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Denver, 5:38 AM
Fri Nov 27
29 posts in the last 24 hours
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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/25/09
11/25/09
While my primary console was PS2 in college, I never owned one...but there was always one around me through friends and roommates. Now that I'm on my own and I have more of a disposable income I bought myself a PS3 and retroly a PS2 and I'm having a blast playing through all the games I missed out during my computer gaming era.
I still play games online though. I love Steam!
I haven't bought any of the modern handhelds though.
So the question is...am I a casual gamer or hardcore?
My range of tastes goes from Bioshock/Halo to Zoo Tycoon/facebook games and a myriad in between.
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
I should play more video games while wearing a flannel jacket.
11/25/09
We got all yo chicks! Whatchoo gonna do, playa?!
11/25/09
Enjoy our video games?
11/25/09
11/25/09
But are you really allowed to source yourself? Isn't that kinda like saying... "I've done some research on the subject, and I've discovered that I'm 80% awesome and 20% super cool."
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
10/06/09
10/06/09
10/06/09
I never was a big fan of Metroid series. Maramasa? Brawl? Super Smash bros brawl? Contra games last 2hrs. Virtual console? That's what the Homebrew channel is for.
10/06/09
That list reads like games Nintendo would have released 7 years ago. They're lagging behind the other two consoles. Not only with the simplistic games, but In online, HD and HDD.
10/07/09
10/06/09
Dead Space: Extraction
New Super Mario Bros.
Wii Fit+
Wii Sports Resort
Punch Out!
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles
Tatsunoko VS Capcom
10/06/09
But does it have Modern Warfare 2?
10/06/09
10/07/09
10/06/09
10/06/09
I was thinking the exact same thing while reading the post. It's been months since I've seen a store that didn't have Wii's. I can only hope the Wii numbers drop so fast that Nintendo has to make a serious effort to compete with Sony and Microsoft. I don''t really have anything against the Wiimote/Nunchuk, but the system is seriously weak. My biggest problem of all though is the amount of time between major software releases or simply the quantity. It's a bad combination.
10/06/09
I worked at a gamestop over the last holidays through most of this year. By the end of January we went from non for chirstmas, to about twenty five, and they kept sending them. We sold like 2 in the first quarter. My locl target has a ton, and the walmart as well.
10/06/09
10/06/09
I;d say mostly due to limiting options from developers. With more powerful hardware, developers can really bring out a lot in a game world, or its atmosphere. That, coupled with good gameplay, is amazing.
10/06/09
10/06/09
Back when the NES had to compete with the master system and itself?
That is hardly comparable to this.
The difference is this.
Dead Rising.
Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop.
One of those is an amazing atmosphere, experience, and game, with hundreds of zombies.
The other is a limited, sub par pile of trash, with a few zombies.
The difference, hardware.
You can't do Dead Rising on the Wii.
You can't do Dead Space on the wii. You have to change them dramatically to do so.
10/06/09
Good developers can work within the confines of the system. Powerful hardware isn't a big a factor in deciding what games get made.
10/06/09
It can be when the developer goes
"Okay, I envision a game where it is you, versus hundreds if not thousands of zombies."
And He can't pull that off on one of the systems due to hardware constraints. Developing games isn't just sprinkling fairy dust on a disk and chanting mantras, you have limitations based on your hardware, and some visions can't be done on low end hardware.
10/06/09
The PS2 game Ikusagami had a battle with 65,000 enemies. The entire screen is filled and there are more in the distance.
10/06/09
They clearly felt and stated the wii couldn't do it like the 360 for dead rising.
10/06/09
10/06/09
Had they taken the time to recode the game entirely, they would have done just fine.
10/06/09
Not ocne have I gone off on specs here.
I don't have to. Thinking the wii is as hardware intense as the 360 or ps3 is crazy.
Here is another example not about enemies. Dead Space.
You have to sacrifice something to get stuff like this to work on the wii.
If you didn't, you would see 360 and ps3 ports on the wii.
10/06/09
10/06/09
The Wii only "limits options" if developers aren't willing to try and take advantage of what the Wii can do, instead of trying to force it to run watered-down ports of games that were designed for the other, more powerful consoles.
10/07/09
Seriously, a little tired of drawing comparisons from a smaller, gamecentric system to larger systems which leapt the gap to "home entertainment consoles". We get that your 360 or your PS3 does shiney things, I have all three consoles, I really don't care which is better, I'm there to play the games, I got a Wii for Nintendo titles and the Virtual Console, not because it was shinier or better then everything else. That was never a concern, it's clearly not a concern for a huge portion of the market either, since they bought the Wii over the other two combined.
10/06/09
I basically think people who wanted one already have one, now Nintendo(in all their wisdom) are trying to get people who dont KNOW they want one to take a chance and pick one up. i think its smart. Its a small investment(compared to the other systems) to take a chance on. I bet theres alot of people who dont play games and want to try it out on the Wii specifically.
If my grandma loved me i'd probably be getting a second Wii this christmas. Then id sell it.. cus i already have one.. right?
10/06/09
I suspect you're right that the pricepoint will be good for gift-buying.
But you may have underestimated the desire a bit. There's something like 20m extra Wiis out there since this time last year - and most of them will have been played by other people as well, and those other people might well be thinking "I'd like one of those".
It's really hard to tell - since we haven't yet seen a holiday season where it wasn't sold out - what the impact will be, but I'm sure it is there.
10/06/09
10/06/09
What I am saying that it's best to appeal to one market, and so no shortages will exist, but then that market would support you more and force you to make good games.
I know I am rambling on, but I dream of a console which has NO casuals and NO shovelware. Which is why I want Sega to go BACK into the console business.
10/06/09
10/06/09
Look, as much as we hate "casual gamers". They will always be around.
Little Jimmy will be playing Sonic the Hedgehog and enjoy it.
Big Dawg G will be playing some shooter and enjoy it.
Mrs. MiniVan will always try out that new puzzle/pilates game.
They will always be around, and there will always be a market to cater for them.
This also applies to us "hardcore" gamers.
So as long as we maintain a level head and support the devs/pubs that cater to our tastes, we will never see a "casual" takeover of the video game industry.
The big console makers? Their concern is collecting some money on every game sold. The more games that they can collect on, the better.
No one likes a "bad" game, but what may seem hipster garbage to you may end up being the ambrosia and nectar of the other.
Right now, everything is just business as usual.
10/06/09
10/06/09
What I don't want is gaming's future only to appeal to grandma. I just want good games back. I want Nintendo's Seal of Approval to actually mean something again.
10/06/09
10/06/09
I don't agree about the lack of quality games though. The wii has some great title and some really good titles to come. Just because gold is covered in shit doesn't make it any less valuable.
10/06/09
Good casual games should be Easy to Learn to Hard to Master.
Bad casual games are Easy to Learn Easy to Master as it represents that the players are morons who can't handle a challenge.
10/06/09
I was not saying that the Wii had no good games, but I was saying that there was an overabundance of shovelware and crappy knock offs all due to the casuals who gobbled it up for Wii Fit who may not know anything about gaming.
10/06/09
Nintendo took 'next-gen' in a different direction, that of the controls. If they continued trying to compete with Sony and Microsoft purely on the graphical and computational hardware side, they probably would be losing money (just like Sony still does and Microsoft did to start). They had already lost in 2 generations on that battle. Why would they do it again? They really needed to go in a different direction. Nintendo also realized that there was a huge potential market that Sony and Microsoft weren't tapping into, and they did an excellent job marketing to them.
There are tons of good games on the Wii. Don't ignore the good games become of the existence of bad games on the system. Otherwise, no one would be buying the DS. And no one would have bought the PS2.
Honestly, I worry about the future of gaming because there's not nearly as much diversity in terms of gaming, and a lot of that has to do with the 360 and PS3 and the cost of developing for the system. Few developers are taking risks with games on those systems because it costs so much to develop for them. There's some diversity in XBLA or PSN games, but most aren't as complex or in-depth as retail games. You would hardly see anything like Rune Factory, or Zack and Wiki, or de Blob on the HD systems right now because it wouldn't be profitable, and that's depressing to me.
10/06/09
That is depressing to me because those are casual games done right. But take "Clive Tucker's Redneck Jamboree" or "Babiez: Party", then that's the lowest common denominator made for suckers who don't know anything about gaming.
Sometimes I ask for something like an all quality system with mostly hardcore full retail games and quality downloadable "casual" games, but no. Not going to happen unfortunately. :(
10/06/09
Financial foresight should not ever be taken as a negative.
10/06/09
10/06/09
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10/06/09
And here's a news flash. Save for a few chips, every single one of Nintendo's systems have used 'off the shelf' tech to save costs. Even the Nintendo Beam Gun systems released in the early 1970's.
10/06/09
1) making the Wii bleeding edge like the PS3 would have hurt sales (like the PS3).
2)The most popular consoles always have a ton of shovelware. Do you have any idea how many crap games where on the always praised PS2?
3) If you think it is best only to appeal to one market, I hope you never try to run a business.
10/06/09
I know I have no good business sense, but there has been fewer games of quality this generation than there was in this last generation.
10/06/09
Please, define casual for me. I'd love to hear it. I'm sure others want to hear it too.
10/06/09
10/06/09
- Nintendo redefined what "next-gen" means by choosing to focus on controller innovation instead of a home console's improved graphical and horsepower.
The Wii is still a next-gen system (well right now its a current-gen). Anyway, the point is the Wii is a different kind of "next-gen" system because it defied the traditional definition of what the video game industry has perceived and focused on since the industry's birth.
- A big part of the reason why the Wii was not created to be like the other HD systems is because a regular video game controller has become quite complex in the amount of buttons on it. In addition, graphics can only push technology so far in a generation so it eventually hits a brick wall. Plus, improved graphics and other enhancements only helps contribute to rising development costs (which also makes it that much harder to make a profit).... that's why the general price point of Sony and Microsoft's platform software is $59.
Nintendo's decision has helped keep the development and price costs of Wii software low even when it comes to AAA titles when compared to HD systems.
Nintendo decided that part of its plan to get the Wii to appeal to a wider range of gamers and new consumers of different ages is to not make the controller intimidating and as is always the case, better graphics is great and all but there's never been a home console that won a generation's market share due to vastly improved graphics.
Example: Snes beat out Genesis but their graphical capabilities were practically on the same level, PS1 beat out N64, PS2 beat out the graphically superior GameCube and Xbox and now the Wii is currently beating the PS3 and 360.
Will there ever be a change in pattern? It's possible but right now Ps3 and 360 are busy playing catch up to the Wii.
Another important thing to look at is how Nintendo focused its marketing strategy on a combition of low price point and focusing on how gamers play the Wii by focusing on the controller and gameplay rather than just advertising how good the game looks.
Also, Nintendo chose not to support HD because it felt that HDtv adaption rate was still in its infancy and won't play a significant enough role in this generation. There's even a pretty good example of this with Epic Games stating that an estimated 50% of Gears of War2 gamers play the game on a non-HD tv set.
As far as shovelware goes, it will always exist so long as console manufacturers and digital distrubition platforms don't enforce a very strict quality control policy. Besides, all of the winning home consoles of each generation have been played with shovelware so Wii is no exception. It is unfortunate that many developers have chosen to focus on taking advantage of the Wii's expanded audience appeal and low development costs to pump out crappy titles in order to make a quick buck.
10/06/09
Without casuals you aren't going to get the huge budgets needed to make all those "hardcore" games. Does anyone think a movie gets a 200 million dollar budget to appeal to the indie arthouse crowd that are the only ones that deserve to appreciate it?
10/06/09
It was important back in the NES days, but now Nintendo apparently forgot it existed.
10/06/09
The Nintendo Seal of Quality was a marking ploy from day one. Peter Main, Howard Phillips, Howard Lincoln and Ron Judy came up with it as a way to get retailers who had lost multi-millions of dollars in the 83 crash and some of who STILL had 5200 and 7800 games clogging the back rooms of stores to take a chance with their product. They did set up a 'board' who was going to at one time review the games (Which we now know as NCL's Super Mario Club) but before the NES's first showing at CES, they knew that if the system took off at all, it would become impossible.
The official meaning behind the seal is that the game will play on your system and will not damage it or have sexual content. That's it.
10/06/09
The Seal of Quality was Nintendo's guarantee that any given NES game would work on any given NES console. Nothing more.
The Angry Video Game Nerd has reviewed plenty of bad NES games that had the Seal of Quality on them, and on those grounds I rest my case.
10/06/09
Chips, as a general heading, will be our console. I like Toastitos, my Mom likes SunChips. The fact that SunChips exists does not makes my toastitos less yummy.
Appealing to a wider audiance has nothing to do with quality. The fact that Wii Fit exists and is enjoyed by my mother, does not deminish my enjoyment of Zelda. If a comapny fails to make a game good on it's own merit, it is that company's fault and is not in fact a projection on the industry at large.
Are there bad games in the world? Yes, of course there are. But those bad games come as "casual" and "hardcore." It is neither right nor sensible to make a sweeping generalization of a segment of an industry as bad.
I am allowed to like my toastitos and my mom is allowed to enjoy her Sunchips and both of us co-exist happily.
10/06/09
You really should look into the video game crash of the 80s before you amke any more comments.
10/06/09
10/06/09
Well yeah the Wii it'll be in demand but the DSi will be in Huuuuuge demand.
Personally if were talking Reggie pictures I prefer this one.
Its like "hey can't help ya buddy! I'm just Reggie!"
10/06/09
Boss: "Why the hell were you not at work today?"
DukeOfPwn: *Holds up picture*
Boss: "Oh, OK, you're off the hook this time."
10/06/09
"Hey, when are you going to actually implement a seal of quality to stop all the stupid carnival games and shovelware?"
Reggie: "Hey, as long as they keep selling...*winks*"
10/06/09
Girlfriend:"I'm not having sex till I'm married!"
Excelexcel: *holds up picture*
Girlfriend: "ok come on then."
10/06/09
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10/06/09
He ended up getting a PSX as well so that saved me a great deal of headache.
10/06/09
On topic, I've seen many Wii's and numerous DSi's in stock at every store I go to now. Unlike before when we'd stock 20 DS Lite's and in two days they'd all be gone.
10/06/09
10/06/09
Honestly, if you don't have anything to play it's cause you aren't looking.
10/06/09
10/06/09
;_; That place is supposed to be for crappy games, not games of AW caliber.
I bought all three copies because I couldn't afford to keep tearing up every time I passed by the bin.
10/06/09
Chinatown Wars (day one purchase)
Phantom Hourglass
Two Phoenix Wright games
Pokemon Diamond
New Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario 64 DS
Call of Duty 4
Brain Age one and two
I have around 18 games for it. Some I still haven't beaten. Maybe it's just me, aside from Zelda and Mario I've grown out of or more accustomed to purely adult story telling related material. After Chinatown Wars was popped into my DS I played it for around 15 hours and haven't touched the system for 5 months straight. Chains of Olympus, the PSP's connectivity with the PS3 and its music functions appeal to me more. But, the DS Lite is what I have. Scribblenauts will be one to pick up though.
10/06/09
So...sell your DS and buy a PSP instead of complaining about it on Kotaku.
10/06/09
10/06/09
"Adult?"
There are a ton of quality games for the DS, but not many that are filled with blood and gratuitous violence...which is usually what "adult" is code for around here.