The Non-Wii thread

uh... you need that explained to you? are you that fucking stupid? its self explanitory. explanatory, even.

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RoIIo Tomassi
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Re: Should I bother with X-Box?

Post by RoIIo Tomassi »

I'm buying a used X-Box 360 for $200 from a buddy JUST so I can get online and play HALO3 with a bunch of friends. All I have to get is the game and the XBoxLive thingie and I'm down for ass kickin'...
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The Non-Wii thread

Post by anarky »

I hate to admit it, but the Wii is on its last legs as a system. Too many shitty third-party games flooded the market, Nintendo's made some lousy choices when it comes to online (like not allowing the freebies for Guitar Hero, or basically killing the Virtual Console's original premise of playing a ton of old games in favor of having all sorts of crappy third-party games), and it never had the processing power of its competitors. An awful lot of games were never offered for Wii, or were in overly toned-down versions. I think a total of three mature-rated titles were ever released. The promised DVD-compatible and HD versions never materialized. And so the system's excellent reputation died, and now it's seen as a toy for little kids or for the elderly. Fuck, there's a new Sonic the Hedgehog game, and, despite Nintendo's excellent relationship with Sega in their post-console years, it's not going to be offered on Wii--really, you can't tell me a fucking Sonic game requires the level of AI that the Wii can't handle.

Unfortunate, but it's the way it appears to be.

And there are new games I'd really love to play.

So, if I were to get a new system, which route should I go?

On the one hand, I'm leaning toward an XBox 360, simply because I have a PS2. Looking around earlier, it looks like the 4GB version that's cheaper is totally worthless, and one should go with the 250GB version. However, it appears it's usually bundled with generic shooters I have no interest in. (Played one, played 'em all. I don't need to upgrade my Nazi-shooting titles every year to get more realistic blood spatter.) Or, worse, with the Kinect; I've played a Kinect that I have no reason to believe was faulty, and it was the biggest piece of shit I've seen in ages... crappy games, nonfunctioning interface, just a real fucking joke. I'm not sure of any games that are exclusive to the XBox 360 that I'd want, and I understand the backward compatibility is so iffy that there's no point in buying any old XBox games because there's a 50/50 change they won't work.

The PS3 looks like the same price range, and all the XBox games I'd want are on it as well (I think). I hear the backward compatibility is better than the XBox 360's, but not perfect--though that'd be a non-issue as I have both previous systems. I know a lot of its success (as well as blu-ray's) came from bundling it with what was, at the time, the best blu-ray player on the market. I'm in no hurry to upgrade, but, hey, if it comes with the system. They seem to push their "Move" gimmick far less than Sony does the Kinect, which is fine, since it looks equally bad and the game selection is definitely equally bad. (The Wii is still killing them in the motion department.) I've heard they're unreliable, though, and, in my limited experience with other folks' PS3's, I've encountered quite a few freeze-ups.

The Vita is out (it doesn't appear to have a disc drive to play PS3 games); I don't think there's even an XBox counterpart.

So, any advice? I'm not even sure I'm getting another system, but I'd like to have some idea of what to look for. I've seen rumors of a PS4 and XBox 720, but no firm info, and it's likely from what I've seen that they may incorporate 3D or some other shit I simply don't want (I wouldn't play a fucking Batman game starring Kevin Conroy and written by Alan Grant if it was in 3D), and it's unlikely they'll be out in time to cause a drop in the prices of the current systems.

I should add I have no clue what the online capabilities or offerings of either system are, or whether they'd be a factor. Nor would I know how much memory would be necessary for a PS3.

And is the PS3's blu-ray an up-sampling player?
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

Scuttlebutt at gaming trade shows like E3 is that nextgen consoles from both Sony and XBox are at least two years away. So don't hold out for PS4 or XBox 720 any time soon.

I have an XBox, but I think the differences between the two systems are negligible. Sony has the BluRay, so that gives it an edge. And it has the Uncharted franchise.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by Diabolical »

One of my deciding factors was: 360 = $ for online, PS3 = free.
From the sounds of it, paying for the 360 online is only better because that money pays for better servers (and more of them). I'm not an online gamer anyway; I just download system and game updates. And much like MMORPGs, I ain't gonna pay $60 (or whatever) for a game then pay again just to play the damn thing. Fuck that.

I love my PS3 (I think I may have mentioned that once or twice), but only real downside for the PS3 is the no backwards compatibility, which shocked me, and made me really glad I didn't dump my PS2.

I've had my PS3 for over a year now and never had any major unreliability issues, just a freeze up or two while playing NHL12.

For me, the Blu-Ray was just a bonus. Much like VHS did, DVDs are slowly fading and will be totally replaced by Blu-Ray soon enough. I figured I'd be getting one eventually anyway, so I might as well get it with the system. I do believe DVDs are up converted on the PS3.

I think PS3 has the better exclusive games.

I don't really give a shit about motion gaming, so that was no factor in my decision.

And from what I've read, these current crop of games have barely scratched the surface of what the PS3 is truly capable of.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by anarky »

Diabolical wrote:For me, the Blu-Ray was just a bonus. Much like VHS did, DVDs are slowly fading and will be totally replaced by Blu-Ray soon enough. I figured I'd be getting one eventually anyway, so I might as well get it with the system. I do believe DVDs are up converted on the PS3.
I figure the same thing. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 not being released on DVD until over a month after the Blu-Ray was the wake up call, especially coming mere months after Snow White was only available on Combo Pack. I think that, unlike cassettes and VHS, the phasing out of CDs and DVDs is not exactly a natural progression, but it's happening. CDs are essentially dead unless you get them through Amazon, despite being better sound quality than any downloadable format (assuming they're properly mastered) and often a better bargain if you're buying an album as opposed to singles. And Blu-Ray, well, the studios clearly decided a while ago that they're going to push it on everyone, even if the public isn't ready for it (granted, the studios have convinced a lot of people that they are when they're not).

Truth is, once I have a Blu-Ray player (is it capitalized or not?), I wouldn't consider buying family movies on Combo Pack to be a waste. It'd still be stupid to buy movies for grownups that way unless they're cheaper.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by Ran »

Haven't turned the Wii on since at least August. I'm sold on getting a PS3. Waiting on the Black Friday ads to show up to see if there any good deals, but this week Target has a $50 gift card with purchase.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by anarky »

That's what I was looking at as well. I got the RedCard a while back because everything's a flat 5% off, and I take my reusable bag every time to save the whopping nickel (I'm cheap, what can I say?), so it'd be like getting it for 25.01% off once the $50 card (which I'll probably use within a week at this time of year) is taken into account.

Like I said, all the XBox bundles relied on the Kinect, which I'd eat a dead dog off the pavement while Hulk Hogan masturbates on it before I pay money for, or FPS games that, aside from the visuals, haven't improved since the Medal of Honor series about ten years back.

It's just a real shame they never made a Wii-based sequel to Luigi's Mansion. The gameplay mechanics there would really lend themselves to the WiiMote.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by Diabolical »

anarky wrote:Truth is, once I have a Blu-Ray player (is it capitalized or not?), I wouldn't consider buying family movies on Combo Pack to be a waste. It'd still be stupid to buy movies for grownups that way unless they're cheaper.
When reasonably priced, most combo packs are well worth it, IMO, since almost everyone I know doesn't have a Blu-Ray player yet, making it tough to take a flick to someone's house or lend it to them.

And if it weren't for the combo pack, I still would be able to watch X-Men: First Class at home. For some strange reason PS3s have a lot of trouble playing it. It has a noticeable and annoying split second video freeze every minute or so. It sounds like a internet connectivity Blu-Ray Live issue, but all system upgrade downloads have done nothing to stop the problem. Apparently if you disconnect your PS3 from the internet and clear the Blu-Ray Live stored data it works fine, which is something I hesitate doing, since I'm not 100% sure what my login info/password is.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

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Get the ps3.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by anarky »

'Kay, Walmart's Black Friday ad has been leaked. One of the doorbusters is a $200 PS3 160 GB system packed with the latest Little Big Planet and Ratchet & Clank titles.

Worth waiting for it and braving the crowds? Even with two games at essentially the same price, I'd want the games to be spectacular, indispensable masterpieces to deal with fucking Walmart BF crowds. People get killed in that shit.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by anarky »

Eh, moot point. My Mommy said no. :roll:

If I could hide a totally new game system or a $250 purchase, I'd say "fuck it." But this isn't some toy I can sneak in and she doesn't pay enough attention to my collection to notice its existence.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by Ran »

I still have that stash of toys for you. Not only will you have to meet up with me to get them, you'll have to sneak those in the house, too.

I told my wife about the Walmart black friday deal you posted. She looked at me and said, "Are you really going to stand in line for that at Walmart on Black Friday?" She knows I would rather pay the regular price than walk into that mess.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by anarky »

Oh, shit, Rando, I forgot completely about that. :flush:

When I was talking about "sneaking toys in," though, I meant big shit, or shit that looks expensive, like the Skystriker or PIT. I can see her point, but don't think I'm going to not use the "You need to get your priorities straight. You've already got shoes" card. :D
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by Ran »

I figured you forgot.

My wife and I decided that we probably aren't going to get a much better deal on the PS3 on Black Friday, so we bought it from Target today. I'll probably use the $50 gift card on her. Target has a $10 coupon on a PS3 controller in their Christmas book, so it is only $45.
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Re: The Non-Wii thread

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

I was looking at the Black Friday ads. WM looks to have the Skylanders bundle on sale, and Target has the Lego Pharaoh's Quest Pyramid for $63. So I'll probably have to go kill a few people that morning.
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