Slashdot Mirror
Can the Wii U Survive Against the PS4 and Xbox One?
An anonymous reader writes "Now that both Sony and Microsoft have announced their next-gen consoles, and we've gotten solid information about their hardware, technology, and features, Eurogamer asks whether Nintendo's struggling Wii U will be able to hold its own once the new competition arrives. 'Wii U has tanked — there's no other way to put it — with even the release of traditional big-hitters like Dragon Quest 10 failing to make a dent in the Japanese market. If you believe certain analysts, April saw things getting even worse in the U.S. with the Wii U shifting under 40,000 units, easily outsold by the 360 and PS3 — and, even more embarrassingly, the Wii.' If the Wii U doesn't see a miraculous turnaround, Nintendo may be left with the difficult choice of whether to port its software to competing consoles. It'll also serve as a bellwether to see if the big gamer complaint about the new Sony and Microsoft consoles — that they're only partly about games — is honest. 'At a time when the goal of its competitors is to own the living room, the extent of Nintendo's ambition is simply to be in it — a dedicated games console, and no more.'"
... can the game industry survive expensive AAA games?
THQ recently went bankrupt, EA's stock has taken a huge dump from past highs and activision survives mainly by WoW and Call of duty. At this point the next console generation is the least interesting console generation in a long while. Since games have become some multi-headed hydra of trying to be a jack of all trades, master of none in order to sell games to the lowest common denominator. Most modern games are little more then movies /w over simplified gameplay at this point.
A revolution in tools is needed to scale back team sizes and game development costs and that's decades away. If anything the game industry is probably the most out of touch industry looking for fast $ by releasing games too early with little to no changes.
All those "classic" 8-bit games -- Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Archon -- became classics not because of the awesome graphics they packed into a ROM space too small for a fucking To Do list for your mother these days but because of the gameplay. Compare and contrast with Clickfest Diablo 3.
Tanking? Nintendo are out there not resting on their laurels and working on the one thing that leads to long-term success. Or do you play Minecraft for the incredible graphics experience only achievable with a €3,000 rack of graphics cards?
Can't think of what to write without going insane with all the restrictions on the xbox one, so I'm just going to say that it's a bad decision. I won't even comment on the Wii considering it's useless. The ps4, hey I all ready have my bluray player in my PS3. The halo series has been going downhill, I couldn't even muster getting myself through all of the last halo game and the 13th release or whichever one we're on with call of duty, not worth it for that arcade game to invest in a new $500 console.
I will buy into the platform that lets me buy and sell used games openly, without paying a tax to the mothership.
I buy maybe 1 or 2 games a year for my xbox 360 and I buy them all used because I play to relax and to me Halo 3, 4, 5, 6 whatever all look pretty much the same, I run, I shoot I am happy. That said, I will ony buy a next gen console that allows me the freedom to do two key things:
1: Loan games to friends, and play games that I am loaned
2: Buy and Sell used games freely without paying a pimp fee to MS/Sony/Nintendo/Activision/EA/whoever
Simple as this: if I cant walk into game stop 30-45 days after a title is released and buy it for ~1/2 new price, and sell my 2-3 year old game back for like $5 to lower that cost a bit more, then I just wont game at all because its too expencive for what it is. Again, I have plenty of disposable income, so it isn't an affordability thing, its a value issue.
Yes. Yes it will.
Consoles in general are going the way of the dodo. This all-in-one media center thing is pretty stupid, you can get a nettop/boxee/android based player for 50-100 bucks that can do all the advanced interactive media features Microsoft and Sony are so excited about (play netflix and youtube).
I don't know if people are stupid enough to pay 5-6 hundred to Microsoft or Sony for the same functionality.
I don't expect to see record breaking sales from any of the big three consoles. But Nintendo is smart to keep the cost down (oh noes hardcore gamerz, it doesnt have 32 core mega gigablips), and trade off their in house titles.
Nintendo consoles end up in kids bedrooms, not living rooms. Things will pick up for them after a price drop. Nintendo doesn't need to outsell Sony or MS, they play their own game. They just need to sell enough to keep pushing out the Mario and Zelda titles.
Considering that sales of the Wii U have *spiked* since the Xbox One announcement, I think it's pretty clear that Nintendo can survive.
What's different about this generation? That most third-party games are ignoring the Wii U? Guess what - that happened with the Wii and Gamecube (to a lesser extent) as well. No good launch titles? Look at the 3DS - dead on arrival, but it's picking up, and while it's not the runaway success of the DS, it's no failure.
Hell, the only "different" thing about this generation is how badly Nintendo botched the naming (a lot of consumer confusion because "Wii U" sounds more like a new hardware iteration of the Wii than a new console). But fortunately, Microsoft came out with an even worse name for their console.
And Nintendo also has the advantage of having a strong focus on games. Sure, they don't actually have too many actual games right now, but even when talking about the hardware, their message is always "how it makes better games". Compare to Sony's distractions with Youtube uploading or "social gaming", or to Microsoft's "it's a set-top Windows 8 box that also plays Call of Duty" abomination of a conference.
But there's one fundamental reason why Nintendo can survive Sony and Microsoft - they don't care. Most Nintendo console owners buy them to play Nintendo games, which isn't the case for Sony or Microsoft consoles. First-party games might boost the other consoles up, but they always exist as much to play third-party games as first-party.
So the only threat to Nintendo is... Nintendo. Which, admittedly, it a pretty big threat right now - a lot of their recent games have been going downhill (Skyward Sword, Other M), and they haven't yet come up with a good killer app for the Wii U.
I would be extremely happy of being able to play the next Mario on something else than a Nintendo console. I bought the Wii just for Super Mario Wii, I loved the game, but now I have a white piece of plastic doing nothing underneath my TV.
It's not going to happen, but it would be very nice.
My wife and I played the shit out of this level over the weekend trying for hours to get the best score we could and claim a gold trophy. For me it’s a classic platformer with incredibly tight controls and beautiful graphics. For her it’s a touch based game similar to something you might play on the iPad.......
I have been married to my wife for 13 years and I cannot remember a time before this weekend that we un-ironically high fived. When we finally got the gold trophy we leapt up and slapped hands like two dudes at a flag football game. I will say that it took us hours of trying the same level over and over again before we got there though. There was a lot of communication that had to happen. “is it better for you if I leave this platform up or down?” “Should I run through this part or slow down before I jump?” There was were mistakes made by both of us. “Sorry, that was my fault I missed that wall jump.” “Crap I didn’t lower that spike wall in time, my bad.” and there were a couple (joking?) threats of divorce. At the end when we had the gold trophy I tweeted that it was the greatest thing we had ever accomplished as a couple. Someone asked about our kids and I said I was including the kids.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
in about 2-4 years the next console will hit the market, and all the fanboys will be over the new thing once again.
consume, dont think.
Except it was 7 years between consoles this last round. No wonder you posted as a coward.
Be seeing you...
There's simply been no compelling games for the system - and I'm saying that as a fan of most big-hitter Nintendo games, who has purchased all the previous major systems to play those big games, and a large number of the more quirky third party titles and RPGs too.
No Metroid Prime games (haunting and epic), no Mario Galaxy games (wonderful and diverse exploration), no Zelda games (charming and intricate systems to explore), no compelling RPGs over here at least (Dragon Quest, etc.), and nothing interesting like a Kirby game. Even the one captivating game I played at PAX - Pikmin 3 - hasn't even been released yet.
All I've noticed has been lame party games, shameless re-releases, cross-ports, and a freakin' zombie game. Even more for the download titles.
That is precisely a system that should not sell well.
If they wanted to sell this system, there's a risky thing they could do though - open up a downloadable game section devoted to indies, and release a quality free SDK. Only let them be free downloads, but allow an optional (based on developer intention) greenlight-style voting mechanism for them to become sold in the marketplace, with multiple voting questions like "is this game bug-free enough to be a professional product?" THEN, you can charge the indie developer for an in-house testing cycle and you can end up having something more than re-releases to remind people about. This likely wouldn't be acceptable to staunch managers from a software 'piracy' perspective, but if the system is selling so poorly - really, lure the potential pirates in, and let a community of indie developers convert them into paying customers.
Ryan Fenton
Why the knock on the One not being dedicated to games? The thing has nearly the same specs as the PS4, meaning it's got plenty of power, it's got a monster network infrastructure in Live, so why shouldn't we expect it to be capable of other things, like firing a warning shot towards AppleTV? Would those people who want a pure gaming system be happier with an Atom-based console with a monster video chip?
It didn't survive against the XBox 360 and PS3 .. there's no way it'll survive consoles 2 generations ahead of it.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The Wii U's biggest competitor is the Wii. I have the Wii, and I really don't see the point in getting a Wii U. The Wii is kind of special, at least I use it to play games together with others, in the living room.
As I understand it, the U makes it possible to continue playing if somebody wants to use the TV... Eh. But if we're playing together, why would one of us suddenly demand to sit down and watch TV? (also, the only "TV" we watch nowadays is Netflix, on the Wii or the PS3).
Nintendo is not Sega. It has plenty of hit first party titles and franchises and knows how to execute them well, Wii U is only selling poorly because such titles have not been released, or even announced, yet.
A few years ago, Nintendo adopted a really bizarre politic of not announcing their own games until a short time before they are ready to launch, so the landscape of the Wii U is completely empty.
The situation will likely change after E3 (or not).
Simply put, the WiiU can survive if they maintain their in-house software. I bought a WiiU, basically, so I could buy the next Zelda game. And Super Metroid for the third time. The problem with the WiiU right now is most of the games available are cross-platform. I could already have those games on the 360. And I do like the 360, and especially enjoy the XBLA, but after seeing the dashboard get more and more cluttered with junk, and reading about Microsoft's noose-tying, shoe-polishing announcement on the XBOX Nao, I'll stay off that sinking ship. And Sony has always been the high-end multimedia platform that Microsoft now wants to copy, which isn't my boat. I don't need the most powerful system if all it plays are Greened out military shooters and Dance Beat 16; I play retro classics and puzzle adventure games. So to sum up, Sony people will buy the PS4. Die-hard Xbox fans will buy, and be disappointed by the Xbox One. And Nintendo owners will make the switch if Nintendo puts out a few more quality games that only play on the WiiU.
My kids are too young to play the Wii-U and they can barely play anything but Mario Kart. I hope the big N can hang on for a few more years.
And I'm still up in the air about a PS4, and definitely not getting an Xbox One, so it's at least in contention. Ultimately it will come down to the games, like it always does. Nobody thought the DS could compare with the PSP, and then the games came out and everybody realized what was important.
I got the feeling the Wii U was... like the Wii but with a U... not terribly new and exciting. But maybe it's still picking up pace, just like 3DS was for a while before reaching the current sales which are pretty decent. Perhaps handhelds will be Nintendo's only focus eventually?
Signature intentionally left blank.
Look, it's not about graphics. It's not about some shooter some other console has. It's about the fact that you can spend money on their console, have it break, and be out all the money you spent, or beg Nintendo for help. It's about the fact that if you transfer your games from a Wii (Assuming it works, which apparently it frequently doesn't) then it bricks your Wii. That's like saying once you buy a ps4 your ps3 will refuse to turn on again. It's ridiculous.
I won't touch their consoles again until they tie online purchases to a proper account that can be transferred to other consoles. Otherwise it is a disaster waiting to happen and money down the drain.
Same ol' games, same ol' consoles, same ol' doom and gloom. The problem is software, and always will be. If the gaming industry hopes to pull in more customers, they'll have to try something different that brings about new and exciting gameplay.
Stagnation aside, anonymous surmises that even DQX couldn't sell Wii U's. What a shitty example of why the Wii U is under-performing. A port of a game that launched last year for the Wii isn't making consoles fly off the shelves? Shocking. Wait until Nintendo's core titles come out, and then, if the system is doing poorly, you can panic. Not having EA's full support will definitely hurt the Wii U too, but ports from EA have never been Nintendo consoles' bread and butter.
What the Wii U desperately needs is a Wii Sports type of game that pulls in a ton of new players to the gaming industry. I don't expect Sony or Microsoft to expand the player base, so for the sake of the future of video games, I sure hope Nintendo has something up their sleeves.
The problem with Android is limited controls. No keyboard/mouse, no dpad, no buttons, not a convenient form factor. It greatly limits the type of games it can play. It can soak up a good amount of the casual market, but there's a market for something more. You can make a phone with those controls built in, but Sony tried that with the Experia Play and didn't do too well.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Yes, the games are less exciting and on a smaller screen, but the devices are nearly ubiquitous right now, and the games are a fraction of the price of a console game. People get used to paying $0.99 for Plants vs. Zombies, then wonder why it costs $20 for the same game on the Xbox? Add the possibility of similar bargains and freedom with the upcoming Ouya (but on a larger screen), and suddenly, these consoles and their respective games seem massively overpriced for what you get. Yes, they offer a richer experience. Is it worth 10 times of the cost of a similar iPad version? That's what consumers are grappling with right now. Add in the fact that the console makers treat their customers like garbage, and many people are saying, forget it. I'll just play games on my phone.
All Nintendo has to do to sell a console of release a new Mario game, new Mario Kart game, new Zelda game and hint at a new Smash Bros game and boom; Instant profits, regardless of how little the sequel differs from the previous installment.
I'm not even anti-Nintendo, I'm just anti-cowardice and god knows Nintendo doesn't want to take chances. Can you imagine a world where a flagship Zelda game gets released with a female version of Link as the main character. I can't.
And this belief that Nintendo won't charge you for used games is silly. Once the precedent is set-up you'll see how quickly Nintendo adopts a similar strategy. They are a business, not your best friend.
Just about anything's going to win against the Xbone. I'm not putting up a dime for it and if casual and bros want to buy it they can, but it won't be a machine for gamers. Given the option of buying an NES or an Xbone I'd buy an NES, and since there is a lovely new release of one I can. The Wii U may or may not be able to handel the PS4. If the PS4 does the same thing with Used Games and Lending that MS has done then Wii U wins. Really the 3DS was in hot water and Nintendo now has it on the route to success. They can pull off the same hat trick or survive the same way they did with the Game Cube.
The problem with the Wii U is that Nintendo did not go after a Kinect-like interface. I buy our video-game system for my kids and right now they are happy with the Wii but as the new games migrate to the next generation of consoles we will have to upgrade. From what I have seen Micro$oft One is going to be the choice. My son likes jumping around like an idiot while he is playing games. The online portion of the One looks much more robust than Wii U as well.
Which one is the one of the three that allows used game sales? (To the point of EA refusing to work with them when they refused to let EA block used game sales on their own?)
Wii U? ... Yeah, ok. Good luck with your XBox One ("Now with less games"(tm) ) and Playstation 4 ("Oh god we forgot the games.") purchases.
It's this article. Again. That I see every single generation, both portable and console. It's this simple. Nintendo knows it's power exists in first-generation titles, and it will never publish its A-list properties on other consoles. And as long as they don't, they will never fail. I'm sure someone will, or already has, argued the VirtualBoy against the idea of Nintendo's continued success, and of course there's some merit there, but lets be honest, they were simply ahead of their time. After all, here we are a decade or two later, and what's the rage? A true 3D portable. I could also argue that they're basically the only company still creating/publishing games that still hold to the old premise of gaming: that games should be fun - but that is admittedly opinion. And yes, I own a PS3 and an X360 - they are entertaining, in their own right. But none of their titles seem to induce that giddy Saturday morning feel of childhood quite like a Zelda game, or Smash Brothers. Add in the fact that Nintendo produces the most polished and least buggy titles on the market, and... yeah. I think I'll buy a Wii U. Sony and their flat out abuse of their user base, and Microsoft and their pouting over 3rd party sales - can take a next gen dive.
The Wii U is failing for one reason only: it is a truly awful product - an unmitigated design fiasco for which Nintendo deserves some special punishment in the market. Why? Let me count the ways. The wifi implementation is a complete disaster (maybe the antenna?) Sitting right next to an old Wii, the U failed to connect to wifi (read the endless online complaints about this) - it took hours just to do the initial OS update (I used to set up networks for a living.) The device itself is painfully slow in the simplest interaction - click a menu option and you can sit and wait for ten seconds or more to get a response - it is like the entire GUI is written in interpreted basic running on some early edition x86 ... The U console is a neat idea, but terribly implemented - if you're playing old Wii games the entire device enters some primitive emulation mode, and the U console becomes inactive. Conversely, if you're using the U, the Wii motes become inactive. Unlike on the old Wii that plays DVDs or the PS3 that plays Blu-Ray, the Wii U has no such utility. Wii Motion Plus is still not standard, etc.etc. Fortunately the market for game systems is pretty efficient, and customers are clearly voting with their wallets against this turkey.
The worst thing about the wii u is the released it before having a solid set of games. That will be resolved and it will be a good games console with a solid line up of Mario, Zelda, etc games. The xbox wants to be a cable tv box and won't let you give away games to friends. Anyone with half a brain who is a gamer won't buy it.
one thing I noticed with the Wii compared to the previous nintendo consoles and PS1 and PS2 I have is the lack of good gameplay. Even the mario games were poor as each level seemed to be too similar to the previous, either that or just difficult but not thought out to make it fun. I don't really care for graphics, as most of the best games I play daily today were made over 10-15 years ago. What I do care about is something to get me interested in playing, and graphics alone will not do that. With the other consoles moving to always on play its not a new console nintendo needs but better games, the Wii and Wii-U have enough power to be a success with good gameplay.
The problem with Android is limited controls. No keyboard/mouse, no dpad, no buttons, not a convenient form factor.
Who told you that shit? You can use gamepads, several work fine. You can use keyboard/mouse, even on many phones! Lots of them have usb host mode and you can plug a powered hub into them and start adding devices if you like. Android has support for USB ethernet devices, fer chrissake. You have no idea what you're talking about. See also: Ouya, Gamestick
You can make a phone with those controls built in, but Sony tried that with the Experia Play and didn't do too well.
Sony shit on the Xperia Play so as not to compete with the PSP. They promised an ICS update for the entire Xperia line, then withdrew it citing problems with gaming. The community has revived it and literally the only problem is some issues with the touchpad driver which are caused by Sony being too lazy to update the driver to work reliably with ICS. Also, the phone has tragic ergonomics as a gaming controller. It is kind of OK to play if you're standing or sitting upright. Further, you will need to replace your screen protector approximately every two weeks if you want to game in full sunlight and you don't take any special care of your phone. Users who have removed the protector and left it off have not experienced scratching, as the glass is very good, but some have experienced digitizer failure. Others have noticed that it is extremely prone to moisture-related failure, which may be related. In short, Sony did not really try very hard with the Xperia Play.
Nobody has ever tried very hard to make a gaming phone. In spite of the many shortcomings of the N-Gage and its successor and the Xperia play, all of these phones still have significant community followings today.
I have a Play because I got it for forty bucks, and refurb'd it. It needed a new back and a new screen protector. It's a pretty mediocre phone. Without community support which has provided a superior kernel including overclocking, it would be crap. Other devices use the same core at 1.5 instead of 1.0 GHz, and it seems to be stable there. Sony didn't bother to test overclocking with their ICS update, either. At best they are incompetent, but more likely they simply shit on the people who bought the Play so as not to compete with the PSP division.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This upcoming generation is going to be a let down and will probably cause many video game developers to lose their jobs. Publishers are getting greedy and customers are tired of being treated like crap. I do see Nintendo just riding the storm since every console they sell is at profit, even if their software selection sucks. Microsoft just loves to put the kiss of death on their products, the used game policy is just one of these. As for Sony, I still don't know how they will do. Sony needs to release the PS4 at $400 if they want to do well this time. The big winner I see this generation is Steam and PC gaming since it seems all the console makers are alienating their customers. If Valve could sell the Steam Box for $400-$500 and include a blu-ray player they would do really well.
Small Correction:
Mobile and Tablets COMPLETELY kill the casual gaming market that was Nintendos way of success with the Wii. They managed to outsell PS3 and XBox 360 because they did target people who normally would not by a game console.
That ship has sailed.
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Android has pretty good Bluetooth support. I am really hoping that before too long some sort of standard Bluetooth-enabled controller will emerge for Android. It just makes sense that it should, because the games are over there, but you're right that controlling the game by mashing up against a corner of the glass display isn't a good gaming experience.
I still have an NES, SNES, N64 and Gamecube. I have owned PS2, Xbox, Xbox360 but not anymore. Could there be a particular reason why I keep my Nintendo systems and not my Sony or Microsoft systems? Yes, the games on the PS2, Xbox, Xbox360 are not fun, they will never be "classic" aside from maybe Halo (in my opinion). No one is going to look back and be like "Man, MW2-Extra FPS rage edition was a classic, I want to play that until I die." But they will continue to play Super Mario Bros iterations and The Legend of Zelda saga. That's just half of my 2 cents because I just woke up and saw people semi-flaming my favorite console company of all time. Sorry they don't put out gorey FPS and overly sexy games.
And none of those things are built in. If you need to carry around a keyboard/mouse or gamepad you lose the main advantage of a phone- that you already have it in your pocket. If you're carrying around special equipment you may as well just buy a handheld device.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Spoiler alert: PC > anyshitbox
I agree to a point. However, the new shared-memory architecture of new consoles and high end computing devices opens the floodgates for new types of gamelpay that haven't yet been possible. There are several kinds of game mechanics. The two basic types are designed and emergent. The lower power devices are fine for tightly honed designs of jumping on blocks, logic puzzles, or a even First Person Looking Game (seriously, in a FPS its' just hide and seek with scoring for looking at people more precisely). The low end machines are capable of some types of emergent gameplay (tactics games), but the massively emergent gameplay require a lot more RAM and parallel processing power, by their very nature.
You dodged the flamethrower and knifed the guy in the knee incapacitating him, running past you grab a smouldering stick and use it to set fire to the fuel tank under the guard tower; That falls over on the fence and allows access to the inner compound. We could script all that, but only if we have thought of everything you can possibly do -- Which we can't. These types of emergent physics scenarios can sort of be performed on the CPU, but with a shared memory architecture we can harness unified physics and much more complex AI / damage models. Not just for war games either. Why can't Mario throw the frogsuit at Bowser then stomp him while he's confusedly hopping about without all those spikes on him? Because, emergent gameplay means programming in base rule-sets and seeing what's possible, not
if ( player.item == frogsuit ) doFrogLogic();
Instead:
FrogSuit.touch( actor ){ actor.texture = frogTex; actor.moveLogic = frogLogic; }
The more types of logic logic systems that can interact the more CPU and RAM you need to process and store it all. Mobile and Tablet can serve a certain type o gameplay, but there are other types of gameplay that they can not yet service well. Hell, there are types of gameplay that consoles can't service well either. If the games you like to play are on PC, Consoles or Mobile, that's fine, but Mobile isn't threatening the console market.
If you really must know, what's happening to consoles is the same thing that happened to arcades: General Purpose Hardware. Arcades used to have mechanical machines, one game per box. Then some became digital and programmable. They were still one game per box. Their dedicated setup and higher budget meant that they could provide experiences better than PC or Consoles. Consoles overtook Arcades because they were more general purpose and could thus play many more games on one piece of hardware, they were more accessible and cheaper to play. Imagine playing contra with quarters!? Arcades died, consoles ruled. Consoles' dedicated hardware for games meant they could provide a better experience than PCs (and later, smart phones). However, the PCs more general purpose design meant they could do more, not just games. PCs eclipsed Consoles in terms of specs. Even my 4 year old laptop w/ integrated graphics (min sys req. test rig) beats a 360... Just like the Arcades did, the Consoles will try to compete with the cheaper faster more general purpose hardware, but the end will be the same. There's no reason to spend hundreds of dollars to play Street Fighter and Galaga at an arcade you have to drive to. Very soon (if not already true) there will be no reason to pay more for overpriced dedicated gaming console hardware, you already have a PC. This is why consoles are more PC like, but they can't supplant a PC without becoming a PC. Those who do not heed Moore's Law are doomed to repeat this tale, time and again. Next time the tale will be Mobiles vs PC. Mobiles are just 'lite' PCs with a capital P for Personal Computer.
Wii showed its not about the polygons, its about the fun. DS showed fun can be portable, and Android tablets show it can be delivered on a tablet. Worse the current generation churn out last console standard graphics or better.
So will we even have a console this round?
More likely it will end up as a function of the tablets.
Wii's incredibly low software attach rate and low sales after the initial explosion showed it's not about fun, it's about hype. The data paint a pretty clear picture that people liked to buy the Wii but they never liked to play with it as much as on the other consoles. That's a great sign for business but a bad one for fun.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Yes, the games are less exciting and on a smaller screen, but the devices are nearly ubiquitous right now, and the games are a fraction of the price of a console game. People get used to paying $0.99 for Plants vs. Zombies, then wonder why it costs $20 for the same game on the Xbox? Add the possibility of similar bargains and freedom with the upcoming Ouya (but on a larger screen), and suddenly, these consoles and their respective games seem massively overpriced for what you get. Yes, they offer a richer experience. Is it worth 10 times of the cost of a similar iPad version? That's what consumers are grappling with right now. Add in the fact that the console makers treat their customers like garbage, and many people are saying, forget it. I'll just play games on my phone.
Or they're different markets entirely with very little overlap.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
I have a Wii U. I use it at least some. I have no intention of getting either the PS4 or the Xbox One. This is not unique among gamers I know.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
Thanks for the usual puppeting insight Lord Mike. Crazy how most people who buy consoles aren't in fact interested in playing casual time wasters like the mobile crowd.
Except, of course, the usage statistics on them show the exact opposite. The "hardcore" gamer market isn't big enough for any of the three big console makers to give them much attention. When you've got 10 or 50 casual players for every "hardcore", the investment just isn't warranted. What you do is try to making something good enough for everyone. You'll lose the low end to the tablets and the high end, perhaps, to PC gaming. But you'll make an order of magnitude more revenue.
It'll also serve as a bellwether to see if the big gamer complaint about the new Sony and Microsoft consoles — that they're only partly about games — is honest. 'At a time when the goal of its competitors is to own the living room, the extent of Nintendo's ambition is simply to be in it — a dedicated games console, and no more.'"
This implies (or assumes?) that people who want a gaming-specific system will outright reject anything that does have extra things they don't need, instead buying whatever the latest gaming-focused system is, regardless of quality... And that if they don't, their complaints were false.
That doesn't fit at all. People don't just decide on a choice based on one factor, they find the best fit between several... And, imo, will probably be more inclined to budge on "isn't weighed down with useless functionality" than "doesn't have a cripplingly limited range of mostly gimmicky games". That doesn't make a complaint about the lack of gaming focus valid, it just means its the best of a bad situation. Personally, I've already decided not to bother with any of the next gen systems.
Actually if Valve pulls off their Steambox you'll have the best of both worlds, machines designed to be ready to go out of the box but with multiple vendors competing to lower costs and give you choice. That said its been reported that the PS4 and Xbox Stupid (Sorry I'm not calling it Xbox One, Xbox one was a Celeron 733MHz big green and black box that was easy to hack and make into a media tank, this thing is a corporate DRM wet dream) are both gonna be north of $400 at launch which means frankly you could build or buy a decent PC that can game for roughly the same price only again thanks to competition you can buy the games from multiple vendors which keeps the prices down.
I do wanna know WTF is going on at MSFT though, because frankly if I didn't know any better I'd swear somebody was trying to torpedo the company from within. I mean you take a console, which the whole reason people buy a console over a PC is because all you really need is the console and a TV, hassle free and simple to use, and you then tie a fucking boat anchor of phone home DRM that makes the system into a useless hunk of plastic if it can't call home every 24 hours (Fuck even Steam gives you 30 days between connections with offline mode) but that isn't enough so just to make absolutely sure the system goes down about as well as finding a flaming bag of shit on your doorstep you put a bullshit mechanism that locks every game after a single install behind a paywall? So the only other advantage, the ability to rent games, trade games, and buy used, is completely destroyed in a move so nasty that an antitrust investigation really needs to happen? I'm sorry but if I was told the facts without anything else I'd swear a mole was sabotaging the company.
So I'm just glad I switched my boys over to Steam and PC gaming, because between this and Sony with their "Oh we have the same paywall thing but its up to the publishers whether or not they want to use it" which means spoiler alert! EA and Activision and probably Ubisoft will ALL use this bullshit it has made one thing perfectly clear which Angry Joe in that video points out....there is no longer ANY advantages to owning a console over a PC, and a hell of a lot more downsides. Now you will be forced to install everything to the hard drive (which with the Xbox S is a lousy 500GB like that won't run out damned quickly) and it will ALL be tied to a single account thanks to the DRM...huh...doesn't that sound familiar? Kinda like...ohhh I don't know...Steam only without the MUCH lower prices that make it worth using? Basically they've turned the new consoles into nothing but a PC but expect you to pay console prices for games but with none of the upsides to having a console!
So as for TFA from what I understand the Wii U is the only one that is actually still a console in that you can rent games, trade games, buy and sell used games, the other two are just overpriced PCs. If the Wii U can hit the right price point I can see those fed up with the wallet raping the other two are planning buying the Wii U if they aren't ready to switch back to the PC. Personally I think we are gonna see a new PC golden age as a gaming device, I really do. Never before has it been so simple to hook a PC into a TV thanks to HDMI being everywhere, you can get a much better variety of design in controllers that will work with the PC, and thanks to Valve and the Steambox you'll be able to walk into any Worst Buy or Wally World (as well as any mom & pop shop like mine) and just look for the Steam sticker and know it'll game right OOTB. And most importantly thanks to competition you'll have plenty of choices when it comes to where you buy your game, hell if you never wanted to spend a dime you have an endless amount of FTP games to choose from. Being on a PC has never been better and these companies are shooting themselves in the head by focusing on how they can wring every penny instead of making a compelling product, PCs are gonna be THE way to game IMHO.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
How is a Steambox any less of a "corporate wet dream" than the Xbox One? Just like with the One, you can't sell games or let other people borrow them. At least the Xbox One will let other people in your house play; the Steambox won't even do that.
Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
Yet the console makers have historically been opposed to micro-ISVs developing for their platforms, like when Nintendo rejected Bob's Game because Robert Pelloni couldn't demonstrate the trappings of a "legit" business. Among seventh-generation console makers, Microsoft was the most indie-friendly with XNA on Xbox 360. Have the console makers announced their plans for courting indie developers this generation? Or are PCs ready to open up to genres traditionally associated with consoles, such as fighting games, party games, and cooperative platformers?
No, make that five. Steam Box adapts the existing PC standard, and Ouya adapts the existing Android standard.
Sure it will, they just have to play under your account.
The Steambox will have an operating system + Steam, and as far as I know the operating system won't be locked down. So you can install any third party software you want on it.
Psst. The GameCube was more powerful than the PS2 (but less so than the Xbox.) Seriously, try getting some multiplatform games and running them side by side on the two.
Square-Enix had a hissy fit and stopped making Nintendo games for a while, but you forget S-E has two major RPG franchises - and the last two games in the 'other' one have been Nintendo exclusive, and they've made a crapton of side titles in that series on recent Nintendos.
I don't consider playing under my account a viable option. That means that their save files, preferences, and achievements become intermingled with mine.
Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
The Wii also never played DVDs
Not officially at least. But the first few drive chip versions also supported DVD media, and some apps were released for the Homebrew Channel to play DVD Video.
I'm definitely back with my PC after a brief flirtation with my 360. Whole multitude of reasons:
PC is 'better' - long current console generation means even a modestly priced PC can spank any console.
Steam - Only service that actually delivered on it's promise of a 'digital-dividend'. Getting hold of a new game easy and usually cheap. Steam sales are a frenzy of gluttony for anything I've ever vaguely been interested in. Consoles whilst able, have been gutted by desire to keep publishers happy (I don't think it's possibly to download anything on my Vita that isn't £10 more expensive than buying the physical game from Amazon). Unlike many people (or at least vocal people), I'm fine with the killing of the 2nd hand game market - I just want to get something back in return.
Back to the subject, I think the WiiU is dead in the water - the people who Ninty brought into gaming with the Wii are now feasting on their ipad games. Whilst back-porting a touch-screen to a console will probably be 'compatible' with these users, I fail to see how this is going to get them to bin the ipad that they own.
PS4 - I dunno, just seems more of the same with a few bolted on software features - "share to youtube!"... oh ffs. Play a game as it downloads! (I can do this anyway, and I suspect I'm not going to be buying any digital games from you, see above).
Xbox One I think has a chance - and for some of the features it's being bashed for. I feel the TV component is going to be the seller for a couple of reasons. Most of us have a laptop/tablet/phone to hand as we watch, and I refuse to believe anybody out there hasn't scrabbled to see "what else was that guy in?". Additionally, rather than being a host for video clients, this Xbox seems to have it baked in deeper. I can easily see when you upgrade your cable subscription, you'll be offered a basic box, a Tivo or a XBOne. As happens in the mobile market, there'll be the contract and the physical client (which 'only costs a few dollars a month') - ffs they could even chuck a discounted family gold account in, along with your movie package.
Oh - and something that's been touched in is the fact what you see is a VM running - one for the game, and one for your TV. With my thinking hat on, this is ideally designed to allow what I mentioned above. The 'Game' VM is identical for all users and upgraded by MS - the 'Media' side can be customized for your cable operator.
Just realized I've wandered completely off-topic - but I guess it's mainly when I look (or even think about) the Wii-U, I'm not sure where it fits in - WHO is the target market?
However, the new shared-memory architecture of new consoles
What "new shared-memory architecture"? Nintendo 64 had shared memory. So did Xbox and Xbox 360. So do any PCs with "integrated" graphics on the northbridge or CPU.
PCs eclipsed Consoles in terms of specs. Even my 4 year old laptop w/ integrated graphics (min sys req. test rig) beats a 360
The 360's screen is probably bigger,* which allows up to four players holding Xbox 360 Controllers to fit comfortably around the screen. You could plug your laptop into the same HDTV monitor and plug the same controllers into the USB ports, but I'm told most don't.
* I'm referring to physical size measured in diagonal inches, not resolution measured in pixels. A lot of 360 games run at 1024x576, but 1024x576 on a 32" monitor is better for multiplayer than 1920x1080 on a 15" monitor.
But that's just to play the latest versions of Mario, Zelda etc.
Problem is I'm reluctantly to continually buy the consoles for those ~5 games a generation (makes those games damn-expensive).
The games are clearly being used to make me buy the hardware, and finally I think I've had enough.
I still remember Twilight Princess being 'shoved' into the Wii (and then appearing on the GC anyway). Life would be much easier if they just did a Sega.
First off I really get sick of the "well nintendo's system might come in last, so they will go 3rd party". First off if history is anything to go by, that ain't going to happen. Nintendo is as determined and as stuborn as sega. Contrary to popular thought, sega didn't go down after 1 system failure. Sega had 1 success, and a huge series of failures. Genisis, Success, gamegear, failure, segaCD failure, 32x failure, Saturn Failure, Dreamcast, not quite a failure, but not particularly profitable, not enough to pull sega out of it's financial crisis it hit form the previous failures. Nintendo on the other hand, has pretty much profited on every system (possibly with the exception of the virtualboy). Even the systems that failed to overtake the competition, such as the N64 and the gamecube, were profitable. If say the WiiU tanks, and say performs on par with the sega saturn, nintendo is not going to just go 3rd party, it doesn't suit them. Look at sega right now. I don't know why, but them turning 3rd party had a pretty negative impact on their games. People who found it worth it to buy a dreamcast just for the handful of great sega titles, don't even find modern sega titles worth picking up
It's not whether or not the Wii U can compete against the PS4 or the Xbox One, but rather if the eighth console generation will be the last for Microsoft or Sony. Nintendo can weather the shitstorm and is currently doing rather well with both the 3DS and the Wii U, but Sony lost billions on the PS3, and Microsoft lost billions on the defects of the early Xbox 360s. The PS4 has a chance if it's not 599 USD and launches with more than Ridge Racer (rumors abound suggest a PC and PS4 release of GTA V before Christmas), but the Xbox One is barely a game console. The damage control by MSFT is that the announcement was for "getting the boring stuff out of the way," but given how they touted the non-gaming aspects of the system, it looks like Microsoft is just trying to make TiVo and had it backfire.
Android has pretty good Bluetooth support.
It did until Android 4.2, which dropped support for the Wii Remote.
Right, which is why Mercedes should stop making luxury cars and church out Honda Civic knockoffs. Because you always want to hit the lowest common denominator and no higher.
Or, try for different market segments and be a big fish in a small pond.
Does the Xbox One let you download and play any or all purchases you've ever made, on any machine anywhere that you sign into, the way Steam does? Or is it a case of "tough luck, just buy another copy of COD XXVII"?
How is a Steambox any less of a "corporate wet dream" than the Xbox One? Just like with the One, you can't sell games or let other people borrow them. At least the Xbox One will let other people in your house play; the Steambox won't even do that.
you can still warez on steambox.
or buy games from wherever you want.
also, while it's not commonly known you can change personal details on a steam account and you can effectively sell your steam games - but only in a one big gulp.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
If either the Ouya or Gamestick are a success (and that's a fairly big "if"), their gamepads could easily become the defaqto standards. They even have a very similar layout as each other, with the exception of the Ouya's touchpad. Presumably they can both be made compatible with stock Android, since both systems are full and fairly unmodified Android setups.
As someone who has been a lifelong Nintendo owner, I completely disagree.
Nintendo have had an edge on the competition in terms of games quality historically, but this is something they've lost as the generations have gone on. The problem they have nowadays is the new Smash Bros, Zelda, and Metroid titles are the only things they do have, and you just can't build a console around a handful of titles like that. With the Gamecube it could be argued they'd trimmed off the fat and were left with a relatively small set of universally high quality games, but with the move to the Wii, they started cutting off the meat. The game selection for the Wii U is tiny and doesn't look like getting much bigger any time soon, and those franchises you mentioned are all a long way off from appearing. Likewise, PS3/360 have plenty of quality games... more than Wii, certainly... And unless you're buying everything day one, I'm doubtful they're more expensive either.
I'm genuinely sorry, but the Wii U is lost cause. Wii was a success not because it was a good system, but because it made a grab for none-traditional gaming markets and succeeded... But that market isn't as a rule interested in buying a new system now they've got one. Nintendo tried to reach them again, and the result is flatlining sales, and developer support (which they've desperately needed for a decade now) being lost. The Wii original is currently selling more systems per week than the Wii U everywhere but Japan (with sales there still being low), and the combined weekly sales for the 2 systems are lower than the 360, PS3, or 3DS.
You are right in that Sony and Microsoft are going to struggle this time round... they've both made some very risky choices in how they're focusing the systems abilities and how they're handling used games etc... But Nintendo isn't to thank for that, and they're certainly not going to have an easy ride because of it.
While you can certainly argue the Wii U isn't in completion with the PS3 or 360... That doesn't alter the fact that it's just plain failing to sell, entirely on its own merits. Currently, its weekly sales are roughly 15% what the original Wii was selling at the same point in it's lifespan. In fact, its weekly sales are less that the Wii is selling now. You're probably right the the XBox One sales will fail to meet predicted sales, but given one MS guy was saying he thinks over a billion consoles will be sold this generation, that's a pretty easy target to miss!
Just one slightly off topic observation to make. Your subject line and first sentence are about how the Wii U doesn't compete with the other consoles, and should be taken on it's own merit... And then your next sentence goes on to compare them. Leading into broad insulting generalizations about the people who buy them. That's... well, that's an interesting approach.
You'd have to look pretty hard to find a PC comparable in specs to the new consoles for the same price. No doubt someone will come up with a list of parts from newegg 'proving' that you can, without realising that they've conveniently hand-waved away half of the costs of the PC, as well as the fact that outside of the US computer parts are nowhere near that cheap. Or that with a console you get a neat, quiet form-factor that fits on the shelf under your TV rather than a clunking desktop with eighteen fans.
Bear in mind that consoles are not competing against your high-end PC that sounds like a jet engine taking off, but the average PC which is probably a laptop with onboard graphics and Windows Vista. And yes, the average gaming PC has onboard graphics according to Steam.
I say this as someone who's recently bought a new expensive PC and games primarily on PC.
The Xbox 360 already lets you do that with any digital purchases; I see no reason that won't continue with the next generation. We don't know yet whether or not that will apply to retail discs on the One, now that they're being tied to the account like with Steam games.
Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
And none of those things are built in. If you need to carry around a keyboard/mouse or gamepad you lose the main advantage of a phone- that you already have it in your pocket. If you're carrying around special equipment you may as well just buy a handheld device.
So just to be clear, in a conversation on console gaming, you're complaining that Android phones don't have good portable controls. And you want me to believe that this is relevant or that you are actually present and accounted for in this conversation why?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Right, which is why Mercedes should stop making luxury cars and church out Honda Civic knockoffs. Because you always want to hit the lowest common denominator and no higher.
Or, try for different market segments and be a big fish in a small pond.
That's a bad example -- Mercedes is not a luxury brand in much of the world. Their revenue comes from everything from commercial trucks, to small econo-boxes, to more traditional MB American-style luxury.
They wouldn't exist, in 2013, as an independent company that size making limited market cars. That's why virtually all limited market manufacturers are no longer independent. Lamborghini? Part of Audi. Porsche? Volkswagen. Ferrari? Owned by Fiat. Hell, Porsche and Lamborghini vehicles are basically just rebadged versions of their corporate owner's vehicles today, with the number of parts they take from the corporate parts bin.
Even in traditionally "snooty" fields like high fashion, you're seeing designers pushing their brand into the mass market.
Big fish in a small pond doesn't work in the 21st century global economy. If a company if big enough for you to know about, its too big to succeed small market.
it's just an issue of whether or not they want to port over.
Then we'd have to figure out a way to make porting it over attractive to the big game publishers. Otherwise, there'll end up being one box for major label games (one of the big three consoles) and a separate box for indie games (an HTPC or Ouya), and that would push a lot of people to just not buy the box for indie games. Case in point: Mortal Kombat (2011) is on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 but not PC. I imagine that it's easier to port an Xbox 360 game to PC than to PS3 because DirectX for Windows is closer to DirectX for Xbox 360 than libgcm for PS3 is to either. Yet WB chose not to port the game to PC.
Because the games will be so cheap you won't care and will just gift them the game? I have 2 boys as well as myself on Steam and that is what I do, I mean when they are having a daily of all the Deus Ex games for $12 or all the Crysis games for $16 why should I care and not just gift them the game? Hell when they were having the Pre-order for Torchlight II for just $10 and they threw in Torchlight 1 I ended up gifting it to some friends just because Diablo 3 pissed me off with the always online crap and I wanted some buds to play MP with to try to score the really rare loot. I mean when I have nearly nothing but triple A games in my library and the average cost was $6 why should i care? Hell you can't even rent the games for cheaper and its as easy as "push button, choose friend you wanna gift to, push gift" so it really makes it beyond easy.
That is why I won't buy any game that isn't Steam or GOG, its just so damned cheap and easy it is really not worth dealing with anybody else. Sure the new releases are the same price as everywhere else but who gives a crap, there is something like 150,000 games on Steam and new sales every. single. day. which means I could game 16 hours a day and still not play everything so why should i care? Have you even looked at the under $10 section (over 5,000 games last i checked) or under $5 section (over 7,000 last I checked) on Steam?
Hell I have bought so many cheap bundles i still haven't gotten around to playing all the games from the fall sale i got, much less the big Xmas sale. Since my family and friends are on Steam they can easily see what I got so they can go "Happy BDay buddy, enjoy!" and suddenly I have even more games, we can all game together as easily as "hey bro, wanna play?" its just too damned easy and cheap for me to care about things being tied to my account, I can just hit the gift button and there ya go, lets play.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Its been reported that the consoles will be anywhere from $450-$550 at launch, go to Tiger and just buy a SystemMax for $400 and slap any card you want in there and you don't have to put together shit. Hell if your PC is less than 5 years old just slap any $100 card in it and there ya go, you now have a gaming rig.
So while some of us like to go DIY for the savings (built my oldest a hexacore gaming PC for $386 shipped, can't beat that) its not like you don't have a wealth of choices. hell I could link to a dozen PCs on Tiger ready to go for less than $400 that 15 minutes slapping a card in would make into a gaming rig easy peasy, Or if you want to be picky you can just grab the kit you want and take it to any mom & pop shop in your town, most of us are more than happy to slap together Tiger kits for you so that you can pick and choose what you want.
But if you paid a ton unless you went for an i7 you probably got ripped, sorry. Most places slap a 40% markup just to stick the word "gaming" on the PC when in reality all it takes for damned near any machine is a decent card, and lets be honest friend...can you read this post? Then you already have more skills than is required to slap together a Tiger kit as I swear to God they now come with pictures so you don't even have to be able to read. I mean I let my youngest build his own at 12 years old and the only thing he needed from me was to borrow a screwdriver.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Hate to say it, but the only console I'd buy out of the current lineup is the Wii U. Microsoft and Sony have both been nothing but a disappointment in presenting their next console offerings. I don't need another all-in-one media device. I just want to play games and not be bothered by obtrusive DRM. Nintendo may not be the best, but I want fun, and Nintendo usually does fun right.
amazing machines can be had in the 600-800 that give you hardware already outclassing xbox dumb. If your going to make the investment at all why half ass it? For that much more you open the world up, you can have any major title plus all the random shit people have put online, free mmos, games in beta, sales on steam, and you dodge out of the way of some crazy things that happen on consoles that nobody can do anything about (dont skyrim saves on ps3 crash out at some point?). Patches for games with problems can be instantly available. Mods for games can make something as old as morrowind still relevant and beautiful today. In fact most games you have played on a console look absolutely nothing like the pc version.
PLUS, i really dont get the type of person that plays these games and not for a minute wants to see what they look like on the inside. Do you know want to open the tes editor once and poke around? Download the latest versions of UDK or Unity? Or check out the latest open sourced code from older games? Your xbox dumb going to give you that?
Really if games dont matter to you that much why do you bother at all? I just dont get it. If you cant afford just THAT little bit more shouldn't you really be better off working a second job instead of sitting around just mindlessly wasting time?
No it don't, its already been reported with the Steambox you'll be able to go from your PC to the console and back at ANY time hassle free, you buy something through GFWL and even if its also on XBL they make you buy a second copy, that is bullshit.
And we haven't seen how the Xbox S (not calling that damned thing the One, that is just retarded) is gonna handle accounts yet, with Steam if my nephew comes over he can just log into his account on my PC and it'll carry over all his achievements, saves, etc, and with this thing having a piddly 500GB HDD I don't see that working out very well without a LOT of de-authorizing and re-authorizing which is gonna be a PITA. With Steam I went from a 250GB to 500GB to 1TB to 2TB, know what I had to do? Drag the folder over and let Steam hook up, that's it, no registry bullshit, no keys, just drag and drop simple.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I have to disagree, the Wii U is not a lost cause. It has only been out for a bit over 6 months, therefore it is way too early to call it a lost cause. The problem is that Nintendo has yet to bring their A-games to the table. They also have much more than just Smash, Zelda, and Metroid; however they need to actually utilize their huge collection of franchises and IPs in ways other than just occasionally posting an old game to the VC. It would also be smart to give Mario a bit of a break as he seems to be a mascot of solid but mediocre sports games. If they can lure some sales success with their first-party magic, maybe we can get some solid and original third party titles as well instead of crappy ports of old games and the cheap shovelware that the Wii was known for.
I'm not saying that the Wii U is not in trouble, because it is in a seriously bad position. However, to count it out this early in the game is shortsighted at best.
Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
I see. I wasn't thinking in terms of friends, I was thinking in terms of family members. I have one Steam account and my kids and I take turns playing games using it. We just each have our own save files, and we mostly don't care about achievements.
For the situation you describe, I think your concern is valid.
Steam also doesn't provide the all-important "games can be played even if your Internet connection is out for several days" feature.
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Bad? You're improving the example and going right back to where I started: Mercedes should just forget about that niche luxury car market and churn out lowest-common denominator vehicles.
Suuuure. Of course Marketing 101 will tell you that you want to maximize your customer base for your product. It will also tell you to differentiate your product in the marketplace.
Which is why EA makes RPG's and shooters and Sim games. And why independent developers make stuff like Minecraft, when no major studio makes something like it.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-agcb-2555
Most people don't care about the console, they care about the games they can play on it.
That's why the PS4 and Xbox One are not really competitors to the WiiU. If you want to play Super Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart or Smash Bros, you need to get a Nintendo console.
Right now we only have a 2D "New Super Mario". As for the other big "exclusives" : Monster Hunter 3U is also available on 3DS, which seems to be the preferred platform and Dragon Quest X is also available on Wii. It's no wonder the WiiU doesn't sell that well but it says nothing about the future.
Hell I have bought so many cheap bundles i still haven't gotten around to playing all the games from the fall sale i got, much less the big Xmas sale.
Absolutely right. I have so many fire sale games on Steam it will take me until Christmas to play them all.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
Why wouldn't someone else be able to play at your place on a Steambox?
Sign-out-sign-in works quite OK on a standard Steam. I believe it won't be much different there.
How is a Steambox any less of a "corporate wet dream" than the Xbox One?
The OP didn't say it wasn't. He just said Xbox One does not have any advantages to Steambox, just downsides.
Androids aren't gaming consoles to compete with xbox/ps/nintendo. They're portables that compete with the DS et all. And developers writing Android games are targetting phones and tablets which are 99.9% of the android world, writing games that work with the built in input methods- basically touch screens only. Absolutely nobody is writing Android games assuming you're going to attach a bluetooth gamepad or keyboard.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Androids aren't gaming consoles to compete with xbox/ps/nintendo.
Since you have been living under a rock, I will provide you with the keywords to plug into Google: Ouya and Gamestick. Do your homework. Also, there are numerous android devices with HDMI outputs which can be used now to play games on a TV, for example with a Sony PS3 Sixaxis controller paired, or with one of a couple of purpose-made Android game controllers.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No idea what Tiger is, if it's an American company then you've obviously missed the point of my post, in that the US is unique in having cheap computer parts. $100 for a graphics card? That's about £67, good look getting a decent graphics card for that price. Something equivalent to what's in the PS4 would cost well over a hundred quid, i.e. $150. Bear in mind that with unified GDDR5 memory, you'll need at least a 2GB graphics card to get close to what a PS4 can use.
Then you'd need eight gigs of RAM, which runs for about £50 ($75). And do you think your five year old core 2 duo will keep up with modern consoles? What about your old 32-bit operating system? That won't cut the mustard, you'll have to pay the Windows tax to access those eight gigs. Then you'll need a new PSU to provide the juice for all those new components.
If you think you can put together a PC comparable to the new consoles for £270, then you're fucking deluded.
There you go. Maybe my next console will be a Steam after all.
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Heard of Ouya. I expect massive failure, on the Ngage scale. Don't know anyone who wants one. Gamestick isn't even getting enough press to make the radar. Neither of them will get anywhere near the big console makers.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Heard of Ouya. I expect massive failure, on the Ngage scale. Don't know anyone who wants one.
You may well be right about the failure, but lots of people backed them on kickstarter and lots more people have preordered. I am among them. Tegra 3 has power comparable to Wii U, and should play most of the existing base of Android game software which is targeted at NEON.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"