So, this is the third time. After about a week or so going back and forth, the story is more the first and less the second. While Sony and the BDA don’t have an official stance preventing their licensed Blu-ray reproduction facilities from pressing adult content, this doesn’t help the adult industry much. Sony, as the main force behind the format, still owns the largest (by quite a margin) Blu-ray production facility, Sony DADG. According to Computerworld, via Gizmodo, Sony has decreed that Sony DADG will not print adult content. So, while the BDA has publicly stated otherwise, Sony as a company is essentially saying that porn isn’t necessary. Bringing up the whole Beta Video situation often raises the hackles of many; “Porn wasn’t a major factor!” they scream. Well, they’re part right. It wasn’t the only factor certainly. But it was important. The other major factor was price. Unfortunately, Blu-ray seems to be repeating the past in that arena as well. Do some checking on it if you’re feeling skeptically frisky. I like Amazon, because they’ll list MSRP next to their price. And like the title says, I’m not posting specifically about this anymore, unless Sony officially changes their mind. If they’re smart, they will.

Chuf and I occasionally discuss the sites that we trust in regards to game coverage and reviews: as mentioned previously, I have a fondness for 1UP for reviews and editorial content, and occasionally look at Gamespot as well. Chuf on the other hand likes him some Gamespot and IGN. On the latter, we have more or less agreed to disagree.

I have a rather pronounced… distaste for IGN for a myriad of reasons: the childish and fanboy baiting organization of their Editorial content and coverage into platform specific channels, which I feel leads to the inflation of review scores and disingenuous positions on gaming situations. Not only that, but there seems to be an exceedingly enthusiastic sense of obligation to tell their community what it wants to hear, for fear of the rabid uprisings that arise when they do the opposite. If I wanted to have my opinions of a game read back to me, however, I would chant them in front of a mirror as though a part of some dark ritual. Put more simply, I don’t feel like I can trust them, and frequently, their community as a whole disgusts me. Strong words huh? Well, keep reading.
IGN has also established a tendency in the last year or two to buck commonly held editorial stances among the gaming news world. This isn’t in and of itself a bad thing. A few days ago, IGN selected Okami as their Game of the Year, as opposed to, say Gears of War, which seems to be the most common selection, or Twilight Princess, with its ravenous and unflinchingly devoted fan community. I’m ok with this choice, though I don’t agree with it, and it’s good to see a game that was so artistically risky get that kind of recognition, and hopefully the exposure will help it sell more copies. But there are corners of the web that would have IGN’s editorial staff castrated for that decision, whether by chainsaw or Master Sword, and I don’t think that’s fair. Picking on IGN is now something for the elite few, the I’m-Cooler-Than-Thou’s, the indie rock originalists of the gaming community, and in this case, it’s crap.

Today, Joystiq posted this article separate from the context of its original appearance. Taken in this way, it seems pretty ridiculous, especially the quoted section:

Gasp! Someone claiming the PS3 is better than the Wii!? Officially?! Take a deep breath. The aforementioned quote is actually from IGN Gear’s Best Of list, and from their position, I’m inclined to agree. Technologically speaking, and from a hardware standpoint, the PS3 is a more compelling product based solely on its potential than the Wii, which is, let’s be honest here you and I, repackaged tech from the previous console generation sold at outrageous mark-up. Do you see what you’ve done Joystiq? You’ve made me side with IGN on something. And while I certainly have issues with some of the crap that spawns from IGN, I find misleading and sensationalistic crap from you just as annoying, if not more so. So shame on you Joystiq.

This is unconfirmed at this point but it appears that Toshiba, Microsoft’s partner in the HD format war, may be on the path to dealing another blow to the troubled Blu-Ray format. During the Consumer Electronics Show Toshiba showed off a HD-DVD disc that had a triple layered 51 GIG capacity. Click HERE for details. Though barely outdoing the 50 GIG capacity of Blu-Ray, it nonetheless stands to take away another advantage for Sony. Overall this has been a bad week for Sony.

Chufmoney

I think I just need to throw this out here really quick, given all of our 360 and Wii love, and the last two posts, which could probably be construed as anti-Sony. We don’t hate the PS3. Well, Chuf and I don’t hate the PS3. Not a week that goes by where we don’t discuss its potential purchase, if for no other reason than to cover it here. We want to want it badly enough to buy it. And we’re waiting for Sony to make that happen. But we absolutely despise many of their tactics, and when we see them pull something shady or lame, we’ll call them on it (not that they’re actually paying attention to anything we have to say, but I digress). Count on us to do the same thing with Nintendo (and we have to a degree) as well as Microsoft (expect a detailed rant from Chuf if clearing his 360’s hard drive cache doesn’t clear up the crashes he’s experiencing by mission 2 in Lost Planet). One of the many things we’re working on is a detailed “Official” opinion on the PS3. Look for it to go more into detail regarding our complicated feelings toward the shiny black monolith.

-Arthur (Aegies)