Kid Presentable
09-27-2006, 11:37 AM
It's not a bad read. I'd love to hear what non-gamers thoughts are, specifically, but all are welcome.:)
The big question on my mind going into TGS was PS3. I was hoping to go to the show and see stuff that would demonstrate why I'd spend an extra $200 on a console...and I did. Virtua Fighter 5, White Knight Story, and especially MotorStorm (OMG) were well beyond anything I've seen on the 360. I don't know if you can really tell from the videos we posted, but MotorStorm is just so damn impressive. Every once in a while I'll see a game and just take a step back and think to myself how far the visuals of games have come. Titles like the original Virtua Fighter arcade game, the Daytona USA arcade game, Metal Gear Solid 2 -- with each of these, I distinctly remember having those feelings. MotorStorm was the same for me. The high-res graphics running at 60 FPS with all of those special effects (like mud on your windshield) -- it just looks real. Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to play Excite Truck after having seen this. It's like, on one hand I could be playing this phenomenal looking game that controls really well, or on the other I could play this "kids toy" with last-gen visuals and steering that actually never feels like I'm in complete control. Heck, if Sony adds tilt control to MotorStorm, there really will be no reason for me to play Excite Truck.
Maybe it was that Sony just had all of its games running on super sharp flatscreen TVs, but almost everything on PS3 just looked like it was more next-gen to me. It was kind of like the difference between, dare I say it, the PS2 and the Dreamcast. Which, as you know, wasn't that big a deal at first -- the Dreamcast had some fantastic looking second gen games -- but you could still tell the PS2 was a more powerful system (and to reiterate, I'm only talking hardware here -- I know the 360 is in a much different place software-wise). I think that's a rather fair comparison, to be honest -- similarly, as with the PS2, the PS3 is a platform that will distance itself even further once developers get more familiar with the hardware. Julian Eggebrecht of Factor 5 told me that they've only just scratched the surface of what they can do on PS3, and he fully expects all second gen PS3 games -- or certainly all third gen PS3 games -- to run in 1080p.
PS2 will still outsell 360 this holiday season, and PS3 will likely carry the torch next holiday season. PS3 is a better piece of hardware, has better games from Japan, and will quickly catch up with 360 as soon as production allows. Xbox 360 doesn't stand a chance in Japan (sorry, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey aren't going to change the situation much). And you want to now why PS3 got delayed in Europe? Because Sony doesn't see Microsoft as much of a threat there. By the end of next year, Sony will be the market leader in Japan and Europe. North America is the only real battleground, and that's why we're getting the majority of units this fall.
I'm curious to hear what more people thing of the Wii once they get their hands on it. Sure, everyone was all giddy at E3, but that's because it was the first time we got our hands on The New Thing from Nintendo (it's also because Sony's presence was **** and Microsoft had all of its best stuff behind closed doors). They could have made the Wii controller look like a piece of poo and there would have still been four-hour lines at the booth. Now that I've spent some time with the system at various events (E3, Leipzig, Tokyo), I have to say that I'm still kind of iffy on it. OK, wait, let me clarify this a bit. I'm not iffy on the concept -- Nintendo is so right-on about removing the controller as the barrier for non-gamers -- and I'm not iffy on the console itself (except for the fact that it's not HD), I'm just iffy on the software lineup. What games are you most looking forward to playing on it? A Mario, a Metroid, and Zelda all right around a system launch -- a Nintendo fan's dream come true! Except it doesn't quite feel like that. Zelda? That should have just been a GameCube game. Metroid? Same deal. Mario? OK, yeah, it's kind of cool -- but is it better? Is it a better Mario experience than what we've had in the past? I'd seriously question that.
There's also the asthetic problem of the thing. Notice why you rarely see the nunchuck in any of Nintendo's promotional material? That's because it's not exactly sexy. The Wii controller makes sense -- a remote everyone understands, and there's no stigma attached to it. How cool are you going to look waving around some wand with a string attached to it to another thing that looks like the garage door opener? Yeah, that's gaming for the masses right there. Way to go Nintendo. Heck, I'd say the damn motion-sensing PS3 controller is better poised to broaden gaming than that setup -- it's a lot less cumbersome or intimidating, that's for sure.
The big question on my mind going into TGS was PS3. I was hoping to go to the show and see stuff that would demonstrate why I'd spend an extra $200 on a console...and I did. Virtua Fighter 5, White Knight Story, and especially MotorStorm (OMG) were well beyond anything I've seen on the 360. I don't know if you can really tell from the videos we posted, but MotorStorm is just so damn impressive. Every once in a while I'll see a game and just take a step back and think to myself how far the visuals of games have come. Titles like the original Virtua Fighter arcade game, the Daytona USA arcade game, Metal Gear Solid 2 -- with each of these, I distinctly remember having those feelings. MotorStorm was the same for me. The high-res graphics running at 60 FPS with all of those special effects (like mud on your windshield) -- it just looks real. Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to play Excite Truck after having seen this. It's like, on one hand I could be playing this phenomenal looking game that controls really well, or on the other I could play this "kids toy" with last-gen visuals and steering that actually never feels like I'm in complete control. Heck, if Sony adds tilt control to MotorStorm, there really will be no reason for me to play Excite Truck.
Maybe it was that Sony just had all of its games running on super sharp flatscreen TVs, but almost everything on PS3 just looked like it was more next-gen to me. It was kind of like the difference between, dare I say it, the PS2 and the Dreamcast. Which, as you know, wasn't that big a deal at first -- the Dreamcast had some fantastic looking second gen games -- but you could still tell the PS2 was a more powerful system (and to reiterate, I'm only talking hardware here -- I know the 360 is in a much different place software-wise). I think that's a rather fair comparison, to be honest -- similarly, as with the PS2, the PS3 is a platform that will distance itself even further once developers get more familiar with the hardware. Julian Eggebrecht of Factor 5 told me that they've only just scratched the surface of what they can do on PS3, and he fully expects all second gen PS3 games -- or certainly all third gen PS3 games -- to run in 1080p.
PS2 will still outsell 360 this holiday season, and PS3 will likely carry the torch next holiday season. PS3 is a better piece of hardware, has better games from Japan, and will quickly catch up with 360 as soon as production allows. Xbox 360 doesn't stand a chance in Japan (sorry, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey aren't going to change the situation much). And you want to now why PS3 got delayed in Europe? Because Sony doesn't see Microsoft as much of a threat there. By the end of next year, Sony will be the market leader in Japan and Europe. North America is the only real battleground, and that's why we're getting the majority of units this fall.
I'm curious to hear what more people thing of the Wii once they get their hands on it. Sure, everyone was all giddy at E3, but that's because it was the first time we got our hands on The New Thing from Nintendo (it's also because Sony's presence was **** and Microsoft had all of its best stuff behind closed doors). They could have made the Wii controller look like a piece of poo and there would have still been four-hour lines at the booth. Now that I've spent some time with the system at various events (E3, Leipzig, Tokyo), I have to say that I'm still kind of iffy on it. OK, wait, let me clarify this a bit. I'm not iffy on the concept -- Nintendo is so right-on about removing the controller as the barrier for non-gamers -- and I'm not iffy on the console itself (except for the fact that it's not HD), I'm just iffy on the software lineup. What games are you most looking forward to playing on it? A Mario, a Metroid, and Zelda all right around a system launch -- a Nintendo fan's dream come true! Except it doesn't quite feel like that. Zelda? That should have just been a GameCube game. Metroid? Same deal. Mario? OK, yeah, it's kind of cool -- but is it better? Is it a better Mario experience than what we've had in the past? I'd seriously question that.
There's also the asthetic problem of the thing. Notice why you rarely see the nunchuck in any of Nintendo's promotional material? That's because it's not exactly sexy. The Wii controller makes sense -- a remote everyone understands, and there's no stigma attached to it. How cool are you going to look waving around some wand with a string attached to it to another thing that looks like the garage door opener? Yeah, that's gaming for the masses right there. Way to go Nintendo. Heck, I'd say the damn motion-sensing PS3 controller is better poised to broaden gaming than that setup -- it's a lot less cumbersome or intimidating, that's for sure.