jammy2211

The PSP is never going to turn it around now. It will gain some sort of momentum from a redesign but really it's doomed. The fact is most people who use the PSP buy it to hack the firmware and use it for piracy and the such. The simple problem is games don't sell on the PSP now. If you look at the games charts America has a total of 0 games in their top 5, and Japan only has 2. Compare that to DS which has 11 games in the American top 50 and Japan has an incredible 30 out of the top 50 DS games (Wow). If the PSP redesign stops all this piracy bootleg stuff I can see people not caring. Third parties have given up on the console now and it's pretty much stopped selling games, I don't see how anyone can turn that around. The PS3 can definitely turn things around, but can it catch up with the Wii? Hmmm I'm not sure. It depends if they get any more big hitters aside from FFXIII and MGS4, cause Sony are going to be suffering without their third party exclusives.

RTS's need to come to the Wii and I'm sure that they will, but really you've got to ask how many RTS's are there in the world? Aside from Command and Conquer there are very few successful franchises, and I think non that have enjoyed success on a console aside from CnC3. I'm sure developers will be very aware that the hardware of the Wii is great for RTS's, the bigger doubt is if the market is there. It's the old Catch 22, you need RTS players to own a Wii to get RTS games, but you need RTS gamers to get RTS gamers to buy Wiis (what a mouthful). With CnC3 I think the game just didn't suit the Wii at the time. Aside from probably some graphical and processing problems, they wouldn't have been able to make the game online (which was a major selling point). CnC3 is very much a PC franchise anyway, I was surprised they bothered with the X360 port. The Wii needs it's own RTS franchise to get the ball rolling. Something which has a wider appeal then CnC or Starcraft, but at the same time have a large amount of depth and tactics. My idea would be a Nintendo RTS, pretty much the Super Smash Bro's formula but in an RTS. It would certainly make the market for the Wii and put the genre up there with the best, but I don't see it happening. Realistically I see some company some where risking making a RTS for the Wii, and hopefully it'll be a hit. I personally see it as a matter of when, not if, but I guess the one question remains. Can the RTS genre be expanded to have a wider appeal?

WoW has the MMORPG market sorted and I don't think anything could ever replicate it's success on a console. The one major problem with that is simply the fact that you couldn't base it entirely on one console, but you couldn't make a game like that multi-platform. I don't think we'll ever see an MMORPG on a console again, the market isn't there and WoW has the whole thing entirely sussed. Literally anyone can play it due to it's very low hardware specs and users generally find it much easier to have their PC online then console.

I would buy any console in the world for a sequel to Terranigma.

The Wii is going to get a kick ass RPG in some way or form either way. The thing is selling too good in Japan not to get a huge influx of RPG's. I'm hoping we'll see a brand new franchise for an RPG become huge on the Wii. The whole RPG thing is getting stale with like only having 2 big franchises, and tons of semi successful ones. Someone other then Sqaure-Enix need to come out and make an incredible RPG which will reinvent the genre.

They haven't made alot of money this gen, if any. Alot of the costs are from things which should really apply to both consoles, the setting up and maintenance of Xbox live, the developement of hardware, the total advertising costs, the costs of setting up first party developement teams, the cost for market research etc. I don't think people realise how much it cost Microsoft to start up, and that they're not going to have recouped that yet. The games will be making money but the high developement costs mean that it's not as much as you think. A game needs to sell about 400000 to break even, and when top tier first party games from Microsoft are struggling to reach that mark the profit isn't really that high. Microsoft made money off Windows cause of their long term strategy, and it's much like their 360 strategy. Thing is, the console market is completely different to the Operating System market and at the moment things look like to me Microsoft would be better off bailing out (although they most likely won't).

Sorry but what you just said is totally wrong.

Microsoft never made any profit off of the Xbox, including games, Live, dev kit sales etc. Alot of this is due to the huge costs involved in developing the hardware, developing and setting up something the size of Xbox Live, setting up a number of First party development teams and the money lost per console though. They don't make money on every game, Viva Pinata never saw a return and I don't yet think they're making that much money off of games. There are very high developement costs and some of the launch titles probably didn't get a great amount of sales. Halo 3 will rake in the doe though. I don't honestly believe they're making much money, if any. They're hoping they can recreate the sort of the success the PS2 had, so in the future they can retake it all back in software sales. Thing is, the market doesn't seem to really be going much further then what they had before and the console has absolutely no appeal to Japan, the second largest gaming territory.

Sony lose around $200 on every console sold and the high developement costs of their games has meant only Motorstorm and Resistance have been profitable thus far (I think). Microsoft never saw profit off of the Xbox and the 360 was sold for a loss at launch. It's just above breaking even at a profit now, but it's not recouping the losses earlier struggled. When they're spending $50 million on GTA downloadable content I don't see where Microsoft are going to make their money back.

I haven't actually seen a Wii game which was then put on the PS2 in the way you suggest. Most of these Wii ports are just PS2 games which were in developement long before they planned for a Wii port. The next wave of games annouce are all Wii exclusive from what I can see; Zack and wiki, Soul Caliber Legends, Red Steel, Boogie, MySims, Project Rygar, Opoona, Godzilla:Unleashed etc.

Right, I'm going to do this as I'm bored and waiting for dinner ^_^. Firstly a few points of notes - The 'old / new' thing is what looks new or old to me. Super Mario Galaxy, although a long running franchise, will be classed as 'new' seeing as the gameplay looks new to me. Also, if I didn't play a previous game then it will be new, an example of this being Battalion Wars 2, it is 'new' to me. Anyway, here we go: Super Smash Bros Brawl - Old Super Mario Galaxy - New Metroid Prime 3 - Old (New controls though) Disaster: Day of Crisis - New (I think) No More Heroes - New / Old Battalion Wars 2 - New Super Paper Mario - Old Project H.A.M.M.E.R - Old Dragon Quest Swords - New Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Old Resident Evil: UC - Old Dewy's Adventure - New Kirby Wii - Old Animal Crossing Wii - New Wii health Pack - New Mario / Sonic Olympics - New MySims - New Nights 2 - Old Guitar Hero III - Old Zack and wiki - New Opoona - Old Soul Caliber LEgends - Old There are plenty more but I wanted to keep the list pretty specific. I'm expecting E3 to be the real place to see this list grow.

The Wii's lifespan is my biggest worry, and I guess that's where it'll be interesting to see how developers cope with that. Soon companies won't be able to take the Wii's graphics any further and it may be hard to think of any more original concepts, whereas the PS3 and 360 will still have so much left to do with them. Thing is, if Wii is dominating the market companies simply won't be able to ignore it, and I guess that's where it's the challenge to companies think of new ideas and innovations. I still think Nintendo have a few tricks up their sleeves for gameplay innovation on the Wii, to go with the Wii Remote, and anything like that will be vital. I feel the only thing that limits what you can do on the Wii is your imagination though, and it won't be hard for innovation to allow the Wii to continue to feel fresh all it's lifetime. The DS continues to go from strength to strength and so I think it should be able to hold up fine. Also on the note of developement costs, they will fall for the X360 / PS3 but I don't honestly think they're ever going to be comparable to the Wii. Wii's could easily fall to a tiny figure in the future.

The press release I read said it was FIFA, Madden and Tiger woods online, but didn't mention NBA. Although I can imagine that source being very wrong so perhaps this one is right. It seems odd to miss it out for Tiger Woods but no other major sports game. Especially after great sales of Tiger Woods 07 on the Wii :/.

Yay, playing 5 year old games on my Wii. I don't play games much atm, don't have time, so I aint too arsed. There are a few GC classics I'm sure people missed out on, Tales of Symphonia, Eternal Darkness, Skies of Arcadia etc. But yeah, it's hardly a great suggestion, but the whole drought thing will be over by September.

Great thread, it's sort of what I was trying to say in mine but in a different way. I've not looked at the Wii in this way, and I agree it's good in a way that seeing as it won't take companies long to max out the Wii's graphics they're going to have to focus on other aspects - unique gameplay, different art styles, just anything innovative really. With an environment for Wii developers to be either big companies of low key indie developers I think that we're in a great position to see companies focusing on this sort of philosophy. I've already seen some stuff that makes my jaw-drop on the Wii and I really feel this is only the beggining.

I think he means high-end budget, which is fair enough. No one is going to spend something like $20 million on one Wii game, it's simply hard to imagine that sort of budget being possible to be spent on one game. Some facts for you all: Namco Bandai are currently developing 37 Wii games (Considerably more then the PS3 / 360). Capcom have a total of 6 Wii games in developement (exclusiding Resi Evil 4). EA have 17 + Wii games (again more then any other platform). Konami have 3 more exclusive Wii projects in developement. Grasshopper Interactive have 2 more exclusive Wii titles planned. They're all the companies I've asked / got from press releases who I can remember the stats of at the moment. The shift is going with the Wii, the big question now is will they deliver the quality? The quantity is certainly fufilled so we're half way there.

The Third party support can't really be blamed on Nintendo. Every wrote the Wii off, the GameCube was a failure and PS3 was going to dominate everything. Thing is, this hasn't happend, and now that the Wii only proved itself 5 months ago companies have had to start developing the proper games for it around January time earliest. Games take over a year to develope, so obviously we don't know about the games yet. The games will come, cheap develpoment costs on a console selling so quick is a no-brainer for any businesses. With that support will come the innovative, as well, they go hand in hand. I'm really amazed by the third party support. When you think how forgotten the GameCube was, we're getting exclusive games from big francshies like NiGHTS, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Rygar, Soul Caliber and the Sims, as well as lots of new stuff / other franchises like Zack and wiki, Guitar Hero, No More Heroes and Opoona. If I had told you of a turn around like that before the Wii launched, you would have laughed very very hard. The progress it's made in terms of the upcoming line up in the 6 months is incredible, just we don't have anything yet, but it's obvious it's coming. Nintendo were in an impossible situation, no one was going to put any real effort into developing for the Wii except themselves, and they didn't have the money to go paying people. Sure, we're getting a pretty iffy first year but Nintendo are turning it around to make this sort of thing short term and not long term.

Well, you like the 360 games, that's lovely. The Wii has plenty of innovative games lined up. The third parties are VERY geared up to the Wii, just they haven't annocued anything yet for a series of reasons, but many have pledged their support whether they're the big name Capcom's and EA's or the small team low budget indie's. There are going to be some great games annouced for the Wii, just not yet. I'm pretty sure they all are: Konami - Dewy's Adventure / Eledees Capcom - Zack and Wiki EA - Boogie / MySims Square Enix - Dragon Quest Swords Koei - Opoona That's off the top of my head. These are first wave games and the best of the support isn't annouced. We're all veering away from the point anyway, and any of the points I make people seem keen to just completely go down an irellevent point, sigh. Thanks for your input, I hope you can carry on making productive and well-educated posts throughout the forums.

The Wii is the only console which allows developers to innovate under a budget. End of the day all developers are businesses, and they're primary goal is to make money. No one is going to risk $30 million developement costs to try an unproven game. Sure, companies could innovative on the 360 / ps3, but if anyone ever finds a publisher willing to back that sort of financial venture it'll be a miracle. They're not stopping, they're all moving to the Wii. And I don't see what is speculation, tons of copanies have spoken out about the high developement costs. I've already said about LittleBigPlanet in the first post. As I said, please don't respond if you're not even going to bother to read the first post, as it seems most of you have done so.

You're not even reading what I'm saying. Guitar Hero is an example of a game which came out of nowhere and HArmoxiner took the risk to develope because the costs were so low. It's turned out to be one of the best selling games of the decade and will next be on the 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii. The point I'm making is, companies won't risk these sorts of projects, these sorts of games that have never been heard of. Guitar Hero 3 can because it's a proven seller now and has a huge fanbase, but would Harmonixer have made Guitar Hero if to make one game it would have cost $30 million? No, not a chance in hell. That's the point I'm making, companies are in a position where they can't afford the risk of making something new or different, or innovative, because the losses ahead of them are so great. Please don't reply if you didn't read all of my original post, I'm having to cover everythign I explained pretty simply in it. I've not yet seen a post which seems to have nothing to do with my original point, sigh. I'm not saying the Wii itself is innovative, I'm saying as a platform is offers companies of all sizes the opportunity to develope innovative and unique games. The combination of extremely low developement costs, a diverse and growing userbase, the motion controls and the very easy hardware to develope for make the Wii a great platform to make innovative games. A console can only be as innovative as it's software, all I'm saying is the Wii is a console which allows companies to innovate whereas the other 2 don't.

I'm saying like games as innovative and unique as Guitar Hero won't happen on them. No one is going to develope a game for $30 million, when somehting like guitar hero could have flopped and not sold. They would take a risk like that on the Wii developement costs, (or ps2 as it was for GH) but no one will take those sorts of risks, and projects as great a Guiter Hero won't dare be risked for X360 / Ps3.

I reckon you'll be able to pick it up for £30, I'm getting a review copy so I ain't arsed :P. It's looking pretty good, i never played the original but if they can expand on the game to make it more of a 'full game' then credit to them.

Different direction =/= good directions. I give up on this anyway, have fun playing your high budget FPS's. I'll be worried for you all, cause games like Guitar Hero won't ever exsist this gen thanks to Sony and Microsoft.

Goddddddddd, people don't read my original post and any reply is based on nothing that I mentioned ^_^.

Did you actually read what I posted? These high developement costs mean companies can't dare make a game which hasn't been proven as a good seller. Companies won't risk trying out new genres, using the consoles amazing hardware to design something unique, because they can't afford to take that risk. On top of this, the only companies who can develope for the consoles are the big ones, any small low-budget teams are simply shunned. That worries me most, as there could be a great team of innovative developers who simply can't make their dream game. Wii has opened the window for big developers to risk their more creative and unproven projects (a la Zack and Wiki) while giving smaller low key developement teams a chance to release a game to a market where innovation can make a game more attractive then a big budget. I've spoken to alot of these developement teams and they all share the same philosphy and have pledged their 100% dedication to the Wii and DS. Wii developers will pick up, the first wave of games have been ports and poo because the Wii took everyone by surprise. I know that some of the projects started after the Wii was sold out worldwide for 6 months are far more acceptable, and that Nintendo arn't 'dictating' anything.