Makaveli

Just as I collected $10 PC ports of Xbox games while owning a PS2, I'll start to collect PC ports of 360 games once they hit the bargain bin. While I'd be ecstatic about PC ports of GTAIV(unlikely after Hot Coffee) and MGS4(dependent upon a 360 port), I'm perfectly happy waiting for a $150 PS3 while playing Assassin's Creed, DMC4, Mass Effect, Gears of War and probably Fable 2. Not to mention parallel 360 releases like Bioshock, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Tomb Raider. No RRoD, no wind tunnel in my living room, no waiting a year for a $40 price drop, no pay for multiplayer matchups. All in all I've spent $400 on parts since 2004, and made back $150 on selling used parts. Wait a minute, with that money, I could've simply bought a Wii...nah, I'll wait for the 'buzz' to die down and it to hit the magic price of $99.99.

This is just another step closer to the arcade experience, so I'm all for it. No one complains about DDR or Guitar Hero, but this is basically a cheaper, more generic way of providing the same semi-athletic interactive experience. And with all the supersized kids missing gym class these days, Nintendo could eventually have them saying "Whoa, I know Kung Fu!!!"

This is exactly why everyone should learn how to build a PC. Since the Xbox 360 is based on 2 year old PC tech except for the graphics card, Gears should run fine on a gaming PC built using two year old parts besides a newer GPU such as this:

Dual Core Socket 939 Processor - $100
Socket 939 Motherboard - $75
Geforce 7950gt - $175
PC upgrade, research, optimization, and testing - 1 week

With $350 and a seven days of effort, you too can experience 90% of the good 360 games while saving ten dollars on each new and bargain bin game purchase, thousands on subscription fees and downloadable content, and hundreds on overpriced accessories and data storage. Personally, I can live with missing out on Project Gotham, Forza, Mass Effect, and a bunch of sports and fighting games just like I missed out on Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Jet Set Radio, Crimson Skies, Oddworld and Panzer Dragoon on the Xbox. I'll definitely miss GTA and Metal Gear, but I forsee an ultra cheap PS3 will arrive in a couple of years will alleviate that problem.

Five years ago I would've cared, but now my thought procress is:

- Why are there so many damn buttons needed to play football? Tecmo Super Bowl and Madden '95 were way simpler and much more fun.

- Has any game figured out a better control system and AI for defense yet? I mean RTS games have had multiple unit controls and pathfinding figured out since Madden 2000...

- Why do cheesers and crybabies ruin the online experience a week after release? People actually pay $50 a year for Xbox Live? I remember how much fun it was playing NFL 2K1 online on the Dreamcast, at least in the beginning...

- Why should I pay $60 for a more complicated version of the football games that were already too time consuming and frustrating on the PS2? Why is the PC version always cheaper yet has better graphics? How come Madden never copied all the great ESPN features from NFL 2k5? Hey, is the DS version any good...

- Forget it, I'm not gonna play thru a full season in any sports game, and even if I did, the ending would suck worse than a Spurs championship celebration. Amazing how Tecmo Super Bowl still has the best ending in a sports game after all these years. Where's the Virtual Console version...

A well advertised $200 mail in rebate or a $600 system with your choice of two or three good Sony pack-in games would be very persuasive. And unlike the bundle deals that were offered at launch and our now offered for the Wii, all the extras would come for "free".

After the experimentation with the Vagrant Story/
Final Fantasy Tactics mash up that was FFXII, I think Square lost a few fans judging by the sales figures. The one dimensional characters and plot were a huge letdown compared to the previous half dozen games in the series, so they need to need to rediscover the "emotion engine" in the next game to keep this series from becoming a relic.

The Wii is popular because of three reasons: the price, the remote, and the Nintendo name. Sony and Microsoft priced themselves out of the mass market and Nintendo took advantage by mxing something old with something new. Non gamers love remotes, and they love to make exaggerated motions while playing videogames, so Nintendo figured out the perfect toy for them. Gamers love cheap, addictive, quality games, and from the original Gameboy to the DS, Nintendo has patented the formula for producng the highest quality cheap games around. The handheld dominance helped them survive the mistakes made with the N64 and the Gamecube, and now they've finally found a way to transfer the handheld appeal into a console, simple as that. Toss in the nostalgia factor of the Virtual Console and it's unbeatable. The Playstation won by having the best games, and the Playstation 2 won by having the best sequels, but now alot of people are burned out on buying overpriced, overhyped $60+ "franchises" all over again. Factor in the cost of a full investment into HD technology (screen, movies, TV subscription) and it's alot more than you bargain for with the Wii. And let's not forget the "optional" costs like Xbox Live, Hard Drives, cables, controllers, headsets, cameras, and wireless adapters. In the end, you're better off investing in a graphics card and gamepad for your PC and picking up all the PC ports on sale for half price online to get the "next-gen" experience. And after that, introduce the rest of the family to the Wii.

Yet another reason to buy neither console and upgrade my graphics card. Bring on Metal Gear and Final Fantasy and the circle will be complete.

I'll hold my breath about that control scheme since I think Metroid will set the standard. The reason PSP to Wii ports are popular is simply that PS2 to Gamecube ports happened all the time, but those systems are getting phased out. The PSP and the Wii will be left as the two supported systems without high def graphics, so they can share the same look easily. Financially, it's smart to port a PSP game to the Wii and just change the controls, plus it's cheap since developers should be able to take their old PS2->Gamecube tools and use them for new PSP->Wii games.

The PS2 will still have new releases for at least another year simply due to the fact that that's where most of the customers are. I know a few people that just got a PS2 within the last year, and a few more waiting for it to go down to $99. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are too expensive and lack that genre-creating game to make that exception for the majority of alot of casual players. The DS is so popular because it doesn't have either of those problems. Once the Tomb Raider or GTA of this generation comes along, console prices drop to $250, and the Greatest Hits libraries grow, people will make the switch. Until then, PC players will feast of the large number of Xbox 360 ports and PS2 players will play their backlog of unfinished games. And don't forget there's a lot of great exclusive games, niche titles, and ports coming to PS2 including:

Persona 3
Yakuza 2
Wild Arms 5
Manhunt 2
Juiced 2
Atelier Iris 3
.hack GU 2
Dawn of Mana
Test Drive Unlimited
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Heatseeker
Shining Force Exa
Elvandia Story
Odin Sphere
Medal of Honor Vanguard
TMNT
The Red Star
Stuntman Ignition
Burnout Dominator
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Mercenaries 2
Smackdown 2008
Madden 2008