I'm really sick of "artistic" being used as a cover for terrible graphics. No matter what the art direction of the game is, it is held back by the terrible ground/wall textures and various other things. I mean, look at almost any object in the environment. Leaves and trees look like utter trash which would BARELY pass last gen, the blending between dirt roads and grass is absolutely terrible, and there are so many jaggies and sharp angles that you might poke an eye out just for taking a critical look at the game.

I will never accept "art direction" as an excuse for graphics being terrible. Imagine if Skyward Sword had been developed for PC/360/PS3 - it would have the same art direction yet the graphical quality of the entire game would've been elevated to a different level. As it stands, it looks dated - much like everything else the Wii has to offer, and that's a damn shame because it REALLY pulls you out of the immersion of an otherwise well-designed game when you see trees and environments that look like they were rendered with technology which is a decade old.

strong misc presence OP

Personally I think this is a great thing.

Nintendo cannot sit on name recognition alone anymore. They're gonna need to majorly step up in the software department if they want the Wii U to survive, because the rest of the world has gotten over the fad of motion controls. Take a look at the 3DS - Nintendo now KNOWS that it simply cannot sell a console without an awesome game library and expect to succeed. For us gamers, this means that Nintendo will once again have to actually try and deliver REAL GAMES, not shovelware garbage designed for geriatrics and soccer moms (who by and large probably won't know or care about the Wii U's existence).

Guys... I don't know what this means and I don't want to jump to conclusions, but this could be quite a bombshell.

http://whois.domaintools.com/microsoft-sony.com

Let's face it, even with it's year head start, Sony has caught up considerably and Nintendo bent both companies over backwards and spanked them like it was their 80th birthday. Microsoft's exclusivity has pretty much gone down the toilet, and it's been awhile since we've something new and exciting for the system. Yeah, Halo 4 is cool and all, but you can't rely on that forever. I'll admit I'm excited to play it, but I am by FAR the least excited for this Halo game than any of the previous ones.

It just seems like Sony and Nintendo really hit their niches, while Microsoft is kind of stuck inbetween. Sony got the right format down, just not the price. But now with prices declining and a really vast array of exclusive IP's, it seems like the system to own (barring their PSN woes). We all know about the Wii, I don't think there's any need to go too deep into that. Sells like tampons with a half off coupon but after you plug it in you realize what you just bought is a POS.

I wouldn't be so delusional to say Microsoft has no chance this next gen, but the way this one played out, it seems like they have the least potential. What Microsoft really needs is something new (not kinect..ffs) that they can call their own, that will help flagship their console(s). The way I see it, the only way they are going to compete next gen is if they come out with an absolutely incredible console that developers want to jump on, or they finally lock up some exclusivity that gives people a reason to own their system.

If neither of those happen I don't think Microsoft should even bother with the gaming industry.Stick to what they do best. Games for Windows.

Optical_Order

You're absolutely ridiculous. First of all, the PS2 last gen was the Roman Empire of the console wars. It was unbeatable - it had an insurmountable market share and one of the most impressive game libraries of all time. The PS2 was the face of gaming for damn near that entire generation.Keeping that in mind, for the Xbox 360 to beatSony this gen makes it an enormous success. Before their various blunders, Sony and the PS3 was absolutely in a position to dominate this generation and basically run Nintendo/MS out of business. Not only did they fail to do that, the momentum actually turned in favor of the 360. I would argue in many gaming circles, the 360 is more synonymous with gaming than the PS3.

Exclusivity is a stupid argument - the age of exclusives is dying out because development costs are higher than ever and it is simply more profitable to port games across all platforms. Sony really isn't any better off with exclusives than Microsoft is, and expect the trend to continue as we move closer to the next gen (especially with WiiU entering the scene and taking up even more multiplat opportunities). If you were smart, you'd notice that the things which will differentiate the consoles in the future will be their multimedia features, online gaming, and timed exclusivity more than anything.

With the exception of Nintendo, I would argue that none of the major gaming companies have a particularly significant list of exclusive offerings. Microsoft has carved out a tremendous market share given the uphill battle it was looking at six years ago, and I'm fairly certain there is nothing which will stop them from continuing to enjoy success in the home console market next generation.

I didn't look through the whole thread, so forgive me if this has been discussed already, but...

Smash Bros 3DS. Holy @$!#ing hell, that's going to be absolutely amazing.

I've played just about every major MMO to hit the market in the past decade. I'll list why I find them so appealing:

1) There is NOTHING like diving into a freshly released MMO game world. The feeling of a huge new world to explore and an entire adventure ahead of you is literally an addiction. I love knowing that I'm competing against hundreds of thousands of other people to make it to the top level, to be the best, to somehow distinguish myself... It cannot be explained unless you've played an mmo at launch, but goddamn - some of the most memorable gaming experiences of my life happened in newly released MMOs.

2) The social aspect. You meet tons of people who share your hobby and whom you come to know VERY closely. I have a number of friends IRL who I met through MMOs first, and they're some of my absolute best friends. I know people who have met their wives/significant others through MMOs.

3) The competitive aspect. You can make a name for yourself. You can be the very best at something, have better gear than other people, PVP, PVE, you name it. Most older games took competition to an extreme (See Ultima Online) but even nowadays, the spirit of competition is what drives people in MMOs to gear up and keep playing.

4) EntertainmentValue/Dollar:There is no entertainment experience of ANY sort which can give me the same value per dollar as a good MMO. It's absolutely impossible. On top of that, I've traditionally sold MMO accounts after I quit the game, and have made a verysignificant amount doing so over the years (I'm talking in the five figures total).

5) Constant stream of content: Kinda goes with 4, but MMOs are always being updated and kept fresh. Patches can lead to an entirely new game experience for months.

Considering Sony's absolutely massive, seemingly insurmountable (at the time) market share with the PS2, the PS3 sales figures are dissappointing. At the start of this gen, nobody really expected the 360 to beat the PS3, we more expected the 360 to somewhat close the gap that existed between the original xbox and the PS2.

The current sales totals reflect the numerous mistakes by Sony early in the gen (pricing, poor advertisement, difficult hardware, lack of library). It is pretty obvious that the PS3 is nowhere near the market force its predeccesor was. Whether Sony learns from those mistakes with the PS4 has yet to be seen, but I'm confident that they've at least been hugely humbled by this generation as a whole.

The gaming world would be a better place without activision and CoD in it. I seriously hope both fail, though I know realistically they will be around for a while.