Micheal Pachter says game prices are too low, we're getting a gift at 60 bucks

[Saint of Killers]

I don't necessarily agree with this. It is true that CD/DVDs are cheaper to make than cartridges, but it does not determine the MSRP because the first PS1 games were $59.99 (I paid that amt for Twisted Metal and Warhawk). And look at GBA/DS cartridges, they are much bigger than the SNES/Genesis games but the price has not gone beyond the $40 price point (whereas, some PSP games are $50). The main reason that price has not gone up is that the market has grown tremendously and publishers are making more money by selling more copies of games (so they don't need to raise the price to cover cost).

GBA and DS carts are expensive to produce but the games are cheap to develop.

I don't think the graphical difference between Wii and 360/PS3 will ever be greater than it is right now

That's because you're a crazy fanboy. Developers already know how to get the most out of the Wii, because it is based on the GC architecture. 360/PS3 is a whole new ballgame.

It's true. Early last year there was a survey done that had some crazy statistic that 60% (I think it was closer to 70%, it was awhile ago I'm not too sure) of people that bought an HD set thought they were getting an HD picture just by screwing the cable feed into the tv. They thought that smeared SD picture on their new $3000 TV was HD.

This man speaks the truth. I work for a company that restores electronics that have been in fires and floods, or damaged by electrical surges and I'd say that around 1 in 5 homes I've been in with an HD set actually have an HD cable/satellite receiver and DVD player that are hooked up with HDMI or component cables. Your average consumer has no idea what the fuck they're doing with A/V equipment.

Then NFL 2K5 came out at $20 and sales went up enough to make EA consider them a serious threat to the almighty Madden.

Madden 2005 was the best selling Madden game ever up to that point. They didn't give a fuck about 2k. The NFL came to EA, told them they were going with a single publisher and asked if they wanted the license. EA isn't retarded so of course they signed the deal.

[SpoDaddy]

Developers already know how to get the most out of the Wii, because it is based on the GC architecture.

That's like saying developers already knew how to get the most out of the Xbox at launch since it was based on PC hardware. It's silly, and if it were true we'd be seeing better looking Wii games.

[Saint of Killers]

It is true. The Wii is a souped up Gamecube. Nothing has really changed.

This is an exact Miyamoto quote:

"The hardware is basically a GC. We've upgraded our development tools to new versions but, you can still use GC programs as they are"

So suck it.

[SpoDaddy]

It is true. The Wii is a souped up Gamecube. Nothing has really changed.

This is an exact Miyamoto quote:

"The hardware is basically a GC. We've upgraded our development tools to new versions but, you can still use GC programs as they are"

So suck it.

I never denied that the Wii architecture was similar to the GC, I pointed out the silliness in the statement "hardware architecture that isn't brand new = maxed out potential". So you suck it long and hard.

[Saint of Killers]

You can still use GC development tools. That pretty much says it all. Wii games ain't gonna look much prettier 5 years from now.

[SpoDaddy]

You can still use GC development tools. That pretty much says it all.

Xbox developers could use PC dev tools from the early 90's, that doesn't mean Xbox peaked before it launched. GC dev tools being compatible with the Wii just means they share architecture.

Wii games ain't gonna look much prettier 5 years from now.

Check out games coming out later this year like Mario Galaxy and Prime 3 if you want to see prettier Wii graphics, or hell check out Sonic in a few weeks.

[Saint of Killers]

Xbox developers could use PC dev tools from the early 90's

Unless you can produce some sort of proof of this, I'm going to have to assume you're just making shit up again like you did about Ubisoft creating a new engine for Red Steel.

Check out games coming out later this year like Mario Galaxy and Prime 3 if you want to see prettier Wii graphics, or hell check out Sonic in a few weeks.

None of those games look much better than what I've seen on GC already.

[Bacon McShig]

Madden 2005 was the best selling Madden game ever up to that point. They didn't give a fuck about 2k.

It was also the one quickest to drop in price up to that point.

[SpoDaddy]

Unless you can produce some sort of proof of this, I'm going to have to assume you're just making shit up again like you did about Ubisoft creating a new engine for Red Steel.

Most of us didn't know Ubisoft lisensed the Unreal engine, naturally one would assume they developed their own as a result. As for the Xbox dev tools thing, the Xbox was literally PC hardware (P3 Celeron I believe). Look it up.

None of those games look much better than what I've seen on GC already.

[Shin Johnpv]

You can still use GC development tools. That pretty much says it all. Wii games ain't gonna look much prettier 5 years from now.

no see Nintendo now has actual Wii developer kits out and everyone has switched to those. The GC dev kits were much like the Alpha kits people had with the 360, it was something developers could start on before they could get final hardware to them. It's already been proven on sites like beyond3d that the chips in the Wii are quite different than the GC chips. They're much bigger than if the Wii chips were simply speed up and die shrunk Gecko and Flipper chips. While yes the Wii's architecture is based on the same GC TEV engine it doesn't mean developers know everything there is to know about the Wii as far as development. Graphics will get better on the Wii just like every single consoles before it. Every version of DirectX is based on the same ground work, that doesn't change the fact that people still need to learn how to program for each new version to get the most out of it. As far as the Xbox goes, yeah it pretty much used off the shelf PC hardware that was well known how to develop for, it uses an Intel Celeron 733mhz CPU, and the GPU is basically between a Geforce 3 and a Geforce 4. These aren't new proprietary pieces of technology, people knew these chips and knew how to use them. Add to that the fact that the Xbox's API was built around DirectX another API that has been around for ever.

I mean to sit here and think that the Wii isn't going to see improvements in it's graphics in 5 years based on Alpha dev kit hardware is asinine. There has never been a console that hasn't seen it's graphics improve from the beginning of it's life span till it's end, this isn't going to change with the Wii. Since the Wii is based on GC architecture and programing language it allows developers to take what they know of the GC and build upon it, not just stop there. Besides the fact that the two chips are DIFFERENT chips you also have the fact that the Wii has more memory and a much higher bandwidth than the GC had.