I have a five year old 500 dollar computer, i added 500 more ram for a total of 1gig and an nvidia geforce 6600 GT to that so it ended up being around 750 (a tad lower actually). I have yet to find a game that doesn’t run perfectly, the last few games i’ve played are Oblivion, F.E.A.R combat, battlefield 2, neverwinter nights 2, Titans Quest, Guild Wars and World of Warcraft. I never touch the settings, usually the game auto configures to run with whatever ive got and i’ve experienced no problems at all. I’ve been meaning to upgrade for a while now but everytime i start thinking about it i notice theres absolutely no reason too until i find a game that doesn’t run well.
Not exactly. The games that you download for Wii aren’t the exact same code as they were when you originally played them on the SNES or whatever.
Besides, I can guarantee you the Wii will run those games in a much more stable fashion than any PC emulator. Especially with the N64 (and presumably Gamecube when emulators for it are available) emulators crash a lot.
Just like “buy the original cartridge” was an essential part of my post.
If you really have an irrational objection to downloading code from the internet which is stored inside a cartridge you own, you can get a cart reader and extract it yourself. But hopefully, before you got that far, you’d realize how silly your objection was and change your mind, since you’d know full well that the data is exactly the same whether it comes from the internet or from your cart reader.
The N64, yes, but emulating the older systems is essentially a Solved Problem. These days, any PC can emulate the NES, Genesis, SNES, or TG16 as well as the Wii can possibly hope to do… and PC emulators have extra features like Game Genie codes, internet multiplayer, and high quality scaling.
If you’re willing to track down and install a good emulator program, track down and download ROMs from various pirate sites, and then if you still want to stay on the fair side of the law, track down cartridges from eBay and flea sales (many of which will still go for $5 or more, at least after shipping).
Or you could just use the storeon your Wii. And you also have a Wii, and access to all Wii and Gamecube games right out of the box.
The thing that consoles really have over PCs for gaming (besides bigger screens and, often, the control pad) is ease of use. No screwing around with software. You get the thing, you plug it in to the TV, you put in your game. Done. Newer systems have an additional step with the online component, but it’s still less work than a PC. I’ll pay for Wii’s classic games for their convenience over ROMs.
The PS3 has a big screen and control pad, of course, and it can run emulators. (As can a modded Xbox for one-sixth the price, but this is a PS3 thread.)
shrug
You’re getting a worse product (no multiplay, fast forward, high quality scaling, etc.) and paying more for it. If you think the convenience of not having to do a 90-second search is worth it, then I guess good for you.
I’ll be very interested to see how the PS3 does in Australia when they release it- not having it out in time for Christmas was a very, very bad thing for Sony, IMO.
The official info we got at work was “problems sourcing DVD drives”. Still, I figured they could have put together 1,000 units or so, released them before the Wii (in November, when the PS3 was supposed to have come out), and then just drip-fed them onto the market in batches of 1,000 or so as they got the parts.
Instead, they just didn’t release any here, and now everyone has gone and bought Wiis, which means they won’t be buying a PS3 when they come out in March, simply from a budgetary point of view (“We’ve already bought a Wii, we’re not buying a PS3 as well!”)
Still, I think it’s too early to declare the PS3 a failure, especially when it hasn’t been made available for sale outside the US and Japan.
The thing is that it’s a little more complicated that just sending out 1000 systems when they can.
First, Sony had to try to fill orders in the US and Japanese markets. Retailers are still getting shipments for those early orders made months before release. So if Sony starts diverting systems to other markets they’re losing what guaranteed revenue from the PS3 they already have. Sales are slowing but Sony is still pumping out PS3’s as fast as they can because from Sony’s perspective they’re already sold.
Second, the game distributers in those markets where the PS3 isn’t released yet are going to be rather upset if Sony does such a small launch. A trickle of systems means a trickle of software sales; 1000 systems means a maximum of 1000 copies of a game sold and that’s not enough to cover the basic distribution in a market.
Third, the retailers in those markets have been promised a certain number of PS3’s for launch day. They’ve offered pre-orders based on what Sony has made available. Depending on the contracts there could be some significant penalties for Sony not following through (most terrible potentially for Sony, they might get to cancel any outstanding orders).
Even the 1000 consoles = 1000 possible copies of your game sold equation is inherently unrealistic.
Well over 100 million PS2s have been sold, but the best selling game is GTA: Vice City at 13 million.
So it’s more like 1000 consoles sold = you’re incredibly lucky if you sell 100 copies of your game.
Fuck yeah. Shenmue 4 Life.
Of course. My point was that even with a magically perfect sales rate trickling consoles into a market like that would screw distributors and publishers.
It’s too early to call the PS3 a failure, especially without defining what constitutes a failure. It’s also too early to buy one.
I know, I was just pointing out that they’d be even more screwed.
That’s not conclusively not-piracy. That’s just shady. Owning a copy of the cartridge does not necessarily allow me to legitimate use the ROM on another machine.
Further, I’m still better off with a PC.
AFAICT no one’s ever been successfully sued over it. Common sense suggests that it would fall under fair use, just like format-shifting your music from CDs to an iPod.
I’m not a lawyer. I have no idea. Common sense would tell me half the provisions of the DMCA are unconstitutional, but… shrug
The point you are attempting to make, however, is moot. Whether they or legal or not, whether I buy cartridges or not, should I choose to indulge in home-brew ROM emulation (as opposed to the spoon-fed version the Wii provides) I might as well do it on the PC, as it will be easier and more convenient than the PS3 - and I already own one.
But that is exactly the problem, you will need to get a newer generation of card if you want to play the latest software with most bells and whistles turned on.
That alone will cost you around 500 USD, won’t it?
The titles you are mentioning are OLD !!!
I don’t understand your point. Because my cheapish system can’t run the best stuff 2+ years later at the highest possible settings… then… what? PCs aren’t good for gaming? Or… that you have to spend $2000 on a computer, which needs new parts in 2 years anyway?
I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Because console technology stays exactly the same for years every generation, while the PC capabilities are constantly being upgraded, the consoles are better?
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The titles you are mentioning are OLD !!!
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So wait, you’re advocating consoles, which go years between generations, yet calling my examples, which are a little over a year old to a few months, old?
Woops, ignore the last part of my post. You were talking about what the examples he gave, not the examples I gave.
Still, Oblivion and FEAR aren’t too old, and if you can run those well, chances are you can run just about anything pretty well.
What I mean is that I will always be able to run the latest Xbox360 game on my Xbox360 without having to invest anything.
If I buy a PC now that will be able to run, for example Crysis at 1080i, I will have to spend a whole lot of money. (the videocard alone will be more expensive then my Xbox360).
You might be able to run all games that get released over the next 2 years, but most likely you will need to disable some graphic features or go for a lower resolution.
Of course, the argument goes both ways, as I will be able to run all new Xbox360 software, but the latest gaming PC will blow it out of the water within no time.
I have been in the gaming computer ratrace for a few years, but finally threw in the towel and went console, saving me thousands of Euros a year.
I am not looking back.
You do realize that 1080i means having 1080 vertical lines but drawing every other one, right? I doubt that Crysis is going to support a resolution that low. Year old hardware should be able to run it at a resolution close to 1080p without struggling too badly.
I don’t get people playing PC games and demanding high end hardware. I do one better than some of the people in this thread and refuse to go over $500 in components and I replace asymmetrically only substituting parts when I need to. It’s not a sin to turn down graphics options.