Potential

[dlopez9069]

Me and my friend got into a big argument on which system had the most potential. The Wii, PS3, & Xbox 360 are the candidates. So what do yall think? I'm goin with the Wii. ohh and an explanation on why would be nice

[agbulls]

Sorry, but I really don't think there is much question here. It HAS to be the PS3. Sure, the Wii has a lot of stuff that is going to be unique. But consider that PS3 and 360 games look about the same right now. Shouldn't the dev houses have stuff that looks THAT much better than the PS3 at this point on 360? Sure, there is Gears of War. But beyond that?

Now, think about 6 years from now and consider the large untapped power in the PS3. Just my opinion, but I'm really excited to see what those games are going to be like.

God of War 3 anyone?

[Chadt74]

If graphics are the only benchmark, agbulls is probably correct.

I personally disagree. In the end games are trying to immerse you into their product, Sony and Xbox are trying do it by giving you the feeling that you are 'right there'. Nintendo is going a vastly different route by trying to have you interact with the game. You say God of War 3 anyone, what about Drummer Hero on the Wii? When I played GOW I felt like I was playing a great game, not that I was part of the game. Also the Wii appeals to a larger audience (my GF included) so if the Wii expands gaming while the PS3/Xbox fight over the same customers as the previous generation is that Potential?

[jajaja]

It depends on what you mean with potentional. If you mean power (hardware wise) its PS3. I dont see what Wii can bring of new stuff. I mean, people are getting used to the controller and after a while its becomming "just another controller". I dont think people will "wow omg" over the way a controller is used in a game, then i talk about people who have played the Wii, not first time players. The gfx will improve, but we wont see anything that we havnt seen before on a console. But who know, i'm sure we see much of cool stuff of course, but anything "wow omg"?

[CartCollector]

ohh and an explanation on why would be nice

Then why don't you give an explanation?

i'm sure we see much of cool stuff of course, but anything "wow omg"?

You make a good point. There's a law of diminishing returns with graphics: the difference between 2- and 4-bit color is huge, while the difference between 16- and 24-bit color isn't so much. Don't believe me? Compare Super Mario Bros. Mario with Super Mario World Mario. That's the difference between 2- and 4-bit color. Now, if you're using a modern PC or Mac and not a Palm Pilot or a Wii or a PSP, set your display settings to 16-bit/high color. Now set them to 24-bit/32-bit/true color. See any difference? So with certain areas of graphics, we're not going to see much improvement.
Also, whenever we see an improvement in graphics, all of a sudden that's the standard. Really, graphical beauty is only beautiful in relation to whatever was before it in the mainstream gamer's mind. So it becomes harder and harder to meet that standard as expectations get higher and higher, amd hardware upgrades do less and less.
However, characters in modern games still move around like poorly-handled marionettes and act like idiots. And things like breaking glass, explosions, and water movement are highly pre-coded. So those are where the big, noticeable, "oh wow" improvements are going to be (I hope). And with 8 processors and 50GB of storage space per game, what better platform to do it than the PS3? We could see this happen on the 360 if it takes over before the PS3 hits its prime, though.

[ProgrammingAce]

The saturn had a lot of potential too, shame that Sega gave the developers a shitty dev environment to work with.

Shame Sony gave the devs a shitty environment to work with.

Nintendo made it patheticly easy for devs to program for the wiimote.

The 360 is programmed using directX and the same compiler that PC devs use. The dev interface is pratically point and click. Shame microsoft screwed up and mandated pittly 6 gig discs for their next-gen console. This may end up being the thing that holds them back.

[njiska]

Sorry, but I really don't think there is much question here. It HAS to be the PS3. Sure, the Wii has a lot of stuff that is going to be unique. But consider that PS3 and 360 games look about the same right now. Shouldn't the dev houses have stuff that looks THAT much better than the PS3 at this point on 360? Sure, there is Gears of War. But beyond that?

Now, think about 6 years from now and consider the large untapped power in the PS3. Just my opinion, but I'm really excited to see what those games are going to be like.

God of War 3 anyone?

Ok 3 things.

1. Bullshit it's the PS3. I'm sorry but froma purely technical stand point the Cell and the RSX are not the second coming of computing sony wishes they were. between the limitations of programing design, the massive push for multi-platform content and the Dog speed of blu-ray, i can honestly say i don't see the potential of the PS3.

Clearly it must be the Wii. The 360 is established and the PS3, as stated above, just isn't gonna cut it. The Wii with it's new control method has hands down the most potential for advancement and because it's all the system has going for it there has to be a major dev push to take advantage of it.

2. 6 years? Come on, we all know the average life cycle is 5 years and the PS2 made 7 by the scruff of it's neck. In five years the competition will have a hardware refresh and the PS3 will either be left in the dust, or replaced.

3. God of War 3 will be largely like God of War 2 only with better graphics. I doubt the AI or gameplay will improve drastically.

[FantasiaWHT]

I think the Wii is ultimately going to be severely limited by how inaccurate the sensing really is. It detects the plane parallel to the TV screen fairly well, but not so the plane perpendicular to the TV screen. That's evidenced by games like Rayman, Monkey Ball, and Wii-play Boxing, where the "in-and-out" sensing is very troublesome.

The controller is very good at detecting macro movements, but not micro movements at all. Your tennis swings don't match your real swing at all, it's just a digital yes/no on the swing when the controller breaks a certain plane. Swinging a bat is a little better, the bat tracks your horizontal position, but it doesn't detect the vertical height of your swing at all. Zelda uses a digital yes/no for swings as well.

[FlufflePuff]

This is honestly a tossup to me.

PS3: Discs have more storage space. Hardware can handle more. Going to see better graphics and more realistic environments. Does that mean it will be more immersive? No. Will Sony keep many of their system exclusives that drove the success of the PS2? No. So in terms of potential, PS3 has the greatest ability to improve graphically, but they will have to continue to develop new internal IP's to stay ahead of the curve. We will see a sharp increase in sales as HD sets become cheaper, especially 1080p. Also, on the offchance that Blu-Ray loses the format wars, PS3 will suffer (unlikely scenario).

Wii: As TVs continue to advance (quickly), and more households have HD sets, I believe there will be a shift towards the PS3. However, given that only ~15% of American households have an HD set, that shift may happen too late in the game for Sony. Given the momentum the Wii already has, coupled with the interactivity of the Wii-mote, and the defection of many of Sony's exclusive partnerships gives the Wii the greatest potential for success in my mind. By the midlife of this generation I think the Wii will be the dominant console, however it will begin to lose its luster as more and more households purchase HD sets and 1080p becomes cheaper and cheaper. This will see a rise in PS3 and Xbox360, but not enough to overcome Nintendo in this generation.