Wiiiiii….
Yes, yes, I have a Wii. Details to come. :)
Yes, yes, I have a Wii. Details to come. :)
In channel surfing, I came across CSPAN and CSPAN-2. Here’s what I found:
CSPAN-2: Senator Ted Kennedy ranting about the proposed budget and how everyone’s left behind by the budget.
CSPAN: Some midwest yokel US Representative pressing for the national recognition of the Nebraska Cornhusker’s Volleyball team.
Wait, what?
Yes, with all of the pressing issues in our country, the house of representatives is discussing collegiate volleyball. COLLEGIATE FRICKIN’ VOLLEYBALL
It’s no wonder our country’s so screwed up…Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups…
Well, I haven’t made a psot recently, but I finally found a reason.
It seems in the New York times that Sony spokesman Dave Karraker has said that the Wii does not belong in the same category as the more powerful Playstation 3 and that “Wii could be considered more of an impulse buy than anything else.”
Well, if I were from Sony, I’d probably be spouting this kind of nonsense to try and cover my exposed white hiney, too. Of course, this was also from a guy who said that Sony was selling out the 100,000 units it was shipping into the Unites States each week, which is obviously wrong (if I really wanted a PS3, I could walk into Fred Meyer or Fry’s right now and there’s plenty just sitting there, waiting for a home).
Before I get all of the Sony fanboys up in my grill, let me point out that I’m the proud owner for a PSOne AND PS2. That being said, however, you couldn’t pay me enough to buy a PS3, and I do intend on buying myself the Wii. Why, you ask? Well, let’s see…
Honestly, I think Sony’s shot themselves in the foot with this launch, and far be it from me to sound the death knell (after all, I’ve heard it spouted at myself many times, being a hardcore PC gamer first and last), but I think that Sony’s botching of the PS3 launch might blow their own console out of the water before it truly had the chance.
The first encounter I had with a PS3, I managed to lock the system up in under five minutes. That’s right, five freaking minutes. I was playing some racing game, and in wanting to attempt to test the true graphical prowess of the system, I decided to initiate a crash. I swerved hard into the competitor that I was using for my experiment. Upon impact, I expected a bone-crunching, fender-rattling, body parts flying kind of crash, the kind you only see in action movies. But the very instant our vehicles made contact, everything froze. Not just, “okay, hit the reset” kind of froze, but a “Gee, the reset button’s not working”, unplug the system kind of froze. If you’re getting a system, it might be nice to know that it’s not going to pull crap like that when you get it home.
the next thing is a lack of innovations. Okay, so you added blu-ray. Swell. It’s got a faster processor. That’s neat. PS2 had DVD and a faster processor than the PSOne. And two analog sticks. Basically, all you’re really getting is a more powerful PS2, that’s not even guaranteed to be able to play PS2 games. The Wii, while not nearly as powerful, has the advantage of the motion capture Wii-mote, which is the first really amazing innovation in gaming I’ve seen in years. And the Wii will play your Gamecube games (which I don’t yet have any but I plan to add the Legend of Zeldas from the collectors edition discs when I get the chance).
“Oh, but Sony has motion capture!”
Fanboy, please. You call the SixaxiS controller “motion capture”? They gutted a Dualshock 2 and replaced the vibration motors with some kind of tilt detector. They basically made the Dualshock 3 but gave it a palindrome name to make it seem cooler. You can’t play duck hunt on a PS3.
That brings my next point – the game lineup. In looking at PS3’s games, honestly, not a lot excites me about it. Most of the games that seem even remotely interesting are coming out on other platforms, including the Wii. Not a whole bunch of exclusive “killer apps”. The Wii? Well, how can you go wrong with Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the upcoming Metroid title, Smash Brothers Brawl, and, the game that’s 20 years past due for a sequel… Duck Hunt?! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the Nintendo Wii is getting a sequel we’ve waited since the NES for, and if they play their cards right, Nintendo may have an instant classic. My only request is that you’re occasionally allowed to shoot that obnoxious dog.
And last, but not least, the size. I think if the Wii has taught us anything (other than “Always use a wrist strap”), it’s that bigger isn’t necessarily better. The Wii’s space efficent size of 3 stacked DVD cases looks demure compared to the black behemoth of the PS3, which is admittedly probably larger than my computer case (which says something, as my case isn’t small). In a culture where we never have enough room for all of our stuff, the Wii is a breath of fresh air in that it doesn’t take up its own cabinet.
PS3 might have a chance, but not much of one. Wii wins on the “fun” side, and in my opinion hardcore gamers are lining up for the wii, too, and the XBox 360’s had a year’s head start to try and get a stable system going. If Sony can stabalize itself and get some impressive killer apps, they can salvage it, but they’re beat on the technological superiority by the more stable 360 (which, admittedly, isn’t THAT stable) and fun superiority by the Wii. It’s a tall order, but they might surprise me.
I doubt it, though.
RIP Sony Playstation 3, November 7th, 2006- February 2nd, 2007