Where's the Game of Virtual Waiting In Line?

[eggwards]

Last night Chris and I went out half-hartedly looking for a Wii. Really, i wasn't too into it, even though I liked the test that we did at the Game Stop in the mall. The controller really is quite different, and really, it's the stupid, complicated controller that keeps me away from a lot of games

Comments

[winbear]

This has been a very interesting week for serious gamers. I didn't even realize the PS3 was shipping until I heard a friend of mine was camping out at a Target for one. He was #6 in line 36 hours in advance and it turned out they only had 4 units. His buddies were #4 and #5 and decided to team up to buy to the "ultimate bundle" of every controller and a select set of games for an eBay auction.

I would be more interested in the Wii, I imagine. I enjoyed the GameCube a few years ago, mainly for a couple of games that were not too action oriented. Without realizing a new console was coming out, Harry decided to pursue various emulators for old games and ended up hooked on a Nintendo 64 game, Ms Pac-Man Maze Madness. Unfortunately, the emulator hung up on a certain level around 80% completion of the entire game, so we bought a used console and cartridge on eBay. The N64 is right at the edge of the level of 3D complexity and motion that Harry can handle comfortably and some games are less vertigo-inducing.

Have you checked out any of the $20-50 old-school consoles that were out a couple of years ago? They would have a number of games for a particular console all preprogrammed into a device the size of the original controller. We tried a couple of those and were happy with them. If they made one with Yar's Revenge, I think it must have been buried on a list of 20+ games for a unit.

As for WoW, like any other MMORPG, the social interaction is a big part of the experience. It's not just about the adventure, it's about playing it with other people. Of course, you wouldn't get to play with your real serious gamer friends until you were upto speed on the controls and your character was of sufficient level. It can be a catch 22, but there are ways to deal with it from the noob side as well as the leet side.

[eggwards]

Sony I think really rushed to get this in the marketplace this year...after being a year late. Still, I think they are going to see the Wii triump this year. That's got to be a big problem for them as they are having a lot of trouble selling their non-gaming products these days. The PS3 also seems to be overpriced (I'm sure the components are expensive) when you look at the competition, and that's a big problem.

Sony probably could have made more units, but getting the hype of being the impossible to find toy is really more of what they wanted, I think.

I've seen some of the retro consoles, and the trouble is, they don't have a great selection of games - most likely because they only come from one group - generally Atari. What made the 2600 great was games from Namco, Activision, etc. I'm almost thinking about getting on ebay and finding an old 2600.