[Litrick]

Originally Posted by Deano

PCs, for the past 10 years.


In terms of storage you don't actually gain anything. Yes the new mediums hold far more data, but that's swallowed up by the fact that you need far more detailed and hence large textures to make the game look decent in hi-def. There's no direct correlation between gameworld size and amount of storage - it's the high res textures that take up the majority of the disc.


How exactly? You've stated that without giving anything to back it up whatsover. More CPU power means you can make things prettier and throw more polygons around. But there's pretty much nothing you can do on the 360 or PS3 that you couldn't do on the PS1 if you were happy to put up with really low res and ugly graphics.


If you consider games on a purely abstract level, every console game is simply a matter of pressing certain buttons in a certain order with certain timing. The interface, in many ways, is the game.


No but a lot of them benefitted from a point and click interface: the jump in quality and playability of adventure games was massive when we went from text parsers to point and click.
Other examples: Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, Donkey Konga. They're defined by the control method. It is important. It's not the only thing that counts, but it counts.
Back in the day consoles used to have joysticks with one fire button. Someone invented the joypad with 2 buttons, then 6 buttons. Then someone came up with the concept of an analogue stick mounted on a joypad, then someone came up with two analogue sticks, and a rumber feature. Would any of these console games you love so much be half the game it is if it were limited to a one button joystick? Control matters.


This is true. Innovative games it was counts. And a new control method doesn't provide innovative games. But nor does extra CPU power. Innovative games are created by the developers, not the hardware manufacturers. The Wii launch line-up is pretty bland, yes. Zelda is ace but it's still just Zelda. But the potential exists for new modes of play and new gaming experiences. We just need to hope the game developers created them. Additional CPU power and storage really does't open up any brand new avenues for developers to explore. They can continue making games bigger and prettier, but it's a simple evolution, it's not a revolution like the leap from 2D to 3D was. The Wii provides potential for a revolution in control. It's not there yet, it needs that killer app to clearly show what it can do. But there is potential.
And yes Sony or Microsoft could release a motion sensitive controller if it were to take off, but the problem is it's an add-on. Console add-ons never work. Reason is developers don't want to develop exclusively for the add-on as it limits thier potential market. Meanwhile consumers don't want to buy the add-on as there's no exclusive software support. Catch 22.



And they'd be good games regardless of if they were running in hi-def with multiple CPUs or in 16 colours on a 286.

But at the end of the day, why do you care? It's not like all the console manufacturers are deciding to focus on new controllers instead of prettier graphics. If you want prettier pictures and high def and multiple CPUs, you have two (count 'em!) console manufacturers trying to out-do each other. There would be absolutely no point to Nintendo throwing thier oar in and doing the same thing the 360 and PS3 are already doing quite well. So they're doing something different. If you prefer the different thing, buy a Wii. If you want hi-def so much, buy one of the above.

Me? I'm buying a Wii as I want to play Zelda. If a game I really want to play appears on one of the other systems, I'll buy that then. But so far there's nothing on the 360 or PS3 that does.

im sorry but you clearly dont understand games programming if you think that more power doesnt allow you to do more with a game. You should read an interview with the developers of MGS4 or assassins creed. Have you heard of the Ageia physics card? this is a peice of hardware specifically designed to add power for generating physics in games, things like this can be avoided by having your core CPUs powerful enough to handle to physics to a very high standard. Another huge factor is artifical intelligence, mutli threading allows this to be handled in much more eiffiencet ways, allowing for games like asassins creed to be created. look at the videos of warhawk for ps3, the system is able to handle having hudreds of enemy ships on screen at once, greatly adding to the overall experience, this type of thing is not possible on slow hardware. A lot of games will not be made on the wii simply because the hardware cant handle it. Could you run gears of war on a original gameboy that came out all those years ago? no.. same goes with the different hardware today, each have different capabiltes, and unfortunatly for the wii, it is incredibly slow compared to its competitors.

What you are going to get with wii is gamecube games, with a different control method. will be fun, but in a couple of years there will be quite a big gap between the depth of the games on the platform and its competitors.
Also, what is to stop MS or Sony from bringing out another controller?