King Me
E3 week! After a total failure in Academic aspects this year, I'm ready to get back to writing. Don't even think about trying to disrupt this train of thought! Wall of text ability, come to me!
The Xbox 360
The news that Xbox 360 was launching in 2005 shocked me when first I heard it. The last couple of years have been a progression of handhelds and console overturning. Microsoft really wanted to get its foot in the door for this next generation. Personally, I was also pretty interested in the hype surrounding Perfect Dark Zero, dubbed Rare's first "good" game on any Microsoft console. The machine had a distinctly PC-like appearance, but hey, I figured, a refrigerator looks better than the original Xbox.
The console launched without delay. Perfect Dark Zero got some decent comments, but the massive complaint was ... that there was a shortage of consoles? To my surprise, my dad actually asked me what I thought about the Xbox 360 last holiday season, and I declined... not only because I didn't feel that it quite warranted a purchase, but because it didn't seem like I could get one at all. Same with a friend's father - tried to get one, couldn't.
And thus 360 faded into obscurity for a couple of months. I really tried to get myself to care, but for several weeks after launch, all I would hear was "underproduction" or "selling out too fast". In March, the second batch really began to come, and I s'pose it's been selling smoothly, since it's at 3.2 million units, now. MS has probably upped production. It's $400 for the good edition, and Xbox Live is currently the most respected online console service. The number is currently more than any other majorly successful system has been at launch, IIRC, but with inflation and rising technology, I think that it's a reasonable escalation in price. Games being $60 was more of an eye-opener, though it also seems logical with the production that needs to go into a next-gen game. Ugly, but logical.
It's still doing like shit in Japan, though. That's one area MS totally failed to break this time around. Despite the promises of RPGs coming to the console, I really haven't heard of any specifics at all. The FFXI port didn't help at all - not only did it reinforce the "lol pc port" aspect, FFXI isn't even that liked of a game in the first place. PDZero has fallen greatly in the public's eye, and the 360's top games include Call of Duty 2 - a PC port. Dead or Alive 4 has become one of the most wanted and unique game on the Xbox 360, and while I'm sure that there's a fair share of DOA fans... come on. MS finally unveiled Halo 3 at E3, and I'm not sure about its impact yet, but I personally couldn't care less. Guess I'll have to wait to find out the reaction from the populace at school. It's also getting GTA4 eventually, which is good.
So much as I tried to be unbiased toward the Xbox 360, six months of nothing has kinda turned me off to it. Until I see MGS4 ported, I'm gonna withhold that one. I'm hoping that Sony's developers flock there, however, because my opinion on the PS3 is... well, you'll see.
Some thoughts on the PS3...
Specs and numbers are meaningless to me, but apparently, it's supposed to be the most powerful machine God has ever created. With the hype its power is receiving, it seems like it's way more powerful than the Xbox 360 - a bigger difference than between Xbox and Gamecube, I should hope, at the very least - because I can't see the difference between XB and GCN.
Problem is, it'll be a while, perhaps forever, before developers really figure out how to take advantage of all that graphical capacity (as well as the processing capacity with the "Cell"). Game development costs will rise, and I can only imagine that it'll take longer and longer to crank out those new games, which in turn will be more expensive (at the $60 rate set up by the 360 at the moment). Until then, you're paying $500 or $600 for a lot of dead weight (graphically) that a 360 could probably get you.
The price tag: Yeah, it's big and ugly and scary as all hell gets out, and yeah, it'll hurt sales, though it'll still perform decently. Somehow, I imagine that gamers aren't going to run out at snag those $600 machines all that quickly. The $500 machine, according to what I've read in this thread, isn't that much worse - it'll definitely be viable. I see that Chichiri [a GameFAQs poster] has made lots of posts on the actual working advantages of the $600 version, and his claims have substantiated my belief that in practical works, the $500 version will be more than enough to meet my needs. But even so... even so, I, as I imagine most people, will feel "cheated" if I pay the astronomical $500 for an incomplete product. Meaning it'll be all or nothing for a lot of people, and I imagine that the "nothing" aspect will be pretty significant.
Also, $600 is technically a steal. This is a home entertainment system, not just a video gaming console, and $600 for the package, I imagine, is much cheaper than buying all of the separate materials plus a Wii or 360 or whatnot. The problem is that a lot of people to whom PS3 is marketed won't need another DVD player, and a lot won't demand the HD very much at all. Again, paying money for dead weight. As for Blu-Ray? I think I speak decently for the gaming populace when I say: What the hell?
Controller... Sony is taking a traditional controller scheme with motion decting capabilities. I'm all for it - as long as they don't allow the motion-detecting to get too irritating. It bothers me that Sony "stole" Nintendo's idea, but if I ever get tired of using the Wiimote and want to play something traditional on the PS3, it'll suck. Hard. There have got to be some games where it's acceptable to hurl your controller in agony. I wish Sony had stuck with its tradition, though I maybe be proven wrong by the end of the decade.
Games: Big power, big names. PS3 will keep many of the franchises of the PS2, and that'll ultimately push systems. People will pay money to purchase Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, names that turn heads, and they will in turn have to purchase Sony's devil machine. The question is exclusivity. The PS3, if it is indeed as powerful as the hype claims, may be the only thing that can play some games eventually, and then it will become a must have. Until then, however, the Xbox 360 may be looking at some serious porting power, and it may indeed become a viable purchase. Who knows? The PS3 may become a necessary evil vehicle for the games...
As for the aesthetics of the console ... Well, it looks like a "home entertainment system", all right, if that's the image Sony's looking to promote, but that's not what I want. I'm planning on pooling money to get a PS3, but trading it among friends' houses will prove a pain in the ass. I guess it's meant to sit there and purr like a woman in your lap. Fine, if you're rich. If you're not... eh.
My final call: Probably won't get it at launch. Might have to get it eventually, because as far as games go, I will definitely want my MGS.
Nintendo DS
Well, goddamn mates, this little thang has impressed me from the start. Lacking any cohesive launch lineup, it nonetheless began sales at quite a clip and... well, as far as I'm concerned, it's continued impressing over and over and over.
DS launched in America before it launched in Japan, a concept that I remembered was quite controversial. The controversy, however, never did amount to anything, because when the DS launched in Japan 2 weeks after it launched in North America, sales exploded in the Eastern Hemisphere. Slowly a trickle of games began to be released.
A few months after DS launched, as it was stagnating, the PSP came blazing out of Sony's department, a highly controversial machine. It was priced at $250, meaning that each unit sold cost a significant amount of money to Sony. In addition to suffering from a lack of good games as did the DS, the PSP pioneered portable disk-based machines, and while UMD wasn't totally unsuccessful, it's generally agreed that the PSP plays disks worse than portable DVD players, plays music worse than iPods or other MP3 players, and plays games equally well or worse than DS and GBA. Too much in one package - the same thing as what may happen to PS3. But that's a projection... can't be too sure.
In any case, neither DS nor PSP was all that dominant during early 2005, because the GameBoy Advance SP was still kicking ass and taking names. Just as PS2 outsells Xbox 360 right now, GBA was busy schooling its competition, with PSP taking a narrow lead in sales over DS.
Back to DS: Suddenly, the games came. With summer and fall, the "gimmick" argument had all but disappeared as games like Kirby, Advance Wars DS, and Castlevania DS hit the market. The DS, which had been falling just slightly behind PSP, pulled fully even and then jumped into the lead. It maintained the lead throughout the holiday season with Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World. Cult hit Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney came as well, and of course there are other titles, all of which I can't list: Princess Peach, Sonic Rush, Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, Nintendogs, and more. In a few weeks, Super Mario Bros. DS will launch, and we all know what Mario does for sales. DS Lite will follow, and I'll make sure to snag that.
No, the DS is tried and true. I am not here to question its competence, not even to question the inevitability that I get it. I'm a Nintendo fanboy through and through, and judging by the amount of third-party support it's received, the DS is one of Nintendo's greatest triumphs, one that would not become me to miss.
Wii
My goal in the next section is the make as many "Wii"-based jokes as possible.
N5: The Nintendo Revolution: The Wii.
Nintendo... inventor of the D-Pad, A, B, and shoulder buttons. Nintendo... champion of the cartridge system. Nintendo... pioneer of analog joysticks and force feedback. Nintendo... The Beginning and the End.
The Revolution generated mild talk at E3 last year... Reggie kept his lips tight about it; it's been a delicate subject. Why? Because Nintendo's fifth console, the "N5", was going to be a Revolution.
And of course, I ate it up. I knew in the back of my mind that it had no chance at taking more than 30% of the market share next generation... Sure, it wasn't going to support HD! I would still buy it! Especially if there's old game downloads! I tried to maintain a positive attitude about Nintendo - for indeed I have my faith - but still, I felt that it would end as the inferior console. The price and limited success of the Xbox 360 did not change my inner cynic, nor did the rumored $400 - $500 cost of the PS3.
The first jolt came with the controller. I stared hard at the iPod-like device. I was eager as all hell to try it, but inside, I felt a shameful doubt: How would the market respond? Though all around me, people praised the Revolution's controller, and though I pretended to rejoice with them, there was still the reality, I thought, that the Revolution's innovation would mean little to help its sales.
Then, two days before E3 started, the codename was ditched. As he Ultra 64 became the Nintendo 64, as the Dolphin became the Gamecube... The Revolution became... The Wii.
For some reason, the full force of Nintendo's possibility of success did not hit me until last week. This is a new audience that Nintendo is trying to reach. Two days of backlash ensued from the announcement of the name, two days of ewiil, wiicious backlash, and then... and then it basically disappeared.
Because as other consoles look worse with pricing and games, Nintendo looks better. The PS3's sky-high prices make the Wii look like lunch money for little Johnny, and its friendly interface helps, too. Suddenly, Nintendo seems to have substantiated the the love that developers have shown toward the Wii. Hideo Kojima's love has never sounded more sincere, and while it's a terrible blow that MGS may never hit the Wii due to its graphical limitations, I have great confidence that other Wii games will make it worth my pursuit. Mario.. Zelda... and of course the possibilities with that Wiimote controller are endless. Wii will win.
Now, to make myself seem somewhat less manwiiacal, I'll try to specify those that excite me on the Wii. Wii will be out in 2006. Dragon Qwiist launching on Wii is terribly exciting. It'll be a massive asset in Japan. Twilight Princess - my most anticipated game (yes, even more than MGS4!) - will launch on Wii during my senior year in high school. Wii will receive Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a game which not only will preserve the gameplay of SSBM online... but which has generated boundless discussion due to its inclusion of Snake. Solid Fwiiking Snake. On the Nintendo Wii. In a Smash Bros. game.
... Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
I haven't played games much this year, and I haven't been this excited for gaming in a long, long time. Mateys, this is good news.
SD
May 14, '06
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