Console Wars: 2007

[AmyDoesn'tDouche]

This is a fight not to be the best, but not to be last. For he who is last suffers most and in such a highly competative market, last place is truly horrific.

Not really, Nintendo was every bit of last place last generation and they still made money. Microsoft can afford anything, and Sony can pretty much afford anything too. If all companies are dedicated to creating games then it's going to happen. They all know how to push the right buttons to stay alive, or they have the resources to keep them afloat of anything.

[Rusty Venture]

Opinion-wise for me my tastes would probably favor the 360.

Probably because I bought an XBOX and i've really had alot of fun playing games on it. So good previous experience would affect a future purchase.

For the others:

PS3: Overpriced and biting off more than it can chew. Perhaps in some time it may live up to some of what it promising, but if Blu-Ray tanks then this nickname this baby "Titanic". (which the system is almost the same size as the actual ship!)

Nintendo's system: First, I refuse to call it that stupid name.

2nd: Overpriced controllers do nothing to change my opinion on their "revolutionary" control system.

[InternalPrimate]

Ok, first post in this topic in a while:

First off, I'm not sure who said it, or how long ago it was said, but the Wiimote DOES turn off when you power off the system. Trust me, I just tried. After powering the system off, the remote acts like a television remote: if you push a button, it will momentarily output power. If you don't push anything, no power is used.

There does seem to be a large love-affair with the current Nintendo. Both the Wii and the DS have been getting tons of critical acclaim as of late. Will it last? Time will tell.

I believe that we're going to see a lot of gimmicky games on the Wii for about the next year and a half with only a few true "stand-outs". We saw it with the DS, and I'm sure Nintendo has no problem following in those footsteps. But in about two years I think we're going to see some excellent software (again, like the DS), and I look forward to that.

What stops me from dreading the "gimmicky-period" is that I truly believe that the new controller makes a lot of games more fun. While I'll hesitate to say that it works better than current controllers, I'll quickly admit that I had a lot more fun playing Super Monkey Ball on the Wii, and waaaaaay more fun than I should have had playing Wii Sports. I'm not sure how to explain it, it's just inherently more fun using the Wiimote. And because of this, I can see people turning to the Wii for 3rd party games. Nintendo now has a reason for you to buy non-exclusive games on their system, something that couldn't be said for the Gamecube.

Of course, this is all my opinion, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that people have less fun with the Wiimote. It just wouldn't make sense to me.

[Joe Redifer]

Oh OK, when we turned off the Wii at my friend's house, the blue light on the Wiimote stayed on. Not sure what that's about. Maybe my friend is retarded or he has a retarded Wii?

I think there will be good if not great games on the Wii, but you've got to remember that it is a console and not a handheld. Touch screen suits the DS perfectly, but consoles are an entirely different beast. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I bet Nintendo's follow-up to the DS system will be a portable with TWO touch screens. What else can they do? Nintendo has "innovated" themselves into a corner. The public will expect big things from them next-gen.

[Rodger]

i also wonder where nintendo could go after this, heck i wonder what nintendo's next handheld will be like. Should be very interseting.

but, i am enjoying that new zelda game, that's for sure. My little bros rented that super monkey ball for the wii, but i've yet to try that one yet.

[Reg]

I'll try to keep my posts short.

360: Better than it was at launch but I still don't see myself rushing out to buy one.
But if it can have a sweet line up of games like the original Xbox or better, then odds are pretty good I'll buy one eventually.

Wii: LOVE Wii Sports and Rayman: Raving Rabbits. And I can always use more WarioCrack, er, I mean WarioWare. Twilight Princess, I'm fine with the GC version. The Wii will face a lot of criticism because of the controller. Many see it as a gimmick that will get old fast. I wrote off the DS as a gimmick system, but now it is one of my favorite things in all of gaming. If the Wii can do a repeat performance that the DS did or better, then the Wii will be quite the conter. Nintendo's already off to a great start. Things are selling like hot cakes.

PS3: Screwed. Yes, I know it is way too early to declare the demise of the PS3 but Sony has made a huge hole to dig themselves out of. The things costs $600. Most people can't afford or just don't want to pay that much. I also wonder if any companies are thinking of dropping support for the PS3. If the system doesn't sell, the games don't sell. I honestly don't think Sony's name is going to save them here. A $600 system is still a $600 and I don't care who made it. I think Sony's arrogance will hurt them a lot this time.

[Dartagnan1083]

360: Due to the games available (Gears of War, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, XB-Live Arcade, G.R.A.W.), the games comming (Blue Dragon, Virtua Fighter 5, Ninja Gaiden [sequel, not remake], Treasure's Project RS3, Guitar Hero II [with downloadable songs], Halo 3, Tenchu: Senran, Command & Conquer 3, and Resident Evil 5), and the already acceptable price;
I'll likely pick this up next when both the price becomes lower, and a good portion of the mentioned titles become available.

Wii: Decided to stand in the launch line on a whim and ended up having a good ol' time.
As for the console itself, I'm really enjoying it. Zelda is awesome, Wii Sports is awesome, and there's still Monkey Ball, Trauma Center, and Wii-Sonic to pick up.
The control feels intuitive, and almost natural (at least for the better titles released so far).
The Virtual console works really well, and allows for relativly cheap aquisition ($4-$6) of old NES and TG-16 titles (SNES/GEN titles require severe cherry picking since they're all $8). It also effectivly replaces my cube with the currently FULL backwards compatibility.
(Also, the blue light on the Wii-mote will go out sooner when you use the remote itself to turn the console off, otherwise it will go out on it's own.)


PS3: Played with it a bit. Graphics are pretty but practically requires an HD set to bring out the true beauty that supposedly justifies the price. MotorStorm is ok, but not worth $60. Resistance plays well and looks nice but doesn't come within a mile of my favorite 3 FPS games (Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, Half Life 2, Halo 1). There's nothing I need the PS3 for untill MGS4 and DMC4, and even then I'm not paying $600 for the opportunity to spend $60+ on those (and even then, MGS4 may loose exclusivity.
Things like Suikoden VI, Gradius VI, and Shin Megami Tensei IV (unannounced so far) may brighten things up, but those are too far away for me to care.

To clear things up, I don't care much for Final Fantasy these days, Nomura went ahead and decided that belts=clothing and that RPG characters needed to be the kinds of people that should be medicated with 70 different anti-depressants. This is why I'm not listing

Lastly,
This thread needs an obnoxious ticker in order to track numbers

[nate]

i also wonder where nintendo could go after this, heck i wonder what nintendo's next handheld will be like. Should be very interseting.

I seem to recall some Nintendo big-wig saying that the company believe the future of gaming is all handheld, and consoles gaming is on the way out. Nintendo may not be planning on releasing a new console at all, just a great portable.

[Mr Smith]

I seem to recall some Nintendo big-wig saying that the company believe the future of gaming is all handheld, and consoles gaming is on the way out. Nintendo may not be planning on releasing a new console at all, just a great portable.

The problem with protables is you can't collapse into your sofa after a hard days work, open a beer, scratch your man hood and get sucked into some pointless racing game - well you can it just isn't the same when your squinting at a screen a few inches wide.

Please note: I have never done a hard days work in my life.

[Elusive]

I seem to recall some Nintendo big-wig saying that the company believe the future of gaming is all handheld, and consoles gaming is on the way out. Nintendo may not be planning on releasing a new console at all, just a great portable.

Yeah, and look at Nintendo's other successes in telling 'gamers' what they want, or where the future is. No HD, no net play, no CD games...

[j_factor]

Yeah, and look at Nintendo's other successes in telling 'gamers' what they want, or where the future is. No HD, no net play, no CD games...

To be fair, they were kind of right about net play last gen. Online players weren't totally insignificant, but really, net play wasn't exactly huge on PS2 or Xbox. People talked up Xbox Live as a success when only like 10% of Xbox owners were using it. So I'm sure it wouldn't have been worth it for Nintendo to shell out for a decent online gaming setup when they wouldn't have seen much return on it, considering Gamecube's lower userbase and the difference in market. Xbox Live, which wasn't even that popular and probably didn't rake in profits, was only as popular as it was because of PC ports and PC-style games that were on Xbox. Gamecube lacked these types of games to begin with, so what would've been the point of a major online service for Gamecube? I mean, yeah, you could list some games that could've used online play, but by and large, I don't think online play would've attracted enough additional sales to be worth the cost. Remember that Nintendo was the only one without a major online program, and it was also the only one with a profitable business model. And the console that tried to focus on online was the one that sold the least and died the quickest.

The lack of HD in Wii is probably a good thing. It keeps costs down, and you know the relatively low price is a big selling point for the Wii. HD hasn't been adopted by that many in the US, and its presense is much lower in the rest of the world. Besides, I think it's been proven time and again that the most state-of-the-art technology isn't that great of an asset.

I agree with you about the CD part, but even then, N64 was still pretty damn successful, particularly in North America. That was a big factor for them losing dev support and the Japanese market, but they seem to be regaining both.

[Stander]

I love my Xbox, disc errors and all, but I'm not prepared to drop the money on a 360. I've read horror stories on Xbox Live's forums of downloading Xbox Live updates and the system "bricking." Being a college student with a part-time job, I just can't see myself spending $400 on something that could end up being a big paperweight.

As for the PS3, I definitely can't see myself dropping that much money on something that has zero attraction for me.

The Wii is much more attractive because of its price point and the fun-looking games. The Virtual Console is also a big plus.

Honestly, the systems that have won the most money from me this year are my Genesis and PC. They'll probably be the ones I continue to spend the most money on in the foreseeable future.

[TheGZeus]

You can use a USB hard drive on the Wii.

[Joe Redifer]

Any form of external memory on the Wii can only be used for backup. You can't run VC games or have games saves read and right from the USB memory or smart card or whatever. I suppose it can read photos from those things, but who cares about that?

[InternalPrimate]

I just read that Unreal Tournament 3 has been officially announced for the Xbox 360 as well as the PS3. Originally it was thought to be a PS3 exclusive. How much does this matter?

We're starting to see a lot of big name titles going multi-platform, with the possibility of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Devil May Cry 4 both coming to the Xbox 360, is it reasonable to believe that Microsoft may be the company to beat this time around? You may not like them, but they've made vast improvements since the original Xbox, and deserve some credit.

Still, seeing these big name titles going to both the Xbox 360 and PS3 but not the Wii makes me wonder if the Wii can rule on innovation alone. I think they have Japan in their pocket, but how long can their controller last in the western countries?