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I now own:
Xbox 360
Nintendo Wii
Playstation 3
Nintendo DS
PSP
PC
iMac
Yeah, my financial priorities are out of whack... anyway.
After playing on all of them for a while I now have real, honest-to-goodness review of the current generation of gaming machines. I'm not trying to say which is the best or worst, just what I as a game player see in them. All statistics, sales reports, fanboyism, online bloggers, and other goobers are out the window. This is just what I think.
First, the computers:
iMac - A great tool for the graphic designer, hence the graphics tend to look better and games tend to run smoother. Too bad there is only about eight games for it. The model we have is a few years old and it still runs games at the top possible graphics, sound, and action... if we can find one for it. The mouse and keyboard are not friendly to gamers though, we had to buy new ones. If you want play a wide array of computer games then the PC is a better go, but I'd rather play World of Warcraft on the Mac any day of the week.
PC - The biggest and best games are usually for the PC. A top of the line machine gives a far better presentation than any console... the problem is you need to pay out of the butt to keep a machine "top of the line". Frankly, I'm a bit tired of buying a new graphics card whenever one comes out so I can play the game the way it was meant to be played. (now that I've got an xbox 360, I don't have to worry about it as much). I wish the major consoles would utilize a some kind of mouse "point and click" interface for FPS (The Wii does well, if they only had more power).
Now the consoles:
Nintendo Wii - I stood in line for twelve hours for this bad boy, it was a fun time actually.
Much has been said that this can't compare to the "big boys" but I don't know. The nifty new controller has lost some of the novelty to me, after about the umpteenth collection of mini games that all basically tell you to do the same thing, but I still like it. I have nothing against the Mini Game collection. Indeed games like Raving Rabbids and Wario Ware take the mini game to new levels of fun, but I guess it's too easy to build a generic, stupid collection of mini games, cuz there are several of those out there as well. The non-mini game games for the Wii are almost always subpar to anything else out there, with a few very notable exceptions: Zelda and Metroid Prime (which I can't help but feel may have been better with a different controller...)Oh... and paper Mario. The complete backwards compatibility aspect is a huge plus for me, and the virtual console.... well... it's reminding me how much I suck at old-school games.
I used to be critical about Nintendo selling cheap hardware and making people buy countless add-ons, and they do have a few, but not as much as say.... Microsoft. Their web browser is... something I've only ever used to play Homestarrunner games with. The extra channels are a joke... News I can almost see but Weather? Polls? Please. And at the price I guess I can't complain, but the multi-media aspect of the Wii is dismal. If you are going to try and claim you want to appeal to the causal gamer, let them watch a freakin' DVD eh?
If you want a console that will be a hit when mom and grandma come over with the kids, which I do, the Wii is the best bang for the buck. And with the very modest cost, I can't see a gamer NOT getting a Wii. But I find I usually only play it when large groups of people who don't play games are around. Nintendo has never been too friendly with 3rd party developers, so here's hoping for yet another Mario game that may give me more of a game than Mario Party.
Playstation 3
It seems everyone wants to see this puppy fail.
What can I say? I love it! It looks good, it plays good, it interfaces well. I love it. Yeah, it was expensive, but I haven't had to buy any peripherals (of course when the dual shock 3 controllers come out I'm all over them) and it gives me anything I could ask from a game machine and more.
Unlike every other console I own, I have never had one hardware issue with the PS3... wait... once Final Fantasy XII froze up on me... for a few seconds... that's it.
The games look fantastic, and I don't own a HDTV yet... On my pathetic little standard def TV the games look amazingly better than PS2 or Wii games look. Much better, the difference is night and day. The Blueray player isn't too bad either.... when I get an HDTV it will be even better. The DVD player is far better than any other DVD player I have (including the 360). The interface is a breeze. the Wii is easier, but not as stylish. The Xbox is a mess compared to it. Oh... and online gaming... FREE!!! Home is just (always) around the corner and with it the dominance of an online gaming world.
After a few updates, I haven't had any problems with backwards compatibility either, which is good because the PS2 is still cranking out great games. I know a newer model is discontinuing the backwards compatibility, which is a crime against humanity as far as I'm concerned, but I don't have to worry about it.
Oh... and why can't the other guys get some bluetooth with their controllers? I go through so many AA batteries it's not funny (between the Wii and the 360). I can play for about 24 hours between charges, AND play while it charges.
The games I've played on both the 360 and the PS3 always look and play better on the PS3 (Spiderman 3, The Darkness, Oblivion), now if only they could get some... you know... games.
Seriously, it's bringing me down. I love the console, but all the best games aren't on it. I'm excited about some upcoming titles, but that don't pay the bills as it were. I'm using it mostly as a PS2... but I got a PS2 already. I know it's going to be slow, but come on! It's been slow for quite a while now. Give me some great exclusive titles. I imagine that come next year things will be different. I hope... I hope... I hope... Save me Final Fantasy!!!
Xbox 360
I was bullied into buying this console. I didn't want to do it, but how else was I going to play Mass Effect, Halo 3, BioShock, and all the other huge games? (Also my brother-in-law is a programmer for Petroglyph games and they are hard at work for a Xbox 360 game... gotta support the family!)
I have the opposite feelings for the 360 as I have for the PS3. I love the games but hate the system.
-removable hard drives? That scares me into thinking I'll have to play the PC game with this thing later on.
-$45 a year for online gaming... per person? My wife plays as much as I do, if not more, so.... if we both want an online profile with the 360, it's nearly a hundred dollars a year. Pfst. Stupid. Glad we don't have kids who want to play.
-No built in wireless? What are we, cavemen? Oh.. it's another hundred bucks for that? I see.
-A DVD player (that doesn't work properly, and doesn't have very good controls) or if you want to spend another hundred dollars here is a HD player.
-A controller that uses AA batteries and no motion control. Sorry. The PS3 motion control may have a few issues, but it still adds something great to the party.
-the backwards compatibility aspect it a nightmare of frustration. Want to play a Xbox game? First, check the list to see if you can, then hope for the best. I was so excited to play Knights of the old Republic... after exchanging the disk *six times* and not being able to play past five minutes before it froze up on me I discovered that this is one of many Xbox games that are on the "official" backwards compatible list that don't really work. ugh. double ugh.
The marketplace is great though. Downloads are amazingly fast (if you have a Ethernet cord long enough to hook up) and varied. The achievement system is neat and gives further incentive to play games longer. I don't really like the interface. At all. Simplify it a bit eh?
Of course, when all is said and done, it's the games I buy the console for, and the 360 has the games right now. I'll complain and complain about the downside, but slip Bioshock in and I'm a happy camper.
Finally, the handhelds
Nintendo DS
This is a fun machine to hold. It makes me feel futuristic and important every time I pull the stylus out and flip it open.
Nintendo has the market of family fun cornered with the Wii and the DS. The community aspect of DS games is great, if only the "friend" system was as stupid as a Oklahoma state dropout. The games... are getting better. Developers are starting to figure out that people don't just want silly little novelty games all the time. Games like brain-age and the like are creating a new niche in the gamer market that works well for handhelds... (not so much with the Wii. Sudoku is great for the bus, but at home on a console?). Games like Extreme Beat Agents and phoenix wright ace attorney show that this system has plenty of fun in it.
But it hurts my hands to play it. I know that's a pretty... focused complaint, but my hands are too large I guess. They cramp up after ten minutes or so.
PSP
Lots of bad press for this guy, and I don't know why. It's a great machine. the games are fun and more in depth and varied than the DS (usually). the GTA games, for instance, play amazingly... almost like a full blown console. The online gaming is great here as well, as is the fact that you can use it as a MP3 player and a bevy of other things. the web browser is great (would be better if they had a freaking keyboard for me somewhere). The UMD movies.... Some hate them, I like them. Maybe I'm benefiting from their unpopularity, but I am collecting quite a collection of UMD movies off the internet for about 5$ a pop, and watching them a lot. The quality is great and the screen size is just about perfect for hand held movies. I don't know if I'd pay $20 for them, but $5-$10 is just about right. The battery life is pretty impressive, though improvements could be made there as well. Like the PS3, I always have the nagging thought that I'm not getting the full use out of this guy.... maybe if I was more technology savvy things would be different. I'm sure there is some guy out there with a PSP that can... I don't know... drive a car or something.
You still here? You actually read all of that? Well... tell me what you think.
Xbox 360
Nintendo Wii
Playstation 3
Nintendo DS
PSP
PC
iMac
Yeah, my financial priorities are out of whack... anyway.
After playing on all of them for a while I now have real, honest-to-goodness review of the current generation of gaming machines. I'm not trying to say which is the best or worst, just what I as a game player see in them. All statistics, sales reports, fanboyism, online bloggers, and other goobers are out the window. This is just what I think.
First, the computers:
iMac - A great tool for the graphic designer, hence the graphics tend to look better and games tend to run smoother. Too bad there is only about eight games for it. The model we have is a few years old and it still runs games at the top possible graphics, sound, and action... if we can find one for it. The mouse and keyboard are not friendly to gamers though, we had to buy new ones. If you want play a wide array of computer games then the PC is a better go, but I'd rather play World of Warcraft on the Mac any day of the week.
PC - The biggest and best games are usually for the PC. A top of the line machine gives a far better presentation than any console... the problem is you need to pay out of the butt to keep a machine "top of the line". Frankly, I'm a bit tired of buying a new graphics card whenever one comes out so I can play the game the way it was meant to be played. (now that I've got an xbox 360, I don't have to worry about it as much). I wish the major consoles would utilize a some kind of mouse "point and click" interface for FPS (The Wii does well, if they only had more power).
Now the consoles:
Nintendo Wii - I stood in line for twelve hours for this bad boy, it was a fun time actually.
Much has been said that this can't compare to the "big boys" but I don't know. The nifty new controller has lost some of the novelty to me, after about the umpteenth collection of mini games that all basically tell you to do the same thing, but I still like it. I have nothing against the Mini Game collection. Indeed games like Raving Rabbids and Wario Ware take the mini game to new levels of fun, but I guess it's too easy to build a generic, stupid collection of mini games, cuz there are several of those out there as well. The non-mini game games for the Wii are almost always subpar to anything else out there, with a few very notable exceptions: Zelda and Metroid Prime (which I can't help but feel may have been better with a different controller...)Oh... and paper Mario. The complete backwards compatibility aspect is a huge plus for me, and the virtual console.... well... it's reminding me how much I suck at old-school games.
I used to be critical about Nintendo selling cheap hardware and making people buy countless add-ons, and they do have a few, but not as much as say.... Microsoft. Their web browser is... something I've only ever used to play Homestarrunner games with. The extra channels are a joke... News I can almost see but Weather? Polls? Please. And at the price I guess I can't complain, but the multi-media aspect of the Wii is dismal. If you are going to try and claim you want to appeal to the causal gamer, let them watch a freakin' DVD eh?
If you want a console that will be a hit when mom and grandma come over with the kids, which I do, the Wii is the best bang for the buck. And with the very modest cost, I can't see a gamer NOT getting a Wii. But I find I usually only play it when large groups of people who don't play games are around. Nintendo has never been too friendly with 3rd party developers, so here's hoping for yet another Mario game that may give me more of a game than Mario Party.
Playstation 3
It seems everyone wants to see this puppy fail.
What can I say? I love it! It looks good, it plays good, it interfaces well. I love it. Yeah, it was expensive, but I haven't had to buy any peripherals (of course when the dual shock 3 controllers come out I'm all over them) and it gives me anything I could ask from a game machine and more.
Unlike every other console I own, I have never had one hardware issue with the PS3... wait... once Final Fantasy XII froze up on me... for a few seconds... that's it.
The games look fantastic, and I don't own a HDTV yet... On my pathetic little standard def TV the games look amazingly better than PS2 or Wii games look. Much better, the difference is night and day. The Blueray player isn't too bad either.... when I get an HDTV it will be even better. The DVD player is far better than any other DVD player I have (including the 360). The interface is a breeze. the Wii is easier, but not as stylish. The Xbox is a mess compared to it. Oh... and online gaming... FREE!!! Home is just (always) around the corner and with it the dominance of an online gaming world.
After a few updates, I haven't had any problems with backwards compatibility either, which is good because the PS2 is still cranking out great games. I know a newer model is discontinuing the backwards compatibility, which is a crime against humanity as far as I'm concerned, but I don't have to worry about it.
Oh... and why can't the other guys get some bluetooth with their controllers? I go through so many AA batteries it's not funny (between the Wii and the 360). I can play for about 24 hours between charges, AND play while it charges.
The games I've played on both the 360 and the PS3 always look and play better on the PS3 (Spiderman 3, The Darkness, Oblivion), now if only they could get some... you know... games.
Seriously, it's bringing me down. I love the console, but all the best games aren't on it. I'm excited about some upcoming titles, but that don't pay the bills as it were. I'm using it mostly as a PS2... but I got a PS2 already. I know it's going to be slow, but come on! It's been slow for quite a while now. Give me some great exclusive titles. I imagine that come next year things will be different. I hope... I hope... I hope... Save me Final Fantasy!!!
Xbox 360
I was bullied into buying this console. I didn't want to do it, but how else was I going to play Mass Effect, Halo 3, BioShock, and all the other huge games? (Also my brother-in-law is a programmer for Petroglyph games and they are hard at work for a Xbox 360 game... gotta support the family!)
I have the opposite feelings for the 360 as I have for the PS3. I love the games but hate the system.
-removable hard drives? That scares me into thinking I'll have to play the PC game with this thing later on.
-$45 a year for online gaming... per person? My wife plays as much as I do, if not more, so.... if we both want an online profile with the 360, it's nearly a hundred dollars a year. Pfst. Stupid. Glad we don't have kids who want to play.
-No built in wireless? What are we, cavemen? Oh.. it's another hundred bucks for that? I see.
-A DVD player (that doesn't work properly, and doesn't have very good controls) or if you want to spend another hundred dollars here is a HD player.
-A controller that uses AA batteries and no motion control. Sorry. The PS3 motion control may have a few issues, but it still adds something great to the party.
-the backwards compatibility aspect it a nightmare of frustration. Want to play a Xbox game? First, check the list to see if you can, then hope for the best. I was so excited to play Knights of the old Republic... after exchanging the disk *six times* and not being able to play past five minutes before it froze up on me I discovered that this is one of many Xbox games that are on the "official" backwards compatible list that don't really work. ugh. double ugh.
The marketplace is great though. Downloads are amazingly fast (if you have a Ethernet cord long enough to hook up) and varied. The achievement system is neat and gives further incentive to play games longer. I don't really like the interface. At all. Simplify it a bit eh?
Of course, when all is said and done, it's the games I buy the console for, and the 360 has the games right now. I'll complain and complain about the downside, but slip Bioshock in and I'm a happy camper.
Finally, the handhelds
Nintendo DS
This is a fun machine to hold. It makes me feel futuristic and important every time I pull the stylus out and flip it open.
Nintendo has the market of family fun cornered with the Wii and the DS. The community aspect of DS games is great, if only the "friend" system was as stupid as a Oklahoma state dropout. The games... are getting better. Developers are starting to figure out that people don't just want silly little novelty games all the time. Games like brain-age and the like are creating a new niche in the gamer market that works well for handhelds... (not so much with the Wii. Sudoku is great for the bus, but at home on a console?). Games like Extreme Beat Agents and phoenix wright ace attorney show that this system has plenty of fun in it.
But it hurts my hands to play it. I know that's a pretty... focused complaint, but my hands are too large I guess. They cramp up after ten minutes or so.
PSP
Lots of bad press for this guy, and I don't know why. It's a great machine. the games are fun and more in depth and varied than the DS (usually). the GTA games, for instance, play amazingly... almost like a full blown console. The online gaming is great here as well, as is the fact that you can use it as a MP3 player and a bevy of other things. the web browser is great (would be better if they had a freaking keyboard for me somewhere). The UMD movies.... Some hate them, I like them. Maybe I'm benefiting from their unpopularity, but I am collecting quite a collection of UMD movies off the internet for about 5$ a pop, and watching them a lot. The quality is great and the screen size is just about perfect for hand held movies. I don't know if I'd pay $20 for them, but $5-$10 is just about right. The battery life is pretty impressive, though improvements could be made there as well. Like the PS3, I always have the nagging thought that I'm not getting the full use out of this guy.... maybe if I was more technology savvy things would be different. I'm sure there is some guy out there with a PSP that can... I don't know... drive a car or something.
You still here? You actually read all of that? Well... tell me what you think.
St. Elizabeth, Patron Saint of Themed parks. Protect us from break downs, long lines, and used gum. Amen. 
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