# PS3/XBox or Wii?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [April 12, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841 "2009-04-12T14:21:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/61 "2009-04-15T15:12:21Z")
God, I love console war threads. One of the few places I can always count on being told that I’m not a “real gamer” anyway, so what do I know?
---
### Author:  [@eno801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eno801)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/62 "2009-04-15T15:24:38Z")
slight hijack. can someone explain the wii 1:1 control how is it different from now. thanks
---
### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/63 "2009-04-15T15:26:02Z")
> [@shy\_guy](#):
>
> God, I love console war threads. One of the few places I can always count on being told that I’m not a “real gamer” anyway, so what do I know?
Hah. You think that’s bad? I’m still playing on a PS2. :o
---
### Author:  [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/64 "2009-04-15T15:55:34Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Hah. You think that’s bad? I’m still playing on a PS2. :o
Hey, the PS2 still has better games than either the 360 or the PS3. Of course, it’s had a stupid long amount of time to get there too. What’s scary is that the PS2 is frequently still OUTSELLING the PS3.
---
### Author:  [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/65 "2009-04-15T16:36:56Z")
> [@RogueAOV](#):
>
> I do not really agree with the “pure marketing BS” comment but i do understand your comment and sony is showing commitment to the older consoles it has made so i think my statement was fair.
I think you might have a classic case of the “tail wagging the dog” here. I think the primary reason why Sony is showing dedication to the older console is because the old consoles are _still selling_. If microsoft had enjoyed the same popularity for the xbox1 as Sony had for the PS2, I can guarantee they’d still be releasing “slimline” versions of the xbox1, and developers would still be jumping over themselves putting out games for the console.
[QUOTE=RogueAOV]
But i am unclear what hardware problems the ps3 had. Can you point me in the direction of more information about that, it is entirely possible i missed the problems as i came late to the next gen party.
[/QUOTE]
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the site, but:
> **[The Truth behind PS3 failure rate: A plague worse than “RROD” ?](http://videogame-market.blogspot.com/2008/04/truth-behind-ps3-failure-rate-plague.html)**
>
> In the last two months, a very worrying trend has surfaced. On the web, a huge and an increasing number of PS3 owners start to report the de...
Just try googling “PS3 YLOD” (that’s Yellow Light of Death)
Again, my guess is that if you bought a launch-day PS3, it’s much more likely to last 10years than a launch-day 360. But it’s definitely not _guaranteed_
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/66 "2009-04-15T16:45:37Z")
> [@HookerChemical](#):
>
> there are better incentives for the PS3 right now. I bought one at Gamestop, where I got a $50 gift card, which I used to purchase my first game.
I’ve been thinking about getting a PS3 from Gamestop as well. I already have a PS2 so I probably won’t need anything backwards compatible, although the Gamestop website has refurbished 60 gigs for just a bit more than the new 80 gigs.
---
### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/67 "2009-04-15T17:44:49Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> I’ve been thinking about getting a PS3 from Gamestop as well. I already have a PS2 so I probably won’t need anything backwards compatible, although the Gamestop website has refurbished 60 gigs for just a bit more than the new 80 gigs.
The odds of a 60gb being in stock are about zero.
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/68 "2009-04-15T17:52:56Z")
[Usually Ships In 24 Hours
Limit 2 per household
This item cannot be shipped to a PO Box
Ships to U.S. addresses only]([http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product\_id=64006](http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=64006))
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/69 "2009-04-15T21:55:06Z")
> [@eno801](#):
>
> slight hijack. can someone explain the wii 1:1 control how is it different from now. thanks
In a nutshell, the Wii remote’s motion sensing is a bit crude, and the new add-on adds input from a gyroscope so that the position and rotation of the remote can be tracked much more accurately. It’s “1:1” in the sense that real-world motion translates pretty much exactly into in-game motion.
This will be a pretty huge improvement on the interface. I downloaded a game ([The Incredible Maze](http://www.reviewbusters.net/game/review.aspx?id=1657)) from the WiiWare Channel that takes rotational information from the Wii remote and simulates (and elaborates on) the old “ball and maze” toy game. An okay concept as a casual time-waster, but a bit frustrating because real-world movements are not mapped accurately enough for very fine actions.
1:1 motion sensing would make a lame-o $5 game liek _The Amazing Game_ more playable, but the real excitement comes from the improvements to game play where accurate motion (rather than general gestures) drive gameplay. Swordplay, golfing, etc.
---
### Author:  [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/70 "2009-04-15T23:37:18Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#):
>
> No way in hell was there uncompressed video on that disc. The PS3 wouldn’t have the bandwidth in several key places to process that sort of throughput. Just thinking of the player alone - hell a single point hard drive will probably have issues streaming uncompressed high def video. You’d need an array. Maybe they did some sort of high bit rate, high def compression, but there must have been some sort of compression going on. Not only that but isn’t there some sort of ridiculous amount of video cut scenes in that game? Uncompressed high def video would eat up space like there’s not tomorrow. We’re talking 400-800 gigabytes per hour.
sorry, I meant uncompressed audio, not audio AND video. This is what happens when you type up a post between classes while also planning the lesson for said classes 😛
> [@RogueAOV](#):
>
> And To PopeJewish i again agree with your comment on the Wii user base, i got the point of the sentence wrong, i was not intending to say they didnt have a huge user base, i was meant to say in the past tense they didnt(just after release) and now they do(as the games come out). It still sounds weird but i hope you understand what i was intending to say. Nintendo does like to take its time to perfect the key games before releasing them as you say, but nintendo does have long standing relationships with designers and companies to get good games out there, which again i mangled that statement by thinking more than typing, so sorry for the bad posting there.
>
> I do have a problem with the statement sony got into it for the money as i would think it was more of a case to try not to waste the work they had put into the disc based console they had done before nintendo back away, as i said before, i am not suggesting anyone got into making games consoles for the fun of it, obviously they want to make money but microsoft made the choice purely for money in my mind.
>
> On to the “poor mans GTA” line, what i intended to say was that the 360 was weak at the start with games more seeing what can be done rather than great games, GOW outstanding. Mot stating PS3 did have but…i was tired and etc.. i concede that point.
>
> I thought it was easier to dev for the ps3 rather than the 360, at least thats [what i read somewhere](http://www.gamedaily.com/games/killzone-2/playstation-3/game-news/killzone-creators-talk-4-d-bullet-ad-ps3-development/4315/22789/),
> And almost lastly, Has it been that long already? times flies… it just doesnt feel like its that stage in this console generation to me… or is it just me :s
>
> And lastly… 80 dollars!!! thats it im staying in texas lol
>
> ok now actually lastly sorry for this awful post but the multi quote thing hates me and is just not be friendly to me.
I get what you’re saying about the user base. No one thought the Wii would be anywhere NEAR as popular as it has become.
As for the money issue, I still disagree. Sony got IN to the deal with Nintendo to make money, they wanted to make the SNES DD so they could make money. When Nintendo turned around and screwed 'em on it, they had to spend more time and more money to develop the SNES DD into the PSOne, and it was a huge gamble. They figured it’d be better to take that gamble and try to make money than it would have been to take the hit and lose money. History has shown that they were more than correct.
As for starting line-ups, well pretty much all consoles have shit launch line-ups these days. I think the last good launch line-up might have been PSOne. That’s just a simple fact of the industry these days.
---
### Author:  [@Robin\_Goodfellow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robin_Goodfellow)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/71 "2009-04-16T02:03:00Z")
This thread is so full of misinformation that I don’t know where to start.
So I won’t; I’ll just opine.
It doesn’t matter how much we argue about “real gamers” or how the Wii must be doing something right if it sells so well. There are and always have been two types of gamers: people who play Mario and Doom, and people who play Bejeweled and Solitaire. **This is not a bad thing.** There are different products for different people. No one has to demonize anyone else about their zombie splatter games or their casual bullshit.
If you’re a hardcore gamer (and by this I do not mean ‘owned an original Pong cabinet you whippersnapper,’ the definition has changed) the fact that the Wii doesn’t have HD, dual-stick shooting, or online matchmaking is huge detriment.
If you’re a pick-up-and-play type of gamer (and I use this term because, bizarrely, ‘casual’ is taken as an insult these days), the fact that the Wii doesn’t support or encourage overly complex controls, has plenty of minigame compilations, and has overall cheaper games is a huge plus.
And vice-versa.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what conclusions we come to in this thread or how many dopers we convince to go one way or the other; the game console market is flexible enough that it will correct itself. I’ve seen way too many gamers sell their systems off and switch sides in the casual/hardcore camps to believe otherwise. To be totally honest, it’s usually hardcore gamers switching over because they snagged their Wii after finally seeing it in a store one day. They’re easier to find, now, and the base 360 unit with similar online functionality is $199, so I don’t think that’ll happen much, anymore.
There is a booming market for both types of consoles, but it’s important not to pretend they all basically do the same things. We wouldn’t even have to put ‘A or B’ in a thread title if that were true.
---
### Author:  [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/72 "2009-04-16T03:25:08Z")
> [@Robin\_Goodfellow](#):
>
> It doesn’t matter how much we argue about “real gamers” or how the Wii must be doing something right if it sells so well. There are and always have been two types of gamers: people who play Mario and Doom, and people who play Bejeweled and Solitaire.
while this is true in some sense, it’s more venn-diagram-ish than that (did I just verb venn-diagram?) . There are definitely those of us who enjoy taking time out from decapitating zombies or saving princess (which can, in fact, be accomplished at the same time) to play a couple rounds of bejeweled or a tower defense game 😃
---
### Author:  [@RogueAOV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueAOV)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/73 "2009-04-16T05:03:34Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> To develop a game solely for the PS3 as opposed to the X360, yes- but if you develop an XBox game, you have also developed a PC game. All you have to do to port it is remap the controls for keyboard/mouse, and mess with the video resolution.
>
> In order to port a PS3 game you have to rewrite half the code so that the game will run under Windows; on the Xbox it already does.
This has always interested me, when it comes to porting over a game, has anyone played resident Evil 4 on the PC? when you goto controls it shows you the playstation controller with the buttons as square, triangle etc with no indication at all of the keyboard keys?.. did they run run that game in a emulator, or what? i cant believe when they ported it over they forgot the control screen:confused:
---
### Author:  [@Robin\_Goodfellow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robin_Goodfellow)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/74 "2009-04-16T05:47:10Z")
> [@PopeJewish](#):
>
> while this is true in some sense, it’s more venn-diagram-ish than that (did I just verb venn-diagram?) . There are definitely those of us who enjoy taking time out from decapitating zombies or saving princess (which can, in fact, be accomplished at the same time) to play a couple rounds of bejeweled or a tower defense game 😃
Very true! I never like to speak in absolutes, so I hope that doesn’t come across too strongly in my post. There are _basically_ two types of gamers, just like there are basically two types of political leanings or sexualities. For a lot of involved gamers, it’s a matter of finding with which of the two sides to identify more.
---
### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/75 "2009-04-16T12:45:35Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> [Usually Ships In 24 Hours
>
> Limit 2 per household
>
> This item cannot be shipped to a PO Box
>
> Ships to U.S. addresses only]([http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product\_id=64006](http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=64006))
Huh - there’s one at a location near me. I was at a store about 30 minutes before you posted your original post, and I had actually asked about their availability, and the cashier said, “We’ll never get those in stock again.” Good to know.
---
### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/76 "2009-04-16T14:56:51Z")
> [@RogueAOV](#):
>
> This has always interested me, when it comes to porting over a game, has anyone played resident Evil 4 on the PC? when you goto controls it shows you the playstation controller with the buttons as square, triangle etc with no indication at all of the keyboard keys?.. did they run run that game in a emulator, or what? i cant believe when they ported it over they forgot the control screen:confused:
This happens some times. EA used to be the biggest culprit. They would either hire incompetent studios to handle the port or saddle the dev team with very short development times, or both.
Naturally, piss poor ports would not sell very well because PC gamers aren’t brainless morons, and then EA would stop production of the IP on the PC platform and claim it was because PC gaming was in decline. Never mind that this is only true when speaking about retail space, and then only in the US. Europe and asia still have a large PC retail space and, like the US, an ever growing digital download market.
Bad ports could have issues ranging from instability, terrible console centric controls, poor optimization, etc.
Luckily, good ports have come and are coming out from various studios and publishers. Even EA is doing a lot better these days. Mass effect for example, is simply a superior game on the PC, as are most ports/multi platform releases now a days. The exceptions still exist out there however, there are plenty of examples.
---
### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/77 "2009-04-16T15:14:32Z")
On the original quote By **Really Not All That Bright** : Porting from a console, well, at least a GOOD port from a console (or a good multi platform release) usually involves significant development time. It’s not just fiddling with control inputs. The keyboard and mouse have a different design aesthetic; you can’t just map out the controller inputs to a mouse and keyboard, you have to design the GUI to take advantage of the keyboard and mouse in an intuitive way. You also need to test the game on various hardware configurations and scale the graphics engine so that high end hardware has access to more polygons, higher resolution textures and more graphical effects, while low end hardware can run the game with some settings turned off. It’s not just plopping down the xbox code on a compiler and away you go.
---
### Author:  [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/78 "2009-04-16T15:14:59Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> I’ve been thinking about getting a PS3 from Gamestop as well. I already have a PS2 so I probably won’t need anything backwards compatible, although the Gamestop website has refurbished 60 gigs for just a bit more than the new 80 gigs.
I looked into that too, but I wanted the warranty that comes with the new system. After the highly publicized 360 RRoD (now in two flavors!), and the less frequent, less publicized PS3 yellow light of death, I wanted the coverage. My PS2 is still chugging along nicely after 7 years, so I can pass up the backwards compatibility.
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/79 "2009-04-16T21:11:11Z")
> [@Robin\_Goodfellow](#):
>
> If you’re a pick-up-and-play type of gamer (and I use this term because, bizarrely, ‘casual’ is taken as an insult these days), the fact that the Wii doesn’t support or encourage overly complex controls, has plenty of minigame compilations, and has overall cheaper games is a huge plus.
I’m curious about your opinion of the Wii’s control options. Can you clarify?
I have been a PC gamer since the end of the eighties - apart from that, the last console I spent any amount of time on was the Colecovision.
By the time that the popular consoles’ hardware began to offer something that was remotely comparable to PC gaming, I still resisted because the controls were so limited. I play mainly FPS, RTS, and combat simulators, and a gamepad has never cut it for me.
The novelty of the Wii controllers finally broke down my console resistence – it’s nowhere near as good as a keyboard & mouse combo (I guess I _like_ overly-complex controls) but it seems to me that they are better suited to complex controls than a gamepad. (ie; there is a comparable number of buttons, mini-joystick, etc _plus_ positional and gestural input.)
In my experience, the Wii controllers give developers a little freerer reign when it comes to assigning controls, and there seems to be more room for complexity.
(I am going to break down and buy a PS3 or Xbox 360 this year, maybe it’ll all become clear after enough hours of struggling with an alien scheme…)
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841/80 "2009-04-16T21:17:36Z")
> [@HookerChemical](#):
>
> I looked into that too, but I wanted the warranty that comes with the new system.
And the free game, right? 🙂
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841.md?page=3)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps3-xbox-or-wii/492841.md?page=5)