Nintendo systems are kicking butt. That's awesome. I love my Wii (that's what she said) and my DS, and I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for Nintendo from my younger days. They're responsible for my favorite games growing up.
But I don't think those console sales numbers tell the full story. At least not yet. There really does seem to be separate casual and hardcore markets right now. The question is which one is bigger. Out of the 5 people I know who own a Wii, I'm the only one with more than 3 games for it. Everyone else just has Wii Sports, Wii Play, and maybe one of Mario Party/Elebits/Excite Truck. I haven't seen comprehensive numbers, but I suspect that Wii owners buy less software than PS3/360 owners. Look at the monthly sales in the article. Number 1 is NCAA 08 for the 360 (pissed they didn't make a Wii version). I'll be VERY interested to see what Madden sales are next month.
Part of that theory is that I think many Wii owners bought the system as an electronic board game. To play Wii Sports and so forth with their friends. They're content with 2 or 3 such games. The hardcore crowd is instead going to buy at least 1-2 immersive, live-in-the-basement-and-eat-Hot-Pockets-type games per month. And arguably, Wii just now finally got its second such must-have title today in Metroid. I thought it was telling that my Gamestops didn't do midnight openings for Metroid. I just think there's more nerdgasm going on for games like Bioshock, Crysis, Blue Dragon, and the next WoW expansion. And I think those are the folks that are gonna spend the money.
I'm not going to be surprised if Wii console sales double up on everyone else this generation. But I'm also not going to be surprised if Wii software sales are eclipsed by sales for PS3/360.
Here, I have to use my cable box anyway. So, this would be an even more colossal waste of money than the PS3 already is, assuming of course that this new version costs more.
My initial reaction too was "Big deal! No story here!" But then I got to thinking. Is this really different than Microsoft using various incentives to get governments/schools/other customers to buy Microsoft products? Does it just feel different because it's a bunch of big evil corporations using shady practices to try and outdo each other?
I've been saying since this format war started though that if someone REALLY wants to win, they should just pony up a ton of money to get George Lucas to release the unmolested, Greedo-shoots-first Trilogy in their format.
I think part of this is that everyone with a DVD player owns the Matrix, while they skipped Pirates. Giving Pirates the HD treatment is somewhat compelling for people who don't already own it. Upgrading your more than adequate Matrix DVDs...not so much.
The masters of both formats should just throw a trillion dollars at George Lucas to release the unmolested original trilogy on their format. That, a winner would make.
Probably the first things Obsidian should worry about are:
1) Releasing products that are finished. Hi KOTOR2
2) Releasing products with an adequate amount of performance optimization. You shouldn't have to turn NWN 2 settings down to the point of making the game look 6 years old in order to make it playable.
I would say that the story in WoW is pretty front and center. Yeah, there are a heck of a lot of people who pay little attention to it, but it's there and everywhere. Major characters from the previous games appear and get offed (truly dead or not, who knows). We just don't know what the end of that story is yet. I suspect the Blizzard lore folks don't completely know themselves, but they've probably got a good idea at a high level.
We have a couple of druids who are just horrible healers. I thought it was because they recently moved to Mars, but it turns out they're just feral specced.
What would make me giddy like a schoolgirl is if Nintendo and Apple somehow got together and made it so I could play emulated NES/SuperNES games on my iPod, assuming it's even technically feasible given screen size, processing power, etc. Given those two, I imagine it would be possible to make a controller that plugs into the connector on an iPod. Would be awesome!
Wal Mart never gets or puts stuff out on release day around here. Target is sold out by the time I'm off work. 20 copies of something ain't that many. So having the preorder is nice.
And you can get your preorder at GameStop/EBGames refunded, as I have done on several occasions. Have you never preordered anything?
I camped out for all of 10 minutes at EBGames in a mall. For some reason, not many people thought of the mall.
I've had no problem returning anything, EVER. Even with no receipt.
Any time I go in to a GameStop or EB Games, I stay about 20 minutes longer than I intended because I end up chatting with the employees about what's out/fun/sucks.
And I'm pretty sure preorders exist so people like me reserve Gears of War there rather than try my luck getting it at Fry's or Best Buy, where I still have not seen a copy. Not to mention I walked in to EB Games at 10:00 on Sunday to pick up my preordered Wii, rather than camp out at Best Buy.
Avoiding the long lines and crowds at a big box is nice too.
I really don't think publishers care too much about the used gaming market anyway. I buy more games knowing I can sell them. And I rarely buy used games anyways since the new copy is typically only 5 bucks more. For new releases anyway. And I imagine your Microsofts realize that they'll be able to market the XBox catalog as a feature of the 360 for some time, knowing those title will actually be available.
The licenses, so to speak, for the games stay on the console though. No idea how it's implemented, but you won't be able to play those games you bought on the new console without buying them again.
Which is ridiculous, if you ask me. Nintendo should be able to push something down to the new console that gives it the licenses from the old one.
Developers also probably like the Wii from a financial sense. I R not a game programmer, but it's got to be easier and cheaper to develop for. Madden on the Wii is going to be a completely new experience with extremely low dev costs. All they do is port the gamecube version, polish it up, and add in the new controls. Madden on the PS3 and 360 is also somewhat new, but mainly on account of spending lots of money to make perty new graphics.
I seriously don't think anyone is going to buy this thing for its next-gen DVD capabilities...yet. - Most people are happy with DVD or can't take advantage of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. 600 bucks may be a great deal for a Blu-Ray player, but people just don't care about the technology yet at almost any price. - People did buy PS2 for its DVD playback, but DVD was already well-established by that point. 600 bucks is alot for something that's not guaranteed to be viable in a few years. The format war really hurts both sides because people being afraid to choose sides means they can't ramp up production and lower costs.
I toyed with the idea of not pre-ordering because I suspect there will be tons of units available at launch, but decided to go ahead and try. I've GOT to have a Wii.
So, one of our GameStops (Austin) opens at 9:00. I figure if I get there at 8:15-8:30 that would be plenty early. On the way there, I pass an EBGames, which opens at 10:00, and there's already a HUGE line. Sure enough, the GameStop had a long line as well. I decide to try another GameStop closer to where I live, and get there around 8:30. It already had a fairly long line as well. I -might- have gotten a console there, and I'm certain I would have if I had started with that one. But, I didn't want to risk sitting in line for nothing, so I decide to try one more EBGames in a mall nearby. SCORE! The employees were already there, and were just handing out numbers through the gate. After their 11 slots filled, they turned people away, which I thought was nice of them. Anyways, they opened up early and got everyone fixed up.
I'm glad I didn't wake up early for nothing. That would have made me wiip.
It's absolutely repetitive. Once you've ransacked a couple of Ayleid ruins, you've ransacked them all. How many Oblivion gates did you close before deja vu set in? Enter, kill everything on the way to the tower, clear tower, get Sigil stone, done. Enchant armor so it's faster next time. Not sure how it took you 4 hours.
There's not much "figuring out" for alchemy. Gather herbs, make potions and skill up. Rinse and repeat. That's not repetitive?
Thievery is also rather easy and repetitive. Especially once you have items with Chameleon. And pointless, once you've done the thieves' guild questline.
Well, I guess I'm saying that I think games in general concentrate more on being pretty than having depth and being fun. On the software side, Oblivion is a prime example of that. The PS3 epitomizes that on the hardware side with Sony's "It's a premium console" message.
J-RPGs are, well, ok. I'm not a big fan of the separate screen, menu-driven combat, and I wish there were more (are there any?) that dropped you into a seamless world, rather than have you run from screen to screen. That said, I'll buy every Final Fantasy the day they come out.
I started playing Oblivion (on PC) again a few nights ago because I was jonesing for an RPG. But I've quickly remembered why I left Oblivion unfinished a few months ago. It's big, it's beautiful, but it's repetitive and boring. It can't decide if it wants to be an RPG or a 3D action game, so it doesn't do a very good job of being either one.
I'm sure it's going to look stunning on a PS3. It looks like it has more horsepower, and 1080p output will just be beautiful. But, I think Oblivion will be a great example of what's wrong with the PS3. Pretty graphics are nice, but there's a lot more to a game than that.
If the PS3 had a real, old-school style RPG that used modern technology coming, I'd probably be willing to shell out the bucks for one. Something party-based like a Baldur's Gate or an Ultima that was as expansive as Oblivion (but with hopefully more unique locations) would be awesome. As it stands, the remake of Ultima 5 using the Dungeon Siege engine is the best RPG I've played recently. It made up for the fact that I actually spent money on Dungeon Siege.
Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo systems are kicking butt. That's awesome. I love my Wii (that's what she said) and my DS, and I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for Nintendo from my younger days. They're responsible for my favorite games growing up. But I don't think those console sales numbers tell the full story. At least not yet. There really does seem to be separate casual and hardcore markets right now. The question is which one is bigger. Out of the 5 people I know who own a Wii, I'm the only one with more than 3 games for it. Everyone else just has Wii Sports, Wii Play, and maybe one of Mario Party/Elebits/Excite Truck. I haven't seen comprehensive numbers, but I suspect that Wii owners buy less software than PS3/360 owners. Look at the monthly sales in the article. Number 1 is NCAA 08 for the 360 (pissed they didn't make a Wii version). I'll be VERY interested to see what Madden sales are next month. Part of that theory is that I think many Wii owners bought the system as an electronic board game. To play Wii Sports and so forth with their friends. They're content with 2 or 3 such games. The hardcore crowd is instead going to buy at least 1-2 immersive, live-in-the-basement-and-eat-Hot-Pockets-type games per month. And arguably, Wii just now finally got its second such must-have title today in Metroid. I thought it was telling that my Gamestops didn't do midnight openings for Metroid. I just think there's more nerdgasm going on for games like Bioshock, Crysis, Blue Dragon, and the next WoW expansion. And I think those are the folks that are gonna spend the money. I'm not going to be surprised if Wii console sales double up on everyone else this generation. But I'm also not going to be surprised if Wii software sales are eclipsed by sales for PS3/360.
Here, I have to use my cable box anyway. So, this would be an even more colossal waste of money than the PS3 already is, assuming of course that this new version costs more.
Oh, and I mean "unmolested, Han-shoots-first trilogy." Or if you get right down to it, "Han-shoots" is most accurate.
Lucas is gradually brainwashing me. =(
My initial reaction too was "Big deal! No story here!" But then I got to thinking. Is this really different than Microsoft using various incentives to get governments/schools/other customers to buy Microsoft products? Does it just feel different because it's a bunch of big evil corporations using shady practices to try and outdo each other?
I've been saying since this format war started though that if someone REALLY wants to win, they should just pony up a ton of money to get George Lucas to release the unmolested, Greedo-shoots-first Trilogy in their format.
And your mother is forgoing television as well, but to play on my Wii.
Can't Gonzales just fire this guy for "performance reasons"?
My guess is that Spore will just end up being a mini-game in Duke Nukem Forever.
What does ratio mean?
I think part of this is that everyone with a DVD player owns the Matrix, while they skipped Pirates. Giving Pirates the HD treatment is somewhat compelling for people who don't already own it. Upgrading your more than adequate Matrix DVDs...not so much. The masters of both formats should just throw a trillion dollars at George Lucas to release the unmolested original trilogy on their format. That, a winner would make.
Probably the first things Obsidian should worry about are: 1) Releasing products that are finished. Hi KOTOR2 2) Releasing products with an adequate amount of performance optimization. You shouldn't have to turn NWN 2 settings down to the point of making the game look 6 years old in order to make it playable.
I would say that the story in WoW is pretty front and center. Yeah, there are a heck of a lot of people who pay little attention to it, but it's there and everywhere. Major characters from the previous games appear and get offed (truly dead or not, who knows). We just don't know what the end of that story is yet. I suspect the Blizzard lore folks don't completely know themselves, but they've probably got a good idea at a high level.
We have a couple of druids who are just horrible healers. I thought it was because they recently moved to Mars, but it turns out they're just feral specced.
I'm so glad we got rid of all these stupid casuals from my guild.
- "level 60 epic gear warrior for sale" => "leveling services to get you a epic gear warrior"
Really bad example. Noone would buy a warrior anyway because they're so ridiculously underpowered.You went AFK because a mortar knocked out your internet. That's still a 50 DKP minus.
What would make me giddy like a schoolgirl is if Nintendo and Apple somehow got together and made it so I could play emulated NES/SuperNES games on my iPod, assuming it's even technically feasible given screen size, processing power, etc. Given those two, I imagine it would be possible to make a controller that plugs into the connector on an iPod. Would be awesome!
You got me. I've never returned anything.
Wal Mart never gets or puts stuff out on release day around here. Target is sold out by the time I'm off work. 20 copies of something ain't that many. So having the preorder is nice.
And you can get your preorder at GameStop/EBGames refunded, as I have done on several occasions. Have you never preordered anything?
I camped out for all of 10 minutes at EBGames in a mall. For some reason, not many people thought of the mall.
O RLY?
GameStop Sales Nearly Double
I've had no problem returning anything, EVER. Even with no receipt.
Any time I go in to a GameStop or EB Games, I stay about 20 minutes longer than I intended because I end up chatting with the employees about what's out/fun/sucks.
And I'm pretty sure preorders exist so people like me reserve Gears of War there rather than try my luck getting it at Fry's or Best Buy, where I still have not seen a copy. Not to mention I walked in to EB Games at 10:00 on Sunday to pick up my preordered Wii, rather than camp out at Best Buy.
Avoiding the long lines and crowds at a big box is nice too.
I really don't think publishers care too much about the used gaming market anyway. I buy more games knowing I can sell them. And I rarely buy used games anyways since the new copy is typically only 5 bucks more. For new releases anyway. And I imagine your Microsofts realize that they'll be able to market the XBox catalog as a feature of the 360 for some time, knowing those title will actually be available.
The licenses, so to speak, for the games stay on the console though. No idea how it's implemented, but you won't be able to play those games you bought on the new console without buying them again. Which is ridiculous, if you ask me. Nintendo should be able to push something down to the new console that gives it the licenses from the old one.
Developers also probably like the Wii from a financial sense. I R not a game programmer, but it's got to be easier and cheaper to develop for. Madden on the Wii is going to be a completely new experience with extremely low dev costs. All they do is port the gamecube version, polish it up, and add in the new controls. Madden on the PS3 and 360 is also somewhat new, but mainly on account of spending lots of money to make perty new graphics.
I seriously don't think anyone is going to buy this thing for its next-gen DVD capabilities...yet.
- Most people are happy with DVD or can't take advantage of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. 600 bucks may be a great deal for a Blu-Ray player, but people just don't care about the technology yet at almost any price.
- People did buy PS2 for its DVD playback, but DVD was already well-established by that point. 600 bucks is alot for something that's not guaranteed to be viable in a few years. The format war really hurts both sides because people being afraid to choose sides means they can't ramp up production and lower costs.
I toyed with the idea of not pre-ordering because I suspect there will be tons of units available at launch, but decided to go ahead and try. I've GOT to have a Wii.
So, one of our GameStops (Austin) opens at 9:00. I figure if I get there at 8:15-8:30 that would be plenty early. On the way there, I pass an EBGames, which opens at 10:00, and there's already a HUGE line. Sure enough, the GameStop had a long line as well. I decide to try another GameStop closer to where I live, and get there around 8:30. It already had a fairly long line as well. I -might- have gotten a console there, and I'm certain I would have if I had started with that one. But, I didn't want to risk sitting in line for nothing, so I decide to try one more EBGames in a mall nearby. SCORE! The employees were already there, and were just handing out numbers through the gate. After their 11 slots filled, they turned people away, which I thought was nice of them. Anyways, they opened up early and got everyone fixed up.
I'm glad I didn't wake up early for nothing. That would have made me wiip.
It's absolutely repetitive. Once you've ransacked a couple of Ayleid ruins, you've ransacked them all. How many Oblivion gates did you close before deja vu set in? Enter, kill everything on the way to the tower, clear tower, get Sigil stone, done. Enchant armor so it's faster next time. Not sure how it took you 4 hours.
There's not much "figuring out" for alchemy. Gather herbs, make potions and skill up. Rinse and repeat. That's not repetitive?
Thievery is also rather easy and repetitive. Especially once you have items with Chameleon. And pointless, once you've done the thieves' guild questline.
Well, I guess I'm saying that I think games in general concentrate more on being pretty than having depth and being fun. On the software side, Oblivion is a prime example of that. The PS3 epitomizes that on the hardware side with Sony's "It's a premium console" message. J-RPGs are, well, ok. I'm not a big fan of the separate screen, menu-driven combat, and I wish there were more (are there any?) that dropped you into a seamless world, rather than have you run from screen to screen. That said, I'll buy every Final Fantasy the day they come out.
Off on a tangent perhaps, but anywho...
I started playing Oblivion (on PC) again a few nights ago because I was jonesing for an RPG. But I've quickly remembered why I left Oblivion unfinished a few months ago. It's big, it's beautiful, but it's repetitive and boring. It can't decide if it wants to be an RPG or a 3D action game, so it doesn't do a very good job of being either one.
I'm sure it's going to look stunning on a PS3. It looks like it has more horsepower, and 1080p output will just be beautiful. But, I think Oblivion will be a great example of what's wrong with the PS3. Pretty graphics are nice, but there's a lot more to a game than that.
If the PS3 had a real, old-school style RPG that used modern technology coming, I'd probably be willing to shell out the bucks for one. Something party-based like a Baldur's Gate or an Ultima that was as expansive as Oblivion (but with hopefully more unique locations) would be awesome. As it stands, the remake of Ultima 5 using the Dungeon Siege engine is the best RPG I've played recently. It made up for the fact that I actually spent money on Dungeon Siege.