OK, first let me say that I'm nearly 30 years old and have been a part of nearly every generation of video game consoles. I'm an old Sega fanboy at heart, and remember fondly the days of the 16-bit showdown between Nintendo and Sega. That console war was awesome because they were both great systems with great exclusives, and no matter which side of the fence you were on, you experienced a wonderful era in gaming.
Fast forward 15 years, and we've got a stale, rehashed, overpriced console war. I dont have an Xbox 360, Wii, or PS3 and really can't see myself buying any of the 3 any time soon.
The Wii: Most of the games are rehashed PS2 and Gamecube games with the gimmicky controller function. The Wii is $250 which, along with it's appeal to the casual gamer, is why it's in first place. It's almost like Nintendo knew they wouldn't have to put out much of an effort this go round, so they didn't.
The 360: Actually seems to have the most interesting exclusives to me. But, I don't shell out 400 bucks for 3 or 4 interesting games. Also, this system has become notorious for breaking down. I hear of people on their 3rd or 4th 360 and I wonder why they don't tell Microsoft to stick it.
The PS3: Oh boy. It takes some major dysfunction to trash a brand as strong as the Playstation. Here's how they did it! By slapping in a super fancy DVD player, Sony doubled the launch price of the PS2 and alienated the working class gamer. And they are still so arrogant as to think they can climb out of last place with the most expensive system and no exclusives worth mentioning.
Look, I don't care about Bluray vs. HD DVD. I have a DVD player. I don't want my console to download the newest pop music drivel for me. I have a pc and internet. Not at all interested in playing online. Call me antisocial. I just wanna play games. There's not even any exclusives. 90% of the games are on 2 if not all 3 systems. Competition is supposed to breed greatness. Worst console war ever.... or maybe I'm getting old.
Splodge
I partially agree with you.
I own a Wii and I think it's alot of fun. I think the controls are really gimmicky in alot of games but used right they could be amazing. They aren't being used to their full potential.
Nintendo is a good game developer (probably the only developer right now, that makes games I care about). Mario Galaxy is alot of fun and I really liked Zelda and Metroid. The problem is there are only a handful of games that good. This year we'll have Mario Kart and Smash Bros. but I can almost guarantee you that there won't be another main-series Mario or Zelda title on the Wii.
Nintendo is taking so long with developement that they rarely get more than one main title on each of their systems. It's not just developement time - it's actually taking them that long to think up ideas for new games. I think they're having alot of trouble figuring out where Mario should go next.
The Wii is a good console but I play my Dreamcast and SNES as much as I play the Wii. Back in the day, Nintendo was always pumping out games. That's what made the NES and the SNES so great.
3 great Mario games on the NES. 2 Zelda games. A heap of 1st party games and huge third party support.
Now there are just a few good games.
The same is true of all 3 consoles. There are probably 4 or 5 great games on each of them but it's not worth the money for just a few games. Games are so complex these days, that they take too long to develope and there are very few truly great ones.
If we had the same software support as we did in the 90's combined with today's hardware, this could have been the greatest generation of all.
I think the problem is that back in the 80's there was a video game crash. Nintendo was the first one on the block after the crash. They needed good games and they needed alot of them if they were to be a success.
These days video games are doing real well, so nobody needs to prove themselves anymore. They can just continue shoveling out stuff and doing what they've always done for the last 10 years. They're jobs are secure no matter what they do.
JamesJoell
Wii & 360 is the way to go, period. As much as i'd like to divulge I have done it on countless forums.
