Josh H

True, but very popular in "gaming" households and in households of college students/young adults etc.

But my main point is people may have a desire for WiFi, not many are going to still have a desire/need for DVD playback today. HD/BR is a different story as not many people have those players, so it's more of a plus--just like the PS2 was many people's first DVD player back in the day.

Ralph Wiggum

Nah, the real question: What have I played on Wii since I finished Zelda seven weeks ago? About an hour of Wario Ware. I don't see how that's going to change until Super Paper Mario. Meanwhile, I'll be playing VF5, Motorstorm, flOw . . .

I wish the PS3 was cheaper and right now I wish it had gone with DVD (maybe that will change down the road), but the fact is that I've spent more time playing it than Wii.

dvd182

What if companies start fully utitlizing the Blu-ray disk technology for gaming, and produce features and content that fill the (up to) 50GB on the disc? Wouldn't that be a huge pro for the PS3 then? The 360 will be limited to dual layer DVD (it doesn't sound like they want to integrate hd-dvd fully), but the PS3 can natively load discs that hold anywhere from 2.5-5 times that. Just a thought for discussion...

dvdsteve2000

That's the case in my house also. I'm not a big fan of the Wii, but my boys play Monkey Ball & Zelda. They've been asking for a new game for weeks now, but there's nothing that warrants my $50. Mario Galaxy will probably be my next purchase. I DL'd a couple games from the VC to keep them happy, but hurry up Nintendo.

The PS3 was my purchase (for myself basically). I grabbed Resistance when I bought the system, but after a few hours of that I haven't played a game since. I do want NHL 07, but I can't find it locally. Thanks to the BR player though (and Netflix), the PS3 is getting at least as much use as the 360.

As for WiFi, I really didn't know how it worked until about a month ago. My Wii wasn't connected & I kind of stumbled across the WiFi thing by mistake. I was excited that the wireless router that I bought for my XBOX (I used it wired) so many years ago actually worked hassle-free. When I got my PS3 (impulse purchase)I had no idea it even had WiFi until someone at work told me, after I said I was going to grab an Ethernet cable for it. He said you should've gotten the 60GB for the WiFi & I said "I did!", WooHoo!

I almost wish the 360 released at the same time as the PS3 & Wii. It would've been really interesting to see which console would be ahead, with games mainly. IMO, the 360 is just sitting on top of the hill watching the other consoles struggle.

taffer

I really doubt that many companies, if any at all, will fully utilize the full 50 GB. A game as massive as Oblivion fits on one standard DVD. There are not going to be many games bigger than that. JRPGs love to use a lot of CG cutscenes which take up a ton of space, but that would be about it. Even then, on the 360, they can just use multiple discs to get the extra space they need. Blue Dragon, for instance, is a 3 disc game.

Michael Corvin

I bet more often than not, the extra room will mean less time and money spent on developing involved compression techniques.

Chris_D

Or used to duplicate parts of the game across the disc to make up for slow blue ray read times.

chess

If you think the Wii is "struggling", they you just aren't paying attention. They can't seem to make the things fast enough to meet demand, and I love all 5 of the games I have for mine.

Zelda is the best game for any of the 3 systems (or maybe Gears depending on how much you care about graphics)
Excite Truck is the most fun I've had with a racer in years...love the controls
Madden 07 uses the Wiimote brilliantly, making it preferable to other Maddens IMO
Wii Sports and Wii Play are absolute money when you have friends over
I don't have Elebits, but it looks like a lot of fun
Metroid Prime and Mario Galaxy are sure bets as well


Heck, even after some bad press (well earned BTW), the PS3 seems to be doing just fine as well. I may even end up getting one for blu-ray at some point...which is ironic since I hated the idea of putting blu-ray in the PS3.

Save Ferris

you dodged the question. are you really PLAYING GAMES on the ps3? ONE game? I doubt anyone can enjoy logging more than 4 hours a week on the current yawn list of titles.

Fandango

All the reports say that Oblivion on PS3 loads faster than the 360 version.

tonyc3742

I've rented Elebits, and it's a very interesting way to use the controller, I just don't like the game that much, thought I can 'respect' it.
Excitetruck is indeed fun, if totally unrealistic. I've been playing this the most, actually. And it's reasonably accessible, since you don't need to win the race to advance.
I have Zelda, but just started (and already stuck).
Play and Sports are indeed great for company--my inlaws, including grandfather in law, were over Sunday night and we all played bowling, shooting gallery, and tennis a number of times.

Josh H

Well, at least until VF 5 is out (ships tomorrow). That's the first great PS3 game, though of course one could just wait for the 360 version.

dvdsteve2000

I wasn't saying the 360 would kick anyone's ass, I was saying it would've been interesting to see all three consoles from the same starting time. I do, however, think the Wii will struggle as the systems mature. Without DVD/HD/BD playability, being graphically challenged, and the 'new-ness' of the wiimote wearing off, they really need to make some kick-ass games to keep them alive (which I honestly hope they do), IMO of course.

That's quite a boast. I do own Zelda, and to me, it seems like a Nintendo 64 version of Oblivion...poor graphics & alot of reading.

RichC2

...you must of only played the beginning of Zelda, as there really isn't much reading as the game progresses. And that aside, is absolutely nothing like Oblivion (it's nowhere near as open, and, imo, a bit more fun, though I hate playing as the wolf, plus despite having somewhat dated graphics, are nowhere near the N64 level).

I don't see DVD/HD/BD playability being a huge issue (I honestly didn't use my PS2 or Xbox for DVD Playability, though I do use my 360 for it out of laziness), but do agree the games will be the sink or swim of the wii.

I still think the Wii is the best system when you have others over, the X360 is current king for single and online multiplayer. We'll see where the PS3 winds up.

With uncompressed audio and cripser textures perhaps, but otherwise, it'd just be a whole lot of video. Production costs are already through the roof these days, and I personally don't anticipate games dwarfing Oblivion and GTA-style games for sometime because of it.

DodgingCars

Agreed. Anyone who says that Zelda has N64 graphics hasn't seen a N64 game in a long while. I think it's graphics are last generation, which is understandable considering it was developed originally for the Gamecube, but I think it looks really nice. Much better than most PS2 games I've seen.

And I don't understand the reading argument either. Very little reading, imo. The game certainly starts slow, but once you get out of town, it's fantastic. I am surprised they chose text over voice acting though.

I don't care too much for playing as the wolf either, but (at least for now), I don't have to worry about that.

I haven't been this into a game in years. Definately one of the best I've played in a long time.

CreatureX

Nintendo seems to be doing just fine:

January 2007 console sales

taffer

I agree. Twilight Princess may not be able to compete with Gears of War graphically, but it certainly is leagues better than N64 graphics.

Screenshots from Ocarina of Time on the N64:









That is some seriously putrid crap. It is hard to believe that those graphics were considered amazing at one time.

Some screenshots of Twilight Princess for comparison:





If you can't tell that that is much better than the N64, then you are blind.

Michael Corvin

Xbox 360 Pro:
Crackdown

DodgingCars

Thanks! That makes the point better than words. As for putrid crap... Compared to the NES, the N64 had incredible graphics!

I grew up on Atari 2600, so I can still appreciate the beautiful art of even 16-bit graphics.

taffer

I grew up on the Atari 2600 too. I wouldn't consider 16-bit 2D graphics to be bad though. Some of the last SNES releases like Donkey Kong Country and Mario RPG were absolutely beautiful, even looking at them today. I think that the first era of 3D graphics has aged very very badly in comparison.

Look at these classic PS1 games:



Lara Croft sure had some perky boobies in Tomb Raider.



Ocelot has a blurry face only a mother could love.



Chris's shoulder looks sharper than the knife.



I hope that isn't Chris's blood!!



Chris must work out a lot to get arms that blocky.

Josh H

Yeah the first gen 3D games look like crap and haven't held up well at all. The same can be said for early 2D games as well (Atari, NES, SMS).

SNES and Genesis games still look great today, and I think the GC/PS2/X-box games will still hold up pretty well 10 years down the road. But most NES era games, and most N64/PS1 era games are pretty unplayable for me today as they just didn't age well IMO.

Chris_D

So most NES not worth $5 on the VC?

I totally agree with you. I've been called a graphics whore before and I really am. But take into account that I think Chronotrigger looks absolutely amazing, and comparing FFIV to FFVI, and Phantasy Star 2 to PS4, you can really see the amazing technical strides they made over the life of the 16 bit platforms.

Even back in the day I thought the NES graphics looked shit, but part of that was having access to a pretty good PC, a SMS, and also playing arcade fairly regularly. Gameplay is king etc (I replayed Zelda OOT 4 years ago and still thought it was great) but it's nice to have the best of both worlds.

Josh H

I don't think any of the VC games are worth their current prices.

I'm far from a graphics whore, but NES/SMS games and PSX/N64 games just look terrible today.

However, I could play SNES/Genesis games or PS2/GC/X-box games and nothing else and be perfectly happy in the graphics department as those are great looking 2D and 3D games respectively.

Ralph Wiggum

I'm not playing any of the next-gen consoles four hours a week, but I am still playing my 360 and PS3. In 2007, I've finished Resistance, played some Blast Factor, GT:HD, RR7, gone through the Motorstorm demo quite a bit. On Wii, I've downloaded the News Channel, the Everyone Votes Channel, and played a bit of Wario Ware.