It's not easy (nor wise) to be an early adopter of next gen...

[smbhax]

Nintendo are conservative hardware-wise in terms of keeping the component costs low by giving their systems barely enough horsepower: the Wii was a very small step up in processing power over the GC, and the Wii-U is still pretty far behind the curve.

 

[Mark W**a]

Myea you see, nothing of those really spark any sort of "I wish I had played that". Probably because mainland europe (unlike Brittain) was much more in touch with Ninty-stuff. Everyone here had a NES or gameboy. I played Virtua tennis, fighter, crazy taxi and most mainstream stuff (although I never liked anything sonicrelated), but generally was quite underwhelmed. This is no reflection on those games'quality but rather my personal taste.My heart starts pounding faster when someone mentions Super Mario Bros 2 or 3, Super Mario World, Castlevania, Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Super Metroid or Metroid Prime

Mine too but all those games you just mentioned are Super Nintendo, 1 N64 game and 1 Gamecube game :/. Metroid Prime isn't even really Nintendo, it's a Western studio (developer name I can't think of right now).

An Apples to Apples comparison would be Dreamcast era Sega vs. Gamecube era Nintendo in which case it would be stuff like Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Mario Sunshine, etc. vs. what I have listed. Personally I don't even think it's a contest but it is subjective...

Hardware wise they take plenty of risks (in fact I think they overplayed their hand with Wii-U this time, the 3DS had a close call but got saved before it really flatlined, I own neither mind you), but the whole motion control shenanigans are completely not for me (I still need to get over that hump so I get to play Skyward Sword with it) but yea...software wise they are too conservative. I love all sorts of games, but certain games like Zelda and Metroid gave you this feeling of novelty mechanics, combined with exploration and cleverness that no Nintendo games have approached lately. The games that come closest to that sense of wonder I feel are games like Bioshock (1 and 3, still need to play 2), Portal (1,2)and Demon's/Dark Souls (basically my top 5 of this generation right there). And to a lesser degree the Zelda-molded Okami and Darksiders.

Absolutely my thoughts as well. And you would think after all that money they made on Wii and DS that they'd be ready to start pumping out new IP. It's this conservatism that is coming back to harm them. They are burning people out on Mario. What happened to oldschool Nintendo? In the heyday we got Super Mario, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Zelda, Kirby, F-Zero, Pilotwings, Mother, Mario Kart, Yoshi's Island, Star Fox, Donkey Kong Country... Only two of those series have Mario in them. Nowadays it's about whoring out Mario as much as humanly possible. And if it's not even related to Mario somehow get his name on it so it'll sell more. Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Party, Mario Strikers, Mario Kart, Mario 3D Land, Mario Baseball, Mario and Sonic Olympics, New Super Mario, Mario Galaxy, Super Smash which has Mario in it. Mario Mario Mario Mario Mario and more Mario. Yoshi's Island 2 oh wait Mario's in that. Wario starring Mario's nemesis, another spinoff. Luigi's Mansion oh it stars Mario's brother. Like, enough already Nintendo. Mario is tired. Mario needs rest.

 

[Mark W**a]

Nintendo are conservative hardware-wise in terms of keeping the component costs low by giving their systems barely enough horsepower: the Wii was a very small step up in processing power over the GC, and the Wii-U is still pretty far behind the curve.

After the Wii made them, boat loads and I do mean boat loads of cash, you'd think they'd be poised to come out with something competitive hardware wise. Nintendo wasn't just there, as far as with their hardware power, they were usually ahead of the pack in this regard! Granted, this was usually by virtue of coming late (SNES launched 2 years behind Genesis/Megadrive, and 3 years behind PCEngine. Likewise N64 came a full 2 years after PlayStation), regardless they had the most powerful systems two gens in a row. The NES counts too, because in 1983 it was pretty much unmatched, and power-wise, decimated what was available at that time (Atari/Coleco/Intellivision etc.).

Oh and let's not forget Gamecube, VERY capable hardware for it's time. Almost as powerful as Xbox and 100$ cheaper. So basically, I would say throughout history, Nintendo had ALWAYS had either the most powerful system on the market, or very competitive hardware, never last as far as power, until the Wii and now Wii U.

The Wii is understandable because Nintendo was in a very strapped position after the Gamecube gen. They couldn't afford to take a risk. But after the insane success of not only Wii but DS, they could have easily put out a gaming box either this year or next that matches or exceeds PS4 and Nextbox. Conservative hardware worked for Wii because they struck gold with the motion controls. Lighting did not strike twice and the tablet controlled Wii U appears to be a gigantic bomb at this point. More of a bomb than Gamecube.

*btw I go with Japanese release dates. NES was 1983 in Japan, PlayStation was 1994 and so on. USA/Europe didn't get these consoles until 85/95 respectively.

 

[Kemetman72]

Yes VF2 was an am2 arcade game as well as a Sega Saturn game. Daytona USA and Afterburner are straight form the arcades as well. I cannot remember if the Dreamcast had these or not. Past systems I bought that were terrible choices: Atari Jaguar and the 3DO. Never bought a SS the price was quite high and there was like zero 3rd party support for it. Every other system I have had and was really wishing the DC would've taken off.
There is a Powerstone collection for the PSP. I had them on the DC, they really need (especially the 2nd one) to be on a big screen. Oh yes I have even had the botched 32x upgrade for the Genesis and the Sega CD. So really that was another bad choice to buy that add-on. Oh well live and learn.

 

[Mark W**a]

I loved the 32X.

In Christmas 1995 my parents couldn't afford a Saturn so I got a 32X and I absolutely loved it. NBA Jam TE on 32X destroys the SNES and Genesis versions. The sprites scale just like in the arcade version, the sound and voices are very good, I'd say it's nearly arcade perfect. As was WWF Wrestlemania Arcade. MK2 on 32X was also the best port you could get at the time. I also had all the model 1 ports, which were very good. Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Star Wars Arcade... Also had the super scaler games, Space Harrier and Afterburner, which again were arcade perfect. Other than that I had Tempo (very good platformer) and Knuckles Chaotix (extremely underrated, a fantastic Sonic game in my humble opinion.)

What's not to love about an inexpensive add-on that gives you near perfect ports of Midway Texas Instruments board arcade titles, Sega super scaler games, and Sega Model 1 games? In 1994 that was pretty impressive.

A lot of people really don't understand what 32X was supposed to be. There's a really good article I have in an old issue of Next Generation magazine with an interview with Sega USA's CEO who talks about 32X. 32X was a response to Nintendo's Super FX and other chipped carts. Sega's rationale was, instead of releasing a game with a special microchip inside, and having to charge and extra 20-30 dollars per cart, they would sell you the add-on, and then charge regular 50 dollar price for the carts. Which makes a lot of sense, actually, and yields better results to boot. 32X was far more impressive than any Super-FX game, and the 32X version of Virtua Racing smokes the Genesis version which shipped with a special chip for 80 dollars. Sega also positioned the 32X as a cheaper alternative to Saturn, which is actually why I ended up with one in the first place. IMO 32X wasn't Sega's grand f-up, it was Saturn. As much as I love my Saturn with all my heart, it was the wrong hardware at the wrong time... And Sega of all companies should have known, 3D was the future since hello, you pioneered 3D games in the arcade with Model 1 and 2! But this is topic for another day, it's history it is what it is, but 32X should have been supported between 94-96 to give Sega time to scrap Saturn and put out their own powerful 3D system by late 1996. Saturn as it was should have never, ever seen the light of day...

Anyways back on topic, my friends and I got a lot of enjoyment out of that short lived add-on. I was only 11 years old at that time and years later when we got the internet I was shocked to see how badly people crap on the device. My guess is most people who hate it have never owned nor actually played one back then.

 

[phreaker47]

I still have my Dreamcast! You guys are making me want to pull it out of the garage...

 

[Baltimore Jones]

There has not been a great console launch since Nintendo 64. Even then, the only two games were Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64, with Waverace following about a month later. Super Mario 64 alone would make for an amazing launch, and Pilotwings was very solid for its time.

Playstation 4 looks to be the best console launch since N64. The only games off the top of my head that interest me are The Witness and Watch Dogs (and TPA), but hey that's better than most consoles have launched with.

 

[Sumez]

This has been true for basically every generation. Usually I don't buy a new console until at least a few years into its life time. And it's not that I don't care for console games, I have between 30 and 40 game consoles at home, I just don't have any need for a limited launch lineup and the newest CoD game, when there's a still a huge section of the current console's libraries left unexplored - both mainstream titles as well as hidden gems.

Basically, the last couple of years of a console generation is my favourite. There's a huge library of great games, most are available really cheap and/or secondhand, it's still possible to dig up titles that might be difficult to find in the future, and people have started hacking and modding the systems or games to get more out of them (bypassing region locks, etc.). I have absolutely no interest in PS4 or X1, but of course there will be a few interesting games for them in the future (nothing shown at E3 really piqued my interest, though), so at some point I'll get at least one of them...

You must have seen different videos than I did. Killzone, Infamous, and the Capcom dungeon crawler were all significantly better than PS3 graphics.

Your definition of "significantly" is pretty subjective. It's obviously more technically impressive, but the improvement compared to "current-gen" isn't really that amazing. It's not a game changer, similar to NES->SNES, SNES->PS1 og PS1->PS2, PS2->PS3 etc.

It's actually an announced title now, with that being in-game footage.

The other two were gameplay footage as announced during the launch event.

You mean in-engine Most of what they showed was obviously a cut-scene, and if any tiny parts of it did resemble gameplay, it's been scripted. It's highly unlikely that what was shown will actually be included in the game as is.

That said, gameplay should look just as good, and it looks like they are going for ripping off Demon's/Dark Souls, and judging by how awesome Dragon's Dogma was, I'm very anxious to play this game, no matter what it actually ends up looking like.

 

[Sumez]

Oh, and anyone who judges the Dreamcast based entirely on what games were released outside of Japan, really aren't judging the Dreamcast

 

[pseudokings]

I really miss SEGA. My SEGA. The one I grew up with from the age of 3 or 4, right on through the early "platform agnostic" days, right after the DC. So many of those brilliant developers are gone now. Only really Nagoshi's team (who were Amusement Vision) and the team that was Overworks (who have been wasting their time on the Valkyria games, IMO) are still there, and still more than a shadow of who they once were (AM2 needs to put out VF6 and then they'll kinda be back, but still without Yu...). Sonic Team has been making a comeback too, can't leave them out.

I get anyone who doubts the SEGA that exists now, the shell of what was, but anyone that denies the complete dominance in innovation on all levels of gaming and total arcade mastery that was the SEGA of old doesn't know the first damn thing about video games, and seriously missed out from about 1985-2003 on a really high percentage of the video games that mattered.





...wasn't this supposed to be a PS4 thread?

 

[Larry]

I will blindly plow on

I want lots of people to buy a ps4 on launch day so when I decide I can afford one when they've slid in price, most of the bugs will be ironed out. We both win, you get Sony reliability and I get to watch the insane price roller coaster until the factory returns start rolling back out in the market.
I would also argue both sides of the console fence learned some painful lessons last time around.
I also will keep my ps3 anyhow. Have GameCube ps1 2 and 3 now and happy to say they all get ocassional use.
If it ain't broke don't fix it!

 

[Mark W**a]

I really miss SEGA. My SEGA. The one I grew up with from the age of 3 or 4, right on through the early "platform agnostic" days, right after the DC. So many of those brilliant developers are gone now. Only really Nagoshi's team (who were Amusement Vision) and the team that was Overworks (who have been wasting their time on the Valkyria games, IMO) are still there, and still more than a shadow of who they once were (AM2 needs to put out VF6 and then they'll kinda be back, but still without Yu...). Sonic Team has been making a comeback too, can't leave them out.

I get anyone who doubts the SEGA that exists now, the shell of what was, but anyone that denies the complete dominance in innovation on all levels of gaming and total arcade mastery that was the SEGA of old doesn't know the first damn thing about video games, and seriously missed out from about 1985-2003 on a really high percentage of the video games that mattered.





...wasn't this supposed to be a PS4 thread?

Well said.

As for PS4. Well, Pin arcade junkies have a reason to be there day 1. I have a feeling this isn't going to be like past launches where you can't get units until January/February. They are allotting a ton of units to store shelves this winter and if Pin Arcade is there day 1 then so will I. Not interested in anything else on the system except maybe that Killzone shooter, buying it just as a graphics showpiece if nothing else.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

year 2 and we still haven't learnd....

 

[Rudy]

It's a tricky balance with day one purchases, on one hand you may end up with a console with design flaws, on the other you might end up with a console that far outweighs it's price in components.

I've preordered one already, simply because I know that if I didn't preorder one beforehand I'd never get it on the day of release. Even if I change my mind I'll probably still go through with the purchase and sell it at retail price to someone close by on release day, but it's looking good and hopefully some things on the PS Store will be compatible with the PS4 (PS Store bought PS1 and PS2 games would be nice) and that'll be enough to make me keep it for good