Hikari On The Subject

Crossroads: Nintendo

I was...a HUGE Nintendo Fanboy. I used to worship the ground Miyamoto walked on. I used to idolize Mario. Zelda was the most epitome of coolness. Now? Nintendo and I have come to a crossroads, and, sadly, the time is near for us to go our separate ways. As soon as the stores in my area get one in, I'll probably pick up an XBox 360, and start trading in my some of my Gamecube games for credit towards 360 titles. My cube, still on life support, won't be laid to rest until The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess comes out, but after that, it's quiet possible Nintendo and I will be saying "see you around."

A tornado of rumors continue to swirl about Nintendo's next-gen console. Some say the system could be as cheap as 100 bucks right out of the gate, with games being as equally inexpensive when compared to XBox 360 and PS3, while others say the systems specs would only make it a little stronger than the original XBox.

While Nintendo argues ports won't be too much of a problem, and that their games will look fine on a standard def TV, consider this; when DVD players first came out they were expensive as hell. Now, you can get them for 20 bucks at General Dollar. The same goes for all new forms of technology, including HDTVs. While they're still pretty pricey, eventually the prices are falling: They will continue to do so, and they will become cheap enough for people without bottomless to afford. It's quite possible that in the next 2 years or so, HDTVs will be a common place as a toaster.

Which means that when most gamers will be able to enjoy high quality visuals on their PS3s and XBox 360s, revolution gamers will be playing games in low def, and not getting the high quality visuals of the other consoles.

Now, while I do realize that gameplay is more important that looks, many gamers want the best possible experience. That means high end sound, picture, gameplay, the works. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Revolution will have an unparalleled control experience, and there is even less doubt that there will be some phenomenal games released, Nintendo refuses to raise the bar even further, and take Sony and MS head on, and obliterate their asses.

But, Nintendo has made it clear, that they are not in direct competition with Sony and Microsoft, which is evident. However, while I do foresee myself cutting things with Nintendo, this may not be the end quite yet. If the 100 buck price point turns out to be more than just a rumor, I wouldn't mind picking up a revolution as a secondary console or a replacement for my gamecube. Plus, the system specific content will be unlike anything we've ever seen. But, should the revolution be about the same as the Gamecube was at $199? Then I must say so long, old friend, I wish you well.

posted by Teksuo Hikari @ 11:34 PM 2 comments

Ground Zero

*Whistle* New day, new blog!

Some of you might remember me from such blog sites as Redassedbaboon.com and rottentomatos.com though honestly, I only have like one post on Rotten Tomatos. lol I also post comments occasionally over at Kotaku.com, another great site with up-to-the-minute content being added daily. If you love video games, and love blogging (and I know you do...!) Go over to redassedbaboon.com It's pretty cool site, really easy if you wanna set up blog and speak your mind about stuff, and submit content, plus I have some REALLY good articles posted on there. ^_^

For Day one, I wanna start off by talking about the XBox 360. As we all know by now, Microsoft hasn't been doing so well with the launch of their new titantic console, with XBox 360 games far more buyable than the 360s themselves. Since the launch, I have yet to walk into a store and see them sitting on a shelf. Many speculate that this is due to store employees buying up the 360s and selling them on EBay for obscene amounts of money, while some like myself, believe its due to Microsoft's over zealous belief that they could pull off a world wide launch with such a small supply.

What really irks me about all this, is that if they'd just waited 2 or 3 months they really could have gotten the worlds attention by starting here, building up hype by letting European and Japanese gamers by imports or check out U.S. word of mouth for a while, and then release big in those countries with a massasive dual launch.

Still, if many people are stock piling 360s and reselling them on EBay (which they most likely are, the greedy bastards), then I think the companies invovled in such schemes should be forced to sell 360s for at least 25% off the normal price. Some people who preordered the system, still don't have their units in hand. Meanwhile, many gamers who acutally got lucky enough to walk in and buy the thing right off the shelf, got sucked into buying bundles with shit that they did not want and/or need.

I really feel like MS screwed up here. Yes, people are clamoring for the 360s, that doesn't do MS any good if they don't have any to give. They wanna beat Sony out of the gate and get the 360s in homes well before the PS3, but in the long run, I don't think it's gonna make much of a dent if they continue at this pace.

Most stores I've talked to said they won't get any in till March or April. While they're probably freaking out and over estimating, the mere fact that they have to give out dates like that, says Microsoft isn't dolling out enough units. Though, if stores are getting them and reselling them through online auction sites, I think the parties responsible should be tied to the roof of the stores and left out in the cold for several weeks. Think of it as an extremely harsh time out.

Well, that's my first rant. I'll be back soon with more. Later!

posted by Teksuo Hikari @ 8:51 AM 1 comments