Nintendo Wii

[Merk]

Blasphemous fiend! :lol:

SitD has good graphics (for Genesis at that time period), with the familiar art style of the "Shining" series up to that point. It has some catchy "marching"-style music, challenging and good sized labyrinths, old turn-based combat gameplay, and the dungeons scroll pretty nicely. The animation on the enemies isn't extensive, and after a while, some of the random battles can get on your nerves when you're hit with a high frequency of them (though it never gets as bad as Sword of Vermillion). It's a well rounded game, and a fine entry in the long running "Shining" series.

I find it funny you commented what I said about Shining in the Darkness and not what I've said about one of the 8billion shmups that has come out for the VC

[captaineegee]

I'm new to the Wii world and am loving it very much. Paper Mario amuses me and is quite fun. I was surfing around the shopping channel last week and could have sworn I saw super metroid. When I looked today, it appears as though I was wrong. Is there anyplace I can go to look at up upcoming virtual console titles?

[The Coop]

I find it funny you commented what I said about Shining in the Darkness and not what I've said about one of the 8billion shmups that has come out for the VC

My shmup lists on pages 116 and 117 say all I need to say about that ;-)

[nookster]

Okay, something's bothering me since the cube days. Maybe the european guys can help me.

Why do all the european cube and wii titles have little colored triangles on the side of their dvdcases?
I've been trying to find some kind of system in it for years know.
Is it genre specific? Res4 and Ssbm both have a blue triangle, so I don't think so.
Is it age related? see example above.
Do they stand for the developers? No they don't.

It's been a mystery. And I fear the answer will be something so basic that i kind believe i missed it for all these years.

Somebody?

[Azul v2]

Do you have to have gamecube controllers to play gamecube games, or can you use the classic controller?

[SilverStar]

Do you have to have gamecube controllers to play gamecube games, or can you use the classic controller?

You need a gamecube controller and memory card, to play and save GC games. It shuts down all Wii-related hardware and runs strictly in Gamecube mode.

[KakTheInfected]

So...does the new video mean Mother Brain is in Prime 3, or another "Aurora" is in it?

[SilverStar]

So...does the new video mean Mother Brain is in Prime 3, or another "Aurora" is in it?

Given the blueprint layout at the end.. That was the Mother Brain chamber.

But, keep in mind, Prime is after the original/Zero Mission, which means Samus has already taken on an Aurora unit as Mother Brain. And since all the units are linked..

oshit.

[AarowSwift]

I'm new to the Wii world and am loving it very much. Paper Mario amuses me and is quite fun. I was surfing around the shopping channel last week and could have sworn I saw super metroid. When I looked today, it appears as though I was wrong. Is there anyplace I can go to look at up upcoming virtual console titles?

The original Metroid is now on VC and Super Metroid is coming next week I think...if not it's still coming very soon. Here's a great VC site for reviews and news:

http://www.vc-reviews.com/

[KakTheInfected]

Given the blueprint layout at the end.. That was the Mother Brain chamber.

But, keep in mind, Prime is after the original/Zero Mission, which means Samus has already taken on an Aurora unit as Mother Brain. And since all the units are linked..

oshit.

But that particular chamber is on Zebes. Unless all Auroras are kept in similar rooms that means...

oshit.

[Antipode]

Given the blueprint layout at the end.. That was the Mother Brain chamber.

But, keep in mind, Prime is after the original/Zero Mission, which means Samus has already taken on an Aurora unit as Mother Brain. And since all the units are linked..

oshit.

But what I don't get is that in that part of the video it said something like "blueprint for future aurora" or something to that effect. If all the Prime games FOLLOW the first Metroid, how could the Mother Brain not be built yet?

Also, I think I'm going to stop looking at the preview vids in the channel. I don't want anything spoiled for me.

[KakTheInfected]

The narrator says the Aurora was announced 20-30 years ago or some shit at the time of Prime 3, which would take place well before the first Metroid game. The blueprints are probably from that time.

[Imagist]

That spider ball video made it look amazingly quick to charge a boost and pop from one track over to the next. Also, speedy bomb jump lol?

[Effector]

I think I wet myself a little watching the Aurora vid. I wanted a Mother Brain fight since the Parasite Queen fight at the start of Prime 1. Multiple MBs? Mmm. Tasty.

Also, nice surprise to find out that there are two more vids coming down the pipe soon. Looks like they're releasing one gameplay video and one storyline video in each batch.

I like the way Nintendo is treating their big name games - Smash Bros. Dojo with frequent updates, MP3 with this preview channel... The frequent updates is a nice change from Nintendo keeping us in the dark up until launch day.

[Antipode]

Imagery: Oh right, I get it now.

Anyway, just a couple thoughts...

Am I the only one who's going to really miss that style of music that was in the first two primes (stuff like the Chozo Ruins theme, etc)? They said on IGN that Prime 3 is going to have more like a sci-fi action film score, and we've definitely heard by this point that they're right. Personally, the music in the first Prime especially was really important to me, so I hope they still have a bit of that flair.

Which leads me to something else entirely - I'm starting to get just a bit nervous that they're really going to screw this up. It might be fun as a shooter but if it doesn't have that feel of exploration that Prime and Prime 2 had, along with the whole "solve puzzles to find new items that let you open all that stuff you saw earlier" mechanic, I'll be sorely disappointed. More to the point, I really just hope they're not trying to turn Prime 3 into a Halo clone/competitor. I wasn't worried at all about this until I started seeing those new preview videos, which seem to be portraying it as this badass run and gun FPS with a cool plot. I was happy to see that spider ball footage, which indicates there still might be some puzzle-solving to be had after all. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this quote from IGN:
Prime 3's E3 2007 showing was heavy on gunning and light on the franchise's traditional re-traversal puzzle-solving nature, and for the first time we've been forced to concede that Corruption is, technically, also a shooter....Of course, that doesn't mean that the game won't ultimately fall in the adventure genre - actually, we suspect it will. Retro has promised even more exploration and puzzles for fans.
Annoying that they just don't say one way or the other.

Anyone else thinking about all this stuff?

[Bigfoot]

Buffering...buffering....buffering....c'mon dammit. :\

Also, if they wanted to make it a "Halo competitor", then it would have multiplayer. I don't know why you're worried though. Retro Studies wouldn't just go and do that to a Metroid game after all they've done with Prime 1 and 2.

[Pallad]

My shmup lists on pages 116 and 117 say all I need to say about that ;-)

Hate to bother ya, Coop, but I can't seem to find that list. Any VC shmups you could recommend if you don't mind?

[Imagist]

if it doesn't have that feel of exploration that Prime and Prime 2 had, along with the whole "solve puzzles to find new items that let you open all that stuff you saw earlier" mechanic, I'll be sorely disappointed.

I seem to remember reading some interview with Retro or some Nintendo higher-up saying that Prime 3 was not going to be light on Metroid's trademark backtracking. Can't for the life of me remember where exactly, though.

[AarowSwift]

I really wouldn't get too worried about them switching Metroid's focus to a first person shooter at the expense of the exploration elements that the series is known for. It makes sense that the demos and previews would focus on the combat element since Nintendo is trying to prove the Wii's FPS capabilities. Metroid is obviously Nintendo's big shooter franchise. It doesn't matter if the Prime series has an adventure focus, it's still the in house proving ground.

I figure Corruption will have a more intense action element than the first two Prime games did, but I don't expect it to become Doom or even closely related.

In short, the ads may have a shooter focus, but that doesn't mean they represent the focus of the game as a whole.

[The Coop]

Hate to bother ya, Coop, but I can't seem to find that list. Any VC shmups you could recommend if you don't mind?

They're here (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showpost.php?p=300170&postcount=2280) and here (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showpost.php?p=301667&postcount=2328). The first was on 114. I got confused by Bahamut quoting me on 116 :lol:

But of the one's that are currently on the VC, I'd recommend...

SNES R-Type III: The Third Lightning (superb horizontal SNES-only shmup)
SNES Gradius III (not quite arcade perfect, but a very good port of the arcade horizontal shmup)
Genesis Bio-Hazard Battle (a wild and good shmup, with an insect theme running through the enitre game, and fantastic animation)
TG-16 R-Type (a near perfect port of the classic arcade horizontal shmup)
NES Gradius (pretty good port of the horizontal original)
NES Galaga (a single screen shmup, and quite faithful to the original)
NES Xevious (a simple vertical shmup, but an arcade classic that was ported the NES pretty well)
N64 Star Fox 64 (a very nice 3D shmup that plays much like the SNES original, with some extra types of gameplay to break up the "on rails" missions)


I've also heard very good things about vertical shmup Blazing Lasers for the TG-16, but I've never gotten to play it. Plus, I've played the original arcade version of the horizontal shmup Ordyne, and it wasn't too bad... but I've not played the TG-16 port.

[dsx100]

You make it sound like you won't be beating it in one sitting :-P. j/k

Anyway, at least unless someone else plays the game between you playing it (or you reset the game), you get that pseudo-save state effect on the VC so you won't have to enter codes every time you pick up the game.

Man, I completely forgot about the save state. No more worries here.

Unfortunately I can't watch those new metroid videos because my wifi connection is down. From the sounds of it, they seem very interesting. Damn, I hate being with out wifi.

[Bigfoot]

Man, I completely forgot about the save state. No more worries here.

Unfortunately I can't watch those new metroid videos because my wifi connection is down. From the sounds of it, they seem very interesting. Damn, I hate being with out wifi.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23492.html

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23490.html

[SilverStar]

What I'm worried about for Corruption is just.. how much exploration will there -really- be? Will each planet you visit be little more than a single region in each game, but called a planet to make people think it's bigger.. or will they actually be fairly fleshed out, at least half the size of the area of Metroid Prim 1?

With Samus starting out fully powered up, I'm worried there won't be a whole lot of actual exploration and revisiting, since you won't have to go back later, to hunt for all the missiles and whatnot.

Unless they pull something cheesy and cause her to overload sometime after the first area, so you lose all your missiles and energy tanks and have to go back to reclaim them. Again.

Better that, than having to start fresh with no upgrades at all, I suppose..

[Azul v2]

Can anyone else connect to the Wii Shop channel?

E: nevermind, I have been trying for two hours and now it suddenly shows up.

[SilverStar]

Uh. There's already another system update.

And oddly enough, it sounds like a solution to Azul's problem. o.o

[Pallad]

They're here (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showpost.php?p=300170&postcount=2280) and here (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showpost.php?p=301667&postcount=2328). The first was on 114. I got confused by Bahamut quoting me on 116 :lol:

But of the one's that are currently on the VC, I'd recommend...

SNES R-Type III: The Third Lightning (superb horizontal SNES-only shmup)
SNES Gradius III (not quite arcade perfect, but a very good port of the arcade horizontal shmup)
Genesis Bio-Hazard Battle (a wild and good shmup, with an insect theme running through the enitre game, and fantastic animation)
TG-16 R-Type (a near perfect port of the classic arcade horizontal shmup)
NES Gradius (pretty good port of the horizontal original)
NES Galaga (a single screen shmup, and quite faithful to the original)
NES Xevious (a simple vertical shmup, but an arcade classic that was ported the NES pretty well)
N64 Star Fox 64 (a very nice 3D shmup that plays much like the SNES original, with some extra types of gameplay to break up the "on rails" missions)


I've also heard very good things about vertical shmup Blazing Lasers for the TG-16, but I've never gotten to play it. Plus, I've played the original arcade version of the horizontal shmup Ordyne, and it wasn't too bad... but I've not played the TG-16 port.

Thanks, Coop! I picked up Gradius 3 and Blazing Lazers. To be honest, I would recommend Blazing Lazers to you. It's pretty easy, but I had a good time taking a run through it.

EDIT: Any idea what the system update does?

[Arek the Absolute]

Nintendo just proved how bad ass they are. Wow, they totally just impressed me.
Before downloading the download button, a message appears saying that basically said "This update is optional. If you have any sort of modifications that you did to your wii, it would be best if you didn't download this because it would more than likely cause your wii not to work. So you modders, just a heads up."

Classy, very classy.

[SilverStar]

Thanks, Coop! I picked up Gradius 3 and Blazing Lazers. To be honest, I would recommend Blazing Lazers to you. It's pretty easy, but I had a good time taking a run through it.

EDIT: Any idea what the system update does?

Says it fixes up some bugs in the shop channel and some freezing errors with the internet. What they mean by that part, is that they plugged the potential FLV hole, which makes me think someone internally came up with a way to unlock the Wii through it.

[supremespleen]

I wouldn't mind if Metroid lost the exploring and backtracking aspect. I will be the first to come out and say it, that shit gets boring. I'd like to see Samus bust out with all guns blazing and kick Halo's ass.

[!Nekko!]

So wasn't the internet channel supposed to be disabled after a certain point? I just plugged my Wii in after working for the summer and it's still there. Or is it the "full" version that I have to buy.

[Imagist]

So wasn't the internet channel supposed to be disabled after a certain point? I just plugged my Wii in after working for the summer and it's still there. Or is it the "full" version that I have to buy.

If you downloaded it before the end of June, the Internet Channel is free as can be. You only have to pay if you didn't download it before then, and no, the trial version doesn't expire.

[megadave]

What I'm worried about for Corruption is just.. how much exploration will there -really- be? Will each planet you visit be little more than a single region in each game, but called a planet to make people think it's bigger.. or will they actually be fairly fleshed out, at least half the size of the area of Metroid Prim 1?

With Samus starting out fully powered up, I'm worried there won't be a whole lot of actual exploration and revisiting, since you won't have to go back later, to hunt for all the missiles and whatnot.

Unless they pull something cheesy and cause her to overload sometime after the first area, so you lose all your missiles and energy tanks and have to go back to reclaim them. Again.

Better that, than having to start fresh with no upgrades at all, I suppose..

You won't start out fully powered up. You'll start out with basic items like charge shot, morph ball, missiles, one or two energy tanks. You'll get to keep those after the first stage, and build your power up as the game progresses.

And this game will be bigger than the previous two games. Anyway, after watching the videos last night, I'm thinking the Mother Brain is coming into town. Ohhhh yeaaaah.

[AarowSwift]

I wouldn't mind if Metroid lost the exploring and backtracking aspect. I will be the first to come out and say it, that shit gets boring. I'd like to see Samus bust out with all guns blazing and kick Halo's ass.


Then apparently you don't want to play Metroid. Just because the series moved into a first person perspective doesn't mean it should become a different experience. If Metroid stopped being Metroid and became another FPS, I wouldn't play it. I don't happen to like FPS games much. I might rent one in a blue moon, but I own none. Samus doesn't need to become genero marine # 456 just because a handful of people out there feel "threatened" by Halo. Halo isn't even on my radar.

[The Mutericator]

Then apparently you don't want to play Metroid. Just because the series moved into a first person perspective doesn't mean it should become a different experience. If Metroid stopped being Metroid and became another FPS, I wouldn't play it. I don't happen to like FPS games much. I might rent one in a blue moon, but I own none. Samus doesn't need to become genero marine # 456 just because a handful of people out there feel "threatened" by Halo. Halo isn't even on my radar.

Ditto. That's why I don't like Hunters at all - it's just another FPS with a Metroid skin on it.

[dsx100]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23492.html

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23490.html

Thanks man. The Auroa video was very interesting.

By the way, I am completely agianst Metroid becoming more of a First Person Shooter than a First Person Adventure. I really like all the exploring and back tracking parts of the mertoid games. I guess thats why I love the series so much. To me, these elements are what make Metroid. However, I'm not worried about prime straying away from this at all. Like others have said already, if they wanted this to be a Halo-Killer they would have added on-line play or at least split-screen multiplayer. You just can't have a FPS these days without multiplayer. Also the fact that retro is focusing on single player just screams at me, "Classic Metroid!". That spiderball video also looks to me like they won't be lacking in the platforming and puzzle department.

Just to clarify, I don't hate MP hunters. It was a great game. I happen to like FPSs but because MPH played more like a FPS, it didn't feel like a Metroid Game to me. I would be very dissapointed if Prime 3 did turn out to be more of a FPS but I wouldn't not play the game. I won't enjoy it as much but I won't absouletely hate it either.

[Imagist]

Just to clarify: I would have no problem with bosses in this game becoming very fast-paced, intense firefights. After all, I see no reason why brushing with death should be more of a puzzle than a heart-pounding race to kill and survive. It's just that Samus and her "blazing guns" should restrain themselves until such moments, because really when you're a lone figure exploring an alien world that contains God-knows-what you want to be more cautious when you can and get a grip on exactly what's out there without being tracked through a trail of explosions and corpses.

Yes to intense fights but only after yes to methodical exploration.

[megadave]

I want an intense pillow fight with Samus.

[AarowSwift]

Just to clarify: I would have no problem with bosses in this game becoming very fast-paced, intense firefights. After all, I see no reason why brushing with death should be more of a puzzle than a heart-pounding race to kill and survive. It's just that Samus and her "blazing guns" should restrain themselves until such moments, because really when you're a lone figure exploring an alien world that contains God-knows-what you want to be more cautious when you can and get a grip on exactly what's out there without being tracked through a trail of explosions and corpses.

Yes to intense fights but only after yes to methodical exploration.

Which is perfectly in line with the Metroid experience. Look at Super Metroid or any of the others; intense guns blazing action exists with bosses and regular but tough enemies. How do you kill 2-D Ridley? You spam it with missiles. The difference between the 2-D games and regular run-and-guns like Contra is this: Shooting the enemy is just part of the larger experience, not the defining element of it. The same relationship exists between 3-D Metroid and FPS games.

[Penfold]

What with all the talk about Prime 3, along with the Prime 3 Preview Channel update, I'm getting more anxious for it to come out. Also, can't wait for Super Metroid!

Offtopic, I wonder if the MP3 Preview Channel will become something of a more general Preview Channel after the game's release. Seems to me they could have weekly updates for it, like they do for the Shop Channel, and have content available for at least a select few upcoming 1st and 3rd party games. I'd imagine they'd take down the content for a specific game soon after its release and whatnot. [/spectulation]

[Red Shadow]

Man, holy shit. That aurora video is perfect explanation for mother brain, and the fact that it keeps returning.

I can't wait to see what they make a fight with it like.

[Penfold]

Man, holy shit. That aurora video is perfect explanation for mother brain, and the fact that it keeps returning.

That was pretty much my reaction to that vid as well :-P.

[The Unsung Plumber]

I liked how they did the blueprint-looking picture of the last part of Tourian at the end.

[megadave]

So I guess we will be visiting Zebes again?

[Effef]

New sig in celebration of Prime 3

I want this game so bad

[Antipode]

Just to clarify, I don't hate MP hunters. It was a great game. I happen to like FPSs but because MPH played more like a FPS, it didn't feel like a Metroid Game to me. I would be very dissapointed if Prime 3 did turn out to be more of a FPS but I wouldn't not play the game. I won't enjoy it as much but I won't absouletely hate it either.

Just to sort of jump off this - if you want more of what Hunters had to offer, look at Call of Duty DS, which apparently has an identical control scheme but is far more complex and intricate. I'm hoping that for people that want more of what METROID has to offer, Prime 3 is going to satisfy. I just can't see how having multiple worlds and all that could really work easily though without making it pretty linear - part of what I really liked about the older games was the fact that at any time you could uncover an elevator that leads to a previously inaccessible area in another portion. Getting rid of that mechanic would make it seem like "levels" with "missions", turning it into far more of a shooter, no matter how much exploration is in the game. Yeah, I know I'm bitching too much. I'm still going to get it on launch day and play the hell out of it.

[dsx100]

Call of Duty DS does look interesting and I plan on trying out. I never really cared much for the Call of Duty series since they where military based shooters but for some reason Call of Duty 4 caught my attention. The DS verion is based off 4, so I do plan on giving it a try as soon as it is avialable.

Also, I know this is wishful thinking but, I hoping after the release of Prime3 or included in the release of Prime3 that Nintendo gives out some info on a new Metroid, maybe Metroid Dread. Kind of like what they did with MP and Fusion and MP2 and Hunters. They included this littel booklet of info on the games in the packaging. I know wishful thinking, but from what I remeber Dread was never completely confirmed as being cancelled. Who knows, maybe its still out there somewhere.

[BardicKnowledge]

I'd really like to see them make a new game that is one of two things: a chronological sequel (to wrap up the Federation evil in Fusion), or a new portable game. Or hey, how about both of those things at the same time? :P

[Cecilff2]

Just to sort of jump off this - if you want more of what Hunters had to offer, look at Call of Duty DS, which apparently has an identical control scheme but is far more complex and intricate. I'm hoping that for people that want more of what METROID has to offer, Prime 3 is going to satisfy. I just can't see how having multiple worlds and all that could really work easily though without making it pretty linear - part of what I really liked about the older games was the fact that at any time you could uncover an elevator that leads to a previously inaccessible area in another portion. Getting rid of that mechanic would make it seem like "levels" with "missions", turning it into far more of a shooter, no matter how much exploration is in the game. Yeah, I know I'm bitching too much. I'm still going to get it on launch day and play the hell out of it.

Who says you can't visit the other worlds whenever? Samus does have a ship after all.

[SilverStar]

Who says you can't visit the other worlds whenever? Samus does have a ship after all.

I have a feeling you'll be flying around the same world at a few points, rather than simply taking elevators all over the place.

Here's hoping for a 60 hour Metroid game! :D

[AarowSwift]

I just can't see how having multiple worlds and all that could really work easily though without making it pretty linear - part of what I really liked about the older games was the fact that at any time you could uncover an elevator that leads to a previously inaccessible area in another portion. Getting rid of that mechanic would make it seem like "levels" with "missions", turning it into far more of a shooter, no matter how much exploration is in the game.

Well, it all depends on how the worlds are connected to each other. If the only way to travel is to jump in your ship and fly to a space port then yeah, there's a risk that things could end up too contained. But, and this is pure speculation, there could be other ways to travel, like "warp portals" that move you from a point on one planet to a point on another. Basically they would function in the same way as the traditional elevator, you just move to different worlds instead of different lands on one world. Or perhaps the ship mechanic could work the same way, with you flying to newly uncovered locations, though that would certainly lack the immediacy of opening a door to someplace unexpected.

[Imagist]

New MP3 videos. PED Suit was meh, although it definitely gives the impression that Federation troops will be prominent at least during some of the game. Air Assault was nice, giving a glimpse of what I can only assume is Corruption mode, but definitely doesn't do anything to assuage worries that the game's turning into Halo and fast.

[Effector]

Mmm, PED suit looks nice. I like that the marines get more development this time around. Also, wow. Using Phazon makes you really powerful.

[SilverStar]

The focus on the marines so far, as well as the other hunters, would almost suggest they intend to create a more.. open, online game, as a spinoff to the core Metroid franchise. Something were MP:Hunters would have been a prototype of the game, but more fleshed out for online play.

Maybe they plan on going after the Halo audience after all, when the Prime saga is complete?

[Yasuhiko]

Well, the big counter to that would be the serious lack of online play in MP3.


One other thing, is that a modified PED Samus is wearing in the little background clearing thingies? It certainly looks like the.. chestal section of one.

[AarowSwift]

Did no one else catch the hint at the end of the PED video that the Phazon is in fact affecting the marines and that their major role in the game could quite possible be as new mutated enemies and not as allies at all?

[SilverStar]

Did no one else catch the hint at the end of the PED video that the Phazon is in fact affecting the marines and that their major role in the game could quite possible be as new mutated enemies and not as allies at all?

It wasn't exactly subtle. I'm sure we'll see at least one super-powered marine go postal and have a big, important inner dialog with Samus about how it's still just a human being and it's not their fault.. before we crank up the PED and blast the shit out of the poor bastard.

[AarowSwift]

It wasn't exactly subtle.

No, it wasn't, which is why I'm shocked that I've seen little to no comment on it.

[Imagist]

The possibility just didn't seem all that interesting to me.

[Penfold]

The possibility just didn't seem all that interesting to me.

I agree. Especially compared to the Aurora vid, there wasn't all that much to get excited about IMO. I'm sure it'll be important in the game and all, but it left much to be desired.

[AarowSwift]

I agree. Especially compared to the Aurora vid, there wasn't all that much to get excited about IMO. I'm sure it'll be important in the game and all, but it left much to be desired.

I guess I feel exactly the opposite. Sure, bringing back Mother Brain in some form is cool, it revisits and updates beloved old ideas from the series roots, but I'm more interested in the story being told now, which since Prime 1, was the story of Phazon. Its evil effects were blatant in the first two games, now things look to be getting insidious and the possibilities excite me.

[Azul v2]

Has anyone tried Madden 08 yet? Or more importantly, the online system?

[KWarp]

I've heard Madden 08's online is better on DS than Wii. =\

I don't see why Prime 3's narrative is all that important. The original Metroid got away with almost no narrative at all. Videogames by their very nature don't even need a narrative (see: Tetris, SimCity, etc). I look forward to Prime 3 for a beautiful aesthetic to complement the environments I explore. I'm also excited to use the Wii controller. :3

[Bigfoot]

Super Metroid needs to come out :[ lol

[KakTheInfected]

The lag on Madden is so bad, I gave up playing it online because I was getting sacked nearly every passing play because I couldn't get the damn ball out of my hands. Apparently EA is fixing it...but I've gone back to playing Strikers instead. It's just more fun.

And I can't wait to play through Super Metroid with a classic controller. 1 day to go...

[nookster]

Too lazy to check if this is already mentioned but;
Good news for the people saying de Corruption cover is ugly, It made it into the "hey covers you suck" article on 1up.
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=3&cId=3162014

Along with a possible Smashbros joke :D
This is like something in one of those activity books you give to kids to keep them shut up on a long drive. "How many Samuses can you find in this picture?" I can spot three, but there might be another one hidden in the clouds. Are there three Samii on there because it's the third game in the series? If that's how they're going to do it then whenever they get back to the series proper it's going to look like the Sgt. Pepper's cover. It's possible that those other Samuseses's are her evil counterparts, of which she has been getting an awful lot lately. Problem is, I can't tell any of Samus's suits apart. Maybe if Retro starts putting goatees on the bad ones.

[dsx100]

Too lazy to check if this is already mentioned but;
Good news for the people saying de Corruption cover is ugly, It made it into the "hey covers you suck" article on 1up.
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=3&cId=3162014

Along with a possible Smashbros joke :D
This is like something in one of those activity books you give to kids to keep them shut up on a long drive. "How many Samuses can you find in this picture?" I can spot three, but there might be another one hidden in the clouds. Are there three Samii on there because it's the third game in the series? If that's how they're going to do it then whenever they get back to the series proper it's going to look like the Sgt. Pepper's cover. It's possible that those other Samuseses's are her evil counterparts, of which she has been getting an awful lot lately. Problem is, I can't tell any of Samus's suits apart. Maybe if Retro starts putting goatees on the bad ones.

I actually like Metroid Prime 3's cover. I don't see whats so bad about it, but guess having 3 Samus's on one cover is such a big no-no for video game box art.

[nookster]

As a designer, i can't see too many wrong things with it myself, even though it is a bit underwhelming and unoriginal/

The one things that does bug me though, is the extra dark samus head in the corner. Definitly a stylebreaker. If want to have floating dismembered things on there, make it the overal style for the cover. Don't take a finished cover where the protagonist and the antagonist are introduced in full form, with the background playing into that fact (samus has the bright earth as a backgrond, dark samus the dark) and slap an extra head on there. It even messes up the balance. We tend to "read" a picture from left to right and from bottom to top, and everything in the cover works to that line (the edge of the planet drawing your eye to samus' face in the middle) EXCEPT the damn floating head.

So, subjective opinions aside, yes, there is definitly something wrong with the cover (but it could be fixed by just removing the damn head)

[SilverStar]

Is it just me, or were the latest videos on the Prime preview channel originally dated for the 19th.. and they just bumped them up to the 20th?

[Necrotic]

Is it just me, or were the latest videos on the Prime preview channel originally dated for the 19th.. and they just bumped them up to the 20th?

I watched the last set of vids on the night of the 16th (was like 10PM), and they said the 20th. They might've changed it some time before that, but other than that it's probably just your imagination.

[JoeFu]

SUPER METROID TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!



Just reminding those who may have forgotten.

[The Damned]

There goes another ten bucks worth of points...

[JoeFu]

SM is only 800 points, but if Nintendo released at 2000 points, I would still buy it.

[Bigfoot]

Well, it'd be nice if you could buy the exact amount of 800 points, but he means you have to spend $10 to get that many points :P

[Red Shadow]

Still waiting for EarthBound D:<

[Valhalla Knight]

YES!!! I have it for my SNES, but the darn system just broke, plus one of the trigger buttons didn't work on my controller! This will be my first full play through, believe it or not! Yes I know, for shame. :(

[The Coop]

**hugs his SNES and Super Metroid cart**

[Imagist]

I watched the last set of vids on the night of the 16th (was like 10PM), and they said the 20th. They might've changed it some time before that, but other than that it's probably just your imagination.

I viewed those videos when they first went up on the evening of the 16th, and they said the 20th then. Nintendo's had a pretty steady cycle going since the channel first released, with weekly VC releases and semiweekly video releases, so I assume we'll have Super Metroid + vids tomorrow and at least one more video release due later next week (possibly a final one on the "official" game release date next Monday, seeing as how most street dates are Tuesday or Wednesday).

[Red Shadow]

Oh, I've found some neat news

http://starmen.net/forum/?t=msg&th=37241

[KakTheInfected]

They need to bring Mother 1 over as well since they already translated it back in the day. It'd be hard to blame the distribution costs as a reason not to with the VC.

[The Damned]

Oh, I've found some neat news

http://starmen.net/forum/?t=msg&th=37241

OK, another ten bucks worth of points.

That's a interesting way of handling the matter. If Nintendo is willing to use VC downloads as a means to determine fan interest in obscure games, then this may open up all kinds of other games to the markets outside of Japan.

[Red Shadow]

They need to bring Mother 1 over as well since they already translated it back in the day. It'd be hard to blame the distribution costs as a reason not to with the VC.
I have a feeling that if mother 3 DOES get released, it will be on a sort of compilation cart for the DS with all three games.

[SilverStar]

You know, a friend of mine earlier said there was nothing coming out for Wii that looks like it'd be worth playing, except for the titles from Nintendo.

I went over to IGN, looked at the Wii release dates and listed off a small army of games that are worth playing, if not all quite worth owning. Here's the list I came up with, just by the end of this year.

MP3: Corruption (Nintendo)
Dewy's Adventure (Konami)
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core (Aksys Games)
MySims (EA)
Mercury Meltdown Revolution (Ignition Entertainment)
DDR: Hottest Party (Konami)
Bleach: Shattered Blade (Sega)
Zack & Wiki (Capcom)
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution (D3 Publisher)
Battalion Wars II (Nintendo)
Guitar Hero III (Red Octane)
Fire Emblem (Nintendo)
Geometry Wars Galaxies (Sierra)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo)
DBZ: Budokai 3 (Atari)
NiGHTS (Sega)
Nitrobike (Ubisoft)
Trauma Center: New Blood (Atlus)
Bully: Scholarship Edition (Rockstar Games)
Victorious Boxers: Revolution (XSEED games)
Smash Bros (Nintendo)

Notice that only 4 of those are from Nintendo.

Anyone else want to share the games they think would be good, solid, non-party style games, that would be worth at least a good weekend rental, to show people the kind of quality that's set to roll out by the end of the year?

[Rambo]

Notice that only 4 of those are from Nintendo.

I felt the need to verify your counting skills, and discovered an error. :tomatoface:

In any case, I will probably be getting 6 of those... which will put me out around 400$ before Christmas on those alone. 8O When the hell am I gonna send my Wii away for repairs on the faulty GPU??? Theres a constant stream of awesome that I shouldn't be without!!!

[SilverStar]

I felt the need to verify your counting skills, and discovered an error. :tomatoface:

In any case, I will probably be getting 6 of those... which will put me out around 400$ before Christmas on those alone. 8O When the hell am I gonna send my Wii away for repairs on the faulty GPU??? Theres a constant stream of awesome that I shouldn't be without!!!

Oops, yeah. Mistake. 5 from Nintendo.

Still, out of a list of 21 games, that's HUGE 3rd party support.

[Bahamut]

Eekk...like 6 games I want. It's gonna be hard not purchasing anything....but MAGFest and visiting NY for Thanksgiving takes priority.

[SilverStar]

So. Because Bigfoot is too slow to, I'll go right ahead and make the massive spoiler post.

First hour of MP3:Corruption. Don't watch if you don't want it spoiled.

Ripped from Kotaku who ripped it from GoNintendo who ripped it from GamesRadar.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TwinIonEngines

[KakTheInfected]

I saw that earlier. Haven't video games had things like this since before the NES days? I don't see why it's really a big deal.

[SilverStar]

I saw that earlier. Haven't video games had things like this since before the NES days? I don't see why it's really a big deal.

The difference is that there's a general embargo on all direct media from the game that isn't given directly by Nintendo, until sometime this week.

[Antipode]

Man, I don't get why you'd want to watch this. I'm debating even watching the most recent vids on the Preview Channel.

[KakTheInfected]

The difference is that there's a general embargo on all direct media from the game that isn't given directly by Nintendo, until sometime this week.

Oh my bad, I thought you were referring to something in the video, not the video itself.

[Imagist]

It's Monday. Where's my Super Metroid?

You'd think by now Nintendo could have the process automated and streamlined so new games and whatever else went up first thing every Monday. There's no reason for delays.

[Merk]

North American Virtual Console releases today:

Super Metroid (SNES) - Back in the days of Kraid
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (GEN) - Who needs the first two?
Neutopia (T16) - An action RPG where you run around collecting 8 things to rescue a princess who isn't named Zelda

[Imagist]

Oh. There it is. My clock's a wee bit fast, I see.

FUCK YES.

[Bigfoot]

So. Because Bigfoot is too slow to, I'll go right ahead and make the massive spoiler post.

First hour of MP3:Corruption. Don't watch if you don't want it spoiled.

Ripped from Kotaku who ripped it from GoNintendo who ripped it from GamesRadar.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TwinIonEngines

Hey, I just woke up, and hey I don't want to watch those anyway :P

And hey, don't poke me, haha.

[Penfold]

North American Virtual Console releases today:

Super Metroid (SNES) - Back in the days of Kraid

:-D:-D:-D:-D

[SilverStar]

So, after I broke down and watched a little of those spoiler videos, the cover actually makes sense.. complete with the 3 Samus images on it.

Dark Samus isn't Corrupt Samus. Samus was corrupted by the phazon, but if you watch the good ending of Echoes, you understand just what happened, and where things are going.

[dsx100]

Two words "SUPER METROID". I want to get back to playing this game so I'm going to make this quick, Did anyone see today's MP 3 video updates. 2 words, Auroa and METROIDS!

[Imagist]

I have to agree. Damn was that Valhalla video exciting. Can't can't can't can't wait to play this game.

Also, a big WTF in Super Metroid. I could've sworn I'd gotten everything, including all the Super Missiles, so why now that I am recharging in Tourian do I only have 40 of those suckers? Rrrrrgh so annoying to have to go back and figure out where I missed 'em...

[Bahamut]

Oh shit, Super Metroid came out today? *goes to buy it*

[SilverStar]

Anyone else notice a refresh issue on super metroid?

The flickering isn't steady, like it was on the SNES, when you take damage or are using an elevator.

Edit, hours and hours later...

You know, I just noticed something, that flies right in the face of Nintendo, when they say the Wrecked Ship in Super Metroid, isn't the same as the ship you down in Zero Mission.

http://members.shaw.ca/SilverStar/Securitydroid.jpg

It's the security droid, the same type you deal with several times in the pirate ship at the end of Zero Mission.

[BardicKnowledge]

Wait, Nintendo said that the ZM ship isn't the SM Wrecked Ship? Stupid -- the whole design for it was very obviously taken from Super Metroid. Besides, it's cooler that way in any case.

[SilverStar]

Wait, Nintendo said that the ZM ship isn't the SM Wrecked Ship? Stupid -- the whole design for it was very obviously taken from Super Metroid. Besides, it's cooler that way in any case.

The ZM ship is a pirate vessel. Nintendo says the Wrecked Ship is a federation ship. And the Wrecked Ship is supposed to have been there much longer.

I say, the proof is in the security drones. They're the same, so it's the same ship.

[The Author]

Or its a standard security drone design.

Or you know, a federation drone could have been stolen by space pirates.

I mean, one of them must have stolen something at some point...

I mean... they are pirates...


The best proof that the ZM ship is not the same as the SM ship resides in Maridia.

[Bigfoot]

On the topic of Super Metroid, I dunno if it's because I haven't played it in forever, but the intro gameplay videos seem different. I remember seeing a Crystal Flash being executed in one of the gameplay videos when you just let the game sit there. I let them all recycle through until I saw the first one again, but I didn't see a Crystal Flash.

Also, I find it funny when you start a new game, the Metroid is always animated in the still pictures.

Anyway, this game looks so great on my widescreen TV.

[The Damned]

I gotta buy a classic controller. The button layout on a Wavebird just isn't right for SNES games. I need the four buttons laid out in a diamond, not a... triangle-like shape.

[SilverStar]

I gotta buy a classic controller. The button layout on a Wavebird just isn't right for SNES games. I need the four buttons laid out in a diamond, not a... triangle-like shape.

Or, at least for SM, you could just set the buttons to how you want. I find it does help out, because you can use a trigger for speedboost/run, A for shoot, B for jump, Z for select, and still leaves you with X, Y and a trigger, for aiming up/down and cancel.

[dsx100]

IGN, 1up, and Gamespot all have previews of Metroid Prime 3 up now and, no I am not going to post links, stop being lazy and type in the URLs.

I must say I was very disappointed with 1up's preview. That preview shows exactly how biased and mainstream 1up is. Gamespot's was ok, but it seemed like they didn't spend a lot of time with the game or they just weren't all that excited. I really liked IGN's because it was very detailed and you could definately tell they gave their full attention to the game.

These previews (at least gamespot's and IGN's) make me really excited about this game, even more so than before. I just can't wait till 8/28 now.

[KakTheInfected]

The 1UP preview is terrible. Shane brings up Bioshock and explains that Metroid doesn't look nearly as good. Well no fucking shit jackass. Wii owners know not to expect Bioshock level graphics on the system. Making that comparison was just creating an opportunity to throw in a complain.

If Shane is on the Prime 3 review, expect a 7.5 or 8.0. IGN will probably overrate it (unless it is fucking mindblowing), and Gamespot will probably be right on the money.

[Bigfoot]

The 1UP preview is terrible. Shane brings up Bioshock and explains that Metroid doesn't look nearly as good. Well no fucking shit jackass. Wii owners know not to expect Bioshock level graphics on the system. Making that comparison was just creating an opportunity to throw in a complain.

If Shane is on the Prime 3 review, expect a 7.5 or 8.0. IGN will probably overrate it (unless it is fucking mindblowing), and Gamespot will probably be right on the money.

This is why I love reading comments on Wii games on Gametrailers.com "360/PS3 looks better than this! Crap, this game sucks!"

WHOA, WAIT A MINUTE, THIS IS NEWS TO ME. YOU MEAN WII'S GRAPHICS DON'T LOOK AS GOOD AS THE 360!? haha.

Gotta love today's generation of gamers. Graphics = everything.

Anyway, I'm not going to spoil myself with any preview/review until I get the game.

[HalcyonSpirit]

Man, every time I hear news about SSBB and MP3, I want a Wii more and more. Prime 3 looks like it'll be amazing, as expected, possibly outdoing the first two easily. Brawl... well, it's Smash Brothers. I love the original, I love Melee (and play it all the time), and Brawl looks fantastic. Other games are also looking great, and I can't wait to experience some of them.

... Not having money to spend anymore sucks.

As for the previews of Prime 3... I'm not surprised. But like Bigfoot, I'm not going to read them. I'd rather go into the game and be surprised.

[The Damned]

Wii has officially outsold the 360. Not by much, but it did it in less than a year.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/retailed/wii-passes-xbox-360-in-worldwide-sales-292442.php

Wow. So much for being a fad, huh? I guess this means, with such a large user base and a high sales rate, that the Wii is going to be around for a while. Which in turn, means that more developers are going to see potential sales, which means more games for us.

Yay!

[Mr.Roboto]

WHOZZAT!?

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/25/426115200708220946163bikf2.jpg

A new Super Mario Galaxy Screenshot.

MOAR! (http://boards.1up.com/zd/board/message?board.id=games&thread.id=322911)

EVEN MOAR!(Youtubed,since the sites getting a fuckton of Trafic.) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ulpqnb0ovc)

[Kureejii Lea]

WHOZZAT!?

Princess Rose, Rosette, or Rosetta depending on who you ask.

[Hobocop]

Wii has officially outsold the 360. Not by much, but it did it in less than a year.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/retailed/wii-passes-xbox-360-in-worldwide-sales-292442.php

Wow. So much for being a fad, huh? I guess this means, with such a large user base and a high sales rate, that the Wii is going to be around for a while. Which in turn, means that more developers are going to see potential sales, which means more games for us.

Yay!


I'm surprised it happened (not to mention so fast), but VG chartz has a tendency to pull their numbers down from time to time, so let's hope this isn't one of those times. I remember them having Xbox 360 sales at 9.x for an awkwardly long period of time as well, fueling speculation there was a bias (the members on the site are predominently Nintendo fans). Seeing as how so many companies said they exclusively made games for PS2 because it was the market leader by such a significant factor, I wonder what kind of franchise shifts could possbily result from this (as you suggested).

[Bahamut]

Princess Rose, Rosette, or Rosetta depending on who you ask.

A girl Mario is cheating with. :tomatoface:

[The Coop]

Wii has officially outsold the 360. Not by much, but it did it in less than a year.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/retailed/wii-passes-xbox-360-in-worldwide-sales-292442.php

Wow. So much for being a fad, huh? I guess this means, with such a large user base and a high sales rate, that the Wii is going to be around for a while. Which in turn, means that more developers are going to see potential sales, which means more games for us.

Yay!

It has Nintendo on it. Of course it's going to sell. But less than a year of sales does not a longevity success make. It's great to see Nintendo doing well, but I'd take a page from the DC story, and not proclaim the system's longevity just yet. It could come back to bite you in the ass ;-)

[KakTheInfected]

Of course it's not guranteed to stay successful, but it's selling because of casuals and since no other console caters to them...

Unfortunately this means it may take awhile before we start seeing some quality 3rd party projects on the system...but hey, the DS got them eventually.

[I-n-j-i-n]

I see no reason why it won't continue being a Wii60 kind of a gaming generation. PS3 is still losing support and exclusivity (except for their own 1st/2nd party titles really. Which isn't too bad since their 1st parties are outright amazing) and Wii will obviously get a lot of the casual, family friendly stuff and Nintendo franchises which keeps selling no matter how crappy or great they may be.

I don't even need to bother saying it, but everybody should know that the demographics for the Wii and 360 are not exactly the same. This isn't to knock Wii down, but the 360 has the hardcore crowds since those games aren't exactly accessible for non-gamers or enthusiasts (let's see casual gamers plunk $50 on online services. But many hardcore types do it).

And Damned, the Wii hasn't really been noted as a fad but as a bit of a gimmickry. 3rd parties are right now just in love with using its features even if they do it badly most of the time or just tack it on. Even some Nintendo titles really haven't used it to full effect until recently. And I agree with those who are hopeful for better 3rd party games for the system. For about a year now, it was all ports and remakes-ville.

[KWarp]

I doubt Nintendo's catering to the casual market is singlehandedly driving Wii sales. Fact is Nintendo created a low budget console experience with a value on accessibility and interface. The expanded audience gamer demographic responds especially well to that value, so that's how Nintendo's promoting their image at the moment. However, that doesn't mean Nintendo takes their old fanbase for granted if the Fall 2007 game lineup is any indication.

Really it comes down to this: long time gamers have been feed "game consoles need better graphics to warrant a purchase" and many are unwilling to adopt out of skepticism, leaving the expanded audience to carry Wii's hype and marketing image. Nintendo knows and loves us; the problem is we're not showing enough support.

Hehe I like that conclusion. :razz:

[Ray Falling]

I think the Wii sold so well among the non-gamers because these people simply don't have high standards (yet).

I say this because I see people who are even impressed by the graphics of games on their cellphones of all things T__T; Clearly they have not played a console game...ever.

An overwhelming percentage of human beings is just...well mediocre and will settle for mediocre things. If you have nothing to compare to, you just take what you see and think it's the best.

It is true that these people will not likely end up playing 'hardcore' games. In fact, I think after a while they'll just leave their Wii standing in the living room for drunken parties or whatever.
Then there goes Nintendo's 75% income (not accuracte figures).

I just hope these silly people will stick with it and develope some standards and expectations and seek out to play "our" games as well.

I'm not too worried about the Wii's lifespan though. The GameCube managed to do just fine with the 'hardcore' supporters, and this time, Wii is actually getting more software support as well; not ALL games can be crap :)

*knock on wood*

[The Author]

...


So people who buy something they can enjoy are choosing something that is mediocre?


Seriously, I don't know if you are a nintendo retard, a 360 retard or a PS3 retard.

You seem like a rather well rounded retard.

[SilverStar]

...


So people who buy something they can enjoy are choosing something that is mediocre?


Seriously, I don't know if you are a nintendo retard, a 360 retard or a PS3 retard.

You seem like a rather well rounded retard.

If they buy the new Cruis'n, they're buying worth than mediocre. They're buying a shot to the face and their wife being beaten. At best.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/no-no-no/cruisn-is-the-worst+looking-wii-game-ever-292534.php

[Ray Falling]

...


So people who buy something they can enjoy are choosing something that is mediocre?


Seriously, I don't know if you are a nintendo retard, a 360 retard or a PS3 retard.

You seem like a rather well rounded retard.

There is much more to get out of life than what most people have. But if you don't know what more there is, you can be easily satisfied.

What I'm saying is, these are simple people, simple people need to be entertained by simple things.
Wasn't the whole problem that controllers were too complicated and scared non-gamers away? Things needed to be simplified so these people could also play.

Why do companies care? Because the majority of people IS simple and thus makes one hell of a demographic.

I'm sorry you felt the need to call me a retard. You clearly did not understand what I was saying. I hope the above made more sense to you. If not, then that is fine too.

You could have figured out for yourself though that I wasn't saying 'things that are enjoyable = mediocre'.

You know what? I'll give you a more concrete example: Wii Sports/Wii Play.
Both enjoyable games; at least one of them being a best selling title for Mike knows how long. But compared to a lot of other things, they are mediocre at best: no real challenge, no reward, no lasting ability. If you don't know what else is out there, then you wouldn't know this, and thus you settle for less.

Eventually, you will discover that this game is no longer fulfilling and you either A: wonder why the hell you ever got suckered into buying a Wii, or B: get out there and start looking for what else is out there.
This of course applies to the before mentioned non-gamers.

And that is what I'm saying.

[Baleshadow]

Do you realize how much of a conceited ass you are being?

[The Author]

So, because you fail to see the lasting appeal in Wii Sports, you assume there is none.

Interesting.

How is it possible that someone who comes off as trying to sound educated can make the biggest mistake of all: assuming his perception is the right one?

You know, I have played pretty much every console ever. I have tried many games, more than I can remember.

The simplicity in Wii Sports is a beautiful thing. If you fail to see it, its your loss. You will never be happy if you cannot find happiness in simplicity.

[Ray Falling]

So, because you fail to see the lasting appeal in Wii Sports, you assume there is none.

Interesting.

How is it possible that someone who comes off as trying to sound educated can make the biggest mistake of all: assuming his perception is the right one?

You know, I have played pretty much every console ever. I have tried many games, more than I can remember.

The simplicity in Wii Sports is a beautiful thing. If you fail to see it, its your loss. You will never be happy if you cannot find happiness in simplicity.

Again you take my words out of context. I occasionally still play Wii sports but there is just a point where it is not fulfilling anymore.
My point was that if non-gaming people, who suddenly got hyped into buying a Wii (not a bad thing per se) don't tap into the "hardcore" library at some point, I'm sure they will get bored with these types of games. I just don't think it's worth all that money to only have a Wii with Wii Sports and maybe one or two other non-game games, and most certainly won't help Nintendo stay alive.

I'm not trying to sound "educated", but I would also not slice on a topic I don't know anything about. (Believe me, OCRemix cured me of that for good)

It's not even about my perception being the right one, but since I have something to compare to, I am to a certain extent proud of my perception.

Anyway, it is simple facts that I stated. human nature and all, psychology and not to mention marketing, which by funny coincidence I actually do study.

As for Wii Sports simplicity; I do think it is beautiful yes, but such a game alone would not be fullfilling to a non-gamer crowd. Especially not for the lifetime of a gaming generation and you know it.

As for sounding like an ass or whatever; of course I know I'm being somewhat judgmental but I have my life experience to back up my views, it's what makes me an individual, and just because I view the majority of people the way I do, it doesn't mean I'm a horrible person, or hate everyone else.

Again, it's just simple facts. Look at commercials, advertising: look at the way they treat "us" and talk to us like "we're" some kind of idiot.
Look at how it's working too; how else could ridicilous ringtones be selling? Or toothbrushes with all the extra bullshit, or electric razors?

But maybe you just feel offended or something I don't know. It's not like I said you're some moron for liking Wii Sports, or anyone really.

[The Mutericator]

(...)most certainly won't help Nintendo stay alive.

Not to butt in, but I think it's worth pointing out that Nintendo hardly needs help staying alive right now, what with how they've been making nothing but profit for the past several console generations.

[megadave]

The enjoyment that I get out of the Wii everyday has more than warranted my 250 + tax purchase. And anyone complaining about a lack of titles won't be doing so within a week, if they have any sense of what's going on around them. In the meantime, chill out and download Shining Force - that will keep you busy until the horde of awesome games come in during the next few months and onward.

I haven't enjoyed a new console so much since the SNES. Yes, there are limitations to the graphics and a lot of the third party games are pathetic cash-ins, but it doesn't matter (every console has those, face it). It's an amazing console. That's all there is to it. Every system has its faults, and Wii is no exception, but it's great.

The whole argument about Nintendo abandoning the hardcore gamer is a ridiculous illusion. Just because Ninty releases Brain Age, Wii Sports, and Wii fit, people start having a heart attack and ignore the fact that the shooters, RPGs and other games are getting ready to pour in. Third parties are finally finishing up some major titles, and Nintendo's already got several of their monster titles coming out soon, starting next week with Metroid Prime 3. The Wii's library is beginning to look like that of the DS - awesome, fun, and full of variety.


Also, if you don't own a Wii, then don't label it as a gimmicky system, because you don't know what the you are talking about and therefore don't have much credence for pushing your opinion. I don't sit around and bitch about a PS3 or 360, because I don't have them.

If Wii's such a gimmicky fad, then why have I been playing it for 6 months as if I've just discovered masturbation?

Because I'm mediocre? This must mean that you're advanced or far beyond the comprehension and understanding of a Nintendo fan. There must be something that makes you special. Why don't you share it with us. We're anxious to know what makes you so exceptional, so we can be cool and above all common logic like yourself.

[Ray Falling]

Not to butt in, but I think it's worth pointing out that Nintendo hardly needs help staying alive right now, what with how they've been making nothing but profit for the past several console generations.

Fair enough. Though mind you that a lot of that money came from loyal gamers, and the issue of attracting non-gamers wasn't really an issue then.
of course the market was just totally different back then anyway, as a whole.

The enjoyment that I get out of the Wii everyday has more than warranted my 250 + tax purchase. And anyone complaining about a lack of titles won't be doing so within a week, if they have any sense of what's going on around them. In the meantime, chill out and download Shining Force - that will keep you busy until the horde of awesome games come in during the next few months and onward.

I haven't enjoyed a new console so much since the SNES. Yes, there are limitations to the graphics and a lot of the third party games are pathetic cash-ins, but it doesn't matter (every console has those, face it). It's an amazing console. That's all there is to it. Every system has its faults, and Wii is no exception, but it's great.

The whole argument about Nintendo abandoning the hardcore gamer is a ridiculous illusion. Just because Ninty releases Brain Age, Wii Sports, and Wii fit, people start having a heart attack and ignore the fact that the shooters, RPGs and other games are getting ready to pour in. Third parties are finally finishing up some major titles, and Nintendo's already got several of their monster titles coming out soon, starting next week with Metroid Prime 3. The Wii's library is beginning to look like that of the DS - awesome, fun, and full of variety.


Also, if you don't own a Wii, then don't label it as a gimmicky system, because you don't know what the you are talking about and therefore don't have much credence for pushing your opinion. I don't sit around and bitch about a PS3 or 360, because I don't have them.

If Wii's such a gimmicky fad, then why have I been playing it for 6 months as if I've just discovered masturbation?

Because I'm mediocre? This must mean that you're advanced or far beyond the comprehension and understanding of a Nintendo fan. There must be something that makes you special. Why don't you share it with us. We're anxious to know what makes you so exceptional, so we can be cool and above all common logic like yourself.

Is that comment aimed at me? Because I can entirely destroy your petty attack by saying I have been a loyal Nintendo follower since the SNES era.
I was just expressing my views on the market and the non-gamer community.

I have no problem with non-game games at all as long as the non-gaming people eventually also try out the more hardcore games, ensuring their support for a few more years and thus proving the Wii is not a fad like SOMEONE ELSE said.

I don't know where you get the idea that I'm a PS3/Xbox owner/fanboy/whatever. But that's why I asked if your comment really was aimed at me...

You guys are getting too worked up. I'm just trying to have a good discussion and so far, all I get is name calling and people trying to twist my words into something else.
If you look at it through objective goggles you'll know there is some truth in my views.

[Cecilff2]

Wii has officially outsold the 360. Not by much, but it did it in less than a year.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/retailed/wii-passes-xbox-360-in-worldwide-sales-292442.php

Wow. So much for being a fad, huh? I guess this means, with such a large user base and a high sales rate, that the Wii is going to be around for a while. Which in turn, means that more developers are going to see potential sales, which means more games for us.

Yay!

I'm wondering where the other .4% is. Is there a mysterious 4th console hidden from the masses?

[The Author]

I'm wondering where the other .4% is. Is there a mysterious 4th console hidden from the masses?
Phantom!!!

[Bigfoot]

Not to butt in, but I think it's worth pointing out that Nintendo hardly needs help staying alive right now, what with how they've been making nothing but profit for the past several console generations.

Pretty much. I mean, even if the Wii flopped in sales this generation, Nintendo has so much money that it would probably just be like falling off of a bike. They would just need to get back on and ride again.

[megadave]

Is that comment aimed at me? Because I can entirely destroy your petty attack by saying I have been a loyal Nintendo follower since the SNES era.
I was just expressing my views on the market and the non-gamer community.

I have no problem with non-game games at all as long as the non-gaming people eventually also try out the more hardcore games, ensuring their support for a few more years and thus proving the Wii is not a fad like SOMEONE ELSE said.

I don't know where you get the idea that I'm a PS3/Xbox owner/fanboy/whatever. But that's why I asked if your comment really was aimed at me...


Not of all of it is aimed at you - The 'mediocre' part is the part aimed at you, but obviously I forgot to spell that out. The rest if for various naysayers around the world and anyone interested.

[Bahamut]

Eh, I don't see why the Wii is considered a fad.

That said, I have to say that I spend most of my time on my PS3 these days, with Super Stardust HD and various PS2 RPGs I've missed out on. I have loads of current gen games here for all three consoles that I could be playing, yet I keep going back to the PS2 games and Fire Emblem for Gamecube (only started it recently).

[SilverStar]

Eh, I don't see why the Wii is considered a fad.

That said, I have to say that I spend most of my time on my PS3 these days, with Super Stardust HD and various PS2 RPGs I've missed out on. I have loads of current gen games here for all three consoles that I could be playing, yet I keep going back to the PS2 games and Fire Emblem for Gamecube (only started it recently).

To say there is no game worth playing on any given established system, is foolish.

But, it amounts to having to decide if it's worth the buy-in price to play it. I'm sure there's going to be tons of great games to play on PS3, but until there's some big changes at Sony, and an even bigger price drop, I personally won't be getting one, and neither will a lot of other people, for either or both of those reasons.

[Bahamut]

To say there is no game worth playing on any given established system, is foolish.

But, it amounts to having to decide if it's worth the buy-in price to play it. I'm sure there's going to be tons of great games to play on PS3, but until there's some big changes at Sony, and an even bigger price drop, I personally won't be getting one, and neither will a lot of other people, for either or both of those reasons.

I wasn't saying that at all. I was just saying that for the most part I've been playing games of the previous gen. I have lots of games here that I'd love to play at some point, like Super Paper Mario, Motorstorm, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and lots of others, but it's just that right now I'm leaning more towards playing games that I've missed out on. For example, all my non-handheld gaming this summer has been on PS2 games, namely Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest VIII.

[dsx100]

Like many, I too am sick and tried of all the Nintendo haters, naysayers, and etc. For those that feel Nintendo is ignoring the hardcore, your dead wrong. This holiday's lineup is more than enough proof. Also this bull crap that they may be offering hardcore titles but only advertise to the casual and will eventually stop marketing to the hardcore is just plain stupid. Nintendo is smart. The reason why they are focusing most of their advertising and marketing towards the casual is because the casual is still a relatively new demographic. Their are still millions of people that are part of the casual market and still may not know about the Wii or DS.

However, I'm sure many would agree the defition of a "hardcore" gamer is a person whos primary interest is video games. If your primary interest is video games, than don't you think you would already know what your intrested in, already know what type of games you like, and possibily know when they will be avialable. Nintendo doesn't market much to the hardcore because they don't really need too. Most will still go out and buy their stuff just because their loyal fans. That demographic is already there in place. Remeber, they are trying to expand the audience. Also this crap about no new hardcore games being shown by nintendo is also stupid. Since when has Nintendo been free and open about what they got indevelopment. They like to keep their projects secret and quiet. Just because you haven't seen any evidence that they exsist doesn't mean they don't.

Bottom-line, Nintendo knows what their doing. I believe Nintendo is truely trying to take the real next step in the gaming industry by expanding the audience and by changing the way we play play and view videogames. Graphics and the hardcore will only take you so far these days. Nintendo is thinking ahead, looking beyond graphics and the current demographic.

Besides, this agruement can get stupid at times. Their is really just one solution despite what everyone says or argues. If you don't like Nintendo's strategy, you don't like simple games, you don't like last-gen graphics and etc. just simply don't buy a Wii. If you love what Nintendo is doing, you love the games and etc. then buy a Wii. Just be happy with your choice. I know I'm really glad to be a Wii owner right now. But if Wii is not for you, thats fine. Thats why we have choices.

Sorry about the huge rant but it seemed like the current topic, with the news of Wii surpassing 360.

[Penfold]

Eh, I don't see why the Wii is considered a fad.

That said, I have to say that I spend most of my time on my PS3 these days, with Super Stardust HD and various PS2 RPGs I've missed out on. I have loads of current gen games here for all three consoles that I could be playing, yet I keep going back to the PS2 games and Fire Emblem for Gamecube (only started it recently).

Oh man, FE:PoR was a lot of fun. It ate my life last yr, mainly cuz I'd restart a mission if someone died and I always left the animations on (until the 2nd to last missions...those got too long already, even without animations) :-P.

[AarowSwift]

Nintendo ditching "Hardcore Gaming" for "Casual Gaming" is paranoid nonsense perpetrated by the spoiled brats of the gaming world who have to have everything catered to their own tastes and don't like sharing their toys. /generalization

Sure, I'm waiting to see a Metroid commercial on TV and feel NOA's ad department needs to get on the ball here, but I also have no problems with their heavy focus on advertising casual games. If you actually stop to think about it for a second, you'll see why this is a necessary focus.

Disclaimer: I'm about to use words relating to maturity and infancy. I am not in any way referring to game ratings or the ages of individuals. I'm talking about markets here.

Demographically, the mainstream or "hardcore" audience has matured. It is established and it's not going anywhere.

In the console world, the casual demographic is in its infancy and hardly established at all.

Who needs more attention and nurture to grow strong, a baby or an adult?

That is why casual gaming is getting the focus that it is. It needs it to grow and become established. This is not in any way a threat to mainstream gaming, it is simply an expansion of the market. When the market reaches equilibrium, the attention doled out to casual or mainstream games will even out.

[SilverStar]

I wasn't saying that at all. I was just saying that for the most part I've been playing games of the previous gen. I have lots of games here that I'd love to play at some point, like Super Paper Mario, Motorstorm, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and lots of others, but it's just that right now I'm leaning more towards playing games that I've missed out on. For example, all my non-handheld gaming this summer has been on PS2 games, namely Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest VIII.

I know you weren't saying that, I was just cutting to the chase. A lot of people think "OMG! That system has -nothing- at all to play on it! LOLZ!", but that's utter trash. Unless it's nGage. Then it really doesn't, does it?

And I agree.. BC is a great tool this generation. Especially in favor of Nintendo and MS, because a lot of people may not have played the games last generation. Unfortunately, of the 3 in the market, only Nintendo got it right(due to the very way the hardware is designed). Having the entire back library of titles available, for a VERY good price(find a pawn shop or something, and you could probably pick 'em up for 5 bucks each.. or a game store trying to clear out titles, might have sales. One up here has one, 25 GC games for $260).

Still some games I'm looking for, cheap. Like Zelda:tWW and MP2:Echoes.

Eventually, I'll get an X360 and work on the catalog of Xbox 1 titles as well.

[The Author]

Demographically, the mainstream or "hardcore" audience has matured. It is established and it's not going anywhere.

In the console world, the casual demographic is in its infancy and hardly established at all.

Who needs more attention and nurture to grow strong, a baby or an adult?


Blue water Red water.

I wish I could look for the interview but someone at Nintendo, I think it was the Japanese president, explained their strategy this generation with a nice metaphor:

The gaming market is like oceans. The companies are sharks. Last gen, all the companies were trying to find food in water that was already filled with blood. Basically, the companies had one market and they had to compete to get it.

(A similar thing happened with all the Pong clones before. All the companies were trying to get a share of the Pong market. That market was good for one or two companies, but when more tried to get in, not only were they committing corporate suicide by trying to get in a market that was saturated, they actually also destroyed the market for other companies. When there is too much offer for the demand, the companies had to lower prices which meant cutting corners. Last gen, this happened as well, and while it does not seem like it, this could have led to a crash again.)

What Nintendo did was "find a new sea that had no blood in it." They saw a new possible market and they went for it. This allowed them to get the ball rolling with the Wii, which, unlike the PS3 and 360, is not sold at a loss.

(Where Microsoft and Sony lost 20 to 100$ per console sold, Nintendo made a profit of 10-50$. (Estimates, don't quote me on that.) So, assuming all the companies only sold 1 million units, nintendo would be raking in a profit of at least 10 000 000$ where Sony and Microsoft could have lost at least 20 000 000$. So if each company made a similar profit (25$) on a game, Sony and Microsoft would have to sell 1 200 000 games to be at the level Nintendo was with the consoles alone. This means that they would have to over pass Nintendo by over 1.2 million games to have a chance at reaching the same profit level. Now the market is nowhere there. And with Sony losing almost 100$ per system, they will not reach profitability for a while. At 25$ per game with a 100$ loss on the console, Sony has to sell 4 games per console to break even. At 25$ per game and 50$ profit per console, Nintendo at that point has a profit of 150$.)

The blue water philosophy seems to have paid off big time, because by not trying to steal gamers but by finding new ones, they introduced new people to the market, and by being alone in that market, they gained control over it. At the same time, gamers of the previous gens have realized that the Wii is good. This is the part that is hurting Sony and Microsoft. Instead of going X-box ->360, they went X-Box -> Wii. That is just icing on the cake.

At this point, Nintendo could survive simply using its handheld department, and with gaining the console upperhand, they just ensured that we would get at least 3 more generations of consoles from them (concidering the fact that they did the N64 and Gamecube while they were losing.) By then, they will need to find yet another market since the others will follow. (Sony tried with the 6-axis, but they failed to see what was the idea behind the Wiimote and they did not target a new demographic.)

[Penfold]

Unfortunately, of the 3 in the market, only Nintendo got it right(due to the very way the hardware is designed).

I just wish they'd update the firmware so that it doesn't totally shut off the Wii hardware. I dislike it that when I play a GC game, I have to turn off the Wii and back on in order to get back to the main channels menu. It's only a minor annoyance, really, but it's annoying nevertheless.

[Effector]

RD, I'm not going to quote that entire post, but I will say that I agree with about 95% of it. You really hit the nail on the head, from the economics to the design philosophies.

A good read - I guess those are a lot of the reasons why the Wii is "winning".

[I-n-j-i-n]

I doubt Nintendo's catering to the casual market is singlehandedly driving Wii sales. Fact is Nintendo created a low budget console experience with a value on accessibility and interface. The expanded audience gamer demographic responds especially well to that value, so that's how Nintendo's promoting their image at the moment. However, that doesn't mean Nintendo takes their old fanbase for granted if the Fall 2007 game lineup is any indication.

Really it comes down to this: long time gamers have been feed "game consoles need better graphics to warrant a purchase" and many are unwilling to adopt out of skepticism, leaving the expanded audience to carry Wii's hype and marketing image. Nintendo knows and loves us; the problem is we're not showing enough support.

Hehe I like that conclusion. :razz:

Um. You basically said again that casual-gamer-friendly aspect of the Wii pretty much made it the most popular. It didn't go the route of hardcore gamers first like the 360 and PS3 obviously were aiming for. They worked from the top and tried to get the rest. Nintendo worked for the rest and worked upward. Look at a lot of the games in the first year, and 'mediocre' is something I could agree for the most part. Yes, the motion sensor is an excellent and innovative feature, but only a handful of companies ever put it to good use and even less committed to full length games we were accustomed to in the PS2 era. But they are coming because Nintendo has been making a point to go from the mini-games to novelties like Wii Sports then work up to the RPGs and all the big games later on.

The 360 and PS3's strategy was to start from epic games then get the casual gamers in the middle and end of their console lives.

Like many, I too am sick and tried of all the Nintendo haters, naysayers, and etc. For those that feel Nintendo is ignoring the hardcore, your dead wrong. This holiday's lineup is more than enough proof. Also this bull crap that they may be offering hardcore titles but only advertise to the casual and will eventually stop marketing to the hardcore is just plain stupid. Nintendo is smart. The reason why they are focusing most of their advertising and marketing towards the casual is because the casual is still a relatively new demographic. Their are still millions of people that are part of the casual market and still may not know about the Wii or DS.

Casual gamers were never a new demographic. Even in the Atari days, it was all about the casual gamers. In the Arcade era, casual gamers basically ruled the landscape. Also, look at the PS2 and Xbox and Gamecube and they all were going after the casual gamers too. And their prices were VERY reasonable for them and the sales proved it (though the lack of exclusive 3rd parties hurt Gamecube). Look at 360 and PS3 and they were trying to make premium games for established gamers and Wii simply did the opposite and went for the profit and casual gamers. It's not about "neglecting" hardcore gamers as it is to focus their energy otherwise. I agree that they never took hardcore gamers out of the picture, but that was not their core strategy. Look at 360 and PS3 and their heavy emphasis on complex epics and longtime sequels that mostly only gamers would know about and anticipate.

Really. Can you sell Mass Effect or Mario Party the same way? Of course not. Totally different demographics. It is not about neglecting one or another as it is simply selling the games for what they are.

Also, I don't think the bottom line of profits in the consoles really matter for the gamers all that much this generation. Microsoft has cash to burn and Sony, though ailing financially, still have billions to burn in their gaming division and they could most probably sustain the PS3's lifespan. And we know fully that all three consoles will have their share of 3rd party titles (and it's obvious by now that the 1st parties for MS/Sony/Nintendo are almost universally excellent this generation) and it's not a matter of who's even "winning" what anymore. All three are pretty competitive in their own right except for the PS3 which is still facing a lot of uphill battles until all the big titles come out.

I just hope that the next console generation, Microsoft and Sony at least try to emulate the innovative, cost cutting and profit-friendly way if that's what they need to sustain themselves. Nintendo will always be Nintendo and even if they did not have the 3rd party, it won't matter since their 1st party was always their main attraction since the N64 years anyway.

That is why casual gaming is getting the focus that it is. It needs it to grow and become established. This is not in any way a threat to mainstream gaming, it is simply an expansion of the market. When the market reaches equilibrium, the attention doled out to casual or mainstream games will even out.

I'd say it'd only be a threat if every game developer stops making the epics, the multi-million dollar projects, the ambitious sequels and etc all for profit's sakes. We already know what happened to Sega for trying to cater to a new, 'hip' and profitable market of churning out useless sequels in the last few years. That is only the worst example. At least they were smart to never mess around with the Virtua Fighter series... except for their insane Virtua Fighter RPG idea.

[Imagist]

Apparently today's MP3 videos are the last (no more transparent slots, and the message at the bottom only says "Metroid Prime 3 in Stores August 28th!" The Dark Samus video proposes a very interesting, um... cooperation, while the Mine Fight really makes me itch to play this. Also, it seems like the Jump/Spring Ball will be making an appearance, as when Samus first goes into Morph Ball mode she appears to jump instantly without laying bombs at points. Anyone else see that?

[Red Shadow]

yeah, i saw it in the spider ball video last week

and in the videos on ign about a month ago

[Bahamut]

Sad thing about the PS3 is that it has some good titles. Just most people have a hard time plunking down $550-650 on a console. But that's a tangential.


I think the Wii's offering is pretty damn solid for the first year. Most consoles, if not all others, have far worse lineups in their first year, and it's impressive that Nintendo was able to support it so well, something that generally isn't done.

[Imagist]

yeah, i saw it in the spider ball video last week

and in the videos on ign about a month ago

o lol

[KakTheInfected]

Sad thing about the PS3 is that it has some good titles. Just most people have a hard time plunking down $550-650 on a console.

This is precisely why big third party titles are going to go multiplatform or 360 exclusive. No one gives a shit how good a game is if you have to spend that much to play it. If you spent money on a Wii, 360 or hell, even upgraded some stuff in your PC, you'd still have money left over to buy games/controllers.

[AarowSwift]

Sad thing about the PS3 is that it has some good titles. Just most people have a hard time plunking down $550-650 on a console.

That's the truth for me. I have a PS2 amidst my various Nintendo consoles and there are a few franchises I really like that have always been Sony exclusives, like Ratchet and Clank for example. I'm also a big fan of Devil May Cry, but Capcom has thus far insisted on keeping the series exclusively on Playstation. Maybe that will finally change this console generation. I think it would do very well on Wii. Hopefully people will give the small budget hack and slash Dragon Blade a chance (assuming it isn't terrible). If that one does well then Capcom would be out of excuses.

Anyway, I refuse to pay more than $300 for a game console. I don't care how cutting edge it is. I want it for games, not to hang on my wall like some tech trophy. More than $300 is too much, no matter what games it has or how shiny its graphics are.

[I-n-j-i-n]

That's the truth for me. I have a PS2 amidst my various Nintendo consoles and there are a few franchises I really like that have always been Sony exclusives, like Ratchet and Clank for example. I'm also a big fan of Devil May Cry, but Capcom has thus far insisted on keeping the series exclusively on Playstation.

DMC4 is already slated for the 360.

Anyway, I refuse to pay more than $300 for a game console. I don't care how cutting edge it is. I want it for games, not to hang on my wall like some tech trophy. More than $300 is too much, no matter what games it has or how shiny its graphics are.

Money is just ephemeral. If you have a job that is. Maybe it's because I see video game systems as investments and not toys. They almost always last a good 10 years before going into the closet.

I know $600 is a lot, but is it really? For a Bluray drive that Sony is losing money in such an early generation machine, and you can spend just as much with a Wii or 360 and a few accessories and a few games and it'd be just as high. I remember spending at least $1000 on Gameboy Advance and a lot of its games. Once you spend them, it's hard to gauge how much it really costs.

[KakTheInfected]

I know $600 is a lot, but is it really? For a Bluray drive that Sony is losing money in such an early generation machine, and you can spend just as much with a Wii or 360 and a few accessories and a few games and it'd be just as high. I remember spending at least $1000 on Gameboy Advance and a lot of its games. Once you spend them, it's hard to gauge how much it really costs.

And what about the price of the PS3 after games and accessories? I'm totally unsure if you are joking with this point because it makes zero sense to point that out in defense of the PS3s price...considering it does just the opposite. No matter how you try to spin it, it's a lot of money for a system that, so far, simply has not shown it's worth it.

[I-n-j-i-n]

I would say technology-wise, it is worth it. Because they could have easily pumped up the price to $1000 a unit to break even, but they didn't. They made a stupid decision and that is that. Most Bluray players haven't cracked the $800 pricetag (that is... going below $800).

Also, the games themselves costs the same as 360 titles and there still is the Bluray.

I'm just making a devil's advocate argument for it. I can only afford a Wii60 myself.

I have to agree that the $600 initial investment (or even $500) is a huge hurdle. It is for me too.

And to connect to the Wii, I feel the price is a definite advantage Nintendo has made. Beyond the technology or costs behind it, which do not matter to a casual gamer looking at a final product, it is still the cheaper alternative. But it still comes close to $300 with taxes. So no matter what the option, it's still a sizable investment.

[The Mutericator]

I would say technology-wise, it is worth it. Because they could have easily pumped up the price to $1000 a unit to break even, but they didn't. They made a stupid decision and that is that. Most Bluray players haven't cracked the $800 pricetag (that is... going below $800).

Also, the games themselves costs the same as 360 titles and there still is the Bluray.

I'm just making a devil's advocate argument for it. I can only afford a Wii60 myself.

I have to agree that the $600 initial investment (or even $500) is a huge hurdle. It is for me too.

And to connect to the Wii, I feel the price is a definite advantage Nintendo has made. Beyond the technology or costs behind it, which do not matter to a casual gamer looking at a final product, it is still the cheaper alternative. But it still comes close to $300 with taxes. So no matter what the option, it's still a sizable investment.

But the problem with that argument is that it's purely in terms of hardware - and unless you are from the future and know Blu-Ray is the way to go, it just isn't worth the risk yet.

But truth could be said about any console at launch, really...

[dsx100]

I actually want a PS3 really bad. A lot of the games coming out for it have me really interested, especially some long time franchises that have stayed PS or 360 exclusive. However the price is way too damn much. I trying to save up for college at this point and the last thing I need is to spend $500-$1000+ on a video game system.

Personally, in my opinion, the 360 is a horrible investment. That console just isn't worth the money. First off, you have to pay for services you could easily get for free on other platforms. Call me spoiled, but I'm used to playing online games for free on PC for years now. Second, all their good and unique games eventually come out on PC with better graphics, better controls, and lower price tags. Finally and most importantly, that system is made like a piece of shit. I can't even count how many times I have heard of the system breaking down in some form or another from friends and outside sources. I have even heard stories of people going through 10 -13 360s. That 3 year warranty doesn't fix the faultiness of the system.

So far, "to me" the Wii is the only system that seems worth buying this generation. There are a ton of games coming out that I am very interested in, it is within my price range (software and hardware), it has superior backwards compatibilty, and it actually offers a different way of playing games. So I'm honestly very happy with my Wii. I think I made the right choice and hope it stays that way.

[SilverStar]

The only really bad thing about Wii is that, thus far, almost all the best looking, best playing games on it.. are literally Gamecube games. And I don't mean ports. I mean actual, original GC game discs.

Thank gods for the backwards compatibility!

[The Author]

The only really bad thing about Wii is that, thus far, almost all the best looking, best playing games on it.. are literally Gamecube games. And I don't mean ports. I mean actual, original GC game discs.

Thank gods for the backwards compatibility!

Hmmm... you compare a console with a 5 year library with a console with a 1 year library.

That's like saying "Yeah, steak is good, I had it 5 times in my life and 4 times out of 5 it was excellent, but I prefer hamburgers because out of the 500 times I ate one, 200 times it was excellent."

[dsx100]

The only really bad thing about Wii is that, thus far, almost all the best looking, best playing games on it.. are literally Gamecube games. And I don't mean ports. I mean actual, original GC game discs.

Thank gods for the backwards compatibility!

I think that will probably change soon. Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy, and Smash Bros. Brawl all look amazing from what I have seen. One thing is for sure, they all animate better than anything I have seen on any console so far, except maybe Call of Duty 4.

[The Damned]

Graphics graphics graphics, blah blah blah...

I'd rather have a handful of really good games than a bunch of pretty ones. So far, only Twilight Princess has done that.

I'm not saying I regret getting a Wii. On the contrary; it was the first time I stood in line at launch for a system, and there have been some genuine fun times with it. I just wish that they would come out with more stuff of that caliber.

[megadave]

"The Wii has last-gen graphics. PS3 and 360 have last-gen controls. Blah blah."

I really wish the guys who write the reviews would get off of that now. It's like hearing a broken record. WE KNOW, WE'RE NOT STUPID. It seems like every review I read, especially with IGN and 1up, they are comparing the multi-platform games with the different console releases.

"Yes, this Wii game is kinda cool. It's graphics are good, but they don't look as good as PS3. Yet, the controls are far more intuitive and fun on the Wii."

No shit, Sherlock. The Wii has an awesome controller. The 360 and PS3 have awesome graphics. Now tell us more about the game.

[SilverStar]

Hmmm... you compare a console with a 5 year library with a console with a 1 year library.

That's like saying "Yeah, steak is good, I had it 5 times in my life and 4 times out of 5 it was excellent, but I prefer hamburgers because out of the 500 times I ate one, 200 times it was excellent."

You missed the point. For development purposes, as far as the graphics go, Wii is literally just a pumped up Gamecube. But, so far, we've seen next to nothing that even matches Gamecube games for visual, or play, quality.

It means, developers are failing at even making a decent Gamecube game. Wii has, by and large, a 6 year development cycle already under its belt as far as being able to actually WORK with the hardware goes. Developers already know how to create a baseline game that looks like a late Gamecube title in 8-9 months, but they haven't even pulled that much off.

Instead, they're trying to market abortions like Cruis'n, which has graphics that look like an early PS1 title, as if it were something new and great. If you can't evolve the gameplay, at least polish the looks. If you can't do either, don't waste everyone's time and money.

[megadave]

The Wii's limitations are no valid excuse for third party developers to make games that look a horrid as Cruisn'. They should be ashamed. Every developer should take a look at Nintendo's upcoming Wii games before they give us such shite.

[TCK]

I don't mean to shun the significance of the Wii overtaking the Xbox 360 in total console sales, but I'd be curious to see the total number of games sold for each console. Surely that should be the litmus test for success in the long term, since that's where Nintendo and Microsoft are going to make the most profit (or in the case of the 360, any profit). Anyone have any recent figures?

[Bahamut]

I don't mean to shun the significance of the Wii overtaking the Xbox 360 in total console sales, but I'd be curious to see the total number of games sold for each console. Surely that should be the litmus test for success in the long term, since that's where Nintendo and Microsoft are going to make the most profit (or in the case of the 360, any profit). Anyone have any recent figures?

Well, I don't think the sales matter so much...at least to us anyway. There are lots of dynamics with sales figures, such as sales (as in discounted items) for consoles & games playing into it as well. What matters is how good of an experience are people having.

[TCK]

Well, I don't think the sales matter so much...at least to us anyway. There are lots of dynamics with sales figures, such as sales (as in discounted items) for consoles & games playing into it as well. What matters is how good of an experience are people having.Indeed. That's a hard thing to measure accurately, but I would say though that if you were to try to tangibly measure a good experience by sales figures then you'd be better off looking at games sold rather than consoles sold. I'm not saying this is the case, but I'm concerned that games sold (and I include Wii Sports) for the Wii could be significantly less in the last six months than games sold for the 360, and if this is the case then it could lead to developers having less of an incentive to develop for the Wii in the long term, especially after the Christmas period where demand is high.

Though as shown by Cruis'n and others, this doesn't seem to be the case in the short term.

[Nex]

TCK, I must say I do like your "Death Note" Signature.

--


I absolutely love my Wii. I think that Nintendo limited it's graphics capabilities on purpose so that developers would try to focus more on how their games play. There are some AWESOME games out there on the Wii that don't compare to any of the games on the xbox360 or ps3 (I own and play all 3). Now, I'm not saying the other systems are horrible. I love them in their own respect (Though PS3 Needs to get some A quality games on it. The best games I've tried on that are Enchanted Arms and Virtua Fighter 5... both I'd rate a "B" quality game). Miyamoto has always focused on gameplay, and it is a tradition that has been held with Nintendo. Now, on the other hand, the graphics really don't suck on Wii. It could be improved a bit, but they really aren't horrible. I would put most of that blame on the lazy developers out there right now. But oh well.

My Personal Predictions:
Wii - Will continue to do great. Game stores around here are still having problems keeping them in stock. People love the style of play and find it very intriguing. Whether it will continue to do well will be based on if they can keep putting out innovative enough games to counteract it's flashy opposition.

PS3 - Will bomb until FFXIII comes out... then it will float up the charts. Then, like a balloon, will slowly deflate until it drops. Blu-Ray Will keep it up a little as well.

XBox360 - Will stay doing "good" but not great. Halo 3 will give it a boost (I have mine reserved) but come on, you don't release a system that is practically expected to have problems with it.

[Bahamut]

I <3 Virtua Fighter 5 :sad: .

Strangely enough, my PS3 consumes my free time...Super Stardust HD is too addicting.

[SilverStar]

Anyone else notice something odd about a lot of shops? In Canada, at least?

A bunch of places that don't normally deal with games, but do keep them in with their electronics/computer/entertainment departments.. they seem to be completely ignoring Nintendo. They don't stock or advertise the game at all.

An example that stood out for me today was London Drugs. They have pretty much the only flier I look through, because of it having its own tech section.

In it, they had X360, PS2, PS3 and PSP advertised. But absolutely nothing for Wii. Which is just messed up, since you know.. they wouldn't really be able to keep anything in stock.

[Penfold]

Saw something a little odd tonight. Went down to visit my parents this weekend, and I met them at their local Costco...they had a Wii bundle pack for sale there (only one left). Anyway, first time I saw a Wii bundle at Costco, and struck me as strange considering I still don't see Wii consoles in stores often at all.

[I-n-j-i-n]

But the problem with that argument is that it's purely in terms of hardware - and unless you are from the future and know Blu-Ray is the way to go, it just isn't worth the risk yet.

But truth could be said about any console at launch, really...

No it's not. Most likely the Bluray will be the dominant format or at least it'll coexist with the HD-DVDs. There's already HUNDREDS of Bluray releases and there is no stop to them. It's not like Betamax where it won't get off the ground. Bluray already did.
Whether it's THE only format is moot to me. We have three consoles. Does that make any of them THE console or THE must have? No. They all have their uses and are good alternatives to one another.

Personally, in my opinion, the 360 is a horrible investment. That console just isn't worth the money. First off, you have to pay for services you could easily get for free on other platforms. Call me spoiled, but I'm used to playing online games for free on PC for years now. Second, all their good and unique games eventually come out on PC with better graphics, better controls, and lower price tags.

Not always. Look at Bioshock. Yes it's more expensive for the 360, but the PC version was plagued with the '2 installs only per CD' and the widescreen nonsense. Also, if you're talking about games like Devil May Cry games which will make its way to the 360 and to the PC, those games have never held up well for the PC ports since the developers doing the porting job almost always do a horrendous job with it. Not to mention all the CD copyright technology they cram them up with. You have none of that with the consoles. I don't think the console option is a negative at all. Look at Knights of the Old Republic and it held more than its own on the old Xbox too.

Finally and most importantly, that system is made like a piece of shit. I can't even count how many times I have heard of the system breaking down in some form or another from friends and outside sources. I have even heard stories of people going through 10 -13 360s. That 3 year warranty doesn't fix the faultiness of the system.

That's basically the worst-case scenario. The statistic is that 95% of 360s haven't had a problem worth being reported about. 5% is still a big number considering more than 11 million 360s have been sold. But it's not like MS is hanging out people to dry. It's a good thing the warranty has been extended and there are new HDMI versions of it (apparently more stable too) on the market today.

"The Wii has last-gen graphics. PS3 and 360 have last-gen controls. Blah blah."

I really wish the guys who write the reviews would get off of that now. It's like hearing a broken record. WE KNOW, WE'RE NOT STUPID. It seems like every review I read, especially with IGN and 1up, they are comparing the multi-platform games with the different console releases.

"Yes, this Wii game is kinda cool. It's graphics are good, but they don't look as good as PS3. Yet, the controls are far more intuitive and fun on the Wii."

No shit, Sherlock. The Wii has an awesome controller. The 360 and PS3 have awesome graphics. Now tell us more about the game.

Is that even worth griping about? They're game reviewers. They almost always are technofreaks about the visuals no matter what the platform. Also, the only time they really seem to bother comparing is when the games are multiplatform. Which is silly all in itself, but that's what they're paid to do. Gripe and scrutinize games.

I absolutely love my Wii. I think that Nintendo limited it's graphics capabilities on purpose so that developers would try to focus more on how their games play. There are some AWESOME games out there on the Wii that don't compare to any of the games on the xbox360 or ps3 (I own and play all 3). Now, I'm not saying the other systems are horrible. I love them in their own respect (Though PS3 Needs to get some A quality games on it. The best games I've tried on that are Enchanted Arms and Virtua Fighter 5... both I'd rate a "B" quality game). Miyamoto has always focused on gameplay, and it is a tradition that has been held with Nintendo.

I feel that is pretty disingenuous to put it like that. All games are about the gameplay. Some merely focusing more on graphics and the flair than anything else. But it doesn't automatically make them less about the gameplay. And I honestly don't have a problem seeing a lot of top games for all three consoles now. Some people may hedge it against ENTIRE consoles with that kind of a mindset, but I personally wouldn't jump the gun like that.

Wii - Will continue to do great. Game stores around here are still having problems keeping them in stock. People love the style of play and find it very intriguing. Whether it will continue to do well will be based on if they can keep putting out innovative enough games to counteract it's flashy opposition.

You're being a little biased here. Not that it's bad in itself to have a preference, but it's just misleading. "flashy this, flashy that". It's always 'flash' with the consoles capable of better graphics? What about merely using what they can use? There are a lot of games on the 360 and even for the PS3 which purposely doesn't make it more flashier or graphically impressive than it has to for the gameplay. That's not even to include all the Xbox Live Arcade or PSN games which almost always been pushed out with the gameplay in mind with the bonus of High definition pixels or whatever they're trying to put forth.

PS3 - Will bomb until FFXIII comes out... then it will float up the charts. Then, like a balloon, will slowly deflate until it drops. Blu-Ray Will keep it up a little as well.

PS3 is doing the worst, but it's not exactly bombing. In terms of profits and bad press reputation, they are, but the sales are still there for Sony. Also they have a LOT of games aside from the supremely overhyped Final Fantasy series coming out. Actually they already have a pretty good library including some gems in the PSN.

XBox360 - Will stay doing "good" but not great. Halo 3 will give it a boost (I have mine reserved) but come on, you don't release a system that is practically expected to have problems with it.

You say you "own all three" and that is the assessment you come to? No. Xbox360 has done great over the past two years. It's already seen a few killer ap games and it will have more. And Xbox Live Arcade is still the model to follow even if it costs $50 a year. It would be better if it was free though.

I seriously think it's just ridiculous to put down any one of these systems out of philosophy alone. That is not even good criticism. I don't even own a PS3 and I can see it has a lot of things gamers can get excited about.

[Imagist]

Anyone else notice something odd about a lot of shops? In Canada, at least?

A bunch of places that don't normally deal with games, but do keep them in with their electronics/computer/entertainment departments.. they seem to be completely ignoring Nintendo. They don't stock or advertise the game at all.

An example that stood out for me today was London Drugs. They have pretty much the only flier I look through, because of it having its own tech section.

In it, they had X360, PS2, PS3 and PSP advertised. But absolutely nothing for Wii. Which is just messed up, since you know.. they wouldn't really be able to keep anything in stock.

I know at Target, the Wii is generally not advertised unless there is a planned shipment on the way because company policy is to keep all advertised items in stock, at least when the ad goes into effect every Sunday morning. To advertise the Wii without any chance of having some for the Sunday opening (or at all throughout the week for that matter) would give people the wrong impression, it seems.

Games, of course, can still be advertised, but the console and primary accessories are not shown unless they will definitely be available.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Maybe it's because the Wii is selling so well, it doesn't need advertisements as much, or the stores think it's not necessary. I don't know though. The three consoles got a lot of ads in the stores I visit. Sometimes unnecessarily so: Like the Madden 2008 countdown ticker.

[Rambo]

but come on, you don't release a system that is practically expected to have problems with it.

???
I (like a large percentage of buyers on release day) am gonna have to send my Wii away to be fixed or more likely, replaced. Dunno if it's been talked about in this forum alot or at all, but it's something to do with the ridiculously high temperature the Wii gets to, and how it fries the GPU. I only noticed it when I played Mario Strikers, and there was a BIG glitch in the image display. Didn't read much into it yet.... but I know I've got to send it away to be fixed. Anyone else have this problem? Was it solved?

MP3's so close too.... I'd better be able to play through it without annoying visuals or I'll be pissed. Then I'll send it away after I beat it and school starts.

[SilverStar]

I haven't noticed any issues, and had a launch Wii.

And I have had WiiConnect24 enabled since getting a wireless router.

I guess a game like MP3 is going to do the trick, in telling one way or another if I need to send off to replace.

[KakTheInfected]

I've never had a problem with my Wii (aside from very rare freezes like 10 seconds into a game) but I've never had it in a room that gets relatively warm.

The system should have a better fan though. There is barely any airflow.

[Arek the Absolute]

So I played the Prime Demo at Gamestop today.
What the fuck is wrong with Nintendo? The demo starts right at the god damn beginning where the story JUST STARTS, so it took FOREVER to finally get some action going.
They should know better than to release demos of a game and have it start in the beginning instead of putting it where there is a fight or something to show you how exactly the gameplay is.

[I-n-j-i-n]

???
I (like a large percentage of buyers on release day) am gonna have to send my Wii away to be fixed or more likely, replaced. Dunno if it's been talked about in this forum alot or at all, but it's something to do with the ridiculously high temperature the Wii gets to, and how it fries the GPU. I only noticed it when I played Mario Strikers, and there was a BIG glitch in the image display. Didn't read much into it yet.... but I know I've got to send it away to be fixed. Anyone else have this problem? Was it solved?

MP3's so close too.... I'd better be able to play through it without annoying visuals or I'll be pissed. Then I'll send it away after I beat it and school starts.

This is what I don't get. When the 360 has that 5 percentile of users replacing their systems, it's a dire sin of the company. When it's Nintendo doing it, it's a matter of course. And this happened with the old Xbox, the early Playstations and Playstation 2. Disc based systems run hot and these things happen. I'm just glad the warranties cover most of these systems nowadays unlike in the years past where replacements weren't guaranteed like it is now.

I agree with KakTheInfected in that the fans are not too effective with the system. I had the vague feeling that the system's svelte design could impede the functionality a bit and it happened to come true. I just hope the new versions of the consoles don't have more unforeseen problems. That basically includes all the three systems right now. I hear they need to fix the wireless aspects of the PS3 and that the system may have critical flaws that may be hampering early generation machines from performing at 100%.

[SilverStar]

I think one of the big problems with the design of the Wii, is that full power use is like, 45 watts, and standby/WiiConnect24 is 44 watts. It uses full drain, minus the fans, when idle, instead of stepping down the processor into a low drain mode.

[AarowSwift]

So I played the Prime Demo at Gamestop today.
What the fuck is wrong with Nintendo? The demo starts right at the god damn beginning where the story JUST STARTS, so it took FOREVER to finally get some action going.
They should know better than to release demos of a game and have it start in the beginning instead of putting it where there is a fight or something to show you how exactly the gameplay is.


As far as I've heard, those aren't demos. They're the full game.

[AarowSwift]

DMC4 is already slated for the 360.



Money is just ephemeral. If you have a job that is. Maybe it's because I see video game systems as investments and not toys. They almost always last a good 10 years before going into the closet.

I know $600 is a lot, but is it really? For a Bluray drive that Sony is losing money in such an early generation machine, and you can spend just as much with a Wii or 360 and a few accessories and a few games and it'd be just as high. I remember spending at least $1000 on Gameboy Advance and a lot of its games. Once you spend them, it's hard to gauge how much it really costs.

Ah, I guess I wasn't paying attention on DMC4. Unfortunately, I can't name more than a small handful of games on the Xbox and Xbox360 combined that I'm even interested in. For me, it'd be an even poorer investment than a PS3 at full price.

As for $600 really being a lot? Yes, yes it is. What I spend on any game system is a lot, but asking me to shell out that much up front is just too much to ask. Everyone needs a line they don't cross or we get royally screwed. After all, if $600 isn't too much, then next time they'll see if they can push it to $800, after all, what's $200 more? How about $1000 next time? Hey, these mooks will pay even that, let's see how far we can ride this horse...

The argument that the bleeding edge tech makes it worth it doesn't fly with me. Sure, the raw power of the PS3 is impressive, but know what? If I just wait a few years the next console from Nintendo will probably be that powerful, or close enough, and it'll cost under $300 more than likely. A little patience will get you equivalent quality at a much lower price tag. I already got burned on the DVD player. I was a moderately early adopter of that. I paid $200 for one the size of an older VCR. Shortly after you could pick them up for much, much, much, less at a quarter the size and weight. Let the people who own million dollar homes and private jets support the bleeding edge, I'll just wait until it's actually worth my own money.

The way I see it, the extra polygons and fancy shaders are not worth the $350 difference and that's just the raw cost of the console.

I spend too much on the Wii and DS...but at least that's on games.

[SilverStar]

I spend too much on the Wii and DS...but at least that's on games.

QFE.

Big difference between spending $600 to get the hardware, and spending $600 to get the hardware and enough software to keep you entertained for a couple weeks.

I do find it somewhat funny that some of the best games out for both PS3 and X360, are the very games that didn't cost big fists of cash to develop. The ones that are selling some of the best, and making some of the highest profits, are their low-cost arcade titles, while a lot of the big, ten million dollar budget titles are lucky to make back what was spent.

Of course, a lot of those cheap arcade-style titles are also designed to be -fun- to play, and not be pure gloss with a few bangs to get blood pressure up.

[Imagist]

As for $600 really being a lot? Yes, yes it is. What I spend on any game system is a lot, but asking me to shell out that much up front is just too much to ask. Everyone needs a line they don't cross or we get royally screwed. After all, if $600 isn't too much, then next time they'll see if they can push it to $800, after all, what's $200 more? How about $1000 next time? Hey, these mooks will pay even that, let's see how far we can ride this horse...

The argument that the bleeding edge tech makes it worth it doesn't fly with me. Sure, the raw power of the PS3 is impressive, but know what? If I just wait a few years the next console from Nintendo will probably be that powerful, or close enough, and it'll cost under $300 more than likely. A little patience will get you equivalent quality at a much lower price tag. I already got burned on the DVD player. I was a moderately early adopter of that. I paid $200 for one the size of an older VCR. Shortly after you could pick them up for much, much, much, less at a quarter the size and weight. Let the people who own million dollar homes and private jets support the bleeding edge, I'll just wait until it's actually worth my own money.

Not that I'm disagreeing with the idea that the PS3 is simply a ridiculous investment, but your argument works against you. In the same vein as "what's $200 more?" you could very well find yourself in a trap of "what's a few more years?" when waiting for new technology to become old. I know that's what happened to me with the PS2: I kept thinking I'd wait another year or two for a price drop, only to then think I could wait for another, only to then find the PS3 coming out and think I'll just wait a few years for that to be cheaper so I can play PS2 games and PS3 games. When does it end?

The modern technology market is tricky. It's difficult to strike a balance between the two mindsets, and one way or another you're likely to find yourself blowing more money than you should or missing out entirely.

[AarowSwift]

Not that I'm disagreeing with the idea that the PS3 is simply a ridiculous investment, but your argument works against you. In the same vein as "what's $200 more?" you could very well find yourself in a trap of "what's a few more years?" when waiting for new technology to become old. I know that's what happened to me with the PS2: I kept thinking I'd wait another year or two for a price drop, only to then think I could wait for another, only to then find the PS3 coming out and think I'll just wait a few years for that to be cheaper so I can play PS2 games and PS3 games. When does it end?

The modern technology market is tricky. It's difficult to strike a balance between the two mindsets, and one way or another you're likely to find yourself blowing more money than you should or missing out entirely.

But you see, that's where the "line in the sand" comes in. I'm not waiting to try and squeeze every nickel I can out of a product, I simply have a price point limit. I'll buy as soon as I can find the product at, or really close, to my price point. If it NEVER reaches my price point, then I never buy. I'm hardly missing out since I already own a console that has met met my price point and is supplying me with plenty of games. There are lots of games I have missed out on because of cost, but they were forgotten about quickly enough since I was busy playing the games that weren't isolated from me by a wall of money.

[Imagist]

But you see, that's where the "line in the sand" comes in. I'm not waiting to try and squeeze every nickel I can out of a product, I simply have a price point limit. I'll buy as soon as I can find the product at, or really close, to my price point. If it NEVER reaches my price point, then I never buy. I'm hardly missing out since I already own a console that has met met my price point and is supplying me with plenty of games. There are lots of games I have missed out on because of cost, but they were forgotten about quickly enough since I was busy playing the games that weren't isolated from me by a wall of money.

I only said that your logic could be turned around and that finding the balance was difficult, not that it was impossible or that you and others haven't done so.

[AarowSwift]

I only said that your logic could be turned around and that finding the balance was difficult, not that it was impossible or that you and others haven't done so.

That's fine. I was just elaborating on my own philosophy.

[Critical Hit]

???
I (like a large percentage of buyers on release day) am gonna have to send my Wii away to be fixed or more likely, replaced. Dunno if it's been talked about in this forum alot or at all, but it's something to do with the ridiculously high temperature the Wii gets to, and how it fries the GPU. I only noticed it when I played Mario Strikers, and there was a BIG glitch in the image display. Didn't read much into it yet.... but I know I've got to send it away to be fixed. Anyone else have this problem? Was it solved?

MP3's so close too.... I'd better be able to play through it without annoying visuals or I'll be pissed. Then I'll send it away after I beat it and school starts.

When I heard about this problem among wii users, I just stopped letting mine be in "standby" mode w/wii connect 24 (although I hadn't been experiencing issues prior to that either). From what I understand, not all wii's are susceptible, but I'm not taking any chances, especially if my VC games get deleted in the process of getting it fixed or replaced. I've heard that all you have to do is re-download them, but I'm not 100% sure. Let us fellow wii owners know if anything more develops...

[supremespleen]

I called Nintendo about the Wii getting hot and the lady said it was nothing.

[Rambo]

the lady said it was nothing

the lady said it was nothing

the lady said it was nothing


hmm..... 8-O

EDIT: But seriously...
When I heard about this problem among wii users, I just stopped letting mine be in "standby" mode w/wii connect 24 (although I hadn't been experiencing issues prior to that either). From what I understand, not all wii's are susceptible, but I'm not taking any chances, especially if my VC games get deleted in the process of getting it fixed or replaced. I've heard that all you have to do is re-download them, but I'm not 100% sure. Let us fellow wii owners know if anything more develops...

have you played Mario strikers on your console? If you haven't and know someone who has it, you should test it out (perform a super strike) and see if the most common glitch is there. I'm kinda glad I'm sending mine in though... better now than potentially after my warranty is up.

[SilverStar]

When I heard about this problem among wii users, I just stopped letting mine be in "standby" mode w/wii connect 24 (although I hadn't been experiencing issues prior to that either). From what I understand, not all wii's are susceptible, but I'm not taking any chances, especially if my VC games get deleted in the process of getting it fixed or replaced. I've heard that all you have to do is re-download them, but I'm not 100% sure. Let us fellow wii owners know if anything more develops...

If you send it in to Nintendo and let them do the work, you'll get to keep all your saves and whatnot, since they can transfer it all over.

If you opt to let them just send you a replacement unit and exchange that way, which is faster, you lose all your VC stuff, because it's tied to the hardware exclusively.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Ah, I guess I wasn't paying attention on DMC4. Unfortunately, I can't name more than a small handful of games on the Xbox and Xbox360 combined that I'm even interested in. For me, it'd be an even poorer investment than a PS3 at full price.

I guess that only depends on the outlook as I said before, basically all systems, even the PC looks to be having a good 2008 or even 2009. 2008 should be a pretty epic year for ALL consoles really. Also, it's pretty funny how modern classics like Ninja Gaiden, God of War, basically most Naughty Dog games and other exclusives are being ignored in discussions like these. Maybe it's because I'm looking it as a general gaming enthusiast and completionist when it comes down to the hobby.

As for $600 really being a lot? Yes, yes it is. What I spend on any game system is a lot, but asking me to shell out that much up front is just too much to ask. Everyone needs a line they don't cross or we get royally screwed. After all, if $600 isn't too much, then next time they'll see if they can push it to $800, after all, what's $200 more? How about $1000 next time? Hey, these mooks will pay even that, let's see how far we can ride this horse...

It depends on whether you demand the multimedia functionality of the PS3. It is 'worth' it from the technology in there. Whether you are looking for it or not is the deciding point. It's like paying for a premium car. Yes, it may cost prohibitively expensive, but the sum of the parts may actually be worth the product. I'm not really saying that it should be worth a buy to everyone. I'm saying that the product's worth reflects the glut of technology it has. In hard math, it does add up. To the consumers and to the press, it may not. That is a semi-connected issue there.

I doubt the price will rise to that levels even if the PS3 sold a lot. Sony willingly took a huge plunge with the wireless connectivity, Bluray, PS2/PSOne playback, HD connectivity (HDMI no less, which is a premium in itself), 1080p output and a pretty large harddrive for a gaming console. They just went pretty overboard with the technology a bit. I seriously doubt the next version will get higher if it costs so much money for them to even make and it makes it detrimental to the sales. There is always a bounceback with these. Nintendo couldn't ride the NES/SNES wave forever and neither did Sony. The pricing just won't keep going up I believe.

The argument that the bleeding edge tech makes it worth it doesn't fly with me. Sure, the raw power of the PS3 is impressive, but know what? If I just wait a few years the next console from Nintendo will probably be that powerful, or close enough, and it'll cost under $300 more than likely. A little patience will get you equivalent quality at a much lower price tag. I already got burned on the DVD player. I was a moderately early adopter of that. I paid $200 for one the size of an older VCR. Shortly after you could pick them up for much, much, much, less at a quarter the size and weight. Let the people who own million dollar homes and private jets support the bleeding edge, I'll just wait until it's actually worth my own money.

For the price of a new technology involved, the PS3 and 360 actually aren't all that pricey at all. You can splurge $1500+ on a gaming PC to get the equivalent graphical power of those two systems and yet we're getting that console experience for much less no the dollar. That is the reason why those companies are losing money. They are not making profit while doing so. They are actually trying to offer the gamers a bit of a service with the console production that COSTS money for them and it doesn't go straight to the profits. Otherwise, the PS3 would have easily cost around $1000 and 360 should've cost around $600. The crux of it all really is 'how much it's worth for me' like you said. But monetarily speaking, in terms of the technology alone. Yes it does fly well in that they're pushing these new technologies at a relative bargain to the gamer.

The way I see it, the extra polygons and fancy shaders are not worth the $350 difference and that's just the raw cost of the console.

The PS3 costs $500 now. Wii is $250. That's $250 you mean. Also, for the visual experience, I think it's worth it. I find it again, a bit misleading of people to think it's only about the visuals. It just happens that many developers are still opting for the biggest types of games, the biggest epics, the most visually alluring games and that model still works today. And again, both PS3 and 360 has their lion share of relatively humble offerings with their downloadable games which are basically 100% about the gameplay.

[Critical Hit]

hmm..... 8-O

EDIT: But seriously...


have you played Mario strikers on your console? If you haven't and know someone who has it, you should test it out (perform a super strike) and see if the most common glitch is there. I'm kinda glad I'm sending mine in though... better now than potentially after my warranty is up.

I haven't played (or personally know anyone....I think....) Strikers on my console, but when RE4:Wii Edition came out a bunch of people started reporting problems with their wii's on the gamefaqs board. At first I thought it was just an issue with that game specifically, but further research showed that it had been going on for a while, but RE4 for one reason or another pushed a lot of systems over the hump to showing evidence of a messed up GPU (or whatever the problem really is).

At any rate, to answer your question, I have played RE4 quite a bit on my own console with no issues so far, but not SM Strikers. I assume that some graphics just need more juice so to speak than others and so some games are more likely to be affected than others.

If you send it in to Nintendo and let them do the work, you'll get to keep all your saves and whatnot, since they can transfer it all over.

If you opt to let them just send you a replacement unit and exchange that way, which is faster, you lose all your VC stuff, because it's tied to the hardware exclusively.

Excellent. Great to know...as for me, I'm still going to keep wii connect 24 off (or just power the console down all the way) just to be safe, I suppose, as that's what's most often believed to be the main culprit.

[KakTheInfected]

The PS3 costs $500 now. Wii is $250. That's $250 you mean. Also, for the visual experience, I think it's worth it. I find it again, a bit misleading of people to think it's only about the visuals. It just happens that many developers are still opting for the biggest types of games, the
biggest epics, the most visually alluring games and that model still works today. And again, both PS3 and 360 has their lion share of relatively humble offerings with their downloadable games which are basically 100% about the gameplay.

You mean, the 60GB model costs $500. The new model still costs $600 and apparently, Sony is considering doing this again when they're ready to release another hard drive model in the US. But putting that aside, you simply cannot deny the fact that if you buy a PS3, you're spending money on a system with no games that are worth it yet and since it's a game console...that's an extremely important point. And if price doesn't matter when it comes to visuals, then complaining about PC cost goes right out the window.

You can talk about big, epic games all you like, but so far, the ones that have been released on PS3 have been crap (check out Lair or Heavenly Sword reviews from EGM and IGN respectively). Both suffer from the same problem: too much focus on story, graphics and sound but broken or repetitive gameplay with no reason to play again after beating it. Games that rank 6.0 or 7.0 out of 10 can be good...but not if I'm paying $600 for a console to play them then $60 on the game itself. That's insane.

Nintendo's "gameplay>graphics" thing may be a cheap way to justify not spending a shitload of money on Wii hardware, but so far, the PS3 is proving them right.

[Bahamut]

You mean, the 60GB model costs $500. The new model still costs $600 and apparently, Sony is considering doing this again when they're ready to release another hard drive model in the US. But putting that aside, you simply cannot deny the fact that if you buy a PS3, you're spending money on a system with no games that are worth it yet and since it's a game console...that's an extremely important point. And if price doesn't matter when it comes to visuals, then complaining about PC cost goes right out the window.

You can talk about big, epic games all you like, but so far, the ones that have been released on PS3 have been crap (check out Lair or Heavenly Sword reviews from EGM and IGN respectively). Both suffer from the same problem: too much focus on story, graphics and sound but broken or repetitive gameplay with no reason to play again after beating it. Games that rank 6.0 or 7.0 out of 10 can be good...but not if I'm paying $600 for a console to play them then $60 on the game itself. That's insane.

Nintendo's "gameplay>graphics" thing may be a cheap way to justify not spending a shitload of money on Wii hardware, but so far, the PS3 is proving them right.

Eh, PS3 has games - Ninja Gaiden Sigma comes to mind, and Virtua Fighter 5. I've heard good things about Motorstorm (haven't played my copy yet), and Resistance is solid once you get over the strangeness of the PS3 analog sticks and the sixaxis gimmick in the game. Super Stardust HD is an incredible PSN downloadable as well. For its first year, it definitely tops PS2's offerings in the same period of time.

[SilverStar]

Eh, PS3 has games - Ninja Gaiden Sigma comes to mind, and Virtua Fighter 5. I've heard good things about Motorstorm (haven't played my copy yet), and Resistance is solid once you get over the strangeness of the PS3 analog sticks and the sixaxis gimmick in the game. For its first year, it definitely tops PS2's offerings in the same period of time.

You know, for all the lip service about the reason for Wii not having games being that everyone was caught off guard..

Why is it that PS3 doesn't have a shitton of A+ quality games out for it already? Developers were working in overdrive to get their products ready for it, and you'd think they might want to try to get together to at least validate the costs of all that work. Instead.. things have just slipped.

Lair, Heavenly Sword, Warhawk.. 3 games that were supposed to be system sellers, are being generally panned(Alright, to be fair, Warhawk was panned by PSM, after being reviewed by a smacktalking X360 drone-turned-reviewer for the magazine, oddly enough..).

It just doesn't seem like PS3 is living up to its own potential by any measure, and I'll admit.. this is rather troubling for the industry. It's almost like the developers themselves have hit walls, unable to evolve their own tried and true methods for creating hit games, and just can't even bring themselves to do the same things.

[Bahamut]

You know, for all the lip service about the reason for Wii not having games being that everyone was caught off guard..

Why is it that PS3 doesn't have a shitton of A+ quality games out for it already? Developers were working in overdrive to get their products ready for it, and you'd think they might want to try to get together to at least validate the costs of all that work. Instead.. things have just slipped.

Lair, Heavenly Sword, Warhawk.. 3 games that were supposed to be system sellers, are being generally panned(Alright, to be fair, Warhawk was panned by PSM, after being reviewed by a smacktalking X360 drone-turned-reviewer for the magazine, oddly enough..).

It just doesn't seem like PS3 is living up to its own potential by any measure, and I'll admit.. this is rather troubling for the industry. It's almost like the developers themselves have hit walls, unable to evolve their own tried and true methods for creating hit games, and just can't even bring themselves to do the same things.

I think that it's a problem in the industry period, and not just PS3 developers - a lot of companies try to play it safe so that their financial gains are stable and have a certain rate of controlled growth, in order to pander to their investors as corporations (for the most part). To innovate or to do something different brings risk, and that's something investors like to minimize.

I never thought much of Lair (it didn't look very impressive for the PS3), although I was looking forward to Warhawk and Heavenly Sword a little.

[dsx100]

Not always. Look at Bioshock. Yes it's more expensive for the 360, but the PC version was plagued with the '2 installs only per CD' and the widescreen nonsense. Also, if you're talking about games like Devil May Cry games which will make its way to the 360 and to the PC, those games have never held up well for the PC ports since the developers doing the porting job almost always do a horrendous job with it. Not to mention all the CD copyright technology they cram them up with. You have none of that with the consoles. I don't think the console option is a negative at all. Look at Knights of the Old Republic and it held more than its own on the old Xbox too.



Who are you to tell me my opinion is wrong. Did you read the bold letters In My Opinion. I think its a horrible investment because it doesn't offer anything better than what I can get from my PC already. All the good, unique, or somethimes exclusive games (Ex. Gears of War, Halo, Bioshock, and Knights of the Old Republic) eventually get ported to PC and are often times much better on PC. I'm not talking about games like DMC which is also coming out on PS3. I can play all those 3rd Party games on my PS3 (when I get one). Also don't give me this Madden 08 shit because I'm not a sports game fan, so once agian, it doesn't justify me getting a 360. Agian this is all my opinion. My opinion should not be mistaken for fact. Now if I said "in my opinion Hilter didn't kill the jews" then I why see why that is wrong. I'm just simply saying why I don't think the 360 is worth my money. If you guys think it is, thats completely fine. Go ahead and buy it.

Now that thats out of the way, I also got to demo Metroid Prime 3 at EB Games. From what I saw, it was the full game. I had to start a new game and 2 games where already saved when I started playing. I must say I wasn't disappointed. It really does control well. I think I'm more excited now then I ever was before. The first Boss fight is very cool by the way.

[Imagist]

My opinion can't be wrong because it is not fact.

If you seriously believe this, you're going to run into a lot of trouble in life.

[KakTheInfected]

Eh, PS3 has games - Ninja Gaiden Sigma comes to mind, and Virtua Fighter 5. I've heard good things about Motorstorm (haven't played my copy yet), and Resistance is solid once you get over the strangeness of the PS3 analog sticks and the sixaxis gimmick in the game. Super Stardust HD is an incredible PSN downloadable as well. For its first year, it definitely tops PS2's offerings in the same period of time.

NGS is a remake and VF5 is coming to 360 with online play. I haven't played Motorstorm, but judging from reviews it's not real spectacular. And Resistance may be good (if you can consider FPS with that uses dual analog good), but does that even come close to making the $600 investment worth it?

A $600 console should have AAA games coming out of it's ass, not ones that are merely passable, remakes or not even exclusive. So far, most of what we've seen is very good looking games with shallow gameplay. I'm well aware bigger games are coming (guranteed hits like MGS4) but it seems everytime we hear "x is the game that's going to revitalize the PS3", it ends up being a dissapointment to many, like Lair or Motorstorm.

[dsx100]

If you seriously believe this, you're going to run into a lot of trouble in life.

Well only to a certain extent. Of course their are some times when your opinion is dead wrong like the example I used in my post. Their is also times where it could be wrong like in the way I offend people, affects my job, and other real life situations like that. But when its something simple like, I feel this investment isn't good for me, or I don't like this game because, and etc. then how can that be wrong. Thats what you believe. It like saying being a certain religion is wrong. I should probably edit that so it doesn't come off the wrong way. Sorry about that.

Ok, already edited it.

[The Damned]

I thought there was a rule about bringing up other consoles in console-specific threads (to avoid fanboy fights). And to see a mod doing it... shameful, it is.

[SilverStar]

I thought there was a rule about bringing up other consoles in console-specific threads (to avoid fanboy fights). And to see a mod doing it... shameful, it is.

Something I've noticed is.. we've actually gone well past the point where fanboy fights actually happen in this thread. It's been going on for about a year, and now we're actually having discussions about the systems, pointing out shortcomings in all 3 approaches.

Honestly, it's strange to see a Nintendo thread where the downfalls of each system can be pointed out with a fairly level head. :dstrbd:

[Bahamut]

NGS is a remake and VF5 is coming to 360 with online play. I haven't played Motorstorm, but judging from reviews it's not real spectacular. And Resistance may be good (if you can consider FPS with that uses dual analog good), but does that even come close to making the $600 investment worth it?

A $600 console should have AAA games coming out of it's ass, not ones that are merely passable, remakes or not even exclusive. So far, most of what we've seen is very good looking games with shallow gameplay. I'm well aware bigger games are coming (guranteed hits like MGS4) but it seems everytime we hear "x is the game that's going to revitalize the PS3", it ends up being a dissapointment to many, like Lair or Motorstorm.

From what I heard, Motorstorm was bad mainly because of the lack of variety - it supposedly did the racing well, although I haven't got to play it yet despite owning it (goes to show that my game backlog is PS3 HUEG).

Of course $600 is a lot to pay for the console, but that's why I didn't pay full price (even before the clearance of the 60 GB models). :wink: Plus I consider the PS3 an investment for the game site I want to start up.

[dsx100]

Something I've noticed is.. we've actually gone well past the point where fanboy fights actually happen in this thread. It's been going on for about a year, and now we're actually having discussions about the systems, pointing out shortcomings in all 3 approaches.

Honestly, it's strange to see a Nintendo thread where the downfalls of each system can be pointed out with a fairly level head. :dstrbd:

Although it isn't really fanboy fighting, its still a little annoying and I wish it would stop. I come to the Wii forum to post about the Wii, not PS3, 360, PC, or even DS for that matter. I go to those respective threads to post about their respective consoles or systems. I also don't like it because I tend to get caught up in it all time. I try to stay away form the agruement, but I always wind up getting envolved in some way. I also dislike that people's opinions tend not to get respected in these type of discussions, even if they are friendly.

From this point on, I'm going to try my best to avoid the "which console is better" (or anything similar) agruement but like always, I'll probably and up saying something eventually.

[AarowSwift]

Hey, I'm trying to find a specific post. I don't know who posted it. The topic was Navigation in Metroid Prime: Echoes. Somebody wrote a wonderful post pointing out how carefully interconnected the areas were in Echoes, how you were never very far from an elevator and so forth. I really want to quote this post but I can't find it. It was either in this thread or in a Metroid thread at NeoGAF. I probably read the post in question a couple weeks ago.

If you were the poster, or you remember the post I'm referring to, please help me, I'd appreciate it!

[Critical Hit]

I'm pretty sure the post in question is at NeoGAF...I just looked through the short discussion we had on MP2 and found nothing, and also don't remember a post like that being made...in fact the closest thing was a post of yours saying that you didn't like the navigation in the game...so yeah, check NeoGAF.

...consequently I just finished MP2 again myself. Bring on Prime 3!!

[KWarp]

I'm playing Super Metroid and I'm stuck and it's REALLY ANNOYING. These green monkeys are wall-jumping up a corridor and I'm trying to mimic them AND IT'S NOT WORKING!!! :evil: Really Gamefaqs says jump, hit a wall, reverse directions on the dpad and hit jump again. Not working consistently.

Help. :cry:

[TCK]

I'm playing Super Metroid and I'm stuck and it's REALLY ANNOYING. These green monkeys are wall-jumping up a corridor and I'm trying to mimic them AND IT'S NOT WORKING!!! :evil: Really Gamefaqs says jump, hit a wall, reverse directions on the dpad and hit jump again. Not working consistently.

Help. :cry:I swear that's the hardest part of Super Metroid. What's probably even worse is the item at the top behind the right wall that you need to be in morph ball form for (EDIT: Though in retrospect I think I should have tried getting that one after collecting the jump ball).

Trial and error is the best thing I can say.

[AarowSwift]

I'm playing Super Metroid and I'm stuck and it's REALLY ANNOYING. These green monkeys are wall-jumping up a corridor and I'm trying to mimic them AND IT'S NOT WORKING!!! :evil: Really Gamefaqs says jump, hit a wall, reverse directions on the dpad and hit jump again. Not working consistently.

Help. :cry:

Yep, wall jumping in Super Metroid is an advanced skill for a reason...it's tough!. I used to be quite horrible at it but on my latest play through, I really got the timing and was able to do it with pretty good consistency. The order of actions is:

Jump towards the wall, it must be a spinning jump. Touch the wall. Quickly push the direction away from the wall and then hit the jump button. Of course, knowing this doesn't make it easy because the timing is very precise. You must perform the actions very quickly. All you can do is practice to get it down.

If you just can't get the hang of it, then do like I did on my first few plays: use the bomb jump to get out of there. I was a bit better at the bomb jump's timing. You'll probably be pleased to know there is no place in the game where you must wall jump to proceed.

[AarowSwift]

I'm pretty sure the post in question is at NeoGAF...I just looked through the short discussion we had on MP2 and found nothing, and also don't remember a post like that being made...in fact the closest thing was a post of yours saying that you didn't like the navigation in the game...so yeah, check NeoGAF.

...consequently I just finished MP2 again myself. Bring on Prime 3!!

Yeah, I think it is at NeoGAF. I'll have to ask there since I haven't been able to find it. I always found navigation difficult in Echoes, but the post pointed out how much more convenient it actually was compared to Prime. It just doesn't seem to feel like it.

[Zombie]

Yep, wall jumping in Super Metroid is an advanced skill for a reason...it's tough!. I used to be quite horrible at it but on my latest play through, I really got the timing and was able to do it with pretty good consistency. The order of actions is:

Jump towards the wall, it must be a spinning jump. Touch the wall. Quickly push the direction away from the wall and then hit the jump button. Of course, knowing this doesn't make it easy because the timing is very precise. You must perform the actions very quickly. All you can do is practice to get it down.

If you just can't get the hang of it, then do like I did on my first few plays: use the bomb jump to get out of there. I was a bit better at the bomb jump's timing. You'll probably be pleased to know there is no place in the game where you must wall jump to proceed.
Gah, wall jumping.

I can't get it either. I remember that I used to be able to do it, now I can't get it at all.

Anyways, Metroid Prime 3 in TWO DAYS OMG!!!

[Smoke39]

Wall jumping isn't really that tough, especially in the place with the green creatures since you're given long, flat walls to work with. Here's a more detailed explanation:

Spin jump at a wall. Once you're touching, you can let go of the d-pad. You can also just let yourself fall for as long as you want, as long as you don't move away from the wall or land.

Press away from the wall, and almost immediately thereafter press the jump button. You should be pressing them nearly simultaneously so that you don't move too far away from the wall before trying to jump off of it.

One thing that used to throw me off all the time at the second step was accidentally hitting up or down on the d-pad as I rolled my thumb from one direction to the other, which would cause Samus to aim diagonally. That stopped her spin, which killed the wall jump. This is why I recommend letting go of the d-pad in the first step. Press one direction, let go, press the other. Since you can fall for as long as you want between the two steps, take your time until you get a feel for the timing.

[Cerrax]

Wall jumping isn't really that tough, especially in the place with the green creatures since you're given long, flat walls to work with. Here's a more detailed explanation:

Spin jump at a wall. Once you're touching, you can let go of the d-pad. You can also just let yourself fall for as long as you want, as long as you don't move away from the wall or land.

Press away from the wall, and almost immediately thereafter press the jump button. You should be pressing them nearly simultaneously so that you don't move too far away from the wall before trying to jump off of it.

One thing that used to throw me off all the time at the second step was accidentally hitting up or down on the d-pad as I rolled my thumb from one direction to the other, which would cause Samus to aim diagonally. That stopped her spin, which killed the wall jump. This is why I recommend letting go of the d-pad in the first step. Press one direction, let go, press the other. Since you can fall for as long as you want between the two steps, take your time until you get a feel for the timing.

Also, Samus will take a certain poses before she wall jumps. Remember how she looks when she is clinging to a wall with the grapple beam? She will change to that frame when a wall jump is possible. She is technically clinging to the wall and ready to spring off of it. If you can catch it, that is the prime time to push the other direction on the d-pad and jump.

[Critical Hit]

Yeah, I think it is at NeoGAF. I'll have to ask there since I haven't been able to find it. I always found navigation difficult in Echoes, but the post pointed out how much more convenient it actually was compared to Prime. It just doesn't seem to feel like it.

When you find the post, you should either paste it here or link from here to the discussion...it sounds interesting, and I for one would like to read it. ^_^

[SilverStar]

When you find the post, you should either paste it here or link from here to the discussion...it sounds interesting, and I for one would like to read it. ^_^

Agreed, I want to read it too. :)

And about the spinjump.. Yes, it can be very annoying to get it right. But, if you master it, you start to wonder if you're even doing the game in the right order, for the items you can grab at will.

[AarowSwift]

When you find the post, you should either paste it here or link from here to the discussion...it sounds interesting, and I for one would like to read it. ^_^

Sure thing.

And ahh...to make this post more substantial than a quote and two words, here's a fun question. Who out there ordered Metroid Prime 3 online and must therefore wait for it to ship to you? I preordered ages ago from Amazon and I always go for the free (but slow) shipping if its available. The added wait shall be painful indeed.

[Critical Hit]

Heh, I debated pre-ordering online, but that added wait was exactly what deterred me from that course...and thus I'll probably be standing in a short line at my local Gamestop come Tuesday or Wednesday or whenever the game finally makes its way to Alaska.........

[Antipode]

QUESTION - buy Prime 3 on release day and play it on small TV with small stereo system, OR wait 3 months for a single week where I can play it on a huge 16:9 tv with a super surround system - but at the end of said week, I have to leave again.

[Imagist]

Sure thing.

And ahh...to make this post more substantial than a quote and two words, here's a fun question. Who out there ordered Metroid Prime 3 online and must therefore wait for it to ship to you? I preordered ages ago from Amazon and I always go for the free (but slow) shipping if its available. The added wait shall be painful indeed.

I don't have to wait for shipping but I won't be able to pick up a copy anywhere until late Wednesday at the earliest, probably later. I'm just hoping Target does a reasonably nice job of keeping in stock.

[SilverStar]

QUESTION - buy Prime 3 on release day and play it on small TV with small stereo system, OR wait 3 months for a single week where I can play it on a huge 16:9 tv with a super surround system - but at the end of said week, I have to leave again.

I vote, do both. I've found that the Prime games are good for at least 2 playthroughs. And I'm someone who rarely -ever- picks up a game after I've beaten it.

First time, you learn the game and get familiar with it. Then 3 months later when you play it on the big system, you can -enjoy- it.

[AarowSwift]

QUESTION - buy Prime 3 on release day and play it on small TV with small stereo system, OR wait 3 months for a single week where I can play it on a huge 16:9 tv with a super surround system - but at the end of said week, I have to leave again.

I'd definitely do both, but then, I replay my games ad infinitum anyway.

[Antipode]

Haha, don't get the wrong idea - I've played all the way through both Primes probably 10 times apiece. I fully expect to do the same with 3 - but the first time I play it should be special. Whatever, I'll work something out. But if I want time to play it at my leisure on the big system, it's going to have to be next summer... sigh...

[I-n-j-i-n]

You mean, the 60GB model costs $500. The new model still costs $600 and apparently, Sony is considering doing this again when they're ready to release another hard drive model in the US. But putting that aside, you simply cannot deny the fact that if you buy a PS3, you're spending money on a system with no games that are worth it yet and since it's a game console...that's an extremely important point. And if price doesn't matter when it comes to visuals, then complaining about PC cost goes right out the window.

I have to disagree. It already had plenty of good games in both the main library and PSN. I wouldn't pay $60 for each, but games like Ninja Gaiden Sigma, VF5, Resistance and others already look promising when they make their way in the coming months. Also, the Bluray thing does help a lot compared to the 360 which has none of that HD disc playback (though 360 is being sold more as a gaming machine than the PS3 being sold as a multimedia center). Then again, Sony not having released a full multimedia version full with video disc recorder features for the US is hurting it in an ironic way I believe. I wish they'd make up their minds. But if I had the money to burn, I can see how the PS3 could be worth it after a dozen or so AAA releases. Though overall, I have to agree in layman's terms that it would not be worth it to those who simply don't have the money to burn, including those who don't have the HDTV setup.

You can talk about big, epic games all you like, but so far, the ones that have been released on PS3 have been crap (check out Lair or Heavenly Sword reviews from EGM and IGN respectively). Both suffer from the same problem: too much focus on story, graphics and sound but broken or repetitive gameplay with no reason to play again after beating it. Games that rank 6.0 or 7.0 out of 10 can be good...but not if I'm paying $600 for a console to play them then $60 on the game itself. That's insane.

I'm talking about what the developers seems to be aiming for with those games. Even if they don't turn out well, the modus operandi is to aim for the gaming epic with the PS3/360 nowadays one or two years after release. Even a few Wii games are going that path as well, so it's not too surprising, but it's understandable they're doing it for the systems that have the most disc storage and the biggest graphical clout. And JRPGs are running the course of continuing their sequels on the PS3 so far. Also, for very consistent developers like Naughty Dog, everything they do is an epic one way or the other anyway.

Nintendo's "gameplay>graphics" thing may be a cheap way to justify not spending a shitload of money on Wii hardware, but so far, the PS3 is proving them right.

I agree. I even think the 360 is doing a bit of that too, with their Playstation-era style game releases and exclusives that are looking more and more impressive by the year. Two years ago, Microsoft had little support. Now it's sizable. And I don't need to get into details about Nintendo's support by its own development houses.

Who are you to tell me my opinion is wrong. Did you read the bold letters In My Opinion. I think its a horrible investment because it doesn't offer anything better than what I can get from my PC already. All the good, unique, or somethimes exclusive games (Ex. Gears of War, Halo, Bioshock, and Knights of the Old Republic) eventually get ported to PC and are often times much better on PC.

I already did mention that it is a matter of preference. And I already put the two together on how personal barometer of worth is not the same thing as technical worth. I don't even think I'm fully disagreeing with you here. But a lot of the ports really haven't lived up for the PC and for gamers' convenience, consoles hold up their own nowadays. Especially considering a lot of future games are offering Keyboard+Mouse functionality and are even developed with the console gameplay in mind. Just going on the record and making a foregone conclusion that it's always best on PC isn't true anymore. Unless we're talking about highly modified games like Oblivion, the differences are almost moot or the PC ports have bugs not on the consoles (Bioshock... it already had three or four major documented problems for its PC version.)

I'm not talking about games like DMC which is also coming out on PS3. I can play all those 3rd Party games on my PS3 (when I get one). Also don't give me this Madden 08 shit because I'm not a sports game fan, so once agian, it doesn't justify me getting a 360. Agian this is all my opinion. My opinion should not be mistaken for fact. Now if I said "in my opinion Hilter didn't kill the jews" then I why see why that is wrong. I'm just simply saying why I don't think the 360 is worth my money. If you guys think it is, thats completely fine. Go ahead and buy it.

I don't see what I should disagree with other than how the consoles have the offerings for the gamers with differing tastes. Not quite like Dreamcast (even though it had a great library while it lasted), where there simply weren't any games to buy on them. When people say that for the Wii or PS3 or 360, I think that's just pure matter of preference and not because there actually aren't games on there that are well made.

And finally, for Metroid Prime 3, I just hope it's not as constricting as the second game nor too easy. And thank GOD multiplayer is left out. That was basically a disaster for the old MP games IMO.

[NeoForte]

IGN MP3 Review (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/RagnarokX/hammeredkirby1.jpg)

9.5 overall

[SilverStar]

I was hoping for higher, but I can understand why it'd be docked a few points.

Still, very solid game. More of the same great Prime action, but not as much of a massive overhaul as the original was.

[JoeFu]

Gametrailers gave MP3 a 9.5, a whole .1 point better than Bioshock.


Two freaking awesome games within a week. Gosh.

[The Author]

So its in stores today or tomorrow?

[SilverStar]

Hehe.. Apparently, Retro may have leaked a 4th wall spoiler into Corruption with one of the scans.

"Experiment status report update: Metroid project 'Dread' is nearing the final stages of completion."

I almost wonder if maybe they built some sort of Corruption/Dread bonus into it, like they did with the past 2 games, and that might have been one of the reasons for the delays.. They needed to know what to work with, to give the secret bonus features..

[Ray Falling]

Seeing how IGN is all over Metroid now, I'll have to do my best to avoid it untill it comes to Eur-f*cking-ope T__T;

;_; Gosh I just want it already.

[dsx100]

I already read the Metroid Prime 3 review on IGN. For the most part, I completely agree with it. Also the written review is pretty much as spoiler-free as you can possibly get, anyone worried about spoilers shouldn't worry about anything being spoiled if you read the review. Remember, the keyword is read.

Also, I know its too late now but for those that preorder their games on-line and have to wait a while to get the game, next time you may want to try Gamestop's street date preorder shipping. You can pre-order online and for a little extra cash, get the game on it's shipping date. Basically if you did this for MP 3, you would be recieving it today rather than wait for tomorrow like the people that pre-order at the store.

Man I can't wait till tomorrow.

[megadave]

I am so primed for this game. It's corrupting my brain. I dread having to wait 24 hours.

[Dexie]

Hehe.. Apparently, Retro may have leaked a 4th wall spoiler into Corruption with one of the scans.

"Experiment status report update: Metroid project 'Dread' is nearing the final stages of completion."

I almost wonder if maybe they built some sort of Corruption/Dread bonus into it, like they did with the past 2 games, and that might have been one of the reasons for the delays.. They needed to know what to work with, to give the secret bonus features..

!

Got a pic of said scan?

[SilverStar]

!

Got a pic of said scan?

Nope. But I can direct you to an IGN link where it's mentioned.

http://ds.ign.com/articles/815/815899p1.html

[BardicKnowledge]

I really hope that the reference doesn't turn out to be false hope -- a chronological 2D Metroid sequel is my ideal game, really.

....until Unreal Tournament 3 comes out, anyway.

[Bigfoot]

Grabbing MP3 after class tomorrow morning, then I should have the rest of the day free to play.

Just watched the review from Gametrailers, and I can't wait to get it.

[Merk]

North American Virtual Console releases today:

Super C (NES) - It has 'Super' in the title but is on the original NES? MY MIND IS BLOWN
Breath of Fire II (SNES) - On the same day as the curry item for Smash Bros
Ghouls 'n Ghosts (GEN) - Why can't the Virtual Console release a series in order?

[megadave]

Man, that's a strong lineup for VC. All three of those are rockin'.

Yet I still yearn for Battletoads and Double Dragon (SNES version please).

[SilverStar]

North American Virtual Console releases today:

Super C (NES) - It has 'Super' in the title but is on the original NES? MY MIND IS BLOWN
Breath of Fire II (SNES) - On the same day as the curry item for Smash Bros
Ghouls 'n Ghosts (GEN) - Why can't the Virtual Console release a series in order?

If I weren't itching for some Corruption, I'd grab BoF2.

[Effef]

Must...have...MP3....

[SilverStar]

Looks like it's official.. Gamespot has a hate-on for Wii.

MP3: 8.5. According to Metacritic, it's the lowest score out so far, for that game.

[The Damned]

Looks like it's official.. Gamespot has a hate-on for Wii.

MP3: 8.5. According to Metacritic, it's the lowest score out so far, for that game.

Yes, because an 8.5 out of 10 is an absolute FAIL of a score. :roll:

I don't see you giving Gamepro any grief, despite that they gave it the exact same score and had similar pros and cons with it.

Anyone else in the world would see an 8.5 as pretty damn good.

[I-n-j-i-n]

That's not surprising since it's a pretty by-the-books sequel, which is nothing bad about except in terms of originality.

I play and enjoy a lot of games that scored 5.0's or lower in metacritic scorings so..

[The Author]

Yes, because an 8.5 out of 10 is an absolute FAIL of a score. :roll:

I don't see you giving Gamepro any grief, despite that they gave it the exact same score and had similar pros and cons with it.

Anyone else in the world would see an 8.5 as pretty damn good.

An 85% average was good enough for me to be allowed in a pre-university program leading into medicine.

But yeah, for a videogame, its horrible.

Read other reviews by that guy, he may be a tough scorer.

[dsx100]

8.5 is a crappy score in my opinion. Gamespot tends to be very hypocritical with its scores sometimes. They claim to always want something new and fresh and yet they give out 9s to so many lack luster and unrevoultionary FPSs. They also claimed Zelda TP was just a port and not a true ground up Wii game, yet Prime 3 is and it gets a lower score and not mention RE 4 got a higher score, which is also another port. Gamepot's reviews have always seemed very biased in my opinion. Its very clear the editors there prefer certain types of games over others. 8.5 may not be bad, but I think MP 3 is much more deserving.

[The Damned]

8.5 is a crappy score in my opinion.
Sharp knees.

[Power Surge]

All game review sites are too biased for my liking, imo. IIRC, there was an article at GameDaily explaining the problems with video game reviews and journalism in general (lack of maturity, etc.) but I can't find it. Besides, why should a single elitist a-hole or group of a-holes decide which games are awesome and which suck, and to what degree, for all who play games? I'd just rent a game I'm interested in and form my own opinion on it based on experience. Although reviews give an idea how good a game is, you won't really know just how good until you try it for yourself.

[SilverStar]

All game review sites are too biased for my liking, imo. IIRC, there was an article at GameDaily explaining the problems with video game reviews and journalism in general (lack of maturity, etc.) but I can't find it. Besides, why should a single elitist a-hole or group of a-holes decide which games are awesome and which suck, and to what degree, for all who play games? I'd just rent a game I'm interested in and form my own opinion on it based on experience. Although reviews give an idea how good a game is, you won't really know just how good until you try it for yourself.

Or hit up something like metacritic, and see what everyone else is reviewing it, so you can see who thinks a game sucks for no good reason. And leave your own review/rating of the game.

[megadave]

My review of the Metroid Prime 3 Reviews

Contradiction 10/10 - Wow. They gave Twilight Princess a higher score, a solid Zelda adventure, but not built ground-up for the Wii . Wow, most mentioned how it has the best controls for a console shooter ever, and it gets a lower score than say, other FPS's at the time.

Criticism on lack of innovation -7/10. It's a sequel, yet it's not completely different, so we can't give it that coveted high score, can we?

General bias - 8/10. Let's see what Halo 3 and Resident Evil 5 get, why don't we.

Console comparisons - 5/10 Mentions how the controls can't be done with certain consoles and how certain graphics can't be done with certain consoles.

Flat out bullcrap - 10/10 Score is lowered for load times (You don't even have to deal with a loading screen and the loading times are still way short compared to many other games) You may have to wait for some doors for 5 seconds. Gasp!

Total score: 6.5 / 10 - Mediocre. Not exactly horrible, but they should have worked out issues like bias and general contradictory bullshit before releasing these reviews. If they would have done that, then these reviews could have gotten a much better score. After all, lots of useful information was there, it's just the bullshit that gets in the way.

[Hector]

I don't trust 10 point grading systems for games. Especially ones that go into decimals. What's the difference between a game that scored an 8.5 and an 8.6? Obviously the room temperature. Metroid Prime III, as anyone who has played it will tell you, is a better game at 70F than 80F. Simple fact.

[shikigami]

oh and dont forget ZOMG PRIEM 3 IS NOT BIOSHOCK LOL.

[Arek the Absolute]

North American Virtual Console releases today:

Super C (NES) - It has 'Super' in the title but is on the original NES? MY MIND IS BLOWN
Breath of Fire II (SNES) - On the same day as the curry item for Smash Bros
Ghouls 'n Ghosts (GEN) - Why can't the Virtual Console release a series in order?

Woo
consider that a vc rom thats gonna be purchased as soon as i get home from work