Radd

I'm still passing on Megs, but I dig that Prime, too. So much better than the actual movie version. If the movie designs looked more like these (though obviously more detailed and movie-ified) I'd be more interested in the movie. Then again, this Prime is the only movie toy I've seen that I thought was particularly good. It may well be the only one I pick up.

If you haven't picked one up yet, and you're not in a huge hurry, you may want to see what comes of the rumours of a less expensive version of the 360 on the way. Supposed to come with a hard drive and everything, but the hardware is more streamlined making it more cost effective. It's still at the rumour mill point as far as I know, but worth waiting for if it may save you a hundred bucks. Plus, as others have said while 360 games will look better than regular Xbox games on a regular television, the big difference is with the high definition visuals.

I haven't heard that rumour, but it makes sense. MGS4 is supposedly a very expensive game for Konami. That means it would have to sell exceptionally well just to turn a modest profit. Even if it sells as well as the previous MGS games, at $50-60 bucks a pop it probably wouldn't make nearly the profit for Konami as those previous games. Diminishing returns and all that. Given that the PS3 isn't likely to sell in the same sort of numbers as the PS2, that's less chance for the game to sell as much.

Michael Bay's next major motion picture, Bionicles the Movie!

From the article I saw, less expensive as well. If Microsoft is aiming to have a $300 360 with all the bang of the current $400 console plus a larger hard drive, the PS3's unreasonable price tag will be even more of an obstacle.

I don't believe that all of the dissent over the movie neccessarily stems from an overzealous affection for the original cartoon. I'm not all that enthusiastic about this movie, and yet I don't really have that much love for the original show, either. I loved it as a kid, but having rewatched episodes long since, I've really lost pretty much all interest. The old movie is still fun, but the tv series was pretty terrible. Much more miss than hit. I really dislike the designs they've shown. Pretty much all of them, without exception. I think they're aesthetically awful and if they were going for more alien or more realistic (from a sci-fi flick perspective, of course), I just don't see them as having succeeded in that either. They could have done some nice designs that would have both looked good next to live actors, and resonated much better with older fans, while at the same time not neccessarily being the same old thing. It's a balancing act, certainly, and you'll never please everyone. Still, it seems to me that they put a lot more people off of this movie than they otherwise could have. Not just with the designs, what's been leaked of the script so far sounds like a particularly bad episode of the original cartoon. Really, my biggest beef with this movie is that Hasbro is putting off releasing the Transformers toys I do want in favour of the rather awful looking movie toys.

I thought PS3 games were also region restricted, but shared the same regions as BluRay?

I't's not simply a matter of getting accustomed to it, you actually have less control when using a gamepad. No console FPS to date has offered the precision of playing the same game on a computer using a mouse and keyboard. That's why console FPS games have the auto-aim cranked so high.

Ishmaru, the reasoning is that Nintendo has more of a priority on selling Wii consoles, than Gamecube games. They want everyone to buy their new console so that they have a stronger chance of doing well in the new generation, and games like Zelda move consoles.

Man, I've no idea where some people are getting their opinions on FPS games using a Wii controller setup. Playing CoD3 I came away feeling it was much better than using a gamepad, but not as good as using a mouse/keyboard setup. Personally, I can't wait to see them work out the sensitivity issues. Make it easier to jump into a game without needing to go back multiple times to tweak the sensitivity. That was the biggest issue with CoD3 on the Wii. Haven't played Red Steel, but by my understanding, it was simply not a great game. It seems nonsensical to me that someone would hold a third rate FPS up as the definitive example of how the genre plays on a console. It would seem more prudent to wait until there's more examples here. As for the comment that 2D shooters would be ruined by the Wii controller, Metal Slug Anthology says otherwise.

Clever? It doesn't take much in the way of cleverness to point out that simply because there's no non-Nintendo+second party titles coming down the pipe that interest one person, doesn't mean there's not a bunch coming out that might pique the interest of many others. Most people seem to agree that Raving Rabbids is an excellent game. No More Heroes from Suda51 and Grasshopper is shaping up excellently. And while the first Crystal Chronicles games may have been lacking, it's difficult to dismiss the idea that if S-E plays their cards right they could have a much more polished title with the sequel, especially considering the multiplayer nature of the Wii, and the fact that there's a DS CC game coming down the pipe as well which all but begs for some of the first Wii-DS connectivity features. Then there's the new Resident Evil game coming to the Wii, can we really dismiss that so easily after how RE4 turned out? Look, I understand what you're trying to say. With the current batch of software, and what's coming out, it's far too early to simply hand the console crown to Nintendo. I agree. But to dismiss what's out, and talk of the Wii's upcoming future as bleak aside from Nintendo and 2nd party titles is just a tad below the level of credibility here.

Grasshopper, Ubisoft, and Square-Enix are all second party? When did this happen?

I'd say it's premature to call the Wii the winner, but not because of the games so far. By all accounts, the Wii has a fantastic library for such an early time in its life. Best launch I can recall. However, it's just simply too early to call. Give it a year, at least. I do agree with you, Duke, in that it's simply not the wisest thing to suggest that Nintendo couldn never be the console leader. The Wii is doing incredibly well. If it keeps up this steam and the PS3 doesn't catch up, and combined with the success of the DS (which shows no signs of slowing, in fact there's a lot of high profile titles coming to the wonder handheld in the coming year, including Dragon Quest IX), I'd say Nintendo has a strong chance this generation of sweeping the field as Sony did with the first Playstation.

Yes, you can say that the Dual Shock set the standard for PS controllers for almost a decade, but that's a highly misleading statement given the context of what you're replying to. The PS2's support of rumble and analog as a follow up to the original Dual Shock has no bearing on the statement that optional peripherals do not see nearly the support that included, standard controllers enjoy, and the Dual Shock, while popular, did not have nearly the support it would have had it been included with the PS1 originally. If Sony does release a controller with rumble features, no games released before this controller will support that feature, and only some games released after, will. Probably even most, after the controller has been out a year. The sooner Sony released such a controller, the better the support would be of course. However, it seems unlikely that we'll see such a controller in the near future. If they release one two or three years down the line, it will be nice, but a very significant portion of the console's library will not support it. And, of course, the fact that controllers no longer cost merely 20-30 bucks doesn't help.

Additionally, a rumble featured controller released after the fact probably would not get widespread support. It would be an optional peripheral, and therefore go widely unsupported.

Whenever I start to feel old, I like to sit back, relax, and check out what people here are saying about new anime. Seriously, though. The fighter looks great...what we see of it. I'd like to see some clearer shots of that machine before heaping praise on it. I like the main picture posted at the beginning of the thread, quite a bit. The character designs have that Eureaka 7/FLCL vibe, but I do feel they look more toned down, less imaginative. I'm fine with them, but they could be better. I especially like the masked character who reminds me very much of older anime style, less Char, more villains from, say, Gatchaman or Mazinger Z. I must be out of the loop, what was this? I must have missed it, where was the animation?

From what I've heard, the only graphical difference is that the world is mirrored for the Wii version (right is left), and the Wii version supports widescreen and the gamecube version doesn't. It seemed to me that the Wii version had some graphical effects that I hadn't seen in Gamecube games before, such as the liberal use of light bloom and video filters, but I dunno if that's really a Wii-specific thing, or just that they'd only just gotten around to coaxing such effects out of the Gamecube.

I doubt you'll find anyone disagreeing with you on that.

Ouch, yeah, that will certainly do it. I nabbed an extra nunchuck and remote day one, as did each of my friends who managed to get a system. Between the group of us it hasn't been hard to get 4 controllers together. On the other hand, turn based games let you use a single controller, passing it between the different players. That's pretty much all of Rayman, aside from hitting the shooter levels with co-op. Boxing, though, that's actually the worst of the Wii Sports games. It really seems like it was tacked on. The control just isn't there and it can get frustrating. Getting four people for tennis, bowling, or golf, is much more fun. Tennis is my favourite.

I'm fairly certain it wasn't the lava, nor the being tossed, what drove him insane.

Yeah, I gotta agree with the others. Zelda is actually the least played Wii game I have so far. Every weekend, I've got my apartment full of people and we're playing Excite Truck, Rayman, and Wii Sports. All three of which are exceptional group games. Excite Truck primarily because it's not like other launch racing titles. I can't think of many racing games were actually winning the race is one of the lowest priorities. Of course, I can see all of these games losing much of their appeal if you can't get other people over to play in the first place.

Er....how so? I mean, seriously, the straps are not the problem. Have you seen any of the videos of the people who have tossed their remotes through their televisions? It's all carelessness and people whipping the remote as hard as they possibly can. The only reasons to wait a year on a new console is when the console does not have any worthwhile games at launch, or when it comes from a company known for hardware issues for the first year or two of a new console. Neither of which applies to the Wii.

Of course, it makes perfect business sense. They want people to buy the Wii, not settle for the Gamecube. They also want people to try a game like Zelda on the Wii, hoping to dissuade any remaining fears that Nintendo's new console won't cater to this sort of game. "Want" really isn't the right word, either. Rather, they need this to happen if they want to open up the market and have a chance at spreading their hold on the traditional gaming market as well as the causal market they're trying to lure in to gaming. I feel for people who can't afford a new console, but want to play the new Zelda, but I can also see why it needs to be done that way from Nintendo's perspective.

The PS2 also has such market presence that it only makes sense to keep throwing games at it for a while. It will be a long time before there are as many PS3's in as many homes as the PS2 currently enjoys. To a lesser extent the same is true of the Xbox and Gamecube, but Nintendo and Microsoft need to gain ground this generation. They want people buying their new consoles. Developers are well aware of the situation, too. They realize PS2 games will be profitable for a while yet, if not as profitable as they were before. The NES and SNES both lasted a respectable amount of time past their generation for much the same reasons.

I gotta disagree in a big way. I've had more fun with the Wii than I have with any console in a long time. My interest in home consoles had faded a lot over the PS2/GC/Xbox generation, but now I'm playing more than I have since FF9's ending credits rolled on the PS1. Entirely related, I'm also having lots of guests over far more often. Raving Rabids and Wii Sports are the most played games so far, but once I kick everyone out it's Zelda all the way. The big title I'm looking forward to is No More Heroes, if the gameplay is looking good as more information comes out. We'll probably also grab Wario Ware and Wii Play when they come out.