wii:
when the controller was revealed at last year's tgs i realised nintendo had completed the final step in returning to the company i loved!
over the years i've discovered, through huge amounts of trial and error, playing literally thousands of games since the late 70s, i love nintendo developed games more than any other. it's a pretty big blanket statement when you consider the amount of internal teams the company has, but imo they have a commonality in the kind of games they make, which is difficult to define but saying it's fun, simple gameplay with depth, is a reasonable, concise description.
every great nintendo game has this ethos from fire emblem to brain training and creates a definite uniqueness in what a nintendo game is. for example, thinking fire emblem is purely hardcore isn't entirely correct imo. it's the most approachable srpg i've ever played (along with advance wars) and dispenses with the tedium found in other examples of the genre using beautifully streamlined play mechanics and quickly gets down to why srpgs are so great, i.e. the strategical chess-like battles, which intelligent systems does brilliantly. brain training is also a nintendo game through and through for similar reasons. it rewards the player for achieving satisfying goals using a simple intuitive control method and has enough depth to keep people playing for a long time. ead, intelligent systems, spd1, spd2, game freak, task force development, hal and retro studios are all amazing teams.
during the gc and this generation as a whole, i lost much of the interest i had in videogames. nintendo wasn't making the quality i'd come to expect and released many mediocre or even bad games like luigi's mansion, waverace bs, mario sunshine and wind waker. even the original pikmin, a much anticipated new nintendo franchise, was somewhat disappointing. however, reading between the lines there was obviously a huge amount of upheaval going on behind the scenes as nintendo expanded and restructured their internal teams, and also nurtured upcoming producers and directors. during the time of four swords adventures on gamecube, which was a great game, i noticed things began to fall into place as the quality of nintendo's releases improved. the ds was proof nintendo had made it back to their former glory with amazing games like nintendogs, advance wars ds, mario kart ds, animal crossing, brain training, big brain academy, nsmb, etc. i love these games and they represent a renewed interest for me in videogames, and after reading the impressions about wii and seeing the videos i'm pretty sure i will love the console.
can't wait, wii is my most anticipated console ever!
ps3:
i enjoyed the ps1, it had many great games, but i've disliked the ps2. it's not like i haven't tried, or that i expected to dislike it, i didn't, i was genuinely excited for the console when i bought it. however, i've played just about every game hyped for the system but they do nothing for me.
i've thought about why ps2 has disappointed me so much, i think it's because many games feel like i've played them before and now i find them uninteresting, and they do nothing new which i find worthwhile. i'm also bored by the overly immersive cinematic, narrative, often realistic, gaming experience, which is why i have no interest in ps3. it looks to refine this experience further, from the announced titles and sony's rhetoric. ps3 represents a version of videogaming i dislike.
xbox 360:
not a fan of the xbox and i've still seen nothing on 360 which interests me.
