[Emperor Pan I]

Like back in August, I made a deal with myself so as not to be dragged down by my computer anymore. So I left Battleforums without a word and deleted a majority of my uber links in firefox. I ended up with slightly better marks and figured the only way to stay in University was to do the same for the second semester. However since BF is now saved in my address bar it is frequented by a very bored, very procrastinating me. Further emphasizing the fact I'm a very weak individual. Regardless I spent much of my time away from my computer playing video games anyways, only this time on Consoles. For the most part I have had consoles longer than the PC, since the Snes was my introduction to gaming. while in recent years I have been far more favorable to the Pc, I have never left my console roots. So let me clarify what I'm about to say: I like Consoles, and I enjoy playing the games on them.

We are currently in what some might call the "seventh generation" kicked off when Microsoft pulled a Sega and abandoned a failing console for the same thing but with a face lift and a bleach job. While I ended up with an Xbox in the end, I always had a nagging feeling from day one that the system just wasn't for me. From playing Halo on it just wasn't my thing , and all the other games were either on other cheaper systems, or their exclusives just felt like knockoffs of franchises exclusive to the Playstation 2. sometime ago when consoles were gaining popularity and Doom was becoming extremely violent albeit brilliant, someone decided to universally make all First person shooters on consoles suck, but Bungie didn't get the memo. So Halo in it's mediocrity gave console owners a decent FPS on a decently powered system and that saved Microsoft from becoming a 3DO (that and it's billions of money). Having never played a good FPS, console owners decided Halo was the **** and bought into the Xbox, allowing it to survive the generation on one title alone. In the same time it took sega to jump ship from Saturn into their own dreamworld, Microsoft released the 360 entering "the high definition" generation, or so they would like us to believe.

It's first year was less than stellar and in truth There were three groups of console players: Those that got a 360, those that held out for the Playstation 3, and everyone else who lives in third world countries and won't get the system until 2015 when they cost $50. Those that remembered the unimaginable success the Sega Megadrive (Genesis for you USAmerican ****) had in Brazil, where games were still being made 12 years after the system came out, will know what I mean. And this point I'm going to touch on a little later. Regardless The Xbox360 was picked up by the system hoppers who needed to have slightly better graphics and bragging rights to their lower class friends right away. I can't really comment on the library since it is the same sort of library the original xbox had and I thought that game lineup was a slice of bull**** cake. Regardless since the library wasn't as big as other systems they could forgivably remove backwards computability and no one gives a ****. Anyways the 360 in retrospect did what it meant to by releasing early and that was to get a decent market share this time around. as I speak the 360 is ahead of it's father in that it almost has matched the sales of the now defunct Xbox and that in itself is a prize.

2007 was the year when we got to get a hold of a Nintendo Wii and we all got to laugh at the people who got a Playstation 3. I haven't got a Playstation 3 and it'll be a new ice age that freezes hell over when I finally do get one. This doesn't stop me from commenting on it as I have pretty much played all the good games on Playstation 3 since they are multi platform and I have a 360. While I dislike the games for the Xbox, it wasn't my entire reason for swearing off the console until the 360 came out and the price of the xbox dropped low enough for me to invest in it. the Xbox was a console with high hardware for a high cost with games that all appealed to those needing to be reassured they were big tough manly men and games with protagonists that have only ever seen a Rambo movie and spend 23 hours a day in a gym. Where other games were forced to use innovation, story and good game play because of a lack of hardware, the Xbox floated on good graphics and **** game play mechanics and that received my ire. The Playstation 3 has replaced my distaste in the Xbox simply because it is everything the playstation 2 was not. I liked the playstation 2 because it was fun and cheap and Sony has failed to nail down either for it's behemoth follow up. The Playstation 3 is outrageously expensive, it pushes an untested needless DVD format, and the arrogant comments that alienates the gamer base.

Whereas the Xbox 360 has a decent library now, the Playstation 3 is largely selling on future potential, claims of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy 1 bajillion or whatever number they are on. The Metal Gear series has been a beacon of excellent story telling since it's debut on the Snes and while it's two equals were just as good, by Metal Gear Solid 2 things got tired. Metal Gear Solid had reinvigorated the franchise, and that success has created equals that have done the same thing over and over. While MGS2 was had to many words in it and a story so complex it left everyone on the floor with their brains seeping out their noses, Metal Gear Solid 3 had a story aimed at 6 year olds and that sharp contrast means that Metal Gear Solid is a franchise not afraid to sell it's ideals for success. What I truly don't understand is the attention MGS4 is getting on the Playstation 3, since those who remember when Metal Gear Solid 3 came out everything was quiet and even amazing reviews didn't stir the excitement that MGS4 has gotten months before it will be released. This gives me pause to wonder if it isn't all smoke and mirrors and that MGS4 Is being abused because it is the only future game that looks good, despite no one really caring about the series in 2004 when Sony didn't have anyhting to worry about. It also strieks me as a repeat of 2001 when Metal Gear Solids was a Playstation 2 exclusive and is the single game taht made me forsake my Dreamcast and Nintendo hardon to go out and buy a Playstation 2. I later found out it was proted the the Xbox and Gamcube and so far every Metal Gear solid game has followed that tradition, so I'm going to assume the 360 is going to get it eventualy anyways.

Then there is Final Fantasy 14, and I'm being honest when I say I dislike Japanese RPGs. I've never actualy finished a JRPG all the way through because hitting a menu command to attack and the sheer lack of interesting gameplay mechanics and effeminate men who all look and sound like women turns me off. I'm still proud to this day that I even made it to the third disc in Final Fantasy 8 because it was sheer determination not to say "**** this" and turn it off. I'll never really understand Japanese culture, but Final Fantasy whatever is a series that has gone on long enough. Even if I liked the game and was mildly interested in getting a system for a single game FF14 shouldn't be it. The Playstation brand has lost exclusives that were usually used to mock the Xbox owners like Grand Theft Auto and Devil may Cry all games developed for both platforms now, and that gives me pause to wonder why people buy a Playstation 3 at all. But that answer is stupid because it is Sony and it is Playstation and that infuriating comment that "people will buy it no matter what" by Sony executives kicked a bucket load of sand in my ****** over the PS3. In terms of HArdware it is good enough, not good enough to justify the money spent but that is another thing. All the games right now look slightly better on the Xbox 360 and phenomenally better on the PC anyways which is something that happened last generation when Xbox games were scaled back because they were also developed on the weaker Playstation 2 and it all gives me pause to wonder what the hell is the point of making a console so outrageously powerful if it doesn't pan out how it should. We've already gotten to the point where Graphics aren't going to get much better but that doesn't seem to stop people from throwing down buckets of money for a console that is only half decent.

But thats okay because the Playstation 3 not only plays games, but blu-ray movies something so utterly inconceivable but so utterly brilliant. For some arbitrary reason High definition seems to come with standard "make everything better" that I can't seem to see. Apparently once you use a High def TV you can't watch regular TV anymore but that is a truckload of bull**** since I've never watched Fightclub and thought to myself "this is a brilliant work of satire and black comedy, but if only the resolution was a wee bit bigger it would make it a 'grand experience'". But amidst the Console war you may discover another "war" is going on, and with all these war people keep talking about it is surprising France hasn't been invaded yet. Microsoft has a HD-DVD attachment presumably to combat the built in blu-ray DVD the PS3 has and this all strikes me as odd because I'm pretty sure I bought or would buy a console to play video games. Sure the Playstation 2 had a build in DVD player and that was a perk, but the DVD was a single standard, and throwing in with one camp or another is risky business and something that should give you cause to Hesitate since one side is sony and they have already lost a format war when they failed to beat out VHS tapes. If you can't market a format to beat out the ****heap that was VHS, you have massive problems.

Also don't believe that lie about online games. Consoles have gone online and while some have been unprecedented success in popularity and execution like the Xbox360, some have promised the moon but were ultimately crippled by their own ambition (see the broken Playstation network). There is a lot to be said about paid online services, especially since they ultimately failed on the PC, whereas the revolutionary Battle.net didn't charged anything but was still the most profitable online system for a PC until MMORPGs came out and you had to start mortgaging your house to play the games online. Consoles however have taken a different route, and that is there is reason to make your online system free other than to do a really ****ty job on it. Whereas the Xbox live service is structured and well maintained it also costs a fair bit. Still less than your average MMORPG, it is still money to paly online. Unfortunately there is no reason to mark down xbox live because if it hadn't charged for the service it might have ended up like the Playstation Network or the Nintendo wii's online. These features look like they were tacked on because they needed to be and Sony and Nintendo have failed to understand what makes online gaming applicable (like being able to play games).

And while I mention the wii it is about time to include it. Disregard all the positive things you have heard about it. Nintendo has this fascinating and furious habit of filling all their dev teams with baseball players who are instructed to swing their bats and hit a dead horse for 12 hours a day. If there is ever a perfect line to be applies to Nintendo it's "don't fix what isn't broken." This might sound absurd because the Nintendo Wii is supposed to be revolutionary but it doesn't really change the fact that all it is, is hype. Complaining about Nintendo wii being gimmicky at this point is like complaining that a cigarette causes cancer after 40 years of smoking them. No matter what you end up with the console anyways, but still can't help but feel cheated. Like cancer. All the Wii games fall into two categories: games developed by Nintendo who use the control scheme to varying degrees of success, and everyone else who take existing games, scale them back a thousand times from the Xbox 360 release and throw in novelty controls. In what the Wii is meant to do, it does fairly well and that is market to old people and stupids. Simple and uncomplicated games manage to be successful on the Wii and for that Nintendo is a success. But if you are a PC or Xbox360 or PS2 owner, or even an old school Nintendo gamer you are being left out in the bitter cold. The thing with Nintendo is it is the only company that is allowed to get away with it.

The motion sensor controls are decent enough I guess. The library of games I have is the same library I had when I was suckered into a gamecube: 1. Mario game, 2. Zelda game, 3. Metroid game, 4.Smash bros. and the only thing separating the gamecube releases form the Wii releases is the novelty controls. It came with Wii sports and that game is fun, and with Mario Party 8 we have a nice system to play while we drink and get high. But the Nintendo machine fails on so many other levels. Like mentioned the online is a big revolutionary failure, and so many standard games on the system don't play nicely with the wiimote. And for a controller that is supposed to replace other controls, why do they keep brining out attachments to turn it into a controler or a steering wheel or a guitar. Supposedly the limited hardware should make games more inventive, but so far all we've gotten is ports from games that never made it to the gamecube, and while in the years to come games should make better use of the novelty controls I just can't see it reaching anyhting but novelty. It hasn't done what the DS did, and make a clear gimmick work out. As a single player the Wii sucks a big fat one, but for parties it is good enough and living in a house with all guys going to university it is really nice to have around.

Apparently I'm told that 2008 will be the year the PS3 overtakes the 360, and the wii powerhouse will fail and the Xbox takes second place and a lot of predictions by a bunch of people many of which aren't gamers. Last year the wii was supposed to do alright, but managed to be the leader in overall sales, and the PS3 was supposed to overtake the 360, proving that predictions by analysts and gamers alike are bull****. The Playstation 3 even lost it's backwards computability when it scaled down the price, so with no good games you're better off just sticking with your PS2, and it seems most of the world agrees. The rest of the world is embracing the PS2 and not the PS3 because the PS3 is marketed to unimaginative thickies and tech **** who think the most expensive makes them cool, but handjobs don't come from owning the best hardware. The 360 completely replaced the xbox and that is a good thing because Microsoft needs to be a success in the current gen, so they can't coast on any past success. Their hardware is kind of like an abusive husband that no matter how good you are to it, it will decide at random to hit you around a bit by not working for no explicable reason. But that is alright because it is the best system right now, and will probably end up in a decent overall position when everything is compared to after this generation ends. The Wii is small enough so as to save space, but I never really needed to save space in my living room. there is no reason the Wii could have had a slightly better graphics card, because of the absurd price we pay. In remaking a gamecube with motion controls some scaling up in graphics would have been nice.

So this is the last paragraph, and if you have like I expect many people who clicked this thread and saw lots of words, you probably skipped this maybe after reading the first paragraph. But You are also probably a Halo fan and can't go 30 seconds without and explosion or you get bored so I don't hold it against you. Just don't post any remarks about me or this thread because you haven't read it. I'm not going to conclude my statements, as they are pretty clear. So don't post your unimaginative criticism unless there is something interesting from them.