and All Consoles

The Xbox 360 had the luxury of a year’s head start over its competition, the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, and that served Microsoft well. For any serious gamer the thought of waiting a year may be just too damn long, and they certainly gained market share in view of this, at least in North America and Europe. But now that all the shiny new consoles are out, is the Xbox 360 starting to show its age and look a bit shabby?

To start with, each of the three consoles – the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii all has their own dedicated fan base that won’t change their minds for anything. These diehard fans do matter, simply for the fact that their spend on gaming is probably worth a fair few families of the casual gamers. And without doubt all these consoles significantly outperform their predecessors.

The two games consoles that are the easiest the do a straight comparison with is the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. They are both intended to function as more than simply a games console – they play DVD’s and music, connect with the internet, display photos, and allow chat. Sony will however be in major trouble if Blu-Ray loses out in the high-density DVD war with HD-DVD. Microsoft has also an edge with their online content, having had the ability to build up a considerable and frequently-updated stock over the last year. They’re now providing movies for download via the Xbox Live Marketplace. It is likely that Sony will eventually catch up with this, but for now, Microsoft holds the edge.

The start with, if you put aside what’s actually inside the consoles for a moment and look at how the consoles perform instead of how they should, the PlayStation 3 isn’t really a year ahead of the Xbox 360. If you do a side by side comparison of cross-platform games this will tend to favour the Xbox 360, which has the ability to offer better lighting effects and less of a tendency to flatten and blur textures. Although, having taken this into account, the PlayStation 3 still has longer loading times.

The Xbox 360 is well and truly a Microsoft product. In the attempt to get the console out quickly wasn’t the best way to ensure reliability, and as widely reported a small but still significant number of the original releases crashed to ‘blue screen of death’. Also, during the recent Fall update, where Xbox Live use were required to download to access the service, causing about one percent of consoles to brick.

The PlayStation 3 console has offered the Sixaxis controller, Sony’s half-assed attempt to respond to the Wii-mote. Whilst this will enable your to tilt the controller to affect your on-screen movements in games such as Tony Hanks, you still get much better control from using the conventional D-pad. If you compare the Sixaxis to the Wii-mote there is a simply object lesson in the difference between a rushed gimmick and an innovation.

So on to Nintendo’s Wii, starting with its bad points. It doesn’t support HD-TV display, and not equipped to play DVDs. If you only looking for your game console to play games, than this should not really be much to worry about. It’s just a game console and that’s that. It’s not by any means as graphically impressive as its rivals. The wireless controller needs to run on batteries rather than being rechargeable.

But hold on. Nintendo have attempted to attract the family and non-gaming market with the impressive play abilities with the Wii-mote. Yet still be able to keep the hardened gamers in view of its difference in game play. Even though being different, Nintendo are also better at being the same – the Wii has been designed to be backwards compatible with more of the old console games than with either the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360. This is particularly appealing at that, offering software emulation for a impressive 30% of Xbox games.

It’s always going to be a hard call to make, which is the best console. But if you word the question differently, will the Xbox 360 sink without a trace since the release of its newer and shinier cousins, the answer is NO. If you preference is serious, mature-rated games with lots of online content, your choice will have to be between the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, and then to go with your preferred choice, usually whatever you had before, Sony or Microsoft. But if you now looking for family gaming, or something to play with a bunch of mates, then the Nintendo Wii should definitely be your new best friend.

Darren Lintern

So which of these two games systems is better? It has been a much anticipated wait, but finally both of these consoles have arrived. The Sony PlayStation 3 was the first to arrive on November 17th, with the Nintendo Wii only two days later, on the 19th. Which one should you buy? Who had the most successful launch? Read on to discover the answers!

Units available at Launch -
Sony PlayStation 3:

After many notable delays and production problems, Sony was finally able to release its PlayStation 3 console in order to meet the Christmas rush… Well not quite. Sony was indeed able to release its system; however this shipment numbers were nowhere near what was expected. It was estimated that only 500,000 units arrived up to the end of the year. This made it very difficult for anyone hoping to get their hands on a PS3 for Christmas this year.

Nintendo Wii:

In view of the extremely popularity of the Wii, it has still been difficult to get your hands on one at the moment. However, Nintendo planned to ship over four million units worldwide by the end of 2006. This was easily able to dwarfs the efforts of Sony with it Playstation 3 numbering at 500,000 units. A continues supply of Wii consoles are being shipped on a weekly basis to retailers in order to make it easier to get a Wii with each passing week.

This Topics Winner: Wii

Games to Play -

Sony PlayStation 3:

When it comes to the current crop of games for the PS3, it is generally thought that there are not really any special games worth getting at the moment. I have had the pleasure of playing the PS3 and most if its games. The most impressive games at presents seems to be Resistance: Fall of Man. There is no doubt that better games will be making their way onto the system, but there is no point in holding your breath for them. Games such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy 13 are not expected to arrive until late 2007 or early 2008

Nintendo Wii:

For the first time in its history, Nintendo released a Zelda game at the consoles launch. There is not doubt that this launch title is the best game available on the Wii. In fact, it is widely believed to be the best ever Zelda game. Another point to take into consideration is the variety of games that are available. Nintendo and its third-party developers have covered all the bases. No matter your preference, sports games or shooting games, there is plenty to choose from.

This Topics Winner: Wii
Graphics:

Sony PlayStation 3:

There is not really any doubt as to who is going to win this contest. Although, the first crop of games to arrive doesn’t even come close to realizing the full potential of the Playstation 3 in terms of graphics, the current games are still much prettier than those of the Wii.

Nintendo Wii:

As Nintendo has now taken a different approach for this generation console, it is less concerned about graphics. Although this certainly does not mean that the games look bad. You certainly won’t get anyway near the same level of realism that you would get on the PS3 or Xbox 360. To get an ideal of its capabilities, the graphical power of the Wii is a little stronger than that of the original Xbox.

This Topics Winner: PlayStation 3

Retail Price:

Sony PlayStation 3:

There is two different version of the PlayStation 3. You have the choice of the $499.99 version or the $599.99 version. No, I did not make any typos with the prices. Although both systems are similar, the more expensive version comes with, among other things, a larger hard drive. It is expected that over 80% of the PlayStation 3 consoles delivered will be the $599.99 version. All this tends to make the $499.99 version fairly obsolete. Both versions have the ability to play Blu-Ray DVD discs. One remote and all necessary cable are included within the box.

Nintendo Wii:

The current retail price of the Nintendo Wii stands at $249.99. Included in the box are: the Wii games console, Wii Sports (a game featuring 5 different sports), the regular Wii-remote, as well as the nun-chuk attachment, and all necessary cables and adapters.

This Topics Winner:  Wii
Overall Final Score: Nintendo Wii – 3 vs. Sony PlayStation 3 – 1

The Final Verdict:

At the present time the Wii is the obvious choice for all gamers right now. The cheap price, excellent launch games, and fantastic innovation make it the console of choice right now.

Instead of focusing all their attentions and resources on graphics, Nintendo has instead decided to focus on game play. This is a risky move by Nintendo, and a completely different direction to that of Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Nintendo’s intent is not only to reach out to the gaming core audience, but also to capture the casual and non-gamers out there. So how are they attempting to accomplish this? Simply by creating an innovative way to control and interact with games.

If you have not already seen it, this is not your typical gaming controller. Nintendo’s new control scheme starts with its remote or, as it’s been dubbed in the gaming industry, the “Wii-mote”. It only has a handful of buttons, instead of having a plethora of different buttons, as most controllers have nowadays. How exactly does a game controller with so few buttons actually work you may be wondering. That is exactly where the beauty and innovation part comes in. The Wii Remote Controller is intended to work in a similar way to a computer mouse. You simply stand in front of the screen and wave it to control various objects.

The innovation does not end there in anyway. The Wii-mote has built in motion sensing technology. Any movements that you make are recorded and translated on screen in the game. A great example for this would be a game of tennis; you simply wave the remote as if you were actually playing tennis to hit the ball. The sensors are able to determine on your timing, speed of your swing, etc. Tennis games have now become that more exciting. The Wii-mote puts you directly in control. Imagine all the games that you can now take complete control, such as golf, fighting games, and boxing, all of these games will be so much more fun to play.

If you are still wondering how the Wii controller can be used for the more complex game, don’t worry. Although the controller is innovative and has many uses, it does lack some functionality. This has been taken care of by Nintendo with the option to add a special attachment of its Wii Nunchuck Controller , called the “nun-chuk”. This is a simple attachment that plugs right into the bottom of the main controller. The nun-chuk is equipped with the same motion sensing technology as the Wii-mote. It will instantly transform you controller to include two trigger buttons and an analogue stick. With these two options, the remote has the potential for different combination that will far surpass any other games controller available.

As if two remote weren’t enough to keep you happy, Nintendo have also released a special controller to be used for games on its Virtual Console. Although most of these games can be played with a Nintendo GameCube controller, the Wii Classic Controlleror Retro controller is necessary for anyone that does not have a GameCube remote. It was not necessary to equip this controller with any motion sensing technology, and is only intended to be used for games on the Virtual Console.

With the case of any new technology, there are always some small kinks and adjustments that will need to be taken care of. It is likely that some games may not make full use of the remotes to their full potential. This may give the impression that the remotes lack in functionality; however this is certainly not the fault of Nintendo. It is ultimately down to the responsibility of the third-party game developers. All the titles at launch released by Nintendo have no control issues whatsoever. It is simply a matter of the game developers getting familiar with how the new control works best.

The Wii-remote and nun-chuk attachment are both included in the box when you buy a Wii. The Classic controller would need to be purchased separately and currently retails for $19.99. If required, an additional Wii-remote will retail for $39.99 and the nun-chuk attachments are also sold individually for $19.99

Nintendo Wii controllers all appear very impressive. After the third-party developers have got the hang of things in order to make control adjustments for future games, there will be nothing to complain about!
Published By Darren Lintern