Impulsivity said:
Actually I would say the natural aliance is Wii and PS3 vs 360 TBH. The Wii is the best casual low end system. It's made for people who like a certain kind of game (character based games, low on violence and realism while high on approachability) and is the best console on the market for that kind of thing. It doesn't want to be a media center, it doesn't want to get you to buy HD, it just wants you to play Mario games and maybe get some old classics from the Wii store. Alternately the PS3 is the best choice for people who want the very high end. It has Blu Ray (which almost anyone with a decently sized 1080P set and HD setup can tell you is AMAZING esp with action movies), built in wireless, virtually infinite HD space (since its swappable with any 2.5 drives which are up to 1TB now) and all kinds of other goodies. The majority of the best high end games are either on both the PS3 and 360 or just on the PS3 (with a handful of exceptions like Gears of War 2 and Halo 3). So the Wii is covering the low end casual consumer who doesn't really care much about HD but does care about Mario Kart and the PS3 is covering the high end enthusiast consumer who really cares a lot about HD and prefers Gran Turismo 5. Where does the 360 fit in? It's not low end and casual friendly like the Wii (bad attempts like Banjo nuts and bolts not withstanding) but certainly isn't the high end enthusiast console either with the tiny built in (and more or less non swapable) hard drive, limited media capabilities and no Blu Ray. That the original 360 (which I still have since it won't sell for more then 140 bucks on ebay) doesn't even have an HDMI port speaks volumes about its limited capabilities relative to the PS3. So it has a lot of the PS3 games and very few unique games (much less good unique games) mixed with less capability and nothing to really make it stand out. Its kind of pinched between Pepsi and Coke. You'll have Nintendo people who want the casual, Sony people who want the hard core but MS is kind of a me too console trying to be both (and not being great at either the high or low end market). MS is RC Cola to Nintendo and Sony's Pepsi and Coke. Sure when RC Cola is DEEPLY discounted and the cheapest thing on the shelf it can sell vs Pepsi at full price, but when prices converge there is just no reason to own a 360. Wii has Nintendo games and a unique controller, PS3 has Blu Ray, tons of options for media sharing better graphics and the most studios working on exclusive games (most of which, like Naughty Dog, are AWESOME studios). What does the 360 have? A good exclusive or two each year? Looks like low price is the only thing the 360 has going for it and that type of differentiation won't last forever. How do you defend something without something to point to for superiority? That is probably why a lot of people don't really bother (though I would argue there are a LOT of 360 fanboys on this site, I don't know how you don't come across it OP) |
What happened to that Wii60 allience?
The Microsoft Xbox 360 is the best console for both the casual and hardcore crowd. There are three different SKUs to choose from such as the Arcade which is perfect for casuals while the Elite attracts the hardcore crowd. The 360 has over 100 family titles including Kung-fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones and the support for the casual is increasing with the new user-friendly NXE. Pretty much every multiplatform game runs or looks better on the 360, is a timed exclusive and/or has exclusive DLC. Achievement points are mandatory unlike trophies which gives the hardcore gamer more motivation to keep on playing the game after finishing it. The third party support for the 360 keeps on rising while the PS3's keeps on struggling.
While the PS3 does have great first party titles/studios, Microsoft can counter-attack them with their own exclusives. Uncharted - Gears of War. Resistance - Halo. Gran Turismo - Forza. Singstar - Lips and so on. For the most part, the 360 titles are the one who are rated higher on average courtesy of Metacritic. The 360 has the biggest and highly rated library this generation. Xbox Live is the best online experience this gen with its award winning features and over 12 million subscribers on board, and the PSN keeps on trying to become like XBL. I can't comment on blu-ray since the 360 is primarly a gaming console, but you can download HD movies from the video store. All of this can be yours starting at $199.
