Wasn't it cool when games had a ton of ports/variations?

[Zing]

Imagine how SPECIAL every game would be if you could only play it in one place or on one console.

This is one reason why I stick to the Wii only.

[Damm64]

Imagine how SPECIAL every game would be if you could only play it in one place or on one console.

This is one reason why I stick to the Wii only.

What about the console exclusives, God of Ward on PS3, HALO on XBOX, Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Kirby on Nintendo. I don't know many exclusives on 360 and PS3

[swiftzx]

Imagine how SPECIAL every game would be if you could only play it in one place or on one console.

This is one reason why I stick to the Wii only.

What about the console exclusives, God of Ward on PS3, HALO on XBOX, Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Kirby on Nintendo. I don't know many exclusives on 360 and PS3

Let's just say the Wii has the best exclusives

[noiseredux]

I don't know many exclusives on 360 and PS3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:P ... only_games

[swiftzx]

I don't know many exclusives on 360 and PS3

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category ... only_games

[BurningDoom]

I'm with a lot of other people here: There are still a lot of ports of games out there today. The difference is that there's not as many different consoles as there used to be. But I've seen plenty of games that are released on XBox 360, PS3, & PC. And sometimes you can add PS2 & Wii to that list even. My brother just got WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 on PS2 not too long ago, I didn't even know PS2 games were still being released that late!

[Xeogred]

I think it was cool up until the PS2 era or so on, because before then it usually meant they were just completely different games retooled for whatever system, or there's the cases with some Genesis games being on a CD based platform, maybe the Sega CD or Saturn, with CD quality music and some other upgraded features making it a very different experience (Ecco the Dolphin and Sonic 3D Blast are good examples here). And the ports of Genesis vs SNES games were often really different, the first Earthworm Jim as a good example.

It's not really that special anymore.

[BoringSupreez]

I prefer the way it is now. All too often in previous generations, rather than the games being adapted to their specific capabilities, the game would be designed for the least powerful system and ported up.

[Hatta]

I prefer the way it is now. All too often in previous generations, rather than the games being adapted to their specific capabilities, the game would be designed for the least powerful system and ported up.

Back in the day, games were designed for the arcade which outclassed everything at home. Home ports would be judged largely on how close they were able to get to the arcade, and different platforms made different tradeoffs to get a port. Some ports would drop a level, some ports would drop music or cutscenes, etc.

What we see today is a lot more like what you said. The game is produced for the lowest common denominator platform, and if your platform is more capable, well then maybe you get higher res textures but that's it.

[The Last Horseman]

I prefer the way it is now. All too often in previous generations, rather than the games being adapted to their specific capabilities, the game would be designed for the least powerful system and ported up.

Back in the day, games were designed for the arcade which outclassed everything at home. Home ports would be judged largely on how close they were able to get to the arcade, and different platforms made different tradeoffs to get a port. Some ports would drop a level, some ports would drop music or cutscenes, etc.

What we see today is a lot more like what you said. The game is produced for the lowest common denominator platform, and if your platform is more capable, well then maybe you get higher res textures but that's it.

But nowadays, consoles are much closer in power. A 360, PC, and PS3 aren't that far apart. (PC is more powerful, but it usually goes backwards) Usually the lead platform gets the best version, but on some occasions the opposite becomes true. The differences are minor, except in some extreme cases. (See: Bayonetta)