I've recently rebuilt a PC/Windows system, and this weekend I wanted to just kick back old style and kill some Nazis or aliens or something. Time to burn it in with something challenging. I usually am more into simulations than first person shooters, but variety is a spice and all of that, you know? I'm an old Sim City nerd, playing Railroad Tycoon, Civilization, and the like. I get bored with grinding in WoW, Eve, or Vanguard. I've canceled those accounts.
So I loaded up Battlefield 1942. I really suck at first person shooters, but then I'm also playing with a trackball. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. But I'd suck anyway with a mouse or even a USB device implanted in my brain.
I had issues with Windows locking me up, with my antivirus (Norton) trying to declare terrorist alerts, my video drivers were outdated (on a new mainboard with built in nvidia 6-series graphics), and my DSL connection dropped my multiplayer attempts. I also recently played a few minutes of Resident Evil 4 at a friend's house on the Wii system. It got me thinking, that perhaps it's time to plunge into the console game wars. As long as it wasn't a Microsoft system, easy peasey. Right? Not that I hate Microsoft but... I don't trust the operating system, and I really don't like to give more money to the 800lb gorilla in the industry. I think they have enough of that.
Anyway, back to... Bah! Humbug! I was reading up on different games already released and in the pipe. Along with Resident Evil 4, Call of Duty 4 looked great, and I've skipped Call of Duty 3, which looks great on Wii. Interesting. BioShock has some interesting twists, and the list could go on.
The problem being all of the exclusive development going on. I want to buy one box and play all of my games on it. I don't want to spend for a game console three times. Sorry, Charlie. So, which game console should I pick?
I made a spreadsheet (oh, how nerdy!) with the games I'm interested in, and noted which ones were available on PS2, PS3, Xbox, Wii or PC.
Dammit! The only box that will play all of the games on my list is the freakin' Microsoft Xbox. Most of them won't even port a PC version. Have I decided to buy one yet? Nope. Will Call of Duty 4 melt my Xbox? Probably. Maybe I'll build a cabinet for it that doubles as an ice machine or something.
Do I go with Sony? Well they've made such remarkable business decisions with the PS3 and pricing and exclusive titles that... I think I'll pass on that and see if they lower the price a little more. A couple of times.
Do I go with a Wii? I'm not sold on the controller. It's fun for awhile, but I'm not convinced that I'll have a hankering to hook it up regularly. Madden 08 might be fun though.
Humbug....
2 comments:
Well, I have been an XBOX 360 owner for over 1 1/2 years. My console has yet to have any problems. Shoot, most of the time, it stays on for weeks on end. I also own a PS2, but it hasnt been played for months. As far as which one you want to get, decide if you want a HD-DVD or Blu-ray player. If you plan on or already have one, just get the 360 and save yourself some money. I haven't tried the Wii yet, but Nintendo hasn't appealed to me in a while with the selection of games available.
Tim, great article. I understand how you feel about Microsoft and not wanting to feed the 800 pound gorilla. But I've gotten a Xbox 360 and I've had no problem with mine at all. And they've just got more and better games than PS3 (so far). The Wii is fun with the controller, but their brand of games haven't appealed to me in sometime. And I've haven't found anything that can equal up to Xbox Live. Having the ability to play with friends and talk to them during gameplay is just great. The games that are coming out also for the Xbox 360 are very cool too!!!
I'll always have my desktop PC to play games on, but I'm glad that I have a 360.
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