Go with Wii. Nintendo's the least of the three evils.
I'm considering going to the dark side!!!! (Buying a PS3)
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Scott Gardener
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Console face-off
OK, I've got to do it: the console deathmatch. PC vs. Wii vs. PS3 vs. X-Box 360.
First, the qualifier round: PS3 vs. PS2...
The PS2 goes in outselling the PS3. Sure, it lacks Blu-Ray playback, an internal hard drive, or even the processing power of the four consoles above, but it's dert cheep. 11 year old kids can convince their 30-year-old tech-unsavy parents bogged down with credit card debt that this "toy" is worth its price tag. People living in poverty, who see iPhones and PS3s as irritatingly taunting reminders that other people are living better and caring on a daily basis mostly about pretty inane materialistic wants, can get into the game. Students on a budget can have one, and its recent redesign makes it fit conveniently in a backpack, too. Still, as long as you avoid the 40 Gig no-backwards-compatability model, the PS3 can do everything the PS2 can do and a lot more, at only three times the cost. And, we can hate ourselves for it all we want, but we're still materialistic. Put the two side-by-side, and have an Uber-parent ask you which one you'd like to have for your birthday, and it's a no-brainer. Winner: PS3.
OK, the semifinals, part 1: Wii vs. X-Box 360...
The Wii comes in at $250 plus unbelievable third party markup, an incredibly tiny console with a pair of controllers--the main one resembling a TV remote, and a wired connection to a second "nunchuck" controller. The "Wiimote" alone or dongled to the nunchuck work wirelessly with a motion sensor, allowing real-world and on-screen action to interact. The end result is a substantial reinvention of gameplay, so that rather than mashing buttons on an imitation of a Playstation Dual Shock, you're doing something entirely new. The effect is best seen on a big screen TV. There are two big catches. Actually, the first is more a matter of what happens if you don't catch, as there are plenty of instances of people taking out said big screen TVs with their flying gaming remotes, in spite of Nintendo's efforts to provide stronger wrist straps and better warnings to the gaming public. The second is that, in spite of almost having to have a 40" or better TV for the games to feel right, the games are in at best 480p resolution, while competitors tout their high def superiority. The X-Box 360 comes in at $300, or $400, or $500, depending on how much you want to spend later on accessories versus buying them up front, and whether or not you want to have stuff you'll eventually wish you had all along. It offers high definition gaming, and its processor runs circles around the Wii. It's also got a pretty big library of titles, while the Wii is still working to catch up. But, while the X-Box 360 may have the latest and greatest, it's really not reinventing anything; it's controller is... an imitation of a Playstation Dual Shock, but wireless and minus the vibrator. It's got some good exclusives, like Bioshock--Oh, wait, that's also out on PC--and Halo 3--Oh, wait, that's also out on PC. And, some of the older models have overheated and died suddenly and inexplicably, a phenomenon known as the "red ring of death." Who makes these things? Microsoft? ... You're kidding. They ARE made by Microsoft? But, they've got--provided you springed for the ones with the hard drive accessory--the ability to download movie rentals, in high def no less--and to stream media throughout the house. One problem; to subscribe to X-Box live and be able to do anything meaningful, you have to pay a monthly fee for the "premium" service. Winner: The Wii. (Or, as some may see it, the Whee!!!)
Semifinals, part 2: the Playstation 3 vs. the PC...
The PC is the oldest of the consoles in question, constantly upgrading and with tens of thousands of different models available. If you narrow down the models to only ones readily available now and those with sufficient inards to run games, we're down to maybe 300 or 400 choices, though the numbers shoot up exponentially again when one considers that a lot of PC gamers actually build their own. A decent gaming PC will cost you at the least maybe $1500, while a good one will run considerably more--a lot more. One can easily build a $10,000 model--at least on Alienware's or Falcon Northwest's web site. Actually coming up with the bolts and raritanium to buy the thing is another story. On the plus side, a gaming PC doubles as a PC, which you can use for web surfing, word processing, watching movies, burning CDs, putting bootlegged episodes of "Lost" on YouTube, pirating music, and encouraging kids on MySpace to kill themselves. And, since you did slug out all that money to build one good for gaming, you should be able to do all of that other stuff at the same time. If you've got a business, you can even put it on the business expenses and get a slight tax break, so you're only spending $4000 pre-tax dollars. By comparison, a close look at the Playstation 3 reveals USB ports, an internal hard drive, a multicore processor--basically a gaming PC. Its controller looks like... an imitation of a Dual Shock, only wireless and without the vibrator. Gee, looks familiar. But, unlike a certain other one, this one adds a motion sensor... that resonds to movement... so that real-world action and on-screen action... OK, also looks familiar. Looks like one of our contestants is mirroring everybody else. The PS3 runs you either $400 or $500, depending on whether or not you're getting it primarily just to watch Blu-Ray movies (the cheaper one costs only as much as the cheapest Blu-Ray players on the market, and it throws in Spiderman 3 along with its internal hard drive and the promise of supporting Blu-Ray spec. 2.0) or want to use it for gaming--the more expensive model can play most PS2 titles by emulating the PS2's old Emotion Engine CPU. If the idea of emulation bothers you and you want sturdier backwards compatability, the earlier PS3s, with 20 or 60 Gig hard drives, actually came with a tiny little PS2 inside them. Even though the hard drive is how we tell the models apart, it's the least important distinguishing feature, since a lot of die-hard gamers will pull out the original and replace it with a 250 Gig Western Digital laptop drive, a swap-out process that takes maybe fifteen minutes, plus the hours of waiting for the old drive to back up onto an external. $400 versus $4000... I know the PS3 got into the showdown against its cheaper father, the PS2, but this is an awfully big difference. Still, can a Playstation 3 be used for web browsing, watching movies, or playing mp3s? Oh, yeah. It can. Winner: PS3.
The finals: Wii vs. PS3
Both were impossible to find in December of 2006, and the lines to get each were only two days apart. More than a year later, the Wii is still proving to be a bugbear, while the PS3 is on every street corner. If you can find a Wii, though, you can buy it and still afford some accessories, like, say, a game. The PS3 will cost you considerably more, and it will urge you to splurge even more by giving you free membership with Sony's online store. The Wii seems going in a front-runner. For one thing, it's a great gaming console to share with people who don't ordinarily play video games. Heck, they've got them in nursing homes, where digital bowling has become a major past-time. Before you get too scared off, the Wii also has some seriously mature-rated titles as well. But, the Playstation 3 has a good comeback; it's quite possibly the deciding force that turned the tide in a major war--the war between HD DVD and Blu-Ray. The PS3 put a Blu-Ray player in 800,000 homes, tipping the balance enough that Time Warner did blah blah (I'm sure you've already read about it), and now HD DVD is a serious underdog. (Yes, the X-Box 360 offered an add-on, but the PS3 included it in the price tag. And raised the price tag accordingly. You had to buy it. So, there.) Many home theater enthusiasts who aren't even interested in gaming own one, because it's one of the cheapest Blu-Ray players, and yet: it's the only one on the market today that will support Blu-Ray's forthcoming 2.0 standard, it supports 7.1 surround audio output formats like DTS Master Audio, and, most notably, it includes a hard drive that can work as a media server that plays and stores video, picture, and audio files in various formats. It also upgrades itself via firmware updates and is expected soon to offer movie rental services. PCs and the X-Box 360 can do the same, but the Wii is by comparison pretty self-contained.
Winner: The Playstation 3!
Wii are the champions!!! Oops, Freudian slip there.
First, the qualifier round: PS3 vs. PS2...
The PS2 goes in outselling the PS3. Sure, it lacks Blu-Ray playback, an internal hard drive, or even the processing power of the four consoles above, but it's dert cheep. 11 year old kids can convince their 30-year-old tech-unsavy parents bogged down with credit card debt that this "toy" is worth its price tag. People living in poverty, who see iPhones and PS3s as irritatingly taunting reminders that other people are living better and caring on a daily basis mostly about pretty inane materialistic wants, can get into the game. Students on a budget can have one, and its recent redesign makes it fit conveniently in a backpack, too. Still, as long as you avoid the 40 Gig no-backwards-compatability model, the PS3 can do everything the PS2 can do and a lot more, at only three times the cost. And, we can hate ourselves for it all we want, but we're still materialistic. Put the two side-by-side, and have an Uber-parent ask you which one you'd like to have for your birthday, and it's a no-brainer. Winner: PS3.
OK, the semifinals, part 1: Wii vs. X-Box 360...
The Wii comes in at $250 plus unbelievable third party markup, an incredibly tiny console with a pair of controllers--the main one resembling a TV remote, and a wired connection to a second "nunchuck" controller. The "Wiimote" alone or dongled to the nunchuck work wirelessly with a motion sensor, allowing real-world and on-screen action to interact. The end result is a substantial reinvention of gameplay, so that rather than mashing buttons on an imitation of a Playstation Dual Shock, you're doing something entirely new. The effect is best seen on a big screen TV. There are two big catches. Actually, the first is more a matter of what happens if you don't catch, as there are plenty of instances of people taking out said big screen TVs with their flying gaming remotes, in spite of Nintendo's efforts to provide stronger wrist straps and better warnings to the gaming public. The second is that, in spite of almost having to have a 40" or better TV for the games to feel right, the games are in at best 480p resolution, while competitors tout their high def superiority. The X-Box 360 comes in at $300, or $400, or $500, depending on how much you want to spend later on accessories versus buying them up front, and whether or not you want to have stuff you'll eventually wish you had all along. It offers high definition gaming, and its processor runs circles around the Wii. It's also got a pretty big library of titles, while the Wii is still working to catch up. But, while the X-Box 360 may have the latest and greatest, it's really not reinventing anything; it's controller is... an imitation of a Playstation Dual Shock, but wireless and minus the vibrator. It's got some good exclusives, like Bioshock--Oh, wait, that's also out on PC--and Halo 3--Oh, wait, that's also out on PC. And, some of the older models have overheated and died suddenly and inexplicably, a phenomenon known as the "red ring of death." Who makes these things? Microsoft? ... You're kidding. They ARE made by Microsoft? But, they've got--provided you springed for the ones with the hard drive accessory--the ability to download movie rentals, in high def no less--and to stream media throughout the house. One problem; to subscribe to X-Box live and be able to do anything meaningful, you have to pay a monthly fee for the "premium" service. Winner: The Wii. (Or, as some may see it, the Whee!!!)
Semifinals, part 2: the Playstation 3 vs. the PC...
The PC is the oldest of the consoles in question, constantly upgrading and with tens of thousands of different models available. If you narrow down the models to only ones readily available now and those with sufficient inards to run games, we're down to maybe 300 or 400 choices, though the numbers shoot up exponentially again when one considers that a lot of PC gamers actually build their own. A decent gaming PC will cost you at the least maybe $1500, while a good one will run considerably more--a lot more. One can easily build a $10,000 model--at least on Alienware's or Falcon Northwest's web site. Actually coming up with the bolts and raritanium to buy the thing is another story. On the plus side, a gaming PC doubles as a PC, which you can use for web surfing, word processing, watching movies, burning CDs, putting bootlegged episodes of "Lost" on YouTube, pirating music, and encouraging kids on MySpace to kill themselves. And, since you did slug out all that money to build one good for gaming, you should be able to do all of that other stuff at the same time. If you've got a business, you can even put it on the business expenses and get a slight tax break, so you're only spending $4000 pre-tax dollars. By comparison, a close look at the Playstation 3 reveals USB ports, an internal hard drive, a multicore processor--basically a gaming PC. Its controller looks like... an imitation of a Dual Shock, only wireless and without the vibrator. Gee, looks familiar. But, unlike a certain other one, this one adds a motion sensor... that resonds to movement... so that real-world action and on-screen action... OK, also looks familiar. Looks like one of our contestants is mirroring everybody else. The PS3 runs you either $400 or $500, depending on whether or not you're getting it primarily just to watch Blu-Ray movies (the cheaper one costs only as much as the cheapest Blu-Ray players on the market, and it throws in Spiderman 3 along with its internal hard drive and the promise of supporting Blu-Ray spec. 2.0) or want to use it for gaming--the more expensive model can play most PS2 titles by emulating the PS2's old Emotion Engine CPU. If the idea of emulation bothers you and you want sturdier backwards compatability, the earlier PS3s, with 20 or 60 Gig hard drives, actually came with a tiny little PS2 inside them. Even though the hard drive is how we tell the models apart, it's the least important distinguishing feature, since a lot of die-hard gamers will pull out the original and replace it with a 250 Gig Western Digital laptop drive, a swap-out process that takes maybe fifteen minutes, plus the hours of waiting for the old drive to back up onto an external. $400 versus $4000... I know the PS3 got into the showdown against its cheaper father, the PS2, but this is an awfully big difference. Still, can a Playstation 3 be used for web browsing, watching movies, or playing mp3s? Oh, yeah. It can. Winner: PS3.
The finals: Wii vs. PS3
Both were impossible to find in December of 2006, and the lines to get each were only two days apart. More than a year later, the Wii is still proving to be a bugbear, while the PS3 is on every street corner. If you can find a Wii, though, you can buy it and still afford some accessories, like, say, a game. The PS3 will cost you considerably more, and it will urge you to splurge even more by giving you free membership with Sony's online store. The Wii seems going in a front-runner. For one thing, it's a great gaming console to share with people who don't ordinarily play video games. Heck, they've got them in nursing homes, where digital bowling has become a major past-time. Before you get too scared off, the Wii also has some seriously mature-rated titles as well. But, the Playstation 3 has a good comeback; it's quite possibly the deciding force that turned the tide in a major war--the war between HD DVD and Blu-Ray. The PS3 put a Blu-Ray player in 800,000 homes, tipping the balance enough that Time Warner did blah blah (I'm sure you've already read about it), and now HD DVD is a serious underdog. (Yes, the X-Box 360 offered an add-on, but the PS3 included it in the price tag. And raised the price tag accordingly. You had to buy it. So, there.) Many home theater enthusiasts who aren't even interested in gaming own one, because it's one of the cheapest Blu-Ray players, and yet: it's the only one on the market today that will support Blu-Ray's forthcoming 2.0 standard, it supports 7.1 surround audio output formats like DTS Master Audio, and, most notably, it includes a hard drive that can work as a media server that plays and stores video, picture, and audio files in various formats. It also upgrades itself via firmware updates and is expected soon to offer movie rental services. PCs and the X-Box 360 can do the same, but the Wii is by comparison pretty self-contained.
Winner: The Playstation 3!
Wii are the champions!!! Oops, Freudian slip there.
Taking a Gestalt approach, since it's the "in" thing...
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Figarou
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Re: Console face-off
Scott Gardener wrote: Wii are the champions!!! Oops, Freudian slip there.
Wii need to talk.
(Heh....2 can play that game!!!)
Meh......I'm not all excited about that. But it's nice that I'll soon have profile 2.0 when the firmware update is out. Then I'll be able to use it for the upcoming Blu-Ray "BD-LIVE."Scott Gardener wrote: and yet: it's the only one on the market today that will support Blu-Ray's forthcoming 2.0 standard,
Nope. It does not support DTS-HD Master Audio. (Same goes for the current Sony stand alone Blu-Ray players.)Scott Gardener wrote:it supports 7.1 surround audio output formats like DTS Master Audio,
The PS3 doesn't decode or pass it to my receiver as a bitstream. It'll only pass/decode the "DTS core" from the DTS-HD MA track. Its rumored that a firmware upgrade will make the PS3 pass DTS-HD MA. But experts are saying it doesn't have the right chip to do that. It DOES support 7.1 PCM. (OH!!! Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction happens to be in 7.1 PCM surround!!!)
I had to buy another Blu-Ray player that supports DTS-HD MA in order to listen to the DTS-HD MA track.
The PS3 WILL decode Dolby TrueHD internally and pass it to my receiver as PCM using HDMI. It does NOT pass Dolby TrueHD as a bitstream.
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Scott Gardener
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- Posts: 4731
- Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:36 pm
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