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So 6 years in who won the war?

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12.10.2011 10:47am

Thread Creator

shooter_mcgavin
Registered Member

Pretty straightforward question without a straight forward answer.

Perhaps this is the first generation in gaming which this question is something to be debated upon. In previous years there has been a clear cut winner ... the NES dominated, SNES and Genisis were neck and neck but Japan made the diffrence for the SNES to come on top, Playstation beat Saturn and N64 with relative ease and the same goes with Playstation 2 making mince meat out of Xbox, Gamecube, and Dreamcast.

This year however there is no clear cut winner and arguments could be made for or againts if a certain console wins a war.

Let's take them one by one

Wii
For it - Best Selling Console of the three.
Againts it - Low software sales compared to Xbox and PSone, sluggish sales as the generation moved on

Playstation 3
For it - Consistently 2nd place in all regions except the US where its #3, no weak markets unlike the Xbox 360 like in Japan where PS3 sales are respectable (not speclacular) but much better than 360's lame duck numbers.
Againts it - Has no market where its #1 (well to be fair the Wii) but is last place in the biggest market ... the US. Software sales of multi-platform games favors 360 in majority of games in the US.

Xbox 360
For it - The most "popular" console in the biggest gaming market right now (the US) and having a convincing lead over the PS2 in the US. Best software attatchment rate of all 3 consoles in the US Market. Close behind the PS3 in non-japan markets outside the US. The only console charging gamers for online gaming with Xbox Live ... yet its where most people play online.
Againts it - Poor performance in Japan, no region where its #1 despite its popularity (Wii gets that crown).

Like I said this generation is tough to give a crown to and a topic like this is definatley open to discussion.

So discuss :)

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12.10.2011 12:34pm

Id82
Fuck Shit Stack.

It's difficult to choose. Do you go for best selling console? Most graphically superior console? The console that did better with casual gamers? The console that was better for hardcore gamers?

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12.10.2011 1:28pm

Ashilyn
Career GM

I don't think it's hard at all, but that's me - this is the kind of thing that everyone's opinion will differ on based on personal preference. For me, the 360 won, on account of the Wii being total garbage outside of a few games, and PS3 not having enough attractive exclusives or as strong a multiplayer user base.

There is no simple and clear cut winner for this generation, not like there has been in the past. There is only which was the winner for each individual gamer. Hell for me, I'd almsot go a step futher and say none of them won - I spent most of this generation on PC, with a healthy side dish of 360.

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12.10.2011 1:40pm

(Edited on 12.10.2011 at 1:46pm)

reido
(\/)(o,,,o)(\/)

The current PS3 loses points for not having PS2 compatability, yet retaining it for PS1 games. Honestly I think I'd be happier if it had ZERO compatability, because I've already got to string my PS2 cords all over my fucking living room so what's the fucking point. It's library just isn't robust enough for me, either. If it weren't for Valkyria Chronicles (and the fact that it plays BRDs) I'd probably regret getting it. I can't think of anything else I need hte PS3 specifically for.

The Wii loses points for being a motion control device. I don't hate motion control, I just don't want it to be the primary means of control. For the majority of games it should be the optional control scheme; the Wii has that backwards. Every time I talk myself into wanting one I remember that to play the games I want it for I'd have to primarily be swinging my fucking arms around and seriously, all I want to do is sink into my couch and push some buttons. And, again, the library just isn't big enough to make me happy.

I honestly can't think of a reason to deduct points off the 360. Uh, the new interface is hideous and clumsy, and the new Netflix interface is somehow worse than the crappy Wii/PS3 one? I guess the fact that Live isn't free? It's not quite as graphically pretty as a PS3? I'm grasping at straws here while with the other two consoles I have some very specific things against them. There are so many 360 games that I want to play or at least try, to the point that I'm having to just give up on them becuase I don't have time. So for me, it's the 360 by a mile.

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12.10.2011 1:47pm

Zubis
Registered Member

From a financial perspective the Wii is the obvious winner....however if sales were the only thing that mattered Kinect Adventures and TItanic would be considered some of the the best games and movies of all time.

Nintendo get a lot of praise for the controller, but their vision of the future severely neglected online gaming as well as HD gaming, and took a somewhat less than respectful view of hardcore gamers for several years.

The Xbox 360 surprised many people I think, including myself. Xbox Live is the definitive online experience for consoles and no other system comes close to offering such a seamless experience. Games like Halo, Mass Effect etc really gave it a following with hardcore gamers and the Kinect offers a decent experience for casual gamers.

The PS3 for many years was a joke; its price, poor online experience and lack of games meant it didn't sell at all in the first year or two. For me personally it's still nothing more than an "Uncharted Machine", as I get all my games on 360 to play with friends.

So In terms of winning, I'd say Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3, in that order.

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12.10.2011 3:41pm

Big Tall
Taller Than Tall

The 360 wins this generation despite a baffling lack of solid first-party games, the RROD debacle (especially within the first year or two after launch) and HD-DVD going the way of Betamax. Xbox Live covers up a lot of the gaps for the system and the overall quality of XBLA is unrivaled.

The Wii would win if we're just talking about sales, but Nintendo has seemingly forgotten about the console for at least the past year if not more. Where are the games? Retreads of past franchises, rereleases or rereleases and on and on. Was there too much focus on the 3DS launch, that turned out to be clumsy at best?

I'm a 360 gamer, always have been, but it's hard not to admit the PS3 has the best first-party lineup of the three. There's certainly a better variety than on the Xbox. Blu-Ray is also a feather in the PS3's cap, but I think it's become more of an afterthought than a must-have feature.

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12.10.2011 3:54pm

The Joker
Infernal Spawn of Evil

shooter_mcgavin said:
Againts it - Low software sales compared to Xbox and PSone, sluggish sales as the generation moved on

The first statement is patently false, to the degree that I'm wondering if putting "Xbox" there was a typo. Wii is comfortably ahead of PS3 and X360 in terms of software sales (attach rate is slightly lower but installed base more than makes up for it), PS1 there are no official software data for AFAIK but the original Xbox with it's ~24 million hardware LTD can i no way keep up with any of the beforementioned systems.

The second statement is more ambiguous. It's true that Wii is selling relatively less now than earlier in the generation, however it has still followed a historically normal trajectory and it's the Xbox 360 in particular that is unusually long-legged. Compare cumulative Wii shipments to cumulative PS2 shipments (launch aligned):

Wii will likely fall behind eventually, but no one would say that the PS2 at that point had "sluggish sales", would you?

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12.10.2011 4:09pm

Crono
Crono can cross dimensions too!

Yeah, I'd say it's a toss up between the 360 and Wii in first with PS3 in third place mostly because of the slow as molasses start. I've got all three systems and I try to buy things split between the 360 but since I've had that system for 2 years more than a PS3 I've got twice as many games. The wii... well, I think everyone knows my stance on buying games for that but if it wasn't hacked there are probably 10 or so titles that I would have actually payed for.

Currently Playing: Dark Cloud 2: 3 hours.
Also Playing: CT, FF VI, Solatorobo, Secret of Mana, Halo 4.
Just Finished: Fable II: 7 hours.

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12.10.2011 4:16pm

JSG
Registered Member

I really don't think anybody won the war. 360 and PS3 are really just a matter of personal preference without any real significant difference between them. They play mostly the same games. It's gotten to the point where it just seems pointless to own both. I don't have a PS3 simply because aside from two or three games I really want to play on it, its library is the same as the console I already have. If I didn't geta 360 I would have gotten a PS3 and just a PS3.

Wii just plain sucks, though. It's a very clear loser.

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12.10.2011 4:27pm

Kellios
Yikes and away!

reido said:

The current PS3 loses points for not having PS2 compatability, yet retaining it for PS1 games. Honestly I think I'd be happier if it had ZERO compatability, because I've already got to string my PS2 cords all over my fucking living room so what's the fucking point.

A thousand times this. I had a PS1 and PS2, and the only reason why I haven't picked up a PS3 yet has been a combination of at first its insane pricetag (and I was poor), and then once thay got better, they got rid of BC for PS2 (when I had money). I would have bought a PS3 ages ago had they kept this feature, and probably would have splurged a little more for it once I got into this generation. But no. And I don't want to go buying all those games again either digitally. I own the goddamn game, and I still want to be able to play it once my PS2 dies without needing to buy another PS2.

I've never been a Nintendo fangirl, so I never got a Wii. Nor do I game to waggle my way around.

So my default winner is 360. It's robust, I've never had any issues with it (granted, again, I came into this generation a little later on), and I've been very happy with it.

Also speaking as a developer, developing for the 360 has been thousands of times easier than developing for PS3. Whenever I've had to work with the PS3, it's usually a few hours worth of headaches and, "WTF won't this work?!" with lots of extra shit that's just very annoying to work with. 360 is quite easy and never, ever gave me issues like the PS3 has. For any game that releases on both systems, I've found other developers agree with me on this point (unless of course for games developed specifically for PS3 then ported over to 360, but that's probably a different pipeline altogether).

So yeah. 360 FTW. I'll pick up Sony again if PS4 will be BC with everything beforehand, but I doubt they'll do that.

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12.10.2011 4:35pm

reido
(\/)(o,,,o)(\/)

Kellios said:

reido said:

The current PS3 loses points for not having PS2 compatability, yet retaining it for PS1 games. Honestly I think I'd be happier if it had ZERO compatability, because I've already got to string my PS2 cords all over my fucking living room so what's the fucking point.

A thousand times this. I had a PS1 and PS2, and the only reason why I haven't picked up a PS3 yet has been a combination of at first its insane pricetag (and I was poor), and then once thay got better, they got rid of BC for PS2 (when I had money). I would have bought a PS3 ages ago had they kept this feature, and probably would have splurged a little more for it once I got into this generation. But no. And I don't want to go buying all those games again either digitally. I own the goddamn game, and I still want to be able to play it once my PS2 dies without needing to buy another PS2.

It just makes me so angry.

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12.10.2011 4:37pm

Onyx
Butts
Administrator

First off, let me just say I don't really care about this "console war" fanboy crap. All the systems have their merits and detriments. And blind loyalty to an entity that only wants your money is a silly concept.

Second, I own a 360 and a Wii. Don't own a PS3 yet, though I am interested in one. Just can't afford it. Perpetual unemployment will do that.

I have been largely satisfied with the 360's library. If I had a PS3, multiplatform games would be bought on a case-by-case basis, but the 360 has a huge advantage out of the gate with its controller. While I don't have a PS3, I've played it enough to know I don't like that controller very much. And I have a fight pad for anything the 360 controller isn't good with, like fighters! (and the PS controllers' segmented D-Pad kills my thumb)

As far as first party content goes, it's really no contest. The PS3 dominates the 360 in this regard. My 360's library is mostly third party games and outside of Kinect Krap, there isn't a whole lot of quality first party content beyond Halo, Gears of War, and Fable (and I'd personally argue against Fable's quality, but that's another thread). But I much prefer my time on XBL vs. PSN. I also really like the selection of XBLA games and Indies vs. the equivalent stuff on PSN, though the PS1 classics are really nice. The PS3's patching (which I've seen take nearly an hour vs. the 360's rather speedy patching) and mandatory install system for some games is also extremely annoying. And I'm not a huge fan of the XMB GUI. I don't like it on the PSP, either.

As far as the Wii goes, I have a lot of buyer's remorse. I wish I had waited until later to get one and instead use that money for a PS3, because my Wii library still numbers in the single digits with only one, maybe three future purchases (Xenoblade's the definite, Skyward Sword and Last Story the maybes). There's still nothing on the console that's convinced me that motion controls are the future and can do stuff that a normal controller with buttons can't at least similarly enough. If anything, motion controls are an annoyance and actively get in the way of my enjoyment. Even in Nintendo's vaunted first party titles. Metroid Prime 3 had fun motion controls, but I think the game would've worked just fine with Metroid Prime 1/2-style controls. Twilight Princess' Wii and GC versions helped further convince me as the GC version was much more playable. The only game I played where the gameplay was suitably enhanced by motion control was Resident Evil 4, because the game was considerably more intuitive with pointing at bads to kill them, and the game balanced around this easier gunplay.

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12.10.2011 5:09pm

Zubis
Registered Member

There's still nothing on the console that's convinced me that motion controls are the future and can do stuff that a normal controller with buttons can't at least similarly enough.

Given that Nintendo have moved on from that with the Wii U I think they came to the same conclusion.

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12.10.2011 5:12pm

Onyx
Butts
Administrator

I'm genuinely curious about the Wii U's technology as it seems really fascinating. I'm just going to wait awhile before getting it. I'm not going to be hustled into getting it like I did the Wii.

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12.10.2011 10:19pm

Magnus
Registered Member

Wellw e knwo that PS3 is the loser of this round. Sony's anti-consumer tactics or rmeoving backwards compatability, the other OS feature, and trying to force Blu ray before it's time, driving up the price were big blunders. But it was their handling of the hacking incident that I think was the nail in the coffin for this gen. Sony should have learned from Nintendo during th N64 era.

While it does seem like they are moving in a better direction, Sony does have much to redeem itself for. And I think ironically Sony did so much better offline since they weren't looking for ways to screw their customers though OS updates.

Really, I say the real winner is a mix. In terms of units sold and library.

In terms of units sold, it's the Wii. It was affordable and appealed to a wider audience, having the virtual console with a variety of old-school games yto purchase and play. However, it's achilles heal was it's library with the majority fo the first party titles being the ebar and butter, but the majority of the third party titles are jsut absolute crap with only a handful of third party titles worth purchasing. Much of their games were watered down or kidified versions of their counterparts being sold for their competition.

In terms of library, the X-Box 360. Despite the RROD, Mircosoft did a pretty decent job of doing most everything else right. They appealed to the third party where Nintendo failed, offering a new generation of graphics, while not as rich as the PS3's would be easily overlooked with excellent gameplay. The system was also being sold at a more affordable price when comoared to the 360, which was part of the mirgation of 3rd party titles to the 360. Additionally, Sony's blunders only stengthened the 360's library as many exclusives PS3 had ultimately became multi-platform titles due to the poor sales of the PS3 early in.

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