I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I've been heavily into video games for close to a decade, so I'm going to give my opinion on the newest consoles.
XBOX-360: While a nice console, hasn't got anything great or new going for it. The other consoles have focused on doing something special and unique for their unit. The XBOX-360 doesn't have anything "special" about it, that it can call its own (in terms of hardware). Not to say there aren't any good games on it, there's the newest Halo game (if you're into FPS's), and even a few J-RPG's that I'm interested in.
Unfortunately, there's still some issues with it. One, being that this thing can get monstrously hot in a relatively short amount of time. It runs hot for a console. When electronics run hot, more of a chance of crashes and failures. When the XBOX-360 dies (the hardware is no longer fully functional), the lights that normally shine green on the front will shine red instead. Apparently, the XBOX-360 hardware failure rate is SO high, these red lights have become known as the "
red ring of death". There is a whole page on Wikipedia dedicated to XBOX-360 technical problems.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_problemsOverall for the XBOX-360, it's nice, has some neat games (some that will make it extremely appealing for fans of certain genres). It's price is moderate to good. Only new console cheaper is the Wii. But it also has a host of technical issues too. Sure, your warranty ought to cover it, but shipping it off to get fixed is an additional pain in the ass. Buyer beware.
Playstation 3: The most expensive console of them all. Its big, black and sexy. Also will play Blu-Ray (gave them a reason to jack up the price, since they think EVERYONE wants their PS3 to be a home entertainment centre in of itself). Graphics on this thing are capable of being F**king excellent. That doesn't mean all the games DO look good, but the capability is there. Unfortunately, there are no good games out for it yet. Nothing exclusive to the console yet that makes it a "must have".
Oh yeah, and then there's the issue of Backwards Compatibility. Ya see, the XBOX-360 plays XBOX games. The Wii plays Gamecube games. The PS3 plays PS2 games.. sort of. Versions of the PS3 in other countries had the hardware from the PS2 thrown into it additionally, to play PS2 games. The ones released in Australia however, play PS2 games via software emulation. This means that at the moment, not all PS2 games can be played on the PS3 AND those that do, sometimes don't look as good as they would on a normal PS2.
And the new PS3 they are releasing in Australia with a smaller internal hard-drive, for like 200-300 dollars less? It
CAN'T play PS2 games at all. They completely removed the backwards compatibility. They also don't go out of their way to tell you that either. Bastards. In short, the PS3 will most likely become MUCH more popular once it gets some good exclusives (like Final Fantasy XIII). But until then, the only real good it has is playing Blu-Ray movies (which will only be good if you also have a High-Def TV), and playing PS2 games (which it doesn't do perfectly, or doesn't do at all).
Pricey. But will eventually become much bigger.
Nintendo Wii: The newest Nintendo console. Is perfectly backwards compatible to the best of my knowledge, you can use old Gamecube controllers on it for your Gamecube games, and it has some great games on it already. It's controller is wireless, and is required to be waved around and such to play any typical Wii game (some require a greater degree of waving than others. It is possible to play these rather effectively with little movement at all, as long as you jerk the controller just right). I personally don't like this whole "wave the controller around" idea, but for quite a few Wii games, normal Gamecube controllers are compatible.
This is the cheapest unit of them all, and is generally the hardest to get out of all 3, because it is commonly low on stock (due to high popularity). This is more of a bare-bones console, since it isn't trying to also be a media centre at the same time as a console, like the others are aiming for. This is strictly a gaming console. There haven't been any significant problems with this console yet, except that people sometimes get so sweaty from waving the controller around so much, it sometimes slides out of their hand and goes flying (there are variants that come with wrist-straps, however).
There are already good, exclusive games out for it too. Like Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess (there is also a Gamecube version too), Mario Galaxy has just been released recently too. Right now the Wii is the most popular and doing the best in the market.
In short, if you're looking for a console that's cheap, its great. If you want something to also watch DVD's on too and etc, then this console isn't really for you.
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Oh, and here's a message for people who are buying the XBOX-360 and PS3 mainly for their formats (HD-DVD or Blu-Ray)...
Don't do that. It is a foolish idea. Anyone remember what happened between VHS and Beta? Two competing tape-formats, both pretty much as good as the other (in the end, Beta was slightly superior). They were so close in the market for a while (much like HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) that no one knew who was going to win. What happened? VHS won over its technically superior counterpart due to better marketing.
What is referred to as the "HD-DVD / Blu-Ray" war is still waging. Although Blu-Ray appears to be technically superior (has a higher storage capacity), HD-DVD is doing quite well, and it also getting some exclusive titles as well. Blu-Ray is also becoming increasingly unpopular because of all the DRM Sony is trying to implement with it, which only causes problems for legitimate consumers (instead of the pirates they're targeting).
Don't buy a console for the format it uses, since there is a chance you will end up with a console that uses an unpopular, not-well supported format. Buy a console for the games, and only the games.
hahaha classic, Luv the way he comments on the games lmao!
