Next gen systems Rant

[Hoagie_one]

The old idea that bigger\better\faster is what people want in Next gen systems is passe.  Expecially when you see teh price tags for that bigger\better\faster machine.  You can buy a decent comuter for the costs they are projecting for the next wave of machines (see PS3).  It seems Nintendo is the only major company to see this by not pushing the limits technologically and wanting to do something more innovative.  The DS is a good example.  But they are not unvieling what innovation the Revolution will have...way too vague.

All the new tech really isnt new, its just faster and bigger amounts of the same.  There were already wireless controllers, so now they are standard, big deal.  We already had online games, now its also the standard.  PC gamers have had this for years.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not too impressed with any of the next gen info I've seen, expecially the prices.  The only worthwhile feature so far is the dual TV support for the PS3 and I bet that it will be underused or used only as an afterthought added feature, alot like touch screen support is on the DS.

Rant over

[Otraotaku]

yeah G4 anounced a rumor last night, that the PS3 would retail for 500$ or more!! 

(mainly because of its 2 next gen video cards... which are worth both an estimate 500$ each!) but you didnt hear it from me... ^.<

I think nintendo is doing the right thing, everyone knows theyve been developing new ways to play because graphics can only go so far... then what next? no one can deny this its inevitable...

[Chemixtry]

To me it doesn't seem time for next gen already. When you look at the calibur of games coming out like God of War that are still getting better I think the current systems could easliy go a couple of more years. Beyond the $500 price tag for the console lets not forget the increased price of the games. How can your average consumer justify that cost? I didnt buy a PS2 or Xbox until the price point hit $149. Of course being a poor grad student I may not be typical of the general population. I like that Kevin (on G4) when commenting on Nintendos downloadable content of past systems that you get the same thing on the current xbox with a $20 mod chip.

[Hoagie_one]

The common guy doesnt use mod chips though and Rom use, as we all know, is illegal if you dont own the original.  Nintendo's option is a legit way of doing it

[GGKoul]

I for one will hold off purchasing a new system until I hear if NCAA or Madden Football will be released in HD for the Xbox360 or PS3.

[Chemixtry]

The common guy doesnt use mod chips though and Rom use, as we all know, is illegal if you dont own the original.

[Hoagie_one]

i can only guess at the pricing, maybe subscription, maybe some freebiees, who knows.  It's just a nice added feature if you so choose it.

It's definately innovative

[skid_68]

I for one will hold off purchasing a new system until I hear if NCAA or Madden Football will be released in HD for the Xbox360 or PS3.

Every game is in HD on both systems. Its going to be standard.

[Tahnok]

I think downloadable games is a great idea and a good move for nintendo. Think about it, think about all the games nintendo has to offer. Not only their classics, but all the unknown ones that have a cult following. If they can sell those GBA NES remake games for $20 each, they can certainly sell these downloadable games.

[Otraotaku]

yes they also anounced a live service... what if you could not only download games like say... the original Star Fox 64, But play them online too!?!

[daywane]

I love the idea of downloading NES games
on-line? can not do it. dial up 
I get a bit ticked off ...I can not play with you guy's
personally I think the phone company and cable company should loose there utility right till they make broad band available to all

[GGKoul]

I for one will hold off purchasing a new system until I hear if NCAA or Madden Football will be released in HD for the Xbox360 or PS3.

Every game is in HD on both systems. Its going to be standard.

Yes, but EA hasn't annouced if NCAA/Madden 06 will take advantage of the additional functionality of the Xbox360 or PS3.  And they haven't said if these games will be release for XBox 360 or PS3

[JCKnife]

I for one will hold off purchasing a new system until I hear if NCAA or Madden Football will be released in HD for the Xbox360 or PS3.

Every game is in HD on both systems. Its going to be standard.

Yes, but EA hasn't annouced if NCAA/Madden 06 will take advantage of the additional functionality of the Xbox360 or PS3.

[PacMon]

I think Nintendo offering their classic library is a great idea and an easy cashcow for them.  However, I think they are way too late and it should of been implemented with the gamecube.  They will likely be successful at it as the general public does not know of emulators and it would be low cost for them I imagine... 

I am somewhat impressed with the new systems, but I'm a tightwad.  I'll probably keep playing my xbox and DC for a few years yet. 

[GGKoul]

I think Nintendo offering their classic library is a great idea and an easy cashcow for them.

[Hoagie_one]

Nintendo location of the video game food chain is a multi-thread disaster.  With that said, they are far from destitute.  They have a serious amount of cashflow and will be a player for years to come.  Will they be #1 again...that remains to be seen.

[drivingcabguy]

i work at eb games... all three new systems look crappy...
the price point on the 360 games is going to be 60 dollars...
why? because they can get away with it...look what they charged for n64 games...and don't even say cartridge this or that, they went for 50 and even less...so it wasn't because of expense...

bottom line

xbox = appealing to the lowest common denominator by appearing on mtv... xbox is cool tho d00d so my parents can afford 60 for a low quality EA created game...let the monopoly begin! whats a hard drive? i dunno but I have one because xbox is extreme!!!111111oneone

ps3 = omg d00d stfu sony r0xrZ i wasn't around for the ps1 but thats ok... ps2 was totally awesome! so many games, most based on movie licenses, it is like so popular, everyone has one, that's why i need one too! it's just cool!

nintendo revolution = man, like totally old school! nintendo 64 is so awesome, i love classic systems, but forget that atari stuff, what is this? contra? whats that? nes? huh what? where's my pokemon?



I am not looking forward to the next gen at all...it's all hype and rooted in past accomplishment...i see gamers everyday, it's sad... i stopped playing games once i started working there...except for the true classics of course... give me pac man and tetris and i'm set...

oh yea to answer someone's question about madden/ncaa... yes it is comming for xbox 360... and i guarantee since it is a first gen game, it won't really have too much special to the 360, it'll be more or less a port in higher resolution and maybe a few jazzed up eye candy effects to make kids want it more...

[Otraotaku]

yeah, I know what you mean, and its true... sadly our General public has been Brainwashed by Pop culture and Mainstream media, almost every person under 30 are completely computer Illiterate... and respond to their freinds as Doggs?!?!
Huh? a Three point Giga woot? My CPU is the Bestest! MyCPU has DOOM3, haha Hey looka ata my cara... gits shocks are Baddass!!!  haha... its sick! yeah! WOW

wtf are we going to do with the future If our Current generation are all growing up l to be nothing but Corrupt Cops, Pot heads and Drug Dealers?

PUBLIC ANOUNCEMNET:WE NEED MORE SCIENTISTS NOT RAPPERS!

(every single one of my freinds have done Illegal Drugs, been arrested and yes OWN A PS2... ooooh.... except my girl-freind)
umm, maybe....  ill ask her again later... lol

getting to the topic...and Video games and our Current Gen goes...
One of the Lamest reasons Why Sony has alot their sales, is because of their Commercialy promoted Products by various rappers and hip hop artists, I bet you If Snoop Dogg Said "Hey G, FuzzleNuts get offs your TV an gets Yourselfes a DS" Sony would, be in for some trouble... (maybe theyll get him for a nintendogs Commercial?) "laugh ---auto-censored--- off"

And of course Xbox wins over current Gen's with  its Graphics, Wow... G! it looks realz! for Realz!?! yeah... and dont forget the Current Obsession with First Person Shooters... Gah,,, Wow I shot meez a Ring around the starz.... Why we playin this agains? because we have afour letter Vocabulary and can only Spell BANG! How is it Konami can release Metal Gear 2 Substance but wont anounce a Metal Gear 3 for the X-box? me no khno...

And last but not least the Top Killer of all Curent Gen disapointments is Of course...how Everyone that played Super Mario Back in the 80's 90's cannot lay a finger on the controller anymore? whered the fun go? But if Super Smash bros comes out youll play... but no.... not mario... he kiddy... yeah baby! still befuddles me  When did Mario become unpopular? i mean hes god? isnt he? can god be unpopular? "lol"

yah, i got carried away but it was fun/funny... 

[HaRuMaN]

Just stop... and take a breath...  :-p  Lol...

I think Otra has diarrhea of the mouth...   

[TalkingOctopus]

I love the idea of downloading NES games
on-line? can not do it. dial up

[Otraotaku]

I think Otraotaku is insane.  I don't even know why I bothered posting on this thread! 

well, you and everyone else, Bub

[shmokes]

almost every person under 30 are completely computer Illiterate...
Huh? a Three point Giga woot?  MyCPU has DOOM3...

haha Hey looka ata my cara... gits shocks are Baddass!!!

wtf are we going to do with the future If our Current generation are all growing up l to be nothing but Corrupt Cops...

WE NEED MORE SCIENTISTS NOT RAPPERS!...

Hey G, FuzzleNuts get offs your TV ...

G! it looks realz! for Realz!?! yeah...

Gah,,, Wow I shot meez a Ring around the starz....

me no khno...

but no.... not mario... he kiddy... yeah baby!

WTF?

[Trenchbroom]

Kutaragi says PS3 will be a Linux "Supercomputer"

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=9480

Emulation box that doesn't have to be hacked to get it to work?  I will pre-order one, even at $400.

[MrTroy]

Ugh. Some people just hate things just to hate things. They hate catagories yet they fall into a catagory themself.

One of the Lamest reasons Why Sony has alot their sales, is because of their Commercialy promoted Products by various rappers and hip hop artists, I bet you If Snoop Dogg Said "Hey G, FuzzleNuts get offs your TV an gets Yourselfes a DS" Sony would, be in for some trouble... (maybe theyll get him for a nintendogs Commercial?) "laugh ---auto-censored--- off"

Snoop Dog also tried to get people to buy a Dreamcast. May rappers did... was Dreamcast popular enough? No. And don't give me that BS that it wasn't popular in Japan cause they kept making games for Dreamcast after they killed it here.
Stop saying stupid stuff... you're making the 30 and over crowd look liek they don't research crap before they complain about it.

[markb]

To me the 3 critical areas for the future sales of the next gen consoles are:-
Price
Backwards compatibility
Ability to play pirated games.

Price and backwards compatibility explain themselves however if a console has the ability to play pirated games it will appeal a lot more to cash strapped consumers than a extra few hundred Mhz on the clock speed. This is one of the reasons why I believe the PS2 performed so well against the Xbox.

[spiffyshoes]

Uhm, Price and Backwards compatibilty I can see but the ability to play pirated games?

[markb]

I don't have my PS2 chipped and have only bought about 20 games in 4 years as I play each game to death and I only buy the premium tites Gran Turismo etc but I am in the minority around here.
Every factory has someone that can get you any movie, game, album you want for a few quid the same as every school yard. Even at the local computer fair someone charges

[shmokes]

The Xbox is FAR easier to play pirated games on than the PS2.  There are excellent no-solder chips for the Xbox, so anyone can do it.  Additionally every xbox will accept hard drive upgrades that let you just pop a disc in and copy the game to the hard drive.  There are also fully functioning emulators compiled to run on Xbox so you can play the entire libraries from the following systems:

NES, Sega Master System, GameBoy/GBA, Super NES, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation.

And MAME (tm)

You don't even have to use the disc drive ever, in fact, because you can just bit torrent the games and, since every Xbox has a network adapter, FTP them straight to the hard drive in your Xbox.  And the world of Homebrew stuff for the modded Xbox, particularly Xbox Media Center, make modding essential.

Anyway...that was kinda fanboyish, I guess.  But it seemed like you weren't aware of how much more mature the mod scene is for the Xbox than the PS2 or the Gamecube. 

[markb]

No I wasn't aware of how easy it was for the Xbox, I only know of 1 person who owns one while virtually everyone has a PS2.

[shmokes]

The old idea that bigger\better\faster is what people want in Next gen systems is passe.

I think you are dead wrong.  I would buy the argument, perhaps, that it is a shame that what everybody wants is bigger/better/faster.  But the idea is not passe.  That is, for better or worse, precisely what the vast majority of the public wants.  That is also precisely why (or, part of the reason why) Nintendo will be in 3rd place in the next generation console wars.  Sad. 

[tommy]

Its too early to tell but nintendo could end up number 2 or 3, either way people would still buy a nintendo in addition to there XBOX/PS3.

[TalkingOctopus]

The old idea that bigger\better\faster is what people want in Next gen systems is passe.

I think you are dead wrong.

[shmokes]

Yeah, I think that's about right.  There's no argument about the power thing.  Gamecube is more capable than PS2 in almost every way.  It's all about the library and the image.  Nintendo is trying to address it by investing in some developers like Retro (Metroid) and making some impressive deals, like the one that gave the Resident Evil, but they need to be MUCH more aggressive about shedding their Appropriate-for-children-12-and-under image.  If third parties believed that more adults were buying Nintendo systems they would take care of the games shortage.

By the way.....I just posted this in another thread for someone who was unaware of what a modded Xbox was capable of and thought I would copy it here for Markb.  I'm not trying to prove my point or anything, I just thought you might be interested.


quote:

My Xbox is in my living room, hooked to my home theater.  My PC is in my office, but has my entire MP3 collection and my entire movie collection and my entire TV show collection (the latter two are ripped to DIVX files).  When I turn on my Xbox I get a very slick menu that gives me access, not only to all the games I have sitting on the harddrive inside my xbox (about 60), but it gives me transparent access to all that media saved on my PC in the other room, which it streams to my home theater when requested.  Xbox Media Center also takes the liberty of automatically downloading CD cover art from the CDDB and Movie cover art from IMDB (as well as detailed information about virtually any movie in existence).  I can also run emulators to play the entire libraries of NES, Gameboy, Master System, Super Nintendo, Genesis, Playstation 1 and Nintendo 64.  It even has MAME.  So instead of having all my media trapped on my PC, I get to have it where it is really useful, on my sofa with surround sound and a nice TV, rather than sitting in an office chair by myself (albeit with surround sound) on my much smaller computer monitor.  Oh yeah...and like I said, the games are on my xbox hard drive, so i don't even have to put a disc in the drive to play them.

Here are some screenshots of Xbox Media Center.

[tommy]

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2420&p=5

[markb]

Shmokes, that's one cool job with the Xbox!
I have to admit I'm more of a PC person than a console person as I like the idea of 'tinkering' around with things. maybe i'll give the Xbox a second look now.