Tech's Rants #3: PS3 vs 360 and Wii

Tech's Rants #3: PS3 vs 360 and Wii

I just stopped myself from doing something very stupid, I nearly posted an in depth comment on a Youtube video about the PS3 being better than 360, this video to be precise. Next to Banana Phone, biased and incorrect movies about what console is better are what I hate most about youtube, knowing my comment would be countered with some variation of "you're wrong" and also because I could never summarize my opinion on the current state of the so-called "console wars" in a mere comment, I clicked out of the comment box and instead decided to post this rather long blog.

Now that I think about it, this isn't exactly any smarter, lol. Ok, let's get started!

NOTE: I am no games journalist, this is mearly what I think, you may not agree with what I have to say, if so, feel free to start a flame war, this is myspace after all ^^

For those who don't know, my job is selling video games, customers usualy come to me for advice on what console or game to buy, I also own all 3 next-gen consoles and consider myself a hardcore gamer of some description, so I do know what I'm talking about.

One thing I've learnt in my line of work is that your most common variety of gamer is a blind follower, they'll buy any game as long as something they know and trust is stamped on the cover, be it Madden, Crash Bandicoot, GTA or 50 cent, now this is usually casual gamers but I'll admit I sometimes fall into the blind follower category. If anything has Zelda, Sonic, Metal Gear Solid or Katamari (to name a few) I'm all over it, more than willing to part with my hard earned cash and of course I've been burnt several times after buying something I'd expect to be good that turns out to be a turd. Now I know this is going to piss off certain people by saying this, but the PS3 is one of them!

Why the PS3 needs to pick it's game up (pun intended)
Now I didn't have a spare $1000 at launch so I'm actually paying for my PS3 on a payment plan, which worked out pretty well, but anyway, my first problem was choosing a game, since I already had the 360 and Wii I'd already had my share of the many multi-platform games on offer so I opted for an exclusive game. All I had to choose from was Virtura Fighter 5, Motorstorm, Resistance, Ridge Racer and F1, I didn't like racing games and new FPS franchises were risky for me so I chose VF5.

I got it home, hooked it up, waited 5 minutes for it to set up a game save (that ain't right!) and I was in, I would have been blown away by the graphics if I wasn't too busy cursing a blue streak at the difficulty level to care, the 'quest' mode was stupid and the awesome character look customization it was meant to have required several days of constant play, to put it another way, it was shit!

I tried to find another PS3 game to trade VF5 in for and had no luck, so I traded it for Guitar Hero 2 on 360 (hence my rockin' personal picture). So as of right now the only games I have 3 downloadable ones, Super Rub-a-dub, which got boring after 10 mins and Tekken 5 DR, a PSP port with less features and flOw, a fun game but really short. Those were the only half-decent things in the Playstation online store, which by the way hasn't been updated in over a MONTH!

Right now the only thing I use my PS3 for is downloading episodes of Sealab 2021 and The Chaser's War on Everything through y computer and copying them to the PS3 so I don't need to boot up the computer to watch them, that and watching my free copy of Casino Royale on blu ray (which is pretty nifty).

I've had several customers came up to me asking why there aren't any good games on the PS3 yet, I've never heard that question be asked about a new console EVER, Sony have really got a problem on their hands, no good games, no decent online support and a high price tag. If they don't pull off any miracle's between now and Christmas, Sony's console is in for an early grave, so what are going up against?

Console comparison or what the Wii and 360 have over the PS3
Now I'm not going to fling sales figures, system specs and other boring-as-fuck numbers at you, I'm going to try and put things in perspective from personal experience and show the pros and cons of each console's features, so let's off-road!!

Graphics (by what each console can deliver best, no multi console game comparison)
Wii- Jaggy, blurry and not high-def (god that term is passed around like a bag of chips so much it's not funny), by far the lowest. However some games fair pretty well, loading time is quicker and you're having too much fun to really care (sometimes!)

360- Welcome to the next generation buddy, while it's different in each game, most graphics are awesome, crisp, vibrant and even have a hint of motion blur, while some games look mind blowing others sometimes resemble the first xbox and some loading times are just awful *cough*sonicpgr3*cough*

PS3- Nothing short of awesome, real-time reflection and plenty of shiny things plonks this bad boy at number 1 in the graphics dept, this 'cell processor' is definitely doing it's job. Loading time is different with each game.

Online Stuff
Wii- wireless connect24 means that it's always connected, meaning you can get messages and have content downloading even while it's off, while I've never seen the latter in action, I love the blue light on the disk drive that flashes saying you have a message. It's also got a web browser that works really well with the wii remote, but you can only have one window at a time and it's many channels (Everybody Votes, Weather, News and Shop) are a great idea.

360- Xbox Live, need I say more, well maybe the word 'winner' too, no browser and a 'hard to type stuff' msn add on stop this from being perfect.

PS3- While the browser does let you have up to 6 windows up at once, I doubt it's capable of maintaining 1, it's frustratingly slow and using the controller with it is a bitch, I haven't had any friend list interaction yet because I only have 2 on there and they're never on at the same time and there aren't many games with any online play. However it was easy as pie to connect to my wireless network, unlike the Wii (argh!!)

Downloadable Content
yeah it's a phrase thrown around more than high-definition, each console has it's own little gems that can call your console home..... for a price!

Wii- The Virtual Console is perfect for retro buffs, NES, SNES ,N64 and Mega Drive games are now within your grasp, it's updated regularly but can get a little pricey, plus most of the Mega Drive games are available on the Mega Drive collection on the PS2 (which I have by the way) and next to no N64 titles (yet).

360- Ties with the Wii with it's massive marketplace, console themes, gamer pictures, trailers, demos, game updates and the coveted L arcade. LA is pretty good, except 70% of it are arcade ports, boring or just plain shit, but the other 30% more than make up for it.

PS3- As I said earlier, their online store hasn't been updated in ever a month, with a bunch of demos, several movie trailers (that mostly exceed 150 megs(!?!?!!)) and a handful of tepid full games (mostly psp ports) make the PS3 a weak online contender, not even a free download of Gran Tursimo HD, a single track time trial game could save it. But PS3Home looks like a surefire console saver, in fact it was one of the things that made me decide to get one.

Controls
Wii- FOR THE WIN! the Wii remote and nunchuck's motion sensor makes gaming more active and fun for hardcore and casual gamers, while admittedly some games implement it horribly, others hit the nail right on the head. Quite a few games actually offer the ability to use a more conventional controller or even a Gamecube one.

360- Winner of the 'worst d-pad in history' award, it's annoying using that thing for text entry and it's even a problem in actual game play. Everything else is fine, compared to the others it's pretty basic.

PS3- In 2005 when the PS3 was announced there was news of a departure from the trademark 'dual-shock' design to a god awful setup that resembled a fancy boomerang (I'm deadly serious here!) after hearing the cries and anguish and ridicule (mostly ridicule) Sony caved and went back to the drawing board to come back with a wireless dual-shock controller with no rumble, triggers and a motion sensor, dubbed the 'sixaxis'. It's a nicer design and the triggers are a fine example of pressure control but my gripe is with the motion sensor, it's a little too sensitive and the fact that almost every downloadable game has to shove it's use down our throats doesn't help.

Individual Features
Every console has it's own perks that set it apart and here are some

Wii- Perfect backwards compatibility with the Gamecube it's the best idea ever, it even has separate control ports and memory card readers, I was able to let my little brothers have my gamecube since I no longer need it.

360- Gamertags, an easy way to add keep track of your friends as well as compare gamer scores to see how you stack up against others, so you can see how many people have less of a life than you, plus it's limited backwards compatibility with xbox games, no way to transfer data though (I'm NOT beating GTA san andreas a 3rd time!).

PS3- umm.....uuhhhh.....hmmmmm....... shit, I really can't think of any perks, it's backwards compatibility is ok I guess, a lot of games don't work though, amazing how Sony slammed the 360 when they said it wasn't fully backwards compatible then it was eventually revealed it wasn't any better. There's apparently some converter to let you use your ps2 and 1 memory cards, but at the moment it's M.I.A.

Games
Here we go, the main event, it doesn't matter what a console can do or what you can download, if it doesn't have decent games, forget it!

Wii- Nintendo's many in-house franchises that have stood the test of time and even a few new ones, naturally due to it's inferior graphics any multiplatform games will be left in the dust by the other consoles. Plus they managed to score a few exclusive games from other developers like Sega, Konami and Taito

360- By far the best, the list of awesome games on this console would make this blog about twice as long, with studios like Bungee, Rare and Epic behind them, Microsoft are in a comfy position at #1. Hellooooo??? HALO 3!!!!!!

PS3- They're struggling to keep hold of the few exclusive franchises they have left, Naughty Dog, Insomnia and Square are doing all they can. They have a firm grip on Metal Gear Solid 4, but what about after that? it's (once again) rumored to be the last MGS game, Sony's going to need a cabal of serious console saving games pretty soon to avoid that early grave I mentioned earlier.

*whew* I've been typing for a solid 2 and a half hours, I had no idea this would be so long. Well there's the facts according to me, I tried to be as non bias as I could, I hope the PS3 pulls it's act together, I really do, a little something called "my money's worth" it still eluding me.

Meanwhile my 360 and Wii are doing fine thank you......