Wii overtakes 360 Worlwide

Well, we all knew it was going to happen, and now it has. The Wii has shipped 10.57 million consoles, overtaking the 360s 10.51 in just half the launch time. So what does this mean? Well firstly, it means Nintendo is that bit richer which it can put to making new games, and when it comes to the next generation, can have a console that makes a loss on each sale (Like Sony and Microsoft) allowing them to put more stuff in their consoles. Also, it means that game developers will see that Wii is where the money is because it has the biggest market so will put more energy in to developing games for it. For anyone who cares, the PS3 is on 4.32 million. All figures come from vgchartz

If anyone knows about the Apple vs. PCs ads, there is an amusing collection of spoofs ones advertising the PC here.

Nintendos First Mistake

So far Sony has been the only company to make major mistakes when it comes to PR. Both Nintendo and Microsoft have steered clear of upsetting me. However, Nintendo has slipped up. I am talking primarily about ignoring the UK. This is almost a cardinal sin as far as I am concerned. Not just because I live in the UK, but because hundreds of thousands of avid gamers do too. What have we done to deserve this second rate service that we always get. PS3 launching at almost twice the price in the UK, not receiving a price drop, getting a downgraded console, much later launches and now this.

So what have Nintendo done. Well, I was on GS in a union (a mini-foum for a particular group of people) and I saw a post by YearoftheSnake detailing of a new Wii channel. If that wasn't exciting enough it was a Metroid Prime preview channel with streamable videos featuring the game. I nearly broke my TV remote in my eagerness to get this channel. I dived for the Wii Shop Channel to go look for it. The shop loaded up. I clicked on Wii Software, wondering when they were going to change it to Wiiware, and it wasn't there. After a brief amount of digging, I found this was a US channel. When I searched Google for it, displaying only UK pages, it found nothing. Through my digging, I also discovered that SSBB wasn't even coming out this year in the UK. However, I can understand that, they know there is going to be a huge amount of demand for it and they do need to physically produce it. However, something which is downloadable, there is no reason. They don't need to make copies of the files for each user. The only reason I can think of is streaming issues. However, I would prefer to have to watch it at an off-peak time than not at all. Seriously Nintendo, sort it out.

Also, I forgot one thing off my list, printed instruction manuals. They are really good as it gives you something to do once you have turned off your PC. Finally, I am going on holiday early tomorrow morning, will be back Thursday week.

Console Wars Summary

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I don't even have an excuse, how rubbish is that. However, I do have an article on the console wars for you. And the person who left the comment "ok" cheers!

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 was the first to be launched and has successfully established itself as a house hold name. The range of games is stunning, challenged only by the number of must have games. Titles such as Forza 2, Gears of War and Oblivion truly stand out, but are just a few of the games. Now, although these games might not all be unique to the 360, they are all done well, without any issues to the 360. One of the criticism leveled at the Xbox was the range of games, Microsoft has clearly learnt and improved. What continues to amaze me is more must have titles just keep coming. Haze, Halo 3 and Bio-Shock to name just a few. As the 360 was priced much cheaper than the PS3, most people expected the graphics to not be as good, however, a recent test done by GameSpot, shows this not to be the case. Another service worth noting is the Xbox Live Arcade, which has set the way for small developers to create more innovative games without needing funding from publishers (post coming soon)The system has only two very minor drawbacks, firstly, it is the only system where you pay for online play. However, the service that Microsoft offer is above and beyond what Nintendo and Sony are even pretending to offer. The other draw back is its film capabilities. It will cost you quite a bit to kit your 360 to play HD films, setting the price at about PS3 levels. On top of the fact that you will be using HD-DVD, the format that is losing at the moment. However, Microsoft did file the 360 under a games console rather than a advanced movie player. All in all, I will make the conclusion time in and time out, the 360 is a very rock solid console. It will provide you with games what ever your tastes and it won't let you down online. The 360 has well earned its price tag with its extensive range of games out now and promised for the near future.

Nintendo Wii

The Wii is the cheapest console. Its main selling point is the revolutionary controller. At first, many thought it would be gimmicky, but it really isn't. I will be the first to admit that with some games it is a little tacky and there are a lot of rubbishy party game on it for the moment. But they really don't do the controller or the system justice. The good games on the Wii at the moment are quite limited, but they are good. Zelda is an epic adventure game where the story will keep you entertained. Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz uses the Wiimote fantastically in single player and there are quite a few good multiplayer games. Failure to mention the hugely fun Wii Sports that is bundled with You must bare in mind that with something as wacky as the Wii, there has to be some experimentation, and with experimentation comes failure, but I hope developers learn from the failures. It is also worth noting the Wii Shop. This used to offer a wide range of NES, SNES N64 and other retro console games available for download. This service was good, but did not rival Xbox Live Arcade. However, Nintendo have now opened it up for smaller developers like the arcade. This is very good as the Wiimote lends itself excellently to mini games that fail when forced to elborate to a full £40 game.

Sony PS3

The PS3 is the most expensive console and the only console not to sell out. The PS2 had a massive following so this came some what as a surprise. However, it can probably be blamed on a bumpy road leading up to launch. Over the time between E3 2006 and the launch of the PS3 Sony has suffered a huge amount of media attack for downgrading their console, for loosing exclusives and angering customers. By the time of launch, combined with the effect of the 360 excellent games and the hype surrounding the Wii, no one had enough money left to buy a PS3. The reason why the PS3 is so expensive is because it features a blu-ray disk player. It is in fact the cheapest Blu-Ray player. However, I believe that the PS3 is just too expensive. The range of games, which is what people buy video game consoles for, is limited to say the least. The fact that the graphics weren't better than the 360 also had an effect on the sales as that is why people would have bought it. All was not lost for the PS3, they still had some exclusives, yes people were annoyed about the delayed launch in the UK , but they could have forgiven Sony. Then they downgraded the console to not support PS2 and 1 titles, but just for Europe. For most, this was the final straw, they went out and bought a 360. Things have started to look up for the PS3 with exciting things like the exciting idea of Home amongst many other things, but for many it is too little too late.

In conclusion, the 360 is a very sturdy console that has a great deal of great games with some interesting ideas. The Wii is the most volatile console, but has pulled it off. There is promise of many new games coming to it and gives people more and more reasons to buy it. The PS3 is far too expensive at the moment, if the price was lowered by about £100 a lot more people would get it, then they could get more games and the whole circle would start turning again.

Blog Update

You know when somethings up when I do a blog update. Firstly, I would like to apologize for my recent post that was littered with spelling and grammatical errors. I forgot to do a spell check and re-read it. I have since corrected the errors and I will make sure it doesn't happen again.

Also, I have just launched a new blog of me and my friends new wacky idea. We are going to make our own ecosphere. If you don't know what that is, or would like to find out how that goes (I am actually going to do this,unlike most of my mad capped schemes, it is advancing at a very rapid rate) then check out the official blog here.

I am (hopefully) going to do a podcast tomorrow, at the URL in the sidebar. Be sure to listen to it, I haven't done one in ages. Show details will be released 5PM BST tomorrow and the show will be t 7PM. Make sure you listen and phone in. If you miss it, you will be able to listen to it here on this blog, you will find the player updated around half an hour after the show finished, so about 8 o'clock. Once again, this player is on the right.

Bad news now, Metroid Prime 3 is not going to be released until, at the earliest, the end of 2007, which will mean mid 2008. This game is looking like Halo 2. There is a huge amount of anticipation, so naturally they need to make it good. Ergo, it gets delayed again and again. At least there is Super Smash Bros Brawl and BWii (Battalion Wars 2) to look forward to. Full previews of those games coming soon.

Metal Gear Solids designer, Hideo Kojima, talked about the future of video games as well as dropping some subtle hints about the much anticipated MGS game. However, the discussion that ensued was more of a console war than anything else. Some ridiculous points were made, not least this one:

For me, I don't play for just "fun"

Pixelsword commenting on the problems of the Wii, or there was lines said by people who talk about stuff they don't have a clue about.

agree,20 gbs suck btw,i love my 60 gb know why?space=faster load times.

Umm...no, bigger hard drive means more space, RAM and processor effect the speed. You can read the full debate here, oh and hear what Mr. Kojima had to say, but why would you go to a news story about that, to read about that?!

Seriously, the console war has gone too far, makes good commentary though!