Lines of people waiting from a few hours to a few days circled electronic stores nationwide this past November in anticipation for the Sony PlayStation 3.
I was probably the only gamer in the world that didn’t care. No, I didn’t get my hands on one on release night, and no I didn’t shell over $1000 on eBay to pick one up. Why should I when there are two competing consoles that give the PS3 a run for its money? Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which has been out for about a year, and the Nintendo Wii, which was released just days after the PS3. For just $50 more than a premium edition PS3, you can get both of these systems. Trust me, you don’t want to get the cheaper Xbox 360 core system, or the basic PS3. But there’s more than money that makes these consoles a great value.
For this gamer, the main thing the Xbox 360 has going for it is exclusive titles. Halo 3, Halo Wars, Gears of War, Rainbow Six: Vegas and Splinter Cell: Conviction (the one that’s coming after Double Agent) are all exclusive to the Xbox 360.
So what if the PlayStation 3 has a better microprocessor than the 360? It’s not going to make much of a difference when all of my buddies are on Xbox live playing Halo 3.
Sony, on its end of the console wars has not been able to keep up in the exclusive titles department either. Grand Theft Auto IV and Assassin’s Creed, games that were formally meant to be PlayStation 3 exclusive, are now going to be available for both systems. Sony may have the advantage when it comes to the hardware, but so far in the software department, it’s Microsoft that’s winning.
While these two consoles duke it out with traditional gamers, Nintendo has developed a new way of playing that might attract new gamers.
The Nintendo Wii is not your typical hold-a-controller-in-your-hand-and-push-buttons gaming system. The thing that makes the Wii unique is it’s revolutionary controller. Shaped like a remote control, it has motion sensors that allow you to take control of the game through movement.
That’s right, so you’re not just pushing a button to swing Link’s sword in Zelda, you’re actually swinging the remote to swing Link’s sword. It may not be too soon to say that this may be the start of virtual gaming.
Another feature of the Wii that may attract the nostalgic gamer is that Nintendo has offered a library of 30 classic games that may be downloaded onto the Wii.
All this does not mean I have any disrespect towards the PlayStation 3. On the contrary, the console is a hardware masterpiece. Sony loses $300 for each premium edition console sold, even with its $599 price tag. The premium edition comes equipped with a 60MB hard drive, Wi-Fi wireless capability, blu-ray drive, and 3.2 GHz Cell processor. This builds for great potential certainly, but what I’m saying is I’d rather spend my money on having fun now. Who wants to spend their money on a machine that will have great titles down the road once developers realize its full capability?
Hey, once PlayStation 3 gets some groundbreaking games that can equip me with hours of fun then maybe I’ll purchase one.
For now, the exclusive titles of the Xbox 360 along with the revolutionary new game play that the Nintendo Wii offers is something that the PS3 in all of its technological glory cannot overcome.
