9/29/2010

Is $300 too much for a portable system?



Nintendo has finally announced the first details about the 3DS, namely that'll hit Japan in February and should be out in the US & UK in March. Boo! I think everybody was banking on a late holiday release. But also of note is the pricing. No while no official price has been announced for other territories, in Japan it's going to be $300, and prices between territories don't usually vary much. Seems kind of pricey when I can get a PS3 or 360 for the same amount. Sure, it's portable 3D gaming, but arguably one of the biggest appeals of Nintendo's long line of portables is that they've never been horribly expensive. That goes for the games too. If we start seeing 3DS games in the $40 and up range it may make many budget-minded gamers (and parents) think twice about shelling out the cash. I do like that it will have a virtual console feature, though you should be able to transfer VC games you alread have on the Wii frankly, as you can do that with the PS3 & PSP.

Bottom line, at that price tag they will need one hell of a killer lineup, but it looks like Nintendo has that covered...



Admittedly if all that stuff is out launch day, I maybe scheming and saving to get one right away myself. But odds are I will hold off til the launch hype dies down if not a price cut, I sure as hell wasn't an early DS adopter and honestly it's something I've never played a ton of, portable gaming for the most part just doesn't have the same appeal to me as console gaming. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'll get one, just would take a hell of a lot for me to get it launch day,


I managed to watch the latest DCAU movie last night, and man am I glad I rented it instead of buying like I've been doing lately. I dunno whether he just doesn't care anymore of if that magic almost Pixar-like touch is gone, but even though Bruce Timm has a hand in nearly every film, they've been very hit or miss since the end of Justice League: Unlimited. This was a huge miss. I mean, it's awesome to have Kevin Conroy & Tim Daly back again as Batman & Superman, it always seems wrong when they get someone else. But the dialogue is pretty laughable and the animation just plain sucks. Batman & Superman actually look disturbingly feminine. Darkseid has BOOBS! It's just pretty much a disaster. This might actually be the worst DCAU film I've seen, and I think I've seen all of them (though sadly it's still better than a lot of the Marvel animated films). Hopefully, All-Star Superman will make up for it, though looking at the trailer, I'm not too hopeful...



And Square's second go at online officially commences tomorrow with the release of FFXIV for the PC along with its extremely controversial "fatigue" system, where it actually essentially penalizes someone who plays one class to long. Now with the ability to basically switch classes on the fly, this isn't quite the blasphemy some are making it out to be, but it still seems a little ridiculous that Square is almost forcing everyone who plays for long periods of time to have essentially a more jack-of-all trades character then a highly developed specialist. So what if more casual players fall behind? And I say this as someone who works around 45 hours a week and has a significant other. My gaming time is fairly limited, and I don't see the fatigue system as a good thing. Oh well, with any luck it might even be completely gone by the time the PS3 version finally hits (which is supposedly March).

That's pretty much it for today, but I do have a plan for at least one more post Friday or Saturday, so keepan eye out for that. Til then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: True Grit

No comments: