My rant on next-gen gaming

[freaktron]

I've seen people say shit about the console wars, but I think, why? Why do these console wars even exist? Is there a point to them? No. I've seen plenty of rants on YouTube about console wars and fanboys, so I had to make one myself.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7s6-uF1T51s

Addresses stuff like the console wars and console fanboys, saying that they are why games are not as special anymore.

You WILL watch it, freak demands it :p

Or, in short, if you don't want to bother:

I hate the console wars with a passion. Why? Because when you say "my system is way better than yours", it's just fucking stupid. These fanboys are what I see as the reason gaming has gone so downhill. Games are not as special nowadays, unlike Nintendo and Mario games.

And professional reviewing sites usually give scores that differ much from what we give some games, or what we see them as. Back in the days of the NES, there was no strife, and the only way of telling if a game was good or not was Nintendo Power, since there was no internet.

Now, some people think 3D games are better than the old ones solely because they were 2D. Most tend to enjoy the old 2D games more. Whatever system you have, just stick with it and like it. I seriously can't stand when the 360 or PS3 is bashed, and it pisses me off. I just hate it so fucking much.

Some people try to say that the system sucks because of its flaws, and I can see that, but you have to respect others' opinions. If you post a 360 sucks or PS3 sucks video, that's bullshit.

 

[xc_hawk]

I'll watch the video tommorrow when i have time, but I'll give my two cents on the "console war" anyway. Fanboys only exist because they can't buy every system. They're simply trying to justify their own purchase, it all really boils down to money. If nintendofan246436 had the expendable money to go out and buy all 3 consoles with all the necessary trinkets, you think he wouldn't? (barring those really obnoxious ones, ya know the kind that preordered a PS3 months in advance so they could smash it to pieces) I've spent a fare share of time on the gamespot/gamefaqs system wars forums, enough to know that fanboys are probably the least intelligent people on this earth.

Am I much better? probably not, I have a random dislike for the PS3 for costing so goddamn much and not doing anything "new" this gen (up for debate). But at least I've recognized my problem, and admitting you have a problem is the first step to the cure.

 

[Firestorm]

Ok, so how about putting your text into a post so we can read it? I don't want to have to sit through a YouTube video to read slowly changing text. I just scrolled through a bit at the beginning, and let me say, the fanboys during the 16-bit war were just as crazy as they are now. They just didn't have widespread use of internet to make it seem as... well, widespread.

Now seriously, post the contents of that video as text. You must have it saved somewhere.

 

[NESgamer]

The 16-bit console war though was a bit fueled by Nintendo and Sega themselves, trying to beat the competence even in their adds.

Who doesn't remember the "glass processor" bullshit?.
genesis does what nintendon't!

Not on Sega

 

[Thunderpup]

I think in some ways, it comes to the same principle that people support politicians.

Basically, people look for the advantages in their candidate, but ignore their flaws. At the same time, they look for the flaws in the opponent, and ignore their advantages. With systems, it's the same.

Competition is natural. It would be better to accept it and not let it get to you.

 

[freaktron]

Okay, I put a quick description in the first post for people too lazy to watch the video

 

[Vampy34]

(barring those really obnoxious ones, ya know the kind that preordered a PS3 months in advance so they could smash it to pieces)

bahahaha my store manager did that. Good times.

On Topic: Fanboys seriously need to die. Especially Final Fantasy ones >:(

 

[CaptKirby]

I think that the console war of PS2 versus GCN versus X-Box was pretty interesting for several reasons. The foremost is the fact that the X-Box was basically Halo + Dreamcast games + a more powerful but uglier system, and it worked pretty well, but actually did not make Microsoft much money (although the last time that I heard about that was like 2004, so maybe they finally did..sorry if that is no longer true!) The reason that that is interesting to me is that Dreamcast > PS2 > GCN > XBox is pretty much how it seems to me in terms of actual games. PS2 versus GCN was interesting because PS2 destroyed GCN in terms of games, yet the GCN still held up perfectly well thanks to Nintendo's reputation and fanbase. It is also interesting that Halo grew to almost solely represent the XBox by now, and Melee for the GCN (lol Super Mario Sunshine is #2 hahaha), but, at least to me, there is no ONE game that is "the" best title for the PS2. Is it Grand Theft Auto, with by FAR the most sales? Is it Kingdom Hearts? Is it Gran Turismo 3 and 4? Grand Theft Auto probably takes the lead, but that is not what I personally think of first when I think of PS2.

 

[Phizzlax]

Threat title is misleading. You're talking about this gen, not next gen =(

 

[Rock]

The problem I got with Next Gen gaming is that the difficultly just took a walk. Games these days have no difficulty.

Think of the hardest game ever. Ok, now compare that to beating Tyson in Punch Out.

 

[Firestorm]

I think that the console war of PS2 versus GCN versus X-Box was pretty interesting for several reasons. The foremost is the fact that the X-Box was basically Halo + Dreamcast games + a more powerful but uglier system, and it worked pretty well, but actually did not make Microsoft much money (although the last time that I heard about that was like 2004, so maybe they finally did..sorry if that is no longer true!) The reason that that is interesting to me is that Dreamcast > PS2 > GCN > XBox is pretty much how it seems to me in terms of actual games. PS2 versus GCN was interesting because PS2 destroyed GCN in terms of games, yet the GCN still held up perfectly well thanks to Nintendo's reputation and fanbase. It is also interesting that Halo grew to almost solely represent the XBox by now, and Melee for the GCN (lol Super Mario Sunshine is #2 hahaha), but, at least to me, there is no ONE game that is "the" best title for the PS2. Is it Grand Theft Auto, with by FAR the most sales? Is it Kingdom Hearts? Is it Gran Turismo 3 and 4? Grand Theft Auto probably takes the lead, but that is not what I personally think of first when I think of PS2.

Microsoft lost about 4 billion dollars on the original Xbox. Their Xbox division is now making a profit with the success of the Xbox 360.

The PS2 was by far the system with the widest range of games and the winner in terms of sales. Sony did a lot of things right last gen (which they decided wasn't important and screwed up with this gen).

The GCN held up due to Nintendo's philosophy of always making a profit on hardware and the strength of their first party titles.

PS2's best selling game was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or maybe Gran Turismo 3. One of the two. The PS2's strength was its variety. Remember, only about 13 million of the 90 million - 100 million PS2 owners had GTA and/or GT. That's 10 - 13%. On the other hand, about 8 million of the 23 or 24 million Xbox owners had Halo 2 and 7 million of the 22 or 23 million GCN owners had SSBM. Yeah. Around 33%.

After Sega went down under all their games found places on the other systems (GCN and XBX mostly).

Personally, the console wars last gen and the gen before were not interesting at all. Sony dominated. GCN and Xbox were just disasters. Nintendo wants to forget the GCN existed. Microsoft used the Xbox to get its foot in the door and moved on ASAP to the 360. The only thing of interest was Sega bowing out after years of screwing up.

The gen before that? Sony dominated yet again. Sega was screwing up by putting out hardware after hardware revision (32x, CD, Saturn). The only interesting thing is Nintendo for the first time ever being destroyed and the third parties leaving in flocks. That got old about a year in.

This gen? Very interesting. Nintendo doing their own thing with the Wii and proving to be massively popular all around the world. It's the leader in sales in every region. However, it doesn't have the power to realize the vision of a lot of big time developers. This means the big games are still mostly on the two HD systems, the 360 and PS3. Not that big an issue for western developers whose games never sell in Japan anyway, but Japanese developers are very confused. Both the 360 and PS3 are bombing in Japan so they have to release their games on a global scale. They're not developing for us, as well as Japan. 360 dominates the PS3 in North America. PS3 beats the 360 in Europe.

Basically, this is the closest we've got to real competition on the home console front since SNES vs Genesis. On the handheld front, DS vs PSP was tearing it up until Nintendo did the whole DS Lite + Nintendogs thing, won, and made everything boring again.

 

[Big Bayou]

The problem I got with Next Gen gaming is that the difficultly just took a walk. Games these days have no difficulty.

Think of the hardest game ever. Ok, now compare that to beating Tyson in Punch Out.

Games today just don't have the same soul. Whether that's nostalgia speaking or what I don't know, but I definitely find myself consistently passing up "amazing games" like Assassin's Creed or Halo 3 for playing Kirby's Adventure or Earthbound.

Mike Tyson is built like a war android in that game btw.

 

[Firestorm]

Yes. That is nostalgia.

I'm glad we've moved on from dumb difficulty used because otherwise the game would be over too fast to what we have today. Want difficult games? Either turn up the difficulty level or play games meant to be hard like Devil May Cry 3 and Ninja Gaiden Black.

Games on the NES were only hard because otherwise you'd beat them in about 5 minutes.

 

[freaktron]

Threat title is misleading. You're talking about this gen, not next gen =(

Um, that's what I mean by this generation. Some people call these games "next-gen games", so I did the same here.

Games on the NES were only hard because otherwise you'd beat them in about 5 minutes.

Not all NES games were hard, it was 8-bit and most of them you could beat in around an hour.

Microsoft lost about 4 billion dollars on the original Xbox. Their Xbox division is now making a profit with the success of the Xbox 360.

The PS2 was by far the system with the widest range of games and the winner in terms of sales. Sony did a lot of things right last gen (which they decided wasn't important and screwed up with this gen).
Perhaps they wanted the PS3 to mainly focus on Blu-Ray more than on games.

PS2's best selling game was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or maybe Gran Turismo 3. One of the two. The PS2's strength was its variety. Remember, only about 13 million of the 90 million - 100 million PS2 owners had GTA and/or GT. That's 10 - 13%. On the other hand, about 8 million of the 23 or 24 million Xbox owners had Halo 2 and 7 million of the 22 or 23 million GCN owners had SSBM. Yeah. Around 33%.
It was GT 3.

Personally, the console wars last gen and the gen before were not interesting at all. Sony dominated. GCN and Xbox were just disasters. Nintendo wants to forget the GCN existed. Microsoft used the Xbox to get its foot in the door and moved on ASAP to the 360. The only thing of interest was Sega bowing out after years of screwing up.
The Nintendo 64 wasn't a flop, although how the Playstation sold over 100 million units is way beyond me. And the PS2 sold 120 million, while the PS3 has only sold around 11 million. And poor Dreamcast as well.

The gen before that? Sony dominated yet again. Sega was screwing up by putting out hardware after hardware revision (32x, CD, Saturn). The only interesting thing is Nintendo for the first time ever being destroyed and the third parties leaving in flocks. That got old about a year in.

This gen? Very interesting. Nintendo doing their own thing with the Wii and proving to be massively popular all around the world. It's the leader in sales in every region. However, it doesn't have the power to realize the vision of a lot of big time developers. This means the big games are still mostly on the two HD systems, the 360 and PS3. Not that big an issue for western developers whose games never sell in Japan anyway, but Japanese developers are very confused. Both the 360 and PS3 are bombing in Japan so they have to release their games on a global scale. They're not developing for us, as well as Japan. 360 dominates the PS3 in North America. PS3 beats the 360 in Europe.
The Wii just has popularity, and it sells out faster than you can say, "Cowabunga!". Everything is just turning out odd.

 

[Firestorm]

I don't see what any of your responses really has to do with the thread >.>;;

Sony wanting the PS3 as a Trojan Horse for BluRay doesn't make their dumb dealings with third parties, their extraordiarily high price, and their horrible PR any better.

The Nintendo 64 failed from a business standpoint. It was a total failure. I don't see how you could think of it as anything but that. Sony used Nintendo's arrogance to take everything away from them. Third parties ran away from Nintendo into Sony's arms. Sony sold more than twice the amount of PSXs as N64s. The PlayStation had less risk associated (CDs vs cartridges), lower royalties to pay, and less restrictions. Interestingly enough, Sony is pulling a Nintendo this gen. BluRay instead of the safer option of DVDs and higher royalties than before from what I hear. Microsoft on the other hand is going out of their way to grab exclusive deals with third parties.

 

[makiri]

ballin'

Ok I'm sorry, but there has always been great games and there has always been shovelware. The NES has gems like Zelda, Contra, Mario Bros 3, but then it also has utter shit like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Friday the 13th. For every great game there is a god awful title no one will touch. For every Sonic 3 there is a Shaq-Fu, this still holds true. For every Orange Box, there is an Aquaman.

You say games will just get worse and worse from here on out, but then titles like Mass Effect come out, which is not rushed and is one of the best current gen games out there. Crap will continue to come out, it always has, and it always will, but for every rushed piece of crap, there is an amazingly thought out non-rushed game.

Special is just nostalgia, you might not think ________ Xbox 360 game is good but will never compare to Punch Out because of the fond memories you had while trying to beat Mike Tyson. This is totally true, but you remember games from your childhood much differently than something you play and love now. In 20 years I bet you will put Halo 2 up there with those games, remembering the time when you stuck 4 people in 2 seconds, then it will become "special."

 

[NESgamer]

Not to mention most of us that had NES and SNES games back then,we remember them like we saw them back then, we know what these games are about. Most youngers will never appreciate them because they will see them for the first time,like if you go and pick an Atari or Intellivision and pick some non famous game, you will say it sucks but someone that played it back then will probably say "hey, it was good". New gamers will have their classics on the past gens (PSone, N64, etc).

A bit off topic, but i had to say this.

 

[Firestorm]

Heh, I didn't realize that was on topic until I re-read the first post and saw that line about "it being magic". I'm sorry, but no. Last year saw the greatest lineup of games since 1998. The reason games seemed magical back then is because you were younger.

Although I disagree with your last paragraph zerowing. I don't think even 15 years from now I'll think of the games I play now the way I think of the games I played 15 years ago. I was just much more impresionable back then. Although there are some games I played in the last few years where the impression has stuck for completely different reasons. Atmospherically, Bioshock and Metroid Prime for example blew me away and came close to the feeling I got while playing Ocarina of Time.

 

[freaktron]

Not to mention most of us that had NES and SNES games back then,we remember them like we saw them back then, we know what these games are about. Most youngers will never appreciate them because they will see them for the first time,like if you go and pick an Atari or Intellivision and pick some non famous game, you will say it sucks but someone that played it back then will probably say "hey, it was good". New gamers will have their classics on the past gens (PSone, N64, etc).

A bit off topic, but i had to say this.

Not a bad concept.

And yes, I did see that chadwardenn video, it's been infamous for being so fucking silly >_<

 

[CaptKirby]

The point of my post was that last generation was exciting, but I guess I did forget to say why this generation has the worst console war ever:
1) Wii for most people is basically Wii Sports and now Brawl...WOW
2) Nintendogs is the #3 best selling video game all time not bundled...so fuck the DS
3) PS3 is good for what, Blu-Ray?
4) XBox360 is still going to be just Halo.

I am sure there are some good games that no one knows about or whatever, but so far NINTENDOGS has won the console war this generation. Ballin'!!!!!!

 

[freaktron]

The point of my post was that last generation was exciting, but I guess I did forget to say why this generation has the worst console war ever:
1) Wii for most people is basically Wii Sports and now Brawl...WOW
Super Mario Galaxy. Zelda Twilight Princess. Metroid Prime 3. Wii Play. Nintendo fans have more than enough to be pleased with.
2) Nintendogs is the #3 best selling video game all time not bundled...so fuck the DS
Yeah, I noticed that, but that doesn't mean it's the BEST game for the DS. Why it sold so fucking much is beyond me. From what I see, it looks like a portable ripoff of Animal Crossing. The DS does have a lot more to offer.
3) PS3 is good for what, Blu-Ray?
Uh...Resistance? MotorStorm? Ratchet and Clank Future? Metal Gear Solid 4? Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion minus the downloadable content? (insert 360 game that's also for PS3)? Backward capability with all PS2 games?
4) XBox360 is still going to be just Halo.
Gears of War. Mass Effect. Bioshock. Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion WITH the downloadable content. (insert PS3 game that's also for 360). Now tell me that's not enough to keep you entertained.

I am sure there are some good games that no one knows about or whatever, but so far NINTENDOGS has won the console war this generation. Ballin'!!!!!!

I'm sorry, but with all due respect you just don't seem to look at too many new games.

edit: and why the fuck are all the avatars so damn big at the time i'm doing this

 

[Yoshi King]

freaktron, double check the date, then post again

or don't.

I think it was fairly obvious that CaptKirby was making blatant generalizations. Let's say... 80% of the Wii's sales is casual gamers. What does that mean? The majority of games sold on that platform are going to be casual-oriented, Ie. Wii play.

The same applies to the other consoles. People buy PS3 for it being the cheapest Blu-Ray player. People buy a 360 for Halo (don't deny that they don't or you will be smacked with the Halo 360 box). As such, take the post for what it is, because summed up, that is what the console wars are right now.

 

[DeLorean]

genesis does what nintendon't!

That is the funniest video-game related thing I have seen in years.

4) XBox360 is still going to be just Halo.

Xbox was just halo anyway. It's really all Xbox has going for it that's exclusive.

Gears of War. Mass Effect. Bioshock. Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion WITH the downloadable content.

Gears of war is halo, Elder scrolls is peasants quest (you lol'd), Bioshock and Mass Effect (iirc) aren't exclusive anyway.

I really don't think Xbox has much that's... fun.

 

[Firestorm]

CaptKirby, you're just being a bit of an idiot with that post.

1. Yeah, so far the Wii has been pretty crappy. However, those who bought the Wii knew what they were getting into. The same thing they had been for the past two generations: Nintendo games. In that department, I'd say Nintendo has delivered. We've gotten Metroid Prime 3, Smash Bros. Brawl, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and Super Mario Galaxy in just over a year of release. Mario Kart comes out this month.

2. So you say "fuck the DS" because its best selling game is something you're not interested in? Did you miss the rest of the games? The DS has one of the strongest game lineups in history. It's hands down the greatest handheld system in history. Why did Nintendogs sell so well? Amazing marketing and doing the virtual pet thing right. It is the best game in its genre.

3. I can't comment too much on PS3. I think it's severely lacking still. However, they do so far have Resistance, Warhawk, Ratchet & Clank, and Uncharted. Coming up is Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy XIII, Killzone 2, White Knight Story, Gran Turismo, Trico, and Sony's other staples. They spent the PS2 era opening up quite a few first party studios that are just finishing up games.

4. Just an Xbox machine? Hah. Yeah. Ok. I do not have a 360 for Halo, I'll tell you that. Halo's a fine game, but it has more diversity in its current lineup than the Xbox did by far. That's why it's so popular this gen as opposed to the Xbox. The Xbox failed. Microsoft's marketing might lead you to believe otherwise, but the Wii is about to pass the Xbox in sales and the 360 too. 360 currently has the best lineup of games on a home console and has stuff coming out for it all over the world - even Japanese developers. The fact that 360 has the best RPG lineup this generation should tell you it's gone from being a "Halo" system to something much more.

 

[Deck Knight]

The XBox has basically become the home of the FPS, while Nintendo has become the home of the party game.

I have no clue what Sony is doing. They no longer have sole rights to Final Fantasy titles, and don't have that much going for them for exclusives. They made a killing when it was PS2 vs. N64, but now that Nintendo and Microsoft have systems that reach parity with the PS3, their marketing plan is beating the snot out of them.

I mean really, that was the whole thing behind the "Wii60" meme. Essentially you could get your FPS Fix and your awesome original games by buying both systems for the SAME cost (roughly) as one PS3. Since PS3 and 360 share so many titles, there's really no need to buy a PS3 unless you want to make your PS2 games play yet more better.