Is it just me or will sales drop in the US due to the vaguely embarassing name? There are a slew of dirty jokes about it going around.

It's amazing how a persons subconscious can affect their attitude towards something. I would think that there is a good possibility that the name may have affected peoples judgement.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I have heard it is a pretty sweet console and offers the most fun for the buck out of the other 2 top 3 gaming consoles.

Lots of people are buying them. The Wii answers the call for a cheaper system for casual players, since the other companies are at each other's throats with expensive machines with supercomputer hardware inside.

Personally, I wouldn't consider buying any console other than an Xbox 360, if I had to pick one.

I will probably eventually replace my PS2 slim, but not any time in the near future.

http://www.wii.com has a whole bunch of videos, I think I might buy one...lol

Got to play with the Wii for the first time last weekend. Its a fun device but I prefer the X360. Better graphics and multplayer options.

John Romero (guy who created the hit DOOM) said something interesting yesterday. He thought the future would spell the end of Xbox/PS3/Wii etc and the future would belong to micro-pcs that could plug in to the TV and offer wireless.

So the best gaming platform still remains the PC.

mmarsh can you answer this question. How come when I stick a game into a console it will just play but when I stick it into my PC I have to install it. I dont get why they dont work the same way.

Originally Posted by Rabs

mmarsh can you answer this question. How come when I stick a game into a console it will just play but when I stick it into my PC I have to install it. I don't get why they don't work the same way.

Because PC's are not for amateurs, you are in the big leagues now and the games are hands down better graphically and portrayed physics. You may say no no consoles are better graphics, I say you need a better computer...

Only recently have the current generation consoles come up to par with computer graphics, problem being the next gen computer graphic cards and chip sets coming out are well blowing those graphics away...

You install your game so you have less load times and the fact that everyones computer is different so they all need different drivers and configs to make things work....

Rabs

There are a couple of reasons why a HD is superior to a DVD:

Speed.

CD\DVD have a much slower transfer speed. Your typical 16x drive transfers data at 21 mbs/sec. A typical SATA2 Hard Drive is at 300 mbs/sec! Thats just typical, there is of course much faster in the business world.


Space

When you install a game on PC, the installer unpacks compressed files unto the HD. This is a enormous advantage because programmers can fit much more data that is compressed on a DVD than uncompressed DVD.

On the other hand, a console, because it needs to read the game directly off the DVD it cannot use compressed game files. The catch about compressed files is that they cannot be read directed, they always must be unpacked first. One of the biggest differences between this generation and the previous generation of game consoles is that the new ones do in fact use the HD for installations (but only partially), but I think this trend will continue. MS has already said it has, I suspect Sony and maybe Nintendo to do the same in the future. Sont had already mentioned thats the PSP2 might be HD only, (no mini disc).

Therefore, console DVD's are much more limited in space. The biggest problem console developers face is making sure the game fits on the game DVD. This is why console games are inferior to their PC brethren. PC developers have no such restriction.

Donkey

Its the old Cat and Mouse game between Console and PC, but ultimately PC's win. The reason is this: At best, a console can only match what CURRENT PC graphics card can do, not surpass. A year from now I will replace my current card with a brand new one, but a console owner will still be stuck with the same chip that was sold with the machine.

When we say "graphics are better", we are not comparing the actual art of the game. Art is art. You can easily put excellent pc-level art on a console. But you need the 3D engine that can actually run the art at a acceptable speed (aka Frames or FPS). Thats where PC pulls ahead, its hardware at which the speed they RUN the art.

There is also the fact that consoles are limited in resolution by the TV, this cripples them as well.