From what I’ve read, the next-gen version of Guitar Hero is best on 360. (Something about downloadable content not being available for PS3.) The other games listed still stand.
I went XBox last gen. I was an Apple eveangelist back in the day, so it was hard for me to stomach it–but they’d bought out Bungie (makers of Halo), and I couldn’t hold out.
So for this gen, I already had a catalog of Xbox games, and the 360 was shaping up to be a beast console, with Japanese developers really on board this time, so I swung Xbox again. I’m really happy I did–the 360 addressed most of the issues with the original Xbox. If you need flash in your games, the Wii is not really the way to go, although what they are doing is really interesting and I hope it works out for Nintendo. They are banking on a hell of an experiment with the Wii. Sony, meanwhile, appears to be shooting itself in the foot at every turn. It’ll be interesting to see this gen play out.
I have Gears of War, and it somehow managed to live up to the hype in pretty much every respect. It’s a genuinely fun and interesting shooter. I’m looking forward to Mass Effect (I swear, I damn near got scurvy or anemia or something playing Knights of the Old Republic–I think I survived on pretzels alone for a week) and Alan Wake.
I count Guitar Hero because that’s the kind of game that hits the PS2 first. Now that it’s a huge hit it’s going multiplatform, but I can’t imagine a game like that debuting as an Xbox exclusive.
Will wait a long time before deciding, definitely more than a year. It’s probably going to be a PS3, mainly because Microsoft refuses to provide the support I absolutley require (like, say, a Codebreaker, and has anyone even looked at a means of preventing it from being used online??), and I just don’t like the overall vibe I’m getting from Nintendo. Plus their controllers are weird. Somehow, Sony always manages to get at least twice as many games that I actually give a damn about than any other system.
To put it in perspective, here’s a partial list of my current PS2 games: Dynasty Warriors 2-4 (plus both Empires and Xtreme Legends 4 and 5), Midnight Club 2, Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Time Crisis 2/3, Ninja Assault, Contra: Shattered Soldier, Neo Contra, Flow, Tekken 5, Street Fighter EX 3, Pac Man Fever, Ready 2 Rumble Round 2, Swing Away Golf, SSX Tricky. Not to mention literally dozens of Bemani games for that other PS2. Trust me, this is not a gamer whose going to be wowed by megahyped RPGs, soul-crushing puzzle games, or any kind of online play whatsoever.
I’m going to have to see a lot of things before deciding.
I was a game tester at EA until last week because my contract ran out. I got to test some games on the PS3 and Wii, and I think the Wii thoroughly kicks the PS3’s ass. The Wii might have a stupid name and underpowered graphics compared to the other next-gen consoles, but the controller is pure genius. The Wii accurately reads the position, rotation, and movement of the controller relative to the TV, no matter how fast or slow you wave the thing around. This is no mean feat. Whether developers will be able to do interesting things with this controller remains to be seen, but the technology is very solid.
On the other hand, the PS3 is an embarrassing jumble of features, seemingly slapped on in a blind panic to compete with the other consoles. First off, the controller feels pretty cheap in the hand. The L2 and R2 buttons have been given trigger actions like the Xbox controller, but they are still shaped about the same as before which makes them a bit small for proper triggers. The rumble motors were removed and replaced with motion sensors, making the controller feel too light for my tastes. Supposedly the sensors can detect linear and rotational movement, but none of the games I tested really used them much. Even so, the traditional controller shape is poorly suited for an advanced motion sensor like the Wii system. There’s a PS button in the middle like the one on the Xbox 360 controller, but the controller port indicator is on the front, so you have to tilt it up to read it. The PS3 can support up to 7 controllers, but the controller indicator only goes up to 4. Therefore controller 5 is indicated as “4+1” and so on. The controller can be used wired or wirelessly, which sounds cool at first. However, the wireless mode uses Bluetooth, which I found to be prone to lag and desync problems. If you don’t know what that means, basically it means your controller doesn’t respond that well and your character in the game gets killed or whatever as a result. To use the controller in wired mode, you plug in a standard USB 2 cable to the controller and the console. Unlike the 360 controllers which also use USB, the cables that come with the PS3 don’t have a breakaway adapter, and they also unplug from the controller itself. USB is fine and dandy for computer uses, but I’m not convinced it’s rugged enough for the demands of a console controller.
The PS3 console is freakin’ huge. It’s noticeably larger and heavier than an Xbox 360, and puts out a lot of damn heat. Seriously, it feels hotter than my beefy gaming PC. (My computer probably generates more actual heat energy, but it’s well ventilated.) The case looks good, if you happen to like the lines of it (I don’t), as long as you don’t touch it. It’s made of high gloss, smooth black and silver plastic that takes fingerprints really well and scratches if you look at it funny. Most sensible electronics manufacturers for the past several decades have used textured matte plastic to avoid this problem. The PS3 doesn’t have power and eject buttons; instead it has metal touch pads. I wouldn’t mind that so much except that it takes several seconds for the console to respond, which is irritating. The PS3 menu system is vastly more irritating. You have to hold the PS button on the controller for about 5 seconds to get to the menu, except sometimes that turns the controller off. The menu looks pretty much exactly like the PSP menu - that is, somewhat poorly organized and slow to navigate. They even kept the braindead “cell phone” interface for entering text. When you enter text, say for your profile name, a virtual phone keypad pops up and you have to move the cursor around. The PS3 will not accept PS1 or PS2 memory cards without an adapter, which I’m not sure is even available at launch time. Switching video output modes is a pain in the ass. The console has not autodetect or fallback mode, so if it’s set for, say, 1080i and you plug it into a regular TV, you won’t see anything, and you can’t switch video modes until you plug it back into an HDTV with the proper cables.
My prediction is that the PS3 will sell all of its meager 400,000 units at launch, and maybe a few more of the second run, but before too long people will realize it’s an overpriced George Forman grill and sales will plummet. Oh yeah, out of the 20 test kits my department bought, 2 broke after only a couple of months, so expect a lot of malfunctions too.
I don’t mean to be insulting but I think you have a real crappy HDTV or you are in need of some glasses.
Playing on 720P makes a lot of difference especially in shooters like Call of Duty.
When I tried playing it on 480P half the time I couldn’t see who was firing at me, because the resolution is just too low.
Also reading the subtitles in games like Dead Rising is next to impossible. (Well, maybe I need some new glasses too 
)
Nope I don’t need new glasses. And if a console based game is relying on the OUTPUT device to make it playable or not, that’s a flawed model.
I’ve paid a ton of money on a video card, just so I sould see the smoke on the railgun and after all the anticipation, all the futzing around with PCI 1.0 vs. PCI 1.1, downloading and debugging the drivers, the end result was:
meh.
To add insult to injury, the video card I got 18 months later cost half as much and did 10 times more.
We’re in the divide between SD and HD, as such, for the next 4 to 8 years, you’re gonna have a mix of resolutions.
Gamer-chic is is like listening to audiophiles. The difference between a $100 stereo and a $1000 stereo is huge, from $1000 to $10000 is detectible, $10000 to $100000 and you’re just fooling yourself.
There are folks that build full enclosure cockpits to simulate flying and others that are happy with just using the mouse and keyboard, guess which group I’m closer to?
The ones with a life?
You definitely have a good point here.
A lot of people were pretty ticked off when they bought King Kong for the Xbox360 but weren’t able to play it on a normal screen,
because everything was so dark.
Things were only visible on an HD screen, while most people still have to make-do with a regular one.
Not the smartest decision on their part.
Nah, I don’t have a life. I’m learning metalworking in the garage in my spare time. Besides, what the hell would I do with a life? I have nowhere to keep it, and the maintenance is a bitch.
Everybody’s gotta have a hobby.
I’ve been a Nintendo fanboy since the 80’s and now, well into middleage, I’m still a fan. I understand that the graphics is a big selling point for some gamers, but I want to be engulfed in the mystery, the puzzles, the story. If I get stuck somewhere I want side quests and I realy hate linear games, especially the ones where the dexterity of how I use the control will decide if I can continue playing or not. With a slight case of arthritis, complicated finger motions is no fun at all.
I won’t get a Wii at launch but will certainly get one during the winter.
I was wary of Gears because of all the hype. How often does a game meet that much hype, then exceed it?
That’s one fun game.
Though I admit to being optimistic to a fault about the Wii, though it is an experiment I don’t think it’s necessarily a real gamble, at least as far as the remote. If you think about it, the remote is really just a computer mouse designed to work in all three axes as opposed to just two. There’s plenty of precedent for it, just not in console gaming. I’ve never liked the idea of playing shooters (both first and third person) on consoles because the controller is always far too clumsy compared to the finesse of a keyboard and mouse, but I fully expect shooters to play wonderfully on the Wii.
Now, almost totally ignoring the hardcore gamer demographic and trying to appeal to everyone else? That’s the real experiment. 
Just wanted to pop in an say I work at Circuit City down here, and people are camped out in tents in front of our store waiting for the PS3, and have been for about 2 days.
It’s been about 40 degrees, rainy and windy these last few days.
I’m guessing these people are waiting for them to get one (we have an extremely small number of units available tomorrow - less than 10) and sell it on Ebay for 2 grand or something. We have more Wiis than PS3s by at least a few. I still want one - maybe in three or four months. I liked my old PS2 for Tony Hawk and Madden, but that’s about it. Have zero interest in a new one, espeically one that costs me close to 2 months pay!
From stupid to dangerous: Camping PlayStation Gamers Robbed at Gunpoint
I am actually not that impressed with Gears of War.
It looks absolutely amazing, but the control scheme is seriously flawed.
For example if you want to throw a grenade, you first have to put away your gun, aim, throw, then switch back to your gun.
The action is much too frantic to do this.
Also the fact that the Run-button is also the “take cover”-button is a bit of a nuisance.
You run towards something and if you run past a “cover”-point he automatically takes cover.
Also it is very hard to steer your character when you are running.
It might be realistic but I do think it detracts from an otherwise great shooter.
I also think it is a bit too difficult for average players, I had a hard time even getting through the tutorial.
(Yeah, I know, I suck at gaming, but I do love it)
Whelp, I was at my local Super Walmart yesterday and asked the pimply-faced whippersnapper in the Electronics section how many Nintendo’s they thought they were getting this weekend:
Holy crap if he’s telling the truth!
I still might wander down Saturday night, just cuz. But it’ll be cool coming in next week and seeing boxes on the shelves. It took a good 8-10 months after the 360 came out for any core systems to show up on the shelves. I’ve never seen a premium system there.
There was a sign on all the doors that said ‘11/15/03 PS3 SOLD OUT’.
I wondered how they could do that, then I saw the group huddled in what used to be the portrait studio…they much have as many people there as PS3s.
My buddy an I are running through it on co-op mode. It seems that the A button can be touchy and it seems to want to stick to walls when I’m running past them, but it’s not consistent enough to piss me off. I can see how if can get frustrating. I haven’t played it online yet, but that will be the true test.
I’m relatively cool with the grenade. I usually have to throw them from behind cover, so I’m not complaining about having to switch. It seems that if you complain about having to switch, you’ve got bad tactics in the first place because you should be aware enough of your surroundings and possible flankers to know when is safe and not safe. (note: there was no snark intended in the preceding comment)
Then again, I stomped Halo 2 on legendary, so going through Gears on the hardest difficulty should be another feather in my cap.
I think it’s intentionally harder to steer while you’re running. I’ve got the same gripe, but I don’t see that gripe the same way you do.
Since I work from 4pm to 1230 am eastern time, I’m going to stop at Wal Mart on the way home Sat. night/Sun. morning to see if I can get a Wii. If it wasn’t on my way home from work I’d wait til my day off. I want a Wii but I’m not psycho about getting one.
No offense taken, I suck at being strategic.
That is why I hate games like Splinter Cell and the like.
I haven’t played it enough yet to really form a judgement or to get a bit better at it.
The co-op mode sounds like great fun.
I did realise that the controlling while running is intentional and it is probably a lot more realistic.
I love the way the camera moves when you start a sprint.
I am going to spend a few hours this weekend trying to get the hang of it.
I might end up loving it, but right now I prefer Call of Duty 3.