Bodhesatva said:
Legend11 said:
Bodhesatva said:
For the moment, at least, I'm definitely with you. PC Gaming is so far ahead of console gaming in online connectivity that I don't really have much interest in buying a system and taking a step back. I view Wii online as distinct, and Xbox Live and PSN as mediocre PCs. |
So let me get this straight, the Wii offers a distinct online experience compared to the PC while the 360 and PS3 online offerings are mediocre. So I'm to believe that news, weather, and voting can't be done on a PC connected to the internet while the 360's online features are inferior to the PC? Ok I'm curious, can you tell me what PC games I've played and how far I got in them? No? What about look and see what game a friend is playing right now or how far he is in it? No? What about a reputation system where other people vote on players? No? How about gaming zones where players are divided into recreation, pro, family, or underground so that they play people with a similar mindset? No? What about a gaming friends list? So yeah the Wii offers a unique online experience and isn't inferior to the PC but the 360 and PS3 are inferior/mediocre? Whatever. On another subject I find it kinda funny that many Nintendo fans bash the 360 and PS3 for offering things like DVD movie playback or offering online movie/tv show downloads, because after all gaming consoles are supposed to be all about gaming, yet I don't see too many Nintendo fans in here bashing Nintendo for offering things like News channel and a Weather channel that have exactly what to do with gaming? I mean we have dvd players to play movies, and television channels, newspapers, magazines, internet, to give us the news so why praise Nintendo for doing something that has nothing to do with gaming and bash Microsoft and Sony for doing the same? Oh wait Nintendo is offering theirs for free right? I mean Microsoft and Sony aren't taking a hit on every console sold and in doing so one can argue that they're the ones footing the bill for offering the feature of dvd movie playback (it's costing them a whopping $3.50 per console, actually even less than that because Sony has Patents and Microsoft has a special agreement in place). I want to see the Nintendo fans that say "It's all about the games" come in here and bash Nintendo for their online non-game offerings, yeah I'm not holding my breath on that one. Sorry but it borders on the idiotic to see people praising Nintendo's meager online offerings some of which has nothing to do with gaming and saying that they're very impressed. I have to ask where these people have been for say oh.. the last 15 years when this stuff became widely available on the Internet. |
No, you've misunderstood me, Legend. As I've said (in a later post in this thread), I'm not praising the Wii's online experience, I'm praising its clear differentiation from PCs in general. Both Gabe Newel and John Romero have made similar comments, attacking the 360/PS3 strategies: they see the 360/PS3 as similar to PCs, just a bit worse, while the Wii is so distinct from a PC -- it isn't trying ot match its graphical power, its online capabilities are much less expansive, the Wii isn't trying to be a multimedia device, and so on -- that the Wii can carve out its own, "casual" space. I agree with them. |
What does graphical power have to do with online? The reality is that Xbox Live does some things that no online PC gaming service can because unlike those services Xbox Live includes every online Xbox gamer while no PC online gaming service includes every PC online gamer. Xbox Live is inferior in some ways (it doesn't support user created content) but to simply label the 360's online as inferior is wrong.
Sure you and others may bash the 360 and say it's a mediocre PC (I don't see it myself since the 360 can't even use a keyboard or mouse and can't browse the internet), but from where I am as an owner I can vouch that it's definately a videogame console and a good one and at no time am I lead to believe that it's trying to pretend to be a PC (since when are PCs supposed to have a monopoly on being multimedia devices anyway?).
And I didn't misunderstand you, go back and read exactly what you said, you even mentioned Xbox Live by name when you were slamming it as mediocre. And please answer my question how is the Wii's online distinct? Tell me exactly what it does that PCs can't do online? Because if you say weather or news I have dozens of websites to show you that you can get the weather and news online. And just look at my previous reply to see the examples I gave that makes Xbox Live actually distinct.
