A handful of general thoughts coming out of the Easter weekend. For starters, I hope you had an excellent weekend, whether you celebrated the holiday or not. My kids? Properly showered with sugar after participating in a plastic egg hunt.
Next up - I've seen a couple of sites now stating that the Wii U will release at a $300 price point. Opinions on that price point have been all over the map, with references to the Wii and 3DS being at $250 initially.
Is the price point too high? A good deal? Right about where you expected it? For myself it's the last - it's right about what I would have expected. I had been figuring the $300-350 range and this would come in near the bottom of that. I also don't think the hardware needs to be 'better' than the current PS3 and 360, but the software really has to back it up. What I can see happening is what occurred with the Wii - strong initial sales for a couple of years, but as it gets outperformed by the PlayStation and Xbox, the Wii U may struggle to keep up.
The weekend was good but busy for me, though I did get some more Kid Icarus: Uprising in while I was at my in-laws. Initial impressions? The control scheme leaves me wanting a bit, and the voice acting and the way it is all carried out treads a fine line between corny and humorous. Still, there are elements to the game like weapon fusion and upgrades that appeal to the grinder in me, and the action is entertaining. The 3D visuals also look excellent so far. I'm only about 1/4 of the way through it, my son about 1/2 so I'll have a full review somewhat soon hopefully as the only 4 titles I'm poking at right now are this, Final Fantasy XIII-2 (but only sparingly in the living room, which I don't play in as much), Heavy Rain (which is nearly done) and Elemental Monsters, which is a CCG I got free (I think it's only 99 cents normally) that is providing me with some surprisingly solid filler.
So, I'm curious about your thoughts on the Wii U price point rumor, what you've been playing - that sort of thing. Lastly, I've been listening to random songs in my music collection and stumbled onto this one from Neverwinter Nights called Confrontation With the Underdark Army that has hit a particularly nice set of notes for me. Makes me think of grand battles and seems like it would fit in well with an RPG Maker project at some point.
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I really hope that Nintendo tries to stick with a $250-$300 price point. I will still be a buyer at a higher price, but I may have to wait to wait a little bit before I purchase.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that I feel the same way at this point. If it trends up north of $300, I will likely hold off a bit longer. I'm also curious what the other systems have planned. It should be an interesting year as people try to decide who brings the best features to the table.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely buying a WiiU as I'm a pretty much a Nintendo man but I always wait for a good software/hardware package after release so could end up paying less anyway.
ReplyDeleteWe're probably reading the same articles. I had assumed $300-350 and would certainly take $250 just like the Wii. From what I read the manufacturing cost is $180 and with parts like NFC predicted to drop in cost soon that only adds to their profit. (and/or flexibility with sales/incentive)
ReplyDeleteI probably won't jump and buy one at first, but am certainly still interested. Plus, once I get my Wii hooked up again I need to get some use out of it...
Hearing about the economical gpu/cpu also makes sense. I never thought they would be looking to blow the ps3/xbox out of the water on pure specs/horsepower. It's all about not falling painfully behind with power, online features, dlc and other offerings. Plus, how much further can we go with consoles before price becomes prohibitive?
I'm also a bit tired of seeing articles that are all over the map regarding the U's power as compared to ps3/xbox. Some say it exceeds, some say it competes and then the rest have fun bashing it...
As for what I'm playing it's not been too much. More Super Mario 3D Land during flights, some Link's Awakening along with Mutant Mudds. I'm really eyeing Kid Icarus with the $29 best buy thing, but can't pull the trigger yet. The controls have me concerned and I'm not sure I really need to buy anything right now. Lots of unfinished games like usual. :)
Another I've been thinking about is the Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for DS.
Knowing what Nintendo did with the Wii, and 3DS...I wouldn't be surprised at a $300 price point. I won't be happy about it, especially considering no DVD/Blu-ray player (unless they have changed this), and Nintendo doesn't exactly have a shining track record in recent years of helping third parties on their systems.
ReplyDeleteThey are really going to have to sell this thing at E3, because if the console is only barely above the PS3 and 360 as for graphics...then they're saying, "Buy our console with barely updated (or not at all) graphics for $300, with a very expensive controller...and no budget line of HD games."
Right now you can get a PS3 (Blu-ray), HD output, and a nice budget line of games.
Nintendo has only just now started their budget line of games in the last year, and there's only a handful of games on it.
E3, make or break...I just hope the press doesn't go stupid like they did with the 3DS, and Nintendo takes that as, "We can DOUBLE the price of this thing initially!", only then to have Nintendo pull a 3DS or GameCube and drop the console's price within a few months of its release.
BTW, HAPPY Easter!
@ DSTE - I wouldn't be surprised if it came in a bit under $300 still either
ReplyDelete@ Robert - good play list. I'm enjoying Icarus quite a bit. The controls are not my favorite, but they're not bad either. I haven't experienced any of the wrist soreness others have, but I do limit myself to about 20 minute bursts so that could be a factor. My issue with the controls is that they are a bit less accurate that I would like using that swiping motion on the ground to turn.
I never did play Spirit Tracks, but my son and daughter loved it. And I agree on your comment about how i twould be nice to actually know how the specs will stack up - information has been mostly speculative it seems.
@coffee - Good to see you, bud! Nope, no dvd/bluray that I'm aware of to date either. I find myself wondering if they will jump on the 3d bandwagon or not. My guess is 'no', but I haven't heard one way or the other - but I agree that the PS3 seems a better buy for the same price if Wii U's hardware doesn't perform better than reported. There was a heavy emphasis on Wii U and 3DS last E3, so I suspect you're right nad we'll see even more right now too.
Happy Easter as well! thanks for the comments!
@Coffee: Those are some good points on the PS3. The U will be a leap as compared to the Wii, but that probably won't mean too much for multi-console people. The ps3 pricing on amazon is looking pretty good especially with the 320gb for $274. Considering the large library it's pretty attractive unless you really want those 1st party Nintendo titles.
ReplyDeleteAs for DVD/blu-ray in one respect it is a bit of a shame that they are going with a proprietary format. Though on the other hand you can get standalone players on the cheap and you aren't putting the wear-n-tear on your expensive game console. There's also the super-nerdy analysis of power consumption and the console's net cost over time. Sure, I wouldn't put too much of that into my purchasing decision. It's just interesting to look at and I suspect we're wasting tons of money and energy via game consoles.
Either way the PS3 is still in the back of my mind as a 'maybe' one day.
@Chalgyr:
It seems the more I play Super Mario 3D Land the better it gets. I played it a good bit on launch through December, but haven't touched it much this year up until late March. Also good to hear about Kid Icarus and the controls. I'm passing for now, but it's still on my radar.
@Robert - you know you wanna buy that ps3... *I'm a bad influence* hehe
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