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Hi guys,

* Sony / 360 / Wii fan-boys take note, you can flame all you like, it doesn't change any of the following opinions, coz that is all they are *

I had my Wii since launch day (in the UK) and have used it extensively, so the following comments come from my real use of it - not some inane harvesting of tripe from the web.

Well I hate to say it, but my Nintendo Wii just doesn't do it for me any longer. I am genuinely bored of the games for it, and while I never did expect it to be graphically any good, I was really sad to see it didn't even match my PS2 in terms of visuals. Some games are quite fun for a bit, but I lost interest SO quickly in most of them. Wario Ware Smooth Moves was a REAL shame because it was single player only! What crap, even the Gamecube version had multi-player support. Some of the mini games in it were quite fun, but some just left you utterly dumb-founded as to what you were supposed to do. This was a massive disappointment for me, I was SO looking forward to Smooth Moves Zelda was ok, but it just didn't hold my interest long enough to keep me playing. Wii Sports / Play get real old, real quick (2 weeks interest factor, tops), and the final game I had - Tony Hawks - was absolutely terrible.

The Virtual Console wasn't that much better. The games were expensive, which I didn't mind too much as I don't mind paying for quality titles, but the titles on offer were just strange. From the utterly terrible, to a few real gems (Bomberman, Gunstar, Probotector). I really did not like the way the games hadn't been enhanced at all - I don't mean graphically, I mean by the way of some kind of 'save state' ability. I know you can quit out of them back to the main Wii menu, and resume at any time, but that isn't the same thing. Also this didn't work on some games, Mario Kart 64 for example didn't support this feature

I love retro games, I really do - but I just felt ripped off by some of them. There was no ability to trial them and precious little information in the Wii Shop about them either. This meant that the only thing you could do was try them on a PC emulator first! Crazy stuff. I also HATE the fact you can't move the games to other media. I had a frickin 1GB SD card in there, which was utterly useless. That was a poor move Nintendo. Also I hate the fact you can't play any of them online (i.e. you don't need the 2nd player sat next to you).

The Wii version of Opera was pretty bad, I know it's only a beta, but it had some serious usability issues imho, and the extreme low res of a 720 TV didn't help matters. The Weather and News Channels were amusing for 10 mins, but pointless after that. The AV cable that came with it wasn't the best quality, and I felt cheesed at having to buy another cable just to connect it to my HD TV.

I had no problem with the Wiimote, or using it to play the games. The problem I had was that I simply didn't WANT to play any of the games! I spent more hours in Bomberman 93 (in the VC) than I did on any Wii title. That is just nuts.

After being totally fed-up (gaming wise) for the past few months I decided to sell the Wii. With the cash I went out and bought myself an Xbox 360 Premium Pack which came with Gears of War. I also bought a play and charge kit and two other games - Lost Planet (Collectors Edition) and Need for Speed Most Wanted (it was cheap, 2nd hand copy). I bought myself 6 months worth of Live Gold membership and a stack of MS credits.

I'm telling you now, I have had more fun on my 360 in the past few days than I had in total with my Wii! It is what I expected a real 'next gen' gaming system to offer, and then some. The dashboard is sexy, easy and powerful. Customising it is fun, and hell I even bought a Theme for it (something I never thought I'd do!). It connected to my network instantly, auto-updated itself without issue and just WORKS. In all fairness the Wii wasn't much different in this regard, it just wasn't half as slick.

First things first - Lost Planet. Oh My God! That is one insane game. I have played it for hours now and enjoyed every single fragging minute of it. The graphics, the effects, the sheer joy of the gunplay - wiping out the massive akrid, the VSs, the GRAPHICS, the cool (although a bit un-original) story-line. Ahh, pure Capcom genius. I've just finished Mission 2 (out of 12) and I know for certain when I get to the end I'll have got every single pennies worth of value out of it, and that's without even touching the online side.

Gears of War - in all fairness, this wasn't quite as hot as I expected it to be. But I did play it after Lost Planet, which took a lot of the shine off. Visually it's stunning.. gritty, hardcore, gruesome. But I don't feel like I'm ever much in control of where the guy is shooting I'll have to give this one some more time, I'm sure it will grow on me. The few set-pieces I saw though were stunning, and the ability to play it online co-op just rocks.

Need for Speed Most Wanted. Damn, that's a fun game Again it's visually gorgeous, the soundtrack fits right in, the car pimping is just entertainment and other than the 'free roam' parts of it (which I get bored with) I thought it was neat.

And then there is Live Arcade. Bloody hell! Superb stuff in there. I bought Contra, Defender, Lumines Live and Geometry Wars. Lumines was quite fun, although I was really expecting more from it after all the hype. My wife loved it though. Defender was great! Very small screen area, which I feel they could have done better with, but it was slick and responsive and as butt-achingly hard as ever. I managed to progress quite nicely up the leaderboard though, and am determined to get further still. Unlocking the achievements in this game requires the finger dexterity of a ninja on speed.

I've not had a chance to play anything online yet. I did try doing a Defender duel, but no-one else was in the game (pah!) These retro games are what I expected from the Wii! Nicely updated, but still the core classic there under the hood. I have to admit that the range of Arcade games on offer isn't that great though - it's quite a small list considering how long XBLA has been running now, but at least it is a list filled with quality, and not bloody NES Ice Hockey.

I honestly haven't been so excited with a new console since the original PS2, which was as equal a jump ahead in power and great games. I kinda wish I had trusted the 360 earlier, and just bought one, but the variety of games on sale NOW are what interest me most. I'm going to get a few back catalogue classics though.. Amped 3 (as there's no other snowboarding game for it yet), Burnout Revenge (even though BO5 is around the corner) and NBA 2K7 because I've read it's a superb game even if you don't usually like sports games (and I don't!).

If anyone wants to grab me on Live for a Defender duel my gamertag is 'Weird Dreams'

Cheers,

Rich

You have to unlock multiplayer mode

I did wonder, the space for it is there when you start the game, so I thought this might be the case. But it's still annoying. I read through the manual several times to see if it was mentioned, but it just said something sarcastic about 'pick single player, because it's the only choice you've got'.

Very helpful

There was one mini game I really liked where all you had to do was drop the wiimote. I thought that was really clever But I still have my Gamecube, and Wario Ware on that had more entertaining mini games imho (although I admit I didn't get that far through Smooth Moves)

i tried the wii a few days ago... i was supposed to shoot some flying ducks or something with the remote. But the damn controller was sooooo unresponsive, if i moved it up, it would take the wii 2 seconds to respond, and it randomly gave me a message "please point the controller to the screen" and i was doing it..

was it broken or is this just the way the wii works?

It sounds like the sensor bar wasn't set-up properly, I definitely never had any problem like that. The pointer can be a bit erratic sometimes, but never consistently to the extent you described.

I knew you'd love 360 if you got one!

It is such a solid console.

There are enough awesome games for me to get one now, but I don't really have the time. They have a company one at work and it is just awesome.

I will get one some time this year.

The games coming up just blow my mind - Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Alan Wake, Halo 3, Halo Wars - but most of all Bioshock.

It's the spiritual successor to System Shock 2, it looks better than Deus Ex.

Games are basically £40 now, which is awesome, plus they are slowly working their way through the back catalogue.

It's weird, I've never seen a console have such a slow start and then blossom quite so spectacularly, at launch it was laughable, now it is formidable.

Have you looked into XNA yet Rich?

Oooh and the million dollar question... (apologies if this is considered flamebaiting)... are you going to be getting a PS3??

I would imagine very, very, few people will get both because if they already have a 360, they could get ELEVEN games instead of getting a PS3 + game.

This obviously works in reverse too, if you've got a PS3, you would rather get 6 games than a 360 + game.

Glad to see you're up and running with a 360. I have one as well and I have to agree with all of your points. I bought Lost Planet last night, and despite some reviews out there saying that it's just too much of the same gunplay over and over again, I actually find it quite fun. If you're ever in the mood for some online my gamertag is SFLM.

I still like my Wii sports, but really I don't play the Wii that much right now, waiting on some decent games to come along - which is par the course with such a brand new console - I mean has it even been 3 months yet!.

I'm dissapointed in you getting rid so quickly mate, that's what killed the Gamecube. The sad thing is that we're seeing games that nobody really fancies playing, compared to what the 360 has to offer there's nothing very impressive yet.

The 360 however has had a great time of it recently, Gears of War is amazing online multiplayer, seriously any 3rd person shooter that can hook me must be very very special - but GOW, 4 on 4, it's better than any game in it's era, I'd say the co-op was far better than in Halo2, but that game is just insane online. Got the demo of Lost Planet, so that'll be on the 'to buy' list, I repeat my statement about 3rd person shooters. I think the 360 is gonna blow up with online deathmatch games this year (UT07 for instance), it could severely harm Sony's chances because GOW is growing like mold on casual gamers, and they are Sony's key demographic. My brother and I play against some workmates, none of whom are hardcore gamers, usually they go for the console with the best football game but Gears is just hypnotic once you know how everything works. In fact Rich, get on GoW this weekend and I'll kick your butt - gamertag is 'Dave Bramble'.

As for retro, well I like to keep it real, so I turned my DS into a little retro monster, Speccy games, NES classics, Arcade conversions... it's all on my little DS, been playing a lot of the 80's classics (Paperboy, SuperSprint, Klax, Gauntlet, Rampage, Ramparts, Final Fight...) - I play the DS more than any other console!. Haven't had a good look at the Wii retro stuff yet, but the XBox stuff seems quite cool. Doom for example, with xbox live deathmatches, that's the way it should be handled.

TGC room anyone?

Has anyone played Crackdown?

It looks pretty fun, mainly because it's got a rock solid physics system that works in online co-op (that is some technical feat).

I think Wii can do more visually, it is gutting to see every single Wii game come in below RE4 in terms of graphics.

I actually think Crackdown will be a pretty cool game. The demo is pretty fun and it does come with the Halo 3 Beta.

It is, the most annoying thing is how startling the Gamecube could look (i.e. RE4, Pikmin2), and we know the Wii is capable of more - but nintendo seem to take their time finding the right team to push the hardware. It's the same story with the DS - couple of years ago we got Metroid Prime, a stunning game, lonely with it's crown of greatest handheld FPS of all time. Nowadays we have....

Metroid Prime!


I was hoping to see some cool FPS games because of Metroid, never happened, instead we got Goldeneye. It's frustrating because of what is possible, we know it can be great, they just don't push the envelope fast enough for my liking.

At launch? Not in a million years. The launch line-up of games is a joke. But then I refused to buy the 360 at launch too, for the same reason - now a year (and a bit) on it's a solid investment. I'm quite sure the PS3 will be as well.



I know mate, I'd rather have not sold it - but the wife wouldn't let me go out and blow £400 on a 360 (plus all the other bits and games you need) when I had a brand new Wii sat there collecting dust. She wasn't that impressed with it after the initial excitement vanished. The both of us spent more time playing Tekken 4 on the PS2 in the past month, than we did anything on the Wii! That's just not right. Especially when Tekken looked so much nicer! I know I shouldn't be a graphics whore, but sod it, I'm a true geek, and therefore I am Shiny stuff appeals to me. It isn't just that though, I honestly feel that the Wii would have benefited massively from running in high def - especially the channel select screen.

I know the Wii is a new console and it should have been given more time, but Zelda was probably the pinnacle of what it can currently do, and even that wasn't too hot visually. The FPS parts of Raymen were really fun though! I did enjoy that game a lot, and between us we managed to finish 90% of it. The only game I'm really going to miss, that I wanted to play, was Battalion Wars 2. I'm not really a big Mario fan, so Mario Galaxy didn't hold too much interest - I guess I'm just 20 years too old for that now

I've still got my Gamecube, and I won't sell it, because some of the games we've got on it are superb (Donkey Konga, Pikmin, Ikaragu, etc), but I had to make a choice and the 360 won, and having just spent my lunch break playing Galaga and Assault Heroes, I'm glad I did

To those asking, my gamertag again is 'Weird Dreams'.

I've just ordered Rayman: Raving Rabbids and GT Pro Series for my Wii. I can say the graphics for the Wii almost utterly suck, but at least the games are fun.

Wii Sports is a different matter, some of the games play well, some don't. I love golf and bowling the most, but the boxing is really annoying. As I have done boxing before, I find playing Wii boxing poor, as you will punch and the sensor wont pick it up, or it will hit the other guy in the wrong area.

I bought Red Steel a while back, thinking it would be great, but it isn't. The graphics let it down a lot, but the game play is alright, 5/10.

I have call of duty also, which is quite fun, but it can also lag a whole lot, which lets it down.

Being the Wii is a next gen console, I would have thought it could perform a lot better, but it cant. I think the game cube can out perform the damn thing!

i've heard the demo is fun for kicking people over buildings. As for the wii, I haven't played it in almost an entire month. Not because I don't like it, but it's summer over here and my room reaches over 40 degrees (Celcius) and when i use my computer it crashes and makes a terrible terrible buzz noise, so I don't wanna risk ruining my wii.

The web browser has had an update that actually helps with the resolution, not sur eif you got it or not, I actualyl like the web browser on it, quite a nice way of quickly looking up webcomics etc. Sorry to hear that you don't have fun with it any more, but hey its ur call

(Sorry to double-post, can't be arsed to edit)

I downloaded the demo last night, I was REALLY looking forward to it because the vids looked brilliant. But I have to admit I wasn't impressed. It was like a cross between GTA and Lemmings! Perhaps the demo just wasn't very well done, but it seemed as if the game had started 4 hours ago without you, and you were thrown into the middle of it. Marker following was confusing and difficult too.

I will definitely try it again though, I don't believe the pedigree that created Crackdown would create something so cack, which means I must have not given it enough play time.

I must admit though, graphically I didn't like it. Almost cell-shaded. Very odd.

I thought it looked really nice graphically... looks like one of the high budget Marvel comics, kind of like it is drawn by Olivier Coipel.

There was one shot, the guy looking out across the city at sunset, that really made me go wow. Then again I absolutely love cell-shading so I am biased as hell.

Graphically I'm not a big fan of cell shading. It did indeed look like a comic book, but it wasn't just that - the animation wasn't very good on anything or anyone other than you. The people walked around like androids, waiting to be mowed down. But like I said, I'll try it again tonight I really want it to rock, I was so looking forward to it!

Well Rich,

It's sort of odd you would quit on it so soon. I understand your complaints, and how overexaggerated games are shown as, but remember the Wii is designed for pick up and play games, not kinds with an ultra long story, or for games that fully immerse you, but you may already know that. That's probably why you prefer the Xbox 360's games. Then again, Geometry wars doesn't have a long long story or whatever.

Drew

Rich, if you want a really solid XBLA game I'd suggest Assault heroes. The shooting is similar to geometry wars, but it's a top down shooter style game, and it has online co-op! There's also another game that I was thinking of getting called Robosomethin. It's basically a bunch of physics puzzles. Again, my gamertag is SFLM, I mostly play Lost Planet and GoW right now.

I have to disagree here - the Wii is just a console, it's up to the games to define if they are 'quick play' or 'long titles'. I would say that Zelda is a long and involved game, it certainly requires that you dedicate some serious time to it.

The problem was that none of the Wii games I had (or could see being released) made me *want* to play them - at all!

I love 'pick up and play' games, something I can blast on for 10mins and then leave again, which is why Defender or Geo. Wars really appeal to me. It's also why I loved some of the Wii VC games so much (Bomberman was wonderful, as was Dungeon Explorer) - the difference is that on XBLA the games are both enhanced (often high def), nearly always have online modes of some kind, have achievement points and generally are presented much better from what I've seen so far.

Antidote - I tried that game today, and it was nuts I quite liked the shooting action, but I'm not sure if I'll pay for it, although online co-op sounds great, it only works if there is someone to co-op with! so far my Live experience has been a solitary one, despite waiting for ages to join a Lumines or Defender game. I just guess everyone is in GoW, LP or R6

Lost Planet is a nuts game, short but good, and belive me the last mission will remind you of AC a bit.

Sad to hear. I wanted the Wii to be cool since it's the only console innovating with input devices (which I feel should be the future). If it's got crap games and isn't that fun to play, then it might not successfully provoke a revolution in controllers. I think console controllers are their weakest link.

If you buy Assault Heroes I'll play with you. I'm on a lot, just message me.

Yah, the demo was great, but alas I can't afford the game.

Rich - If you're looking for another XBLA game that's reminiscent of Geometry Wars gameplay, definitely check out Mutant Storm. So fun and addicting trying to beat your high score!

I agree about the Wii's VC--- they need to allow us to download a demo, even if it's just the game with a 5-minute timer or something. And yes, I'm bored of my Wii right now too-- just waiting for Mario Galaxy and others like that.

360 still gets my vote. (i havnt played wii or ps3 yet!, no bashes pls)

the things you can do on it and the easy of use of the "xbox live" section of the dashboard. shame the download manager only accepts 6 downloads but thats managable.

fair enough the early revisions of the consoles broke, but most 1st batch do, i got mine 6 months after release and it has yet to die on me.

i have every xbox live arcade game on the hard drive (even purchased a few classics), i tell it to download new games when i go online.
my xbox360 game pile stands at about 16 now. the most played game? lego star wars 2! it's just so much fun. 60+% complete. damn lego city! gimme that million studs.

it's all about unlocking achievements!

people bash the xbox 360 because its microsoft. buy one, hook it up online and you'll see it's the best console _currently_ available.

Mutant storm is a very good game. Very challenging, but a very good game none the less.

I don't go with consoles really - I'm a PC man myself. From what I've heard from my friends though, their views seem to mirror yours. It'd seem that what makes the Wii unique is little more than a mere novelty.

As lag says, if I were to get a console, I'd probably get a 360 - it seems to have the best games out currently, add to that Live, it'd probably make the best all-round affordable gaming platform for me

GT Pro Series. >.<
Terrible game.

I love my Wii, still not bored with it. I've got Elebits, RedSteel, and Zelda. Getting ExCite Truck soon and Raving Rabbids (both are very fun games).

Well yes, I admit, Zelda is an immersive game, but what I'm getting at is more are pick up and play than involved titles. Such as Excite Truck, and Wii Sports, and games like that. Yeah, you'll get your long titles, but for alot of hardcore gamers,(like yourself) will find more appeal to the 360 and stuff.

Drew

woohoo! go pikmin! most people i talk to havent even heard of pikmin