Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Reserved for modern gaming discussions.
ZetaX1
Posts: 577
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby ZetaX1 » November 16th, 2012, 1:13 pm

With the Wii U coming out this weekend, the start of the "Next Gen" is at hand.  What were some of the things from the current generation that you considered to be good or bad?  I'll throw some out for each console to start...

XBox 360
Good: Decent mix of games.  Generally fast installs and system updates.  Xbox Live (if you're into that.)
Bad: Red ring 'o death...need I say more?  Xbox Live (gotta pay extra to access Netflix? Don't I pay extra for that already?)
Meh: Changing the main menu was kind of cool, but adding a bunch of ads...not so much.
 
Wii
Good: The return of lightgun-type games.  Shooting zombies/deer/terrorists/tin cans is a lot of mindless fun, and the Wiimote works pretty well for that.
Bad: First person shooters.  This was claimed to be a great, near PC-with-mouse experience, but I found it to be severly lacking.
Meh: Motion/waggle...not always the greatest.  Last-gen graphics got kind of old.

PS3
Good: Most diverse 1st party lineup, especially when including downloadable games.
Bad: Slow as hell installs (some manditory? WTF?) and system updates.  Crazy initial price.
Meh: Playstation Move...that didn't workout so well.

Your thoughts?


snakeboy1
Posts: 1446
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby snakeboy1 » November 16th, 2012, 1:41 pm

[QUOTE=ZetaX]
Wii
Bad: First person shooters.  This was claimed to be a great, near PC-with-mouse experience, but I found it to be severly lacking.
[/QUOTE]

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree here.  I thought when done right - Goldeneye, CoD Black Ops, CoD World at War, Red Steel 2 - the controls were better than any FPS I've played with dual analog.

Another good for the Wii:  The return of 2D retail games with NSMB Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby, Sonic, Boy and His Blob, etc.

Atarifever1
Posts: 3892
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby Atarifever1 » November 16th, 2012, 9:26 pm

[QUOTE=snakeboy][QUOTE=ZetaX]
Wii
Bad: First person shooters.  This was claimed to be a great, near PC-with-mouse experience, but I found it to be severly lacking.
[/QUOTE]

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree here.  I thought when done right - Goldeneye, CoD Black Ops, CoD World at War, Red Steel 2 - the controls were better than any FPS I've played with dual analog.

Another good for the Wii:  The return of 2D retail games with NSMB Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby, Sonic, Boy and His Blob, etc.[/QUOTE]
I'm very comfortable with any of the set-ups.  I love WASD and mouse, dual analogs, and wiimote and Nunchuck.  The first FPS I played had a joystick with one button and a second controller that was a key pad.  And the first game I ever played had 4 directions and no button.  If I can make the adjustment from there, I really don't think any of the available schemes should trouble anyone. 

Wii: Good: "limited" graphics made "photorealistic" brown syndrome less common.  Wii Sports had everyone I know gaming for awhile.  Still watch Netflix on it now.  One of my all tiem favourite consoles. 
Bad: Any third party game that added motion controls anywhere where a button would have worked better. Also, any third party game thatdidn't take the system seriosuly, but ported to it anyway.
Meh: Nintendo Channel.

Xbox 360: Good: Price, Halo, Live Arcade, controller.
Bad: Too few exclusives, as those are the games I always feel are clearly developed from the ground up for the system. A subscription to access your Netflix subscription.  Don't paywall access to someone else's paywall.
Meh: Bing.

PS3: Don't have one so no informed comment.  Well, for bad, the Move looks like a sex toy.  Like, it honestly looks like they really wanted it to look like one.  Like a lot.  I can only assume they rushed it to market and the sex toy mold was the only one available at the plant they made them in in China that day.  It was like "we can go with the sex toy one, or we have to wait until next week." and so they said "yeah whatever, make em up." 




snakeboy1
Posts: 1446
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby snakeboy1 » November 16th, 2012, 10:29 pm

I think one thing that made it easier for me to adapt to Wii FPS controls was the fact that I hadn't spent the last 15 years playing console first person shooters.  The dual analog scheme wasn't ingrained in me.

I also like how Atarifever mentions how the Wii got everyone he knew gaming for awhile.  I remember when I was younger, my cousins had a Super Nintendo, and when we would go there for Christmas or any family gathering, I would always want to ask to play it but knew I would be told no because the adults were watching TV.  And now, over the past 5 or 6 years, it isn't unusual at all for everyone to play a Wii game at a family get-together.  It's really pretty amazing how the Wii has changed some people's view toward video games.

Weekend_Warrior1
Posts: 376
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby Weekend_Warrior1 » November 17th, 2012, 7:12 am

Wii: 
Good - Brought back light-gun games. Metroid Prime 1 & 2 and Resident Evil 4 were excellent with new controls. When done right, the motion controls worked well. Virtual Console game lineup was good. Wii Fit, Just Dance, EA Sports Active jumpstarted new fitness game craze. Backwards compatible with Gamecube games 
Bad -  Last-gen graphics. No quality control/too much shovel ware. Not all games were compatible with the Gamecube or Wii Classic Controller. Wii online was very limited/weak compared to XBLA and PSN. No real exciting original downloadable games. 
Meh - Couldn't even play DVD movies. No ethernet connection/Wi-Fi only. Gamecube games still required separate memory cards 
 
Xbox 360: 
Good - Great graphics. Many good exclusive titles. Controller was very well designed. Fast system and game updates when online. Xbox Live service was top-notch. Amazing variety of XBLA original games. Most XBLA games have free demos available for download. All disc-based games can be installed. Most multiplatform games look and run better on 360 versus PS3. Kinect re-introduced hands-free gaming (there's been attempts before), and added many interesting original titles that utilize it well, like Dance Central.  
Bad - Most if not all early 360 consoles were prone to failure. Earlier 360 units required a separate Wi-Fi adapter that was expensive ($100). Expandable hard-drives were overly-exspensive. Xbox Live also became expensive over time. Backwards compatibily with oXbox games was hit or miss with many great games never supported. Kinect is quite laggy and not being utilized in the 360's big games, unlike Move on the PS3. The 360 is also quite noisey and known to scratch discs beyond repair when move
Meh - A lot of good exclusive oXbox games haven't seen sequels on 360 - Crimson Skies, Mechassault, Quantum Redshift, Gun Metal, Blood Wake, Jade Empire, Kung Fu Chaos, Rallisport Challenge    
 
PS3:
Good - Onboard blu-ray player. Free online service. Many good original exclusive titles on disc and on PSN. Optional PSN Plus account offers tons of free games and 60 min time trials of brand new games. PS2 HD Collections are nice for fans of the original games. Many games now have 3D support which offers a great new immersive experience if you have a 3D tv/monitor. Optional Move support is nice on some games, like Killzone 3 and Socom 4. PS3 units are whisper quiet. DVD upscaling is excellent  
Bad - Initial launch price was a bit expensive (somewhat debatable).  Game and system updates are painstakingly long. Some games have mandatory installs. Not all games can be installed. Many third-party peripherals like Guitar Hero guitars require a USB dongle, unlike the 360. PS2 backwards compatibility was removed in later models. Early launch models were also prone to failure like the 360. Lost a lot of big exclusive titles to the 360 just prior to launch and shortly thereafter    
Meh - Sony didn't do any kind of marketing for PS Move! Buying all the Move accessories is quite expensive, especially when purchased separately. The online hacked accounts on PSN left a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths. 

Oltobaz1
Posts: 1605
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby Oltobaz1 » November 17th, 2012, 7:56 am

That's some good input Week End Warrior, allow me to shoot a few comments:

- The Wii does actually have ethernet connection, just not out of the box. There are ethernet adaptors floating
around, and they're not terribly expensive, but do represent an additional cost.

- 360 consoles are very fragile, but same goes for the PS3, really. I'm currently on my 3rd system.

- While most early multiplatformers games did look better on the 360, this changed over time. The situation is pretty even 
  these days, with one console occasionally edging the other.

- I fully agree with the HD PS2 titles being nice for fans of the original games. Just wish there were even more of these!

darkrage61
Posts: 1678
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby darkrage61 » November 17th, 2012, 12:35 pm

The PS Move is such a blatant Wii-Mote rip-off it's almost hilarious, the only real difference is that it has a light-bulb on the end, no wonder Sony never advertised that thing.  Move is also just as prone to lagging as Kinnect is.

Rev1
Posts: 1777
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby Rev1 » November 18th, 2012, 11:43 am

Wii
Good: The return of lightgun-type games.  SSBB, a better library of games then most people give it credit for (has close to 60-70 solid Wii titles), introducing older generations to games for the first time.
Bad: A very large proportion of bad games to good games. Last generation graphics, way too many old releases repackaged for the Wii (Mario Power Tennis, Resident Evil 1 and 0, Pikimin 1 and 2, etc... Seriously come out with something new) Wii Fit...
Meh: Metal Slug Anthology Motion Controls, way too many motion controls on games that didn't need them.

PS3
Good: Blue Ray Discs are great for collectors (hard to scratch) better cases then 360, over the last few years the PS3 has come out with a very large selection of console exclusive games, quite a few games that focus on the art of gaming (Flower, Heavy Rain, etc), mostly free online gaming, favorite controller of the generation, you don't have to buy batteries for the controllers that come with the actual console, HD Graphics
Bad: Hacked my Anonymous (people overreacted to this), Call of Duty now competes with sports titles for most releases on a yearly basis (MW1, 2, 3, Black Ops 1, 2)
Meh: Sony's free downloads after hacking were games that everyone already had.

360:
Good: Best online play (charges but you get what you pay for), very solid controllers, great graphics, HD graphics,
Bad: Flimsy discs and packaging, you seriously have to buy batteries for your controllers (for controllers that come with console), notorious for breaking down (especially in the first few years), Red Ring of Death, Your mom.
Meh: The white console design was kind of ugly although the Black console is smexy.

Weekend_Warrior1
Posts: 376
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby Weekend_Warrior1 » November 18th, 2012, 1:58 pm

@ Rev - The Wiimote also required AA batteries 

Herschie1
Posts: 202
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Disapointments (and pleasant surprises) from this gen.

Postby Herschie1 » November 18th, 2012, 4:26 pm

Madden has been by far the biggest disappointment of this generation. Terrible, terrible games!


Return to “Modern Gaming”