Who else is addicted to Xbox? I splurged and got one during Thanksgiving or so, and have been pretty hooked. So far the best games I have played are:
Bioshock, which is the first game in a long time that I would consider to be a work of art on par with quality movies or tv... it has pretty intense consistent themes and actually poses intellectual, moral and ethical questions to the player. It makes you think! Also, amazing art deco-influenced art direction. Highly recommended.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This is the best shooter I have ever played. The single player campaign is brutal and grim, depicting Eastern Europe falling into chaos as warlords vie for nuclear warheads. The game basically takes you through scenarios that are familiar to us all from the wars overseas, which is very, very intense. You get to be in the boots of a active duty soldier, and it doesn't glamorize it. Pretty great stuff, but not for the faint of heart.
Then the multiplayer is polished to an amazing, amazing degree. Instead of simply competing for points, the game gives you a dozen or so game types, customizable classes, dozens of special perks that enhance your character, many different weapons types and weapons... and then only unlocks all these things bit by bit as you earn experience by competing online AND by completing different challenges. The genius of it is that the challenges are designed to make you better at the game, and encourage you to learn to play in different ways. For example, I generally don't snipe in shooting games, but since there is a whole array of sniper challenges, I am finding myself learning how to play as a sniper in order to get the sweet, sweet experience points. A great multiplayer experience.
What are you playing? Also, post your gamertag or gamercard if you are on Xbox Live.
josh [email] said at 1:08 PM 02-11-2008: call of duty 4 is a totally different game than call of duty 3, its made by a totally different company (just in case you tried 3 and didn't like it). it also has a fairly steep learning curve. but once it "clicks" its amazing... though if you don't play online, not worth it probably.
mass effect seems awesome but i havent had time to really play it yet, i only played for like an hour. im waiting for some weekend where i have nothing going on where i can just sit and play it for 10 hours.
brandonA [email] said at 1:20 PM 02-12-2008: I have bioshock but still haven't played it much - it seems like a pretty good game, but was let down because it was billed as the 'spiritual successor to System Shock II!' Which is sort of true, except that its a far less complex game (basically just a straight FPS with magic powers), and doesn't manage to create the tension that SHODAN's creepy mockery gave you.
josh [email] said at 10:22 AM 02-13-2008: dude. keep playing. seriously. how far are you? seriously, there is a point in the game which is mindblowingly epic.
josh [email] said at 9:46 AM 02-15-2008: also have you destroyed a big daddy yet? this is a big turning point in the game because after you kill one you have to make an ethical choice which affects the game.
also, play on hard, the default setting is wayyyy too easy for an experienced gamer
Scene It! the movie trivia game is pretty great. It's a bit like the old PC game You Don't Know Jack in that it's an interactive game show, complete with an annoying host. You have to answer all kinds of movie questions for points. It's fun because anyone can play and it comes with 4 buzzers that are much simpler than a regular xbox controller. Fun party game.
jake [email] said at 1:31 PM 02-11-2008: Nawp. But once I reclaim my Wii from my mother and get wi-fi at my apartment, I will be seeking friend codes to trade.
josh [email] said at 1:43 PM 02-11-2008: ben has a wii. the wii, at least up to this point, seems like a cool idea with a serious lack of good software for it. maybe this will change post-smash brothers.
Josh, you are categorically not the target demo for the Wii. You're a red-ocean gamer for sure. I grant you that there's not the plethora of killer-immersive-first-person-shooter-variants. But people are buying Wii's to use in physical therapy, aged-care, day-care... The commercials aren't hype. The reason I have to get mine back from my Mom is because she's been using it to connect with one of her shy clients.
josh [email] said at 2:51 PM 02-11-2008: i agree that the various minigames are probably great for senior citizen homes and stuff like that, but where are the great GAMES?
i love my game cube... where are the innovative titles like Pikmin for the wii? that was a launch title (or very close to it) for the game cube. eternal darkness, another example of a great and innovative game for the cube that was out right out of the gate... Animal Crossing, Viewtiful Joe, Ikaruga... the GC had so many innovative and amazing games! the wii has alot of minigame collections, which are fun and all, but where are the full fledged GAME experiences. Besides GC ports like Zelda and Paper Mario, all there really is for gamers is Mario Galaxy.
josh [email] said at 3:06 PM 02-11-2008: the top 10 wii games:
wiisports
wiiplay
mario galaxy
mario party 8
zelda
mario & sonic
wario ware
paper mario
big brain academy
guitar hero 3
of those, 6 are minigame compilations, 2 are GC ports, 1 is a guitar hero sequel thats on every system, and one is mario galaxy.
for someone that wants to play actual long form (non mini) games, the wii is not a great choice right now, which sucks, because if they made some good games for it, it could be really interesting.
reviewers have claimed this game "zack and wiki" is amazing and innovative... but it died on the vine with virtually no sales... which doesn't bode well for 3rd party, quality development for the wii.
jake [email] said at 3:09 PM 02-11-2008: You can play all the GC greats on the Wii.
Plus all the virtual console games.
We're in agreement that the Wii doesn't have a lot of "killer apps" for the hardcore gamer. My point is that this is a lack of your kind of software, not "good software."
josh [email] said at 3:14 PM 02-11-2008: I have a GC. Why would I buy a Wii to play my GC games?
I'm not talking about hardcore gamers, I'm talking about gamers in general. The Wii, right now, is only a minigame/party game system. I like minigames and party games. But I want other kinds of games as well.
What titles are good games that are exclusive to the Wii and are not minigames?
jake [email] said at 3:30 PM 02-11-2008: Josh, you will not bait me into defending claims I haven't made.
1. I'm not telling you to buy a Wii. Why do you want me to try?
2. I realize that you're on the casual end of gamers, but you own multiple consoles. That alone makes you hardcore compared to Nintendo's primary demo.
3. No, you are not hardcore according to the gamers use of the word.
4. You know Nintendo's blue ocean/red ocean argument just as well as I do.
5. You see a lack of exclusivity and serious games. I see the absence, but I don't see that as a flaw or drawback.
6. Put very differently, the XBox and Playstations are in-home-espresso machines, and the Wii is a free standing percolator that doesn't require professional installation, and you're complaining that there's no special Wii-Brand-Coffee-Beans for you to get your steamed-caffeine from.
jake [email] said at 3:58 PM 02-11-2008: #4. Marketing terms. The Red Ocean is the proven waters for a given industry; i.e. the known customer profiles/demographics. In the Red Ocean, all the established companies are competing over market share with the same users/buyers. The Blue Ocean is the untapped market, the consumers that have never made a "first purchase." Sony and Microsoft have gone after this with their "home entertainment solution" features, and made relatively little progress. Nintendo owns the Blue Ocean right now, with the Wii and the DS.
Hardcore or not, you and I are not Blue Ocean. I used to be... Then I bought a Gamecube and PS2.
In my stupid coffee machine analogy, the GC was a pared down espresso machine. Nothing wrong with it, but not a high-volume seller for people who've only ever gotten coffee from Dunkin Donuts and never considered percolating at home before.
josh [email] said at 3:55 PM 02-11-2008: okay i just googled blue ocean red ocean and it seems to say that blue oceans are markets that dont exist because a product that is innovative hasnt been made to appeal to them yet, while red oceans are old markets that are already established.
this is my exact problem with the Wii... they are not making innovative games for their innovative product. every wii game that comes out is just more of the same, little minigames.
in terms of FINANCE, they are definitely doing a blue ocean strategy, banking on super casual gamers, and thats fine.
but in terms of software innovation and quality/new game experiences, they are red ocean all the way. they made this system that had an innovative new control scheme, made wiisports, everyone loved it, so now they are rinsing and repeating. minigames minigames minigames.
nickml said at 12:13 PM 02-12-2008: Have you played Mario galaxy? Great platform game that takes somewhat advantage of the Wii technology. The 3rd part development that is going on now sound promising but we'll see how they do once it's released.
josh [email] said at 12:35 PM 02-12-2008: no but i mentioned it above as the only recent full length game that seems worthwhile... that and this zack and wiki game.
jake [email] said at 12:46 PM 02-12-2008: I would love to see more immersive, long form games for the Wii. But with or with out them, all the mini-games does not make the Wii red-ocean. In that analysis, the Wii is the product, not the games. The Wii is making unbelievable inroads among people who would never ever have bought a console before.
reggie [email] said at 11:29 AM 02-13-2008: I believe the Wii is geared towards people like myself. I haven't owned (nor cared to own) any video game console since the first Nintendo jonx. I look at the Playstation, XBox and the other Nintendo systems up to the Wii and just feel intimidated. Wii on the other hand looks simple and more importantly, fun. Also as much time as I already spend sitting on my butt, I don't need yet another reason. Plus I spend way too much money that I don't have on music & movies, I don't need something else eating up my cash.
Not sure what this has to do with your discussion but just thought I'd throw it in the mix.
On the flipside, I was on the Metro the other day and looked over and saw a woman who was probably the same age as my mother playing a DS, I think she was playing BrainAge or something. Still, it was enough for me to do a double take.
josh [email] said at 12:50 PM 02-13-2008: yeah. i think that is certainly true. however, i do also think that they could still provide new EXPERIENCES and still capture that new market... i think animal crossing is a good example of a game that, when it came out, was pretty fresh and unique, and yet very very easy for anyone to play. why are there not more experiences like that for the wii? NEW experiences.
again, i am not talking about capturing markets, i am talking about software design and innovation. there is no reason they could not be doing both, and indeed, if they could craft something that had the mass appeal of animal crossing or pokemon but was a unique experience for the wii that was not possible with the old consoles... it would be a huge thing, and a long term thing.
brandonA [email] said at 1:03 PM 02-12-2008: I got a wii the first day out and I agree - I only play it now when I'm introducing it to friends and coworkers who haven't played much or at all.
ed [email] said at 3:16 PM 02-11-2008: I have no Xbox. I like my DSLite a lot, and as soon as I get a job, I'm'na get a Wii, because I think the kids will love it. I'm just not a long-play gamer I kinda got that out of my system (haha!) back in the early Zelda days.
josh [email] said at 3:20 PM 02-11-2008: i love my ds lite as well. amazing system. phoenix wright is great and trauma center is simply amazing! trauma center is a GREAT example of a game you couldn't really do right on any system but the DS or the Wii... it's just weird that innovative games like this are not being created for the Wii. (I think there is a port of Trauma Center for the Wii, though).
josh [email] said at 3:23 PM 02-11-2008: anyone hasn't played it, trauma center is a game for the DS where you play an ER surgeon, and you use the stylus to operate on your patients... apply salves, remove tumors, stich up wounds, etc. its really clever and fun, though the storyline is a bit too anime cliche-ridden for me. highly recommended!
brandonA [email] said at 12:58 PM 02-12-2008: I just got professor layton on the ds and it's awesome - I recommend it to you as a fan of Miyazaki, as the cutscenes are well done animation reminiscent of him.
It's basically just a bunch of old school puzzles (think the goat, the wolf, the cabbage crossing the river), but it's pretty great.
kiche [email] said at 12:00 AM 02-14-2008: ok, i've played bioshock a little. it seems like a pretty cool game. i haven't gotten up to the big event of which you speak, yet; but it's pretty damn fun killing randroids.
my one problem, though, is that i have a hard time finding my games when i save them. is there any way for me to have the days move forward on my saves?
kiche [email] said at 10:04 AM 02-15-2008: ? do you mean before i even enter the game screen and go to "load saved game"?
because on the list of saved games in the game itself; because the date never changes they rank by time code. so my last saved game winds up somewhere in the list and i always have to go search for it. this happens with every xbox game where i need to save and load.
josh [email] said at 12:10 PM 02-15-2008: i feel like on the main screen there is a option thats like "continue" or "keep playing" and it automatically starts you where you left off. i dont remember ever having any trouble with saves.
