Michael Corvin

Just for fun and in no order of preference:

1. Achievements: Return of the "high score" mentality and bragging rights. Fun for all and as addicting as online porn.

2. Nintendo Wii: Expand that market Nintendo, assuming you can get enough out the door to satisfy demand. Finally put the focus on gaming back where it belonged, gameplay not polygon count.

3. Wireless: Standard on all three consoles. Best thing to hit gaming in years. *Bonus* even a power button on the controllers for the ultra lazy.

4. Virtual Libraries: A great way to experience games you missed or games you loved and haven't played in years.

5. HD Gaming & 5.1: Sure gameplay trumps both, but when a game succeeds at all three it is a tour de force. Resident Evil cowers in fear in the basement of the mansion in Condemned.

6. Xbox Live: Sure it was around last gen, but the *new* improved version makes Live from last gen look like the red headed step child that isn't allowed to touch your new console. The PS3 and Wii online structures are friends of the red headed step kid.

7. Return of the pack in game: Wii Sports a cultural phenomenon single handedly keeping retail shelves empty for months on end and helps justify rising costs of consoles. Special nod to Hexic on the 360, a valiant effort but not quite great..

8. Operating System Updates: What's not to love about updates that add increased functionality, features or channels to your console? How about updating every time you turn on your system? cough, PS3 & PSP D'oh!

9. Game Demos: Hardly revolutionary, but there's nothing quite like having them at your fingertips on your console for free versus tracking down a magazine with a bonus disc. If only more people had downloaded that Sonic demo on Live before buying it.

10. Major Nelson & Podcasting: Not a feature, of course, but who from Nintendo or Sony communicate directly with their consumers? He has been, for the most part, a great mouthpiece for the community to get back to Microsoft. Unfortunately he has become just as much a mouthpiece for MS the past few months, but that was inevitable. Podcasting in general has made the hobby entertaining even when you aren't sitting in your recliner with a gamepad in your hand. With eclectic personalities from CAG, IGN, 1up and a half dozen others allows you to "geek-out" outside the house, not to mention get a daily dose of gaming information.

Bonus Round:
11. Boneheaded Executives: Again, not a feature per se, but with so many execs plagued with "foot-in-mouth" disease it baits fanboys around the globe and makes messages board communities near-and-far all the more entertaining for it.

=======================
and why Generation Now sucks:

1. Red Ring of Death: Poorly design a console & lowball the percent of consoles plagued with the issue. When that doesn't go over with your customers, extend the warranty and offer refunds for repairs, all while still not releasing the percentage of problems.

2. Multiple SKUs: Do we really need three options for a console that does the same thing in all three? Sony follows the MS lead and also does two skus. Just give us one GAMING console for one price. Kudos Nintendo for getting it right.

3. Microtransactions: Horse Armor? Paying for cheat codes? Paying for in game money? $$ for a tiny gamerpic avatar? Paying for content that is on the disc you already paid for? Seriously? All in the name of "testing the market."

4. Friend Codes: here, remember this 16 digit code to enter when you get home and I'll remember yours and hopefully they sync up in the magical unknown so we can be friends and play games send Miis to each other.

5. Wii Availability: Five months in and you still can't find one. Ridiculous. Ramp it up Nintendo, people want your system over the competition and you are doing nothing about it. Inexcusable given how much they did right leading up to the launch.

6. Sixaxis: This has been in development for years! forget that Nintendo just announced their motion control device a few months prior. Let's save some dough and ditch rumble while we're at it. And to top it off let's just cram it all into our 10 year old-stale ass-uncomfortable Dual-Shock design.

7. Blu-Ray: We don't need it and we didn't want it shoved down our throats. We wanted a GAMING successor to the ultra popular GAMING console, the PS2, NOT a movie machine that happens to play games on the side.

8. Limited Edition Games: Just what we needed, a relentless parade of "Limited Edition" game releases that are limited to the number the publisher can manufacture, especially for the 90% of games that aren't deserving of a special edition, let alone the $70 pricetag. Thanks to all you suckers that bought Halo 2: LE for this one. I'm one of them. Pre-order your Limted Edition copy of Ratatouille today!

9. Unfinished Games: With the advent of constant connectivity came the advent of shoving games out the door before they are done, making customers wonder if a patch will ever be released. I want a working title for my $60, thank you very much, not a laggy P.O.S. with limited functionality because the publisher wanted the quick buck. Get it right the first time.

10. Pricing: Somehow: Next-Gen = Rape the customer. $400 and $600 consoles? $50 controllers? $60-$70 games? $10 casual games that are free online? Catalog titles that fetch 1000% more than their value on a compilation disc?

Bonus round
11. Overpromising and Underdelivering: The Sony Company Mission Statement. Special nod to Xbox Backwards compatibility.

DodgingCars

Your other thread got closed, but I wanted to comment on multiple skus. I don't get the criticism -- not just from your, but everyone it seems.

To me, I like the options. Why not be able to buy a $300 xbox if you don't care about the other stuff? Bundling it in a $400 box is probably cheaper than having to buy each of the extras individually. How is it a negative to have choices?

Canis Firebrand

I think the criticism comes from the fact that people want one gaming console and not the so-called choices.

For the choice in the 360 arena, you have a basic system that is not capable of playing older Xbox games and not capable of being used on a high-def tv. To do eithre of those things, you need to spend more money. Why not just put everything you need in one sku and sell that as your system.

The addition of the third sku really was a boneheaded move on MS's part. If they had included an internal HD-DVD drive to combat the PS3, they would have done more damage to Sony. Their system would be cheaper then the equivalent and offer more storeage space.

DodgingCars

Because then you'd only have a $400 choice. I don't know how well the core system sells, but it's an option for people who don't care about the other stuff. I still don't understand why more options is a negative -- except for maybe the "confusion" factor. But I think 2 (well now 3) choices isn't too difficult for people to compare and choose.

Josh H

This should probably go in the other thread, but since it was lamely closed I guess it has to go here....

I'm very disenchanted with this generation thus far. Aside from the Wii they are all overpriced, and the game libraries are VERY thin on games I want to play on any of them.

The one addition I like is the download games, but those are overpriced as well, especially on the Wii.

My DS is getting the most work so far this year while the Wii gathers dust and the 360 and PS3 are out of the picture due to price.

Draven

I consider it a negative because I think the companies do it not to offer customers a choice but to say their console is "only" $300 or $500 bucks.

In the case of the 360, that's just false since the "extras" of the Premium are really requirements in this day and age. The Elite is a much better example of "nice to have but not needed."

And Sony wisely dumped the 20 G version because no one was buying it (probably because they couldn't find it) and the 60 G was a better choice money-wise anyway.

I'd also rather they just release one system and let it stand on its own.

Josh H

You do realize that the $300 system can't save games without a memory card (which runs $40), so it's really only $60 cheaper.

Plus no hard drive means you can't do a lot of the download content etc. It's really a poor system that is pretty pointless to buy once you factor in the need for a memory card.

Now if they had skews that were identical gaming and the more expensive one just having non gaming crap that would be a different story (i.e. if there was a $300-400 PS3 without blu-ray etc.).

Canis Firebrand

Because it is unnecessary and adds unneeded confusion.

Parents: Here Johnny, here is your new 360 we bought you so that you can play all the new games and still play your old xbox games we spent a lot of money on.

10 year old Johnny: Thanks mom & dad.

Little Johnny goes to play shiny new 360.
Johnny: Wow.. look at all these neat arcade games I can play!

Sadly, little Johnny finds out he can't play them because he has no storage space.

Johnny: Well, let me try my old Halo 2 game because all my friends still play it.

Sadly, little Johnny finds out that he can't play the game because he has no storage space.

Parents are angered that they have to now spend more money then they originally thought and vow to never buy a gaming console again.

I agree with who ever wrote these two lists. Nintendo got it right. One, console, reasonably priced. No confusion and it is flying off the shelves.

Whereas Sony was forced to pull one sku off the market due to lack of sales and MS added more confusion with another sku.

Supermallet

Personally, I'm loving this generation. I mostly play on the 360, never on the PS3, and a little on the Wii, but I'm enjoying the best games on the Wii and a ton of stuff on the 360.

Michael Corvin

Close the thread that would generate the most talk and that discussion migrates to this thread anyway. Nice.

It wasn't meant against any one group or to start anything. I hit each console pretty hard I thought. Covered my bases. Oh well. Just something I was pondering the past few days and thought I would share. I figure, lately everyone has been cordial around here and could handle it.

Canis Firebrand

I was a little confused on the closure as well.. Maybe a mod thought it was a duplicate thread?

Why not cut and past your 10 "sucks" reasons and edit your first post.

fumanstan

This generation has gotten me back into console gaming after being a primarily PC guy

starseed1981

I'm not to into this generation, although I own all 3 consoles, due to lack of originality in games. I mean there are a handful of great titles original titles on the way; but most of the things I'm anticipating are basically sequels.

taffer

The reason multiple SKUs is bad, especially in the 360's case where one SKU does not have a hard drive, is that developers can not fully take advantage of the better SKU.

Since not every 360 owner will have a hard drive, developers can not use a hard drive to have their games stream data or improve load times. Streaming data would have improved the lag in Oblivion immensely.

I don't pay much attention to Xbox Live Arcade, but isn't it a rule that every game must be 50MB or less simply because not every 360 owner has a hard drive to store a bigger file than that?

fumanstan

Yup, but it's since been bumped to a higher limit.

mh4268

I still find the criticism of game prices off-base. I paid 90-100 dollars for phantasy star iv when it was first released on the genesis. That was around 15 years ago. Alot of the old rpgs had similar pricing.

Josh H

And that was absurd at the time.

But sense then we've had most games at $50 for the past 15 years or so, with a few exceptions on the SNES and Genesis, and pretty much no exceptions from the N64/PS1 era through the GC/PS2/X-box generation.

For me even $50 is more than I will pay for 95% of games that I want to play. Gaming's just not worth that kind of cash to me as it's the lowest priority of my hobbies these days. As such, I just wait for games to drop to $20 or under for the most part.

Michael Corvin

Yeah, but that was due to cartridge format. CD/DVDs can be manufactured for pennies.

DodgingCars

I think relative to past prices, game prices aren't that high, but I agree with Josh that they're just too high for me. I rarely pay full price for games. I usually wait for price drops or buy them used. One of the great things about being a late adopter (tons of cheap games). I'm loving buying GC games for (often) under $10

Supermallet

Oblivion did use the hard drive cache to store data for quicker loading times. So imagine how they would have been on a core system.

taffer

Uh maybe I am not remembering right, but I think there were quite a few $60-$70 N64 games because of the higher costs to produce a cartridge.

taffer

I didn't know that. Oblivion had horrible lag on my 360. Out in the open wilderness areas, it would frequently pause and a few seconds later trees or rocks or something would suddenly pop up on screen and the game would resume. Riding a horse was worse, since you are moving faster, the game pauses even more often to render objects on-screen. It was so horrible, I eventually just used the fast travel to go anywhere.

I really don't think it was my 360 that was at fault either because I never had problems like that with any other game. I don't even want to imagine what playing Oblivion must be like without a hard drive then.

PopcornTreeCt

This generation got me back into gaming. After buying the 360, I finally realized how much the PS2 controller sucks. I played that thing for the previous generation and I think it was one of the reasons why I lost interest in gaming. That and the graphics between PS1 and PS2 was not nearly as much a step up as Xbox to 360 with HD. I don't think Live Gaming is a big factor to me. A lot of people like it but it's much better to play with friends in person. The price hikes are to be expected but to put into perspective I play my 360 as much or not more than I use my laptop and the 360 was way, way cheaper.

Michael Corvin

People defend it to death, but usually because that is all they've known. I wouldn't say it is one of the worst ever, but it wouldn't crack my top 5 either. The Dual Shock design is average at best.

Josh H

There were a couple I believe (which is why I said pretty much no exceptions).

At any rate, I've never bought any of them. Never paid more than $50 for a game (and growing up my parents would never buy any that were more than that on the SNES etc.). Just not worth it.