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General discussion

Console war after a few months of competition

Jun 24, 2007 11:05AM PDT

Ok its been a few months into the next gen consoles and i want to know which one will win the war. The 360 is probably the most all around solid system. It delivers good graphics and is at a reasonable price point. There are a lot of games coming out that look good such as Bioshock, Fable 2, Forza 2, Halo 3 of course and Mass effect to name a few. The live service is without a doubt undisputed and the system is getting good third party support I dont like the fact that not all games for the original xbox is compatible for the system, you need to download updates to be able to use those games.The Wii will have a very mixed audience, filled with diehard NIntendo fans and also people who have never played a game ever, which is a lot. Even though the system is 250 dollars, it still seems as if its pricy. It looks it can be used as a peripheral for the Gamecube. Although the system may seem as if its for kids, it is getting some adult oriented games such as The Godfather, Scarface, Manhunt 2, and No more Heroes which promises to be even MORE violent than Manhunt 2 but good luck with that. The console gives your average Nintendo faces we all know and games we already know are coming. Basically except for the M and AO(MH2) games there really is no surprises with the wii at all. Sure you can download old games with the VC but cmon why spend more money on games you already own. The fact the system is the first native backward compatible with the Gamecube is nice because there are some good games for that one but not many. Nintendo also needs to sometime down the road release a super big SD card or maybe a hard drive for the system because people are already running out of space on the tiny 512mb of storage. Blah. The ps3, i dont see the big deal in it really right now. I mean if you want t good cheap Bluray player then definitly get it because believe it or not its one of the cheapest. Im not to comfortable with the games because the 360 has much more market share. Many good franchises that were only for the ps3 will come out for the 360 like Devil May Cry and Assassins Creed and some are thinking about it, including Metal Gear 4. I dont see the big deal with their motion sensitivity because they got rid of rumble. You also have the option in all games to turn off the motion so its not even a plus because cmon who wants to ACTUALLY move their plane in Warhawk when they move their controller, thats something i did when i played F-22 on the Genisis when i was like 5. The system has decent online support coming, Sony isnt really releasing info on it but it will support xfire which is a chat client which lets you and your clan or anyone else to play games without the hassle of looking for them, its a nice and powerful service. Price wise, all consoles are said to drop in price soon. Also it is said that by this holiday season the Wii will be avalible in different colors and for 200 smackers. Well those are my thoughts so far on the current war, ill keep it updated as time goes on.(btw im still not sure which console to buy lol)

Discussion is locked

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Maybe no winner at all?
Jun 24, 2007 9:35PM PDT

I love to play games and have every system from nes to 3do and most still works.I have a 360 but have had to replace it twice due to the Red ring of death.I just got a ps3 about 4 months ago and love it,all these systems have a great reason to coexist.But if I had to pick 1 they say history repeats itself I would put my money on Sony.They have really no hardware issues and killer 1st party games this fall.The reason I pick it because of the technology it has.Its life is expected to be 8 to 10 years.The wii wont last 5 cause Nintendo has always put out a new console every 4 to 5 years and the wii is not that powerful.The 360 is powerful but it has to many skus with just the core which has no HDD and the 20 GB and now the 120 elite.Developers already said MS wont let them use the HDD to develop on because 30% of 360 owners has the core unit and has to have memory cards.I love all three but with the ps 1 lasting 10 years and the Ps2 already up to 8 years and still out selling most Next gen systems its really Sonys game to lose but I am not going to bet against them.

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tHE GAMES
Jun 24, 2007 10:38PM PDT

Look the game wars, this generation of it anyway has a lot to offer, and I agree with some of what this guy says, but I have to say that xbox 360 should have come out way ahead of the game if it had HALO 3 when it was releast and would be wipping the tarmack of P3 instead the arguablly stongest system is one with no next gen graghics and a small price point, the WII. Both 360 and P3 need to unleash a storm of games that will show who is top dog becuase right now both have some great stuff, but neither gets me buying either new system with out the guns to back them up. Most of the stuff is been their done that I want more.

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Still far too early to declare anything definitively
Jun 24, 2007 11:58PM PDT

IMHO, it's still far too early too declare any definitive winners or losers just yet. I don't think we'll really know who the winners and losers are for at least another 2 years.

But here are some early observations.

Nintendo did a lot of things well with the Wii:
-They avoided most of the bad press that Sony got during the launch of the PS3 and Microsoft got for system failures and overheating of the 360.
-Backwards compatibility with their prior system and the ability to play even older Nintendo system games (sure, it's something that Sony and Microsoft do too, but not something that Nintendo has ever done before).
-Argue all you want about how the Wii isn't a true next generation system, but Nintendo is actually making money on each system sold instead of selling the systems as a loss leader in order to sell games. (Making money is what will keep companies in the game for the next next generation.)
-Changing their stance and becoming more friendly to 3rd party developers is already paying some dividends.

Sony has really done many things wrong up to this point with the PS3, but the PS2 is still selling well enough that they should have time to fix things (but only time will tell if they do):
-The launch of the PS3 really wasn't that atypical of a system launch as far as shortages go, but Sony did a horrible job with their spin control and came across as arrogant and out and out liars in many of their statements concerning the launch.
-They can come up with all the excuses in the world why the high price of the PS3 is justified, but price was and is a huge reason why the system hasn't sold better.
-I personally couldn't care less about 90% of all the "live" services that this next generation of video game systems offers, but Sony should have had a service in place at launch that made the PS3 "live" experience on par with Xbox Live. A service comparable to Xbox Live only free could have been a huge selling point.
-It's not necessarily their fault, but losing the exclusivity of the GTA games is a huge blow for Sony. Microsoft has Halo, Nintendo has Mario and Zelda- Sony really needs to come up with their own system selling franchise that they can control internally and not worry about it being ported over to their competitors systems.

Microsoft does indeed seem to be in the fabled cat bird seat right now in their war with Sony- they have a significant head start and Halo 3 is due out soon. I would argue that their price was too high at first, but they've lowered it a bit and now compared to Sony they almost seem downright cheap. About their only mis-step so far really has been the red ring of death and failure to admit that problem, troubleshoot it, and fix it.

Truth be told, I'm pulling for Sony (even though the only one of the 3 systems that I've bought so far is the Wii) but I'm not sure that they will be able to overcome the lead the 360 has built. I went with the Wii because I tried and loved the unique controls (didn't think I would), price, and the fact that I don't yet have an HDTV. As soon as I get a HDTV, I do plan on getting either a 360 or a PS3 but I think it's still too early to make either a clear cut must buy over the other.

"A delayed game is eventually good; a bad game is bad forever." Shigeru Miyamoto

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360
Jun 25, 2007 12:14AM PDT

I own a Wii and 360 and although Zelda:TP was hella fun, there just aren't many adult oriented games out for the Wii that interest me. In fact I haven't touched my Wii since I beat Zelda. Also, some of the games look horrible on my HDTV even using component.

The only things that Microsoft did wrong were having poor quality control with the hardware overheating issues and didn't make a HDD mandatory.

MS is kicking Nintendo and Sony's butt with games (at least here in America). Gears of War is the best shooter for the new consoles and MS has a handful of blockbusters coming out this year (Mass Effect, Bioshock, HALO 3 to name a few). Sony lost the GTA and DMC exclusive licenses and the trend will continue as Konami brass want MGS4 avaiable on the 360 since there aren't enough PS3 users to generate revenues to turn a profit on the game.

Sony can come back but they have a helluva hill to climb. They are still losing $200 to $300 on each console sold and alot of PS3 buyers bought it for the Blu-ray player, which means Sony won't make back some of the lost money from the console sales on software and accessories.

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Whoops
Jun 25, 2007 4:56AM PDT

Yea i forgot that was a knockout punch for Sony when GTA would launchat the same time as ps3, cant forget that first in game footage was from a 360 and not a ps3 which was the original launch. Maybe with these titles coming out will convince other devs to launch on 360 also.

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Who cares?
Jun 25, 2007 1:25AM PDT

For one, the war analogy is flawed. There's no reason all three systems couldn't be owned by every person who has the means of getting them.

Second, Nintendo really isn't competing for the same market as Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo is aiming at the casual and non-gamer, not hardcore gamers, though hardcore Zelda and Metroid fans will buy a Wii just for those titles, and the first classic Mario game since the N64. Sony and Microsoft are focused on the hardcore gamer market, where graphics are the most important thing.

That's all you ever hear Microsoft and Sony execs talking about, is how much more powerful their systems are graphics wise compared to Nintendo or one another... Meanwhile Nintendo continues to trounce the both of them soundly in total sales. Nintendo is just quietly working on making gaming fun again, and not some hugely expensive production that is very pretty to look at, but may as well have been a movie it plays so horribly.

What I know, is that eventually I'll probably own all three systems, but for different reasons. I'll get a PS3 because I'm a big RPG fan, and it looks like Square-Enix still plans on making Final Fantasy a Sony exclusive franchise. Kingdom Hearts 3 will also most likely be a PS3 exclusive release. I'll get a Wii because I'm a big Zelda fan, and also like Metroid... It's also cheap, so if there are some other good games for it, so much the better. So far for the Xbox 360, Halo 3 is about the only game I have any interest in, so I'll probably wait for someone to finally develop a modchip for the thing and then for Xbox Media Center to be ported. All the game titles for it just don't strike my fancy in the least. If they had made Perfect Dark Zero a follow up to the highly entertaining N64 title, instead of another boring FPS type game, it might have been two titles I was interested in on the 360. So, it's basically going to be a replacement for my Xbox, which I use almost exclusively for Xbox Media Center, unless they put out something more compelling than just Halo 3.

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360 has more than Halo 3.
Jun 25, 2007 4:32AM PDT

What about Gears of War? That isn't your typical shooter and is probably the most popular next gen game available. Also, Mass Effect and Bioshock are hugely anticipated games for the 360 due this year. I'd still buy the 360 just for Halo 3 if I had to though.

I think the Wii is a good secondary console. Nintendo needs to get some better more adult oriented games released for it though. I bought Rayman Raving Rabbits to play something other than Zelda and felt like I should be about 8 years old to enjoy that game.

But you are right with Sony have better RPGs. Basically you need to pick which console has the games that you like more. If you are a big FPS/shooter/war game fan then get a 360. If you like RPGs and adventure games that are relatively mature in content, get a PS3. And if you like RPGs and any of the classic Nintendo franchises, get a Wii.

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So what?
Jun 25, 2007 5:43AM PDT

I could give a gerbil's **** if a game is "mature" or not, I want something that is fun to play, has lots of replay value, good story, and a lengthy story at that. If I'm going to pay 50-60USD for a game, I expect it to last more than 10-15 hours.

What good are photorealistic graphics if the game is basically unplayable because the entire budget was blown on those graphics?

And I don't need any help figuring out which consoles to get. I'm well aware of those sorts of things. I'll probably get a PS3 first, once Final Fantasy XIII is out. Maybe if Kingdom Hearts 3 beats FFXIII to release, but not so sure about that. Come August when Metroid Prime 3 and the new Mario are out, I'll think about getting a Wii. Highly doubt I'll ever get an Xbox 360 until it's cracked open and modchips can be installed, and only then after Xbox Media Center is ported. I don't want it as a game console, I want it as a low power, low profile, but highly versatile media hub.

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Kind of a different topic
Jun 25, 2007 6:39AM PDT

"I could give a gerbil's **** if a game is "mature" or not, I want something that is fun to play, has lots of replay value, good story, and a lengthy story at that. If I'm going to pay 50-60USD for a game, I expect it to last more than 10-15 hours."

That's kind of a different topic, but not being much of an online gamer myself, game length is very important to me too. For the Wii, I've got about 30 hours tied up in Twilight Princess so far (hadn't played a Zelda game since the NES days) and I'm about 10 hours into Resident Evil 4 (never played the Gamecube or PS2 versions). I love both of those games because they're fun as hell to play, but both would have sucked if they were only 10 hours long. Same thing goes for other systems- good graphics don't mean crap if the gameplay is seriously flawed or if the game can be completed in a day or two.

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alright
Jun 25, 2007 7:33AM PDT

I, for one, don't enjoy kiddie RPGs like Kingdom Hearts or whatever Japanese RPG clones come out with the hero being a spikey haired guy.

For me to buy a game it has to either be a blockbuster like Zelda or have online play that is good. I love showing up chumps on Halo 2 and GoW online.

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which one you buy?
Jun 25, 2007 11:15PM PDT

wii
Reading through this forum and the pre console war forum i would like to say that out of all the consoles the wii got the lest amount of bad comments. Most people you will find are intrigued about a wii as a result they go and play one after 5 minutes you can tell if some one is hooked or not. but on the downside the wii is more fun with the more people you play with the less people and the fun factor seams to fade. Also the console has the smallest amount of games which kinda suck ***.

xbox 360
On the other hand one of my friends that i recently lived with bought a 360, he bought it 3 days after its launch. The guy from EB said if you have any problems bring it back as he had already had to send back 3 because they had over heated. The game list is impressive but when push came to shove a lot of the games we played were just remakes of xbox games. before some one goes what about lost planet and perfect dark zero, lost planet was good but i would be pissed if i payed my $110 for game that is way to easy to finish and only really has any life if you have the internet. Perfect dark zero was horrible it was so bad i went back to playing perfect dark on n64 and getting more satisfaction out of the game. The one game the did impress was gears of war that game was undeniably madness.

Ps3
the only chance i have had to play the ps3 is in the mall on nice big LCD but i have to say i just felt like i was playing a over powered playstation 2the game list is just as crap as when the ps2 came out. and what the hell is with releasing the console with out killzone that was the best FPS that sony has going for it. overall the ps3 is just way to expensive for what it is.

When it come down to which one should buy this weekend it will most likely be a wii cause Im a RTS fanatic and face console RTS suck so much it not and the wii was the only console to come up with a new idea.

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About the Wii's storage
Jun 29, 2007 6:17PM PDT

You can use any standard SD card to expand the Wii's built-in storage, which are available in sizes up to 4GB. I couldn't find much on the topic, but in the future you might be able to use a USB flash drive or hard drive.