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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2000)
Arts PlayStation! shortage whets hardcore gamers appetite / BY MATTHEW HANSEN_ John Blanchard and Carlos Ramirez stepped up to the demonstration of Sony’s brand-new PlayStation 2 at Circuit City on Tuesday afternoon, and their reactions made it clear: This wasn’t your older brother's Nintendo. "Damn," Blanchard said, staring at the comput er-like graphics and DVD-quality picture of the PlayStation 2. “I’ve never seen any mtu^ thing like this." • *•“ Blanchard and Ramirez want one despite the $299 price tag. demand Thousands of Lincoln high school and University of Nebraska-Lincoln , , students have reacted similarly to has Doen Sony’s ad campaign, which high lights the quality of the system’s pic exponen- But everyone will have to wait “We’re sold out right now,” said tial. It has Rob Bruns, a media specialist at Best Buy. “The demand has been expo Koon nentiaL11 Las just been huge. It’s like De©n nothing I’ve ever seen.” The demand is exponential. The hllQ6. supply isn’t. Sony delivered only # ^ ’ 500,000 systems on the first day, half ... its promise of 1 million. It S UK© Many who had camped out in front of department and electronics nnthinn stores Lincoln hoping to be one of I iuu m the first to own a PlayStation 2 were turned away. They’re still without the I’ve ever game system. Sony hasn’t been able to make up coon n the difference in ensuing days. The Seen. company says the holdup is a glitch in one of PlayStation 2’s parts. Others Rob Bruns have speculated that PlayStation is trying to prolong the excitement of Best Buy the release, media specialist Either way, many are being I * forced to wait for what Bruns called an “incredible system,” the first to include a DVD player. What sets the PlayStation 2 apart is its picture. While Blanchard and Ramirez played “Madden 2000 Football,” the action looked more like the real thing than a conventional video game. Close-up r_m NateWagner/DN Rob Hage<k)m,aCkaiitQty sales spedafetplaysa demonstration version of the PtayStation2 game system while off duty at Grant Gty,61400Stlhe game console has been a hot item among college students with the first shipments selling out in minutes. shots of players between snaps are especially detailed. The system’s picture quality is only going to get better, Bruns said. “Right now, the graphics on those games are running below what DVDs are capable of,” he said. “Many games that were supposed to launch with the system are being held so the writers can make them even better. “Trust me, those games are going to be amaz • _ tf mg. Ramirez thinks the new game system is amaz ing right now. “I couldn't have even imagined something like this five years ago,” he said. “I remember when Nintendo was the {hing, and this doesn’t look any thing like Nintendo. Makes all the rest of them look pretty stupid, too.” Deton Lonowski/DN David Oasen/DN Jason Ntoorehead, a Univeisity of Nebraska^iKoln broadcasting graduate, scans through the chapters ofaJatkie Chan movie on his DVD player Sunday night Moorehead said he liked his DVD player because he can go through an action sequence one frame atatime. High DVD sales might eject VCRs from market BY BRIAN CHRtSTOPHERSON __ It may not be long before the VCR joins the pile in the closet next to the box of Styx records and sits atop the dusty Apple II-E comput er adjacent to the Atari. The trusty VCR is meeting its match. Another three-letter acronym has captured the hearts of the people. And their pocket books. Digital Video Disc, or DVD, is the sexy toy that has folks turning their noses up at the VCR. How can the VCR compete? With the DVD, “With that “there’s no rewind button,” said Josh McNeal, an 18 VVllll uiai year-old UNL freshman computer engineering major. “That makes it better right there. You can go CI arifi ©Cl exactly to where you want to in the movie.” It’s left recent VCR buyers kicking themselves. • x |K._ “A year ago I bought a VCR, and it turned out to picture be a very bad mistake,” said Ty Dilts, a 20-year-old UNL sophomore economics major from Omaha. “In and CriSD one year» prices of DVDs will probably be the same * ’ as tapes are now, and DVDs’ picture is so much bet l ter.” * Clear At this point, price is about the only advantage the videocassette recorders and videotapes have in cnnnrl it iQ theirfavor. dUUIIU, ll IO At Best Buy, 400 N. 48th St., prices ofVCRs are well below the $100 to $700 that a DVD player costs, j USt SO Tapes are also cheaper, selling for an average of $10, J while the average price of a DVD is $20. h Yet most peopld are willing to fork over a few III U C n extra Ben Franklins for added quality. “With that clarified picture and crisp, clear better ” sound, it is just so much better,” said Don Sanders, a 21-year-old business major from Papillion. “You always have to mess with the volume consistently on Don Sanders tape t0 g0t right, where it’s CD-quality sound with business mayor a DVD.” banaers nas a cuuec nun uiwuv xva.- x ic actma ™ be just part of a growing phenomenon. “It’s nuts how many DVDs we’re selling every week,’’ said Wade Reitz, Best Buy supervisor in the video department. ' Reitz said consumers have exceeded Best Buy’s expectations. DVDs are bringing in 135 percent of the weekly revenue that was expected from them. He also said that young people between the ages of 18 and 25 are the leading buyers of DVD products. Reitz said two factors are leading to DVDs’ success. "The picture quality is the main thing that separates it from video cassette,” he said. “The picture is twice as good, and then there’s the convenience factor. There’s no rewinding or fast forwarding with a DVD.” , The DVD picture could even be enough to push all VCRs to the dumpsters, according to Sanders. “I think it's going to make videocassettes obsolete in a couple of years,” Sanders said. “Price is still an issue. If they weren’t so expen sive, video cassettes would become obsolete even sooner.” Reitz said the DVD could cancel the VCR, but he was doubtful. “The reason it might not is because the DVD is not able to record, and some people still want that videocassette to record their shows, he said. So maybe the VCR will survive the DVD ambush. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if this replay television that is coming out eventually overtook them all,” Reitz said. Replay television? % $ i f