[Millennium]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Halo 3 pics and info. I'm sure those awesome graphics make the game less fun though:

Halo 3 Collector’s Edition unveiled. Bungie shows pictures of new levels, weapons, vehicles, and talks multiplayer and other features - videogamesblogger.com:

"Less fun"? Maybe, maybe not, but I've played this game before when it was called Quake. It's very pretty, but in the end it's just another FPS: not substantially different from any of its predecessors.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Millennium 

"Less fun"? Maybe, maybe not, but I've played this game before when it was called Quake. It's very pretty, but in the end it's just another FPS: not substantially different from any of its predecessors.

For some reason Halo is one of the very few FPS games I found different enough to really enjoy.

There isn't a drastic difference just a bunch of little things are all done right which is what makes it likable.

[itai195]

I agree. I never found anything tangibly innovative or special about Halo, but I just enjoyed it more than the typical FPS for some reason. I still don't understand the level of mainstream appeal it carries tho, especially compared to Half-Life, which IMO is a much better series.

[Peter]

saw this comment on joystiq about the PS3, pretty amusing:

Hmm, Emotion Engine... check. Massive shortages.. check. European delay... check. Price point higher than any other mainstream console before it... check. Questionable marketing practices... check. DRM... check. Rootkit... check. Loss of title exclusivity... check. Looming price cuts and lower price points from your closest competitors... check. Profits failing due to hardware defects in other roducts... check. Unproven DVD format... check.

Yup, they're right, this system [PS3] can't possibly lose.

[JansaNova]

Zelda alone is a good enough reason to make the Wii my top choice. The Xbox does not look THAT good to me, and the PS3 will more likely than not be a cheap alternative to the more expensive BluRay disc players.

[Peter]

MGS4 is reason alone for me to buy a PS3. And it will be for a ton of others too.

[Eug]

eBhey cleans up Wii/PS3 auctions

Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii Pre-Sales. These highly-anticipated video game consoles will be in extremely short supply during their initial launch. During the launch of the similarly-released Microsoft Xbox 360, we saw a high number of well-intentioned sellers unable to meet their pre-sale obligations to buyers due to restricted supply, as well as an increase in fraudulent listings for these items. To prevent similar problems with these latest releases, the following restrictions have been placed on pre-sales for the PS3 and the Wii:

Only one of each console can be listed per eBay account prior to the launch of the console (PS3 is expected to be available on 11/17/06, Wii on 11/19/06).
The seller must only accept payment through PayPal, and have at least 50 feedback with a 98% or greater positive rating so that they qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection.
The pre-sale item must be listed in the 3, 5, 7 or 10-day formats, and cannot use Buy It Now.
The listing must include a photo of your pre-order receipt in the description.

It's interesting the put this together with killing animals.

"Canned Hunts" Restriction. After working with the Humane Society of the United States, we have decided that listings for canned hunts that guarantee the killing of an animal violate our Animal & Wildlife Products policy and will not be allowed.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by JansaNova 

Zelda alone is a good enough reason to make the Wii my top choice.

Get the cube version.... if you can find it.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker 

Get the cube version.... if you can find it.

I'd rather use the Wii controls on Zelda. Seems like a good way to get to know them.

[Peter]

After playing with the 360 for a month or so, im in awe of how buggy the games are.
the newest splinter cell is so buggy its ridiculous.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Peter 

After playing with the 360 for a month or so, im in awe of how buggy the games are.
the newest splinter cell is so buggy its ridiculous.

None of my games are even slightly buggy. Haven't played Double Agent yet though.

[Peter]

Ninety Nine Nights is also horrendously buggy. To the point its unplayable.

[MindFad]

Originally Posted by goMac 

I'd rather use the Wii controls on Zelda. Seems like a good way to get to know them.

That's what I'm gonna do. I'm looking forward to Wii Zelda so I can jump in with the controller and get used to them.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by goMac 

I'd rather use the Wii controls on Zelda. Seems like a good way to get to know them.

""That's reflected in the involved controls of the wii version, though not as off putting as the E3 demo, when introduced and gradually relaxed into over time, they are delicate, sometimes demanding and occasionally frustraing. Attack gestures flow beautifully, but are sticky to start and jumping to pointer aiming can be awkward and dis-orientating."

[Eug Wanker]

Xbox 360 Dashboard Update

Microsoft will release a dashboard update tomorrow [Hallowe'en], which features 1080p and HD-DVD support, says Japanese mag Famitsu

In addition to the long awaited resolution bump-up and add-on support, the update will also include a start menu item for XNA-developed games, improved Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace functions, along with over 80 other additions and goodies.

Famitsu pens the update for tomorrow in Japan, but considering that the Xbox 360 Wireless Communicator, an accessory that requires the new dashboard to work, is street dated for the same day in the States, we're assuming that it will be broadcast worldwide - if indeed it is landing in the next 24 hours.

[ink]

Originally Posted by Peter 

After playing with the 360 for a month or so, im in awe of how buggy the games are.
the newest splinter cell is so buggy its ridiculous.

Maybe it's just that games are getting so much more complicated. Lego Starwars 2 has several bugs that can force you to re-do levels. The bugs span multiple platforms.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by ink 

Maybe it's just that games are getting so much more complicated. Lego Starwars 2 has several bugs that can force you to re-do levels. The bugs span multiple platforms.

Ya in fact the Lego star wars shipped for Nintendo DS with some Major bugs that wouldn't let you advance levels so they have to do a cart-recall.

Lazy developers have nothing to do with the system.

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker 

Xbox 360 Dashboard Update

Microsoft will release a dashboard update tomorrow [Hallowe'en], which features 1080p and HD-DVD support, says Japanese mag Famitsu

In addition to the long awaited resolution bump-up and add-on support, the update will also include a start menu item for XNA-developed games, improved Xbox Live Arcade and Marketplace functions, along with over 80 other additions and goodies.

Famitsu pens the update for tomorrow in Japan, but considering that the Xbox 360 Wireless Communicator, an accessory that requires the new dashboard to work, is street dated for the same day in the States, we're assuming that it will be broadcast worldwide - if indeed it is landing in the next 24 hours.

AND it adds video playback via USB 2.0 devices or CD/DVD! Finally!

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by screamingFit 

AND it adds video playback via USB 2.0 devices or CD/DVD! Finally!

What do you mean? Can I somehow play video off my iPod or off a data DVD? What type of video?

[Dark Helmet]

Full list:

Xbox.com | Xbox News - November 2006 Update Features List

[DuckRacer1]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker 

What do you mean? Can I somehow play video off my iPod or off a data DVD? What type of video?

You can supposedly play video off a USB 2.0 device, so I guess the iPod would work. And you can play video off a DVD and such. As for what type of video, I would think at least .MP4 files, .WMV files, and .AVI files would work.

[Eug Wanker]

The Japanese print media is claiming that the PS3 is going to be in lower supply than Sony claims.

"According to the Nikkei Keizai Shimbun, Sony is still having problems with component shortages on its PlayStation 3 console. So instead of having 100,000 units on hand for the Japanese launch of the PS3 on November 11, Sony will instead provide 80,000 units."

I wonder if that means that North American numbers have also been cut by 20%, to 320000.

[Eug Wanker]

The Xbox 360 1080p & HD DVD update is now available.

Complete list of additions/changes

-----

Further details on the PS3: PS3 is 380 Watts. Supports lots of video formats though.

"With the Playstation 3 launch just around the corner, Sony has released further information about the next gen console. The PS3 is a power hug and consumes around 380 watts of power more than double the Xbox 360's 160 watts and eight times the PS2's nimble 45 watts. So spending an average of 4 hours a day on the machine will add approx $ 80 to your yearly power bill. Coming to the files supported included in the list are MPEG-2 (PS and TS), MPEG-1, H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC / SP video formats and MP3, ATRAC (but of course), AAC, WAV audio formats. Also supported are various image formats like JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIF and PNG. The optical drive in addition to BD-ROM games can read BD video, BD-R/RE, DVD�R/RW (VR-Modes also supported), Music CD's, SACD along with support for AVCHD media."

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker 

The Xbox 360 1080p & HD DVD update is now available.

Complete list of additions/changes

Because of my TV, 480p 4:3 DVDs don't play correctly.
However, my other DVD player and my HD PVR have settings to get around this problem. The Xbox 360 does not.

Some 1080p 16:9 WMV videos don't play correctly.
However, these are 1440x1080 video flagged to play at 1920x1080. QT with Flip4Mac plays them at 1920x1080, but the Xbox 360 plays them at 1440x1080. The good news though it seems the Xbox 360 has the capability of displaying 1440x1080 4:3 material on my TV. Good news for HD DVD 4:3 discs.

[Classicn]

I'm going to go with Wii, because I have younger kids and Nintendo has always seemed to be more geared towards kids.

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I wish there was somewhere where you could find a technical explanation of what video formats are supported with the new update for the 360. I threw in a disc of .avi files last night and they wouldn't play. If it's just .wmv, what a waste of an update.

Positively, though, I noticed a real difference in DVD playback quality after the update. Seems like a better upscaling algorithm or something - really difficult to put your finger on what exactly is different.

[Eug]

It seems the lack of mandatory Dolby Digital Plus on Blu-ray is preventing the studios from using it for Blu-ray. It's mandatory that all HD DVD players understand Dolby Digital Plus, so DD+ is quite common on HD DVD discs.

For example, Mission Impossible 3 is Dolby Digital Plus on HD DVD, but it's only standard Dolby Digital on Blu-ray. Fortunately on the Blu-ray side they are using 640 Kbps DD (which is the maximum for standard DD).

Also, for some reason the Blu-ray discs are short on interactivity. Mission Impossible 3 on HD DVD has a picture-in-picture commentary with branch points. On Blu-ray it just has a standard audio commentary track.

Mission Impossible 3 - HD DVD/Blu-Ray Face-off! - Rage3D Discussion Area

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Eug 

It seems the lack of mandatory Dolby Digital Plus on Blu-ray is preventing the studios from using it for Blu-ray. It's mandatory that all HD DVD players understand Dolby Digital Plus, so DD+ is quite common on HD DVD discs.

For example, Mission Impossible 3 is Dolby Digital Plus on HD DVD, but it's only standard Dolby Digital on Blu-ray. Fortunately on the Blu-ray side they are using 640 Kbps DD (which is the maximum for standard DD).

Also, for some reason the Blu-ray discs are short on interactivity. Mission Impossible 3 on HD DVD has a picture-in-picture commentary with branch points. On Blu-ray it just has a standard audio commentary track.

Mission Impossible 3 - HD DVD/Blu-Ray Face-off! - Rage3D Discussion Area

Doesn't look like Bluray having more space is mattering much.

[Eug]

Not sure but I'd bet that the movie disc for Blu-ray is BD25 not BD50 (partially for cost reasons), while the HD DVD is a 30 GB dual-layer HD DVD.

[Dark Helmet]

When DVD's first came out they were really inconstant and looked and sounded bad. Some weren't widescreen, many not Anamorphic, double-sided instead of double layered and not all in 5.1 audio.

These are 95% **** titles anyway as bad movies always come out first as early adopters are desperate for movies so they get anything.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Doesn't look like Bluray having more space is mattering much.

So? I have plenty of DVD's that don't use up the 9 gigs available. Does that mean I don't want burnable dual layer DVD's that are 9 gigs?

PS3 games are already using 30 gigs on some games and this is only first gen.

Studio's can make 50 gig Blu-ray movies if they want problem is many of them are lazy now and not packing it with extra's.

Even all that aside for single movies it is hard to fill 50 gigs but as buying TV shows as entire seasons the fewer disks the better. Start putting high def shows on Blu-ray and that space will get eaten fast.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

When DVD's first came out they were really inconstant and looked and sounded bad. Some weren't widescreen, many not Anamorphic, double-sided instead of double layered and not all in 5.1 audio.

These are 95% **** titles anyway as bad movies always come out first as early adopters are desperate for movies so they get anything.

As much as I don't like Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible III is a top tier title.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug 

As much as I don't like Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible III is a top tier title.

Out of the bunch sure but it did the worst out of all of them.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Out of the bunch sure but it did the worst out of all of them.

True, but it still got $396 million at the box office worldwide.

I think the reason it didn't get more was partially because everyone hates Tom Cruise these days.

Anyways, all three Mission Impossibles are out on HD formats.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug 

True, but it still got $396 million at the box office worldwide.

I think the reason it didn't get more was partially because everyone hates Tom Cruise these days.

Yup that's mostly why.

Anywho, MI3 and Batman begins falls in the 5% category of movies that aren't total crap and out in high def.

[Eug]

4 million Wiis for 2006

Doesn't look so good for Sony lately. I'd say it's optimistic for Sony to expect to sell even 1.5 million PS3 in 2006, much less the 2 million they were predicting before (which was actually half of the 4 million they were predicting before).

In the meantime, MS will have sold about 9-10 million Xbox 360s.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Eug 

4 million Wiis for 2006

Doesn't look so good for Sony lately. I'd say it's optimistic for Sony to expect to sell even 1.5 million PS3 in 2006, much less the 2 million they were predicting before (which was actually half of the 4 million they were predicting before).

In the meantime, MS will have sold about 9-10 million Xbox 360s.

I'd be surprised if the PS3 even outsells the Xbox between the release date and christmas. There simply aren't enough of them. If sony made 4 million I am sure they would sell out easily.

The Wii will sell 4 million this year just because there will be lots of supply and when someone can't get a PS3 for Xmas they will turn to the wii.

Any system sells out at launch, the important part 6 months to a year later when supplies are better.

[itai195]

Both will sell out at launch I'm sure. I'll try to get my hands on a Wii, but I probably won't try too hard at this point. Sony's bigger long term problem is that $600 price point.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by itai195 

Both will sell out at launch I'm sure. I'll try to get my hands on a Wii, but I probably won't try too hard at this point. Sony's bigger long term problem is that $600 price point.

There is no way they won't all sell out, probably even the Xbox. New system, lots of hype, right before christmas = Sold out.

[ink]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Ya in fact the Lego star wars shipped for Nintendo DS with some Major bugs that wouldn't let you advance levels so they have to do a cart-recall.

Lazy developers have nothing to do with the system.

We (my son and I) were on the Escape from the Death Star level in episode IV in free play mode. We meticulously went through and got every minikit canister plus True Jedi, only to be denied the Millennium Falcon at the end of the level. There's a very well-known bug that randomly makes it impossible to lower the force-field at the end of the level with the mini turrets.

I wonder if they can remotely "fix" these issues on the 360? We're playing on a GCN, so... no dice.

On the other hand, do you really want to load up a game to play only to be greeted with a screen saying "There's a new update available! Version 1.13.44.5.234.234, is out, and it's only 2.3GB to download!"

Lazy developers indeed.... and it's not like Lego Starwars 2 was working with a fresh codebase...

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by ink 

I wonder if they can remotely "fix" these issues on the 360? We're playing on a GCN, so... no dice.

So far any 360 games that had issues gets a free download to fix it at less then 100 megs. Since Xbox is broadband only that is no biggie.

[Dark Helmet]

Non-gamer likes PS3

Un-gamer meets the PS3 | News.blog | CNET News.com

[Dark Helmet]

Wow, i personally won't use it but this slideshow effect is so damn amazing I would have expected Apple to have invented it:

Clips: PS3 Picture Browser - Kotaku

[Dakar²]

Non-gaming features = uninteresting

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Non-gamer likes PS3

Un-gamer meets the PS3 | News.blog | CNET News.com

More specifically:

"My verdict? Even though I've never been one for video games, the PS3 intrigued me for sure. The digital entertainment functions seemed actually useful--remember, there's a Blu-ray player in there, too--and the quality of the games was tempting enough to lure me in. Is it worth the $599 price tag for a premium console? Yes and no. Yes, I think it's a fair price. But I'm keeping in mind the fact that the graphics will look far less impressive on my TV at home than they did on Sony's swanky Bravia. Then you have to factor in peripherals like speakers. And I definitely don't have a comfy pod chair in my living room.

It's really a toss-up. If you already have adequate TV and speaker equipment, or you're willing to forsake a bit of the "shock and awe" factor, then the $599 PS3 (or $499 for the lower-end model) is probably a worthwhile investment. But otherwise, if you want this sleek gaming console to be as impressive as possible, just remember that you'll probably end up spending more than $599. A lot more."

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Wow, i personally won't use it but this slideshow effect is so damn amazing I would have expected Apple to have invented it:

Clips: PS3 Picture Browser - Kotaku

Gee. I guess I have to buy a PS3 now. I always wanted a $600 console that excels at creating non-savable slide shows.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Wow, i personally won't use it but this slideshow effect is so damn amazing I would have expected Apple to have invented it:

Clips: PS3 Picture Browser - Kotaku

Meh. That would be interesting for about 2 minutes. You just like the cat.

The movie browser interface looks a bit more functional though.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Wow, i personally won't use it but this slideshow effect is so damn amazing I would have expected Apple to have invented it:

Clips: PS3 Picture Browser - Kotaku

I'll give you that it's really cool, but as a slideshow? Having the pictures flipping all around and landing upside down kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think?

[ort888]

That slideshow is freaking cool.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Gee. I guess I have to buy a PS3 now. I always wanted a $600 console that excels at creating non-savable slide shows.

Oh come on you can do way better than that. Remember it's on the Wii also so it must be cool and the whole reason people get it....right?