NextGen Consoles - Are they really that Great ?

[wraggster]

Im sure many of you own multiple consoles or at the least have access to them. How many of you are unhappy that the console you brought isnt as good as you were lead to believe.

Heres a few of my personal nitpicks about each console.

PSP

The PSP is by far the most poweful handheld and should play to its strengths, i want to see games such as Conflict Global Storm and the very best from the PS2 to arrive on the console.

I also wish that battery life was longer, that UMD Drives didnt fail so often and finally that the bloody screen didnt get so greasy and scratched up.

Nintendo DS

Easily the console which has brought more non gamers to the console arena than any other.

Why the likes of Nintendo need to use the stylus to control every game is beyond me, certain games like Starfox was ruined because of the stylus method.

Xbox360

Why cant Microsoft sort out the bloody overheating problem, surely after all this time it would be fixed. Other than that some type of Wiimote clone controller would be great.

PS3

Sony really need to get back to releasing killer games for this console, too many crap games has stopped me using my PS3 and we really need a game that grabs your balls and says buy this system.

Nintendo Wii

The Wii and its unique controller is excellent but some games are much better played in the conventional way, surely a mix of games would please the hardcore and casual gamer.

Thats just my views but if you agree or disagree or have issues i havent mentioned then please post via the comments

[Broadus]

Well, the PSP does have a few gems that are top-notch at every angle, though my personal favorites are Killzone and Fireteam Bravo just for their online multiplayer.
I was pretty bothered by the strong emphasis on the stylus for everything on the Nintendo DS.
I've actually never gotten an overheating problem on my XBOX 360... Probably because the room is freezing.
Can't say anything about the Wii or PS3, never even touched them before.

[Sonny_Jim]

I don't know why everyone says that Starfox was ruined by having touchscreen only controls, I found no problem with it. Also being a 'flight sim' of sorts it benefits with having an analogue rather digital input.

As for games on the Wii using unconventional input methods, if it didn't have this it wouldn't be selling so well. Nintendo realised there was $#@! all point in chasing a target market (hardcore gamers) that was already saturated with Sony and Microsoft's consoles. Let's keep the Wii games original and let all the cookie cutter crap go to the other consoles.

But yes, the PS3 desperately needs a killer title. I held off buying a PS2 until Gran Turismo came out and I'm probably going to do the same with the PS3. In fact I'm guessing Sony would have sold umpteen more boxes if GT5 was available at launch.

Oh and for MS to fix the overheating problem would mean that MS would have to admit a problem with the 360, which they aren't likely to do.

[Justise]

Wii is a cheat!
They took a console that is actually a generation behind!!! They make some minor improvements to Gameqube, they added a good controller that could be added in any other console with a firmware update, and they name it "next gen console". Of course it's price was obviously lower since it is prevgenenration, and its controller manage to attract the female community what made it look so successfully.

Xbox360 is useless.
It is no different than a good PC that can play only games. Also almost any good game for 360 will come to PC eventually. The good thing is that Microsoft learned their lesson with the previews xbox and draw as many J-game developers and games as they could find! Yet 360 didn't manage to sell in Japan.

PS3 drives the developers away.
Sony made some big mistakes here. Unlike 360, PS3 is not friendly at all to the developers! Unlike Microsoft, Sony didn't please any developers. Also Sony let the developers release multiplatform game that were obviously worse than the 360 version, and thats because even thought they sed that developers need to learn PS3 to take out it's capability's, they delayed it's release to one year later than 360.

PSP is unforgivable!
It is unthinkable to say that this powerful console is out 3 years now and yet it doesn't has a proper game! All PSP gets are remakes (usually worse than the original) and multi platform game. It's big advantage of playing PS1 games is locked for those who don't own a PS3, and even if have a PS3 you have to re-buy your old PS1 game if you want to play it! Even thought PSP gets tons of remake they didn't think the obvious moves, like to finally send the the popular "tales" games to Europe...

DS is light!
I can't think of many problems for this console... It is obviously weaker than PSP, so Nintendo tries to use the console advantages in every single game, even there were they are not needed... Just like Wii it manage to draw the female community.

[andk1005]

aii ps3 is great for us but a nightmare for developers but it does play some full 1080p games which are nothing short of stunning on my 1080p samsung 40" panel

360 overheats my friends does he bought same tv as me and he put its in 1080 p mode and hell get bout 2 mins outta jus clicking round the menu and listenin 2 music and the biggest $#@!ter ive had so far is tht my hd dvds via the addon drive wont play in 1080p but only in 1080I which makes a huuge difference compared to my ps3 tht plays blu rays in glorious 1080p

but like said before ps3 dunt have any really great games yet but give it time it aint even bin out a year yt or only just in other countries you gotta remember 360 didnt get gears till like 1 and half years into its lifespan and for the fist 6 months 360 basically had upscaled xbox games at least theres sum very nice looking and reasonably good games atm for ps3 which for a year aint doing to bad at all

[lightningquickguy14]

I do see what people mean about StarFox (I really only have a DS). I don't really like the stylus in the game either, but it's probably the best way to control it. The other ones are beyond me.

[94dan]

I know I don't post here much, if ever, but I want to nitpick your nitpicks.

Xbox 360: Wiimote clone? Honestly? That'd be horrible. Xbox360 is the console that FPSers like, Wii is the console people who like innovation like, and one copying off the other is just... Wrong. I mean, you're saying that because the Wii is successful, its competition should copy off of it.

DS: I don't think Star Fox was screwed up. Yes, some games sucked due to stylus control, but you picked a bad example. Besides, a lot of games benefit from stylus control. I love Zelda's control.

Wii: Now, if you have a new controller, how are you going to play it the classic way? Force us to buy a classic controller? Besides, the first party games are good. The release schedule keeps up with my budget

PSP: Basically has failed... I'm not going to get into it. I know some fanboys who are in denial... "PSP is better than DS! More people buy PSPs than DSes! PSP has a better variety of games! PSP is more innovative, with its wide screen! PSP movies cost $2! PSP is more popular! My DS broke after dropping it once, but my PSP can be dropped from a 2nd story window without breaking!" And stuff like that. Idiots...

And, I think the PS3 is horrible and over priced, but there's one game I want to play on it, but I'm not spending $492.18 for a single game.

But, man, Ratchet and Clank is my favorite game series... Even though I've never owned a Sony system.

EDIT: Wii is a cheat? Honestly, if you really care about graphics, you want a movie, not a game. Sure, lower processing power, but I don't NEED that. I don't NEED Blu-Ray. All that stuff is expensive and unnecessary. Yeah, yeah, call me a fanboy, but if the games are fun, that's all that matters. I don't need it to play DVDs, I have something called a "DVD Player".

Besides, it IS better than the previous gen, just not as much as the others. That much carries it halfway, and the innovation helps the rest. It's fine the way it is.

Another thing: Hardcore gamers. Yeah, you beat Halo on legendary. Sooo? I can call you a FPSer (or whatever the term may be) but certainly not hardcore. Hardcore is not an M rating. Hardcore is devotion to ALL video games. Not just FPSes.

I still think Metroid (On NES) is harder than Halo...

[Sonny_Jim]

Wii is a cheat!
They took a console that is actually a generation behind!!! They make some minor improvements to Gameqube, they added a good controller that could be added in any other console with a firmware update, and they name it "next gen console"

Personally, I'm siding with Will Wright on this one:

Somebody asked me what I thought next generation meant and what about the PlayStation 3 was next generation. The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii – the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement. But the Wii feels like a major jump – not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic. In some sense I see the Wii as the most significant thing that's happened, at least on the console side, in quite a while.

I'm one of these people who like to play interesting games. I feel that having too much CPU power is distracting game designers from thinking about good solid gameplay. Instead they seem to be concentrating on how real the graphics look or how big and detailed the maps are.

Its controller manage to attract the female community what made it look so successfully.

Is this such a bad thing? If anything it showed that many people who wanted to play games weren't being catered for.

[mike_jmg]

IMAO

PSP
It is the best thing ever only if you can put homebrew in it, but for general public is kind of a failure, I've only liked like a dozen games so far

DS
Nintendo has been focusing in the casual or not usual gamers by changing the controls to make it more user friendly same as with the wii (I don't own one, so I don't know much) but for ordinary hardcore gamer this is like, why do I need a pen to play

Xbox360
This is like FPS paradise and that's it, don't take me wrong, I really like Gears of war

PS3
Too expensive, too much crappy games, desperately needs a killer title, hope killzone 2 and DMC4 get released soon, then I'll buy one.

Wii
This console's success is based on the fact that nintendo is aiming to an unexplored market namely, girls, parents, 3 year olds, elderly people... oh... wait and nintendo hardcore fans. That's their success, selling a videogame console to people who had never played with one in their entire life, also DS is kind of like this, a friend's mom has been playing with his DS quite a bit lately

Man we are screwed.....

Sony wake up and bring a killer title for PS3, what's with killzone 2 does that awesome graphics take that long, meanwhile I'll stick around with my PSP and the forthcoming GOW (by the way, put a date on crisis core for the US)

[mike_jmg]

I'm one of these people who like to play interesting games. I feel that having too much CPU power is distracting game designers from thinking about good solid gameplay. Instead they seem to be concentrating on how real the graphics look or how big and detailed the maps are.

You got a point there,
and I think you're right, a game could look like real life and be boring, I'm still having a blast everytime I play F-Zero, Tetris attack, mario64 (on my psp of course)... my god Zelda OOT(I'm so looking foward to see this working properly), what happened to games like those, back then gameplay was more important that graphics, on nextgen consoles it should be both as now it can be done, not just graphics