NEXT GEN CONSOLES

[Greeny_Musicchild]

Once again, we get stiffed on the price of a console. It's $239 and $299 in America... or just £145 and £185 in the currency conversion.

Why do companies thing that it's ok to just change the currency symbol, resulting in a massive unfair price hike. It's not just Sony that do it. At launch, the iPad cost $499 and $629 for the 16Gb version, or £300 and £382; yet in this country the launch cost was £429 and £529 - not quite as bad, but still 40% more expensive.

Sick of it.

[Greeny_Musicchild]

Vita just needs some 'bigger' games that blow me away... the line up has good games... I'll enjoy Uncharted, Wipeout looks really cool, but nothing makes me instantly want to get my wallet out and buy the thing - there's still no third party announcements though so we'll see in time.

[Purple Monkey]

I won't write off the nintendo console just yet, but my disappointment comes from the content so far. There seems to be zero indication that the industry has any soul left. There was nothing genuinely new that I could get excited about. I am sick of executives being the mouthpiece of games companies and spoon feeding us their warm diarrhoea.

[Greeny_Musicchild]

What I think we've needed for a while is a shot in the arm with some new hardware. Sony and MS seem pretty keen to stretch out this console generation for as long as possible. The PS3 is probably capable of a year or two but the 360 is going to need an overhaul soon.

Now the Wii U has been announced, and is supposedly hitting the shelves in less than two years, they need to do something. Not least because the processor in the Wii U is (rumoured to be) a Power7, cutting edge shit. I has the potential to be a game changer here to save us from the last 4 or 5 years of grey.

[lost]

Its a shame PC's don't shift the volume of games anymore to justify that many exclusives, Xbox 360 is on the equivalent of direct X 9, whilst PC's have been on 11 for 2 years now... I'll probably be upgrading for the Witcher 2 and new Deus Ex games when I have time to play them but it seems a long time since there was that urgency to upgrade every 18 months or so with big jumps in performance.

[Jaybles]

For me, Wipeout 2048 was a real 'shut up and take my money' moment. That might be the best looking handheld game ever. I can't wait to get my hands on a Vita and play that shit. Going to have to start saving right now if it does retail at £249 and £299.

[jammy2211]

What I think we've needed for a while is a shot in the arm with some new hardware. Sony and MS seem pretty keen to stretch out this console generation for as long as possible. The PS3 is probably capable of a year or two but the 360 is going to need an overhaul soon.

Now the Wii U has been announced, and is supposedly hitting the shelves in less than two years, they need to do something. Not least because the processor in the Wii U is (rumoured to be) a Power7, cutting edge shit. I has the potential to be a game changer here to save us from the last 4 or 5 years of grey.

[Jaybles]

So apparently the Wii U footage of the multiplatform games coming to the console were actually PS3/360 Video clips

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/nintendo-admits-its-wii-u-highlight-reel-was-spiced-up-with-ps3/

No biggie, but quite funny.

I get the impression they announced the Wii U earlier than they wanted.

Still if they can get the new console to output at 1080P as standard then that can only be a good thing if they want to equal/better the ps3/xbox graphics

[Gre]

I think you have to remember that the WiiU (I agree, its an awful name) is still probably 18 months from release - I would bank on it being a December 2012 release for Europe. So its going to be next E3 that showcases the console & the new games itself. This presentation was all about showcasing the controller as a concept. Do we even know whether it is going to be bluetooth/wi-fi/something else? Is there on-board storage? Playing a game 'streamed' from the console will surely require a lot of data transfer?

But as others have said, the price of the controller is the biggie. I can't see it being much less than £100, which is ridiculous for social games.

One cool thing that has come out of E3 is Sony's 3D 24" TV at $499. And they can use the technology so that two players can play 'split-screen' on one screen, seeing only what the left or right eye would see normally. That's a great idea, and once/if other 3D TVs come down in price could be a step forward - no more having to cram everything into half a screen. Games are probably the only thing I'd ever want a 3D TV at home for.

[Jaybles]

I think you have to remember that the WiiU (I agree, its an awful name) is still probably 18 months from release - I would bank on it being a December 2012 release for Europe. So its going to be next E3 that showcases the console & the new games itself. This presentation was all about showcasing the controller as a concept. Do we even know whether it is going to be bluetooth/wi-fi/something else? Is there on-board storage? Playing a game 'streamed' from the console will surely require a lot of data transfer?

But as others have said, the price of the controller is the biggie. I can't see it being much less than £100, which is ridiculous for social games.

One cool thing that has come out of E3 is Sony's 3D 24" TV at $499. And they can use the technology so that two players can play 'split-screen' on one screen, seeing only what the left or right eye would see normally. That's a great idea, and once/if other 3D TVs come down in price could be a step forward - no more having to cram everything into half a screen. Games are probably the only thing I'd ever want a 3D TV at home for.

[windy_miller]

Supposedly Mass Effect 3 has Kinect support.

[G-Stud]

Supposedly Mass Effect 3 has Kinect support.

[windy_miller]

I've heard that you can say the line you want your character to say. That's pretty cool, but there's still nothing tempting me into getting a Kinect. Not even Star Wars!

[Greeny_Musicchild]

ONE controller per console people. You add in wii motes for multiplayer, so cost on that front is no issue, everyone who has one will get one and wii motes will be totally affordable.

Jammy - yes, dev costs go up. to a degree. Technology gets cheaper and as it does people use it. For instance, nintendo made a game boy advance with a 3d screen, but it was too expensive. 10 years later we got a 3ds. Development costs don't just go up and up over the years until someone goes bankrupt. That's not how finance works.

[Gre]

ONE controller per console people. You add in wii motes for multiplayer, so cost on that front is no issue, everyone who has one will get one and wii motes will be totally affordable.

[t8yman]

interesting piece on the wii u and vita and e3 from a business standpoint

http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2011/06/did-microsoft-secretly-win-e3.html

[Greeny_Musicchild]

So there's no real advancement in multiplayer then? If that's the case, there's no real advantage, other than graphics, over the wii :-/

[Greeny_Musicchild]

interesting piece on the wii u and vita and e3 from a business standpoint

http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2011/06/did-microsoft-secretly-win-e3.html

[t8yman]

So Microsoft had the best E3 because they played it safe? Well, what an industry that would be if every company spent their time satisfying the shareholders and nothing else.

[Greeny_Musicchild]

isnt that what they are all doing? isnt that exactly what their entire raison d'etre is? sony/ms/ea/ninty etc dont care about you, they care about your money.

and to that end, MS did kinda win. gamers lost.

I'm not saying the author is completely beyond criticism, I'm saying he has a point, and he made it quite well.

[Purple Monkey]

isnt that what they are all doing? isnt that exactly what their entire raison d'etre is? sony/ms/ea/ninty etc dont care about you, they care about your money.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Purple Monkey

[t8yman]

People who think handheld devices are going to fall off the radar are wrong.

Edited June 9, 2011 by t8yman

[Halcyon]

yer... shame on all these companies for doing what they're supposed to do and try and make money

Lets face it, if people didn't buy the games publishers pump out, they wouldn't make money and be in business, and wouldn't pump them out. Supply and demand. If we don't buy them, they won't supply them. But we do, they they do.

The Modern Warfare bubble will eventually burst* (like the Guitar Hero bubble burst), and publishers will move onto the next golden goose. It's the cycle that we're in. It's the cycle we've always been in. First it was platformers, then it was driving games (sorry PM, project gotham 3 was the camel's back), then 3rd person adventurers/shooters, then music games, then motion control, and soon modern fps'.

Who's to blame here? Publishers for milking the cow and churning them out. Or us for rolling over and lapping them up. Probably a little of both.

*one could argue it's already happening - comments coming back from E3 to the effect of "too many 'modern guys with guns' games". MW3 will be even more lack lustre than Blops, MW3.5 even more so, and MW4 will be a relative flop.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Halcyon

[Greeny_Musicchild]

Pessimists! The f**king lot of ya!

I'm not saying shame on big companies for making money, I'm mearly saying that innovating the hardware that the consumers use can be achieved whilst making money, MS had a shit E3. They hoped everyone would hate the Wii-U and Sony were going to announce a stupidly high price for the Vita. It didn't happen.

Activision/Modern Warfare is becoming a joke but that's fine. Britney Spears didn't make me hate music and COD won't make me hate computer games. The conduct of big companies is a joke in any industry it's just a little newer to this medium, EA having been the only real monolith until recently.

as the pspgo and 3ds sales figures will prove eh?

I genuinely believe onlive is the future of home gaming

Edited June 9, 2011 by Greeny_Musicchild

[Gre]

There's plenty you can do with the tablet and 4 wii motes that sets it apart. Sony haven't changed their controller EVER and no one cares, why is it an issue that these use the same controllers, it makes it a very tempting upgrade prospect.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Gre