Console Wars V

[Nikolai]

The Norwegian gaming and multimedia provider organization, NSM, has published some numbers on gaming in Norway so far this year. The sales has risen 16.6 percent. PS3 is the market leader with 31 percent of the market(saleswise for games as far as I can tell), followed by 360 with 17.7 percent. At third place, with 15.2 percent of the sales. On fourth place, Wii has 14.2 percent, followed by PS2 with 11.2 percent. However, the 360 numbers are probably a little low, as MS don't deliver their numbers themselves.

[Asher]

There's no reason for Norway to exist.

[Nikolai]

Good to see that even you can get out of arguments.

[Asher]

There was an argument? Seems to me you provided a bunch of stats that show just how weird Norway is and that's all.

Perhaps you don't comprehend what an argument is, because you didn't make one at all...

[El_Cid]

Wii doing well in canada(no surprise):

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19987

360 doing better in Japan(some surprise):

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19327

[DrSpike]

Asher has two.

And several copies of Mario Party 8.

[Asher]

No, only 1 copy of Mario Party 8. I have two Zeldas.

[Asher]

Wii Music continues to suck.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/08/30/pax08-guess-what-we-still-arent-impressed-by-wii-music

PAX08: Guess what? We still aren't impressed by Wii Music

By Ben Kuchera | Published: August 30, 2008 - 07:33PM CT

Nintendo's booth didn't have much in the way of excitement, although it was nice to let the gaming public try Wii Music. I thought everyone should be disappointed just as much as the gaming press was at E3. It's only fair. Luckily for everyone involved, there wasn't much of a line. It was like a conveyor belt of frowns as gamers took the controllers, flailed for a moment, and then gave them to the next person behind them and sulked away.

I did, however, get a chance to play the drums with the balance board, something that wasn't available at Nintendo's E3 appointments. I took my shoes off, put my socks on the board, and started pushing down while I drummed. The balance board gives you control of the two kick pedals for your drums, and it felt pretty responsive.

I have a decent sense of rhythm, and was able to play some okay beats, but the whole thing just felt artificial and a little odd. It's neat that you'll be able to work on your rhythm in the context of the $50 Wii Music, sure, but it's hard not to think that the gaming public has been spoiled by Rock Band and it's real-life plastic drum set, and yes, I know that sentence sounds ridiculous. Every time I play Wii Music it feels more and more like a tech demo, not a game that you'd want to play for hours, or even pay money for.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture my time with the drums in pictures, so you'll have to make do with Link here. Bonus awesome: he was playing the Zelda theme.

[DrSpike]

Is that you Asher?

[El_Cid]

No , thats me!





The thing is it doesn't matter if Wii Music 'sucks' or not(compared to the excellent Rock Band and Gutiar Hero games). It's going to be very successful and will I expect outsell either of the other two games in it's lifetime.

Many more people have Wii's than 360's, and this is their music game. I wonder if you have to wear a link outfit to play Wii Music?

[DrSpike]

You don't - it's just that Asher is such a big Wii fan he wears it most places. That or his Mario Party gear.

[Asher]

Originally posted by El_Cid
No , thats me!





The thing is it doesn't matter if Wii Music 'sucks' or not(compared to the excellent Rock Band and Gutiar Hero games). It's going to be very successful and will I expect outsell either of the other two games in it's lifetime.

Many more people have Wii's than 360's, and this is their music game. I wonder if you have to wear a link outfit to play Wii Music?

You once again contribute nothing but tremendous insight to this forum.

I know Wii Music will sell quite well, at least initially. It's part of the reason why I'm worried that the Wii will harm the industry. Wii Music is a absolutely, fantastically **** game no matter what way you look at it. But that doesn't matter. Quality no longer matters on the Wii for success. It's a dangerous proposition.

[Verto]

So I just got my hands on a copy of GTAIV and I've got to ask...what was all the hype about? I've played it for a few hours, along with watching my roommate's progress, and really I haven't found the game to be all that amazing. The driving, the combat, the missions, all very average. The game environment is huge, and there's a lot of cool stuff like the TV shows, but as a whole the game falls short of the über-hype 10/10 reviews.

Granted this may change as I progress further into the game, but not by much. It seems like a lot of the reviews hyped stuff like car chases or flying helicopters, etc.

[Verto]

Originally posted by El_Cid
The thing is it doesn't matter if Wii Music 'sucks' or not(compared to the excellent Rock Band and Gutiar Hero games). It's going to be very successful and will I expect outsell either of the other two games in it's lifetime.

Many more people have Wii's than 360's, and this is their music game.

I'm not sure Wii Music will be that big of a seller. I don't see too many gamers who own GH/Rock Band wasting their money on the game, for one.

[vovan]

Originally posted by Verto
So I just got my hands on a copy of GTAIV and I've got to ask...what was all the hype about? I've played it for a few hours, along with watching my roommate's progress, and really I haven't found the game to be all that amazing. The driving, the combat, the missions, all very average. The game environment is huge, and there's a lot of cool stuff like the TV shows, but as a whole the game falls short of the über-hype 10/10 reviews.

I agree. I think it was reasonably well-made, but it's basically the same old formulaic GTA. Minor gameplay improvements here and there, but definitely no major innovations. The developers followed the "if it ain't broke" adage, and it seemed to work for them once again. Looking forward to GTAV: Miami Redux.