360 or PS3?

[Vocenoctum]

I have the Wii/360 combo, and while there are a couple of games coming to the PS3 that look good, they're not enough to justify the price to me.

It might just be me, but I didn't buy my 360 right away (since there was little to play and not enough money in the bank), but when I got mine the following er, March maybe? May? something with an M... there were a few worth getting.

Compared to PS3, where it's August of the following year, and other than Resistance, everything is just a pipe dream. (Note: I'm sure there are games worth playing, but I'm just talking the games I like.)

Also, the Wii has a horrid attach rate. I think a lot of folks bought the Wii and have been playing nearly nothing buy Wii Sports the entire time. Sure the nintendo fans got Zelda, but otherwise for "real games" there haven't been a lot that I've seen.

It's like my DS, too many of the games are the same goofy nothing games that I can't stand, so I barely ever buy something for it.

 

[Keldryn]

There are plenty of "real games" available for the Wii, other than Zelda (which is an amazing game):

Super Paper Mario
Elebits
The Godfather: Blackhand Edition
Resident Evil 4 (if you're like me and didn't play it on GC or PS2)
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords (if you're like me and didn't play Two Thrones)
Red Steel (despite the poor reviews, it is a pretty decent game if you break out of the typical FPS strategy mindset)

Wario Ware: Smooth Moves is an awesome game, despite not falling under the "traditional gamer" type of game. It's not really typical of your "minigame collections" like Mario Party 8 or Rayman: Ravin Rabbids are (which are both good titles for that genre).

And coming soon on the Wii are:

Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros Brawl
Zak and Wiki
Metroid Prime 3
Batallion Wars 2
Guitar Hero III
NiGHTS 2: Journey of Dreams
FF Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
No More Heroes
My Sims
Dewey's Adventure

New installments of Pikmin and Animal Crossing are supposedly in the works.

I got the Wii on launch day, and I've already got 12 games for it, all of which are fun. Er, actually 13, as I picked up Boogie yesterday as my last free EA game for the year.

 

[Keldryn]

My thing is, I'm not sure that the next step IS BluRay or HD-DVD. People make a big deal of Bluray selling 2 to 1 vs HD-DVD in movies that come out in both (okay, so mostly 300. , but it's still such a small segment of the market, it's meaningless at this point. By the time there's a decent amount of market share, the technology will be outdated.

I mean, they're already talking about 10 layer discs and such, that current players can't play.

Add in that they are charging double for the HD-DVD/Bluray's discs, and I think it's slowing teh HD change down.

Agreed. And on top of that, the move from DVD to HD/Blu-Ray is nowhere near as meaningful as the move from VHS to DVD. From a purely technical standpoint, you may in fact be doubling the visual resolution, but that itself has a point of diminishing returns. VHS to DVD brought a huge number of benefits that had nothing to do with the "specs" of the format: smaller size, more durable, no rewinding/fast-forwarding and instant chapter skips, they don't wear out, multiple audio tracks for alternate languages and commentaries... Plus the increase in sound quality over VHS. All that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD really offer over DVD is a higher-resolution image that you can only really appreciate if you have an expensive, large-screen TV. Any improvement in sound quality is again only something you'll appreciate with a high-end sound system. The average consumer doesn't have this sort of equipment, nor do they really care enough to make an investment in it.

I have no doubts that DVD will be phased out, and it may very well be by Blu-Ray; however, I don't see it happening any faster than the VHS to DVD transition occurred, and perhaps even slower.

 

[Arnwyn]

It might just be me, but I didn't buy my 360 right away (since there was little to play and not enough money in the bank), but when I got mine the following er, March maybe? May? something with an M... there were a few worth getting.

Compared to PS3, where it's August of the following year, and other than Resistance, everything is just a pipe dream. (Note: I'm sure there are games worth playing, but I'm just talking the games I like.)

Also, the Wii has a horrid attach rate. I think a lot of folks bought the Wii and have been playing nearly nothing buy Wii Sports the entire time. Sure the nintendo fans got Zelda, but otherwise for "real games" there haven't been a lot that I've seen.

It's like my DS, too many of the games are the same goofy nothing games that I can't stand, so I barely ever buy something for it.

I'm going to QFT this whole thing. I entirely agree, and it's nice that someone mentioned the rather disgraceful Wii overall attach rate (which is only on par with the PS3 ). That's the price one pays, though, when moving to the mass market/non-traditional video game player crowd. The software developers need to keep an eye on this (hardly surprising) trend.

And I agree - at this stage, there aren't any "real games" at all - just a bunch of mini-game packages, or remakes of games we've all played long before [and many others with crappy reviews - rightfully so, I might add]. The rest (just like the PS3) are vaporware pipedreams. Lemme know when they actually come out, and then we'll talk.

And same for me with the DS - I have a grand total of 7 games for it. Woo.

I'm glad others like the non-traditional gaming on the Wii, though.

 

[Mallus]

And same for me with the DS - I have a grand total of 7 games for it. Woo.

Perhaps you bought the wrong hand-held game system then?

 

[Mallus]

I bought a PS3 and my reasons were:

Reliability: The 360 heat issues have me spooked.
Features: I like the Blu-Ray, and built in wireless and bluetooth are also very cool.

Same here.

I'm fairly confident that they'll be some standout games for the PS3 over the next few years. I'm in no rush, seeing as no amount of my disposable income is going to buy me more free time.

And calling AAA itles that aren't out yet 'pipedreams' is silly, given the amount of resources already sunk into them. Does anyone honestly think a sizable number of the these multi-million software development projects are going to just end without salable products going to market?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

And same for me with the DS - I have a grand total of 7 games for it. Woo.

I'm glad others like the non-traditional gaming on the Wii, though.

Its definitely not for everyone. The games, be they the more traditional games or the 'minigames compilations'(which don't outnumber the former as much as some like to think) definitely have a way of being 'love em or hate em' compared to many others on different systems.

Of course, with the topic at hand, I'd recommend the 360 over the PS3. The PS3 just has games on the horizon. That's it. Resistance is nice, and there are a couple others, but for the expense of the system, its just not worth buying, IMO, for games that are coming AND likely to get delayed more(See GTA IV...2008 now).

The 360 just has a huge library thanks to being out for so long, and there are some gems in there. Not only that, but many of its heavy hitters for the year are hitting right now, or extremely soon. With the whole exclusives thing, so many games are coming out on both the 360 and the PS3 that its really not a huge question like it used to be, and even the games currently said to be exclusive have hints that it won't stay that way.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

And calling AAA itles that aren't out yet 'pipedreams' is silly, given the amount of resources already sunk into them. Does anyone honestly think a sizable number of the these multi-million software development projects are going to just end without salable products going to market?

Nah, of course they'll come out. But its a matter of WHEN.

You can only market a game system promising games for so long before you have to actually...you know, release them.

But the thing is, while right now they look to be exclusives to the PS3, I'm not sure I believe they'll stay that way. Things like Metal Gear and GTA have gone multiplatform before(after the companies talk about them remaining exclusive to the PS2), and those are the two big selling points for the PS3, one of which has even been delayed.

So what does that mean for the PS3 if they do go multiplatform, for whatever reason? Suddenly the expensive console loses a great deal of its worth when you can get them on the 360.

 

[drothgery]

Nah, of course they'll come out. But its a matter of WHEN.

...

So what does that mean for the PS3 if they do go multiplatform, for whatever reason? Suddenly the expensive console loses a great deal of its worth when you can get them on the 360.

Yeah. The only PS3 exclusive that's all that compelling to me is FFXIII, and that's looking more and more like a 2009 title on this side of the Pacific. Which is going to go a long way to helping me keep my promise to myself to not spend more on 2 consoles in this generation than I spent on three in the last one (right now I'm stalling; I want a 360 Elite, but I think $450 is still too much, and Mass Effect's not out yet... at least I've got the HDTV now).

 

[Arnwyn]

Perhaps you bought the wrong hand-held game system then?

Nope. I got it for Final Fantasy III (and the - supposed - upcoming Dragon Quest remakes). Yay!

It's got a future, hopefully (just not a present).