Wii

[Mithradates]

With the upcoming christmas release of the wii and the stealing of UK PS3's by Japs and Yanks. The prospect of a wii for christmas seems more likely i was wondering if it would be a wise investment. The controls look excellent although i remember when the game cube came out and that sunk like a lead baloon. Bascily i want to see if any nintendo fan boys can persuade me to get one please post any interesting info or pics. Happy posting! Please no jokes about the name ;).

[Mikeus Caesar]

Lets see...well, PS3 and Xbox 3-sucky are the same bland boring games offered by the Xbox and PS2, just given a dab of new paint so they don't hurt your eyes with ugly graphics.

The Wii is the only console offering innovation and new stuff.

[Geoffrey S]

I find Wii Sports the best game title ever.

[Xiahou]

The Wii is pretty much the only next-gen console to offer any innovation in terms of gameplay.

In my mind, if you have a decent gaming PC you have no real need of the 360. The PS3 is more interesting to me in a technological standpoint- but it's overpriced due to Sony's insistance on using the console to push it's bluray format, which has skyrocketed the price.

[cannon_fodder]

^ Yeah, the whole blu-ray thing is incredibly stupid. The PS3 could've been well over a hundred dollars cheaper.

I wouldn't bother getting any of the next-gen consoles just yet. The 360 and PS3 don't have much new to offer, and the Wii is gimmicky and overpriced; its experiences look like skin-deep affairs that would grow old quickly. The situation for all of them may improve in time.

[Fragony]

God do you need persuation? The Wii is going to be amazing! You just need one of the two other consoles as well. Or both

[Stig]

In that case get a Wii and a 360, that's the same price as the entire PS3

[Fragony]

In that case get a Wii and a 360, that's the same price as the entire PS3

If you take into consideration that a new bluray dvd-player costs about 1200 euro, 600 euro is a steal. Going to wait a while though, never ever ever buy from the first batch when it concerns a sony product, it will be broken before you can say 'oh no not again'

[Incongruous]

The ONLY reason I let my little bro's talk me into buying the 360, was because I am a sucker for Halo. Man I am stuck on the storyline. Gah! its like an interactive season of Lost!

[Phatose]

Really, you've got the net. You've read about the Wii. You obviously know about the pricing, the controller. You almost certainly know about the vast retrogaming library the thing is going to have.

If none of that has convinced you, what can we say? Nintendo didn't rootkit their customers, or release an OS which allowed someone else to rootkit their customers?

[Fragony]

Yay resident evil, in true 3d?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WLtfGZWDBcI

[lars573]

I have this feeling that by 2008 the Wii will have a real controller. The Wiimote is a bad idea, and it will harm the system in the long run. But Super Smash bros. brawl and Zelda TWP are almost enough to make me forget the crappy Wiimote.

[Phatose]

You DO realize that you can already use it in classical gamepad mode, where it's more or less gamecube pad, right?

[Xiahou]

You can even plug in Gamecube controllers- in fact you need to if you want to play Gamecube games on it afaik.

[lars573]

You DO realize that you can already use it in classical gamepad mode, where it's more or less gamecube pad, right?

Ofcourse. SSB:Brawl uses the real controller.

You can even plug in Gamecube controllers- in fact you need to if you want to play Gamecube games on it afaik.

You plug them in on the top of the console.

[BDC]

I *was* going to get one, until they turned out to be nearly the same price as an Xbox Core (haha, not going to get one of those, but the principle stands), with over-priced games and insanely expensive controllers.

I'll just wait until the onslaught of PS3s and Xbox 360s pushes the price down. The price difference is so small at the moment that they won't even be getting the budget market in the UK...

[Xiahou]

Well, as you acknowledge- the 360 core isnt even worth considering at $50 more than the Wii. So you can really only look at the 360 version that's $150 more, since that's the only one people in their right minds would buy.

I dont get why people are crying about the price of the controllers- the GCN Wavebird still goes for $30 and I believe the wireless 360 controller goes for almost $40- neither of these has anywhere near the amount of technology built into it that the Wii-mote does (speaker, motion detection, rumble, so on). With the nunchuk, I'd wager that the Wii-mote makes up a pretty significant portion of the overall system cost.

Edit: Here's the Wii Calculator- it'll add up the price of the system and any games/accessories you want to buy with it and will tell you what your grand total will be.

[cannon_fodder]

Well, as you acknowledge- the 360 core isnt even worth considering at $50 more than the Wii. So you can really only look at the 360 version that's $150 more, since that's the only one people in their right minds would buy.

I dont get why people are crying about the price of the controllers- the GCN Wavebird still goes for $30 and I believe the wireless 360 controller goes for almost $40- neither of these has anywhere near the amount of technology built into it that the Wii-mote does (speaker, motion detection, rumble, so on). With the nunchuk, I'd wager that the Wii-mote makes up a pretty significant portion of the overall system cost.

I believe you killed your first arguement with your second (which I do agree with). Microsoft charging $100 for a 20gb hd is BS on their part. Nintendo charging $250 for horribly outdated hardware is BS on their part. To elaborate, you focus on the practical price to the consumer in your first paragraph, and then focus on technology/production costs in the second.

[Fragony]

Well, as you acknowledge- the 360 core isnt even worth considering at $50 more than the Wii. So you can really only look at the 360 version that's $150 more, since that's the only one people in their right minds would buy.

ANYWAY, pretty impressive Wii screenshot from count Call of Duty the XII

[Xiahou]

Looks like the Japanese industry insiders are expecting the Wii to pretty much dominate this generation of consoles(and also all but pronouncing the death of the 360):

In addition to the interviews, Famitsu revealed the results of a questionnaire sent to 58 developers working at 19 software companies in Japan. They first asked how the developers felt, in general, about each of the systems. The results were very positive. Of those polled 80 percent expressed positive views on the PS3. For the Wii, 99 percent took a bullish stance. Views on the Xbox 360 were somewhat more negative, with 45 percent stating they had few expectations for the console. Even so, a majority 53 percent responded positively on its prospects.

Finally, Famitsu asked for some more specific opinions. When pressed as to which console they personally wanted to own, 9 percent of the developers said Xbox 360, 42 percent PS3, and 49 percent Wii.

As for which platform they want to develop games for, only 5 percent answered Xbox, while the PS3 and Wii respectively got 32 percent and 63 percent of the votes.

On the topic of which console they thought would sell the most, the developers picked the Wii by a landslide--60 percent, compared with 37 percent and 3 percent for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

link

[Fragony]

No surprise there, xbox has never been hot in japan, it's primary market is the us and europe. Most japanese will end up with a ps3 and a wii, and most euro's/us will end up with a xbox360 and a wii.

Everyone will want a wii, just not only a wii.

[Xiahou]

The thing that'd really concern me if I was an Xbox fan would be this part:

As for which platform they want to develop games for, only 5 percent answered Xbox, while the PS3 and Wii respectively got 32 percent and 63 percent of the votes.

Without games it's going to have a tough time anywhere. Think North American developers will be able to make enough games for it to take up the slack?

Conversely, the 63% is great news for us Wii fans.

[Fragony]

The xbox360 will get the majority of the pc titles, which will all pretty easy to port, it will probably become the poor men's pc just like the first. All the ps3 titles will have to be build from scratch, xbox will do fine methinks.

[Lemur]

For what it's worth, CompUSA has leaked the prices (with markup -- nice!). Not a big surprise that most of the profit will be in peripherals and games. (Price on left is retail, price on right is cost.)

WII CONSOLE - 249.99 / 237.50
WII REMOTE CONTROLL - 39.99 / 32.00
WII POINTS CARD - 24.99 / 17.00
WII CLASSIC CONTROLLER - 19.99 / 14.50
WII NUNCHUK CONTROLLER - 19.99 / 14.50
WII GPAK ORGANIZER&TRAVEL - 29.99 / 18.95
WII RAYMAN RAVING RABIDS - 49.99 / 41.2
WII THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:TW - 49.99 / 40.00
WII RED STEEL REVOLUTION - 49.99 / 41.22

[Lehesu]

Wii controller = cheap marketing gimmick

That is my completely unqualified opinion. I seriously doubt that waving a magical stick in the air can give me the same control as a finely tuned console controller (or, better yet, mouse+keyboard).
I am pretty much waiting for the Wii to release so that the 360's price goes down enough that I might consider buying one.

[Fragony]

Wii controller = cheap marketing gimmick

That is my completely unqualified opinion. I seriously doubt that waving a magical stick in the air can give me the same control as a finely tuned console controller (or, better yet, mouse+keyboard).

I am sure Nintendo is very pleased with your way of putting it; 'magical'. Now think of a controler that you can actually control with your own hand-eye coordination, and try to decie why a mouse would work better.

[Xiahou]

I'll be (pleasantly) suprised if the Wii-mote is more precise than a PC mouse. However, I have little doubt that that it will be far more precise and easier to aim with than any analog controllers on console systems.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I can't play FPS's on consoles, the gamepad is simply too imprecise. So, I'm sure the Wiimote will be a step up, however well it's executed..

[Xiahou]

Here's a writeup in the Seattle Times about (among other things) the amount of Wii consoles that will be available on launch day and some hands-on impressions.

It's also going to be widely available. Nintendo plans to ship 4 million Wiis this holiday season. That's more than double the number of Xbox 360s that sold after its launch last holiday season. Sony, meanwhile, is planning to ship 2 million PS3s this year, but only 400,000 are expected to be available in the U.S. at launch.

I try to be skeptical during product demonstrations, but this one left me convinced the Wii (pronounced "we") will be a huge hit and the hottest toy this holiday season.

Yes, it was a grueling day at work. I golfed, fished, bowled, played some tennis and baseball, and did a little off-road driving in a monster truck with rocket boosters, all on the Wii.

I worked up a sweat, hopping around like a monkey swatting flies.

The Wii uses motion-sensitive controllers, mainly one that looks like a small TV remote. To hit a baseball, you swing the control like a bat. You'll throw gutter balls if you twist your wrist too much while bowling, and you won't go far in the golf game unless you get up off the couch and assume the stance when you swing.

I'm not the only one fired up about the Wii. Game developers are also enthusiastic about the things they can do with motion-sensitive controllers, both on the Wii and the PS3.

"It's definitely taking the world in a new direction, allowing people to play the game in a way they've never been able to interact with the game-play world," said Jeremy Luyties, lead designer for Treyarch's "Call of Duty 3," an upcoming version of a World War II action game that's been the top seller on the Xbox 360 platform.

Luyties said players will use the Wii controllers to toss grenades, drive jeeps and punch Nazis who leap onto their backs.

"Instead of simply having to hit a button, now you've got to take the controller and thrust it toward the screen to execute the movement — almost like you're stabbing toward the screen," he said.

In one battle sequence, players have to use the controller like an oar to cross a river in a rowboat. I may get some practice by rowing out to those freighters in the bay.

[Xiahou]

ANYWAY, pretty impressive Wii screenshot from count Call of Duty the XII

I somehow missed that screenshot until now...

Very nice looking- kudos to the developers for being able to pull those graphics off on a 1st generation game. My understading was that early Wii development boxes were little more then Gamecubes with Wii-mote functionality (whereas the actual Wii is said to be roughly 3x as powerful as the GCN), so I wasnt expecting a whole lot graphically on the first batch of games. Maybe this will bode well for things to come.