PS3 to be released at $499/$599 & E499/E599

[Verto]

Attending a workshop at E3 on games development, Ubisoft Montreal creative director Clint Hocking vented about Sony's approach to the next generation, citing their mimicry of Xbox Live and Wii's controller and their approach to graphics as his main issues.


Hocking claimed that the visual push meant that developers were acting more like factory workers, with a strict regime of sorting out textures, then shaders and repeating. The HD-TV push was also pointless, he claimed, as there is still such a small adoption rate and so art resources are being wasted. After speaking of their copying of other companies' features, he said "how much more 'me too' can [Sony] be?"

In contrast to this, Hocking was very enthusiastic about Nintendo's new controller interface with Wii, saying that if it fulfils everything that Nintendo claims, it will open developers' minds and help players feel emotion much more than improved graphics would.

Seeing the Wii controllers in action really makes me want one. Some of the game screenshots look simply horrid, worse than even what the current generation is capable of,and some screenshots compare to a good GC/Xbox game. I'm confident we'll see an improvement by the time units are actually shipping, and then later on, but I really don't care about getting Xbox360-esque graphics. I think we'll see graphics that are enough of an improvement that most people won't notice when they are actually playing the game.

[Elok]

Nintendo has the valuable "fifth piggy" demographic to rely on for sales. You know, the one that sees the system at E3 and goes "Wii, wii, wii" all the way home...

[Nostromo]

Too bad Nintendo didn't show a single cool game on their press conference The controller is cool, yes, but the games themselves were pretty lame.

[Verto]

You need to be banned.

[Kassiopeia]

I find the graphics showcased perfectly acceptable. The controller makes me all hot and bothered, however, and as long as the games use it to its potential,

[Q Classic]

The games were okay, but the controller still hasn't sold me. Thankfully, they have classic controllers available too.

Frankly, I'm impressed with Apple's Nintendo's presentation and marketing strategy here. They're going after what appears to be the more lucrative casual gamer market, as well as bringing in some innovation in how we play games (Microsoft, in this case is innovating with how we interact with each other when playing with their Live service). Not only that, but the simple fact that Nintendo is emulating all the old consoles... well, that's something even more "classic" gamers can look forward to.

If anything, while the name remains abominable (though unique--uniqueness doesn't say much, however. "Colecovision" was unique, but wasn't quite a success~), the system has great potential.

Indeed, from what I can see, the only one coming off less than stellar is Sony.

[CrONoS]

Someone have a link of the Nintendo conference?

[CrONoS]

... No Duke Nukem Forever information this year at E3?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by cronos_qc
Someone have a link of the Nintendo conference?

Try Gamespot

[q=Q Cubed]Indeed, from what I can see, the only one coming off less than stellar is Sony.[/q]

Yep. Wii doesn't seem to be marketed to the same people X360 and PS3 are. It will probably be a good deal cheaper and not particularly marketed to the hardcore gamer. Though hopefully Nintendo doesn't mess it up and decide they are once again not going to put games on DVDs (GameCube had mini-DVDs, right?).

Sony is going up against Microsoft and the much higher price and the very similar graphics will absolutely kill the PS3 after the hardcore Sony fans all get it and the casual gamer is looking for a next gen system (which is where the consoles wars basically begin anyway... after all the brand loyalists get theirs).

[CrONoS]

http://www.gamespot.com/e3/e3videos.html?page=2&q=

Some games in these video, seems to look better than gamecube(or XBOX) games...

[Nostromo]

(Microsoft, in this case is innovating with how we interact with each other when playing with their Live service). Not only that, but the simple fact that Nintendo is emulating all the old consoles... well, that's something even more "classic" gamers can look forward to.

Microsoft Live is not just about playing with other people. Don't forget Live arcade, which is pretty cool. You not only get to download classic games, but indie games also.

[Q Classic]

Well, the thing with the XBox 360 is that Live Arcade allows for casual gamers to get into the sytem as well, but because their focus is on the classic gamers, they haven't pushed it as much as they could have.

Frankly, Sony's got a very tough uphill battle--by the time the PS3 comes out, with its somewhat less than unique name (Unlike Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony tend to put their branding efforts around the umbrella of the console--The XBox. The PlayStation--while Nintendo brands the console itself~), the XBox will likely have neared to its first hardware revision, making it cheaper.

That, and apparently the yields for the Cell chips still aren't up to snuff.

[Q Classic]

Microsoft Live is not just about playing with other people. Don't forget Live arcade, which is pretty cool. You not only get to download classic games, but indie games also.

I'm aware of that--however, Live Arcade, interesting a concept as it is, isn't quite in the same comprehensive league as Wii's Virtual Console.

[Nostromo]

Live Arcade is just taking off. Now that Microsoft knows that Live arcade is popular, they're pushing it further. A lot of cool arcade games are coming to Live, like Defender and Time pilot. Not to mention that Microsoft made special deals with indie developers. IRC, they got developers kits dirt cheap.

The only thing they annouced for the virtual console is the Nintendo back catalogue, which I don't care much about. Not sure they'll open the virtual console to indie developers.

[Elok]

Well, the back catalogue bit is somewhat undermined by the fact that, uh, most of us are already playing "the classics" for free via emulation. Illegal or not, I don't see why anyone with access to the net would pay money to play, for example, Super Metroid (sans enhancements of some kind).

Still...I might consider getting a *cough* Revolution (stupid new name) if I can whistle up the cash and they have something interesting to offer in the way of games. I'm not paying any $350 or whatever an X360 will still cost a year from now. Every penny given to Bill Gates just puts us that much closer to the day when monopolized console gaming will go the way of all Microsoft products:

"Welcome to the HALO 4 Installment Wizard! Please insert one (1) vial of blood from your firstborn. Please note that, in order to be as user-friendly as possible, Master Chief will now move, shoot, and reload automatically based on the input of one focus group from Seattle (combined with what our programmers thought most comical). For those wishing for the 'classic gameplay' experience, simply press every button on your controller RIGHT NOW while chanting hymns to the ancient Sumerian deity of your choice (for optimal results, choose Marduk; hymns to Ishtar or Tammuz may cause malfunctions)..."