indolence
06-21-2007, 00:12
As a college student with no direction in life and no desire to get there fast I have played a great deal of video games. Since one or more people in my fraternity have each of these systems I will give you my opinions on each, with pros and cons as I see them.
I will start off with Nintendo’s low priced answer for the super-consoles, the Wii. First off, the Wii is the least expensive of all of the consoles. If price is an issue to you then the buck literally does stop here. Aside from price there is the major difference in game play, the Wii is a much more active console. With the drawback of you getting tired from playing a video game and the dreaded Wii tennis elbow, the game play of the Wii is addictively fun. As far as games are concerned there are some favorites that will be Wii only. Mario and Zelda will stay true to their Nintendo home and remain Nintendo only games. Since the nostalgic gamer in us all loves these games, if they are something you can't do without then the Wii is for you. Wii also offers the unique ability to download prior Nintendo games straight to your Wii console. Lost your copy of Mario Kart 64, no problem, you can download it cheaply and easily. The final detail about the Wii that was striking to me was that its games seem to be geared towards little kids. This isn't to say that the games aren't fun, because they truly are, but if you are looking for a first person shooter or a visceral rpg the Wii will not fit your needs. With graphics being lower than the others and game play being an active experience, I would say that the Wii is a great buy for the casual gamer but not the right choice for someone looking to spend hours in front of a television mashing away at buttons.
Next up is the PS3. The PS3 is the system that I have the least amount of experience with. The controller of the PS3 is shocking light, feeling around half the weight of the PS2 version. It is also very sensitive; I have skipped many cut scenes by barely brushing against a button quite by accident. In addition to its sensitivity you get the added bonus (over the 360) of a motion control. Say an alien jumps on you in Resistance Fall of Man; you shake your controller to get the sucker off your back. Graphics wise PS3 looks a lot like 360, in fact I couldn't really tell the difference. Game play and amount of games are similar too, so I won't bother to compare that either (the difference between PS3/360 games and those of the Wii are that PS3/360 games are more graphic and geared towards an older audience). The two features about PS3 that I enjoyed were the built in bluray player and the free online play. Unlike its Xbox counterpart the online experience is included in the lofty price you pay for the console itself. This means you can literally plug and play for free and never have to worry about paying another monthly bill. The other thing that was nice was the fact that you do not have to buy an upgrade in order to make your console a bluray player, its one right out of the box. From my limited experience with this console I found that it is really fun... but not $600 fun. That being said I'm still in college and am dirt poor (don't let the frat thing fool you, I'm on loans).
Finally we have the 360, the console I have the most experience with by far. The 360 controller is much heavier than its PS3 counterpart, but I can personally attest to its durability (I don’t like losing at Madden). One issue I have with the controller is the fact that it does not come with rechargeable battery packs where as the PS3 does. This means you either have to have plenty of AA batteries handy or go spend more money on the rechargeable battery packs. At this point I am fairly sure that 360 has the most games available for it (not counting the Nintendo classic games for Wii) so if variety is an issue then 360 fits you best. The main complaint that everyone has with their 360 is the fact that if you use it enough, it will break. The warranty should cover this problem, but it is still annoying to deal with. Finally there is the HD DVD add-on option for the console. For more money you can convert your 360 into an HD DVD player, so if you think HD DVD is going to win the war for the next medium of digital media, you’ll want 360 in your corner. Last but not least, if you want to play X-Box live you will have a monthly fee just like you did with regular X-Box. With a variety of fun games and graphics right up there with PS3 the 360 is a fun console. But be warned, it was designed for add-ons and they won’t be cheap.
Hope this helps all of you with your decision on which console fits you best. Any more questions feel free to ask.
-Ryan
I will start off with Nintendo’s low priced answer for the super-consoles, the Wii. First off, the Wii is the least expensive of all of the consoles. If price is an issue to you then the buck literally does stop here. Aside from price there is the major difference in game play, the Wii is a much more active console. With the drawback of you getting tired from playing a video game and the dreaded Wii tennis elbow, the game play of the Wii is addictively fun. As far as games are concerned there are some favorites that will be Wii only. Mario and Zelda will stay true to their Nintendo home and remain Nintendo only games. Since the nostalgic gamer in us all loves these games, if they are something you can't do without then the Wii is for you. Wii also offers the unique ability to download prior Nintendo games straight to your Wii console. Lost your copy of Mario Kart 64, no problem, you can download it cheaply and easily. The final detail about the Wii that was striking to me was that its games seem to be geared towards little kids. This isn't to say that the games aren't fun, because they truly are, but if you are looking for a first person shooter or a visceral rpg the Wii will not fit your needs. With graphics being lower than the others and game play being an active experience, I would say that the Wii is a great buy for the casual gamer but not the right choice for someone looking to spend hours in front of a television mashing away at buttons.
Next up is the PS3. The PS3 is the system that I have the least amount of experience with. The controller of the PS3 is shocking light, feeling around half the weight of the PS2 version. It is also very sensitive; I have skipped many cut scenes by barely brushing against a button quite by accident. In addition to its sensitivity you get the added bonus (over the 360) of a motion control. Say an alien jumps on you in Resistance Fall of Man; you shake your controller to get the sucker off your back. Graphics wise PS3 looks a lot like 360, in fact I couldn't really tell the difference. Game play and amount of games are similar too, so I won't bother to compare that either (the difference between PS3/360 games and those of the Wii are that PS3/360 games are more graphic and geared towards an older audience). The two features about PS3 that I enjoyed were the built in bluray player and the free online play. Unlike its Xbox counterpart the online experience is included in the lofty price you pay for the console itself. This means you can literally plug and play for free and never have to worry about paying another monthly bill. The other thing that was nice was the fact that you do not have to buy an upgrade in order to make your console a bluray player, its one right out of the box. From my limited experience with this console I found that it is really fun... but not $600 fun. That being said I'm still in college and am dirt poor (don't let the frat thing fool you, I'm on loans).
Finally we have the 360, the console I have the most experience with by far. The 360 controller is much heavier than its PS3 counterpart, but I can personally attest to its durability (I don’t like losing at Madden). One issue I have with the controller is the fact that it does not come with rechargeable battery packs where as the PS3 does. This means you either have to have plenty of AA batteries handy or go spend more money on the rechargeable battery packs. At this point I am fairly sure that 360 has the most games available for it (not counting the Nintendo classic games for Wii) so if variety is an issue then 360 fits you best. The main complaint that everyone has with their 360 is the fact that if you use it enough, it will break. The warranty should cover this problem, but it is still annoying to deal with. Finally there is the HD DVD add-on option for the console. For more money you can convert your 360 into an HD DVD player, so if you think HD DVD is going to win the war for the next medium of digital media, you’ll want 360 in your corner. Last but not least, if you want to play X-Box live you will have a monthly fee just like you did with regular X-Box. With a variety of fun games and graphics right up there with PS3 the 360 is a fun console. But be warned, it was designed for add-ons and they won’t be cheap.
Hope this helps all of you with your decision on which console fits you best. Any more questions feel free to ask.
-Ryan