"10 reasons why sony will this console generation"

Wii&Ps3 · 03-28-2007, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Mar 27, 2007 : 10 Reasons Why PS3 Will Win This Console Generation

Insomniac Games Chief Creative Officer Brian Hastings discusses why the PS3 is the console to beat

First of all, let me make it clear that Insomniac is a 100% independent development studio. Sony has neither endorsed nor authorized what I’m writing here.

When I started this blog post I was planning to write about Home and Little Big Planet from a developer’s perspective. But as I read some of the media and message board responses to Sony’s GDC presentation, I wanted to address an ongoing industry phenomenon. Specifically, the sheer volume of negative spin toward Sony from both the mainstream press and the internet community. Mere minutes after Sony announced a beautiful, ground breaking, free, community-enhancing online PS3 service, 100 internet posters were trying to argue that this was somehow a bad thing. Whether you love or hate Sony, if you’re trying to spin Home as a bad thing I can only conclude that you’re part of Microsoft’s $3.2 billion viral marketing campaign.

I’ll be the first to say that Sony has had a very rough road from last E3 up through this year’s GDC. Some of their wounds have been self-inflicted, but they’ve also had to face a conspicuously hostile media. Take the New York Times article “How the PS3 will kill your dog, steal your girlfriend, and infect you with Ebola.” And Time magazine’s piece “Global Warming: Is It The PS3?” And more recently, GameSpot’s “Ten Complaints We Thought Up While Everyone Else Was Watching Little Big Planet.”

For the last nine months it has been fashionable to bash the PS3. At first it was controversial, even titillating, to make sensational and dire predictions about the PS3’s future. You could watch it happen again and again – a rumor starts on a message board (“The PS3s all caught on fire at TGS!”, “Blu-Ray won’t have any Porn!”), then it gets picked up by a games industry website, and a few days later USA Today runs the story with the headline “Experts Say PS3 Doom3d!1!!” But the tide has changed so much now that it’s downright controversial to suggest that the PS3 may yet be a success. So, in the spirit of sensationalism and controversy, let me present to you 10 reasons why the PS3 will be the console market leader by 2010:

1. Home & Little Big Planet
One of my jobs at Insomniac is to try to come up with “the next big thing.” This is something everyone at Insomniac does, but as Chief Creative Officer it’s also part of my job description. For the last two years there have been two concepts that I have felt had the strongest potential to be the next big thing. At GDC, Sony came out of the blue and delivered fully-realized versions of both concepts.

The first concept is a realization of the ‘Metaverse’ from Neal Stephenson’s groundbreaking novel Snow Crash. For those who haven’t read it, it’s what inspired Second Life. Over the last couple years, many of us at Insomniac have come up with lots of different ideas on how to make such a system for consoles. So when Home came out, already nearly complete and looking beautiful, it was both amazing and humbling at the same time. In short, Home is exactly what the online console community needs. I’m not saying that because it’s on the PS3. I’m saying that because Home is a fully realized version of something I’ve been trying to figure out how to do for two years.

The other “next big thing” I had been thinking about is how to make a game that is primarily driven by player-generated content. So when Little Big Planet was announced I felt like Orville Wright tinkering on a bicycle-powered balsa wood plane as a learjet suddenly flew overhead. Not only does Little Big Planet have stunningly beautiful graphics, gorgeous animation, brilliant physics and intuitive controls, it’s also a cooperative four player online game! This alone makes it accessible to a much greater audience than player vs player games. And most important of all, it has an absolutely ingenuous system for creating and sharing your own levels. This is HUGE. This is something that’s never been done on consoles and now it’s being introduced not as a half-baked add-on to another game, but as an absolutely brilliant, fully realized, breathtaking experience. You can bet that dozens of developers will create their own Little Big Planet levels as soon as it comes out. Many future game designers will get their start by designing Little Big Planet levels. Gamers who previously had no way to get their foot in the door as a game designer will have developers calling them in the middle of the night if they make a top-rated LBP level. I say again, Little Big Planet is HUGE.

It’s humbling to know that other developers had not only thought of these two concepts, but brought them to fruition in such stunning fashion. Mostly, though, it’s very encouraging to see Sony taking more of a lead in online innovation. While some people were accusing them of merely copying the competition, Sony has been quietly working on two of the most innovative ideas of this generation. “Mii too?” Give me a break.

2. Free Online
Among all the talk about the price of Sony’s console, I almost never see anyone mention the significance of Sony’s free online service. Xbox Live Gold costs $70 to sign up for 1 year, or $20 for three months. You can renew your membership for $50 a year. So if the Xbox 360 stays around for five years, you’ll be paying 70 + 50 + 50 + 50 + 50 = $270 to access features that Sony gives you for free.

I agree, Xbox Live is overall offering a better online service right now. But $270 better? And Sony is steadily narrowing the gap in online features. With improvements to the messaging system and support for background downloading, Sony is rapidly catching up with many of the key advantages that Live has enjoyed. Add to that the fact that Sony is offering virtually lag-free dedicated servers at no cost, while on Xbox Live you are paying for a more laggy peer-to-peer service. Furthermore, one of the biggest advertised features of Xbox Live is matchmaking, yet the implementation of this feature has been inconsistent since it is left up to the developer. The matchmaking service on Resistance: FOM, meanwhile, has been one of its biggest successes, proving that even at this early stage the PS3’s online capabilities are very competitive. And free. As the PS3 community continues to grow with new features and player-generated content from Home and Little Big Planet, Sony’s online service is looking better and better. And, again, they’re not charging you $270 for it.

3. 50 GB games
If you ever hear someone say “Blu-Ray isn’t needed for this generation,” rest assured they don’t make games for a living. At Insomniac, we were filling up DVDs on the PS2, as were most of the developers in the industry. We compressed the level data, we compressed the mpeg movies, we compressed the audio, and it was still a struggle to get it to fit in 6 gigs. Now we’ve got 16 times as much system RAM, so the level data is 16 times bigger. And the average disc space of games only gets bigger over a console’s lifespan. As games get bigger, more advanced and more complex, they necessarily take up more space. If developers were filling up DVDs last generation, there are clearly going to be some sacrifices made to fit current generation games in the same amount of space.

Granted, some really great Xbox 360 games have squeezed onto a DVD9. Gears of War is a beautiful game and shows off the highest resolution textures of anything yet released, partly because of the Unreal Engine’s ability to stream textures. This means that you can have much higher resolution textures than you could normally fit in your 512 MB of RAM. It also means that you’re going to chew up more disc space for each level. With streamed textures, streamed geometry and streamed audio, even with compression, you can quickly approach 1 GB of data per level. That inherently limits you to a maximum of about 7 levels, and that’s without multiplayer levels or mpeg cutscenes.

Sometimes people ask us, “If Resistance takes 14 gigabytes, why doesn’t it look better than Gears?” Well, for one, Resistance didn’t support texture streaming, so we had to make choices about where we spent our high-res textures. Resistance also had 30 single-player chapters, six multiplayer maps, uncompressed audio streaming, and high-definition mpegs. That all added up to a lot of space on the disc. Starting with Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction we are supporting texture streaming, which will make the worlds look even better, and will also consume even more space on disc.

There’s no question that you can always cut more levels, compress the audio more, compress the textures more, down-res the mpeg movies, and eventually get any game to fit on a DVD. But you paid for a high-def experience, right? You want the highest resolution, best audio, most cinematic experience a developer can offer, right? That’s why Blu-Ray is important for games, and why it will become more important each year of this hardware cycle.

4. Casino Royale
Casino Royale is the first high definition title to crack the top 10 on Amazon’s DVD charts, rising up to number seven shortly after being released. This is significant because it dispels the myth that high definition discs are merely a niche and will never take off with the mainstream.

A lot of people have been waiting on the fence to see whether Blu-Ray or HD-DVD would emerge as the winner of the format war. Well, at this point the war is as good as over. Blu-Ray has won a TKO. It always had superior technical specs and much wider studio support, but there was the question of whether HD-DVD’s earlier release and initially lower price would capture enough of the market to make it the winner. But Blu-Ray has already surpassed HD-DVD in overall discs sold, and is currently outselling HD-DVD discs at about a 3:1 rate. Many neutral observers in the A/V community have called the war in favor of Blu-Ray. If you want minute-to-minute updates, you can follow what’s left of the format war at various locations on the internet:
http://www.eproductwars.com/dvd/
http://www.hdgamedb.com/amazon/versus.aspx
These sites mainly compare Amazon sales data, but the Nielsen sales data shows the same thing: Blu-Ray discs are outselling HD-DVD by a steadily increasing margin.

Many of Disney, Fox and Sony’s biggest box office movies will release exclusively on Blu-Ray in the next three months, likely pushing the sales separation between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD to a margin where many retailers will begin phasing out HD-DVD. Retailers hate a format war even more than consumers, and I suspect they’ll take the initiative to end it as quickly as possible.

5. HDMI
A lot has been said about Sony’s choice to ship with composite cables. I won’t say I agree with that decision, but I think too little has been said of the fact that even the cheaper PS3 SKU supports HDMI 1.3. The PS3 was the first consumer device to support it, and this is a very important future-proofing step. When you go to buy higher-end TVs, the PS3 will support the highest possible audio and video input the TV and receiver can accept. If and when high-def movies start requiring an Image Constraint Token, the PS3 will still be able play them in high definition.

Right now, HDMI seems primarily to be a selling point to the hardcore audio and videophiles of the world. But HDTVs are getting cheaper and more popular all the time, and consumer sophistication and knowledge of high definition audio and video is growing. In a couple years, HDMI devices will be the standard. Graphics and audio in games will also continue to improve, and more and more consumers will want HDMI in order to get the best results on their home theater setups. As this happens, Microsoft has a difficult choice – do they stick with “last gen” video output, or do they release a premium version of the Xbox 360 that includes HDMI but effectively forces early adopters to re-buy the system to get the best results? Sony ultimately made their console more expensive by including HDMI, but over the next couple years it’s likely to play out as the right choice.

6. Standard HDD
When we were developing for PS2, I was jealous of Xbox’s standard hard drive. There are so many things this allowed you to consider as a developer – virtually unlimited save data, improved load times, custom music, downloadable content and user-created content just to name a few. But since hard drives, no matter what the size, never get cheaper than about $50, Microsoft lost money trying to compete with the PS2’s price. That may be the reason they left it out of the cheaper Xbox 360 SKU, thinking that Sony would again leave out the hard drive on the PS3. Instead, Sony made the hard drive standard for both SKUs. This added to the cost of the PS3, but it also let developers use the HDD in games.

The problem with including a hard drive in one version of the 360 and not in the other is that developers can’t use it for the games. Or, at least, they can’t use it for any required features. When you are guaranteed to have at least a 20 GB hard drive in the console, you can write your load caching routines around it, or use it for your application’s storage needs. To a developer, an optional hard drive is roughly equivalent to no hard drive at all.

Another advantage of the PS3 is that it will let you put in any third party hard drive you want. From a developer’s standpoint, this is good news because the market will gradually be able to support larger downloadable games over the course of the PS3’s life. As downloadable content gets larger and more sophisticated, PS3 owners can choose to buy larger hard drives at the best market price. The more this happens, the more developers will be encouraged to create better and better downloadable games.

7. The Wii Fad Will Fade
OK, this one’s going to be controversial, but I have to say it. I like Nintendo a lot. I think Nintendo has innovated far more than any other company in the industry. And I think the Wii is really, really fun. But… let me relate to you a story that may sound familiar:

Your friend Reggie invites you over for a Wii Party. It’s awesome. You and your friends partake in whatever beverages are legally appropriate for your age group. The next day everyone who went to the party rushes out and buys a Wii.

A week later Reggie hosts another Wii Party. This time only half the group comes. It’s still fun, but there isn’t quite as much shoving to get at the Wiimote.

The next week Reggie hosts another Wii Party. You tell him you have bird flu.

Obviously I’m exaggerating, but the Wii does have many characteristics of popular mainstream fads. It’s instantaneously accessible, it’s unlike anything you’ve tried before, and it’s great fun to share with friends. In short, it’s everything Nintendo said it would be and it has captured the world’s imagination. The only downside is that the world is easily distracted. Tickle Me Elmo captured the world’s attention at one point, as did Furbies. They were both instantly accessible, were unlike anything people had seen before, and were fun to share with friends. But a year later, after everyone had seen them and tried them out, their popularity waned.

The Wii is currently riding on a massive wave of mainstream attention and has been purchased by lots of people who don’t normally play games. But how many of those people who are hooked on Wii Sports will also buy Wii Need For Speed? Mainstream fads usually run their course within a year. As the honeymoon period fades, the Wii will be going up against more and more graphically impressive games on the PS3 and Xbox 360. More people will be buying HD televisions and looking for the most immersive and stunning experiences available. For these reasons, I think the Wii will be more successful than the GameCube or N64 but in the long run will still be outsold by the PS3.
8. PS3 Has a Major CPU Advantage
The GPUs on the Xbox 360 and PS3 are roughly equivalent, with the Xbox 360 arguably having a slight edge. The difference in CPU power, however, is far greater with the PS3 enjoying the advantage. The PS3’s eight parallel CPUs (one primary “PPU” and seven Cell processors) give it potentially far more computing power than the three parallel CPUs in the Xbox 360. Just about any tech programmer will tell you that the PS3’s CPUs are significantly more powerful. The problem is that it has been challenging thus far to take advantage of the Cell’s parallel architecture.

With the PS2, Sony got away with making a fairly developer-unfriendly system, and its success allowed their hardware designers to ignore developer’s complaints as they made the PS3. People high up at Sony have realized that approach simply won’t work anymore and are trying to fix the problem. Sony is actively improving their libraries, tools and developer support in order to make PS3 development easier. They are giving first party developed techniques and code to third-party developers so that multi-platform games should start looking better on PS3.

Games developed from the ground up on PS3 are the ones that will really show off the PS3’s CPU advantage. The complexity of the distributed processing architecture means that PS3 engines won’t fully blossom until a little later in the lifecycle than the PS2. This has put the PS3 at a disadvantage early in its lifecycle, but within two years you will see games that surpass what is possible on the Xbox 360.

9. PS2 still outselling 360
I know, it’s outselling the PS3 by an even larger margin. But the continued strong PS2 sales really are a good thing for Sony. Anyone buying a PS2 at this point is probably not going to buy a PS3 or Xbox 360 in the next year. And when they do choose to buy the current generation of hardware, the PS3 will be in a lot better position. The price will have come down, the game library will be broad, and the top PS3 titles will probably have the edge in both graphics and sound. Just as important, the people buying into the PS2 now will be getting into many of Sony’s exclusive franchises that they will then later want to play on the PS3.

10. Something For Everyone
One of Sony’s biggest advantages is that it has strong franchises in every genre. Whereas Microsoft’s successful titles are mostly M-rated, and Nintendo’s are mostly E-rated, Sony has a big list of hit titles across the spectrum. When a 30-something gamer (like me) goes to buy a game console, it’s a lot easier to justify the purchase when there are games he can play with his kids as well as more mature stuff.

To Microsoft’s credit, they are doing a good job of catching up. The acquisition of Rare and the development of Viva Pinata have helped to broaden their spectrum. But it takes time to build a franchise, and Sony has been building their suite of titles for over a decade. Consider the breadth, success and critical acclaim of some of their exclusive properties: The Getaway, God of War, Gran Turismo, Hot Shots Golf, Jak and Daxter, Killzone, Ratchet & Clank, Shadow of the Colossus, Singstar, Sly Cooper, SOCOM, and Twisted Metal. These are all million-plus sellers worldwide that are either already announced or likely to appear on PS3. Add to this Sony’s new line up of first-party titles, including Heavenly Sword, Lair, Motorstorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Uncharted and White Knight Story, and they have an even deeper and stronger line-up than what they had on PS2.

A lot of industry watchers and even a handful of publishers have been quick to write Sony off this generation, and I think that’s near-sighted. Sony has made a lot of decisions with the PS3 that may have slowed them down in the short run, but should give them a big advantage in the long run. The high price, hardware complexity, and the uncertainty of the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD format war have contributed to the PS3’s slow start out of the gate. But as the price drops, developers master the hardware, and Blu-Ray becomes the new DVD standard, Sony’s early disadvantages turn to advantages. As downloadable games become more common, the 60 GB hard-drive will be a big advantage to developers and consumers. As games get bigger and more sophisticated, Blu-Ray storage will increasingly become a major advantage. And as more and more of Sony’s exclusive first-party titles get released, the PS3 will begin to outsell the competition on a monthly basis. Those publishers who have shifted resources away from PS3 development will find themselves behind the curve and losing money as the market center gradually shifts toward the PS3 over the next two years.

I’m sure many of you may have comments about my point of view. If you do, please email blog@insomniacgames.com and I’ll do my best to respond. Also, I’ll be visiting the various forums to see what people think, including our own at www.insomniacgames.com (click on the community tab). Hope to see you there.

Heres the funny part. Ive called the wii a fad over and over again. Yes its fun at first, but it gets old very quick. Even a dev at insomniac thinks the same way. Wii will have its greatness for a couple of years, but it will soon die out. It definitely wont have the strength to do the numbers the ps2 did. Same goes for the 360. The 360 could have been a great system, but the dvd drive is what is going to kill its future.

A RAND0M TAC0 · 03-28-2007, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wii&Ps3

Heres the funny part. Ive called the wii a fad over and over again. Yes its fun at first, but it gets old very quick. Even a dev at insomniac thinks the same way. Wii will have its greatness for a couple of years, but it will soon die out. It definitely wont have the strength to do the numbers the ps2 did. Same goes for the 360. The 360 could have been a great system, but the dvd drive is what is going to kill its future.

And those are all opinions, you make it seem like they are facts almost.

Funny how you only post articles that pretty much bash the Wii now.

Insomniac is also pretty much 1st party, sooooooo

Chaz · 03-28-2007, 01:56 PM

It is quite amusing how you use a company that makes games primarily for the PS3 then say that since the person interviewed said that the Wii will die out, it's truth.

And the comparison of a Wii to a Furby is hilarious, you can't compare a games console to a toy for 5 year olds. It's a games console, new things come out for it weekly (games). A Furby's a furby, does a few things but can never do more.

ottoman · 03-28-2007, 02:03 PM

"7. The Wii Fad Will Fade
OK, this one’s going to be controversial, but I have to say it. I like Nintendo a lot. I think Nintendo has innovated far more than any other company in the industry. And I think the Wii is really, really fun. But… let me relate to you a story that may sound familiar:

Your friend Reggie invites you over for a Wii Party. It’s awesome. You and your friends partake in whatever beverages are legally appropriate for your age group. The next day everyone who went to the party rushes out and buys a Wii.

A week later Reggie hosts another Wii Party. This time only half the group comes. It’s still fun, but there isn’t quite as much shoving to get at the Wiimote.

The next week Reggie hosts another Wii Party. You tell him you have bird flu.

Obviously I’m exaggerating, but the Wii does have many characteristics of popular mainstream fads. It’s instantaneously accessible, it’s unlike anything you’ve tried before, and it’s great fun to share with friends. In short, it’s everything Nintendo said it would be and it has captured the world’s imagination. The only downside is that the world is easily distracted. Tickle Me Elmo captured the world’s attention at one point, as did Furbies. They were both instantly accessible, were unlike anything people had seen before, and were fun to share with friends. But a year later, after everyone had seen them and tried them out, their popularity waned.

The Wii is currently riding on a massive wave of mainstream attention and has been purchased by lots of people who don’t normally play games. But how many of those people who are hooked on Wii Sports will also buy Wii Need For Speed? Mainstream fads usually run their course within a year. As the honeymoon period fades, the Wii will be going up against more and more graphically impressive games on the PS3 and Xbox 360. More people will be buying HD televisions and looking for the most immersive and stunning experiences available. For these reasons, I think the Wii will be more successful than the GameCube or N64 but in the long run will still be outsold by the PS3."

Well think of it this way, if the wii wasnt going to be good, then why have a wii party? Ive never heard of a PS3 party, have you? well the only reason people wouldn't haved shoved to get at the wiimote is becuase it isnt as new and innovative as it was at first try...after a few weeks its a normal thing. but that doesnt mean the wii isnt fun, o that its a gimmick, you cant expect people to hold a wiimote everyday, as if its their first time...

People get used to things, the PS3 has failed...get over it.

WiiZero · 03-28-2007, 02:33 PM

I Agree with everything except for the fact that Wii is just a fad once online comes out there will be a huge rush again as well as the release of Brawl, Corruption and Galaxy as well as a few other big ones. This generation will go down in history as the most succesful all together This-gen will outsell ever other gen out there because of Motion-sensing, the first to be really online and amazing graphics that will never be forgoten this along with what will be in my opinion the greatest games ever

gnahc79 · 03-28-2007, 02:36 PM

from my last post that you 'conveniently' ignored:

"- The Wii has an insane initial install base over the PS3
- It's hard to overcome this install base, especially with the higher cost of the PS3. It is impossible for any company to sell a PS3-like console for the price of the Wii and break even let alone make a profit, so it's pointless to use as a comparison. Nintendo intentionally decided to sacrifice shiny hardware and focused on entertainment instead. It was a big risk and right now it seems like it's a good bet.
- For game companies it's all about numbers. If there's lots more Wii units in households than PS3s, guess where the focus of the development will be? IMO this is the BIGGEST factor that will determine the success or demise of any console: if there's any dern games available...and good ones. Game companies could care less that the PS3 or Wii is 'better'. They just care about money and rightly so.

For now it looks like the Wii is beating the PS3 senseless. You never know, though, Sony is a big company and who knows what they'll do to try to salvage their shiny new console. "

"But as the price drops, developers master the hardware, and Blu-Ray becomes the new DVD standard, Sony’s early disadvantages turn to advantages."

uh by the time the price drops it'll be too late. 3rd party companies will have very little resources devoted to PS3. Betting on Blu-Ray is total crap too. The majority of consumers are just fine with DVD and will be for a while, it's nothing like the VHS->DVD format move.

oh, also there's not much difference in picture quality between HDMI and component. If anything component is more reliable and has no chance of strange compatability issues with various displays.

WiiZero · 03-28-2007, 02:59 PM

Wii was smart it really didn't enter the race a lot of people who have Wii also have a 360 or PS3

Squall7 · 03-28-2007, 03:17 PM

I'm sorry, but it's hard to take anyone seriously when they don't make a thread title that actually makes sense.
"10 reasons why sony will console generation".
Shouldn't it be:
"10 reasons why sony will win this console generation"?
And wishing it to happen will not make it true.

Skeet Rag · 03-28-2007, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ottoman

Well think of it this way, if the wii wasnt going to be good, then why have a wii party? Ive never heard of a PS3 party, have you? well the only reason people wouldn't haved shoved to get at the wiimote is becuase it isnt as new and innovative as it was at first try...after a few weeks its a normal thing. but that doesnt mean the wii isnt fun, o that its a gimmick, you cant expect people to hold a wiimote everyday, as if its their first time...

People get used to things, the PS3 has failed...get over it.

You are an idiot. A wii party? Do people actually do that? Have a party dedicated to a wii and play it? If so...wow. I think the wii will get old. When you play it, it's fun at first, but after a while your like "I just want to sit on my ass and press some buttons"

I like how you ask if you've ever heard of a PS3, like no body likes it or wants it. You are a moron. Tell me how the PS3 has failed again? How does that work? The PS3 is an awesome machine, and so are the other two consoles.
People say the PS3 costs too much, but then they go and say the new Elite Xbox is awesome and want to buy it, when the PS3 gives you what the elite has, and a bit more...no wifi? WTF is that, and you have to buy the HDD separate, and there is no HD-DVD drive? Way to support your own format...

I'm not saying it isn't fun, but it will get old.

Wii_Smurf · 03-28-2007, 03:23 PM

Fanboy Shhh

gnahc79 · 03-28-2007, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skeet Rag

You are an idiot. A wii party? Do people actually do that?

yes, old people for sure. lol

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/fun.gam...eut/index.html

"Flora Dierbach, 72, chairs the entertainment committee at a sister facility owned by Erickson Retirement Communities in Chicago and helped arrange a Wii bowling tournament -- the latest Wii craze."

Shiftfallout · 03-28-2007, 03:29 PM

The quote from the Insomniac guy has a lot of logic behind it. I know many here wont even look at it without their own sad bais, and the remarks that will follow show it.

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to show that the PS3 is both an amazing machine for consumers and developlers.

Sony did wow a lot of developers at GDC07. They do have third party support with a line up of their own titles. They do have the most advanced firmware on the market. Blue ray is good for developers. People just dont realize what gets sacrificed, dumbed down, and compressed when squezing games into reguar DVD roms.

Developers do like the PS3, Sony hasnt been offering them money for exclusives. Thats all you see and people are turning into something catastrophic, as if the PS3 is so bad the developers are running in fear. Which is not the case at all, the exact opposite actually.

As for the Wii being a fad? I wouldnt call it a fad persay, its simple fun. But like history has shown the fun factor will slow as time goes on. I like the Wii, but even I am not going to lie to myself and say it has a long future. This doesnt make the wii a worse system, but it will not be able to keep up in the long run. I believe Nintendo is aware of this, and i am interested in how they plan to move forward.

Skeet Rag · 03-28-2007, 03:39 PM

A wii party would be retarded....Maybe have a party and see if people want to play the wii for a bit. Calling it a wii party is stupid...That sounds like you are only having it to play the wii with some buddies, and thats all that you're doing

PtonJalken · 03-28-2007, 03:42 PM

Why do you always post these stupid guys saying their opinions? You might worship their words but sorry we dont. BTW you spelt your title wrong. Good Impression.

The guy says hes not biased but he obviously is. And half of those statements are crap anyways. Naming off a few of the Ps3's "Features" isnt prooving that its going to kick but. Sure hasnt yet. Him using 'Home' as his #1 reason kinda prooves he is a fanboy, i still dont see how thats going to be all the hype people say. Just look out your window.

His statement about the 'wii fad' was junk also, sure people will buy more Wiis. Thats not going to hurt Nintendo, all he basically said was the Wii Party would be fun and everyone would want their own Wii after and not want to come to his house cause of their own. lol.

Sure the PS3 has the most stuff, but look at the price they sacrificed to cram it all in.

Either way, im sure people here will treat every word like gold out of people like this. Sad really.

You can find the exact same type of people, saying the exact types of things about the 360 and the Wii. But you dont see us posting it here and boning over it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wii&Ps3

Heres the funny part. Ive called the wii a fad over and over again. Yes its fun at first, but it gets old very quick. Even a dev at insomniac thinks the same way. Wii will have its greatness for a couple of years, but it will soon die out. It definitely wont have the strength to do the numbers the ps2 did. Same goes for the 360. The 360 could have been a great system, but the dvd drive is what is going to kill its future.

You also said the Ps3 Europe launch would do extremely well.

gnahc79 · 03-28-2007, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiftfallout

Sony did wow a lot of developers at GDC07. They do have third party support with a line up of their own titles. They do have the most advanced firmware on the market. Blue ray is good for developers. People just dont realize what gets sacrificed, dumbed down, and compressed when squezing games into reguar DVD roms.

Developers do like the PS3, Sony hasnt been offering them money for exclusives. Thats all you see and people are turning into something catastrophic, as if the PS3 is so bad the developers are running in fear. Which is not the case at all, the exact opposite actually.

Interesting point. Having better hardware does allow developers more freedom in key areas like graphics, AI (sort of), the max# of objects on a screen, etc etc. You could also flip it towards the advantage of Nintendo in the area of creativity. Sure there's more performance related restrictions on what is allowed, but dang you get to try something new with programming for the wiimote and nunchuck!

As a developer (not gaming) I'd take 'fun' over hardware any day. It's true that really slow hardware can suck the fun in no time, but IMO the Wii hardware is adequate. I imagine QA testing for Wii games must be nuts, I wonder if they're decked out in workout clothes and replaced the Mountain Dew with Gatorade

In the end it's all about money, so what I think is fun doesn't matter to the higher ups, lol.

Squall7 · 03-28-2007, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PtonJalken

His statement about the 'wii fad' was junk also, sure people will buy more Wiis. Thats not going to hurt Nintendo, all he basically said was the Wii Party would be fun and everyone would want their own Wii after and not want to come to his house cause of their own. lol.

I agree. Simpler things like rubix cude, the hoola hoop, pogs, yoyo's etc are fads. However, something that is being updated all the time is no fad. Likewise, he assumes that people will be playing alone at home a lot instead of putting their own mii's on their wiimote and taking them to another person's house. There's plenty of games for the Wii both out now and coming out soon that will be multiplayer, and some might just be online too (Brawl for example). With the number of games going up, I think the Wii will be able to hold it's own. Also, take into account that more and more games are actually giving you the choice to play in a traditional style or a new style (Mortal Kombat Armageddon for example), this means that anyone who doesn't like using the wiimote for playing, doesn't have to.

Quote:

You can find the exact same type of people, saying the exact types of things about the 360 and the Wii. But you dont see us posting it here and boning over it.

Very true. It's quite sad that developers and even the big game companies are bowing down to the kinds of things "fanboys" are doing (such as calling the Wii, 2 gamecubes duck taped together or Microsoft's antics in the PS3 European launch). Not that I'm against fanboys, but to be taken seriously in an industry, people have to act like adults, which is not the case a lot of the time today.

Flagel · 03-28-2007, 04:34 PM

I have to agree with the guys point #4. I imagine loads of people will pay £400+ to watch 1 film.

Shiftfallout · 03-28-2007, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flagel

I have to agree with the guys point #4. I imagine loads of people will pay £400+ to watch 1 film.

I think your missing the point altogether.
People will want to watch their favorite movies on the best quality they can get. Take Terminator 2 for example. Why would people have bothered getting a dvd if they could watch it on a cheaper VHS. The point hes making is that Blue ray itself is not bad, and there is a GROWING market for it. Keyword is "growing". If people do want a blue ray player, they will get the cheapest one they can find, right now that seems to be the PS3. I dont know of any gamer who doesnt like movies also.

So there you have it

PtonJalken · 03-28-2007, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiftfallout

I think your missing the point altogether.
People will want to watch their favorite movies on the best quality they can get. Take Terminator 2 for example. Why would people have bothered getting a dvd if they could watch it on a cheaper VHS. The point hes making is that Blue ray itself is not bad, and there is a GROWING market for it. Keyword is "growing". If people do want a blue ray player, they will get the cheapest one they can find, right now that seems to be the PS3. I dont know of any gamer who doesnt like movies also.

So there you have it

During the Ps3's lifespan, im sure Bluray players will get much cheaper to combat that.

Shiftfallout · 03-28-2007, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PtonJalken

During the Ps3's lifespan, im sure Bluray players will get much cheaper to combat that.

Of course thats inevitable however by saying this, you acknowlege the ps3 will have a long life span? Sony is controlling blue ray very carefully. The more profit starts to flood in from the secondary market and games the lower Sony can price their systems.

03-28-2007, 02:33 PM	#5
WiiZero Game Wiizard Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,731 Friends: 0 5435-9829-5121-8955	I Agree with everything except for the fact that Wii is just a fad once online comes out there will be a huge rush again as well as the release of Brawl, Corruption and Galaxy as well as a few other big ones. This generation will go down in history as the most succesful all together This-gen will outsell ever other gen out there because of Motion-sensing, the first to be really online and amazing graphics that will never be forgoten this along with what will be in my opinion the greatest games ever __________________ Spoiler Alert! Metric: Tiger, you're signatures always make me laugh. Then they make me feel a bit sorry for you. =\ The_Next_Tiger: Thanks man I love to make people laugh Spoiler Alert! SAVE A COW EAT A VEGETARIAN Spoiler Alert! Blackjack: video games come out on tuesdays, Though they do make exceptions. Spoiler Alert! Sarai_132: who fuking cares! calm down Spoiler Alert! Chicagoan: I have Pokemon Rangers game, and I beated it. Spoiler Alert! JoonKimDDS: Sometimes wiimote requires too much muscle work to perform a move. Spoiler Alert! Mushroomedmario: the moral is only trust wikipedia...for everything

03-28-2007, 02:36 PM	#6
gnahc79 WiiChat Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: San Jose,CA Posts: 210 Friends: 0	from my last post that you 'conveniently' ignored: "- The Wii has an insane initial install base over the PS3 - It's hard to overcome this install base, especially with the higher cost of the PS3. It is impossible for any company to sell a PS3-like console for the price of the Wii and break even let alone make a profit, so it's pointless to use as a comparison. Nintendo intentionally decided to sacrifice shiny hardware and focused on entertainment instead. It was a big risk and right now it seems like it's a good bet. - For game companies it's all about numbers. If there's lots more Wii units in households than PS3s, guess where the focus of the development will be? IMO this is the BIGGEST factor that will determine the success or demise of any console: if there's any dern games available...and good ones. Game companies could care less that the PS3 or Wii is 'better'. They just care about money and rightly so. For now it looks like the Wii is beating the PS3 senseless. You never know, though, Sony is a big company and who knows what they'll do to try to salvage their shiny new console. " "But as the price drops, developers master the hardware, and Blu-Ray becomes the new DVD standard, Sony’s early disadvantages turn to advantages." uh by the time the price drops it'll be too late. 3rd party companies will have very little resources devoted to PS3. Betting on Blu-Ray is total crap too. The majority of consumers are just fine with DVD and will be for a while, it's nothing like the VHS->DVD format move. oh, also there's not much difference in picture quality between HDMI and component. If anything component is more reliable and has no chance of strange compatability issues with various displays. Last edited by gnahc79; 03-28-2007 at 02:40 PM.

03-28-2007, 02:59 PM	#7
WiiZero Game Wiizard Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,731 Friends: 0 5435-9829-5121-8955	Wii was smart it really didn't enter the race a lot of people who have Wii also have a 360 or PS3 __________________ Spoiler Alert! Metric: Tiger, you're signatures always make me laugh. Then they make me feel a bit sorry for you. =\ The_Next_Tiger: Thanks man I love to make people laugh Spoiler Alert! SAVE A COW EAT A VEGETARIAN Spoiler Alert! Blackjack: video games come out on tuesdays, Though they do make exceptions. Spoiler Alert! Sarai_132: who fuking cares! calm down Spoiler Alert! Chicagoan: I have Pokemon Rangers game, and I beated it. Spoiler Alert! JoonKimDDS: Sometimes wiimote requires too much muscle work to perform a move. Spoiler Alert! Mushroomedmario: the moral is only trust wikipedia...for everything

03-28-2007, 03:17 PM	#8
Squall7 A li'l bit different Join Date: May 2006 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 1,743 Friends: 4 8420-0141-9022-6948	I'm sorry, but it's hard to take anyone seriously when they don't make a thread title that actually makes sense. "10 reasons why sony will console generation". Shouldn't it be: "10 reasons why sony will win this console generation"? And wishing it to happen will not make it true. __________________ Mail me if you want to add me on either the Wii or the 360.

03-28-2007, 03:23 PM	#10
Wii_Smurf No.1 Smurf Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Manchester Posts: 3,956 Friends: 0 0000-0000-0000-0000	Fanboy Shhh __________________ No Longer Have A Wii


Wii News Wii Forum Wii Friend Codes Wii Groups Wii Blogs Wii Arcade

03-28-2007, 01:56 PM	#3
Chaz WiiChat Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 116 Friends: 0	It is quite amusing how you use a company that makes games primarily for the PS3 then say that since the person interviewed said that the Wii will die out, it's truth. And the comparison of a Wii to a Furby is hilarious, you can't compare a games console to a toy for 5 year olds. It's a games console, new things come out for it weekly (games). A Furby's a furby, does a few things but can never do more.

03-28-2007, 02:03 PM	#4
ottoman Banned Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: London Posts: 1,336 Friends: 0 1156-6661-4692-6561	"7. The Wii Fad Will Fade OK, this one’s going to be controversial, but I have to say it. I like Nintendo a lot. I think Nintendo has innovated far more than any other company in the industry. And I think the Wii is really, really fun. But… let me relate to you a story that may sound familiar: Your friend Reggie invites you over for a Wii Party. It’s awesome. You and your friends partake in whatever beverages are legally appropriate for your age group. The next day everyone who went to the party rushes out and buys a Wii. A week later Reggie hosts another Wii Party. This time only half the group comes. It’s still fun, but there isn’t quite as much shoving to get at the Wiimote. The next week Reggie hosts another Wii Party. You tell him you have bird flu. Obviously I’m exaggerating, but the Wii does have many characteristics of popular mainstream fads. It’s instantaneously accessible, it’s unlike anything you’ve tried before, and it’s great fun to share with friends. In short, it’s everything Nintendo said it would be and it has captured the world’s imagination. The only downside is that the world is easily distracted. Tickle Me Elmo captured the world’s attention at one point, as did Furbies. They were both instantly accessible, were unlike anything people had seen before, and were fun to share with friends. But a year later, after everyone had seen them and tried them out, their popularity waned. The Wii is currently riding on a massive wave of mainstream attention and has been purchased by lots of people who don’t normally play games. But how many of those people who are hooked on Wii Sports will also buy Wii Need For Speed? Mainstream fads usually run their course within a year. As the honeymoon period fades, the Wii will be going up against more and more graphically impressive games on the PS3 and Xbox 360. More people will be buying HD televisions and looking for the most immersive and stunning experiences available. For these reasons, I think the Wii will be more successful than the GameCube or N64 but in the long run will still be outsold by the PS3." Well think of it this way, if the wii wasnt going to be good, then why have a wii party? Ive never heard of a PS3 party, have you? well the only reason people wouldn't haved shoved to get at the wiimote is becuase it isnt as new and innovative as it was at first try...after a few weeks its a normal thing. but that doesnt mean the wii isnt fun, o that its a gimmick, you cant expect people to hold a wiimote everyday, as if its their first time... People get used to things, the PS3 has failed...get over it.

03-28-2007, 03:29 PM	#12
Shiftfallout shiftfallout.com Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Hollywood Posts: 1,551 Friends: 0	The quote from the Insomniac guy has a lot of logic behind it. I know many here wont even look at it without their own sad bais, and the remarks that will follow show it. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to show that the PS3 is both an amazing machine for consumers and developlers. Sony did wow a lot of developers at GDC07. They do have third party support with a line up of their own titles. They do have the most advanced firmware on the market. Blue ray is good for developers. People just dont realize what gets sacrificed, dumbed down, and compressed when squezing games into reguar DVD roms. Developers do like the PS3, Sony hasnt been offering them money for exclusives. Thats all you see and people are turning into something catastrophic, as if the PS3 is so bad the developers are running in fear. Which is not the case at all, the exact opposite actually. As for the Wii being a fad? I wouldnt call it a fad persay, its simple fun. But like history has shown the fun factor will slow as time goes on. I like the Wii, but even I am not going to lie to myself and say it has a long future. This doesnt make the wii a worse system, but it will not be able to keep up in the long run. I believe Nintendo is aware of this, and i am interested in how they plan to move forward.

03-28-2007, 03:39 PM	#13
Skeet Rag WiiChat Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 23 Friends: 0	A wii party would be retarded....Maybe have a party and see if people want to play the wii for a bit. Calling it a wii party is stupid...That sounds like you are only having it to play the wii with some buddies, and thats all that you're doing

03-28-2007, 04:34 PM	#17
Flagel Soul of highest Calibur Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Posts: 399 Friends: 0 4883-9225-1818-3903	I have to agree with the guys point #4. I imagine loads of people will pay £400+ to watch 1 film. __________________ Post is there ^^^ How dare you state a different point of view, you complete fanboy! /sarcasm

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