The "Latest Gen" console battle

First of all, let me get this out. In my mind, “Next Gen” consoles will always be the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Nintendo 64. With that being said, life has progressed since that time, and we are now not one, but two generations removed from the “Next Gen” gaming consoles. And so, now we have the “Latest Gen” games systems…

As time has passed, the world of video gaming has come to encompass men and women, people of all walks of life, and most importantly, people of every age group. The demographics of video game players stretch from children barely old enough to walk who can fluidly control a speeding spaceship through a narrow cavern, to middle aged parents who send their kids to bed early so they can (finally!) have the system to themselves. And so, with the recent launch of Xbox 360, and upcoming arrivals of PlayStation3 and Nintendo’s system currently codenamed “Revolution”, I thought it was time for a Village Tavern review of the three systems.

Xbox360:
It’s here, its expensive, it’s remarkable to look at in HD and it’s largely unavailable. It seems that Microsoft actually enjoys having system shortages at launch date. They seem to think it somehow increase interest. They very well maybe right. The launch of the original Xbox (I say this in comparison to the newly arrived Xbox 360, not that anything about the makeup of the system or it’s games could really be termed “original”) was highly successful for Microsoft, a console newcomer at the time. The 360 figures to be an equally successful system with many excellent array of third party and in house games already in productions. But let’s take a more in depth look.

Appearance: The Xbox 360 is about what you’d expect from Microsoft; a slightly slimmer, slightly flashier version of the Xbox, that can stand on it’s end if you so desire. It’s still quite large, and of course, features a green “X” somewhere on the console. Overall, pretty boring stuff. But, if it ain’t broke, I suppose you don’t have to fix it (heck, we all know that Microsoft has a history of not even fixing things that ARE broken…).
C+
Power: I’m not a real Techie, so I won’t go into too much depth on this. Needless to say, the Xbox360 is a powerful, finely tuned mo-chine. It will undoubtedly provide an impressive gaming experience from every technical standpoint. It boasts full HDTV integration, wi-fi controllers and has an optional Hard Drive. Having an already established Xbox Live server will be a big plus for Microsoft, although the first version always left me thoroughly nonplussed. It was cool, it was fun, but every time you played you came up with at least one more thing they could have done a much better job with.
B+
Innovation: There’s really nothing innovative about the Xbox 360. For the first Xbox they took the basic concept that Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and (to a much lesser extent Sony) spent years developing and put it on steroids, threw a bunch of money at it, and tried to beat out the other companies. They were pretty successful (in the USA at least), and were of course greatly benefited from the wildly popular “Halo” series which had originally been developed as an exclusive Mac game before Microsoft bought out Bungie and sat on the full developed game for over a year and a half.
C-
Price: Going for about $799-1500 online right now. Comes in various packages including Hard drive and Xbox Live membership variances.
D
Games: There’s no denying Xbox 360 will have some fantastic games. Perfect Dark Zero is supposedly a fantastic first person shooter, and Halo 3 promises to be impressive (although, so did Halo 2…). With all the major game production companies signed on, and a supposedly easy to program working environment, good games will come, and they’ll come by the dozen! Rumor has it XBox 360 also has a shot at landing many or all of the Final Fantasy games in the future, a major blow for Sony (and coincidently a major boost for Microsoft), which has dominated RPG production for several years now.
A
Slant: Can you tell I don’t like Microsoft very much? On a whole, I think the XBox 360 will be good system that will provide many very good games. My fear is that it will merely add more graphics and flash to games, when in reality it is good game-play that is more lacking on many of the XBox games I have played.
B
Overall Value:
B-


PlayStation 3:
The PS3 has not yet been released, but is Sony’s attempt to install yet another successful volume in its catalog of console systems. Sony’s first system, the 32-bit PlayStation was wildly successful. It helped kick Sega and their clunky Saturn system to the curb, while leaving the Dreamcast as a vague memory. In the meantime PlayStation became easily the most popular “Next Gen” System, and Sega collapsed and Nintendo’s popularity waned. With the PlayStation2, Sony further enhanced their grip on the console industry by capitalizing on it’s abilities to function as a “cheap alternative DVD player” and providing PS2 users with an unprecedented array of game titles. While the XBox managed to compete in the U.S., it was not nearly as popular overseas (i.e. in Japan), where the Sony and Nintendo make up the majority of the gaming market. Sony hopes to build on past success with a very powerful system tentatively due out by the Spring of 2006.

Appearance: The PS3 features a sleek silver casing and can also stand either on it’s base or horizontally. Some how though, it looks very nondescript and planed. The controller figures to function basically the same as previous PlayStation controllers, but is shaped more like a boomerang… This seems to be more of an appearance-based decision, and leaves this reviewer wondering how comfortable it will be to play.
B
Power: PS3 figures to be the most powerful of the “Latest Gen” systems. Though reports have varied it should be between 1.5 and 2 times as powerful the XBox 360. It also is set to support “Blu-ray” (basically HD-DVD) playback. This does not figure to play as prominent a role in the system’s success as the PS2’s DVD playback did. The reason being, there are currently ZERO High Definition DVD’s on the marker to play, and there appears to be an ugly format war on the horizon, which Sony might or might now end up winning. In other words, Blu-Ray could just as easily go the way of the Mini-disc as it could end up being as widespread as the Compact Disc (what the layman calls a “CD”).
A
Innovation: Same story as the XBox360 on this one; sony hasn’t truly innovated since they entered the console wars. Will that prevent them from being successful? Probably not at all. Will it cost them in this review? YOU BETCHA! One area that seems promising though, and will earn Sony a better mark that Microsoft: multiple TV outputs. The system is set to send signal to two TV’s at once, allowing multiple players to have their on full-screen action: very good idea!
B-
Price: No official work on pricing yet, but it figures to be cheaper on launch date than the 360 (at least comparable to the then-current price of the XBox 360). It will definitely be more expensive that Nintendo’s “Revolution” system, but only time will tell on specifics.
C+
Games: Here is where it gets interesting. PS3 will have several important carry-over games that could prove highly successful, or at the very least give in a lot of game recognition. Tekken, Metal Gear, and Gran Turismo (to name a few) are all going to draw fans; new and old to the PS3. Sony also figures to have better support from Japanese developing companies. However, I’ve also heard rumblings that delays in programming software have delayed production, and early indications are that PS3 has been hard to program for. Sounds like not that big of a deal? Well, by contrast the XBox 360 has drawn great reviews for easy programmability. Also, keep in mind, the N64 was a graphically superior system whose success was highly limited because developers disliked programming for it, especially due to space constraints imposed by it’s cartridge based game medium. So only time will tell…
B+
Slant: To be completely honest, I never liked either of the two previous Sony systems. I found them to always be fun to look at and awkward to play. I’ve always felt that graphics draw you to a game, but game play (and of course content) keep you coming back. I also never found a great multiplayer games on PS, or PS2. This is a personal preference thing; to me, there are few things better (the Zelda series being the one notable exception) than getting the group together and fighting or racing it out against each other. A little co-op is even fun from time to time. These factors combined, if they do carryover to Sony’s latest system, will be great deterrents to me every buying, or even spending large amounts of time playing the system.
C
Overall Value:
B-

Nintendo Revolution:
Cheesy as it may sound, I think the codename (no official name has been released as of print time) that Nintendo has put on their upcoming system is telling. They truly think they are going to revolutionize gaming as we now view it. And I, for one, think they are on to something. Over the history of console game, the controller has largely been what makes console gaming so appealing (especially when compared to computer gaming). The controller allows for easy to learn and comfortable game-play. Nintendo invented the cross pad, then they introduced the Analog stick (which everyone shrugged off as insignificant at the time), and now they’ve introduced the Revolution controller. It looks like a TV controller, and functions as a gyroscope-like directional manipulator. Its goal is to allow movement in 3-Dimentsional space on a level not yet experienced, while also providing fun and intuitive game play. Imagine that really awkward kid you sometimes played with as a kid (or your sister for that matter) when playing a driving game; you know what I’m talking about, controller moving up and down, side to side, as they’re unable to push the control stick on one direction without moving their entire bodies. Yeah, that just about describes it. It will also allow plug-ins such as an analog control stick and other features yet to be revealed to hopefully further diversify game-play.

Appearance: The Revolution is set to appear in multiple colors and be bi-directional in its orientation (i.e. can sit on either end). It also features to be by far the smallest of the systems, and its primary color is what has often been termed “Apple white”. In fact, it looks very much like an Apple product, which is a very good thing when appearances (not to mention functionality and reliability) are concerned.
A-
Power: Nintendo has completely gone away from making a performance a priority. They are not going to support HD, in an effort to keep the optimal experience of a Revolution available to a larger audience, and to keep game production costs down (normal game production must be done twice over HD programming). I think this is a mistake, not in principle, but in how it will be received by the buying public. Buyers are attracted to flashy products, and HD is very, very flashy.
C+
Innovation: The idea of completely changing the medium by which games are played exudes innovative aroma. I don’t think that even Nintendo’s most ardent critics can fault Nintendo for ever being complacent. The problem is, if their new controller pans out as well as it possibly could, Microsoft and Sony will have just copied it by next year anyways…
A+
Price: Target pricing is around $200 dollars. The Revolution figures to be, no matter what the exact price ends up being, significantly cheaper than the other systems. Price and availability for everyone is the object here.
A
Games: The classic Nintendo game installments promise to be there; Mario, Zelda, Smash Brothers, Mario Kart, Metroid, Duck Hunt, etc (Okay, I can’t confirm the Dunk Hunt one, but that would be kind of sweet!). Initial reports from Third-party companies are also promising. Here’s how envision this panning out. Many GREAT games, but a much smaller game library than the other two systems. Most games available on all three, won’t be as good on the Revolution simply due to its lack of pure power. But Revolution exclusive games could be exceptional (my fingers are crossed). To be honest, first-person shooters may never be the same, and games with sword fighting could finally be a functional game-play mode!
A
Slant: I’m a diehard Nintendo fan, if you haven’t noticed. I think this system has great potential to be fun to play for everyone who gives it a realistic shot. Sadly, I don’t think the main-stream market wants to change as badly as Nintendo needs change to be the catalyst of success it’s hoping for. But I’m excited nonetheless.
A
Overall Value:
A-