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New Consoles, Different Focus – Why the “Big Three” Will be Just Fine

by Deejay Knight: at December 6th, 2006, 2:19 am

Editorials, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360

Nintendo Wii

Let’s start with the most obvious of the bunch, Nintendo’s Wii.

Anyone who’s held a WiiWii reviewsWii reviews-mote in their hands can attest to the difference of Nintendo’s approach. Their goal with the Nintendo Wii has been publicly known since the first announcement – they want people to simply have fun with their console. Say what you will about your personal preference towards playing the Wii, but it’s almost second-nature to play the games.

Nintendo’s focus with the Wii was to make a console that quite literally anyone can pick up and play within minutes – and they’ve accomplished that, hands down. That’s why you can find videos all over the net showcasing parents and gamers enjoying the Wii. It’s exactly what it was meant to be. Those that cry “It’s just a party system!” might be correct in a sense, but how many people don’t enjoy playing games with their friends? Surely, the recent trend in games having more co-operative gameplay elements highlights that fact, but having a bunch of friends over just makes the experience worthwhile, regardless. On the other side of the same issue, there are games like Twilight Princess that highlight how the new control scheme works well for single-player adventures.

The adhesive to the Wii, though, is Nintendo’s first-party support. As has always been the case, Nintendo is showcasing how to best utilize the Wii’s controller. Once third-party developers start getting more hands-on time with the hardware, the benefit of following Nintendo’s first footsteps to create their own will come in handy, and the games will benefit from it.

Let’s not forget that Nintendo’s the only company to launch a profitable console from day one. That fact combined with being the lowest priced console count in their favor. With sales of over 1 million consoles worldwide, and constantly selling out of their stock of available consoles, Nintendo’s not going anywhere.

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  • Thank You
  • I like this piece DJ.
  • StarbuckZero
    In the end I'll end up with all 3 next gen consoles. Last gen I started with a GameCube because I always had people over to play Mario Kart, Mario Party and Smash Brothers. Once I realized I was missing out on some good RPGs I got a PS2. When I moved and none of my friends were close by I ended up getting a Xbox for online play. I still enjoy my Xbox 360 but I've been playing the Nintendo Wii because of Zelda.

    I'm interested in the PS3 because of some of the games (FFXIII and MGS4) that are coming out on it and Linux. Anyways it's going to be interesting to see how Nintendo do this time around, after all the Nintendo DS is beating out the PSP and the PSP is a more powerful device. I guess it comes down to the user base and games.
  • Liquid_Mind
    I can't say I'm going to buy all three, but only because I no longer play enough games to justify the spending the money. I agree with the sentiment here that each console has something to offer.
  • satanic mouse foo
    like the article DK. And yea for me there is something on every console I like some more then others but there is something there which is why i guess id be grouped as a hardcore gamer and i will own all 3 systems sooner or later.
  • Thanks a lot, Xanth!

    The Linux-testing is more liable to happen via hardcore PC users due to there not being any serious support for gaming in Linux, but in order to keep the article from stretching on too long I paired them in with hardcore gamers.
  • DK: Like the article a lot. Gives a good overview of everything. I'd say the PS3 comment about how you can install Linux and test out the cell processor may be a difficult comment. Difficult in that in order to take advantage of it,you really need to know what the heck you are doing, especially when it comes to threading, and it's my assumption that most hardcore gamers don't code to that degree in their daily lives. Anyway, like I said before, I love the article, very good :)
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