*Originally published on 9/23/09
Gamers now have a choice when it comes to systems. The market has found that perfect balance between keeping it competitive without flooding the market. If you want to get into console gaming, you can choose between the Xbox 360, the Sony PS3, or the Nintendo Wii. Each one has their pros and cons.
The Wii is the little console that could. I mean little quite literally, it is half the size of the Xbox. At first glance, you'd be surprised that this is even a console, but it is. It's compact size makes it easy to bring it along when traveling and it's not so bulky as to draw attention to itself.
The games are also notable for the motion sensing controls. This gets the gamer more involved in the game their playing. Wii Boxing has you actually punching in order to get your player to punch. Not all games utilize this, Smash Bros. is fairly straight forward in that you use only the buttons.
While we have a Wii, we haven't used it all that much. We play some Smash Bros. and my roommate downloaded some of the SNES Zelda games, but aside from that, the Wii has essentially been eye candy. I do have to admit, all three consoles sitting next to each other sure does look pretty. One of these days, I'll relocate the Wii to my room and put it to good use, in the meantime, it's purely decorative in nature.
One of the cool things is that you can download old console games, ones that were released on the SNES, Genesis or Atari. If you're big into retro-gaming, this is a good console to pick up as it's multiple consoles in one.
To my knowledge, this system doesn't play DVDs which is surprising to be honest.
The PS3 is the most recent release. Surprisingly, this console hasn't had much in the way of success. On paper, it's the best one. It has the ability to play games, and movies, not just DVDs but Blu-rays as well. Even now, people say that a PS3 is the best Blu-ray player on the market. A lot of people complained about the high price. For awhile it was rather pricey, with the release of the PS3 slim, hopefully that draws more people in.
When my roommate decided to go out and pick one up, that was the argument he used to say it was worth the cost. He could play video games and watch movies. Since then we've bought three games and traded two of those in. Our PS3 collection consists of Metal Gear Solid 4. Oddly enough, when it was announced that the PS3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum allowed you to play as the Joker, he lamented the fact. We own the system and it's the same price, but he found it to be some great offense.
I think the PS3 suffers from the fact that a vast majority of the games are ones that are also available on the Xbox. As such, people would rather pick up the Xbox version. They tried to mimic Xbox's achievement system with trophies, but the idea hasn't caught on yet.
Even stranger is the fact that the Xbox, more often than not, has better graphics. The difference isn't immense, but still noticeable. With the high def capabilities the PS3 has (it's games do come on Blu-ray as opposed to DVD's) you'd think the graphics on the PS3 would blow Xbox out of the water. So far, that has not been the case.
Finally we come to the titan that is the Xbox 360. In a lot of ways, this has set the bar for future consoles to come. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft has in mind as far as topping this. Including a Blu-ray player seems unlikely so I'm not really sure what they could add.
The one peril about the Xbox is the "red ring of death". I myself have been lucky to avoid this, but many have felt its wrath and it's a danger that lurks in the shadows of every gamer's nightmare.
Each of these consoles offer a different experience and each one has it's defenders as well as it's detractors. In my opinion, the Xbox reigns supreme, however do keep in mind that I haven't played a whole lot on the other two, though what I have seen has been quite good.
No comments:
Post a Comment