The Next Gen War
Nov 11, 2006
This is it. The clash of the next generation video game systems begins this holiday season. The entrenched Xbox 360 faces off against the behemoth PlayStation brand, while Nintendo quietly goes about doing what Nintendo does best: changing the game instead of keeping up with the Joneses.
Is the world big enough for all three platforms or must at least one concede defeat? If you're reading this, you're probably thinking about buying a new console this holiday season -- confused on where to start? Worry not! We're here to break it down for you.
Choose A System:
Xbox 360
Release date: 11/22/2005
Retail Boxes:
1. Xbox 360 Core - $299.99
Wired controller, composite video cables, no hard drive
2. Xbox 360 - $399.99
20 GB hard drive, wireless controller, Xbox Live headset, hi-def component video cables
Backwards Compatibility: Moderate - Some games work flawlessly, others have issues, and some flat out don't work. Check this list for details.
Availability: Excellent - Readily available in stores
A relative newcomer to the console landscape, Microsoft's second generation Xbox has a massive head start on its peers. Now a year old, developers are becoming more accustomed to its capabilities and creating absolutely groundbreaking visuals and cutting edge gameplay experiences. With over 15 million 360s expected to have been sold around the world by the end of the year, the sleek white machine has a significant head start on its competition.
Although the company was a late entrant to the console race, it pioneered the integration of single sign-on online services and multiplayer gaming into its titles. It was a big hit, too -- since its launch in 2002, 236,000 total years of Xbox Live gameplay have been recorded, and Sony and Nintendo's online offerings to date can't match its functionality. Basic access to the service's downloads and content is free, but there's a $50/year subscription fee if you want to play multiplayer titles.
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If you're fed up with going to the store for your games, you'll be pleased to hear there are also a number of downloadable games waiting on Xbox Live. Sure, you'll still have to head for a store to find a "real game", but there's an impressive selection of arcade games, retro games, board games, puzzlers, and simple action titles already waiting on Xbox Live to be downloaded for sub-$10 prices. Many have online multiplayer functions, too -- but you can only download them on hard drive-equipped 360s.
Besides hard drives, inside the 360 lurks a selection of silicon that would still shame a powerful PC, even a year after its release. At its heart is a custom-made triple-core CPU, running at 3.2GHz and cooled by a mammoth copper heat pipe sculpture and a pair of fans. Graphics are provided a high-powered ATI chip, and the machine supports output all the way up to 1080p resolution, depending on the content you're watching.
Although it can't play high-def movies out of the box, Microsoft is releasing a HD-DVD drive add-on that costs $200. Starting in just a few weeks, you'll also be able to "rent" both high and standard definition movies online, by downloading one-use copies from Xbox Live. TV shows will also be available in the same way, although you'll get to keep those for good.
Top Five Game Picks:
1. Gears of War One of the best action games of the year, and the perfect showcase for the 360's power.
2. Dead Rising: Dead Rising mimics Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead movie, dropping its unfortunate star in a zombie-infested mall.
3. Saints Row The closest you'll get to GTA on the 360 until this time next year.
4. Battle for Middle Earth 2 You can't do a real-time strategy game on a console. Or so we thought, until we tried this Lord of the Rings-licensed stunner.
5. Prey Spatial awareness is king in this upside-down, back-to-front shooter - Prey loves to mess with your sense of balance and orientation, with delightfully disorienting results.
Choose A System:
Sony PlayStation 3
Release date: 11/17/2006
Retail Boxes:
1. Basic - $499.99
20 GB hard drive, wireless controller
2. Premium - $599.99
60 GB hard drive, wireless controller, built-in wireless networking, flash card reader
Backwards Compatibility: Good - Nearly every PS1 and PS2 game works. Older games may distort on widescreen displays.
Availability: Poor - Restricted supply is likely to mean that if you don't have a preorder before launch, you'll probably be waiting until next year.
One area where neither competitor can match Sony is sheer marketing power. Everybody knows the PlayStation brand means video games, thanks to the vast amount of money Sony has spent on pushing it since the first PlayStation launched way back in 1995. US hardware shipments total 44 million -- enough to put one in 42 percent of households -- with over 110 million consoles in circulation worldwide.
The PS3 will launch with its own online service, similar to Xbox Live but with one crucial difference: it'll be free. The PlayStation Network Platform has similar matchmaking, voice chat, and ranking to Xbox Live, but there are no subs fees (although premium games, like massively-multiplayer titles, might end up charging players). Unlike the 360, it includes a fully featured Web browser, in case you fancy browsing the Internet on your TV.
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Sony's new Sixaxis controller looks similar to a wireless version of the existing PS2 unit, but has a brand new, Wii-like motion control system and revised, more trigger-like L2 and R2 shoulder buttons. Unlike Nintendo's controllers, it can't be used as a pointer, but can detect both tilt angle and motion. The new system comes at the expense of a rumble feature -- Sony has claimed the two functions interfere with each other, but others have cast doubt on the validity of this statement. After all, the Wii remote can do both without difficulty.
So why does it cost so much, and why is it in such short supply? Much of the answer comes down to its ground-breaking Blu-Ray optical drive. The Xbox 360 and Wii both use conventional DVD drives, but Sony's beast comes ready and willing to play next-generation, high-def movies, and can read discs containing five times more data than the 360's.
Top Five Game Picks:
1. Resistance: Fall of Man This outstanding on- and offline humans-vs.-aliens shooter takes place in an alternate 1950s England where WWII never took place.
2. Ridge Racer 7 Every Sony console in history has launched with a Ridge Racer game, and the PS3 is no exception.
3. Rainbow Six: Vegas The Rainbow Six team heads for Vegas, but not for a vacation.
4. Call of Duty 3 Latest in Activision's series of gritty World War II shooters, Call of Duty 3 takes inspiration from the Normandy Breakout towards the end of the war.
5. Tony Hawk Project 8 Taking place in a streaming, seamless city that's an amalgam of favorite levels from earlier Tony Hawk games, Project 8 brings the familiar Tony Hawk brand of skateboard action to the PS3.
Choose A System:
Nintendo Wii
Release date: 11/19/2006
Retail Boxes:
Wii System - $249.99
Vertical stand; remote; nunchuk controller attachment; composite video cable; Wii Sports
Backwards Compatibility: Excellent - Plays all GameCube games. GameCube controller and memory card required.
Availability: Moderate - Getting one on launch day is going to be tough, but your chances should improve as more consoles reach stores in following weeks.
What do you notice when you look at Nintendo's Wii? Two things: the crazy, TV remote-like controller, and the decidedly attractive price. Nintendo's strategy for this generation of hardware is simple: leave the other two to one-up each other with ever more complex and expensive hardware, and get back to what it's all about: great games.
Specifically, Nintendo is hoping the Wii will appeal to fans of classic Nintendo games, those who've fallen out of gaming, older non-traditional gamers, kids, parents: in short, all the folks left cold by the high-intensity, high price offerings of Sony and Microsoft.
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So the first thing they did was ditch complex, unfriendly controllers, going instead for something that's as simple and natural as it can be. Fire up Wii Sports, which comes free with the Wii, and you'll see how: swing the controller, and your on-screen character swings his tennis racket. The remote (and its nunchuk-like companion unit) senses its alignment, motion, and position relative to your TV, enabling you to control the game by just waving your arms about, with no complex button systems to memorize.
Although the Wii's online gaming service is decidedly stripped down compared to the other two, it offers one unique feature: channels that bring the ability to read news and weather forecasts, view digital photos, browse the web, or post messages to other Wii users. Another channel lets you create your own avatar (or "Mii") from a pre-set range of cartoony body parts and facial features. Some games, like Wii Sports, can use your Mii as a controllable character.
But wait: there's more. One channel allows Wii owners to download classic "Virtual Console" games to the machine, saving them to its internal memory or to an SD memory card. By the end of the year, 30 games from the days of the NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64 and Genesis will be available: highlights include the original Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Jr., F-Zero and Super Mario 64. Pricing of the games varies between $5 and $10 according to their original platform.
Top Five Game Picks:
1. Legend of Zelda No other Wii game approaches the kind of anticipation we have for the latest in the long-running and spectacularly popular Zelda series.
2. Warioware: Smooth Moves Smooth moves indeed from Wario, as another Nintendo handheld classic comes to the Wii.
3. Rayman Raving Rabbids Master designer Michel Ancel has ditched the classic Rayman platformer style for a more varied, genre-hopping approach that suits the Wii's unique controls down to the ground.
4. Trauma Center Second Opinion - Nurse! Sponge! Get up close and personal with other people's internal organs in Trauma Center, sequel to a recent DS hit.
5. Downhill Jam A more kid-friendly approach marks this latest in the long-running Tony Hawk series of skateboarding games.
- Go to World of Wii on Yahoo! to connect with the Wii community and more!
Choose A System:
Conclusion:
There's no question that the PlayStation 3 is the place to be for early adopters. Sony's ultra-powerful behemoth is what all the cool kids are talking about (partially thanks to its limited availability and hefty price-tag). But don't dismiss the 360! Its 12 month head start means it's well into its software stride and is turning out some of the best games of the year. No title that's exclusive to the PS3 can make the same claim.
Comparing the Wii to the other two makes it look tawdry -- it doesn't play movies, there's no high-def support, no surround sound, no high-tech bells and whistles. But if you want to understand the Wii's appeal, you're going to have to pick up that unique controller and try it -- unless you're already sold on Nintendo's reputation alone.
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Moreover, if you're buying for a family, the Wii has by far the best selection of kid-friendly titles at this early stage, and that's only going to improve as time goes on. It also hasn't escaped the attention of some folks that you can get a Wii and a 360 for only slightly more than a PS3, and this combination is a good bet if you're the type to want the best of both worlds.
And the truth is, if you're in the market for one of these beasts this year, your choice will probably be made by necessity rather than preference. Unless you already have a PS3 preorder, your chances of getting one any time soon are slim. Wii availability isn't expected to be as problematic (due to faster manufacturing and not necessarily lower demand), but you still might be in for a hunt. Buying an Xbox 360, in contrast, should just be a matter of strolling into your favorite store and picking one off the shelf; and consequently, getting the best representation of the highest end in video gaming that's currently available.