Wii (and PS3) go out to the media...

[A Black Falcon]

So lots of impresions are showing up all over the place... including a lot of unclear stuff about what the hardwares can do...

Some facts:

WII

Wii Photo Channel
---
-Supported formats: Image Files: JPEG, baseline only; Size: Up to 848 x 480;
Video Files: QuickTime (motion JPEG) (.mov files) (AVI/other extensions will be fine, as long as it's MPEG encoded); Audio Files: MP3
-SD cards: Photo Channel can display the first 1000 things (images/videos/mp3s I guess) -- files beyond that will not be displayed (it looks in all folders in the card)
-No easy MP3 player - only in the slideshow thing, kind of clumsy supposedly
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/wii/wii-med...214194.php

Gamecube support
--
-GC controllers and memory cards required
-you cannot copy save files from GC cards to SD cards or the Wii's internal memory
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/12/are-wi...m-says-no/
-Freelancer doesn't work? Reports are not certain, but it's possible.
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/11/ps3-ma...placement/
-you have to reboot if you want to get the Wiimote working again and play some Wii games?
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/wii/wii-bac...214148.php
-games are unchanged

Virtual Console
--
-games are of course tied to the system you download them on; you can transfer them probably through Nintendo if your Wii breaks or something, but that's it.
-some games may require a Classic Controller and not support the GC pad? Unclear and contradictory things heard about this right now...
-*insert rant about awful N64 controller situation here*

Hardware
--
-the flaps over the GC controller/memcard ports on top of the console can be removed
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/12/top-te...t-the-wii/
-currently you can't copy things between the system memory and SD card or delete things from the SD card, though the Wii's manual suggests that you should be able to
-there is a port on the bottom to replace the battery that powers the clock (the same type of battery that shows up in NES/SNES/some N64 games)
-the Wii is smaller than a X360 HD-DVD drive
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/os/install-...214203.php
-people with projectors (or who like to keep their consoles far from their televisions) might be annoyed at the relatively short length of the sensor bar cable; third party extender cords might solve this, or a rumored wireless sensor bar

PS3

hardware
--
-the hard drive is user-replacable: it's a standard 3 1/2" SATA drive with easy access and instructions on how to put in a new one.
-even if you use a PSX/2 to USB controller port adaptor, you might not be able to use your old PS1/2 controllers on the system (it is confirmed that Guitar Hero controllers don't work, but I didn't see anything specific about Dual Shocks. They might work.)
-the manual also has instructions on how to replace Sixaxis batteries
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/11/ps3-ma...placement/

Media
--
-

Music: The Playstation 3 can playback CDs, ATRACs, MP3s, MP4s and Wave files from of USB devices and drives, Memory sticks, CF and SD memory cards.

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ps3/ps3-med...214192.php
(results: better than Wii media functions, worse than X360.)
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/745/745252p1...Sid=745252
-You might be able to install other OSes on it?
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/os/install-...214203.php
-by default it uses that "specific folders" system like the PSP, but it's possible to make it look at the whole folder tree

Backwards Compatibility
--
-uses virtual memory cards on the hard drive (or, presumably, PS1/2 memcards used through the memory adaptor? The virtual memory cards are the expected way though.)
-as above, probably can't play games that require special controllers (yet?)
-as we all know, no rumble
-can choose digital or analog controller mode in the OS, for games that require the controller to be in digital mode
-while the full PS2 chipset (Emotion Engine and its attached RAM) is inside the box, developers are told they can't use it for PS3 games -- it's for PS(1/?)2 only
-no graphical improvements for PS2 games

PS3 day one sales: 83,000 hardware (51,000 premium, 32,000 core)
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128533


Wii impressions...

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/10/wii-en...e-joystiq/

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TgbZgVRb918"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TgbZgVRb918" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lZfX5wIt_n4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lZfX5wIt_n4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KXcBMxMaNBg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KXcBMxMaNBg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3gxufhbgLjY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3gxufhbgLjY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wPENQGosqTA"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wPENQGosqTA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3JqE_l5QKfw"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3JqE_l5QKfw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/he1KCMnhv78"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/he1KCMnhv78" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>