Wii software outsells 360 software in US Dec 2007. Schild suicides.

[Jeff Kelly]

I don't think that they will add hardware for compatability. My guess it that they will do software emulation just like the x-box did.

They just said that it was a big achievement to reduce production costs of the PS3 as much as they did. This was only possible by removing hardware compatability and some other stuff.

[dusematic]

I'm starting to come around to Schild's line of thinking on this.  I haven't picked up my DS in months, and would only buy a Wii for Mario.  With all that money can't they just buy or hire a couple first party teams to make some sweet games that I want to play? 

[stray]

Metroid? No?

[dusematic]

neg.  played one on GC and wasn't exactly impressed.  Bought the one for DS and played it for maybe an hour before turning it off in boredom.

[Velorath]

With all that money can't they just buy or hire a couple first party teams to make some sweet games that I want to play? 

Nope.  Instead it sound like they're just shifting around their internal development teams a bit to put more people on Wii development rather than DS.

[dusematic]

If they had more than one game for Wii I wanted I'd buy a Wii, that's part of my point.  It's not like I can't afford a Wii, I just don't know if I want to buy one so I can play Mario.  I'm not aware of any other game on the Wii that's remotely interesting to me.

[Simond]

I haven't picked up my DS in months...

Why?

[Yegolev]

I haven't picked up my DS in months...

Why?

Hates freedom.  I suggest Advance Wars.

[dusematic]

Didn't like Advance Wars.  My Mom could write better dialogue.

[schild]

lol playing advance wars for the dialogue

[Yegolev]

I agree there is too much dialog in Advance Wars.

[stray]

He can't be serious.

[Yegolev]

If it wasn't duse I'd probably agree, but I'm going with the safe bet here.

[dusematic]

There is a shitload of dialogue in ADvance Wars, all of it tedious and insane (not in a good way).  The gameplay is derivative, and doesn't come close to making up fir it.  It's not as good as Fire Emblem, it's not as good as most TBS games.  It's an extremely mediocre game in most respects, which is the best thing that can be said of it.

[Strazos]

...Have you actually played Advance Wars on the DS. It's fucking splenda; superior to Fire Emblem certainly.

[schild]

The new Advance Wars is nothing compared to Disgaea PSP.

Or Jeanne D'Arc.

Or FFT PSP.

Or Advance Wars GBA/1.

It's sad.

[stray]

Shit, I don't care if it's derivative (personally, they remind me of the old Panzer General type of games..). It's not like there's a big pool of tbs games out anymore. I'll take what I can get.

[Strazos]

I loved the first title on the DS. I haven't touched the new one yet, as I traded in my DS for my PSP.

[Margalis]

Games like FFT are fairly different that Advance Wars. The first is an SRPG, the second is a straight tactical simulation. The world has plenty of room for both.

At this point Schild's reaction to everything Nintendo is that it's worse than ET for the 2600. Yeah, we get it. Disgea, with it's penguins and super-gay shit and terrible writing and story and overly complex systems that add nothing to the gameplay is teh best evar, because it's Sony. Blah blah blah...

[stray]

I didn't know he had the hate on for the DS. I can understand the Wii though. Not just for being relatively unpowerful, but for not even targetting my gaming "sensibilities" much in any way. The DS has a little bit of everything though, and some good options for genres/gamestyles we don't see much of anymore. Like TBS or Adventure.

[schild]

Like TBS or Adventure.

Schild calls bullshit.

Stray, you're killing me. Look around harder. Go buy Culpa Innata on Steam for zee adventure.

[stray]

Wait, wait.. I didn't say it was some haven for adventure. Just that there are good options on there. Or at very least, games with adventure/exploratory elements.

That game on steam looks interesting though. I'll check it out soon.

[Jain Zar]

The new Advance Wars is nothing compared to Disgaea PSP.

Or Jeanne D'Arc.

Or FFT PSP.

Or Advance Wars GBA/1.

It's sad.

Its better than all of them actually. 
If you had said Dual Strike was a lesser game I could easily understand.  (Except for the last one.)

Disgaea is a grindfest.
FFTactics is ok, then becomes a grindfest later on (unless you just use Agrias and Orlandu then its pathetically easy)
Jeanne D Arc is merely ok.  (Its easy if you grind and abuse SAILOR FRENCH TRANSFORMATION POWER, otherwise its unfairly hard.)
Original Advance Wars has retarded AI.  (Apparently transport units ate the AI's baby like a bunch of Dingoes or something.)

[Yegolev]

I haven't played any of the other Advance Wars games, just some Days of Ruin, and there is nothing at all wrong with this game other than the copious dialog that interferes with me rolling over an opposing army; this is why God gave us an A button.  It's not like FFT or its comparatives, not very much anyway.  I haven't tried the free battle mode but I imagine it skips over the anime-retread schtick.

[stray]

It's like those old SSI games, like I mentioned. Panzer General, Allied General, etc.. A lot more cutesy, but almost exactly like them. Down to the little cutscene/battle animation stuff. They predate FFT and the like by a bit, I believe.

[Azazel]

I've only played the original Advance Wars, but I can safely say it's a worthy TBS wargame, in the vein of Perfect General and such, only on the teeny-weeny portable scale.

Just ignore the part where emo 16 year-old girls are military commanders in charge of combined arms operations.

[Jain Zar]

Lin is a 20 something I think.  And she is bad ass.

I actually enjoy the story overall.  But you can skip it.  Just hit the Start button a lot.

The Advance Wars series technically predates the Perfect General games.

It was called Famicom Wars back in the 80s.  Its interesting that the ranks and bike units seem to be lifted from the Turbografx game Military Madness though...
(Which is an oldie but a goodie.  If you have a Wii, get it on Virtual Console.)

[stray]

Wow, actually predates them.. Hmm.


I like the characters in AW, but I can see if some don't. Either way, the gameplay is great for a little handheld entertainment. Not sure why someone couldn't find some fun out of it.

[Margalis]

Yeah, there was Famicom Wars, Military Madness (Nectaris), games like Earthlight for the SFC - it's an old genre. Not many of those games were translated so it seems newer than it is. Fire Emblem is the same, it began as an NES series. (Also by Intelligent Systems)

People who like Military Madness/Nextaris should try Earthlight:

http://nectaris.tg-16.com/earth_light_intro.html

Not sure if there is a translation available but it's playable in Japanese. It's basically Nectaris 2. (Avoid the second EarthLight game, it sucks)

[Jain Zar]

There is also the Dai Senryaku games, of which 2 are available in the US.  One on the Saturn called Iron Storm or something, and Dai Senryaku 7 which is available on the Xbox (BC on the 360 surprisingly enough!), and an enhanced version of the same game on the PS2.

The PSP has Field Commander which is a soulless scifi Advance Wars clone with some annoying stealth units and Robotech voice actors.

The N Gage has High Seize which is Advance Wars with voiceovers and a PIRATE theme. 

[Yegolev]

High Seize

Booo!

[Azazel]

Wow, actually predates them.. Hmm.


I like the characters in AW, but I can see if some don't. Either way, the gameplay is great for a little handheld entertainment. Not sure why someone couldn't find some fun out of it.

They just seem like more souless anime generica. But really, the characters and twee dialogue are highly skippable, and it's a great handheld game.

I'm thinking of sending Killer Bee the money for PG. I loved that game, and it's cheap enough. Apparently you can't re-download it (only reason I haven't bought it yet), so make sure to create lots 'o backups.

[Jain Zar]

High Seize

Booo!

Why boo?

It was a pretty fun game for being a complete ripoff of Advance Wars. 

[Venkman]

Just catching up:

Wii is not a gamer's platform. But there's more non-gamers than gamers. By lots. And the titles are cheaper in general (even if so far people are largely buying the A-list brands and Nintendo).

PS3- People are buying less of the console and less content for it. For a gamer's gaming rig, you'd think it'd be higher. The more telling comparison here is the continued thrashing the X360 is giving them. But it's also provides insight into the idea that non-gamers are going to spend less money on games in general. I understand this belief but it is wrong, for one simple reason:

Everyone's a gamer. You make games for them and they'll buy them. The only difference between this decade and the prior is that realization that "them" is a hell of a lot bigger than once thought. The teens of the 80s took their gaming habits with them into careers, marriage, kids, and, well, you've heard this all before. It's just becoming less deniable.

[schild]

PS3 is still lacking widely appealing titles. In America (Not Europe or Japan), 360 Owners will buy anything. There's no accounting for taste. Even games like Bullet Witch made profit.

In Japan, the PS3 is doing just fine, though it's obviously slow to pick up (cost). But it's always been a matter of "When do Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter Next-Gen, Gran Turismo HD Final, and Final Fantasy hit" over there.

The Wii could be the new PS2. Easily. If the PS2 weren't around. That's why Atlus, etc are releasing the Wii and PS2 versions at the same time for a lot of their games. Apparently converting a game from PS2 to the Wii is a nominal cost (not surprising).

PS2 games are still incredibly, incredibly profitable as well. When costs go down on the PS3, things will switch over. Also, when Sony makes PS2 games downloadable when they finish the software emulator, that will help immensely.