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Some Truth to Wii as GameCube 1.5?
Newsweek's N'Gai tackles the allegation that the Wii is a glorified GameCube. He specifically looked at recent comments by Microsoft's Robbie Bach saying that 'the video graphics on it aren't very strong; the box itself is kind of underpowered; it doesn't play DVDs; there are a lot of down-line components [that] aren't actually that interesting. ... They don't have the graphics horsepower that even Xbox 1 had. So it makes sort of the comparison set a little bit difficult.' LevelUp spoke with a pair of technical experts at third party publishers and learned that, essentially, Bach's comments about horsepower are accurate. However, "the 'Gamecube 1.5' moniker, while accurate, doesn't mean that gamers won't see graphical improvements on the Wii. 'There are three main differences which will result in graphics improvements. One, the increased memory clock speed, from 162 megahertz to 243 megahertz, means that it is easier to do enough pixels for 480p mode versus 480i. Two, the enhanced memory size of the Wii gives much more room for image-related operations such as anti-aliasing, motion blur, etc. The performance to these memory systems from the graphics chip is also improved. So full-screen effects and increased texture usage seem likely as a result.'"
You need to get a component video cable.
If you have one, I can only assume that your TV is badly calibrated--did you go through Zelda's calibration screen?
On my HDTV, Zelda is beautiful--even the twilit world, which looks like TRON at sunset. I don't have any trouble spotting (and collecting) insects either.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
You are right that it is not a zero-sum game. However, MS has sold 9.64 million Xbox 360s, compared to Nintendo selling 6.92 million Wiis. Looking at life span, the Wii is 6 months old, the Xbox360 is 18 months old. That means the Wii has sold an average of 1.15 million Wiis each month, compared to the Xbox360 selling an average of 0.54 million per month. That is to say, over the life of the console, the Wii is selling more than twice as many consoles as the Xbox360. Granted, the first few months are always higher in sales, so the Wii's numbers are skewed slightly higher relative to the Xbox360, but in order for the Wii to fall to an average of 0.54 million per month, they would have to sell only 2.72 million units in the next 12 months. That's equal to their current monthly average over the course of two months. IOW, the Xbox360's sales are weak, comparatively.
Stop Global Warming!
Just say no to irreversible processes!
What do you think SIXAXIS is, if not an attempt to steal Wii's thunder with a motion sensitive controller?
But you know what? It actually isn't that easy to throw something together like the Wiimote, to write the software libraries so developers can make the most use of the input, to tune those first-party games so that the controller feels as natural as possible.
Sony chose to spend their development time integrating the Cell while Nintendo decided to spend their development time on the controller. That was the bed Sony made, and now they must lie in it. They had your idea, to try to hack something together quick-like to try to "stillborn" the wii, and the best they could do was acceleration detection only in a two-handed controller, which is only used to good effect in games like Flow.
So how well did this strategy work for Sony? How many Wii sales do you think were lost? Is it clear that the Wiimote is an integral part of the console, while it is the SIXAXIS that is the gimmick? And do you really think that rushing off to make a full-fledged wiimote ripoff so it's ready by the end of the year would have even the slightest chance of making the Wii "stillborn" when it's already sold several times more than the PS3 and is likely to be even further ahead by christmas 07?
The enemies of Democracy are