So here we are in kind of a jam over the Sound Clip Contest and I have nobody to blame but myself. The originally selected winner for Round 2 was Nesse B. They were emailed (a day early since nobody had entered in 2 days) yesterday to notify them as a winner. When I didn’t get a reply I drew another winner, which I probably shouldn’t have done since I didn’t formally announce a time limit on claiming the prize. Literally 1 minute after posting the new winner, Nesse B contacted me about the prize. So that obviously puts us in a pickle of a situation.

Being the nice guy that I am, I am going to honor Nesse’s right to claim the prize, but I am also going to award the 2nd winner, Niall Ryan, with the remaining prize. What that means is that we have no prize for Round 3. I am going to see if I can get another game from Nintendo or someone else for another round. So congrats to the winners and I apologize for the goof up. I am going to write up some formal rules that we will use to govern all future contests and giveaways.

The winners and their prizes:
Hochi – Meteos (DS)
Nesse B – WarioWare: Twisted (GBA)
Niall Ryan – Kirby Canvas Curse (DS)

This is just a heads up that tonight at 8PM, Gamerush is holding a Madden 2006 Tournament. All you football fans may want to get on out and show off your skills. Call your local Gamerush for details.

It seems that everyone has been really enjoying this new round of contests. There have been quite a few people that have correctly guessed the answer to the current clip which makes me think that it was too easy. Expect the next round to be much tougher. I have another great idea for a contest that is similar to this and could be a lot of fun. I will keep you all updated and we will definitely have to try and make this an ongoing thing. I just need to line up about 20 more prizes to carry us to the end of the year. Anyone out there willing to donate that many games can feel free to let me know.

[url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/08/02/news_6129862.html]Gamespot[/url] is running a story that is based on something an analyst said, so enjoy a little salt with this. Speculation is that Sony could quite possibly intentionally delay the PS3 until 2007 and ride profits from the PS2 for another year.

[quote]In a research memo sent to investors, Wedbush senior analyst Michael Pachter set up the following scene for a delayed PS3 launch. It starts with the current-generation Xbox being priced down to $99 post-Xbox 360 launch, but no lower. Concurrent with that situation–an Xbox 360 at an unspecified price and the Xbox at $99–Sony would drop the price of the PlayStation 2 to $99.

There are two components to that pricing strategy: the first is that a $99 PS2 would offer a significant distraction as the 360 launches. [b]As Pachter states: “We believe that the company will attempt to disrupt the Xbox 360 launch with a price cut, and as a result may succeed in diverting attention away from the higher-priced next-generation console.” [/b][/quote]
Do they honestly think that will work? $99 PS2 that everyone already has or a next gen console for $299 that has features that blow away the PS2. If Sony thought it was tough for Nintendo and Microsoft to regain ground from a 1 year launch advantage just wait until they give Microsoft more than a year.

If you launch 6 months after Microsoft then you almost guarantee that your loyal fanbase will wait to purchase a PS3. Push that date back more than a year and they will all run out and get the newest console which won’t be a PS2. This builds the user base for the Revolution and the Xbox 360. Does Sony not understand this principle?