Once was a huge post....

[Terran]

This started off as a huge post...I just kept on writing... but then I realized no one in their right mind would read it... so I just to edited it down to the important parts....I can use the extra stuff to make responces later.... I think the issue here is both Xbox360 and PS3 may have jumped the technology gun a bit. They’ve created a pseudo PC type situation where their graphical arms race, pushed each other to force higher and higher specs as an indication of system superiority. I think they may end up crippling themselves. (part of the stuff I edited out was all my support arguements to that statement) Nintendo Wii went a totally different direction and I don’t think Xbox 360 or PS3 really know what to make of their other competitor other than releasing gimmicky devices to draw attention away from it. I have heard tons of stories like this http://arstechnica.com/journals/thum...006/10/13/5610 where more numerous Wii consoles sell out over limited PS3 presales (Xbox360 sales have also increased recently probably cause casual gamers are first finding out on the price of PS3)... People purchasing ten Wiis instead of buying one PS3!!! even the scalpers are taking notice and most have a good head for business trends …Sony Execs must be secretly scared ****less of a possible massive FLOP…….Additionally given that Sony loses money on each of their consoles while Nintendo Profits on theirs if going to give Nintendo the nicest boost going into Christmas that they haven’t really seen since NES. Its just so simple: a super charged Game Cube based technology made from easily obtainable and interchangeable parts (I bet modding it will be super easy). Access to all their past hits and some others. Free Online Play(we will see how this turns out). Innovative Controls that give us a entirely new experience. Integration into an already established handheld system. I know I probably came off sounding like a total fan boy….. Things look very grim for PS3 just because they totally messed up. Xbox 360 will do good by default. Wii is totally a wild card if the public embrace of it is large enough the system will sell itself.

[MikePizzoff]

I think the next Playstation (IF there is one) is going to be relying heavily on the new "format" the Wii is setting. And, mark my words, there will still be PS fanboys saying that it'll be the most original and amazing system ever.

[Danny]

acutally people are selling there wii pre-orders on ebay allready without games going for upwards of £300. i bet shigsy is laughing maniaclly over a smashed ps-one or something yelling "THIS IS FOR THE N64!!" ....maybe

[MinionZombie]

Shiggiddy shiggiddy schwaaaaa...(man we LOVED that in first year uni!) Anyway, I find this whole 'arms race' (but with graphics) between P$3 and 360 to be utterly hilarious, there's such a fuss about it, but PC gaming is always the cutting edge. Where did HL2 come from? What about Doom 3? What about FarCry and now Crysis? :smug f*cking bastard smiley: Mind you, with consoles being, in a way, 'simple gaming' it does huge numbers. PC gaming is for the more hardcore gamer. Consoles feel very much as something you just play with your mates or for a bit of gentle fun. Playing on a PC is a whole ordeal in itself, it's only for the hardcore and serious gamer. The panic of "will my rig play this?!", the frantic updating of drivers, the patching to fix developer's lazy work (e.g. apparently SC: Double Agent on PC is a complete shambles even on the highest of high end machines! ) It does seem very much 360 versus P$3 with Wii hanging out chilling out max and shooting some b-ball outside of the school ... *ahem*. Wii seems to be about innovation and family fun (although I saw someone playing a FIRST PERSON SHOOTER with those stupid plastic remote control things wiggling a thumb on one and flapping the other around - excuse me, but FPS gaming just isn't suited to such weird controls. Whoever comes out the most bruised - 360 or P$3 - is gonna have to do some major innovation to try and keep themselves clawed into the game. The winner of those two will be in a much better position and can essentially innovate less with having better customer satisfaction. P$3 already has dumped all over it's fans and have a serious public image problem...the future doesn't look bright for them, going the way of Sega quite possibly...who knows.

[capncnut]

Whoever comes out the most bruised - 360 or P$3 - is gonna have to do some major innovation to try and keep themselves clawed into the game. The winner of those two will be in a much better position and can essentially innovate less with having better customer satisfaction. P$3 already has dumped all over it's fans and have a serious public image problem...the future doesn't look bright for them, going the way of Sega quite possibly...who knows. Nothing would please me more than to see these pirates take a cannonball to the hull and disappear beneath the waves once and for all. BUT... as much as I love Microsoft and loathe $ony I have visions of them both driving headlong into the race full throttle (Hamster style) and both crashing at the last corner while the Wii happily trundles along in cruise mode to the finish line.

[MinionZombie]

I think the world really only needs one console like P$3 or 360, those consoles provide very Western style gameplay. The Wii is much more eastern - it's about entertainment for all ages, the whole family, it's about playing with friends and family, weird little gadgets and a shedload of cute n' cuddly type games (mostly). P$3 and 360 are generally more about playing just with friends at most, and the games are more about shooting things, kicking things and driving things. It also sticks to the classic idea of a console ... but scenes as Sony and MS have consoles which provide the same thing, there's not much need for both, and 360 is the newest kid on the block, Sony have old man river who's getting shoved out the picture. All we need are: PC, a Western-style console and finally an Eastern-style console.

[_liam_]

i only like to kick things, shoot things and drive like a maniac, the point of video games for me is to do things i can't in real life, and i don't really wanna spend my evenings hacking up bushes looking for rupees, i also dont fantasise about being a little green elf in a miyamoto-esque fantasy world, "i wanna destroy the passer by" sums up my digital activities, eg anything by rockstar games. i do have pretty shallow taste in games, admittedly. i also cant afford to continually upgrade my system to take new pc games, so im afraid i'll be a ps3 pleb, or possibly a 360 if the next GTA comes out on that system first.

[MinionZombie]

The next GTA is definately coming out on 360, most likely it'll be a simultaneous release with the P$3, but the 360 version is going to have exclusive downloadable content after shipping, apparently. Can't wait to see what next-gen GTA will look like, they've been milking that engine for years and years and games and games... I too like to do things I can't/wouldn't want to in real life. Maybe one day there'll be a videogame where you can do absolutely anything in a free-roaming world ... that'd be pretty damn cool. Such games are a great way to get aggression out, anytime I've been real pissed off I whack on a GTA and go on a spree and then I'm all mellow again after 30 to 60 minutes. Without virtual violence it'd just spill into the real world. It's already proven that access to hardcore porn has decreased the rate of rape, so it's likewise for violence. Only tiny-minded plebs who are already open to acts of real violence get a real thrill from playing such games or watching movies etc. The vast majority play such games and feel much calmer afterwards for it. Roll on GTA 6 or whatever number it is, because it certainly ain't GTA4 (that was Vice City). I'd like to see one set in the 1970s at a time of gritty Deep Throat style porn and disco and all that, that'd be pretty sweet.

[capncnut]

Roll on GTA 6 or whatever number it is, because it certainly ain't GTA4 (that was Vice City). I'd like to see one set in the 1970s at a time of gritty Deep Throat style porn and disco and all that, that'd be pretty sweet. I feel the same way but essentially it IS Grand Theft Auto 4. I'm hearing all sorts of unreliable information about it, the best one being random earthquakes occurring while you drive the streets of California. You gotta love those internet bulls**ters.

[MikePizzoff]

I feel the same way but essentially it IS Grand Theft Auto 4. I'm hearing all sorts of unreliable information about it, the best one being random earthquakes occurring while you drive the streets of California. You gotta love those internet bulls**ters. People were saying that earthquake shiv about San Andreas. Needless to say when I bought the game I was really disappointed that there weren't any.

[MinionZombie]

Aye, such things would be really cool in the game. Like the whole Bigfoot thing - if things like that happened, strange lights in the sky etc, now and then, it'd make a more varied environment. I like the idea of earthquakes or other extreme weathers. Interaction with your environment - that is something sorely needed, there's isn't enough of that. Also, even though the patch "fixed" the issue (it didn't), what about the whole getting your car dirty and then washing it premise? That was supposed to be in San Andreas, but it sort of was but didn't work. Even patching it didn't help - in fact the patch made the game run like complete ass for me, so I had to re-install. Also, they need to get rid of: 1) Dancing style missions 2) Annoying sh*t you try over and over and over again to do - e.g. the mission when you have to bike ride beside the train. 3) Fly school - that was such a pain in the ass and I couldn't complete it, half of it wasn't even necessary for the rest of the game! I ended up having to download a save game that took things up just after completing flight school, so I could continue. They should bring back tyre stingers, speed up stealing a car a little faster and I'm sure there are other little bits too ... OOH! Like the cars in San Andreas, none of them seem to shine, the paint seems all worn out and flat. Most of the cars are really dull looking and incredibly boring, too many of the cars are too slow and crap handling, that was a disappointment with San Andreas. If only they combined the playability of Vice City (minus the stupid radio controlled vehicle missions) with the scope of San Andreas.

[_liam_]

ah MZ, i did that bike mission first time the real git was the flying license...i screamed in rage so much my neighbours actually came round to ask if i was ok! rockstar have apparently reserved copyrights for the names GTA: bogota/hawaii/tokyo and a couple of others. san andreas was so far ahead of GTA3 in a lot of ways that the prospect of a next gen gta makes me drool. love the way they pilfer elements from other games too, like bmx stunt parks/pool table/dancing/levelling up/photos (ala pokemon snap) etc. btw you can get the first 2 games for free off the rockstar website now

[Terran]

ah MZ, i did that bike mission first time the real git was the flying license...i screamed in rage so much my neighbours actually came round to ask if i was ok! Yeah I also beat the bike mission on the first time....and both of my younger brothers tried it like a ton before I had to beat it on my first attempt for both of their games....for some reason I felt the mission was very easy.... I also had trouble with the flying ****.... But my youngest brother was like an idiot savant when it came to them...he picked it up real fast and he beat all of them for me and my other brother....

[MinionZombie]

*chuckles* @ idiot savant flying license thingy. Damn youze, I had such problems with that bike versus train mission, so much trouble. If it had been me on the back shooting, then it would have been piss easy, but relying on AI to accurately shoot sh*t is beyond the game methinks, lol. The flying license ... damn that caused me so much grief, when I found the save game file that put you directly after acquiring said license, I loved it. Getting the full driving license in San Fiero (so you can do the car stealing thing for your garage) was a pain in the arse - the 360 mid-air spin being the biggest pain, as well as 2 wheel driving. But I actually managed to do that one on my own after many, many, many tries. If they could make the next GTA not have any of that frustrating crap in it, then that'd be great.

[Terran]

*chuckles* @ idiot savant flying license thingy. Damn youze, I had such problems with that bike versus train mission, so much trouble. If it had been me on the back shooting, then it would have been piss easy, but relying on AI to accurately shoot sh*t is beyond the game methinks, lol. Actually the first time I beat that bike vs train mission I got totally lucky... My AI guy managed to kill two of the guys...and he was shooting and shooting and didnt seem to be doing much....and that part came up where you can jump over the train...but like I kindof messed up and jumped onto the train half wiping out in the process and that killed the last two guys.... It was a pretty awsome feeling but totally lucky.... So the first time I beat it it was a fluke.... But when I did it with my two brothers game on my first try I had the benefit of watching them both try till they got sick of it...so I got to watch objectively...so when I played all I did was concentrate on staying steadily slighty behind and away from the front of the train....making sure that my guy was too far away to start targeting the other guys....cause when he starts switching from target to target shooting youll never win.... So when I tried it for my brothers it was very easy Though it wasnt as nearly as cool as the first time I did it on my game...it felt very cool and movie like....