Wii Q&A Thread

[Yegolev]

In regards to cheap Sony parts, that's what makes Target's $59 three-year service plan so nice.  It even specifically warrants against normal wear-and-tear.  I'll trade in my PS3 for a new one in 2.5 years just on the GP.  I also plan to get the Wii at Target for the same reason.

[stray]

So I just bought the 60GB model. Tony Hawk and Resistance (yay shooters lol).

[Strazos]

All I can say is that Resistance is very Meh after playing Gears of War or Rainbow 6 Vegas. Especially on a console.

[Jain Zar]

The thing about the PS3 is that its kind of tanking.  The reason the PS2 got so huge was it had a massive install base thus the wacky games were worth taking a risk on.
With a system whose games need to sell a half million to eeke out a profit you aren't going to see much innovation.  Its going to primarily host games that play to the EA formula of keeping it safe and pretty much being the exact same fucking game you played last year, cept with graphical improvements and a tweak or two.

These innovative wacky titles?  Its all going DS.  The DS is a phenomenon, especially in Japan which seems to be where most of the modern innovative games are coming from (which is sadly the opposite of how it used to be, but the EA hivemind decreed innovation bad, art bad, creativity bad, and anything else good about gaming BAD.) and the king system gets the cream of the crop.

Dragon Quest 9 which to Japan is like Halo, Madden, and GTA COMBINED is coming out for the DS.  The PS3 lost the current era console war in Japan with that single announcement.

Even in the US the PS3 is already taking hits from the press (even the gaming press which largely sucks game company dick and LOVES IT) and its gone from shortages to being relatively available.
Hell, I saw the system in a store this weekend.  I had money.  I laughed at it and passed.  This is coming from a person who has a shitload of videogame systems.  Hell, I defend the N Gage (QD anyhow), and I simply can't find a reason to own a PS3.

Blu Ray?  Im happy with DVDs.  I don't have a HD TV yet but I probably will within the next 6-7 months.  Its a matter of having use of a friend's minivan and if Apple decides to put HD inputs on the next gen of iMacs or not mostly.

Games?   What games?  Stuff I don't want on my 360 mostly?

Nobody I am friends with wants the thing, yet they all want Wiis, and some want 360s and DSes as well.  3 of us already have Wiis, and a 4th is planning on one as soon as he can find it.

The Wii is picking up steam.  The PS3 is losing it.

Am I saying the PS3 won't have any compelling games in the future or that I won't ever pick one up?  Nope.  When the 60 gigger hits a sub 300 price I will probably grab one if there are some good games by then.  Right now my only Sony purchase will be a slimline PS2 once it hits 100 bucks to replace my 3001 model which is getting fidgety with blue bottom disks and I will be damned if I let myself be without modern era Wizardry goodness because of shoddy Sony hardware.

[stray]

All I can say is that Resistance is very Meh after playing Gears of War or Rainbow 6 Vegas. Especially on a console.

I only got it because it's the only desirable PS3 exclusive of the bunch right now. I wanted something else besides a port.

..Though 40 people online isn't a bad deal.

Will see..

[Riggswolfe]

While I'd say it is too early to say the Wii is smoking the PS3, even IGN noted that PS3s were available on store shelves while the Wii was nowhere to be found. (ironic considering the shortage of PS3 compared to Wii). So yeah, it is looking bad, and honestly, I'm enjoying it. Sony got arrogant, much like cartridge-era Nintendo and is paying the price.

That said, the only system seller for the Wii I see currently is Zelda and the packaged in sports game.

[stray]

I wouldn't doubt the Wii could smoke the PS3. I'll get one eventually too. At launch time, that's all I was looking at.

[Yegolev]

I can only hope that this provides some impetus for Sony to fix their fucking BC problem.  And the "Sixaxis takes a nap" problem.  Jain is right about the compelling PS3 games.  To me, the compelling PS3 games are really PS1 and PS2 games.  I am actually able to play games that won't even boot in my PS2, or do so only after numerous DREs.  Too fucking bad for me that I can't play FFXII and Okami on it.

The loss of expected exclusives was a management blunder, and that might be fixed (will be hard to fix that DQ9 one, though; good call), and it might also be bandaged with everyone's favorite Band-Aid: retro gaming.  They need to magically fix the BC problems, and offer something other than eye-gouging bullshit on their online store.

I'm not really sad I bought it, but it is postponing my PC upgrade and causing me a mild bout of rage.

[stray]

That's the other thing...I started talking about the PS3 in this thread because my PS2 just konked out. Since Playstation games were my main source of gaming entertainment, I can now resume again with teh PS3. Killing two birds with one stone etc.. I get a PS1/2 and a next gen console with one purchase.

I have nothing against the Wii -- It's just gimmicky, lacking in shiny, and not the ideal primary console for me right now. I'll get one though.

[Jain Zar]

That's the other thing...I started talking about the PS3 in this thread because my PS2 just konked out. Since Playstation games were my main source of gaming entertainment, I can now resume again with teh PS3. Killing two birds with one stone etc.. I get a PS1/2 and a next gen console with one purchase.

I have nothing against the Wii -- It's just gimmicky, lacking in shiny, and not the ideal primary console for me right now. I'll get one though.

Yet tons of previous games don't actually run on the PS3.  And many more have problems.
While it has a deeper backwards compatibility than the 360 does, its not perfect or even decent.

I have a massive amount of PS1 and 2 games.  I am a serious retrogamer and collector.  The thought of never being able to play game X again frightens and upsets me to the point of wanting backup rechargable batteries for my N Gage, DS, and PSP in case they konk out and I lose access to certain games.  (And not being able to play Pathway to Glory would be a VERY bad and no good thing.)

Its not even worth it for backwards comp yet.

Will Sony fix it?  Hopefully.  Hell, with all the emulator tech out there I see no reason for some of the PS1 emulator functions to be in the PS3.  Improved resolution, smoothing, antialiasing, zbuffer fixes, and increased loading speeds should be a no brainer.

[stray]

I'm not going to try and convince you of it's worth, nor do I have an asston of retro games, but I think it's pretty cool. So far so good. I'm glad I got it out of the way.

[Velorath]

For a console, I look for things I just can't get anywhere else -- Unique Japanese titles like Katamari, Ico/Collosus, or Okami; horror titles like Silent Hill; platformers in general; action adventure ala GoW or Devil May Cry; both wacky and robust sim racers like ATV Offroad Fury/Motorstorm and Gran Turismo; Japanese sports, fighting, and party games.

So far though there are no Katamari's (if you like quirky/unique stuff though, the 360 has Viva Pinata), Silent Hill's, Shadow of the Collosus, or God of War's announced though.  Party games?  Probably be better to go with the Wii.  Fighting?  With VF5 going multiplatform I think Tekken 6 now is the only fighting game announced that is PS3 exclusive.  It seems like you bought a PS3 because you're expecting it to have the same kind of lineup as the PS2, but it's a little too early to know if that's going to be the case.

[stray]

Party games?  Probably be better to go with the Wii.

Yeah, I was just contrasting both Sony and Nintendo against MS. Like I said, I plan to get both. As for the 360, I plan to hold off for a long while. Probably when I can get a used 20GB system for under $250. Preferably less. Or if something unexpected comes up.

Between the PS3 and Wii, I plan on getting a PSP, a new PC or Mac, and getting more DS games. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it ;).

...

I have to chuckle at some Jain Zar's comments though. He has an N-Gage and a Palm, and he's spreading (just a bit of) FUD about the PS3. Heh.

Like I said elsewhere, even if the PS3 was a miscalculation on Sony's part, they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. True console failures are those who fail on their first try (3DO, CDI, etc). If Sega is any indication, it'll take a decade before Sony ditches the console business. Sega miscalculated time and time again after the Genesis, and look how long it took them to pack it up.

Sony has already established themselves in the past two generations. It's impossible to unseat them within one generation. If they lost a quarter, or even half, of their popularity, they'd still have more resources and capabilities to work with than the Microsoft will.

I'm confident that two years from now, they'll be kicking ass -- and Microsoft will already be thinking about putting out a new console.

[Velorath]

Party games?  Probably be better to go with the Wii.

Yeah, I was just contrasting both Sony and Nintendo against MS.

Sony pretty much sucked for party games with the PS2 given that it only had two controller ports.  On the other hand my favorite party game of the last couple years has been playing the Crash modes in the Burnout games, which only uses one controller at a time anyway.

[Jain Zar]

I have to chuckle at some Jain Zar's comments though. He has an N-Gage and a Palm, and he's spreading (just a bit of) FUD about the PS3. Heh.

Which means I am MORE open to the values a system has.  Since most people bandwagon.  Generally anyone mocking the N Gage has never played Pathway to Glory, which is honestly worth the admission cost alone.  Its some damned good turn based RPGing.  Its like a WW2 top down X Com with only combat.

And the Palm is more a handy gadget I wouldnt have thought about if it wasnt for some Ultima remakes.  (Hell, an Ultima remake is the only reason to buy Dungeon Siege!) 
Ive already installed a diceroller and am jamming it full of gaming PDFs so I don't have to carry so many books with me.  Necromunda and Blood Bowl rules in my pocket?  Sweet!
(I just have to get my torrent happy friends to find me PDFs of my RPG and wargame books now.)  Its got a couple of nice looking wargames and RPGs for it which makes it another device I never knew I needed till I bought it.  Like my iPod or my NGage.  (Never had a cellphone before it.  I love the security of having a cellphone, and I like my Go Phone plan which is basically a no commitment if you don't use however many minutes you bought but remember to buy more before 3 months runs out it cycles over thing.  I bought it to play Pocket Kingdom and Pathway to Glory.  I keep it because it has other uses.  And the hours I work don't exactly make a car breakdown a nice proposition.  430 AM on backroads is not the time or place one would want to walk 4-10 miles to a payphone!)

And this is why the PS3 bites it right now.  Its too expensive and doesn't have much to recommend it.  Its really a system the launch is crap for.  Of course many systems bite the first year and are generally worth getting after the first year/price reduction.  Compare year 1 DS games to now.  Compare the 360 to now.  Even the Wii is gonna have a load of much more compelling games in a year than it does now.  (Of course it has Zelda and the Virtual Console which is great, but it is understandable that folks might want more for it.)

I honestly wouldn't be picking on it too much if this wasn't a Wii thread.  Its like every Wii/360/PS3 thread on the net becomes a war, and the same with DS/PSP.

Even when we don't want to many of us become console warriors.  If I have I do apologize.  As can be seen I do try to see the good in all machines, and outside of maybe the Gizmondo, most game consoles tend to have something worth buying one for, even if its on the cheap.

Right now though the PS3 is a wait and see proposition IMHO.

[stray]

Hey, it's all cool. I don't mean to knock the NGage. It just seemed like you didn't have that much ground to criticize the PS3 (but I see you're not really doing that. You've cleared that up).

[Yegolev]

I will give a couple straight facts about BC on the PS3.  Firstly, I have not had a problem with any PS1 game I put in it, however my PS1 library isn't massive.  I have basically tried Vagrant Story, Silent Hill and some FF PS1 ports. They might look better (I think VG does but have not done a side-by-side with a PS1 title yet), but none of them look worse... which leads to the Secondly, which is that more than half of my PS2 games work perfectly fine in the PS3.  They all boot up, but some "look funny".

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=8990.0

[HaemishM]

I'm confident that two years from now, they'll be kicking ass -- and Microsoft will already be thinking about putting out a new console.

Of course Microsoft will be looking at putting a new console out in 2 years, and so will Nintendo. Sony is the only one I've seen who has tried to claim their box will have an adequate 10-year life cycle, and the only reason they did that was to try to justify the $600 price tag. It won't no matter how powerful the Cell actually ends up being. Five-year life cycles are much more sensible and anything beyond that is gravy. That's why the price tag is so ridiculous.

With the way displays and inputs on displays have been changing so quickly in the last 5 years, do you honestly think the PS3's hardware is going to hold up in an unchangeable form for 10-years? Or more than 2 or 3? Someone will come up with an even higher-def interface, and the PS3 won't support it. Or hardware trends will change and people won't be buying the same type of hi-def tv's. Or Blu-Ray will shit the bed and the PS3 will be left with a movie drive that doesn't play new movies. There are too many variables with digital technology to expect that.

Meanwhile, the 360 will give way to the 720 or whatever retarded name Microsoft comes up with, and it'll be the movie playing/Tivoing/Internet lifesytling/game playing box Micorosoft has wanted to sell you for the last 10 years. Nintendo will have a hi-def console in the pipeline that really kicks up the motion-sensing capabilities. By 2010, the PS3 will be creaking just like the PS2 is now.

[stray]

2010? That's 3 years.

The PS2 is still the most popular console after 6 years (and will probably remain so for another 1 or 2), and the PS3 was made with the future in mind in a much more extensive way. I expect a repeat.

Who cares if Microsoft releases a convergence device years from now. Sony has already done it now (coupled with future software updates, it'll be even more apparent) -- and by the time this new MS box comes out, the PS3 will be a hell of a lot cheaper -- and still impressive enough for consumers. Much like the Wii or PS2 are now.

With the way displays and inputs on displays have been changing so quickly in the last 5 years, do you honestly think the PS3's hardware is going to hold up in an unchangeable form for 10-years?

720p/1080i will be more popular and more affordable for average Joes like yourself in 5 years, so the TV's you'll be using won't even exceed the capabilities that a PS3 has now (it already does true HD/1080p, something that most consumers still won't have in 5 years).

10 years is unfair though. Sony hasn't even made the claim that it would hold up that long.

[Jain Zar]

Actually I think Sony DID make that whole 10 years statement.

But as to increasing technology?

That's what got the PS3 in trouble.  A movie format that is brand new and untested and on TVs that really won't be approaching the standard until 2010 or so, halfway through its actual lifecycle.

Not everyone wants to drop 500 or more dollars on an HDTV yet.  Many folks have expensive big screen tvs that are SD, and many more simply cannot afford the purchase, especially in conjunction with an expensive game system.  Its why Nintendo was relatively smart and decided to not hedge a bet on current formats and merely went DVD with Progressive Scan.  It made it a few 100 bucks cheaper and when they do their next system people will be ready for it and there will be a standard.

Multiple competing formats are bad.  Confused Joe Average consumer will wait till one wins and is cheaper.

Sure the techies were happy a year or 2 ago paying 1500+ for a 32" 720p but most people aren't.  They also aren't willing (or even WANTING) to switch up to a new optical disk format. 
DVDs are the first real home video format people actually own libraries for.  Being told to rebuy it all at a higher price doesn't sit pretty with them. 
I was a modestly early DVD adopter (when players were 300 bucks or so) and I still haven't replaced many of my VHS tapes with DVDs.   Its hard to justify rebuying the same content.
(Admitted most of my VHS collection is anime, which was never the easiest stuff to come across, especially in department stores.  Right now I have about 200 VHS tapes and maybe 50 of them I would seriously want to replace.  Tenchi TV series and movies, the Gundam 0079 movie trilogy.. some mecha stuff..)

I'm honestly thinking about putting off an HDTV for a few more years.  I can get a modestly priced 720p now, but in 3 years what if everything is 1080p?  I'm fucked!
And considering my living room tv has been the same TV since 94 or so, I would be stuck with a less than optimal set for a good long time.

Plus with everyone supporting different formats it could be a triple burn if one fails.  (And given historical trends, Sony's exclusive formats tend to be the ones to crash and burn.  Hell, look how many electronics products use Memory Sticks compared to SD cards.)

Sony is doing now what Nintendo did.  They think they own the industry so everyone should shut up and get in line, but like Nintendo its not working, and its sowing the seeds of third place.

I really think the PS3 has the potential to be the Gamecube of this generation, if not worse.  (No Nintendo to release compelling software.  Plus the price puts it well out of the 2nd system category.)

[schild]

It's been less than two months. Sony isn't sowing the seeds of third place.

Christ, that sort of talk needs to stop. It's just retarded.

[stray]

Yes.

I can get a modestly priced 720p now, but in 3 years what if everything is 1080p?  I'm fucked!

No you're not. You wouldn't see much of a difference between 1080p and 720p unless it's a big (big) screen.

[HaemishM]

10 years is unfair though. Sony hasn't even made the claim that it would hold up that long.

Yes, they have. And it just like the PS2 now, it won't hold up. Sure, the PS2 is still alive and kicking 6 years later. But is it anyone's first choice? It sold well this Christmas because it was there and had games, but it's in its first stages of death. The X-Box and GameCube are stronger boxes graphically, and the X-Box beat it on features (built-in hard drive and network capability). The next Microsoft and Nintendo boxes will beat out the PS3 on hardware and by 2010, it'll start to creak. By 2012, no one will want one. The video game industry is about the NEW shiney. Old shiney don't do it.

[stray]

[EDIT] Reserved until I can think of something better to say than "Lol".

Which probably won't happen.

[schild]

Lol.

[HaemishM]

Finally blogged about the Madden for Wii for those still interested. I need a sugar daddy to pay my bills so I can write more often.  :-D

My rental place finally got Super Swing Golf and Need for Speed Carbon in. I plan to do Carbon next, since I'm really chomping at the bit to see how the Wii handles driving games.

[stray]

I suspect that ExciteTruck would be a better indicator of driving games, coming from Nintendo and all.

[HaemishM]

Perhaps, but I like the Need for Speed series. I've heard ExciteTruck isn't really exciting per se. :) It's further down in my queue.

[Margalis]

So someone robbed my friend's house the other day and stole his Wii. So now not only do I not have one, I can't go over to his place and play his any more.

ANGRY FACE!

[Yegolev]

Sucky.

[Kageru]

Hm, I wonder if a stolen Wii can be tracked. After all it must have some sort of hardware ID for them to license VC games against. Which would I assume also be integrated in the friend codes the box generates?

Sony hasn't lost of course, the contest has barely started and the depth of the game library will determine the winner. That said the Wii with novelty, dramatically lower development costs and quite possibly a large installed base has taken a lot of the wind out of the PS3's sales.

For myself I consider the wii the only real console. The PS3 and the X-Box are just lobotomized PC's, something I'm not interested in when I already own a perfectly good desktop.

[schild]

Good luck playing God of War on a PC or Wii.

Not to mention Every Capcom Game.

[Trippy]

Good luck playing God of War on a PC or Wii.

Not to mention Every Capcom Game.

Speaking of which they *finally* released DMC 3 for the PC but RE 4 is still not out yet.

[schild]

I saw DMC3 a few months ago. But yea, the time it's taking RE4 really rubs my balls the wrong way.

[Jain Zar]

My local Wal Mart was PACKED with 60 gig PS3s today.

Those things just aren't selling.

I bought a Transformer instead, though they have Lego Mindstorms 2 at 50 dollars off.  If Apple doesn't update the iMacs this week I may go back and get it!