I forgot about it, mostly because the ONSP hasn't been relevant since Clinton was in office, but the 13th marked the site's tenth birthday. Not that the site itself matters, but I met a fair number of you because of it, and I suppose that's something worth a little e-celebration.http://www.tcforums.com/guestbook.htm
Fanboys a side, the Wii is in trouble. And more so than it already was.
Right now, the 250 dollar Myfirstconsole that is the Wii has hit its ceiling and not in terms of graphics or gameplay. We've yet to see what the system that is "2.5" a Gamecube can do when the Gamecube can still impress with TP, RE4 and etc and I suspect by this time next year Zelda will give us that insight but I can tell you who wont be bringing it.
Any third party.
Why is that you may ask, with all the install base and the ability to cash in on something that brought two ii's in to our collective language.
Rip music, store and stream movies and download full games to its 60gig hard drive off a huge exclusive network, play proscan DVDs, jump in to the world's largest online gameplaying community with the option to actually interact with your friends and enemies and enjoy the best graphics to be seen since... ever and put it all in a package that's 50 bucks more than a Wii. Who are you going to develop for?
Sony said two years ago "oops" in regards to its PS3 and vowed to make it right and push the system back on track (read: not suck). After releasing the PSPGo and intelligently removing the ridiculously useless UMD feature and lining up software for it instead of just hoping that people want a second ipod, Sony unveiled the PS3Slim which amazingly enough is still the size of 4 Dreamcasts yet actually looks like a console now instead of a sunroof from a 89' Toyota.
50 bucks more than a Wii gets you in (80gig hdd), just like 360 and the kick in the pants for PS3 is that their constantly evolving Home network is finally getting off on both its legs, even though it still needs the wheelchair for long trips it's getting better and by this time next year will be a fully fledged contender for XBox's network. Laugh at it's inability to play PS2 games which doesn't matter since you already own a PS2 and raise an eyebrow to its Bluray instead and believe me once people get a look at what a Bluray movie looks like in comparison to old DVD a Bluray player with a built in videogame console will attract even mom and dad. Throw in a handful of exclusives, the same ports from 360 and all the set top box fun of an all-in-one entertainment hub and where do you want to spend your money?
The last fat nail in the coffin is motion control. All 3 contenders have it now. The coming '362', built in Bluray and "Natal" included in box and a PS3Slim with Eye2 and Bluray. Both asking you to spend a monthly bill for its services and both poised to rid your boredom. Mind you, either of those systems with their motion upgrades are going to be more expensive than Wii by at least $100 and probably more for launch supporters, but in a year from launch that wont be the case.
Wii is winning by a good margin and the world proved that it would rather spend 10 minutes playing Mario Kart (ignoring the superior Excitebots) or a quick game of Resort than play anything the PS3 or 360 can muster on its best day. Nintendo proved without a doubt that players want to expand and the market has grown but dont look at demographics or percentages here, there's Wii's in hospitals and not for the cancer patients, its for physical therapy and it works. It's daycares for children and the elderly a like and people that would have never picked up a controller bought Wii Fit in numbers to rival any Zelda release. How many consoles did you see on talk shows, news discussions, etc in a positive light in the last 4 years? Wii. And recently the 360 made its rounds with its motion controller and the PS3 is only mentioned in passing among people who buy gold tooth caps but is finally making some right decisions.
So that's great, Nintendo's 'Fitness machine' has grabbed the heart of millions at the cost of alienating everyone else in gaming. There's only one plausible outcome: The people who purchased Wii will want to expand and if Nintendo doesn't deliver on an expansion beyond that little cube at the end of the Wiimote they're going to upgrade to a 360 or PS3 and play some high def, 7.1 photo realistic archery and tennis while talking to their out of state girlfriend live on cam who's downloading the original Pacman that they'll play online together after the Blueray Watchmen live discussion all on the same damn machine that's only slightly more expensive than the Wii.
Nintendo is about to get their ass handed to them, or so it seems. But there's something to keep in mind: Nintendo knew all of his was coming and they're the reason we even throw around terms like in-game avatars, motion control and (dare i say it), market expansion. When they cleaned up their mess from Gamecube and unleashed shiny white hell on the masses they said upfront "We're going to reinvent the industry." and they did, there's no doubt and that's not with sarcasm. They're killing Ms and Sony with both hands tied behind their back and forcing both companies to blatantly admit defeat and formulate their own brand of Wii for their infinitely more powerful consoles and not only that, but a better version of what's capable on Wii that promises even more interactivity and you dont even need to hold a fucking controller.
This is beyond the typical Nintendo fix; Release a flagship IP. Nintendo can throw down new Zelda and Metroid in the face of 360's and PS3's motion controller, they can drop to $150, cut the Wii mote down to $30 with MotionPlus built in and beyond a few months of salvation and kicking NPD numbers, it will fall in comparison eventually because the absolute best the Wii can do is only a 10th of what either PS3 or 360 can do with its new toys (and its other features). Nintendo can unleash a new Balanceboard game that captures our hearts/wallets and grab those same people who pick up on weight loss fads but again, give it a year and it loses steam. Let's face it: Microsoft and Sony are about to give us everything and more the Wii can do and do so without cutting back on what Nintendo calls 'core' titles which roughly translates to 'actual video games'.
The only thing that makes sense is that Nintendo has stored its nuts these past years as it collects money off DS and Wii and now waits to attack when the others show off their improvements. Unless Nntendo has some forehead slapping genius of something we never expected my prediction is that Nintendo is about to make two playing fields. Further the Wii and then offer the option of WiiPlus. Slowly fading out the Wii as WiiPlus gains momentum.
WiiPlus would have the statement of 'I'm the next step' at a higher price than Wii, but would it be a set top box? Streaming movies, playing DVD's and music? I dont know. Those things are just icing on the cake, a much more powerful HD cake. A cake that is probably poised to be the necessary home accessory to the Facebook and ipod crowd and something that can handle a multi-console release of Resident Evil 6. I think it's going to be an attachment to the Wii at first, I think this attachment will either have a hard drive or a 50gig (or more) flash drive to steady itself for the coming onslaught of digital distro. And I think 2 years down the road, we'll be trading in our upgraded modulated Wii's with its modular upgrades with WiiPlus for the WiiPlusLite.
But all of this culminates in to one ominous question. What will Nintendo have to separate itself from Ms and Sony and warrant a purchase over the two, when each system is going to be available at similar price points and offer the same brand of motion focused gaming?
Right this moment, if this were a horse race, the bets are being taken now for the event that starts in about 6 months to a year from today and the Wii, who's won every event for 3 years, has a broken leg. Neither consumer nor developer is going to bet on it and unless there's a miracle, it's going to be dog food.
There's both good and bad stuff here. A lot of this sounds interesting, but... PAY download maps? Seriously? No, that's NOT a nice thing to do. They should all be free, without question.
Quote: * History of Battlenet for various Blizzard games and what looks like a very brief glimpse of the UI for the upcoming version for Starcraft 2
* Launched originally with Diablo in 1996
* The world's first matchmaking service integrated completely into games, has been used with starcraft D2 and War3
* Battle.net actually has more players on it than WoW with 12 million players to 11.5 million for WoW
* Lessons learned from War3, The Good, great matchmaking, easy to play with friends
* Random teams feature was incredibly successful "if you're going to lose, you might as well lose with a teammate you can blame"
* Mod community was great too
* The Bad - disorganized chat, disconnected from the single player experience, wasn’t integrated at all, new players got pwned in a hurry, felt intimated, ladder system served only the most hardcore and elite
* Core values for Starcraft 2 BNet always connected experience...
* Battlenet and Star2 will be integrated into 1 unified experience
* Battle.net characters and persistent accounts, remember Diablo 2 how you had to play your toons for a certain amount of time or they got deleted? Not anymore
* Always connected to news, new content and friends (sounds like steam)
* Demo of Battle.net...
* Starcraft 2 login screen...looks like a sci fi version of the WoW Login screen, comes up when you first load the game, enter your battle.net account info and login
* Layout is very nice; top of screen has a single/multiplay option, top right has a profile pic of you, and what looks like achievement points?
* Main part of screen has a start campaign button, possibly saved games, right side has news
* In the campaign screen the main part of the screen shows the campaign, and on the right side you see options for skirmish and challenges
* Friends list is integrated into the game when connected, even when playing single player
* *cough* steam *cough*
* Demoing replay feature in single player, can play replays during single player
* Profile shows your achievements, your info, match history, etc
* Full achievement system in Star2, will get a pop up when your friends get achievements, achievements unlock player avatars (profile pictures), also unlocks decals, these decals show up on your units, structures etc
* Game will auto update
* Cloud system, can play some single player on one computer, go home and pick up where you left off (assuming you connect to Bnet)
* Competitive Arena For Everyone
* Improved match making, play options that all players can enjoy, casual, coop competitive or hardcore
* Ladder play not just for hardcore players anymore
* matchmaking lets casual players compete with casual players, as you play on the service you get put into different leagues
* Leagues range from practice, all the way to elite, in your league you are ranked against 100 players of your skill level, everyone has a chance to win their division in their league, there are end of season tournaments
* Casual Play Features - Practice league, co op skirmish, random teams, challenges, and custom games
* Different rules for casual players, friendlier, slow down game speed, anti rush, etc
* Party System - works like WoW, you get invited to a party, lets you join games together, party leader selects game types, after playing about 10 games you get placed in a league of your skill level
* Join a Custom Game screen - easier to find games with maps, game play types, and player skill levels
* Lots of filter options
* Game Lobby...can have a private lobby, invite friends, configure teams, and after you can then broadcast to the game list so that random players can join
* Very handy, lets you set up a game with your friends the way you want first prior to opening it up to random players to join
* Prevents Smurfing (experienced players creating a new account with a new profile to pwn noob players)
* Blizzard community - keep informed about all the games you are involved with
* You can keep informed of all Blizzard titles
* *seriously its steam*
* *but like all in game based and pretty, the features are just steam*
* Chat system is an IM style chat; bottom of screen has a windows like taskbar with all your different IM windows
* When in game PM's will pop up like IM's
* Connecting the Blizzard Community together
* Observations - people like to play with real life friends, real life friendships can be based on in game friendships... and stalkers
* *ok I added that last part*
* Players want to play with the same people in future games
* Discussing limitations of WoW, Xbox Live, Myspace/facebook, Google Talk community services
* Battlenet Real ID, see and communicate with friends based on how you know them
* Talk to friends cross game, and cross realm
* Achievement system that spans across games and characters
* Achievements will carry over from character to character, so you don’t have to redo them on every character you make
* Friend network stays intact for all future battle.net games
* Will be able to know who your starcraft 2 friends are in future games such as Diablo 3
* Can keep in touch with friends from one game to another, for instance, in WoW can tell someone from starcraft 2 to come and raid in WoW
* The friends list changes are happening in WoW as well, this functionality is on top of the existing friends list on WoW
* Battle.net real ID has to be mutual, can’t just add people as friends without them acknowledging you too
* Parental controls and choosing what information you wish to share will be present
* One more announcement... :-( not the beta
* The big huge one more announcement is... the custom map community, warcraft 3 custom maps were more popular than the original games, ie. Defense of the Ancients
* Starcraft 2 map editor more powerful than Warcraft 3, map publishing, you can publish your maps onto the service so everyone can find it easily
* SC2 Marketplace, easy to find and browse maps
* Able to rate maps, free and premium, yes free maps and premium maps
* Portion of the revenue goes to the map creator
* Doing this for mod creators to be able to create bigger and better content
* Plan to have a lot of free content though
