When buying a video game console, you need to decide what kind of system that you need. The consoles that are available on the market right now are the Nintendo-Wii, Microsoft X-Box 360, Sony PlayStation 3 and its predecessor Sony PlayStation 2. This article, will hopefully help you in deciding which system is the right one for you. Let's take a look at the specs of each system.
Nintendo Wii ($249.99 - availability on the market is fairly rare) The Nintendo Wii was introduced to the market in November 2006. From that point on, there have been 34.4 millions systems shipped worldwide, but still you don't see the Wii readily available in the market. You should not expect its price to go down anytime soon either.
Nintendo Wii is the slimmest console out of the three "next generation" consoles. Out of the box, it consists of the console itself, an AC adapter and power cord, AV cables, 1 remote and 1 nun-chuck, and also a sensor bar. Nintendo also throws in the Wii Sports game with the purchase of each Nintendo Wii. By far, the Wii's controllers look the strangest of the three. With its motion sensor technology, the controller looks like a TV remote control. The special thing is that it can work horizontally or vertically and it also has its own speaker.
The Wii Controller is also able to store up to 10 Miis, which are the avatar that you created to represent yourself in a game. The Wii has an internal memory of 512MB and is expandable by using a regular standard SD card. The Wii is backward compatible with the Nintendo Gamecube meaning that you could play Gamecube games through the Wii console too. The drawback of the Wii is that you cannot use it as a DVD player like you can on the X-Box and the PS2/3. From my own experience, the Wii is my favorite console because of its unique ability. The statistics also says that in average, people who play the Wii Sports for about 8 hours/week lose about 27lbs/year. Hey, that's not bad! You get to have fun doing something you enjoy and lose a little weight too!
The X-Box 360 ($199.99 or $299.99 or $399.99 depending on the hard-drive size) was the first "next generation" console to be released on the market. It was released in November 2005 and as of January 5, 2009, Microsoft has sold 28 million consoles worldwide. Although having problems closer to its release date, the 360 has proven to be a reliable system.
There are three kinds of X-Box 360s depending of the hard-drive capacity and the price: 20GB, 60GB, and 120GB. Out of the box, the 360 contains: the console itself, power supplies, AV cables, and 1 controller. The 360 is also backward compatible with the original X-Box games. When you first get the 360, you need to decide how you're going to use it: as a tower/stand-up system or as a laid-down system. It is important because once you use it a certain way, it is best to keep it that way otherwise it could start causing problems later on. The most common problem is that it starts scratching the game disc. At first, Microsoft provided full refund on the scratched games that were caused by the consoles, but now they simply provide a warning and have stopped with the game refunds. The most popular game for the X-Box 360 is, of course, Halo, a shooting game created solely for X-Box.
The PlayStation 3 ($499.99 or $599.99 depending on the hard-drive size) had dominated the video games world for a while, starting with the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and now the PlayStation 3, also known as the PS3. It was released in November 2006, almost at the same time with the Wii and had been struggling to compete with the other 2 consoles due to its high price. As of January 5, 2009, Sony had sold 16.84 million PS3's worldwide which is a very low number compared to the other 2. The PS3 is nice in that it is backward compatible with the PS1 and PS2. What's extra special about the PS3 is that it is also a Blue-Ray player which explains the price difference with the other two consoles. If you are a hard-core PS2 fan, I would say get this console for its backward capability.
Design wise, the Nintendo Wii has a very slim and sleek design compared to the bulkiness of the X-Box 360 and the PS3. Concerning space, although the Nintendo Wii is a really fun system to exercise and have fun with, it requires you to have sufficient space to do so. When I was living in an apartment and literally had my TV in front of my bed, playing the Wii was not a good option at all. So if you have the space for it, I would say go for the Wii, but if not, don't even bother because it would just irritate you since you can't really play most of the games without sufficient space.
As mentioned above, the Nintendo DS has a unique controller and it might take you a while to get used to play with this kind of controller. The X-Box 360 controller is a little bit bulky and may not be suitable for young children due to its size. The PS3 controller almost looks like the PS2 controller, which is just right in size. The Wii controller is wireless out of the box, but the other two wants you to pay an extra price to get the wireless controller.
Concerning memory or media, the Wii uses proprietary optical CDs and will not be able to support DVDs, unlike like the X-Box 360. The PS3 supports not only DVD, but it also supports Blue-ray Discs as its main game media. As far as internal memory goes, the PS3 and X-Box 360 with its internal memory in the Gigabyte scale completely blows away the pitiful 512MB Nintendo Wii internal memory. The PS3 supports the Compact Flash, SD Cards, and memory Sticks. The Wii console supports only SD flash memory.
The X-Box and PS3 are supposed to be in the same boat as far as system power goes and the graphics for these 2 consoles are just marvelous. Too bad these graphics only work if you own an HD TV. Nintendo isn't targeting high-end graphics lovers with its new console, instead placing more of an emphasis on creative game-play techniques. And if you're wondering about backward compatibility issues, each console is backward compatible with its predecessors.
Well, I hope that you found this gaming console review article helpful! If you're truly in the market for a new first game console or are looking for another format to add to your collection, I hope that the facts I've listed for you above helps. Happy gaming!! classic controller for wii
wii controller nunchuck
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