VaultedCeilings

@rhork
By your own admission you aren't thinking about the bigger picture or about anyone's stake but your own, so I think it is safe to say that you should not be a part of the decision making process in this case. Iwata outlined a very sensible pricing strategy for software at the policy briefing. It is also something has more or less followed I've noticed; I've waited for games such as Mario Party to drop in price so I could buy them, but they never dropped. At any rate, his main point was that you should charge for the software based on what it took to make it, not on how long the software was available. Because a system that just drops the software price at set intervals after release regardless of the effort and cost to produce the product is destined to wind up selling games at below their actual value to customers who are picking up on the trend.

Honestly, I play video games at least 10 hours a week but nothing bores me faster than watching someone else play video games, and I don't know many people who actually prefer watching video games to other activities. So who the hell wants to watch people play video games, even if they are "professional"?

@ Ben Hobbs
I think the reason we aren't sill playing with our SNES's, Dreamcasts etc is not because graphics are so important but because all the developers moved off those platforms and onto newer ones. Essentially if you wanted to keep playing games past the SNES you had to buy a N64/Playstation. Plus if you look at the current generation graphics haven't been the biggest factor in console sales, as the PS2 is the undisputed market champion and also the undisputed weakest system. I'd say DVD bundled with the system plus some really cool exclusives like the FF series were much more important than graphics this generation.

@LongshotX
Don't lambast his argument then try to argue your point by just calling names. The Wii will definitely not have the same graphical abilities as the other two consoles this upcoming generation, but I'd bet money right now that what we've seen so far isn't what the Wii is actually capable of. Let me qualify that by saying that a lot of what we've seen so far looks worse than current generation stuff even on the PS2, so either there is something we don't know abou the hardware (ie it is actually less powerful) or the studios are showing us rushed software on incomplete/changing hardware. Since I don't think it is likely that the Wii will be a step backwards in terms of hardware I favor the later explanation.

That is more likely just a consertive figure put up by the company as a place holder; something like, "You will have it by ____ at the latest." At any rate it should be noted that retailers are not reliable sources of information for this sort of thing.

So you're experience with the real game of table tennis is that if you just repeatedly swing at the ball you'll beat someone who has been playing the game for years? Sounds like your sister discovered that this game can be played surprisingly well by just mashing buttons, though I'm sure if you had played the game more than once before you'd probably have her beat. This sounds more like an instance of streetfighter + button mashing than an amazing parallel between a game and the real thing.

Don't forget Jet Grind Radio, possibly one of the best non-RPG games on that system. (Skies of Arcadia was the best RPG)

I find it interesting that again Joystiq and IGN differ so greatly in their impressions. While Joystiq has nothing but hate for this game, trashing the control and the look, IGN said the EXACT OPPOSITE.

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/707/707303p1.html

Read it yourself, I have no idea whether these two groups are playing different games, are of totally different minds/dispositions or what, but it is striking that Joystiq is so harsh on all of these games when IGN is either positive or in the middle.

I'm not sure who to listen to; Joystiq has said some harsh or sometimes mellow things about some Wii games while IGN has said mostly positive things. I'm not too surprised about Red Steel (after watching the pre-show conf it looked sluggish) but the truck game and even tony hawk got good "hands-on" impressions from the IGN staff. Maybe they played different versions or had more time with them?

You guys are missing the point talking about "fully featured" sports titles. Don't critique this game for not having that, as that isn't Nintendo's goal. There will be Top Spins and Maddens in the future (in fact one of those two is a launch title) that will use the Wii - mote some way or another (I hear that Madden uses it quite a lot) but this set of sports games isn't trying to compete with the Maddens or Top Spins of the world. Comparisons, therefore, are pointless.

Well I do agree with you guys that the price is high, especially for games that seem to be nothing but rehashes, and personally I am looking forward to the Wii the most, but in Sony's defense you are getting a Blu-ray player for $500 which by itself is a great deal. Personally Blu-ray isn't that interesting, I don't have an HD tv and won't for some time, but that said if you can get a Blu-ray player for just $500 and have it play games, well that's pretty amazing. So don't forget about picking up a PS3 thinking it only plays games.