[squeek]

So one next-gen console is out, MS Xbox 360, and a two more are round the corner, Nintendo Wii and PS3.  I'm going to get a Wii because they look more fun that the others, it's more innovative, and it's cheaper, £180.  It looks like it's got a lot of games that I'll like and I've heard good things from a lot of developers for it, saying they're going to support it and it's easy to develop for, so it should get a good stream of games coming out for it.  It's small for transporting between my house and my better half's house too.  Plus my brother has a gamecube and it's backwards compatible with those games and controllers.

I've played on my friends xbox 360 and thought it was good, but wasn't overly impressed.  Xbox Live did see well thought out, and the little games you can download seemed like a good idea.
If some great games comeout (Bioshock looks promising) and it gets a little cheaper next year I could get one, but maybe not.  I think they're big and ugly, although the trick that makes the case look curved when it's not is neat.

I've not been impressed with the PS3 at all really, I think it looks like a fat george foreman grill, i'm not bothered about blu-ray, it's really expensive, maybe £400 for the one with 60gig hard drive, and the games are more expensive.  It also won't be out until next year here and it doesn't seem to be offering a lot of games I couldn't get on other platforms, ie Xbox 360 or PC.

What's your view?

[SA Chris]

I only ever get the PS1 one out after a few beers and have a go at GT, Worms, Micromachines or Tekken. Anything else is way too complicated for me now.

[Bubba]

MS have blown the PS3 out of the water with the 360.

The PS3 won't really offer anything better than the 360, will cost more, and won't come out here until next spring at the earliest. It will also only offer a few games that you can't get on the 360 so I'm not bothered about that aspect either.

Not interested in the Wii because the games don't really float my boat. Price isn't really an issue, it's only £20 cheaper than the 360. It doesn't even support proper HiDef, does it? It doesn't have the power of the 360 so I just can't see the point.

360 is perfect for me because it lets me play Halo 2 in Hi-Def and also good games are starting to be released now - I'm currently playing Test Drive Unlimited which is excellent, and I have Dead Rising waiting to be played. Halo 3 will be coming out next spring and that will pretty much be the decider for this generation's console war.

[Goose]

I'm pretty keen on the Wii, seems to just be fun, and that's all I really look for the Elebits game sounds like a great laugh in a world without carbon you hunt down little pokemon style animals to fuel your family/house world.  I've also just been sent a free PSP (thanks to a bargain phone deal)  and it's at my folks place any views on a decent batch of titles to pick up tmro for a play?

[squeek]

Wii doesn't support any hi-def, widescreen and progressive scanning only, but it doesn't bother me.  I wouldn't get a core 360, so it's still a bit of a difference between the 360 and wii, although not enough to bother me.  I haven't seen anything on the 360 that I couldn't get a similar equivolent on my PC although to be fair I've not really been looking at 360 games. 
Bubba: On a sidenote have you got your 360 running copied games yet?

The wii just looks really good with the controllers, having two blades move on screen as if you're holding them, zooming in when you move your hand forwards and backwards.  Shooting on the screen where you want to shoot. Actually turning the controller to turn on driving games, etc.

Fair enough the wii isn't as powerful, but I think the interface and games look like they'll be more interesting and invlolving to play.  A poor game running a googillion polygons in super hi-def is still poor.  Spent most of the time at my friends who has a 360 playing columns II on his xbox and gemotery wars on his 360, not exactly cutting edge stuff, but good to play.

Interesting article about it here, although it's japenese based so hardly mentions the xbox360 because it's never going to do well in Japan:
http://uk.gamespot.com/events/tgs2006/story.html?sid=6158043

[Bubba]

 
Bubba: On a sidenote have you got your 360 running copied games yet?

No - not going to mod this console because live will sniff me out if I do....

The really good games won't start coming out for the 360 for a little while yet - ps2/xbox games have only recently really pushed the hardware to it's limit. The devs didn't have much time between the release of dev-kits and the 360 launch so most games so far have been ports/rushed out. In a year's time the amazing games will start to come imho.

[Moo]

I'm definatley gonna be gettin a ps3 mainly because its gonna have the next metal gear solid (guns of the patriots) and that is pretty much all I care about. i've played on an xbox 360 and wasn't overly impressed they are'nt light years ahaed of the normal xbox, and if you buy a  console to play games online then you also probably have sex with animals.

[squeek]

if you buy a  console to play games online then you also probably have sex with animals.

Where as playing on your own is so cool and impresses the ladies. 

£400 is a lot of money just to play Metal Gear Solid 4.  Well you also get a Blu-ray drive, but Sony just wants that to succeed so they have the ownership of the technology instead of adhering to standards.  I mean they are Sony so they should be able to invent all different types of media that everyone else should use.   It's one thing that really annoys me about Sony as a company.  I don't think the PS3 will do as good as they were hoping for a few years ago, unless they manage to drop the price quite a bit, or Blu-ray really takes off.  Apparently the Cell is good enough to last for 10 years it's so advanced, so I can wait for 3 or 4 until the system and games are cheaper and I'll be able to see if the games are good.

[Moo]

No doubt it will be uber expensive but I won't buy the first release I'll wait till they drop the price and fix all the manufacturing bugs first. I've alsways been a bigger sony fan than nintendo or x box, i prefer the style of games which get released I'm not inot the toon style games you see alot of on nintendo like mario kart and smash bros.

[moose]

Word is that the games studios have been very underwhelmed with the PS3 - difficult to develop for and Sony are being a bit arsey.  Also the costs of making next gen games are so huge that programmers may well have to do "one size fits all" type multiformat releases that take very little advantage of any differences in capability between formats.  A sign of this seems to be that format exclusives are a hell of a lot rarer than they used to be (exclusive now just seems to mean that some people just have to wait a little longer). 

That, and the delays / shortages of blu-ray mean there is probably little point in waiting for the PS3 - the release is already looking like a PR disaster rather than a cleverly managed "shortage" intended whet people's appetites (400,000 for USA, 100,000 for Japan the last I heard, and you can bet the UK/EU will get shafted until those core territories are happy).  My own view re the relative merits of the next gen is that if you just want games like those of the current generation, but with better graphics and online facilities, and own the HDTV to display them (the test on some games is reportedly illegible without one), then you may as well get an Xbox360 - the PS3 will probably be no better.  If you want something cheap and different, and don't mind graphics on a par with later stage Xbox games, then the Wii is probably the one to go for.  The control system sounds fantastically fun and intuitive and the "virtual console" emmulator supposedly has lots of support  for retro-gaming fans.  It's the same kind of for/against, novelty versus straight power aguements as the DS versus the PSP.

[Bubba]

I'm definatley gonna be gettin a ps3 mainly because its gonna have the next metal gear solid (guns of the patriots) and that is pretty much all I care about.

i've played on an xbox 360 and wasn't overly impressed they are'nt light years ahaed of the normal xbox

They are way ahead of the old xbox in terms of hardware, but no, the games aren't light years ahead...yet. And if you don't like the 360 then the PS3 is offering similar specs so be prepared to be underwhelmed

Fair enough about MGS - that, Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy are really the only reasons for getting a PS3; but I'm not a big fan of MGS or FF so not that bothered.

and if you buy a  console to play games online then you also probably have sex with animals.

If I had to pick one game from all time, then it would be Halo 2 online. But I am a sheep-shagger I suppose.

[Bubba]

and own the HDTV to display them (the test on some games is reportedly illegible without one), then you may as well get an Xbox360

I can't afford an HDTV at the moment, so I play my 360 through my PC monitor, which gives proper HD at a fraction of the cost; all you need is the appropriate lead.

 Once you've played on HD you'll find it hard to go back to a normal telly - it's an amazing difference.

[squeek]

I can't afford an HDTV at the moment, so I play my 360 through my PC monitor, which gives proper HD at a fraction of the cost; all you need is the appropriate lead.

Is that a HDMI lead into an LCD monitor, or do you have a different lead into a CRT monitor?  Just wondering... although I actually have a HDTV at my house, and at the girlfriends.  And I won't even get to watch the Ryder cup in HD because I'm out all weekend 

[Bubba]

It's a CRT monitor, but HD geeks all say that CRT still offers the better quality over plasma/lcd so I'm a happy bunny.

It's this lead

[Fiend]

What's your view?

With Prey, Half-Life 2 Ep1, and Oblivion still to play, and HL2 Ep2, Dark Messiah, Dawn Of War Dark Crusade, Guild Wars Nightfall, Gothic 3, Bioshock coming out in the future, I haven't seen anything to tempt me away from the PC yet...

[moose]

It's a CRT monitor, but HD geeks all say that CRT still offers the better quality over plasma/lcd so I'm a happy bunny.

it's for that reason that a lot of HDTV purchases strike me as misguided vanity.  Until HDTV becomes bog-standard for broadcasting a lot of people who are buying HDTVs are probably experiencing poorer day-to-day picture quality than they would done with their big old CRTs.

[Moo]

I'm with fiend wish I could afford my own pc though  but then i would just get fat playing counterstrike source all the time

[Bubba]

The problem with PC gaming is the price - a high-end graphics card alone can cost more than an XBOX 360, and unless you have a pretty spanky PC, you'll have trouble running many modern games how they were meant to be run.

Personally, I much prefer playing with a controller as opposed to mouse/keyboard, but that's really just what I'm used to.

[Fiend]

Bubba I'm playing on a PC that's nearly 3 years old, and it was high spec but not top of the line then. And that runs D3, Q4, HL2 and other such hogs fine. Apparently Prey runs better than HL2. And the Dark Messiah demo ran very well with nearly everything maxed... I must confess I'm a bit surprised at this but I guess requirements have reached a temporary plateau since D3 (which I do have to run at 800x600 to use anti-aliasing and whomp the other settings up - even so it looks bloody good). And to improve the situation I'd probably only need a new GFX card.

[squeek]

Personally, I much prefer playing with a controller as opposed to mouse/keyboard, but that's really just what I'm used to.

FPS are only made to be played with a keyboard and sensitive mouse, I have done many, many hours of research and using a controller on a FPS is poor.  It annoys me every time I play them.  Obviously it's my preference, but I don't know anyone who has spent a lot of time on a controller and mouse/keyboard who thinks the controller is better.

Ahh those were the days, racking up the hours on theclq.com playing counter strike on the massacre servers... 

[Bubba]

I've played quite a few shooters on the PC, but still haven't been converted to using a mouse/keyboard. The mouse bit isn't so bad, but the keyboard sucks.

Anyway, PC and Console gamers are never likely to agree on much.

If I had to choose just one gaming platform though, I'd choose a 360 over a high-end PC.

[Fiend]

Anyway, PC and Console gamers are never likely to agree on much.

No we're not! 

[drdeath]

I have a feeling the Wii controller could be the best for 1st person shooters that we have yet seen...it beats the joypad hands down for aiming and the keyboard hands down for moving...hmmm, interesting...shame there won't be much 1st person action on the launch (and i don't really like metroid)

D

[moose]

I have a feeling the Wii controller could be the best for 1st person shooters that we have yet seen...it beats the joypad hands down for aiming and the keyboard hands down for moving...hmmm, interesting...shame there won't be much 1st person action on the launch (and i don't really like metroid)
D

Aye, from what I have heard about it being used to shoot a bow and arrow in Zelda the Wii controller could be ace for shooters.  Unfortunately the japanese are famously apathetic re FPS games and Nintendo and their core developers do like to please their home market. 

Latest re the PS3 incidently is that Sony are already concerned enough to have knocked 20% off the price of the budget version (20gb drive) prior to launch.   So far it's a Japan only offer though (I don't think the 20 gb was ever going to be released in the UK).  Be interesting to see how it does considering that the Xbox360 will have an range of budget-priced games out to tempt people wary of spending 50 quid a throw.

[squeek]

shame there won't be much 1st person action on the launch (and i don't really like metroid)

There's Red Steel, call of duty 3, and Far Cry. Although the screen shots for Far cry look pretty poor, especially compared with the ones for something like Gears of War  (but they don't look like in game shots to me, even if they are what the game will look like).