PS3 has overall better games. With the Wii, you need to wade though half-assed minigame collections to find something decent. The PS3 has a lot of awesome games and has the best exclusives of the current gen, despite their small numbers...and it folds.
Wii is also really cheap and is market as 'accessable', so people tend to buy it for younger or older gamers.
The question wasn't which is better. The question is why one consistently sells out.
It's because there's a massive userbase of people who think wigglesticks are BADASS, and the console is $150 cheaper than the PS3. (PS3's down to $400 now, I think, Brian.)
The 360, however, is now cheaper than the Wii at the low end, but wiggle's more compelling to a lot of people, not to mention the Arcade's limitations.
I have the PS3 (two, actually), the 360 and the Wii.
The 360 has been sent to Microsoft twice and is probably going back a third time.
The PS3's laser died and I've got a new (well, actually it's used) one being sent as I type.
The Wii hasn't needed any repairs, but we only just got it this Christmas and it doesn't see much game play. Honestly, I think they're all ripoffs and are poor quality.
40 gig PS3 is only $350 out here. I'm thinking I should sell my Wii that hasn't been turned on in 6 months and get a PS3 for MGS4 and FF13 whenever that comes out.
Wii has so much potential wasted on bullshit minigames made for people who don't play games and sadly Nintendo makes far more money this way.
I have a ps3 and love it even though its at home in Enid with my brother since I don't have enough time to play it here. As for the poor quality, the only time I've ever seen a game system break is when people treat them like hell. I've had game systems from the regular nintendo to the ps3 and they all still worked at the time I sold them. On the other hand I've had friends whose systems stopped working and it was pretty obvious why....
The wii is a gateway drug to other consoles. It gets people hooked back into gaming if they haven't been and then once they've played it's 10 or so really excellent games and get tired of it's endless puzzle/family games they go and buy an Xbox360, or at least that's what I did.
The Wii is the only console my girlfriend will play games on, and thats because of the virtual console aspect. We play DKC and SMB. Its attractive to people who have played games on older systems and want to relive the nostalgia, it has an awesome price point and provides little to no learning curve. While most people here say theirs doesn't get fired up, I use ours almost constantly to play Starfox 64 or Harvest Moon for the SNES.
We have both Wii and PS3... my wife and I use the Wii constantly, as we find the games fun and entertaining. And we actually make regular use of the Wii Fit. It's more about enjoying the games, rather than getting immersed in them.
Our son, on the other hand, barely touches anything other than the PS3 and his laptop. He likes his role-play games, though, which is the bulk of what's available for the PS3.
I remember long ago getting hooked on Duke Nuke'em 3D, largely because Duke was hilarous - "Your face, your ass... what's the difference?" The way monsters blew up - with eyeballs flying away - was great fun. Then Quake II came along... and Doom 3... and everyone was raving about them. I tried them. I found them boring. Sure, they were a lot prettier on the graphics... but they took themselves too seriously. What's the point of a game being nice to look at if it's not entertaining to play?
Same thing applies to the Wii, for us. The bowling is fun with a group (drunk or not). Some of the balance games on the Fit are a hoot. My wife cracks up all the time watching me play because she says my Mii looks so much like me.
The Wii controllers are unique in the gaming world, and I'm sure a lot of people prefer it to the 20-year-old gamepad concept, no matter how many buttons or how much rumble you add.
I liked the Twisted Metal variations on the PS2. Spent a good bit of time on GT3 and NFS. I remember some deathmatch fun with Timesplitters when we first got the thing. In fact, I love playing FPS games against other people. But playing heavy story-laden games against the computer for hours on end just doesn't interest me, and no advances in graphics is going to change that. Sure, I can look and appreciate how the PS3 looks at 1080p on my 42" plasma - it's frakkin' gorgeous! Doesn't make the games any more interesting though.
Anyway, that's us. I imagine that's the case for a lot of the "general public" as well. Really, it comes down to different markets, different target audiences. There's little point in trying to compare them directly.
Yeh the Wii has economics on it's side. I'm actually considering purchasing one just because they look like fun. I'm afraid I wouldn't like it, though.
I like my wii, but man it needs new blood. Mine's modded and I've played almost every game there is for the Wii. I actually only find about 10 of them to be good quality games. Most are fun for 5 minutes or a rehash of another game. Madworld was a light in the dark for the Wii but it doesn't quite deliver. Here's to No More Heroes 2. The problem with the Wii is two fold. The first and biggest flaw is it's lack of really good solid and compelling games that pull you back in for more. The second flaw with the Wii is it's controls. At first they are fun and some games use them well. But there are plenty of times when you'd much rather just crash on the couch and play a game that requires limited movement. I can sit back and chill with 360 games, it's very hard to chill while playing the Wii.
Mostly my Wii collects Dust until some friends are over and we crack out Boom Blox. Wii does definitely live up the casual gaming hype. Unfortunately that's where it kinda stays. Fun in short casual bursts. It's staying power is limited.
^You know, grand gestures aren't needed for the Wii... most of the games can be played with a flick of the wrist as readily as a swing of the arm
I think the biggest drawback there is that too few game authors are really taking advantage of the controllers and the entirely different range of usage that's possible with them.
But a flick of the wrist defeats the purpose and doesn't always work.
Actually that's nother annoying thing about the Wii control consistency. Sometime subtle movements are enough other times you need to do something more sever even in the same game you make one motion and it works one time and doesn't the next.
Here's hoping that the new true motion add-on helps that situation as things move forward. It should of course have been part of the system from the beginning.
That was one disappointment the first time playing the wii is I thought it would have 1:1 motion already built in with a 3d accelerometer in the controller.
Comments
Wii = $250
Wii is also really cheap and is market as 'accessable', so people tend to buy it for younger or older gamers.
It's because there's a massive userbase of people who think wigglesticks are BADASS, and the console is $150 cheaper than the PS3. (PS3's down to $400 now, I think, Brian.)
The 360, however, is now cheaper than the Wii at the low end, but wiggle's more compelling to a lot of people, not to mention the Arcade's limitations.
The 360 has been sent to Microsoft twice and is probably going back a third time.
The PS3's laser died and I've got a new (well, actually it's used) one being sent as I type.
The Wii hasn't needed any repairs, but we only just got it this Christmas and it doesn't see much game play. Honestly, I think they're all ripoffs and are poor quality.
PS3 =$400
Wii has so much potential wasted on bullshit minigames made for people who don't play games and sadly Nintendo makes far more money this way.
Wii is a great rainy day (sometimes drunk) last resort game.
Our son, on the other hand, barely touches anything other than the PS3 and his laptop. He likes his role-play games, though, which is the bulk of what's available for the PS3.
I remember long ago getting hooked on Duke Nuke'em 3D, largely because Duke was hilarous - "Your face, your ass... what's the difference?" The way monsters blew up - with eyeballs flying away - was great fun. Then Quake II came along... and Doom 3... and everyone was raving about them. I tried them. I found them boring. Sure, they were a lot prettier on the graphics... but they took themselves too seriously. What's the point of a game being nice to look at if it's not entertaining to play?
Same thing applies to the Wii, for us. The bowling is fun with a group (drunk or not). Some of the balance games on the Fit are a hoot. My wife cracks up all the time watching me play because she says my Mii looks so much like me.
The Wii controllers are unique in the gaming world, and I'm sure a lot of people prefer it to the 20-year-old gamepad concept, no matter how many buttons or how much rumble you add.
I liked the Twisted Metal variations on the PS2. Spent a good bit of time on GT3 and NFS. I remember some deathmatch fun with Timesplitters when we first got the thing. In fact, I love playing FPS games against other people. But playing heavy story-laden games against the computer for hours on end just doesn't interest me, and no advances in graphics is going to change that. Sure, I can look and appreciate how the PS3 looks at 1080p on my 42" plasma - it's frakkin' gorgeous! Doesn't make the games any more interesting though.
Anyway, that's us. I imagine that's the case for a lot of the "general public" as well. Really, it comes down to different markets, different target audiences. There's little point in trying to compare them directly.
The wii sells more because of its price point, and that they have made a product that appeals to a larger market.
Mostly my Wii collects Dust until some friends are over and we crack out Boom Blox. Wii does definitely live up the casual gaming hype. Unfortunately that's where it kinda stays. Fun in short casual bursts. It's staying power is limited.
I think the biggest drawback there is that too few game authors are really taking advantage of the controllers and the entirely different range of usage that's possible with them.
Actually that's nother annoying thing about the Wii control consistency. Sometime subtle movements are enough other times you need to do something more sever even in the same game you make one motion and it works one time and doesn't the next.
Here's hoping that the new true motion add-on helps that situation as things move forward. It should of course have been part of the system from the beginning.