Home Page Forums Archives MacMAME Next Gen Consoles...

I'm not much of a console gamer anymore but there was a time in my life when I was a fiend. Life kinda got in the way and even though I have an Xbox and a PS2, I rarely get excited about any of the games these days...

So now that the Xbox 360 is out and the PS3 is on the horizon...

I must admit I'm feeling a bit a draw for a next gen system. I'm pretty sure that the PS3 is going to be the better overall system, but it won't be released until mid 2006 it sounds like, so I'm actually thinking about getting an Xbox 360.

Anybody else in the same boat? Anybody already have an Xbox 360... what do you think? How about those of you waiting it out for the PS3, what are your thoughts? Just some random questions... thanks for any response.

ywaahhn.

I bought a gamecube.

Pikmin was cool. So was wave race... but it was a port of an n64 game. And since the first 2 days of gamecube... nothing interesting / new has come out... just a bunch of 3d garbage.

Personally, I still enjoy playing my arcade cabinet. All of the new junk on the consoles is just a substitute for real life... many times the games lose their lustre after about 60 hours. Most of the games are just "experiences" packaged on DVD media, rather than being a fun abstract mind or hand-eye challenge. Now granted... 60 hours is a lot of time to spend with something... if you are enjoying it.. that's a lot of fun to have had. For me though, I get bored of the new games just reading the packaging. So 60 hours would be more of a prison sentance. In fact, I can't even bother to do read the packages anymore. It's just boring.

I do regret not having bought a PS2 so I could have played the new GTA (which I enjoyed on the playstation.) I'd have to say that finding a particular console defining game like that is pretty rare though.

Some of the race games will definitely benefit from extra realism. I'm more intersted in the broadband capabilities of the new systems than the polygons. I have to admit, I'm very intrigued by the idea of playing a game like MarioCart or fighting games with other people. Alas... I'm not interested enough to actually invest $500 on games / equipment to find out if its really that cool. I think I'd rather spend that $500 on a downpayment for a new pinball machine.

The PS2 was our first DVD player. And until good games came out for it, we used it almost exclusively for DVDs.

The PS3 may eventually be our first HD DVD player. If it's capable of playing cool games too, bonus. But I have yet to see a single game title that makes any of the next gen systems appealing to me. Just more eye candy.

You can play Mario Kart online on the NDS for $129 (system) + $49 (game) if you have a WiFi base station :-) But having a Gamecube and not playing Paper Mario: The 1000 Year Door will be punishable by death when I rule the world. It's that good. And REZ on the PS2 is more abstract and old-skool than thou, but good luck finding one of the 5,000 copies Sega made.

Back to topic: I have a 360. The first-gen software is, uhh, first-gen, although I'm really getting into Kameo. It's got all the things that made Rare's N64 platformers modern classics, several of their more annoying traits attenuated, and a full symphonic score (as in, performed by a real symphony orchestra and choir). And it looks great in hi-def. Also, the controller is much improved over the original Xbox.

That said, I still expect a better lineup on the PS3, and potentially the most fun originals on the Revolution (heck, I'll buy one just for the NES/SNES/N64 back compatibility though).

Incidentally, it's ok to love the classics, but dismissing modern games out of hand as "just eye-candy" is extreme lameness. For instance, the PS2 had SSX at launch, which is *still* insanely fun, and wasn't possible at all in 2D...

IMHO, the DS is the system of the year. So many great games out for it (especially if you're into importing).

Nothing on Xbox intererests me (the original or the 360). But I'm not really into the FPS/Racing/Sports lineup of games that it seems to cater to.

I tend to like the quirky weird games, so I'm most looking forward to PS3 (should have the best selection of games) and Revolution (the new controler alone will insure new playstyles).

But that's just me.

Being a "cheapass", I live for the last generation or even 2 generations ago.

So, I'm still loving my Dreamcast(s) I started collecting 2 years ago.. For under $250, I've bought/downloaded every game and peripheral I wanted. Plus, I run emulators and homebrew like MAME, Colecovision, Gameboy, etc. and mp3 and svideo players.

I own a dance pad, 2 sets of Sega maraca's, an official agetec arcade stick, various lightguns, a keyboard, a VGA adapter, steering wheels, etc. etc. etc. Because I've bought whole systems bundled with the games/controllers I wanted, I have also collected 4 systems, 10 memory cards, and about 8 regular controllers. I've got one system for each room of the house with a TV or a monitor. And, I've sold off the extra stuff (like my Soul Calibur after it kept kicking my ass!).

Oh, and I hacked a PS hip-gear Screen Pad to run on generic RCA jack inputs. So, I can play in bed with the dreamcast on my nightstand by using a PS to DC converter. Or with my iBook using the PS to USB converter and the video out adapter.

I have probably $1,200 worth of dreamcast stuff if I had bought it all new at time of release.

So, by the time I get tired with the dreamcast in 5 or 6 years, I'll sell it all and buy my first PS3 or Xbox360 for $20 on eBay and start over again!

Now I gotta get me a Zodiac after being clued in on my OT thread! Zodiac v1's sometimes go for under $100 now on eBay. For a system that can run a zillion games, play MP3's, has PalmOS, runs wireless LAN, 2 SD expansion ports, and controls built for gaming.

Jon

SSX Tricky and Super Monkey Ball were excellent games on the 'Cube. I think I'm going to get a Revolution, just because it's different. That and the backwards compatibility...

I had paper mario.

Maybe I didn't play it long enough. I found it insufferable.

So, make sure I'm the first up against the wall when the revolution comes.

You want to know what's "lame?" The fact that any of these next gen consoles beats the pants off of any modern home computer in terms of all the technology that's inside of them. And yet all they can think of doing with all that technology is making race car paint look shinier and more reflective, ninjas that wiggle more when they throw a punch, and magicians that can cast spells that fill the screen with even more random and glowing particles.

The hardware running the games these days far surpasses what used to pass for "supercomputers." And with all the various technologies converging (computing power, control options, connectivity options, media size, etc.) the games are merely evolutionary...not revolutionary. I'd love to be proven wrong and see someone do something really fun and innovative with the new hardware. But until then I'll keep playing the last gen stuff and stand firmly by my "eye candy" remark.

If anyone does, it will be Nintendo. They're the only company not afraid to try something new.

They try new stuff in hardware, like the two screens and stylus on the DS, the motion-sensing controller on the Revolution, even the Power Glove on the NES.

They try new stuff in software, too. Zelda made the non-linear RPG genre, for example.

If anyone's going to go against the mould, it will be Nintendo.