Why everyone is failing

Fact Four: Nintendo's Wii won't last long.

Yet again, I bash the Wii for being technologically underpowered. While the system is selling like mad, every third party developer in the world knows it won't last. Because the system is SO underpowered compared to other consoles (and, simultaneously, since the console uses such an arcane control system), the Wii is going to have trouble getting ports from companies as well as upgrading as graphic levels increase.

And sure, the system can live for a long time. Developers may simply choose to make Wii-exclusive games. That's their prerogative. What I'm talking about is when a company like EA decides to make a game like Madden- at some point, they are going to have to either crank down their games significantly for the Wii, or make entirely new versions for the system. Because the system is so crippled so far as long term graphic capability is concerned, I'm afraid that many companies will opt out of making long games for the system.

Ironically, this is generally what happened to the PS2 in it's later years. The system was underpowered, and many companies either scaled down for it or simply didn't develop for it. This is an inevitable fate for the Wii, and it will slightly depress most owners. That time will probably be the time in which the 360 and PS3 come to shine- but probably not before.

Fact Five: Both the Wii and the PS3 aren't really must-buys yet anyway.

Like I said in my ?The PS3- in, out, and $599 later? article, the PS3 isn't worth buying- and it should come as no surprise to you that the Wii isn't either. This may be the number one reason that both systems aren't selling up to what they expected to (both systems aimed for about 4 million). The sheer fact of the matter is that the systems are going to be 100% pure useless until good games come out for them- and since the majority of PS3 games suck and the Wii games are available on other consoles, there isn't much to sell you the system.

And that's my final word on this. That's the key issue here. Don't be worried about sales. Unless you have an infinite amount of cash, there is absolutely no reason why you should purchase ANY of these systems at this point, even the 360 included. My rule of thumb stands- until there are 10 games that you MUST PLAY on any given system, buying the console isn't worth it. Hell, there should be at least 50 games you'd LIKE to play, and then 100 you would ENJOY playing. This doesn't exist for any of those systems, mainly because all don't have that many games out.

So just wait. Sit around, buy some old Gamecube/PS2/XBOX games, and just chill. There are hundreds of games out that you have probably not played, and trust me, at least one will be fun for you. Give Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft some time to regroup, make some decent games, and make some games that last longer than one minute. Sip a nice cold lemonade as they do cartwheels trying to make you buy their system. And then, once they drop the price and you have much more money, buy the system and some games.

But not before.

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