The Stupid Gamer

Now that all three major console manufacturers have launched their newest consoles, next-gen can finally be referred to as current-gen and the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube games can be considered last-gen. So, now that we’ve finally arrived, is it anything truly special? Not really.

The Xbox 360 is really on a roll right now and is looking pretty impressive overall. It has, however, introduced gaming to microtransactions. These microtransactions are easily the worst thing to come along in gaming since, uh, well, ever. Hopefully microtransactions don’t become the Xbox 360’s legacy, but rather compelling software such as Gears of War and the eventual Halo 3.

The PlayStation 3 is off to a bit of a rocky start. The launch software is really, really, bad, and the system is plagued with all sorts of issues that range from hardware glitches and bad HDTV support. In fact, even though I have a nice HDTV, the PS3 would downscale my games to 480p because it doesn’t accept a 720p image. So basically my PS3 games would run in the same resolution as my old GameCube games. Lots of issues are being reported with the bluetooth controllers dropping in and out of communication as well. I think the PS3 will be fine in the long run, but its first few weeks haven’t been very reassuring. I can’t wait to see how it performs once the good software (MGS4, DMC4, etc.) starts rolling out.

The Nintendo Wii is off to a better start than either the 360 or PS3 were able to achieve. I think a lot of people are surprised by the amount of momentum and positive buzz that Nintendo has been able to build over the past 2 years leading up to the Wii’s launch. The pack-in game, Wii Sports, has proven to be a hit across the board and stories have flooded online forums of people playing with parents, grandparents, and all types of “non-gamers.” I think the Wii will do well, but let’s hope that Nintendo can actually commit to a good and solid online experience. It will be interesting to see if the Wii’s love fest is a long-term thing or merely a flash in the pan phenomenon.

Right now I still haven’t been able to track down a PS3 and I’ve decided I’m better off waiting until the Spring (at the earliest). I really do have plenty to keep me busy between the 360, the Wii, and stuff I haven’t finished on the PS2.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 10:03 am and is filed under Editorials and Rants, Multiconsole. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.