PS360 answers the Wii, finally

[vagrant]

Sounds like a tease.

Never said there wouldn't be a sequel :O

 

[ganton]

getting back on topic people

 

[vagrant]

getting back on topic people

What's the topic exactly?

I feel as though it has been done to death.

 

[dan1123]

I don't think a price break is necessary right now. The Wii has cemented word-of-mouth and is selling out of most stores still. What is necessary is exactly what Nintendo announced at E3--the balance board. My wife has already stated her desire to have some kind of foot control in addition to the arm control of the wiimote.

The balance board does an excellent job of providing this without being too expensive or invasive. Surfing, skating, skateboarding, snowboarding and skiing games are a no-brainer, but simply detecting leaning or ducking for rail-shooters and fighting games would be awesome.

 

[DeathChron]

C'mon you guys have read the news. Sony is reducing the price of their 60GB model, right? Which happends to be the same model that they are discontinuing! So once all the 60GB models are gone from the shelves, all thats left is the $599 80GB model without the Emotion Engine. And Microsoft never lowered the price of their console because they obviously deemed it unnecessary.

This was just a markdown clearance for Sony, to get the consumers all riled up. In PAL territories, the 60GB isn't getting a markdown in price and they don't have the 80GB model availible for them. So who's getting screwed??

Your guys be the judge of that. ^_-

 

[Wiinter]

C'mon you guys have read the news. Sony is reducing the price of their 60GB model, right? Which happends to be the same model that they are discontinuing! So once all the 60GB models are gone from the shelves, all thats left is the $599 80GB model without the Emotion Engine. And Microsoft never lowered the price of their console because they obviously deemed it unnecessary.

The 360 price cut is coming. MS had the luxury of not lowering its price for an impressive period, but with production costs lowering and a desire to target casuals, it's on the brain. It's a matter of when, not if. And the Wii is the target of that price slash.

The PS3 price of entry isn't lowering (right now), but the value of the unit is going up. 95% of people aren't going to notice that they've got software emulation instead. A real playstation price cut is still anticipated this year.

And as I'd hoped E3 did change some things, the Wii does have at least one 3rd party gap-filler coming: Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. 32 player online shooter. Details are sketchy, but my hopes are high.

Also, though my first response to Wii Fit was 'not another one', as soon as I actually watched the trailer and saw the full range of Balance Board possibilities, I was excited. It could be more than a year before other titles use the controller, but it has potential. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Wii Fit edition Wii bundle from Nintendo.

 

[DeathChron]

Yeah, I think Nintendo needs to bundle things of that sort.

I still think it would be too soon for Sony to slash prices on the Ps3, they are already losing cash on each console, and it would take awhile before sale catch up, if they ever do, since there are quite a few of games now going over to 360 that used to be exclusives.

It's inevitable that MS will lower the price of 360 soon, at this point I probably wouldn't mind having a 360.

Thats the same reaction I had to Wii Fit, then I realized, that this board can be utilized for a whole slew of other things. And if it's possible, with the Wii-Ware, underground developers would be coming up with some extremely interesting games!

 

[Wiinter]

Yeah, I think Nintendo needs to bundle things of that sort.

Agreed. There are plenty of people who drop a grand on some bizarre piece of exercise equipment they saw on an infomercial, and then have it collect dust before the new paint smell even wears off--then they put it in the closet, and buy another one a year later. It's precisely that kind of unmotivated exerciser who would love to have some visual feedback to keep them going. If the game has decent tracking statistics, it could be a huge money maker. I read, true or false, that Wii sports reached a lot of non-gamers, but mainly ones under the same roof as actual gamers--the point being that the Wii expanded the console market as much as expected, it was just getting more household members playing per console. This thing could really break into non-gamer households in a big way. A Wii Fit Bundle could easily appear in sports and health stores without looking even slightly out of place.

I imagine there are a lot of "health" companies that might consider backing WiiWare development for branded Balance Board applications. If I were an experienced 3rd party developer, I'd have someone on the phone to every major health nut company who'd answer the phone offering to contract my programming services as soon as I had that board in hand. The great thing about the health market is that your product doesn't even have to be effective (or benign) to sell like hotcakes. I've always been okay with casualware subsidizing hardcore games, and this is a great app to make that happen.

The board is probably less lucrative in the more fun applications, using it for actual gaming (there's going to be an installed user base problem at first--who wants to develop for a controller that a tiny percentage of console owners have?), but those are the ones that have me pretty jazzed right now. I remember when the first "Nintendo Wins E3" headline hit google news, and it was a story about Wii Fit; I was dumbfounded. I guess it was this morning I finally saw the trailer, and my eyes were opened. This thing has legs.

 

[markmanuel18]

I totally agree with you winter.....I don't care if the wiii keeps selling like ice creams on a 110 degrees summer afternoon, all I want to know is when are the online games coming (pokemon and strikers don't count in my books)...one can only pretend to be content, with paper marios and mini-games for how long...Metroid Prime 3 looks awesome but when completed what do i do go to jimmy's house and beg to play Halo3 and Gears of War.

 

[DeathChron]

I think in the end, the Wii will have something for everyone. I just Nintendo wants hardcore gamers to 'bear' with the lack of really hardcore titles. While they build up for casual gamers, because it's whats open for now. But they are surely coming both from Nintendo and 3rd party.

If Wii Fit does well, that board will be everywhere. And that will then start to peak other peoples interests and flock to retailers looking for Wii. I really pity the gamer that doesn't have a Wii at this point, cause it might get harder to find a Wii in stores for a long time!

 

[vagrant]

My a.d.d prevents me from being able to read any of wiinter's posts

 

[Wiinter]

I think in the end, the Wii will have something for everyone. I just Nintendo wants hardcore gamers to 'bear' with the lack of really hardcore titles. While they build up for casual gamers, because it's whats open for now. But they are surely coming both from Nintendo and 3rd party.

If Wii Fit does well, that board will be everywhere. And that will then start to peak other peoples interests and flock to retailers looking for Wii. I really pity the gamer that doesn't have a Wii at this point, cause it might get harder to find a Wii in stores for a long time!

In the end, yeah. But they haven't been straight with hardcore gamers, and they haven't bothered to understand them. I'm pretty sure Nintendo thinks Friend Codes are hardcore. But I'm pretty sure 3rd parties will eventually come through, a la Medal of Honor. Hopefully that's good enough.

Forbes

Nintendo has been slow to bring Wii up to speed in that arena. "For our users, we think playing has to be about socializing together in a physical location," says Nintendo Vice President of Marketing George Harrison. But to placate whiny gamers, Nintendo will soon offer "Guitar Hero III" and "Mario Kart," two games with online competition enabled.

Translation: Remember when we said we were going to cater to both casual gamers AND hardcore? Gotcha!

Forbes.com: Why is it taking so long for Nintendo to make its online game-play system as strong as Sony's or Microsoft's? People want to play Wii Sports with friends and strangers across the world.

George Harrison: People's ideas of playing online hinges on existing gamers. It means playing Halo in a massively multi-player way. The online experience doesn't have to be as narrow as that. If what you want is an aggressive game you can play online with your friends, maybe the Wii isn't the best fit for that. In our attitude there are a lot more people in our new expanded audience than there are traditional gamers. We think there's a social aspect in real life, in your living room for Wii sports. That said, we do have online games coming.

Translation: We're going to cater to franchise fans, new casual gamers, and if you hardcore guys can convince some 3rd party to make games for you, well, good luck with that. While you're trying, we're going to do our best to convince them that there are no hardcore gamers on our system so that they'll port more jenga clones. Man we love jenga.

 

[DeathChron]

Hey man. . . . Jenga is awesome you can't deny it! :yesnod: