4 months into the new generation, what is your opinion of the new consoles?

Fortunately, I have all 3 consoles, so I can share some of the experience of owning all 3.

Xbox 360: I must say, I am impressed. For a console that was meant for gaming, it currently has more options then the PS3 in terms of multimedia. Achievements have come a long way, and it has become sort of a swaying force when it comes to buying games between the PS3 and 360 (As well as PC).

While the marketplace had a steady boom, it sort of quieted down in the last few months since the Wii was released. However, one thing I do like is the movie and episode download option, which I see great potential in. Personally, I would love to see a much larger selection then there currently is (Such as Silence of the Lambs, some of the newer big releases, older super hero movie, and such).

Game wise, it has done well. Multiplatform releases tend to do better on the 360 then the PC and PS3 most of the time, and newer next gen releases seem to be more common on it. Dead Rising, Gears of War, Oblivion, GRAW, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and a variety of other games have come out within the last year are examples of games that have done a decent job on the 360.

Backwards compatability is also in better shape then it was a year ago, although not everything in my collection is available to play. The only thing I sort of wish for is a option to play older games in widescreen then in a forced square screen.

As for the future, I see the 360 as a bigger player in the US/PAL market then the PS3. While the Japanese market is mostly out of their reach, I can see the 360 taking a fair chunk from Sony within the next 5 years.
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Wii: The Wii is sort of a odd system, in truth. It mainly focuses on games, but offers a wide variety of casual things, such as the weather and news. I will say that Nintendo is on the right track, but the system is not perfect.

One thing I will say: The control for the Wii may be a gimmick, but it is a good gimmick. The control does add a bit of depth into Wii games that you usually don't see with newer games, Sonic and the Secret Rings being a big example. While publishers will abuse it (Ubisoft and the horrible porting they have done, porting older games with Wii controls slapped one in a half-assed manner is not fun). However, I can see great promise with the control if the developers start making Wii exclusive games made from the ground up for the Wii.

Online support has been mixed. Virtual Console and the Internet Channel are fine, but the weather and news channel are too slow many times for me to care about checking them. Another thing I hate is the lack of a online profile, which becomes annoying when buying virtual console titles (Also, it would make more sense connecting a online profile with a Mii).

Another issue is the lack of HD support. I know Nintendo doesn't want to focus too much on power, but come on: If you are going to support widescreen, then support 720p resolution at least!

One very positive thing I can say about the Wii is the Virtual Console support. Nintendo did something right when they decided to allow consoles from 3 generations to be downloaded. Since I missed many games during the SNES/Genesis era, it is a godsend compared to buying the cartriages online. Personally, I don't see too much wrong with the price point, as long as it doesn't go above $10 (Granted, I think genesis games are a bit much).

Games so far have been slim. Twilight Princess and Secret Rings have been the big ones so far, with a bunch of ports leading up the rest of the Wii's current collection. In truth, I don't see Metroid Prime 3 or Super Mario Galaxy coming out until late summer-fall, so it might be dry in terms of new games for awhile.

For the most part, I think the Wii should have taken a bit more from the competition: Higher HD Resolution support and a hard drive should have been a focus, since I see both being a problem down the line (I really think the Wii needs 720p resolution, at least. Also, the Virtual Console downloading will be a problem without a hard drive). Mii's have potential, but need bigger support. I think, with the right choices, the Wii can become a staple of cheaper gaming with the option for older generation support via the Virtual Console.
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PS3: Ah yes, the PS3. Sony sure has had one hell of a time defending the system, and it seems like they were a bit arrogant this time around. I will say that the PS3 isn't a bad system by any stretch, but I do feel like Sony has made some poor choices in how they designed it.

First of all, the price point is obviously too high. $500 for the low end model is just too much, let alone $600 for the high end model. I also have a problem with the design: Putting in every memory card slot in the high end model EXCEPT the Playstation/PS2 memory card slots was just a cheap and horrible way for backwards compatability (And then selling a memory card adapter that I can't even find in any store in my town).

Second, the system itself feels a bit thrown together. There are few options in the ways of changing the background, it's cable set up when you want to transfer it to a new TV is frustraiting, the Playstation store feels thrown together and the video support for putting downloaded movies on the PS3 doesn't work correctly.

Now, the good thing is that it does support HD, and you don't have to worry about a hard drive when you buy one. I do think the Sixaxis controller is thrown together, although I do not mind the motion sensor controls as much as some people do (They work well with Motorstorm). Also, downloadable demos are always good.

Game wise, it is slim pickings until fall. Resistance is the big game right now, with motorstorm being one of the few exclusives until summer or so. Most of the PS3 launch is mostly ports of older 360 games, usually poorly coded for the system itself, with the only decent port being Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection.

The playstation store does need work. I think that if they are going to steal ideas from other companies, they should at least do all the options instead of half assing it. Downloadable movies and TV episodes should become a feature, and better demo support should be implemented (You can't do anything else while downloading, and stopping the download forces you to redo it next time you download it). Also, Playstation games need to be played on the PS3 as well as the PSP.

So, when it comes down to it, the PS3 does show potential, but it needs a lot of love from Sony before it can become useful to the general public, and not the shitty, arrogant attitude we have been getting from them about it. If they are going to compete with the 360, then they need features like the 360, not half assed attempts. I want to see action, not words.
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In a nutshell, the current standing of the consoles (in my opinion) is this:

-360: The full year head start paid off for them. Currently has decent next-gen support, with some decent concepts (Achievements) and potential (Moves and TV episodes).

-Wii: Works best as a medium for older games, Virtual Console is a must for people who want to get the most out of it. Needs higher resolution and better memory management for it to work in the long run. Better online support without the shitty "Friends codes".

-PS3: Currently in the same shape the 360 was in at its launch. Needs major tweaking and support from Sony to function, needs to fix broken aspects of it. Good as a Blu-Ray player and multimedia device, but not very good with games at this point of time.

 

I play my 360 the most, mainly Gears of War and NBA 2K7, so that would have to be my primary system. I have a feeling that once I get some PS2 games (I never ended up buying the PS2 last generation) that I will play the 360 far less. I mean, I've get to play all the Final Fantasy's, God of War, RE4, Bully etc. So whilst this is not technically supporting the PS3, I still think this ability to play all the PS2 titles will lead it to be my primary system within 2 months. I also LOVE the Blu-ray playback.

The Wii on the other hand is a little disappointing to me. Don't get me wrong, I love Twilight Princess, but I'm a little disappointed in the lack of A+ titles available for the Virtual Console as this was my main reason for purchasing the console. I hope and pray that Nintendo realises that games on released in NTSC countries would have still have a strong level of support in PAL countries. Games such as Earthbound, Final Fantasy 3, Sin and Punishment etc would sell pretty well. Besides this complaint, there's no real other negative for me to the Wii. I'm sure everyone would like Mario Strikers, Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime now, but they'll come eventually.

GRADES:
Xbox 360 = A-
PS3 = A (only because of Blu-ray and PS2 BC)
Wii = B+

 

no offence children but relatively speaking:

XBOX 360: A
Wii : A- (lack of proper online gaming hurts)
PS3: C

Yes, the PS3 has nothing to offer at the moment. For 600 dollars you better get a bunch of hookers. Neither Tekken, nor Resistance, nor motorstorm are experiences that I never had before. To be honest, i ve had better.

Wii sports on the other hand, damn i can't left the controller down, despite the fact that I have little respect for the game as a game. It's how things make u feel to me, and both the Wii and 360 have given me something new to feel. Ps3 has been just a small improvement over technicalities, no real meat.

 

Forget seeing that on the VC for a long time (if ever). Squeenix seem to love the money they get porting the old FF games and charging full price for 'em, so the measly profit from releasing the ROM on VC would be detrimental to this plan!

 

Ehr, if you really want old classic emulated goods in PAL countries or games that weren't released you can go get them through the way we all (most of us) did so far. Emulators for classic systems arent anything new let alone novel to consoles. They started on the PC. I m not downloading a single damn game on VC because like it or not, there are better emulators than the ones they re providing, and the games are cheaper, as in free.

oh, and I can use ANY controller I want on PC emulators , not the lame classic-pad which I personally dislike for lack of ergonomics.

Please stop metioning VC as a reason to own a Wii and how you "wait for this or that game", it's just lying to yourself most people here have been involved in more "grey" things than emulation, so save me the legalistic arguments too, or the moral ones.

Wii is Wii , and its fun for what it is. For people who are new to emulation it might seem a big WOW but come on guys, I know you re smarter than that.


ok bash me now all you haters

 

Something new doesn't always equate to something better. Sure Wii Sports is new/different, but the novelty of it wore off pretty quickly for me. I'm not interested in Resistance either, as Gears of War is almost certainly better, but Motorstorm is a game that I'm looking forward to playing very much.

I still believe that the PS3 is deserving of an A grade, simply because I now have the ability to play PS2 games and watch Blu-ray movies. Classifying it purely as a videogame system with a lack of games is not in my opinion a fair judgement. I realise that most other people here already have a PS2, or are not interested in Blu-ray, but for me it is perfect. I can buy brand new games, which are highly enjoyable, for a fraction of the cost of a new Xbox 360 or Wii game. Not to mention that it's also region free for gaming.

It seems that it's the cool thing to ridicule Sony, but I am pleased with my purchase, all three of them in fact.

 

Yeah, I've done the whole Zsnes/snes9x/cherryroms.com thing, but prefer not to sit at my computer playing them. In all honesty I'd prefer to have the original US or Japanese carts, but I'm running out of space and power outlets around my TV to hook up my SNES, MD, Saturn, DC and N64. The convenience of the Virtual Console is the attractive part about it, but if i could have a huge custom cabinet to house my consoles then i would.

 

Sorry to post in a conversationalist manner, but Blu-ray or HD-DVD movies are a gimmick. A proper upscaler and standard DVDs on a good screen are as good , if not better than BD or HD-DVD, DrSlump can assure you of that as well as we performed the test at his place.

The ps3's ability to play ps2 games is a moot point. spending 600 dollars to play Ps2 games you 're saying? Why not pay 50 and buy the damn Ps2 used and play EVERY single game that came out on it, instead of the limited amount the EU consoles will offer? (or the half-assed US/JAP units)

"but what about higher resolution/definiion of existing ps2 titles" you might say. Right, just watch the PC version of REsident Evil 4 , in 1080p, and decide for yourself. It looks crap. On the GC's 480p the game actually looked very realistic, but it looks very bad at high-res. Not because high resolutions are bad, far from it. But because the game was developed in standard/enhanced resolution in mind.

Region-free for gaming, is a valid argument. I agree. They should stop harassing the importer customer - but then again the same people shut down lik-sankg for importing. So I guess it's ok to import if you buy it from Sony

Gears of War is a nice game, but it's not my type of game, I like to use my brain a tad more than that - defect of aging as a gamer?

600 Dollars or 850USD in England for a Ps3 is too much to ask when their best game is Motorstorm. It's not a bad game, but it's not the revolution in gaming or else everyone (not being a SONY follower) would objectively find interest in it. It might be the best offering of the PS3 at the moment, but it hardly makes it a better game than the vast library of the 360.

For me the only reason to own a PS3 would be linux - if the Ps3 supports USB-printers (does it?), but still the price is far too high for what it's practically worth.


If you like playing proper emulators on your PC but you want to play the stuff on your TV get the best next thing to a PC. An XBOX

 

I have a Denon DVD player that upscales to 1080i, and I agree that it does make a huge difference over standard DVD players, but I am nonetheless astounded by the picture quality afforded by Blu-ray. $600 dollars to me is a farily reasonable price for everything that the PS3 offers to me.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.;-)

 

Of course! One man's trash the other man's wife they say, but arguing is what I ll be doing for a living so I do take some enjoyment in it !

As I said before, I love the PS3 as a piece of hardware, but its too expensive for what it offers , to me at least. Then again, many people didn't like the DC and never bought one, and many people thought the GC was crap. I loved both the DC and GC, and I have a right to not like PS3!

As for movies in general, i never bought a single DVD movie. I guess i don't like watching the same linear movie over and over again, as I have photographic memory and remember almost the whole thing the first time around ^_^

 

A future lawyer just like me? I also loved my DC and if I had ever got Tales of Symphonia or RE4 I would have fell in love with my GC too.

 

CRanga, feel free to post more about yourself in detail in the Introduction thread Nice to know colleagues are into games.

 

Will do. Just out of curiosity, what year are you in and what are you currently studying?

 

Guess I'll be devil's advocate. I have none, and will not by any for a long time. They all share the exact same problem: None of them have any games I want.

360: A couple here and there that don't make me vomit, but for the most part, nothing special. Xbox Live? No thanks, I have an emulation setup which smokes Live. I have the originals in many cases too.

Wii: I'm pretty sick of playing games on pads. I'm really into "arcade style" games at the moment, which are best done w/ a stick, and 3 buttons (sometimes two). You can imagine how I feel about swinging around a piece of plastic. VC? Kind of nice, but too pricey for old games. There's also no RGB solution in Japan, so again, emulation issues set aside (there are very few) the games actually look better on my computer running through an AVGA card.

PS3: Sony somehow managed to not only destroy emulation of all their 2D games (non-interlaced modes are now forced interlaced) but they fucked up 3D emulation as well. I care much less for the latter, but hey, a strike is a strike. All the games look like big budget movies w/ absolutely no substance.

MAME is calling me...

 

im proboably one of the few that actually think this whole online-craze is a bad thing but hey.

X360 - like someone said the year ahead sure paid off, but in spite of that i think the gamelibrary is kinda weak, a few gems but nothing revolutionary, xbla games are like shitty flashgames or bad MAME rips.. i dont see how folks get so worked up about them?

Wii - fun gimick but im not sure the novelty will last, i think the fact that its hugeley underpowered compared to the others will bite nintendo in the ass eventually, it depends on how they develop their new control system, wii-sports is so far the only game that really utilises its capabilities?
and this whole offering snes/pce/etc emulator download thingy as a key sellingpoint is pathetic.

PS3 - i got the feeling this is by far the most powerfull of the machines, the inclusion of a medicanter-esq interface really clicked with me anyways. extremely poor software support so far isnt really putting fans-in-the-stands tho, made me sell mine off, also whats the point of haveing a 1080p capable console when none of the games support it, typical cheapass sony, just like the fact that they send a fucking RCA CABLE WITH THE CONSOLE!!??:fresh:

so i guess to sum it up, last gen (ps2, gc, xbox) isnt really dead yet which seems to be hampering the nextgen kickoff a bit in the software department.
i guess well just have to wait another 6 months untill its possible to evaluate the situation properly.

i dont feel the desire to venture into any of them right now, im happy with my astros for a while longer thank you!

 

I think they fixed that issue in the recent firmware.

 

I think I heard something about this. Would love to get confirmation.

 

Wii: I'll agree that the Wii's line-up right now is pretty dull. Zelda has been okay, but I feel like I'm playing a Ocarina of time remake that has a slightly worse story... just too many similarities. But, it did give me a good amount of gameplay.

The system is great for multiplayer though, and any time a friend comes over its been the thing to do. Wii play again has lasted me through many visits and Wii sports as well.

Sonic is Fun and good and while the controls work . They don't have the same sensation as that of Wii sports for some reason. I think perhaps the rumble is too dull. But, its fun enough.

But, all in all the experience is boring at this time right now.
On my own I don't play sports games often, especially not Wii Sports as theres no real iniciative to play. There's no beating the game, nor many things to unlock. And a friend might come over to play like 1 every two weeks so multiplayer isn't that key.


The VC though has been fun and very smooth for me, plus the Wii has once again brought me back to cube games, which I continue to find myself playing. And its definitely helped me rediscover some classics

Hopefully b/c of the huge success of the console, video games releases will become more and more stellar.

Of course, Nintendo has never disappointed me ever, and b/c of my nintendo fan status, I went for this system.

But, when i think about it alot that I'm looking foward to is coming out

Animal Crossing Online, Wii Health, Super Paper Mario, Resident Evil Chronicles, Sadness, Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Kirby (tentative Title), Manhunt 2, No More Heros, SSBB, Project H.A.M.M.E.R, Diaster: Day of Crisis.

So I'm definitely gonna love this system soon enough.

Xbox360: I am definitely impressed with their strong line-up,
Gears of War, Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, Dead Rising, Lost Planet,Kameo, Crackdown

Are all games I'd love to play, so I guess the system is doing alot right. They've also got an online plan that can't be beat, downloadable content, Online matches, X-box Arcade.

On the other hand, its been a year for the 360 and there are only those 5 games I want to play. So, perhaps its really not in that great shape. But, then again I'm not a 360 owner so there's probably many more hidden gems I haven't mentionded. Of course again its been a year and tyou can't realy compare the others

PS3: What can I say...I was always a sony nintendo fan but, I also have to agree that the PS3 is not worth it. I really haven't seen a game that look alot better then a 360. And there's no must-own games that are great.
And a good chunk of PS3's titles will end up on 360. If the Ps3 continues to sell poorly companies simply won't bother spending the crazy development costs to make good use of the chip and we'll end with tons of games that can perfectly be ported to the 360


Plus, blue-ray isn't important for most console owner. I mean I own a CRT TV, and maybe its my bad eyes, but I can't tell that much of a difference between dvd and blueray. For a long time I predict studios making blueray versions simply being slightly enhanced versions of the DVD release, as why work so hard on a format that will sell alot less.

Sure games are coming, but for the cost of the top of the line model. I could get a Wii and a 360.

 

I've played the Wii once, and I can honestly say that I think Nintendo definitely got something right this time around. The controller was a fantastic idea, and if they can churn out games that make good use of it then they're going to bring in some bank .

I like the 360 and think it's in a better place than it was at launch, but I still don't see the point in getting one. Maybe Halo 3 will change that (although I doubt it).

The Playstation 3, well... I haven't played it yet, but from what I can tell Sony is fucking up left and right. Who in their right mind thought $600 was a good price for a console? Not to mention the size...

 

http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=94231

Firmware 1.5 apparently fixes the BC graphic issues.