Console system fun. Wii!

Probably the longest post I'll ever make. Had this long-winded post sitting on my computer for a week or so. If you have any interest in gaming consoles this article is a great read (thanks Chris) and it got me going...

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/crash.html

At this point, MS is probably selling Xboxes (first-gen) only a little below cost. The Xbox is based on an intel celeron; A cheap, preexisting chip in a many-years-old console system that still isn't profitable. At least that made more sense. Given MS's PC-centric history, they did a pretty good job squishing a fat PC into a console dress. The funny thing to me is that the Xbox360 is MUCH costlier to make. The $400 retail pricetag maybe....maybe covers the cost of its silicon, but not much else. Hell, marketing the thing probably cost $50 per unit considering how slowly production has ramped.

Now that E3 has happened, word is that the Playstation 3 will retail for $500 with a $600 model that has a bigger hard disk, wifi, and a memory card reader. Ouch. Any Sony is trying to play it like $600 is a good deal because the PS3 has a Blu-Ray player (hi-def dvd). The PS2 really had an edge (even at $300) because most people didn't have DVD players at the time and $300 for a top-end console with a replacement for the VCR was pretty compelling. Blu-Ray (and HD-DVD for that matter) will bust onto the scene with a ripple, not a splash. (One production HD-DVD player on the market now from Toshiba takes about a MINUTE just to start a movie!) I see high-definition movies affecting the market the way high-resolution audio has. SACD and DVD-A are both excellent replacements for CD, but because they cost so much more to master, manufacture, market, and play they'll never replace CDs. Hi-def movies will be an even bigger mess because there will be another VHS/Betamax holy war unless someone develops a hybrid player. If hybrid players materialize or one format wins, DVD might feel a tingle in its market presence, but not a moment sooner and that's a while off.

Initially, I was really disappointed that Nintendo wouldn't have HDTV support on the Revolution. Thing is, progressive-scan images from the gamecube (or my DVD player) look really good on my HDTV. I'd bet most people couldn't tell the difference between standard def proscan (480p) and hi-def 720p/1080i. Nintendo dropped the proscan video port on newer gamecubes, citing that <2%>$1000 TV to fully appreciate your >$600 console and I'll bet most gamers don't have that kind of cheese to spend. The article touches on this too, although $1000-1500 can buy a totally decent LCD projection or CRT HDTV.

I guess my real bitch about that article is that the author doesn't address any of post-NES Nintendo. "Nintendo is still so neglectful of older gamers that it borders on hostility" is a stupid comment. RE4 was a gamecube exclusive for well over a year, Metroid is still regarded as one of the best console FPS games ever, and almost every one of Nintendo's first- and second-party titles (Pikmin, MKDD, Met:Prime, etc.) is damn good and sold a lot of copies. I think it's that many people have a gamecube to compliment another system and lose sight of the fact that while GC has a smaller library, the games it does have are generally good. In addition, the Wii is 100% backwards compatible with the GC. 360 is backwards compatible with a fairly small portion of the Xbox library. PS2 could play PS1 games, but PS3 might not be able to do either! The Wii's 'virtual console' is just icing on tasty icing!

Price- Nintendo probably made money on every system is sold. Not a lot, but a thin margin is better than blood. Nintendo was smart about its production too. Its CPU is adapted from a pre-existing powerPC design IBM. Wii is powered by essentially the same thing except faster (1T SRAM, IBM PPC CPU, ATI GPU). Ironically, more evolution than revolution from a hardware perspective. When Nintendo made price cuts, it cut costs too (like dropping the digital video port). 100 million consoles later, Sony has probably come close to breakeven. Anyone out there using the hard disk bay or USB ports on their PS2? Didn't think so.

Controllers- I'm going to ignore the Wii's remote because it's wildly different and I've never used it. Philosophically, Nintendo has hit the nail on the head. Controllers have way too many buttons. More to the point, a good game should have a relatively shallow learning curve to play, let alone control. If I need all 12 (14?) buttons on my playstation 3 controller plus motion sensing, I'd rather just use a keyboard and mouse on my PC. Back to the Wii, the author criticizes the remote because no one wants to flail around the room. Duh. The previews are just exaggerating the motion and pointing capabilities of the controller. Why? Marketing. I think most people probably look a bit catatonic if they're really into a game

Hard disks- what are the console designers thinking? It's a component that moves which means it will inevitably break. It's true that laser read heads break too, but they cost a whole lot less to produce and fix (except maybe blu-ray). At best they're only good for saved games, patches for buggy games, and space for addons.
Saved games- memory cards have worked just fine for years, why change?
Patches- should never be necessary on a console- I guess with the advent of online gaming it's an inevitability
Addons- Gamers would be better served to have a slot for a customer-supplied CF or SD card. Almost as fast and way cheaper to produce and use.
The other stupid move (in the case of the 360) is that MS opted for a notebook (2.5" x 9.5mm) disk drive instead of a standard (3.5" x 1") PC disk drive. Sure they're smaller, but they cost about 3.5x more to make. The $100 360 disk is probably the only part MS breaks even on.

If console makers really wanted to sell more consoles and justify their ridiculous prices (especially the 360/PS3) use those hard disks to record TV! $600 for a console is stupid, but $600 for a console+bluray+tivo is starting to sound kinda cool. C'mon Sony, you know it makes sense.