This generation of consoles kicked off a little more than four years ago with the launch of the Xbox 360. This has easily been one of the most exciting generation of consoles. Microsoft has aggressively moved video games forward with their powerful XBox 360 console and their Xbox Live service; whereas Nintendo has pioneered video games into brand new territory with their Wii and its innovative controller.
You may be wondering which console to purchase. Should you purchase a Wii, an Xbox 360, or both? Both consoles are radically different from each other. The Xbox 360 focuses its attention on superior graphics, online multi player, and major evolutionary improvements to traditional video games. The Wii on the other hand is anything but traditional. The Wii attempts to bring new innovative experiences with its unique controller and its very non-traditional line up of games. In order to determine which console suits you, you need to be aware of each consoles' strengths and match them up with your gaming interest. Personally I have a favorite console. In fact I love one of these console, and I have a tendency to loath the other. Naturally this makes it difficult to write an unbiased review, but I also recognize that just because I like one console doesn't mean you won't love the other. Just don't be surprised if you don't like both.
The Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a power house of a console. The Xbox 360 sports high definition graphics up to 1080p, comes packed with 3 Power PC G5 processors, an ATI graphics card with robust shader capabilities, and 512 MB of shared memory. Simply put the XBox 360 launched as the most powerful console ever made, and four years into its life it has managed to keep pace with the supposedly more powerful PlayStation 3. This is a console that surprised gamers with its graphical prowess when it was announced and continues to impress to this day.
Unfortunately Microsoft rushed the Xbox 360 out the door in order to get a head start on their competition. The result is the first batch of Xbox 360 were defective and would eventually die. This is the infamous Red Rings Of Death, which is a play on the Blue Screen Of Death we all remember from Windows. Fortunately Microsoft has addressed the causes of the dreaded Red Ring Of Death, and every console comes with a three warranty for the Red Ring Of Death problem.
Of course all of that power housed in the XBox 360 means very little without content, and the library on Microsoft's console will make any hard core gamer envious. The XBox 360 is the only console where gamers can play the venerable Halo series. Halo is easily one the best First Person Shooters out there, but this isn't the only exclusive game that you'll find on the XBox 360. You'll also find Epic's Gears Of War (1 & 2), Fable, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect (1 & 2), Alan Wake, Crack Down (1 & 2) Shadow Complex, Halo Wars (the only good console RTS) and the list of exclusives goes on. Those are some of the best shooters and RPG's available on any system, and you'll only find them on the XBox 360. Other notable exclusives include Rare's Viva Pinata (1 & 2), and Banjo Kazooie 3.
Exclusives are really just part of what the Xbox 360 has going for it. As a gamer you're really concerned about all of the games available on the system, and this includes multi platform games. These are games that are available on two or more consoles. Most hard core games are published for both the Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3. The lineup of multi platform games available for the Xbox 360 is very impressive. Once again almost every major RPG from Final Fantasy XIII to Fallout 3, to Dragon Age is available on the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 sports the best shooters on any console. Infinity Ward's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is one of the best first person shooters ever made, and its available on the Xbox 360 and PS3. In fact almost every shooter available to a console is available on the Xbox 360. When it comes to action games the Xbox 360 continues to impress. Most of the top tier action games are available on the Xbox 360; including Devil May Cry 4, Ninja Gaiden 2, Bayanetta, and the upcoming Alan Wake and Dante's Inferno. Only the PS3 has a better line up of action games, and even then that's debatable.
When it comes to online gaming the Xbox 360 is the king of the consoles. Microsoft pioneered online gaming for consoles when it first released Xbox Live for its Xbox console. Microsoft has continually updated Xbox Live, and today Xbox Live has evolved to become one of the richest online gaming and media services.
The core function of Xbox Live is to allow gamers to play games together over the internet. Gamers do this by creating an Xbox Live account with a Gamer Tag. A Gamer Tag is a friendly name that others can use to identify your account; for example my Game Tag is: Virus Hunter. You can give your gamer tag to your friends and they can add it to their friends list. Once you've added a friend to your friends list Xbox Live will notify you when they're online, what game they're playing, and it will let you know if you can join their current game or not. Furthermore you may choose to invite them into your current game. It doesn't matter if they're playing Halo and you're inviting them to play Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Your friend will see the invite and he/she can choose to accept it. Once your friend has accepted your invite he/she will join your game.
What if you just want to talk to your friend over Xbox Live? That's supported too. You can invite your friend into a private chat, and you'll be able to talk to him/her using your Xbox headset. If you want to talk to more than one friend at a time all you need to do is create a party chat and invite your friends to the party chat. It doesn't matter if all of you are playing different games you can still chat with each other.
Xbox Live isn't just for video games though. Xbox Live is also one of the best online movie services available. Using the Zune Marketplace you can rent movies from Xbox Live in standard definition or high definition. If you have a 4 Mbps internet connection you don't even have to wait for high definition movies to download; instead you can just stream them in real time, and the quality is shockingly good. If you have an Xbox Live gold account and Netflix you can also choose to stream Netflix on demand movies to your T.V.
Xbox Live is continuing to evolve. For Social Network junkies Microsoft has support for both Facebook and Twitter. The Facebook and Twitter applications are fully featured. You can update your status, follow your friends, and view your friends' pictures all from your Xbox 360. If you choose to use these services though I recommend picking up the qwerty keyboard attachment for the Xbox 360 controller.
As you can see the Xbox 360 seeks to serve up a variety of new features from video games, to movies, to social networking. In each area it performs magnificently. The Xbox 360 competes by offering a strong set of content to its consumers. This content is all AAA, and it is also very traditional content.
Wii
The Xbox 360 may offer up a strong set of traditional content, but the Wii offers value to its customers with a completely non traditional video game experience. The goal of the Wii is to bring video games to the masses. The Xbox 360 may be one of the most powerful consoles ever made, but all of that power can be intimidating. The Wii attempts to bring gamers into its fold by being more approachable.
As far as system specs go the Wii is weak. In fact it's so weak that Nintendo refuses to publish the Wii's system specs. We do know that the Wii uses a Power PC G4 processor, an ATI graphics card, and it comes with 512 MB of flash storage, not to be confused with system memory. Unlike the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 the Wii doesn't support high definition video. The reason is the Wii doesn't try to impress gamers with its graphical prowess; instead it lures gamers in with its innovative controller.
Video game controllers have become fairly complicated. The Xbox 360 controller has a directional pad, two joysticks, four buttons at the top that are meant to be pressed by your index fingers, and four buttons just above the second joystick, these are supposed to be pressed by your right thumb. While the Xbox 360 controller works well, it is also very intimidating to new gamers.
The Wii controller is much simpler. The Wii controller comes with a directional pad, two main buttons, and a trigger button for your index finger. The Wii controller also supports gestures. Instead of pushing a button players are encourage to act out the actions they want their characters to do on screen. You want your character to swipe a knife then swing the Wii controller like a knife. You tell your character to swing a sword by swinging the controller like a sword, or hit a tennis ball by swinging the controller like a tennis racket, etc... The idea with this controller is to simplify games by having players act out the moves they want their characters to do; instead of memorizing potentially complex button combinations.
While the concept of the Wii controller is exciting its actual implementation has been a bit underwhelming. The real problem with the Wii controller is it lacks precision. What ends up happening in most games is button presses get replaced with waggling the Wii controller. Just try Wii tennis. You'll probably start off by swinging the Wii controller like a tennis racket, maybe you'll even attempt to put some top spin on the ball. Play the game long enough though and you'll realize that all you need to do is shake the Wii controller like you would shake a pencil and you'll get the exact same results. It's at that moment that you'll realize the Wii controller is actually little more than a gimmick.
Fortunately Nintendo is addressing the lack of precision on the Wii controller with Wii motion plus. Wii motion plus is a gyro that you attach to the Wii controller. This gyro gives the Wii controller one to one precision. Play Wii sports resort with the Wii motion plus, and you'll notice that the game behaves exactly as you'd expect. When you play the sword fighting game your character will move his sword exactly the same way you move your Wii controller. The only problems are lack of content for Wii motion plus, and it will cost you and additional $20 per controller. That's $20 more that you have to spend to get the Wii to do what it promised to do in the first place.
Nintendo's Wii has some of the most interesting content available on any console. Nintendo isn't playing to the hard core gaming crowd, and as a result they have taken a lot of chances by releasing some very unique content for their console. Perhaps the most surprising game to come out for Nintendo's console is Wii Fit. Wii Fit actually combines the Wii controller with a pad that has two weight scales. By using the Wii Fit pad and the Wii controller the game can tell you if you're in the correct posture.
The Wii has a whole slew of exclusive games built around the Wii controller. In fact most Wii games are exclusives. For the hard core gamer there are games like Metroid Prime 3, Zelda, Conduit, and Mad World. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of good hard core games, and the best hard core games cannot be found on Nintendo's Wii.
The Wii by and large ignores the hard core gamer crowd, but it offers up the best line up of casual games on any system. Moste of these casual games come in the form of party games. These are games that you can play with a large group of friends. Players can use the Wii controller to play through a slew of mini games. When played in a large group these games can be a lot of fun.
Nintendo also supports the Wii with its cast of strong exclusive titles. The Wii is the only system with Mario, Zelda, and Samus. Since the Wii doesn't focus on graphics Nintendo has taken a risk by reintroducing 2D platformers with their excellent New Super Mario Bros. game. New Super Mario may be based on an old formula, but it somehow manages to feel refreshing.
The Wii does support online play, but it does so very badly. Instead of creating an account with a friendly name, gamers are supposed to share a 16 digit friend code with each other. Honestly I've never even bothered to do this. Furthermore the Wii does not support in game or cross game chat. Playing games online with the Wii is a silent affair, and really something you'll be avoiding if you pick up the Wii.
Conclusion
Before you pick up a system you really need to examine the systems strengths. If you're a hard core gamer that prefers shooters, RPGs, and online game play then the Xbox 360 is the system for you. If you're a casual gamer that doesn't really play video games that much, then you should really consider the Wii. For me, I prefer the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 is actually my favorite console of any generation. While I don't care to play the Wii that much I'm glad Nintendo took the risk and released the Wii. The Wii may not appeal to gamers like me, but its refreshing to see a company take some real risks, and in the process make video games more enjoyable for all of us.
Note: I didn't really review the PlayStation 3. This is because I just barely picked up a PlayStation 3, and I don't feel like I've had enough experience with it to comment on it intelligently. I will say this, thus far I've been very impressed with the PlayStation 3.
1 comment:
hmm wonder which one you prefer :)
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