few questions about games consoles (ps3, wii, xbox 360, psp)

the ps3 sucks, the novelty of the wii wears off in like 48 hours, the psp has no games so get a 360 and hope it doesn't blow up

why does the ps3 suck? i was lookin most at that as its got gta4 and the uncensored manhunt 2!

also is the nintendo ds worth looking at?

i has a ds and it is nice :)

the ps3 sucks for many many reasons including (in answer to yr question) it won't play ps2 games

GTA 4 is going to have masses of extra content on the xbox exclusively

i'd go for a wii, an xbox 360 or a ps2 with a stack of games.

out of the handhelds i'd go with the DS.

I'm glad this thread got started because I was going to go out and buy a PS3 this weekend, but I might reconsider that now. Has the 360 got a Blu Ray player? Is the PS3 Blu Ray player reason enough to buy it instead of a 360?

the 360 doesn't have blu ray but i can't believe it's a good enough reason to buy a ps3, in fact i can't think of any reasons to buy a ps3 unless you like paying for demos (gran turismo 5 prologue lolz)

This is a thorny issue. But:

Wii - after the honeymoon of daily Wii Bowling wears off, this can seem a little dull. But it *is* terrific fun with friends over and genuinely involves non hardcore gamers in a way that Xbox and PS3 rarely do so is great for post pub, family dos etc. Also, there are some fantastic Nintendo only titles (Super Mario Galaxy, Zelda, Mario Kart). Graphics are (generally) low-res LOLs if yr used to PC stuff, but the games are cheap compared to the other two.

PS3 - If you have a high def TV and want a cheap way of getting a blu-ray player then this is a no-brainer as the PS3 is better (and cheaper) than many stand alone blu-ray decks. Graphically and "performance" wise there's not much in it between PS3 and Xbox 360 (currently at least). Still waiting for a "killer app" á la Gears of War.

Xbox 360 - loads of brilliant games for this already with more on the way. It's still much cheaper than the PS3. Main issues are reliability and (in my experience) that lots of Xbox 360s have fan and drive noise similar to a jet engine at take off - they can be ridiculously noisy, although aftermarket fans can cure this pretty much and obv ymmv.

Wii - for children, girls and casual gamers
Xbox - console equivalent of a Mac; have to pay to play online (still wtf after all this time); notoriously prone to 'sploding
PS3 - you know it will win in the end

Yeah, I think I'm gonna go for the PS3 based on the last two thread replies. HDTV + Blu Ray swings it for me.

there's no helping some people

Just don't expect to be playing many games on your Ps3 for awhile. Lair was a bust - so you're probably going to be playing GTA IV until MGS comes out (and keep your fingers crossed that MGS won't suck). From what I heard, game makers are having a hard time programming for the Ps3 or something like that.

DS is guaranteed fun. My favorite purchase of last year.

Console wars are still dumb. There's good games for all of them, and none of them are going to "lose".

Fuck it, Blu Ray, GTA4 and Call Of Duty 4 will keep me happy for the foreseeable future. What's Pro Evo like on the PS3?

abanana, it's not a console wars situation. I assume most of us here are adults with disposable incomes. (Console wars are generally an infliction of teenagers, adolescents who can only afford one system.) But for me at least, I like having a variety of games to play - various split-screen multiplayer ones (like Gears of War), some good solo RPGs (Mass Effect was amazing), and then I've got GTA IV, Dead Rising, Eternal Sonata, Oblivion, Bioshock...

So obviously for me, a 360 was the better choice. But if someone cares about blu-ray, and doesn't need that kind of variety of games (yet, I'm sure ps3 will eventually catch up), they might as well go for a ps3. (For the record, I owned a Ps2 forever. And loved it. Never owned an Xbox 1.)

this is like that bit in the poseidon adventure where gene hackman has to watch all those people going the wrong way

x-post

DEAD RISING!

:D :D :D :D :D

I thought the more expensive ps3 (80g one?) plays ps2 games?

the "wii for girls and casual gamers" is a bit unfair.

i don't care if my game has titties and blood, i'd rather it was playable. so the SMG and Zelda on the wii have been my gaming experiences of the past twelve months.

for beers and giggles, four player wii is the best thing since twister

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/4732/whichconsolerb9.jpg

hard to disagree

i make it a rule to assume something described as "acurate" is probabaly not.

PC? O RLY?

never really played games on a PC.

one day i might meet someone who can run crysis properly

It all depends on what you are used to and if you have PS2 games I assume its Playstation. I say this because I've always played PS and and I got an XBox360 and I cant deal with the controller. Its so retarded. I'm thinking about trying to swap it for a PS3 on craigslist or something.

PS3 has backwards compatibility but only on certain machines.:

The 20GB NTSC, the 60GB NTSC/PAL and the 80GB NTSC models can play PS2 games
The 40GB NTSC and PAL models cant play PS2 games

The 40 GB is the one they sell at the big box stores - Best Buy etc. Also the 20GB and the 60GB NTSC backwards compatibility is run on sony's emotion engine and the 60GB PAL and 80GB NTSC BC is run on an emulator. The EE is better. Sony stop using it because of cost or something.

Wii is cute but, yeah, the novelty wears off real quick. I have a PSP but I get motion sick playing it for more than 10 minutes. DS is okay if you want portable.

For games, definitely PS3 or XBOX360, but if you like lil cutesy games go with the Wii.

new 80GB PS3 coming out with MGS bundle. i asumme it will still be backwards-compatibe. the emulator software doesn't work well with all PS2 titles but Sony are supposedly attending to that with downloads.

I have a PSP but I get motion sick playing it for more than 10 minutes

Heh, I'm glad it's not just me. I had to stop playing PSP Katamari, it made me too dizzy. But I mostly stick to 2D puzzle games even though the 3D graphics in games like Mercury really impressed me for something so small.

I like my PSP (and, hey, it was a present, so I didn't pay for it) but they have awkward controls, not many games and a lot of the games seem to be horrible rushed ports from other platforms, and it seems to have pretty much lost out to the DS on the handheld front.

there's no helping some people

You can say that again.

I don't think Manhunt 2 is available on any of the 'Next Gen' systems (360 or PS3), though I may be wrong. I think all of the systems have their own merits. I think the DS is the best pick out of the PSP/DS handheld pair, as there's just such a wealth of great games available for it. That said, if you are going down the PS3 route, there's a lot of interactivity between the PS3 and the PSP, if that sort of thing floats your boat.

I can't provide any personal comment on the PS3 as it's the only one of that lot I haven't played. I've got a DS and a Wii, and I would own a 360 if my flatmate didn't already have one. I used to own a PSP, but to be honest I just never really enjoyed any of the games I played on it, other than Killzone and the GTA games.

Where it gets a bit complicated in terms of choice though, I think comes down entirely to personal taste. If I were only buying one, I'd be hard pressed to choose between the Wii and the DS. If buying two, I'd probably go for DS and 360. If buying three I'd go for the Wii, 360 and DS.

As above, none of this is Sony hatred, I owned a PS2 and PS and loved them both. I just don't think the PS3 has enough to offer yet. I don't see the point in spending that sort of money on a console with very few games I want to play right now. I'd rather buy one of the cheaper ones, like the 360 or Wii I guess, and wait for a time when the PS3 has more of interest. The bonus being that patience brings lower prices...

excuse my simpleton question but what do you use to play xbox 360 and ps3 and wii games on? can you use a pc monitor or does it have to be a tv?

also what's the best place to buy each console from? is amazon reliable and inexpensive?

I have been a Sony loyalist for years, and my wife continued the trend when she bought PS3 for my birthday last year.

Having never played, or more importantly, owned another brand of console since the Sega Genesis, I cannot speak to the XBox or Wii, although I have been told the Wii is pretty fun with friends.

It is hard for me to knock the PS3, however, as I have been killing lots of people online in GTA4 with it, and its fun.

that lots of Xbox 360s have fan and drive noise similar to a jet engine at take off

seriously

recent ones (w/HDMI output) don't

or at least mine doesn't

who here has their wii/xbox 360 chipped/flashed?

can you use a pc monitor or does it have to be a tv?

the xbox outputs just about everything bar an old RF cable, it'll do vga for monitors, hdmi for flash tellys, etc

Whereas the Wii doesn't connect to anything... It does RGB Component/SCART and YPbPr Component.

and looks like shit :(

Only one or two people here have backed the Wii.

Verdict: MOST PEOPLE HERE ARE NERDS WITH NO SOCIAL LIFE

(But I do want to get a PS3 for the next full Gran Turismo game when it comes out in 2011.)

King Boy xkcd, morelike.

Only one or two people here have backed the Wii.

Verdict: MOST PEOPLE HERE ARE NERDS WITH NO SOCIAL LIFE

-- King Boy Pato, Tuesday, May 20, 2008 4:38 PM (1 minute ago)

the fact we're all on an internet message board might have been a bit of a giveaway beforehand

I know and it's a damn shame that most people on ILX will miss out on a) social activities, b) long lasting friendships, c) intimate relationships, d) Cooking Mama.

who here has their wii/xbox 360 chipped/flashed?

If you're hoping to mod a Wii, don't plan on doing it anytime soon if you buy a new model. The older models all have a variety of chips that are easy to install, but so far there is only one available chip for new models, and apparently it has like 30 wires that need to be soldered and requires an engineering degree.

damn but does that mean it's easier to mod xbox 360 and ps2? i dont know anyone who does this type of thing and am mega wary of doing it myself

dumb question #453 can you buy modded consoles anywhere online without risking 99% chance of being scammed?

I backed the Wii! I have one! I do really like the Wii, but appreciate that it has limited appeal to a lot of people.

i bought a wii & enjoy it.
i've never owned a nintendo console before but with the wii i can play nintendo games from the last 5 generations (+ sega, neo geo etc etc) via virtual console & backwards compatibility - also the just launched wiiware service brings new games from smaller developers. i'll get a hi def gaming system when either a) xbox produce a console that i'm confident won't break down after a few months or b) sony lower the price a bit & get some games that i'm interested in playing on their system.

Have had all these systems (my 360 died for the second time - this time out of warranty (not RROD) and I haven't felt the will to spend the cash to get it fixed). Anyway, as others have said - all have there strengths and weaknesses.

1. 360 is really noisy (if you play late at night this will bug you) and not the most dependable console. On the plus side, a pretty respectable library of games. Can be hooked up to a PC monitor, but you need to buy a seperate VGA cable (unless your monitor has Component/Composite inputs). Fifty dollars a year charge if you want to play online (all the other consoles have free online)

2. Wii is the console most like a toy & in a way, probably the current game system that can be the most fun. No HD tho & convoluted friend code system (plus no voice chat) makes playing online with friends next to impossible. Playing with your friends / family in person works great though. Super Mario Galaxy! But the system is kind of a generation behind, can't do the cutting edge type stuff

3. PS3 - dependable, quiet, blu-ray, etc. Doesn't have the library of games comparable to 360 but has plenty to keep you busy, i.e. GTA IV, Cod4, MGS4 (out in a few weeks). Different models have different levels of backwards compatibility. 60 gig (us version) if you can find one still, plays all ps2 games, 80 gig, most, 20 gig - none (though it will play ps1 games).

Manhunt 2 only came out for PSP, PS2 and Wii weirdly enough. I heard the game is pretty crappy however.

I would add, if it's a choice between ps3 and the 360, I think the upcoming (next 6-8 months?) exclusive ps3 games look more interesting than the upcoming exclusive 360 games. I'll take Metal Gear Solid 4, Wipeout HD and Little Big Planet over Banjo Kazooie 3, Fable 2 and Too Human, thank you

I got a DS and it's fun but too many of the games are for the little ones. I don't need GTA, all I have is New Super Mario Bros and I love it, I occasionally spend a half hour or hour at the end of the day playing it.

I need some more games though. I've heard that Professor Layton is supposed to be great. I was also excited about Myst on the DS but I've read a review that said it was buggy.

Any other DS or even Game Boy Advance games to recommend? What about the Zelda and Castlevania games?

What about the weirder games?

I have the Wii. My PS2 finally died just a couple of weeks ago, I replaced the DVD functionality and am consideringjust selling my games library to a friend who has a working PS2 instead of buying a new one, even as cheap as they are. I've had no complaints about the games available for the Wii (NB: I could give a shit less about dystopian FPSs or some crap where you have to drive a real car around a real city to shoot a real ethnic stereotype in order to open up a fucking bridge crossing) except that as with the other console that released two xmases ago (PS3) the games library seems a little thin (this is mostly because every other console has a year and then some on the two of them (and in the PS3's case, yes, the dev kit apparently sucks and Sony hasn't really figured out how to build a suitable generic parallelization solution, so even with the kit they have most developers are working with 1/3rd of the horsepower you pay for)

IMO if you have to ask questions about which console you should own, you should get the Wii, it's less $$ down the drain if you turn out not to play it as much as you thought you would + at least you can pull it out when you have friends over for some bowling or baseball or whatever. + only people from australia don't love Mario + Sonic.

Also if either "true next gen" console was going to come back to dominate market share over Nintendo, they'd have to get Nintendo to stop selling the things, full stop, for about a year. Ditto the DS. If you want a huge library of games to choose from down the line, I'd go with the Wii and DS, because developers like money.

What about the Zelda and Castlevania games?

Zelda: I've played the Minish Cap for DS; Castlevania: I've played Aria of Sorrow (GBA), Dawn of Sorrow (DS) Portrait of Ruin (DS). I totally recommend ALL of the above, they're all great.

GBA has Link to the Past/Four Swords, too. Link to the Past is my FAVORITE. I need to play Minnish Cap.

Just in case not everyone's aware, we DO have a board for further discussion on this stuff:
http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/NewAnswersControllerServlet?boardid=67

Minish Cap reminded me a lot of LttP, ALSO my favorite, so yea you should play that xpost

if we can isolate the tedious Nintendo talk on here and keep it off ILG, that's fine by me
xpost

I have a PS3 that was a gift. I like it a lot but if had purchased a system, it probably would have been either a Wii or XBox 360. My parents actually just bought a Wii and I plan to steal it from them once they get tired of it.

if we can isolate the tedious Nintendo talk on here and keep it off ILG, that's fine by me

and if we can keep the infantile console fanboyism banter here & off ILG that would be even better

children, girls and casual gamers, friend. there's no shame in being any of them.

I'm so casual I played smash bros for like 11 hours on sunday

but I guess it wasn't running around in the dark with a sniper scope mounted on a shotgun or whatever fragging n00bz so yeah, it was kind of childish

As Trudeau said about casual sex, it means "jeans allowed."

mario can't going to pepare you for the kill-or-be-killed world of the post-apocalyptic future. unless said apocalypse consists of an invasion by these guys:

http://www.mariowiki.com/images/8/80/Gargantua_koopa.PNG

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best

would it be the act of a fool to buy a modified xbox 360 from someone off ebay?

also how and why does the 360 explode? are there ways of warding that off?

my plan is to get a ps2 real soon, play manhunt 2 and get some old cheap games - it's pretty old so im guessing ive got a wealth of games to work through. then in a month or so get an xbox 360 for gta4. then whenever i have some spare cash move onto the wii and ds thing. it's hard finding somewhere online that compares each console and lists the top games on it - even gamespot isn't much use - so thanks everyone for posting on here.

they don't really explode :( they just sort of die

1 in 3 failure rate, is what I heard. No evidence to back this up, apart from at least half my friends with 360s having to send them back for repairs.

This is compelling enough a reason to avoid buying a 360, sadly.

The noise, the ugliness of the case, and the reliability issues are basically the reasons why I don't have one. If they could just release it in a new form factor that wasn't atrociously designed from the guts outward, I'd slap one under the teevee in a heartbeat.

Just to play Worms, in fact.

It's noisy as shit, tbh, and we've got one of the HDMI output ones. But it was much cheaper than the PS3 and GTA seems to be faster/better on it (so say the game sites, I can't see much of a difference in the videos).

I bought a 2nd hand 360 off the 'bay and I <3 it. Even though it's called spazcadet79.

I've had no problems at all and I've played games like assassin's creed and bioshock a lot on it. I also bought a vertical stand/fan thing because I read that they're the better option for external coolings.

and the noise from the stand thingy doesn't add to the loud as shit already noise from the console.

The Wii is rejecting my attempts to buy Wii Points by credit card. Server's down or some rubbish. Otherwise I'm reasonably happy with it.

my 360 has had zero problems so far

I got my 360 within a couple of weeks of release and it's worked fine. But I'm pretty casual - boxing + Tiger Woods + whatever shooter interests me for a month + GTA IV.

Upconversion is a myth right? If the data doesn't exist on the disc, there's no way to create (through interpolation?) more detail in the image.

i have a ps3. i use it for media a lot - bluray, streaming divx & music etc etc. i also have some good games for it. i'm happy with it.

Upconversion is a myth right? If the data doesn't exist on the disc, there's no way to create (through interpolation?) more detail in the image.

-- milo z, Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:01 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

the idea isn't that it turns it magically into HD, it just makes it look better on an HDTV. like makes it look as good as it would look on a regular tv with less, but bigger, pixels. and it generally works pretty good. on a really good dvd packed with data it looks almost as good as HD except maybe in the detailed details.

I've never been entirely convinced that top notch cutting edge graphics are everything. They're nice but I'm backing the Wii because a) it's so fun and b) I don't spend eight hours a day playing alright.

Unless they release a cricket game for the Wii. That would be the greatest thing ever. Well, in my opinion anyway.

The best thing about the Wii is it makes me feel all next-gen while I'm playing PS2 games.

xp Sledging through the Wiimote speaker would be awes.

most importantly i want to be able to play two games, gta 4 and manhunt 2

Wait another couple of weeks and buy the 80GB PS3/Metal Gear 4 bundle.

I bought a 360 last fall for Bioshock + Eternal Sonata and then spent most of the next eight months playing through whatever JRPGs Atlus is still releasing for the PS2. Not a great investment, really.

Xbox 360 for the free games.

The noise, the ugliness of the case, and the reliability issues are basically the reasons why I don't have one. If they could just release it in a new form factor that wasn't atrociously designed from the guts outward, I'd slap one under the teevee in a heartbeat.

Tomboto sadly otm here, I was *this* close to choosing a 360 over a ps3 until i went around a friends house and he was turning it on and it died right in front of me. in time i may risk it and get one cheap, just for Dead Rising.

my ps3 is a thing of beauty, all this talk of it being hard to program LOLZ they said the same thing about the ps2 and now look the games library for that one.

If the market is there, devs will jump through any hoops they have to.

Xbox 360 for the free games.

-- svend, Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

arcade games? eh

Any other DS or even Game Boy Advance games to recommend? What about the Zelda and Castlevania games?

recommmend Zelda: Twilight Princess very highly indeed.

"Twilight Princess"? Are you listening to yourself?!?

um, no. i'm listening to nat king cole. is that important?

i dont know. are there princesses of specific times of day involved?

it's changed to iron maiden now, so quite likely.

haha

:D

Yeah, what the hell? Twilight Princess is decidedly average.

most importantly i want to be able to play two games, gta 4 and manhunt 2

just so you know, Manhunt 2 was so completely lame by comparison to Manhunt that the only points of comparison that even begin to really describe the gulf are like Manhunt: Manhunt 2 :: Happy Days : Joanie Loves Chachi or maybe MH:MH2 :: Yesterday : Ebony & Ivory

shit how so?

it's just garbage really, none of the originality or creepy vibe and the plot is so lame, the big reveal is something you see coming from several miles away and it's mega-ultra lame, the dialogue sucks, the thing they came up with to replace "the director" giving you directions is fucking stupid

I cannot overstate how pathetic Manhunt 2 is as a game

I have actually already had the headstone under which they'll bury me modded so it now reads:

J0HN D. (year of birth - year of death)
HE COULD NOT OVERSTATE HOW PATHETIC MANHUNT 2 WAS AS A GAME

Now I kind of want to see it just to see how lame it is.

you have to have played & loved the first one to really know I think but even if you haven't, the plot is just really underfinanced sci-fi pic bad

Dan if you got a ps2 I'll send you the version they had for that

bah, I don't (my PS3 is one of the non-backwards-compatible ones)