Early Wii Pre-order (not open to public till this evening)

[Janie]

How you play tennis on the Wii for Janie

It looks fun, but I can't help wondering how long before doing the actions stops becoming fun and starts becoming a chore and you just go back to playing it normally.

 

[Entropy]

I'm sure thats the line that Sony are using. Its a pretty easy line to use to make sure that demand is outstripping supply. Every single manufacturer in the world wants demand to be far greater than available supply because it means the price will always be higher. If you can artificially affect the market in that way, you're going to do it. I know I would.

Buddy, seriously!

This is the Christmas season. The PRIME time to sell a new gaming console! Not only are they waiting until March to launch in Europe, but Nintendo have already sold roughly 2 units to every 1 PS3. Also, and this is absolutely critical, Sony are losing massive amounts of money on every unit. Installing a big user base quickly is the only business strategy Sony should pursue because they're only making cash on games sales. There isn't a single good reason for restricting supply.

 

[Gottaa]

I can understand not wanting to leave 1000's of boxes sitting around on shelves but Sony could have produced probably 4 to 5 times that number and not even been at risk of that (heck they said they would be shipping double what they actually did).

And I think blue laser diodes are also part of the price and difficulty in production, as well as the cell chip.

 

[Gottaa]

It looks fun, but I can't help wondering how long before doing the actions stops becoming fun and starts becoming a chore and you just go back to playing it normally.

A good point Janie, and who knows in time but your first reaction is the one which hits the nail on the head, "fun". I'm sure some evenings I'll play a little monkey ball or red steel sitting down and just flicking the wrist for the "motion", and in time that could become the norm, but the feeling of "how do I open a door" and one console saying 'Press X' and the Wii saying twist the wii-mote and push it forward still adds immersion to the game on the Wii (perhaps over and exceeding the immersion some think you lose from its graphical power)

 

[Treebeard]

Hmm maybe I'm not being clear.

Blu-Ray = media format being used by PS3 on everything (i.e Games)
Games discs for PS3 = Blu-Ray discs

If Blu-Ray doesn't win (and it may well, who knows, but if it doesn't) you have a games console with media which will not reduce in price, large numbers of Blu-rays discs being created will cost more because less companies will be creating them/supporting them which means the people making games will have a harder time getting the game from there desk onto your PS3, which could mean greater cost, less numbers available (of discs), etc, etc.

Blu-Ray discs are expensive to produce and there is the belief they will become cheaper as the production increases and so they learn, if as a media format it fails it will impact the games as far as I see it.

Or am I wrong and if blu-ray were to fail it would have zero impact on the console/games/production of said games ?

I do understand Blu-Ray as it is right now is not defining of itself but it is a large part of the cost of the PS3 and if you took out Blu-Ray and put in HD-DVD it would have little impact on the games but ... hmmm not sure I can explain myself clearly.

Anyone else get the gist of what I'm saying and can put it clearer ?

I would be completely amazed if Sony have released a games console relying on the fact that blu-ray becomes the next gen film format and I haven't read any gaming related stuff that mentions this being an issue.

When Capcom or whoever release Superdupergame 6 and need to order however many millions of discs (the amount of discs needed alone for just one game would probably mean its not an issue) then I can't see a pricing problem and think the film side of things will not have an effect.

 

[Gottaa]

Does gaming media shift that much in numbers then ? I have always been under the assumption films shift far more than games in pure numbers

 

[Treebeard]

Does gaming media shift that much in numbers then ? I have always been under the assumption films shift far more than games in pure numbers

Gears of War recently sold a million in a short space of time for the 360 and GTA:SA sold something like 5mil in one year for the PS2. I believe the gaming market is bigger than the film market in certain sectors.

 

[MorgyN]

Silly rabbit, the Wii is for kids.

 

[Gottaa]

Source

Mission Impossible 3 in a week
High def sales 20,00 (HD-DVD & Blu-Ray)
standard def sales 3.7 million

Which seems to me to put films far above games in numbers (though they always seem so closely guarded I will say it's as much a gut feeling on thing, like walking into blockbusters compared to say looking in GAME). Saying certain sectors though doesn't mean much, it's much more about the total and if films dropped off (dramtically or totally) on blu-ray my gut tells me it would affect games.

And I'll say once more, is the DS then also for kids ? and does "for kids" explain why my Dad got one, and indeed my uncle is looking at getting one for x-mas ?

 

[Treebeard]

You getting Red Steel for release then Gottaa mate? Seems to have had pretty tepid reviews. Can't wait to get my hands on Zelda myself.

 

[Gottaa]

Zelda - 100%
Monkey Ball - 95%
Red Steel - 90%
Rayman - if I don't get monkey ball I'll get it
Wii Play - 100%

The reviews on Red Steel often seem to end saying it's a steep learning curve and sword fighting = clunky. I don't really care about the sword fighting I want some FPS fun and Red Steel I think will be better than COD3 even if the movement/aiming box will take some getting used to. Which does remind me, I need to go watch a review of COD before I finalize my pre-order

P.S Just worked out my wireless keyboard is giving up the ghost hope I didn't let too many errors slip by me.

 

[Treebeard]

Source

Mission Impossible 3 in a week
High def sales 20,00 (HD-DVD & Blu-Ray)
standard def sales 3.7 million

Which seems to me to put films far above games in numbers (though they always seem so closely guarded I will say it's as much a gut feeling on thing, like walking into blockbusters compared to say looking in GAME). Saying certain sectors though doesn't mean much, it's much more about the total and if films dropped off (dramtically or totally) on blu-ray my gut tells me it would affect games.

I can't see it mate tbh. Games sell in the millions and I would be truly amazed if Sony are banking on blu-ray succeeding as a film standard before the PS3 succeeded as a games machine. It wouldn't be the first games machine to use non standard media. Didn't the GC for example?

 

[Treebeard]

Zelda - 100%
Monkey Ball - 95%
Red Steel - 90%
Rayman - if I don't get monkey ball I'll get it
Wii Play - 100%

The reviews on Red Steel often seem to end saying it's a steep learning curve and sword fighting = clunky. I don't really care about the sword fighting I want some FPS fun and Red Steel I think will be better than COD3 even if the movement/aiming box will take some getting used to. Which does remind me, I need to go watch a review of COD before I finalize my pre-order

P.S Just worked out my wireless keyboard is giving up the ghost hope I didn't let too many errors slip by me.

Those review scores seem somewhat over the top bias. Where are they from?

More reasonable reviews I've read give Zelda 9ish. Wii sports about 7 and tbh, 100% score indicates the controller works amazingly on all the games and reports from gamers clearly states it dosen't.

 

[Gottaa]

GC was there own proprietary one though from day 1 (part of the reason perhaps it didn't do so well).

And I see Sony as putting it in the PS3 to make sure Blu-Ray wins the war as it'll get more players to more people if all goes there way. They may not be banking on it but they are certainly putting alot into making sure Blu-Ray wins out (perhaps Betamax and UMD still leave them feeling dirty failures), and as a consumer I'm happy getting a games console but not to be a guinea pig for some company. When the winner is clear then sure maybe we'll get an HD TV and a player but it's a huge expense and I'm not keen on getting involved in the slightest in the next VHS/Betamax war.

 

[Gottaa]

Bah bugger and damn-nation. They aren't reviews there my %'ness on which games I want to get ... bahh take me out and shoot me !

Sorry for not being clear.

P.S PS3 controllers reported to be having problems related to blu-tooth, such as when shooting suddenly you stop and just spin on the spot slowly while the device re-syncs. I hope that isn't a real issue (I did wonder how there blu-tooth limit would work with all they wanted to do with them, I'll dig up the link that explains there blu-tooth limitation tomorrow)

This isn't the link, will find the one details blu-tooth stuff tomorrow, a link to one of the many topics around about the controller problems here.

 

[Treebeard]

Bah bugger and damn-nation. They aren't reviews there my %'ness on which games I want to get ... bahh take me out and shoot me !

LOL right ok thought they seemed a bit high.

 

[Treebeard]

GC was there own proprietary one though from day 1 (part of the reason perhaps it didn't do so well).

And I see Sony as putting it in the PS3 to make sure Blu-Ray wins the war as it'll get more players to more people if all goes there way. They may not be banking on it but they are certainly putting alot into making sure Blu-Ray wins out (perhaps Betamax and UMD still leave them feeling dirty failures), and as a consumer I'm happy getting a games console but not to be a guinea pig for some company. When the winner is clear then sure maybe we'll get an HD TV and a player but it's a huge expense and I'm not keen on getting involved in the slightest in the next VHS/Betamax war.

I think DVD will be the winner. \0/

Blu-ray and HD-DVD will probably be the domain of the real film buff.

 

[Entropy]

I've taken Red Steel off my preorder list. Gamespot have done some really useful video reviews, and that's what convinced me to get rid of it. Think I've asked for Zelda, Mario Galaxy, Mario Brawl, Metroid and Trauma Centre. Very few 3rd party games are going to be decent at launch, so I've stuck with first party stuff.

 

[Gottaa]

But that means only 2 games at launch.

Red Steel may not be what I was hoping it was with swords and guns but it's still a solid enough shooter built from the ground up to support the Wii. I'll get Metroid when it's out but by then I'll have Red Steel finished

I've also found that metacritic > single review sources as it removes the overly high and overly low biased reviews, but I do find myself watching video reviews from different places (IGN being my favoured) and oddly enough it was the IGN playroom vids which put Red Steel back higher up my list.

As far as future titles I want
Heros - That appears to be the sword fighting game
Metroid - It's metroid
Excite Trucks - A fast furious racer
Elebits - Cos it's just wierd
Avatar - Cos I love the cartoon
One of the flying one's Wing Island I think, will be renting first to make the decision on which one.

Ent do you have Trauma Centre on the DS and so like it and want it on the Wii ? I've still never played Trauma Centre and the reviews and videos have me kinda on the fence, is it the kinda thing I should rent and see if I get the "I'm a doctor not a bricklayer" bug ?

 

[Entropy]

Yeah I do, and thought it was reasonable on the DS. The actual game is pretty good, but the story line which it's bound in is quite lacklustre.

Oh, and I guess I'm classing those games with a 22nd Dec release date launch too, since I'm hopefully getting a Wii for Christmas. Whether any of them will be available remains to be seen...