Comments on: Lack of Definition, HD that is

By: Jordan M

Jordan M — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 02:02:33 +0000

I have an HDTV, and I love playing HD games on my xbox 360.. As one other person also mentioned, the xbox 360 pushed me to buy an HDTV whereas i hadnt considered the option before.

However i will also be buying a wii. i appreciate the fact that they dont support HD gaming, because it means lower development costs(for them) and lower retail costs(for us). more developers will be jumping on the wii wagon for this reason. which also means more games, coming out faster than on other systems. nintendos strategy is just to undercut the market, theyve set themselves up to be everybodies 2nd console. (most gamers will probably choose between 360 or ps3 as a primary since they cost so much and can basically do the same things, with the wii as their secondary)

i believe nintendo has made a wonderful choice and for this reason has the potential to win in sales. you want hd gaming get a ps3 or 360, and when you want a new way to play your games, or simply a different selection of games(since of course youre already broke from buying your primary console) then you get a wii. also… 99% parents dont buy even spoiled children HDTV's or $600 game consoles(factor in cost of games and accessories while youre at it) and it makes sense to see the Wii flying off shelves this christmas when kids want a new system and parents are at target looking at the cost of each of the 3.

By: Richard Lawler

Richard Lawler — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:54:35 +0000

I've been an HDTV user for about 10 years now. I'm a bit indifferent about broadcast and cable/sat HD. Sure I'd love to see Battlestar Galactica in HD, but even with thousands or dollars of equipment I can't get it. More often than not it's just not worth the effort to catch something in HD. Even with two HDTVs in my home I don't see it as worth my time getting an HD TiVo.

I agree with the poster above who said flat TVs are driving HD. I'd say there are variety of other things that are driving HD too. DVD viewing is a big one. And I think high def games will be another. I'm not so sure HD discs will be another, but they might be. (I'm not so sure people care if "RV" and "Talledega Nights" are in HD or SD.) As someone else noted above, I've noticed the younger folks are being trained to become increasingly discriminating about graphics quality.

My guess is that there are ways to develop good looking HD games without bankrupting game development. A properly presented DVD at SD resolution can look superb on an HDTV even without HD resolution. The key is proplerly presented. I suspect good looking graphics rendered at mid-range or SD resolution with careful filtering and processing are good enough for most gaming. But then you want to leverage the higher resolution for control, HUD infomation, and text. Not every title needs to be handled like Gran Turismo HD.

I suspect the Wii won't fail because it lacks HD gaming (at least not near term), but it might falter because its on-line console experience is only in SD. I can't imagine browsing the web in SD will be very compelling. (Try it out. Set your computer monitor to 640x480. Wii will be like that or worse because it will be interlaced.)

By: Nerd Lifestyle

Nerd Lifestyle — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 16:59:30 +0000

There is compelling evidence that the 360 actually pushed a lot of people to HD. That was certainly the case for me, where I had not seriously considered an HDTV until I bought my 360.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 16:29:22 +0000

As pointed out above, these consoles have a life-cycle of several years, and more and more people are getting HDTV sets. HD is the future and it is just a matter of time before it is wildly popular.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:14:15 +0000

One area HD has made a big difference in my gaming group (made up of 25-40yr old guys) is playing together: Halo 2 split in to 4 tiny squares on an SD projector is much harder to play than at HD resolution.

I find it's hard to go back to SD only games, too. I had planned on a Wii, largely for the nostalgia gaming backlog of games; I don't expect them to be HD, but I'm disappointed the Wii won't have any HD support.

By: revan

revan — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:06:05 +0000

Girl on photo is the best :) Buy i dont think that in real graph it will be so nice

By: Patrick Fitzgerald

Patrick Fitzgerald — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:03:22 +0000

For the time being I can take or leave the HDTV support - more important to me is a robust on-line service with more two-player cooperative games. Xbox360 seems to have nailed the online service, it remains to see if PS3 and Wii can successfully copy them. If upcoming games such as "Gears of War" can successfully implement online cooperative play, I'll be buying and twisting arms for my friends to buy as well.

By: siva

siva — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 14:59:52 +0000

$2000. What year are you living in? I got my 30" HDTV for $545 last year. The same TV is about $470 earlier this year. These are Sanyo CRT HDTV by the way. LCD prices are coming down so much that you can get a 32" HDTV LCD for $699.

For $2000 you can get a 56" Samsung 1080P DLP HDTV with built-in tuner (from amazon).

By: Justin Bailey

Justin Bailey — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:37:37 +0000

HD is impressive but it is not at all neccessary to enjoy video games. Sure having the latest 32" flat screen HDMI equipped television will impress friends on game day, but if you just want to enjoy a game with some friends there's no real need for that sort of thing. Sony and Microsoft might learn a valuable lesson from Nintendo in the next few years. That is, Sony might learn from the past in regards to the PSP vs DS.

By: Erik Schwartz

Erik Schwartz — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:27:45 +0000

The development cycles are so long on these consoles that they really HAVE to be looking several years down the road.

They're building a platform now that they're stuck with for the next 5 years.

By: eddie

eddie — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:06:54 +0000

Buy a new 24" iMac Widescreen. It rocks the house big time!

By: Robert Scoble

Robert Scoble — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:07:30 +0000

I agree. Once you have HDTV you'll never go back. Oh, and my son is 12 and he's a hard-core gamer. He sure enjoys HDTV games.

Would I get a Nintendo? After I have an Xbox 360? Why? I can't even play all the games I have for the Xbox and there's new ones coming out every day.

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 08:06:59 +0000

What is driving HD is thin televisions. HD piggybacks on form factor, but that doesn't mean it's not important once it gets there. Once you go HD, you don't go back and betting against technology like that has never been a winning bargain.