By midnight Saturday the most competitive console war since the Super Nintendo (SNES) took on the Sega Genesis will have begun, with all three of the world’s gaming giants’ next-gen consoles on the market here in the United States. Unlike previous console wars the lines are not as well-defined as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are all taking gaming in different directions.
With three different consoles on the market just in time for this holiday season, which console is going to fit your gaming needs the most and which one will be the easiest to get your greasy little game-worn callused hands on?
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 that launched nearly a year ago (Nov. 22) has already jumped out to a substantial lead with 6 million units sold as of Sept. 2006. Microsoft finds itself in the opposite position than they were in during the last-gen console race when Sony’s Playstation 2 (PS2) launched a year earlier than their Xbox and outsold it handedly 111.25 million to 24 million units.
With a slew of games already released and more to come by the end of the year Microsoft has already built a considerable catalogue of games. The 360 already has a diverse array of games for any user no matter what your favorite gaming genre is. “Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion” will appease any lover of role-playing games with hours upon hours of game play battling the Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon and his legions marching upon the land of Tamriel. Rockstar Games “Table Tennis” brings fast paced multi-player action to the 360 with simulation of the Olympic sport. With dead-on controls and smooth graphics this game will keep you and your friends busy for hours as you find out who is the best at American’s lost pastime. For those who long for combat against sexy polygons or for those who just love fighting games, the 360 exclusive “Dead or Alive 4” developed by Tecmo’s Team Ninja studio will impress. In “Dead or Alive 4” you can do battle as 22 playable characters in the many multi-tiered fighting arenas. There are also many other already-released 360 games that are sure to tickle many gamers’ fancies including downloadable virtual console games such as the classic “Contra” and “Mortal Combat 3.”
Microsoft is ponying up some of the best releases in the system’s one-year span to combat Sony and Nintendo in the upcoming console wars. The No. 1 selling game and launch title for the 360 “Call of Duty 2” has a newly released sequel, the aptly titled “Call of Duty 3,” which already has gamers back in the swing of fighting Allied forces in the Normandy Breakout as American, British and for the first time Canadian and Polish soldiers who replace the fellows from the Red Army. Another third-person shooter that many are calling “the first killer-app” on the 360 is Epic Game’s “Gears of War.”
“Gears of War” is truly the most beautiful game on the 360 and the first game to take advantage of the system’s graphics capabilities that immerse the player in the world of Sera fighting as Marcus Fenix takes on the gnarly-looking enemies known as the Locust Horde.
To increase replayability of its games and to connect users all over the world, Microsoft is continuing its popular Xbox LIVE service. The service allows customers to play online with other members of the community, chat via the Xbox 360 headset, send messages, download demos and retro games and even video chat with other users with the use of the newly released Xbox Live Vision Camera. All of these features are available for a $50 subscription fee to Xbox LIVE GOLD for a one-year membership. However if online game play does not appeal to you but you want to access all of the other features of the Xbox LIVE world, the SILVER package is free.
The 360 is already DVD ready but in order to combat the Playstation 3 and it’s Blu-ray DVD playback Microsoft has released an external HD-DVD drive for $199.99, $800 cheaper than standalone HD-DVD players, so that gamers can enjoy watching HD-DVDs on their Xbox 360. Making the HD-DVD player an add-on accessory gives customers a choice on whether or not they need or want a high-definition DVD player, unlike Sony’s Playstation 3 where the Blu-ray player is built in causing the system’s price to inflate. In other high-definition news Microsoft will also be offering downloadable television shows and movies on Xbox LIVE. You can also stream a high-definition videos or music from your computer to your Xbox 360 via the Windows Media Center connection.
Playstation 3
One could say that Sony is coming into the next-gen console race with a big head since they have all but said they could put a pile of poo-poo in a box and it would sell. Maybe there is a bit of validity to the statement since Sony has had the top spot in the last two console wars and has sold more video game consoles than any other company ever.
With their newest offering Sony’s Playstation 3 boasts the highest price of any home console in history with it’s $599.99 price tag for the premium 60 gigabyte system and $499.99 for the basic 20 gigabyte system. The hard drive space is not the only thing that causes these two versions of the Playstation 3 to differ. The premium system also comes with chrome trim, built-in Wi-Fi and flash card readers which the basic system is without. Gamers can upgrade their hard drives and add on all the features they miss out on except the Wi-Fi connection which will not be available to upgrade upon launch.
All Playstation 3 consoles will come complete with a Blu-ray drive for Blu-ray DVD playback, HDMI port for high-definition output and a Bluetooth Sixaxis controller that should look familiar to most gamers since it is basically a wireless DualShock controller that Playstation owners have been playing since the PS1. The new Sixaxis controller also has some motion sensor capabilities but without vibration. Sony decided to pass on the vibration feature because it interfered with the motion sensor.
The launch line-up for the Playstation 3 looks to be a little weak, full of mostly sports games and boring lackluster titles that don’t take advantage of the PS3’s graphics capabilities. However there are a few games that are worth playing such as the aforementioned “Call of Duty 3” that is also coming out for the 360 and Nintendo Wii. Unlike in the 360 version gamers will get to use the Sixaxis motion sensor capabilities to execute some actions.
Another noteworthy title that is hitting both the 360 and Playstation 3 is “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas,” the sixth game in the “Rainbow Six” series. The game has Team Rainbow battling to re-take Las Vegas from a terrorist organization in beautiful near life-like detail as game designers at Ubisoft have gone through painstaking detail to recreate the Las Vegas strip. “Resistance Fall of Man” is another high profile game that will be released within the PS3’s launch window. “Resistance Fall of Man” is a first-person shooter that follows an alternative history without culturally altering events like World War II, the Great Depression or the rise of Communism in Russia.
Like the Xbox 360 the PS3 offers an online network tentatively titled “Playstation Network Platform” where users can enjoy multiplayer support, download demos, voice chat with gamers and download some PS1 and PS2 titles. The primary difference between Xbox LIVE and PNP is that Sony is offering this service for free while Microsoft charges a $50 yearly fee.
The main reason for the inflated price tag of the PS3 is because it comes with a Blu-ray drive in order to play the PS3 formatted discs BD-ROMs and for Blu-ray movie discs. Blu-ray players now retail for somewhere around $1,000 which does make the system a steal for anyone wanting a Blu-ray player. Using the Blu-ray discs to store game data also allows developers to store 50 GB to 200 GB of data on a disc. Whether developers will take advantage of this technology is still yet to be seen. Right now many gamers are crying foul over the inclusion of the Blu-ray drive because of it causing the inflated price. Sony also owns the disc format and many believe Sony is only using the PS3 as a Trojan horse to put Blu-ray players in gamers’ homes.
The chance of getting your hands on a PS3 seems pretty unlikely at this point as production numbers have been cut and gamers have been lined up for days in eager anticipation of the console.
Wii
Nintendo’s direction for the next generation of gaming is quiet different from that of Sony and Microsoft. The Nintendo Wii is not trying to be a complete high-definition home entertainment system like the PS3 or a conduit to online gaming like the 360. Nintendo’s direction is to bring gaming back to the people. “It is pronounced “we”, indicating its all-inclusive nature.” The Nintendo Style Guide says.
In order to bring gaming back to the masses Nintendo has adopted the use of a rather unorthodox controller aptly named the “Wii-Mote.” The controller has two pieces the first called the “Nun-chuck,” which resembles the middle joystick part of an N64 controller, that has two buttons on the front and a wire on the bottom that connects to the second part of the controller.
The second part resembles an NES controller if held horizontally and an odd television remote when held vertically with the “Nun-chuck” connected to the bottom.
What makes the controller unorthodox and revolutionary is that both parts of the controller use a combination of accelerometers and infrared detection with a sensor bar to sense its position in 3D space allowing gamers to become completely immersed in the game.
With games like Wii Sports, that comes packaged with the Wii console, gamers simply make the motion of swinging a tennis racket with the “Wii-Mote” (with “Nun-chuck” removed) to hit a tennis shot. The possibilities seem endless with the “Wii-Mote” and seems well placed to indeed bring gaming back to the people.
Like the PS3 the Wii’s launch line-up is a little lackluster. The most notable games in the line-up are “Call of Duty 3” which immerses gamers deeper into the game with the use of the “Wii-mote” using the “Nun-chuck” to guide your player and the second part to aim. “Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz” which offers a plethora of mini-games for party gaming and the most notable game and possibly the best reason to purchase a Wii “Zelda: Twilight Princess” where gamers again fight as Link using the “Wii-mote” to sword fight, shoot your hook shot, steer your horse and throw a boomerang. “It is better than Ocarina of Time, if you get what I mean,” one reviewer who has already played through the game said.
Like Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo also offers an online service, WiiConnect24. This allows gamers to connect to the Internet wirelessly out of the box. While multiplayer support will not be available until sometime in 2007 there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the service. Upon launch there will be several old school games to download using the virtual console from the NES, SNES, N64, Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 games. Along with the launch titles and the Wii’s backwards compatibility with the Gamecube the Wii already bolsters a large catalogue of games.
Getting your hands on a Nintendo Wii should not be too hard before Christmas as Nintendo has promised to ship 4 million units by the end of 2006.

Author