The SDMB 2006 Video Game Console Launch Uberthread

Cafe Society
1

Okay, all you video-game geeks out there know that this week is L-week – the near-simultaneous launch of the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. With the addition of the Microsoft XBox 360, the assembly of troops for the 2006 battle of the living room is about to begin.

Post your thoughts/predictions/feelings/questions here, and let’s make a big row of it! :smiley:

My own two bits: I have none of the consoles listed, but am considering getting a Wii just to get my entire family into gaming. I played both Motorstorm on the PS3 and Excite Truck on the Wii over the weekend, and found Excite Truck to be a lot of fun – no-nonsense falls-out arcade racing action at its finest. Motorstorm was visually awesome, but the actual racing was incredibly slow, and I left wondering who in their right mind would buy a PS3 when they could just get an XBox 360 instead. At least Nintendo has the motion-sensitive controller going for it…

2

November 19 is my Christmas this year. Though I’ve been burnt on release dates before (they SAY the game is released on such and such a date, but the game actually gets to the STORES a day or two after. Grrr), but I fully intend on being up as early as I need to be on Sunday to procure a Wii. Probably from a big box store – as much as I’d like to support the smaller gaming stores, from all indications none of them have gone to any great lengths to stock up on Wiis. I know Best Buy and Target will have them in plenty, though.

I plan to get Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Red Steel to start with. Given that Zelda is supposed to be 70+ hours long (which is :eek: for an action adventure game), those two and Wii Sports should last me until Super Smash Brothers Brawl comes out.

PS3? What’s that?

3

I have Xbox 360. This has been a bad month or so for me, with all the EA sports games coming out, Call of Duty 3 and Gears of War coming out (Gears of War is fucking awesome, by the way), Age of Empires 3 expansion pack and Neverwinter Nights 2 (which I STILL haven’t played because I need to upgrade my video card!).

With all that, I still might get a Wii. I’m not planning on getting a PS3.

4

If I had some expendable income, I’d like a Wii. I love the fact you can download all the old games and use Gamecube controllers for some games (not sure if I could master the new ones). I’d love to have a new console that I could play Tetris on.

I used to have a PS2, but I sold it to a friend when I was dead broke freshman year of college. I only had sports games - Madden, Tony Hawk, Dave Mirra, NHL, etc. I’m a girl and not super into gaming, but I think it’s a fun way to kill time. I am not into action/adventure or roleplaying games at all. When I was kid, I was so into Mario and Tetris and racing games and stuff - I hated Zelda and all that.

5

Final Fantasy III for the DS comes out this week, and hopefully with the PS3 coming out, I’ll be able to pick up a PS2 for next to nothing and play some of the games I’ve missed on that.

What? :stuck_out_tongue:

I’d consider doing the whole wait-in-line-for-a-PS3-at-launch thing if it were, say, 300-400 instead of 600. I’d consider getting a Wii, if, well, there was anything remotely appealing anything they were pimping about it.

I guess I hope one of my friends has a Wii when Smash comes out :stuck_out_tongue:

6

News today is that GameStop won’t be getting their full allotment of PS3s, so some folks who pre-ordered just got screwed.

I admit I’m an odd duck – the two Wii games that appeal to me the most right now would be Wii Sports and Excite Truck, just because they’re quick-n-easy-to-play games with a new motion-sensing twist. Everyone else seems to be drooling over Zelda, but I don’t have the time for a 70-hours-plus time sink.

7

[QUOTE=rjung]
I admit I’m an odd duck – the two Wii games that appeal to me the most right now would be Wii Sports and Excite Truck, just because they’re quick-n-easy-to-play games with a new motion-sensing twist. Everyone else seems to be drooling over Zelda, but I don’t have the time for a 70-hours-plus time sink.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, the only thing for me that really screams “need to have that!” about the Wii is the option to play old games with the old-school controller… but the catch is that I still have virtually all of the games they’re making available, and the consoles on which to play them, sitting in a closet around here somewhere, relatively organized and in working condition. I should be getting excited about Zelda, but I’m really not - Ocarina of Time was the last game in that series that was “worth the hype”, IMO. The whole motion sensing gimmick doesn’t do it for me for a variety of reasons… I think I might just be living in the past, though :slight_smile:

8

[QUOTE=rjung]
I admit I’m an odd duck – the two Wii games that appeal to me the most right now would be Wii Sports and Excite Truck, just because they’re quick-n-easy-to-play games with a new motion-sensing twist. Everyone else seems to be drooling over Zelda, but I don’t have the time for a 70-hours-plus time sink.
[/QUOTE]

I’m looking forward to Wii Sports too, although I probably wouldn’t buy it if it wasn’t bundled. I can’t think of a better demo game to show off the Wii’s abilities. These videos in particular are a trip to watch; one guy is bowling and the other is golfing, and it’s really fun to see them just get into it naturally.

As an aside, though, I do hope there’ll be more third-party games for the Wii than ‘quick-n-easy’ stuff. Nintendo knows what its system can do, but third parties might, and I sort of worry that games that have any sort of depth won’t make full use of the controller, or they’ll insist on using a Wii classic controller (basically an SNES pad with dual analog sticks), or they’ll just skip Nintendo entirely and go with the 360 or PS3. That sort of happened with the DS; the only games that really made good use of the touch screen were either Nintendo games or minigames with little depth to them. (As far as I’m aware, that’s still the case, but I don’t know what games have come out recently. It may have changed.)

I suppose what I’m ranting about is I’d like developers to see the Wii as more than a toy and give it a good library of games instead of reserving the ‘serious’ ones for the 360 and PS3. Red Steel is a good step in that direction, so there’s some hope there. Ubisoft can do no wrong, as far as I’m concerned.

9

[QUOTE=Kiros]
I should be getting excited about Zelda, but I’m really not - Ocarina of Time was the last game in that series that was “worth the hype”, IMO.
[/QUOTE]
According to some previews I’ve read, the new Zelda game is intentionally designed to evoke memories of Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past, rather than build on Windwaker. It looks like it’ll do the trick, too.

10

I’m a conservative, shopping conscious guy. Research all the angles, don’t jump til the time’s right…if the Game’s $60 today, I’ll get it used in four months for $25.

That said, I’m scheming for the first time in my 37 years to be at a store at 12:01 Sunday morning to get a Wii. Why? Not really for any fanboi reasons, I just wanna have fun with the buzz at the moment.

I’ve got a Good Xbox and an Evil Xbox and a couple dozen games for them. I got tired of the usual 3d environment with 200,000 polys and glistening lensflare. The 360 and PS3 seem like that plus more Cowbell. I don’t need Cowbell.

The Wii, OTOH looks like something my 4 year old kids could use, mom could use, and it lets me play the high-water games from the previous gen consoles (at $5 or $8 a game, it’s a pittance)

I’ll be angling for Monkeyball and one other game…(Zelda? I dunno) The Wii, a game, two controllers and another nunchuk may be enough for the month.

11

I’m definitely looking forward to the Wii. I have the new Zelda reserved, and I think I’ll pick up Red Steel as well. I think there’ll be a midnight launch at gamestop, so I’m going to see if I can get a Wii then.

I’m not interested in the PS3, even though I’m sure there’ll be games I want for it. It takes a special kind of company to go up against Microsoft and look like the bad guys, but Sony has pulled it off.

12

[QUOTE=BayleDomon]
As an aside, though, I do hope there’ll be more third-party games for the Wii than ‘quick-n-easy’ stuff. Nintendo knows what its system can do, but third parties might, and I sort of worry that games that have any sort of depth won’t make full use of the controller, or they’ll insist on using a Wii classic controller (basically an SNES pad with dual analog sticks), or they’ll just skip Nintendo entirely and go with the 360 or PS3. That sort of happened with the DS; the only games that really made good use of the touch screen were either Nintendo games or minigames with little depth to them. (As far as I’m aware, that’s still the case, but I don’t know what games have come out recently. It may have changed.)
[/QUOTE]

See, that’s the type of thing that would lead to me getting a Wii eventually - games with depth that use the Wii Classic Controller instead of the nunchuck. Those were the two big problems I had with the GameCube - there were very few single player games with any depth at all, and the GC controller was a travesty. I don’t even need revolutionary stuff… stuff like a good Fire Emblem, a good Castlevania, platformers in general outside of Mario… the FFIII for the DS is a good step, I wonder if there is any more room to work with Square… games like that, the graphics don’t even really matter, it’s just that Sony has had them for the last generation or two and Nintendo, not-so-much.

The best game on the Cube, IMO, was Smash Brothers, which is all fine and good until you realize that that means only one of my friends needs to have a Cube for get-togethers and the rest of us can get PS2s and access to a much deeper library. I would tend to be afraid of the Wii until I see what the library ends up looking like.

13

[QUOTE=Talon Karrde]
I’m definitely looking forward to the Wii. I have the new Zelda reserved, and I think I’ll pick up Red Steel as well. I think there’ll be a midnight launch at gamestop, so I’m going to see if I can get a Wii then.

I’m not interested in the PS3, even though I’m sure there’ll be games I want for it. It takes a special kind of company to go up against Microsoft and look like the bad guys, but Sony has pulled it off.
[/QUOTE]

Agreed, I wrote this on slashdot:

14

I’ve been a loyal Nintendo follower for years, and I really want a Wii. If it would increase my chances of getting one, I’d even freeze myself like Eric Cartman did.

15

I’ll be lining up for the Wii. My three-year old is addicted to Pikmin 2, and our Gamecube is on its last legs. Might as well get a Wii, and have it for the new stuff too.

16

[QUOTE=Kiros]
See, that’s the type of thing that would lead to me getting a Wii eventually - games with depth that use the Wii Classic Controller instead of the nunchuck.
[/QUOTE]

I have to admit, this kinda baffles me. It’s like buying a computer that has a high powered graphics card, lots of RAM, a strong CPU, but all you intend to use it for is Windows Office, Solitaire, and Minesweeper. (Not the best analogy, I know.) Really, without the new controller the Wii is effectively a Gamecube with the ability to download certain games.

You’re entitled to your preference, and you don’t need me to tell you that, of course, but it just seems odd to me that you’re interested in the Wii but want to sidestep the major selling point that differentiates it from Microsoft and Sony, and basically have Nintendo do the Gamecube all over again.

(Incidentally, the Gamecube controller is IMO one of the best designed controllers there is to date. The small X-Box controller comes close, but there’s a couple of bad button placements.)

17

[QUOTE=BayleDomon]
I have to admit, this kinda baffles me. It’s like buying a computer that has a high powered graphics card, lots of RAM, a strong CPU, but all you intend to use it for is Windows Office, Solitaire, and Minesweeper. (Not the best analogy, I know.) Really, without the new controller the Wii is effectively a Gamecube with the ability to download certain games.

You’re entitled to your preference, and you don’t need me to tell you that, of course, but it just seems odd to me that you’re interested in the Wii but want to sidestep the major selling point that differentiates it from Microsoft and Sony, and basically have Nintendo do the Gamecube all over again.

(Incidentally, the Gamecube controller is IMO one of the best designed controllers there is to date. The small X-Box controller comes close, but there’s a couple of bad button placements.)
[/QUOTE]

Well, I said in earlier threads and again here, I’m not really all that interested in the Wii, at this moment. I am interested in getting new games (as opposed to just playing old ones over and over again, as a disturbingly large portion of the people who share my game-playing tastes seem to prefer), and what I said is what would make me buy and ultimately enjoy a Wii. The obvious analogy is that I could really give a damn about the touch-screen features of the DS, but I love my DS because… it’s a tech-step (or three) ahead of the GBA and there are a bunch of really good games for it. It’s that simple. The Wii is a new generation of technology, and there will be NEW games coming out for it. I want to play new games, and in fact the PS3 is exactly what I SHOULD want… but Sony totally blew that with the price point and their DRM issues. So I’m a gamer without a console that I really want, and I was just saying what would draw me in for the Wii - I think the system can potentially do a lot of cool things (half-tech-step ahead of the Cube, Nintendo’s own title lines, ease of development if they can actually attract third-party devs, and the only reasonable price point of the new generation) even outside of what I view (opinion! don’t hurt me! :)) as basically a gimmick.

As for the Cube controller… it’s a love-hate thing, at least among my friends in RL. I know a lot of people who agree with you… but I hate the design of the shoulder buttons, hate the switch in the main buttons (huge A, itsy bitsy B, weird shaped X and Y), am clueless as to why they put the Z button where it is (defeats its original point as a “trigger” button by putting it in a ridiculously inconvenient location), and find the mini-D-pad and mini-C-stick to be ineffective at best. If the GC Smash Brothers wasn’t literally the best party game ever, I’d be quite happy to never touch one of the damn things again. That’s for a different thread, though :wink:

18

I think I’m going to wait a few months and see how it all fans out. I don’t have much desire for any of the three at this point. I hate Microsoft with a passion and have no interest in getting anything under their name. I stuck with Sony for the last two generations, but the cost of the PS3 and the pimping of BluRay (which I have no interest in) is disappointing. I was a big time Nintendo fan back in the NES days, but the games have hardly changed since then. They need to give Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, and Metroid a rest. I think I’ll just buy a Neo Geo or something. If this is what they call a step forward, I’ll just take a step back.

19

Xbox 360 - Got one under protest, but there were a flock of new games coming out that I really wanted for it. Now I am in serious geek-love with the thing (especially since getting our LCD TV). High-Def, shiny surfaces. Downloadable content. Gamerscore! Must. Increase. Gamerscore! Downloadable demos, music, movies and arcade games in Live. Microsoft have really gotten something right with this puppy.

PS3 - I’m Sony’s bitch, I really am. I see the Playstation logo and my knees go weak. However the pricing is well too far out of our league, most of the games I want will be cross-platformed to the 360 and I’ve already got a PS2 for the games I still play on the thing. Perhaps after the inevitable 12 month price drops, but I won’t be lining up for one.

Wii - I’m a little ambivalent about this one. The price tag is what will swing it for me. Nintendo’s franchises have never thrilled me (Zelda, Mario, Pokemon. Blah). I only got the gamecube because for a while Capcom had sold their soul and Resident Evil games were only being produced for the Cube (but then they went crawling back to Sony anyway, so blah). The controller looks interesting, and some of the interactive games that take advantage of it look fun. Being that it will be cheap I’d say we’ll be picking one up sometime after the Christmas sales, just for kicks.

20

Yeah, Kiros, the Z button isn’t in a great location. The oddly shaped buttons are done so specifically because a large number of games do use one main button, one secondary button, and a host of tertiary buttons, and the controller is designed to relieve thumb fatigue. But yeah, this is a hijack. :stuck_out_tongue:

I can get your reasoning; I actually find using the touch screen on the DS to be a bother, and there’s a good chunk of DS-only games that are perfectly good without needing it. For what it’s worth, Zelda: Twilight Princess can be configured so the remote/nunchuk setup can be used like the old N64 controller for Ocarina of Time. I expect other games will have traditional configurations as well, those that reasonably can.