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CONSOLE WARS IN FULL FORCE

Yes it's that time again. The next generation of video game consoles is about to hit the market and it's never been this serious or more competitive.

Nerds are finally emerging from their parent's basements to pick up the latest games and hardware (maybe a few doughnuts), and then return back into their mini-paradise.

However, with competition comes venom, hatred and fanboy-ism. I can't go to a single website or forum related to video games without finding someone ripping the competitor's systems.

You know it's bad when the companies themselves are taking shots at each other. Microsoft has even claimed that they don't consider the Wii any competition at all, claiming that "the Xbox 360 is a multimedia power horse, allowing you to play in HD." [*] Is that all? I've heard that argument WAY TOO MANY TIMES. I've played the 360, on an HD TV mind you, and it wasn't as impressive as many people will lead you to believe. I'm not being biased here. Yes it is a very powerful system. Yes, the graphics are quite impressive and yes, it is an improvement over the original Xbox.

But, that's just it. It's not like the jump we all experienced after jumping from 2D gaming to 3D. I found it very hard to see much difference between a 360 game and an Xbox game. Not to mention that to experience the HD experience you need an HDTV and I'm pretty sure that many people in the blue collar market, (the largest market) don't have them. There has been good news coming from competitors however as a representative from Microsoft said he was a fan of the Wii and loved the innovation which is a welcome change from the regular console bashing.

Mario's jump from 2D to a 3D environment

Since the failure of the Gamecube, Nintendo has been humbled from their great accomplishments with the NES and SNES. While coming to compete with Sony's first effort, the Playstation, Nintendo had much of the attitude that the people over at Sony have now. They believed that they would crush Sony like they had in past with other competitors, and run away with the win in that generation. However things didn't turn out the way Nintendo had envisioned and the video gaming industry had a new leader. Sony comes into this war armed with HD, Blu-Ray, and a new philosophy of online gaming while laughing at the competition's HD capabilities, massive online community and Wireless Controller.

The Playstation 3 will be the most powerful video game console released to date but we can't forget that power isn't everything. Nintendo introduced the Gamecube a few years ago with more powerful hardware than the PS2. Nevertheless, it was bad marketing decisions that did Nintendo in. From the purple color, to the design, to the lack of third party support from the company, and everything in between Nintendo just couldn't connect while Sony and Microsoft were running away with the competition. So far Sony seems to be following in the GameCube's footsteps by releasing the PS3 at the outrageous prices of $500 and $600. They couldn't stop the bleeding after all the bad press they received from introducing motion sensing in the PS3 controller. Sony comes in believing that Blu-ray and powerful gamers will justify their pricing choices. They've been criticised about the price, the implementation of Blu-Ray, the same old Dual Shock controller, and the "copying" of motion sensing technology and you must admire them for taking it all in stride and not folding to the negative press.

Although Sony's decision to include Blu-ray in the PS3 may have the leading reason to its $599 price there are still a few positives to look at. Compared to DVD discs, which are used in the Xbox 360 and Wii, Blu-ray offers 5 times as much space per disc. DVDs offer 4.7GB and 8.5GB while a Blu-ray disc can hold 25GB and 50GB of data. This gives developers much more to work with and it lets them create the stunning visuals we've seen in Assassin's Creed and in the few images from Resident Evil 5. However this new media type will also be expensive for developers to work with. SCE President and CEO Kaz Hirai suggested that games may cost somewhere between $60 and $100 USD, more than the US$60 standard for higher-priced games. Future Shop, a Canadian electronics store, has priced each game at C$69.99 (US$62) while Gamestop and EBgames have listed the games as $60.00 (USD) each. So if you're willing to spend $850 (accessories & games included) to experience cutting edge graphics the PS3 is right for you.

Sony hopes Blu-ray will draw gamers to the PS3

Microsoft however has been incredibly quiet with the Xbox 360 throughout this whole thing, quietly minding it's own business while Sony and Nintendo soak up the spotlight. I don't think I've ever read an article or internet forum post trashing the Xbox to the magnitude of the PS3 and Wii. Microsoft did make the headlines early on when the 360 kept overheating and breaking but it seems like that almost completely blew over. The Sony PR people should take notes from these guys. However the best decision Microsoft could have made was releasing the 360 a year before the other guys. They grabbed a fair chunk of the market share and have been pretty quiet ever since, and seems like it's been a good thing for them. As of late the Xbox brand has been criticised for it's collection of Americanised games and First Person Shooters. In the defence of both sides, yes the 360 might need a little zip added to it's game collection but it still contains some great games like Halo and Fable and Dead Rising has proven to be a sleeper hit. It really is strange that perhaps the largest company in the world has kept so much to it self while being the only next-gen console currently out on the market.

Now, on to The Big N. While Sony was being hit left and right by gamers and the media Nintendo rolled with the punches and shocked everyone. Let me just draw up a list for you here: the wireless remote controller, motion sensing, inferior graphic capabilities and lack of HD display, Revolution name change to Wii, and being web browser ready out of the box.
Many people have laughed at the remote and nunchuk design mentioning how stupid you'd look playing it. You may look stupid playing it but I guarantee you'll have fun. The idea of motion sensing technology sent waves throughout the gaming community, and Sony and Microsoft we're quick to pounce on Nintendo's choice not to include HD display capabilities in the Wii.

"You may look stupid playing it but I guarantee you'll have fun."

However the biggest shock came just before E3 2006 when Nintendo officially announced the Revolution's name change to Wii. Bloggers, gamers and internet junkies had a field day with the name, and to this day people refuse to let it go. Nintendo has come under fire for the name change the most and it took a while for the buzz to die down. Many people say "I've gotten used to it" or "Playstation/Dreamcast/Xbox sounded dumb at first too". And maybe, like me, you have gotten used to it but you can't deny that Revolution was a much better name. The buzz over the name has slowed down to a crawl but it still dragged on too long. Just like the Gamecube's original purple color. Not even the new black or sleek platinum versions could save it. The damage had been done and many people prematurely announced they would never own a Nintendo Wii simply due to the name change.

Of the three consoles mentioned above the Wii has to be the most controversial, yet the most innovative at the same time. Who hasn't ever thought of one day being able to use a motion sensing controller like the Wii remote and Nintendo fanboys foamed at the mouth when the fake Nintendo On commercial was "leaked" onto the web. However, many people have found bugs in the system and many went on to trash some of its performances at E3, even though IGN and Gamespot may not have told you about them. Should we be pointing fingers at Nintendo? Possibly, but many of the games that were reviewed badly at E3 were third party performances where the developers just seemed to feel like they HAD to make use of the Wii remote. Which is something Nintendo is trying to avoid saying, some games will be played without the motion sensing technology. Red Steel's sword play was not all it seemed as many of the sword swinging animations were canned and did not display your exact swing. This has since been fixed, which is welcome news, and we can only hope that all the developers listened to the criticisms at E3 and improved their games. But, right now the biggest annoyance gamers may have with Nintendo is their choice to keep quiet for a very very long time. The console will launch within 2 months from now and we don't have very much info. Other than the games to be released and the console's specs. We do at least have a date of September 14 set in stone for us to receive all the Wii information that we've been dying to hear.

Nintendo was criticised for not including online capabilities with the Gamecube and it led to many people switching over to the Playstation 2 or Xbox. When Nintendo announced Wi-Fi for the Wii gamers collectively asked "What took you so long?" Well, we've all recently found out that third party games will not feature online play until 2007 which really hurts the Wii on many different levels. Red Steel and Call of Duty 3 were games that gamers were drooling over for online play against their friends and complete strangers. However now it seems that this won't happen and it looks like Nintendo is still a little hesitant when giving information out to third party developers. We were supposed to be past this after the N64 and Gamecube and 3rd parties were supposed to have more freedom and better success on the Wii. We can only imagine what could have been had Nintendo only given developers Wi-Fi access at the same time as the dev kits.

However, things definitely look of for all you gamers old enough to remember the NES and the old Donkey Kong arcade games. Nintendo has a treat for you. Although nothing has been officially confirmed yet, gamers can hope to see almost every game ever created on a Nintendo console, with a few extras from TurboGrafx-16 along with games from Sega. So, you can now play the original Super Mario Bros. or Legend of Zelda before then moving on to Super Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time. More than a few people will feel nostalgic and maybe even get a tear in their eye playing these old timeless classics. Not all news related to the Virtual Console is good though. Classic N64 games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark may not make it now that game developer Rare is a part of Microsoft. Unnamed Nintendo employees have reportedly speculated that licensing issues will be a predominant factor in determining whether a game is available for Virtual Console, making an example of GoldenEye 007 as a game that might be too expensive to license for the Virtual Console.

Relive all your favourite classic Nintendo moments on the Virtual Console

So to conclude I don't see why someone gets off on coming to a website or board just to trash another system. The systems and their companies all have some pros and cons going for them. Wouldn't it be great if we could have intelligent conversations about video games for once instead of hearing "Ps3 oWnZ00rz" every second line?

Wii

  New interactive gameplay with the remote controller

- Not as graphically stunning as 360 or PS3

  Amazing launch line up of games

- Lack of 3rd party online games at launch

Xbox 360

  Large head start over competitors.

- Library of games consist mainly of shooters

  Incredible online community and set up of Xbox Live

- Could be overshadowed by Wii and PS3 without any ground breaking news

Playstation 3

  Astounding graphics and powerful hardware

- Very expensive price tag on hardware and software

  Use of high capacity Blu-ray discs

- Blu-ray may not make it which would seriously hurt Sony, consumers, and developers.

GRAPHICS VS. GAMEPLAY

During and after E3 I checked out a lot of the Wii reviews to see what the "pros" thought of the Wii. I really felt these would make or break the console. From what I heard (on numerous occasions) players just couldn't put down games like The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy while they loved changes made to controls. Now of course the gameplay factor for the Wii has been established as rock solid but the graphics have been a bit of a let down. Now we can look at games like LOZ and Metroid Prime and those games are visually stunning but these are first party games where Nintendo has had plenty of time to perfect. But, third party developers don't have that privilege. Screenshots, although pre-mature and through reports that all developers are working on improving these issues, were a disappointment. Now I understand why people like to call the Wii the Gamecube 1.5 but I think we can still expect some great visuals from the Wii. The first generation of games may not be all that great but every console encounters this. As the years pass however, developers will be more experienced with the hardware and will be able to push it to it's limits. As developers get used to the Wii we'll see better graphics and more innovative and polished controls with the Wiimote. The <$250 price is the Wii's selling point (ironic the way that sentence works out) and the ONLY reason why it's that low is because they aren't using state of the art hardware. If Nintendo wanted to they could have easily made it as powerful as the 360 or PS3 but then they would have to jack the price up near or even above the PS3.
Nintendo is coming into this generation behind and they had two choices to make.

1. Create a powerful "revolutionary" motion sensing console that would cost gamers a fortune
2. Create an affordable less powerful machine.
   

Nintendo chose the latter because they felt that the lower price would draw more people in to purchase the Wii when compared to a $600 PlayStation 3. There are many people out there who will see the Wii's innovative new gameplay and will jump on the chance to pick one up. But, for as many people who will go for gameplay, just as many will run after graphics. You can't fault them for it. In my opinion Nintendo made the right choice because, as the last generation showed, the PlayStation nation is just too large and powerful to defeat one on one. The motion sensing technology used in the Wii, coupled with the always great Nintendo first party titles and Virtual Console is what sets the Wii apart from the competition. Only time will tell what the future holds for Nintendo.

NINTENDO'S FUTURE

About a year ago I was talking with a friend of mine about how the next Nintendo console would really need to step up to the plate, or else we could see Nintendo follow Sega down the slippery slope of becoming nothing but a has been in the console world and a third party developer. A scary thought as neither of us could possibly imagine playing a Mario, Zelda, or Metroid game on a Playstation or Xbox, and feeling comfortable with it.

My friend has an Xbox but he and many other Xbox and Playstation owners all have a certain respect for Nintendo. Believe me; the flamers who seem to have nothing better to do than circulate the internet and bring down Nintendo don't represent the majority of Xbox or Playstation fans. So, I could very easily make predictions as to what will happen to Nintendo after this generation but either way I think they'll be around during the 8th generation. With solid sales of the DS and DS lite worldwide Nintendo has been able to keep it self around and on top in at least one category. No matter what happens in North America and the UK we all know that Nintendo will always have a stake in Asia.

People have said stuff like, "Who cares what happens in Asia. We're in the states. The big market." Well first of all, all that shows is those people are very narrow minded and second Asia is just a larger technological market. Many of the PlayStation's most popular games (ie: Final Fantasy) are based on/out of Asia along with Nintendo's HQ. Only the Xbox hasn't seemed to be able to find a place in the massive continent.

Although Nintendo may be coming into this race in last place, I firmly believe the company is here to stay and it will keep away from falling into the Sega Dreamcast category. After all I don't think Nintendo would want to put gamers in the awkward position of developing for another company's consoles.

So don't let anyone tell you Nintendo's going to go belly up any time soon. Everyone's favorite video game company is here to stay, and will be for a long time.
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Sources -

1. Reporter's Original Post
2. Blu-ray Disc - Wikipedia
3. PlayStation 3 - Wikipedia
4. Wii - Wikipedia
5. Xbox 360 - Wikipedia
6. DVD - Wikipedia
7. Virtual Console (Wii) - Wikipedia
   

Editor: D4rkDrago0n

Everyone Heart at kindrik right now....

This is an amazing read

edit: *bump*

Nice bumping... Anyway great artlicle indeed!
I hate you so much, Kindrik :DDDDDDDD!

yup awesome article
I say Wii will win but my bros say different! (why?! I dunno!)

woaaaaah. I think that you should be master news reporter! Seriously! That is truely amazing! I heard that the Wii is acutally has the same graphics as the 360! But I'm not sure if thats right.

probably not true.
And I've actually had this around for a few months on another site and just decided to bring it over here after making a few changes and making it more recent.

Goo job on all the info. I read it all and enjoyed it.

thats really good stuff, keep it up

Because Nintendo has lost ALOT of its former fans, and they have to make up alot of lost ground, they won't win this gen... but they will set themselves up nicely for the next line of consoles provided that this gamble does in fact pay off.

Ah the Console Wars, they will forever rage on.

Great read, I am now going to rep you now Kindrik.

yeah...

great find/typing/reporting...

Good eats.