The Song Fight Bulletin Board

i don't know if any of you managed to catch the bullshit unveiling of the xbox 360 on mtv, but i know i was disappointed. i just finished watching the 1 hour and 50 minute (!!!) unveiling of the ps3, and i'm speechless. it looks absolutely amazing. anyhow, here's the page if you have a patience to check it out.

here's the article, with the link to the video in it

i can't wait!

...and they also had a real time rendering of the opening sequence of final fantasy VII, which made me piss myself!

The PS3 looks like complete shit. That is the absolute fucking worst controller design ever. The machine will outperform X360, but damn, it looks atrocious.

E3 is great this year, though. Revolution!

i know. i'm really, really, really looking forward to the new nintendo.

the actual system (ps3) doesn't look bad, at least it's a step up from the ps2. but yeah, that controller is pretty fucking horrible. oh well, what the machine can produce is what i'm excited about.

i still can't conjur up any excitement over the new xbox though.

It's hard to say until you hold that kind of thing. The handles look weird, but I can see how they'd be perfectly comfortable, too.

It's possible, but I immediately think of the backlash suffered by Nintendo when they revealed the N64 controller. That thing turned out to be very comfortable, but tons of people were turned off by the design.

PS3 will be the most powerful of the bunch, but I'm far, far more excited by the Revolution, if only for this one quote:

"It's a virtual console, able to download 20 years of Nintendo content. You will be able to Download NES, Super NES and N64 games. You can get every Nintendo game ever made."

Backwards compatibility with GameCube, the ability to play any game* from any (worthwhile) Nintendo console, integrated wifi (rumored to be free, unlike XBox Live), and most importantly, cheaper production costs. EA has already stated that games produced for the other next-gen systems will carry retail costs of $70-80, due to production costs rising to at least $800,000 per PS3/X360 game. The demos we've seen on those systems (Madden, racing) are undeniably impressive, and the casual gamer isn't smart enough to choose content over graphics, but I think the significantly cheaper production costs of the Revolution will be of huge help to Nintendo. Really, the only thing that remains to question of the Revolution is the controller. Depending on how innovative it is, the controller may turn third-party developers away if games are too hard to make/port for it. [Nintendo president Satoru] Iwata has publicly stated that the Revolution may be too innovative for most third parties to handle.

PS3 sports the better specs so far (if only because Sony likes to outright lie, and beef up its specs), and X360 already has a strong lineup ahead (160 games planned, Perfect Dark Zero at launch, Halo 3 to be released alongside PS3), but still, I'm fully on board for the Revolution, even if it turns out like the last couple Nintendo systems, with amazing first-party titles better than any other games on the market and little to no third-party support.

* The original statement is ambiguous. Whether Revolution will play any game on Nintendo consoles past, or only Nintendo-developed games, remains to be confirmed. I'd bet on the latter.

i'd get a revolution purely for the first-party developed games (i.e. mario party/kart, super mario, legend of zelda, metroid.. blah blah blah)

i've been a nintendo fanboy since the NES was released way back then, and imagine i will be until the company dies. they may not always be in the top teir of the graphics, but they make some of the most enjoyable games i've ever played.

[edit] oh, and as far as the back-catalogue on the revolution, from the info i've read, the entire library of games will be available. my guess is a lot of strings had to be pulled, but that's what i've read.

Whatever, john m, you are crazy if you think the PS3 controller is wack. It looks way easier to hold onto than the current Dual Shock controllers. Ever tried playing Amplitude? They use three of the shoulder buttons plus the D-pad, plus the X button and on the harder levels it can be a real pain to move your fingers quickly enough because you just run out of hand to hold the controller with. They might have gone a bit too stylized by pulling the "horns" back so far, but it looks like it's gonna be easier to manhandle.

Just so anyone else can see how ugly it is:

http://media.ps3.ign.com/articles/614/6 ... 86347.html

I have not played Amplitude, but I have played games where I must act as you describe (a good game in any iteration of NBA Street, for example); I have no problem manipulating the Dual Shock, though it is certainly not as comfortable as the GC controller. I maintain that the PS3 controller sucks hard, at about the same level as the original at-launch, fucking huge XBox controllers.

are those thumbpads flat?! i just noticed that.

if they are, it would lower my opinion of the design.

that looks a lot easier to hold onto than the dual-shock. it's like two little penises, and we all know about holding penises now don't we.

jb wrote:like two little penises, and we all know about holding penises now don't we.

Two at once?

Yeah, that's how you get $$. Twice the money, in fact.

Another interesting thing about the Revolution is it looks like Nintendo is taking note of their underdog position and reevaluating their business model; a <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2005/05/19/ni ... BoingBoing post</a> points out that they're opening things up so that independent game developers can develop for the Revolution too.

Maybe they've realized they can't keep ahead of the hardware game and are repurposing themselves as a software company which happens to also sell the hardware their software runs on (sort of like Apple).

Or, at the very least, it means they're letting other developers get into their downloadable games portal, which is still Very Cool.

A move like this just might make me a Nintendo fan again (even if they <em>did</em> get me fired from Ubisoft because they didn't like some things I wrote on my weblog, though honestly I hold no grudge since I was working up the nerve to quit anyway and it came at a very convenient time).

Kapitano wrote:

jb wrote:like two little penises, and we all know about holding penises now don't we.

Two at once?

one in two hands.

blue wrote:

Kapitano wrote:

jb wrote:like two little penises, and we all know about holding penises now don't we.

Two at once?

one in two hands.

Lucky hands. Who do they belong to?

God damn, Ive barely gotten 10 games for my ps2.

I don't know why everyone freaks out so much about launch controllers. There will be other 1st and 3rd party designs out probably around the same time as launch. Also, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Dualshock is compatable. The PS1 controller was completely compatible with PS2 with the exception that there were no l3/r3 buttons.

Here's my thoughts on Nintendo.

Over the last 10 years, I had noticed that Nintendo seemed to be producing kid's games almost exclusively. So the last Nintedo system I bought was the N64, and I've since stayed away from Nintendo, not buying a GBA or GC. The idea that they were 'kid systems' turned me off.

Then I realized that Nintendo has always been a kid system. It's just that I'm not a kid anymore. I still love the old NES and SNES titles, kiddy as they are. Nintendo isn't trying to keep up with me - they're letting Sony and Microsoft do that - Nintendo is trying to keep with the younger gamers. They're trying to rear a new generation of people who in twenty years will go "dude, remember Majora's Mask? let's download that into our mindchips and V-play that."

But maybe I just need to quit being silly and play a damn platform game starring a furry animal, and maybe I'll enjoy the hell out of it. I should get out of this "RPG's, fighters, and FPS's only" rut. I mean, the last platform I played was DK COUNTRY for god's sake.

Anyways, I'll keep an eye on the console cold war, but there's a good chance that there will be two consoles sharing shelfspace.

I second that comment about nitendo making kids consoles. Although I am tempted to grab a N64 and get some pokemon snap action going.

And the orignal dual shock made for games like ape escape on the playstation work fine on my ps2.

Now the real question is wether the ps3 will have a built in multi-tap. Sure many people are like "why do 4 player gaming when you can do 1000 player gaming online" and the answer is simple; I can't punch those 1000 people after they frag my ass with a grenade.

But, but, Windwaker!

Also, Resident Evil 4 was ported to the GC. Definitely *not* a kiddy game. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within was also ported to the GC. Definitely *not* a kiddy game. Granted, these are third party titles, but still.

i'm convinced that the neo-geo is the greatest console ever.

NeilThrun wrote:Now the real question is wether the ps3 will have a built in multi-tap. Sure many people are like "why do 4 player gaming when you can do 1000 player gaming online" and the answer is simple; I can't punch those 1000 people after they frag my ass with a grenade.

PS3's controllers are wireless (and use Bluetooth), so conceivably there's no need for a multitap. Games should be able to support as many controllers as they want (well, as far as bandwidth allows anyway) though I'd imagine that they'll have a hard time supporting more than 5 or so.