GamePro: 27 ways to save consoles

[Queasy]

Link

Interesting read and I agree with most of them.

 

[purbeast0]

I agree with most of the Xbox360, Wii, and PS3 ones, other than 2 of the Wii ones.

1. The WiiDVD feature. Who really cares? Everyone now a days has a DVD player they use and tacking that feature onto the wii would have increased prices because they would have to pay royalties to do so. I think it's better w/out one.

2. Lack of storage in the wii. This is more a personal thing I just don't care about, because I really don't plan on downloading anything at all from the VC since nintendo is being too lazy to even include any upgraded features into these classic games.

 

[RandomFool]

I agree with a most of them but I sorta of disagree with the rechargeable battery packs. I'm fine with using regular rechargeable batteries. I'll continue to defend the Wii and DS by saying that too many bad games isn't really something that can be fixed by Nintendo. Adding the word quality to something doesn't make it any better.

 

[herkulease]

I read this yesterday.

some of it obvious, some of it is crap or borderline

sony including only composite cables, Wii supply issues. Please. Its artificial.

Borderline to me

- Wifi on Elite. To me its like the whole surfing the web on your TV. Nice feature but you'll get over it quick. Ethernet connection works much better. When 802.11n standard is completely finalize then talk to me. 802.11b/g is great for gaming but everything else that the Ps3 and 360 is able to do like stream stuff it isn't that great. Ds wifi is crap by the way.

- The Batteries issue, seriously buy rechargable batteries by Duracell, Energizer or the millions of other makers. Who needs to buy "official" recharable batteries. I bet if MS or Nintendo did release them they'd bitch about it being over priced.

Plain Crap to Me.

- Gamepro criticizes sony and nintendo's online offer as not being up to Xbox Live. Then they bitch about Live costing money. Everything Microsoft offers for live costs money to do. Sony adn Nintendo don't bother because there don't have anything to offset losts setting up something similar. Virtual Console purchases and games via Ps3 probably probably are not enough to offset the huge investment it would take.

 

[Yreka]

I cant read the article, but I agree with you guys on the batteries. I prefer to use a standard like AA, so I can get my own rechargeable and have some "on deck". Having to buy proprietary packs for 3 different systems would suck.

 

[Modeps]

It seems as though whoever wrote this went to google and searched for the biggest complaints people had about each system. Its not a very profound list at all... just something thats stating a lot of what people have already said before.

 

[R Nilla]

WiiDVD:

I also find it hard to believe that anyone who has shelled out a minimum of $250 for a Wii doesn't already have at least a $30 DVD player from Walmart. Yes, it's nice to consolidate devices, it would be a nice "thank you" to Wii owners, but I don't see how it matters considering the Wii continues to be sold out pretty much everywhere.

Battery Packs:

Don't the rechargable battery packs offered by Microsoft suck? I seem to remember hearing that they start to lose charge big time after a while and become worthless. I have been meaning to buy some rechargable AAs and a recharger, but for now I have a 36 pack of Rayovac's that I bought for $12. I'd rather swap relatively inexpensive rechargeable AAs than $30 battery packs.

WiFi/Accessories:

It would definitely be nice if the 360s had built-in WiFi, that's almost standard these days on electronic devices. They could at least lower the price on the WiFi adapter to $50 (which I still think is expensive) but $99 is highway robbery. The expensive Microsoft-only HDD issue is also lame. I really like what Sony has done with regards to storage options (i.e. use whatever the hell you want). The nickel-and-diming should be reserved for the television and cell phone companies.

 

[Deeko]

I had a gamecube with AA batteries, now I have a PS3 with the built-in rechargable battery....it is about 100x nicer.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: R Nilla
Battery Packs:

Don't the rechargable battery packs offered by Microsoft suck? I seem to remember hearing that they start to lose charge big time after a while and become worthless. I have been meaning to buy some rechargable AAs and a recharger, but for now I have a 36 pack of Rayovac's that I bought for $12. I'd rather swap relatively inexpensive rechargeable AAs than $30 battery packs.

I got a MS rechargeable battery pack as part of the bundle Sam's was offering at launch. I still use it regularly and haven't noticed the charge being gone.

I use rechargeable batteries for my other controllers.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
I agree with most of the Xbox360, Wii, and PS3 ones, other than 2 of the Wii ones.

1. The WiiDVD feature. Who really cares? Everyone now a days has a DVD player they use and tacking that feature onto the wii would have increased prices because they would have to pay royalties to do so. I think it's better w/out one.

2. Lack of storage in the wii. This is more a personal thing I just don't care about, because I really don't plan on downloading anything at all from the VC since nintendo is being too lazy to even include any upgraded features into these classic games.

A lot of people care. While I dont, because I have a PS3. But those who have only a Wii, do not need a stand alone DVD player, if the Wii played DVD's. Less wires, less heat, just better. Especially if you're a kid in your bedroom.

And whoever doesnt think Wifi on any system is a good thing... I dont see how this cant be a good thing. My PS3 is 50 feet from my PC room, where my wireless router is. I dont want to string a cable all over the house. And I dont want to drill holes in my hard wood floors. There is no connection issues at all.

 

[Beev]

The D pad on the 360 has never really bothered me, but maybe I just haven't used it enough. The Wii not having dvd playback is completely moot to most families... Almost everyone has a dvd player.

 

[RandomFool]

Initially I didn't care about the Wii playing DVDs/CDs/Whatever. If I was home then I still wouldn't care but bow that I'm living in a hotel it'd be really convenient for it to play DVDs. Then I could use my laptop while watching movies, instead of using the Wii browser while watching movies on my laptop.

I was kind of surprised the 360 didn't have wireless. At the very least I would have expected them to put it in the elite. 100 bucks for an adapter is just ridiculous.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I was kind of surprised the 360 didn't have wireless. At the very least I would have expected them to put it in the elite. 100 bucks for an adapter is just ridiculous.

You don't have to buy the MS 360 adapter. Any ethernet based wireless adapter will work, even the original Xbox wireless adpater, and those are priced less than $50. The advantage the MS 360 wireless adapter gives you is that it:
- blends in with the 360
- is powered by the console so no power adapter
- supports 802.11a
- easy to setup

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I was kind of surprised the 360 didn't have wireless. At the very least I would have expected them to put it in the elite. 100 bucks for an adapter is just ridiculous.

You don't have to buy the MS 360 adapter. Any ethernet based wireless adapter will work, even the original Xbox wireless adpater, and those are priced less than $50. The advantage the MS 360 wireless adapter gives you is that it:
- blends in with the 360
- is powered by the console so no power adapter
- supports 802.11a
- easy to setup

But it's $100. What a rip off.

 

[lupi]

This means that almost every Xbox Live user can voice chat right away


I thought this list was of things that were supposed to improve the console.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: hans030390

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I was kind of surprised the 360 didn't have wireless. At the very least I would have expected them to put it in the elite. 100 bucks for an adapter is just ridiculous.

You don't have to buy the MS 360 adapter. Any ethernet based wireless adapter will work, even the original Xbox wireless adpater, and those are priced less than $50. The advantage the MS 360 wireless adapter gives you is that it:
- blends in with the 360
- is powered by the console so no power adapter
- supports 802.11a
- easy to setup

But it's $100. What a rip off.

I'm not disagreeing that the adapter is overpriced. It's just that whenever someone says that the 360 doesn't have WiFi they mention that $100 is too much to get it. You don't have to spend $100!

 

[RandomFool]

Good know there are other options out there for wireless. Now if only I could get it to work with my Nintendo Wi-Fi USB connector it'd be perfect.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I was kind of surprised the 360 didn't have wireless. At the very least I would have expected them to put it in the elite. 100 bucks for an adapter is just ridiculous.

Agreed. Wires don't work for me, and I'm not paying $100 for some stupid adapter. Yes, you can use ethernet based wireless adapter but that's another $40-50 product I have to buy. It takes up more room in my entertainment cabinet space and requires another power plug. Considering how intergral Live is to Xbox feature and popularity, you would think WiFi would be standard. I mean even Wii has it built in, and Nintendo is about clueless as they come when it comes to online gaming.

 

[Dumac]

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: RandomFool
I was kind of surprised the 360 didn't have wireless. At the very least I would have expected them to put it in the elite. 100 bucks for an adapter is just ridiculous.

Agreed. Wires don't work for me, and I'm not paying $100 for some stupid adapter. Yes, you can use ethernet based wireless adapter but that's another $40-50 product I have to buy. It takes up more room in my entertainment cabinet space and requires another power plug. Considering how intergral Live is to Xbox feature and popularity, you would think WiFi would be standard. I mean even Wii has it built in, and Nintendo is about clueless as they come when it comes to online gaming.

I agree. I had a PS3 and Wii already when I bought my Elite 360, so I assumed it came with built-in wireless; even the Wii and DS do! I ended up forcing an artificial bridge on my wireless-enabled pc to an ethernet cable which I then ran to the 360.

Also, I agree completely on the batteries. It's annoying having to replace the Wiimote batteries (not that I have to often since my Wii barely gets any playtime), and the Microsoft rechargeable batteries should be included IMO. I think the PS3 controllers work great in that aspect.

D-pad comment on Xbox 360 controllers is true, though rarely noticed since the D-pad isn't used much.

 

[BD2003]

Most of that was a little too nitpicky, even for me, and I'm a nitpicker extraordinaire. IMO:

Wii: Make more systems. Put your games online, give us a mic, and regardless of what focus groups may have told you, friend codes are THE WORST IDEA ever. Even worse than the virtual boy. You dont need a hard drive, but the SD and Flash memory need to be integrated seamlessly. If someone is really insistant on having 20gb of VC games, I'm sure some enterprising fellow out there will create a HD adapter that plugs into the SD slot. And speaking of VC games, fire whoever is responsible for coming up with the pricing scheme, because there may be people stupid enough to pay $40 for Anubis 2, I'll be shocked if urban champion has sold more than 2 units at $5.

360: Make systems that don't spontaneously blow up. While you're at it, don't charge $100 for a 20gb hard drive, and $100 for a wifi adapter, when we could pick up the same hardware for the PC for about $20 each. And live is great and all, but do we really need to pay $50 a year for a glorified matchmaking service chock full of ads?

PS3: Congratulations, we can now afford your system. Now, consider making some decent games for your now affordable next gen system, which can no longer play the currently far more impressive PS2 library. Oh, and now that you've finally realized we're not stupid, and won't just buy your sh*t like a bunch of sheep cause you said so, can you at least humor us by pretending not to insult our intelligence in every other interview?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
I agree with most of the Xbox360, Wii, and PS3 ones, other than 2 of the Wii ones.

1. The WiiDVD feature. Who really cares? Everyone now a days has a DVD player they use and tacking that feature onto the wii would have increased prices because they would have to pay royalties to do so. I think it's better w/out one.

2. Lack of storage in the wii. This is more a personal thing I just don't care about, because I really don't plan on downloading anything at all from the VC since nintendo is being too lazy to even include any upgraded features into these classic games.

I'd love it if there was more storage on the Wii - that would make DEMOS possible. I want to play a game before I buy it. And I don't want to pay $8 to rent it at Cockbuster.

:thumbsup: to microphones, :thumbsdown: to the jacktards I get teamed up with in Halo 3 who don't use them.

Backward compatibility - don't really care. The 40 GB PS3 will probably be the one I buy, depending on pricing when I decide to buy it.

No bundled HD cables - bundling made sense for MS when there was no HDMI option, because component was pretty much it. Doesn't make as much sense for the PS3 which has always had multiple options.

Wifi - needless expense for the many people who don't need or want it. I'd much rather be wired, especially when dealing with something where latency can cause problems.

Batteries - I think the only reason I use the rechargeable batteries for the Xbox is because my Costco bundle came with one. I bought an additional battery and the charging station. Big waste of money, honestly. With my Wii I just use rechargeable AAs. What I DON'T want is to have to plug my controller in to charge it, because I'll always forget to plug it in when I'm done playing and I'd have to charge while I'm playing. So I prefer MS's removable battery.

Subscription fees - yeah, it'd be better without a fee. But Nintendo's online features suck donkey balls in comparison. 😉

Overpriced hard drive - fuck you, Microsoft. That really pisses me off.

Wii supply issues - I do think they're holding some back for the holidays, but I don't think they're restricting supply on purpose. What the hell do you expect from them? They not only have the most popular console by a huge margin (going by monthly sales, excluding the Halo bump), they also have the most popular handheld by a huge margin. They can only build the things so damn fast! They couldn't meet demand for the DS last Christmas either. My friend sold an old style USED DS for $150 on ebay!

Wii DVD - who cares? I never use my 360 to play DVDs, and I wouldn't use my Wii either.

Nintendo's online play sucks

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: Naustica
Agreed. Wires don't work for me, and I'm not paying $100 for some stupid adapter. Yes, you can use ethernet based wireless adapter but that's another $40-50 product I have to buy. It takes up more room in my entertainment cabinet space and requires another power plug. Considering how intergral Live is to Xbox feature and popularity, you would think WiFi would be standard. I mean even Wii has it built in, and Nintendo is about clueless as they come when it comes to online gaming.

I bought a WRT54G last year because I wanted to get my xbox online and I'm getting a lot of use out of it for other devices in my entertainment center now. Tivo still doesn't offer a model with built-in wireless, so I use it for that as well as my xbox 360 and my original xbox.

It was $40 well spent.

 

[potato28]

WiiDVD would be nice, but my PC does upconverting so Wii and 360's DVD playing is gone. RROD is still a major problem, it should've been fixed after the first reports, not just starting to lower the amount! Can't comment on the PS3, as I don't own one right now. And the 1st party rechargeable batteries are over-rated, buy a pack or two of Sanyo Enloops and a charger.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
I agree with most of the Xbox360, Wii, and PS3 ones, other than 2 of the Wii ones.

1. The WiiDVD feature. Who really cares? Everyone now a days has a DVD player they use and tacking that feature onto the wii would have increased prices because they would have to pay royalties to do so. I think it's better w/out one.

I agree, I could care less about the DVD feature because I already have several other options if I want to play DVDs - from computers (HTPC), to other consoles, to stand alone DVD players...however you would think it would be simple to add on the feature and thus the excuse really doesn't hold up. I'm not sure the argument of cost of royalties is legit either, they could always do what Microsoft did with the original XBox and force you to invest in extra hardware (or software/wiiware) to offset the cost of royalties. Heck, with the way Nintendo is selling out an extensive range of peripherals, I bet they could turn even more profit on such a DVD playback extension...

2. Lack of storage in the wii. This is more a personal thing I just don't care about, because I really don't plan on downloading anything at all from the VC since nintendo is being too lazy to even include any upgraded features into these classic games.

You're right, there really isn't much incentive at the moment to have a lot of internal memory. They're putting out VC games too slow and they're pricing them too high, I don't know of any average Wii gamer that might come close to maxing out their internal memory. Heck, the only way to threaten to do this would be to make sure you download any and every N64 VC game Nintendo makes available, but when we consider N64 games maxed out at 64MB...

However the point remains valid - I don't think there is any dire need for Nintendo to upgrade the default size of the internal memory, but to not be able to expand accessible memory via the SD slot or USB port is a real disappointment. Right now, if anyone does go over their 512MB limit, they'll have to backup to external flash memory and from there they'll have to then delete/load the software they want to have on their internal memory for direct use...a potential major pain in the future.

Originally posted by: herkulease
- The Batteries issue, seriously buy rechargable batteries by Duracell, Energizer or the millions of other makers. Who needs to buy "official" recharable batteries. I bet if MS or Nintendo did release them they'd bitch about it being over priced.

Plain Crap to Me.

I couldn't agree more. In fact I'm at the point where I'll almost hate it when a product has proprietary (or at least it might as well be) rechargeable batteries. If/when those batteries go bad, have fun replacing them. NiMH AAs/AAAs work wonders, and the best part is that you can use them in just about any appliance that takes such standard sizes, you're not just locked into the controller specific battery pack.

The best part is that you have choice; if, for whatever reason, you should need to use disposable batteries, you can.

 

[rocadelpunk]

I hate how crappy the controls are for 360 on some xbox live arcade games

ala sf2 hyper fighting.

nowhere, absolutely nowhere, near a snes controller