
Now that the PS3, Wii, and 360 have all launched, the gents at Gaming Nexus have put together a set of standards for console manufacturers to abide by next time they decide to launch new platforms. Commandments if you will. And wouldn't you know it, there's 10 of 'em; 10 things we as consumers don't want to see happen again. For example: thou shall have more than 100k units at launch, thou shall make accessories readily available, and thou shall only launch with one SKU. Read on for the full list peppered with old school ecclesiastical prose. Thou shall entertain.












(Page 1) Reader Comments
PS3: 1,3,4,5,6,7,10
Wii: 1,2,7
360: 1,8,9,10
You may now return to your regularly scheduled flame war.
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1. Thou shall deliver on thy promises
2. Thou shall do a global launch (ps3)
3. Thou shall market thy console at a reasonable price (ps3)
4. Thou shall not use a propitiatory storage format (360 hdd storage and nintendo's discs)
5. Thou shall provide all consumers with the same features (roll out that video marketplace)
6. Thou shall charge the same price for digital content globally
7. Thou shall not limit video support to thy propitiatory format, charge if thy must but provide support (xbox 360)
8. Thou shall have sufficient product available at launch.
9. Thou shall not allow content providers to charge for cheats (xbox 360 with EA)
10. Thou shall release any digitally distributed game in its entirety (lumines)
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Then how did people come about Wii Sports and Excite Truck... I guess they weren't released with the Wii but born with it... and yes Excite Truck might be mediocre, but so was PD0 and Kameo... (which were both really just N64 titles converted to the Gamecube, converted to the XBOX, to finally be released on the 360 (which isn't wrong at all and they are both good games (especially Kameo), just stating incase people use the Zelda is a GC game crap!)
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It says Wii only had one first party title at launch.
What about Excite Truck, and Wii sports.
And in japan they had Wii Play and Warioware also.
All these games (sans Wii Play) Scored and or sold better then Kameo and Perfect dark Zero.
And both those games were Gamecube ports that never made it on the cube but have been in developement for 5 years.
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1 and 7 they succeeded on.
They "launched" with plenty of consoles. The commandment only asks for at least 600,000... which Nintendo did. And no one that I know of killed for one on launch day... and Number 7 is just wrong. Nintendo had 3 first party titles as already listed, plus first party VC titles.
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Despite the fact I'm only ever going to use a Wii this gen (anti-flame suit; less free time, more RL commitments, sick of regular controllers even in the Cube days) I think that list was just made as another "Yey, Wii victorious" topic. Yes it's good, yes it's great fun, yes it's a sign of where the industry should be going. We don't need reminding!
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This goes more for the PS3. Nintendo Wii can take two different formats one of which was the old gamecube mini dvd-rom.
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Check the internet - if you find a website that has them in stock, tell me, because I only have one Wiimote/Nunchuk. All the stores in my area are sold out of both, and have been since I got my Wii (this includes two Gamestops, a Best Buy, two Wal-marts, and a Target).
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** "thou should include next generation technology as a standard if you want to be called a NextGen product (lack of of HDMI and HD-DVD)"
** "thou shall a warranty greater than 90 days" (until people bring a lawsuit against you and you decide to change it - dumb dumb dumb)
** "thou shall properly design a product that doesn't overheat when you shine a light on it"
** "thou shall not codename your consoles after war theaters that crushed an enemy and then try to sell to them (xbox 1.0 here - "Project Midway")
** "thou shall realize that the world does not care about American football and basketball so please stop saying these are suitable launch titles"
** "thou shall not rely on a single franchise to carry your console - especially when it pales in comparison to PC games"
** "thou shall not micro charge us to death after e pay an additional $50 to be part of your elite online users"
** "thou shall make a console that doesn't have a power supply that is half the size of the console itself"
** "thou shall..." awww never mind - these points are lost on the fanboys anyways..
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I just hope that you someday realize the irony of that.
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http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/02/06/marketplace-10-commandments.aspx
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A lot of people, myself included, like to call Zelda TP a Gamecube game because that is the console we waited for it on and are playing it on. There is a difference between that and, say Kameo. You can't play Kameo without a 360 (big loss :).
@17 D
Thou shalt not exaggerate the negativity of the little stuff while ignoring things like game quality.
Thou shalt not launch a console a year late with no increase in graphics or game quality.
Thou shalt not claim thine system to be capable of much more than thine competitor, then release the same games with noticeable decrease in graphical quality unless thine customer is too dumb to notice or care.
Thou shalt not lie in general to the customer repeatedly unless thy customer is too ignorant to give a damn.
Thou shalt not focus thine console resources on pushing an expensive HD format while ignoring the needs of the gamers.
Thou shalt not release multiple games offered by thine competitor months or even a year prior.
Thou shalt not release multiplatform games that lack online when thine competitor does not lack online.
Thou shalt not produce a console that is no longer sold out mere weeks after launch.
Thou shalt not take an extra year to launch with a less thorough launch lineup.
Thou shalt not base thine entire existance on the release of sequels that others have played, plus an over-rated dragon flying game and a hacknslasher with cloth physics.
That is kind of fun. I think that was 10. Coulda come up with more. Can you guess which system I was picking on without reading the last entry?
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Thou shalt release more than just lame party-games full of minigames
Thou shalt offer DVD playback on thine console in 2007
Thou shalt not name your console with a wacky name that will make thine costumers embarrassed to talk about it
Thou shalt offer online gameplay right out of the box
Thou shalt not let thine console consist of Gamecube and Playstation 2 ports with tacked on motion controls
Thou shalt not charge 5-10 dollars for really old games without any form of update
Thou shalt not underestimate the success of thine console, and manufacture more units for launch
Thou shalt tone down the prices for thine controllers
Thou shalt not allow a gaming drought of several months
Thou shalt realize that there are really stupid people in the world, and make thicker wrist straps
Disclaimer: I own a Wii, not a 360 or PS3, I'll beat your ass if you call me a fanboy
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Thank you! I feel like I'm the only one that notices that the current Wii lineup is nothing more than minigames and a GC port. I'll buy a Wii eventually, but not until they have some real games for it.
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How's this
Thou shalt not make games with N64 graphics for a next gen console
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One of the best games of 2006. Get it.
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Thou shalt not fuck over the poor people in Europe
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I would have said xbox graphics. N64, that is a bit harsh, though some of the ports are pretty sad looking :(
But graphics and epic big budget 3rd party exclusives aren't everything.
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Oh how I knash thy teeth and shaketh thy's fist at not being able to play Wii sports tennis online. Would it hath been too hard for thee? Would it really?
Scoundrels
It hurteth thy's head when thy wonders if the people playing next to me on Wii Sports bowling are live or merely generated by thou's computer.
Why hath thou forsaken me Nintendoth? With thy cubic building headquarters and thine honerable Sir Iwata and Squire Shiggy at thine Helm. Why doth thou mock thee to buy an extra controller so that thee doth not have to play alone, when the whole point is that "Wii" are playing t(w)ogether.
Snake oil thou hath sold thee in the guise of £250 incl. 2 games and an over-priced SD card at yonder HMV.
I haveth visions of thee dancing thine merry jig on my cash as I scribe.
But the last laugh with be thines. For upon the third incarnation of Halo I will cross yonder forge and join ye ranks of 360 fanboys.
Once again I will pwn noobs it will be sweet. It will be sweet.
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I wasn't referring to the power of the Wii, rather Nintendo's decision to essentially not use that power. Witness Wii Sports or WarioWare. Just because the focus of the games isn't on graphics doesn't mean that they have to look like they were designed by a 3rd grader. The Wii is capable of more and we should expect more from it.
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"14. 4. Thou shall not use a propitiatory storage format (360 hdd storage and nintendo's discs)
This goes more for the PS3. Nintendo Wii can take two different formats one of which was the old gamecube mini dvd-rom."
I kind of disagree with that seeing as how the PS3 uses any notebook harddrive, and the BlueRayDisks. Yeah the blueray disks and burners are in short supply but so were the DL dvd disks and drives. So, yeah . . but does anybody know what filesystem the ps3 uses? Im not seeing FAT.
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Quick business lesson. When any company produces anything there are 2 accounting terms; burdened rate and hard cost.
Burdened rate is the accounting method used to dictate how much you have to mark up materials and labor. For example, a guy on an assembly line somewhere is making $15/hour. His time however is billed at $35/hour because that is what the company needs to "bill" in order to make a profit.
Hard cost is the method where all accounting is done at actual costs. This is self explanatory.
So when you hear that Sony is losing X dollars on each unit, they are giving you the burdened rate. Take a look a the guts inside any console. I would be suprised to find that any of these machines cost more than $100/unit to produce when hard costed.
By the way, that same principle works when you hear about movie budgets. Ever hear how the producers behind "Forrest Gump" claim the movie never made a dime? Same accounting practice at work.
The reality is that there is no company that can sell anything at a loss and hope to make it up with "quantity" or secondary products.
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I really don't think you understand the console industry at all. You don't think the PS3 costs more than $100 to produce when it has a BR drive, a 60 GB laptop hard drive, a cell processor, a good GPU, gigabit ethernet, bluetooth, WiFi, USB, etc...? You're on crack. The estimates I've seen given by 3rd parties on the PS3 were hard costed and much higher than $100.
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@ 11 ... actually, i'm almost positive sony is the gaming devil ...
( kinda like the robot devil - http://firepile.com/images/Robotdevil.jpg )
The Wii has a few good single player games,
although i guess it all depends on personal opinion ...
Since a lot of people seem to have trouble finding fun Wii single player, i'll give some quick reviews of what i've played:
- Zelda
no brainer, most fun i've had with a game since Resident Evil 4
- Elebits
way more depth here than I expected, and i'm a sucker for a map editor (especially when i can send the maps to other people)
- Excite Truck
awsome fun in small doses, seemed small and disapointing at first, until i realized you actually you have to unlock most of the game ...
- TH Downhill Jam
havent played much of it yet, but same jist as excite truck
**** FPS Catagory ****
(i love FPS's so i've played through all 3 on the Wii so far, 4 if you count elebits i guess)
- Red Steel
Controls feel clunky at first, but its been given a bad rap.
Essentially, you need to realize its not UT or Halo, play it slower and more deliberate, and you will have a much better experience.
Runing out into the open and trying to play Rambo will get you killed every time.
The story was decent, the graphics were the best i've seen on the Wii so far (a bit beter Halo 2)
And the Soundtrack ... the music for this game was phenomenal ... and it synced with the levels and gameplay perfectly ... best original score for a game in my recent memory.
-Far Cry
An abysimal buggy port of a game with Wii controls tacked on. Ubisoft's buget for this must have been around 20 dolars ...
It has its moments ... but i think thats just because its a FarCry game at heart ...
(control is slightly better than redsteel ... sometimes)
-Call of Duty 3
Best Wii shooter to date.
The controls are great, much beter than Red Steel or FarCry. Not perfect, but still very good.
It gives me a lot of hope for FPS games on the Wii, because it really is refreshing to play an FPS this way.
Now if only the game itself was a bit better...
For the most part I like it, and if you want to play an FPS on the Wii right now, COD3 is the way to go...
I know this post kinda makes me look like a Fanboy,
but i'm not quite, i'm more like a reverse-fanboy, really i'll try anything that dosent say Sony on it
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Except for your comment about Sony at the end, you didn't sound like a fanboy at all in your post. Just seems like honest opinions on the Wii games to me.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_and_blades
Read that, and stop spouting off about things that you know nothing about (hint: if you're disagreeing with everyone in the room, there might be a chance that you are wrong).
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Brent,
Your comments aren't fanboyish except the last. But, you really can't say the Wii has good single player games. You listed some games and gave your honest critique. Trust me, though, you will play much, much better single player games on the Wii by the time it is said and done with. COD3 and Elebits do not compare to some of the single player games on 360, for example, right now. You'll look back on liking Red Steel as some painful distant memory from your youth.
1p is one of the Wii's current weaknesses. Expect it to change, but don't feel obligated to be happy with what is there now. If everyone bought and was happy with cheaply made, shallow games on the Wii then you would be stuck playing VC, Nintendo, and PS2 ports for the next 2 years. It will get much better.
Far Cry on the Wii is just as bad as it is on the 360. Absolutely friken horrendous to the near point of unplayability. You don't have to sugar coat it. You don't owe them nothing. Have high standards.
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Have you heard of economies of scale, where things become cheaper to produce when you make alot of them?
All consoles though history have sold below cost at some time, only to become made using popicle sticks and gum 6 years later and selling for $39.95.
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People often cite that razor and blades model as an analogy where you have one product loss leading for another one. The problem is that razors aren't really the loss leaders in the razor industry. What's a razor? It's a plastic handle. It's nothing. The blades are the part that are complex and expensive to manufacture, which is why they cost more.
Video games are more akin to the ink-jet printer industry or cell phones. All are intricate machines that cost hundreds of dollars to make. They're sold at a loss and supported by cheap products (plastic disks, ink, minutes) that are sold at highly inflated prices.
I'm not trying to nit pick. Your point was correct. I just don't like when people use that as an example. As people have already noted Frank Mondana is incorrect in his assertion that consoles are sold for profit. One need only look at Microsoft's losses on the original Xbox ($4 billion) to realize this.
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1: the lack of a good, original "hardcore" game (Zelda doesn't count, i could've gotten that on my GC, even though i didn't)
2: lack of Online, although we really don't know where Nintendo plans to go with their online model, but their silence either indicates that it will either be just as bad as we suspect, or impossibly better than we suspect
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I wasn't aware than any of the next gen consoles used proprietary formats. 360 uses DVD9 with 360 filesystem. Wii uses DVD9 with Wii filesystem/encryption (which has been cracked), PS3 uses standard blue ray discs with PS3 filesystem.
The formats ARE standards. Its the filesystem that proprietary. And thats all done in "software" at the time of the pressing. It doesn't cause a line of presses just for Wii games.
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I recently read through a forum thread in which the first poster came forth with the same complaint about WarioWare as you. Virtually every subsequent poster in said thread proceeded to defend the stylistic choice made by Nintendo, whether they were fans of the Wii or not.
So while you're certainly entitled to your opinion that the stylized graphics in the games you mentioned are somehow inferior, you would do well to recognize that most gamers disagree.
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I guess i'll have to clarify and print a slight retractment ...
I don't mean to imply the Wii has the best single player at the moment, by any means, I'm just saying its not that bad ...
I dont have a 360 at the moment because i cant afford one, so Wii is the only next gen gaming i can get at the moment ...
i dont see myself owning a PS3 unless it was free/gift ...
And i dont mean to imply that ps games are terrible either,
i have more of a grudge against the corporation sony, particularly involving its Rootkit dealings ...
even still, Wii and x360 have more games i'm interested in than PS3 by far ...
Consoles currently in our appartment:
All nintendo consoles, Xbox, Slim PS1 & Slim PS2,
(and my gaming PC)
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