Nintendo 3DS

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03-23-2010
Cheeze-It

Nintendo 3DS

Wow. Nintendo is just freaking on a roll. They are, by far
the saviors of the video game industry. They just announced
their new machine - the Nintendo 3DS. It's the successor
to the DS. This one, however, will be 3D capable! And even
better, it won't require glasses! They're going to reveal it
at e3.

I'm excited to see this machine. The DSi, with clever
developers, can already do awesome 3D like this:

YouTube - DSi「立体かくし絵　アッタコレダ」PV

That's why Nintendo rules. Their machines give developers
more freedom to be creative. The Wii is also so awesome
that both Sony and Microsoft are desperately trying to enter
the motion control space (lol). Sony's scheme is a blatant
rip-off of the Wiimote & Nunchuck, and I can't see Natal
being anything other than awkward. Do you have any idea
how much the world would suck without Nintendo? It would
suck tonnes, man.
03-23-2010
VirtualAce

From what I have heard Sony's motion control offering is not that great and Natal is a buggy mess.

However I have a Wii and I'm not all that impressed with it nor the motion sensing technology. Overall I find it inaccurate, clumsy, gimmicky, and annoying since games tend to combine the motion in with button mashing and it's impossible to do both at the same time. The Wii is a nice attempt but it has very poor hardware, graphics are from the NVidia GeForce 4 era, sound is no better than your typical SoundBlaster card, and the games are not all that great since they try to use the motion sensing crap and usually fail big time. The Wii is a big fail for me.

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That's why Nintendo rules. Their machines give developers more freedom to be creative.

Do devs really want to mess with motion sensing hardware knowing that it may not work correctly? Nothing sucks more than to spend dev time on figuring out the motions only to have the hardware utterly fail to pick them up thus causing the game experience to be less than satisfactory. Your statements about Nintendo are a bit presumptious, fan-boyish, have little or no evidence to back up, and overall inaccurate. I will say that if Nintendo offers up another Wii for their next gen console they will make a huge mistake.
03-24-2010
Cheeze-It

Quote:

However I have a Wii and I'm not all that impressed with it nor the motion sensing technology. Overall I find it inaccurate, clumsy, gimmicky, and annoying since games tend to combine the motion in with button mashing and it's impossible to do both at the same time.

That just says you either have it set up incorrectly or have
picked poor titles. You must be doing something wrong.
Do you have the strap wrapped around your wrist like the
picture shows? If not, try doing that

Have you tried the Motion+? Go pick up Red Steel 2. Just
came out this week. Great reviews that say the sword play
is fantastic. .

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Do devs really want to mess with motion sensing hardware knowing that it may not work correctly?

If it doesn't work correctly, it's their own fault and their own
poor design choices. The hardware is demonstrably capable.
However, if they don't want to do motion control, they're
under no obligation to do so. It's the option that gives them
more creative freedom.

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Your statements about Nintendo are a bit presumptious, fan-boyish, have little or no evidence to back up, and overall inaccurate.

There's nothing presumptuous or inaccurate about my
statements.Only the fan-boyish part is true. This is a War,
brother. You're on a side whether you want to be or not.

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I will say that if Nintendo offers up another Wii for their next gen console they will make a huge mistake.

Nintendo doesn't make mistakes (except the Virtual Boy...
and the cartridge-based N64). They know the market and
have never performed poorly.

They said they're not going to release a Wii 2 until there's
a big enough change to warrant it (which isn't simply HD).
However, motion control is the future. Just like when they
popularized analog and it became standard, now too will
Motion Control.
03-24-2010
yaya

I agree with Bubba on this one. But the fact is, Nintendo are targeting casual gamers and ONLY casual gamers. Casual gamers only want to play on a system that sounds cool, regardless of whether it works well or not. This is because these gamers are new to the gaming world a don't know where to start, so they pick something that looks fun. That's my take on things, anyways.
03-24-2010
Elysia

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethic

Wow. Nintendo is just freaking on a roll. They are, by far
the saviors of the video game industry. They just announced
their new machine - the Nintendo 3DS. It's the successor
to the DS. This one, however, will be 3D capable! And even
better, it won't require glasses! They're going to reveal it
at e3.

Yes, this is quite interesting. I certainly wasn't expecting a 3D machine as a next-gen DS.
If there is anyone capable of pulling it off, I'd say it's Nintendo. Unlike Microsoft and Sony, they usually target more affordable hardware.

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Do you have any idea
how much the world would suck without Nintendo? It would
suck tonnes, man.

:P Maybe...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubba

However I have a Wii and I'm not all that impressed with it nor the motion sensing technology. Overall I find it inaccurate, clumsy, gimmicky, and annoying...

While I've heard a lot of games have had trouble, Metroid Prime 3 was overall good with the motion. This shows it can be done correctly.
So I'd the developers are having a hard time here. Perhaps it's because it's difficult and they haven't got enough help from Nintendo or they're lazy.
(However, the force unleashed had horrible inaccurate and gimmicky controls.)

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...since games tend to combine the motion in with button mashing and it's impossible to do both at the same time.

I can agree that the button layout of the control is retarded since the buttons are few and far apart.
That said, I haven't encountered many games that are poor in this regard, so I can only surmise what I wrote in the previous section.

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The Wii is a nice attempt but it has very poor hardware, graphics are from the NVidia GeForce 4 era, sound is no better than your typical SoundBlaster card, and the games are not all that great since they try to use the motion sensing crap and usually fail big time. The Wii is a big fail for me.

The graphics look okay to me. The sound sounds okay to me.
I wouldn't say the hardware is bad. Mostly just a lot of developers who do not utilize it properly. All the games I've played looked nice.
Motion sensing is nice. When done properly, that is. Unfortunately, not so many games do it correctly.
Nintendo is no angel however; they've done a lot of things wrong, including this whole ridiculous online strategy. I must say I, too, am disappointed with the Wii, having only so few good games. But some pearls (Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy) are real nice.

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Your statements about Nintendo are a bit presumptious, fan-boyish, have little or no evidence to back up, and overall inaccurate.

It's funny, because I feel mostly the other way.
Even so, I am in no way a fan of Nintendo this generation. I am severely disappointed with all three gaming companies, yet I do not hold your views regarding Nintendo (just as to say I am not a fanboy/girl of Nintendo).

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I will say that if Nintendo offers up another Wii for their next gen console they will make a huge mistake.

I say that if they can offer more games and stop this casual crap of dumbing down their interface until it looks grey, ugly, slow and unintuitive and get higher quality on their games (ie motion working correctly), then I'd say that if the next console was Wii 2, it would be the best console ever.

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Originally Posted by yaya

I agree with Bubba on this one. But the fact is, Nintendo are targeting casual gamers and ONLY casual gamers. Casual gamers only want to play on a system that sounds cool, regardless of whether it works well or not. This is because these gamers are new to the gaming world a don't know where to start, so they pick something that looks fun. That's my take on things, anyways.

That's nonsense. Nintendo is aiming for all the gamers.
Now, if they are doing this right is entirely different matter. I feel extremely disappointed with their approach to "hardcore" gamers.
03-24-2010
Mario F.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ethic

This is a War,
brother. You're on a side whether you want to be or not.

There are more computer literate people and gamers not giving a rat's arse for who wins the consoles war, if anyone wins the consoles war, or caring for who loses, than there are people paying attention to it.

If you are into that stuff, have fun. But you are way wrong if you think most of us give a damn. I'm more caring of my toaster brand.
03-24-2010
C_ntua

Quote:

Originally Posted by yaya

But the fact is, Nintendo are targeting casual gamers and ONLY casual gamers. Casual gamers only want to play on a system that sounds cool, regardless of whether it works well or not. This is because these gamers are new to the gaming world a don't know where to start, so they pick something that looks fun. That's my take on things, anyways.

I wouldn't agree on the only part. Maybe mostly. Their target is, as always, all gamers for big companies like Nintendo. Their advertisements will be mostly for casual gamers, since hardcore ones will look mostly on specifications (before even the first ad is out). But that doesn't mean that Nintendo is not aiming for hardcore players as well
03-24-2010
Epy

Bubba isn't doing anything wrong, the motion sensing technology does suck. It's rough at best. The fact that it needs additional hardware to get it anywhere close to accurate isn't impressive either.
03-24-2010
bernt

My two cents is that Nintendo is really cashing in on the novelty effect. Motion detection has been around for a while, but it still feels new (probably because it is done poorly, not in the sense that it isn't precise but rather in the sense that it doesn't feel natural). Likewise, the variety of games available for the wii generally explore new (or at least underused) concepts, like driving your vehicle by turning the remote.

I applaud Nintendo for trying new things, and I also thank Nintendo for trying out the 3d technology. But that does not mean that it will be fun to play. That depends on the games. Sure, Nintendo can keep cranking out generic wii<insert suffix here> games and an infinite number of Mario clones to showcase their technology, but once the novelty wears off it really comes down to whether or not the games are fun. Since Nintendo has been focusing on "Hey, look! You can aim the wiimote like a gun!" rather than "This is better than our imagination's version of DNF," my opinion is that the games aren't really fun for the time being.

Chances are, as players and developers get more comfortable with the technology, the games will improve. My guess is that it will be a story similar to 3D graphics. The success of a Wii 2 largely depends on Nintendo's cooperation with the people who make games - the people who make games that aren't Nintendo, that is.

By the way, these are the observations of someone on the outside looking in. I stick with my good old PC for games.
03-24-2010
VirtualAce

Just exactly how do you move your controller wrong when it shows you and tells you exactly what to do? When I bowl and the bowler starts the action before I've even moved my controller - how am I wrong? In The Bigs 2 the batter swings when I barely move the controller and doesn't swing when I make an obvious attempt to move it.

The era of watching bars fill up and empty in sports games is long gone on the PC and thankfully so. Unfortunately this is all Wii sports games ever do and it sucks big time. The only Wii game so far that has combined motion with buttons fairly well is Super Mario Wii. The only time the motion gets in the way of what you need to do is when attempting to fly with the propeller thingy on your head. Other than that most of the motion is good, quite honestly, because there isn't a lot of it in the game b/c it just doesn't fit.

But a lot of times the Wii simply fails to pick up the motion correctly or fails to register motion at all. I like how this is all the user's fault. If I recall the last car company to blame all their problems on the consumer....just went into bankruptcy so I surely hope Nintendo is not going to do adopt that type of customer support.

It is an excuse to blame users for all the problems with the Wii. I've heard rumors that most devs do not want to develop for the Wii and instead would rather target the 360 or the PS3. The motion stuff is cool for about an hour and then it just becomes annoying. Maybe devs don't really want to program for motion control....unless of course their name is Peter Molyneux (NATAL anyone?) in which case all you will get is tons of hype about how you can live and thrive in a virtual world.....yet the game will still be no fun at all. But, hey, at least you get to live and thrive in a virtual world and exchange notes with your console. Wow. Can't wait.

My overall take on the consoles is this:

I bought the Wii for the fam but quite honestly my PC steam rolls the thing into the pavement. Heck my PC steam rolls the 360 into the pavement and I cannot figure out why there is so much hype and development for truly inferior platforms other than they are more accessible and thus more profitable. For me playing the 360, PS3, or Wii feels like a gigantic step backwards. So much so that I'm constantly asking myself why even bother when I have a killer PC that can run all 3 consoles into the dirt and that I have more peripherals for and have more fun with. I just bought a Logitech G27 wheel and have been playing some rFactor which is quite old yet still looks and plays better than most 360, PS3, and Wii titles. I just don't get the console crowd but hey if they want to play really cool games on really inferior hardware then let them. As for me....I'm PC all the way. If EA and others abandon the PC others will take their place. If stores stop carrying the games I always have D2D, Steam, and Impulse. I will get my games one way or another and as long as there are PCs there will be games so I'm not all that concerned.
03-24-2010
Mario F.

At least for me, there is really only one title that could drive me to buy a console. That's God of War, and the console is of course PS3.

Unfortunately I lost my ability to understand and predict the gaming market. I too am completely confused at the console consumer adoption levels. It's as amazing as it is one of the most ridiculous mass crazes I ever witnessed. The console is still today essentially a gaming medium. However the PC which has evolved to this day into a multiuse machine, does the gaming better, and does a hell of a lot other things. It teaches, it works, it entertains, it stores, it communicates. Why do people even consider a console as a superior choice to gaming on a PC is already mind boggling to me, but completely out of this world is the fact people spend money on consoles simply for the act of gaming, when they have in their houses computers that can run around these consoles on one processor and with a broken hard drive.

However, when I go today to a large surface to buy me a PC game I immediately noticed how the number of shelves for PC games have been reduced. Dominating the store is the console games. Hundreds of them against the tenths of PC games in retail stores.

This saddens me and it angers me. Because, as much as it may hurt a few souls, my take on this whole console craze is that consumers do not think. Most are complete and utter fools, following the latest trends, often artificially created, drooling over false ideas and slaves to the marketing done by people that know exactly how to turn intelligent people into consumer zombies, and soon enough completely indoctrinated and working for free for these companies marketing departments, helping spread the word. And of course, thus making life harder to those of us who still use their brains.

So, here it is in its raw form: Console users are morons. And when I hear someone saying that Nintendo is the savior of the video game industry, I can only add they are insane too. These people remind me of those shopping channel hosts and their guests, such is their idiotic fanboyism. Not that fanboyism is bad per se. It's idiotic fanboyism that is. When they can't see past their cult object or company and actually put things into perspective accepting the faults, the limitations and, even more commonly, the fact they are being sold something they really don't need or that is experimental and they are the willing guinea pigs. Them and their wallets.

Today PC gaming is facing a crisis. It's becoming quite obvious to me. More and more often I'm seeing PC ports of console games. More and more often I'm seeing console exclusive games. These were unthinkable just, what, 5 years ago. And more and more I'm seeing less and less games on the PC platform. PC gaming is not dead, never it will be. Part of this crisis is the result of its success (piracy being the most visible aspect of this). But it's clear that this whole console craziness is here to stay, or stay for a little longer. I'm sticking to my PC because... really, I'm smarter.

EDIT (and Disclaimer):
I totally exclude from my vitriol any portable consoles. These are entirely different beasts. And surely there's clear benefits to them, although not even these interest me.
03-24-2010
zacs7

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elysia

The graphics look okay to me. The sound sounds okay to me.
I wouldn't say the hardware is bad. Mostly just a lot of developers who do not utilize it properly.

That's really funny coming from someone who hates netbooks and/or the Intel Atom. As per your posts not long ago...

Seriously, from what I've played of the Wii -- it's terrible. The competition comes down to who can mash the buttons fastest or fling the somewhat inaccurate remote around.
03-25-2010
Cheeze-It

I like Super Mario Galaxy
03-25-2010
Elysia

Quote:

Originally Posted by zacs7

Seriously, from what I've played of the Wii -- it's terrible. The competition comes down to who can mash the buttons fastest or fling the somewhat inaccurate remote around.

It depends on the games. I enjoy those kinds of things as little as you do.
As for the why on the consoles, I'll just throw in some arguments in favor of consoles (or at least this used to be true until this multimedia console madness this generation):
- No upgrades needed. Buy the console. Play it.
- Works out of the box. No need to install. No need to patch. No need to register, etc.
- Doesn't crash. More reliable. Less buggy.
- No technical prowess needed. What specs do I need? Etc.
- No troubleshooting. It just works out of the box.
- Fluid graphics. Unless the game was poorly designed, there are no framerate drops. Or they aren't noticeable, etc. On a PC, it depends on your hardware. If your hardware is bad, then shucks on you. Get used to that slow framerate. Plus no twiddling with graphics settings.

And the big killer of the PC is, of course, the piracy.
I'll even admit that some of these reasons are why I tend to like console games over PC games. PC games do have some advantage over console games, but mostly it's merely just a keyboard and mods/add-ons.

The fact that you could use motion to activate force powers ala the force unleashed is a very cool idea, I'll admit, and it's one that Nintendo should be focusing on. New experience. Different ways to play. That is not a gimmick. What is a gimmick is that these controls rarely work too well in many games. What that depends on is anyone's guess. But I wouldn't place the entire blame on Nintendo, at least, even if they've done so much wrong.
03-25-2010
Epy

Quote:

Originally Posted by zacs7

Seriously, from what I've played of the Wii -- it's terrible. The competition comes down to who can mash the buttons fastest or fling the somewhat inaccurate remote around.

It depends on what you like, gamey games or realistic games. I like the Wii because of the included nostalgia in some of the traditional titles and mashing buttons. That's what I've always known consoles to be, I don't really care about realistic graphics.
03-25-2010
Perspective

>When I bowl and the bowler starts the action before I've even moved my controller - how am I wrong?

He's supposed to start walking when you push B, and he releases the ball when you release the button. Direction and velocity of the ball are controlled by the swing of the wiimote.
03-25-2010
pianorain

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elysia

As for the why on the consoles, I'll just throw in some arguments in favor of consoles (or at least this used to be true until this multimedia console madness this generation):
- No upgrades needed. Buy the console. Play it.
- Works out of the box. No need to install. No need to patch. No need to register, etc.
- Doesn't crash. More reliable. Less buggy.
- No technical prowess needed. What specs do I need? Etc.
- No troubleshooting. It just works out of the box.
- Fluid graphics. Unless the game was poorly designed, there are no framerate drops. Or they aren't noticeable, etc. On a PC, it depends on your hardware. If your hardware is bad, then shucks on you. Get used to that slow framerate. Plus no twiddling with graphics settings.

I quit PC gaming for a number of these reasons. I don't want to spend any more than 5 minutes on getting a game to work. With console games, you just google it; it either works, or it doesn't. With PC games, it's anyone's guess. It might be the game. It might be the hardware. It might be a totally different program that's installed.

I suppose someone out there has the magical PC box that manages to run every PC game out-of-the-box, but I'm not that guy. Fortunately, I can buy a console and reduce the complexity of the "will it run?" equation. The hardware becomes a constant.
03-25-2010
_Mike

Quote:

Originally Posted by pianorain

I quit PC gaming for a number of these reasons. I don't want to spend any more than 5 minutes on getting a game to work. With console games, you just google it; it either works, or it doesn't. With PC games, it's anyone's guess. It might be the game. It might be the hardware. It might be a totally different program that's installed.

I suppose someone out there has the magical PC box that manages to run every PC game out-of-the-box, but I'm not that guy. Fortunately, I can buy a console and reduce the complexity of the "will it run?" equation. The hardware becomes a constant.

This is in my opinion both the biggest advantage and disadvantage of consoles at the same time.
On consoles you don't have to worry about anything, just run the game. If the game is buggy then you know it's because it is an actual bug in the game. Either live with it (and hope for a patch release) or return it to the store.
On a pc it could be from a large number of causes. It could be that game is badly coded. It could be your antivirus (or any other software) interfering. It could be your hardware/drivers. It could be that you are trying to run the game on a different OS version than the game was targetted at, etc..
But on the other hand; If you are having problems on a pc then there are usually workarounds, be it official ones or fan-made fixes. And if the game is running slow you can upgrade your hardware to compensate. If it were on a console you would be stuck with the framerate being low.

Then there's also the issue* of being unable to run unsigned code on todays consoles. I can totally understand why they chose this way, but I will personally never buy a console which requires all code to be digitally signed by the console vendors. If I buy a piece of programmable hardware I want to be able to use it in any way I choose to.

But for the average gamers a console is probably the better choice of platform.

* To me it is a big disadvantage, others might disagree or not care at all.
03-25-2010
whiteflags

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elysia

And the big killer of the PC is, of course, the piracy.

Why wont pirates go to consoles?

IMO the big killer for pc gaming is expensive hardware upgrades. Moore's law should apply to GPUs as much as it does other things, at least. People who want to spend money and do that, can, but consoles are more economical for me and probably millions of others.
03-25-2010
Elysia

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiteflags

Why wont pirates go to consoles?

They do, but not to the same extent.
At least previous generation consoles were locked right. No way you would run software on them. So the PC was a far easier target. Crack it, then play it.
For consoles, you usually have to chip 'em. After you do that, it's just as easy as to download, burn, and play.
03-25-2010
VirtualAce

Quote:

No upgrades needed. Buy the console. Play it.
- Works out of the box. No need to install. No need to patch. No need to register, etc.
- Doesn't crash. More reliable. Less buggy.
- No technical prowess needed. What specs do I need? Etc.
- No troubleshooting. It just works out of the box.
- Fluid graphics. Unless the game was poorly designed, there are no framerate drops. Or they aren't noticeable, etc. On a PC, it depends on your hardware. If your hardware is bad, then shucks on you. Get used to that slow framerate. Plus no twiddling with graphics settings.

Quote:

- Works out of the box. No need to install. No need to patch. No need to register, etc.

Not exactly true. Many console games have fixes to make them run better. Bioshock required that XBox users clear their texture cache...and most didn't even know they had one. Their are games on the consoles that have technical problems just as much or more as the PC since the hardware isn't the most modern in the world.

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- Doesn't crash. More reliable. Less buggy.

This has more to do with the developers than the platform and is a generalized sweeping statement that is not accurate at all. The PC in general should not crash, should be reliable and should be less buggy. However companies adopted the ship now, patch later attitude which killed the quality of games. It will happen on the console as well and is already starting since you can patch console games. Listen the problem isn't the platform...it's the mindset of those raking in the cash for these games and eventually their attitude will destroy the console market as well. Why...b/c their attitude towards games and gaming is utterly flawed.

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- No technical prowess needed. What specs do I need? Etc.

I'll give you about 50% of this statement. Some technical prowess is needed to say hook the Wii up to a LAN or use XBox Live. As well when other games require you clear the cache or do this or that to your platform to run better it requires technical prowess. It also doesn't hook itself up to your TV or your stereo system so some bit of technical knowledge is needed to even get the thing up and running. It will only get worse when other consoles release their motion sensing technology.

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- No technical prowess needed. What specs do I need? Etc.

This is the same as your first statement so does not qualify as a separate statement.

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Fluid graphics. Unless the game was poorly designed, there are no framerate drops. Or they aren't noticeable, etc. On a PC, it depends on your hardware. If your hardware is bad, then shucks on you. Get used to that slow framerate. Plus no twiddling with graphics settings.

This is completely false. There are more troubles with framerate on consoles than there are on PCs - far more. Just go look at the forums. Some forums for the console look more like PC troubleshooting forums than console game forums. There are a lot of framerate issues with games on consoles. And guess what....you are stuck with that framerate since you can't go out and buy your fav video card for about 100 to 150 bucks which would improve your gaming experience. So not being able to upgrade the console is a huge minus in my book. My computer is already a year old and yet can run any game out there just fine. NFS Shift had framerate issues on the console and yet it never even stuttered on my PC. My PC chewed it up, spit it out, and asked for more. I could have probably played it in dual screen with max settings and it would have been fine. There are several console game reviews at GameSpot that mention framerate issues. Every time I read this I just smile a bit b/c I usually have the same game on the PC and it never hiccups once.

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On a PC, it depends on your hardware. If your hardware is bad, then shucks on you.

It is no different on a console except since you know you have inferior hardware yet are trying to run the same games as the PC with the same quality....you are stuck with your crappy console hardware until they make the next generation of your console.
On a PC at least you have the ability to upgrade and keep your system up to date.

I just don't buy that PC upgrades, when done right, are any more costly than buying a console every few years. In fact I would say buying consoles like the PS3 every few years is more costly than upgrading a PC every 4 or 5 years.

No games require you to upgrade your video card to some 400 or 500 dollar card or top of the line card. You can get a card that is a few years old and still play most, if not all, of your games just fine. The only issue really is shader versioning and it is devs fault that they did not provide shader fallbacks for your card....not the fault of your PC.

And companies that only release on the console are just plain stupid and shortsighted. PC dev is cheaper and when you already have the game on the XBox 360 porting it shouldn't be a major issue.
Plus why would you turn down another source of revenue? It can't be piracy b/c the company already made all their money on the game in the console market. The PC market should be funny money or just extra cashflow - why would a company ever turn that down is beyond me. Really shortsighted and it angers the PC market which may be the only market in the future that will support your games after the console craze and fanboyism is over.

PC specific releases don't really bother me b/c there are also console-specific releases so buying this console or that won't fix the issue unless you buy every console. That is the only way you can be sure you won't ever be left out in the cold.

I did not intend to turn this into a PC vs console debate. My point is I just don't understand all the craze over inferior games and inferior hardware. Step backwards in time if you like but as for me I would at least like to play on modern hardware. Consoles always have a been there done that 4 years ago feel for me.
03-25-2010
Cheeze-It

OnLive is going to save PC Gaming
03-25-2010
Elysia

I agree with you on a lot of points. But the crux of the problem is that currently, the console side has less problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubba

Not exactly true. Many console games have fixes to make them run better. Bioshock required that XBox users clear their texture cache...and most didn't even know they had one. Their are games on the consoles that have technical problems just as much or more as the PC since the hardware isn't the most modern in the world.

Yes, this has started to become more of a problem in later consoles. Remember the old days when you just had to pop in a game and play? Unfortunately, these "new" generations of consoles are moving away from this trend. Which is a real shame. I want a console because they're just that--a console. That means the price is cheap, too. I don't need all that media crap. It just eats money. Hey, I have my PC!

Quote:

This has more to do with the developers than the platform and is a generalized sweeping statement that is not accurate at all. The PC in general should not crash, should be reliable and should be less buggy. However companies adopted the ship now, patch later attitude which killed the quality of games. It will happen on the console as well and is already starting since you can patch console games. Listen the problem isn't the platform...it's the mindset of those raking in the cash for these games and eventually their attitude will destroy the console market as well. Why...b/c their attitude towards games and gaming is utterly flawed.

While I agree with you 100%, the fact is that currently PC games really are buggy. And less console games are. Though you're probably right that this will change in the future.

Quote:

I'll give you about 50% of this statement. Some technical prowess is needed to say hook the Wii up to a LAN or use XBox Live. As well when other games require you clear the cache or do this or that to your platform to run better it requires technical prowess. It also doesn't hook itself up to your TV or your stereo system so some bit of technical knowledge is needed to even get the thing up and running. It will only get worse when other consoles release their motion sensing technology.

Part of the growing technical stuff of the "media" consoles. Yeah, we were better off in the old days.

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This is the same as your first statement so does not qualify as a separate statement.

Oops. Did I repeat? Terrible sorry.

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This is completely false. There are more troubles with framerate on consoles than there are on PCs - far more. Just go look at the forums. Some forums for the console look more like PC troubleshooting forums than console game forums. There are a lot of framerate issues with games on consoles. And guess what....you are stuck with that framerate since you can't go out and buy your fav video card for about 100 to 150 bucks which would improve your gaming experience. So not being able to upgrade the console is a huge minus in my book.

It is no different on a console except since you know you have inferior hardware yet are trying to run the same games as the PC with the same quality....you are stuck with your crappy console hardware until they make the next generation of your console.
On a PC at least you have the ability to upgrade and keep your system up to date.

All my consoles games have played smoothly. And yet, some PC games, such as NWN2 just won't keep a smooth framerate everywhere.
Honestly, I would say that because of the fixed hardware of consoles, the developers know exactly how much they cram out of it and keep a steady framerate. I mean, I can easily get 60 FPS on a console, but on a PC? Forget it.

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I just don't buy that PC upgrades, when done right, are any more costly than buying a console every few years. In fact I would say buying consoles like the PS3 every few years is more costly than upgrading a PC every 4 or 5 years.

No games require you to upgrade your video card to some 400 or 500 dollar card or top of the line card. You can get a card that is a few years old and still play most, if not all, of your games just fine.

You're probably right in this. But it's the techie thing and the need to buy that kind of rears its ugly head in this.

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The only issue really is shader versioning and it is devs fault that they did not provide shader fallbacks for your card....not the fault of your PC.

True, but then again, it would have been easier if there was a fixed hardware for 5 years. Now they have to do extra coding and extra testing...
03-25-2010
VirtualAce

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...was a fixed hardware for 5 years.

Shame. Shame. You know better than this. If this was true and hardware did not change on the PC as fast as it does...technology would be at a stand still and our jobs would also prob be in jeopardy and not nearly as challenging.
03-25-2010
Elysia

What did I imply this time? That fast moving technology is bad?
No. I am implying that it is easier to work with a fixed hardware for 5 years, ensuring that it will all run fine until the next generation that will last for 5 years.
03-25-2010
VirtualAce

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No. I am implying that it is easier to work with a fixed hardware for 5 years, ensuring that it will all run fine until the next generation that will last for 5 years.

Yes, but all platforms can't stay static for 5 years so expecting the PC to do this would kill the hardware market in a flash. Again the changes in hardware is not the fault of the PC.
03-25-2010
Elysia

Hence the need for consoles, so they can stay fixed for 5 years ;)
03-25-2010
VirtualAce

Hehe. Nice. :D Didn't see that one coming.

Well we could go on and on about this and I would love to but again I don't want to turn the debate into console vs. PC b/c at the end of that day you pick your poison and drink it.
03-26-2010
Cheeze-It

is it just me or is this the most beautifulest girl ever

YouTube - 3DS - NINTENDO'S NEW HANDHELD
03-27-2010
VirtualAce

Nope. Just you.
03-27-2010
Elysia

It's just you.
That is one weird girl, I say.