Or put more generally, why do we have three different, completely incompatible video game consoles on the market right now, instead of multiple companies making video game consoles that play a single format? We have unified formats for CDs, DVDs and bananas, so why not video games?
Here’s an article that discusses rumors that Microsoft was considering licensing other manufacturers to make their own versions of the 360 prior to its launch. On the surface this doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. It’d remove the responsibility for manufacturing hardware from Microsoft’s sloped shoulders and birdlike arms - they’ve never really proven themselves adapt at the sort of heavy lifting that manufacturing requires. Third party Xbox’s could potentially be cheaper, and also, you know, work.
But for now it remains a rumor. Why have console manufacturers resisted licensing the manufacture of their consoles, and in general why haven’t we moved towards a single standard, like the DVD? As is generally the nature with rhetorical questions, I’ve already prepared some answers…
One, the inability to maintain control of the price of the hardware - particularly the ability to sell it at a loss. In the video game industry it’s fairly common for a manufacturer to sell their console at a loss for the first few years of production, a sacrifice they’re willing to make to build up market share. But there’s no way an external, licensed manufacturer would be willing to manufacture Xbox’s and price them so low that they’d be losing money. Both the CDi and 3DO were licensed to outside manufacturers, and high prices are one of the reasons they failed (they also weren’t much good at playing video games.) I guess this kind of scheme could work, if the licensing involved assorted payoffs and kick-backs from the licensor to the licensee in exchange for the licensor being able to set the price. Seems complicated though.
Two, video game content providers aren’t as powerful or concentrated as movie or music content providers. The vast majority of American films are owned by 6 companies. When they throw their support behind a single format, that format becomes the standard - this is exactly how the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray battle was settled. I imagine the same thing happens in the music industry, but with greasier people at the negotiating table. Video game publishing has grown more and more consolidated over the last decade, but it’s still nowhere near that level. No single console has been able to gain the overwhelming support of third parties since the NES.
Three, the pace of console development is a huge obstacle for any possible consolidation. The amount of negotiations, arm twisting, and legal kicks to the balls needed for hardware manufacturers to agree to a single standard is considerable, and can take years. For certain formats, that effort might be worth it. CD’s have been around and kicking for 25 years or so, and DVD’s for a dozen. But new console generations are separated by 5-6 years or so. To have to go through all that hassle every 5 years for the next generation of consoles? It might not be worth it. Now I wouldn’t complain if the pace of console replacement slowed down - I don’t think it’s terribly healthy for the industry. But it will take more than this whiny asshole to stop that particular trend.
I should point out that I’m no economics major (my university career was spent mostly learning then rapidly forgetting computer science) so I may be missing something here. What do the rest of you Monday Morning Console Quarterbacks think?
Last 5 posts by Chris Bucholz
- How To Train An Army of Animals To Do Your Bidding - November 18th, 2008
- Everything I need to know I learned from He-Man - November 11th, 2008
- Campaign 2008: The Year in Pictures - November 4th, 2008
- The Scouts are offering a Merit Badge in Boning - October 28th, 2008
- 10 Reasons Canadian Elections are better than your Elections - October 14th, 2008
October 8th, 2008 at 10:03 am
There already is one unified console: a PC. A game system with half the computing power of your old desktop can run games better than a new top of the line computer is because there is only one set of hardware that the program has to be written for. Back in the day, my dad used to have an employee who had worked for Sony on the Playstation hardware. The reason that the PS2 could play PS1 games is because the PS2’s graphics card used the processor and a lot of hardware from the PS1. When the PS2 played PS1 games, it just switched off its processor and ran the whole thing from the graphics card. In the same way, the first generaton PS3 had the PS2’s chipset. The new ones don’t and thats where the backwards compatibility issues come in.
When a program can be optimized for a specific set of hardware, it can be made to run much faster because it doesn’t have to deal with inconsistencies.
September 29th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
[...] over at Cracked.com, they talk about video games using a universal format. Instead of having to go out and buy 3 different consoles every 4 years, you would buy 1. If you [...]
August 6th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I strongly suggest you get more from the hot cougar dating club called Cougarlove.com, a nice and free place for Older Women and Younger Men to interact with each other. It’s fabulous.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
It’s called Capitalism, that’s why!
July 25th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I love my Dreamcast. SoulCalibur, and Crazy Taxi have been my fast friends for ages. Hell, even Space Channel 5 is good for a laugh and a good cartoon-inspired masturbation session.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:36 am
I think the point of this article is that Sega needs to get back into the console business.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/montresor83/1206356924969.gif[/IMG]
July 24th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Yeah, but this is soooo awesome!!!!!!!
http://www.fakebuddy.com
July 24th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Hmm, so many people with different perspectives on this subject…
“HAVING A BONER ROCKS!!!”
-Havelock Ellis (1859 - 1939)
That should clear things up.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Four:- Manufacturers don’t want to be competing with cheaper versions of the same product - they want a distinct selling point that makes you buy their product instead of their competitors. Five:- In the wii’s case, it’s targetting a very different market.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Wii RULES!!!!
July 24th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
@kingmonkey +1: Kid Chameleon was F-ing awesome. And my best bud and I spent about five hours one day of our early adolescence to beat it. It was certainly “next to impossible.”
July 24th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Did anyone else used to love the game Kid Chameleon, until they realized it is next to impossible to finish?
Or how about Gauntlet? Wizard needs food, badly!
July 24th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
An0n: If you turn 360 degrees you’ll just be facing the Xbox again. That joke sucked harder than a Dyson on a bored and lonely 12-year-old boy.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Maplebang!!!!!!
July 24th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Not reading them, just writing their own.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Is anybody still reading these comments?
July 24th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I can answer the question for why consoles aren’t standardized…
Money. Everyone wants it, and they all have their own ideas about how to make it. Working together is not what the big corps are good at.
Just my 2 cents.
FK
July 24th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I remember when we got our PS1 my brother asked why there isn’t just one gaming platform.
I thought it was a stupid idea because…Actually I forget why.
But I think the world (Internet) would be a better place if there was just Playstation. Instead of it’s retarded clone Xbox and Wii has crappy graphics and you look ridiculous playing it.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:23 am
@Esmoreit and Bearman, plus possibly others:
I think you slightly missed the point there…the article talks about unified hardware, not development or licensed characters. So there would nothing to stop the Nintendo-developed games that you love continuing to be Nintendo-developed games that you love, and nothing stopping you from exclusively buying Nintendo-developed games for your unified console. What it *would* mean is that if, one strange day, you felt like playing spot of Halo with your buddies, you’d have to spend $60 for a game. Not $60 + $300 for another console.
July 24th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Clean-up, Isle 2.
Clean-up, Isle 2.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:55 am
“Thank you, glendoor, for being an isle of sanity”
Dude, you just don’t know the length of the list of people who would find that statement the winner for oxymoronic statement of the year.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:40 am
Res_Ipsa: Thank you for pointing out everything wrong with the world, as well as defending my projector.
Guest_Name: I don’t know what projector you were looking at, but it must have been low quality. Seriously low quality. If I didn’t get my projector for free (I have a friend in the media department at a local college, and they were just going to throw them out), I would’ve paid almost $4k for it. You’ve probably seen one of those shitty one’s that were only a couple hundred bucks from Radio Shack or something along those lines. Take into account a quality screen and the percieved contrast raises some 18 times. You can’t just use a white wall to project onto, because it doesn’t reflect the light properly, and your image washes out. I’m assuming that this was also the case where you were concerned.
I will admit freely that the picture quality isn’t as good as HDTV, but that’s not an issue for me since I’m not about to dump the same amount of money (if I had paid for it, that is) into a screen that’s a quater of the size. Especially when there’s only a still limited number of HD channels. Digital is good enough for me. I mainly just watch TV and movies on it. I just wait until the movies I want to see come out on DVD, then buy them. It’s about the same money as the gas driving to the theater, the tickets, refreshments, etc. Actually cheaper now that I think about it. Plus there’s no other asshole talking though the movie or smelling like ass (there aren’t many quality theaters where I live) Who needs to go to the movie theater when you have one of your own in your living room right in front of your Lay-Z-Boy? These are reasons why I jumped when my friend said, “Hey 12 Pack, you want this?”
I’m just saying.
P.S.–Did I use the correct “it” form Res?
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Soo this is supposed to be funny, because I laugh a lot more watching my mushroom cursor,whooo! look how it moves!!!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:48 pm
The wii exists for one reason: No More Heroes.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:35 pm
It’s easier just to ignore everything you write from here on in- after all, it’s not like the site isn’t funny; it’s just you.
I still can’t begin to imagine why you’d even write this piece of tripe. God forbid that people have a choice of game systems and the companies that build the consoles try to lure people into buying theirs- if you don’t like it, don’t buy the system. Period.
I don’t like my Wii half as much as my 360, but I still enjoy it, and my kids and wife love it. It serves a lot more of a purpose than you do.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I can’t believe no-one’s threatened to cancel their subscription yet.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Wow, Res. Way to pwn everyone… not.
I thought this was the internet, not a professional internet board meeting… so the point of your advice is what, that we should stop annoying you? Oh no no, no no no. Nope.
Point is- regardless of how it’s said- this article is ignorantly written, not funny, and has led to a nice little neo-flamewar. Wow, that’s productive.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
I used to work for a video game company in Japan (KOEI) and i can tell you that it is easy to port games between different formats (except for Wii due to the way the controllers work) even to PC for most games. The reason that it is not done as often as you would like is because of licencing, e.g. porting to Sony products (especially PSP) is a bitch because they have preformance quotas (min and max) that the game has to fall within, if you are not excactly within those quotas you can’t release it.
This kind of thing is true of all the console companies.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I think whats important to note here is that both Sony and Microsoft have said that their respective consoles are the end of the line for them. Both companies are continually selling their consoles at a loss, and not making any headway on them, as manufacturing prices are going up, instead of down. Neither is saying tommorrow is the last day that anything will be made for either console, but we are not going to see a new console from either compnay ever again unless there is some GIGANTIC leap in the manufacturing process.
Someone earlier posted about a monopoly being put forth if the companies were to combine into one single format. This is a guarantee and right now you can witness the result; its called The Madden franchise. See what an exclusive licensing agreement gets you? Nothing new except for stats. Lets be honest here kids. What new content or design was added to Madden 08 that made it different from Madden 07? Hell, almost all of the voiceovers were the same.
“subassy Says:
It just seems wrong to me to have essentially identical, multi-player-only games that can’t play versus each other. So make a free cross-platform network standard for mult-platform games and an exclusive-to-console enhanced network. You’d have that many more people to play against as well.”
Actaully you wouldn’t. This was proven with Halo 2 for the 360 and Windows Vista, as each platform could play against the other. the groups playing on 360 got TROUNCED by the PC crowd and stopped playing against them because there was a serious disadvantage.
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I wish there were more consoles
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
“glendoor42 Says:
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Then you would walk into it, not away. You are thinking of the Xbox 180.”
Thank you, glendoor, for being an isle of sanity. Where in the fuck did all these previously silent commentators come from?
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
“The Wii looks like garbage on a 32″ TV, it must look like the Holocaust on a 96″ projector.” — Yes, because comparing mass murder to looking at pixels on a screen is a completely valid comparison. Seriously. Why don’t we murder your mom, piss on her during her funeral, and then compare it to something as stupid and completely irrelevant as VIDEO GAME RESOLUTIONS. Because it just makes so much sense.
“well… ur probably just pissed because its sells so much” — Anyone and everyone who uses “ur” should be shot. In the stomach, so it’s painful and takes longer. It takes about half a second to type the actual word. “its not shitty its just not deep .. like you could finish the game in one day.. heck even 1 hour for some” “It’s” is the proper contraction for “it is.” If English is a second language, the “its/it’s” is forgivable. If not, it’s (not “its”) not. “Ur” is never forgivable. (Just some friendly advice.)
“This is honestly one of the dumbest articles I’ve ever read. It’s like asking why there are different makes of car or brands of TV.” — And all the other comments in the same vein. Bucholz probably is in tears right now–from laughing at all of you lunatics, fighting and bitching about something that really doesn’t fucking matter whatsoever. Or bitching about how this article started people bitching. Dumbasses. I get the strong feeling that this wasn’t supposed to humor most people. It was for his entertainment. And if he’s succeeded, bravo, Mr. Bucholz. I applaud your ability to bring out the idiotic in people.
And fail = verb. “Epic fail” makes no damn sense. Yes, I know people say it all the time. People huff paint all the time and that doesn’t stop it from being fucking idiotic. “Epically fail” or “epic failure.” Even if you’re purposely mangling language you still look like an uneducated 13 year old, and destroy any credibility you possibly could have had.
Now let’s all hold hands, sing a song about boning chicks (in true Cracked fashion) and eat a fucking cookie.
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I used to be in the pro-universal format column but have since started to lean in a different direction.
Instead of ONE format how about an extremely SIMILAR format. We need competition and a motivation for companies to one-up each other.
The downside to that is that companies have to make ports of essentially identical games. So here’s my idea: different consoles with the OPTION of compatibility. There’s no reason to have three completely seperate versions of licensed games for instance. Just make Shrek 3: the video game once and let it play on everything. Put some fancy “universal” logo on the front. That way it doesn’t matter if you have a MS/sony/nintendo/whatever console you can just buy it. And it cuts down development costs and would make such games that much cheaper.
Of course when Halo 8 or Gears of war 14 comes out MS can make it so it ONLY plays on their XBOX 2048 or whatever. This way there’s still a reason to buy the MS console (to get exclusive games) but silly little licensed games (shrek 9: the shrekening?) are easier to buy for those who would buy them.
Also, an option for multi-player: a “universal” network for multi-platform games like say Unreal III and a “enhanced” network for exclusive games like Halo or resistance: fall of man. It just seems wrong to me to have essentially identical, multi-player-only games that can’t play versus each other. So make a free cross-platform network standard for mult-platform games and an exclusive-to-console enhanced network. You’d have that many more people to play against as well.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
At least we found a cure for humor. Chris Bucholz = massively epic fail. Works equally well on intelligence.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Then you would walk into it, not away. You are thinking of the Xbox 180.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
you know why they call it Xbox 360? because when you see it you’ll turn 360 degrees and walk away!
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Ok…taking into account “cracked.com” I have to assume that the ATTEMPT was for thi sto be satirical in nature.
I would rather imagine someone coming up way, way, way flat on overreaching their literary abilities than accept that someone could be this flat-out stupid and have a job writing for public consumption.
This is what happens when asstards who beat Contra with the cheat assume that this makes them inherently insightful and technically-knowlegable. Or when places like Cracked give jobs to…to…I dunno, the woman here who barely speaks English and empties our garbage cans could whip out a better article in an evening. Whatever.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
As much as I love Nintendo, I will say that aside from Wii Sports, two golf games, and Metroid Prime 3, I haven’t really seen many games utilize the Wiimote technology very well at all. I just got Smash Bros. Brawl this weekend and the Wii controller is totally pointless for it. I just wound up using my GC controllers.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
well… ur probably just pissed because its sells so much .. I’ve played all three systems .. its not shitty its just not deep .. like you could finish the game in one day.. heck even 1 hour for some
I know because my releattives and someof my friends own a wii
but other than that its desigined for people who suck at games so yeah i stick with a ps3/360
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Do you really want to be playing everything on each console?
It would get insanely repetitive and redundant.
Plus, Nintendo is the company that everyone steals from because they can’t get their own idea’s anyways.
I like it the way it is. You get something new with each console.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:18 am
John Says:
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
Stupid execution, dumb elaboration, totally fucking retarded idea. What is wrong with you?
John, maybe you should take up your argument w/ Nintendo… I didn’t invent the damn thing ya know.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:59 am
This article’s title has little to do with it’s content. A sad attempt at baiting due to the Wii’s popularity. Pathetic.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
The Wii looks like garbage on a 32″ TV, it must look like the Holocaust on a 96″ projector. Why the outrage over HD games? PC LCD monitors have been providing HD resolution for years.
Another good reason for multiple platforms is the global nature of videogames. Idiot fanboys don’t realize that 75% of Americans who bought a Wii use it as a paperweight. Nintendo’s sales are driven by the fact that they are basically the only company selling in JAPAN. Different companies, different cultural tastes. So, basically, if you love the Wii, you hate America. I’m just sayin’….
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 am
The answer is simple…money.
A single ’standard’ will only come about one of two ways. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony would all have to decide to get together and release a console with all their names on it…or one of them would have to drive the other two out of business.
Plus, multiple consoles is actually a GOOD thing. Sure, it may suck when you want to play a game that’s exclusive to another console…but what do you think would happen to console prices if the different companies didn’t have to compete?
This is honestly one of the dumbest articles I’ve ever read. It’s like asking why there are different makes of car or brands of TV.
It’s because there’s a hell of a lot of cash in gaming and all those different companies want a slice.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
Stupid execution, dumb elaboration, totally fucking retarded idea. What is wrong with you?
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
Nintendo licensed the Gamecube out to a 3rd party, right?… anyone remember the Panasonic Q???
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Because it’s a lot easier to be good at Wii tennis and bowling than real tennis and bowling…that’s why.
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:13 am
I thought this was going to be a story about “Why do we have an electronic device that mimics playing tennis or bowling or golf or ???? Why don’t people just turn it off and go outside and ….. play tennis or go bowling or play golf? Heck, we might even meet OTHER PEOPLE and get aerobic! We may even see the sun!”
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
I’m just really surprised that it took 52 comments for someone to finally agree with me (since I am right).
As for the whole Console Crusades thing that’s going on…
I have a Wii, and a classic NES (Battletoads motherfuckers!). I have the Wii because I stopped playing video games when the SNES came out, and since I spend too much time sitting on my ass being a dick to the world in general, I like to get up and move around.
Plus I have a projector that gives me 96″ worth of game play, so it’s great for after-hours partying with ladie’s from the bar. A huge TV is the best way to get a chick back to your place when you don’t have a huge wang or any positive character traits.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 am
PC’s are great for games, but consoles do give you the assurance that all you have to do is put the game in the console and start playing. No installation time, and more importantly, no compatibility issues. I’ve never had to spend hours online scouring forums and FAQ’s to find the latest patches and fixes that will allow me to play Mario Kart Wii on my Wii. I still don’t know how to make KOTOR 2 run without crashing at the first load screen because it doesn’t like my video card and I only just now figured out how to get Battlefront II to stop crashing on a duo CPU. Some people might be good at that sort of thing, but I certainly don’t possess the know-how or the will to spend hours troubleshooting a game I just spent 50 bucks on. When I buy a game, I want to stick it into my PC or console and start playing it. I’m even willing to wait an extra ten minutes for it to install…as long as it actually runs. Consoles give me that assurance. With PC’s its very much what someone else called ‘patch and pray’.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:33 am
I like how you choose to ask why the Wii is even made. Probably because it sells astronomically better than the 360. The real question should be why was the X-Box even made when Microsoft already made PC games? The answer: because it was one more step in Bill Gates plot to take over the world before Warren Buffett beat him to it.
As far as an off-brand 360…that would probably be a little thing called copywrite infringment. If there were a cheaper off-brand X-Box, then no one would buy the real one. Then, the off-brand company would undershoot Microsoft’s price on games. Two of the exact same thing, the public will only buy the cheaper one.
Now, when there are differences, the people get a choice. Think of the 360, PS3, and Wii as Pepsi, Coke, and Dr. Pepper. Two are very similar, but one refuses to do business any other way than it’s been doing it for years (which is why beta-max tapes failed, remember that Sony?), and one stands aside and says, “Yeah, you guys go for cola lovers, I’ll go for EVERYONE ELSE.”
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:47 am
The console debate boils down to demand.
I have every Nintendo console made, and every portable, but not that God forsaken Vitrual Boy. Anyway, now that I am older with young kids, the Wii is the perfect system for me. The games are kid friendly and moving hands for control is a lot easier for a five and three year old than mashing an un-Godly amount of buttons.
When I play Mario Party with them, I can play it WITH them. They control their own characters. They do their own events.
I owned a Playstation 2 for a short time, but mostly just used it to play DVDs and PS1 games. It was a huge waste of money for me. Sure, they were pretty but they weren’t fun.
Now, it seems like the thing to do is create games with realistic graphics, mature content, and no entertainment value. I mean, c’mon, they have HD games.
Let me repeat that; They have HD games. That’s like having HD cartoons. Honestly, they look just like regular games to me considering the only thing that looks good in HD is REAL LIVE PEOPLE.
But, Sony and Microsoft keep pumping out these wastes of money because Ameican consumerism is law. “Sure, I’ll pay $800 for a damned video game.” says Joe Sixpack, “Then I’ll bitch about the price of gas even though they are driven by the same concept of greed.”
Finally, all true gamers play on PCs. I feel more accomplishment out of building and tweaking my own machine then letting a developer sell me a piece of crap that will be outdated in a few months. It costs significantly less to upgrade my PC than it does to by the next XBox. And, simply put, the PC has better games anyway.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:16 am
I could not agree more. Why does the WII exsist? Its a stupid system if you ask me.
JT
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:04 am
The wii exists because it is the only profitable machine. Nintendo makes money on every wii they sell. Profits do matter if they ever standardize the wii will win because that is where the money is.
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:45 am
[...] not video games? As is generally the nature with rhetorical questions, I’ve got some answersread more | digg story This post has been read 1 [...]
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:08 am
Heres an idea why don’t you teach English overseas? Good $$$ http://www.eslbean.com
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:40 am
How would homogenisation of the video game industry be a good thing? Chris compares the videogame industry UNfavourably to the music and film industries.
I suspect I am not in the minority in saying that major music labels publish 98% shit music right now and have been for the past 80 years. Even bands that were great before they hit big become mediocre producers after signing to the big publishers, except they make much more money.
I could make a similar argument about the films being made today. Most of the only decent films I have seen lately are small projects that have little to no real support of the big studios. Once again, the only thing homogenisation is good for is using marketing muscle to oversell a shit product (Transformers) and making (or losing) a shitload of money.
Which brings us back to, “why does the wii even exist?” Well, for one, it exists because Nintendo still has the balls to do real innovation. They have to, since they don’t have the global corporate muscle of Sony or Microsoft. Essentially, Nintendo finally got put back into place as the “small business” that had to scrap to survive and subsequently put their shit back together and came out with a SUPERIOR product.
Let’s face it, 360 and PS3 are the products of intellectual/creative laziness. “Every few years, let’s just take the last console we made and stuff the latest chips into it and call it a fuckin’ day. Dumbass gamers will buy anything.”
Chris said, “Now I wouldn’t complain if the pace of console replacement slowed down - I don’t think it’s terribly healthy for the industry. But it will take more than this whiny asshole to stop that particular trend.” but the answer to this question is the very question he started with, “Why does the Wii even exist?” The Wii exists, my dear, because the rest of the public figured out 2 years ago what you just found out: that shitty, unoriginal games that are slightly prettier are still shitty, unoriginal games (or simply “holy shit, Halo fucking sucks!”). Sony and MS are like the hot girl who’s fucked in the head and treats you like shit… do you stay with her if she puts on makeup?
Keep buying 360’s that explode after a year and PS3’s that give you $300 performance at a $600 price… I’ll just be here playing RE4 on the Wii and having fun.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:37 am
“Why isn’t there a standardized format for spoons?”
I think this is the most important topic raised here, and it still hasn’t been answered.
Seriously, I play videogames, some things that the console manufacturers do make me upset, etc., etc.
But is there any reason to get seriously this agitated over it? Isn’t calling people who like the Wii “fanboys” making you a fanboy of the other system(s)? Do you really give a fuck if someone likes the Wii/Xbox 360/PS3? Does it have any fucking impact at all on your life? Do you lie awake at night, sobbing, just knowing that someone out there is playing a video game system that you would not play?
Don’t you realize that, as Bucholz is not-so-secretly a robot, this is his plan–to make humans fight over something as stupid as this so he and his kind can take over the planet?
Now let’s get back to discussing important things, like standardized spoons, erections, and the like.
And dead hookers, the most important thing.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:24 am
Consoles exist because they do one thing well.. Plug in, turn on, pop in the disc and start gaming. 1, 2, 3, 4 players Cool wireless controller? whatever. For this sort of thing a PC or a Mac is overkill.
Economy of scale. Making custom hardware, and producing that chip by the millions has IC vendors salivating. IBM dumped a ton of money into the Cell processor for the PS3. Limit the focus of what the hardware can do, and you cut the cost to mfg it.
xBox and PS3 have blurred the lines somewhat.
Despite being considered the ‘econobox’ of the console market, you gotta admit, those folks at Nintendo do think ’somewhat’ out of the box when it comes to considering the whole users experience. Same goes with the DS versus the PSP. A 40+ year old playing Guitar Hero on Tour on an airplane looks a bit out of place? (no.. I dont give a **it what people think.. I was rocking out Bro!
It’s a lot more fun than looking at email on your laptop or god forbid ‘working’ on the plane
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:53 am
It’s only recently that hardware has become so similar across platforms. It used to be that part of the Sega, Atari or Nintendo brand was infused with the systems they were selling. Now hardware is similar enough that one game can look and sound virtually the same across all consoles, which is why Nintendo put a special emphasis on controllers this time out.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:04 am
I just want you all to know that as this may be the most nerd-rage-inducing thing I have ever read, I am not going to read one letter of any pf your comments.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:33 am
“Try some fresh, open air, Clearasil (?) and an occasional conversation with the opposite sex.” -Says the guy reading the comments section of a cracked.com blog about console consolidation at 1:17 am
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:17 am
Wow, if I didn’t know better I would’ve thought this blog had been about politics or religion. Could you people possibly have gotten more upset over absolutely fucking nothing? Try some fresh, open air, Clearasil (?) and an occasional conversation with the opposite sex.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:16 am
Why does the wii exist? According to http://www.arstechinica.com (April 2008), this is why:
Surprising absolutely no one, Nintendo took the number one and two slots in hardware sales. The Wii sold 714,200 units while the Nintendo DS moved 414,800 units (third place sales go to the PSP with 192,700 units). This month the Wii outsold the Playstation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, and Xbox 360… combined.
While Grand Theft Auto IV took up the first (360) and third (PS3) slots in software sales, Mario Kart Wii came in number two with 1.12 million units sold in April. Frazier calls it “a classic example of counter-programming.” Wii Play came in number four with 360,000 units sold, Super Smash Bros. Brawl came in at number five with 326,000 units, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness and Time came in at numbers seven and eight, with both games selling 202,000 units. Guitar Hero III took the number nine slot with 152,000 units. All told, Nintendo games took up six of the top ten games for April.
Microsoft may choose to say that it’s not competing with Nintendo, and that’s probably a smart move. No one is even coming close to matching these sales numbers.
So basically…while every store you walk into has trouble keeping Wii’s on the shelf a year after it came out, its got a pile of PS3’s they’re trying to get rid of and an almost equally big pile of red light of doom 360’s they have to repair. The Wii is also selling at a profit, instead of at a loss as is traditional for consoles. So the long and the short of it is: the Wii exists because its making a ton of money for Nintendo.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:08 am
Why don’t we have one home console? Well, let me think… Hmmm… Oh yeah! Because that’s called a monopoly. I know what you’re trying to say here, but the problem is that you’ve stumbled into a world you don’t quite understand and tripped and fell on your face with a sickening crack doing it.
I do understand how sunshine and lollipop filled such a world might seem, but realistically competition is the only reason we have any innovation left in the market. I mean, in any “console war” the only real winner is the consumer. You end up with better games, new features, new add-ons, and every few years a new system to do it all over again. Or, if you dislike the current generation entirely (like me) you can always turn to your PC for flagship titles like Bioshock, The Orange Box, etc. Perhaps the article would have been better if you would have stuck more to the Wii’s artificial rarity by the eBay crowd; a group of people who obviously have nothing better to do and no other purpose in life than to wait outside stores before they open in order to buy up all of a “rare” item for the sole purpose of squeezing everyone else’s bollocks for it later.
But even then, you really don’t have anyone to blame but each other. There wouldn’t be after all, a market for these things if people would just hold out and say “Fuck you, another shipment comes in next Sunday.” So instead of pointing the finger at a company that wouldn’t care about you if you took a shit in its stock portfolio, why not look around for the people causing the problem? But then again it’s always easier to bitch relentlessly than to make any active effort towards a solution.
Oh, and wasn’t this thing supposed to be funny?
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:58 am
Oh, so the Cracked Blog is back to boring financial reports? Great. I was tired of all that “humor”.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:49 am
Is this cracked? or U.S. News and World Report? Fucking lame.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:05 am
You fanboys need to realize that the Wii is just a repackaged gamecube with a retarded controller that, by extension, makes you look retarded when you use it. Nothing says “quality gameplay experience” like controlling an Italian plumber with a rousing jerk-off motion. You want cross platform titles? Buy a PS3 or a 360. Enjoy playing “Wii Cooking Mama x1.2″ or whatever while the rest of us are playing games that would make your Wii explode and kill your family in a rain of trendy white shrapnel. Metroid? Get the fuck out of my office! Zelda? Get a fucking job, loser. You know why those games were classics? Because they were new and fresh…. 15 years ago. Nintendo hasn’t had an innovation in their money franchises since the Bronze Age. You want standardization? Get Nintendo to stop screwing their fans, and get their fans to stop claiming they love it.
No disrespect.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
One of the major problems with a video game standard is innovation. Despite what gamers may think, there’s a ton of innovation occuring on all three platforms. All three consoles have different hardware sets that provide for different technologies to be utilized. The Wii has its gimmicky controller (I hate Nintendo fanboys), the PS3 is well suited to deferred shading, and the 360 is optimized for using standard-style shading in HD. Additionally if all three consoles took the same approach, then there wouldn’t be any reason for competition, which helps to drive the industry. As far as the PC as a standard - it’s about as far from being “standard” as can be. Everyone has a slightly different PC, so games can’t be easily written to take full advantage of the hardware. And there’s a lot of other shit on a PC (junk software).
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Not usually what I come to Cracked to read, but the video game industry is a pretty interesting thing to observe, for a lot of reasons.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
If Georgia wasn’t so completely superior to Alabama and Auburn (though I admit Auburn after losing their ass to us the last two years might have a little bit of a shot since they’re at home), I might take offense to that. Take a look at both the Associated Press and the ESPN preseason poll, my man. UGA is #1. They have the hardest schedule in the nation and will probably lose two games, but there’s little doubt they’re the best team. Too bad there are no other sports in Alabama to distract you from being a LOSER.
No way my Odyssey’s going on e-bay; it’s not time yet. And I sure do wish my dad hadn’t thrown out my Intellivision back in ‘90 (”you haven’t played it in years; didn’t think you still wanted it”); I had every fucking game they ever made for it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Boooooooring! I grow more disturbed by the day at how my favourite humour site is becoming so very, very boring. If you want to pontificate, do it in the forums. That’s what they’re for.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
For gamers, it would be better if there was one HD, high horsepower, high cost console rather than having a PS3 and Xbox 360. Gamers would have more games to choose from and the two systems really aren’t much different anyways. Most of the games are shared between the two as it is so obviously they can’t be that much different.
If MS and Sony decided to merge efforts on the hardware side, competing only in software, I’d be a much happier camper next gen. I’d still like to see Nintendo continue to forge their own path with something unique. The Wii doesn’t do much for me personally but it definately offers a unique alternative to PS3/360/PC. PC should probably just continue to do its own thing as well since upgrading a PC and buying a standalone console are so different as well as somewhat incompatible controller interfaces.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Oh and what the fuck do you know about football as i recall you’re a Georgia fan.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I had an Oddessy 2 also, really, If you still have yours I would put it on ebay.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I’m completely at a loss with this subject. I grew up when the Atari 2600 ruled. I never had one, then got an Oddessy 2 (which I still have in my attic) and got laughed at. Then, in ‘83 my parents got me an Intellivision for Christmas. I was so much fucking cooler than anyone else it wasn’t even funny. THAT WAS THE LAST VIDEO GAME SYSTEM I OWNED. Since about ‘84, the only thing I’ve even vaguely been able to play (and I haven’t tried much) is coaches mode on Madden (a friend’s PS2), with which I beat all comers because I’m a football junkie and memorize plays. Otherwise, I’ve spent my time differently. From here on out, since I’m not qualified otherwise, I’ll just stick to what I know on this blog and make dick jokes.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
this is a very very boring article.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Consule: n. An outdated PC with a crippled operating system and DRM, allowing the company that owns it to negotiate with game makers to release games exclusively for it at a higher price then for a PC.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
There are three rules of games consoles.
1: People follow the good games. When the Saturn came out, Sega pretty much had an installed base because of the Genesis. It’s Next Gen system should have rolled right over the unreleased, unknown, and kinda silly named Playstation. However, it rushed to market with a very weak library. When the PSx came out, it started with heavy hitters like Wipeout and Twisted Metal and picked up Resident Evil and pretty much every other game there was. The Playstation beat the Saturn hands down.
2: There is a maximum price on consoles. This price used to be $200. The PS2, thanks to the overwhelming sucess of the PSx, managed to raise this to $300, but even it didn’t really take off until it dropped down to $250. This is largely because even today a lot of the market still sees games consoles as being children’s toys and thus families willing and able to plop down $1500 for an eye-bleeding PC, are still going be a bit hesitant to make a serious investment in something their kid is going to outgrow. Both the PS3 and the 360, by attempting to change the game console into the center piece of the home entertainment system, have had their potential markets reduced by this.
3: Nintendo will always have a place in the market. It doesn’t matter what unpowered, gimmicky system the Big N throws out there, people will buy it in droves. This is because Nintendo understands the “toy appeal” of game consoles and has a large base of adults captivated by the exploits of a plumer and androgenous elf. Also, during the Gamecube cycle, Nintendo figured out that it doesn’t have to be The Console. Nintendo can get along perfectly well on the strength of its in-house franchises and can sell systems that don’t so much compete as complement whoever wins the Console Wars. Few are plunk down the cash for both a PS3 and a 360. However, there is reason to buy either of those systems and still get a Wii. And since you can almost get a 360 and a Wii for the cost of a PS3, Microsoft benefits from this, in an oblique kind of way.
And, yeah, erections do rule.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
people like to make money, and they don’t like to share it.
simple.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
This is a pretty serious article for Cracked. Are you sure you didn’t write an article for Brandweek too and get them mixed up?
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Man, what the hell is this thread quality opinion going on? Different people, different tastes. Videogames are like sports. Some people like it rougher, some like it faster, some like it very calm. So, should we just take all of these and mash em up together, call it “THE SPORT” so that everyone could play it and kinda enjoy it? Thats URSS communism man.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
“The reason why console manufacturers is because of different wishes from the consumer. This is also where the movie-analogy goes wrong. Both WB and Paramount make action movies. With different stars perhaps but the movie-going audience stays the same. The people who watched 300 also probably watched Lord of the Rings.”
I’m surprised no one has pointed out the glaringly obvious flaw of this argument.
There are different wishes for movies as well, just because the audience is probably the same for two blockbuster films does not mean that every consumer of films has the wishes out of the industry. According to what you are saying is that the same people who went to see the Love Guru went to see The Diving Bell and The Butterfly as well. What about A Guide to Recognizing your Saints? Bet the same people that loved Ghost Rider have Guide in their top ten films.
Now moving on;
“Now let’s say we go multi-platform and sony/Microsoft demand a slice of the next development cycle of a Mario game… no… just no! They would F it up beyond doubt. ”
See this is where the film industry analogy comes into play again. Paramount owns the rights to Indiana Jones, and Warner Bros. owns the rights to Harry Potter, and they are both released on DVD. But Warner Bros can’t make an Indiana Jones movie and Paramount can’t make a Harry Potter film just because they release on the same format.
So if there was a singular video game console (and don’t say PC, ’cause PC can play DVDs, but I still have DVD players, same idea works here) Nintendo would retain the rights to Mario, Zelda, etc. and MicroSoft and Sony would retain the rights to their games and in essence they would just become like production companies of the film industry, producing their individual franchises on the same format as everyone else, without other companies tinkering with it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:49 pm
should have read through to see if anyone had said this, but: the reason there is no singular console, and also, the reason console makers are willing to sell hardware at a loss is the manufacturers of the consoles actually print the games. for every ps3 game purchased, about ten dollars of that purchase goes right to sony for the manufacture and liscensing of that product. same with microsoft and 360 games. same with nintendo and wii games. doesn’t matter who the dev team was. doesn’t matter who the publisher was.
if there were one console, there would be one company raking in all that sweet software liscensing cash.
this is not the case with cds and dvds. the software is not liscensed through one company.
but, that all changed with hd-dvd and blu-ray.
that’s why it was such a big deal. a [large] portion of every blu-ray sale goes directly to sony for use of their format. same was true of hd-dvd and toshiba.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Not Funny.
When the market decides that they want 1 hardware format, the market will support producers that make the 1 hardware format. For now, the Wii exists because Sony and Microsoft apparently suck. Sure, some people like playing the games on the nearly interchangeable Sony or MS consoles. But far more people enjoy playing games on the new odd console from Nintendo. How will the 1 true hardware format account for that?
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
First of all, making Microsoft Windows the world standard for gaming would be STUPID. Only Microsoft would benefit, since they could then use it to prop up their monopoly of crapware for another decade or so, while everyone else got the shaft.
As for bringing the systems together, the real reason is that the companies like their control over their platform. Sony and Microsoft in particular will pay companies to be exclusive (and I’m of the opinion that someone really ought to be looking into that, simply because of the LAST TIME Microsoft started buying exclusives) to their system.
Finally, the last time Microsoft innovated, they gave the world Microsoft BOB. In short, don’t expect anything worthwhile from them.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
You’re ignoring that multiple licenses would cause licensed companies (makers of the XBox variations, e.g.) to compete with one another — and they would once again flirt with the willingness to sell at a loss in order to gain market share.
The other point you are missing is that these machines have similar — but not identical — markets. My 80-year old grandparents have a Wii (they love to bowl; grandma’s hip is too bad to go down to the alley) but would never touch an XBox. My little brother plays nothing but sports and killing games and wouldn’t touch a Wii to save his soul. A single gaming platform (seeking maximum profitability) would eventually strangle out niche markets to make more “blockbuster” games.
Unless we’re talking some sort of super-system which can do everything all current systems do, and better…if someone made that, we eventually would have a single system.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I think the reason this has the title it does is because the Cracked editors are freaking geniuses at getting clicks and diggs. The only way they could have done more would be to mention Ron Paul.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
incompatability is because of hardware requirements and how developers specialize games to run on the consoles system, and the fact that the wii is “special”
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
PC’s rule, besides I can’t do spreadsheets on a Xbox, or steal music and movies or look at p0rn or read Cracked.com.
The first gaming console I had was some kind of version of Pong,WITH THRE GAMES NO LESS, Pong tennis, Pong hockey and Pong handball. You could also make the paddles longer or shorter.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I spent 10 minutes on Second Life, looked around me, said aloud “this is stupid and I hate you all” before leaving.
World of Warcraft would cause me to go on a nerd insult rampage.
I think the reason we have multiple platforms is simply because having a single unit for sale elminates personal choice, freedoms and individuality. It’d be like everyone driving one car, because that’s all that’s for sale. It’d get amazingly dull.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:13 pm
I just love Super Mario All Stars.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Joey is right! LAN parties are for losers. Get some friends, Chris! Living in NYC doesn’t leave much room for a LAN party. I don’t actually have friends, but I’m the devil’s advocate.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I was quite young in the Atari days, though I have memories of jumping over those alligators in Pitfall and being amazed at my father’s Asteroid skills. I like to think of Atari as my nurturing nipple, and the NES as my first taste of solid food. Then of course, Genesis won me over. Though I was sad to have missed out on some of the better SNES titles.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
There seems to be a serious lack of attention being paid to economics, and more importantly economies of scale in manufacturing. While PC, Mac, PS3, Wii, XBox are all computers, they all require varying degrees of functionality with respect to processing, video, sound. When you purchase a computer from a manufacturer it is designed to handle a variety of functions, but may not carry all of the hard/software that a developer is programming for. You also have to keep in mind that consoles are designed to be manufactured in bulk (Same case, hardware, software, Input/Output, etc…), while computers can be manufactured in much smaller batches with a range of configurations to appeal to a broader market.
This is the same reason Sun Microsystems still makes…computers, even with a very small, but devout market base. They are different than other computers, but some here seem to think they are just the same.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
LAN parties are bitchin but harder than just having friends over to play together on a console. Fuck standardization i like things just the way they are; those damn standardized tests need to be un-standardized.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
True, if there was only one console, then everything would be focused on making better games. But in order to do something like this, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo would have to actually work together. And they kind of hate one another.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I don’t think I’ve used my Wii for anything other Virtual Console games (mostly Ghosts n’ Goblins and River City Ransom) for the last 6 months, which is stupid because I know full well that those games are like 15 KB and that I could download the ROMs really easily, and then I’m like “WHY THE FUCK AM I SPENDING $5 ON 15 KB OF DATA LIKE A SUCKER?” but then I do it anyway because I’m lazy and I already bought the Wii Points and, you know, fuck it.
Is that what this article is about? It’s about me playing Ghosts n’ Goblins, right?
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
What does this article have to do with the Wii?
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
i had both a sega genesis and SNES. the genesis broke but the SNES still works which is good cuz that way i can break out super mario all stars or the donkey kong country games. anybody have Ninja Turtles in Time or Looney Toons B-Ball, they were awesome too.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I played the Atari, I played Pitfall even from what I recall. But Nintendo will be my heart (DOB - Super Metroid owns you’re machette)
But I want to expand upon Matt - indeed, a large conglomerate blend of suits would not have allowed the wii to come forward, thus basicly killing ht eindustry (statistics show that the VG market would have shrunk if the wii didn’t rack in all those new players.)
That’s why we need different formats, to stay innovative. And I pray that both Sony and Microsoft now try and innovate some things of their own, instead of ripping of other ideas…
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
It isn’t hard to have a split screen pc game. it’s just not needed because of teh internet.
If consoles didn’t exist, games would be created to fill the “but my friends come over alot” market.
and as for 1 household and multiple pcs, who here hasn’t heard of a lan party?
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I think the reason there are multiple consoles right now is because companies want money.
Think of when after the video game market crashed in 1984, Nintendo came to America and pretty much had the one console everybody was making games for, the NES. But then Sega came along and made the Master System to take away their market share. Then when the 16-bit era arrived, it was Nintendo vs. Sega, and for a little while the TurboGraphx also appeared. Then when the 32/64-bit era arrive, Sony joined. Then in the next era Microsoft joined.
As long as there are companies that think they can make money creating their own console, there’s always going to be multiple consoles. It probably would be nice to have one unified console, but it’s not going to happen.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
DOB is alive?
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
To answer you main question while disregarding the rest of article I just read….
The wii is adorable.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
You’re right, vicothesys, this definitely qualifies as serious writing. Hardcore journalism, almost.
I didn’t have the Atari when I was a lad. I had the Gemini which played much of the same games anyway. There was some kind of cross-platformality, I think. Then I got my Genesis, then Sega CD, then 3DO, then Dreamcast, then a used Playstation that the video place was just going to throw out. Sure I have to tilt it on it’s side to play, but it works, dammit.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:36 pm
This article is actually a refreshing change of pace for Cracked. It allows the writers to expand upon serious writing instead of having to write “the 10 worst places to take a crap”
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I agree with the other John- quit bitching, get back to being funny.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
“But, is it really that hard to make a single game that works on all platforms?”
Yes as a matter of fact it is, especially for the PC since there are literally millions of possible hardware combinations that any given user could have, not to mention driver versions, and different Operating Systems. Sure you can release patches but often times they just introduce their own problems. Theres a reason its called “patch and pray.” I’d be surprised of Sony does release another console in the 5 or 6 year cycle since the hardware on the PS3 is just plain awesome and I think it’ll be able to compete with whatever Microsoft puts up as their next offering.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
The title of your post says it all. If their was a single format the Wii would never have existed. Do you think the conglomerate that would be in charge of deciding the universal video game format would ever have allowed something as experimental as the Wii to come to market? I don’t think so.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
DOB, I had a Genesis… wait no, I still have and still play it. Best system ever.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
it’s called a P.C.
Dumbass.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
The Wii…the only reason I didn’t buy it a year or something ago, was the lack of titles (now with the EU release of SSBB I regret that…a lot). But I do like the Wii itsélf. It’s a great concept, I give you that, problem is the games. From what I’ve seen and witnessed, the technically awesome controller feels so gimmicky, it doesn’t feel like the Wii’s potential is used to the max. Heck, you could argue that the Wii is to ahead for it’s time, that the game publishers can’t cope with it
Maybe it’s because the main concern of the gaming industry isn’t creativity anymore, money i s on number 1. That sucks, definatly, and explains a lot of the crap wich is being pooped out for the Wii. Ofcourse there are gems between them, but barely any game (although Metroid Prime 3 seems to manage réally good) uses the Wii’s capability to the fullest. A shame, I hope it changes, thén I’ll definatly get a Wii (students ain’t got no endless supply of money).
PS: In particular, GIMME the Whipping Boy game and ofcourse the awesome Lightsaber game (check the 10 Awesome games for 2010 list on Cracked). Yea…..*drools*
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:55 am
Kingmonkey - I’m referring to the fact that four people cannot sit around one computer and play the same game. Mind you, playing counter strike with my roommate in college was great fun, but how many households have multiple computers in one room, let alone 4?
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
was looking for humor on a humor website- this is not it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
Why isn’t there a standardized format for spoons?
there are all kinds of different spoons in my silverware drawer; some are long, some are short, some are thick and some are thin. …are we still talking about spoons?
what?
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Shows what you know. SlimeQ would kill a puppy with a rusty spoon for free.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Wait, Bucholz went to college?
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:29 am
SlimeQ:
“…because the casual gaming market is, well, not very big.”
least informed comment, ever. If you saw the profits the wiifolks rake in, you’d kill a puppy with a rusty spoon for a piece of that pie.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
DOB, you’re right. The Atari was awesome. Fanboyism over game consoles is training kids to be prepared for vicious squabbling over politics, religion, musical styles, etc. in real life!
But you’re wrong that no one ever bought the Dreamcast–I know a lot of people who bought it and loved it. It was just too late for Sega.
And, Eve 6–again?!
Cracked.com has gotten too serious. Time to go back to the essentials: Boobs, boning, bdead bhookers, bMcFetus Burgers, basil, and ‘bation.
(P.S. The SNES owned the Genesis. Sega Genesis had . . . Sonic. And . . . Goldenaxe. The list of awesome SNES games is too long to list. Your head–on a pole–will be mine! *whiny fanboy scream* ^_^)
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:08 am
pc’s are for the dick!x-box 360 rules!!!!and yes,why does wii even exist?
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:06 am
I’m so very sorry to hear your a Cubs fan DOB, now I must stop reading your stuff.
Also I bought a Dreamcast so …….
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
kingmonkey +1–Hallelujah! I’m too damn poor to afford anything even close to cutting edge. My PS2 (not 3, 2!) is my luxury, and I’m still playing my PS1 games on it for fun.
I think the reason why the games are not cross-platform is that the hardware requirements for a Wii game are simply completely different than from an XBox 360 game and whatnot. Also, if you’re a hardware developer (like Nintendo) and have IP rights to an incredibly popular, money-making series/franchise that has cross-generational name recognition (like Mario or Legend of Zelda), what would be the incentive to let other people use that series for anything other than your own hardware? If you want to play a Zelda or Mario game, you have to buy a Wii. (Or GameCube or N64, etc.) Nintendo licensing Mario out to a third party–to use on all three consoles–would not force people into buying a Wii in order to play said Mario. And does anyone remember what happened when Nintendo licensed the Zelda series to Philips for CD-i games? The abominations that are Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda’s Adventure? (YouTube it if you’re curious.)
SlimeQ, I have to wonder why you claim that the Wii is a “weak system” (hmm–play on “Wii”/”weak” intentional? Special bonus points if so,) and that “the casual gaming market is, well, not very big.” The Wii has shipped 24.45 million units as of March 31, 2008, as compared to Xbox 360’s 19 million as of April 25, 2008 and the PS3’s 13 million, as of April 21, 2008. (Especially when you consider that finding a Wii is still hard, but one can easily find a PS3 or Xbox 360!–At least where I live, in MN.) Do you think that trend will decline? Do you think it will decline when prices drop on the latter two consoles, as the Wii is–of course–cheaper than the other two? I’m seriously asking, not trying to be argumentative. I think the biggest revelation on the Wii came for me when my 50-something Aunt and Uncle vehemently denied my young cousin’s request to trade his Wii (which they bought, of course) for an Xbox 360. Not because they wanted to spend more money or because they didn’t like the Xbox 360, but because they actually liked the Wii . . . and I’ve never seen them play video games ever!
Dammit. Too long of a comment! -_-;
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 am
I hope to Christ I’m not one of the older people on the board, but do you folks remember Atari? I’m sure Gladstone does, (Gladstone is incredibly old), but what about the rest of you? Remember when Atari dicked around for a time and everyone bought it? Then Nintendo came out and we all bought that and thought “Neat.” We bought these systems because they came out.
One system. The game library of each household covered the range of games to match the range of ages, (Bert and Ernie’s Shape Game for younguns, Ninja Turtles for the older kids, Eve 6 Saves the President for Gladstone).
Then suddenly, everything changed. Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were coming out and it was huge. Your decision was important. The system you would be getting that Christmas would define the rest of your entire life. I liked talking about Comic Zone with the other Genesis kids at school while we scoffed at the poor saps who bought Super NES, (”Yoshi’s Pop-up Book Adventure? Good call, fuckwad!”).
The Genesis/Nintendo rivalry and later the Playstation/Nintendo rivalry (nobody ever bought Dreamcast) was a whole lot of fun growing up. Sure, we took shit when our particular system put out an awful new version or a laughably pathetic library of games, but it’s what you get when you’re a fan. I’ve taken shit for the last 100 years because the Cubs sucked, and I took shit when the Sega CD came out. I’ll take it. It’s a slump, they’ll pull through. (This is the year!) I was a fan.
I guess I’m just saying that stripped of economics, practicality and reason, there’s something to be said about competing systems for the development of a child. That kind of fun, playful, “The-system-that-I’ve-arbitrarily-decided-to-like-is-better-than-the-system-you’ve-arbitrarily-decided-to-like” recess rivalry that I grew up with was just awesome. To this day, I’m pretty sure all of my closest friends were, decades ago, the other Genesis kids.
That’s all. Let’s just do this for the children.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 am
You are a dirty statist.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
While having three different platforms may suck initially, I can only assume it will help in the long run.
Consider this - Why are consoles updated every five or so years? Because technology improves enough over that period of time to warrant companies updating their systems. The exact same thing happens with PC’s, but generally at a faster pace.
Having several consoles allows for the companies, (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) to learn from each other’s mistakes. For example, nobody will ever make another $600 system with no decent games (*cough* PS3 *cough*) because they now know that reasonable pricing and a reasonable games library are important. Nobody will ever make another weak system with a super gimmicky and poorly conceived control scheme marketed exclusively towards casual gamers (*cough* Wii *cough*) because the casual gaming market is, well, not very big. Nobody will ever make another console with poorly constructed hardware (*cough* Xbox360 *cough*) because people really hate it when their shit breaks.
Inevitably, this will eventually lead to a super console of sorts; a cheap, powerful, intuitive console with shitloads of amazing games marketed towards both casual gamers and hardcore gamers alike, that won’t break.
You could call it like the “DVD” of video games. At this point, there will be a standard, and everybody can be happy. Standardization is happening. Just give it time.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
Nowadays, game developers focus a lot on making games pretty, and not as much on making them exciting or fun. There are times when I yearn for the fun of my old Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) instead of the bell-whistlery of my PC.
Onodera, I would disagree with you on PC’s not being multiplayer. A great many games are multiplayer. I admit, I’d like to see more multiplay co-operative games, to play with my friends rather than against them.
Also, I’d like to see the race for newer, bigger, better, faster slow down. I’d like to see developers make better games that still run on non-cutting edge PCs. It pisses me off that I sink a bunch of money into my PC to have a decent gaming rig, only to discover that yesterday’s “decent” is today’s “why even bother.” Stop making it so obivous that you just want to bleed our wallets dry!.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
Bearman let me ask you this: what games did you like in Nintendo 18 yrs ago? cuz I really think that the old Nintendo and super nes games have some things that the new ones (including Zelda and ESPECIALLY Metroid Prime) don’t have much of….namely atmosphere and fun gameplay. Well, maybe they have some atmosphere, but Metroid Prime is the most onerous waste of time I have ever seen. Seriously, if your gonna go ahead and make it that damn big, make it intelligent by allowing the person to, ya know, travel from one place to another using a more efficient method than walking (or jumping as it were). Now, one could argue that the earlier games were lacking this too, but it’s a simple matter of logistics. With more powerful consoles, you have bigger games. With bigger games, you have more wandering around. There comes a certain threshold where this becomes a chore and not the fun of exploring you had with the first two. Furthermore, the beauty of Metroid games, imo, was that you had no set mission, other than killing the Mother Brain. The first Metroid Prime, if I recall correctly, was simply getting one task after another assigned to you, and then making the trek (that lasted half a fucking hour) to the next part of the map where you’re supposed to be, instead of finding nifty little secret passages that could lead who the fuck knows where. Anyways, I ramble. I think you make a good point though, that this article reveals the biggest problem with video games now: too much of a business and not enough about making fun games.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
That whole article for one lame banana joke? Shitty.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:37 am
This is article is silly- it makes a contention in the title and then changes it within 2 lines…
It should be titled ‘why are Microsoft and Sony dumbasses?’
Because as much as consumers are enjoying the next gen hardware, MS and Sony are bleeding themselves to give it to consumers at a price they will pay. Meanwhile, bleeding edge tech drives up production costs for developers, often putting them in jeopardy of bankruptcy if their games don’t sell.
Nintendo, despite coming 3rd last time round with the Gamecube, they still sold the console for a profit and still profited from the system in general. Meanwhile, Microsoft made a huge loss on the Xbox.
This time it’s Sony turn to impale themselves in the butt- Their games division is bleeding like freshly de-limbed amputee.
So, kudos to Nintendo for sticking a Wiimote in the big boy’s butts.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
I know this is off topic, but I feel that it bears repeating…
HAVING A BONER ROCKS!!!
I’ll let everyone get back to their serious conversation now.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
What’s this? Game Informer now? Time Magazine?
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:22 am
But what about us poor saps that have real friends (flesh and blood)? PC’s are not exactly multiplayer.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 am
@Esmoreit: As a fellow Nintendo fan and going that way for 18 years strong now, I couldn’t agree with you more about them licensing their characters to third parties, or at least not without Nintendo closely watching over their shoulders (RARE did an excellent job with DK and Retro Studios blew me away with the Metroid Prime series).
I think the problem here is that everyone wants a piece of the console pie, so we will likely not see anyone in the spotlight NES had so many years ago. However, developing games that are compatible over multiple platforms can also take time and effort away from focusing on purely making a great game. Additionally, with something like the Wii which sacrifices top-of-the-line GPU’s for its Wii remote technology, the multi-platform releases usually don’t transfer well to it. The Wii has sort of made its own niche. The main reason I own the Wii over the PS3 or XBox is that I know Nintendo’s creativity and quality game producing efforts rarely, if ever, disappoint me. Zelda and Metroid Prime continuations were actually my primary drive to get it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:58 am
The pc is the closest to a single standard we have now.
Considering consoles are just pcs designed for a particular purpose, and that the wiimote has already been made to work on pc, why not just drop consoles completly, it would be in the best interests of the consumer(having to buy two consoles to play halo and mgs4 is ridiculous).
Microsoft would be happy(Games could be made to require vista), Nintendo can make their games and their peripherals, only sony would be fked, and even then, not so much because blu ray drives would be needed to play the newest games.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:58 am
Yeah, I mean, it’s not like Macs and PCs share the same hard…. oh wait…
Actually, I don’t mind three different hardware specs, with three different performances. But, is it really that hard to make a single game that works on all platforms?
I guess the first problem would be money loss, but how many people buy the same game for different consoles? Considering how you could download different content from the game servers for each console, you’d think that was a come up.
Second problem seems more serious: Monopoly. If the games work on all the platforms, you lose the drive to make the occasional one out of a hundred games that is actually good.
So, only allow for H/W compatibility, not creative control. Mario will still be Mario, but you can play it on 360, instead of a Wii.
I’m pretty sure I’m oversimplifying the requirements for something like that, but really, aren’t these consoles just specialized PCs? Can’t there be some standard so I can play God o War on my Wii (with awesome Kratos Wii remote attachment)?
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:56 am
There already IS an open games standard.. it’s called a PC and it’s been around since well before any console hit the scene.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:55 am
actually its draculanana…..
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:50 am
uh last time I checked there were several types of bananas: bananas, baby bananas, plantains and Draculana
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 am
Might as well ask why we have Macs and PCs instead of one standard format for home computers if you’re gonna put forward a case for a standarized games console.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:30 am
This is Cracked.com–but this isn’t funny.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:28 am
The reason why console manufacturers is because of different wishes from the consumer. This is also where the movie-analogy goes wrong. Both WB and Paramount make action movies. With different stars perhaps but the movie-going audience stays the same. The people who watched 300 also probably watched Lord of the Rings.
Now the consoles. I’m pretty much a nintendo-fanboy. For the heavy duty games I have my PC but as far as consoles go, give me Nintendo. Why? because they make specific games. Games that Microsoft or Sony could not produce. And as for third party’s, well… I’d only give Capcom a shot (they made some awesome LoZ games on handhelds) and Blizzard.
Now let’s say we go multi-platform and sony/Microsoft demand a slice of the next development cycle of a Mario game… no… just no! They would F it up beyond doubt.
And even if company’s get to keep their own IP’s and rights on development, only stay on one format the market would get into a monopoly position and that’s hardly ever healthy…