The NZA Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 This is for us swing voters. Newt, Bish, MM, MH, Skeet etc can eat it. (you guys know Lockdown's on XBL?) Ive been throwing this around recently. I know im gettin a wii, but im on board for 2 (not 3) systems each gen, as a standard, and i think a lotta consumers mgith be too, but i could be off. First off: theyre both too much $, but we'll address the more reaosnable one first. Also, unlinke Nintendo, neitehr one have a first-party lineup i consider worth a shit (unless Halo 3 is somehow amazing). 360: Has a year head start, a great online network. Both systmes port each other, and graphically, this is supposed to be the lesser...having seen Gears of War play recently, it sure doesnt look like its lagging behind, this thing's admittedly gorgeous. Im letting go of my M$ wariness and Sony name brand recognition thanks to you guys too, but i look at their lineup and im just not excited about most of the games this system has to offer. Games id get on it: This is a huge factor, the deciding one for me and most, i think. At a staggering $60 or so a pop, i can only see (right now) Dead Rising, Stranglehold, Ultiamte Alliance (moon knight! ), uh, that Assasin's Creed one looks cool, and those RPG's bishop was hyping before, at least one of em sparked my interest. Deciding factor/what'd push me over: Aside from if i was one of those black friday fucks who took one offa amazong for $100?! , id say if the rumors of Metal Gear Solid 4 eventually getting a decent/faithful port came true before id decided, that could very well do it for me. Playstation 3: Funny how it went from a shoe-in for most of us to a non-issue, eh? I blame both the price tag and sony's stance on it since then, i know they have to push the justifiying rhetoric but i havnet dug what ive heard. Still, its not a huge factor for me. There's not enough time for me to make a sound decision on this yet; i havent yet seen on in action, much less with a game beyond the launch titles. its why im prolly giving this race another 6-9 months or so, at least, finance issues aside. we'll see. Games id gget on it: Hmm...White Dragon, MGS IV for sure, Assasin's Creed again...I dont know beyond that, honestly. Hopefully a few new games/series to come that weve yet to discover. Deciding factor/what'd push me over: First, the $100 price drop that japan got, that im curious to se when its gonna go through, hopefully before i decide. Keeping MGS 4 to themeselves'd do it, im not as much concerned about FF XIII or other franchises, to be honest. They need some great titles ive yet to see, and touching on nintendo's innovative tip right now'd do it for me, but im not expecting them to branch out as much with games costing them more and more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the division of joy Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 Well yesterday, i made a step into the world of next-gen and decided to upgrade to an xbox-360... and holy-fuck-o-la.... i will have No mates in a matter of weeks.... i got a nice bundle... gears of war, project gotham racing 3, splinter cell: double agent and dead rising, two controllers and the console for 499 euro.... i was fuckin delighted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted December 2, 2006 Author Share Posted December 2, 2006 nice. ebay? and what was the deciding factor that pushed you into not waiting around for the ps3 to catch up, or are you thinking of doing both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the division of joy Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 nah, some video shop that does games and phones near me.. xtra vision... but im planning on doing both.... im just gonna do what i always do... wait about 3 months for the initial shock of the system to die down... as well as the price.. and then pick one up.... usually get a good games bundle with it too but yeah... splinter cell double agent is one of the best things... ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend Jax Posted December 2, 2006 Share Posted December 2, 2006 I'm gonna get a wii too. I added a poll choice that it just looks for fun. I owned a ps1 and n64 and had a good 50-60 games between the two, but at some point, I just wasn't having as much fun as I was when I was 8 with my nes. When the next gen came around all my friend got ps2s and with access to theirs, I couldn't justify wasting time and money I just didn't find that much fun anymore. Playing guitar Hero at Nick's house reminded me of how much fun I used to have gaming, and the wii looks like it's going tap into that same vein. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted December 3, 2006 Author Share Posted December 3, 2006 see, youre a perfect example of the very market nintendo's hoping for with the wii, then. which tells me that marketing/advertising's good, but basically putting demos up all over the place (like, uh, at people's jobs!) would be the best for them. Happy to hear youre gettin one tho man, what games you thinking of? we could get some 2-player action going, im prolly gonna have to buy extra cxontrollers anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend Jax Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 I thinking Zelda and Red Steel, that and Wii Sports will keep me busy for a long time until Mario Galaxy comes out, not to mention the next Mario Kart game. I don't know if I'm any kind of anacedotal evidence of their marketting campaign beign successful, because I am not a part of the mainstream demographic they are shooting for. I am a lapsed hardcore gamer whose still pretty much in that cultural (mos tof my friends are games, I read penny arcade and ctrl+alt+del, etc). We'll see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted December 3, 2006 Author Share Posted December 3, 2006 rigbht, bu ttheyre kinda going for the formerly hardcore old-school gamers, as well as newbies who havnet tried (read: chicks). Good calls on Zelda and Red Steel, im hyped about Trauma Center: 2nd opinion and Wario Ware as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soldier of fortune Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 PS3, price is a big issue, i think i'd buy an Xbox 360 in the interim, until PS3 prices drop. I will definitely buy the wii... DoJ, your my new best mate, will you teach me the ways of gears of war! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted December 4, 2006 Author Share Posted December 4, 2006 the more i think aobut it, the more i feel like im waiting to be sold on the 360 sometime next year. there's just so much talk about sony right now, i cant believe such a default system has become a complete "wait and see" for me now. Im interested in its sales come next march alone, see how the developers/3rd parties act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jables Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 360 alla way-price, quality, tried & true meets innovation. The OS just bloody works. It's easy to say I don't see sony topping 360's OS, but unless they're sitting on innovation I can't even imagine(it's not like they can capitalise on shortcomings of the 360), it's just going to imitate- which I don't think warrants another AU$400. Graphically they're both pretty amazing, but I'm thinking Sony've really shot for the stars here(nothing wrong with that) but they've fallen horribly short(lookit the troubles with the blu-ray & whatnot) and now the blind loyalists are gonna pay the price. This whole shenanigans has put me completely off Sony. They're fucking their fanbase unjustly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The NZA Posted December 4, 2006 Author Share Posted December 4, 2006 Yeah, i posted in the PS3 thread about their treatment of their fanbase, and their president just got pushed aside, possibly due to that as well as other factors. im just completely confused by those goin on about blu-ray and HD-DVD. if youve got the kind of high-end system to actually utilize those things, and feel the need to do so regardless of the short, short number of movies on said format, is the price that much an issue? The PS2 was cool for being a DVD player, but it wasnt a great one. I needed to update its drivers, buy a remote, etc and the FF/rewind features were weak...i only used it as such for like a year or less before cheapter, better options were available. Might be different this time around, but im curious if the average consuer'dve taken a $100 less option to ditch the fucntion like idve done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jables Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 Oh christ alive yes!! Movie formatting is different this time around to last because a lot've us are saying 'DVD's good enough'. Back inna day there was some resistance, but for the most part noone could deny the leap from VHS to DVD was a pretty one-& Sony made that all the more accesible with the PS2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soldier of fortune Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 Xbox now has the HDDVD add on, which is obviously to compete with bluray. As far as i know all PS3 games will be on bluray discs... so it is being utilised that way. Sony's acted pretty shoddy to the fans, but people will still buy it. Killer app for them will probably be MGS4 Killer app for XBox360 is probably gears of war at the minute. Wii seems to have a lot of killer apps... Zelda, Wii Sports, Man, if i win the lottery i'll have em all hooked up to a 60" projector screen!! Splinter Cell double agent looks good, might rent it for my ps2, but it more than likely pales in comparision to DoJ's version... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishopcruz Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Wow, It's kinda funny seeing the turnaround the 360 has made in a little over a year. Glad to see a bunch of Hondonians jumping in. This gens console wars are going to be very damn interesting that is for sure. The 360 is coming out swinging, and Nintendo is introducing some very disruptive tech. Sony, well, for all of their missteps, they are the Juggernaut right now. I mean there is a whole generation that has probably only played games on a Playstation, that is going to be a tough nut to crack. MS kills the competition as far as a cohesive platform is concerned. The integration of XBL into the 360 is groundbreaking for consoles. The cohesion it brings to the gaming experience is probably the 360s greatest strength. The fact that I can chat with any of my friends across games is great, and the ease of inviting someone to play, or joining games is amazing as well. No one has the overall software backbone as strongly as MS does. Wii, has no online games yet, and Sony's online service is for lack of a better term, shit. All the little things that the 360 does, such as being able to stream music and video from my PC, to demo downloads and now movie rentals is pretty damn seamless. So major kudos to them. Sony has a great piece of hardware, and they have the advantage of brand name recognition as well as BD-ROM and a standard hard drive. These could both be used to really help bring their games above the competition, but will in all likelyhood remain underutilized (this happened to Xbox last gen) Still, unless Blue Dragon can work wonders PS3 should have a near lock on the next gen market in Japan. The Wii is going to be very interesting, I'm not quite sure just where it is going to fit in, it is selling like 50 cent blowjobs at a whorehouse right now, and will probably continue to do so for a while. Nintendo did much better than I thought it would in getting its message out to lapsed gamers and non gamers alike. The question is whether or not it can maintain itself in the long term. In two years when the PS3 and 360 are producing games that make Gears of War look dated, how will the Wii's graphics hold up? Not too well I would imagine. Still, it could have over 15 million Wii's worldwide by this time next year, and that is a force to be reckoned with. Software wise, the 360 is slated to have an amazing 07, which is good considering software was trickling out for almost the entire year. Still, we will be getting Too Human, Blue Dragon, Mass Effect, Forza 2, Crackdown and Halo 3 next year, and those are just the MGS games. Capcom is being quite supportive of the 360, and word around the water cooler is that many Japanese publishers might weigh in on the 360 simply as a result of its worldwide user base. The PS3 will probably face the same problems the 360 did this year, ameliorated a bit by the fact that they will get more next gen ports from the 360. However some are predicting that the PS3 could be supply limited all the way through 2007, and if that is the case, the install base might not be enough to keep major exclusives. MGS4 will be the game that will shine through on the PS3, but rumors keep floating about the game getting ported to 360. Not enough PS3s in homes makes that more likely. Then you add all the bad press. It kinda funny when you think that this combination would probably sink anyone else, but for everything Sony has done, they have built one hell of a brand. PS3 is going to be hard to beat. Then again, many said the same about Nintendo before the N64. As for the Wii, well, like the DS it will have several great titles surrounded by reams of shit. The great titles will compensate for that though. Still, at launch there is one must have game, Zelda, and there is very little information on what we have to look forward to down the line. If I had to guess, I would say that Nintendo will end up in a very profitable 3rd place, selling less but making more money than whoever ends up in 2nd place. Gah, that was a lot of writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend Jax Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Yeah, it's nice to see Nintendo (whom I have a soft spot in my heart for, Nick understands) get it right. I've never seen them launch with so many titles. The n64 was a disaster with it's launch line-up. Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 for the first 4-6 months.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soldier of fortune Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Getting close to Wii launch now over here, its beginning to heat up. Man i'm hearing convincing arguments for both. Though the wii imo would be a great party machine! Xbox also has its charms! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishopcruz Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 If I had to recommend one right now it'd be the 360 based on the strength of its larger library, Zelda is the only thing the Wii has going for it in the must-have AAA title sense. Looking a few months down the line, it will get better for Nintendo, as by the end of the year there will be a new Mario, Metroid and Smash Brothers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishopcruz Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 New Story in the New York Times Duking It Out for a Houseful of Smiles By SETH SCHIESELPublished: December 6, 2006 PICKING out a home video game system should be easy this holiday season because for most consumers the decision ought to come down to only three choices ・including one that is easily dismissed. If you or your loved ones are even halfway-serious gamers who want to experience world-class high-definition graphics and an online gaming service populated with millions of other players, go buy the top version of Microsoft痴 Xbox 360 ($399). On the other hand, if you do not really care about the latest graphics and want instead a riotously fun experience that can be shared by the entire family, including the nongamers who usually flee from a joystick, try to get your hands on Nintendo痴 new Wii ($249). It is really that simple. Though aimed at different markets, the 360 and the Wii provide excellent entertainment for the dollar and are each capable of filling your home with smiles for years to come. But what about Sony痴 new PlayStation 3? By now, you have probably heard about folks who camped out for days to buy the PS3. You have heard about some of those people getting mugged while shivering in line a few weeks ago. You have heard about the four-figure prices the console has been fetching on eBay. And you may have heard, quite correctly, that it will be all but impossible for many consumers to buy one at retail for the rest of the year. No problem. In fact, if you are anything other than a complete Sony fanboy (that痴 Internet lingo for an obsessed, myopic groupie) go ahead and forget about the PlayStation 3 this year. Even if you find one, the overhyped PS3 does not deliver an entertainment experience commensurate with its cost ($599 for the top version, not including special cables to connect to a high-definition TV), and falls short of its main competition in important ways. The big picture is that Microsoft and Sony are duking it out for dominance at the top end of the video game business while Nintendo has essentially carved out the less hard-core, more budget-sensitive swath of the market for itself. The Wii (pronounced 努e・ is a mass-market entertainment device. The 360 and PS3, by contrast, are each trying to be the world痴 best top-end video game system and also high-powered living room media hubs. The big problem for Sony is that the 360 performs those functions better right now, and for less money, than the PS3. Sony may get the PS3痴 act together in the future, but right now there is basically no rational reason to buy a PlayStation 3 instead of an Xbox 360. Here are some reasons: GAME SELECTION: 360 by a lot. There are more than 100 games currently available for the 360. The PS3 is scheduled to have fewer than two dozen games available by the end of the year, and most are available on the 360 anyway. With the notable exception of Resistance: Fall of Man, the PS3-exclusive games have been nothing to write home about. ONLINE SERVICE: A slam-dunk for Microsoft, which is not surprising considering the two companies・histories. Microsoft痴 Xbox Live offers easily downloadable games, TV shows and full movies, not to mention one of the world痴 most fervent Internet gaming communities. The PlayStation Network is slow, clunky and makes it hard to keep track of your friends online. OVERALL EASE OF USE: 360. Incredibly, perhaps, for a Microsoft product, the 360 is intuitive and relatively easy to navigate. Just as incredible, considering Sony痴 past ergonomic mastery, the PS3 feels more like a specialized computer, so get ready to break out a separate U.S.B. keyboard. GRAPHICS: An overall tie. The PS3 has more pure silicon horsepower under the hood than the 360, but some experts say it is actually more difficult to program the PS3 because of the system痴 design. The bottom line is that the same games (like the Madden NFL series) look almost identical on the two systems, and the best-looking 360-only games, like the new Gears of War, look better than anything on the PS3 at the moment. FILM PLAYBACK: A wash. The PlayStation 3 comes out of the box ready to play Blu-ray high-definition movie discs. The 360 can play HD-DVD high-definition discs only with an add-on ($199). The top version of the 360, however, includes a separate living room-style remote control for watching those movies, while watching films on the PS3 requires using a two-handed controller. (Sony says a separate PS3 movie remote will be available soon.) There are all kinds of questions swirling around the industry about whether Sony will stage a comeback next year, but for now the 360 is the superior machine. Most telling, perhaps, Sony has lost many of its exclusive relationships with game publishers who were once willing to make their games work only on PlayStations. Two of next year痴 most-anticipated games, Grand Theft Auto IV and Assassin痴 Creed, are scheduled to come out on both systems. But what if carjackings and Crusade-era stabbings are just not your style? What if you do not want to hear about all the bells and whistles, do not want to spend as much as you would on a low-end PC and just want to have fun (with your children, possibly). In that case, the Wii is for you. Its main innovation is a TV-remote-style controller that can merely be tilted and waved to produce in-game action, rather than having to master combinations of buttons and triggers. The Wii comes with a collection of minigames called Wii Sports ・baseball, bowling, boxing, golf and tennis ・that demonstrate the appeal of the new controller masterly. (The Microsoft and Sony systems generally do not come with any games.) In Wii tennis, for example, users merely swing their arms as if holding rackets to make their characters swing on the screen. It is a system so intuitive that game-phobic adults often find themselves playing and laughing in minutes. With two excellent systems on the market, consumers should not go wrong this holiday. Happy gaming. So what do you all think? Sony keeps getting reamed overall in the non-enthusiast media and enthusiast media alike. Do stories like these matter? Or has everyone already made up their minds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soldier of fortune Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Good article, Fucking hell us Euros get ripped off every fucking time Wii = $249 which is €187 retail in Ireland for €270 X360 = $399 which is €299 retails in Ireland for €399 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senshik Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Honestly as much as I hate to admit it... but yeah... the 360 sounds to be the better choice, for now. I loved Playstation since the first one came out... THe way I see it it's like PS and Xbox are these two great countries trying to take over the world, but the nation of PS has been dominanting for years.... howerver, like great nations in history, they eventually fall. Now taking the stance is the Xbox which sounds like a cool system... considering all the pirating that can be incorporated!!!! Maybe some might disagree with my analogy but shit, $600 for a system with only a couple dozen games coming out... Don't sound too appealing to me. Maybe in a couple months the PS3 will be better competition... I hope cuz i'd like to get one (hopefully prices go down too. Please?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Lindsay Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 i think i'm gonna go ahead and get eli a 360 (nick rejoices somewhere). does anyone know of anywhere (online or otherwise) that has good deals on an xbox? which one do you think i should get? i'm also going to get dead rising. what other games are worth getting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishopcruz Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 OK, there are two types of 360s on the market, the breakdown comes down to how much you are able to spend: Xbox 360 Core: $299, comes with composite cables (regular yellow RCA jack for video, not very high quality), no hard drive, a wired controller, and that's pretty much it. If you get this model, you will also need to buy a $39.99 memory card in order to save games. So it ends up being about $60.00 cheaper than the regular 360. Xbox 360: $399 - This is the more common model. It comes with a high-def set of video cables (has both component and composite outs for video) which is nice because even if you don't have an HD set now, you are set if you get one down the line, not to mention that many newer non HD sets have component inputs, and the picture is a LOT better using component. This model also has a wired controller instead of a wireless one. The regular 360 also comes with a 20GB hard drive, so you don't need to buy memory cards, you also have the ability to download demos and videos of new/old games, as well as get enhanced performance on titles that use the HD for caching. It also allows you to play a limited numer (around 200) old Xbox games on your 360. Without a Hard Drive the 360 loses a lot of functionality. Finally the non-gimped model comes with a wireless controller and a network cable, which is very nice. You also get a headset for voice chat in games. Honestly, unless you are REALLY tight for cash, I'd get the regular version, the Core just loses out a lot on overall value. If you were to buy all the shit you get in the non-gimped model seperately, you'd be spending an extra $130 or more. As far as specials, there were some nice ones over Black Friday, and there will probably be some retail sponsored bundles soon, but they are kinda hard to pin down. One chain in the US was offering a $100 dollar rebate, and some more money off if you signed up for a credit card, but they aren't in Florida, so not much can be done there. As far as games are concerned, Dead Rising is great, and Gears of War is also a must have. There are a lot of great games available already, and a lot of them are down to $20-$30 dollars now. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Lindsay Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 immensely...thank you so much!!! i'll probably go for the regular one then and i'll try to pick up the other game you suggested. i'm gonna look around for special deals. again, the info is much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbie Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Also from the NY Times: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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