OK by now some of you may be thinking “Ben is becoming the ultimate Xbox 360 fanboy with all these articles” and yeah, maybe you’re right. But is it really any different from any number of political blogs, or bumper-sticker-encrusted cars, where someone is screaming “Don’t vote for [whoever], it’ll be bad!” Well I think if the Wii won it’d be bad for gaming (the reasons for this being beyond the scope of this article, maybe later) so I’m promoting the 360 any way I can.
The new heat sink on an HDMI Premium 360, slightly highlighted. Remember, look for the copper “ball” on the side.
Picture aboved is a new heat sink found in a new HDMI Premium Xbox 360 by “Sloopydrew”. The manufacture date was 7-9-7, pretty new. So if you’re still on the fence about getting a 360 this fall, get off! The new ones seem to be locked, cocked and ready to rock. Still sucks GTA4 is pushed back, but plenty of other cool games are coming out this fall.
I just don’t understand why Rockstar would have hour long teaser commercials for teaser trailers for a new game coming out in October, and then push it back so far as 2008. Some one must have really screwed up.
yeah there are a lot of cool XBOX360 games coming out in the fall it is a super awesome console it is so awesome that i came in my pants at least fifty times today just by thinking of its most awesome awesomenacity.
I would be interesting in hearing your views on the Wii.
I personally think Nintendo is going where the gaming industry needs to go… new game experiences. Of course an innovative company can come up with such games for “traditional” consoles, but it’s a lot easier (and more fun for both developer and gamer) when the console itself is innovative. I personally can’t wait for the 24th to see how Metroid Prime 3 plays with a Wiimote. Not that I wouldn’t get it if we just had the GameCube 2 instead of the Wii… it’s METROID… but it’s just another good reason for me to pick it up.
The DS, in the same spirit, has a touchscreen and built-in microphone… although the mic is a bit of a experiment failure since Pokemon’s chat feature requires a special headset with it’s own mic, and for games which just use it for blowing it leaves one out of breath very quickly. Still, I think we can agree it didn’t doom the DS.
The only thing I don’t really like about the Wii is that Nintendo is a bit behind with the whole online gaming and online community thing, and “extra features” (IE: Wii can’t play DVDs). They are catching up through, with the Virtual Console stuff, extra channels with internet, news, weather, photos/videos, etc.
Friend codes for each game sorta suck, although I understand the basic reasons behind it… probably the same reasons why we [wii] don’t have community-functions. They could’ve built something into parental controls instead, though. Then again I can see some irresponsible parent giving her kid a Wii without reading the large “PARENTS READ THIS” card right inside the box explaining how to set up Parental Controls to protect Jr. from online predators (something mommy or daddy should really be educating him about anyway) and then suing Nintendo when someone half a world away says something to her kid she doesn’t like.
I also would like some more freebies (or cheap downloads) on Wii Ware, or some more features in system upgrades. They seem a bit slow there. The recent Metroid Prime 3 Preview channel just has some trailer videos that it doesn’t even download with the channel (think BUFFERING every half second during high-demand). Although I probably was expecting too much (I jumped the gun by reading “Preview” as “Playable Demo” which I actually had seen in a screenshot some time ago). From what I hear some indie games should be on Wii Ware soon, and hopefully more cool stuff like the Internet Channel.
I will admit the the strongest reason why I got a Wii was not the innovative steps Nintendo is taking with it (they help) but the fact that they have a strong first party library to draw on… Mario, Zelda (my favorite Wii title to date, I don’t care if it can run on GameCube hardware), Metroid, Super Smash Bros… now if they would hurry up and release Mario, Metroid, and SSB everything would be perfect. 🙂
It’s the Playstation 3 version of the game that has pushed back the release date. The PS3 according to developers is a real pain in the ass to program for. For some reason, maybe a contract of some sort, GTA4 has to be released on the PS3 no later then it is released for any other console, so the 360 version is put off until the PS3 version is completed.
I got my xbox back today and it wasn’t mine, it was a refurb but it had a manufact. dat of 7-30-07. I didn’t get a HDMI port with it though, so I just wanted to know…. I thought the new premiums all have new HDMI ports?
@Dan: There would be no problem with Nintendo if they had made a console that can keep up with at least the 360 performance-wise. They should have given the Wii at least some HD capability (I think 480p is just standard resolution). They could have even kept their “innovative” controller, but they basically threw RAM and a power glove at the Gamecube and called it a new console. They can’t get away with 720×480 forever.
And about the PS3 being difficult to code for: so was the PS2 at first but look where it is now.
@Dan
Check out the following podcast if you are interested in knowing why Ben and I think the Wii is bad for gaming.
http://benheck.com/04-13-2007/podcast-episode-17-hollywood-and-the-wii-get-both-barrels
For more justification check out the 3rd topic in this one.
http://benheck.com/06-20-2007/the-22nd-benheckcom-podcast
Enjoy!
@bicostp
Couldn’t agree with you more! The concept behind the Wii isn’t a completely bad one, but it has been poorly implemented thus far. Considering the lineup of games coming out for it, along with the “last-gen” tech, I don’t see things improving at all. Eventually the emperor’s clothes will fall off this thing and people will see it for the shameless money grab that it is.
@Dan
Check out the following podcast if you are interested in knowing why Ben and I think the Wii is bad for gaming.
http://benheck.com/04-13-2007/podcast-episode-17-hollywood-and-the-wii-get-both-barrels
For more justification check out the 22nd podcast’s 3rd topic. I would link to it, but then the wordpress spam plug-in would get me. 🙂
Enjoy!
@bicostp
Couldn’t agree with you more! The concept behind the Wii isn’t a completely bad one, but it has been poorly implemented thus far. Considering the lineup of games coming out for it, along with the “last-gen” tech, I don’t see things improving at all. Eventually the emperor’s clothes will fall off this thing and people will see it for the shameless money grab that it is.
Shameless money grab?
It’s business. They produced a product that people obviously want and are willing to pay for.
Kudos to them for managing to do it in the black instead of losing $300 per unit like the PS3.
Oh my God! Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster are in his 360! Can’t you see?
As I said, people will see it for what it is: An overmarketed piece of crap… and a shameless money grab.
You’re right that it is business and kudos to them for making money and making their investors happy. A bunch of rich people getting richer doesn’t do anything for me.
Personally I would prefer buying a PS3 over the Wii. Sony is in essence giving me more for money if they’re taking a hit on every one they sell. Nintendo, on the other hand, is laughing all the way to the bank by selling me a Power Glove and Gamecube for a ridiculous sum of money.
I’m not against companies making profits. If they didn’t none of us would have jobs. I do have a problem with companies making their money by re-packaging old crap and overcharging for it.
i don’t care about RRoD issue but i do care about disc scratching issue. i had a 360 which was on horizontal position, was very well ventilated, never moved, the surface itself is not tilted (or unbalancd ;)) and still ended up getting Gears of War scratched. it really pissed me off and i sold every 360 good (i had to sell it for exams anyway but it made me sell it early)
@Jones
I really can’t agree with you if you follow the same foolish belief that the Wii is just a gamecube with waggle tacked on.
The wii runs at ~800Mhz, and the gamecube ~490Mhz. The graphics chip is more powerful than the one in the Gamecube. Now, I know that 800Mhz isn’t much, but it’s been shown that you can’t just look at numbers. Certainly the wii will never create graphics as good as the 360, but it can create brilliant graphics, sadly, many developers follow the same mentality, and don’t try to push the console too much. Give it time, and we’ll start to see some stunners.
And the game quality, I’ll admit has been hit and miss. Zelda used it brilliantly, I think, it also looks like Metroid Prme 3 will too. However, Red Steel was inaccurate and a bit unresponsive. However, what you have to remember is that it’s new technology and new technology is always shaky. Case and point the DS. At first, most of the games were either traditional games with poor touch screen controls tacked on (Super Mario 64 DS), or games that over used the touch screen making the game too complex. Now we have gems such as Trauma Centre, Nintendogs, etc. Developers just need to get used to the various input methods of the wii,
And overall, I think the Sony’s and Microsoft’s mantra would’ve lead to the end of console gaming in the end. The simple fact is that the 360 and PS3 are practically the same power-wise, regardless of what spin either of them try to put on it. Consumers are basically buying the console for the roughly 20 exclusive games each console gets a year, with the rest being third party cross-platform jobs. Not only that, the PS3 and 360 offer little more than a graphical boost to the general public and while they look wonderful at the moment, in 5 years time, they’ll look dated compared to what the best PCs of the age can do.
Which is why I think that basically releasing a new console every 5 years with a simple graphical uphaul is not the system companies should follow. Why would a consumer want to spend $600 on a console which will be outclassed by a PC in about 4 years, when he could buy a gaming PC rig, which he can upgrade over the years to keep it up to date?
The wii is adding innovation, and it is clear that the general public want innovation, not just graphical upgrades.
I’d wait until the next generation to call it a money grab. If they’re still dragging their feet, then sure, Nintendo isn’t interested in pushing the technological envelope. But they’ve pretty much said as much around the Gamecube, yes? That they’re a game company?
http://wiiprintsmoneylol.ytmnd.com/
I don’t know anyone who chose a Wii on it’s own, it’s always a complimentary system to a 360 or PS3. Out of all the people I know who own one, they maybe played Wii sports on and off for two weeks or finished Twilight Princess and now it’s just a $250 dust collector.
A premium gaming PC easily out performs a 360 right now in performance and graphics, but the whole point of a console is a cheap and easy alternative to PC gaming. Consoles are basically PC’s now anyway, but you are guaranteed not to have to upgrade for at least 4 years and you have the peace of mind knowing that every game works optimally with no additional cost in upgrades. So instead of every 6 months to a year of upgrading a premium gaming rig you now only have to buy a new console every 4-5 years. That’s the value of a console. So I don’t buy the argument that consoles shouldn’t just be a graphics, ram, processor, upgrade every 4-5 years. That’s kind of their purpose.
The Wii is selling out only because it caters to the lowest common denominator of gamers, the “casual gamer.” Which in the Wiis case is most likely families who would otherwise not have a gaming console, or parents who buy their young children who aren’t ready for mature gaming a console. Then you have people who want it for nostalgia, us gamers who grew up playing NES and SNES who would want the virtual games and most likely own it as a complimentary system to a 360 or PS3. If you look at the top Wii games, most of them are virtual games from past consoles. Quantity is not quality. Just because the Wii reaches out to a broader market with a “something for everyone” low priced product that sells well does not make it a good system.
It really comes down to games and gameplay, you could say the Wii having pretty much last gen graphics is no big deal, but then take the greatest games out now and think of trying to run them on a Wii: Gears of War, Oblivion, GRAW2, Rainbow 6 Vegas, Forza 2, come on, on a Wii?? I think that’s what matters most and that’s where the true innovation is, creating great games and having a platform capable of running those games well.
I agree with Chris, plus some other points. One, it’s really only making money for Nintendo, the 3rd party games suck and don’t sell nearly as well as the first party stuff. Name ONE upcoming 3rd party Wii game that gets more than a blip of coverage?
Secondly, of the few people I know with a Wii all they talk about is the Virtual Console. I know “selling people what they’ve already bought” is the Holy Grail of business, but again, is it good for the customer? Or the industry, when the top-selling console’s top selling items are $5 games? Granted Xbox Live Arcade does it too, but at LEAST some functionality is added, online play, leaderboards. Still I won’t buy Golden Axe because I still have the Genesis cart!
Third is job-related. We can start with the old games. Nintendo sends you a ROM and says “Thanks for the money!” At least on the 360 a company has to reprogram it (usually Digital Eclipse) If all anyone wants to play are these old games guess what – game companies are going to start having to lay off. Wii fans will complain “Oh, a 360/PS3 game costs $10 million, what a waste! The Wii games are much cheaper!” But it’s not like that money is thrown down a well or burnt lighting cigars – it goes into the salaries of working class citizens. Many of which, for the 3rd party, are in the US. So when you buy an expensive (to produce) AAA game like Halo or Bioshock, you’re keeping $10 million worth of game developers employed, no matter the country. When you buy a Wii game for nearly the same retail price, you’re keeping $1 million of mini-game developers in their garage employed.
I call this the “if you only buy the cheapest possible non-US crap from Wal-Mart don’t complain when you lose YOUR job” effect.
Eh, I’d better go eat lunch. But yes, I definitely think this will be a future podcast topic!
Hey all, and @ben, one 3rd party game thats gettin some good PR, No More Heroes from Konami
@Bruce: “Consumers are basically buying the console for the roughly 20 exclusive games each console gets a year, with the rest being third party cross-platform jobs” ? Nintendo’s just as, if not more, guilty. All the top selling and most anticipated games are first party Nintendo franchises. (Zelda, Mario, Metrod, Super Smash Bros…) The rest of the library is shovelware and half-arsed 3rd party titles. It happened on the Gamecube, and it is happening again on the Wii.
“in 5 years time, they’ll look dated compared to what the best PCs of the age can do.”? Of course, because technology moves forward. The Wii was outdated on its launch day. By the end of this generation Wii owners will be like the kids who still had Atari 2600s in 1992, while their friends had gone to the SNES and Genesis.
“Why would a consumer want to spend $600 on a console which will be outclassed by a PC in about 4 years, when he could buy a gaming PC rig, which he can upgrade over the years to keep it up to date?”
Because gaming PCs are black holes for money. The latest and greatest graphics card comes out only to be outclassed by its sucessor in 6 months. My friend switched to PC gaming a year ago, and has already poured enough money into his computer to buy 3 or 4 top model PS3s and it still can’t run everything he wants it to.
“The wii is adding innovation, and it is clear that the general public want innovation, not just graphical upgrades.” So by that logic they should come up with a new way to drive cars, since that’s barely changed in 50 years? People want innovation, not newer, more efficient, more powerful cars!
I still think the only reason to buy a Wii is for first party Nintendo titles. Other than that you should go with a 360 or PS3. (Especially now that you can take *any* old 360 and get a free replacement if it breaks, and the price of a new one is less than $50 more than a Wii.
@ ChrisS no it is not the ps3’s fault for gta’s delay take 2 was never going to release it this year but they where having financial troubles and yada yada yada. http://playstation3ws.blogspot.com/ i know the blog master verywell and his sources even more
A major point many Wii detractors forget is that if you don’t have an HDTV the graphics gap between the Wii and the 360/PS3 is much more narrow. I wasn’t able to quickly find a number for how many households worldwide or in the US have HDTV, but I found reports that only 8% of European homes have HDTV (http://www.screendigest.com/reports/mini/2007/european_tv_homes_get_hd_ready/07-5-yp2/view.html) and that by 2010 an estimated 22% of homes worldwide will have HDTV (http://www.screendigest.com/reports/06highdeftv/readmore/view.html), so I’m estimating 10-15% or less worldwide right now.
Once HDTV penetration is higher, I would hope that Nintendo adds better HD support to their next console. For now, my biggest gripe with the Wii is the lack of online community support.
What’s really ironic about Nintendo this generation is the fact that they have made no real progression forward with the Wii, besides a gimmicky controller, which basically amounts to recycled Power Glove/Duckhunt Gun technology. I love Nintendo and their first party games as much as anyone, but it’s getting stale. Now they are just pumping out the same rehashed repackaged games for last few decades now. Do they sell? Absolutely, but eventually the franchise cash machine will run dry as all franchises eventually go stale.
It’s really ironic for the simple fact that Nintendo of all game companies should know the outcome of recycling old crap over and over. This is the same company that made it’s breakthrough revolutionary success after ColecoVision, Atari, Commodore 64, and the entire gaming industry crashed and burned in 1983-84. There was only so much New Pac Man (this time the background is blue) an avid gamer could swallow.
I love Nintendo and they deserve credit for where we are now, but I expect better from them. The NES and SNES were outstanding systems that catered to everyone just like the Wii, except they were the cutting edge systems for their time, unlike the Wii. It just seems like Nintendo has given up and thrown in the towel after the N64 and now they are just milking the “we are the family kid oriented console that doesn’t have to have current technology or games.” What happened to the cutting edge Nintendo that I used to know? Why not make a real next gen system with mature games along side their own first party franchises?
“This is the same company that made it’s breakthrough revolutionary success after ColecoVision, Atari, Commodore 64, and the entire gaming industry crashed and burned in 1983-84.”
Mild nitpick… the Commodore 64 attained it’s success *after* the 83 videogame crash. If anything, Commodore benefited from the crash more than just about anyone else out there.
I have an elite and had the RED RING go off on me
When I ejected the disk it was extremly HOT
After it cooled down it’s OK since
I did have game boxes stack on either side which likely contributed by reducing air flow.
In the past couple of weeks I canabilized a 12v cooler and made a XBOX air conditioner
x
Only one bad thing about the new Premium 360’s with HDMI…and I found this out through the purchase of two consoles from different stores, just to verify. The hard drive, vented plastic on the ends of the console, and gray plastic on the bottom side of the controller are all the color of the retail HDD–that cheap looking, dull gray. This in place of the shinier, dark gray color, with silver lining the HDD.
I am not one to void my warranty by taking apart a console and painting it, but the change to making the Premium console look more like the Core is much less aesthetically pleasing. I am wondering if both of the consoles I bought were just a huge fluke or if Microsoft has changed their production for some reason. Either way, I’m disappointed. Obviously the console plays fine, it just looks shittier. Have you heard anything about this?
im still new to the xbox 360 and about to get one (elite), but why is it better to have a newer heatsink? does it overheat less?
dear Ben
I saw you on T.V. 5 weeks ago on game head at spiketv.com. I dying to know when will your Xbox 360 Portible will be published. I mean It was cool of you making that Portible, I would do anything to get
one. Keep going on your cool gaming designs and inventions, continue rocking ben
Jason Lee
Do you want to skip the $200 charge that Sony put on your damaged PS3 and get it back to working condition? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W1R0vwXkdc