Sunday, August 29, 2010

Which Video Game Console is best?

This is a question I get a lot from parents. My first question back is how old are your kids? Then I dig a bit more to find out more about what sort of games and levels they would allow their kids to play. As one of the senior members who brought Xbox to market for Microsoft I am of course a bit partial to it. But, I also spent a lot of time studying games, the marketing, the targets, etc of all the platforms.

So my advice is this - For young children or very casual players  - if they are going to play video games i would go for a Wii.  Games are geared towards easy access and control, simple to play, simple to understand, fun without being too frustrating and reading skills can be minimal. The controller is really not the key any longer with both Xbox and Playstation offering similar input devices and Xbox will take motion capture up a huge notch this November with Kinetic. We'll have to see how usable this product really is. But the idea is really exciting and if it catches on we can be sure that improvements and competition will follow.

For older kids to adults it really is a toss up between Xbox and Playstation - both have their set of unique games that can be the determining factor or your interest in online multi player gaming - It can be a model of get what your friends have if the focus is online multi player gaming. That said, LIVE on Xbox has been part of the dna of Microsoft's platform from day one and they have done a great job of building the environment and if online gaming is a leading factor in selection than the Xbox platform is probably the way to go.

On the DVD playback side - the nod goes to Playstation with its support of blue ray - but you have to be hooked up to a newer screen that can support these graphics otherwise you won't experience the graphic enhancements over regular DVD. If you are thinking of buying a Blue DVD player a PS3 is a great choice as it's a solid player and you essentially get the Hard drive, Gaming and Internet access functions thrown in for a few bucks.

Both Xbox360 and Playstation3 have fantastic graphics - HDMI connection to a HD TV is a must - think twice if you don't intend to hook these babies up to a newer screen as you won't get the value out of the price or the effort of the game developer. 

There are some unique PC/network connectivity features of Xbox that make it a great choice for the tech savvy purchaser - but I won't get into that here - better saved for another post.

Lifecyle may be something to think about - each manufacturer plans the lifecyle of each box a little differently and they have been getting longer with each new generation  - on average each platform generation lasts about 6-8 years - with the older platform phased out over 1-2 years after a new release. New game support really depends upon the game and the platform - for now PS2 has the best long tail support of new games as many game publishers still release PS2 games - this due in part to the huge amount of PS2 households out there - I would bet next time around the Xbox360 will see a very good long term game development support.

I could and may in the future take deeper dives into each platform - but I hope this overview give you a basis to make an informed decision for your own gaming console decision

So to recap -
young kids & casual players - Wii
Online fans - Xbox360 and LIVE
Blue Ray DVD/Movie goer - Playstation PS3 

Feedback and questions welcome -

It's OK to play - Dad said so

1 comment: