Clarity

I own a Wii but an apartment-mate has a 360, and I'm looking to get either a 360 or a PS3 in a year or so.

I played a bit of Gears of War last night. Right now, the 360 is definitely ahead. That game looks AWESOME.

The reviews raise legitimate criticisms. The hardcore gaming sites that Joystiq cites are harsher than the others, and they should be.

The turning sucks. The graphics are functional, but unimpressive. The aiming takes a few hours to really acclimate to. The story is OK, the audio is fine (turn down the remote speaker, and it sounds a lot better since the quality is too low for it to make loud sounds), the voice acting is bad in a vaguely amusing sort of way. The AI is cool 90% of the time and sucks the rest. Multiplayer kinda sucks.

I bought it and am about 5 hours in. I would have rated it at a 5 at the beginning, but now I'm more in the 6-7 range. Never more than a 7, though, the turning sucks too much (although you can strafe and aim in this game better than on a dual-analog setup). I don't regret my purchase, but I'll probably trade it in to EB after I'm done with the campaign. They're giving $25 for it.

If you're unsure, I recommend a rental, but be sure to play at least until you get to Japan, where the game begins to pick up. And it practically requires component cables, as in 480i it's obvious the game looks better than it's coming out.

It's a launch game, guys, chill out. Superior efforts will be forthcoming.

I own the game, and am a few hours into the singleplayer.

It's not amazing, but it's not that bad. I'd give it a 6 or 7, but only after you've had some time to adjust to the controls.

You SUCK at first, and the swordfighting is pretty limited. But eventually your aim and turning skills improve, and both you and your enemy get new sword skills. It's a by-the-numbers FPS with a Yakuza atmosphere.

I don't recommend the multiplayer, as the split-screen will kill your aim. Boo to Nintendo for not getting the online support at launch. I haven't played 'Killer' yet, though.

As gamers, we should want whoever's on top to switch every now and again. Competition forces the companies to work harder to impress the consumer, and we the gamers benefit.

Heck, the Wii is a particularly good example of this.

The Wii ain't low-tech, kids. Let's look at what they're charging you for.

It's an upgraded Gamecube, graphically. Keeping in mind that it also has to fit in a smaller case than a Gamecube, which ups the price, that alone is worth $120-$150, depending on how much Nintendo wants to profit.

Add in support for radically new controller technology. Gimmick or next coming of videogames, wireless bluetooth ain't cheap, kids. That bumps the price up another $30-$50 between support for the controller and the inlcuded controller itself.

Add in the internal wireless. Keep in mind that wireless isn't cheap-- the 360's wireless adapter is $100. That bumps the price up another $30-$50.

You have a console worth around ~$200, when you look at the technology in it. Nintendo bundles in a game that they think will sell the controller (I know I want to Wii Box some friends) and charges $250, since they'll sell out through Christmas at that price anyway.

The 2006 holiday season will be loud, but it is not the important fight. By this time next year, when the price drops start hitting, that's when you can start calling the next-gen console war. No, neither I, nor you, nor Joystiq, nor the analysts know what the market will look like then-- we're in for an interesting, and likely close, fight.

The Wii is expensive because:

1. the controller is expensive new technology. It DOES suck that they cost so much, but it's to be expected. Yes, this is a disadvantage of a controller-focused console, since you buy multiple controllers (thank goodness both the Wii itself and the controllers are so portable-- I might only buy one extra controller, but I know two other people buying one at launch, and it'll be easy to get the controllers together in one place to play.

What's more, the simpler games Nintendo expects the casual crowd to play-- Wii Sports, Brain Training, that sort of thing that sounds lame to us Joystiq-posters but sells like crazy anyway, only requires the remote. Then it's just $40.

2. They put in wireless out of the box. Note that the 360 wireless connector costs a full $100-- you think Nintendo was giving that to you in a tiny little box for free.

3. Unlike Microsoft or Sony, Nintendo has no other source of cash than videogames. Selling at a loss isn't as good a business idea for them than it is for their competitors.

4. It'll sell out the first shipment at this price. Then, sometime next fall or early winter, Nintendo will drop the price and release a pink Wii and Nintendogs or something similar, and THEN you'll have a mainstream hit. This was their business strategy with the DS, and if it succeeds this time, look for a very, very different split in the Japanese market than the last home console generation.

Wii is cheaper than its competitors. But it's more expensive at the start than last generation. If that's a problem for you, I might suggest you wait a year, see what comes out for Wii, see if the price comes down, and then reconsider.

Guys, calm down. Buying a new console is always massively more expensive than the sticker price.

Yeah, a Wii+'full' 2nd controller+a game will run you, after tax, about $400. The advantages are the wireless system and a nifty new control scheme that some people will love and some will hate.

A 'real' 360+wireless 2nd controller+a game will run you, after tax, about $550. The advantages are XBL and superior graphics.

It sounds like a fair contest, to me.

If that sits badly with you, I fully encourage you to go buy some games for an older system because, yeah, that's usually a better value. New systems require investment, guys.

Dude, awesome.

#12,

That's because the DSL instantly sold out-- not even an independent distribution outlet like Lik-Sang could get you hold of one.

That said, pre-ordering from Lik-Sang should generally be OK for any product that doesn't immediately sell out. I leave it to your imagination whether Wii will.

Alright, time for some rational sense.

The PS3 is a hugely powerful machine. It is certainly, perhaps, a year or two ahead of its time in terms of what most consumers want/need. Which is why you're seeing a lot of developers go "let's wait on this one".

But that doesn't mean they're abandoning Sony. Believe me, there will still be more PS2s than 360s and Wiis combined out in people's homes come X-mas 2007, when the PS3 will likely drop in price and become more desireable to the non-hardcore. A lot of these developers are still making PS2 games, and PS2s are still selling at a decent clip.

The PS3 will take time to become popular, due to the high initial price, but Sony is banking that it will be popular longer, due to all the stuff in it that you'll want in 2 or 3 years, like a Blu-Ray player to go with HD-TVs that continue to become cheaper. In the meantime, however, Sony intends on making a lot of money on the PS2.

It remains to be seen if they can pull this off, but this sort of developer reluctance isn't exactly catching Sony by surprise. Certainly, they have major hurdles in their way-- will Americans and European buy the 360 for $200 less and shun the PS3? Will those looking for a cheaper game experience choose the Wii instead of the PS2?

The next year'll be very, very interesting.