii 2 – New HD Console Being Unveiled by Nintendo at E3

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, usually referred to as the E3, is going to be particularly interesting this summer! Nintendo has recently let it slip (probably for publicity purposes) that they will be unveiling a new console based on high-definition technology. Reliable sources have claimed that the Wii 2 will be launched worldwide at the end of 2012.

This new Wii 2 console will be fully backwards-compatible with the existing Wii console. Backward compatibility is a feature gamers of the 21st century truly appreciate. It’s very common to hear Wii owners talk about how they love it how their Wii is backwards compatible with Nintendo’s Gamecube console. Presumably, the Wii 2 will also be backwards compatible with the Gamecube technology in the same way that the Wii is.

The Wii 2 is apparently the most powerful HD console ever created, with a design very similar to the Xbox 360. Currently the Xbox 360 has the most powerful GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and has the ability to display more polygons than any other console –500,000,000 polygons per second. The Playstation 3 console can display up to 275,000,000 polygons per second. This is the reason why Xbox 360 versions of multiplatform software released by third-party game developers often have smoother frame rates and higher resolution than their counterparts on the PS3.

Apparently, the Wii 2 will be capable of displaying games in 1920x1080p resolution on a regular basis. The Xbox 360 and PS3 already have games that run in this 1080p resolution, but they represent only a small percentage of games. In reality, it would make more sense for the Wii 2 games to be based on a native resolution of 1280x720p, which would allow a smoother frame rate and a greater amount of lighting and shading techniques to be used.

Multiplatform games released for all the consoles may see the Wii 2 versions of games use the higher native resolution of 1920x1080p. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions would be based on native resolutions of only 1280x720p. We have already seen quite a few Xbox 360 games run at resolutions of up to 40% higher than their PS3 counterparts.

For example, Soul Calibur 4 on the PS3 runs at a native resolution of 1280x720p. However, the developers realized the Xbox 360 had quite a bit of power remaining. This motivated the developers at Namco to increase the resolution of the Xbox 360 version by 40% so that it ran at a native resolution of 1365x960p. This is the type of environment we might expect the Wii 2 version to run at a native resolution of 1920x1080p.

Publishers that have seen this new console have claimed that Nintendo has already revealed to them that the Wii 2 will use a new form of controller, rather than an update to the existing Wii controller. Obviously the motion-control technology must still exist, since the Wii 2 keeps the name of Wii and is fully compatible with Wii software. This makes people wonder if Nintendo will be trying to use something similar to the very successful Kinect controller used with the Xbox 360.

What’s really interesting is that the Wii 2 controller is said to have a screen on it. This is something that hasn’t happened since Sega tried it in 1999 with the Dreamcast console. The Wii 2 takes this a step further by making it so the screen is touch-sensitive! The Wii 2 controller is also said to have some other surprises that Nintendo will show to us at this years E3. The first thought that springs into my mind is some form of 3D compatibility with the new 3DS handheld product from Nintendo.

I believe Nintendo is in an excellent position to continue their domination of the global videogame market. In 2005 Nintendo realized that only a small percentage of the market owned an HDTV, which is why Nintendo stayed away from that market. The Wii was less powerful than the Xbox 360 or the PS3, but the Wii sold far more units worldwide due to the fact that the Wii cost less money. Most people didn’t even consider the Wii as a direct competitor of the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Now, in 2011, the HD market has significantly grown, and will continue to grow by the time the Wii 2 launches in late 2012. Nintendo has always done their best to launch a console at the price of no more than $249. With that in mind, the Wii 2 will instantly be priced to compete with the various packages of Xbox 360 and PS3 when it launches in 2012. Considering that the Wii 2 will offer better graphics for a similar price, it seems reasonable that the Wii 2 really will allow Nintendo to remain leader of the videogame industry.

The Xbox 360 console currently can be purchased for as little as $199 for a new unit, but this does not include a hard drive. We do not yet know if the Wii 2 will include any form of hard drive. The Xbox 360 unit with a hard drive costs $299. You can also purchase an Xbox 360 without a hard drive with a Kinect packed in for $299. For $399 you can purchase an Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive and a Kinect packed in.

Playstation 3 sells for as little as $299 with a 160GB hard drive. For $349 you can buy the PS3 with a 320GB hard drive with the Move controller packed in. The Move is a motion-sensitive controller similar to what is used in the Wii. The Move has not been nearly as successful as the Kinect, so it remains to see what form of motion technology the Wii 2 is based on.

The Kinect technology is revolutionary and has very little in common with what is used in the Wii. Kinect launched during the fall of 2010 and quickly sold 10 Million units. Kinect is currently in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest-selling item in electronics history. There is no doubt that Kinect technology will be a part of Microsoft’s plans for a long time to come in areas of gaming, computers, home entertainment, and many other areas of living.

At this point in time it really did make sense for Nintendo to release a new console. Over the last year, the Wii has been declining in sales – each month being outsold by the Xbox 360. Right now, the Wii is often the odd-man-out when multiplatform games are released by third-party game companies. For example, games will be released for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, but not for the Wii.

Even when games are released for the Wii, gamers often stay away from the Wii version because the Wii version has graphics that are far less impressive than what is seen on the PC, Xbox 360, or PS3. But with the Wii 2, gamers will want to buy the Wii 2 versions of games since they will be the best-looking console versions available. Only expensive high-end PCs will have graphics as good as the Wii 2.

This places some stress on Microsoft and Sony. Both companies are now being pressured into released consoles sooner than they wanted. Sony said from the beginning that they thought the PS3 would have a 10-year life expectancy. Microsoft never said how long they felt the Xbox 360 would be on the market, but they did say they believed this generation would last longer than any other previous generation – which it already has done.

Microsoft referred to the Kinect as a new launch for the Xbox 360. There is no doubt that the successor of the Xbox 360 will remain fully compatible with the Kinect. But we don’t know when Microsoft’s next console will arrive. Xbox 360 is selling better now than it ever has. Microsoft continues to earn net profit with the Xbox 360 and the Xbox Live gaming service.

Sony has a tough decision to make. Unless the PS3 can last 10 years, it is very likely that the PS3 will result in an overall financial net loss for Sony. It cost Sony billions of dollars to launch the PS3, and Sony continued to lose hundreds-of-millions of dollars each quarter afterward. The amount of net profit Sony has only recently started earning is very small; it won’t put a dent in the billions of dollars of loss the PS3 has cost Sony. This is why Sony needs to ask themselves if it would be better to forget about this generation in order to get an early start on the next generation or if it would be better to try and get as much as possible out of the PS3.

From a graphic point of view, it doesn’t make sense for Microsoft or Sony to launch a new console by 2012. The balance between graphic quality and the price of a console – directly related to the cost of launching that console – clearly shows that Microsoft and Sony would be better off living in a world where the Wii 2 has better graphics until about 2014. The Xbox 360 will continue to sell well and generate profit thanks to Kinect and Xbox Live. Net profit is the name of the game in business and Microsoft has achieved this goal with Xbox 360.

With that in mind, I think the soonest we will see a console from Microsoft is 2013 or 2014. Only then will graphics technology have reached far enough beyond the Xbox 360 that it makes sense for Microsoft to start a new hardware generation. Remember, the Wii 2 is a direct competitor of the Xbox 360 and the PS3; the Wii 2 does not start a “new” graphics generation the way the next Xbox would. The simple fact is, that type of graphics technology will not be available for a while.

Sony is a different story due to the lack of financial success associated with the Playstation 3. The PS3 is the least successful Playstation console that Sony has ever released. It was very arrogant of Sony to launch a console for $600. Sony had an amazing amount of momentum heading into this hardware generation. Yet all of that momentum attained from the success of the PS1 and PS2 was lost because they stumbled over their own arrogance.

This arrogance was directly related to Sony’s desire to try and turn the blu-ray disc into the format that replaced DVD. We do not know what format the Wii 2 will use. At this point in time it seems reasonable that Nintendo could include some form of blu-ray technology into the Wii 2 for a low price. However, it wouldn’t be a complete surprise to see Nintendo develop a proprietary disc format of their own. I doubt this will happen though, since many people believe the market failure of the Gamecube was caused by Nintendo’s decision to avoid the DVD format.

My prediction is that Nintendo will play it safe and use blu-ray technology for now. After all, Nintendo is designing the Wii 2 to be direct competitors with the Xbox 360 and the PS3, not their successors. I do believe that once Microsoft and Sony eventually release their next consoles, we will see that blu-ray becomes an outdated format. Developers in this generation have already said that blu-ray discs do not offer enough storage space.

Once the Wii 2 is released, we will see that Nintendo is once again included in the lives of console gamers that want the best graphics. Games will be released for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and Wii 2. Console gamers that want the best graphics will be purchasing the game for Wii 2.

It also will be interesting to see what type of online services Nintendo will be offering for the Wii 2. Currently in the videogame industry, it is generally agreed upon that the Xbox Live service of the Xbox 360 is a full generation ahead of what is offered by Nintendo and Sony for the Wii and PS3, respectively. But the Wii 2 isn’t meant to put Nintendo into the“next” generation. The Wii 2 is merely meant to pull Nintendo into the current high-definition generation in a way that competes directly with the Xbox 360 and PS3 on a technological level. I believe the Wii 2 will probably use the same form of online service as the Wii.

This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo will certainly be a very interesting event that all of us are looking forward to!

UPDATE: You can read more about the Wii 2 here.