Quick Take on the Console War

I could talk forever about video games but there have been some trends that have been going on lately that bug me...  First and foremost would have to be this whole fanboyism thing.  I hatefanboys... A LOT!  They claim that what they like is better than everything else no matter what.  Know who else was a fanboy?  Adolf Hitler!  Think he was right about everything he said?  Definitely NOT!  He thought that blonde hair and blue eyes = supremacy just like video game fanboys think that the xbox 360 or whatever their choice of fanboyism is, is the best.  Well, just like good 'ole Adolf, YOU'RE WRONG!  All of the consoles that are out right now have their pros and cons.  Your Xbox 360 will probably get the "red ring of death" at least once in its lifetime and you will have to buy another if you are out of the warranty life.  Your Playstation 3 will sign you out of thePlaystation Network at least once when you don't want it to, and for no apparent reason at all.  And finally, you will see just how laggyonline play can get when you try to play a Wii game online.  These do not mean that one console is better than the other.  It just means none of them are perfect.  

Let me break down the 3 consoles here for you.  Lets start with the cheapest.  The Nintendo Wii; and you might be thinking, "hey, theWii is $249 and the Xbox 360 arcade is $199.  What gives?"  Well, the fact that the memory included with the Xbox 360 arcade will only allow you to be able to save maybe 1 or 2 games before you have to buy an outrageously priced $100 hard drive is the reason.  I'm just being realistic.  Anyway, back to the Wii; it is by far the most popular console of the 3 and is still difficult to find in stores despite having been released 2 years ago.  I got mine on the release date.  The Wii has no hard drive, but has 512MB of flash memory.  This is more than enough to accommodate for the minuscule save files that the Wii produces.  The problem arises when you start downloading games from the Virtual Console store.  The only saving grace is that you can put the save files on an SD card and delete the games.  Then if you want to play them again you just download them again for free from the Virtual Console store.  The Wii also has built in Wi-Fi.  It is very easy to set up and use though Nintendo uses these things they call "friend codes" so that you can find your friends online.  It's pretty much the least convieneint way of finding friends out of the 3 consoles.  

Now to the Wii's critical point... GAMES.  The a new gamer, the Wiiis a dream come true.  There are tons of games to choose from and  lot of them are very easy to pick up and play.  This is to the hardcore gamer's dismay however because these games are what we call "shovel ware".  Simple pick up and play kind of games where there is no story or anything like that.  You just do what the game tels you over and over again.  Things like Cooking Mama and Wii Fit and Wii Play and other "Wii hit titles" are included in this category.  Then, if you decide that you want to get more into gaming, they have titles for the hardcore gamer as well, though only a few.  Games like Mario Galaxy, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, and others of the sort fit in this category.  The hardcore gamers are pretty much pissed that there are so few games directed towards them so the Xbox and Playstation fanboys cry that the Wii is a "baby system" and they also cry that it doesn't have high definitioncapablilities like their respective consoles do.  While this may be true, it doesn't mean that the Wii is a bad system.  It comes with everything you need to start up and play in the box (including a game: Wii Sports) and even though the graphics might not be as pretty, it doesn't mean the games aren't fun.

Next up is the Xbox 360.  While you can get the console itself for the cheapest price ($199), it remains by far the worst value for the dollar compared to the other 2 consoles.  The Wii is only $50 more and it includes built in wifi.  A Wireless network adapter for the Xbox 360 will run you $100 thus bringing the total up to $299.  The Playstation3 comes with built in wifi, a big hard drive, AND a built in dvd/blu ray player.  The Xbox 360 need at least $100 for a hard drive (unless you buy a used one), then $100 for the wireless network adapter, thus bringing the price to match the Playstation 3 at $399 but you can't play blu ray movies on an Xbox 360!  Only dvds.  This isn't the only thing that makes the Xbox 360 the worst value for the dollar.  In order to play games online you must sign up to the Xbox Live Gold service which costs $50 a year.  The Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wiiboth offer 100% FREE online services.

So right now you might be thinking, how is this console possibly selling well against the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii?  Plagued by hardware failures and post-purchase costs...  Well, frankly, it kind of makes up for it.  The Xbox 360 has the largest selection of games, the games are in beautiful high definition, and the fact that you pay for your Xbox Live service only means that you are going to have reliable connections with the least amount of lag out of the 3 consoles.  The Xbox 360 has a massive list of exclusive titles as well as third party hits.  Despite not having a blu ray player, you can still watch movies in hi def via netflix (though other than the trial, you have to pay for that too).  The instant streaming is pretty awesome, I have to say.  The one other post-purchase cost that I will point out is that the controllers use AA batteries (as do the Wii's).

So, as we get to "the most expensive console" the Playstation 3, you're probably wondering what problems it could possibly have to sell worse than these other 2 consoles (because yes it is the worst selling out of the 3).  The answer may actually shock you.  The price is its issue.  Fanboys and others may argue that the price is not its issue but I BEG to differ.  The number of time I heard "that's too expensive" when I used to work at Circuit City or while I was just shopping in  random electronics store is UNREAL!  Yes, it is the most expensive... IN THE BOX.  But you get built in wifi, built in hard drive, and  built in blu ray player (not to mention it has been labeled the best blu ray player on the market several times).  There is no better in the box VALUE than this, yet people still cry that it's too expensive.  It does have problems though.  The console produces  lot of heat (though it rarely overheats), the playstation network isn't exactly reliable with its online connections, and for some reason third party developers like to make the playstation 3 versions of games to a lesser quality than that of the Xbox 360 versions.  Not all of the third party games are better on the Xbox than the playstation, but there are a few that are clearly so.  Also, the playstation 3 doesn't have as big of an exclusive gaming library when compared to the other two as well.  

In the end, you see that all three have their pros and cons, but I just ask that you don't judge based off of fanboy's opinions.  Judge off of your own.  Don't be like Hitler, don't be a fanboy...

-CA