Tuesday
Apr082008
Consoles are just dust in the wind
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 5:58PM
I twittered about this but I realized I wanted to write something more permanent in my blog. Saturday Xbox 360 #3 died - froze playing Assasin's Creed and then Red Ring of Deathed when I restarted it. Some more messing around Saturday established it was throughly borked - if I could get it to turn on at all it would lock up within five minutes or so.
Monday I called and spent a bit over 20 minutes dealing with their customer support before they agreed it was under warranty for Red Ring of Death. (Stupid stuff like plugging the console straight into the wall, as well as getting them to read their own computer system.)
The sucky thing is that GTA IV comes out in three weeks. I hope they get me a replacement before thing. Xbox #1 was nine days turnaround, Xbox #2 was 18. I'm hoping the trend isn't linear or I'll have to sit around for three or four days after GTA IV comes out.
Also, after having not watched a HD-DVD in months of course Netflix sent me a HD-DVD today (sigh). Gotta send that back now.
I wish this generation wasn't a choice between sucky, cheaply made hardware (the 360) and sucky, cheaply made online functions (the PS3).
Monday I called and spent a bit over 20 minutes dealing with their customer support before they agreed it was under warranty for Red Ring of Death. (Stupid stuff like plugging the console straight into the wall, as well as getting them to read their own computer system.)
The sucky thing is that GTA IV comes out in three weeks. I hope they get me a replacement before thing. Xbox #1 was nine days turnaround, Xbox #2 was 18. I'm hoping the trend isn't linear or I'll have to sit around for three or four days after GTA IV comes out.
Also, after having not watched a HD-DVD in months of course Netflix sent me a HD-DVD today (sigh). Gotta send that back now.
I wish this generation wasn't a choice between sucky, cheaply made hardware (the 360) and sucky, cheaply made online functions (the PS3).
Reader Comments (12)
Don't forget that the Sony hardware is also sucky, just not in the reliability way. It's more in the sucky to develop for / sucky SDK kind of way. Which you have to admit DOES affect the end user just as much as the other suckinesses mentioned.
Oddly, Assassin's Creed was also the time that I was most concerned that my 360 was going to bite it. I had quite a few hangs and "could not read disc" errors with that one, all the other games I've played since have been fine.
You could pick sucky, difficult, wii control scheme....
and drink the other blue kool-aid!
I don't have to admit that a sucky SDK affects the end user as much as repeated hardware failures, no. Is the PS3 SDK really any worse than the PS2 SDK? The PS2 tools sucked, yet the PS2 had the best games. Why? Because if you get enough market share it doesn't matter how bad the tools are.
And besides you're at best saying the PS3 has sucky *software*. I'm explicitly complaining about the cheapness of the 360 *hardware*.
As for the Wii, that's not even this generation. If you overclock a PS2, you have an overclocked PS2. If you overclock a Gamecube you have a Wii. Still last gen in my book :-)
Last gen, but still so very much fun!
That's what everyone tells me. Every time I've played one I've been quite distinctly underwhelmed. And it's not that I'm a graphics snob, it's that I haven't played any Wii games where the controller added to the experience. I *have* played shallow, gimmicky games that rely on the novelty of the controller for their "fun".
I'm overstating a bit of course, Wii Sports is fun for a bit of time. But it's still a *gimmick*, as opposed to a *game*. And it seems impossibly sloppy for any precision controls.
the gimmick is really fun!
I still remain unconvinced that the control is ....sloppy..... or, if that it is sloppy, that said sloppy-ness is a bad thing.
You want to run the experiment? Boot the console without a game and get into something that brings up the onscreen keyboard - for example to input a WiFi password. Now, hold the pointer steady on one key. See all that wiggling? That's slop. Now put Rayman Raving Rabbids, play one of those plunger-shooter levels and try to hold the target absolutely steady. Bet you can't. I believe there are two factors at work. First off, I suspect the IR positioning used by the Wii is very low-res. Second off, it's difficult to hold that remote steady. There's a reason why pistols aren't straight tubes, and it's ergonomic in nature.
NOW, put a incandescent lamp or lit candle next to the mis-named sensor bar. Whoops, just broke your controller, didn't I? If you have to *rearrange the room's lighting" for a game console, that's a fail. If your Christmas decorations can make your console unplayable? (Real actual example, from Tony's personal experience) Epic fail.
Of course, I'm not trying to make you dislike your console. You're happy with it, and that's a fantastic thing. I'm just trying to explain what it is that I've disliked about the controller every time I've played with a Wii.
It's like playing A FPS with a mouse and keyboard versus playing it with a dual analog controller, versus playing it with a digital pad. You *can* have fun with any of them, given a game that is well-designed for the controller. But at the same time, it's silly to argue that the mouse and keyboard isn't a more precise instrument than the controllers. That's what I mean by slop. It's the difference between using the stylus on a DS and using your fingertip. You can't hit specific pixels reliably on a Wii. You can make great games without needing that precision control, but it's tougher.
I have a secondary argument about the controller not having enough buttons, thus not having enough verbs, but this comment is too long already. :-)
I could spend time comparing my wii experiences and trying to convince you to give the wii a fair shake, but I fear that effort would be useless. Even after I provide counter arguments to the anecdotal evidence presented, those experiences are very hard to ignore, and those types of contests simply make enemies of friends. I think the kool aid is very tasty, and I suppose that will need to be enough for me.
"give the wii a fair shake" - Ah, I see what you did there. :-)
Obviously at the end of the day all assessment of entertainment is anecdotal in nature, except perhaps for terribly clinical things like my complaints about shakiness. And while that might be an objective measurement, it doesn't connect to "good game/bad game" very well. I'd argue it presents a challenge that a good Wii game must surmount, but I'm perfectly prepared to concede the *possibility* of surmounting it, even if I have not personally seen a game that does so.
Another critical element is that you and I are probably not pursuing the same types of entertainment from our gaming. I could cut cut gaming into three major spheres: single-player gaming, "local social" gaming where multiple people are in the same room, and online multiplayer. My contention is that the Wii is mostly about the second category: local social. As it turns out, I don't play games that way anymore. Karin isn't much into playing video games, and getting a group of my friends over to play is very difficult due to busy work and family lives.
Nintendo is downright hostile to the third category (online multiplayer) with their friend codes and subpar network offerrings. That leaves me with the first category - single player games. I will contend that almost nobody would argue that the Wii is strong in singleplayer games. There are a few good ones - Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, and Metroid (although I wouldn't personally play Metroid), but not that many, nor are there many on the immediate horizon.
Given that this comment thread is about me bemoaning my dead 360, suggesting a Wii as a replacement is a particularly tough path, *because the Wii and the 360 are not really competitors*. This is the more serious rephrasing of my "The Wii isn't even this generation" arch comment. While that's true at a technological level, at a more important level the Wii is aimed at a particular consumer, and that consumer is not me. It's aimed at the consumer who likes Super Smash Brothers. I'm not knocking people who like Smash Brothers, I'm noting that I personally do not like the game. (and perhaps noting that most reviewers recommend not using the Wii remote to play the game, opting instead for a Gamecube or "Wii Classic" gamepad.)
It's been a long time since "video games" was a single category, and comparing the Wii to the 360 is built on the assumption that they serve the same market segment. They don't. It's like if I complained my microwave was broken and you suggested buying a charcoal grill. Many people like both microwaves and charcoal grills, but *they don't do the same thing* at any practical level, despite the top level description of both could be "cooks food".
Well, it'd be like that if you were suggesting some fancy form of charcoal grill that wasn't actually available for sale anywhere near me anyway. I thought about getting a Wii to fill my 360 gap, figuring Mario Galaxy would probably hold me for a week or two, even if I didn't use it much after that one title. Guess what though: you still can't easily buy a Wii, at least in the Bay area. I didn't look exhaustively, but you still can't buy one from Amazon or Best Buy, or the local Gamestop. So on top of my other Wii-objections you have to add that I'd have to spend hours scouring the local Fry's, Toys-R-Us, Target, etc. stores - all the places I really hate to go.
"the Wii and the 360 are not really competitors"
Well said, particularly the microwave/BBQ comparison. Though I think you get a bit lost when getting into exotic charcoal. :-)
Are Wii units still that difficult to find? Wow. What about Amazon?
As I said above, "but you still can’t buy one from Amazon or Best Buy, or the local Gamestop." Amazon has some affiliate merchants selling them at over $300+ rates, but Amazon itself does not have Wii's in stock. Not even listed as something you can order from Amazon for fulfilling in some nebulous future. You can see that here: http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-0045496880019-Wii/dp/B0009VXBAQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1208322998&sr=8-1
It occurred to me that I'm probably looking at it the supply situation wrong. I keep thinking "Why is it so hard for Nintendo to build overclocked Gamecubes?", but then I realized - Nintendo *never* faced any serious demand for Gamecubes. Even the N64 wasn't hard to find after a few months, and I don't remember Cubes ever being out of stock from launch right on through. (In the US - not speaking to Japan or Europe here)