SD vs. RAW 2K6 . . . .THANK YOU, GOD!!!

[ringsyde]

Aside from all of the cool changes and tweaks being added to PS2's new Smackdown vs. Raw 2006, the legends rroster was revealed. Some of the names, frankly, have me on my knees thanking God!! Check it out:

ps2.ign.com/articles/656/656778p1.html

JAKE ROBERTS!!! JYD!!!! 80's HOGAN!!!!

If these great legends weren't enough, they've added the old school, blue bar steel cage from the eighties! While I always hated the cage (in comparison with NWA's bunkhouse cages, for example), the addition of this cage allows me to recreate some Saturday Night's Main Events with an authentic cage from the era.

I'm very excited about the game because it looks to improve in a lot of crucial ways. The addition of the Jake Roberts, alongside Hart, Andre, Bulldog and others, really gets me geeked. November's going to be one heck of a month for videogames (I already have a special edition Gamecube, TWO X-Box 360's and some twenty games on my list). Looks like I just added a PS2 and SD vs. RAW 2K6 to the list. I sincerely hope the $79.99 PS2 and Prime 10 (10 new, MUST-HAVE PS2 games for . . . .$19.99!!!) rumor is true.

[neil]

what rumor?you got my attenion now.
neil

[ringsyde]

There's some talk around the Sony marketing offices that (Sony) will price the PS2 between $79.99-$99.99 during Thanksgiving week to offset the launch of the XBOX 360.

Also, they will make 10 new, must have games available for $19.99-$29.99 that same week. Speculation about games includes everythingt from GTA San Andreas and God of War to Resident Evil Four and (wait for it . . . .) Smackdown vs. Raw 2006.

One of the Sony reps says that every game that releases during the first two weeks of November will be available for $20.00 that week. This would include Smackdown!

Without a new console, device or add-on to compete with Microsoft, and with the Sony corporation drifting closer and closer to financial disaster (BANKRUPTCY), the full court press is on to make sure the ONLY profitable department in the company (videogames) is not crippled due to inactivity in the wake of what many analysts are calling Microsoft's rise to the forefront of the videogame industry. A big price drop and a lot of extras are really the only weapon Sony has to keep the focus on themselves, and such a move will help when the PS3 is finally revealed next year. The Sony user-base grows and the interest in what's next stays high.

Unfortunate for Sony, financial concerns and a need to stay affordable have hurt the develoment of the PS3. Currently, promised features such as the hard drive, 7-controller compatability, backwards compatability and full blue ray disc intergration have either already been cut or are being considered for deletion from the final design.

And to think, this started out as a Smackdown post.

[pikemojo]

The way I see it is this. X-Box 360 will come out and everyone will think it is the greatest thing since the X-Box. Then PS3 will come along just like X-Box did to the PS2 and blow it out of the water. The graphics are already so superior in the PS3 that I really don't know why people are even making a big deal about 360. Lets be honest. The one reason the X-Box did so well is Halo and Halo 3 isn't anywhere near completion. I realize that there are plenty of great games for X-Box and there will be for 360 but Halo was the system seller. Perfect Dark may not even make it as a launch title.
People made a big deal about the graphics on the X-Box but how surprised can you be that it is better than the PS2 when it came out a couple years later. The real surprise is how much better PS3 looks than 360 when they are both practically being developed side by side.
If sony really does price down a bunch of titles then I will probably have to pick up a bunch. God of War, GTA, and Smackdown for starters. Hopefully it wiil pay off for Sony.

[ringsyde]

I should point out that Sony is now backing down from the claims they made at E3 . . . . including the authenticity of the PS3 screens being shown.

I have no doubt the PS3 will do well. However, without a harddrive, many developers have begun to express anger or simply switch over to Microsoft. Without a clear launch plan (financial woes call for an early 2006 launch, but system spec issues and quarterly planning are pushing the launch into next fall), many diehard supporters of Sony (EA, THQ, Activision) are starting to take a hard look at throwing everything into the Microsoft and Nintendo baskets.

Remember, Atari, Nintendo and Sega ruled gaming at one time or another. Each fell primarily because poor planning shifted the development comunnity's focus somewhere else. I can't clearly say Sony is done for here, but the same cycle is repeating itself. Add to that the fact that Sony has "Restructured" it's entire company to compete with Samsung (A Microsoft business partner as of early 2005) and stay remotely close to profitable, and things don't look so good.

Merryl Lynch had the opportunity to talk directly with SCEA and revealed that in order for the PS3 to come out in calendar year 2006, it either has to be priced at $599 or more, or it has to essentially play current games and dvd's - nothing else - to match Microsoft's $399.99 pricetag. Anything else would create the need for expendetures outside a pretty hard budget. The alternative is to go ahead and release a $600 machine and hope the gaming public doesn't follow a time-honored trend of completely avoiding high-dollar console systems.

So, we have Sony saying the screens we've seen may not be true / accurate representations. We have numerous polls saying fans wont buy the system because of the anticipated price AND because of the hideous controller. We have a major finance and investment firm doing some research and finding out that Sony has to either overcharge or under-deliver with its new machine - that will likely be late to the retail market. Sounds like trouble for Sony, regardless how faithful followers might feel. I'm clearly more of an Xbox fan than a PS2 fan, but don't hold that against me. I, like you, have had no time to play either new system and weigh strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, I can't take a side just yet.

I CAN read between the lines and determine that Sony's got some issues to cut through in a short amount of time, and they will have to combat a pretty big 360 user base by the time they hit the market (even if it's as early as next April).

Bottom line; the Sony spin machine may try to get you to believe their machine looks better. This November, gamers will see 360 games firsthand. As for PS3 . . . . ?
RAW and WRESTLEMANIA 21 for the Xbox looked better than every wrestling game out there, but they came up way short due to lack of substance and poor planning. Let's hope for the sake of pikemojo's argument that this analogy doesn't apply similarly to Sony.

[gamemaster]

You guys have got to watch the Ign season mode videos on pages 14-16 its like a episode of Raw with a long winded Trips speech and all. Its pretty funny because its better than the real show.
media.ps2.ign.com/media/717/717798/vids_14.html

Gameplay still looks like same old Smackdown to my dismay but for 20 bucks ill pick it up.

[GrumpyBigBee]

nice, I hope its true so I can save on getting gifts for the kids ( I am santa).

[Shon Maxx]

I just hope they fixed the cpu logic and targetting. Those two things P!$$ed me off the most in SvR.

Jay