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Next-Gen Updates From Leipzig
The Leipzig Game Convention continues in Germany. Folks looking forward to the Wii should be happy to hear Nintendo has announced some new games. They announced the new titles at their press conference, an event which both Kotaku and 1up were on-hand for. Sony hasn't had a lot to say in the last few days. As promised, there are no playable PS3 games available; just the same, gamers can look forward to 27 playable PS3 titles at the Tokyo Game Show. Microsoft, meanwhile, spent time at the convention talking about Xbox Live, and showing off their new peripherals. 1up up was there for the Microsoft press conference as well.
a disappointment.
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Microsoft apparently has grabbed exclusive license for the next iterations of FIFA from EA and Pro Evolution Soccer from Konami for Next-Gen consoles for at least a year. This deal doesn't prevent EA and Konami to release the games on current-generation consoles tough.
:p) fans to buy a 360 instead.
I thought that was a pretty big blow to Sony, but then I realized, with the market share Sony will have this year, with the probable shortages and everything, there won't be that much people to buy the two games anyway, so it's probably simpler for these companies not to bother porting to the PS3 for this year. Unless this drives soccer (sorry "Rest of the world", I meant Football
did the Germans there say "wee" or "vee" (for "Wii")?
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I'm totally excited to hear that Settlers of Cataan (along with Carcassonne and Alhambra) is coming to Xbox Live Arcade! I absolutely love the board game, and if the XBLA version is decent, this is going to be a big, big time sink for me.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
After a bit of digging, I found a larger list of titles than the two Reuters mentioned. Apparently the full list isn't available?
Only two I'm interested in the entire list are DMC4 and AC4. Even so, neither are enough to make me interested in blowing $600.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
You know, even after preveiwing, I neglected to check the title. That should be "and where are the 27?" - there doesn't appear to be a list.
Blah. I'll blame it on having skipped my morning coffee.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
...is why Sony doesn't have any playable titles yet. Are they not ready? Do they not want to show off an unfinished game? If they're not ready now, are they going to be ready for launch? This doesn't really speak well for their readiness for a November launch. At this point, the launch titles should at least be playable to a point, and the remaining development should be mostly finishing touches and bug fixes. I just don't get where Sony is going with this whole "no playable titles" thing. Anyone want to bet on if they'll actually be able to deliver playable titles at the Tokyo Game Show?
Everything I say is a lie. Except that... and that... and that, and that, and that, and that... and that.
Nintendo and Sony showed next to nothing at the conference... The two games Nintendo showed were already rumored (and in the case of Strikers had been announced the week before, albeit only semi-officialy). Sony delayed their conference (although that wasn't mentioned in the summary) and then apparently showed next to nothing (unless their conference STILL hasn't happened)... Microsoft had the most announcements, but they don't exactly have any reason for secrecy as they aren't currently riding on a wave of hype--they're trying to create one (without much success...) Microsoft jumped the gun when they launched the 360, but in doing so they put pressure on Sony and that's showing as Sony's armor currently seems to be crumbly fairly quickly, partially due to their own ego but also because they're trying to meet a launch window that appears to early. Nintendo seems to have the only console that's ready--with a large number of quality launch titles (and other quality titles to come in the first year), a growing 3rd party developer group, and a system that they've been manufacturing for at least a month and recently increased production of (and without the hardware worries of their competitors since they're using fairly standard/very stable tech--as opposed to bleeding edge).
That's not to count Sony out, they have the mindshare still and they more than likely have either at least one more "surprise" or they'll have some lie they'll tell to convince the stupid people (at least 75% of the population) that nothing can beat the PS3. Microsoft has a decent foothold in the North American market, but they just haven't done enough to win over the other markets--although they're trying (the exclusive rights to FIFA for a year and the Japanese RPGs are steps forward... but it, sadly, probably won't be enough...)
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No no no... the SYSTEM is going to be ready in November. There's been little discussion on which games will be released.
And the number of games near the final version is small, definatly not 27. More like high teens.
What makes you believe the PS3 will fare any better?
The XBox 360's biggest problems are that $400 is a lot to pay for a console (historically speaking $300 is more then most people spend on a gaming system), and all the games that are released for it are clones or rehashes of previous generation titles with prettier graphics; the problem isn't that the words Microsoft and XBox appear on the packaging as some fanboys would assume. Games on the XBox 360 don't play any differently then games on the XBox did, and the graphics when compared to Resident Evil 4 (which everyone knows "cheated") do not look revolutionary.
All of this can also be said about the PS3.
Basically, if you want to see what people are used to from a generational leap play a Playstation game followed by a PS2 game, or an N64 game followed by a Gamecube game, and you'll notice massive improvements in graphics, physics, AI, environment size and environment interactivity. Now play an Playstation 2 game followed by and XBox 360 game, you'll notice that the graphics became much prettier but that (overall) the game plays basically the same.
What is keeping people away from the XBox 360 is that you're paying more for less of an improvement then they have had from every previous generation; people will avoid the PS3 for the same reason.
I pretty much agree.
I think of it this way:
With the Playstation/Saturn/N64 generation, we were introduced to "3D games". But they didn't look that great. Well, the N64 looked pretty good, but it was hampered by using cartridges instead of CDs.
With the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation, we didn't get any new *types* of games, but we got *good-looking* versions of the games we had on the previous generation. And they really did/do look good.
Now with this generation, we get *better looking* versions of the games we have been playing. But they're the same types of games, and they don't look all that much better. It feels like we're getting a relatively minor cosmetic upgrade, though the online features are nice. And the price! The 360 and PS3 are ridiculously expensive.
The Wii, of course, *will* have new types of games, and still will look great, and is likely to be the cheapest. Which is why I think it will sell pretty well.
I have been confused about why Sony has been so quiet. True, the annoying PSP marketing campain never seems to end, and there are still some good titles coming to the PS2 (Scarface, GoW 2), but when it comes to the PS3 and it's launch, Sony has been way too quiet.
Isn't this about time where they should be ramping things up? I mean, MS just launched the first true next gen titles for the 360 (Dead Rising, Saints Row), shouldn't Sony be flaunting their great next gen exclusives (Assassin, MGS)?
The problem is that Sony has 27 titles that are close to playable, and none of them are killer apps. Devil May Cry 4 looks like the only decent title that will be available at launch, and the other titles that look good also look like they're a long way off. So what does that leave Sony left to talk about? Yep, they will launch in time for Christmas!
Personally, I think that they're still reeling from the 3-fingered-shocker that is XNA. I think that Microsoft's XNA software package is the straw that broke the camel's back. Everything that Microsoft had done to try and gain an edge just didn't seem like it was enough until XNA was announced.
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
You'll be able to develop shaders and compile directly to managed code which, yes, is a VM but don't let that confuse you with "access to the the hardware". This sounds like it will be much better than the POS PS2 Linux box that said "OMG you can make games" when really you couldn't do much of anything you'd need to do to make a "real" game. MS has said that you'll be able to make games worthy of professional titles with the kit, and is pushing the exact same tech for developers to use in XBLA games.
What? Have you even seen "Dead Rising?" Definitely not the same old XBox,,,
Political correctness is the newest form of slavery.
I really hope the Wii outputs at least 854x480...
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
With the Playstation/Saturn/N64 generation, we were introduced to "3D games". But they didn't look that great. Well, the N64 looked pretty good, but it was hampered by using cartridges instead of CDs.
With the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation, we didn't get any new *types* of games, but we got *good-looking* versions of the games we had on the previous generation. And they really did/do look good.
Moreover I believe it has been the natural trend in videogame consoles since I have memory:
0. Atari 2600 et. al.
1. NES/Sega Master System: New Technology/new kind of games [Compared to Atari, games that "have an end"]
2. SNES/Sega Genesis: Sligthly better technology/same kind of games [Compared to 1, more backgrounds, more pixels, etc]
3. N64/PSX/Dreamcast: New Technology/New kind of games [Compared to 2, Real 3D, new kind of input (analog joystick)]
4. GC/PS2/Xbox: Slightly better technology/same kind of games [Compared to 3, same input, sligthly better graphics and 3D, net play was the only new thing]
5.
a) Xbox360: Slightly better technology/same kind of games [Compared to 4 - Xbox, better graphics and better network play]
b) PS3/Wii: New technology/New kind of games [Compard to 4, Wii has a completely new kind of input while Sony has input improvement, new kind of gameplay].
From my point of view, the real "next generation" comes every 2 iterations. And, considering that each time the consoles life span is smaller a "new generation" is not what it was before.
Now, one thing to note is that this "2 iterations" thing is independent for each vendor, for example, sony had the PS1 and PS2 which where, the transition was not a real "next generation", now with the PS2 to PS3 there will be a transition. Nintendo has been doing the same since the NES/SNES, N64/GC Wii/??. Also with the handelds: GB/GBPocket GBLight/GBColor GBA/GBASP DS/DSLite.
On this line we have Microsoft whose first console was Xbox, and their "next gen" console is what I would call the "half" generation step. It is their next console the one that will truly be different from the Xbox.
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MS has so far done a decent job of convincing the internet world that the xbox360 is relevent, but the real world isnt buying. the US is not respresentative of the world. even the psp, a console that the internet would have you believe is 'dying', sells better than the xbox360 worldwide. it can't match the sales of a handheld console thats older and theoretically should be having its sales trail off slightly by now? psp sales are still brisk, but xbox360 sales are the ones that are trailing off. i dont think that sony is losing too much sleep over the xbox360 anymore.
outside of the new zelda game, what other titles would you consider to be quality launch games for the wii? i see a bunch of interesting games and nintendo has a decent track record, but until you actually play through it is hard to automatically assume which games are quality.
the same argument that most people have here against sony titles also hold true for the others. question everything, not just sony.
maybe not, but what is there in dead rising that would prevent it from being ported down to the xbox? the only limiting factor is the amount of onscreen activity. the graphics can be dulled down a bit, and the game would have been the exact same.
what the OP was trying to say is that at least with the ps3 and wii you have the option to have a somewhat unique experience. there is some form of upward progression that is different from just spec increments.
I stated that the 360 was less than a stellar success and that Microsoft was trying desperately to fix their mistake of launching worldwide too early by trying to find things that appeal to gamers outside of North America (but it's too little, too late). Sony, being the current market leader, should be prepared for a greater level of criticism then their underdog competitors--when you're #1 everybody turns a critical eye to you trying to find the weakness in your armor. And as for Sony not seeing the 360 as a threat anymore, that's probably partially true... but it's also true that if they delayed the launch by another year and really made the PS3 ready in terms of a large supply and a large array of launch titles they could very well lose the North American dominance position altogether and with a year delay possibly even see the 360 gain at least a foothold in other regions. To completely ignore a competitor, even an "insignificant one" is a bad business decision. Admittedly I was considerably less critical of Nintendo, but in terms of publisher reputation they have the best reputation out there in terms of consistently releasing high quality titles. And it depends on how you define "launch titles" as sometimes "launch titles" can be anything within the first few months of the console's life--in which case I'm looking forward to not only Zelda, but Metroid Prime 3 (which is slated for launch day), Mario Strikers, Mario Galaxy, Red Steel (launch day), Super Smash Brothers Brawl, hopefully eventually a new Pikmin (although that hasn't been announced...), possibly Rayman: Raving Rabits, Wii Orchestra (as long as I can find it for $30 or less), Excite Truck, etc. I will say though that the "wiimote" is a huge risk because I've seen similar technology used in VR CAVES and tracking is often an issue (and this is in much more expensive equipment... but the trackers also are a couple years old) so unless Nintendo has found a solution to the tracking issue we could be seeing the next VirtualBoy.
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