By now, if you’re a gamer, you’ve heard about the latest and greatest from E3: the PS3 has been officially announced with ship dates (November 17, US) and pricing (499/599). The Wii has been officially announced with a date (Q4) and priced “cheaply”. The 360 is six months old and, well, they still packed a room with news and information…
What’s my take on it?
Frankly, I think it’s pretty fuckin’ neat. I mean, for Microsoft. After all Sony and Nintendo have to first promote the platform and then justify said platform with “soon to be seen” titles.
Sony has had to step back from their original specs and they’ve had to justify that in the public eye. They are entering the market at $100-$300 more than the current Core and Premium 360 systems – they have to defend that too. They also had to dispel the originally displayed boomerang controller: they’re now offering a wireless and gyroscopic PS2 looking controller (with a suspiciously familiar PS button in the center of it all) but it’s vibration free. FWIW, this should make it just as sophisticated as the old Microsoft game pad a la 1998. Except this new one is wireless. BluRay causing delays? They say no – ready for November. The specs aren’t nearly as impressive as they once were and, from what I’ve seen, the demos are on par with existing 360 games.
Anyway, the new PS3 controller is the same as the PS2/PS1 layout and that’s way better than the boomerang – they’ve won my vote for that. But while we’re on the topic of controllers, what’s Nintendo up to with their Wii controller? Fucked if I know. I mean here ya got people running around America, saying games are too violent and realistic… and here’s Nintendo demoing a pretty spiffy eye-popping version of Zelda: “if you bring the nun-chuck [the left “viewing” controller] down in a stabbing fashion, you’ll bring the sword down on your enemy” and “for other slashing, move the controller as you would a sword”. Um, you named the controller after an Asian kung fu weapon? Joy.
“When you pull back on the bow, you’ll hear the string go taunt.” Um, realism says what? True, I think it’s pretty freakin’ neat that you’ll hear the arrow loose from your on-controller speaker and fly through to the TV speakers, but WTF? Can I break the string? Is that even a concern? And why do I have to flail around while playing a game? What’s for Wii 2? “Force feedback as you slice the body of your opponents”? Yikes!
The best example of why this is a bad idea is when four people are standing in front of a TV, playing tennis by… well… acting like mimes that are playing tennis against an invisible wall.
Great. Tennis elbow and I never have to physically touch a fuzzy yellow ball. Not impressed by that.
Meanwhile, in the Microsoft media event, they have very little to justify and even less new hardware announcements. The hardware has been out for over six months and the supply drought seems to be behind us. But still, it’s E3. What on earth does Microsoft have to talk about?
Games. Holy shit, there’s a lot of games coming. And still some hardware: a wireless steering wheel (with Force Feedback), a wireless headset for Live, a wireless camera for Live, and an adapter that allows wireless 360 controller to work with a PC. Demo upon demo upon demo. The integration of the Xbox Live Gamertag on multiple platforms: 360, PC, Vista, and now – thanks to “Live Anywhere” – mobile devices. Bunch of new arcade games for Live Arcade, all of which have HD support. Confirmation of a HD DVD add-on for the 360. Over 160 games available by the end of the year. Day of release support for Grand Theft Auto IV. Adding eight more nations to the 360-supported list.
All of the focus on the “second” story. No justifications are required. No pricing surprises. No slipped dates for consoles. No “sorry we couldn’t do this”. No “sorry we had to cut that”. Just a whole bunch of support for an existing platform and news that its reach is hitting new nations and new platforms.
And Halo 3, released in 2007.
Pretty freakin’ good times over in Xbox land.
Hehe, thats what they said about the SEGA dreamcast. And the PS3 controller also has a motion sensor in it, like the Wii. Seems like XBOX 360 is the only controller lacking that feature. And Nintendo also displayed its alternative controller for those not interested in it’s nunchucks. It looks like an SNES controller with 2 analog sticks. And Sony blistered Microsoft with Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4 trailers. I’ll give’em Halo 3, but they didn’t show any in-game graphics so they wouldn’t humiliate themselves. I got a feeling that low-tech 360 will go the way of the Dreamcast.
My point wasn’t about who was better. My point was about how nice it was to see Microsoft’s event: while Sony and Nintendo had to jump through a few hoops to prove themselves in the hardware realm, Microsoft didn’t. Sony and Nintendo had to prove that they are worth $500/$600 and $??? to have people upgrade – Microsoft got to talk about peripherals and games, since they already have hardware out there.
And indeed Sega beat everyone out the door, but the DreamCast didn’t die because it was first… it died for a whole bunch of reasons, one of which was lack of game support (as in, see the above about why I’m glad it was about games for MS). In fact, if I remember correctly, the DreamCast was beloved because it was more technically advanced than the other consoles at the time… so by your own argument, the PS3 should fail because it has more advanced hardware and ports, right?
I know about the motion sensor in the PS3 controller: I mention it in the post but I remain unimpressed by it. With the exception of flying a banshee, I don’t see how it’ll make me a better player or make for a better experience. See the link up there on how Microsoft and Logitech had the same thing in 1998… I didn’t buy one then either. It all goes back to my C=64, when I voice activated firing system for a fighter jet game called Echelon (made by the people that made TopSpin – hurrah.) I thought it was THE coolest thing evar. Until I played it… you had to keep saying “FireFireFireFireFire”. Completely lame. Woulda taken a button any day after that.
I also saw the Wii Classic controller on CNN – dunno what that’ll mean to game play, though, but since I probably wouldn’t be looking at Wii, it’s a moot issue to me. What it won’t help though is all of the coming backlash that the entire industry will have to deal with, from this “more realistic slashing” crap. I can see this coming a mile away.
As for low-tech 360, I dunno about that. I mean, compared to who? The PS2? The Game Cube? You can’t base anything on the tradeshow demos. Do I need to pull out the last press release picture from the PS3 – where it had two HDMI ports and bunch of other crap in it – versus the most current PS3? No one else is out there yet, so I’m not seeing a difference.
Will I buy a PS3? Not at $600. I’ll wait for a game to come out that I *have* to have before making that purchase. That’s how I got a PS2 – GTA3 – and Xbox – Halo – in the first place. I’ve got no use for FFXIII (or FFXI for that matter) so that won’t be it… no use for Oblivion either – not my thing. :)
The Dreamcast was meant to compete against the PS2 Gamecube, and XBOX. It came out first and was the weakest of the bunch. Like the 360 is now. As far as the controller thing. If it’s already built in to the default controller, developers will put the feature in their games. That controller 8 years ago wasn’t what everyone had it was something you had to buy seperately. So developers didn’t have to bother with it. Kind of like what happened to PSOnline. No one thought it was worth the extra money for the modem. So it failed, and XBOX LIVE owned it. This time around it will be the other way. Sony has more gamers, and it’s going to be free. I called the XBOX 360 low tech compared to the PS3 and the Wii. That is who MS is competing against isn’t? I think most people will glady dish out $600 for an awsome system. I know I will. What gave Xbox a fighting chance againt the PS2 was the graphics. I owned both, most games would come out for both systems, I would go with the XBOX version every time because of the graphics. Most games now are cross platform, and once again, people will go with the one that looks nicer. I don’t think the 360 has a popsicle’s chance in hell of winning this thing.
Nothing offical, but Sega’s VP just stated that the Nintendo Wii should sell for just under $200. At that price I think everyone should start taking Nintendo a bit more seriously, if they can push enough systems, it could grab a big chunk of the market. Especially having more advanced hardware than the 360. I think the 360 just had the rug pulled out from under it. :)
Again, you must have those final production models of Wii and PS3 that no one else has seen… how can I argue about how the 360 stacks up to them? Obviously *I* haven’t seen the production models so I can’t say. [And remember: the PS3 has changed its specs at least three different times already, so don’t even try to point to E3 as the defacto platform. :)]
As to the controllers, if I remember correctly N64 was the first to have an analog stick… PS1 and Saturn, who were already in the wild at the time of the N64’s release, did not. Yet they soon released controllers that HAD analog controls: PS1 in the form of Dualshock and Saturn had some other game that brought it out. I don’t see the benefit of a motion controller. I don’t see the benefit of an in game camera either. Those are just my gaming opinions. Either way, I WILL say that Microsoft and other companies are making new controllers all the time – the fact that Wii or the PS3 ship with them… WTF does that matter? The NES shipped with a Robot – how much was that used?
As to the online stuff, PC games have had online access for years yet XBL is still doing well… I asked, before I had an Xbox, why is that? Well, it’s because it works. Sony’s biggest flaw in their online strategy is that it’s free and open. They provide net access and that’s it. Same thing with the PSP. It’s up to the games developers to manage the Live part of it – not so with XBL. That’s why XBL has been the easiest way to play online so far, be it PS2 PSP XBox or PC. More tools to the games developers, better matchmaking thanks to XBL… it’s much, much better than the PC experience. Can’t speak to the PS2 b/c GTA wasn’t multiplayer :)
You’re entitled to your opinion. Personally, I’ll wait until the thing is out before declaring a victory on either side. Everything I’ve seen in demos and trailers and still shots show that graphics are the same PS3/360 – game play and online support will make the difference. Hell, it’s game play and not raw graphic power that is what’s keeping Nintendo in the console business in the first place. PSP kicks the crap outta the DS graphics wise, but the DS is outselling the PSP 4:1. And I LIKE the PSP more than the DS… silly touch screen thing.
Alls I know is that if it’s all about games, the PS3 had better come out with more than that silly fireworks game that they had at the PS2 launch. Sure it looked neat but it was a ridiculous waste of media.
Um, Nintendo has said many, MANY times that it won’t compete with the 360 and the PS3 for hardware power.
I’d wait until the official specs are released before saying anything more on the matter… hat doesn’t taste very good. Nor does foot. And I know. I’ve eaten more than my fair share of both.
Maybe, but I don’t think many changes are going to be made if any, if prices and release dates are being set. I don’t mind the taste of hat or feet if I deserve it. But I think Im going to call this one. PS3 to win, Wii to trail abit, but still own the kiddie demographic. And for the XBOX 360? In about a year, Vaporware.
PS3 dosent have to ‘justify’ 600 bucks when it comes with all the features it has. Its trully the next generation in the gaming indusry, and I really look forward to getting one and playing the games that the other systems lack, such as the final fantasy series as well as the on going metal gear series. And furthermore, when we start with statistics, for every one Xbox sold, 12 PS2’s were sold. I dont know. I just know for a system that realies so heavilly on it halo series, and that only does well in the US, Xbox might have a harder time this round. Other than Halo, what other Xbox title was a must have? Maybe Brothers in Arms, but I cant think of anything else.
*snort* Vaporware is software that is announced and never delivered. Like Duke Nuke’m Forever. Try another analogy.
Vi, last week you said it would never be $600. The “known” feature list has *shrunk* and the price is confirmed to be $600, is suddenly justified?
I’ve agreed many times over: Wii gets the kids market and they seem to be happy with that.
As to the rest, point me to where I say PS3 will fail OR that the 360 will win? What I’ve said, and what I’ll continue to say, is that the 360 only had to promote software this go around. They got to talk about Games, be it on DVD, PC, or via Live. They didn’t have to talk about their hardware because their hardware is in the wild. Further I don’t care about the numbers Sony’s box can do until I see WHAT it can do. For decades people would compare processor speeds, never taking into account what the box DOES… and that remains to be seen.
Anyway, being able to focus on games puts Team Xbox in a better position than Sony and Nintendo right now. They have hardware – the others don’t. They have the Live network – the others don’t. They can talk about it all they want but *we* don’t know WHAT will ship because it hasn’t shipped yet. The best thing they have going for them is they can talk about promise without having physical results right now.
That’s what you’re saying, though, right? Games sell consoles? That plays into my original point: 160 games – excluding Live – versus whatever Sony and Nintendo can put up at launch time. The odds are in Microsoft’s favor, based off that statistic – that’s the original point to the post. And yeah, if there’s a killer game on the PS3, I’ll get one. I own a PSP because I like it better than DS. I got no discount for a 360: I got one because of the games.
The rest of all of this is purely speculation. Unless there’s a Sony R&D department in FL that I don’t know about :)
Dude, Vaporware refers to hardware or software. Not only that is never released (like WinFS), or becomes abandoned and all support is cut (like the Saturn). I admit it’s all speculation. Like saying that Sony doesn’t have an Online network or hardware in production as we speak.
Regardless, there is something we all can agree on. If any of us get’s a Wii. With Nintendo rereleasing Duckhunt, and a lightgun. We will still try to shoot the dog in vain.
No, it doesn’t. Vaporware is software [or hardware] that is announced and/or planned for and then never, EVER sees the light of day. Software or hardware that is abandoned does not spontaneously transmutate into vapor, unless it walks out the door and finds that the world has passed it by (again, Duke Nuke’m Forever). Abandonware? Sure. Deadware? Sure. But a product dying after release isn’t Vaporware – that would make Windows 3.1 vaporware and God knows that’s still running on machines out there.
Don’t take my word for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
And yeah, agreed on the dog. I kinda like the fact that they are simply taking the motion stick and putting a gun around it. Again, that kinda realism will carry a price at some point, but nice reuse of parts.
I remember playing Duck hunt when I was about 4 years old. That dog would anger me to points I never knew I had. Thats probably around the same time I started to yell the word “fuck”. You were about 16 about that time so I’m sure you had that down pretty well by then.
The biggest trick to learn was how to spike the gun without destroying it AND without chucking it at the TV.
Saying fuck was mastered by 8 or 9. I mean, for the New York area, it’s a requirement early on. *whistles*
I’d have to say that E3 was pretty spiffy. I found it really hard to keep up with all the stuff happening, as my blog states. The only thing I’d really like now though is to have a go with the Wii controller. Either I’ll take to it immediately, or because I’m a more ‘traditional’ player – want to throw it away. I do quite like the look of plenty of the 360 games – and I love how the motion sensing for the PS3 was a ‘late announcement’. A Wii ripoff anyone? :)