Comments on: Gathering http://www.gazimoff.com/2009/03/21/gathering/ Ramblings of a geek in an insane world Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:31:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Gazimoff http://www.gazimoff.com/2009/03/21/gathering/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Gazimoff Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:07:00 +0000 http://www.gazimoff.com/?p=167#comment-27 I completely agree with you on the Wii. Apart from a couple of gems it really doesn't have the depth of compelling titles for my kind of game playing. I think the best finds have been downloadable ones from the Wii Store, where I managed to pick up ports of the old Super Mario games. In the main though I think most of my collection are first-party Mario or Zelda titles with the only exceptions being Guitar Hero (excellent but also on other platforms) and Mortal Kombat (absolutely dire). I think the problem is when you move on from the Wii to the Xbox 360 or PS3. If you're starting out fresh it's all much of a muchness, with arguments on both sides of the fence. I guess what I'm trying to say is that once you have either of them, it's much harder to justify buying the other. One of the deciding factors that pushed me into the Xbox camp was that most of my friends had one and I wanted to ensure a reasonable chance of being able to hook up for multiplayer sessions. That and it was easier for me to part with £300 than £400 once you factor in a couple of games, a 2nd controller and the stupid £60 wireless adaptor the Xbox needs. On PS3 multiplayer though, Sony charge developers for the network transport costs rather than the end user. It means that on top of licensing and approval costs, as a developer you also have these variable costs just to support players downloading the game. On the Xbox 360 the costs are instead pushed out to the end user in the form of a subscription allowing the developer to more accurately predict what it'll take to put a downloadable game on the platform. There's benefits to both models (wider target market vs. fixed cost distribution) and it's going to take a while to see which one is ultimately more favoured. I completely agree with you on the Wii. Apart from a couple of gems it really doesn’t have the depth of compelling titles for my kind of game playing. I think the best finds have been downloadable ones from the Wii Store, where I managed to pick up ports of the old Super Mario games. In the main though I think most of my collection are first-party Mario or Zelda titles with the only exceptions being Guitar Hero (excellent but also on other platforms) and Mortal Kombat (absolutely dire).

I think the problem is when you move on from the Wii to the Xbox 360 or PS3. If you’re starting out fresh it’s all much of a muchness, with arguments on both sides of the fence. I guess what I’m trying to say is that once you have either of them, it’s much harder to justify buying the other. One of the deciding factors that pushed me into the Xbox camp was that most of my friends had one and I wanted to ensure a reasonable chance of being able to hook up for multiplayer sessions. That and it was easier for me to part with £300 than £400 once you factor in a couple of games, a 2nd controller and the stupid £60 wireless adaptor the Xbox needs.

On PS3 multiplayer though, Sony charge developers for the network transport costs rather than the end user. It means that on top of licensing and approval costs, as a developer you also have these variable costs just to support players downloading the game. On the Xbox 360 the costs are instead pushed out to the end user in the form of a subscription allowing the developer to more accurately predict what it’ll take to put a downloadable game on the platform. There’s benefits to both models (wider target market vs. fixed cost distribution) and it’s going to take a while to see which one is ultimately more favoured.

]]> By: SPOL-E http://www.gazimoff.com/2009/03/21/gathering/comment-page-1/#comment-26 SPOL-E Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:37:11 +0000 http://www.gazimoff.com/?p=167#comment-26 As far as I'm concerned, the best reason to get a PS3 is Little Big Planet (http://www.littlebigplanet.com/). Mapp points out that the Wii doesn't have many good games (just a lot of crap ones) and the 360 has the red ring of death issue which he is wary of. The 360 also charges for multiplayer use (the PS3 doesn't), but while the PS3 is not perfect, it sure is reliable, and we have never had a problem with ours. Games aren't region-locked so you can buy games as import from the US if you're desperate. I can categorically say that the Wii has not even been touched since the new year. The PS3 fills our consoling needs pretty well! As far as I’m concerned, the best reason to get a PS3 is Little Big Planet (http://www.littlebigplanet.com/). Mapp points out that the Wii doesn’t have many good games (just a lot of crap ones) and the 360 has the red ring of death issue which he is wary of. The 360 also charges for multiplayer use (the PS3 doesn’t), but while the PS3 is not perfect, it sure is reliable, and we have never had a problem with ours. Games aren’t region-locked so you can buy games as import from the US if you’re desperate.

I can categorically say that the Wii has not even been touched since the new year. The PS3 fills our consoling needs pretty well!

]]> By: Gathering | Online Gaming http://www.gazimoff.com/2009/03/21/gathering/comment-page-1/#comment-25 Gathering | Online Gaming Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:30:43 +0000 http://www.gazimoff.com/?p=167#comment-25 [...] post by Gazimoff’s geekBlog [...] [...] post by Gazimoff’s geekBlog [...]

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