Sony PlayStation 3: Do you go by the little moniker of “money bags”?

Upon further examination of the Playstation 3, my jaw immediately dropped. The specs include:
up to seven Bluetooth controllers, Wi-Fi via PSP, 3.2GHz of this, 256MB of that, Blu-ray Media, DVD-ROM, DVD+RW.. it basically makes you believe you might be seeing things. Lo and behold: Sony Playstation 3.

Nintendo Wii: GameCube remixed

A huge grin broke upon on my face when I first heard the Wii’s specs, but still… what an odd name.

The specs:

A processing chip provided by IBM and a graphics chip provided by ATI, a self-loading media bay, two USB 2.o ports, 512 megabytes of internal flash memory, and so on…

I was really reading all about the Wii, and after several minutes of uncontrolled laughter by just thinking about the name alone, Nintendo proved their point about “innovating gaming.” They proved their point with a dagger to video gaming and anything even remotely normal. Wii allows fanboys and gamers alike to download and relive all of their past Super Nintendo, NES and N64 gaming memories. Moreover: SD memory cards, wireless Bluetooth technology, backwards compatability with Nintendo GameCube discs, all sound fine, but then it branches off into madness: “Wii can communicate with the Internet even when the power is turned off’ (your eyes just widened, didn’t they?) Sony is probably wondering if they are going to ever sleep or see the light of day again while they get word of more and more of the Wii’s habitual madness.

Lo and behold: Nintendo Wii.

I am of the opinion that both consoles sound nice and fancy and all that, but in all honesty, the Wii sounds like the most fun and most reasonable price-wise, so it gets my vote. Please note that due to obvious time constraits and other duties I have at the moment, telling you of the high risks of addiction and video game disease connected to these two consoles sounds beyond what I can explain to you in this set amount of time. Just don’t complain to me if you turn into a Wii.

I just wonder what Microsoft is up to…

Since the launch of the Nintendo 64 in mid-to-late 1996 (or early 1997, depending on whether you live in North America, Japan or Europe), Nintendo have repeatedly struggled in their attempts to gain their previous stronghold authority in the video game industry. The Nintendo 64’s sales were reasonable, but totaled in at less than one third (1/3) of the amount the, then pretender to Nintendo’s throne, Sony PlayStation managed to achieve in it’s lenghtly life span. Reaching around 32 million consoles worldwide, the Nintendo 64 only sold around 3 million more consoles than its predecessor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (also referred to as SNES), and sold 2 million less copies than the 1989 SEGA console, Genesis (MegaDrive) which were released in a far less video game-orientated generation.

Realistically, the PlayStation (released in North America and Europe in 1995) was what saw off competition from SEGA, effectively killing off opposition from two of its consoles, the SEGA Saturn and the SEGA Dreamcast, thus ending SEGA’s time as creators of video game consoles.

With the Nintendo 64 failing to live up to the standards set by previous Nintendo consoles selling figures, the 2001 release of the Nintendo GameCube was clearly surrounded with anxiety from the Nintendo team, and astutely so. The PlayStation 2 was selling in a big way since the release in October, 2000, but not only this – there was a new kid on the block.

Microsoft were previously a company who made Personal Computers, and whose only foray into video games were limited to a number of small games were now to enter the big time, by bringing out their very first game console, the Microsoft Xbox. Not only was the GameCube desperately trying to compete with the PlayStation 2, but they now had a second opponent; an opponent whose financial potential was unlimited.

The GameCube’s sales figures showed a noticeable decline in the fortune of Nintendo, with the company at this point more than ever, being considered as the ideal alternative for people who loved Mario and Legend of Zelda games, rather than ’serious gamers’. Snobbery was such, that many gamers were put off the console as they felt it has an alienating ‘cutesy’ element to it. This was certainly not the case in either the Sony or Microsoft consoles, which boasted hugely popular titles such as Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec and Halo respectively. The GameCube was also unable to offer gamers the huge number of titles the other consoles catered for. With the total sales of the GameCube (to date) being approximately 20.85 million, the console faired unsurprisingly worse than the PlayStation 2, which has to date recorded a massive 103.6 million shipments, but also worse than debutants Microsoft, who sold in the region of 24 million Xbox units.

This brings us on to more recent times, and Nintendo are set to take the metaphorical battle fields once more, this time taking on Sony’s third gaming system, the PlayStation 3, and the now weighty opposition of the already released Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 is performing reasonably (at not far under 4 million copies sold thus far), but speculation is rife that the PlayStation 3 console is set to disappoint some fans in a number of ways. It seems that the cost of the PlayStation 3 is going to be between $499 and $599 (depending on the size of hard disk desired, the options being 20 and 60 gigabytes respectively), a fee a lot of potential purchasers are put off by. Moreover, the PlayStation 3 has seemed rather anti-climactic in terms of improvements since the PlayStation 2.

The criticisms of the next Nintendo console, the Nintendo Wii are far more limited than those that the PlayStation 3 is receiving. People seem highly excited about many of the innovations the console is making, not least the motion-sensing “Wii Remote”. Frankly, the main concern people seem to have about the console is the name, Wii.

As such, it seems that the console will have much more backing from game developers than previous Nintendo consoles have enjoyed. LucasArts, of Star Wars fame seem likely to jump the PlayStation 3 ship, and bring out an exclusive game on the Wii instead.

With all the speculation surrounding the release of the PlayStation 3 and the Wii, it appears that the balance of fortunes could be set to swing unpredictably in favor of the Nintendo system. Should more big name companies pledge allegiance to the interestingly named system, there could be a huge alarm bell ringing in the Sony headquarters. Game on, Wii.

Source for data, Wikipedia.

What we don’t know, on the other hand, is what exactly the plans are for the Nintendo Wii in terms of release date and there is yet to be any actual confirmation on a price we can expect to pay for the console, though the sum $250 is being bandied about on many video game websites.

What has been only too clear within the last day is that Nintendo seem keen on having (launch?) games ready for shipment in October of this year. Clearly games being release does not directly mean that the console itself will be put on shelves then, but it appears unlikely that software would be produced within that time period if the console were to be released later in the year.

Therefore, as the PlayStation 3 is scheduled for the mid-November, Christmas-rush period, it seems Nintendo are trying to force the release of the Wii before Sony, in attempt to oust certain sales. Given that the Wii is anticipated to innovate in exciting ways that the PlayStation 3 is perhaps failing to, as well as being available for an apparently much cheaper price – the news that the console could well be released 3 or 4 weeks prior to the PlayStation 3 could allow Nintendo an astonishing lead in the ‘battle of the consoles’.

Much of the suggestion and conjecture surrounding the Wii has sprouted from the change of name, from the slightly tame ‘Revolution’, to the much more thought provoking and (almost) surreal ‘Wii’. One might wonder why Nintendo have changed from a rather standard codename, to a bizarre alternative. Wii is pronounced ‘We’, thus signifying the connotation of togetherness – everyone can play it, no one is excluded. Furthermore, the name Wii is not one that is likely to be forgotten – it is a name people of all countries, and who speak any language would be able to communicate with ease. Moreover, the name ‘Revolution’ could be perceived to be somewhat daunting to those who are new to gaming, whereas the Wii could be seen to be much more inviting (Shigeru Miyamoto, 2006). There is no need, either, for abbreviations. The PlayStation 3 is abbreviated to the PS3, and the Xbox 360 to 360, but what could one possibly abbreviate Wii to? Wi?! Another reason for the name is that the two “i”s Wii together take the appearance of two ’stick (wo)men’ congregating together, perhaps ready to play on the console.

Read the rest of the article over at Wii Online.

There have been recent murmerings from Apple that they wish to move into the lucrative gaming arena, and a move for in-fashion Nintendo may be the solution to this.

Should such a stunning takeover occur, the news would be likely to cause further unrest to Bill Gates and Microsoft; not only would they have to worry about the PlayStation 3, Google’s dominance, and open-source software, but they will have to pay further attention to the United States’ number 3 in consoles, Nintendo.

Clearly Apple purchasing Nintendo is only a rumour, but there is a still a possibility of it occuring, as Apple desperately want to capture the video game market as they have so beautifully captured the music market with their iPod, perhaps buying such a respected gaming franchise which invariably struggles against the money power of Sony and Microsoft is not such a strange concept!

Not only is the Final Fantasy XIII compilation to contain several titles on multiple consoles, the hugely popular Final Fantasy VII series is ever expanding, with several off-shoot games and even a movie released. Then of course there was Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2!

While this seems like rather a handful of games already, one must bare in mind that Final Fantasy XII (that’s 12) is still not available in the Europe or Europe. It would seem rude of Square-Enix to create so many sequels for without considering the possibility of expanding the enigmatic Final Fantasy XII ’series’, would it not?

Final Fantasy XII’s character designer, Akihiko Yoshida, has now revealed that there is a possibility that Final Fantasy XII-2 (FF XII-II?!) will be released at some stage in the future. This adds on from Yasumi Matsuno’s discussion of the the possibility of adding a sequel from an interview in Famitsu.

Thankfully, the Square team are currently prioritising the first and main Final Fantasy XII game’s release in Europe and North America, so let’s try to avoid being too cynical and about the increasingly ironically named Final Fantasy series future plans. Let us be honest, they do make good games, even though Marx may very well be turning in his grave.

Nintendo hopes to improve on the near-perfect mega-hit that is Super Smash Bros. Melee. Two games on two different consoles with the second being so well-tuned and refined, some call Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC) the best fighting game ever. So what is Nintendo up to in the Mushroom Kingdom?

Series creator Masahiro Sakurai and Team-Nintendo have already confirmed Zero Suit Samus (Metroid) and Metaknight (Kirby) and surprisingly, Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid). Masihiro also confirmed that the Wii is going to feature/support GC controllers for classic Smash Bros. control. The game will also support full online play.

Sadly, however, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is predicted to have a 2007 release, so Super Smash Bros. Brawl will not be a Wii launch title, but you can still look for it in 2007 where hopefully Nintendo will have plenty of exciting new games to slake our desire for the Wii as well as our habitual gaming habits, thus making the wait for Super Smash Bros. Brawl more bearable…

Twilight Princess, anyone?

It seems that not only do Nintendo wish to innovate in terms of design, controller and even name, but they are set to take control of the graphical battle between themselves and Sony’s PlayStation 3, by once again teaming up with specialists ATI (Array Technologies Inc.), who developed the Flipper chip for the previous Nintendo console, GameCube, amongst various other collaborations with the video game company.

The reason that the Nintendo Wii does seem to be able to innovate so well is the way they are constantly making crucial changes to the hardware. This also serves to put Sony at a loss as to where exactly Nintendo are in comparison to them.

Source: QJ.net

The latest installation of the slightly insane Bust-A-Move series is supposedly to be named “Bust-A-Move Revolution”, though whether or not this name will be changed in the light of change of name from Nintendo Revolution to Nintendo Wii, we are not sure. We suspect that MEC will probably keep the name Bust-A-Move Revolution, though the Revolved.net were quite amused at the prospect of a game named “Busta-A-Move: Wii” – does not it conjur up a rather potent image?

Bust-A-Move Revolution is set to be released in the early stages of 2007, with no specific release date announced.

Both ‘controllers’ do seem provide innovative touches; the Wii controller (Wiimote) will use an entirely new controller formula, allowing single-hand, motion sensing play, while the PlayStation will utilise a DualShake system, though Revolved.net is yet to ascertain the exact details of this.

To conclude, it appears both Sony and Nintendo are ready to offer exciting packages, but it should be taken into consideration that there are more to controllers than innovation, something Nintendo have seemingly overlooked on more than one occasion.