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Picking Sides In the Console War
If you're having trouble picking, the reviews are beginning to come in for the PlayStation 3 and the Wii. Chris Morris at CNN offers an analysis of the Wii launch games and some frustrations about the PlayStation 3. Chris Kohler at C|Net offers a side by side comparison of both systems ... and some frustrations about the PS3 controller. Finally, 1up offers a look back at Sony's launches, and a similar look back at Nintendo's launches in an effort to judge how the weekend will go.
They're both consoles, they both do the same thing. Neither is completely "better" than the other, but rather that customers have to compare their perceived values? Besides, any Slashdotter that's getting a PS3 has been waiting for the past few days outside their local national chain with 10 bags of Doritos and lifetime supply of delivery pizzas
Don't pick sides, pick games.
Everything else will follow from there.
I have a, still functioning, Sony Betamax. I have a, still functioning, Sony PS2. I have a, still hasn't set the house on fire, Xbox 360. I would like a Wii.
I don't care who "wins". I just want a machine I can play fun games on.
I don't own stock in any of these companies. I don't work for any of these companies. I have been on the "losing" side of these "wars" before. Just note my admission of owning a Betamax above. When Sony stopped making the players and stopped making the tapes, my machine continued to function quite well. In fact, I still watch my recordings of the original airings of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I watch for the old commercials more than for the show. Those who lived in the Oakland/SF Bay Area in the 1980s will know what I'm talking about when I mention "Paul, from the Diamond Center".
We have always been at war with Eurasia!
With the FPS kiddies and casual gaming boobs migrating off the PC platform, PC gaming may actually go back to the more complex, cerebral, mature games we used to be able to buy.
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
I don't care too much about this "war" either - but that's because I don't spend as much time (or percentage of income) on gaming as I did when I was young.
Sure I didn't own "stock" in Sega when I was 10 - but I had a Master System. To a 10 year old, that's the equivalent of owning a lot of stock, because it's not like you're going to get two consoles. And the value of that stock is very apparent to you when your friends are playing Mario 3 and you're playing some incomprehensible turd (though Shinobi was good..).
People arguing about consoles do have a stake in this. Making it worse, the value of their investment will come down to the number of people who agree and disagree with them (even on a local level, as if your friends have the same system you can trade games). Nobody wants to end up the odd man out with the "loser" console.
I don't care who "wins". I just want a machine I can play fun games on.
Well, you theoretically could play fun games on a 3D0 or Jaguar - but you probably didn't. Consoles that don't "win" sometimes "lose", and don't get any fun games. So if you want to play a console with fun games, then it is relevant to figure out which console is going to win. I don't expect the winners and losers to be so cleanly distinguished that one console will get no support (as has happened before) - but for people who play a lot of games (and spend a lot of money), there's still stakes involved, and thus concern over who wins.
Let's not stir that bag of worms...
Because I don't have the cash to buy both and buy games? (food/rent/etc also fit in there somewhere)?
Because I am not interested in spending $500 for a game system that I can not make use of some of the key selling points (I do not have, nor want, an HD TV)?
Because the launch line up (lincluding those announced for 2007) looks relatively pathetic on the PS3 and looks relatively good on the Wii?
Because I am a nintendo fanboy and thus want Mario/Zelda/Metroid/SSB:B?
Are those all enough reasons?
If I had horrible amounts of cash, yes I would buy a huge HD tv, a PS3, a 360, and a Wii as well as all of the games I MIGHT like. However, I am not rich, and thus I will stick with the ONE I think will give me the greatest return on my investment.
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
Why pick sides, just buy both systems and call it a day.
I'm a college student, you insensitive clod!!
by buying Nintendo stock. I figure anyone who wanted a souped-up PS2 already bought a 360. Those lining up to buy the PS3 would line up to buy socks if they were hyped enough.
Non-gamers and gamers alike are using words like "revolutionary" and "fun" to describe the Wii in every review I've read.
Personally, I already have a PS2, and don't need a PS3 plus. I'd rather have something totally different.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
The very first line of that article confused the hell out of me:
" The Xbox 360 finally has some competition: The PlayStation 3 hits stores (in extremely limited quantities) on November 17, followed two days later by the Nintendo Wii."
Is he using the past tense for future events? Today is the 16th of November. Did that quantum entaglement experiment work and this was our first message from the future? Seriously, what the hell.
As far as I know, the PS3 is only out in Japan and the Wii isn't out anywhere. So right now, as far as I know, game reviewers who were given consoles to test are the only ones who could have possibly played all three and formed an opinion.
Am I mistaken, or do those reader rankings sound like people rating things based on how they hope they'll be, making them no more indicative of anything than all the internet banter that's gone on over the past couple years?
The enemies of Democracy are
They aren't JUST toys to a lot of people on slashdot. A decent percentage of people who post here work in the games industry, thus are very close to this topic. Several of my good friends work for game developers, one works at SoA. The "way the wind blows" is pretty important to them.
Beyond that, what other people buy WILL have an impact on you. If a console fails to achieve marketshare, the 3rd parties will stop supporting them.
Also, many people in the US (and, I'm sure, Japan as well) look on it as a patriotic issue... many Americans want to see US companies do well in what has traditionally been a market not dominated by American console manufacturers.
Finally - I don't see how it's any emptier to be interested in the videogame industry than the traditional software industry, or even sports...