Your pick for the Next Generation of gaming?

[WhirlwindMonk]

I know... and unfortunately, I also know that I'll be laughing so hard I cry when I hear the news. The only time I use my xbox online is when I buy a new game and have to "install updates" before I can play it. Of course, I keep my 360 confused. I leave an ethernet cord plugged into the back of it, but not connected to my modem. The 360 -thinks- it's online.

That's kind of sad. What kind of shoddy programming determines of something is online by whether there's a cable plugged into it? Man, Microsoft, you're really outdoing yourself. The fact that they actually are is the sad part...

 

[CayiroRedemption]

That's kind of sad. What kind of shoddy programming determines of something is online by whether there's a cable plugged into it? Man, Microsoft, you're really outdoing yourself. The fact that they actually are is the sad part...

I know that feeling. But yeah, my 360 is totally confused and thinks its online. It logs me in when I turn it on and everything. To be quite frank, the reason I don't keep it plugged into the modem is simple: I use it as a DVD player, and microsoft has no business knowing what movies I watch.

Although I do feel the need to express one concern here: The first thing that happened when I turned my 360 on for the first time at about 1 am on November 22, 2005, the very day it came out, I had to plug it in so it could update. And there's no way to connect it other than ethernet cord. I think it's unfair that someone who doesn't have high-speed, ethernet capable internet will be forced to get it in order to use the system they just dropped $400 for.

 

[CayiroRedemption]

I haven't meant to turn this into a 360 bashing thread... I just realized it probably seems like that. I just feel that there are certain... issues... (like the power strips catching on fire) that microsoft should have worked out before rushing their system out a year ahead of sony's and nintendo's.

 

[SteelDisciple]

I must agree with you. I mean, think about this.... if you're online with your computer and you get a virus, you have to use a virus program. What's going to happen when someone figures out how to program a virus for the 360? I don't know about you, but a trojan horse eating my save files is not my idea of a good time.

No see. that's a goood thing! (for microsoft) because when you're 360 finally gets a virus...oh look! Microsoft has just released a "feature" you can *BUY* that will help clean your system of the virus. EVERYONE (except the user) wins!

 

[ravendta]

I have hopes that this trend toward a PC/console that Microsoft and Sony are trying to cram down our throats will eventually just turn their hardware into low-end PCs (which they already are, they just need to be marketed that way rather than as game consoles). That way, their units will be in the computer market rather than the game market, and the game maker left standing will be Nintendo. Then they'll come out with this thing called the "game console" and maybe a little company with a blue hedgehog for a mascot will come out with their own, and the gaming industry will pick up the story where the SNES/Genesis war left off.

Someone noted that the trend of games is heading toward free-roaming. Now, I won't argue that there's a market for those style of games (WoW, anyone?) but traditional RPGs still have a huge audience. Great storylines can make games into interactive movies and really suck you into the fantasy. Without storylines, you're left with nothing but games consisting of objectives such as "Please kill 312 spiders to collect 7 spider legs and I'll give you experience points so you can level up and do it again for someone else." Hmmm... Where have I seen that before?

It's funny, for all the consoles that come out, they never really satisfy our needs from the previous generation. Final Fantasy still only allows 3 people to your party. Wrestling games still only allow 4-6 people in the ring (that is NOT a Royal Rumble). Every upgrade is about graphics these days - and gameplay remains largely unaltered and uninteresting.

'Cept in Nintendo's territory, which is why the Wii is on my Christmas list this year!

 

[RavenPoe]

You know once upon a time I played games on my computer - and surfed the web on the computer - and watched DVDs on my computer - I even listen to music on my computer....

When Apple came out with their G4 imac about 4 years ago, they were trying to make it the one stop for everything electronic in your house. Unfortunately it hasn't been all that successful - but perhaps that's where the new consoles are trying to succeed. Don't forget you can upload all your favorite tunes to the hard drive.

 

[Dannager]

I know that feeling. But yeah, my 360 is totally confused and thinks its online. It logs me in when I turn it on and everything.

Your 360 doesn't think it's online. Logging you in simply ties any acheivements you get over the course of playtime to your individual account. If you unplug the ethernet cord you'll still be logged in every time you start up the system. Logging into the 360 is more akin to logging into Windows XP than logging into AOL or the like.

But, y'know, bashing the 360 based on faulty information is fine too, guys.

 

[CayiroRedemption]

But, y'know, bashing the 360 based on faulty information is fine too, guys.

I haven't meant to turn this into a 360 bashing thread... I just realized it probably seems like that. I just feel that there are certain... issues... (like the power strips catching on fire) that microsoft should have worked out before rushing their system out a year ahead of sony's and nintendo's.

Actually, I thought I had already made amends for my comments on the 360 with this post of mine from earlier.... Half the time when I do plug my 360 into the modem it says it isn't online, and half the time when it isn't plugged in it says it is. *shrugs* I know my 360 is weird, it's always been weird. Then again, it's a launch version of the system. I wasn't saying that ALL 360s act this way, nor did I anywhere state that. My point was about -my- 360. Sorry if a misunderstanding caused hatred or annoyance in any way.

 

[willard3]

Yeah, for a bit I thought you were just complaining about it "logging you in" as in to your account. But then you clarified it by saying "online" and not just logging in. I personally didn't see it as bashing the 360; I just thought you were a technologically-challenged nub.

No offense meant or taken.

 

[CayiroRedemption]

Yeah, for a bit I thought you were just complaining about it "logging you in" as in to your account. But then you clarified it by saying "online" and not just logging in. I personally didn't see it as bashing the 360; I just thought you were a technologically-challenged nub.

No offense meant or taken.

None taken, hun. I won't prefess to be an expert on technology, nor can I do fancy things like program games or install mod chips, but I've been elbow-deep in the guts of my computer installing new hard drives and cd-burners, I've run all of my own wiring in the house for a surround sound system, and I've figured out a way to hook all of my systems up to one long string of rf adaptors and still have a clear picture on the tv. (lightning strike took out the rca adaptors only on my tv, so I'm stuck using rf) I know the 360's supposed to log me in, but it will flat out tell me it's online when I'm staring at the disconnected end of an ethernet cable laying in the floor. That's what I was complaining about, and again, let me state, I'm fairly certain that this is something only my poor, confused 360 does. I guess I should have specified sooner, eh?

 

[Dannager]

I know the 360's supposed to log me in, but it will flat out tell me it's online when I'm staring at the disconnected end of an ethernet cable laying in the floor. That's what I was complaining about, and again, let me state, I'm fairly certain that this is something only my poor, confused 360 does. I guess I should have specified sooner, eh?

Oh, sorry, the words "logged in" caught me there, because that's what the 360 does for user accounts independent of online functionality. That is a pretty weird bug you have there, then.

 

[* General-E *]

Ok back to the consoled wars thing...
Ok I will agree with the guy who one page ago said That consoled will one day just be low grade pc's but dont think that that is what will make nintendo sucessful. for one thing these so call "new innovations" in gaming dont really bring in a wider audience no matter how much nintendo treis to pretend that they do. you know why? because they are harder to figure out thatn the old stuff nintendo says this will be easy but from the reports Ive heard the controls are often way to touchy this coupled with the third drought that nintendo is in because they insist on calling themselves and family game company and never letting an m game slide spell disaster for the wii sure it will be good at first a lot of fun first party games theat are intuitive and good to gamer but after a while 3rd parties will loss intrest and nintendo will work its self to crap trying to keep up with the demand for new games soon youll see stuff like Zelda Hockey and other stupid gimmicks Ohh and dont say that nintendo is gonna let companies develope M games this time cause all Ive seen is Red Steel and I think that is just to sucker some people into buying the system. Ps3 and X 360 are just low grade computers so my prediction takes us farther back the the Nintendo-sega wars to a time when video games were all on PC. yep Im thinking that there will be 2 kinds of PC office PCs and Gaming PCs the end of the consoled is near!

 

[willard3]

Ok back to the consoled wars thing...
Ok I will agree with the guy who one page ago said That consoled will one day just be low grade pc's but dont think that that is what will make nintendo sucessful. for one thing these so call "new innovations" in gaming dont really bring in a wider audience no matter how much nintendo treis to pretend that they do. you know why? because they are harder to figure out thatn the old stuff nintendo says this will be easy but from the reports Ive heard the controls are often way to touchy this coupled with the third drought that nintendo is in because they insist on calling themselves and family game company and never letting an m game slide spell disaster for the wii sure it will be good at first a lot of fun first party games theat are intuitive and good to gamer but after a while 3rd parties will loss intrest and nintendo will work its self to crap trying to keep up with the demand for new games soon youll see stuff like Zelda Hockey and other stupid gimmicks Ohh and dont say that nintendo is gonna let companies develope M games this time cause all Ive seen is Red Steel and I think that is just to sucker some people into buying the system. Ps3 and X 360 are just low grade computers so my prediction takes us farther back the the Nintendo-sega wars to a time when video games were all on PC. yep Im thinking that there will be 2 kinds of PC office PCs and Gaming PCs the end of the consoled is near!

Good post, but I have a couple of comments.

Two words: Paragraph breaks.

People will still buy consoles anyway, because there are just too many console-only games out there.

 

[Dannager]

Ohh and dont say that nintendo is gonna let companies develope M games this time

This time? Did you miss Resident Evil 4? The 'M'-rated game that sold over 3,000,000 copies (the majority of which were on the Gamecube), received perfect reviews, and which was originally released on the 'cube? Or what about Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem? Or the other two Resident Evil games? Or Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes? And those are just the heavy-hitters. To say that Nintendo didn't let developers put out 'M'-rated games is hardly true.

 

[CayiroRedemption]

So, question time!

The Playstation 3 is available for pre-order today. Does anyone plan to pre-order it? I hear it's going to be $100 for the pre-order, and there's no garuntee that you'll actually get a system, because Sony doesn't know how many they will have come release date.

 

[SteelDisciple]

So, considering the Wii has more backing from 3rd party developers than any other system...we are going to be getting plenty of M rated games...

I heard Project Hammer might be one of them.
We'll also be seeing another Resident Evil on it I believe.

 

[SteelDisciple]

Ok back to the consoled wars thing...
Ok I will agree with the guy who one page ago said That consoled will one day just be low grade pc's but dont think that that is what will make nintendo sucessful. for one thing these so call "new innovations" in gaming dont really bring in a wider audience no matter how much nintendo treis to pretend that they do. you know why? because they are harder to figure out thatn the old stuff nintendo says this will be easy but from the reports Ive heard the controls are often way to touchy this coupled with the third drought that nintendo is in because they insist on calling themselves and family game company and never letting an m game slide spell disaster for the wii sure it will be good at first a lot of fun first party games theat are intuitive and good to gamer but after a while 3rd parties will loss intrest and nintendo will work its self to crap trying to keep up with the demand for new games soon youll see stuff like Zelda Hockey and other stupid gimmicks Ohh and dont say that nintendo is gonna let companies develope M games this time cause all Ive seen is Red Steel and I think that is just to sucker some people into buying the system. Ps3 and X 360 are just low grade computers so my prediction takes us farther back the the Nintendo-sega wars to a time when video games were all on PC. yep Im thinking that there will be 2 kinds of PC office PCs and Gaming PCs the end of the consoled is near!

My cousin works at nintendo and has been playing the Wii for a while now. She says the controls are very fluid and respond perfectly. Very easy to get down and just a blast to play.

Also...The Wii has the biggest backing from 3rd party developers with a few M rated games already on the slate.

 

[joeman1]

So, question time!

The Playstation 3 is available for pre-order today. Does anyone plan to pre-order it? I hear it's going to be $100 for the pre-order, and there's no garuntee that you'll actually get a system, because Sony doesn't know how many they will have come release date.

from what I have been hearing it may not be the best thing to get one of the first anyway. I don't have enough money to waste on that one either. Also I hear that they are having heat issues because of the cell processor

 

[RavenPoe]

I've been told NEVER to buy the first ones out. Usually buggy.

I've been fortunate in my computer - I ignored that advice and it still worked out (but the G4 iMacs were so CUTE when they came out).

 

[* General-E *]

This time? Did you miss Resident Evil 4? The 'M'-rated game that sold over 3,000,000 copies (the majority of which were on the Gamecube), received perfect reviews, and which was originally released on the 'cube? Or what about Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem? Or the other two Resident Evil games? Or Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes? And those are just the heavy-hitters. To say that Nintendo didn't let developers put out 'M'-rated games is hardly true.

Well if we-re looking back a G-cube Nintendo promised us plenty of third party games and games for adults on that G-cube but where are they now? you only think of like 6 or 7 M games on the console and some of those are ports. its true that nintendo has some really good first party games but I think the will wind up on the wayside like sega and become a game developement house rather than a console manufacturer.