Which Next Gen Games Console (if any) Will you be getting...

[Adams1104]

.... and why? (just a question i thought would be good here)

[Space]

I'll get a Wii
so that I can play some GameCube and N64 games that I missed
( Metroid Prime 1 and 2, The wind waker, Majora's Mask, Goldeneye, Conker's bad fur day ... )

And the next-gen games if they are any good. ( I always wait for independent reviews before buying a game ).

[Mattk]

is the wii a 'next-gen' console ? i know its out soon but is vastly inferior when compared to the 360 and the ps3 which both play in hd.

i have a 360 and it is excellent but a console is only as good as its games.the ps3 will also be good,of course but the price tag of both it and its games is too high for me.

[Llamatron]

Could someone define 'next-gen' please.

[furrycheeky]

PS3 is next gen and on my shopping list. Wii is more of a gamecde with knobs on.

[Mattk]

imo,next gen means a console offering more than the previous generation in terms of specs.the wii seems to be on a par with what was already available.

[Booldawg]

everyone tells me the XBox 360 has problems with over heating and freezing. Anyone who has not given in to the next gen seems to be holding out for the PS3.

[Llamatron]

I read that developers are having trouble with the PS3 and that the 360 is much easier to code for.
I think Microsoft deliberately kept the development environment as easy to work with as possible which has paid dividends for them.

[Adams1104]

Yeh, the first batches of xbox360's did seem to have a lot of horror stories about scratching discs and overheating power supplies. But as product launches went for an electrical item, it actually had a medium / low rate of faults per unit sold on average fault/return.

If i had the money to splash right now, i'd have already bought one, there are 3 or 4 games that do take my fancy enough for me to warrent getting one. Saints Row (out soon), Dead Rising (out soon), Table Tennin (out now) and PGR3 (out now), to name just a handful. Plus the backward capatability with most games is appealing as i do have alot of ex-capital locked up in xbox1 games, which would be pennies to sell now, but worth keeping for gameplay value.

Not much has been shown of really what the PS3 applications will be like. Obviously sony have shifted out many graphical demos using the engines of some games, using the PS3 to run it off, and everyone's looking at it thinking it's going to be substantially more powerful, where the truth of it is, the ps3 vs xbox360 power wise, would be in the same range as the difference between the ps2 and xbox1, most developers will be making their games for, well all 3 consoles probably, so radical differences won't be too apparent. Either way, nowerdays, if you're looking for graphics in a game, you can't look at either 3 of these consoles, you have to look across to the PC, with some real next gen graphical revolutions in DX10 and the new windows apps, the PC again will leave consoles for dust when it comes to hardware implications.

[Adams1104]

I think for the most part, it will be the games that sell the consoles. everyone who kinda has a favourite console in their mind for the future will be subliminally thinking about a game or games they've seen on that specific machine. I think the proof will be in playing them all, i've had my mits on a friends Xbox360 a couple of times, and i've gotta say i was quite impressed with everything, inlcuding the integration of xbox live into every single game and general high level of gameplay standards throughout the ones i played. The Ps3 i don't know much about, but it looks like it's going to have all the biggest manufactures behind it, and will actually be unique in that it will be shipping with a blue-ray drive, which enables much larger storage capacity per disc, and also supposedly cut loading times. I also believe they're using dual core processors and 2 graphics cards (equivilent) for the gpu with some fat fat memory chaching. Anyone who has seen the UT2007 demo from ages ago will agree they have the resources to do pretty much anything a group of humans could program, graphically anyway.

As for nintendo, i again don't know much about it, but until you get your hands on it, there isn't a chance of being realistic about predicting whether it will be good or not. The proof innevitably will be in playing them all and seeing just how much of a revolution the Wii actually is.

(had to use two posts)

[SarCaustic]

I will most definitely buy a Wii this year, based purely on the merits of the controller, which promises innovative and intuitive gameplay and myriad possibilities for games. 3rd party support for the console is growing stronger buy the day, while industry support has been in something of a rapid decline of late (as reliably reported by Teletext page 305 on C4). In my opinion, the other 2 next gen consoles have nothing new to offer in terms of gameplay and are therefore redundant in my eyes...but maybe that judgement is a little premature, then again maybe not.

Mattk - how exactly does the lower tech spec of the Wii make it inferior? How many people do you know with a 1080p HDTV anyway? As you say quite rightly, a console IS only as good as its games and in that respect we'll just have to wait and see. Oh and by the way, the Wii is technically more powerful than current gen consoles.

Llamatron - each new wave of consoles is considered a new generation
e.g.
Pre-previous gen = SNES and Mega Drive
Previous gen = PlayStation, Sega Saturn, N64 and Dreamcast
Current Gen = PS2, Gamecube, Xbox
Next gen (soon to be current) = Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii

[Llamatron]

Adams1104 - I agree completely. Bravo.

SarCaustic - I asked for the definition of Next-Gen because Mattk asked if the Wii even qualified as next-gen.

Peoples obsession with hardware over software is one of my pet hates.

[doomey]

already have xbox 360 and will soon be having a wii ;)

[Jules001]

Ahhh where to start..

Firstly, the Wii IS next gen, despite not being as powerful as the PS3 or Xbox 360 it will be more powerful than the gamecube (i believe its 1.5 times more powerful, however may be wrong)

Also, is gaming about the graphics? Sure they help but in the end it boils down to gameplay, i know i'd much rather playing something like the original Mario Bros rather than GENERIC PS3 FIGHTER 53467 WITH FANCY GRAPHICS.

Anyway, all i had to say on the matter, i get annoyed if people slag off Nintendo, bit of a fanboy :p

[Adams1104]

Jules001, i know what you're saying about graphics not being the be all and end all. But alot of developers find that graphical limitations of the machines restrict gameplay aspects like 'number of characters on screen at once' or 'draw distance of enemies' etc. But yeh the game is the most important thing. It would have been amazing to think what the Wii would be like with top top top end graphics on it, with all the good stuff it promises.

[Elementor]

People saying that Wii is inferior because it's 'apparently' less powerful is ignorant.

N64, SNES and the MegaDrive didn't have 'good' graphics, but the games on these machines FAR exceed anything that has been released on any PlayStation or XBox. I'd rather play Goldeneye or Super Mario 64 any day than generic fighter 128 or racing simulator 79 now with enhanced tarmac graphics.

Specs do not make a gaming console, good games do. Generic cash cows do not make gaming consoles, innovation does.

[Elementor]

Oh and to make a comparison, AMD processor chips are apparently less 'powerful' but are far more effecient and as such are the better choice.

How is this the case if you go purely off the 'specs' of something?