• 5Jun 07

  Console Madness!

  I'm a pretty hardcore gamer, and so are a lot of my friends. I got to borrow an Xbox 360, a Wii and PS3 from a wealthy friend while he went to Cuba for two weeks with his family. I have been playing all of the three new consoles for a while now (either borrowed them, play them at gaming parties or LAN parties, play them while visiting friends etc.).
  
  I finally got to "own" all three consoles for a substantial amount of time an dI was renting games that I was interested in in addition to the ones my friend lent me.
  
  My husband and I just got our tax returns back so we have plenty of "extra" money ($1000 or more) to blow on a console with all the extras and a truckload of games.
  
  Now that I have tried all three consoles I realize how torn I am. The Wii had interesting gameplay. I beat Zelda: Twilight Princess. I admit to using a guide for that game in case I was stuck because of the limited amount of time I had with the console. I've played Wii sports many times at parties, but I found it was rather boring on my own. I got a fair way through Super Paper Mario which was really fun.
  
  The PS3 games looked beautiful. I am a graphics nut. I always have the latest hardware on m PC so I can play everything on my 22 inch Widescreen at full detail using my monitor's native resolution. As soon as my computer lags even a tiny bit on high resolution or I have to really dumb down the graphics then I know it's time for an upgrade. So, now that I've explained my obsession with graphics then I will say that the PS3 made me drool when playing certain games. Resistance: Fall of Man was beautiful. Armored Core was really fun and beautiful, although I admit I have a weakness for anything Mech. The game base isn't big enough for me yet though. Before I invest $1000 on a console I have to be 100% sure there will be at least ten games that have a long life. I think the PS3 sales may hurt its future gamebase (like 3 or 4 years from now). So most software companies would be wise to make games that will work on the PS3 as well as the 360. So theoretically, most "hits" in the game world will come out on PC and X360 as well.
  
  The X360 was definitely a lot of fun. I played some online stuff, and my friend had a lot of games for it. Gears of War was amazing, but short. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion was the same as the PC one. Since I have already beaten the PC game at least 3 times, I didn't play TES:O very much on the console. I am a big Call of Duty fan. So Call of Duty 3 was quite an exciting play for me. The Tony Hawk game didn't interest me a lot tough.
  
  So, to sum up this article:
  
  Wii - Gameplay is fun. I still haven't decided if the gameplay is a fad or if it will stand the test of time. I will only be able to tell once more quality games release. the graphics are nothing like my powerhouse PC, but the graphics are surprisingly tolerable.
  
  PS3 - I gather that this console has much more power then the representation given in the games that are out so far.
  
  Xbox 360 - Bigger game selection simply because it's been out longer. Nice graphics and good controls. It costs a little less than the PS3.
  
  Conclusion: I'm going to wait. I've had my console hunger satisfied by playing these three consoles for 14 hours a day for a couple of weeks (only taking breaks for food and exercise). I wish there could be a console out with the Graphics power of a PS3, Online playability and game selection of an Xbox 360 and the controls of a Wii (but some games would be better off with a PS3 controller).
  
  I may have to wait a long time for this fantasy to come true.
  
  By the end of the summer, I can reassess the game releases and make up my mind. for the moment, I'll stick with my PC.
  • Posted Jun 5, 2007 7:50 am GMT
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