TwiddleGeek

I still find myself fairly well entertained by Wii Sports, though having played for awhile longer now I’m getting a clearer picture of its strengths and weaknesses. And speaking of a clearer picture, the S-Video hookup sure does look sharper, cleaner, and brighter. But back to the game, the greatest strength is obviously just how easy it is to pick up and play, coupled with the new control scheme. On a standard controller, I really wouldn’t care very much about any of these games. On the Wiimote though, the imagination is tricked into feeling like you’re doing something more in-depth than merely pressing A… or in this case, shaking a controller.

I think that’s one area where the Wii is succeeding so far, imagination. Older generation games left a lot of holes for the viewer to fill in, but we did it without even thinking about it. Unfortunately, there’s still a bit of a disconnect between the controller and the screen. It’s frustrating when my punches don’t quite go where I placed them, or how the tennis ball direction is determined by timing, rather than angle or force. For the Wiimote to become more than a novelty, future games need to tighten up the 1:1 ratio between the player and the screen.

The lack of online play in Wii Sports and other launch titles is quite disappointing, but Nintendo still to this day doesn’t truly understand that gamers want it, and they absolutely hate friend codes. I find the main thing keeping me playing right now is trying to reach the Pro level on all 5 sports, after which I’m unlikely to play more than the occasional round during some downtime. Not all of us have local gamer friends.

This game is seriously more fun than it deserves to be. It’s simplistic, it lacks online play, and it’s a pack-in sports title… but it really is great fun. In fact, I’d say it’s currently the best game out for the Wii. (Which is rather sad, honestly.) Had it not come packed in, I likely would have brought it at the full price. But since it did, I can forgive the lack of online play and perhaps hope for such additions in a retail sequel some day.

Of course the control scheme is what really makes things fun, but the game design caters to the control perfectly. The simplistic gameplay is just in-depth enough to make you feel in control, yet on auto-pilot for all the annoying details. Take baseball, where all you worry about is hitting the ball while base running, fielding, and so forth is controlled by the AI. Another good example is tennis, where running the court is done for you and you need merely to swing.

While this sounds hopelessly cradled, it works in practice. Rather than focusing your energy on running around the court with the nunchuck, you can focus on your forehand / backhand swing. And really, this only works if you get up and actually swing. To paraphrase Penny-Arcade: couch players are tools. And truthfully, it does make the arms sore after awhile — but like a good round of DDR, it’s worth it.

For anyone out there curious of our next gen plans, basically we will only be covering the 360 for the time being. While I fully plan to buy both a Wii and a PS3, they will both come in due time. I will most likely buy a Wii first, and likely early next year. I’m guessing March or April when the big name titles like Metroid Prime 3, Smash Bros, and Mario Galaxy start rolling out. Perhaps sooner though if I spot one available and I have the funds.

As for the PS3, likely no sooner than end of ‘07 to mid ‘08. While the price is certainly a big concern, the bigger concern is the sheer lack of anything I want to play right now. I expect the PS3 to take a very slow start, but once it gets up to speed, I can easily see Sony holding on to their position. I still expect the Playstation to continue to be the go to console for great Japanese titles, and I certainly wouldn’t miss out on that.

If I had to call it today, I would say for most of the next year the 360 will lead, followed by the Wii, with the PS3 in the rear from sheer price and lack of available units. Give it toward the end of ‘07 though, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the PS3 push the Wii into 3rd place, and maybe take the 360. From then on I look for it to be PS3 / 360 / Wii, just as in my opinion the order went PS2 / Xbox / Gamecube last time around.

I believe they are all very exciting consoles, and I’ve been extremely happy with my 360 so far. The lineup has been so stellar in it’s first year that I would almost consider it the Dreamcast 2.0. I definitely plan on owning all three next gen titles and writing about them here, as well as all of the previous generation titles. From the NES and SNES to the Genesis, the PSX, N64 and Dreamcast, the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube, the GBA, NDS, and PSP, and even the PC, I play a little of it all. As a gamer, I’m all about the games. While I have my favorites, brand loyalty means nothing to me.

A little tutorial here for any of you who might be looking to play your consoles over your PC monitor, like I do on this site. There are actually several advantages to this, from screencaps and movies to nifty on the fly sharpening filters and other image enhancements. But first, there are some things you’ll need:

Video Capture Card

Some people might have this built right into their video card, but that’s not very common. I’d recommend a PCI (or PCI-E) based capture card. You don’t need to spend a lot of money here, but look for the highest quality picture you can find, capturing at least 720×480 @ 30fps from S-Video. I use the Kword VS-L883D which only costs just over $20. If you have the money to spend on something better, go for it, but remember that here we’re looking to capture composite and S-Video sources, not for a TV Tuner.

Cable & Switch
Since we’re possibly going to be hooking multiple consoles into one capture card, you may need to get yourself a small A/V switch. These should run about $20 or less, don’t pay a ton for it. Just make sure it has S-Video switches, and maybe component video if you can find it, just so you don’t have to buy another later. For the cable, I recommend a Monster all-in-one cable from someone like MadCatz. My PS2/GC/Xbox are all hooked up using the same cable, only my 360 has it’s own. This solves a whole lot of hassle in finding S-Video cables for your various consoles.

With my cable however, I find a little bit of trickery is needed to get them to all play nicely together. I have my Xbox hooked up to it’s own power switch. When using the Gamecube for example, I flip the power switch on the adapter the Xbox is plugged in to, and flip the power switch on the back of the PS2. Otherwise, I don’t get sound. Perhaps not a bug you’ll run into, but keep it in mind none the less. If the signals are fighting each other, simply cut power to that machine. Turning it off with the console power button will not be enough.

Software

The program that’s going to come with whatever card you buy is junk. Maybe you’ll find a use for it, probably not. It especially isn’t going to work for our purposes. What you need is a great little app called DScaler 4, completely free. Why DScaler and not the countless other ways to view video? Because DScaler will deinterlace the video on the fly. This is very important. Without deinterlacing the signal, your video is going to look extremely bad. Do a Google search on interlacing to see why if you wish. DScaler will solve this, and though it’s fairly CPU heavy, it’s worth it.

DScaler also has great filters which can take your picture quality from workable to great. First off, only use S-Video if you have that option available to you. The difference in quality and sharpness really is noticeable. Here are some of my settings:

Pixel Width: 720 or 640. - I like 720.
Aspect ratio: 4:3 fullscreen / 16:9 anamorphic - For games with widescreen setting
Aspect ratio of display: match computer res
Image aspect ratio: 1.33 or square pixels - I like square pixels.
Deinterlace: Greedy 2 frame, TomsMoComp, or MoComp2. - I like MoComp2.

Filters & Misc

Sharpness - In filter options you may want to raise level to 255
Temporal Comb
One or more Noise Reduction methods if you wish
Linear Correction if you wish

Finally, play with Settings > Video Adjustments… and correct to a sharper, richer, and clearer image. Also note the PS2 signal has black bars on the left/right of the picture. You may wish to use Z / Shift+Z to remove these.

Misc Notes & Audio

Now screenshots are as simple as hitting the L key. Videos are a bit more work, but not that bad. There are tutorials elsewhere for capturing video with DScaler, we’re merely just concerned with showing the input. Even though the PS2 and others output at 640×480 as far as I know, I choose 720×480 because I believe the screen shots look stretched otherwise. It really doesn’t make much difference visually while playing. Square pixels or not is also a matter of preference.

You’ll notice we have a max resolution of 480i, standard TV. While this isn’t a problem for PS2 and older consoles, you’re not going to be viewing your 360 or other next gen at 720p or 1080i just yet. Unfortunately HDV capture cards are still, so far as I know, incredibly expensive. Upwards of $1000. So, while not today, perhaps soon. Don’t expect your monitor to rival your 42″ Plasma, and you’ll be fine. With the right tuning and filters, you’ll still get a great image.

For audio, either hook your consoles up to your regular sound system’s inputs, or your PC’s sound card. To use your PC’s sound card, you’ll have to pick up a RCA to mini-jack adapter. It’s a small adapter that costs under a few bucks. You plug the red and white RCA cables into one end, and the mini jack into the line-in of your sound card. While not the best audio solution, I find you can still get surprisingly good stereo sound quality regardless.