I know pretty much nothing, so I have a question for all the experts here.

My kids wanted to try the Toy Story 3 game because of the 'toybox' mode. I don't even know what that is completely, but whatever the marketing/advertising that entered their brains was, it made them think 'toybox' was great. Anyway, they have a Wii, and we rented the game. A lot of things they heard about it aren't on the Wii version. Apparently, the Wii version is stripped down compared to XBox and PS3. Not just graphics, but a lot of actual game features aren't there. Of course, when renting (or spending $50 to buy it), there's no big warning saying, "Hey this sucks".

My question, is it fairly common for games to be drastically different on diffrent consoles?

Absolutely...a lot of times, publishers have different developers work on the different versions of the game for each console...without looking it up, my guess is that the Wii version wasn't created by the same people that made the 360/PS3 version...

(edit: so I looked, and it was actually the same developer for those three versions...boo me)

More and more, publishers are striking deals with the big three for exclusive content for a given console...this can be as little as an in game costume or item, or as big as a map/level or game mode.

Finally, some developers just like to shortchange some consoles...maybe they didn't think the demo that is playing the game on the Wii would care aobut the features that were cut...without knowing more about the features the game is lacking, it's hard to say.

For crosscheck...

A bad example, but yeah pretty much.

Differences between Xbox and PS3 games are pretty minimal, you're not really going to run into major content disparity issues between the two. But Wii games just don't have the same amount of content compared to its counterparts, this is the most apparent in sports games. Games like Zelda and Mario brothers which are specifically designed for the wii offer great depth but those are few and far between. I went through game after game with the wii, and on average 8 out of every 10 games I bought was just absolute crap.

_________________
team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Thanks for the help.

My problem with the Toy Story game is that I have seen entire ads for the game based on the "toy box" mode. The game has the typical solve a mission/level, move to the next, etc. etc., but toy box is marketed as more free-flow like kids playing with their toys. The buildings and people are supposed to be customizable and kids can just "play". Well, the Wii version doesn't have any (or very, very little) of the customization. It still costs $50 though...

I thought, in very general terms, that as far as graphics capabilities go, Xbox was dogshit compared to the PS3 ... obviously I don't want that to be the case (though in my present condition it wouldn't matter either way ... substandard def is substandard), but that's always been my understanding - that kinda-sorta qualifies as content difference, no?

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

PS3 fanboys would love for you to believe that...

Yes, PS3 has a significant advantage when it comes to hardware...that being said, I haven't seen any examples of PS3 games that were so much better looking than 360 games that I would call Xbox graphics "dogshit"...Uncharted 2 is likely the bar I would point to for that system, and while it's better than any 360 game, it's not even close to the difference you get when jumping from Wii to 360/PS3...

I'd argue that MG4 would be the standard... but there's not that much of a difference between the systems, as long as it's in HD I'm not that picky...

_________________
team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Yeah, that would have been my other choice...I dunno...I probably unfairly rank Uncharted 2 higher simply because of the more colorful setting...a lot of MGS4 took place in really dull locations...it was a realistic dullness, but dull nonetheless...

I'm just glad you didn't come back with Killzone 2

You're right I meant killzone 3

Never played inchartered or it's sequel, would you recomend it?

_________________
team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

With some ingenuity, that might be an interesting game for dorks like me to run their own tanker or other large ocean-faring vessel, perhaps "Tanker Tycoon" or something like that.

(again)

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

incharted...

The I and the U keys are dangerously close together, especially when drinking, can't really explain the "ered" part at the end...

_________________
team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

keyboard...

...yes, play Uncharted 2...I think anyone with a PS3 should...

...Killzone 3...lololololololol