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?
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